Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aerodynamic Design and Experimental Study of Marine Gas Turbine Exhaust Volutes

The aerodynamic characteristics of the exhaust system have an important bearing on the economic aspects of the marine gas turbine. The exhaust volute is an important component of the exhaust system. The design of turbine exhaust volutes must take into account the structural demands of the gas turbine, the layout of the exhaust system as a whole in the engine room and the hull as well as its overall dimension requirements. This paper discusses the design principles of exhaust volutes. Given the hub-tip ratio dl/D1 of turbine exit (volute entry), a method is developed to rationally select the axial length L and radial width B. The selection of an annular diffuser and the relevant parameters along with the coordination of diffuser and collector are analyzed. On the basis of an analysis of experimental data the basic design criteria of exhaust volutes are proposed.Copyright © 1981 by ASME
The Influence of Salt Sensitivity Phenotype on Sodium Excretion and Diuresis: A Chrononutrition Pilot Study

Background Chrononutrition studies on interaction of diet/nutrients on endogenous circadian clocks and meal timing on metabolic homeostasis may be of importance in the management of nocturnal polyuria (NP), owing to loss of circadian rhythm in nighttime urination. Dietary salt restriction is an increasingly popular lifestyle recommendation for NP patients. Aim This study aims to evaluate the effect of an acute salt load on diuresis and to study the phenomenon of salt sensitivity. Methodology. Young, healthy men (n = 21, fasted and sober) ingested 500 ml of water on the control day and 8 g and 12 g of salt with water (500 ml) on two other days. Blood and urine samples were collected at 0 hrs, 2 hrs, and 4 hrs and voided volumes were recorded. Diuresis, serum and urine osmolality, sodium, potassium, urea, and creatinine were measured. Salt sensitivity was determined based on the rate of sodium excretion. Results Compared to 8 g, ingestion of 12 g of salt significantly increased diuresis after 4 hrs. Pure water load induced fast diuresis, whereas salt and water load initially reduced diuresis and promoted late increase in diuresis. The total voided volume was significantly lower in the salt sensitive individuals. Conclusion Taken together, salt sensitivity profile and type and time of fluid intake are important considerations to build effective personalized lifestyle recommendations for NP patients, which needs further investigation.
Is Collaboration Creative or Costly? Exploring Tradeoffs in the Organization of Knowledge Work

Is collaboration creative or costly for knowledge workers? While collaboration has been shown to be associated with higher quality creative output, much less is known about whether collaborative work is productively efficient for knowledge work overall. In order to understand the “net value” of collaboration, it is important to therefore consider both its output and its input. To do so, we examine the annual research activity of 661 faculty scientists at one institution over a 31-year period, but in a variety of collaborative arrangements. Our data supports previous reports that scientists tend to publish higher quality papers when they collaborate more. However, we also find that they also tend to publish fewer papers by year of work. This tradeoff between productivity and quality widens with the size of the collaboration and emerges as a central cost of collaboration in creative knowledge work.
Clinical feasibility of modified procarbazine and lomustine chemotherapy without vincristine as a salvage treatment for recurrent adult glioma

Procarbazine, lomustine and vincristine (PCV) chemotherapy is considered a salvage option for adult glioma; however, its significant toxicities frequently lead to dose reduction or discontinuation in patients with recurrent glioma. The current study evaluated the safety and efficacy of modified procarbazine and lomustine (PC) chemotherapy that omits vincristine and reduces the lomustine dose compared with those of conventional PCV chemotherapy. Using electronic medical records, all patients with adult recurrent glioma who received PC or PCV chemotherapy between 2009 and 2020 at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital or St. Vincent's Hospital were examined retrospectively. A total of 59 patients met the eligibility criteria. Among them, 15 patients received modified PC chemotherapy (PC group) and 44 patients received PCV chemotherapy (PCV group). The PC group presented a significantly lower hematology toxicity (anemia, 6.7 vs. 45.5%, P=0.02; thrombocytopenia 20.0 vs. 70.4%, P<0.001). Additionally, the clinical impacts of PC chemotherapy, including delay of a cycle, dose reduction, discontinuation of drug(s) or total cessation of chemotherapy, were significantly less frequent compared with the PCV group (26.7 vs. 68.2%, P=0.012). The overall survival of the PC group was also significantly longer than that of PCV group (396 vs. 232 days, P=0.042), while there was no significant difference in progression-free survival between the two groups (284.5 vs. 131 days, P=0.077). The results suggested that modified PC chemotherapy may be an alternative chemotherapeutic regimen with tolerable toxicity and without loss of clinical efficacy in patients with recurrent adult glioma. Further prospective and larger studies are required to validate our findings.
Water Deficit Stress Tolerance Potential of Newly Developed Wheat Genotypes for Better Yield Based on Agronomic Traits and Stress Tolerance Indices: Physio-Biochemical Responses, Lipid Peroxidation and Antioxidative Defense Mechanism

Changing environmental conditions, fresh water shortages for irrigation and the rapid increase in world population have created the problems of food insecurity and malnutrition. Different strategies, including the development of water stress-tolerant, high-yielding genotypes through breeding are used to fulfil the world food demand. The present study was conducted for the selection of high-yielding, drought-tolerant wheat genotypes, considering different morpho-physio-biochemical, agronomic and yield attributes in relation to the stress tolerance indices (STI). The experiment was carried out in field in a split-plot arrangement. Water deficit stress was maintained based on the number of irrigations. All genotypes showed a differential decreasing trend in different agronomic traits. However, the increasing or decreasing trend in leaf photosynthetic pigments, non-enzymatic and enzymatic antioxidants under limited water supply also found to be genotype-specific. Genotypes MP1, MP3, MP5, MP8 and MP10 performed better regarding the yield performance under water deficit stress, which was associated with their better maintenance of water relations, photosynthetic pigments and antioxidative defense mechanisms. In conclusion, the physio-biochemical mechanisms should also be considered as the part of breeding programs for the selection of stress-tolerant genotypes, along with agronomic traits, in wheat.
Disentangling the molecular mechanisms underlying the retrieval and extinction of morphine withdrawal-associated memories in the basolateral amygdala and dentate gyrus

Despite their indisputable efficacy for pain management, opiates prescription remains highly controversial due to their elevated addictive potential. Relapse in drug use is one of the principal problems for addiction treatment, being drug-associated memories among its main triggers. Consequently, the extinction of these memories has been proposed as a useful therapeutic tool. Hence, by using the conditioned place aversion (CPA) paradigm in rats we investigated some of the molecular mechanisms that occurred during the retrieval and extinction of morphine withdrawal memories in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG), which control emotional and episodic memories, respectively. The retrieval of aversive memories associated with the abstinence syndrome paralleled with decreased mTOR activity and increased Arc and GluN1 expressions in the DG. Additionally, Arc mRNA levels in this nucleus very strongly correlated with the CPA score exhibited by the opiate-treated rats. On the other hand, despite the unaltered mTOR phosphorylation Arc augmented in the BLA. After the extinction test, Arc and GluN1 expressions raised in both the DG and BLA of control and morphine-treated animals. Remarkably, Homer1 expression in both areas correlated almost perfectly with the extinction showed by morphinedependent animals. Also, Arc expression in the DG correlated strongly with the extinction of the CPA manifested by the group treated with the opiate. Finally, our results support coordinated activity of some of these neuroplastic proteins for the extinction of morphine activity in a regional-dependent manner. Present data provide evidence of differential expression and activity of synaptic molecules during the retrieval and extinction of aversive memories of opiate withdrawal in amygdalar and hippocampal regions that will likely permit the development of therapeutic strategies able to minimize relapses induced by drug-associated aversive memories.
The utility of HCV core antigen for evaluation of viremia at 48 weeks posttreatment with direct‐acting antivirals

The hepatitis C virus core antigen (HCV‐cAg) assay is a cheap and rapid alternative to HCV‐RNA detection, while the results were limited to 12 weeks following direct‐acting antiviral (DAA) treatment. In this study we aimed to investigate the role of the HCV‐cAg assay up to 48 weeks after DAA treatment. We enrolled 98 patients with chronic HCV infection who received DAA treatment in this study. Plasma samples were assessed for HCV‐RNA (AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan assay, Roche) and HCV‐cAg (Abbott ARCHITECT HCV‐cAg assay) levels at baseline, 12 weeks (P12) and 48 weeks (P48) after DAA treatment. The sensitivity and specificity of HCV‐cAg were compared with those of HCV‐RNA. A total of 284 samples from 98 enrolled participants were analyzed. HCV‐cAg levels changed in parallel with HCV‐RNA levels in HCV‐infected patients during and after DAA therapy. HCV‐cAg levels showed excellent correlation with HCV viral load (R = 0.951, R2 = 0.905, β = 0.951, and P < .001). The overall sensitivity and specificity for HCV‐cAg in detecting quantifiable HCV‐RNA thresholds were 96.9% and 100%, respectively. Three patients with baseline HCV viremia had nonreactive HCV‐cAg (false‐negative rate was 1.02%); none of the patients were HCV‐cAg positive and HCV‐RNA negative. At 48 weeks after DAA treatment, the HCV‐cAg assay detected all patients with viremia, demonstrating 100% sensitivity and specificity. In conclusions, the HCV‐cAg assay has high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of pre‐ and post‐DAA treatment viremia and may be a useful tool to confirm viremia at P12 and P48.
Nonlinear viscoelastic approach to model damage-associated performance behavior of asphaltic mixture and pavement structure

This paper presents an integrated experimental–numerical effort to more accurately model the damage characteristics of asphalt mixtures and pavement structures than conventional elastic and (or) linear viscoelastic approaches can. To this end, Schapery's nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive model was implemented into a finite element software via user defined subroutine (user material, or UMAT) to analyze an asphalt pavement subjected to heavy truck loads. Then, a series of creep and recovery tests were conducted at various stress levels and at different temperatures to obtain the stress-dependent and temperature-sensitive viscoelastic material properties of asphalt mixtures. With the viscoelastic material properties characterized and the UMAT code, a typical pavement structure subjected to repeated heavy truck loads was modeled with the consideration of the effect of material nonlinearity with a realistic tire loading configuration. Three-dimensional finite element simulations of the pavement structure pr.
How Catalysts Ignite: The Economics of Platform-Based Start-Ups

Entrepreneurs who start multi-sided platforms must secure enough customers on both sides, and in the right proportions, to provide enough value to either group of customers and to achieve sustainable growth. In particular, these entrepreneurs must secure "critical mass" to ignite the growth of their platforms; the failure to achieve "critical mass" quickly results in the implosion of the platform. There are a number of strategies available to entrepreneurs to reach critical mass. For example, the "zig-zag" strategy involves successive accretions of customers on both sides to build up the value to both. The relevant strategies depend in large part on whether the nature of the platform requires securing participation by both platform sides at launch (e.g. dating venues), whether it is possible to acquire one side before approaching the other side (e.g. search engines), and whether it is necessary to make pre-commitments to one side to induce them to make investments (e.g. video games).
Dancing with Chains: A Case Study of Native Mandarin Chinese Teachers and Pedagogy in U.S. Higher Education

This qualitative case study explored how native Mandarin Chinese teachers experienced and adapted to the linguistic, cultural, and pedagogical differences in teaching Mandarin Chinese to English-speaking students at four-year higher education institutions in the United States. Drawing upon the interviews of 11 participant teachers, the researcher applied theoretical frameworks of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK), pedagogical reasoning and action (PRA), and Confucianism to interpret the findings. Findings from the research revealed that Chinese instructors prepared themselves first as students and adopted effective modes of teaching to teach Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language in U.S. higher education. Findings from the data showed that Chinese instructors faced and coped with four challenges in teaching college level Mandarin Chinese to American students. The challenges included: (1) professional insecurity, (2) understanding and meeting student needs, (3) teaching Chinese language skills, and (4) engaging and motivating students. The corresponding coping strategies adopted by Chinese instructors included: (1) acting at an individual level to maintain and increase intellectual vitality of Chinese instructors, (2) optimizing class time, creating opportunities for students to practice and use Chinese in and outside class, and tailoring teaching content and approaches to the diversified situations and needs of students, (3) employing communicative approach and student-centered, task-based pedagogies to teach language skills, and (4) making teaching content and approaches flexible, relevant to student life, and able to optimize student creativity, and utilizing technologies and
Role of sociological methodology in determining criteria evaluating justice of punishment in criminal law

In modern society, the role of concept of justice is increasing. Various decisions of state authorities are assessed from the standpoint of justice or injustice. However, the concept of justice has special significance in relation to state repression. Often society reacts to the use of state coercion against individuals and such situations are widely covered in the media, spark a great public outcry, sometimes lead to various kinds of conflicts between a part of society and officials. It is generally accepted that such situations of social tension are caused by the facts of excessive use of repression. However, we put forward the hypothesis that the perception of justice by society and concept of justice set out in the criminal law and perceived by the court are significantly different today, which causes systemic problems in the perception of justice. The solution to this problem is possible only with an integrated approach related to the study of the current criminal law and the potential of justice embedded in it, the perception of justice as a category in the activities of the court, as well as the idea of justice in public perception. The author had the following tasks: 1) to study the main approaches to justice in the modern system of social sciences, 2) set the parameters and forms of polling the population on the justice of punishment, 3) develop an anonymous questionnaire for judges in order to establish the factors, criteria and circumstances which they associate punishment tightening and mitigation with, 4) send the developed questionnaire to all courts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, 5) after the responses are received from the courts, carry out selective analysis of the sentences awarded by these courts and compare the circumstances noted in the sentences and affecting the punishment with those indicated by the judges in the questionnaires; 6) process all received sociological data and create the following scales: a) circumstances that should be regarded when assigning a just punishment based on public opinion; b) circumstances that judges regard when choosing a punishment in specific criminal cases. The article presents some results of the study conducted on the basis of a questionnaire survey of judges and the population, as well as a description of the survey methodology.
Educational Technology

The application of electronic technology to the most profound of man's tasks, that of education, provides both the opportunity for realizing lifelong, experiential learning as well as the possibility of yielding unpredicted social consequences. The use of high-speed digital computers and teaching machines is outlined and the growing power for cultural communication and control is discussed. Some possible social consequences of automated learning are examined and the need for the consideration of social, human, and educational values is presented. Finally, a university lecture course entitled "Engineering and the Technological Society" which is presented for students majoring in Liberal Arts, Business, Science, or Engineering at the University of Santa Clara and which considers the consequences and potential of educational technology is outlined.
A Stepwise Spa Test for Data Snooping and its Application on Fund Performance Evaluation

In this study, we propose a Stepwise SPA Test which is powerful in searching for predictive models or profitable investment targets with appropriate family-wise error control. Our testing method, built on White's Reality Check (2000), Hansen's SPA test (2005), and Romano and Wolf's stepwise procedure (2005), aims to conduct large-scale joint hypothesis testing in a given data set. Based on the Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the proposed test is more powerful than the other three tests in limited samples. We then apply the test to examine the performance of mutual funds and hedge funds, and obtain some interesting results. We find that only eight mutual funds are found to beat the S&P 500 index, and only few hedge funds outperform the risk-free rate. With these two empirical cases, we substantiate the empirical value of our test in fund performance evaluation.
Ultimate-Load Behavior of RC Structural Systems Designed according to Eurocodes

AbstractVarious circumstances influence the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) structures, some of which may increase the risk of a brittle failure for the whole system caused by shear forces. This paper presents a wide probabilistic investigation on the ultimate load behavior of RC structural systems designed according to Eurocodes. A full probabilistic model is derived and different structural systems are studied through material and geometric nonlinear analysis via Monte Carlo simulations. The resistance model is consistent with a current Eurocode and considers different failure modes (axial, bending, and shear). Results show that the ultimate failure load of RC structural systems designed according to Eurocodes may vary depending on the combination of three factors: (1) structural configuration; (2) load distribution; and (3) number of stirrups.
Exploring minecraft as a pedagogical tool to motivate and enhance girls' literacy practices in the secondary English classroom

This study seeks greater understanding of how digital games can be implemented in English teaching, demonstrating the potential of Minecraft as a pedagogical tool to motivate and enhance literacy practices. With less research conducted into girls’ gaming in comparison to that of boys, this study investigates Minecraft’s capacity to extend girls’ literacy practices. Digital games are accepted in gaming research as integral to contemporary youth culture and their use within the classroom continues to be explored, with this research adding weight to Minecraft’s value for literacy learning. This small study, using practical action research, suggests that girls find Minecraft appealing for literacy learning in English classrooms. They chose to work collaboratively, while making personal connections with Minecraft’s characters and actions, reflecting engagement and active learning. Minecraft allows students to engage in a myriad of literacy practices both as players and external to the game. The girls negotiated design elements, developing awareness of virtual landscape navigation and gaming strategies involving decoding, encoding and problem solving. Girls shared their Minecraft play in Instagram, creating multimodal texts for an authentic audience. I argue that using digital games in English classrooms can productively assist teachers to bridge the divide between students’ outside- and inside-school literacy practices. Incorporating Minecraft as curriculum thus validates and draws from youth culture to enhance the formal learning process.
Characteristics of Acoustic Indicators Evaluating Speech Intelligibility in Korean Elementary School Classrooms

ABSTRACT This study was carried out to examine characteristics of various acoustic indicators evaluating speech intelligibility such as reverberation time(T 30 ), D 50 , C 50 and speech transmission index(STI) in Korean elementary school classrooms. Results showed that mean T 30 at middle frequencies(500Hz to 2000Hz) measured in 9 classrooms was about 0.75s, which exceeds a regulation specified on American National Standards(ANSI); 0.60s. Mean D 50 , C 50 and STI were 60% to 66%, +2dB to +3dB, and 0.65, respectively. The maximum difference in D 50 and C 50 according to different receiver points in a classroom was 13% and 2.5dB, while the maximum difference in T 30 was 0.03s. Whereas STI measured in classrooms has relatively low correlation with other indicators, correlation between D 50 and C 50 was high, R 2 =. 9964. In addition, T 30 and C 50 were fitted well as logarithmic regression curve with R 2 =. 9610. It was +3.73dB in C 50 and 68% in D 50 which are the value corre-sponding to 0.60 s in T