Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of augmented reality and mobile application supported instruction related to different variables in 7th grade science lesson

: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of augmented reality and mobile application supported instruction on students' academic achievement, attitude towards astronomy, anxiety and motivation towards learning science in the "Solar System and Beyond/Earth and Universe" units in seventh grade Science lesson. In the study, pre-test-post-test control group quasi-experimental design was used. The study group consisted of 56 students (29 students in the experimental and 27 students in the control group) selected with the convinience sampling method, who were studying in 7th grades of a secondary school in Hatay province, Turkey. Data was collected through the "Solar System and Beyond Success Test" (SSBST) developed by the researcher; "Science Learning Anxiety Scale" (SLAS) developed by Yıldırım (2015) “Astronomy Attitude Scale” (AAS) developed by Zeilik, Schau and Mattern (1999) and adapted into Turkish by Bilici, Armağan, Çakır and Yürük (2012) and "Students' Motivation Scale for Science Learning" (SMSS) developed by Tuan, Chin and Shieh (2005) and adapted to Turkish by Yılmaz and Çavaş (2007) was used. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as the mean, standard deviation, frequency percentage values, and the inferential statistics as dependent and independent t-tests. As a result, it was found that mobile application and augmented reality supported instruction had a positive impact on academic success, did not have any effect on anxiety and motivation towards the lesson, and negatively affected attitude towards the content according to the methods suggested by the current program.
Global Price Fixing: Our Customers are the Enemy

The goal of "Global Price Fixing" is to describe and analyze the origins, operation, and impacts of global cartels in the markets for lysine, citric acid, and vitamins. The work is fundamentally a historical approach to understanding the interplay among personal motivations, economic forces, and the enforcement of the competition laws of the major industrial nations. The first chapter highlights the renewed importance of international price-fixing conspiracies after an absence of nearly 50 years. Two following chapters provide background on the economics theory and legal principles relevant to understanding cartels. Nine following chapters comprise the economic core of this book. Three chapters are devoted to each of the three cartels selected for intensive study: citric acid, lysine, and vitamins. The next four chapters then concentrate on the legal fallout from the discovery of the three cartels by the world's antitrust authorities. Chapter 17 provides a description of a few additional selected cartels with features not found in the lysine, citric acid, and vitamins cases. The penultimate chapter considers whether the antitrust resources of government agencies and private plaintiffs are sufficient to deter global price fixing in the foreseeable future. This final chapter attempts to identify major themes that appear throughout the book and to provide a summary of the ultimate impact of the global-cartel pandemic of the 1990s.
Design, fabrication and characterization of a bulk-PZT-actuated MEMS deformable mirror

This paper describes the design, fabrication and characterization of a bulk-PZT-actuated MEMS deformable mirror (DM). An analytical model was employed to optimize the DM's structure. The fabrication techniques for PZT thick film actuators were also experimentally explored, including the bonding of bulk PZT ceramics and a silicon wafer by epoxy resin, and the thinning of the bulk PZT ceramics using a wet-etching method. A 10 × 10 array of 1.75 mm × 1.75 mm PZT thick film actuators was successfully fabricated. The PZT actuators showed a stroke of about 4.5 µm at 100 V. When a 36 µm thick silicon membrane mirror was assembled, the measured mirror deflection at 100 V was approximately 3.8 µm. The assembled DM showed an operating frequency bandwidth of 21 kHz and an influence function of approximately 30%. The displacement hysteresis was greatly eliminated by using the method of staying on the same segment.
Numerical optimisation methods applied to the concurrent problem of vehicle ride and handling

This text presents a new proposal for an overall ride and handling metric to be used to optimise vehicle performance through concurrent simulation models. The proposed metric has the intention to cover simultaneously the most relevant aspects of a passenger vehicle dynamic behaviour. The individual models for ride and handling have been validated against physical measurements in order to assure a reliable output. A numerical optimisation method is used to simultaneously evaluate the complete vehicle dynamic performance related to the single overall metric. The results show an effective way to improve the vehicle performance based on this new proposed metric, with gains in terms of reduction in development time and cost for new projects.
Piglet mortality in commercial piglet production herds

Dodfodda grisar och smagrisdodlighet under diperioden leder till bade produktionsforlust och innebar dessutom forsamrad djurvalfard. Forluster orsakade av dodfodslar, smagrisar som klams ihjal av suggan och som svalter ihjal kan forebyggas genom god skotsel, bra djurstallar och avelsurval. For att lyckas med detta kravs att riskfaktorer for smagrisdodlighet kan identifieras. Syftet med den har studien ar att undersoka variationen i forekomsten av dodfodda smagrisar och dodligheten under digivningsperioden beroende pa kullnummer, kullstorlek, sasong och besattning. Ett andra syfte ar att faststalla om det finns nagon upprepbarhet for suggor vad galler forekomst av dodfodda smagrisar. Data erholls fran fyra kommersiella grisbesattningar, belagna i centrala Sverige, som anvander sig av besattningsovervakningsprogrammet ‘PigWin Sugg’. Data analyserades med hjalp av programvaran SAS (2010). Analysen begransades till information om grisningar under perioden juli 2006 och juni 2009, vilket gav ett underlag pa 24289 grisningar. Antalet dodfodda smagrisar i en kull okade med kullstorleken och med hogre kullnummer men var oberoende av arstid. Okningen av dodfodda smagrisar i hogre kullnummer kan bero pa okad kullstorlek hos aldre suggor. Dodligheten under digivningsperioden visade inget signifikant samband till antalet dodfodda smagrisar men till antalet levandefodda smagrisar i kullen. Detta tyder pa att kullar med manga dodfodda kultingar inte per automatik medfor hog dodlighet under digivningsperioden pa grund av lagre kvalitet pa de smagrisar som fods levande. Smagrisdodligheten under diperioden pavisade aven en negativ korrelation mellan totala antalet fodda smagrisar i en kull. Detta kan forklaras av att den individuella vikten vid fodseln ar lagre i storre kullar och att smagrisarna pa grund av det ar kansligare an smagrisar med hogre vikt vid fodseln. Upprepbarheten for att en sugga far dodfodda smagrisar var lag och den pavisade upprepbarheten i studien beror sannolikt pa miljofaktorer.
A Case Study of the Impact of the Middle School Data Coach on Teacher Use of Educational Test Data to Change Instruction

With the advent of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation in 2002 and its attendant increases in accountability pressure, many districts and schools currently embrace data analysis as an essential part of the instructional decision making process. In their attempts to overcome low achievement on state-mandated tests, some districts have begun employing data coaches. The study reported here, which was set in three middle schools in a northeast Texas school district, assessed the influence of the campus data coach on a middle school mathematics teachers' use of analyzed data to make instructional decisions. It also examined the extent to which the Data Coach/teacher relationship resolved teacher concerns about data-driven decision making. Phenomenological interviews with data coaches were guided by Seidman's (2006) three-series interview. Measurement of teacher use of data to make decisions was based on the concerns-based adoption model's levels of use interview protocol, stages of concern questionnaire, and innovation configuration map. By the end of one school year, two out of the three teachers never used data to make instructional decisions, although the non-users both had moved closer toward employing the innovation in their classroom. Data indicated all teachers were aware of the innovation, but all three ended the study with high personal concerns, signifying that the minimal efforts made by the data coaches to resolve concerns were not successful. This study's small sample gave the research paradigm of data-based decision making an in-depth glimpse into the process of implementing data-based instructional decision making and the Data Coach position on three middle school campuses in one large northeast Texas district.
FLAVONOIDS OF POPULUS BALSAMIFERA L. BUDS AND METHODS FOR THEIR ISOLATION

The buds of Populus balsamifera L. are a source of biologically active compounds, among which flavonoids are considered major. The aim of our study is to determine the optimal method for extraction by barothermal method, ethanol and supercritical carbon dioxide, isolation and purification of flavonoid components of Populus balsamifera L. buds. The article presents the results of a study of barothermic, alcohol extraction and extraction by liquid carbon dioxide of the raw materials of the Populus balsamifera L. buds. All three methods allow the extraction of biologically active flavonoids. Moreover, the completeness of the extraction of the flavonoids of the Populus balsamifera L. buds is achieved by the barothermic method. In turn, the extraction by liquid carbon dioxide allows the targeted extraction of pinostrobin with a high content in sum of Populus balsamifera L. buds substances. During chromatographic separation using petroleum ether : ethyl acetate as eluents, yield of flavonoids pinostrobin, tectochrysine, pinocembrin and chrysin is comparatively higher than when using other systems as eluents. Thus, for the preparative production of biologically active flavonoids pinostrobin, tectochrysine, pinocembrin and chrysin, we have determined the optimal conditions for extraction by the barothermic method and chromatographic separation of the sum of substances of Populus balsamifera L. buds.
Fitness-for-Service Methodology Based on Variational Principles in Plasticity

A variational formulation in plasticity has been used to develop improved limit load estimation technique, such as the m-alpha method. Lower bound limit load estimates are especially germane to design and fitness-for-service assessments. The concept of integral mean of yield has been applied to problems involving locally thinned areas (LTA) and local hot spots in the context of industrial pressure vessels and piping. Simplified procedures for fitness-for-service assessment, suitable for use by plant engineers, have been developed. The results are compared with the corresponding inelastic finite elastic analyses.
Development of a Global/Local Approach and a Geometrically Non-linear Local Panel Analysis for Structural Design

A computationally e±cient analysis capability for the geometrically non-linear response of compressively loaded prismatic plate structures was developed. Both a \full" ¯nite strip solution procedure and a \reduced" solution procedure were implemented in a FORTRAN 90 computer code, and comparisons were made with results available in the technical literature. Both the full and reduced solution procedures were demonstrated to provide accurate results for displacement and strain quantities through moderately large post-buckling loads. The full method is a non-linear ¯nite strip analysis of the semi-analytical, multi-term type. Individual ¯nite strips are modeled as balanced and symmetric laminated composite materials which are assumed to behave orthotropically in bending, and the structure is loaded in uniaxial or biaxial compression. The loaded ends of the structure are assumed to be simply supported, and geometric shape imperfections may be modeled. The reduced solution method makes use of a reduced basis technique in conjunction with the full ¯nite strip analysis. Here, the potentially large set of non-linear algebraic equations produced by the ¯nite strip method are replaced by a small set of system equations. In the present implementation, the basis vectors consist of successive derivatives of the non-linear solution vector with respect to a loading parameter. Depending on the nature of the problem, the reduced solution procedure is capable of computational savings of up to 60%+ compared to the full ¯nite strip method. The reduced method is most e®ective in reducing the computational cost of the full method when the most signi¯cant portion of the cost of the full method is factorization of the assembled system matrices. The robustness and e±ciency of the reduced solution procedure was found to be sensitive to the user speci¯ed error norm which is used during the reduced solution procedure to determine when to generate new sets of basis vectors. In parallel with this e®ort, a new method for performing global/local design optimization of large complex structures (such as aircraft wings or fuselages) was developed. A simple and °exible interface between the global and local design levels was constructed using response surface methodology. The interface is constructed so as to minimize the changes required in either the global design code or the local design codes(s). Proper coupling is maintained between the global and local design levels via a \weight constraint" and the transfer of global sti®ness information to the local level. The method was veri¯ed using a simple isotropic global wing …
3D Texture Analysis of Corpus Caliosum Based on MR Images Inpatients with Alzheimer’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

This study investigated three-dimensional (3D) texture as a possible diagnostic marker of Alzheimers disease (AD). Methods: T1-weighted MRI of 18 AD patients, 18 Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) patients and 18 normal controls (NC) were selected.3D Texture parameters of the corpus callosum,including contrast, inverse difference moment , entropy, short run emphasis, long run emphasis, grey level nonuniformity, run length nonuniformity and fraction were extracted from the gray level co-occurrence matrix and run length matrix. Finally statistic significance was tested among three groups, and the correlations between parameters and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were calculated. Results: The results showed that the 3D texture features had significant differences (p<0.05) among three groups except grey level nonuniformity and run length nonuniformity that the difference was not significant (p>0.05) between MCI and NC or AD and MCI , and they were correlated with MMSE scores.Conclusions: 3D texture analysis can reflect the pathological changes of corpus callosum in patients with AD and MCI, and it may be helpful to AD early diagnosis.
The First English Detectives: The Bow Street Runners and the Policing of London, 1750-1840

1. Introduction 2. Henry Fielding at Bow Street 3. John Fielding and the making of the Bow Street Runners 4. Detection: the Runners at Work, 1765-1792 5. Prosecution: the runners in court, 1765-1792 6. Fielding's Legacy: police reform in the 1780s 7. The Runners in a New Age of Policing, 1792-1815 8. Prevention: the Runners in Retreat, 1815-1839 Epilogue Bibliography
Predictors of Duration of Injury-Related Disability Leave

Background: Medical leave due to workplace injury is common in the US workforce and creates significant financial drain on the economy. Although there are abundant data relating the duration of medical leave to specific injuries, there is a paucity of research correlating the duration of medical leave with a patient’s attributes or occupation. The primary objective of this study is to examine the influence of specific occupational and patient characteristics on the medical leave taken by employees. Methods: Using records accessed from a major academic institution of 2449 patients reporting medical leave, 547 patients met the inclusion criteria. Worker occupations were divided into three groups based on level of physical activity required for the job. Patient characteristics available for analysis included age, education level, sex, type of injury, and type of medical claim. The association between these factors and duration of disability leave was analyzed using bivariate and multivariable analysis as well Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.Results: Bivariate regression analysis showed that days off work were significantly correlated to physical requirement group (p= 0.0002), age (p=0.00357), injury type (p=0.002), insurance claim type (p=0.0001), injured body part (p=0.001), and level of education (p= 0.0005). On multivariable analysis, physical group, level of education, body part injured, and claim type remained statistically significant. Patient sex did not show significant correlation to days off work.Conclusions: Age, claim type, level of physical requirement, body part injured, and educational requirement are independent predictors of days lost from work following injury. Physicians should be aware of these factors when estimating length of disability leave to patients and their employers.
It's all in the wrist : a quantitative characterization of human wrist control

Over the past three decades, much research in motor neuroscience has focused on understanding how humans make coordinated reaching movements, yielding valuable insight into the planning and control of reaching movements, and establishing a foundation for robot-assisted rehabilitation. The goal of this doctoral research was to provide a quantitative characterization of humans’ wrist rotations, paving the way for intelligent robot-assisted wrist rehabilitation. More specifically, we have characterized the kinematics, dynamics, and adaptation of wrist rotations, and discussed implications for planning and control. Kinematics: It is well known that humans make relatively straight reaching movements, suggesting that reaching movements are primarily under kinematic control of hand position. We used a motion capture system to test if wrist rotations are also under kinematic control. We found that wrist rotations exhibit a pattern with significantly more path curvature and variability than reaching movements (p ≤ 0.001). While the increased path curvature could indicate that wrist rotations are not under kinematic control, this work provides evidence that the curvature is instead due to imperfect peripheral execution. Dynamics: In order to determine the exact cause of path curvature, an anatomically-accurate, mathematical model of the wrist was developed, including recent measurements of passive wrist stiffness. Combining experimentally-measured kinematics from human subjects with the wrist model revealed that moderately-sized wrist rotations can be approximated by a very simple model with virtually no loss in accuracy. Interaction torques, for which the nervous system compensates in reaching movements, are present but negligible in wrist rotations. Rather, wrist rotation dynamics are dominated by stiffness, which was shown to be the likely cause of path curvature. Adaptation: When perturbed during reaching movements, humans adapt by straightening their paths, confirming that kinematics play a prominent role in planning reaching movements. We found that subjects consistently adapted to a conservative, velocity-dependent force field. Interestingly, this adaptation was more difficult to detect than in perturbation studies involving reaching movements. Taken together, these results suggest that wrist rotations are also primarily under kinematic control (albeit imperfect). Thesis supervisor: Neville Hogan Title: Professor, Mechanical Engineering Professor, Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Treatment of seasonal pesticides in surface waters

Numerous pesticides were monitored in surface waters in agricultural areas. Atrazine, alachlor, metolachlor, cyanazine, metribuzin, carbofuran, linuron, and simazine were found in the influent to three water treatment plants in stormwater runoff. Studies at these plants, together with bench-scale studies, demonstrated poor control by conventional treatment processes. The relatively high adsorption capacities of these agrichemicals indicate that granular activated carbon can be cost effective for their control. Powdered activated carbon applied at dosages used for the control of tastes and odors can also be effective if moderate percent removal is required.
Earthquake Loss Estimation for Europe's Historic Town Centres

To support decision-making on upgrading strategies of historic city centres, loss estimation techniques are needed, suitable for application to masonry buildings. This paper describes the development and application of such techniques to a case study in the Alfama District of Lisbon. The project involved a survey of 200 buildings to investigate structural features and condition, mapped using a GIS system, followed by analysis of key collapse mechanisms to define static collapse loads under horizontal forces for each building. The results, obtained in terms of earthquake ground motions likely to produce equivalent damage, led to the development of vulnerability functions for the case study, verified by comparison with functions derived from statistical analysis of world-wide damage reports and with damage reports of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. The method is used to predict the reduction in losses achieved by the introduction of low-cost unobtrusive strengthening techniques, such as tie-rods connecting facade walls to floors and cross-walls. Cost benefit analysis, considering only structural costs, indicates that the return on the investment would be considerable.
HEAD RESTRAINT POSITIONING AND OCCUPANT SAFETY IN REAR IMPACTS: THE CASE FOR SMART RESTRAINTS

In this study head restraint positioning was examined for drivers in the United States and front seat passengers in both the United Kingdom and the US. Video footage of real world driving situations was analyzed to provide data on the position of head restraints, together with details of occupant and vehicle characteristics. At least 88% of occupants had the restraint positioned too low, and in at least 24% of cases the restraint was too far from the head horizontally. These findings have serious implications for safety, particularly in rear impacts. There is, therefore, a need to improve head restraint design, and the arguments for smart restraints are examined. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD E201282.
Experimental study of vortex diffusers

This report documents experimental research performed on vortex diffusers used in ventilation and air-conditioning systems. The main objectives of the research were (1) to study the flow characteristics of isothermal jets issuing from vortex diffusers, (2) to compare the vortex diffuser`s performance with that of a conventional diffuser, and (3) to prepare a report that disseminates the results to the designers of ventilation and air-conditioning systems. The researchers considered three diffusers: a conventional round ceiling diffuser and two different styles of vortex diffusers. Overall, the vortex diffusers create slightly more induction of ambient air in comparison to the conventional diffuser.