Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Various Factors on the Drying Shrinkage of Basalt Fibre Reinforced Cement-Based Composites Designed by the Taguchi Method

Cement-based composites are widely used for various construction applications due to their outstanding mechanical and durability performance. However, the high drying shrinkage of cement-based composites has resulted in detrimental effects on its long-term performance. Drying shrinkage in cement-based composites causes cracks that serve as a pathway for the ingression of deleterious materials into the composites. Therefore, improving the drying shrinkage resistance of cement-based composites will result in an enhancement of the overall performance of the composites. The incorporation of short fibres and supplementary cementitious materials are some of the effective ways to improve the resistance of cement-based composites against drying shrinkage. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effect of the incorporation of basalt fibres and fly ash on the drying shrinkage of cement-based composites. This paper presents the results from the experimental and numerical investigation on the influence of various factors on the drying shrinkage of basalt fibre reinforced cement-based composites. The mixtures evaluated in this study were designed using the Taguchi method and a total of nine mixtures were made. The influence of the fly ash, water, sand and basalt content on the drying shrinkage of the mixtures were investigated. The findings from this study showed that the use of fly ash to cement ratio of 4, sand to binder ratio of 1, water to binder ratio of 0.25 and basalt fibre dosage of 2% is optimum to reduce drying shrinkage.
Distributional impact of tax and welfare policies: COVID-related policies and Budget 2021

In this article, we assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on unemployment in Ireland and estimate how family incomes have changed as a result of increased unemployment, calibrated to administrative sources for end-August. We then show how the direct and indirect tax and welfare measures enacted prior to Budget 2021 have helped to cushion pandemic-related income losses. Lastly, we assess the impact of Budget 2021 measures. We find that pandemic-related unemployment could have decreased household income by an average of 7 per cent across the population, with significantly larger losses for those who lost their jobs. Thanks to the initial policy response in the form of the PUP, wage subsidy and standard rate VAT cut, household income fell instead by 3 per cent on average. These losses are sharpest at the upper end of the income distribution, for the young, and for those in certain hard-hit sectors such as hospitality. The impact of Budget 2021, while less costly than the pre-budget measures, is similar in pattern, with above average gains for the bottom two-fifths of the income distribution and lower than average gains for those at the upper end. Without these interventions, income inequality would have increased substantially. Instead, our simulations suggest that the COVID-related interventions stabilised disposable income inequality, a significant feat given the job losses experienced. At risk of poverty rates were also stabilised by COVIDrelated policies but there is a risk that these indices may increase significantly once these supports are withdrawn. We conclude with some brief reflections on some of the challenges facing the government in the coming years. * The authors are researchers at the ESRI. Corresponding author: claire.keane@esri.ie. 1 Funding from the ESRI’s Tax, Welfare and Pensions Research Programme (supported by the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform, Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Health, Children and Youth Affairs and Finance) is gratefully acknowledged. We are grateful to the CSO for facilitating access to the Survey of Income and Living Conditions (SILC) Research Microdata File used to construct the database for the SWITCH tax-benefit model and to the Irish Social Science Data Archive for facilitating access to the Household Budget Survey used in the ITSim model.
Evaluation of the Clinical Features of 81 Patients with COVID-19: An Unpredictable Disease in Children

Abstract Objective Data on the prognosis of clinical features of pediatric patients affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is insufficient. This study aimed to examine the clinical, laboratory, and radiology findings of pediatric patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Methods A total of 81 pediatric patients with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 who were admitted to the pediatric clinics of our tertiary care hospital in Istanbul between March 22 and May 1, 2020, were included in the study. Results Of the patients, 40 (49.6%) were boys and 41 (50.6%) were girls. The mean age of the patients was 9.3 ± 5.5 years (range: 1 month–16 years). The most common symptoms were cough (28.4%) and fever (25.9%). A total of 26 patients (32.1%) had pharyngeal erythema. There was no significant difference between age groups in terms of symptoms, findings, clinical picture, history of contact, and clinical course (p > 0.001 for each). Abnormal findings were observed in seven (8.6%) patients on chest X-ray, and in four patients (4.9%) on thorax computed tomography. Only three of the patients were hospitalized and all of them discharged with healing. Conclusion The present study is the most comprehensive study on children diagnosed with COVID-19 in our country, which showed that the COVID-19 picture was mild in pediatric patients, but the signs and symptoms in children were not specific to the disease. Our findings also showed that the rate of asymptomatic infection in children was high and that it was difficult to recognize COVID-19 in children.
Localisation of logistics preparedness in international humanitarian organisations

PurposeTo meet the rising global needs, the humanitarian community has signed off on making a strategic change toward more localisation, which commonly refers to the empowerment of national and local actors in humanitarian assistance. However, to this date, actual initiatives for localisation are rare. To enhance understanding of the phenomenon, the authors explore localisation of logistics preparedness capacities and obstacles to its implementation. The authors particularly take the perspective of the international humanitarian organisation (IHO) community as they are expected to implement the localisation strategy.Design/methodology/approachA phenomenon-driven, exploratory and qualitative study was conducted. Data collection included in-depth interviews with 28 experienced humanitarian professionals.FindingsThe findings showed the ambiguity inherent in the localisation strategy with largely different views on four important dimensions. Particularly, the interviewees differ about strengthening external actors or internal national/local offices. The resulting framework visualises the gap between strategy formulation and implementation, which forms major obstacles to the localisation aims.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is required to support the advancement of localisation of logistics preparedness capacities. Important aspects for future research include triangulation of results, other stakeholder perspectives and the influence of context.Practical implicationsThe authors add to the important debate surrounding localisation by offering remedies to overcoming obstacles to strategy implementation. Further, the authors’ proposed framework offers a language to precisely describe the ways in which IHOs (should) view localisation of logistics preparedness capacities and its operationalisation.Originality/valueTo the best of authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first academic article on localisation within the humanitarian logistics context.
The role of community language radio for understanding creativity and wellbeing in migrant communities in Australia

Community radio—and community language radio specifically—occupies an important place in Australia's multicultural landscape. Members of many language communities arriving in Australia have been denied important opportunities in their home countries including outlets for self-representation and public creativity in their languages. Within Australia, radio provides an accessible means of creative expression, provides vital social connection for community members of all ages and generations, and supports social cohesion on a wider scale. This article explores how community language radio in Australia can play a critical role in supporting the wellbeing of both individuals and communities by providing an accessible and adaptable outlet for creative expression. This case study examines the practices of presenters from Australia’s largest community language radio station, 3ZZZ, which reports broadcasting in around 70 languages weekly. A sample of 16 presenters from the station completed an online, mixed-methods survey. The results afford discussion of the format and composition of community language programs as a form of cultural and language maintenance, the perceived role of creativity in program design and delivery, the perceived impact of the programs for the community, and the perceived role of the program for individual and community wellbeing. The findings are considered with respect to pertinent theoretical frameworks, exploring the implications concerning creativity, community, and wellbeing. The multifaceted results we present highlight how creative community language radio participation is able to contribute positively to wellbeing in the Australian migrant context.
Predicting Intentions of Pedestrians from 2D Skeletal Pose Sequences with a Representation-Focused Multi-Branch Deep Learning Network

Understanding the behaviors and intentions of humans is still one of the main challenges for vehicle autonomy. More specifically, inferring the intentions and actions of vulnerable actors, namely pedestrians, in complex situations such as urban traffic scenes remains a difficult task and a blocking point towards more automated vehicles. Answering the question “Is the pedestrian going to cross? ” is a good starting point in order to advance in the quest to the fifth level of autonomous driving. In this paper, we address the problem of real-time discrete intention prediction of pedestrians in urban traffic environments by linking the dynamics of a pedestrian’s skeleton to an intention. Hence, we propose SPI-Net (Skeleton-based Pedestrian Intention network): a representation-focused multi-branch network combining features from 2D pedestrian body poses for the prediction of pedestrians’ discrete intentions. Experimental results show that SPI-Net achieved 94.4% accuracy in pedestrian crossing prediction on the JAAD data set while being efficient for real-time scenarios since SPI-Net can reach around one inference every 0.25 ms on one GPU (i.e., RTX 2080ti), or every 0.67 ms on one CPU (i.e., Intel Core i7 8700K).
Slurry Phase Reactor Technology for DME Direct Synthesis

Dimethyl ether (DME) is an innovative clean fuel that can be used in various ways in many different sectors including household, transportation, power generation, etc. In order to use DME as a fuel, it must be produced in a highly efficient manner. As part of fundamental research, a new efficient catalyst and slurry phase process for DME synthesis were developed. After testing was carried out at a pilot plant (5 tons/day), the demonstration plant (100 tons/day) project was implemented from 2002 to 2006. The conversion of DME in the slurry phase reactor is dominated by W/F (W: Charged catalyst weight, F: Gas flow rate in the reactor), regardless of reactor scale (1 kg/day  100 tons/day). The gas hold up was measured by increasing the velocity of the gas up to 40 cm/s. Within this range, gas hold up increased smoothly without any sudden change of fluid phenomena or any negative effect on the chemical reaction. There is no clear dependence of the gas hold up on the reactor diameter. The mixing diffusion coefficient in the slurry phase and the heat transfer coefficient from slurry to heat exchanger tubes were determined. Based on these data, a process simulator has been developed that predicts that commercial scale production of 3,000 tons/day can be realized by a single reactor 7m in diameter and 50m high.
Interactions Between Xenobiotics and Microbial and Enzymatic Soil Activity

In the second half of the twentieth century, the indiscriminate release of xenobiotic chemicals of different chemical and structural complexity into the environment provoked serious and most often irreversible alterations of the natural environmental balance. Indeed, soil contamination by highly toxic compounds has greatly increased, with negative, irreversible effects on soil quality and health. Several chemical, biological, and biochemical soil properties have been profoundly altered, and their main effect has been the continuous loss of soil functions in sustaining the survival of living organisms. Among chemical pollutants, compounds like pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons arrive to the soil from different anthropic sources and have high toxicity toward humans, plants, and animals. Assessing the soil quality is a basic requirement for sustainable land use. Soil microbial and biochemical activities are sensitive to several natural and human-induced changes and may provide a helpful tool to assess soil status, its quality, and its productivity. This article is a survey of the mutual interactions establishing in a soil among xenobiotic substances with particular reference to pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and microbial and enzymatic soil activities.
The relative effects of L1 and L2 glosses on L2 learning: A meta-analysis

Glossing is a widely used and examined vocabulary learning tool, and one of the major branches of glossing research has compared the relative effects of first language (L1) and second language (L2) glosses on reading comprehension and vocabulary learning. However, the findings in this literature have not been consistent, calling for a comprehensive and systematic review. To this end, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the relative effects of L1 and L2 glossing on L2 reading comprehension and L2 vocabulary learning. Based on 78 effect sizes gathered from 26 studies representing 30 independent samples (N = 2,189), we found that L1 glossing was more effective than L2 glossing in general (Hedge’s g = .33, SE = .09, p < .001), but the effect size may vary depending on the target outcome measure. The relative effectiveness of L1 glossing was particularly supported by the results of immediate posttests of vocabulary, rather than delayed posttests of vocabulary and reading comprehension tests. Further, among a few selected moderator variables, the results of meta-regression revealed that learners’ L2 proficiency level significantly influenced the average effectiveness, such that L1 glossing is particularly effective for beginner learners compared to those with intermediate or higher L2 proficiency levels.
Attentional abilities of children enrolled in immersion education in French-speaking Belgium

ABSTRACT There is currently much controversy surrounding the cognitive advantages that are often associated with bilingualism, especially regarding the so-called executive control advantage. Recently, it has been suggested that bilingualism emerging from immersion education may not lead to an advantage in executive control, but rather to an improvement specifically at the level of attentional abilities. In order to test this hypothesis, the current large sample study involving over 500 participants investigated whether foreign-language immersion education can be associated with an advantage in attentional functions. We recruited 12-year-old children and 18-year-old adolescents enrolled in immersion education in French-speaking Belgium for at least 6 years. They were compared to non-immersed children and adolescents on tasks assessing auditory sustained attention, auditory and visual selective attention and divided attention. Several control variables such as nonverbal intelligence, socioeconomic status and other potentially relevant background variables were also considered. The results indicate no measurable difference between the immersed and the non-immersed participants, for none of the examined attentional abilities. These findings are discussed in the light of the cognitive implications of becoming bilingual through a formal education experience.
Influence of thermal gradients on the invasion patterns during drying of porous media: A lattice Boltzmann method

Drying of porous media sounds simple yet complicated to study the multiphase flow counterparts in porous media with intricate pore geometries. In the past, we have discussed the Lattice Boltzmann Model (LBM) as a powerful multiphase solver for the drying of porous media. In this study, we extend our previous work on the Shan Chen representation of the multiphase LBM to drying of porous media with imposed thermal gradients. A linearly varied stationary temperature profile is imposed concerning the depth of the porous medium, i.e., free evolution of temperatures due to the phase change is neglected. The preferential heating is divided into two kinds of gradients: First, the positive thermal gradient where temperatures varies linearly on an increasing order from top to bottom (e.g., the contact heating mode of drying). Second, the negative thermal gradient opposite the former (e.g., convective mode of heating). It is observed that the thermal gradient can lead to stabilizing and destabilizing drying fronts, where the latter situation incurs two drying fronts in a later period of drying. The novelty of this work is the establishment of thermal aspects to the previously discussed LBM and introduces the concepts of evaporation–condensation of trapped clusters and liquid bridges. The characteristics of thermal drying for stabilized and destabilized drying fronts is re-established at a magnified level of study using the developed LBM.
In vitro evaluation of fungicide and bio-fungicides against isolates of Alternaria solani Sorauer

In vitro control of Alternaria solani included studies of different fungicides, essential oils basil and ethyl extract of Allium cepa. In Romania in the case of tomato culture it is very low due to several production constrains including diseases. One such disease is the early blight caused by fungus Alternaria solani (Ell.) Martin. The isolate used in this study was obtained from tomato and it was cultivated on three culture media: potato dextrose agar (PDA), malt extract agar and Czapek Dox medium. Using chlorothalonil, thiophanate methyl, prochloraz, tebuconazole and cooper sulphate, they were evaluated in order to control colony growth of fungi, at the concentrations recommended in agriculture by the specialized literature. The extract of Allium concentration with three levels (3%, 75% and 100%) significantly stronger effect on reducing mycelia growth, reducing spore germination and causing high inhibition percentage of A. solani. The fungal effect of the essential oil basil is very low being close to that of the control.
Climate change effects on the thermal stratification of Lake Diefenbaker, a large multi-purpose reservoir

Abstract Large multi-purpose reservoirs serve not only to generate hydropower but to supply water for agricultural irrigation, animal and human consumption and to provide flood control. One of the key factors affecting physical functioning and deteriorating aquatic ecosystems in reservoirs is climate change. For instance, increases in water temperature accelerate chemical reaction rates, decomposition rates and oxygen demand at the water-sediment interface. Earlier thermal stratification onset, and longer and more intense reservoir thermal stratification are all consequences of global warming. Such disruptions in thermal stratification have been associated with reductions in hypolimnion dissolved oxygen, increasing anoxia events and enhancing reservoir eutrophication. In this research paper, we implement the 2 D hydrodynamics and water quality model, CE-QUAL-W2, to investigate the effects of climate change and streamflow scenarios on the thermal structure of Lake Diefenbaker, a large, multipurpose reservoir, located in Saskatchewan, Canada. Model results indicate that meteorological variability will dictate a nonlinear increase in reservoir water temperature in the coming decades, where larger increases in water temperature will occur during summer and fall in the upper layers. Also, decreases in reservoir streamflows will reduce water temperature at intermediate layers during summer and fall. Our model can be used as a tool to mitigate and manage the effects of climate change on the reservoir water quality.
Nickel toxicity: Effects on growth and metabolism of maize

Abstract Effects of graded concentrations of nickel on maize (Zea mays L.) growth and certain metabolic parameters were studied. Under nickel (Ni) stress conditions, leaves become chlorotic at low concentrations and necrotic at, relatively, high ones. Concerning its effect on plant growth, nickel reduces dry matter production, more significantly in root system which accumulates large amounts of Ni. In leaves, chlorophyll content was severely decreased. Furthermore, this metal induces leaf accumulation of soluble phenolics, starch and reducing sugars. The accumulation of carbohydrates in shoots might be, at least in part, the cause of root growth inhibition.
ASSESSING THE EFFECT OF AIRLINE SERVICE QUALITY ON IMAGE AND POST PURCHASE BEHAVIORAL INTENTION

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of airline service quality on image and post-purchase behavioral intention among the passengers. The exploratory cum descriptive research design was adopted. The purposive sampling technique was chosen to select valid respondents. Four hundred questionnaires were considered valid, and SPSS 25.0 was used to feed and analyze the data. The data for the study was collected through primary as well as secondary sources. The present study's essential findings are that better service quality affects airline image and post purchase behavioral intention of passengers positively. Moreover, a favorable airline image too affects the behavioral intention of passengers positively. The present research revealed that it is a better service quality and sharp airline image in a highly competitive environment that helps the airlines survive and increase their share in the market. The essential
Eviction Dynamics in Market-Rate Multifamily Rental Housing

ABSTRACT Evictions are a pressing issue facing many low-income renters. The growing scholarship on evictions generally groups together all types of evictions across multiple property and owner types. Eviction dynamics may differ, however, between publicly subsidized affordable housing providers and private, market-rate rental landlords, or between evictions filed for different reasons, such as non-payment of rent or for no-fault. We examine the neighborhood, property and owner characteristics of evictions in private market-rate rental housing. Analyzing all evictions filed in Boston Housing Court between 2014 and 2017, we find that in market-rate multifamily rental housing, eviction filings are more likely in more recently constructed or renovated nonowner-occupied properties with higher assessed values compared with other properties in the same neighborhood. Eviction filings are also more likely in neighborhoods with a higher share of Black renters, and lower average educational attainment, above and beyond neighborhood economic characteristics. Nonpayment and no-fault eviction filings show more similarities than they do differences. These findings suggest that policies designed to mitigate evictions and their impacts on low-income renters should take into account the salience of owner-occupancy status, property age and value, and the particularly precarious situation of low-income renters in neighborhoods where a majority of renters are Black.