Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Noise Theory and Practice Contents

Rectangular box-like structures are used widely in a large number of engineering applications, e.g. as elements of railway carriages, heavy goods vehicles, buildings, civil engineering constructions, etc. Although flexible rectangular boxes represent one of the geometrically simple types of engineering structures, their structural-acoustic properties can not be described by closed-form analytical solutions. In the present study, a comprehensive numerical investigation of typical all-flexible rectangular box structures has been carried out to elucidate the physics of structural–acoustic interaction in them and to explore the possibilities of reduction of the associated structure-borne interior noise. Finite element method has been used to compute the resonant frequencies, the mode shapes and the structural-acoustic frequency response functions of different rectangular box models. The obtained results could assist in better understanding of structural-acoustic properties of flexible rectangular boxes as well as of numerous more complex structures using rectangular boxes as their building elements.
Mexico’s efforts to improve its water management systems

Mexico has put a great deal of time and effort to improve their water management systems, to little avail. The purpose of this paper is to focus on Mexico’s efforts to improve its water systems, particularly in the rural areas, what the results are, and what can be improved. For literature review, the PRISMA method was followed. The results show that the government must be willing to work with local organizations and governments.
Evidence for a male-produced sex pheromone and behavioural responses of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) to the pheromone in a horizontal wind tunnel

Evidence for a male-produced sex pheromone and behavioural responses of male and female Bactrocera dorsalis to the pheromone were investigated using a horizontal wind tunnel under laboratory conditions. Responses of males and females to different combinations of live flies and male rectal glands were assessed by monitoring three behavioural parameters namely the number of flies performing upwind straight and zigzagging anemotactic flights over at least 50cm to the treatment, total number of flies landing on the treatment and the total number of flies moved into the upwind section of the wind tunnel after 20 minutes. Significantly high female responses to live males were recorded in all three parameters considered. Male responses to either males or females were considerably low. It is evident from the results that female B. dorsalis are attracted to males and not vice versa. Neither of the sexes was attracted by their own sex and the lack of responses of virgin males to virgin females can be considered to be strong evidence for the absence of any female odour attracting males. Female responses to male rectal glands were at their highest during the „dusk‟ period. Behavioral responses of females observed in the wind tunnel allow the conclusion to be drawn that the source of production or storage of the sex pheromone in B. dorsalis males is the rectal gland. In addition, these results confirm the previously reported observations that mating activity in this species occurs only during the dusk period. Key words: Bactrocera dorsalis, behavioral responses, male-produced sex pheromone, rectal glands, wind tunnel
Effects of cinnamon and rosemary oils on egg production, egg quality, hatchability traits and blood serum mineral contents in laying quails (Coturnix coturnix Japonica).

Bu arastirma, tarcin (CO), biberiye (RO) ve bu bitkisel yaglarin karisiminin (MO) yumurtaci bildircinlarda yumurta uretimi, yem tuketimi, yemden yararlanma orani, ic ve dis yumurta kalite ozellikleri, serum mineral duzeyleri ve farkli cinsiyet oranlarinda [1/3 and 1/5, (♂/♀)] kulucka ozelliklerini tespit etmek amaciyla yapilmistir. Toplam 192 adet bildircin kontrol ve uc deneme grubunu iceren ozel kafeslere yerlestirilmistir (12 bildircin/kafes). Arastirma iki ay surmustur. Arastirmanin sonunda her gruptan 12 adet bildircin kesilerek kanlari alinmistir. Serum orneklerinde Cu, Co, Cr, Zn, Fe, K, Na ve Mg duzeyleri tespit edilmistir. En yuksek yumurta agirligi RO grubunda tespit edilirken, en dusuk yumurta agirligi MO grubunda bulunmustur (P 0.05). Yumurta kabuk orani CO grubunda artarken (P 0.05). Deneme diyetlerinin fertilite uzerine etkisi onemli (P 0.05) bulunmustur. Serum K duzeyi CO grubunda onemli (P 0.05). Bu calismanin sonucu tarcin yaginin yumurta uretimi ve kabuk kalitesi uzerine olumlu etkileri oldugunu gostermistir. Tarcin ve biberiye yagi karisimlari yumurta agirligi ve kumulatif yumurta agirligini olumsuz etkilemistir
Influence of Loading Speed on Acoustic Emission During Destruction of a Composite by Von Mises Criterion

In this study of the composite material’s destruction caused by transverse force with the use of von Mises criterion, the simulation outcomes of the composite material’s cells destruction process and generated AE signals with increasing the strain rate is considered. The time dependencies of the change in the number of remaining elements and the generated AE signals with increasing the strain rate are obtained. Simulation outcomes of the process of composite cells destruction by von Mises criterion and generated acoustic emission signals with increasing strain rate are presented. It was determined that with increasing strain rate of the composite, there is an increase of decline rate of the strain curve of the remaining cells in time and a decrease in time of the destruction process. It was found that with increasing strain rate of the composite, the amplitude of the generated acoustic emission signal increases while its duration decreases, along with gradual transformation of the acoustic emission signal into a triangular signal. It was determined that with increasing strain rate of the composite, the pattern of change in the maximum amplitude of the generated acoustic emission signals has a linear character of increase, and their duration – nonlinear character of decline.
Perceptions and Punishment of Human-Animal Altercations Perceptions and Punishment of Human-Animal Altercations

Humans and animals have a widely varying relationship which has been studied at length. Examining our interactions with animals in negative contexts can help us further understand the factors that’s influence the nature of the human-animal relationship, particularly with our most popular companion animals. This study continues the use of a jury design, previously used in studies regarding animal abuse, to examine responses to a scenario of an altercation resulting in a dog biting a person. In this study, 243 undergraduate students read the scenario presented to them and completed a survey examining their judgements of blame and punishment for the incident. In the interest of examining the effects of different variables, participants were randomly presented with 1 of 18 potential scenarios in which the role of the human in potentially provoking the dog, the breed of the dog involved, and the degree of damage inflicted were manipulated. Results showed an avoidance toward making any judgements on the dog’s disposition, neither positively nor negatively. Additionally, some gender differences were discovered in responses related to euthanasia, blame on the owner, and the promotion of an obedience training program. Surprisingly, degree of damage did not have significant effects on responses, while dog breed differences revealed that participants placed greater blame and responsibility on owners of Pit bulls rather than the dog itself, which is potentially explained by the sample’s age demographics. The manipulation of human provocation of the incident proved to have the most significant effect of participant responses of blame and punishment, affecting perceptions of blame attributed to the dog and the victim, as well as the punishments and protections deemed appropriate. The results suggest an emphasis on human component in the perceptions of the human-animal relationship and provide insight on the variables relevant to the relationship.
Referee comment response on the manuscript: Evaluation of a new snow albedo scheme for the Greenland ice sheet in the regional climate model

Review #1 by Stephen Warren (1) Lines 28-29. “With coarser grains, the likelihood for light to reflect off a grain’s surface out of the snowpack reduces, lowering the albedo. ” This is not true; reflection off a grain’s surface is independent of grain size and is anyway a minor contributor to the albedo; successive refraction instead dominates (Bohren and Barkstrom, 1974). The correct explanation for dependence of albedo on grain size is given by Warren (2019, cited in the paper): “In coarse-grained snow, a photon travels a longer distance through ice between opportunities for scattering than in fine-grained snow, so it is more likely to be absorbed, and therefore a snowpack of coarse grains has lower albedo. ” As our description was indeed inaccurate, we changed the following: Page 2: With coarser grains, light has to travel longer through ice before it has the opportunity to reflect off a grain's surface out of the snowpack than for fine-grained snow, hence lowering the albedo (Wiscombe and Warren, 1980; Gardner and Sharp, 2010; Picard et al., 2012, Warren, 2019). Fresh snow with a small grain radius.
Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide or Somatostatin Inhibits Homing of Intestinal CD8~+ Lymphocytes in Rats

To observe the effect of vasoactive intestinal peptide(VIP) or somatostatin (SST) on the lymphocytes traffic in gut associated lymphoid tissues in rat, 18 rats were divided into three groups at random VIP or SST were continuously infused from femoral vein at a dose of 60 pmol / h for 7 h It was found that the lymphocytes in intestinal lymph collected in 5 hours were significantly reduced after VIP or SST administration( P 0 05) Although the volume decrease of intestinal lymph was appeared in all groups, no significant changes in lymph flow were observed in control and treated groups The percentages of CD8 + cells in intestinal lymph of rat treated by VIP or SST was markedly lower than that in control group ( P 0 05) Finally, either VIP or SST infusion reduced CD8 + cells in the small intestinal mucosa when compared with control It concludes that either VIP or SST not only reduces lymphocytes, especially CD8 + cells traffic from intestinal mucosa immune system to other organs and systemic immune system but also suppresses the homing of CD8 + lymphocytes into intestinal mucosa immune system in rats
Internet Use by Horticultural growers in Flanders, Belgium: Limits and Future

Internet can support horticultural growers in the management of their business. Information can be obtained, financial transactions can be performed, farmers can contact government services and advisors, etc. According to the national agricultural census 53% of the Flemish horticultural holdings own a computer. The percentage of holdings with a computer increases with the dimension of the firm and with the education level of the manager; it decreases with the age of the manager. In a survey of 163 horticultural holdings with internet the managers were interviewed on their use of internet. 64% of the managers use internet less than 3 hours per week, 17 % use it 3 to 5 hours per week and 19 % use it more than 5 hours per week. The managers were asked about the applications they use on internet. The most popular application was home banking, followed by information on prices and yields of products and weather forecasts. More than 50% never consults websites of the government or of research institutes. Only 5 to 13% of the holdings use internet for E-commerce. Most of the managers do not have any idea if there is enough information available on internet, only for home banking the majority indicates that there is enough information on internet. 30% of the managers are prepared to pay for websites where they can advertise their own products, find local weather forecasts or detailed extension information on their own products. It seems that actually there are many more possibilities for the use of internet by horticultural holdings, but problems are the lack of useful information and the technical skills needed to find this information on internet.
An Efficient (n, n) Visual Secret Image Sharing using Random Grids with XOR Recovery

—Visual cryptography by name itself suggests cryptography related to images. It is a branch of cryptography that deals with the encryption and decryption of images. Visual cryptography demonstrates a visual secret sharing scheme in which an image has been divided into n shares and original image can be decrypt with these shares without / less computational efforts. This paper proposed an efficient (n, n) visual secret image sharing method using random grids. This scheme gives the complete retrieval of secret image using XOR stacking without the need of a codebook. The Random Grid based Visual Cryptography results no pixel expansion. The proposed method works for 3 n  (shares) for retrieval of original image. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method produces better results in terms of simplicity, visual quality and performance.
Establishing the risk denominator in a Sharpe ratio framework for share selection from a momentum investment strategy approach

Background: Based on the static mean-variance portfolio optimisation theory, investors will choose the portfolio with the highest Sharpe ratio to achieve a higher expected utility. However, the traditional Sharpe ratio only accounts for the first two moments of return distributions, which can lead to false portfolio performance diagnostics with the presence of asymmetric, highly skewed returns. Aim: With many criticising the standard deviation's applicability and with no consensus on the ascendency of which other risk denominator to consult, this study contributes to the literature by validating the importance of consulting value-at-risk as the more commendable risk denominators for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Method: These results were derived from a novel index approach that produces a comprehensive risk-adjusted performance evaluation score. Results: Of the 24 Sharpe ratio variations under evaluation, this study identified the value-at-risk Sharpe ratio as the better variation, which led to more profi table share selections for long-only portfolios from a one-year and five-year momentum investment strategy perspective. However, the attributes of adjusting for skewness and kurtosis exhibited more promise from a three-year momentum investment strategy perspective. Conclusion: The results highlighted the ability to outperform the market, which further emphasised the importance of active portfolio management. However, the results also conrfimed that active and more passive equity portfolio managers will have to consult different Sharpe ratio variations to enhance the ability to outperform the market and a buy-and-hold strategy.
Why someone did not stop them? Aversive racism and the responsibility of bystanders

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the impact of persistent racial bias, discrimination and racial violence is facilitated by otherwise well-intentioned individuals who fail to act or intercede. Utilizing the aversive racism framework, the need to move beyond awareness raising to facilitate behavioral changes is discussed. Examining the unique lens provided by the aversive racism framework and existing research, the bystander effect provides important insights on recent acts of racial violence such as the murder of Mr. George Floyd. Some promise is shown by the work on effective bystander behavior training and highlights the need for shared responsibility in preventing the outcomes of racial violence and discrimination to create meaningful and long-lasting social change. ,This paper uses literature based on the aversive racism framework together with the literature on the bystander effect to understand the factors, conditions and consequences for lack of intervention when the victim is African American. This paper also provides evidence and theory-based recommendations for strategies to change passive bystanders into active allies. ,The use of the aversive racism framework provides a powerful lens to help explain the inconsistencies in the bystander effect based on the race of the victim. The implications for intervention models point to the need for behavioral and competency-based approaches that have been shown to provide meaningful change. ,Several different approaches to address incidents of racial aggression and violence have been developed in the past. However, given the principles of aversive racism, a unique approach that considers the inconsistencies between self-perceptions and actions is needed. This sets a new agenda for future research and meaningful behavioral intervention programs that seek to equip bystanders to intercede in the future. ,The need to address and provide effective strategies to reduce the incidence of racial aggression and violence have wide-ranging benefits for individuals, communities and society. ,By connecting the aversive racism framework to the bystander effect, the need for different models for developing responsive and active bystanders can be more effectively outlined.
THE DUCAS: A PRELIMINARY PROPOSAL FOR A DIGITAL ULCER CLINICAL ASSESSMENT SCORE IN SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS

OBJECTIVES: At present, “healed/non-healed” and clinical judgment are the only available assessment tools for digital ulcers(DU) in Systemic sclerosis(SSc) patients. The aim of our study is to examine a preliminary composite DU clinical assessment score(DUCAS) for SSc for face, content and construct validity. METHODS: SSc patients presenting at least one finger DU were enrolled and assessed with Health assessment questionnaire disability index (HAQ-DI), Cochin scale, Visual analogic scale(VAS) for DU-related pain, global DU status(ptGDU) and patient global assessment as PROs and physician VAS for DU status(phyGDU) as a physician measure. The DUCAS included 7 DU related variables selected by a committee of SSc DU experts and weighted on a clinical basis. Face validity was examined though consensus and partial construct validity was tested through converting correlation with other measures of hand function, through Spearman’s correlation test. A range of SSc patients was examined. A linear regression model with forward and backward stepwise analysis was used to determine the relationship of individual variables with the primary clinical parameter, phyGDU. RESULTS: 44 SSc patients(9 males, mean age 54,3±15,6 years, mean disease duration 9,9±5,8 years) were enrolled in the study. Overall DUCAS showed significant positive correlations with all abovementioned PROs(r>0.4, p<0,01). When all scores and scales were modeled, only DUCAS significantly predicted phyGDU(r=0.59, R2=0.354, AIC=385.4). CONCLUSIONS: Preliminarily, we suggest that the DUCAS may be new clinical score for SSc related DU, having face validity, content validity and convergent/divergent correlations (construct validity). These early data need suggest that this score deserves further evaluation.
Investigating Metacognitive Think-Aloud Strategy in Improving Saudi EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension and Attitudes

The current study's objective examines the effectiveness of using a Think-Aloud strategy in improving Saudi EFL learners' reading comprehension and attitudes towards learning. A quantitative study with a quasi-experimental design was implemented through applying two different instruments: Reading Comprehension Skills Test and Attitude Scale towards learning EFL. The study adopts a pre-post control group design where forty students were randomly assigned to either a control or an experimental group. Students of the experimental group were instructed by using metacognitive Think-Aloud strategy, whereas, the control group received traditional treatment such as skimming and scanning techniques. The findings of the study showed that the attitudes and reading comprehension skills of the experimental group improved significantly as opposed to the control group. The study gives more insight into the importance of applying a Think-Aloud strategy in teaching reading comprehension inside EFL educational context. The study also suggests recommendations for EFL teachers to increase the efficiency of applying this strategy through their teaching procedures.
Design and Validation of a Powered Knee–Ankle Prosthesis With High-Torque, Low-Impedance Actuators

In this article, we present the design of a powered knee–ankle prosthetic leg, which implements high-torque actuators with low-reduction transmissions. The transmission coupled with a high-torque and low-speed motor creates an actuator with low mechanical impedance and high backdrivability. This style of actuation presents several possible benefits over modern actuation styles in emerging robotic prosthetic legs, which include free-swinging knee motion, compliance with the ground, negligible unmodeled actuator dynamics, less acoustic noise, and power regeneration. Benchtop tests establish that both joints can be backdriven by small torques (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\sim$</tex-math></inline-formula>1–3 N<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\cdot$</tex-math></inline-formula>m) and confirm the small reflected inertia. Impedance control tests prove that the intrinsic impedance and unmodeled dynamics of the actuator are sufficiently small to control joint impedance without torque feedback or lengthy tuning trials. Walking experiments validate performance under the designed loading conditions with minimal tuning. Finally, the regenerative abilities, low friction, and small reflected inertia of the presented actuators reduced power consumption and acoustic noise compared to state-of-the-art powered legs.
Time-Varying Term Structure of Oil Risk Premiums

This paper proposes to extract time-varying commodity risk premiums from multi-factor models using futures prices and analyst ́s forecasts of future prices. The model is calibrated for oil using a 3-factor stochastic commodity-pricing model with an affine risk-premium specification. WTI futures price data is from NYMEX and analyst ́s forecasts from Bloomberg and the U.S Energy Information Administration. Weekly estimations for short, medium and long-term risk premiums between 2010 and 2017 are obtained. Results from the model calibration show that risk premiums are clearly stochastic, that short-term risk premiums tend to be higher than long-term ones and that risk premium volatility is much higher for short maturities. An empirical analysis is performed to explore the macroeconomic and oil market variables that may explain the stochastic behavior oil risk-premiums.
Focus fronting, unexpectedness, and the evaluative dimension

This paper discusses the fronting of a focal constituent to a clause-initial position which, in various languages, is associated with an import of unexpectedness. We provide prosodic and syntactic evidence from Italian showing that this phenomenon has distinctive grammatical properties with respect to other instances of ‘focus fronting’. We argue that the fronted constituent bears narrow focus, and that the unexpectedness import conveys that the asserted proposition is less likely than at least one distinct focus alternative (cf. Grosz 2011). We characterize this import as a conventional implicature, and we argue that likelihood is interpreted with respect to an informative modal base and a stereotypical ordering source which are shared by the conversational community, thus allowing the negotiation of a shared evaluation. In order to incorporate evaluative meanings in the discourse context, we adopt and extend the componential view of the context proposed by Farkas & Bruce (2010).