Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Research on Integrated Liquefaction Assessment for Stone Column Applied in Coral Sand Area within High Earthquake Magnitude Zone

For deep and thick coral reef sand with high fine contents in high magnitude zone where the traditional vibro-compaction is not sufficient to compact, the stone column shall be applied as liquefaction mitigation measurement. Based on the analysis of the three major anti liquefaction criterion of stone column, an integrated evaluation method combined densification, shear stress distribution and drainage criterion for liquefaction mitigation was proposed, further a field test with 10.1% replacement ratio was launched. According to the analysis of the test result, the loose reclamation coral sand could be improved to an average 4.3 times SPT N value comparing. While for the medium dense coral sand, the densification among columns is limited, SPT N value is only increased by 1.3 times, and the densification decreases with fines content increasing. Further, the safety factor of liquefaction is only 0.70 and 1.01 when only considering densification criterion, or combined with shear stress redistribution criterion. However, if assessed by integrated assessment method which is mainly based on drainage criterion together with densification criterion and shear stress redistribution criterion, the calculated pore pressure ratio is still far less than the design value of 0.6 and that indicated the risk of liquefaction is still low. Moreover, when the bottom feed vibro-replacement process is adopted, the permeability coefficient of stone gravel is expected to reduce by half after stone column construction completion.
Comparison of Declarative-Interrogative Intonation in Lampungnese

Intonation is a suprasegmental feature of language that constructs the meaning of utterances. The meaning constructed can be different from the lexical meaning and syntactical structure. This paper tried to examine the intonation system in the Lampung language, especially the acoustic characteristics which distinguish between declarative and interrogative. In this research, the researcher applied the IPO approach to collect and analyze data. Data were gathered by recording native speakers uttering declarative and interrogative sentences that were segmentally identical. Having the data, a perception test was conducted to get the best utterances for each mode as a contour prototype. Next, both prototypes were analyzed respectively using Praat software to find out each acoustic characteristic. Then, they were compared to find the suprasegmental features that characterize the acoustic features of each sentence mode. Based on the analysis, both intonations differed in the pitch of initial, final subject constituent, final complement constituent, initial predicate constituent, final pitch, peak, range of pitch, and duration of utterances. In addition, pitch of peak (H1) and slope (H2) were identified as the most influential component in the formation of a sentence model. Therefore, experiments of manipulating those acoustic features (H1 and H2) and testing them on the perception of native speakers were held to prove the identification. The result of the perception test showed that the peak significantly distinguished the mode of the sentence, the higher pitch of the peak determined the interrogative mode. While the second identification did not give any contribution in creating the meaning.
How to Make Butter out of Guns: The Turkish Case and the Greek Bitter Lesson

: Purpose: This paper aims at assessing the links between defence expenditure and the growth of the Greek and Turkish economies. The issue appears to be of particular interest for Greece, given the increased defence priorities of today on the one hand, and the shortage of resources on the other. Design/Methodology/Approach: Using NATO and SIPRI databases we construct a system of behavioural equations for both countries. We estimate the system using GMM to assess the extent to which the development of a domestic defence industrial base (DIB) will contribute to the growth of the economy, the reduction of unemployment via the spin-offs and the import substitution of defence equipment. Findings: The results indicate that unlike the positive impact of the Turkish defence industry on economic growth, the cost imposed on the Greek economy due to the negligible contribution of its defence industry is hard to bear in view of the recent geopolitical developments in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. Practical Implications : Promoting a sound defence industrial base contributes to growth. If the industrial base is considerably defence-oriented, contributes to self-sufficiency, immediate response in cases of emergency and less dependence on foreign suppliers. Originality/Value: Unless Greece proceeds to an import-substitution policy regarding defence procurement, the increased requirements in view of the recent geopolitical developments will impose a prohibitive cost on the economy.
The effect of materialism, satisfaction and trust upon attitudinal loyalty: The case of denims

ABSTRACT This paper investigates if attitudinal loyalty can be determined by materialism, satisfaction and trust of customers. Data collected from 721 Indian consumers were empirically tested using SEM for the reliability of the measurement model and relationships between constructs. This pioneer study demonstrates the assimilated influence of materialism, satisfaction and trust upon attitudinal loyalty. This research finds that materialism is significantly related to satisfaction. Satisfaction is also significantly associated with both trust and attitudinal loyalty. Further, trust was positively linked to attitudinal loyalty. Attitudinal loyalty varies with customer’s age and frequency of purchase, while trust varies due to gender, place of purchase, jeans life and cohabitance.
The financial performance of listed companies in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

Abstract Socially responsible companies whose values are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) contribute to creating wealth and long-term economic and social value. This alignment leads to a competitive advantage based on the triple bottom line that enhances financial performance. In this paper, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is used to identify the configurations of conditions that lead to high or low financial performance (return on equity) for a sample of companies in the IBEX 35. Firms should adopt business models that embrace the SDGs because sustainability-based models can ensure not only the present but also the future of generations to come.
Engaging People on Climate Change: The Role of Emotional Responses

ABSTRACT Overcoming climate change skepticism and disengagement is a pressing challenge. Evidence suggests that reactions to climate science and proposed solutions are strongly driven by emotion. This paper explores whether negative emotional responses to learning about climate impacts support recognition of the reality and risks of climate change, and whether narrative-based climate communication is an effective means of eliciting such emotions. In an experiment among U.S. residents, participants read narratives about climate change-related warming at the North Pole designed to elicit an emotional response. They reported on their emotional reactions; climate change attitudes, intentions, and behaviors; and demographics. We found that experiencing negative emotion increased acceptance of, concern about, and willingness to take action on climate change. Strong negative emotional response was particularly influential in changing climate attitudes for conservatives. A similar pattern of results was, surprisingly, observed for positive emotional response. Climate narratives were successful in eliciting negative and positive emotional responses, across both factual and emotion-laden narratives. These findings suggest that enhancing emotion through climate communication may be a promising tool for counteracting biased assimilation of controversial scientific information, and for engaging audiences who might otherwise dismiss or avoid the issue of climate change for group-identity or ideological reasons.
Composting Hydrochar-OFMSW Digestate Mixtures: Design of Bioreactors and Preliminary Experimental Results

An increasing number of industrial plants integrate the anaerobic digestion (AD) of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) with a subsequent composting phase. To improve the plant productivity, a fraction of OFMSW digestate can be converted into a carbonaceous material, called hydrocar (HC), through Hydrothermal Carbonization (HTC), and then composted together with the OFMSW digestate itself, to produce “hydrochar co-compost”. The aim of this paper is to present the design and assembly of batch bioreactors, built in-house to investigate the co-composting process of OFMSW digestate and its HC, and to provide some preliminary results. The OFMSW digestate from an industrial plant was carbonized at 200 °C for 3 h in a 2 L HTC reactor, to produce wet HC after filtration. The ratio of OFMSW digestate and green waste (1:1) used as bulking medium was reproduced in four bioreactors with an increasing percentage of HC substituting the OFMSW digestate (0, 25, 50, 75%). The bioreactors managed to effectively compost the solid wet biomasses in a wet environment with temperature and oxygen control, while measuring online the oxygen consumption and thus the dynamic respirometric index (DRI). The DRI24,max measured with AIR-nl solid respirometer (standardized offline measurement) started from values above 800 mg O2 kgVS−1 h−1 before composting and dropped at the end of the process to values in the range 124–340 mg O2 kgVS−1 h−1 for the four mixes, well below the recommended limit of 500 mg O2 kgVS−1 h−1 for high-quality compost stability. These offline DRI values were confirmed by the online DRI measurements. This research is part of the international C2Land Project funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (EIT Climate-KIC), which is greatly acknowledged.
The Relationship between Yield Curve and Economic Activity: An Analysis of G7 Countries

The yield curve is an important tool to assess the economic progress of a country. In this study, we examine the strength of the relationship between term spread and economic activity, and between the components of the yield curve and economic activity in the G7 countries using monthly data on yield rates and seasonally adjusted data on the industrial production index (IPI). After matching the start and end date of the IPI with the yield rates, the data used and respective time period are as follows: Canada: March-1994 to December-2018, France: January-1999 to December-2018, Germany: October-2005 to December-2018, Italy: July-2009 to December-2018, Japan: July-1994 to January-2019, the UK: January-1994 to December-2018, and the US: February-1990 to January-2019. The results show positive associations between term spread and economic activity for Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US. For Italy, a negative association is noted. All three empirical factors could predict economic activity for France and Germany at the 12-month horizon only. For all other horizons, the factors’ ability to predict economic activity varies. We observe that by including additional macro-finance variables such as the current economic growth rate and the 3-month yield rate to capture the term structure level effects, the relationship between term spread and economic activity becomes stronger. This implies that the usefulness of yield curve and its decomposed components for the purpose of predicting economic activity should be cautiously modelled and employed for policy.
Discovery of flower‐visiting fishflies: Adult Neochauliodes amamioshimanus (Megaloptera: Corydalidae) nocturnally forages on Schima wallichii ssp. noronhae trees

In the Megaloptera (alderflies, dobsonflies, and fishflies), a small taxon usually known for being aquatic insects, the bionomics of terrestrial adults in natural habitats remains largely unexplored. Here, we report the flower‐visiting habits of the adult nocturnal fishfly Neochauliodes amamioshimanus on Amami Island, the central Ryukyus, Japan. Field observations and examination of fishfly excrement revealed that the fishfly species routinely visits the carpenter bee‐pollinated tree Schima wallichii ssp. noronhae for pollen. For adults, pollen is probably an important food source because the excrement samples from both sexes frequently contained pollen. Furthermore, the intrafloral behavior suggested that flower‐visiting individuals also ingest nectar. Although some alderfly species have been presumed to visit flowers for food ingestion, the present study is the first to fully document floral resource utilization by megalopterans in natural habitats. We also discuss whether the fishfly species serves as a supplementary pollinator for the trees while foraging at night.
The Surface Chemistry of Hydrophobic Silica Aerogels

: The properties of silica aerogels, and the ability to prepare them by ambient pressure drying, hinge on their chemical surface modification. Until now, quantitative analysis of the surface chemistry has not been possible by state-of-the-art analytical methods. Here, we determine the surface chemistry of six archetypal, ambient pressure dried, hydrophobic silica aerogels and open-porous foams with quantitative 1 H, 13 C and 29 Si and 1 H-29 Si heteronuclear solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The quality of the external calibration, the validation by elemental analysis and the consistency between the 1 H, 13 C and 29 Si MAS NMR data, enable us to robustly quantify the surface chemistry of these classical silica materials. Four aerogels were derived from tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), polyethoxydisiloxane (PEDS) or waterglass precursors and hydrophobized with trimethylsilyl (TMS) groups through immersion in hexamethyldisilazane (HMDZ) in heptane, trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) in heptane, or hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) in ethanol. The resulting aerogels display remarkably similar chemistries despite their very different precursors (alkoxides, waterglass), hydrophobization agents (HMDZ, TMCS, HMDSO) and gelation and hydrophobization solvents (water, ethanol, heptane). The TMS content is nearly the same (22-27 wt%), the ethoxy content is low (<4 wt%) and the silica speciation displays a narrow range for all four aerogels. The 1 H-29 Si heteronuclear correlation spectra provide unambiguous evidence for the grafting of the TMS groups on the silica surfaces. Remarkably, the NMR data enables the prediction of the silica particle size to within 1 to 2 nm of that derived by TEM analysis. Two additional, inherently hydrophobic, ambient pressure dried, open-porous silica foams were synthesized from methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) and from a MTMS-dimethyldimethoxysilane (DMDMS) mixture, respectively. The reduction in the number of bridging oxygen per Si atom, from 3.76-3.90 for TEOS, PEDS or waterglass based aerogels, to 2.86 for the MTMS based open-porous foam and to 1.90 for the MTMS-DMDMS derived open-porous foam, results in a brittle to super-flexible transition. Our results highlight the importance of the chemical treatment of the wet gels (hydrophobization and solvent exchange) on the final surface chemistry of silica aerogels.
STUDENTS’ INTENTION TO USE EMOTION-AWARE VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: DOES A LECTURER’S INTERACTION MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Purpose – This study explored students’ perspective of using emotion-aware Vertual Learning Environment (VLE) in Malaysia’s higher education institutions. The purpose is to investigate the relationships among dimensions of Technology Readiness Index (TRI), attitude, intention to use VLE, and lecturer interaction. The outcomes concerned the emotions involved in the educational process of Malaysia’s higher education institutions. Methodology – Quantitative data were collected via an online survey from 260 students. An empirical analysis was then conducted using structural equation modelling (Smart PLS) in two phases: (1) examining the direct effect of students’ attitude on VLE adoption intention and (2) examining the indirect effect of constructs using lecturer interaction as a mediator. Findings – The findings revealed a significant mediating role of lecturer interaction on the relationship between attitude and intention to use VLE across the student cohort. Inhibitors, such as insecurity and discomfort, were less significant in affecting students’ attitude towards emotion-aware VLE. The results indicate that students are motivated to use VLE when lecturers understand their emotions and react accordingly. Significance – This is one of the studies pertaining to emotions in VLE and lecturer interaction in higher education institutions. The results facilitate an understanding of the pedagogical role of lecturer interaction as a practical learning motivation. It is of particular interest to curriculum and e-learning stakeholders looking to improve students’ interactions with the VLE systems. Apart from extending the current literature, this study has significant practical implications for education management in higher learning institutions. Keywords: Emotion-Aware VLE, Technology Readiness Index (TRI), Attitude, Intention to Use, Lecturer Interaction, online learning, Smart PLS, Higher Education.
Understanding Behavioral Regulation Towards Physical Activity Participation: Do We Need a Paradigm Shift to Close the Gender Gap?

Despite the well-established benefits of physical activity for both physical and psychological health, current inactivity prevalence continues to be particularly alarming among adolescents and youth. Equally of great concern is the existence of striking gender differences that represent a serious threat to reverse this problem. We aimed to analyze gender-related differences in self-reported physical activity and motivational regulations in a population-based sample of Spaniard adolescents and young adults (n = 9949). To this aim, we used an explanatory mixed-methods design by integrating quantitative and qualitative data using self-determination theory (SDT) as an analytic framework. Our results reported a gender imbalance in physical activity levels and autonomous forms of motivation to the detriment of adolescent girls and young women. An earlier and steeper age-related decline both in activity and volitional types of motivation was observed in girls. Qualitative outcomes depicted a range of key cognitive and contextual mechanisms undermining the degree to which physically active behaviors are volitionally undertaken among women. These findings highlight the importance of implementing gender-sensitive policy approaches and may have a useful application in suggesting how contextual factors and exercise settings can be addressed to foster volitional types of physical activity engagement in adolescent girls and young women.
Ammonia and PM2.5 Air Pollution in Paris during the 2020 COVID Lockdown

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown reduced anthropogenic emissions of NO2 in Paris. NO2 concentrations recorded in 2020 were the lowest they have been in the past 5 years. Despite these low-NO2 levels, Paris experienced PM2.5 pollution episodes, which were investigated here based on multi-species and multi-platform measurements. Ammonia (NH3) measurements over Paris, derived from a mini-DOAS (differential optical absorption spectroscopy) instrument and the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) satellite, revealed simultaneous enhancements during the spring PM2.5 pollution episodes. Using the IASI maps and the FLEXPART model, we show that long-range transport had a statistically significant influence on the degradation of air quality in Paris. In addition, concentrations of ammonium (NH4+) and PM2.5 were strongly correlated for all episodes observed in springtime 2020, suggesting that transport of NH3 drove a large component of the PM2.5 pollution over Paris. We found that NH3 was not the limiting factor for the formation of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3), and we suggest that the conversion of ammonia to ammonium may have been the essential driver.
State‐wide population characteristics and long‐term trends for eastern box turtles in North Carolina

Turtles are in decline worldwide, and the magnitude and recent acceleration of population declines requires immediate action to inform conservation and management plans. Long-term studies of population trends and characteristics covering multiple populations across a range of environmental contexts are needed to guide the most effective management decisions, yet such studies are uncommon. Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) populations have declined and require conservation action throughout much of their range. We assessed sources of variation and temporal trends in T. c. carolina population characteristics from 39 sites spanning four ecoregions in North Carolina using capture–mark–recapture. Surprisingly, there was no evidence of population decline at any site over a ten-year period (2008–2017). Population densities ranged from 0.2 to 6.0 turtles per hectare, decreasing with more urban development and increasing with more wetland habitats in the surrounding landscape. Populations varied in demographic structure but had similar sex ratios and more adults than immature turtles in each ecoregion even after adjusting for variation in encounter probability among groups and body sizes. Survivorship was similar among life stages and sexes and only weakly related to body size. After adjusting for emigration, annual survival probability ranged from 90.7% to 96.8% for the various demographic groups and body sizes. Growth rates decreased with increasing body size, with rates ranging from approximately 15-mm carapace length per year in the smallest individuals to near zero in the largest individuals. No aspect of population demographic structure or vital rates was related to surrounding landscape context. Population trends and characteristics were consistent among ecoregions, suggesting no need for regionspecific conservation or management with respect to the population characteristics examined. However, given the high site-specific variability in nearly all estimated parameters, managers would benefit from targeting local threats such as urban land development and wetland destruction to ensure local population viability. The population characteristics reported here can serve as a useful baseline to compare population trends at these sites as monitoring continues. Our approach could be a useful model for other regions to follow in developing monitoring programs for this and other imperiled turtles.
Systematic cell placement in quantum-dot cellular automata embedding underlying regular clocking circuit

Quantum ‐ dot cellular automata (QCA) is gaining worldwide popularity due to its higher device concentration, lower power indulgence, and better switching speed. The information flows in QCA with the polarization state defined by the placement of electrons instead of current flow. The cell interaction principle under the influence of the clocking zone controls the cell placement during QCA circuit design. Most of the designs reported so far used random cell placement, which has no fabricating sense. Moreover, it is equally important for a cell placement algorithm to follow a realistic, regular underlying clocking scheme to maintain proper routing channels. In this regard, a systematic cell placement for the combinational logic circuit in QCA is proposed using the widely accepted underlying regular clocking scheme, universal, scalable and efficient (USE). The proposed method traverses all possible paths of a combinational logic circuit from output to input to build the desired circuit generating the automatic cell layout. A grid of clock zone of USE clock scheme is considered in the initial layout driving different paths of the circuit and finally evolves as the desired circuit. The generated automatic QCA layouts are competitive in occupied area, delay, and its cell count, which advocates the significance of such a scheme.