Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inelastic Analysis of Mdof Systems Damaged by Earthquakes, Posteriorly Subjected to Wind Load

This paper deals with the analysis of the inelastic response of buildings originally damaged by earthquakes and subjected to earthquake aftershock and wind loading. The overall aim is to establish the effect of wind actions on structural stability. To that end, one four-story bare frame benchmarked by the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment, is subject to various levels of winds and earthquake joint load while monitoring changes on the ductility demand. In this paper is shown that the combined action of strong winds and earthquakes, however its low probability of occurrence, would cause a decrease of strength reduction factors and considerably increase the ductility demand of damaged infrastructure hence inducing additional risks that would otherwise remain unquantified. The paper examines the non-linear performance of Multi-degree of freedom systems subject to various levels of winds and earthquake load and deals with the estimation of strength reduction factors. This is a relatively unexplored area of research which builds on past developments whereby inelastic performance of buildings has been discussed. It also links to various other paths of development such as structural reliability, forensic and control systems engineering. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2021-03091675 Full Text: PDF
The Effect of Job Stress and Psychological Burnout on Child-care Teachers’ Turnover Intention: A Moderated Mediation Model of Gratitude

Introduction. Child-care teachers’ turnover intention is very high in Korea because of low wage and hard work which cause job stress and psychological burnout. There is need for research to reduce turnover intention using psychological variables such as gratitude. Our purpose in this study was to verify when gratitude affects the mediating effects of psychological exhaustion in the link between job stress and turnover intention of 234 childcare teachers in Korea. Study participants and methods. The participants in this study were 234 child-care teachers from Korea. Among the participants, 78.6% were married and 21.4% were single. The most common age group was 40s with 49.1%, 30s with 23.6%, 20s with 15.0%, and 50s with 12.3%. For analysis, we used SPSS Win.25. 0 and PROCESS macro for SPSS 3.5 programs to do descriptive statistics analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and moderated mediation effect analysis. Results. First, turnover intention had a positive correlation with job stress (r = .506, p<.01) and psychological burnout (r = .571, p<.01), and a negative association with gratitude (r = - .339, p < .01). Second, conditional indirect effects of gratitude on the relationship between job stress and turnover intention through psychological burnout were significant (p < .001) when the gratitude value was low (M-1 SD), average (M), or high (M+1 SD). Therefore, the moderated mediation effect of gratitude was verified. Practical significance. This study found out that gratitude of childcare teachers alleviates their turnover intention. This result will be used as a model to reduce the degree of turnover intention by using the gratitude of child-care teachers.
Family Responsive Policies and Employee Turnover Intentions, the Mediating Role of Work Stress: Perspectives from a Developing Country

: Purpose: This study examines the link between organizations’ family responsive policies and employee turnover intentions, with work stress as a mediating factor. Previous studies mostly situated in western contexts have focused on aspects of employee turnover intentions. Very few studies have considered family responsive policies and practices as factors in employees’ intention to stay or quit a job, particularly in a developing country. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study adopted a survey approach drawing on responses from a sample of 285 respondents from selected banks. Data were analyzed using Pearson Product moment in SPSS. Findings: Analyses showed a significant negative relationship between employee turnover intentions and family care services and benefits. Findings also showed a negative relationship between family responsive policies and stress. The work underscores the importance of family-responsive policies in managing turnover intentions of employees. It shows how work stress mediates the relationship between organizations’ family responsive policies and employee turnover intentions. Practical Implications: This study has revealed that these family responsive policies could be the organizations’ strategic corporate social responsibility towards their internal stakeholders. Further, organizations desiring to benefit from workplace diversity should aim at implementing these employee maintenance activities to attract competent members from a minority group, especially married women with children who still have the greatest responsibility of managing the family. Originality/Value: Empirically, this study is the first of its kind in Ghana conducted in a crucial sector of the economy, examining the relationship among family responsive policies, work stress, and turnover intentions.
Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill, but Jill Won Both Ways: The True Story about Differential Academic Achievement

This longitudinal study was designed to examine how science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) affected the success of high school women in comparison with high school men in mathematics and science, with English performance as a control. We analysed the four-year performance, course-taking, and retention of high school students (n = 186) in these three subjects in a school where STEM PBL was enacted. Students’ Texas state-mandated high-stakes test scores were collected. A repeated measures MANOVA was used for analysing changes in performance after infusing STEM PBL activities into their classes. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant change in scores for both men and women in mathematics and science; however, the attrition for women was much less than for men. We included implications for how to escalate women's performance and retention in STEM-based areas.
Branchial Chamber and Gastrointestinal Tracts Parasites of Fish Species in Benue and Niger Rivers, North Central, Nigeria

Freshwater fish species are posing health challenges by either serving as host of parasites that are harmful to man and animals. This study was conducted to determine the parasitic profile of the branchial and gastrointestinal tracts of freshwater fish species from Niger and Benue rivers at Lokoja. These fish species are Tilapia zillii, Oreochromis niloticus, Clarias species, Synodontis schall, and Megalops atlanticus. Fish samples were collected within a period of 12 months, and the species and sex of the fish were identified. The two opercula of each fish were removed and examined for parasites; parasites recovered were preserved in 0.7% physiological saline. Gastrointestinal tracts were removed from each fish, placed in physiological saline, and examined microscopically for parasites. Prevalence of parasites was calculated. The chi-square test was used to compare prevalence of parasites according to sexes, body parts examined, fish species, and parasites species, while the t-test was used to compare between gills and intestines of each fish species. The chi-square test was used to determine if any significant difference exists in prevalence between the sexes, body parts, fish species, and parasites species, while the t-test was used to determine if any significant difference exists in prevalence between the gills and intestines of each fish species. A total of seven parasites species were harboured in branchial chamber and gastrointestinal tracts of fish species from rivers Niger and Benue: Clinostomum sp. (trematode), Camallanus sp. (nematode), Capillaria sp. , Rhabdochona congolensis (nematode), Contracaecum sp. (nematode), Proteocephalus sp. (cestode), and Spinitectus guntheri. T. zillii (81 (95.3%)) had the highest prevalence, while O. niloticus, Clarias sp. , S. schall, and M. atlanticus had prevalence of 87 (89.7%), 96 (80.0%), 48 (70.6%), and 27 (38.6%), respectively. Out of the total fish samples examined, females (191 (80.3%)) were observed to harbour more parasites than males (148 (73.3%)). The gastrointestinal tracts (287 (65.2%)) significantly harboured more parasites than branchial chamber (52 (11.8%)). Fish species in rivers Niger and Benue are highly infected with parasites. Fish consumers should subject the fish to proper processing before consumption, as some of these parasites are of zoonotic importance.
Caplacizumab for Acute Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

Acute thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (aTTP) is a rare microangiopathic hemolytic anemia. Standard of care currently includes plasma exchange and immunosuppressive agents, including glucocorticoids, vincristine, and rituximab. Even with these therapies, relapse occurs in 36% of patients, and mortality ranges from 10% to 20%. Caplacizumab is a novel agent approved for the treatment of adult patients with aTTP in conjunction with plasma exchange and immunosuppressive therapies. It works by binding to the A1 domain of von Willebrand factor (VWF), blocking platelets from binding to VWF and aggregating. In clinical trials, patients who received caplacizumab compared with placebo were more likely to have a normalization of their platelet count, a lower rate of recurrence, and a lower incidence of the composite of aTTP-related death, recurrence, or major thromboembolic event. The side effect profile is rather benign and includes epistaxis, headache, and gingival bleeding. Caplacizumab is only available through specialty pharmacy services due to its high cost. Providers should be aware of and prepared for the prior authorization process required to assist their patients in gaining access to the medication. Currently, there is no formal consensus regarding caplacizumab's place in therapy for patients with aTTP, but it remains an option for refractory cases.
Prison as a Site of Intense Religious Change: The Example of Conversion to Islam

Based on the findings of mixed-methods research conducted with 279 Muslim prisoners in 10 prisons in England, Switzerland and France, this paper argues that contemporary European prisons are sites of intense religious change, in which many people born outside Islam and many born-Muslims believe in and practise Islam for the first time. In order to map this experience of intense religious change in prison, the paper articulates an original typology of conversion to identify Muslim converts as Switchers and Intensifiers. Both of these types of convert mobilise their Islam to turn to God in acts of repentance for their crime(s), to find a renewed purpose in life and to re-gain psychological balance and inner peace. By contrast, a minority of prisoners are Reducers, whose Islamic faith diminishes in prison. A minority of converts to Islam also persist or become more deeply entrenched in the Islamist Worldview of Us vs. Them. Therefore, while choosing to follow Islam in prison carries with it some criminogenic risk, conversion to Islam is significantly more likely to help than to hinder prisoners’ rehabilitation by enabling them to feel remorse for their crimes, reconnecting them with work and education and encouraging them to find emotionally supportive company.
Event-triggered consensus control of second-order nonlinear multi-agent systems under denial-of-service attacks

This paper investigates the event-triggered consensus problem of second-order nonlinear multi-agent systems subject to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, which make the communication network unable to provide normal services. Considering a general class of DoS attack with limited duration, a novel distributed event-triggered consensus protocol accompanied with first-order hold is adopted to guarantee the globally bounded consensus convergence under directed network topology. Based on the linear matrix inequality approach and Lyapunov stability method, consensus converging properties are analysed and sufficient criteria are obtained. Furthermore, Zeno-free triggering of our proposed protocol is demonstrated. Finally, a numerical simulation is given to show the effectiveness of our theoretical results.
Mechanical Properties of Typha Angustata/ Vetiver/Banana Fiber Mat Reinforced Vinyl Ester Hybrid Composites

ABSTRACT The natural fiber mat is a better replacement for synthetic fiber which is reinforced with polymer composites for advanced engineering application. For the first time, the present experiment was carried out to evaluate the mechanical properties of Typha angustata/Vetiver/Banana fiber/mat reinforced vinyl ester hybrid composites. Eight different types of single and bi-layer hybrid fiber mat composites at 45° and 90° direction were fabricated through compression molding techniques. The Typha angustata double-layer fiber mat composites yield excellent tensile and flexural properties. Tensile tests revealed that the ultimate strength is about 60 MPa, the tensile modulus is 3.56 GPa and elongation break at 1.39%. The flexural strength is estimated to be around 79 MPa, respectively. The Typha angustata/Banana mat composites exhibited better impact strength and hardness due to the hybridization of two natural fibers. The impact strength and hardness of composites are observed to be around 238 kJ/m2 and 82. The surface morphologies of the fractured composites specimen were characterized by scanning electron microscope analysis.
Policy on the move: the enabling settings of participation in participatory budgeting

ABSTRACT This article explores how participatory budgeting (PB), which is described as a travelling policy innovation, has been interpreted in different urban governance contexts, particularly how local settings that are created by contexts and practices enable participation in PB. Travelling policy innovations are sets of ideas or experiments that aim at renewing governance practices and are adopted globally. PB engages citizens to discuss, prioritize and decide about the use of public funds. With empirical data from the cities of Tampere, Łódź, and the Greater Manchester area the article demonstrates that settings of participation in PB are conditioned by (1) socio-political context, (2) objectives setting, (3) resourcing, (4) decision-making and (5) relationship-building. Based on an interpretive view on policy studies, it is argued that these settings enable participation in PB in three ways. Firstly, they influence the continuity of PB; secondly, they suggest particular roles for participants; and thirdly, they formulate the level of interaction. This is demonstrated with three operationalisations of PB, such as pop-up PB, traditional PB and do-it-yourself PB.
Irreversible bonding techniques for the fabrication of a leakage-free printed circuit board-based lab-on-chip in microfluidic platforms—a review

Lab-on-chip (LOC) is recognised as one of the most affordable solutions for integrating electronics and fluidics devices. In this field, bonding plays a vital role because it provides the means for attaching multiple components onto a substrate, transforming them into a microfluidic circuit. Bonding is an integral step, especially when designing a device that is free from leakage and eventual clogging. A comprehensive review of the latest irreversible bonding technologies is discussed in this paper, in which the focus is on the layered microfluidic systems with large sensor arrays. This review covers microfluidic devices fabricated from a rigid-type glass–fibre-printed circuit board and a thermoplastic flexible printed circuit with 186 references whose development date back three decades ago. The bonding techniques are organised into the following four groups: (a) adhesive bonding, (b) thermal and solvent bonding, (c) surface modification and dry bonding and (d) photoresist groups. Other techniques are available beyond these groupings, but they can be classified into the nearest group to facilitate the discussion. This paper will benefit researchers and practitioners aiming to develop polymer-based LOC devices.
Event-Mode Neutron Imaging Using the TPX3Cam - Breaking the Boundaries of Conventional Neutron Imaging Techniques

Imaging using scintillators is a widespread and cost-effective approach in radiography. While different types of scintillator and sensor configurations exist, it can be stated that the detection efficiency and resolution of a scintillator-based system is strongly depended on the scintillator material and its thickness. Recently developed event-driven detectors are capable of observing spots of light emitted by the scintillator after a particle interaction, allowing to reconstruct the Center-of-Mass of the interaction on the scintillator surface. This results in a more precise location of the event and therefore provides a pathway to overcome the scintillator thickness limitation and increase the effective spatial resolution of the system. Utilizing this principle, we present a detector capable of Time-of-Flight imaging with a flexible field-of-view, ad-hoc binning and re-binning of data based on the requirements of the experiment including the possibility of particle discrimination via the analysis of the event shape in space and time. It is considered that this novel concept might replace regular cameras in neutron imaging detectors as it provides superior detection capabilities with the most recent results providing an increase by a factor 3 in image resolution and an increase by up to a factor of 7.5 in signal-to-noise for thermal neutron imaging.
Fontes de zinco aplicado em sementes de sorgo cv. BRS 310 e o crescimento inicial

A aplicacao de zinco em sementes de sorgo podera afetar a nutricao e o crescimento inicial das plantas. Assim, objetivou avaliar a aplicacao de zinco na forma de sulfato e de oxido sobre a nutricao e o crescimento inicial da planta do sorgo cv. BRS 310. Os tratamentos foram constituidos de cinco doses 0; 14,3; 28,6; 57,2 e 114,4 g kg-1 de semente e de duas fontes de zinco, o sulfato (22% de Zn) e o oxido (50% de Zn). Cada unidade experimental constituida de bandeja de polietileno translucido preenchida com 5 L de areia grossa lavada, com 50 sementes do sorgo cv. BRS 310. Aos 25 dias apos a semeadura, efetuouse o corte das plantas, avaliou-se a massa seca da parte aerea e das raizes e determinou-se o teor e o acumulo de Zn nas plantas. A aplicacao de zinco na forma de oxido promoveu maior incremento de materia seca em plantas de sorgo e proporcionou maior eficiencia de utilizacao do micronutriente, embora, com menor eficiencia de absorcao, quando comparado a fonte sulfato. A fonte sulfato causou diminuicao na producao da massa seca do sorgo. As fontes promoveram alteracao na absorcao de outros nutrientes pelas plantas de sorgo, sendo que a fonte sulfato incrementou a absorcao de P, Ca, S e Mn e a fonte oxido maior absorcao de K, Mg, Cu e Fe.
Investigating the Relationship between Unemployment and Inflation in Nigeria

This study considered the impact of inflation on unemployment in Nigeria viz avis selected macroeconomic variables. The researcher adopted co integration, vector error correction model and VEC Granger causality test econometric procedure in the analysis of the data employed. The specific objectives of the study are; (i) to determine the extent to which inflation impact on unemployment in Nigeria within the period of study, (ii) to examine if government expenditure have any significant impact on unemployment in Nigeria within the period of study, (iii) to estimate the significant impact of foreign direct investment on unemployment in Nigeria within the period of study; (iv) to investigate the extent of direction of causality between unemployment and inflation in Nigeria within the period of study. The results of the research revealed long run relationship among estimated variables, VECM result showed a positive significant relationship between inflation and unemployment in the short run and long run, government expenditure and foreign direct investment maintained negative relationship with unemployment both in the short and long run. The VEC Granger causality test indicated causality among UNEM, INF and TGEX. The research recommended that (i) government should focus on policy and strategy that can attract foreign direct investment into the country, (ii) government should try to maintain low inflation rate through suitable monetary policy; (iii) government should encourage investment platforms and enabling environment for effective and efficient national output; and (iv) Government should consciously increase fiscal space for capital activities and projects that are capable of generating income, increase domestic and public spending, improve economic status and reduce unemployment. This paper concluded that the Philip’s curve hypothesis does not apply in Nigeria within the period of study as the result failed to establish an inverse relationship as postulated by A.W. Philips.
Damage by Improvised Incendiary Devices on Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites

This study focuses on short-term thermal degradation of polymer matrix composites by one-sided impact of improvised incendiary devices (IID). Specimens of two commercial composites HexPly® 8552/IM7 and M18-1/G939 with various thicknesses (1–8 mm) are systematically investigated as well as sandwich structures thereof, applying various amounts of fire accelerant predominantly in laboratory scale fire tests. Results of preceding large-scale fire tests with IIDs justify the chosen conditions for the laboratory-scale fire tests. The aim is to correlate the amount of fire accelerant with heat damage and residual mechanical strength. Thermal damage is characterized visually and by ultrasonic testing, infrared spectroscopy, and residual interlaminar shear strength. Matrix degradation and combustion only contribute to the overall amount of released heat by the fire accelerant for thin and especially vertically aligned panels as tested by a cone calorimeter (without electrical heating), but not for horizontally orientated and thicker panels. Degradation processes are discussed in detail. Protective effects are observed for typical coatings, a copper mesh applied for protection against lightning strike, combinations thereof as well as an intumescent coating. Especially sandwich structures are prone to severe damage by assaults with IID, such as Molotov cocktails.
Automatic heart disease class detection using convolutional neural network architecture‐based various optimizers‐networks

Early heart disease class detection is of great interest to reduce the mortality rate. In this context, computational techniques have been proposed to solve this issue. Thus, here, a deep learning architecture is proposed to automatically classify the patient’s Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal into a specific class according to the ANSI–AAMI standards. The proposed methodology is a multi ‐ stage technique. The first stage combines an R–R peak extraction with a low ‐ pass filter applied on the ECG data for noise removal. The second stage shows the proposed convolutional neural network ‐ based fully connected layers architecture, using different network optimizers. Different ECG databases, including challenging tasks, have been used for validation purpose. The whole system is implemented on both CPU and GPU for complexity analysis. For the predicted improved PTB data set, the classification accuracy results achieve 99.37%, 99.15% and 99.31% for training, validation and testing, respectively. Besides, for the MIT ‐ BIH ‐ database, the training, validation and testing accuracies are 99.5%, 99.06% and 99.34%, respectively. A top F1 ‐ score of 0.99 is obtained. Experimental results show a high achievement compared to the state ‐ of ‐ the ‐ art models where the implementation of GPU confirms the low computational complexity of the system.