Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment, Management, and Minimization

GENERAL A study of arsenic concentration distribution in groundwaters of the United States was reported by Welch et al. (2000). The compilation showed that arsenic concentrations in groundwaters exceeded 10 g/L in 105 cases which were more frequent in the western United States (U.S.) than in the eastern half. The most common cause of widespread arsenic concentration exceeding 10 g/L was arsenic release from iron oxide. Sulfide minerals and geothermal water were also associated with high arsenic concentrations in ground and surface waters. Kolpin et al. (2000) reported a work where 90 pesticide compounds were analyzed in 2485 groundwater sites of major hydrologic basins in the U.S., during 1992-1996. The median total concentration of pesticides encountered was 0.046 g/L. Pesticides were commonly detected in shallow groundwater beneath both agricultural and urban areas. Pesticides with higher frequencies of detection were generally those with more extensive use, as well as greater persistence and mobility in groundwater. Thomas et al. (2000) evaluated the fate of haloacetic acids (HAA) and trihalomethanes (THMs) during an aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) program in southern Nevada. HAA concentration declined during ASR. The concentration of THMs generally increased during storage of artificial recharge water, and then declined during recovery while brominated THMs
Effect of Connections on Shear Stud Mechanical Behavior of Steel Anchor Box in Composite Pylon of Cable-Stayed Bridge

In this paper,the different types of connections for steel anchor box in composite pylon of cable-stayed bridges are introduced.With reference to the specific bridge construction,a three-dimensional solid finite element model is built for the anchorage zone in the composite pylon and the mechanic behavior of shear studs under the condition of the different connections is calculated.Through comparison of the shear force distribution laws of the shear studs,it is concluded that the complete connection among all segments of the steel anchor box and the tight connection between the lowest part of the anchor box and the steel padding plate on concrete is the most reasonable structural type for mechanical behavior of the shear studs.
Bayes factors

In a 1935 paper, and in his book Theory of Probability, Je reys developed a methodology for quantifying the evidence in favor of a scienti c theory. The centerpiece was a number, now called the Bayes factor, which is the posterior odds of the null hypothesis when the prior probability on the null is one-half. Although there has been much discussion of Bayesian hypothesis testing in the context of criticism of P -values, less attention has been given to the Bayes factor as a practical tool of applied statistics. In this paper we review and discuss the uses of Bayes factors in the context of ve scienti c applications in genetics, sports, ecology, sociology and psychology. The points we emphasize are: | from Je reys' Bayesian point of view, the purpose of hypothesis testing is to evaluate the evidence in favor of a scienti c theory; | Bayes factors o er a way of evaluating evidence in favor of a null hypothesis; | Bayes factors provide a way of incorporating external information into the evaluation of evidence about a hypothesis; | Bayes factors are very general, and do not require alternative models to be nested; | several techniques are available for computing Bayes factors, including asymptotic approximations which are easy to compute using the output from standard packages that maximize likelihoods; | in \non-standard" statistical models that do not satisfy common regularity conditions, it can be technically simpler to calculate Bayes factors than to derive non-Bayesian signi cance tests; | the Schwarz criterion (or BIC) gives a crude approximation to the logarithm of the Bayes factor, which is easy to use and does not require evaluation of prior distributions; | when one is interested in estimation or prediction, Bayes factors may be converted to weights to be attached to various models so that a composite estimate or prediction may be obtained that takes account of structural or model uncertainty; | algorithms have been proposed that allow model uncertainty to be taken into account when the class of models initially considered is very large; | Bayes factors are useful for guiding an evolutionary model-building process; | and, nally, it is important, and feasible, to assess the sensitivity of conclusions to the prior distributions used.
Development and maintenance of IT-systems in Norwegian organizations

For a long time IT-system maintenance has been reckoned as the largest expense attached to the IT-department, but there has been relatively little research on this subject. This investigation looks at IT-system maintenance by presenting results from a questionnaire performed in Norwegian organizations. We have looked at how the different organizations perform development and maintenance of their IT-systems. We hope the results can increase the knowledge within this area and improve the organizations ability to perform maintenance in a cost-effective way. This investigation is the third in a series of such investigations, and that is why we compare our results with [Holgeid 99] and [Krogstie 94]. The share of maintenance-work is significantly larger than the share development-work. The share of maintenance compared to the share development is lower than in [Holgeid 99], but still relatively large compared to earlier investigations. In our investigation the amount of traditional maintenance is almost 66%, when we compare share traditional maintenance to share development. Work related to development of functionality in IT-systems comes to 39%, and maintenance of the existing functionalities make up the remaining 61%. This is similar to the results in [Holgeid 99], but a big change compared to [Krogstie 94] where functional development was at 56%, and functional maintenance 44%. In our investigation, as in [Holgeid 99], functional maintenance is higher then functional development, while in [Krogstie 94] the opposite was reported. The share of maintenance looks to have increased compared to earlier investigations, except [Holgeid 99]. Several conditions seem to influence share maintenance, one of them being the complexity of the portfolio. Organizations with a complex portfolio seem to have significantly less maintenance than organizations with less complex portfolios. Intuitively this may look unnatural, but similar features have been reported in earlier investigations (e.g. [Holgeid 99]). Organizations which do not use pre-defined methods in their development and maintenance have more maintenance than organizations that use pre-defined methods.
Behaviour Intention to Use the Learning Management: Integrating Technology Acceptance Model with Task-Technology Fit

In recent years many higher education institutes have equipped themselves with Learning Management System (LMS). Although LMS supports the process of teaching and learning, its utilization by students is limited. The present study integrated task-technology fit with Technology Acceptance Model to predict behavior intention to use of Learning Management System among higher education students. The sample size of the study included 316 undergraduate students from two local university nearby in Malaysia. To find the better fit, partially-mediated and fully-mediated models were compared through Structural Equation Model. The results of data analysis revealed that the partially-mediated model got the better fit.
Ebusiness in the forest products industry

The Wood Furniture Company is wired. Each quarter, the Employee Benefits Manager electronically sends out the latest 401K updates to all the employees of all the branches via the company's intranet. When company computers indicate low raw material inventories, the Purchasing Manager checks the company's extranets for their suppliers' current prices and inventory of particleboard and medium density fiberboard panels available for sale. She then places the order on-line and executes an electronic funds transfer authorization. The Vice President goes on-line to ask another furniture company's VP the status of a recent EPA ruling. The Sales Manager receives an order via an Internet-connected computer from a furniture retail store, as part of their Just-In-Time delivery agreement.
Ice‐flow patterns and dispersal of erratics at the southwestern margin of the last Scandinavian Ice Sheet: signature of palaeo‐ice streams

An extensive set of proxy‐data was acquired from eastern and central Denmark in order to study the dynamic behaviour of the southwestern margin of the last Scandinavian Ice Sheet. We examine the last three glacier advances of the Late Weichselian: the Main advance from central Sweden, representing the maximum ice extent at this time (c. 21–20 ka BP), and the two succeeding Baltic advances (c. 18–15 ka BP). Directional properties from tills and glaciotectonic overprints are used to reveal large‐scale flowline patterns. Together with the geomorphological outline of ice margins, flowlines were successively more fan‐shaped, indicating that the dependence of the subglacial topography increases as ice advances become younger. It is suggested that while the ice thickness decreases, more lobate configurations of ice margins are created as a result. Clast‐compositional data derived from the fine‐gravel fraction in tills are used to reconstruct dispersal patterns of erratic material. The dispersal patterns during the three advances show a gradually diminishing influence of local Pre‐Quaternary bedrocks and older glacial deposits, and progressively longer transport distances of far‐travelled erratics. We speculate that the principal factor governing this development is a successively decreasing interaction between the ice and its bed, which influences the concentration of erratics, debris comminution processes and the basal ice velocity. We envisage the Main advance from central Sweden as a slow‐flowing inter‐stream ice body with high bed interaction compared to the succeeding Baltic advances, which we regard to have been rapid flowing ice streams with limited bed interaction.
Rejoinder

First, we would like to thank our colleagues for the big effort they have undertaken, and for their positive statements. The differences between the computed examples arise mainly from changing the combining function. Instead of the inverse chi-square combining method, they use z-statistics that are a special form of the inverse normal combining method, see Hartung (2006). However, there is not a uniformly dominating relation between these two combining methods. Hartung and Knapp (2005) show a real data example where the inverse normal combining method leads to a p-value for significance which is about three times larger than that one reached by the inverse chi-square combining method. Thus, observed differences in an example have nothing to do with inefficiency of the underlying design. Furthermore, if we fix the weights before the trial starts, our self-designing method becomes a group sequential procedure of O’Brien and Fleming type, see Hartung (2006). Thus, it is at least as efficient as the subclass. Fixing the weights a priori is a question of the degree of prior information. In their statement, Mehrotra and Fan seem to result that a higher degree of prior information allows a more efficient design. This is implicitly used as an argument against adaptive designs. On the contrary, it speaks in favour of adaptive designs, see also the discussion in Sections 1 and 8 of Hartung (2006). In the extreme case, a most efficient design would be possible if the parameters involved in the trial could be completely known in advance. However, at least in case of severe diseases, clinical trials with medications that are known to be inferior cause ethical and legal complications.
Reply: climatic inferences from glacial and palaeoecological evidence at the last glacial termination, southern South America

in the latter region appears to have lasted until approximately 9500 14C yr BP, probably as a result of very high precipitation, as indicated by lake-level reconstructions, which suggest that Lago Cardiel achieved its highest level of +55 m at ca. 9800–9600 14C yr BP (Stine and Stine, 1990). The three end moraines referred to above suggest glacier advances that began during the Younger Dryas and lasted until ca. 9600–9400 BP (Wenzens, 1999), a conclusion which seems consistent with McCulloch et al.’s (2000) suggestion (p. 413) of a cooling trend in the central latitudes that persisted until 9500 C yr BP.
Discussions

This outstanding paper by Professor Jones is a useful review of families of skew distributions providing important connections among them. Especially, he focuses on complements and competitors for Azzalini’s families of skew-symmetric distributions. Among those families, I have been impressed with his introduction of ‘transformation of scale’ families (or TOS for short) (Jones, 2014). My comments will present mode-preserving distributions in the framework of TOS on the line and characteristic functions of the TOS distributions on the circle.
Letter to the Editor

We thank Dr. Kenny Crump for his commentary (Crump, 2001) on our article, “Multi-Stage Model Estimates of Lung Cancer Risk from Exposure to Diesel Exhaust, Based on a U.S. Railroad Worker Cohort” (Dawson & Alexeeff, 2001), both of which appeared in the February issue of Risk Analysis . We appreciate his general remarks regarding the extensive evaluation that the Garshick et al. (1988) railroad worker cohort has undergone. We agree that it is important for other investigators to re-evaluate existing complex data sets, but would like to add that it is important to evaluate this study not only on its own, but also in the context of the results from many other positive epidemiological studies of the carcinogenicity of diesel exhaust (California Environmental Protection Agency, 1998). The intent of our work on the health risks of diesel exhaust has been to provide information that would promote public health. The context of the results of other epidemiological studies has helped to motivate our emphasis on providing estimates of positive trends of lung cancer risk with increasing exposure to diesel exhaust in the analysis of the railroad cohort. The risks calculated in our article are consistent with the results of those other studies. Following his general remarks, Dr. Crump’s commentary gave a brief account of several analyses of the Garshick et al. (1988) railroad worker cohort study. We endeavor to clarify two points in that account. The first concerns the diesel exhaust exposure experienced by the shop workers. The second is the statement that the Health Effects Institute (HEI; 1999) panel’s report contained a critique of the multistage analysis. Dr. Crump went on to raise three points that directly question the analyses in our article. The first was that our parametric control for age, derived from the multistage model, may not have been appropriate. The second was that our next-to-last-stage analysis should have excluded the unexposed workers. The third was his concern about the biological plausibility of our last-stage model. We respond to each of these five points in turn.
Presenting Results from Model Based Studies to Decision‐Makers: Can Sensitivity Analysis Be a Defogging Agent?

The motivation of the present work is to provide an auxiliary tool for the decision‐maker (DM) faced with predictive model uncertainty. The tool is especially suited for the allocation of R&Dresources. When taking decisions under uncertainties, making use of the output from mathematical or computational models, the DM might be helped if the uncertainty in model predictions be decomposed in a quantitative‐rather than qualitativefashion, apportioning uncertainty according to source. This would allow optimal use of resources to reduce the imprecision in the prediction. For complex models, such a decomposition of the uncertainty into constituent elements could be impractical as such, due to the large number of parameters involved. If instead parameters could be grouped into logical subsets, then the analysis could be more useful, also because the decision maker might likely have different perceptions (and degrees of acceptance) for different kinds of uncertainty. For instance, the decomposition in groups could involve one subset of factors for each constituent module of the model; or one set for the weights, and one for the factors in a multicriteria analysis; or phenomenological parameters of the model vs. factors driving the model configuratiodstructure aggregation level, etc.); finally, one might imagine that a partition of the uncertainty could be sought between stochastic (or aleatory) and subjective (or epistemic) uncertainty. The present note shows how to compute rigorous decomposition of the output's variance with grouped parameters, and how this approach may be beneficial for the efficiency and transparency of the analysis.
Column Theme: Unconventional Shale Gas Development and Potential Impacts to Groundwater

Introduction In this column, we focus on technical aspects of a controversial timely topic, unconventional shale gas development and potential impacts to groundwater resources. This subject has become of great interest in the public domain and articles are often found daily in our newspapers and other news media. A significant amount of research is currently underway to improve understanding of the technical aspects. Over the last few years, several articles have been published in the Groundwater journal, by the National Academy of Science, and other peer reviewed journals as well. The first article in this column, by Jeanne Briskin, EPA, presents a summary of the Congressionally supported groundwater research program on the topic. The second article, by Susan Brantley, Pennsylvania State University, provides a summary of publicly available data on environmental impacts over the last five or so years in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale Gas Area, as this was one of the areas where environmental impacts of this industry became a significant stakeholder issue and brought the topic to the forefront of the news. The last article, by Tom Darrah of Ohio State University and co-authors, discusses the application of noble gas and isotope geochemistry to distinguish between natural and anthropogenic sources of hydrocarbons in shallow aquifers and to determine the source and mechanisms of anthropogenic gas contamination. We encourage your feedback on the GWNV column and welcome suggestions for future column themes.
A qualitative evaluation of the 3C model as an approach for blended (e)Learning institutional change

This research describes the implementation of a strategic institutional project at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in the area of eLearning, and the qualitative evaluation of this project’s model as an approach for blended (e)Learning institutional change. The project was entitled, “3C: A strategic approach to enabling, integrating and enhancing blended (e)Learning within an institutional framework”, and the model used was three concurrent foci of collaboration, community and context (3C’s). This study used a qualitative practitioner / researcher case study approach to evaluate the 3C model, utilizing data drawn from interviews conducted at the completion of the project with a group of 16 eLearning Advocates (eLAs). The interviews with the eLAs were chosen to be the focus of this research as they had the most consistent and lived experience of the 3C model (as implemented via the project deliverables across 2 years). The key research question being: “What are the qualitatively different ways the eLearning Advocates perceive the 3C model as an approach for blended (e)Learning institutional change”? These differences in perception identified as a lens through which to evaluate the 3C model. The eLA interviews provided situational vignettes through which the practitioner / researcher explored the rich sources of data and feedback on the 3C model. These vignettes were categorized within a narrative around three factors related to blended (e)Learning institutional change. These factors were: considerations of broad structural aspects (Renovation), feedback on specific aspects of the 3C project (Revolution) and the unexpected factors that had not been considered as part of the project (Revelation). The examination of these contributed to a greater and more nuanced understanding of the 3C model as a model for institutional blended (e)Learning change and identified 11 recommendations for further consideration. It is envisaged that the outcomes of this research are useful to intuitions considering implementing similar strategic initiatives in the area of blended (e)Learning and has assisted the researcher in refining his own practice.
Effects of essential oils of Satureja bachtiarica and Nigella sativa on the efficacy of lactococcosis vaccine in rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) of Lactococcus for interim reference ranges for 14

Lactococcosis has been defined as acute septicaemia, which causes economic losses in farmed fish, especially in rainbow trout. This study was done to evaluate the effects of the essential oils of Satureja bachtiarica and Nigella sativa on the efficacy of lactococcosis vaccine in rainbow trout. A total number of 270 fishes with a mean weight of 120 g were obtained; they were randomly divided into nine groups, each with three replicates, after two weeks of adaptation. The groups were: no injection group, vaccine only group, DMSO injection group, vaccine with 50, 100, and 200 micrograms Intraperitoneal injection (IP) injection. Two, four, and six weeks after vaccination, serological and haematological parameters were evaluated. In the sixth week, 1.7×10 7 cfu as LD 50 96 hrs of Lactococcus garvieae were IP injected and the relative survival percentage was calculated. The results indicated that N. sativa essence is effective on the leukocyte population as the highest number of leukocytes were found in fish receiving high concentration of N. sativa . The relative survival rate of the studied fish decreased with decreasing concentrations of the N. sativa essential oil concentration, with a significant difference with control groups ( p <0.05). However, using S. bachtiarica was not significantly effective on the relative survival rate of fish. The results of this study indicated that N. sativa essential oil can be used as adjuvant for L. garvieae vaccine, since it resulted in increasing leukocytes and the relative survival rate although S. bachtiarica was not effective on immune parameters of the studied fish.