Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
State of the Practice in the Design of Tall, Stiff, and Flexible Tieback Retaining Walls

Abstract : In tieback wall design, the determination of anchor loads and wall forces requires knowledge about the interaction between the wall and the soil during successive stages of excavation, as well as after completion of the project. Interaction between the wall and soil is difficult to predict. As a result, simple methods of analysis have been developed for use in the design of various tieback wall systems. These methods may, or may not, require a construction sequencing analysis. This report describes state-of-the-practice analytical methods used to evaluate tieback wall performance and to design the tieback wall and ground anchor system. Analytical methods include equivalent beam on rigid support methods, beam on elastic foundation methods, and finite element methods. The applicability of the various design methods with respect include vertical sheet-pile systems, solider beam systems with wood or concrete lagging, secant cylinder pile systems, reinforced concrete slurry wall systems, and slurry wall systems constructed using soldier beams and concrete lagging. Analysis methods depend on whether the tieback wall system is stiff or flexible. The report describes the characteristics of stiff and flexible tieback wall systems and indicates how the analysis method selected can be influenced by wall stiffness.
Green Human Resource Management Practices: A Review

The objective of this review is to explore green human resource management practices of organisations based on the existent literature. In this emerging field, it has been generally observed that the existent literature has to be extended further from the perspective of functions of Human Resource Management (HRM). It reveals that much of the past research focused on a few functions of HRM such as recruitment, training and development, performance evaluation and reward management in integrating environmental management with HRM though HRM has more potential and scope in improving organisation’s environmental performance. Hence, this review incorporates diverse functions of HRM to explore the respective green HRM practices under those functions. The findings of the review have identified and highlighted several green HRM practices under the 12 functions of HRM such as job design, job analysis, human resource planning, recruitment, selection, induction, performance evaluation, training and development, reward management, discipline management, health and safety management and employee relations. The contribution of this paper lies in extending the scope and depth of green HRM in materializing sustainable environmental performance of organisations.
The Atkinson Review: Final Report: Measurement of Government Output and Productivity for the National Accounts

The Atkinson Review: Final Report is the culmination of a year-long review of the measurement of UK government output and productivity. Sir Tony Atkinson from Nuffield College, Oxford, led the review supported by a team seconded from the Office for National Statistics, HM Treasury, Department of Health and the Bank of England. A key objective of the review was to recommend methods and approaches which could be used to measure UK government output. In addition to recommending a general framework and principles, the report focuses on practical solutions for measuring the key functional areas of health, education, public order and safety and social protection.
Effects of Shrouded Stator Cavity Flows on Multistage Axial Compressor Aerodynamic Performance

Experiments were performed on a low-speed multistage axial-flow compressor to assess the effects of shrouded stator cavity flows on aerodynamic performance. Five configurations, which involved changes in seal-tooth leakage rates and/or elimination of the shrouded stator cavities, were tested. Data collected enabled differences in overall individual stage and the third stage blade element performance parameters to be compared. The results show conclusively that seal-tooth leakage ran have a large impact on compressor aerodynamic performance while the presence of the shrouded stator cavities alone seemed to have little influence. Overall performance data revealed that for every 1% increase in the seal-tooth clearance to blade-height ratio the pressure rise dropped up to 3% while efficiency was reduced by 1 to 1.5 points. These observed efficiency penalty slopes are comparable to those commonly reported for rotor and cantilevered stator tip clearance variations. Therefore, it appears that in order to correctly predict overall performance it is equally important to account for the effects of seal-tooth leakage as it is to include the influence of tip clearance flows. Third stage blade element performance data suggested that the performance degradation observed when leakage was increased was brought about in two distinct ways. First, increasing seal-tooth leakage directly spoiled the near hub performance of the stator row in which leakage occurred. Second, the altered stator exit now conditions caused by increased leakage impaired the performance of the next downstream stage by decreasing the work input of the downstream rotor and increasing total pressure loss of the downstream stator. These trends caused downstream stages to progressively perform worse. Other measurements were acquired to determine spatial and temporal flow field variations within the up-and-downstream shrouded stator cavities. Flow within the cavities involved low momentum fluid traveling primarily in the circumferential direction at about 40% of the hub wheel speed. Measurements indicated that the flow within both cavities was much more complex than first envisioned. A vortical flow structure in the meridional plane, similar to a driven cavity, existed within the upstream cavity Furthermore, other spatial and temporal variations in Row properties existed. the most prominent being caused by the upstream potential influence of the downstream blade. This influence caused the fluid within cavities near the leading edges of either stator blades in space or rotor blades in time to be driven radially inward relative to fluid near blade mid-pitch. This influence also produced large unsteady velocity fluctuations in the downstream cavity because of the passing of the downstream rotor blade.
Knowledge Sharing Enablers in Small Business Networks

In an increasingly knowledge-based global economy, social capital and knowledge sharing, particularly amongst small business, have become critical sources of competitive advantage, but how can such knowledge sharing be enabled? The objective of this research was to explore the effect of knowledge sharing enablers on knowledge sharing in female small business networks. This research addresses the call for research into the antecedents of social capital. Specifically, Trust, Social Identity, Social Media Usage and Shared Goals were included in the conceptual model for the study. Together these social capital enablers were found to be significant predictors of knowledge sharing behaviour although unique contributions varied. The research contributes to the growing body of literature on the dimensions of social capital and how they affect knowledge management, and is of use to practitioners involved in supporting female entrepreneurial networks.
The effect of domestic violence experience on academic stress among Korean children

ABSTRACT This study examines whether or not a child experiencing domestic violence affects their experience of academic stress in the South Korean cultural context. We used a nationally representative sample from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) to examine the association of domestic violence with academic stress. The results revealed a significant positive association between domestic violence experience and academic stress. As such, this study discuses mitigating strategies against domestic violence in the South Korean cultural context. Moreover, the findings of this study suggests that effective intervention must be developed to prevent academic stress.
PENGARUH KUALITAS LAYANAN PETUGAS TEMPAT PELAYANAN TERPADU DAN TINGKAT PEMAHAMAN WAJIB PAJAK TERHADAP KEPATUHAN WAJIB PAJAK (Studi pada Wajib Pajak di Wilayah KPP Pratama Surabaya Wonocolo)

This study aims to explain and analyze the influence of the Service Quality of the Integrated Services Place Officers and The Level of Taxpayer Understanding to the Taxpayer Compliance on Regional Taxpayers at Surabaya Wonocolo Pratama Tax Service Office. The method used in this research is explanatory research method, The population in this research are amounted 78.810, and the questionnaire as a data collection that is distribute directly to 100 respondent. Data analysis in this study using multiple linear regression analysis, support by SPSS software version 21. The result of multiple linear regression analysis show that Service Quality of the Integrated Services Place Officers variable and The Level of Taxpayer Understanding variable has a significantly positive influence simultaneously and partially to the Taxpayer Compliance variable on Regional Taxpayers at Surabaya Wonocolo Pratama Tax Service Office. The most dominant variable influencing taxpayer compliance is Service Quality of the Integrated Services Place Officers variable. Keyword: Service Quality of the Integrated Services Place Officers, The Level of Taxpayer Understanding, Taxpayer Compliance.
The Chinese Volvo : Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures and Perceived Performance

This dissertation describes and analyzes the perceived performance of Sino-foreign joint ventures. The dissertation is based on an in-depth qualitative longitudinal real time case study of the joint venture known as Jinan Hua Wo Truck Corporation (Hua Wo), between Volvo Trucks and China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co. Ltd. in China. The purpose of the dissertation is to contribute to the understanding of Sino-foreign perceived performance by suggesting an elaborated model, which captures situated and dynamic features. Perceived performance is defined as the joint venture executives’ assessment of strategic goal achievement and overall satisfaction.Findings from the study of the Hua Wo joint venture indicate that what determines perceived performance is the outcome of activities initiated in order to achieve or to facilitate goals. The dissertation presents an analytical model of Sino-foreign joint venture perceived performance which comprises the four concepts: goals, stakeholder relations, political influence and control. The conclusion of the dissertation is that in order to understand what decides perceived performance, it is necessary to assess system size, in other words, the number of stakeholders able to influence goal achievement, and also the intended duration of the activities. It is proposed that the configuration of the suggested model of perceived performance will be dependent upon these two dimensions. For activities taking place in a restricted system over a restricted time period, perceived performance depends primarily on the goals of the activity. The perceived performance of activities of a restricted system carried out over an extended period of time is more influenced by control. On the other hand activities carried out in an extended system over a restricted period of time are mainly determined by stakeholder relations for perceived performance, whereas activities which take place in an extended system for an extended time period are vulnerable to political influence.
AirEdge: A Dependency-Aware Multi-Task Orchestration in Federated Aerial Computing

Emerging edge computing (EC) systems are currently exploiting attaching portable edge devices on drones for data processing close to the sources, to achieve high performance, fast response times and real-time insights. To this end, existing EC research has proposed several drone-based edge deployments for various purposes, such as data caching, task offloading, real-time video analytics, and computer vision. However, none of them consider the ability of keeping edge resources running across multiple drones in a single pool, to holistically manage and control these resources from a single federated plane as well as to eliminate vendor lock-in situations. This research presents an intelligent resource scheduling solution for a federated aerial EC system, called AirEdge, which jointly considers task dependencies, heterogeneous resource demand and drones' flight time. We propose a multi-task execution time estimation and a dispatching policy, to select the closest drone deployment having congruent flight time and resource availability to execute ready tasks at any given time. The selected drone is then deployed autonomously to the needed location. For the utilization of the drones' attached edge resources or cluster, we propose a variant bin-packing optimization approach through gang-scheduling of multi-dependent tasks that co-locates tasks tightly on nodes to fully utilize available resources. Extensive experiments on real-world data-trace from Alibaba cluster trace with information on task dependencies (about 12,207,703 dependencies) and resource demands show the effectiveness, fast executions, and resource efficiency of our approach.
Influence of Layer Transition Zone on Rainfall-Induced Instability of Multilayered Slope

Although numerous studies have been paid much attention to rainfall-induced instability of multilayered slopes, the interface between layers is generally considered to be “zero thickness”, and the layer transition zone between layers is neglected. In this study, the influence of the layer transition zone on the rainfall-induced instability of multilayered slope was investigated. A model was developed to simulate the rainfall infiltration process, the distribution of pore water pressure, and the stability of multilayered slope by coupling the unsaturated seepage model and the slope stability analysis method. Based on the analysis of the multilayered slopes with the different thickness ratios of the layer transition zone, a method for determining the critical thickness of the layer transition zone was proposed. The results showed that the layer transition zone had a significant influence on the stability of multilayered slope. It was found that the presence of the layer transition zone in the multilayered slope reduced the hydraulic conductivity of the slope and increased the rate of formation of transient saturated zone, which contributed to excess pore water pressure at the toe of the slope. The analysis of the local factor of safety (LFS) showed that when the thickness ratios of the layer transition zone were between 2.5% and 5%, the corresponding hydraulic conductivity of the slope decreased by 1%-2.5% and the maximum failure area of the slope during the rainfall was 25% of the slope. Our study highlighted the importance of the layer transition zone for the rainfall-induced instability of the multilayered slope.
Delivering Voice over IP Networks

From the Publisher: An increasing number of companies are taking advantage of Voice over IP (VoIP) technology. Before implementing VoIP, companies must decide if the packetized voice should be delivered over Layer 2 networks such as ATM or Frame Relay, or over Layer 3 IP networks. This comprehensive book presents the latest standards and practices so you can determine which approach is best for your company. Drawing upon years of practical experience, the authors explore the unique engineering problems posed by running voice over a connectionless network. They clearly explain the advantages and disadvantages of IP versus traditional packet networks. This book is a significant expansion of the authors' first edition, which published in 1998 and had the distinction of being the first book in the industry dedicated to this important topic of key interest to enterprise customers.
Getting Good Results from Survey Research: Part One

getting good results from survey research. In this series, good results is a stenographic term used to define surveys that yield accurate and meaningful information decision makers can use with confidence to identify current practices that merit continuation and to create or modify policies, programs, and services that can improve organizational efforts to serve all clients. From a research methods perspective, a survey earns a decision maker’s confidence in the accuracy and relevance of survey results when it achieves “high marks” on three specific validity concerns. First, the sampling plan must have high population validity. This implies that the survey sample is an accurate representation of the population to which the survey findings are generalized. Second, the survey must have high measurement validity. This implies that the survey questionnaire has three essential characteristics: (a) each questionnaire item is clear and unambiguous, (b) each respondent has a common understanding of all questions and has the ability to answer them, and (c) the complete set of questionnaire items is sufficient to cover the overall intent of the survey. Third, getting accurate results requires a high statistical conclusion validity. Often just called “conclusion validity,” this criterion implies that the survey researcher selects the correct data analysis procedure, follows all steps set forth for this procedure, and offers only conclusions that can be justified from the patterns and trends uncovered in the data analysis. The primary audience for this four-part series is educational practitioners who wish to use survey research on the job. Accordingly, the text of each article centers on the use of nontechnical terms and makes several opportunities to relate survey research methods to real-world situations practitioners are likely to encounter in their own practicing professional environments. These real-world situations include practitioner use of survey research studies in program evaluation projects (McNamara, 1999) and strategic planning efforts (McNamara, 1997).
An Assessment on the Influence of Capital Structure on Performance of the Listed Firms in Tanzania

The research mostly assessed and established the influence of capital structure on the performance of firms listed under the Dar Es Salaam stock exchange (DSE). Specifically, the study aimed to assess the influence of total debt to equity ratio (TDE), total debt to assets ratio (TDA), total equity ratio (TEQ) on the performance of listed firms in Tanzania. Also, the study aimed to determine the control effect of firm size (FS) on the relationship between firm performance and capital structure. The quantitative panel data approach was used. The fixed-effect model for ROA was done to see the influence of TDE on ROA. Results indicated that only TEQ has a significant positive influence on the ROA while TDE and TDA have no significant influence on the ROA. Also, the fixed-effect model for ROCE was carried out to see the relationship between TDE and ROCE. Results showed that TDA and TEQ are insignificant to the ROCE, while TDE is significant to the ROCE. Findings also showed that the presence of the FS on the model of capital structure and ROA, results in TDA, and TEQ having a significant influence on ROA, while TDE becomes insignificant to ROA. Moreover, results indicated that the presence of the FS on the model of capital structure and ROCE results in the only TDE to have a significant influence on ROCE, while TDA and TEQ became insignificant to ROA. The study concluded that TDE has no significant influence on the ROA but TDE has a significant influence on ROCE. Also, the study concluded that TDA has no significant influence on both the ROA and ROCE while TEQ influences ROA positively, and has no significant influence on ROCE. Moreover, the study concluded that the presence of the FS on the model of capital structure and ROA, results in TDA, and TEQ having a significant influence on ROA, while TDE becomes insignificant to ROA. Furthermore, FS resulted in TDE having a significant influence on ROCE, while TDA and TEQ become insignificant to ROCE. The study recommends that companies very carefully must decide on a reasonable capital structure to maintain the performance of the company.
A Constant gₘ Current Reference Generator With Pseudo Resistor-Based Compensation

Most analog circuits need a current reference generator to provide a stable biasing point for the transistors. Given the limited voltage headroom in advanced node technologies, there would be notable restrictions on the tolerance of the reference current deviation. Use of off-chip reference generators adds to the size of the system while the on-chip reference current generators are still partially dependent on the on-chip resistor values which is prone to technology variations. We propose an on-chip reference generator with a fully off-chip resistor which has less sensitivity to process variations. Monte-Carlo simulation results shows that the proposed has 31% more precision compared to the conventional on-chip reference generator. Measurement results in $0.18~{{\mu }}\text{m}$ CMOS shows that the chip produces a stable reference current that is defined based on an off-chip resistor. The proposed structure consumes the same current as conventional and does not add to the power consumption.
Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome Screening Through Wrist-Worn Smartbands: A Machine-Learning Approach

Purpose A large portion of the adult population is thought to suffer from obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS), a sleep-related breathing disorder associated with increased morbidity and mortality. International guidelines include the polysomnography and the cardiorespiratory monitoring (CRM) as diagnostic tools for OSAS, but they are unfit for a large-scale screening, given their invasiveness, high cost and lengthy process of scoring. Current screening methods are based on self-reported questionnaires that suffer from lack of objectivity. On the contrary, commercial smartbands are wearable devices capable of collecting accelerometric and photoplethysmographic data in a user-friendly and objective way. We questioned whether machine-learning (ML) classifiers trained on data collected through these wearable devices would help predict OSAS severity. Patients and Methods Each of the patients (n = 78, mean age ± SD: 57.2 ± 12.9 years; 30 females) underwent CRM and concurrently wore a commercial wrist smartband. CRM’s traces were scored, and OSAS severity was reported as apnoea hypopnoea index (AHI). We trained three pairs of classifiers to make the following prediction: AHI <5 vs AHI ≥5, AHI <15 vs AHI ≥15, and AHI <30 vs AHI ≥30. Results According to the Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC), the proposed algorithms reached an overall good correlation with the ground truth (CRM) for AHI <5 vs AHI ≥5 (MCC: 0.4) and AHI <30 vs AHI ≥30 (MCC: 0.3) classifications. AHI <5 vs AHI ≥5 and AHI <30 vs AHI ≥30 classifiers’ sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values (PPV), negative predictive values (NPV) and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) are comparable with the STOP-Bang questionnaire, an established OSAS screening tool. Conclusion Machine learning algorithms showed an overall good performance. Unlike questionnaires, these are based on objectively collected data. Furthermore, these commercial devices are widely distributed in the general population. The aforementioned advantages of machine-learning algorithms applied to smartbands’ data over questionnaires lead to the conclusion that they could serve a population-scale screening for OSAS.