Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fire Resistance Testing of Concrete Beams Reinforced by GFRP Rebars

This article investigates experimental testing of fire resistance of concrete beams reinforced by GFRP rebars. Three beam specimens were used in the fire exposure testing with emphasis on their ability to sustain loads under fire exposure. One specimen was reinforced with ordinary steel rebars and the other two specimens were reinforced with GFRP rebars. The effect of concrete quality on fire resistance was examined. Sustained loads on beams specimens under fire exposure testing were 60% of the ultimate loads. Behavior of the beams up to failure was observed. Large reduction in fire resistance due to the use of GFRP rebars was observed. Language: en
Mid-and Long-term Survival and Patient-reported Outcomes of Humeral Surface Replacement in 135 Shoulders

Background: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate patient-reported clinical outcomes, prosthesis survival, and causes of revision of cemented humeral surface replacement (Durom-Cup) in a large population. Methods: Between 1997 and 2015, 266 patients underwent 279 implantations of Durom-Cup. Overall, 81 patients died, 39 patients were lost to follow-up, and 21 patients were excluded according to pre-defined exclusion criteria, and dementia; this left 125 patients (135 shoulders) with a mean follow-up of 8.0 years (range, 1–20 years). To report long-term follow-up a subgroup of 51 patients with a minimum follow-up of 9 years and a mean follow-up of 12.4 years (range, 9–20 years) was evaluated. The mean age at the time of surgery was 65.8 years (range, 25–91 years). Results: The indications were primary osteoarthritis (52%) and rheumatoid arthritis (48%). Patient satisfaction at final follow-up was as follows: very satisfied, 59.2%; satisfied, 29.2%; and not satisfied, 11.6%. On a visual analogue scale (VAS) from 0 to 10, the mean pain on weight-bearing was 2.4 (range, 0–10). Overall, 55.4% were able to perform leisure activities without major limitations. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis were significantly younger than patients with primary osteoarthritis at the time of surgery (mean difference, 11.5 years, p < 0.001). The overall survival rates (prosthesis without revision surgery) of the Durom-Cup were 94.0 ± 5.0% at 5 years, 90.8 ± 9.86% at 10 years, and 90.8 ± 17.1% at 15 years. However, 9 shoulders (6.7%) required revision arthroplasty after a mean 4.3 years (range, 0.5–9 years). Conclusions: These data demonstrated a relatively low revision rate of the Durom-Cup and high satisfaction levels, suggesting an acceptable quality of life post-surgery.
Flowfield of a Rotating-Wing Micro Air Vehicle

Experiments were conducted to measure the performance of a rotor, typical of that used on a rotating-wing micro air vehicle, which was shown to develop relatively low hovering efficiency. This inefficiency can be traced to high profile drag losses on the blades and also to the relatively large turbulent and rotational aerodynamic losses that are associated with the structure of the rotor wake. High-resolution flow visualization images have divulged several interesting flow features that appear unique to rotors operating at low Reynolds numbers. The wake sheets trailing from the rotor blades were found to be much thicker and also more turbulent than their higher chord Reynolds number counterparts. Similarly, the viscous core sizes of the tip vortices were relatively large as a fraction of blade chord. However, the flows in the tip vortices themselves were found to be similar, with laminar flow near their core axis and an outer turbulent region. Particle image velocimetry measurements were made to quantify the structure and strength of the wake flow, including the tip vortices. An analysis of the vortex aging process was conducted. A new nondimensional equivalent time scaling parameter is proposed to normalize the rate of growth of the vortex cores that are generated at substantially different vortex Reynolds numbers.
Revolving fractals

Davis and Knuth in 1970 introduced the notion of revolving sequences, as representations of a Gaussian integer. Later, Mizutani and Ito pointed out a close relationship between a set of points determined by all revolving sequences and a self-similar set, which is called the Dragon. We will show how their result can be generalized, giving a new parametrized expression for certain self-similar sets.
How government-controlled media shifts policy attitudes through framing

Abstract Research shows that government-controlled media is an effective tool for authoritarian regimes to shape public opinion. Does government-controlled media remain effective when it is required to support changes in positions that autocrats take on issues? Existing theories do not provide a clear answer to this question, but we often observe authoritarian governments using government media to frame policies in new ways when significant changes in policy positions are required. By conducting an experiment that exposes respondents to government-controlled media—in the form of TV news segments—on issues where the regime substantially changed its policy positions, we find that by framing the same issue differently, government-controlled media moves respondents to adopt policy positions closer to the ones espoused by the regime regardless of individual predisposition. This result holds for domestic and foreign policy issues, for direct and composite measures of attitudes, and persists up to 48 hours after exposure.
The advantage of the right in social media news sharing

Abstract We analyze social media activity during one of the largest protest mobilizations in US history to examine ideological asymmetries in the posting of news content. Using an unprecedented combination of four datasets (tracking offline protests, social media activity, web browsing, and the reliability of news sources), we show that there is no evidence of unreliable sources having any prominent visibility during the protest period, but we do identify asymmetries in the ideological slant of the sources shared on social media, with a clear bias towards right-leaning domains. These results support the “amplification of the right” thesis, which points to the structural conditions (social and technological) that lead to higher visibility of content with a partisan bent towards the right. Our findings provide evidence that right-leaning sources gain more visibility on social media and reveal that ideological asymmetries manifest themselves even in the context of movements with progressive goals.
Experimental and numerical analysis of the boundary layer on a vertical plate at low temperature differences

The problem of heat convection from surface to air at very low temperature differences has been solved by experimental/numerical approach. The laser-based probing technique of laser beam deviation detection was developed for the measurement of air refractive index gradients. The data obtained were processed by interactive coupling with numerical modelling tools. As it was approved, the key properties of the boundary layer such as temperature and temperature gradient profiles can be analysed in detail and the impact of various factors can be studied. The numerical simulation and the experimental data comparison had shown good coincidence; nevertheless, at a temperature difference of only few degrees, the influence of ambient air movement has to be considered in simulation process. The presented boundary layer analysis can be successfully applied at specific conditions of building physics with the low temperature differences.
Does work–family conflict mediate the relationship between job schedule demands and burnout in male construction professionals and managers?

It is unclear where work–family conflict should be theoretically positioned in the relationship between job stress and strain. Data collected from 231 male construction professionals, managers and administrators were analysed to determine whether work–family conflict mediates the relationship between job stressors and burnout. Two different aspects of work–schedule demands, i.e. job schedule irregularity and hours worked per week, were found to be related to the emotional exhaustion dimension of burnout. In all cases, the relationship between job schedule demands and emotional exhaustion was mediated by work–family conflict. The authors conclude that job schedule demands impact upon emotional exhaustion via work–family conflict. Further, work–family conflict is demonstrated to be a key mediating mechanism between schedule demands and emotional exhaustion for male employees. It is recommended that construction organizations examine ways to reduce work–family conflict as a means to reduce burnout and improve employees' wellbeing. † Helen Lingard is now associated with the School of Construction Management and Property, Queensland University of Technology
Three-dimensional Elastodynamic Modeling of Frictional Sliding with Application to Intersonic Transition

Spontaneous slip on frictional interfaces involves both short-lived inertially-driven events and long-term quasi-static sliding. An example of considerable practical importance is the response of faults in the Earth's crust to tectonic loading. The response combines earthquakes that cause destructive ground motions and aseismic slip. Numerical models are needed to study the physics and mechanics of such complex behavior. In part, the models can help understand the observed slip patterns and interpret them in terms of constitutive properties of rocks determined in the lab. This thesis contains two main contributions. The first one is the development and implementation of a 3D methodology for simulations of spontaneous long-term interface slip punctuated by rapid inertially driven ruptures. Our approach is the first one to combine long-term deformation histories and the resulting stress redistribution on faults with full inclusion of inertial effects during simulated earthquakes in the context of 3D models. It reproduces all stages of earthquake cycles, from accelerating slip before dynamic instability, to rapid inertially driven propagation of earthquake rupture, to post-seismic slip, and to interseismic creep, including aseismic transients. The second main contribution is the discovery of the potentially dominating effect of favorable heterogeneity on intersonic transition in earthquakes, in both 2D models of single dynamic ruptures and 3D models of long-term fault slip. Studies of intersonic ruptures are practically important as they have the potential to cause strong ground motion farther from the fault than subsonic ruptures. Our conclusion that rheological boundaries promote transition to intersonic speeds in 3D rupture models is completely unexpected, as the neighboring stably slipping regions inhibit fast, inertially driven slip. The result could not be established in earlier studies, as it requires the computational methodology developed here that combines inertial effects, long-term slip histories, and 3D fault models. The thesis also develops test problems for dynamic rupture propagation and evaluates simplified quasi-dynamic approaches. The obtained results emphasize that dynamic ruptures should be considered in the context of the entire slip history of the fault, as such approach allows dynamic ruptures to occur under stress conditions established by prior slip, which leads to characteristic stress distributions that are not considered in single-event simulations. The developed 3D methodology can be applied to a number of problems in earthquake physics and mechanics that involve interaction of seismic and aseismic slip.
The Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS)

The Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS) was created in 2016 in Salvador (Bahia, Brazil). This paper aims to present a profile of CIDACS, including its current databases. CIDACS aims to conduct interdisciplinary studies and research, develop new scientific methodology and promote professional training using linked large-scale databases and high-performance computational resources in a secure environment. Administrative data is at the core of the activities conducted by CIDACS. The advantages of administrative data include significantly larger sample sizes, an inherent longitudinal structure and high-quality information. The center’s research projects are primarily focused on enhancing the understanding surrounding the impact of social protection policies (e.g., public cash-transfer and housing programs) on health outcomes in low-income populations throughout Brazil. CIDACS’ primary data source is citizens who register with the Cadastro Único program, which encompasses individuals eligible to receive benefits from over 20 governmental social programs. CIDACS has two separate environments for data handling: 1) Data Production Center, a secure room housing the computational infrastructure for ingesting, storing, cleaning, processing and linking original databases, as well as extracting research-ready datasets and 2) Data Analysis Environment, a computational infrastructure based on data safe haven principles, which allows researchers to access and process requested datasets. Brazil has a large public health community that uses national health and social databases for research programs, and the linkage of different databases has been a widely employed practice in the country. CIDACS is the result of efforts by researchers, policymakers and public health officials to use and improve the quality of Brazilian health databases. CIDACS is expected to be an important resource for researchers and policymakers interested in improving the evidence base in different aspects of health, as well as with regard to the social determinants of health and the effects of social and environmental policies on health in general.
Fast switcbing power MOS-gated (EST and BRT) thyristors

TURN ON GATE GATE CATHODE The characteristics of fast switching 600 V, asymmetric MOS-gated EST and BRT structures, with turn-off times as low as 500 nsec, are reported. The improvement in switching speed was obtained by 3 MeV electron irradiation. The effect of higher i PARASITIC switching speed on forward voltage drop and turn-off THYRISTO ~~~HYRISTOR capability is discussed. It is experimentally demonstrated for the first time that both the EST and BRT devices offer a better tradeoff curve between onstate voltage drop and turn-off time when compared with the IGBT.
Integrated modeling of urban shopping activities

This paper presents an integrated modeling framework to examine the factors affecting urban out-of-home shopping activities. The framework consists of four integrated models: (1) children belief (binary logit) model; (2) mode choice (multiple logit) model; (3) duration (hazard) model; and (4) frequency (ordered probability) model. The output of the belief model, which captures the influence of children on shopping activities, is used as input to the other three models. The models were estimated using disaggregate data collected in Amman, Jordan, through personal interviews of 570 commuters. Frequency models were estimated for three categories of shopping activities: (1) during home-to-work trips; (2) during work-to-home trips; and (3) after work-to-home trips. The results demonstrated that the belief probability was primarily determined by household socioeconomic characteristics. Also, these characteristics and the belief probability were significant in the mode choice, duration, and frequency models. The.
Lateral-line inspired sensor arrays for navigation and object identification

Found to affect numerous aspects of behavior, including maneuvering in complex fluid environments with poor visibility, the lateral line is a critical component of fish sensory systems. This sensory organ could fill the gap left by sonar and vision systems in turbid, cluttered environments; it has no analog in modern ocean vehicles, despite its utility and ubiquity in nature. A linear array of pressure sensors is used along with analytic models of the fluid in order to emulate the lateral line and characterize its object-tracking and shape recognition capabilities. Position, shape, and size of various objects in both passive and active sensing schemes are thus determined. The authors find that tracking a moving cylinder can be effectively achieved via a particle filter, based on pressure information. The authors are also able to reliably distinguish between cylinders of different cross section, using principal component analysis, as well as identify the critical flow signature information that leads to the shape identification. The authors employ pressure measurements on an artificial fish and an unscented Kalman filter in a second application in order to successfully identify the shape of an arbitrary static cylinder. The authors conclude that, based on the experiments, a linear pressure sensor array for identifying small objects should have a sensor-to-sensor spacing of less than 0.03 (relative to the length of the sensing body) and resolve pressure differences of at least 10 Pa. These criteria employ conductive polymer technologies to form a flexible array of small pressure sensors in order to be used in the development of an artificial lateral line adaptable to the curved hull of an underwater vehicle.
Analysis of Tool Oscillation and Hole Roundness Error in a Quasi-Static Model of Reaming

A quasi-static model of reaming is developed to explain oscillation of the tool during cutting and the resulting roundness errors in reamed holes. A tool with N evenly-spaced teeth often produces holes with N+1 or N-1 lobes. These profiles correspond respectively, to forward or backward whirl of the tool at N cycles/rev. Other whirl harmonics (2N cycles/rev, e.g.) are occasionally seen as well. The quasi-static model is motivated by the observations that relatively large oscillations occur at frequencies well below the natural frequency of the tool, and that in this regime the wavelength of the hole profile is largely independent of both cutting speed and tool natural frequency. In the quasi-static approach, inertial and viscous damping forces are neglected, but the system remains dynamic because regenerative (time-delayed) cutting and rubbing forces are included. The model leads to an eigenvalue problem with forward and backward whirl solutions that closely resemble the tool behavior seen in practice.
The Food Industries

General statistical sources for the food industries group 411 - organic oils and fats group 412 - slaughtering of animals and production of meat and by-products group 413 - preparation of milk and milk products group 414 - processing of fruit and vegetables group 415 - fish processing group 416 and 419 - grain milling and bread, biscuits and flour confectionary (including breakfast cereals) group 420 - sugar and sugar by-products group 421 - ice-cream, cocoa, chocolate and sugar confectionary group 418 and 423 - starch and miscellaneous foods (excluding tea, coffee and breakfast cereals) tea and coffee concluding remarks. Appendices: Reconciliation of standard industrial classification (1980) with standard industrial classification (1968) for class 41/42 "food, drink and tobacco manufacturing industries" names and addresses of trade associations, unions and other professional organizations connected with the food industries statistical inquiries relating to the food and feed processing industries headings used for identifying expenditure information in the "Family Expenditure Survey".
Flow Visualization and Measurement of a Synthetic Jet Actuator Performance Using PIV System

This paper presents the performance of a piezoelectric Synthetic Jet Actuator (SJA) in quiescent flow. Pulse jet velocity and vorticity were taken as the parameter to evaluate the performance of SJA. PIV measurements on the jet flow at the orifice exit of a round SJA were conducted by varying the oscillating in frequency and voltage. The location of 5mm above orifice was identified as the optimum location for maximum pulse jet measurements. The maximum pulse jet velocity and vorticity obtained were 18.77 m/s and 242.5s -1 . The PIV experiment showed that by varying oscillating frequency at fixed input voltage, the performance of SJA was greatly affected by Helmholtz resonance. While in the investigation of varying input voltage at fixed oscillating frequency, diaphragm defection was the parameter that affects the performance of the SJA. Besides, PIV measurement showed that the flow patterns of vortex structure formation were affected by the oscillating frequency and pulse jet velocity.
An integrated user-centric service platform to promote sustainable behaviour

In this thesis, the focus is on addressing the gaps that exist between (a) utility companies’ efforts to implement and diffuse Internet-based services and (b) their goal to achieve users’ expectations in terms of managing their domestic utility services online. The research highlights the importance of shifting the focus towards a user-centric and integrated virtual enterprise service delivery platform that factors in user demands and functions as a medium for interaction between all utility parties to cooperate in achieving efficient resources usage, while promoting sustainability and environmental welfare. The research involves a critical investigation of users’ perspectives related to the success of the creation of the proposed platform in the utility domains, with particular emphasis on its potential influence on user perceptions in terms of benefits, technology-fit, acceptance, and service adoption; in addition to the potential role of such platform in promoting individual pro-environmental sustainability. The research methodology design involves the collection of information (n=1142) about individual opinions, views, beliefs and expectations towards the new conceptualised innovation platform. The methodology involves four main stages. The initial stage was devoted to defining the research problem, conceptual model, developing a theoretical validation framework and the research questions with a formulation of the related hypothesis. This stage of the research design is critical to identify the key underpinning aspects of the research topic and to determine the main variables that have an impact on the research problem. The second stage involves an empirical investigation of Internet-user’s perceptions of task-technology fit, new technology innovation adoption, barriers, trends and difficulties for both existing and future technology innovation as well as an electronic service delivery approach, using a quantitative questionnaire survey. In the third stage, a mock-up prototype system is implemented to illustrate and validate the proposed research concepts. The last stage, aimed at analytically validate users’ perspective towards the new technology innovation platform as formulated in the research model and to predict their willingness to adopt the platform and impact on their individual sustainable behaviour. The resulting validated model and service platform provide a means for utility companies to deliver user accepted electronic utility management services, while promoting environmental friendly behaviour.