Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Low Maintenance Approach to Large Carcass Composting

In recent years, costs of animal mortality pick-up have increased substantially due to reduction in demand for rendered products. Carcass disposal by burial has been the most common method while incineration of poultry and swine carcasses is also practiced in several states. These methods raise concerns over groundwater contamination at burial sites, and odor, air pollution, and unsuitability of disposing large carcasses by incineration. As the cost of dealing with mortalities and environmental concerns increase, the animal feeding operation’s (AFO) use and/or acceptance of on-farm mortality composting could very easily make it a preferred method of handling livestock losses. This paper presents results of a large- carcass (horse and cow mortalities) composting study using an in-bin, static pile composting system. Bins were created using large hay bales and spent horse bedding was used as a co-composting material. In one case, the carcass compost piles were turned at 3 and 6-month intervals after the start of composting. In the other case, the compost piles were built by placing the carcass above wooden pallets and turning the pile only once in a 6-month period. This was a low maintenance composting system because no pre processing of mortalities (cleaving, grinding etc.) was performed, no extra moisture other than that from the natural precipitation was added to the compost pile, and piles were turned no more than twice during the nine-month trial period. Within a few days after composting began, all piles achieved temperatures above 55 OC and remained at or above this temperature for several days or weeks. Turning piles without the wooden pallets after 3 months of composting resulted in a much greater temperature increase for the larger carcass (cow carcass weighing 909 Kg) than that for the smaller (horse carcass weighing 500 Kg) carcass. After six months of composting with and without the wooden pallets, similar carcass conditions in terms of faint odors and a high degree of large bone biodegradation were observed. After 9 months of composting, the C:N ratios of all compost piles were nearly one half of the horse bedding used as a co-composting material. Pathogenic evaluation of 9-month old carcass compost piles indicated low counts of salmonella and fecal coliform bacteria. The final product was ready to be land applied without the need to screen out large bones as they shattered and disintegrated easily. Based upon these results and observations, it was concluded that an in-bin, low maintenance carcass and horse bedding composting operation for the disposal of cow and horse mortalities can be carried out successfully in temperate climates during seasons of normal precipitation.
REMEDIATION OF LIQUEFIABLE SOILS FOR PORT STRUCTURES IN JAPAN—ANALYSIS, DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE

The paper gives an overview of the remedial measures against liquefaction for port structures. Case histories of implementation and performance of these remediation measures during past earthquakes are reviewed. The paper discusses the applicability and limitations of the conventional simplified approach and how these limitations can be overcome in the performance-based approach using a full seismic response analysis of a soil-structure system.
Midwinter breakup and jamming on the upper Saint John River: a case study

Changing climates will likely result in more frequent midwinter ice jams along many Canadian rivers, thereby increasing the likelihood of flood damage and environmental changes. Therefore, the possibility of more frequent ice jams has to be considered during the planning of flood damage reduction measures, the design of waterway structures, and the enactment of measures to protect the environment. As a case study of midwinter jamming, four winter breakup and jamming events that occurred along an upper stretch of the Saint John River during the 1990s are described and the implications of similar midwinter jamming are discussed.Key words: breakup, river ice, climate change, ice jamming, ice thickness, winter, winter thaw.
An improved technique for permittivity measurements using a coaxial probe

An enhanced model for an open-ended coaxial probe used for making permittivity measurements is presented. A permittivity measurement system consisting of the coaxial probe and a network analyzer is described including details of the error correction and curve fitting techniques. Determination of the percent dissolved solids in fructose solutions from permittivity measurements is presented as example of the usefulness of the coaxial probe/network analyzer measurement system.
Experimental Investigation of LPG as Refrigerant

Refrigeration has made the milestone in human life. Since from very long time the human being has developed so many ways of refrigeration for preserving food, cooling water etc. but yet the techniques are developing. The science of refrigeration hasdeveloped so many ways to improve our life style. The paper considers law of conservation of energy maximum utilization of the fossil fuel and saving energy. In this paper LPG is used as a refrigerant, instead of using closed cycle as it is used in normal practice (VCR), the open cycle has been used. Before burning the LPG in burner, it is passed through the expansion device and evaporator to produce the refrigeration effect without using electric energy. LPG is cheap and posses environmental friendly in nature with no ozone depletion potential.
From Tensegrity Grids to Cable-strut Grids

In this paper, tensegrity grids are extended to cable-strut grids as supporting structures. Can tensegrity structures replace the familiar forms? If not, why? How to achieve the goal? These questions are discussed in detail. Following a review of tensegrity concepts, various forms of non-contiguous strut and contiguous strut tensegrity configurations especially the geometrically rigid forms are presented and analysed through real-scale structural design. Analysis shows that the strut-to-cable connection among simplexes inherently induces low structural efficiency, because of the mechanisms produced at the connected vertices and especially cables in the compressive layer sustaining tensions, which result in low stiffness and much reduced structural depth. Contiguous strut configurations present much better properties, but as struts are still isolated in simplexes, they are much heavier than space trusses owing to excessive bar length and reduced structural depth due to bar inclination. All these drawbacks stem from the introduction of “islands of compression in a sea of tension” in simplexes and free-standing grids. Based on the analysis, lightweight forms are geometrically rigid and of improved structural depth, and above all, based on contiguous and short struts in both simplexes and grids. Tensegrity concept is accordingly transferred to cable-strut structures, and cable-strut concept and the principles of designing cable-strut simplexes are summarized. Some lightweight cable-strut grids, including AP (anti-prism) & ATP (anti-truncated-pyramid) grids developed from the bar-intersecting method to stabilise tensegrity simplexes, and RP (reciprocal prism) grids and CP (crystal-cell pyramid) grids based on novel simplexes, are introduced and their configurations and performance is illustrated. Their high structural efficiency, especially high stiffness and outstanding weight savings over space trusses is proved in case studies. The economical value of lightweight cable-strut grids is discussed finally.
The Effect of Interdependences of Referral Behaviors on the Quality of Ambulatory Care: Evidence from Taiwan

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of interdependences of healthcare providers’ referral behaviors on the quality of ambulatory care. The significance of this study is to address the concern regarding the low quality of ambulatory care due to the lack of a compulsory referral system under Taiwan’s National Health Insurance system. Methods We applied the dynamic connectedness network analysis to estimate the total connectedness index of the referral behavior network, which was separated into the horizontal and vertical referral behavior components in order to measure the interdependences of horizontal and vertical referral behaviors across hospitals and local clinics, respectively. Results Our results suggest that the interdependences of referral behaviors increase the quality of ambulatory care. The harmful effect on the quality of ambulatory care from the interdependences of horizontal referral behaviors within the local clinics sector is more significant than that from the interdependences of horizontal referral behaviors within the hospital sector, and the negative effect on the overall and chronic composite measures of avoidable hospital admissions from the interdependences of vertical behaviors associated with local clinics is more substantial than that from the interdependences of vertical behaviors within the hospital sector. Conclusion These results not only highlight the significance of care collaboration between local clinics and hospitals to restrain avoidable hospital admissions of chronic diseases for a better overall quality of ambulatory care, but they also suggest that the surveillance system established for the quality of ambulatory care under the global budget payment scheme for the local clinics sector should target ambulatory care for patients with acute conditions.
A comparison of biomonitoring methodologies for surf zone fish communities

Surf zones are highly dynamic marine ecosystems that are subject to increasing anthropogenic and climatic pressures, posing multiple challenges for biomonitoring. Traditional methods such as seines and hook and line surveys are often labor intensive, taxonomically biased, and can be physically hazardous. Emerging techniques, such as baited remote underwater video (BRUV) and environmental DNA (eDNA) are promising nondestructive tools for assessing marine biodiversity in surf zones of sandy beaches. Here we compare the relative performance of beach seines, BRUV, and eDNA in characterizing community composition of bony (teleost) and cartilaginous (elasmobranch) fishes of surf zones at 18 open coast sandy beaches in southern California. Seine and BRUV surveys captured overlapping, but distinct fish communities with 50% (18/36) of detected species shared. BRUV surveys more frequently detected larger species (e.g. sharks and rays) while seines more frequently detected one of the most abundant species, barred surfperch (Amphistichus argenteus). In contrast, eDNA metabarcoding captured 83.3% (30/36) of all fishes observed in seine and BRUV surveys plus 59 additional species, including 13 that frequent surf zone habitats. eDNA approaches showed significantly higher sensitivity than seine and BRUV methods and more consistently detected 29 of the 30 (96.7%) jointly observed species across beaches. The six species detected by BRUV/seines, but not eDNA either lacked reference sequences, were only resolved at higher taxonomic ranks (e.g. Embiotocidae surfperches), or were detected below occupancy thresholds. Low site-species overlap between methods limited comparisons of richness and abundance estimates, highlighting the challenge of comparing biomonitoring approaches. Despite potential for improvement, results overall demonstrate that eDNA can provide a cost-effective tool for long-term surf zone monitoring that complements data from seine and BRUV surveys, allowing more comprehensive surveys of vertebrate diversity in surf zone habitats.
Molecular Signature and Immune Landscape of HCV-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC): Differences and Similarities with HBV-HCC

Introduction HCC is the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, with chronic viral hepatitis accounting for more than 70% of the cases. Therapeutic options are limited and ineffective. The increasing use of immune-based therapies in solid tumors highlights the need to expand our knowledge on the immunologic microenvironment of HCC. Methods Access to liver samples from 20 well-characterized patients with HCC associated with HCV (n = 9) or HBV (n = 11) gave us the opportunity to study the immunologic landscape in these tumors. For each patient, RNA-sequencing was performed on the tumor and surrounding nontumorous tissue. Results We found that both HCV- and HBV-HCC are associated with a predominance of downregulated genes (74% and 67%, respectively). Analysis of the immune landscape using a curated gene list showed 216 of 2481 (9%) immune genes in HCV-HCC and 164 of 2560 (6%) in HBV-HCC. However, only 8 immune genes (4%) were upregulated in HCV-HCC and 27 (16.5%) in HBV-HCC. HCV-HCC was characterized by an enrichment of downregulated genes related to T-cell activation and oxidative stress. The dramatic downregulation of immune genes related to T-cell activation in HCV-HCC prompted us to perform an extensive immunohistochemistry analysis on paraffin-embedded liver specimen. Interestingly, we found a significant reduction of immune-cell infiltration (CD3, CD8 and CD20 positive cells) within the tumor. Moreover, we observed that HCV-HCC is characterized by an enrichment of M2-like CD68-positive cells. These data are consistent with the dramatic downregulation of immune-cell infiltration seen in HCV-HCC. Conversely, HBV-HCC was characterized by upregulation of genes related to monocyte/macrophage activation and cell cycle control, and downregulation of genes involved in various cell metabolisms. Conclusion This study demonstrates a distinctive molecular signature and immune landscape in HCC of different viral etiology, which could provide new insights into pathogenesis and lead to the development of novel immune-based therapies.
Estimation of Breeding Values for Dairy Cattle Using Test-Day Milk Yields

The objectives of this study were to estimate genetic parameters and breeding values for test-day (TD) and 305-day milk yields, and to compare the results from TD and 305-day analyses. The data comprised 10,822 TD records from 1103 first lactations of Holstein cows from state farms in the western part of Turkey. Additive genetic, residual and permanent environmental variances, heritabilities and breeding values for 305-day and TD milk yields were estimated by the REML method using animal models. The heritability estimate (0.11) of TD milk yields was lower than the corresponding estimate (0.25) for 305-day milk yields. The product-moment correlations (♢ 0.97) show that estimated breeding values (EBVs) for TD milk yields are closely correlated with EBVs for 305-day milk yields. Spearman and Kendall rank correlations between rankings of animals for EBVs for TD and 305-day milk yields were also high (♢ 0.97 and ♢ 0.86, respectively). Shifts in rank for various top lists of cows and sires ranked by their EBVs for 305-day and TD milk yields show that more extreme changes in ranks occurred in cows than in sires. TD milk yields could be used instead of 305-day milk yield for the genetic evaluation of dairy cattle. Furthermore, using TD yields for genetic evaluations offers more advantages. Ozet: Bu cal›flman›n amac›, denetim gunu ve 305 gunluk sut verimlerine iliflkin genetik parametreler ile dam›zl›k deerlerini tahminlemek ve bu analizlerden elde edilen sonuclar› karfl›laflt›rmakt›r. Cal›flmada, Turkiye'nin bat›s›ndaki kamuya ait ciftliklerde yetifltirilen 1103 adet Siyah Alaca inein ilk laktasyonlar›na iliflkin 10822 adet denetim gunu sut verimi kullan›lm›flt›r. Denetim gunu ve 305 gunluk sut verimlerinin eklemeli genetik, hata ve kal›c› cevre varyanslar›, kal›t›m dereceleri ile dam›zl›k deerleri REML yontemiyle birey modeli kullan›larak tahminlenmifltir. Denetim gunu sut verimlerinin kal›t›m derecesi (0.11), 305 gunluk sut veriminin kal›t›m derecesinden (0.25) daha dufluk bulunmufltur. Denetim gunu verimlerinden tahminlenen dam›zl›k deerleri ile 305 gunluk sut verimlerine ait dam›zl›k deer tahminleri aras›ndaki korelasyonlar (♢ 0.97) yuksek bulunmufltur. Denetim gunu ve 305 gunluk sut verimlerine ait dam›zl›k deer tahminlerine gore bireylerin s›ralan›fllar› aras›ndaki Spearman ve Kendall s›ra korelasyonlar› da yuksek bulunmufltur (s›ras›yla ♢ 0.97 ve ♢ 0.86). Denetim gunu ve 305 gunluk sut verimlerine ait dam›zl›k deerlerine gore s›ralanan inek ve boalar icin oluflturulan ceflitli en iyiler listelerindeki s›ralanmada saptanan yer deifliklikleri, ineklerin s›ralanmas›ndaki deiflimin boalara gore daha fazla olduunu gostermifltir. Sut s›¤›rlar›n›n genetik deerlendirilmesinde, denetim gunu sut verimleri 305 gunluk sut verimi yerine kullan›labilir. Ayr›ca, genetik deerlendirmelerde denetim gunu verimlerinin kullan›lmas› bircok avantaj da salamaktad›r.
Rear-End Crash Risk Analysis considering Drivers’ Visual Perception and Traffic Flow Uncertainty: A Hierarchical Hybrid Bayesian Network Approach

Rear-end crashes or crash risk is widely recognized as safety-critical state of vehicles under comprehensive conditions. This study investigated the association between traffic flow uncertainty, drivers’ visual perception, car-following behavior, roadway and vehicular characteristics, and rear-end crash risk variation and compared the crash risk variation prediction with and without specific flow-level data. Two datasets comprising 5055 individual vehicles in car-following state were collected through on-road experiments on two freeways in China. A hierarchical hybrid BN model approach was proposed to capture the association between drivers’ visual perception, traffic flow uncertainty, and rear-end crash risk variation. Results show that (1) the BN model with flow-level data outperformed the BN model without flow-level data and could predict 85.3% of the cases of crash risk decrease, with a false alarm rate of 21.4%; (2) the hierarchical hybrid BN models showed plausible spatial transferability in predicting crash risk variation; and (3) the incorporation of specific flow-level variables and data greatly benefited the successful identification of rear-end crash risk variations. The findings of this study suggest that rear-end crash risk is inherently associated with both individual driving behaviors and traffic flow uncertainty, and appropriate visual perceptual information could compensate for crash risk and improve safety.
Effect of Time of Day on the Magnitude of Stature Change Response Variability in Participants with Chronic Low Back Pain on Consecutive 2 Days

Measurements of stature change have been used to compare spinal loading in the sitting posture. However, it is difficult to interpret whether the stature change response recorded is truly due to an intervention or to the natural fluctuation of stature change response between the days. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of time of day (morning and afternoon) on the variability of stature change in participants with chronic low back pain (CLBP) on 2 consecutive days. Forty-four participants with CLBP attended 2 sessions (morning and afternoon) of stature change testing on 4 separate days. A stature change response of more than 0.985 mm in the morning and 1.149 mm in the afternoon on 2 consecutive days indicates that an intervention itself has influenced stature change measurement in CLBP participants. The magnitude of stature change response on different days and times of day established specific levels of natural variation meaning changes above these levels can be attributed to intervention effects in participants with CLBP. HIGHLIGHTS The findings suggest that it is important to control the time at which stature change investigations are conducted Seated stadiometry measurement, changes above 0.985 mm (morning) and 1.149 mm (afternoon) can be attributed to intervention effects between consecutive 2 days The results of the current study presented no significant difference in magnitude of stature change response in the morning versus the afternoon in chronic low back pain participants GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
How are competing logics combined in managerial teams? The impact of branch founding team hybridity on the growth of Islamic bank branches in Turkey, 2002‐2019

Hybrid staffing – i.e., composing a workforce with individuals with oppositional institutional logics – is a strategy organizations can use to navigate through complex institutional environments. We propose that hybrid teams led by individuals with the legitimate logic from the perspective of the target audiences (conformist-led hybrids) will outperform all-conformist, non-hybrid teams, and that hybrid teams led by individuals with the contested logic (alien-led hybrids) will underper-form non-hybrid teams. Moreover, the performance advantage of conformist-led hybrids will be attenuated by ideological polarization and demographic stability of the embedding community, and the performance disadvantage of alien-led hybrids will be exacerbated by these two community characteristics. We tested our multilevel contingency model with the newly founded Islamic bank branches in Turkey in 2002– 19. We found that the conformist-led hybrids had a growth advantage over non-hybrids, and alien-led hybrids had a growth disadvantage, especially when the embedding communities were ideologically polarized. Theoretical implications are discussed.
Design information in managing refurbishment projects in Malaysia

Although design cost makes up a small percent of a total project cost, the performance of refurbishment projects are normally considerably affected by design processes. The lack of information in refurbished designs becomes an obstacle for designers to complete tasks successfully during the initial stage of the design process. The objective of this study is to discuss the sources of design information in refurbishment projects. The study has also been extended to demonstrate how different sources of information can affect the performance of refurbishment design. From the results, it is concluded that a site survey was considered the most important method of obtaining design information followed by the client’s brief during the design process of refurbishment projects. Key words: Building survey, information design, design process, Malaysia.
Large eddy simulation study of turbulent flow around smooth and rough domes

Large eddy simulation of turbulent flow around smooth and rough hemispherical domes was conducted. The roughness of the rough dome was generated by a special approach using quadrilateral solid blocks placed alternately on the dome surface. It was shown that this approach is capable of generating the roughness effect with a relative success. The subgrid-scale model based on the transport of the subgrid turbulent kinetic energy was used to account for the small scales effect not resolved by large eddy simulation. The turbulent flow was simulated at a subcritical Reynolds number based on the approach free stream velocity, air properties, and dome diameter of 1.4 × 105. Profiles of mean pressure coefficient, mean velocity, and its root mean square were predicted with good accuracy. The comparison between the two domes showed different flow behavior around them. A flattened horseshoe vortex was observed to develop around the rough dome at larger distance compared with the smooth dome. The separation phenomenon occurs before the apex of the rough dome while for the smooth dome it is shifted forward. The turbulence-affected region in the wake was larger for the rough dome.