Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Safety Effectiveness of Composite Shoulders, Wide Unpaved Shoulders, and Wide Paved Shoulders in Kansas

Incremental increases in paved shoulder widths have been studied and are shown in the Highway Safety Manual. While each incremental increase in shoulder width is beneficial, there is evidence that suggests the relationship between safety improvements and incremental increases in shoulder width may not be linear. It is possible that the net safety gains for wider shoulder increments are not as high as incremental benefits of the initial increments of shoulder width. Thus, a highway agency may have opportunities for greater system-wide safety benefits from paving longer roadway segments with a narrower shoulder rather than paving shorter roadway segments with a wider shoulder. This approach is tempered by consideration of long term degradation in shoulder width and slope over the life of a facility due to normal pavement maintenance activities. Practitioners must balance long-term sustainability, cost, expected operations and safety benefits of proposed improvements. For new and reconstruction projects, the cost of additional shoulder width is minimal compared to retrofitting an existing facility. Determining the benefits of various shoulder improvement approaches fits within the Kansas Department of Transportation’s (KDOT) “Practical Improvements” approach to maximize benefits relative to the construction and maintenance costs required. Among the 8,300 miles of rural two-lane highways in Kansas, approximately 25 percent are equipped with composite shoulders consisting of three feet of pavement, with the remainder aggregate or turf. Their safety effectiveness was studied using the Empirical Bayes (EB) approach and the cross-sectional approach. Three developed Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) were used to create Kansas-specific Crash Modification Factors (CMFs) for composite shoulders compared with segments with no or unpaved shoulders. It was found that upgrading narrow unpaved shoulders to composite shoulders can reduce shoulder related crashes by up to 61 percent and fatal and injury crashes by 31 percent. It was also found that wide paved shoulders can provide more safety benefit than composite shoulders, and wide unpaved shoulders can provide slightly less safety benefit than composite shoulders. Based on these results, 20-year projections were developed projecting the safety effectiveness that can be achieved through implementing these safety improvements.
Sensitivity of Flexible Pavement Thickness to Traffic Factors in Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design

AbstractIn an effort to minimize the risk of overdesign or underdesign of pavement structures in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) in Alabama, sensitivity analysis was utilized to examine the potential for implementation of various levels of traffic inputs. Changes in required pavement thickness as a result of differences between nationwide, statewide, regional, and site-specific traffic factors were used as sensitivity indicators. The effects of traffic inputs on pavement design were deemed to be practically significant when the thickness needed to maintain an acceptable level of pavement performance changed 1.3 cm (0.5 in.) or more from the baseline thickness developed from statewide traffic inputs. This paper presents the sensitivity analysis results for nationwide traffic inputs and direction-specific inputs when the effects of each were compared with the effect of statewide inputs on pavement thickness. Recommendations include the use of a procedure that incorporates required pa.
Nonclassical Stability Problems: Instability of Slender Tubes under Pressure

Several nonclassical stability problems dealing with simple cantilever columns of practical engineering importance are comprehensively presented. The salient feature of these rather peculiar problems is that column instability with a tubular cross section filled with a liquid or subjected to gas pressure may occur while its cross section remains axially unstressed. Interesting subcases are also discussed where the static stability criterion of existence of two adjacent equilibria fails to predict the actual critical load. This leads to the erroneous conclusion that the undeformed configuration is the only equilibrium position, being stable irrespective of the level of external loading. Hence, the dynamic stability criterion which is of general validity must be employed for establishing the critical load. It has also been clarified that the hydrostatic pressure load, although nonconstant-directional, cannot be identified as nonconservative.
Silicon electro-optic modulator based on a three terminal device integrated in a low-loss single-mode SOI waveguide

We analyze, from a theoretical point of view, a novel silicon optical amplitude-phase modulator integrated into a SOI (silicon on insulator) optical waveguide and based on a three terminal electronic structure which gives rise to definite advantages in comparison with a classical p-i-n diode based modulator. The proposed device utilizes the free carrier dispersion effect to produce the desired refractive index and absorption coefficient variations. The MEDICI two-dimensional (2-D) semiconductor device simulator has been used to analyze the electrical operation, with reference to the free carrier concentration injected into the optical channel, its uniformity and the required current density and electrical power. The optical investigation was carried out by means of FDM (finite difference method), EIM (effective index method), and BPM (beam propagation method) tools, giving rise to a complete evaluation of the properties of our device. We report the results for both the amplitude and phase modulators, paying attention to the static and the dynamic behavior. In particular, an amplitude modulation of 20%, with an injection power of about 126 mW, and a switching time of 5.6 ns can be achieved theoretically, Furthermore, as a phase modulator, the device exhibits a very high figure of merit, predicting an induced phase shift per volt per millimeter of about 215/spl deg/, for a injection power of about 43 mW, and a switching time shorter than 3.5 ns.
Modeling air conditioner load for power system studies

The air conditioner load is the most variable component of the system load of the Kansai Electric Power Company. As the air conditioner load changes with temperature and time, the voltage and frequency characteristics of the system load change as well as its magnitude. Single-phase air conditioner characteristics have been determined through measurement, and simple models suitable for power system studies have been developed.
A Mixed Method Evaluation of the Role of Religion in Desistance and Reentry

Abstract Literature holds that religious engagement can help prisoners cope with prison life and suggests it may affect the likelihood of recidivism. But despite agreement that religion supports identity transformation and generates social control, few studies have examined the utility of these mechanisms during both prison and reentry. The relationship between religion and desistance may be complicated by structural barriers to reentry and high rates of substance use among incarcerated populations. We address this gap using a longitudinal mixed methods design based on data collected from men in a Therapeutic Community in a Pennsylvania prison (N = 174 for quantitative analyses, N = 51 for qualitative). We use several methods to (1) compare the prevalence of psychological versus sociological mechanisms of religion in prison, (2) assess variation in recidivism outcomes by trajectory of religious engagement, and (3) explore the utility of religion in overcoming structural barriers to successful reentry.
Extracting Weld Bead Shapes from Radiographic Testing Images with U-Net

Metals created by melting basic metal and welding rods in welding operations are referred to as weld beads. The weld bead shape allows the observation of pores and defects such as cracks in the weld zone. Radiographic testing images are used to determine the quality of the weld zone. The extraction of only the weld bead to determine the generative pattern of the bead can help efficiently locate defects in the weld zone. However, manual extraction of the weld bead from weld images is not time and cost-effective. Efficient and rapid welding quality inspection can be conducted by automating weld bead extraction through deep learning. As a result, objectivity can be secured in the quality inspection and determination of the weld zone in the shipbuilding and offshore plant industry. This study presents a method for detecting the weld bead shape and location from the weld zone image using image preprocessing and deep learning models, and extracting the weld bead through image post-processing. In addition, to diversify the data and improve the deep learning performance, data augmentation was performed to artificially expand the image data. Contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) is used as an image preprocessing method, and the bead is extracted using U-Net, a pixel-based deep learning model. Consequently, the mean intersection over union (mIoU) values are found to be 90.58% and 85.44% in the train and test experiments, respectively. Successful extraction of the bead from the radiographic testing image through post-processing is achieved.
Non-Invasive Examination of the Role of Local Muscle O2 Delivery in Determining VO2 Kinetics During Moderate-Intensity 'Step' and Ramp Incremental Exercise

iii CO-AUTHORSHIP iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF FIGURES xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xvi CHAPTER I: Introduction 1 VO2 kinetics 1 Non-invasive experimental techniques in VO2 kinetcis research 2 Effects of aging on VO2 kinetics 5 Effects of pre-transition WR and transition WR magnitude on VO2 kinetics 8 Effects of heavy-intensity ‘priming’ exercise on VO2 kinetics 10 Effects of acute hypoxia on VO2 kinetics 11 Incremental exercise testing 12 Overview of studies 13 References 16 CHAPTER II: Pulmonary O2 uptake and muscle deoxygenation kinetics are slowed in the upper compared with lower region of the moderate-intensity exercise domain in older men 25 Introduction 25 Methods 28
Cyclic tests on large‐scale models of existing bridge piers with rectangular hollow cross‐section

Cyclic tests on two large‐scale models of existing bridge piers with rectangular hollow cross‐section were performed in the ELSA laboratory. The prototype structure is an existing reinforced concrete highway bridge constructed in Austria in 1975. The piers presented several seismic deficiencies and consequently they showed poor hysteretic behaviour and limited deformation capacity as well as undesirable failure modes that do not comply with the requirements of modern codes for seismic‐resistant structures. Experimental data are compared to numerical and empirical predictions. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Personal Safety and Fear of Sexual Harassment among Female Garment Workers in Bangladesh

Personal safety and fear of sexual harassment may discourage women from participating at work and in public life, limiting their life opportunities. The study proposed to determine personal safety and fear of sexual harassment among female garment workers in Bangladesh. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 201 female garment workers from Dhaka and Chittagong cities. Participants were selected using snowballing sampling techniques with the data collected by using anonymised questionnaires. The Pearson product–moment correlation and analysis of variance were employed using SPSS version 27.0. Results showed that 25% of the participants perceived that they were most likely to be sexually harassed by their manager and 25% never felt safe going to work. Age and the marital status of the participants were significantly associated with personal safety and fear of sexual harassment (p < 0.05). The correlation analysis found a significant positive correlation between personal safety and the fear of sexual harassment [r (201) = 0.85 **, p < 0.05], among the participants. A deep commitment from leadership with cooperation at all levels of the organisations is required to address these acts of violence and organisational conditions, rather than a form of unreflective compliance or a ‘gender-neutral’ approach that fails to recognise individual needs and maintain gender inequality.
Standardization versus Adaptation in The Gardening Industry

The choice of adaptation versus standardization is very important, because it seriously affects the company’s financial performance and competitiveness internationally. However, opinions concerning this issue vary widely, among both academics and practitioners. The purpose of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of how companies, within a specific industry, namely the gardening industry, adapt or standardize their products to foreign markets. The study was conducted using a qualitative research approach. Three case studies of Stiga, Jonsered and Husqvarna were conducted, focusing on a single product, namely lawnmowers, in connection to two foreign markets: the British and the French markets. The study shows that the there are different factors influencing product adaptation. However, the most influential factors showed to be consumer tastes, habits, values and attitudes. The most important factors influencing product standardization are cost reduction, in terms of economies of scale, economies in R&D and economies in marketing.
Reasons for training: why Australian employers train their workers

This report highlights that there is no simple fix to increasing employer investment in training which has generally not been a core component of long-term business planning. Analysing data from the 2005 NCVER Survey of Employer Use and Views of the VET System, this report looks at the reasons why employers train their workers. Four different types of training are focused on: vocational qualifications; the employment of apprentices and trainees; nationally recognised training; and unaccredited training.
Six Sigma implementation: a qualitative case study using grounded theory

Many organisations have implemented Six Sigma, but successful Six Sigma implementation has not been fully investigated. The purpose of this study is to explore the process of implementing Six Sigma in a manufacturing plant using qualitative case study methodology. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analysed using grounded theory to identify the main factors that emerged from the interview data and the relationships between them. Consistent with previous studies, the findings emphasise the role of executive commitment, Six Sigma Champions, and training in successful implementation of Six Sigma projects. Furthermore, the study underlines the role of effective project selection and the coexistence of other management initiatives (e.g. lean manufacturing and continuous improvement) on successful implementations of Six Sigma projects. Our findings also suggest that Six Sigma implementation leads to higher levels of customer focus. The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in effective implementation of Six Sigma. The results include a coding paradigm for the implementation process and implications for managers and practitioners.
DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF REINFORCED CONCRETE FRAMES DESIGNED WITH DIRECT DISPLACEMENT-BASED DESIGN

The Direct Displacement-based Design methodology is applied to six reinforced concrete tube-frame structures and tested using inelastic time-history analyses. Using the established design method inter-storey drifts are found to exceed assumed drift limits, and a series of changes to the design displacement profiles and lateral force distribution are proposed to improve agreement. These changes are then applied to the six frames and further time-history analyses carried out at different earthquake intensities. The inter-storey drift behaviour is found to be significantly improved, with code-based drift limits consistently satisfied. Finally a revised form of the Modified Modal Superposition is proposed to account for higher-mode amplification of column shear forces, while a simple intensity-dependent scaling factor to be applied in the capacity design process is developed for column bending moments. The suggested equations are applied to the frame designs, and found to be in acceptable agreement with time history results at a range of earthquake intensities.
Prosocial village leaders and the resettlement outcomes of land-lost farmers: evidence from Qingdao, China

ABSTRACT This paper examines whether the prosociality of village leaders who were involved in the original implementation of a resettlement decision impact the well-being of households from seven villages four years after the displacement. In particular, we report the significant statistical correlation between the level of group cooperation of village officials as elicited from a public good game in seven rural villages and the reported levels of life satisfaction four years after the resettlement. The data comes from two sources: (i) a laboratory experiment with village officials at the time of resettlement, and (ii) follow-up telephone interviews with resettled villagers. We find that these prosocial attitudes of leaders complement other sustainable livelihood measures in promoting the well-being of resettled villagers.
Item Generation Stage: Teachers’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Discussion on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among teachers has gained much interest among scholars. However, a review of past literature indicates no specific instrument developed for measuring teachers’ OCB in Malaysia. Most studies pertaining to the OCB of teachers in the country have adopted instruments previously developed in the Western context. Therefore, this study aims to generate items that can truly measure the OCB of teachers in the Malaysian context. This study employed two types of research approaches involving the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. Stage one involved 64 secondary school teachers, while stage two comprised 14 teachers who participated in a Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The result found 35 behaviors that have been identified as the OCB of teachers in Malaysia, where 18 behaviors were specific to the OCB of teachers in Malaysia and 17 behaviors were adapted from existing instruments developed in the Western context. A total of 24 items measuring teachers’ OCB in the Western context were dropped because they were considered tasks related to the performance of teachers in Malaysia. The findings show that OCB among teachers in this country should be measured using an instrument specifically designed to suit the local context. Furthermore, there are several differences in behavior with regards to teachers’ OCB in Malaysia compared to those in the Western context. Therefore, this study extends the existing body of knowledge about measuring OCB.
Additive manufacturing technologies: state of the art and trends

The rapid prototyping has been developed from the 1980s to produce models and prototypes until the technologies evolution today. Nowadays, these technologies have other names such as 3D printing or additive manufacturing, and so forth, but they all have the same origins from rapid prototyping. The design and manufacturing process stood the same until new requirements such as a better integration on production line, a largest series of manufacturing or the reduce weight of products due to heavy costs of machines and materials. The ability to produce complex geometries allows proposing of design and manufacturing solutions in the industrial field in order to be ever more effective. The additive manufacturing (AM) technology develops rapidly with news solutions and markets which sometimes need to demonstrate their reliability. The community needs to survey some evolutions such as the new exchange format, the faster 3D printing systems, the advanced numerical simulation or the emergence of new use. This review is addressed to persons who wish have a global view on the AM and improve their understanding. We propose to review the different AM technologies and the new trends to get a global overview through the engineering and manufacturing process. This article describes the engineering and manufacturing cycle with the 3D model management and the most recent technologies from the evolution of additive manufacturing. Finally, the use of AM resulted in new trends that are exposed below with the description of some new economic activities.
Writing for publication in the polytechnic or 'new univsersity' sector

About the author Annemarie Jutel (RN, PhD) has published widely on values in health care and on exercise. She is the editor of Junctures: The Journal for Thematic Dialogue, and is a peer reviewer for several scholarly journals. Annemarie teaches academic writing and clinical enquiry at the Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin, New Zealand. This paper was previously published in http://www.nurseauthoreditor. com/, and reproduced here with the kind permission of the author.
SilvAdapt.Net: A Site-Based Network of Adaptive Forest Management Related to Climate Change in Spain

Adaptive forest management (AFM) is an urgent need because of the uncertainty regarding how changes in the climate will affect the structure, composition and function of forests during the next decades. Current research initiatives for the long-term monitoring of impacts of silviculture are scattered and not integrated into research networks, with the consequent losses of opportunities and capacity for action. To increase the scientific and practical impacts of these experiences, it is necessary to establish logical frameworks that harmonize the information and help us to define the most appropriate treatments. In this context, a number of research groups in Spain have produced research achievements and know-how during the last decades that can allow for the improvement in AFM. These groups address the issue of AFM from different fields, such as ecophysiology, ecohydrology and forest ecology, thus resulting in valuable but dispersed expertise. The main objective of this work is to introduce a comprehensive strategy aimed to study the implementation of AFM in Spain. As a first step, a network of 34 experimental sites managed by 14 different research groups is proposed and justified. As a second step, the most important AFM impacts on Mediterranean pines, as one of the most extended natural and planted forest types in Spain, are presented. Finally, open questions dealing with key aspects when attempting to implement an AFM framework are discussed. This study is expected to contribute to better outlining the procedures and steps needed to implement regional frameworks for AFM.