Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Linear Stability Analysis of Chevron Jet Profiles

We investigate the linear stability characteristics of the mean velocity profiles produced by chevron nozzles. We show that chevron instability waves can be decomposed into azimuthal modes analogously to those of round jets. This facilitates a direct comparison of growth rates and mode structure between different nozzles. We find that the three nozzles used in this study share a set of modes, referred to as primary modes. In addition, we find that there exist modes unique to the chevrons nozzles, termed secondary modes. While chevron jets possess a much larger number of unstable modes, the modes with lowest azimuthal structure show strong suppression of growth rates in two different chevron jets. Some preliminary implications on sound generation are discussed. © 2006 ASME
"A New, Portable Rheometer for Fresh Self-Consolidating Concrete"

This paper describes how the accurate determination of fresh concrete rheology is key in ensuring the production of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is successful. However, rheometers are used infrequently in the field and empirical test methods are most commonly used to determine SCC workability despite measuring quantities that are related to rheological parameters only in an indirect way, if at all. Instead of using multiple empirical test methods to measure the workability of SCC, it is desirable to use a rheometer in both the laboratory and field to determine the flow properties of SCC quickly. Existing rheometers are generally unsuitable for routine field use because of their large size, high cost, or both. This paper describes the use of the International Center for Aggregates Research (ICAR) rheometer, a low-cost, fully portable device that can measure concrete mixtures ranging in workability from approximately 50 mm in slump to SCC. Laboratory test results of SCC mixtures and field testing experience are presented to demonstrate the validity and practicality of the ICAR rheometer.
Simultaneous Causal Inference and Probabilistic Record Linkage in Observational Studies with Covariates Spread Over Two Files

We consider observational studies with data spread over two files. One file includes the treatment, outcome, and some covariates measured on a set of individuals, and the other file includes additional covariates measured on a partially intersecting set of individuals. In absence of direct identifiers, researchers typically estimate causal effects in two stages: construct a linked database with probabilistic record linkage, then apply causal estimators on the linked data. This approach does not take advantage of relationships among the variables to improve the linkage quality. It also does not propagate uncertainty from imperfect linkages to the causal inferences. We address these shortcomings via a Bayesian joint modeling framework for simultaneous causal inference and probabilistic record linkage. The Markov chain Monte Carlo sampler generates multiple plausible linked data files as byproducts. We use these datasets for multiple imputation inferences with two causal estimators, one regression-adjusted and the other unadjusted, based on propensity score overlap weights. Using simulations and data from the Italian Survey on Household Income and Wealth, we show that the joint model with both estimators can improve the accuracy of estimated treatment effects compared to analogous two stage procedures. Supplementary material contains additional details about the causal estimators and additional simulation results.
Pixel Distribution Learning for Vessel Segmentation under Multiple Scales

In this work we try to address if there is a better way to classify two distributions, rather than using histograms; and answer if we can make a deep learning network learn and classify distributions automatically. These improvements can have wide ranging applications in computer vision and medical image processing. More specifically, we propose a new vessel segmentation method based on pixel distribution learning under multiple scales. In particular, a spatial distribution descriptor named Random Permutation of Spatial Pixels (RPoSP) is derived from vessel images and used as the input to a convolutional neural network for distribution learning. Based on our preliminary experiments we currently believe that a wide network, rather than a deep one, is better for distribution learning. There is only one convolutional layer, one rectified linear layer and one fully connected layer followed by a softmax loss in our network. Furthermore, in order to improve the accuracy of the proposed approach, the RPoSP features are captured at multiple scales and combined together to form the input of the network. Evaluations using standard benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves promising results compared to the state-of-the-art.
Impact of Heat Stress on Meat Quality and Antioxidant Markers in Iberian Pigs

Heat stress is associated with impaired meat quality and disruption of redox balance. This study investigated the effect of chronic exposure to high temperature on meat quality and antioxidant markers of muscles (longissimus lumborum and gluteus medius) of growing Iberian pigs. Twenty-four pure Iberian pigs were allocated during 28 days to one of three treatments (n = 8/treatment): thermoneutral conditions (20 °C) and ad libitum feeding (TN), heat stress conditions (30 °C) and ad libitum feeding (HS) and thermoneutral and pair-fed with HS (TN-pf). Muscles of the HS group had greater intramuscular fat content than the TN-pf group and higher Zn levels than TN and TN-pf, whereas differences on fatty acid composition were negligible. Heat exposure did not affect pH, color coordinates of redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) and MDA values but had a positive influence on lightness and drip losses. Moreover, chronic heat stress stimulated the activity of antioxidant defenses SOD, CAT and GPx. The statistical factor analysis adequately classified the muscles studied, but was unable to differentiate samples according with treatments. Findings of the present study support an adaptive response of the Iberian pig to high temperatures and show the high Iberian meat quality even under adverse climate situations.
Why Decriminalise Prostitution? Because Law and Justice Aren’t Always the Same

Leigh Goodmark’s work on domestic violence argues for alternatives to criminal justice to ‘solve’ issues of gendered violence. The criminalisation of sex work and prostitution is rarely discussed in this context—a rather odd omission given the increasing trend towards ‘criminalising demand’ and counter-calls for decriminalisation in this domain. In this article, we bring the two debates into conversation, using Goodmark’s work to bring analytical clarity to the prostitution debate and connect sex work to wider social justice debates in feminist anti-violence circles. We aim to move the conversation beyond retribution and the view that law is justice to outline a vision of justice for sex workers grounded in the principles of rights, recognition and representation. By contextualising the decriminalisation of prostitution within the framework of a wider anti-carceral justice movement, we seek to build alliances for social justice that transcend the current divide.
What happened to the ISO 9000 lustre? An eight-year study

The evolution of the benefits and costs of ISO 9001 registration over time is analysed through a four-year follow-up on the research published earlier in this journal (Casadesús & Karapetrovic, 2005a). A longitudinal empirical study was developed and conducted over a period of eight years, with three surveys administered in 1998, 2002 and 2006, respectively. More than 1000 companies based in Catalonia (Spain) took part in the study, which asked for their perceptions regarding the resources involved in and the outcomes of the implementation and registration of an ISO 9001-compliant quality management system. The results show a continued decrease in the benefits of ISO 9001 registration overall. However, the benefits which are directly related to the objectives of an ISO 9001 quality management system, as stated in the ISO 9001:2000 standard, are still dominant and reported by a large majority of companies. The study also found an additional decrease in the costs of implementing and maintaining the standard, and a further reduction in the average time needed for implementation, with reference to the initial (1998–2002) longitudinal research.
The causal impact of objective numeracy on judgments: Improving numeracy via symbolic and non-symbolic approximate arithmetic training yields more consistent risk judgments

Park and Brannon (2013, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613482944) found that practicing non-symbolic approximate arithmetic increased performance on an objective numeracy task, specifically symbolic arithmetic. Manipulating objective numeracy would be useful for many researchers, particularly those who wish to investigate causal effects of objective numeracy on performance. Objective numeracy has been linked to performance in multiple areas, such as judgment-and-decision-making (JDM) competence, but most existing studies are correlational. Here, we expanded upon Park and Brannon’s method to experimentally manipulate objective numeracy and we investigated whether numeracy’s link with JDM performance was causal. Experimental participants drawn from a diverse internet sample trained on approximate-arithmetic tasks whereas active control participants trained on a spatial working-memory task. Numeracy training followed a 2 × 2 design: Experimental participants quickly estimated the sum of OR difference between presented numeric stimuli, using symbolic numbers (i.e., Arabic numbers) OR non-symbolic numeric stimuli (i.e., dot arrays). We partially replicated Park and Brannon’s findings: The numeracy training improved objective-numeracy performance more than control training, but this improvement was evidenced by performance on the Objective Numeracy Scale, not the symbolic arithmetic task. Subsequently, we found that experimental participants also perceived risks more consistently than active control participants, and this risk-consistency benefit was mediated by objective numeracy. These results provide the first known experimental evidence of a causal link between objective numeracy and the consistency of risk judgments.
Economic Impacts of Violent Conflicts in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

The study analysed the impacts of violent conflicts on the economies of rural communities in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected from the respondents using a structured interview schedule, while focus group discussions (FGD) sessions were employed to assess effects of conflicts on communities. Data were analysed using simple descriptive statistics, alternative resource cost estimation (ARCE) and content analysis while the Likert scale was used to measure the perception of respondents towards the causes of conflicts. There were six (6) major categories of conflicts identified in the area. These categories were communal conflicts, ethnic conflicts, resource conflicts (most often land conflicts), politically motivated conflicts, conflicts due to traditional chieftaincy, and the conflicts between state forces and militia groups. Expansion of agro-pastoralism (4.6) and Extensive sedentism (4.5) were very serious factors that were perceived to lead to conflicts. A total of ₦2,289,859,549 worth 30.28% of the State’s 2018 IGR (Internal Generated Revenue) were lost in these conflicts. It was recommended that laws regarding people with diverse backgrounds and socioeconomic needs and population growth in relation to limited resources should be developed with great care and attention paid to all the parties involved in the process. Participatory approaches to problem identification, conflict management and resolutions need to be established in the communities with regular interactions between and among locals periodically and frequently.
Characterization of an Atypical eIF4E Ortholog in Leishmania, LeishIF4E-6

Leishmania parasites are digenetic protists that shuffle between sand fly vectors and mammalian hosts, transforming from flagellated extracellular promastigotes that reside within the intestinal tract of female sand flies to the obligatory intracellular and non-motile amastigotes within mammalian macrophages. Stage differentiation is regulated mainly by post-transcriptional mechanisms, including translation regulation. Leishmania parasites encode six different cap-binding proteins, LeishIF4E1-6, that show poor conservation with their counterparts from higher eukaryotes and among themselves. In view of the changing host milieu encountered throughout their life cycle, we propose that each LeishIF4E has a unique role, although these functions may be difficult to determine. Here we characterize LeishIF4E-6, a unique eIF4E ortholog that does not readily associate with m7GTP cap in either of the tested life forms of the parasite. We discuss the potential effect of substituting two essential tryptophan residues in the cap-binding pocket, expected to be involved in the cap-binding activity, as judged from structural studies in the mammalian eIF4E. LeishIF4E-6 binds to LeishIF4G-5, one of the five eIF4G candidates in Leishmania. However, despite this binding, LeishIF4E-6 does not appear to function as a translation factor. Its episomal overexpression causes a general reduction in the global activity of protein synthesis, which was not observed in the hemizygous deletion mutant generated by CRISPR-Cas9. This genetic profile suggests that LeishIF4E-6 has a repressive role. The interactome of LeishIF4E-6 highlights proteins involved in RNA metabolism such as the P-body marker DHH1, PUF1 and an mRNA-decapping enzyme that is homologous to the TbALPH1.
Body Image, Sexual Function, and Sexual Satisfaction Among Couples Before and After Gynecologic Cosmetic Surgery

Objective: This study aimed to compare women’s body image, sexual function and satisfaction before and after gynecologic cosmetic surgery. The study also aimed to assess women husband’s sexual satisfaction. Materials and methods: This was a pretest-posttest study. A sample of 50 women attending the pelvic floor clinic of Tehran University of Medical Sciences for gynecologic cosmetic surgery was entered into the study. Surgeries included labiaplasty, clitoral hoodectomy, vaginoplasty, vaginal rejuvenation, anterior and posterior colporrhaphy, perineoplasty, and perineorrhaphy. Women were assessed for the Body Image Quality of Life Inventory (BIQLI), the Larson Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire (LSSQ-F), and Female Sexual Function Inventory (FSFI-6) at two points in time: baseline (one week before surgery) and 3 months after surgery. Similarly, the male partners were assed for sexual satisfaction using the Larson Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire (LSSQ-M). To analyze the data paired samples t-test was applied. Results: The mean (SD) age of women was 43.36 (8.6) years and the mean (SD) duration of marriage was 22.18 (9.7) years. Ninety-four percent had history of vaginal delivery and 58.7 percent attend surgery due to husband’s sexual dissatisfaction. The results showed that women’s body image, sexual function and couples’ sexual satisfaction improved significantly after gynecologic cosmetic surgery (p ≤ 0.001). Conclusion: The findings suggest that female genital cosmetic surgery improved the body image and sexual function of women and sexual satisfaction in couples that might lead to a more pleasurable and healthier marital relationship.
Organisational Structure and Managerial Efficiency: A quasi-experimental analysis of German public theatres

This paper examines the production technology and managerial efficiency of the performing arts sector in Germany using data on 79 theatres over a 32-year period. We examine how different organisational structures affect the efficiency of public theatres and find that theatres organised under public law are more efficient than theatres organised under private law. Using a difference-in-differences approach we examine the impact on efficiency of the exogenous demand shock experienced by theatres located near the East German border after reunification in 1990. We show that theatres organised under private law react positively to this competition shock as measured by their technical efficiency scores confirming that they respond better to market forces than theatres organised under public law.
Extraction and Utilization of Excitation Information of Speech: A Review

Speech production can be regarded as a process where a time-varying vocal tract system (filter) is excited by a time-varying excitation. In addition to its linguistic message, the speech signal also carries information about, for example, the gender and age of the speaker. Moreover, the speech signal includes acoustical cues about several speaker traits, such as the emotional state and the state of health of the speaker. In order to understand the production of these acoustical cues by the human speech production mechanism and utilize this information in speech technology, it is necessary to extract features describing both the excitation and the filter of the human speech production mechanism. While the methods to estimate and parameterize the vocal tract system are well established, the excitation appears less studied. This article provides a review of signal processing approaches used for the extraction of excitation information from speech. This article highlights the importance of excitation information in the analysis and classification of phonation type and vocal emotions, in the analysis of nonverbal laughter sounds, and in studying pathological voices. Furthermore, recent developments of deep learning techniques in the context of extraction and utilization of the excitation information are discussed.
Novel decade electronically tunable microwave oscillator based on the distributed amplifier

The Letter suggests that a microwave distributed amplifier can be used as a decade-wide electronically tunable oscillator by using the output from the idle drain load as the feedback output and differentially varying the bias of the amplifier MESFETs, taken in pairs. CAD techniques predict that this approach should produce a decade tuning range with seven MESFETs in a nine stage configuration.
Collective resistance and organizational creativity amongst Europes platform workers: a new power in the labour movement?

This chapter explores and discusses labour agency in the platform economy in Europe.1 The main research question is what this economy implies for the collective resistance and representation of platform workers, as well as for the relationship between them and established trade unions. The platform economy has induced pessimistic accounts of future labour agency, and it undoubtedly poses major challenges to unions. This chapter, however, develops a more positive appraisal. Emerging forms of collective resistance and representation are conceived here as a countervailing power in the making – at least in several European countries. A non-exhaustive mapping of this resistance and representation will be provided by utilizing ‘grey literature’2 and the burgeoning wealth of empirical studies on this subject. The argument is advanced that the distinctively disordered nature of the platform economy holds the promise of an epoch of organizational creativity and experimentation for labour (Murray et al. 2020), with possible cooperation between ‘new’ (informal) types of collective representation and existing unions. A threefold conceptual framework is used (depicted in Figure 9.1) to develop and elaborate on this argument, with concepts corresponding to different analytical levels. A world-historical analysis of the labour movement places labour agency in the platform economy (in relation to capital mobility) within a historical perspective via the concept of spatio-temporal ‘fixes’ (Silver 2003). Fixes are various strategies of capital aiming to lessen labour costs and to maximize labour control. To understand the current restructuring of capitalism by digital labour platforms (henceforth ‘platforms’), three fixes are studied here. The product fix relates to the shift of investments from old industries subject to strong competition to new ones. The technological/organizational fix is
Early Right Heart Chambers Reverse Remodeling in Patients Operated in Adulthood for Congenital Lesions Associated with Right Heart Chambers Enlargement

Background Progressive right heart chambers dilatation is frequent in the adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) population. We evaluated the immediate and mid-term response of right heart chambers to surgery performed in adulthood for lesions associated with right heart chambers enlargement. Methods Thirty-six adult patients with lesions associated with right heart chambers enlargement submitted to surgery were studied. We collected echocardiographic data of right ventricle (RV) mid-diameter, right atrial volume indexed, RV systolic pressure, and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) prior to surgery (T0), at 2 to 5 days (T1), and 3 to 6 months (T2) after surgery. Results At T1, we observed a significant decrease of RV mid-diameter (47.2 ± 8.4 vs. 39.6 ± 7.4 mm, P < .001), right atrial volume indexed (45.6 ± 26.6 vs. 27.2 ± 11 ml/m2, P < .001), and RV systolic pressure (39 ± 14.8 vs. 32.8 ± 11.3 mm Hg, P = .03). At T2, a further significant deviation in the rate of RV diameter (39.6 ± 7.4 vs. 34.5 ± 5.1 mm, P < .001), in RV systolic pressure (32.8 ± 11.3 vs. 25.3 ± 5 mm Hg, P = .03) and TAPSE (13.9 ± 3.2 vs. 15.8 ± 2.6 mm, P < .001) was observed. Conclusions Positive right heart chambers remodeling occurs as early as in the immediate post-operative period in most ACHD patients operated for lesions associated with right heart chambers enlargement.
The Prevalence of Anti-Syphilis Antibody in Iranian Pregnant Women

Objective: The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of anti-syphilis antibodies in Iranian pregnant women who attended antenatal care (ANC) in 21 districts affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (MUI) from April 2017 to April 2020. Materials and methods: In a cross-sectional study in 2020, the data about anti syphilis antibody were collected from electronic health files of pregnant women. Pregnancy specific health package was delivered to Iranian pregnant women in a horizontally integrated network across the country. The electronic health file was used for every Iranian citizen and all health events were recorded by their health care providers in 2016. All health services, particularly laboratory tests that were performed either in public or private laboratories, that were given to pregnant women needed to be recorded in their electronic health files. According to the pregnancy health package, they were screened initially by Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR) test. Results: In those years, 70512, 72298, 63272 pregnant women were screened respectively. In these intervals, using the RPR test, no positive cases of anti- syphilis antibody were found. Conclusion: It seems that syphilis infection among Iranian pregnant women who attended ANC in districts affiliated to MUI has reached the elimination phase.