Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wölbkrafttorsion von Durchlaufträgern mit konstantem Querschnitt unter Berücksichtigung sekundärer Schubverformungen

Die Analogie zwischen der Theorie der Wölbkrafttorsion und der Theorie II. Ordnung für den Biegestab mit Längszug gilt auch dann noch, wenn bei der Wölbkrafttorsion die Schubverformungen der sekundären Torsion und beim Biegestab die Querkraftverformungen zusätzlich berücksichtigt werden. Auf der Basis dieser Analogie wird die Dreimomentengleichung zur Berechnung von Durchlaufträgern mit konstantem Querschnitt angegeben. Es wird gezeigt, daß die sekundären Schubverformungen bei offenen Querschnitten in der Regel vernachlässigbar sind, bei geschlossenen Querschnitten aber stets berücksichtigt werden müssen. Ebenso wird gezeigt, daß bei diesen geschlossenen Querschnitten die Wölbkrafttorsion i. w. nur an “Störstellen” auftritt, dort aber Spannungen hervorruft, die gegenüber jenen der primären Torsion nicht vernachlässigbar sind.
Does external assurance on CSR reporting contribute to its higher quality? Empirical evidence from China

This paper examines the difference that the assurance brings to the quality of CSR reports in the Chinese institutional setting, in particular, the difference in quality (proxy – RKS ranking) of assured and unassured CSR reports, as well as whether the high ownership concentration and corresponding to it “entrenchment effect” obstruct the positive impact the assurance exerts on the quality of CSR reports. The paper examines CSR reports on 2,292 firm-year observations of large Chinese companies over three years (2015–2018). The hypothesis development process predicates on the signaling and stakeholder theories, whilst this study applies regression analysis to test the hypotheses. Consistent with the predictions of signaling and stakeholder theories, the paper finds that assurance contributes to the higher quality of CSR reports. Moreover, the study finds that assured CSR reports have higher sub-scores in all four aspects of RKS ranking. However, as ownership concentration exceeds 50 per cent and reaches the majority, it thwarts the advancement in the quality of CSR reports through its assurance. The paper provides an initial empirical account of the role of assurance in the emerging CSR reporting practice in China. The paper contributes to the modest body of empirical research on the function of external assurance in the CSR area by explicating the role played both by the accounting (external assurance) and corporate governance (ownership concentration) infrastructure to ensure high quality of CSR reporting. The paper briefs local, international regulatory authorities and the business community about the importance of external assurance for the CSR reporting quality.
Solid waste management of Dhaka city: public private community partnership

Urban solid waste management is considered as one of the most immediate and serious environmental problems confronting municipal authorities in developing Asian Countries. Although municipal authorities acknowledge the importance of adequate solid waste collection and disposal as well as resource recovery and recycling, it is mostly beyond their resource to deal effectively with the growing amount of solid waste generated by the expanding cities. Consequently solid waste is indiscriminate by dumped on roads and into open drains thus leading to serious health risk and degradation of living environment for millions of urban people. In the last decade, however, importance of community involvement in solid waste management and use of adapted technologies were recognized for improving the solid waste management system.
Finite element modeling of nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvesters with magnetic interaction

Piezoelectric energy harvesting from ambient vibrations is a potential technology for powering wireless sensors and low power electronic devices. The conventional linear harvesters suffer from narrow operational bandwidth. Many attempts have been made especially using the magnetic interaction to broaden the bandwidth of harvesters. The finite element (FE) modeling has been used only for analyzing the linear harvesters in the literature. The main difficulties in extending the FE modeling to analyze the nonlinear harvesters involving magnetic interaction are developing the mesh needed for magnetic interaction in dynamic problems and the high demand on computational resource needed for solving the coupled electrical–mechanical–magnetic problem. In this paper, an innovative method is proposed to model the magnetic interaction without inclusion of the magnetic module. The magnetic force is modeled using the nonlinear spring element available in ANSYS finite element analysis (FEA) package, thus simplifying the simulation of nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvesters as an electromechanically coupled problem. Firstly, an FE model of a monostable nonlinear harvester with cantilever configuration is developed and the results are validated with predictions from the theoretical model. Later, the proposed technique of FE modeling is extended to a complex 2-degree of freedom nonlinear energy harvester for which an accurate analytical model is difficult to derive. The performance predictions from FEA are compared with the experimental results. It is concluded that the proposed modeling technique is able to accurately analyze the behavior of nonlinear harvesters with magnetic interaction.
A Stylometric Investigation of Linguistic Styles Based on a Vietnamese Corpus

The role of stylometric methods in linguistics has received increased attention across a number of disciplines in recent years, particularly in forensic linguistics. This study assesses the value of correspondence analysis, a stylometric method, in Vietnamese text analysis. Based on a dataset extracted from VVC (VnExpress Viewpoint Corpus), a 1.3-million-token corpus of Vietnamese opinion articles, linguistic features examined are seven parts-of-speech features to seek relational features characterizing authorial styles. Our focus in the analysis is on feature effects, with the aim to shed light on whether linguistic features of writing styles are consistent across various genders and profes-sions. Seven features altogether produce encouraging results to what is ac-knowledged to be a difficult problem for Vietnamese language. In addition, we find that when using correspondence analysis for seven linguistic features in the dataset based on authors’ gender, conjunctions and verbs perform best. Regarding authors’ profession, conjunctions and pronouns offer a striking improvement on stylometric investigation. The discriminating ability was particularly impressive, suggesting that, in a collective sense, parts-of-speech features provide a good set of markers.
The circular homogeneous-ferrite microwave circulator - an asymptotic Green's function and impedance analysis

A detailed analysis of the circular, homogeneous ferrite microwave circulator is provided. Particular emphasis is on the circulator's Green's function and the impact of the asymptotic term within the Green's function on convergence, data quality, and design methodology. The asymptotic term is shown to be logarithmic, which suggests that the Green's function is weakly singular when the source and observation points occupy the same location. With the Green's function properly understood, two techniques - one analytical and one numerical - are then offered to integrate that function in order to obtain Z-parameter data and, subsequently, S-parameter data. Data are provided to show rapid convergence of all parameters of interest. A small coupling angle approximation is then given for the Z-parameters and, from that approximation, a first-order design equation is obtained that relates the coupling angle to circulator radius. A circulator design example is presented and compared to a design associated with the Wu and Rosenbaum method; the comparison substantiates the small coupling angle approximation and design formula.
Parenting during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Portugal: Changes in Daily Routines, Co-Parenting Relationships, Emotional Experiences, and Support Networks

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged parental resources pertinent to coping with lockdowns. The main objective of this work was to study parenting during the COVID-19 lockdown. Specifically at focus were parental behaviors concerning key domains for the family (daily routine, co-parenting, emotional experience, and support network) and changes related to the pandemic and associated with the parents’ employment statuses. An online survey was carried out through an ad hoc questionnaire where participants completed questions about their sociodemographic data and rated how much their family routines, their co-parenting relationship, their emotional experiences, and the support available in the family network varied on a 5-point scale. The participants included 1384 parents, of which 286 responded to open questions regarding impactful experiences during the lockdown. The results showed differences in daily routine, co-parenting, emotional experience, and support network according to the parents’ employment statuses. Between-group comparisons showed that at-home parents caring for children with governmental aids generally revealed more positive parenting behavior changes, while at-home parents who were teleworking reported more difficulties in parent-child activities and co-parenting. Furthermore, the content analysis of the data confirmed how important themes such as family dynamics, professional activities, and the relationship with the school community were throughout the participants’ accounts of gains and losses. Overall, parents’ employment statuses are associated with diverse experiences during lockdown. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of family resources and parental resilience, particularly during circumstances jeopardizing the ever-sensitive work-family balance.
Broadband X-band low noise amplifier based on 70 nm GaAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistor technology for deep space and satellite communication networks and oscillation issues

An X-band low noise amplifier (LNA) using the 70 nm GaAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistors (mHEMT) process available from OMMIC has been reported. The foundry model-based simulated response, on-wafer measurements of the fabricated monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) LNA and measured data of packaged LNA at room temperature and 100 K have been shown. At room temperature, the packaged LNA exhibits a flat gain more than 26 dB from 7 to 11 GHz with less than 1 dB noise figure at room temperature. The input and output return losses are better than -20 and -10 dB, respectively, between 7.5 and 8.5 GHz. It exhibits linear response with output 1 dB compression point of 1 dBm. MMIC dimension has been limited to 1.5 mm × 1 mm. Off-chip inductance in the form of a modelled bondwire has been used to attain the improved input return loss and noise matching. Two figure-of-merits have been proposed and justified, and a comparative study of the overall performances of X-band LNAs with emerging technologies has been made. At 100 K, the LNA shows major improvement of the input and output return losses.
Pellets Inoculated with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H57 Modulates Diet Preference and Rumen Factors Associated with Appetite Regulation in Steers

Simple Summary The probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain H57 (H57) may reinforce preferential feeding behaviour by changing ruminal fermentation parameters. Four rumen-fistulated steers were offered feedlot pellets, with (H57) or without (Control, C) the H57 probiotic. Half of the pellets were added to the rumen, at time zero, and half were offered for oral consumption over the next six hours, to make four feeding treatments. Each steer was offered each treatment over time. Each offering was over six days, with rumen fluid sampled over the last three days for a six-hour period per day. A five-minute preference test was performed at the end of each rumen sampling period by simultaneously offering the steers 4 kg of H57 and C pellets. The steers preferred the H57 over the C pellets but the route of offering (rumen versus oral) had no effect on preference. Ruminal pH and molar proportions of iso-butyrate and iso-valerate were higher and ammonia concentrations tended to be greater for H57 compared to C. However, since the route of offering had no effect on preference, the hypothesis, that ruminal fermentation changes take precedence over oral (taste) sensations in driving preference, was not supported. Abstract This study examined whether the probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain H57 (H57) affects ruminal fermentation parameters that exercise post-ingestive feedback appetite control mechanisms. A 4 × 4 Latin square design was used to separate pre- and post-ingestive effects of H57 in four rumen-fistulated steers. The steers were offered a set amount of feedlot pellets, inoculated with H57 or without H57 (control, C). Half of the total amount of pellets fed were introduced intra-ruminally (r), and then the remaining pellets were orally consumed (o) to make four feeding treatments: H57r/H57o, H57r/Co, Cr/H57o and Cr/Co. Rumen fluid was sampled at 2, 4 and 6 h after feeding. Preference behaviour was tested immediately after the 6 h rumen fluid sampling by simultaneously offering the steers 4 kg of each of H57 and C pellets in adjacent troughs for 5 min. Steers preferred the pellets with added H57 over the C pellets (56:44; p < 0.001) and their preferences were not affected by the treatment protocol imposed to separate post- from pre-ingestive effects (p > 0.05). Steers fed H57 pellets had higher ruminal pH, molar proportions of iso-butyrate and iso-valerate (p < 0.05) and tended to have greater ruminal ammonia concentrations compared to those fed C pellets (p < 0.1). However, post-ingestive signals did not affect diet preference more than pre-ingestive signals.
A Patient Stratification Approach to Identifying the Likelihood of Continued Chronic Depression and Relapse Following Treatment for Depression

Background: Subgrouping methods have the potential to support treatment decision making for patients with depression. Such approaches have not been used to study the continued course of depression or likelihood of relapse following treatment. Method: Data from individual participants of seven randomised controlled trials were analysed. Latent profile analysis was used to identify subgroups based on baseline characteristics. Associations between profiles and odds of both continued chronic depression and relapse up to one year post-treatment were explored. Differences in outcomes were investigated within profiles for those treated with antidepressants, psychological therapy, and usual care. Results: Seven profiles were identified; profiles with higher symptom severity and long durations of both anxiety and depression at baseline were at higher risk of relapse and of chronic depression. Members of profile five (likely long durations of depression and anxiety, moderately-severe symptoms, and past antidepressant use) appeared to have better outcomes with psychological therapies: antidepressants vs. psychological therapies (OR (95% CI) for relapse = 2.92 (1.24–6.87), chronic course = 2.27 (1.27–4.06)) and usual care vs. psychological therapies (relapse = 2.51 (1.16–5.40), chronic course = 1.98 (1.16–3.37)). Conclusions: Profiles at greater risk of poor outcomes could benefit from more intensive treatment and frequent monitoring. Patients in profile five may benefit more from psychological therapies than other treatments.
The Effects of an Authentic Collaborative Project on University Directing Students’ Learning Experiences

This phenomenological study reports an authentic collaborative project between students of acting and directing (AD) and students of Teaching English as Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in University Sains Malaysia (USM). The project, which is integrated and infused with features of authentic learning and creative drama education, aims to provide the AD students with new learning experiences that are authentic in nature and that focuses on their abilities to direct a full theatre performance. Using qualitative data collection methods (i.e., online reflections and open-ended items), the study identified and determined six meaningful learning experiences that the 29 AD students gained: (i) constructing, sharing, and utilizing knowledge; (ii) understanding roles as directors; (iii) identifying and solving problems; (iv) creating and building teamwork; (v) developing creativity in directing; and (vi) practising professionalism in directing. The paper also provides some guidelines for other practitioners and researchers to undertake similar projects in future and in other settings.
Power-Aware Testing for Maximum Fault Coverage in Analog and Digital Circuits Simultaneously

In this paper, a method for maximum fault coverage with minimum power dissipation, during the testing of analog and digital circuits of mixed-signal System-on-Chip (SOC) simultaneously using Genetic Algorithm, (GA) is proposed. Mixed-signal SOC consists mainly of an analog block, a digital block and a DAC/ADC (Digital to Analog Converter/Analog to Digital Converter). Due to the presence of analog and digital circuits in mixed-signal SOCs, the testing procedure is difficult from that of only analog or digital circuit testing. Here stuck at 0/1 faults are considered for digital circuits, and stuck open/short faults are considered for analog circuits. In analog testing fault modeling, fault injection and fault simulation are done. The outputs of the analog block and some independent digital signals are given to the digital block. The GA-based approach is used for power-aware ordering of test patterns considering pattern dependency on previous patterns at the input of digital block as input patterns. The effect of noise on analog test signals has also been investigated here with the area analysis of the circuit. An average of 92.43% fault coverage and 13.56% maximum power saving is achieved when this methodology is applied to ITC 97 (Analog block) and ISCAS 85 (Digital block) benchmark circuits, respectively. A trade-off between fault coverage and power dissipation has been presented.
Enabling Better Physical Activity and Screen Time Behaviours for Adolescents from Middle Eastern Backgrounds: Semi-Structured Interviews with Parents

The unrelenting obesity pandemic in Middle Eastern (ME) adolescents living in Australia warrants culturally responsive and locally engineered interventions. Given the influence of parents on the lifestyle behaviours of adolescents, this qualitative study aimed to capture the opinions of ME parents on the barriers and enablers to sufficient physical activity and limiting screen time behaviours in adolescents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 ME parents (female) aged 35–59 years old, most of whom resided in lower socioeconomic areas (n = 19). A reflexive thematic analysis using the Theoretical Domains Framework and the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behaviour model was performed for coding. Parents voiced confidence in their knowledge of the importance of physical activity and limiting screen time but were less optimistic in their ability to enable change in behaviours, especially for older adolescents without outside support. Despite adolescents having the necessary skills to engage in a wide array of sports, the parents admitted deep fears regarding the safety of the social environment and restricted their children’s independent mobility. Gender differences were noted, with parents reporting older girls expressing disinterest in sports and having limited physical opportunities to participate in sports at school. It may be that a community-based participatory framework is needed to improve physical activity opportunities and to address specific physical, social, and cultural barriers.
A Comparative Study on Fuel Consumption Prediction Methods of Heavy-Duty Diesel Trucks Considering 21 Influencing Factors

With increasingly prominent environmental problems, controlling automobile exhaust has become essential to the environment. The fuel consumption of transportation is the critical factor that determines exhaust gas. By analyzing the naturalistic driving data of heavy-duty diesel trucks (HDDTs), this paper explored the influence of engine technical state, road features, weather, and temperature conditions on fuel consumption during driving. The detailed process is as follows: Firstly, we collected 1153 naturalistic driving data from 34 HDDTs and made a specific analysis and summary description of the data; secondly, by establishing a binary Logistic regression model, we quantitatively explored the influence of significant factors on the fuel consumption; meanwhile, based on quantitative analysis of factor’s effectiveness, this research used several machine learning algorithms (back-propagation neural network, decision tree, and random forest) to build fuel consumption predictors, and compared the prediction performance of different algorithms. The results showed that the prediction accuracy of the decision tree, back-propagation (BP) neural network, and random forest is 81.38%, 83.98%, and 86.58%, respectively. The random forest showed the best performance in predicting. The conclusions can assist transportation companies in formulating driving training strategies and contribute to reducing energy consumption and emissions.
Patterns of relapse following hippocampal avoidance prophylactic cranial irradiation for small cell lung carcinoma

Background Hippocampal avoidance techniques are an evolving standard of care for patients undergoing cranial irradiation. Our aim was to assess the oncological outcomes and patterns of failure following hippocampal avoidance prophylactic cranial irradiation (HA-PCI) as a standard of care in unselected patients with both limited and extensive stage small cell lung carcinoma. Materials and methods Consecutive patients with small cell lung carcinoma with a complete (limited stage) or good partial (extensive stage) response following chemotherapy were eligible to receive HA-PCI, with a total dose of 25 Gray in 10 fractions. All patients had a negative baseline MRI brain scan with gadolinium prior to HA-PCI. Patients had baseline and follow up Common Toxicity Criteria Adverse Event assessments. Following completion of HA-PCI, all patients had three-monthly MRI brain scans with gadolinium until confirmation of intracranial relapse, as well as three-monthly CT of the chest, abdomen and pelvis. Overall and progression-free survival were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results A total of 17 consecutive patients, 9 men and 8 women, with a mean age of 70 years received HA-PCI between May 2016 and June 2020 after completion of their initial chemotherapy. There were no Grade 4 or greater adverse events. No patient had an isolated hippocampal avoidance zone relapse alone; three of 17 patients had multifocal relapses that included the hippocampal avoidance zone. Conclusion In our series, there were no hippocampal only relapses and we conclude that HA-PCI is a safe alternative to standard PCI in the setting of small cell lung cancer.