Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CONVENTIONAL AND ALTERNATE DESIGN OF HIGHWAY BRIDGE IN ENGATIA MOTORWAY ACCORDING TO EUROCODES WITH INNOVATIONS IN AESTHETICS , ECONOMY , CONSTRUCTION , DURABILITY , SERVICEABILITY AND SEISMIC SAFETY

Undoubtedly, one of the most interesting topics is to devise innovative solutions to problems dealt by conventional means. Regarding bridges, there are several innovations that can be applied. Some of the innovative terms are associated with the construction process, economics, aesthetics, durability, seismic safety and serviceability. This paper tried to deal with these particular terms and improve them. For this purpose it has been used as reference bridge, one of the Egnatia Highway bridges. The bridge designed and constructed as cast-insitu with many innovative features. The most important feature is its monolithic structural method, which is interrupted only at the end parts of the deck. The bridge consists of six spans while the cross section of the deck is a prestressed box-girder. The cross section of the five piers is wall-type, while the abutments have relatively small height. In the current paper the following subjects are studied: (a) the design of the existing structure according to the current valid Eurocodes, while the constructed bridge was designed according to the German DIN standards. (b) a new idea of gradual construction method. This new idea introduces the use of straight tendons only at the supporting areas of the deck. (c) a variable cross section for the deck has to be selected for aesthetical and economical purposes. As a result of that selection, conventional reinforcement was used in the middle sections of the spans. This is considered to be another innovation in design of the deck. (d) in order to manage a uniform aesthetical result, the deck is fully fixed at its edges, instead of simple seating. For that reason, a new type of abutment has been created in order to receive significant amounts of moment. The results of the two different analyses have been compared and the conclusion leaded to significant notifications. Graduate Student Researcher, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece 2 PhD Candidate, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece 3 Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Istanbul Bridge Conference August 11-13, 2014 Istanbul, Turkey CONVENTIONAL AND ALTERNATE DESIGN OF HIGHWAY BRIDGE IN ENGATIA MOTORWAY ACCORDING TO EUROCODES WITH INNOVATIONS IN AESTHETICS, ECONOMY, CONSTRUCTION, DURABILITY, SERVICEABILITY AND SEISMIC SAFETY D. A. Anastasopoulos, Z. N. Kopelia, V. Pilitsis, I. A. Tegos
Authoring Example-based Tutors for Procedural Tasks

Abstract Researchers who have worked on authoring systems for intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) have examined how examples may form the basis for authoring. In this chapter, we describe several such systems, consider their commonalities and differences, and reflect on the merit of such an approach. It is not surprising perhaps that several tutor developers have explored how examples can be used in the authoring process. In a broader context, educators and researchers have long known the power of examples in learning new material. Students can gather much information by poring over a worked example, applying what they learn to novel problems. Often these worked examples prove more powerful than direct instruction in the domain. For example, Reed and Bolstad (1991) found that students learning solely by worked examples exhibited much greater learning than those learning instruction based on procedures. By extension then, since tutor authoring can be considered to be teaching a tabula rasa tutor, tutor authoring by use of examples may be as powerful as directly programming the instruction, while being easier to do.
Analysis and prediction of the different types of beta-turn in proteins.

beta-Turns have been extracted from 59 non-identical proteins (resolution 2 A) using the standard criterion that the distance between C alpha (i) and C alpha (i + 3) is less than 7 A (1 A = 0.1 nm). The beta-turns have been classified, using phi, psi angles, into seven conventional turn types (I, I', II, II', IV, VIa, VIb) and a new class of beta-turn, designated type VIII, in which the central residues (i + 1, i + 2) adopt an alpha R beta conformation. Most beta-turn types are found in various topological environments, with the exception of I' and II' beta-turns, where 83% and 50%, respectively, are found in beta-hairpins. Sufficient data have been gathered to enable, for the first time, the separate statistical analysis of type I and II beta-turns. The two turn types have been shown to be strikingly different in their sequence preferences. Type I turns favour Asp, Asn, Ser and Cys at i; Asp, Ser, Thr and Pro at i + 1; Asp, Ser, Asn and Arg at i + 2; Gly, Trp and Met at i + 3, whilst type II turns prefer Pro at i + 1; Gly and Asn at i + 2; Gln and Arg at i + 3. These preferences have been explained by the specific side-chain interactions observed within the X-ray structures. The positional trends for type I and II beta-turns have been incorporated into the simple empirical predictive algorithm originally developed by P.N. Lewis et al. The program has improved the positional prediction of beta-turns, and has enhanced and extended the method by predicting the type of beta-turn. Since the observed preferences reflect local interactions these predictions are applicable not only to proteins, but also to peptides, many of which are thought to contain beta-turns.
Data Engineering for A ff ective Understanding Systems

Affective understanding is an area of affective computing which is concerned with advancing the ability of a computer to understand the affective state of its user. This area continues to receive attention in order to improve the human-computer interactions of automated systems and services. Systems within this area typically deal with big data from different sources, which require the attention of data engineers to collect, process, integrate and store. Although many studies are reported in this area, few look at the issues that should be considered when designing the data pipeline for a new system or study. By reviewing the literature of affective understanding systems one can deduct important issues to consider during this design process. This paper presents a design model that works as a guideline to assist data engineers when designing data pipelines for affective understanding systems, in order to avoid implementation faults that may increase cost and time. We illustrate the feasibility of this model by presenting its utilization to develop a stress detection application for drivers as a case study. This case study shows that failure to consider issues in the model causes major errors during implementation leading to highly expensive solutions and the wasting of resources. Some of these issues are emergent such as performance, thus implementing prototypes is recommended before finalizing the data pipeline design.
Dynamic voltage collapse prediction in a practical power system with support vector machine

This paper presents dynamic voltage collapse prediction on an actual power system using support vector machines. Dynamic voltage collapse prediction is first determined based on the PTSI calculated from information in dynamic simulation output. Simulations were carried out on a practical 87 bus test system by considering load increase as the contingency. The data collected from the time domain simulation is then used as input to the SVM in which support vector regression is used as a predictor to determine the dynamic voltage collapse indices of the power system. To reduce training time and improve accuracy of the SVM, the kernel function type and kernel parameter are considered. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed SVM method, its performance is compared with the multi layer perceptron neural network (MLPNN). Studies show that the SVM gives faster and more accurate results for dynamic voltage collapse prediction compared with the MLPNN.
Aspects of Volume Regulation in Two Estuarine Invertebrates: Glycera dibranchiata (Annelida) and Modiolus demissus (Mollusca)

The bloodworm Glvcera dibranchiata is an imperfect volume regulator when exposed to a low salinity stress. During volume readjustment it undergoes two distinct phases: 1) swelling and 2) plateau. There is a very small decrease in volume between the two phases. Also during this period, it has an elevated ammonia exeretion rate whose pattern follows that of the volume readjustment. There are no detectable free amino acids (FAA) excreted in this interval. FAA do pass across the body wall in isolated preparations. The presence of closed nephridia are thought to play a role in this. In the course of volume readjustment the osmolality of the coelomic fluid drops very rapidly. G. dibranchiata becomes isosmotic at approximately 12 hours after exposure to 18°/oo. During this time there is little change in the concentration of FAA in the coelomic fluid despite an obvious increase in the volume of the coelomic fluid. These FAA are presumabley degraded and the ammonia is excreted. The ribbed mussel, Modiolus demissus. also do not excrete intact FAA when exposed to a low salinity stress. The osmolality of the pericardial fluid decreases rapidly to become isosmotic at approximately 12 hours after exposure. During this time there is an increase in concentration of FAA in the pericardal fluid. Isolated preparations of gill exhibit an increase in the rate of uptake of a-amino isobutyric acid (AIB) when subjected to a low
An Over-reliance on Discrete Item Testing in the Japanese Business Context

Introduction The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is an increasingly used English language proficiency test both in Japan and internationally. It was originally intended as a test of the communicative ability of Japanese businessmen, but is now used far more widely. Since its launch in Japan in 1979, the TOEIC has become one of the most taken English tests in the world. There are now more than 3 million candidates every year, according to Educational Testing Service (ETS), the maker of the TOEIC. The main feature of the TOEIC, according to ETS, is that it is a test of English used in business and commerce. Despite the popularity of the TOEIC it has attracted little independent research and in comparison to other standardized English proficiency tests such as TOEFL or IELTS it is relatively unknown outside of Asia (see Chapman, 2003a for a full discussion of the lack of research into TOEIC). The little independent research into the TOEIC (Douglas, 1992; Childs, 1995; Hirai, 2002) has been largely critical and unsupportive of the claims made for the test by ETS.
Why introverts can't always tell who likes them: multitasking and nonverbal decoding.

Despite personality theories suggesting that extraversion correlates with social skill, most studies have not found a positive correlation between extraversion and nonverbal decoding. The authors propose that introverts are less able to multitask and thus are poorer at nonverbal decoding, but only when it is a secondary task. Prior research has uniformly extracted the nonverbal decoding from its multitasking context and, consequently, never tested this hypothesis. In Studies 1-3, introverts exhibited a nonverbal decoding deficit, relative to extraverts, but only when decoding was a secondary rather than a primary task within a multitasking context. In Study 4, extraversion was found to correlate with central executive efficiency (r = .42) but not with storage capacity (r = .04). These results are discussed in terms of arousal theories of extraversion and the role of catecholamines (dopamine and norepinephrine) in prefrontal function.
SIMULATION OF FENDER TYPE GUITAR PREAMP USING APPROXIMATION AND STATE-SPACE MODEL

This paper deals with usage of approximations for simulation of more complex audio circuits. A Fender type guitar preamp was chosen as a case study. This circuit contains two tubes and thus four nonlinear functions as well as it is a parametric circuit because of an integrated tone stack. A state-space approach was used for simulation and further, precomputed solution is approximated using nonuniform cubic splines.
The Impact of Socioscientific Issues-based Instruction on College Students ’ Knowledge Acquisition

The need for STEM literacy among undergraduates has fueled the exploration of innovative teaching methods in the higher education setting. Socioscientific issues (SSI)-based instruction is an instructional model that has yielded positive results in a variety of settings, including agricultural education. However, the multiple variables contributing to the impact of classroom instruction on student outcomes merits further investigation into the effectiveness of SSI-based instruction at the undergraduate level. This quasi-experimental study examined the impact of SSI-based instruction on undergraduate students’ knowledge of solar energy. Nonequivalent groups were randomly assigned to either an SSI-based instructional module or a traditional instructional module. Results indicated that while both groups experienced significant gains in their knowledge of solar energy, SSI-based instruction was not more impactful than traditional instruction. Findings suggest that instructors looking to invigorate their classroom through innovative teaching methods explore the use of SSI-based instruction, as their students’ learning should not be negatively impacted. Recommendations are made for researchers in order to better understand the impact SSI-based instruction has at the undergraduate level.
Goal orientation in elite volleyball player ’ s motivation and motivational climate

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the goal orientation on the motivation and motivational climate perceived by Iranian’s elite female volleyball players. A sample was taken consisting of 63 players of ages ranging from 16 to 36 years. The instruments for data gathering were the Iranian versions of Perception of Success Questionnaire, Sport Motivation Scale and Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire. Data were statistically analyzed by descriptive and multivariate analyses (MANOVA 2x2). The main results show that high ego female players present a lower motivational climate for execution, and low ego ones an identified EM. On the other hand those with high task orientation show achievement as IM, as IM, identified EM and interjected EM, as well as a mastery-oriented motivational climate.
K-TIER SEPARATION BASED ABSTRACTION REFINEMENT SCHEDULERS FOR PARALLEL JOB IN MULTIPLE CLOUD CENTERS

Current approaches to enforce cloud computing for complex applications, processed in remote data centers are based on parallel processing capabilities. Under such approaches, parallel applications minimize the CPU utilization on the cloud whenever communication and synchronization between different parallel processes takes place. Also data center thus incur workloads in the cloud. A better approach should take responsiveness as the top priority so as to minimize the overhead at the data centers while assuring nontrivial effort from the side of the data centers. But at the same time it not only increases the communication cost but also results in the improper utilization of nodes in the data center with poor responses to parallel workload with many data center in the cloud. In this paper we propose an approach to improve the utilization of nodes and also respond to parallel workload in an efficient manner. We propose an approach called abstraction refinement scheduling for parallel job in multiple cloud centers. Under our approach, the problem of large-scale scheduling is solved using abstraction refinement schedulers. A challenging issue is how to solve the problem of scheduling for K-tier separation such that the scheduling is done fast with small abstraction refinements. On the basis of abstraction refinement schedulers, different schedulers are developed from various computing domains on simulated data centers. Extensive experiments are conducted to validate our approach where the results are implemented with CloudSim in JAVA on the parametric factors such as number of data centers, job assigned, time intervals, memory rate and CPU Cycles for abstraction scheduler.
Replica exchange molecular dynamics optimization of tensor network states for quantum many-body systems

Tensor network states (TNS) methods combined with the Monte Carlo (MC) technique have been proven a powerful algorithm for simulating quantum many-body systems. However, because the ground state energy is a highly non-linear function of the tensors, it is easy to get stuck in local minima when optimizing the TNS of the simulated physical systems. To overcome this difficulty, we introduce a replica-exchange molecular dynamics optimization algorithm to obtain the TNS ground state, based on the MC sampling technique, by mapping the energy function of the TNS to that of a classical mechanical system. The method is expected to effectively avoid local minima. We make benchmark tests on a 1D Hubbard model based on matrix product states (MPS) and a Heisenberg J1–J2 model on square lattice based on string bond states (SBS). The results show that the optimization method is robust and efficient compared to the existing results.
Assessing the contribution of the capital markets on the economic growth of Botswana

This paper evaluates the contribution of capital markets on the economic growth of Botswana. It focuses on the bond markets and stock markets using the Botswana Bond Index and the Domestic Companies Index as proxies respectively, and Gross Domestic Product as a measure of economic growth. A 6 year quarterly time series data from 2012 to 2017 was used in the analysis. Multiple regressions model was employed followed by cointegration test to establish the significance and long-run relationship respectively between capital markets and economic growth. Vector Error Correction Model is also employed to check for short term dependencies in the data series used. The findings from this research suggest that capital markets in Botswana do not contribute to economic growth in the short run. However, in the long run capital markets do contribute to economic growth through further capital markets development. The implications are that in the short run government and policy makers should devise appropriate policies that will improve the development of capital markets as thus have a potential to foster economic growth in the long run.
Laminar Burning Velocity of H 2N 2 / CO 2-Air Mixtures at Elevated Temperatures

The increasing global warming and environmental degradation calls for alternate fuels which are cleaner and more efficient. Hydrogen is considered one of the cleanest fuels since it produces heat and water only unlike hydrocarbon fuels that produce undesirable products like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The laminar burning velocity is a physiochemical property of a premixed mixture of fuel and oxidizer [1]. Various studies were reported with an attempt to measure the laminar burning velocity of diluted hydrogen-air and syngas-air mixtures [2-4]. Recently Natrajan et al. [2] have studied effect of CO2 dilution on laminar burning velocities of lean mixtures for a wide range of fuel composition, temperatures and pressures. Prathap et al. [3] and Ratna Kishore et al. [4] have reported the effect of dilution with Nitrogen and CO2 on equimolar H2-CO mixture. However, all the data available is limited to very low mixture temperatures. Many practical devices like IC engines, gas turbine etc. require burning velocity data at high temperatures. Therefore, in the present study N2/CO2 diluted pure H2 was used.
NOVEL METHODS AND RESULTS OF LANDSCAPE RESEARCH IN EUROPE, CENTRAL ASIA AND SIBERIA Monograph in 5 Volumes Vol. I Landscapes in the 21th Century: Status Analyses, Basic Processes and Research Concepts

Within the framework of TERENO, the SOILCan lysimeter network was set up and has been in operation since 2011. At 14 different locations in Germany, 132 weighable, monolithically filled lysimeters with a controlled lower boundary condition and identical sensor instrumentation were set up in order to investigate the influence of climate change on the water balance as well as on the Cand N-cycle. In order to study climate change, lysimeters were filled at the original site. Part of the lysimeter remained there in a reference station and the other part was transported along a temperature and rainfall gradient to a new lysimeter station with a warmer annual average temperature and a lower mean annual rainfall, according to the "space for time" concept. After data quality check, the measurement data and specific data quality information are available on the TERENO data portal TEODOOR (http://teodoor.icg.kfa-juelich.de/ibg3searchportal2/index.jsp). Резюме. В рамках TERRENOпроекта была создана и функционирует с 2011 года сеть сеть лизиметров SOILCan. В 14 различных точках Германии для изучения влияния изменения климата на водный баланс, а также на круговорот углерода и азота были установлены 132 весовых, монолитно заполненных лизиметра с контролируемым нижним граничным условием и измерительными приборами. Для изучения изменения климата лизиметры были заполнены почвой и установлены на исходном участке. Некоторые лизиметры оставались на базовой станции, а другие лизиметры в соответствии с концепцией «пространство для времени» транспортировались вдоль температуры и осадков градиента к новому лизиметру станции с более теплой среднегодовой температурой и ниже средними годовым количеством осадков. После проверки данные исследования и конкретная информация о качестве измерений будут доступны в TERENO на портале данных «TEODOOR» данные (http://teodoor.icg.kfajuelich.de/ibg3searchportal2/index.jsp). КEYWORDS: lysimeter, climate change experiment, space for time, water balance, controlled lower boundary Ключевые слова: лизиметр, эксперимент по изменению климата, концепция пространство для времени, водный баланс, контролируемая нижняя граница потока воды в лизиметре INTRODUCTION Global change, with its components of climate change and land use changes, will have an increasing impact on soil functions (e.g. depot, buffer, reactor, food production, etc.) and determine the need for further intensified research efforts to extend the knowledge on the management and adaption to these challenges. “TERENO (TERrestrial ENvironmental Observatories) focuses on the ‘‘critical zone’’, covering different temporal and spatial scales of the pedosphere with its interactions with biosphere, hydrosphere and lower atmosphere. ” Between 2009 and 2013, the TERENO earth observation network,
Dynamic Management of Distributed Stream Processing Pipelines in Fog Computing Infrastructures

While todays’ stream processing applications are typically deployed in the cloud, newly arising use cases in the context of Internet of Things (IoT) often require low-latency analytics to derive timesensitive actions. A common approach, referred to as fog computing, shifts the focus away from the cloud by o oading speci c parts of the analytical pipelines in closer proximity of the spatially distributed devices at the edge. However, this requires mechanisms for context-aware deployment, scale, or monitoring both in the cloud as well as the fog landscape. This work explores the challenges with respect to dynamically managing distributed stream processing pipelines in heterogeneous fog computing infrastructures. CCS Concepts • Computer systems organization → Fog computing;