Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Numerical Simulation to Select Proper Strain Rates during CRS Consolidation Test

Constant rate of strain (CRS) and incremental loading (IL) consolidation tests are extensively used to measure consolidation properties of clayey soils. However, results of CRS test are usually strain rate dependent. In this study, a finite differences simulation of CRS test based on Terzaghi’s theory of consolidation is performed. The numerical simulation permits to evaluate a strain rates range satisfying a preset relative pressure criterion. Results of simulation show that the required relative pressure criterion can be verified, during the steady state stage of CRS test, only for particular types of soils and particular range of strain rates. Subsequently, a simple method is proposed to select, for a soil sample defined by its initial height, initial void ratio and liquid limit, an appropriate strain rates range satisfying the ASTM 4186-06 criterion. Comparison of previsions and experimental results reported in literature shows good agreement.
Exploration of geological variability and possible processes through the use of compositional data analysis: an example using scottish metamorphosed

Developments in the statistical analysis of compositional data over the last two decades have made possible a much deeper exploration of the nature of variability, and the possible processes associated with compositional data sets from many disciplines. In this paper we concentrate on geochemical data sets. First we explain how hypotheses of compositional variability may be formulated within the natural sample space, the unit simplex, including useful hypotheses of subcompositional discrimination and specific perturbational change. Then we develop through standard methodology, such as generalised likelihood ratio tests, statistical tools to allow the systematic investigation of a complete lattice of such hypotheses. Some of these tests are simple adaptations of existing multivariate tests but others require special construction. We comment on the use of graphical methods in compositional data analysis and on the ordination of specimens. The recent development of the concept of compositional processes is then explained together with the necessary tools for a stayingin-the-simplex approach, namely compositional singular value decompositions. All these statistical techniques are illustrated for a substantial compositional data set, consisting of 209 major-oxide and rare-element compositions of metamorphosed limestones from the Northeast and Central Highlands of Scotland. Finally we point out a number of unresolved problems in the statistical analysis of compositional processes.
Redescription of the sea anemones Anthopleura hermaphroditica and Bunodactis hermafroditica (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Actiniaria) from Chile

Debido a la ambigua definicion de sus caracteres diagnosticos, las anemonas de mar chilenas Anthopleura hermaphroditica y Bunodactis hermafroditica han sido confundidas en reiteradas ocasiones. Examinando la anatomia externa e interna de varios ejemplares recolectados entre Antofagasta y Chiloe, se re-describe y compara ambas especies en relacion a su historia sinonimica. Aun siendo muy similares, A. hermaphroditica y B. hermafroditica pueden ser distinguidas por los patrones de coloracion del disco oral, el desarrollo de las verrugas, la presencia de zooxantelas y los cnidocistos de la columna y filamentos mesenteriales. En base a estos criterios, la autoria de Bunodactis hermafroditica pertenece a Carlgren (1959) pero debido a que el material tipo no corresponde con la descripcion, se designa un neotipo que contiene las caracteristicas senaladas por dicho autor. Aunque se cuestiona la validez de los acrorragios para diferenciar generos, se proponen modificaciones a la terminologia empleada en las diagnosis de Anthopleura y Bunodactis. A partir de esto se rechaza la sinonimizacion de los generos Gyractis y Bunodactis, considerando este ultimo un genero valido hasta que se realice una adecuada revision del material tipo de Aulactinia. Por otro lado, las marcadas diferencias anatomicas observadas entre poblaciones de Anthopleura hermaphroditica sugieren la presencia de al menos dos especies distintas.
Spatial and temporal variability of interhemispheric transport times

Abstract. The seasonal and interannual variability of transport times from the northern midlatitude surface into the Southern Hemisphere is examined using simulations of three idealized “age” tracers: an ideal age tracer that yields the mean transit time from northern midlatitudes and two tracers with uniform 50- and 5-day decay. For all tracers the largest seasonal and interannual variability occurs near the surface within the tropics and is generally closely coupled to movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). There are, however, notable differences in variability between the different tracers. The largest seasonal and interannual variability in the mean age is generally confined to latitudes spanning the ITCZ, with very weak variability in the southern extratropics. In contrast, for tracers subject to spatially uniform exponential loss the peak variability tends to be south of the ITCZ, and there is a smaller contrast between tropical and extratropical variability. These differences in variability occur because the distribution of transit times from northern midlatitudes is very broad and tracers with more rapid loss are more sensitive to changes in fast transit times than the mean age tracer. These simulations suggest that the seasonal–interannual variability in the southern extratropics of trace gases with predominantly NH midlatitude sources may differ depending on the gases' chemical lifetimes.
Impact of Helicobacter pylori Eradication on Absolute Telomere Length in Gastric Mucosa

Patients and Methods: This study was conducted on (42) subjects divided into two groups, group I: included (17) H. pylori negative cases served as control group, group II: included (25) H. pylori positive patients. Absolute TLs was measured in base pairs (bp) in gastric mucosa and analyzed by real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in all groups and reevaluated in H. pylori positive patients 4 weeks after eradication therapy.
Increased potency of α1-adrenergic receptors to induce inositol phosphates production correlates with the up-regulation of α1d/Ghα/phospholipase Cδ1 signaling pathway in term rat myometrium

In the present study, we studied the potential regulation by rat myometrial alpha1-adrenergic receptors (alpha1-AR) of the newly identified Gh alpha protein/phospholipase C delta 1 (PLC delta 1) signaling pathway and compared myometrial inositol phosphates (InsP) production and activity of the uterine circular muscle in response to alpha1-AR activation between mid-pregnancy and term. For this, we quantified the level of rat myometrial alpha1-AR coupling to Gh alpha protein by photoaffinity-labeling, the cytosolic amount of PLC delta 1 enzyme by immunoblotting, and the expression level of alpha1-AR subtypes by RT-PCR. The results showed an increased level of alpha1-AR/Gh alpha protein coupling and the amount of PLC delta 1 at term (+147 and +65% respectively, versus mid-pregnancy). This was correlated with an up-regulation of alpha 1d-AR subtype (+70% versus mid-pregnancy). Incubation of myometrial strips with phenylephrine (Phe), a global alpha1-agonist, increased InsP production in a dose-dependent manner at both mid-pregnancy and term, but with an enhanced potency (tenfold decrease in EC(50) value) at term. Phe also dose-dependently induced contraction of the circular muscle at both mid-pregnancy and term. However, unlike InsP response, no amelioration of potency was observed at term. Similar results were obtained with the endogenous agonist norepinephrine. Our results show, for the first time, that rat myometrial alpha 1d-AR/Gh alpha/PLC delta 1 signaling pathway is up-regulated at term. This is associated with an increased potency of alpha1-AR to elicit InsP production but not uterine contraction at this period. It is thus hypothesized that alpha1-AR, through activation of Gh alpha/PLC delta 1 system, are not primarily involved in the initiation of labor but may rather regulate responses such as myometrial cell proliferation or hypertrophy.
Too big to fail, but a lot to bail: Optimal financing of large bailouts

The termination of a representative financial firm due to excess leverage may lead to substantial bankruptcy costs. A benevolent government in the tradition of Ramsey (1927) may be inclined to provide transfers to the firm so as to prevent its liquidation and the associated deadweight costs. The paper studies the optimal way to finance such a “bailout” with distortionary taxes and obtains two results. First, some degree of “fiscal stimulus” through procyclical taxation (low taxes in bad times, high taxes in good times) is always optimal. This is true even when markets are complete and government expenditure is set to zero. Second, taxes exhibit history dependence, even in a complete market. These results are in contrast with pre-existing results in the literature on optimal fiscal policy, and are driven by the endogeneity of the transfer payments that are required to salvage the financial firm. The paper also considers extensions whereby bailouts are financed partly by diluting existing shareholders, or by obtaining a fraction of the capital of the underlying company, and discusses the relative merits of these alternatives.
Production of cellulase and laccase using Pleurotus sp. under submerged and solid-state fermentation

The genus, Pleurotus comprises of edible mushrooms with medicinal properties and has biotechnological and environmental applications. In the present investigation Pleurotus sp. (P. florida, P. ostreatus and P. sajarcaju) were used for cellulase and laccase production under submerged and solid-state fermentation conditions. Under submerged fermentation, there was a significant difference in biomass yield, cellulase and laccase activity for all the culture under different culture medium. In the case of solid-state fermentation, different substrates like pulse husk, paddy straw, rice bran, saw dust, sesame oil cake and wheat bran were used for cellulase and laccase production. Among these substrates, wheat bran enhanced cellulase production whereas paddy straw and sesame oil cake enhanced laccase production. Pleurotus sp. had grown well both in submerged and solid-state fermentation. Submerged fermentation significantly enhanced the cellulase production and solid-state fermentation favoured laccase production in the three species of Pleurotus tested.
Ways to Go: Men's and Women's Support for Aggressive and Nonaggressive Confrontation of Sexism as a Function of Gender Identification

This research examines male and female perceivers’ reactions to a female target who (1) confronted sexism nonaggressively, (2) confronted sexism aggressively (by slapping the perpetrator), or (3) did not confront sexism. Results (N = 152) indicated that, overall, both women and men responded most favorably to the female target who confronted nonaggressively. Nonaggressive confrontation was perceived as relatively unthreatening for women and relatively threatening for men, whereas the remaining responses were all perceived as threatening for women. Results were further moderated by participants’ a priori levels of gender identification: women who were weakly identified with their gender and men who were highly identified with their gender were less supportive of aggressive confrontations. Implications regarding the optimal way to confront sexism are discussed.
Study of Nanocrystalline γ-Al2O3 Produced by High-Pressure Compaction

Using a high-pressure (HP) technique, samples of γ-Al2O3 were obtained by compaction at 4.5 GPa, in a toroidal-type apparatus, at room temperature (RT) and at higher temperatures. Compaction at RT produced crack-free, translucent, and dense samples. An improvement of these properties was observed for samples compacted at higher temperatures up to 565 °C. The nanocrystalline structure of γ-Al2O3 is retained, and the samples became transparent, showing high hardness (HV = 17 ± 1 GPa) and high density (95% of theoretical density). To understand the mechanisms of consolidation, a comparative analytical study by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) was conducted on the compacted γ-Al2O3 samples and the original powder. An FTIR study was done using the KBr technique and a high-vacuum cell, where the samples were submitted to thermal treatments up to 450 °C. For samples compacted at RT, a reduction in the content of adsorbed water was obser.
Spectral Decomposition of Forms 1

We investigate the spectral decomposition of symmetric forms. The forms are parameterized by weighting functions for levels and derivatives of a class of test functions. Our interest in these forms is that they are associated with operator semigroups from underlying Markov processes. We establish the existence of a discrete spectrum by restricting the weighting functions used in constructing the forms. These weighting functions have explicit interpretations in the Markov environments that interest us. They are built from the diffusion matrix, the stationary density for the diffusion and a state dependent decay rate used in representing the Markov semigroup. We provide primitive sufficient conditions for the existence of eigenfunctions, and we characterize the limiting behavior of the associated eigenvalues, the objects used to quantify the incremental importance of the eigenfunctions. We use our results to provide sufficient conditions for the spectral decomposition of Feynman-Kac operators and Markov semigroups.
Shape sensitivities for an inverse problem in magnetic induction tomography based on the eddy current model

In this paper the shape derivative of an objective depending on the solution of an eddy current approximation of Maxwell’s equations is obtained. Using a Lagrangian approach in the spirit of Delfour and Zolésio, the computation of the shape derivative of the solution of the state equation is bypassed. This theoretical result is applied to magnetic impedance tomography, which is an imaging modality aiming at the contactless mapping (identification) of the unknown electrical conductivities inside an object given measurements recorded by receiver coils.
FACTORS INFLUENCING PUBLIC ATTACHMENT TO MOSQUES IN MALAYSIA

Place is formed by people’s relationship with the physical environment, individual and group activities, and meanings. Sense of Place, Place Identity, and Place Attachment are some concepts that could describe the quality of the people’s relationship with a place. Place attachment is described as an affective bond that develops between people and their environment or setting. In recent years, there has been a revival of interest in the studying of people’s attachment to places, including the religious places as of the most important and attended places in human lives. In this realm the published literature shows that not only the religious concepts but also the architectural features and attributes of these places could play an important role in forming people’s attachment. This research investigated Malaysian people’s attachment to the contemporary Malaysian state mosques focusing on the three predominant architectural styles, namely Modern, Post Modern, and Vernacular. This paper reports on a conducted qualitative study to identify the indicators that could be used in evaluating people’s perception to the aforementioned mosques. To accomplish this, in-depth interviews were conducted with 23 participants in the 5 selected mosques. The study revealed that Malaysian people have strong emotional attachment to all studied mosques. The research showed that this attachment was due to the studied mosques’ significance as religious and cultural symbols. Finally, the research identified the key indicators to investigate Malaysian public’s perception to the contemporary Malaysian state mosques.
A nanoscale characterisation of the interaction of OligoG with the cell surface and motility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Running title: Characterisation of OligoG-bacterial interactions

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) biofilm-associated infections are a common cause of morbidity in chronic respiratory disease and represent a therapeutic challenge. Recently, the ability of a novel alginate oligomer (OligoG) to potentiate the effect of antibiotics against Gram-negative, multi-drug resistant bacteria and inhibit biofilm formation in vitro has been described. Interaction of OligoG with the cell surface of PA was characterized at the nanoscale using atomic force microscopy (AFM), zeta potential measurement (surface charge) and sizing measurements (dynamic light scattering). The ability of OligoG to modify motility was studied in motility assays. AFM demonstrated binding of OligoG to the bacterial cell surface, which was irreversible following exposure to hydrodynamic shear (5,500 g). Zeta Potential analysis (pH 5-9, 0.1-0.001 M NaCl) demonstrated binding was associated with marked changes in the bacterial surface-charge (-30.9±0.8 mV to -47.0±2.3 mV; pH 5, 0.01 M NaCl; P<0.001). Sizing analysis demonstrated alteration of surface charge was associated with cell aggregation with a 2-3 fold increase in mean particle size at OligoG concentrations >2% (914±284 nm to 2599±472 nm; pH 5, 0.01 M NaCl; P<0.001). These changes were associated with marked dose-dependent inhibition in bacterial swarming motility in PA and Burkholderia spp. The ability of OligoG to bind to a bacterial surface, modulate surface charge, induce microbial aggregation and inhibit motility, represent important direct mechanisms by which antibiotic potentiation and biofilm disruption is affected. These results highlight the value of combining multiple nanoscale technologies to further understanding of the mechanisms of action of novel antibacterial therapies.
Modifications of the Multistep Optimal Homotopy Asymptotic Method to Some Nonlinear KdV-Equations

In this article we have introduced the mathematical theory of multistep optimal homotopy asymptotic method (MOHAM). The proposed method is implemented to different models having system of partial differential equations (PDEs). The results obtained by proposed method are compared with Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM) and closed form solutions. The comparisons of these results show that MOHAM is simpler in applicability, effective, explicit, control the convergence through optimal constants, involve less computational work. The MOHAM is independent of the assumption of initial conditions and small parameters like Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM), HAM, Variational Iteration Method (VIM), Adomian Decomposition Method (ADM) and Perturbation Method (PM).
The Sustainable Development Degree of Regional Tourism Industry Responding to the Low-carbon Economy: A Case Study From Western Hunan, China

The sustainable development degree of regional tourism industry responding to the low-carbon economy reflects the comprehensive ability of the scientific development of regional tourism industry. Based on the factors influencing the sustainable development degree of regional tourism industry, in the principle of low-carbon economy, the evaluation index system was established using the literature and experts consultation methods. The system consisted of four parts including tourism resource system, environment supporting system, tourism economic system, and facility supporting system. Meanwhile, the hierarchical accumulation from bottom to top was utilized to evaluate the sustainable development degree of tourism industry responding to the low-carbon economy in western Hunan, China. The evaluation results demonstrated that the overall development degree of tourism industry responding to the low-carbon economy in western Hunan was 0.596 in 2012, which belonged to the medium level of sustainable development. The sustainable development degree of tourism industry responding to the low-carbon economy in western Hunan during 2001-2012 exhibited a rising tendency at a slow growth speed. This period belongs to the transitional period on the whole and is characterized by unbalanced regional development.
Correlated Network Flows Detection Olga Birth

Tra c monitoring and analysis plays an essential role in today’s network security, since an unsecured network represents a grateful target to intruders. The goal of tra c analysis is, to obtain an intruders identity or to detect correlated network flows in order to allocate them to an individual. In that case, probable attacks can be answered appropriate. Most o↵enders try to conceal their identity while performing attacks on their target destination. Thereby the most popoular way to stay hidden is, to link the tra c through several intermediate hosts, which had been compromised earlier. Correlated network flow detection (CNFD) would then try to detect these linked connections and reveal an attackers identity, even if the tra c is encrypted. CNFD can also be used to detect an individuals identity in an anonymous communication system. Anonymous communication systems, were designed to obtain users anonymity while surfing the web. CNFD can detect senders and receivers identity and also the linkage between those two in an anonymous communication system. While traditional methods are performed by passively observing the possible connections and trying to find correlations by performing different statistical approaches [4][5][9][13], watermarks seem to be an elegant way to make CNFD more e cient and less expensive. Watermarking flows provide a novel approach, to reveal correlated flows. Nobody would even notice, if the tra c is been observed. Good watermarks can be inserted invisibly into the network and are more scalable than traditional passive analysis methods. This paper is intended to give an overview of tra c analysis techniques, how they can be applied to detect correlated network flows and how watermarks can be used in this context.
Eddy Impaction As An Ash Deposition Mechanism: A Theoretical And Experimental Investigation

Eddy Impaction as An Ash Deposition Mechanism: A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation Minmin Li Department of Chemical Engineering Master of Science The eddy impaction ash deposition model derived and validated in this document predicts eddy impaction rates as a function of turbulence intensity, boundary layer thickness, and gas velocity. The experimental apparatus introduces small particles (200 nm, 25 μm, and 500 μm diameter) into a gas stream flowing through a horizontal pipe (Re 2,300-8,000). The particles deposit on the pipe wall and the total mass of impacted particles provides a measure of collection efficiency. Experimental results indicate deposition velocity increases with Reynolds number, consistent with eddy impaction theory and based on increased turbulent energy. Eddy impaction also increases with particle size at fixed Reynolds number, again consistent with theory.