Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of diesel and biodiesel fuel-contaminated soil on microorganisms, growth and development of plants.

The paper presents the results of studies concerning the phytotoxicity of biodiesel and its diesel oil blends with a germination and root elongation test. The paper also analyses the effect of fuel on the number and activity of soil microorganisms and the reaction of plants used in the research. Fuel was introduced into the soil at a concentration of 10 and 50 g/kg dry mass soil. Based on the test results, it was found that from among 19 plants species representing 5 families taxonomically, only 4 species showed resistance to the presence of the fuel in soil, regardless of their type and dose (Glycine max (L.) Merill, Helianthus annuus L. , Lupinus luteus L. , cv. Lord and Pisum sativum L. , cv. Eureka). Fuel generally reduced the number of heterotrophic microorganisms, and stimulated the growth of decomposing microorganisms and content of biomass. Significant differences in the number and activity of micro organisms were associated with the presence of biodiesel in the soil. The fuel had a negative influence on the bio metric and physiological parameters of plants. A shorter length of shoots and roots was noted, especially in objects with biodiesel, reduced water content, and general content of assimilation pigments.
Use of Polymerase Chain Reaction and Endonuclease Restriction Bcc I for the differential Leptospira interrogans detection

Leptospirosis is a world disease, affecting animals and humans, which is transmitted by all infected animal, having the rodents as the most recognized. Leptospira interrogans serovar canicola, Leptospira interrogans serovar icterohaemorragiae, Leptospira interrogans serovar pomona and Leptospira interrogans serovar grippotyphosa affect canines, pigs, horses and cattle. A differential diagnosis method of four Leptospira serovars is our objective, through the molecular technique of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) adding the action of the restriction enzyme BccI, and thus generate fragments of different size for the recognition of the gene encoding a lipoprotein membrane LipL32. As conclusion, the detection of Leptospira interrogans by PCR was possible by that the primers designed for the realization of the method are specific for this agent. The differentiation of the 4 serovars of Leptospira was successful because the restriction enzyme cleaves the double strand of DNA in the 4 serovars, delivering expected results.
Subsampled inexact Newton methods for minimizing large sums of convex functions

This paper deals with the minimization of a large sum of convex functions by inexact Newton (IN) methods employing subsampled functions, gradients and Hessian approximations. The conjugate gradient method is used to compute the IN step and global convergence is enforced by a nonmonotone line-search procedure. The aim is to obtain methods with affordable costs and fast convergence. Assuming strongly convex functions, R-linear convergence and worst-case iteration complexity of the procedure are investigated when functions and gradients are approximated with increasing accuracy. A set of rules for the forcing parameters and subsample Hessian sizes are derived that ensure local q-linear/q-superlinear convergence of the proposed method. The random choice of the Hessian subsample is also considered and convergence in the mean square, both for finite and infinite sums of functions, is proved. Finally, the analysis of global convergence with asymptotic R-linear rate is extended to the case of the sum of convex functions and strongly convex objective function. Numerical results on well-known binary classification problems are also given. Adaptive strategies for selecting forcing terms and Hessian subsample size, streaming out of the theoretical analysis, are employed and the numerical results show that they yield effective IN methods.
Best subset selection of factors affecting influenza spread using bi-objective optimization

A typical approach for computing an optimal strategy for non-pharmaceutical interventions during an influenza outbreak is based on statistical ANOVA. In this study, for the first time, we propose to use bi-objective mixed integer linear programming. Our approach employs an existing agent based simulation model and statistical design of experiments presented in Martinez and Das (2014) to generate the required data. Our computational results show that for an influenza outbreak with maximum attack rate of 33%, if we use the proposed optimal policy then the attack rate reduces to 0.6% with 85% accuracy. Our result significantly outperforms the existing result in the literature that estimates the influenza attack rate to be 1.83% under the proposed optimal policy.
Modeling High Risk Sexual Behavior in HIV-Negative Gay Men

Several predictors of high-risk sexual behavior in gay men (internalized homophobia, locus of control, multiple AIDS-related loss, depression, and substance use) were examined. Eighty-seven HIV-negative gay males (M=36.7 years old, SD=5.9) were recruited through advertisements in the greater San Francisco, CA Bay Area. Structural equation modeling(SEM)analysis revealed that, as predicted, internalized homophobia, multiple AIDS-related losses, and substance use emerged as significant predictors of high-risk sexual behavior. Subsidiary analyses further revealed that multiple AIDS-related losses predicted both internalized homophobia and substance use suggesting that multiple losses experienced by gay men over the course of the AIDS epidemic may lead to other maladaptive behaviors.
Organisation of Industry and Innovation Dynamics

The paper aims at investigating how the organization of a certain industry evolves once the competition among its firms, producing a ‘complex’ (i.e. non-modular) product, is modeled as the intertwining of innovative search and organizational change. In order to take the full roster of participants into account, and to retain the inner complexity of their decisions, a Pseudo–NK model is built–up in which a population of firms is called to match a technological frontier. By evolving along different stagesof the sector’s life-cycle, such a kind of technological calls for a trade–off between two strategies of cost–reduction through either outsourcing ortechnological search. Overall, the simulation results confirm previous literature as, for example, in the introductory stage of the industry life–cycle,marked by frequent and intense jumps of the technological frontier, firms need to vertically integrate in order to have higher chances to win the competition for a new standard. On the contrary, in the decline stage,in which the technological frontier almost stabilizes, deverticalization allows firms to better compete on costs. These results change if suppliers are allowed to innovate, as they are more likely to lock the market in sub–optimal configurations.
Climatology of Heavy Orographic Rainfall Induced by Tropical Cyclones over Madagascar: From Synoptic to Mesoscale Perspectives

Variability of and generation mechanisms for Madagascar rainfall are studied by conducting climatological, synoptic and mesoscale analyses. It is found the rainfall variability is highly sensitive to seasons with high variability in summer (Nov-Apr). The rainfall in summer is controlled by the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and orographic rainfall associated with tropical cyclones (TCs), while the rainfall in winter (May-Oct) is controlled by trade winds and local orographic rainfall along the eastern coast. Synoptic analysis reveals that major climate variations in summer are associated with ITCZ position, which is closely related to TC genesis locations and quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). Linkages between El-Nino Southern Oscillation Index (ENSO) and Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) are identified as the cause of inconsistent dry or wet summers. Mesoscale analysis depicts the importance of the orographic effects on prevailing wind, which are controlled by the orography in both seasons. In winter, the prevailing trade winds over the Southwest Indian Ocean are from the east and are split to the north and south when it impinges on Malagasy Mountains. On the other hand, in summer the prevailing easterlies are weaker leading to the production of lee vortices, in addition to the flow splitting upstream of the mountain. Thus, the flow is classified into two regimes: (a) flow-over regime with no lee vortices under high Froude number (Fr=1.2-1.8) flow, and (b) flow-around regime with lee vortices under low Fr (=0.88-1.16) flow. A case study of TC Domoina (1984) indicates that the long-lasting heavy rainfall was induced by the strong orographic blocking of Madagascar. The shorter-term (e.g., 2 days) heavy orographic precipitation is characterized by large VH ∙Nh which is composed by two common ingredients, namely a strong low-level wind normal to the mountain (VH) and a steep mountain slope (∇h).
The Fusion of Fuzzy Temporal Plans: Managing Uncertainty and Time in Decentralized Command and Control Systems

Managing uncertainty in planning and plan execution activities is a key issue. This issue is even more critical in a network enabled environment where several tasks are distributed over the environment and can be carried out by different partners under different temporal constraints. In previous work (Allouche & Boukhtouta, 2009) a framework for distributed temporal plan fusion and monitoring has been proposed. A set of agents are tasked to coordinate the execution of different plans with different temporal constraints. Those plans are fused into one single plan, called coordinated plan. A coordinated plan can be executed and monitored by several agents while respecting the original temporal constraints of each agent’s plan. The temporal constrains are set on tasks duration or/and between tasks. Each temporal constraint specifies the minimum and maximum authorized temporal distance between two events that typically represents the beginning or the end of execution of a task. In our opinion, the choice of such temporal constraints is not realistic in a distributed environment where different players must execute a common mission with limited and incomplete knowledge of their environment. The violation of a temporal constraint even with one unit of time will cause the plan execution to fail. For example, if a temporal constraint specifies that the duration of a task should last between 10 and 20 minutes, the fact that the task duration is 21 minutes is sufficient for the failure of any plan that contains this task. The fact that this situation is very likely to happen and that one minute late might be acceptable for a decision-maker, a new framework with degrading solutions for the problem is needed. In this work, we use fuzzy temporal constrains to maintain the execution of a plan with a degradation of its performance. In this context, the decision-maker decides whether the current execution is acceptable or not. The following sections are organized as follows: Section 2 presents some related work. Section 3 presents a general framework for the fusion of fuzzy temporal plans. This framework is then applied to a Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission in Section 4. Finally, Section 5 presents some conclusions and future work.
Fatigue Behaviour of Welded Joints Made of 6061-T651 Aluminium Alloy

The purpose of this chapter is to present the main results of an investigation concerning the assessment of the fatigue behaviour of welded joints made of the 6061-T651 aluminium alloy. The 6061 aluminium alloy is one of the most common aluminium alloys for heavyduty structures requiring good corrosion resistance, truck and marine components, railroad cars, furniture, tank fittings, general structures, high pressure applications, wire products and pipelines. Many of these applications involves variable loading, which makes very relevant the study of the fatigue behaviour of this aluminium allow. In particular, the study of the fatigue behaviour of welded joints is of primordial importance since welds are intensively used for structural applications. The proposed investigation focuses in four types of welded joints, made from 12 mm thick aluminium plates, namely one butt welded joint and three types of fillet joints: T-fillet joint without load transfer, a load-carrying fillet cruciform joint and a longitudinal stiffener fillet joint. Traditionally, the fatigue assessment of welded joints, including those made of aluminium alloys, is based on the so-called S-N approach (Maddox, 1991). This approach, which is included in main structural design codes of practice, adopts a classification system for details, and proposes for each fatigue class an experimental-based S-N curve, which relates the applied stress range (e.g. nominal, structural, geometric) with the total fatigue life. Alternatively to this S-N approach, the Fracture Mechanics has been proposed to assess the fatigue life of the welded joints. It is very often claimed that welded joints have inherent crack-like defects introduced by the welding process itself. Therefore, the fatigue life of the welded joints may be regarded as a propagation process of those defects. A relation between the Fracture Mechanics and the S-N approaches is usually assumed. The slope of the S-N curves is generally understood to be equal to the exponent of the power relation governing the fatigue crack propagation rates of fatigue cracks. More recently, the local approaches to fatigue have gaining added interest in the analysis of welded joints (Radaj et al., 2009). In general, such approaches are based on a local damage definition (e.g. notch stresses or strains) which makes these approaches more adequate to model local damage such as the fatigue crack initiation. In this sense, the Fracture Mechanics can be used to complement the local approaches, since the first allows the computation of the number of cycles to propagate an initial crack until final failure of the component. The present research seeks to understand the significance of the fatigue crack initiation, evaluated using a local strain-life approach, on the total fatigue life estimation for four types
CD 02-019 3 D FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING OF BOND-SLIP BETWEEN REBAR AND CONCRETE IN PULL-OUT TEST

A reinforced concrete material is a composite material made up of two components with unequal mechanical behaviour and physical features. In general, the external load is already applied to concrete and the reinforcing bars receive its part of the load only from the surrounding concrete by bond. In composite structures, the bond between different components of reinforced concrete member has a primordial role and its negligence conducted to poor structural response. Therefore, for modeling of reinforced concrete structures one needs a simple and realistic bond-slip model. There are various finite element models for bond-slip relationship between reinforcement and concrete. In this paper, modeling of the transition region between steel and concrete as a cohesion layer in the finite element program (Ansys) is discussed. A 3D finite element model to represent this layer has been introduced. The layer involves modeling the ribs and effects of slip and bond stress of the bar. The accuracy of the models is assessed by comparison of the finite element numerical response with experimental data from pullout test.
Religion, politics and social assistance in Turkey: The rise of religiously motivated associations

Religiously motivated welfare provisioning has played an increasingly important role in the Turkish social welfare arena over the previous two decades. This paper investigates the society-specific mechanisms behind the contemporary proliferation of religiously motivated associations (RMAs) in Turkey. The historical analysis of the development of the Turkish welfare regime demonstrates that the spread of RMAs cannot be attributed to retrenchments within the welfare state. In fact, the provision of social assistance by central and local state institutions has expanded over the same time period. The paper claims that the rise of RMAs is not only a response to increasing liberalization and economic deregulation, but also an outcome of the rise of religion as a principle line of cleavage within the political sphere.
Acreage response in Pakistan: a co-integration approach

This paper seeks to quantify the acreage responses of wheat, cotton, sugarcane and rice in Pakistan using co-integration techniques and impulse response analysis. Results indicate that acreages of wheat and basmati rice do not respond significantly to shocks in own-price while cotton, sugarcane and high yielding variety (HYV) rice do, and that long-run equilibrium is re-established after about 4 years. Inigated area is an important determinant of acreage. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Virus-cell membrane interactions - Binding studies of Herpes Simplex Virus using surface-sensitive techniques

Viruses are parasites capable of infecting all forms of life. They lack the ability to replicate by themselves and therefore hijack the replication machinery of cells to produce new viral copies, called virions. Two steps of this replication cycle are of particular interest in the frame of this thesis: the initial attachment of the virus to the cell membrane and the release of the virus from the cell membrane after infection. One virus for which these mechanisms are still under investigation is the herpes simplex virus (HSV). HSV is commonly known for causing blisters on the skin or mucosa of the lips, mouth or genitals. In rare cases, it can migrate to the central nervous system, causing meningitis or encephalitis. HSV is an enveloped DNA virus that binds to the cell membrane via interactions between viral glycoproteins and cell-surface sulfated polysaccharide chains, called glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). The main focus of the work presented here was the interaction between HSV and surface immobilized GAGs. The individual GAG chains were end-grafted to a sensor surface to mimic the brush-like architecture of GAGs found close to the cell surface. Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) was used to extract information on binding kinetics and mobility of single fluorescently labeled HSV particles. Two aspects of the HSV-GAG interaction were studied in detail: First, the influence of the sulfation of the GAG chains on the binding characteristics, and second, the role of glycosylation of the viral glycoproteins. Binding studies of HSV to different GAGs showed that the degree of sulfation of the GAG influences the binding affinity of HSV. Furthermore, single particle tracking (SPT) analysis revealed that HSV diffuses on the GAG surface and that this mobility is influenced by the affinity of the HSV-GAG bonds. Finally, experiments involving virus mutants demonstrated that the glycosylation of the viral glycoproteins plays a critical role in the release of HSV virions from the surface of infected cells. Taken together, two aspects modulating the interaction between the herpes simplex virus and glycosaminolgycans were identified in this thesis, providing new insights into the mechanisms that regulate the initial attachment of the virus to the cell membrane and its release from the cell membrane after infection. In addition, the mobility of the HSV particles observed with the model system suggests that the virus is able to diffuse on the cell membrane in vivo.
Development of hand skills in the child

D euelopment ofHand Skills in the Child is a refl-eshingly concise, yet complete, soft-bound reference for the peel iatric occupational therapy rractitionel-. It has no peer for current occurational thel-apy theory and practice areas, such as in-hanel manipulation, the neurodevelormental treatment approach to hand function, eve-hand coordination, and urper-extremitv casting. Each chapter covers one topic, including theOty, patient assessment, functional u-eatment, equipment I'esources. and I-eferences. The editors have succeeded in producing a comprehensive yet succinct developmental hand text in eight chapters ranging from 10 to 17 pages in length Pehoski begins the book with the chapter emitled "Central Nervous Svstem Comrol of Precision Movements of the Hane! " Detailed flow charts clarify I-esearch findings and relate them to clinical praerice. Her style inspires the reader to participate in research and raiscs the comfort level between themv and treatment. The most innovative charters are those on handwriting and in-hand manipulation, areas that have lacked research and effective treatment refel-ences in the past In Chapter :3, Exner prescms her definition of in-hand manirulation, "the process of adjusting objeers within the hanel after grasr" (p, 39) and beginning use of her Test of In-Hand "1anirulation (TIME). Her knowledge base incorporates maximizing the development of intrinsic muscles in children. Detailed descriptions of translation, shift, and rotation are rrovided with new findings of hand devel0rment in children between 2 and 3 years of age. Readers will also glean data r. ::gal-ding optimal size of objects for use in treatment
TensorDB : Database Infrastructure for Continuous Machine Learning

This paper introduces the TensorDB system, a framework that fuses database infrastructure and application software to streamline the development, training, evaluation and analysing machine learning models. The design principle is to track the whole model building process with database and connected different components by database query mechanism. This design produces a highly flexible framework enable each component to be updated independently. The theoretical value is that it enables continuous machine learning. TensorDB is motivated by production application of machine learning model as consolidation of many engineering practice, and is could be served as the foundation for high level tools for machine learning
The Influence of Trust on Project Management Practice within the Construction Industry

Given that any construction project is inherently a human endeavour, it follows that issues of trust are significant in terms of the stakeholder interactions that deliver eventual project outcomes. Previous research indicates that the relational basis upon which projects are undertaken are intended to influence the likelihood of trusting relationships between stakeholders. Thus, experiences of trust in a construction project environment are likely to be influenced by the contextual specifics of respective transactional and relational contracting (RC) procurement mechanisms, given the divergent theoretical principles upon which they are founded. The influence of trust has therefore been examined through the lived experiences of construction practitioners. A phenomenological interview study consisting of thirty-five (35) participants was conducted with sensitivity to the procurement of experiences being recounted. Issues of trust were shown to be integral to stakeholder experiences in both procurement environments, with the benefits of trust acknowledged in many instances. However, little understanding was evident regarding methods for building and maintaining trust, nor for repairing trust when problems arose. Importantly, despite the differing principles that underpin transactional and relational procurement, and particularly the contention that relational procurement would increase trust between trading partners, this was not evident; with individual personalities and appropriate risk apportionment shown to be greater influences upon the likelihood of trusting relationships. It is reasonable to conjecture that relational contracts actually diminish the need for trust, given that the objective is to reduce uncertainty through formulaic approaches to risk distribution and reward; the absence of risk negates the need for trust. Ultimately, the potential to deliver improved project outcomes as a result of proactive approaches to developing and maintaining trust, as well as repairing trust after difficulties, was shown to apply under all procurement conditions.