Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of intervention design concepts to project planning for collaborative adaptive management of natural resources

Natural resource management practitioners responsible for planning collaborative adaptive management (CAM) efforts face major challenges related to the complexity of both the systems being managed and the management systems themselves. Standard project planning approaches such as logic models are poorly suited to such situations. Development of an effective action plan requires identification of potential interventions that are both likely to be impactful and practical in that particular social-political context. Little guidance is available for practitioners because there has been only limited translation of theory-driven guidelines into practical and readily useable tools and guidelines. Similar challenges are shared by practitioners in many applied social science and transdisciplinary fields that focus on interventions aimed at changing individual and collective human behavior. Intervention research was developed to assist with program development in applied social science fields and can provide natural resource management practitioners with insights into how they can gather and organize information about human behavior that is specifically relevant to the problem situation. The basic organizing structure of intervention design can be summarized as: intervening actors take actions intended to cause modification of the behavior of targeted actors leading to improvement in the conditions of interest. I present an organizing structure based on intervention design concepts that expands on the human behavior elements of the Exploratory Problem Assessment (EA) approach of Beratan (2019). The EA approach affords the positive features of results chains while further enhancing the usability and timeliness of the results for facilitation of strategic planning and project evaluation. The approach provides information that is directly relevant to project planning and can be done by or for a CAM project manager relatively quickly at the start of project planning with a minimum of facilitation. The basic concepts are readily understandable to nonspecialists both because humans are predisposed to perceive causal relationships and a diagrammatic presentation using information design principles can readily convey quite complex relationships. An example from a collaborative multilevel land-use planning effort in North Carolina illustrates how the framework can be applied.
Numerical and Experimental Analysis of Perforated type of Heat Sink

This paper numerically studied the heat transfer and flow characteristics of plate pin-fin heat sink, cross cut and perforation heat sinks using commercial CFD software FLUENT. The governing equations are discretized by using a control volume based finite-difference method. The coupling of the velocity and the pressure terms of momentum equations are solved by the SIMPLE algorithm. The well-known k–ε two-equation turbulence model is employed to describe the turbulent structure and behavior. The parameters include the inlet air flow velocity (Uin=6.0, 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0 m/s), perforation and cross cut lengths. At given number of perforations, decrease thermal resistance is observed at three numbers of perforation along with increases in pressure drop in comparison with experimentally studied. Key-Words: Perforated heat sink, Heat transfer, Pressure drop, Thermal resistance.
Collateral and Bank Credit – a Puzzle1

The impact of firms characteristics on bank debt financing has always been a field of conflicts among economists (e.g. trade-off theory vs. pecking order theory). The pecking order theory predicts that firms holding more tangible assets are less prone to asymmetric information problems and reduce the agency cost. Generally, the supply of bank loans is expected to be higher for firms with higher collateral. In the empirical literature, this relationship is not always confirmed. We analyse this phenomenon from three points of view: meta-analysis of literature, country level data and case of Poland. This study provides a systematic analysis of the empirical literature on the usage of bank debt by conducting a meta-analysis. In particular, the problem of publication selection bias is discussed. We explore the sources of heterogeneity among studies including moderator variables in randomand fixed effects regressions. Our results indicate that there is an evidence of publication selection. Based on country level data we conclude that the impact of collateral on bank credit is negative. For Polish case we find that the impact of collateral on debt is positive, except for the subsample of large enterprises.
A Survey of Rate-Optimal Power Domain NOMA With Enabling Technologies of Future Wireless Networks

The ambitious high data-rate applications in the envisioned future beyond fifth-generation (B5G) wireless networks require new solutions, including the advent of more advanced architectures than the ones already used in 5G networks, and the coalition of different communications schemes and technologies to enable these applications requirements. Among the candidate communications schemes for future wireless networks are non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) schemes that allow serving more than one user in the same resource block by multiplexing users in other domains than frequency or time. In this way, NOMA schemes tend to offer several advantages over orthogonal multiple access (OMA) schemes such as improved user fairness and spectral efficiency, higher cell-edge throughput, massive connectivity support, and low transmission latency. With these merits, NOMA-enabled transmission schemes are being increasingly looked at as promising multiple access schemes for future wireless networks. When the power domain is used to multiplex the users, it is referred to as the power domain NOMA (PD-NOMA). In this paper, we survey the integration of PD-NOMA with the enabling communications schemes and technologies that are expected to meet the various requirements of B5G networks. In particular, this paper surveys the different rate optimization scenarios studied in the literature when PD-NOMA is combined with one or more of the candidate schemes and technologies for B5G networks including multiple-input-single-output (MISO), multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO), massive-MIMO (mMIMO), advanced antenna architectures, higher frequency millimeter-wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) communications, advanced coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission and reception schemes, cooperative communications, cognitive radio (CR), visible light communications (VLC), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assisted communications and others. The considered system models, the optimization methods utilized to maximize the achievable rates, and the main lessons learnt on the optimization and the performance of these NOMA-enabled schemes and technologies are discussed in detail along with the future research directions for these combined schemes. Moreover, the role of machine learning in optimizing these NOMA-enabled technologies is addressed.
Automated Quality Assessment of Remelted Steel Ingots

For high quality steel products it is essential to have specific understanding of the underlying steel production process such as the electric slag remelting process (ESR). To assist the currently manual assessment there is a high need for objective quality measures and standardized evaluation methods. A set of relevant parameters can be derived from the so-called pool profiles that give insight to the remelting process. Based on texture segmentation and ridge detection a computer-vision based automated evaluation of the pool profiles is achieved. A comparison with manually extracted pool profiles from expert metallurgists shows the feasibility of the approach and the good performance of the automated analysis. Further evaluation on different types of steel blocks will yield valuable insight to and improve the overall steel production process.
Influence of Upper Extremity Muscle Mass on Lateral Pinch Strength

Background: Pinch strength is required for activities of daily living, and any decline in it can cause difficulty with fine motor skills, such as fastening buttons or tying shoelaces. Thus, it is important to prevent the deterioration of pinch strength. Muscle strength is positively related to muscle mass. Conversely, it has been reported that changes in muscle mass and muscle strength do not always correspond and bioelectrical impedance analysis is a relatively easy method to measure muscle mass. But there has been little study of how upper extremity muscle mass using bioelectrical impedance analysis influences pinch strength. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between upper extremity muscle mass and pinch strength. Furthermore, we examined the association between upper extremity fat mass and pinch strength. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 82 healthy young men and women aged 20-22 years (mean age, 21.1 ± 0.7 years). Maximum lateral pinch strength was measured using a digital pinch sensor. Upper extremity muscle mass and fat mass were estimated using bioelectrical impedance analysis. The relationships between pinch strength, upper extremity muscle mass, and upper extremity fat mass were assessed using correlation and multiple regression analyses. Results: Men had a greater pinch strength and upper extremity muscle mass than women (P < 0.05); however, there was no significant difference in upper extremity fat mass (P > 0.05). Pinch strength showed a significantly positive association with upper extremity muscle mass (P < 0.05), but not with upper extremity fat mass (P > 0.05). In multiple regression analysis adjusted for sex, upper extremity muscle mass was found to be a significant explanatory variable for pinch strength (P < 0.05). Conclusion: To prevent the decline in pinch strength, preserving the ability of daily living activities that involve the hands, such as fastening buttons or tying shoelaces, needs to be focused on by improving upper extremity muscle mass using bioelectrical impedance analysis. Special Issue: Various Approaches for Rehabilitation Science-Vol II
Nest-Site Fidelity and Sex-Biased Dispersal Affect Spatial Genetic Structure of Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) at Their Northern Range Edge

Dispersal and nesting philopatry are two processes that affect the connectivity, evolution, and long-term viability of populations, and thus have important conservation implications for threatened and endangered species. Here we investigate dispersal, relatedness, and the fine-scale spatial genetic structure of Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) at the northern extreme of their geographic range in northwestern Michigan. We analyzed georeferenced microsatellite genotypes (n = 165) using global, sex-specific, and two-dimensional local spatial autocorrelation (2D LSA), as well as spatial principal components analysis (sPCA). Genetic diversity was low relative to Eastern Box Turtle populations in the middle of the range. We found dispersal was male-biased, as only females showed significant positive spatial genetic autocorrelation at distances less than 2 km. 2D LSA showed local genetic “hotspots” of related turtles that tended to correspond with known nesting areas. We found evidence for global genetic structure using sPCA, which we attribute to genetic clustering rather than clinal variation. Our results suggest that restricted female dispersal and fidelity to limited open-canopy nest sites result in fine-scale spatial genetic structuring in this population. We stress the importance of maintaining high quality nesting habitat and habitat corridors for transient males, which appear to be critical for functional connectivity of Eastern Box Turtles.
QUALITY OF SERVICE-BASED RESOURCE ALLOCATION FOR WEB CONTENT DELIVERY ON CLOUD COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE

Demand for web content continues to increase at exponential rates and this has intensified the challenges of satisfying customer’s Quality of Service. Several techniques for Web content delivery vis-à-vis resource allocation have been proposed, one of which is the use of Content Distribution Networks. However, in recent times, cloud computing has become a driving force in Information Technology where Service Providers’ limited resources are shared among numerous users with different QoS requirements. In this work, focus is on developing a model for allocation of resources on cloud computing Infrastructure in order to improve delivery of Web content and optimize service cost. An analytical approach was adopted and expressed as an optimization problem subject to QoS metrics: delay, throughput, and bandwidth. The optimization problem was formulated as an Integer Linear Programming problem in which the decision variable takes the value of 0 or 1. A single Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud with Virtual Machine (VM) instances running in Physical Machines (PM) was assumed. The model was considered for different values of delay, throughput, and bandwidth for each VM to obtain minimum cost of delivering Web content to users. An algorithm was developed and sample data were collected from Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute/storage pricing model to obtain optimal results. The implementation of the algorithm was done using ‘A Mathematical Programming Language/Modular In-core Nonlinear Optimization Systems’ (AMPL/MINOS).
Genotype quality control with plinkQC

Step-by-step 8 Individuals with discordant sex information . 8 Individuals with outlying missing genotype and/or heterozygosity rates . 9 Related individuals . 10 Individuals of divergent ancestry . 11 Markers with excessive missingness rate . 12 Markers with deviation from HWE . 13 Markers with low minor allele frequency . 14
PARTICLE LEVELS IN A MINNESOTA TRIBAL CASINO

Background: Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure for workers and patrons in hospitality venues is a persistent and significant public health concern. We designed this study to provide a comprehensive assessment of SHS exposure inside an Indian Tribal Casino in Minnesota. Methods: Real-time fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations were measured at multiple locations for up to 7 days. The field monitoring provided information on the day of week and time of day variation of SHS exposure, as well as comparisons between smoking and non-smoking areas. Results: Indoor PM2.5 level was nearly 13 times the concurrent outdoor PM2.5 level. Gaming floor hourly PM2.5 level was highest on Saturday night, averaged at 62.9 μg/m. Highest PM2.5 concentration was observed in smokingpermitted employee break room, reaching 600 μg/m. PM2.5 readings in non-smoking sections exhibited same temporal pattern as the readings in smoking sections. Conclusions: The results show that indoor concentration of PM2.5 is substantially higher than the outdoor level, posing health risks to casino workers and patrons. SHS can migrate into adjacent non-smoking areas very quickly. The casino’s ventilation system did not fully eliminate SHS. A completely smoke-free casino would be the only way to fully protect non-smoking patrons and employees from the dangers of tobacco smoke.
The frequency of vitamin D deficiency in chronic kidney disease and its relation with baseline mineral bone markers.

OBJECTIVE To assess the frequency of Vitamin D deficiency in chronic kidney disease and its association with baseline mineral bone markers in patients visiting nephrology clinics. METHODS The observational study was conducted at the Indus Hospital, Karachi, from January 2017 to January 2018, and comprised patients of either gender aged >16 years diagnosed with chronic kidney disease stage I-V. The patients were divided into two groups on the basis of severity of vitamin D deficiency. Severe vitamin D deficiency was defined as <10ng/ml, and moderate deficiency ad 10- 25ng/ml. Data was analysed using SPSS 21. RESULTS Of the 267 patients, 146(54.7%) were males and 189(70.8%) had vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D-deficient patients were younger than those with normal levels (p=0.044). Serum creatinine was raised in the deficient patients compared to those with normal vitamin D level (p=0.042). Females and currently employed patients were at a higher risk of having vitamin D deficiency (p=0.048, 0.009). There was no si gn ific ant as s ociation between disease stage a nd vitamin D defic ienc y ( p= 0.311). CONCLUSIONS Vitamin D deficiency was found in a significant proportion of chronic kidney disease patients irrespective of the disease stage. Females, currently employed and young patients were more prone to having vitamin D deficiency.
When is it Worth Assembling Observatories in Space

Co-Authors: N. Siegler (JPL/Caltech), H. Thronson (NASA/GSFC), K. Aaron (JPL/Caltech), J. Arenberg (NGC), P. Backes (JPL/Caltech), A. Barto (Ball), K. Belvin (NASA/LaRC), L. Bowman (NASA/LaRC), D. Calero (NASA/KSC), W. Doggett (NASA/LaRC), J. Dorsey (NASA/LaRC), M. East (L3 Harris), D. Folta (NASA/GSFC), M. Fuller (NGC), S. Glassner (Northeastern), J. Grunsfeld (NASA retired), K. Havey (L3 Harris), R. Hellekson (NGC), G. Henshaw (NRL), J. Hoffman (MIT), S. Jefferies (NASA/LaRC), J. S. Knight (Ball), P. Lightsey (Ball), J. Lymer (Maxar), E. Mamajek (JPL/Caltech), D. McGuffey (NASA/GSFC), D. Miller (Aerospace/MIT), K. Mehalick (NASA/GSFC), B. Naasz (NASA/GSFC), A. Nordt (LMC), K. Patton (NGC retired), C. Peters (NASA/GSFC), M. Perrin (STScI), B. M. Peterson (OSU/STSci), J. Pitman (Heliospace), R. Polidan (PSST), A. Qureshi (Maxar), D. Redding (JPL/Caltech), K. Ruta (NASA/JSC), H. P. Stahl (NASA/MSFC), G. Roesler (Robots in Space), R. Shishko (JPL/Caltech), A. Tadros (Maxar), A. Van Otten (NGC), W. Vincent (NRL), K. Warfield (JPL/Caltech), S. Wiens (LMC), J. Wood (LMC)
Methods and models for building bank branches. A Multicriteria approach for a decision-making tool

This work intends to study the latest trends in building branch systems, testing a mathematical model in the Italian banking sector at its current state of art. Particular attention is given to which is the relationship that links evolution, in terms of technology and needs, both of bank and customers, with physical spaces (branches). The questions that will be possibly answered are: what is the value of a banking branch system and how building strategies can impact on it? How should they be located in the territory? What construction form should they take to adapt to the new needs? A meta-design has been developed to identify the guidelines to be followed and the interventions to be taken in practice, by simulating a business case that, through the application of a multi criteria analysis, can be a reference for credit institutions. The developed methodology is then applied to a portion of the city of Milan, in order to practically experiment the feasibility and the outcomes.
Investigation of Mechanical Effects on Heat Pump Evaporator to Accelerate Water Drainage

Received: 15 May 2019 Accepted: 16 December 2019 Condensation of water vapor in humid air and water drain process through evaporator fins are studied both experimentally and numerically at 23°C dry bulb temperature and 55% relative humidity. In the experimental campaign evaporator attached to heat pump unit is physically influenced with mechanical impact plate and actuator-induced vibrator separately so as to increase transient water drainage through evaporator fins. The amount of water collected inside the pot located underneath evaporator is compared for the heat pump unit with and without mechanical effects assessing effectiveness of the applied physical improvements. Whilst the amount of water collected per hour increases 13% by oscillator-induced vibrations, 18% is also achieved by mechanical impact plate. Furthermore, a specific attention is paid on the numerical modeling of impact generated with mechanical impact plate to foresee the applicability of the method for evaporators varying in terms of structural design parameters. Numerical studies reveal that the amount of drained water from plate fin heat exchanger increases up to 15% by the mechanical impact which is found to be in good agreement with.
POSTTRAUMATIC GROWTH AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF GEORGIAN CITIZENS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS AND OTHER CITIZENS

This chapter summarizes a study of psychological well-being, based on the multidimensional model proposed by Ryff, and posttraumatic growth as described in the transformational model by Tedeschi and Calhoun. The study explores psychological well-being and posttraumatic growth indicators based on self-report measures, and aims to answer two questions: are there indicators that differentiate internally displaced persons (IDPs), who emerged after armed conflict with Russian troops in 2008, and other citizens of Georgia (non-IDPs), and if so, can the differences between these groups be predicted by other variables measured in the study? The study was planned as a two-step process: preparatory procedures — cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the instruments, and the main study. The Stressful Life Event Checklist, The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, the Scales of Psychological well-being, and a demographics measure were administered to 1189 participants. Data showed no differences between IDPs and non-IDPs regarding psychological well-being and posttraumatic growth totals. However, IDPs scored lower on the New Possibilities factor. Further, significant within group differences were revealed: non-IDPs with low social-economic status and IDPs with poor conditions reported significantly less psychological well-being than other subgroups. The level of psychological well-being can be reliably predicted by socio-economic status and self-perceived health condition.
Real-time NDT of Automobile Bumpers with Millimeter-Wave Imaging Technology

In the automotive industry, many car parts are being made out of plastic, synthetic, or fiber-reinforced materials. A systematic replacement of conventional metallic components is underway, mostly to save weight or reduce costs. The durability of these new constructions depends highly on the manufacturing process; hence the requirements are increasing on quality control in production lines. A typical example is car bumpers. Modern variations of car bumpers are much equipped with many sensors and connections, where a high precision in their mounting tolerances is essential. In production lines, visual inspection combined with functional testing is the widespread method for examination. Errors due to human factors are usually high. In addition, visual inspection is time consuming, which reflects on the production cost. An efficient replacement for the visual inspection hasn’t been yet available. In this paper the application of millimeter-wave imaging to the examination of car bumpers and automobile parts is presented. The mm-wave signals can penetrate the outer surface and deliver an image of the inside structure of the bumper body. Wiring, sensors, screws, tubes, and other components can be separated in the 3D image to examine their location and orientation. Material damages can be identified and localized. The mm-waves are safe to use, which is of a great importance for utilization in open environments, like production lines. Additionally, the systems do not need regular maintenance, certified professionals or specific regulatory permissions as with conventional CT systems. Moreover, modern image processing and computer vision techniques can greatly assist the analysis of the 3D image data by means of image registration, segmentation, features extraction and machine learning techniques in order to automatically search for flaws, parts and components in mm-wave imaging of automotive parts, e.g. bumpers. Thus the human effort to interpret the 3D information is largely avoided. This contribution demonstrates the capabilities of such imaging solutions with measurements of actual car bumpers with a real-time mm-wave imaging system operating at 75 GHz delivering a 2 millimeter of spatial resolution. Various image results are hence presented and discussed. More info about this article: http://ndt.net/? id=19394