Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of ANN to evaluate effective parameters affecting failure load and displacement of RC buildings

Abstract. This study investigated the efficiency of an artificial neural network (ANN) in predicting and determining failure load and failure displacement of multi story reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. The study modeled a RC building with four stories and three bays, with a load bearing system composed of columns and beams. Non-linear static pushover analysis of the key parameters in change defined in Turkish Earthquake Code (TEC-2007) for columns and beams was carried out and the capacity curves, failure loads and displacements were obtained. Totally 720 RC buildings were analyzed according to the change intervals of the parameters chosen. The input parameters were selected as longitudinal bar ratio (ρ l ) of columns, transverse reinforcement ratio ( A sw /s c ), axial load level ( N/N o ), column and beam cross section, strength of concrete ( f c ) and the compression bar ratio (ρ'/ρ) on the beam supports. Data from the nonlinear analysis were assessed with ANN in terms of failure load and failure displacement. For all outputs, ANN was trained and tested using of 11 back-propagation methods. All of the ANN models were found to perform well for both failure loads and displacements. The analyses also indicated that a considerable portion of existing RC building stock in Turkey may not meet the safety standards of the Turkish Earthquake Code (TEC-2007).
THE INFLUENCE OF -330 IL-2 GENE POLYMORPHISM ON RELAPSING REMITTING AND SECONDARY PROGRESSIVE MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS IN IRANIAN PATIENTS

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic infl ammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is identifi ed as the crucial and main immunoregulatory cytokines. Previously, we showed signifi cant association between -330 T/T IL-2 genotype and relapsing remitting MS among Iranian population. In this study we investigated 100 relapsing remitting, 30 secondary progressive MS and 125 healthy controls to compare the relapsing remitting and secondary progressive course MS in association to -330 IL-2 polymorphism. Our results showed that the -330 T/T IL-2 genotype was signifi cantly more frequent in relapsing remitting and secondary progressive MS than controls. The signifi cant increased frequency of -330 T/T IL-2 genotype in secondary progressive than relapsing remitting MS, imply -330 T/T IL-2 genotype can cause higher susceptibility to secondary progressive MS than relapsing remitting.
Automated Adaptive and Sequential Recommendation of Travel Route

Big data has deeply rendered into both research and commercial fields such as health care, business and banking sectors. Automated Adaptive and Sequential Recommendation of Travel Route handovers automated and adaptive travel sequence recommendation from large amount of travel data. Unlike any other travel recommendation methods, this method is not only automated but it is personalized to user’s travel interest and also it is able to recommend a travel sequence rather than individual Points of Interest (POIs). This method has large amount of travel data which includes different places, the distributions of cost, visiting time and visiting season of each topic is mined to bridge the gap between user travel preference and travel routes and we also have topical package space. In order to get extensive impression and much better view points of the user topical package model and user travel route, we have made use of the community contributed photos in addition to travel data.
Optimal Monetary Policy with an Uncertain Cost Channel

The cost channel of monetary transmission describes a supply-side effect of interest rates on firms' costs. Previous research has found this effect to vary, both over time and across countries. Moreover, the cyclical nature of financial frictions is likely to amplify the cost channel. This paper derives optimal monetary policy in the presence of uncertainty about the true size of the cost channel. In a min-max approach, the central bank derives an optimal policy plan to be implemented by a Taylor rule. It is shown that uncertainty about the cost channel leads to an attenuated interest rate setting behavior. In this respect, the Brainard (1967) principle of cautious policy in the face of uncertainty continues to hold in both a Bayesian and a min-max framework. Copyright (c) 2009 The Ohio State University.
Effects of Sodium Hydroxide Pretreatment on Structural Components of Biomass

Abstract. Pretreatment is a unit operation in the conversion of biomass to valuable products that utilizes various combinations of conditions, including chemicals, heat, pressure, and time, to reduce the recalcitrance of lignocellulose. Many such pretreatments have been developed over the years, as the operating conditions can be adapted so that lignocellulose is modified in ways unique to each pretreatment. By tailoring pretreatment conditions to achieve these modifications, the types of final products produced can be controlled. The purpose of this review is to provide a consolidated source of information for sodium hydroxide effects on lignocellulose. The structural characteristics of lignocellulose and the alterations that occur due to the application of sodium hydroxide are detailed. This review also includes a brief description of the chemical reaction mechanism that ensues during the pretreatment. Lastly, the results of studies that utilized sodium hydroxide pretreatment are discussed.
Quantum well intermixing for optoelectronic device integration

This paper reviews recent results on impurity free intermixing of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells and application of this technique for integration of optoelectronic devices. Silicon dioxide layers created by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition and spin on glass layers were used in this study to create interdiffusion. An integrated device of a laser and a waveguide has been demonstrated.
THE USE OF VIEWSHED ANALYSIS IN CREATION OF MAPS OF POTENTIAL VISUAL EXPOSURE

We have created software tool that helps to determine Visual exposure of landscape potential (VEP). VEP is determining factor of landscape planning and assessment activities with the visual-aesthetic impact on landscape and its visual quality. VEP value is being determined by the area size the concrete landscape point is visually identified from, or by the area size that can be identified from the concrete point. Potential of landscape visual exposure represents potential of each relief surface point to appear visually dominant in comparison with the other points of terrain surface. Relief point being exposed potentially and visually does not represent its real visual prominence. It stands for the ability to improve visual dominance of landscape element value being situated in the concrete point. The most frequently used GIS software does not offer complex solutions in the process of visual quality landscape evaluation. The main attribute of this process is represented by the potential of visual exposure. Software tool in GRASS GIS has been developed to determine VEP. It uses analytical functions of Visibility as well as functions of region adjustment, input map to ASCII format transformation, map and mask import, and data generation. Program being used for map visualisation has been created. It enables complex solution of landscape visual exposure potential. The output is done by data matrix of the selected area in which each cell of matrix stands for Visibility function converted in km 2 . The model testing has been realized for the whole Slovak republic and especially for the Nitra town. Visual structure of land and potential visual exposure are considered in the planning and evaluation processes in the theoretical and proposal level, as well. Examples of use of the visual exposure evaluation approach are system of ecological stability of the territory, environmental impact assessment, urban plan documents, and other activities related to the landscape creation and planning.
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LANDSAT 5 TM LANDUSE CLASSIFICATION NETWORK AND SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE FOR USE IN A SIMPLE HYDROLOGIC BUDGET MODEL

Implementation of a water management plan requires a thorough understanding of the water balance. Water budget estimates using mass balance models produce a data set with high temporal resolution; whereas water budget estimates using remotely sensed data provide high spatial coverage. Therefore, combining a mass balance approach and remotely sensed data to calculate a water budget is a useful tool for watershed-level hydrologic models. Landuse/landcover (LU/LC) plays a critical role in water budget by controlling the partition of the water between infiltration, runoff and evapotranspiration (ET). Remote sensing images provide an effective means of LU/LC data integration with distributed hydrologic models. The goal of this project was to integrate hydrologic models (viz. water budget spreadsheet) with remotely sensed data. An accepted fact remains that accuracy of the remotely sensed data depends on the algorithm used to process the images and accuracy of the remotely sensed data, in turn, will affect the accuracy of the water budget models. In this study three image classification algorithms were compared to determine suitability for hydrologic modeling (viz. water budget) application: unsupervised classification (with supervised tidying), artificial neural networks (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM). This study takes place in the Joshua Creek drainage basin, located in DeSoto County, Florida. Landsat 5 TM images were obtained for summer and winter of 1998. Seven target LU/LC categories were used (non-irrigated vegetation, timber, citrus, wetland, crop/sod, urban and water). The unsupervised classification was performed using ERDAS Imagine 8.6, while Neuralware Predict was used for NN and Libsvm for SVM. The unsupervised images were further tidied using expert knowledge from ground-truthing and ancillary data such as aerials and digital ortho quarter quads (DOQQs). The three methods performed quite comparably in the spreadsheet model. To complete the analysis, a coincidence table was run in Geographic Resource Analysis and Support Systems (GRASS).
Physicochemical Analysis and Homology Modeling of Antioxidant Proteins of Foxtail Millet (Setaria Italica)

Physicochemical Analysis and Homology Modeling of Antioxidant Proteins of Foxtail Millet (Setaria Italica) Foxtail Millet (Setaria italica) though falls in the category of neglected underutilized species (NUS), is considered to have very high nutritive values. It contain components that have high antioxidant activities and can reduce the blood sugar level. In this study, a bioinformatics and molecular modeling approach was adopted to explore properties and structure of foxtail millet antioxidant proteins. These antioxidant proteins include peroxiredoxins (PRDX), cysteine peroxiredoxin (CYS-PRX), ascorbic peroxidase (APX), dehydro ascorbate reductase (DHAR), and 2-Cysperoxiredoxin BASI (2CPs). Physicochemical characterization interprets properties such as isoelectric point (pI), extinction coefficient (EC), aliphatic index (AI), instability index (II) and GRAVY and provides data about these antioxidant proteins and their properties. Prediction of motifs, patterns, disulfide bridges and secondary structure were performed for functional characterization. Three dimensional structures for these proteins were not available as yet at PDB. Therefore, homology models for these antioxidant proteins were developed. The modeling of the three dimensional structure of these proteins shows that models generated by Swiss Model were more acceptable in comparison to that by Geno 3D Model. The models were validated using protein structure checking tools PROCHECK and WHAT IF. These structures will provide a good foundation for functional analysis of experimentally derived crystal structures.
EFL Learners L 2 Reading Comprehension : The Effect of Online Annotations via Interactive White Boards

Abstract This study explores the effect of online annotations via Interactive White Boards (IWBs) on reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. To this aim, 60 students from a language institute were selected as homogeneous based on their performance on Oxford Placement Test (2014). Then, they were randomly assigned to 3 experimental groups of 20, and subsequently exposed to the research treatment after taking a pre-test of reading comprehension. The experimental groups received the L2 texts on IWB screen for comprehension and, at the same time, received the online annotations (auditory, pictorial, and video) attached to the target words. During the session of instruction, the participants read the texts through IWB for comprehension while consulting the annotations attached to the target words. Then, they were tested on their reading comprehension through an immediate post-test in order to measure the effect of instruction on reading comprehension immediately. The results of one-way ANOVA analysis of the data indicated that pictorial annotation group comprehended the L2 texts insignificantly better than the auditory annotation group. The results also revealed that video annotation group significantly outperformed the other two groups in L2 reading comprehension, confirming the Dual-coding Theory (Paivio, 1971, 1990). The findings of this study may have important implications for foreign language syllabus designers and instructors as well.
Truncation Method For Random Bounded Self-Adjoint Operators

This article addresses the following question; 'how to approximate the spectrum of random bounded self-adjoint operators on separable Hilbert spaces'. This is an attempt to establish a link between the spectral theory of random operators and the rich theory of random matrices; including various notions of convergence. This study tries to develop a random version of the truncation method, which is useful in approximating spectrum of bounded self- adjoint operators. It is proved that the eigenvalue sequences of the truncations converge in distribution to the eigenvalues of the random bounded self-adjoint operator. The convergence of moments are also proved with some examples. In addition, the article discusses some new methods to predict the existence of spectral gaps between the bounds of essential spectrum. Some important open problems are also stated at the end.
Contemporary Management of Acute Biliary Pancreatitis

Özet Akut biliary pankreatit, en yaygın akut pankreatit nedenlerindendir. Safra taşları, safra çamuru, özellikle nedeni saptanamayanlarda mikrolityazis pankreatit nedeni olabilmektedir. Akut biliyer pankreatit konusu literatürde çok tartışmalı yönleri olan ve sınıflandırma ve klavuzları çok hızlı değişen bir konudur . Akut pankreatit ile ilgili tanımlamaların ve klasifikasyonların yapıldığı Atlanta kriterleri yenilenerek 2013 yılında yayınlanmıştır. Akut biliyer pankreatitte çok kolay tedavi edilebilen hafif şeklinden mortaliteye neden olan komplikasyonlara yo laçan ağır şekline kadar geniş bir spectrum vardır. Bu hastalığın patogenesi tam olarak aydınlatılamamış ve çeşitli teoriler ileri sürülmüştür. Gerek tanı gerekse ağırlık derecesini tahmin etmek için protemiks gibi yeni laboratuar yöntemleri ve skorlama sistemleri önerilmiş ve bunlarla ilgili çalışmalar devam etmektedir. ERCP, ES, MRCP, EUS gibi teknolojik gelişmelerle ilişkili yeni tedavi yaklaşımları önerilmektedir.
Implementation of Mathematical Equation for Calculating Alumina Extraction from Bauxite Tailing Digestion

Research on bauxite digesting using pressurized reactor at a capacity of 86,66 kg of feed/batch had been conducted. Bauxite with -150 mesh of particle size is reacted with 42,15 kg of caustic soda with concentration of 433,49 g/l at the temperature of 140C for 1.0 to 2.5 hours using steam as heating media. Lime added are varied from 3 to 9 kg. After processing for a certain period of time, slurry product is transferred into a Mixer. To evaluate percent yield of Al2O3 extraction from this process, measuring the height of slurry level in the Mixer, densities of the slurry, filtrate, and solid residue are conducted. Head sample of bauxite, filtrate and residue are analysed by using wet method to get Al2O3 content of each sample taken from the Mixer. There are four equations that are used for obtaining percent yield of Al2O3 extraction, namely:1)Vsl=4.176x+15.83; 2)Wsl=(4.176x+15.83)*ρs; 3)S=(ρslρl)/(ρs-ρl)(ρs/ρsl)*100% and 4) E=[10 (4.176x+15.83) [1(ρsl ρl) / (ρs ρl)]*[cl / FxF]%. Where: Vsl is volume of slurry in the Mixer (litre); x is height of slurry level in the Mixer (cm); Wsl is weight of slurry in the Mixer (kg); S is solid percentage of slurry (%); ρsl is density of slurry (kg/l); ρs is density of residue (kg/l); ρl is density of filtrate (kg/l); Cl is concentration of Al2O3 in filtrate (g/l); E is percent yield of Al2O3 extraction (%). By using those four equations, it can be obtained the results of the research as follows: by the increase of lime added into slurry, percent yield of Al2O3 extraction tend to decrease from 46.63% for 3 kg of lime to 15,84% by using 9 kg of lime. Whereas by varying reaction time between 1.0-2.5 hours, percent yield of Al2O3 extraction are fluctuation in the range of 42,07-60,54% with 1.5 hours of reaction time is the highest result. By implementing those four equations above for evaluating the data, we do not need to weigh the slurry in the Mixer. Keywords-bauxite tailing; digesting; percent yield; alumina extraction; mathematical model; Bayer process
The Effect of File Size in Presence of Sodium-hypochlorite, Saline and Blood on the Accuracy of Elements Diagnostic Unit; An In-vitro Study.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of file size in presence of sodium hypochlorite, saline and blood containing EDTA on the accuracy of Elements Diagnostic Unit electronic apex locator in working length determination. 25 freshly extracted human mandibular premolars were selected. Electronic canal length measurement was done with Elements Diagnostic Unit EAL using no10, no15 and no 20 k files in presence of sodium hypochlorite, saline and blood containing EDTA. These measurements were compared with actual canal length obtained after shaving apical 4mm of the roots and measuring with no 15 k file from coronal reference point to apical constriction under X4 magnification.The statistical analysis of the data was done using one way ANOVA and post-hoc tukey test which revealed no significant difference in the length measured by no 10, no15 and no 20 k files in presence of sodium hypochlorite, saline and blood containing EDTA as compared to actual length. Most measurements were within ±0.5mm of the actual length. The reliability of the EDU in measuring canal length was 85.77 % (193 out of 225 measurements) when ±0.5mm to apical constriction was taken as clinical tolerance limit.
ARIMA models for the analysis of the precipitation evolution

In this article the temporal characteristics of precipitation evolution are investigated. The data base is formed by annual mean precipitation collected in the period 1965-2003, at 10 meteorological stations, in Dobrudja, a region of Romania. The dependence analysis shows that nine of these series don't have the long-range dependence property and are stationary. Their distributions have been studied and it has been found that four of ten series are Guassian noises. For the rest, AR or FARIMA models have been proposed and parameterized. It also has been shown that predictions based on these models are very close to the data available for the years 2004, 2005.
Exploring the Behavior of Economic Agents: the role of relative preferences

Standard economic theory assumes individuals choose actions that optimize their expected utility. In this paper we investigate how the existence of players with non-standard preferences may influence economic agents' behavior in some of the most frequently studied non-cooperative games. We find that allowing for the existence of agents with relative preferences can help explain observed economic actions which, at times, appear counter-intuitive.
The economics of food security in Arab micro states: preliminary evidence from micro data

Using Qatar as a case study, we exploit a novel micro dataset for 102 raw agricultural imported commodities on a shipment-by-shipment basis over the period January 1, 2005 to June 30, 2010. The data comprise over half a million individual observations, with a very rich set of characteristic specifications. Several interesting initial results emerge from the analysis. First, we find evidence of import-price volatility far in excess of world price volatility across a wide spectrum of commodities. Second, supply origins for virtually all commodities are highly concentrated. In many cases commodities are sole sourced. Third, although less so, concentration is evidenced among Qatari importing companies for certain commodities. Fourth, we notice anomalies that lead to inefficient shipping methodologies and associated increased costs. The paper concludes by providing guidance for future empirical research.
Revision of the genus Troglophilus (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae) in Crete, Greece

The genus Troglophilus has been considered to be represented in Greece by at least 6 species, 4 of them endemic (Willemse, 1984). T. cavicola is known from Austria, northern Italy, western Yugoslavia and central Greece. T. neglectus is known from Austria, western Yugoslavia and Greek Makedonia. T. lagoi is known only from Rhodos island. T. spinulosus, T. roeweri and T. petrochilosi are known only from Crete. In addition to these six, a new species of Troglophilus has recently been found on Santorini island (Beron, 1986). As mentioned by Willemse (1985), the systematics and distribution of most cavernicolous orthopteran species in Greece have many problems as very few individuals, and in some cases subadults, have been used in descriptions. This has been pointed out by us in a previous paper (Kollaros et al., 1987) on the Cretan cavernicolous Orthoptera. In the present paper we provide more data on the genus Troglophilus in Crete and conclude that it is represented by only one species (T. spinulosus). We provide additional description of syste-
Assessing the Business Value of Mobile Terminals in a UK Police Context

In a climate of financial austerity, greater emphasis is placed on improving the operational effectiveness, efficiency and cost of delivery of services. This paper discusses the development of a conceptual framework to assess the business value and impact of mobile technologies in a UK police force. At present there are few structured frameworks from which police forces can assess the value of mobile technologies within a short timeframe with little effort or large budget. The conceptual framework contributes to the performance assessment in policing, providing a structured approach for police forces to understand where to concentrate their efforts, in terms of which data to collect. It utilises secondary data sources, such as global positioning-based resource and demand systems, to assess impact on time spent policing communities. The conceptual framework can be used by police forces, and similar types of organisations, seeking assessment of new technological initiatives.