Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimizing environmental sustainability and public benefits of transportation network programs

Transportation is among the highest energy-consuming economy sectors. Therefore, new national priorities and laws passed in the United States in an effort to control the environmental impacts of highway rehabilitation efforts. This created new challenges to planners and decision makers in transportation agencies to optimize, under budget constraints, rehabilitation efforts of aging networks in order to maximize net public benefits while minimizing network energy consumption. This mandates a substantial change in existing ad-hoc and need-based decision-making practices in order to add new criteria to evaluate and measure network energy consumption. Accordingly, this paper presents a new model for planning highway rehabilitation efforts that is capable of identifying near optimal program(s) in terms of maximizing net public benefits while minimizing energy consumption of transportation networks. The new model is designed to: (1) evaluating and measuring the impact of decision making in highway rehabilitation programs on network energy consumption; (2) evaluating the impact of rehabilitation decisions on the cost of travel delays due to highway construction work; (3) estimating the expected savings in road user costs due to the completed rehabilitation efforts; (4) estimating the lifecycle public costs and benefits associated with highway rehabilitation decisions; and (5) optimizing rehabilitation decisions in order to search for and identify the highway construction program(s) that simultaneously maximize public benefits and minimize energy consumption under budget constraints. An application example for a transportation network in South Florida is analyzed to demonstrate the model capabilities and examine the relationship between lifecycle net public benefits and total network energy consumption. The analysis of the application example showed that there is a trade-off between the expected net public benefits and network energy consumption. The new model should prove useful to transportation agencies in identifying rehabilitation program(s) that satisfy public expectations while minimizing energy consumption in transportation networks.
THE HERO VERSUS THE OUTLAW ?

This thesis revolves around the influence of personality based brand-testimonial congruence on brand attitude, purchase intention and (aided vs. unaided) retrieval. The study investigates the concept of archetypes as means of brand and testimonial personality assessment. Four online studies of quantitative nature were conducted, two preliminary and two experimental studies. Altogether, 354 undergraduate and graduate students took part. Firstly, the study shows that archetypes can successfully be applied to brand personalities and testimonials. Secondly, the results revealed that a higher level of congruence between brands and testimonials leads to a higher brand attitude and purchase intention. Thirdly, the processing fluency plays a vital role with its full mediation in the brand attitude formation. Fourthly, the relationship between actual self and brand attitude could not be proven. Finally, the results prove that a higher congruence increases the ease of retrieval, while an aid generates higher retrieval scores of brand-testimonial couples. This study underlines the importance of congruent brand-testimonial personalities for the marketing world, because they increase the brand attitude, purchase intention and ease of retrieval. Furthermore, it proves that archetypes serve as means of assessing brand and testimonial personalities in order to find suitable matches and get insight into the heart of the brand. THE HERO VERSUS THE OUTLAW? 4
Export of Soluble Sugars and Increase in Membrane Permeability of Gladiolus Florets during Senescence

Export of soluble sugar, changes in all membrane permeability, and production rate of ethylene in the perianths of the lower florets on the gladiolus spikes were determined as related to physiological events affecting the wilting of perianths after they were fully unfolded.1. Perianths appeared to be wilting between 2 and 3 days after unfolding fully (DAU). Concurrent with the onset of wilting, perianths rapidly decreased in fresh and dry weights.2. Between 1 and 2 DAU, one day before perianths started to wilt, total soluble sugar contents began to decrease. Between 2 and 3 DAU, the largest loss of total soluble sugars occurred, most of which was possibly due to export from perianths to other parts.Concurrent with the export of sugars, an increase in leakage of ions from perianth tissues was observed.3. Rates in ethylene production of perianths did not show a significant change in relation to the time of wilting.Depletion of sugars was discussed as related to the disintegration of membranes, which could cause perianths to wilt.
Lower limit for differential rotation in members of young loose stellar associations

Surface differential rotation (SDR) plays a key role in dynamo models. SDR estimates are therefore essential for constraining theoretical models. We measure a lower limit to SDR in a sample of solar-like stars belonging to young associations with the aim of investigating how SDR depends on global stellar parameters in the age range (4-95 Myr). The rotation period of a solar-like star can be recovered by analyzing the flux modulation caused by dark spots and stellar rotation. The SDR and the latitude migration of dark-spots induce a modulation of the detected rotation period. We employ long-term photometry to measure the amplitude of such a modulation and to compute the quantity DeltaOmega_phot =2p/P_min -2pi/P_max that is a lower limit to SDR. We find that DeltaOmega_phot increases with the stellar effective temperature and with the global convective turn-over time-scale tau_c. We find that DeltaOmega_phot is proportional to Teff^2.18pm 0.65 in stars recently settled on the ZAMS. This power law is less steep than those found by previous authors, but closest to recent theoretical models. We find that DeltaOmega_phot steeply increases between 4 and 30 Myr and that itis almost constant between 30 and 95 Myr in a 1 M_sun star. We find also that the relative shear increases with the Rossby number Ro. Although our results are qualitatively in agreement with hydrodynamical mean-field models, our measurements are systematically higher than the values predicted by these models. The discrepancy between DeltaOmega_phot measurements and theoretical models is particularly large in stars with periods between 0.7 and 2 d. Such a discrepancy, together with the anomalous SDR measured by other authors for HD 171488 (rotating in 1.31 d), suggests that the rotation period could influence SDR more than predicted by the models.
Heat transfer through protective clothing under symmetric and asymmetric long wave thermal radiation

This report considers results of an ED funded research on thermal properties ofprotective clothing and their use in the assessment of the thermal strain at work. In order to study the effects of the asymmetry oflong wave thermal radiation on the heat transfer through protective clothing, the heat loss under all-side and unilaterally applied radiation with the same incident radiant power of 279 W/m2 was measured with a thermal manikin and compared to a reference condition where mean radiant temperature was equal to air temperature. With exposure to radiation a lowered heat loss, i.e. heat gain for the whole covered body area was observed, which did not depend on radiant asymmetry for the dry as well as for the combined dry and evaporative heat loss, and which was attenuated when wearing a more insulating underwear. However, under one-sided radiation a more inhomogeneous spatial distribution occurred with higher heat gains and higher surface temperatures at the irradiated body parts. Practical Relevance The direction ofthermal radiation in the horizontal plane may be neglected when assessing the physiological heat strain in protective clothing by heat budget models. In contrast to this, it may be advisable to consider radiant asymmetries with respect to thermal comfort with low intensity radiation, and the most intense radiant source when assessing the risk of skin burns.
What Factors Affect the Competiveness of Power Generation Sector in China? An Analysis Based on Game Cross-Efficiency

China’s unbundling reform in 2002 aimed to introduce competitiveness into the power industry, especially the generation sector, to improve its operational efficiency. Meanwhile, great concern about a range of environmental problems and global climate change increasingly calls for saving energy and abating emissions. Thus, the ability to balance the reduction of carbon emissions with economic benefits may to a great extent determine the competitiveness of power generation sector. This study first adopts the game cross-efficiency approach to evaluate the environmental efficiency of the generation sectors in China’s 30 provinces. It then employs a system generalized method of moments model to explore the determinants of their performance while eliminating the associated endogeneity problem. The results of this first study combining the two methods indicate that efficiency gaps do exist among the regions even though overall efficiency has been improved. Despite the negative correlation between environmental efficiency and the thermal power ratio, the power mix should be adjusted gradually. The average firm size and capacity utilization rates are positive factors boosting the environmental efficiency. The incentive policies for clean energy development should be differentiated across regions according to their power mix and self-sufficiency ratio.
DEVELOPMENT AND IN VITRO EVALUATION OF SUSTAINED RELEASE MATRIX TABLETS OF SALBUTAMOL SULPHATE USING HYDROPHILIC AND HYDROPHOBIC POLYMERS

In the present study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the effect of hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers on the release profile of drug from matrix system. Salbutamol sulphate, an anti-asthmatic agent, was used as a model drug to evaluate its release characteristics from different matrices. Matrix tablets of salbutamol sulphate were prepared by direct compression process using hydrophobic polymer ethyl cellulose (F1-F4) and hydrophilic polymer HPMC (F4-F8). Release kinetics of salbutamol sulphate from these sustained release matrices in distilled water using USP paddle method with sinker for 12 h were studied. Statistically significant differences were found among the drug release profile from different formulations. The release mechanism was explored and explained with zero order, first order, Higuchi and Korsmeyer equations. The results generated in this study showed that the profile and kinetics of drug release were functions of polymer type, polymer level and physico-chemical properties of the drug. The present study concluded that the hydrophilic matrix tablets of formulation F8 prepared using HPMC showed drug release of 91.32% and can be employed as twice-a-day oral sustained release drug delivery system whereas hydrophobic matrix tablets of formulation F4 prepared using ethyl cellulose showed drug release of 64.2% and can be employed as once a day oral sustained release drug delivery system. Therefore, ethyl cellulose is suggested as an ideal polymer for production of directly compressed matrix sustained release salbutamol tablets.
Functions of Unconscious and Conscious Emotion in the Regulation of Implicit and Explicit Motivated Behavior

In this chapter the objective is to taxonomize unconscious and conscious affective and emotional processes and provide an account of their functional role in cognition and behavior in the context of a review of the relevant literature. The position adopted is that human affect and emotion evolved to function in motivational-cognitive systems and that emotion, motivation and cognition should be understood within a single explanatory framework. A ‘dual process’ account that integrates emotion, motivation and cognition, is put forward in which emotion plays different functional roles in implicit motivations and explicit motivations.
Overview of Efficient and secure Personal Health Record storing in cloud computing

Cloud Computing provide a strong infrastructure for health information services over the Internet. As promising as it is, this paradigm also brings many new challenges for data security and access control when users outsource sensitive data for sharing on cloud servers. To keep sensitive user data confidential, existing solutions usually apply cryptographic methods these solutions introduce a heavy computation overhead on the data owner for key distribution and data management when fine-grained data access control is desired, and thus do not scale well. To solve these problems we exploiting and uniquely combining techniques of attributebased encryption (ABE), multiple-authority ABE (MA-ABE), and cipher text policy ABE (CP-ABE).
Longitudinal changes in macroinvertebrate assemblages along a glacial river system in central Iceland

1. Macroinvertebrate assemblages were studied in the glacial river West-Jokulsa, originating from the Hofsjokull Ice Cap in central Iceland at an altitude of 860 m. Sampling sites were distributed from the source to 45 km downstream at 160 m a.s. l. Comparative studies were carried out on non-glacial rivers and tributaries in the area, at similar altitudes and distances from the glacial source. 2. Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) demonstrated that species composition of benthic macroinvertebrates was related to the distance from the glacier. Assemblages at sampling sites furthest from the glacier were similar in species composition to sites in non-glacial rivers. Temporal variation was small compared with longitudinal zonation. 3. Based on canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) of data from the main glacial river, distance from the glacier, altitude, bryophyte biomass and the Pfankuch Index of channel stability were the measured explanatory variables having a significant effect on the structure of macroinvertebrate assemblages, accounting for 31% of the total variation in the data set. When data from all the rivers were analysed, altitude, bryophyte biomass, channel slope, suspended sediment concentration and maximum water temperature explained 21% of the variance. 4. Macroinvertebrate communities were in general agreement with the predictions of the conceptual model of Milner & Petts (1994) for the upstream reaches. The assemblages consisted mainly of Orthocladiinae and Diamesinae (Chironomidae), although other taxa such as Simuliidae, Plecoptera and Trichoptera were also found in low numbers. Shredders were lacking from the benthic communities, apparently because of continued glacial influence in the river even 45 km downstream from the glacier and lack of allochthononus inputs from riparian vegetation.
Systemic Risk in the Banking Industry of the United States

Abstract Systemic Risk in the Banking Industry of the United States Weiyu Gao In this thesis, I estimate the systemic risk in the U.S. banking industry and the effects of a financial regulation and an event on the financial health and stability of U. S. banks. The financial regulation and event are respectively Basel I and the U.S. sub-prime mortgage financial crisis which are captured by two dummy variables. I estimate systemic risk using the definition which considers a systemic crisis as an event causing a simultaneous default of a significant number of financial institutions. Thus, the systemic risk here is the simultaneous probability of default of a certain number of financial institutions. Next, I form two systemic risk indices, including the default probability based on bank assets and the default probability based on the number of banks. I investigate the sources of systemic risk and address the factors which are significantly related to the stability of the banking system. In order to conduct this investigation, I establish two categories of variables related to systemic factors and bank specific factors. The systemic factors include the median correlation of assets, volatility of assets and capitalization while the bank specific factors consist of time trend, bank size and the ratio of book value of equity to total assets. The regression analyses are applied between the systemic risk indices and the systemic/ bank specific factors. The results suggest that Basel I does not effectively improve the stability of the banking system and that the financial crisis contributes to systemic risk. The volatility of assets and capitalization are significantly related to the systemic risk indices. Although the systemic factors perform better than the bank specific factors in explaining the systemic risk indices, bank size is also a significant explanatory factor.
Action Protocols in DNA Identification of Isolated Populations

This paper presents the basic problems and difficulties that can be found when working with isolated populations as far as propose some approaches in the analysis of this type of populations. 13 autosomal STRs have been analyzed and statistical forensic parameters, such as observed heterozygosity and power of discrimination have been determined, in samples from isolated and non-isolated populations. Samples were amplified with AmpFlSTR®Identifiler® kit (Applied Biosystems) and PowerPlex 16®kit (Promega). For DNA typing, an ABI PRISM 310 Genetic Analyzer was used, and the analysis was performed with GeneMapper ID-X Software v1.1. PowerStats software and SPSS v15.0 were used to calculate forensic and other parameters.The analysis is based on the comparison of three main population groups (large, medium, and small), and an estimation of the forensic parameters, such as discrimination power (PD), observed heterozygosity (Ho), and combined PD, was obtained.The obtained results reveal that heterozygosity and PD are lower in aboriginal populations than in other populations. This research contributes to defining the decrease in allele presence caused by the lower size of a population as far as endogamy processes.To obtain an efficient human identification, it is necessary to generate independent databases for all the different populations, including small isolated groups. Action protocols to these kinds of populations have to be adapted: type as many markers as possible, not only autosomal STR but also mitochondrial DNA and sexual chromosome markers and characterize those one that better describe the population, and also get genetic information of close relatives as far as direct references of the individual.
Random walk approach to spin dynamics in a two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit coupling

Random walk approach to spin dynamics in a two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit coupling Luyi Yang, J. Orenstein, and Dung-Hai Lee Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. and Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. (Dated: September 27, 2010) Abstract We introduce and solve a semi-classical random walk (RW) model that describes the dynamics of spin polarization waves in zinc-blende semiconductor quantum wells. We derive the dispersion relations for these waves, including the Rashba, linear and cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions, as well as the eﬀects of an electric ﬁeld applied parallel to the spin polarization wavevector. In agreement with calculations based on quantum kinetic theory [Kleinert and Bryksin, Phys. Rev. B 76, 205326 (2007)], the RW approach predicts that spin waves acquire a phase velocity in the presence of the ﬁeld that crosses zero at a nonzero wavevector, q 0 . In addition, we show that the spin-wave decay rate is independent of ﬁeld at q 0 but increases as (q − q 0 ) 2 for q = q 0 . These predictions can be tested experimentally by suitable transient spin grating experiments.
Study of Oblique Propagating Whistler Mode Waves in Presence of Parallel DC Electric Field in Magnetosphere of Saturn

In this paper whistler mode waves have been investigated in magnetosphere of Saturn. The derivation for perturbed distribution function, dispersion relation and growth rate have been determined by using the method of characteristic and kinetic approach. Analytical expressions for growth rate and real frequency of whistlers propagating oblique to magnetic field direction are attained. Calculations have been performed at 6 radial distances in plasma sheet region of Saturn’s magnetosphere as per data provided by Cassini. Work has been extended for bi-Maxwellian as well as Loss-cone distribution function. Parametric analysis show that temperature anisotropy, increase in number density, energy density and angle of propagation increases the growth rate of whistler waves along with significant shift in wave number. In case of Loss-cone distribution, increase in growth rate of whistlers is significantly more than for bi-Maxwellian distribution function. Generation of second harmonics can also be seen in the graphs plotted. It is concluded that parallel DC field stabilizes the wave and temperature anisotropy, angle of propagation, number density and energy density of electrons enhances the growth rate. Thus the results are of importance in analyzing observed VLF emissions over wide spectrum of frequency range in Saturnian magnetosphere. The analytical model developed can also be used to study various types of instabilities in planetary magnetospheres.
Anticipated Future of Latvia and Russia During a Global Economic Crisis: A Mixed Methods Perspective

This cross-cultural study explored subjective predictors of more positive evaluation of the future of the country during a global socioeconomic crisis. A sequential mixed-method design was chosen for an exploration of students’ expectations in Russia and Latvia as countries contrasting in macro-contextual conditions. In 2009, Study 1 was designed as a thematic analysis of essays on topic “The Future of Latvia/Russia”. The results demonstrated that the future of a country is anticipated by taking into account external influences, the present of the country, and its perceived power and stability. In 2011, Study 2 involved these themes as independent variables in a multiple regression model. The results demonstrated that positive evaluation of the present and higher perceived power of the country are individuallevel predictors of more positive evaluation of its future. Observed concordance of models indicates relatively high importance of subjective view of the country in the changing world.
Pre-service Teachers' Issues in the Relationship With Cooperating Teachers and Their Resolutions

This paper reports part of a larger phenomenological study of 23 participants (eight pre-service teachers, eight university supervisors, and seven cooperating teachers) specifically focusing on pre-service teachers’ issues in the relationship with cooperating teachers and their resolutions. Two questions were used to guide this paper: (1) What can be pre-service teachers’ issue with the cooperating teacher? and (2) How can pre-service teachers resolve/avoid issues with the cooperating teacher? Each participant received two semi-in-depth interviews, with each lasting approximately 90 minutes. Using the applied thematic analysis and the constant comparative approach based on grounded theory resulted in five themes in the area of issues and four themes in the area of resolutions. The results of this study may be helpful to teacher educators, especially those who intend to establish rationale in selecting cooperating teachers and to consider providing training to cooperating teachers and pre-service teachers to enhance the field experience.