Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determination of tritium levels in tap waters collected from various regions in Thailand using liquid scintillation counting

Tritium can replace a hydrogen atom in water molecules since oxygen atom can react with tritium atoms to form water molecules the same way as for hydrogen atoms, potentially posing hazardous to consumers. This study aims to measure tritium activity concentrations in tap water samples collected from different regions in Thailand, (Phayao, Srisaket, Chanthaburi, Trang and Bangkok) in November 2018. The measurements of tritium activity concentrations were carried out by using electrolytic enrichment and low background liquid scintillation counting (AccuFLEX LSC-LB7), which had a sensitivity of less than 1 Bq/L. The data results of regional distribution of a tendency were discussed according to latitudes and longitudes of the collecting location. The measured tritium concentrations in tap water were in the range of 0.41 – 0.75 Bq/L. Specifically, the results showed that the tritium activity concentrations depended on location, with the highest value obtained from a tap water sample collected from the northern part of Thailand (Phayao). The results could be used as the baseline of tritium levels in tap water in each region of Thailand before building or operating the nuclear facilities such as the first nuclear power plant, fuel reprocessing or heavy water production facilities in the future.
A MULTIMODAL SEMANTIC MODEL FOR EVENT IDENTIFICATION ON SPORTS MEDIA CONTENT

This paper presents a multimodal semantic event identification model of occurring events in sports games. Sport broadcasting programs and TV shows form a demanding media case, as journalists, experts and analysts tend to examine in detail their gameplay aspects and elements, trying to offer thorough analysis and deep insights to their large audience. Basketball serves as an exemplary case for developing an event identification model in sports media content, since it is full of small or bigger activities that take place throughout the game. In this work, a basketball event is defined as a series of player actions during a team possession in the game. The proposed method leverages and combines the information of various game sources as play-by-play and text reports. Given the current state of research, the current paper proposes multilevel event classification taxonomies that could be used in multimodal semantic processing and conceptualization approaches.
The Effect of Climate Change on Abiotic Plant Stress: A Review

The increase in the carbon-dioxide (CO 2 ) present in the atmosphere as a result of human activities affects the ambient temperature, and rainfall pattern in terms of season, duration, intensity of sunshine, increased drought periods, waterlogging, and increased evapotranspiration. This influence negatively the development, yield and quality of the plants grown under this condition. The quests to produce stress tolerant/resistant plants and increase crop productivity have led to the study of plant stresses, their response to different stress type and stress management proce-dures in plants. This chapter has discussed in details the different abiotic stressors in plants and how they are being influenced by climate change, the response of these plants to different abiotic stresses or a combination of stresses, and abiotic stress management.
A REVIEW OF USING NATURAL RUBBER IN THE MODIFICATION OF BITUMEN AND ASPHALT MIXTURES USED FOR ROAD CONSTRUCTION

A comprehensive review using natural rubber in the modification of bitumen used for road construction is presented in this paper. The sources, types and properties of natural rubber are discussed briefly. The methods used by researchers to add natural rubber as a modifier for bitumen are also discussed. A literature review of the effects of natural rubber on the physical, mechanical and rheological properties of bitumen and the performance of asphalt mixtures over the past three decades is presented along with the cost analysis of using natural rubber as a modifier in comparison to using other polymers. Researchers in the field of the highway and pavement engineering need to find a method to deal with the most common pavement distress by using local additives such as natural rubber. It is expected that a special, cost effective and long lasting natural rubber modified flexible for road pavements, which is also fatigue and rut resistant, will be developed in the near future. This will reduce the amount of expenses required for the annual maintenance of asphalt mixtures around the world.
The importance of defining measures of stability in macroecology and biogeography

Author(s): McDonald-Spicer, Christiana J.; Moritz, Craig C. ; Ferrier, Simon; Rosauer, Dan F. | Abstract: Stability, the continuity of environments or habitats through space and time, is a widely used concept in macroecology and biogeography and is often invoked in studies attempting to explain the uneven spatial distribution of biodiversity. Stability can be measured in various ways and at various spatiotemporal scales; however, few studies explicitly define their use of the term. This makes interpreting and comparing studies difficult. We suggest an integrated approach to defining measures of stability in macroecology and biogeography. This approach addresses five key challenges concerning the biological, environmental and spatiotemporal scales at which stability is assessed, and how the complexity of change across time and space is summarised into a metric of stability. Using this approach allows for clarity around the choice, conceptualisation, communication and comparison of measures of stability.
Improved remaining fatigue life of an orthotropic bridge deck: Combination of analyses, tests and measurements

Previously to the renovation of a long steel highway bridge, built in 1969, the remaining fatigue life of the orthotropic bridge deck should be analysed. The bridge structure is a very slender box‐girder bridge with three spans (L = 120 + 210 + 82 = 412 m). The heavy traffic is very high, with approximately 1,2 million trucks per year in the busiest lane.
Evaluation of the thermal comfort for its occupants inside a vehicle during summer

Thermal comfort of occupants from the vehicle environment has gained more importance in the last decades because time spent by people in the vehicles is increasing. During each trip, driver’s thermal comfort must to be ensured to reduce both thermal stress (thus reduces the risk of accidents) and for a healthy state of the occupants. Given the fact that the vehicle environment is non-uniform and fast transient, and because the actual standard (ISO 14505) proposes comfort evaluation methods developed for the steady state conditions in buildings, the purpose of the study is to evaluate a vehicle environment using the three standardised method presented in the above standard. All the three standardized evaluation indices were achieved through standardised methods. The equivalent temperature (teq) index was assessed with an advanced thermal manikin and its values were compared with the survey answers given by people in questionnaires (TSV Thermal Sensation Vote index) and with Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) index values calculated with Comfort Sense standardized evaluation equipment. A first conclusion is that the results of the three evaluation indices are different. Air temperature is different from a zone of the car to another and the thermal evaluation must be done in the place of each passenger.
How We Talk with Robots: Eliciting Minimally-Constrained Speech to Build Natural Language Interfaces and Capabilities

Industry, military, and academia are showing increasing interest in collaborative human-robot teaming in a variety of task contexts. Designing effective user interfaces for human-robot interaction is an ongoing challenge, and a variety of single and multiple-modality interfaces have been explored. Our work is to develop a bi-directional natural language interface for remote human-robot collaboration in physically situated tasks. When combined with a visual interface and audio cueing, we intend for the natural language interface to provide a naturalistic user experience that requires little training. Building the language portion of this interface requires first understanding how potential users would speak to the robot. In this paper, we describe our elicitation of minimally-constrained robot-directed language, observations about the users’ language behavior, and future directions for constructing an automated robotic system that can accommodate these language needs.
Problem Solving using Recurrent Neural Network based on the Effects of Gestures

Models of puzzle problem solving, such as Tower of Hanoi, are based on moves analysis. In a grounded and embodied based approach of cognition, we thought that gestures made to take the discs to one place and place them in another place could be beneficial to the learning process, as well as to the modeling and simulation. Gestures comprise moves, but in addition they are also prerequisites of moves when the free hand goes in one location to take a disc. Our hypothesis is that we can model the solving of the Tower of Hanoi through observing the actions of the hand with and without objects. We collected sequential data of moves and gestures of participants solving the Tower of Hanoi with four dicks and, then, train a Recurrent Neural Network model of Tower of Hanoi based on these data in order to find the shortest solution path. In this paper, we propose an approach for change of state sequences training, which combines Recurrent Neural Network and Reinforcement Learning methods.
Formulation of 3D temperature signatures for temperature driven structural health monitoring

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) seeks to assess the integrity of a structure using installed sensors and a variety of structural and data analyses. Each structure requires a unique monitoring plan, using one of several techniques undergoing research and implementation around the world. One unifying factor across the behavior of all structures is the influence of temperature on the structure. In many bridges, daily temperature changes can cause larger resulting strains than daily traffic loads. Despite this significance of temperature in structural behavior, temperature plays a comparatively smaller role in most contemporary methods of SHM. TemperatureDriven SHM (TD-SHM) includes temperature as the driving force in structural behavior, relating temperature as an input to resulting strain and displacement. These three measurable quantities form a three dimensional, damage sensitive signature for different locations on the structure. Each structure will have different strain and displacement profiles for different temperatures. These signatures combine the varying strain and displacement profiles into one model, in order to capture normal patterns of life for the structure. This inclusion of temperature as the main input in analysis allows for a deeper comprehension of the structural behavior than when ignoring, filtering out, or compensating for temperature. Two different types of three dimensional temperature signatures are proposed as a way to characterize structural behavior and detect future damage on the structure. These methods are validated using data from a real structure; Streicker Bridge on camps at Princeton University.
Projected population consequences of climate change

To anticipate the future state of avian populations in a changing climate, forecasts must rigorously account for uncertainty in future climate and population processes. This requires fusing IPCC-class climate projections with population models. In this chapter, we review the steps for developing climate-dependent population forecasts, while highlighting key biological considerations and methodological challenges. Throughout, we use examples from a long-term study of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) to illustrate key points. We then conduct a literature review to compile a list of studies that have linked IPCC climate models with avian population models. At present, only a handful of studies have fused IPCC climate projections with avian population models, and generalities across systems thus remain elusive. Yet, the increasing availability and sophistication of climate models, coupled with new population modelling methods, hold promise for reducing forecast uncertainties and improving the relevance of population forecasts for policy.
Characterizing the Role of Wind and Dust in Traffic Accidents in California

Wind is a common ground transportation hazard. In arid regions, wind‐blown dust is an added risk. Here, we analyzed the relationship between accidents and wind speed, dust events to study how they may have contributed to vehicular accidents in California. The California Highway Patrol reports information about weather conditions that potentially contributed to traffic accidents, including a code for wind but not for reduced visibility due to dust. For the three counties that contain the major dust source regions in California (the Mojave Desert and the Imperial Valley), we found greater daily maximum wind speed for days with accidents coded for wind compared to all days with accidents. The percentage of people injured in accidents attributed for weather other than wind and coded for wind were the same; however, the percentage of people who died in wind‐related accidents was about double the deaths in accidents caused by weather other than wind. At ground meteorological stations closest to accidents, we found lower median minimum visibility for days with wind‐related accidents compared to all days with accidents. Across the region, wind speed recorded at ground meteorological stations increased the probability of high satellite‐derived dust optical depth values. Over the period of 2006 to 2016, the correlation between daily minimum visibility and daily maximum satellite‐estimated dust optical depth was negative. Our analysis of the correlation between dust and accidents shows that with increased wind storm and dust‐event frequency in the future, the risk of traffic incidents due to wind and dust could increase.
Spatiotemporal profiles of water quality at a new large tropical hydroelectric dam reservoir

The building of the Murum hydroelectric dam resulted in the formation of a reservoir in the year 2014. The newly formed reservoir can also serve as a cage aquaculture site in addition to fisheries. Therefore, it is important to determine the spatiotemporal profiles of water quality in the new reservoir and assess its suitability for fisheries and aquaculture. Water quality of riverine inflows and depth profiles of water quality in transitional and lacustrine zones were studied. Four samplings were conducted in 2017 at two stations each in the riverine and transitional zones, and three stations in the lacustrine zone. Results of the year-long study indicate that the riverine zone serves as the main input of suspended solids and organic matter to the reservoir which affected the pH and conductivity depth profiles particularly in the transitional zone due to anthropogenic activities in the river basin. Thermal stratification was apparent and consistent in the lacustrine zone throughout the year; whereas it was less consistent in the transitional zone and varied between stations receiving different riverine inflows at different times of the year. The colder sediment-laden inflows from the rivers influenced the depth profiles of the transitional and lacustrine zones especially after rainfall events. The DO values in transitional zone remained high due to the oxygenated riverine inflows. However, it dropped below the limit of 5 mg/L at the thermocline, and developed an anoxic condition at the deeper water column in the lacustrine zone throughout the year. A decrease in pH and an increase in conductivity, turbidity, TSS, CO2, BOD5, COD and TAN with depths were also observed in the lacustrine zone which are associated with the decomposition of organic matter and sedimentation. Since the depth of water column that contained healthy DO value of at least 5 mg/L for healthy life of aquatic organisms at the lacustrine zone was less than 1 m to 5 m coupled with the acidity of the water, it is not suitable for sensitive aquatic organism yet. At the riverine zone, even though DO is high, the high turbidity, TSS, and low pH render the water unsuitable for sensitive aquatic organisms. It is recommended that inputs of sediment and organic materials to the reservoir be reduced not only for the sustainability of the hydropower generation but also for fisheries and aquaculture development in the future.
Co-occurrence of Organic and Inorganic Contaminants in Former Hg-As Mining Sites

Hg and As, given their toxicity, are among the most problematic pollutants found in abandoned brownfields related to the mining and metallurgical activities. At La Soterraña Hg-mining site (Matanzas et al., 2017), the emissions of polluting steam and particles, along with the dumping of mining and smelting waste, significantly affected about 80,000 m of the surrounding area. The nature of the As and Hg solid residues and their effects on the environmental compartments have been extensively and recently described in a similar Hg site in the same district (GonzálezFernández et al., 2018), however in these brownfields there is some initial evidence of the presence of a severe organic pollution together with the well-known Hg and As impact (Gallego et al., 2015).
A model-based velocity controller for chaotization of flexible joint robot manipulators

This article presents a model-based velocity controller able to induce a chaotic motion on n-degrees of freedom flexible joint robot manipulators. The proposed controller allows the velocity link vector of a robot manipulator to track an arbitrary, chaotic reference vector field. A rigorous theoretical analysis based on Lyapunov’s theory is used to prove the asymptotic stability of the tracking error signals when using the proposed controller, which implies that a chaotic motion is induced to the robotic system. Experimental results are provided using a flexible joint robot manipulator of two degrees of freedom. Finally, by using Poincaré maps and Lyapunov exponents, it is shown that the behavior exhibited by the robot joint positions is chaotic.
Late-Holocene coastal depositional environments and climate changes in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece

Multidisciplinary studies in coastal systems of the eastern Mediterranean region have proven to be excellent tools in understanding paleoenvironmental, paleoecological, and paleoclimatic changes that took place during the Holocene period, and how these changes interacted with urban development and growth. This paper presents sedimentological, high-resolution x-ray fluorescence (XRF scanning), micropaleontological, and x-ray diffraction (XRD) data from three shallow sediment cores that were retrieved from Aliki (ancient Siphai or Tipha) salt pond. The study area is located in a unique, highly tectonic geographical region, at the northeast part of the Gulf of Corinth in Greece. Beachrock deposits that form a barrier between the salt pond and the marine environment seem to play an important role in the evolution of the area. The chronological framework was set at around 3100 cal. BP by four 14C radiocarbon dates, and the evolutionary model that was established indicates four different changes taking place during this period at the study area. From around 3100 to 1600 cal. BP, a transition from a closed to an open lagoonal environment was identified, interrupted by a fluvial terrestrial deposit at around 2500 cal. BP. A shift toward a closed lagoonal system at around 1600 cal. BP and the establishment of a salt pond environment seem to correlate with tectonic activity. The study provides important information about the evolution of coastal landscape in such a tectonic active region and points the interaction between regional human activity and climatic changes during the late-Holocene period.
Finite element analysis of two nearby interfering asymmetric footings embedded in cohesionless foundation medium

ABSTRACT The present study encompasses the behaviour of two closely spaced rigid, rough asymmetrical strip footings embedded in homogenous, semi-infinite cohesionless foundation soil medium. The geometry of the interfering footings with respect to their width is considered to be asymmetric. The analyses have been carried out using finite element software ABAQUS following the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion obeying non-associated flow rule for foundation medium. The interference effect on the characteristic behaviour of the footing such as load-settlement (p-δ) behaviour, ultimate bearing capacity (UBC) and settlement have been evaluated. The UBC and settlement have been represented in terms of non-dimensional interaction factors defined as the ratio of UBC/settlement of left/right footing in presence of adjacent footing to that of the same considered for an isolated footing under identical condition. The results of the analyses reveal that the interaction factors with respect to UBC (ξL/ξR ) and settlement (ζL/ζR ) are affected significantly by the variation of clear spacing between the footings, embedment depth, soil friction angle and the width of adjacent footings. The interference effect is more prominent in the case of smaller footing having lesser embedment depth on the soil with higher friction angle in comparison with the footing of larger dimension.
The Relationship Between Economic Complexity Index and Export: the Case of Turkey and Central Asian and Turkic Republics

For citation: Şeker, A. & Şimdi, H. (2019). The Relationship between Economic Complexity Index and Export: the Case of Turkey and Central Asian and Turkic Republics. Ekonomika Regiona [Economy of Region], 15(3), 659-669 doi 10.17059/2019-3-3 UDС: 339.9 JEL: F00, F14, F19 A. Şeker а), H. Şimdi b) а) Bursa Technical University (Bursa, Turkey; e-mail: ayberk.seker@btu.edu.tr) b) Sakarya University (Sakarya, Turkey)