Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structural Low Cement Content (LCC) Concrete: An Eco-friendly Alternative for Construction Industry

Pressure is mounting in the civil construction industry to adopt more environmentally sustainable methods to reduce CO2 emissions. It is essential that the concrete industry consider its carbon footprint amongst increasing demand and tightening environmental restrictions. One of the most efficient methods used to mediate this impact is to use concrete systems with low cement content, the so-called low cement content (LCC) concrete. This material addresses the issue in an innovative and eco-friendly manner through the use of more efficient mix-design strategies and by-products from other industries. Although sustainable, the use of LCC concrete in structural applications is relatively new, and its performance and long-term behaviour are still relatively unknown. This project aimed to mixproportion concrete mixtures with reduced cement amount through the use of packing theories. Evaluations were performed in the fresh and hardened states of the material, while gaps, recommendations, and further needs were highlighted. Results
Phosphorus and nitrogen loading restraints are essential for successful eutrophication control of Lake Rotorua, New Zealand

Abstract Anthropogenic activity has greatly enhanced the inputs of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to lakes, causing widespread eutrophication. Algal or cyanobacterial blooms are among the most severe consequences of eutrophication, impacting aquatic food webs and humans that rely on lakes for ecosystem services. In New Zealand, recent debate on the relative importance of N versus P control for limiting occurrences of algal blooms has centered on the iconic Lake Rotorua (North Island). Water quality in Lake Rotorua has declined since the late 1800s following catchment vegetation clearing and subsequent land-use intensification, as well as from sewage inputs. A multimillion dollar restoration programme began in the early 2000s, with key mitigation actions including nutrient load targets for the entire catchment and alum dosing in 2 tributaries. In this manuscript we analyse 2 water quality datasets (>10 yr) from Lake Rotorua and compare these with a global lake dataset. Generalised additive models predicted highly significant (p < 0.001) declines in total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN) and chlorophyll a (Chl- a) in surface waters between 2001 and 2015. Alum dosing had a negative (i.e., reducing) and highly significant effect on TP and Chl- a (p < 0.001). Correlations of Chl- a on TP and TN were highly significant, but the difference between the 2 correlation coefficients was not, indicating a need to control both nutrients to reduce algal productivity. This conclusion is reinforced by recent bioassay studies which show co-limitation by N and P. Collectively, our data and previous studies provide strong support for the current strategy of limiting both N and P loads to Lake Rotorua for effective eutrophication control.
IMPACTS OF SOYABEAN EXPANSION ON THE AMAZON ENERGY BALANCE: A CASE STUDY

SUMMARY A micrometeorological experiment was carried out in an area of soyabean cultivation located in northeastern Para state, Brazil, in order to evaluate impacts on the local energy balance due to replacement of forests by soyabean. The meteorological data from forest ecosystems were collected in Caxiuanã forests located in central Para. The energy balance components were obtained using the Bowen ratio technique. Differences in energy balance components between ecosystems were significant during the soyabean growing season and more significant between growing seasons. During the soyabean growing season mean impacts of −15%, −9% and −27% on net radiation, latent heat flux (LE) and sensible heat flux (H), respectively, were observed. At specific soyabean stages, LE was higher than in the forest because of the high soyabean surface conductance of water vapour. However, during the production off-season the impacts were more significant (p < 0.05), showing a reduction of 78% in LE and a substantial increase in H (84%) because of the absence of vegetation cover over this period.
The unscaled paths of branching brownian motion

For a set A ⊂ C[0, ∞), we give new results on the growth of the number of particles in a branching Brownian motion whose paths fall within A. We show that it is possible to work without rescaling the paths. We give large deviations probabilities as well as a more sophisticated proof of a result on growth in the number of particles along certain sets of paths. Our results reveal that the number of particles can oscillate dramatically. We also obtain new results on the number of particles near the frontier of the model. The methods used are entirely probabilistic.
Automating behavior? : An experimental living lab study on the effect of smart home systems and traffic light feedback on heating energy consumption

In the face of growing popularity of eco-feedback innovations, recent studies draw attention to the relevance of the human factor for a more effective design of eco-feedback. This paper explores these challenges more deeply by employing a mixed methods approach. We provide in-situ insights from a Living Lab experiment on the effect of smart home systems and traffic light feedback on heating energy consumption in private households. Our results from an interrupted time series analysis of logged data on indoor room temperature, CO2 concentration and consumption of natural gas show that the interventions do not affect heating as expected, neither for automating behaviour via high-tech smart home systems nor via low-tech traffic light feedback. Smart home systems do not promise a significant reduction of heating energy consumption and a traffic light feedback on indoor air quality does not lead to a reaction of indoor CO2 concentrations, but may reduce heating energy consumption. Qualitative interviews on heating practices of participants suggests that comfort temperatures, lack of competences and inert heating systems do override expected effects of the feedback interventions. We propose that high-tech smart home systems should carefully consider the handling competences of users. Low-tech feedback products on the other hand should by design stronger address user experience factors like comfort temperatures.
Are Elaborate Bird Nests Built Using Simple Rules?

Determining how animals achieve seemingly complex behaviours is central to our understanding of the evolution of cognition. Complexity in behaviour is itself not sufficient for confirming a role for learning and memory. For example, although the nests some birds build appear structurally complex, they may, like the structures built by ants and termites, be achieved through relatively simple building processes. We attempted to use observations of nest building by male Southern Masked Weavers to determine whether one aspect of nest building, the completion of a nest, could be described usefully by either of two rule-based explanations that explain the construction of complex physical structures by invertebrates. The first possibility, stigmergy, is that birds use feedback from local nest cues to determine the building sequence and nest completion. The second possibility is that birds follow a stereotypical series of behaviours. We found that male Southern Masked Weavers returned to work on apparently complete nests even when they had begun to build a new nest. Neither stigmergy nor stereotypy explains our observations of nest building behaviour in Southern Masked Weavers. If weaverbirds do complete their nests using a set of rules, those rules are not the simple ones that have been used to describe building by invertebrates. This leaves open the possibility that learning and memory play a greater role in nest building than is currently thought to be the case.
Adaptive impedance control to enhance human skill on a haptic interface system

Adaptive assistive control for a haptic interface system is proposed in the present paper. The assistive control system consists of three subsystems: a servo controller to match the response of the controlled machine to the virtual model, an online identifier of the operator's control characteristics, and a variable dynamics control using adaptive mechanism. The adaptive mechanism tunes an impedance of the virtual model for the haptic device according to the identified operator's characteristics so as to enhance the operator's control performance. The adaptive law is derived by utilizing a Lyapunov candidate function. Using a haptic interface device composed by a xy-stage, an effectiveness of the proposed control method was evaluated experimentally. As a result, it was confirmed that the operator's characteristics can be estimated sufficiently and that performance of the operation was enhanced by the variable dynamics assistive control.
Coordinate Descent Based Hierarchical Interactive Lasso Penalized Logistic Regression and Its Application to Classification Problems

We present the hierarchical interactive lasso penalized logistic regression using the coordinate descent algorithm based on the hierarchy theory and variables interactions. We define the interaction model based on the geometric algebra and hierarchical constraint conditions and then use the coordinate descent algorithm to solve for the coefficients of the hierarchical interactive lasso model. We provide the results of some experiments based on UCI datasets, Madelon datasets from NIPS2003, and daily activities of the elder. The experimental results show that the variable interactions and hierarchy contribute significantly to the classification. The hierarchical interactive lasso has the advantages of the lasso and interactive lasso.
Design of Ultra-Wideband MIMO Antenna for Breast Tumor Detection

A MIMO antenna composed by microstrip line-fed circular slot antenna is proposed. This antenna is used in ultra-wideband microwave imaging systems aimed for early breast cancer detection. The antenna is designed to operate across the ultra-wideband frequency band in the air. The mutual coupling between the antenna elements has been investigated to be low enough for MIMO medical imaging applications. Both the simulation and measurement results are shown to illustrate the performances of the proposed antenna.
PALM OIL MILL EFFLUENT (POME) TREATMENT USING HYBRID UPFLOW ANAEROBIC SLUDGE BLANKET (HUASB) REACTORS : IMPACT ON COD REMOVAL AND ORGANIC LOADING RATES

Processing of palm oil fruit into palm oil produced high strength wastewater which is known as palm oil mill effluent (POME). POME contains high concentrations of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total solids (TS), and suspended solids (SS). Before POME can be discharged to the environment, it has to be treated to the level conforming to the discharge standards. Currently, most palm oil mills in Malaysia are using anaerobic ponds to treat POME. This is very conventional and often creates environmental pollution themselves. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess a more suitable treatment method to overcome the limitations and disadvantages of anaerobic ponds. In this study, three hybrid up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (HUASB) reactors, treating POME with COD of ±5000 mg/L at room temperature were operated. Coarse gravel, fine gravel and crushed glass were applied as filter media in three reactors (R1, R2 and R3). The reactors were operated at organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.83 g COD/L.d and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 2.73d for the start up operation. Experimental results indicated that POME can be treated more effectively by using HUASB reactors because HUASB was able to retain more biomass in the filter media in addition to the high concentration of biomass in the sludge blanket. Efficiency of treatment up to 98 % removal was observed. It was also shown that the HUASB reactors have shortened the start up period from 60 days as in UASB (up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket) reactors (in previous study) to 47 days to achieve steady state. Keyword: HUASB; OLR; POME; steady state.
Interactive Building Design Space Exploration Using Regionalized Sensitivity Analysis

Monte Carlo simulations combined with regionalized sensitivity analysis provide the means to explore a vast, multivariate design space in building design. Typically, sensitivity analysis shows how the variability of model output relates to the uncertainties in models inputs. This reveals which simulation inputs are most important and which have negligible influence on the model output. Popular sensitivity methods include the Morris method, variance-based methods (e.g. Sobol’s), and regression methods (e.g. SRC). However, such methods only address one output at a time, which makes it difficult to prioritize and fixate inputs when considering multiple outputs. In this work, the primary outcome is a novel sensitivity method denoted TOM, which relies on Kolmogorov-Smirnov two-sample (KS2) statistics to rank inputs due to their influence on multiple outputs. A secondary method, denoted TOR, provides a real-time sensitivity measure when exploring data with the interactive parallel coordinate plot (PCP). The latter is an effective tool to explore stochastic simulations and to find high-performing building designs. The proposed methods help decision makers to focus their attention to the most important design parameters. As case study, we consider building performance simulations of a 15.000 m² educational centre with respect to energy demand, thermal comfort, and daylight.
PROCESS OPTIMIZATION AND VALIDATION OF AN ASSAY FOR HIGH- THROUGHPUT SCREENING

OF THESIS PROCESS OPTIMIZATION AND VALIDATION OF AN ASSAY FOR HIGH-THROUGHPUT SCREENING A biological assay is designed to set up a rapid and robust drug-screening system on a small scale. An assay is considered as a single unit of a platform to screen various compounds for aiding in drug discovery. Each assay is carried out in a 96-well plate, each of whose wells consists of the biological component called the Spheroids. The value of each assay lies in it facilitating for versatile screening applications. The spheroid is considered as a micro-structural product. And the addition of various compounds for testing is performed in each well (consisting of the spheroids). The focus has been to put forth the production principles and validation strategies to run the biological assay and test its efficacy to be used for screening in high volumes. The assay development illustrates processing and validation techniques. The goal is to develop optimized standards to process the assay, addressing various quality control issues, from the raw material to the end-product stage. Such an approach also brings interesting analogies of biological process in a manufacturing scenario. The developed system incorporates a value stream approach, by pulling the product from the customer end. The process involves simply encapsulating HUVECs (Human Umbelical Vein Endothelial cells) from the raw material stage, culturing to form the spheroid and transferring the component to assemblage in a 96-well format undergoing stages of heat treatments. The small scale screening system allows the use of small amounts of drug, which is especially essential for new drug synthesis or in rapid decision making to find out any unknown potent compounds. The design of optimal processes in product development of the spheroid assay is illustrated. Thus in light of the value of this assay, developing the production system has been pivotal so as to produce quality spheroids in the 96-well plate formats. The quantification of the stimulatory and inhibitory effects of the different agents is required to help understand the complex biological behavior involved. The goal is to validate the data using image analysis software. The image analysis helps determine the quantification to be accurate, objective, and consistent. The quality of the product is tested by the reproducibility and robustness of the assay.
Integrated assessment and adaptation to climate change impacts in the Peruvian Andes

Abstract. The Andes as mountain regions worldwide, provide fundamental resources, not only for the local population. Due to the topographic characteristics, the potential for natural hazards is higher than elsewhere. In these areas, assessments of climate change impacts and the development of adequate adaptation strategies therefore become particular important. The data basis, however, is often scarce. Moreover, perceptions of changes and needs are often divergent between national and local levels, which make the implementation of adaptation measures a challenge. Taking the Peruvian Andes as an example, this paper aims at initiating a discussion about scientific baseline and integrative concepts needed to deal with the adverse effects of climate change in mountain regions.
Ice nucleation on flame soot aerosol of different organic carbon content

The aerosol chamber AIDA (Aerosol Interactions and Dynamics in the Atmosphere) was used as a moderate expansion cloud chamber to investigate the effect of the organic carbon (OC) content on the ice nucleation properties of soot aerosol particles. Two different soot samples with OC contents of 16 % (CS16) and 40 % (CS40) where produced with the CAST (Combustion Aerosol Standard) burner operated at different air/fuel (propane) ratios. In dynamic expansion experiments with about 30 %/min increase of relative humidity with respect to ice, the CS16 sample started to nucleate ice crystals at an ice saturation ratio S in of 1.45 (at a temperature of 207 K). This value is very close to the ice saturation ratio of ice nucleation onset on carbon spark generator soot particles coated with a significant amount of sulphuric acid investigated in previous AIDA expansion experiments. A second experiment with CS40 soot performed at almost identical thermodynamic conditions showed ice nucleation onset to occur at S in between 1.5 and 1.7. The formation rate of ice crystals was at least two orders of magnitude less than for CS16 soot, even at ice saturation ratios up to values of 1.9, which is very close to water saturation at a temperature of 207 K. Therefore, increasing the amount of OC seems to significantly suppress the ice nucleation on flame soot particles. In contrast, similar expansion experiments with dry and untreated mineral dust particles (Arizona test dust) in the temperature range 194 to 241 K showed ice nucleation to occur at much lower ice saturation ratios of only 1.05 to 1.15.
Forebay use and entrainment rates of resident adult fish in a large hydropower reservoir

Fish entrainment occurs when individuals are displaced from reservoirs to down- stream waters by way of water diversion through turbines or other water release structures. While much effort has been put into quantifying and reducing entrainment of downstream migrating salmonids, considerably less research has focused on fish that are residents in reservoirs and in many cases are the top piscivores in these systems. We used 2 yr of acoustic telemetry data on adult bull trout Salvelinus confluentus and burbot Lota lota tagged in Kinbasket Reservoir (British Columbia, Canada) to investigate entrainment vulnerability by measuring forebay use and entrainment rates. Our results revealed that (1) adult bull trout and burbot made little use of the forebay; (2) bull trout used the forebay more and had higher rates of entrainment than burbot; and (3) both forebay use and entrainment varied among seasons. Bull trout used the forebay more intensively and were mostly entrained in the fall and winter. Limited forebay use and entrainment data for burbot suggest that they are more vulnerable to entrainment in the fall. These findings should be generally applicable for adult bull trout and burbot in reservoirs that maximize opera- tions in the fall and winter, and could help managers and industry to make informed decisions on how to mitigate and compensate for entrainment.
Efficient Market Testing of the Korean Stock Market during the Global Financial Crisis

Recent asset market bubbles and bursts have generated interest in the efficiency of stock market behavior. Efficient market hypothesis (EMH) has been challenged by the global financial crisis and literature on behavioral finance. A period was chosen coinciding with the global financial crisis when the standard efficient market hypothesis (EMH) was less likely to hold. The Korean stock market’s (KOSPI) behavior passed standard efficient market tests for random walk, and was efficient. KOSPI investors should not experience abnormal returns when stock prices reflect no news shocks. Stock prices “today” reflect today’s news and are independent of price changes yesterday. Keywords Korean stock market, Efficient Market Testing, global financial crisis, stock prices
Changes in the function of the anal sphincter complex and generated anal pressure at different anatomical levels after elastic ligature application in patients with anal fistula

Purpose : The purpose of the present study was to measure by means of especially developed apparatus the anal and intrarectal pressure before and after different operations for perianal fistulas as well as to correlate the degree of incontinence evaluated by Fecal Incontinence Severity Index (FISI) with changes in the measured pressures and type of operation used. Material and methods : The study covered 311 patients with perianal fistulas who were operated with several methods. Anal canal pressures at 5 different levels were measured by the especially developed apparatus at rest, squeezing and cough, before and after 6 months of operation. FISI form was used for incontinence detection. Results : Resting, squeezing and cough pressures were higher in men before and after operations. Average reduction of anal rest pressure by 10-15%, at contraction by 20-25% and at cough by 5-10% resulted in mild incontinence according to FISI score. Average reduction of anal rest pressure by 20-25%, at contraction by 30-40% and at cough by 20-25% correlated with postoperative moderate degree of incontinence according to FISI score. No severe incontinence was registered by FISI examination. Usage of the method of elastic ligation of perianal fistulas, i.e. the method of Hippocrates-Thoma Junescu caused the highest percentage of postoperative mild degree incontinence (15,9%) and moderate one (4,3%) by FISI. No patients presented with severe degree of incontinence. Conclusion : The method of anal sphincter tonometry demonstrated a significant reduction of anal pressure after surgery for anal fistulas. This objective decrease of anal sphincter tone correlated with the higher FISI score arguing of postoperative incontinence. The method of Hippocrates-Thoma-Junescu resulted in the highest rate of incontinence (around 20%) and anal pressure reduction.
The Image of Australia: A Case Study on the Mental Maps of Turkish Immigrants in Sydney

In this study, mental representations of Australia were examined through mental maps in case of Turkish immigrants living in Sydney. The survey is based on 53 mental maps of Australia drawn by Turkish immigrants who reside in Sydney. The participants were asked to list the connotations about Australia, draw a sketch map of the continent and finally fill in an outline Australian map. A prominent difference between these two types of mental maps was in the number and in the categories (place names, natural-geographic elements and symbols) of the components that were displayed by the participants. On the other hand, a comparison of our study with similar academic works conducted from a European example shows that connotations on Australia are predominantly referred to the natural characteristics of the continent. This could be related to the physical isolation Australia as a continent and also to the political indifference tendencies of the urbanized part of the society because of a high living standard.