Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE DIELECTRIC CONSTANT AS A MEANS OF ASSESSING THE PROPERTIES OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

Recent experience with a number of material-related construction problems has indicated that many of the fundamental chemical and chemico-physical properties of these materials are not clearly understood. These are related for instance to the hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties, surface charges, ionic bonding, zeta potential and dielectric constant of the materials. These appear to affect the water susceptibility and stabilization potential of the materials. One particular area of interest in the United States is the use of the dielectric properties of soils and stabilized materials in the prediction of their performance when used in road pavements. The relevance of the dielectric constant (DC) as a road construction material assessment and quality control parameter has, however, not been clearly demonstrated and some fundamental research in this area has been undertaken. The results of testing a range of materials under different conditions are presented and demonstrate the measurement of the DC to be primarily relevant for moisture content assessment at constant density or vice versa. This renders DC measurements useful only for limited applications and where one variable remains constant. Critical discussion regarding the possible use of the DC in South Africa is presented.
The impact of sensory integration groups on the participation of children and young people with learning disabilities: perceptions of therapists and teaching staff

Background: Sensory integration techniques which follow the theory outlined by Ayres (1972) are widely used by occupational therapists as an intervention for children and young adults with learning disabilities, but their efficacy is unclear. Research studies have suggested increased levels of participation and other positive behavioural changes following group sessions using sensory integration techniques, but literature reviews have highlighted a scarcity of evidence supporting their use. Materials and Methods: A qualitative study in which therapy and teaching staff of children and young adults with learning disabilities aged between 5 and 22, at a school and a college in England, were interviewed to gain understanding of their perceptions of the impact of these groups. Findings: Groups involving sensory integration techniques were perceived to have a positive effect on the abilities and participation (in both the group itself and subsequent learning and other activities) of children and young adults with learning disabilities and other complex needs in educational settings. Conclusions: The findings are of relevance to occupational therapists and others working with young people with learning disabilities in special educational and other settings. In particular, they suggest variables that may have the potential to be measured in future research evaluating such sensory integration groups.
The Effects of Decision-Making Processes and Population Turnover on the Formation of Social Networks

The researchs on the structure and formation mechanism of social networks lead to several models with differences in the attachment patterns of new links (edges). In fact, the driving factor behind the addition of new links is just as important as the attachment patterns, while very little attention has been devoted so far to this exploration. We present an agent-based model which could successfully reproduce large-scale social networks. We find that the structure of social networks is a consequence of continuous individuals’ decision-making processes based on self-evaluations and the turnover of the population. The individuals’ self-evaluation processes are key motivating factors for the addition of new links, while the attachment patterns and the turnover of the population should be responsible for the topology of social networks. The resulting networks of our model display dynamics between order and randomness, which is greatly consistent with current observations and research achievements of social networks. We also find that some plausible properties of empirical data are actually artifacts due to the boundedness of sampling. Our research has revealed the driving factors behind the evolution of social networks as well as the underlying evolving patterns. These findings will lead to a better understanding of social structures.
Behavioral dynamics between caring males and females in a beetle with facultative biparental care

In families in which both parents care for multiple offspring, the amount of care a parent provides can be simultaneously influenced by multiple social interactions (i.e., parent-parent and parent-offspring). In this study, we first tested for sex differences in the parents' contribution to care and then used path analysis to address the simultaneous impact of parent-parent and parent-offspring interactions on male and female care in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides. In this species, both parents provision their offspring predigested carrion from a vertebrate carcass, and the larvae beg for food from their parents. We found that females were more involved in direct care for the larvae and spent more time than did males provisioning the larvae with food. By using path analysis, we found a negative relationship between male and female provisioning, suggesting that parents adjust their behavior to that of their mate. Furthermore, we found that both social interactions (i.e., larval begging) and nonsocial factors (i.e., brood size) significantly influenced male provisioning, but had no significant effect on female provisioning. We suggest that the difference in the relative contribution of the two sexes to the care of the offspring explains why only males seemed to adjust their care to variation in social and nonsocial factors. For example, females may be less able to adjust their care to variation in larval begging and brood size because they were already working near their maximum capacity. Copyright 2004.
Creative occupations and subjective wellbeing

This report statistically analyses whether creative occupations are associated with higher levels of subjective wellbeing, once other factors that affect wellbeing are controlled for. Four different measures of subjective wellbeing (life satisfaction, worthwhileness, happiness and anxiety) from the UK’s Annual Population Survey are analysed. The research finds that most creative occupations have higher than average levels of life satisfaction, worthwhileness and happiness than employment in general, although most creative occupations also have higher average levels of anxiety. Once other factors which affect wellbeing are controlled for, some, but not all, creative occupations are found to be associated with higher levels of wellbeing.
The NBRDETP: Neighbor Node Detection and Prediction Technique for Energy Efficient Routing with Leach Protocol in WSN

: In this paper, cluster head and vice cluster head selection is discussed and a method of energy efficient routing is presented based on both NBRDETP and V-LEACH protocol. Performance comparison with existing leach protocol shows proposed protocol provides better performance to minimize energy dissipation in the transmission and increases the life time of the wireless sensor networks, also other comparative performance metrics like End to End delay, data transmitted and total energy consumed shows proposed protocol provides better performance in comparison to existing leach protocol
Relevant Factors for the Voting Decision in the 2002 Presidential Election: An Analysis of the ESEB (Brazilian Electoral Study) Data

The article investigates some of the most relevant factors for the voting de- cision in the 2002 presidential election by testing some of the main hypotheses about electoral behaviour in the country by means of logistic regression analyses based on data from the ESEB (Brazilian Electoral Study), a post-electoral survey conducted on a national sample of voters. In the models, taken as a whole, politi- cal opinions did not have much weight in the voting decision. Furthermore, they are unable to “explain” a very large share of voters’ positioning on a left-right scale or on a scale of voters’ “party sentiments”. All these “political” variables taken as a whole, in turn, “explain” only part of the evaluations that voters make of the government’s performance. The analysis shows that Brazilian voters’ voting deci- sion seems rather varied, since some variables were shown to be relevant to “ex- plain” the vote for a candidate, but not for the others. The variables shown to be more frequent (for all four candidates analysed) and with more considerable weight were: voters’ religion, their “party sentiments”, their positioning on a left-right scale, the evaluations made of the then current government (in actual fact impor- tant only for the vote for Serra, the government’s candidate) and the candidates’ attributes (especially “reliability” and “preparedness/competence”).
Forma: Forest Monitoring for Action - Rapid Identification of Pan-Tropical Deforestation Using Moderate-Resolution Remotely Sensed Data

Rising concern about carbon emissions from deforestation has led donors to finance UN-REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries), a program that offers direct compensation for forest conservation. Sustainable operation of UN-REDD and other direct-compensation programs will require a transparent, credible, frequently updated system for monitoring deforestation. In this paper, we introduce FORMA (Forest Monitoring for Action), a prototype system based on remotely sensed data. We test its accuracy against the best available information on deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia. Our results indicate that publicly available remotely sensed data can support accurate quarterly identification of new deforestation at 1 km spatial resolution. More rapid updates at higher spatial resolution may also be possible. At current resolution, with efficient coding in publicly available software, FORMA should produce global updates on one desktop computer in a few hours. Maps of probable deforestation at 1 km resolution will be accessible with Google Earth and Google Maps, with an open facility for ground-truthing each pixel via photographs and text comments.
Probabilistic Programming in Python using PyMC

Probabilistic programming (PP) allows flexible specification of Bayesian statistical models in code. PyMC3 is a new, open-source PP framework with an intutive and readable, yet powerful, syntax that is close to the natural syntax statisticians use to describe models. It features next-generation Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling algorithms such as the No-U-Turn Sampler (NUTS; Hoffman, 2014), a self-tuning variant of Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC; Duane, 1987). Probabilistic programming in Python confers a number of advantages including multi-platform compatibility, an expressive yet clean and readable syntax, easy integration with other scientific libraries, and extensibility via C, C++, Fortran or Cython. These features make it relatively straightforward to write and use custom statistical distributions, samplers and transformation functions, as required by Bayesian analysis.
J/ψ production within the framework of nonrelativistic QCD

We investigate the production of J/ψ from both the color singlet and color octet states of the intermediate cc̄ pairs, using the rigorous factorization scheme of NRQCD. We present the transverse momentum and rapidity distributions for the associated production of J/ψ with an open cc̄ pair at DELPHI, H1, CDF and ATLAS, considering all the direct, singleand double-resolved subprocesses involved. We emphasize on the importance of considering this process as a part of the NLO studies for J/ψ production. We also calculate the NLO production of J/ψ in electron-positron annihilation, considering both the color singlet and color octet contributions.
A Revolutionizing Supply-Chain Management

Electronic commerce (EC) is possibly the most promising application of information technology witnessed in recent years. It is revolutionizing supply-chain management and has enormous potential for manufacturing, retail and service operations. E-commerce markets are growing at noticeable rates. The online market is expected to grow by 56% in 2015–2020. This paper shows the importance of E-commerce and deﬁne it and examines its major elements that link organizational systems. The application of EC in manufacturing, retailing and service operations is examined, and a framework for describing EC components and their role in diﬀerent areas of an organization is proposed. The first part of the paper discusses challenges and new trends in supply chain business intelligence and provides background research of big data initiatives related to EC. The rest of this paper is from a discussion of the e-commerce impact on supply chain management and the advantages of supply chain management of e-commerce platform. The trend of e-commerce platform is proposed based on the development supply chain management. What will be the effect of the Internet on supply chain? What is the relationship between e-commerce and supply chain management?
Contactless electroreflectance and theoretical studies of band gap and spin-orbit splitting in InP1−xBix dilute bismide with x ≤ 0.034

Contactless electroreflectance is applied to study the band gap (E-0) and spin-orbit splitting (Delta(SO)) in InP1-xBix alloys with 0 < x <= 0.034. The E-0 transition shifts to longer wavelengths very significantly (-83 meV/% Bi), while the E0 + Delta(SO) transition shifts very weakly (-13 meV/% Bi) with the rise of Bi concentration. These changes in energies of optical transitions are discussed in the context of the valence band anticrossing model and ab initio calculations. Shifts of E-0 and E-0 + Delta(SO) transitions, obtained within ab-initio calculations, are -106 and -20 meV per % Bi, respectively, which is in a good agreement with experimental results.
Moving from traditional software development methods to agile methods

In this literature review, using existing research and sources, benefits and challenges of agile software development methods were discussed. Agile methods were also compared to traditional software development methods. Agile was defined and its four points of value were listed. This provided a basis for discussing the benefits and challenges of agile compared to the traditional software development methods. Customer involvement was found to have a positive effect on customer satisfaction in agile. The development team that was using agile as their development method was able to deliver something of value for the customer faster. This was useful if the company had to race to market. However, a software project that was developed with waterfall was found to be more predictable, especially if the development team was experienced. This was in part due to the customer not being able to change the requirements of the product they had ordered, and in part of the progressive or onward-moving development process typical to waterfall. Also, planning is a big part of waterfall development and it affects the predictability and measurability of the project as well. One of the biggest challenges when moving to agile from a traditional development method was changing the fundamental mindset of the people working in the organization. Especially the management-style needed to change from command-and-control management to leadership-and-collaboration. One of the challenges was that customer involvement might become a burden if the customer is continuously changing the requirements. Moving to agile from a traditional development method is not easy and it could lead to adding more sprints to the software development process than was planned.
Clonidine Plus GHRH Administration for Diagnosing Growth Hormone Deficiency in Children

Objective: To analyze the effectiveness and reproductivity of a challenge with clonidine (CLO) plus GHRH administration to establish a state of GH-deficiency and the causes of it. Methods: 24 children (17M, 7F) with stature <1 or 2 SD from P3, previously studied with different classical tests, were given CLO (150 μg/m2 orally, at time 0’) plus GHRH (60’ later, 1 μg/kg, iv). This test was repeated but giving placebo at time 0’. For comparison purposes, 20 agematched normal children (14M, 6F) were studied. Growth velocity (GV) and bone age (BA) before performing CLO +GHRH were considered. Results: While classical GH tests show a great variability of negative or positive GH responses in the same short patient, all but two patients significantly responded to CLO+GHRH (GH peak: 42.2 ± 19 vs. 41.6 ± 3.5 in controls). Controls showed a significant positive correlation between the amplitude of GH response and chronological and bone age (R=0.832; F=37.6; P=0.001, multiple regression analysis): y=a+b × BA+c × CA, where y=GH peak, BA=bone age, CA=chronological age, and a, b and c are constants. This equation allows to establish the value of GH peak theoretically obtained after CLO+GHRH challenge in a normal child. Applying this equation to the responses to CLO+GHRH in short children a deviation, ranging between -435% and +41%, was obtained between theoretical and real GH peaks (%DT-R). Responses between -20% to +20% were considered normal. Plotting these responses (% DT-R) against the SD of the mean of the BA to GV ratio in normal children, five populations were defined: 1) Low response and low GV for BA; 2) Low response and normal GV for BA; 3) Normal response and low GV for BA; 4) Normal response and normal GV for BA; and 5) High response and low GV for BA. Conclusion: The test CLO+GHRH is safe, effective and unique to detect GH-deficiency and its causes in short children and adults.
Minimum Variance Portfolio Selection for Large Number of Stocks - Application of Time-Varying Covariance Matrices

An evaluation of the efficiency of different methods of the minimum variance portfolio selection was performed for seventy stocks from the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Eight specifications of multivariate GARCH models and six other methods were used. The application of all considered GARCH-class models was more efficient in stocks allocation than the implementation of the other analyzed methods. The simple specifications of multivariate GARCH models, whose parameters were estimated in two stages, like the DCC and CCC models were the best performing models.
Organizational Reputation, the Content of Public Allegations, and Regulatory Communication

How does the content of public allegations impact regulatory communication strategies? Employing a multinomial logistic regression analysis and an original data set, this article analyzes the Israeli banking regulator’s nuanced responses to public expressions of opinion between 1996 and 2012. We demonstrate this agency’s greater propensity to acknowledge problems, yet mostly shift blame to others when faced with claims that regulation is overly lenient, and to deny allegations that regulation is excessive. These findings, although based on one institution, are important because they demonstrate an agency’s differential response to external allegations, given their content and its assessment of the relative threat to its reputation. They also suggest that external audiences may be able to shape agency attention and response by carefully framing their claims in light of their understandings of agencies’ distinct reputational vulnerabilities.
Multitarget Tracking with Spatial Nonmaximum Suppressed Sensor Selection

Multitarget tracking is one of the most important applications of sensor networks, yet it is an extremely challenging problem since multisensor multitarget tracking itself is nontrivial and the difficulty is further compounded by sensor management. Recently, random finite set based Bayesian framework has opened doors for multitarget tracking with sensor management, which is modelled in the framework of partially observed Markov decision process (POMDP). However, sensor management posed as a POMDP is in essence a combinatorial optimization problem which is NP-hard and computationally unacceptable. In this paper, we propose a novel sensor selection method for multitarget tracking. We first present the sequential multi-Bernoulli filter as a centralized multisensor fusion scheme for multitarget tracking. In order to perform sensor selection, we define the hypothesis information gain (HIG) of a sensor to measure its information quantity when the sensor is selected alone. Then, we propose spatial nonmaximum suppression approach to select sensors with respect to their locations and HIGs. Two distinguished implementations have been provided using the greedy spatial nonmaximum suppression. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of proposed sensor selection approach for multitarget tracking.
Neurochemical Effects of Vitamins C, E and DMSO Combinations on Oxidative Stress Biomarkers and Severity of Ischemic Stroke in Wistar Rats

Objective: The objective of this research is to reports the effect of DMSO, Vitamins C and combinations on the oxidative stress biomarkers severity of induced ischemic stroke (IS) in Wistar rats. Materials and methods: Twenty-five apparently healthy rats were divided into five groups of five rats each. Ischemic stroke was induced using middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) method, 45mg/kg body weight of the combinations (Vitamin C, Vitamin E and DMSO) were orally administered to the rats for two weeks, antioxidant enzymes (catalase (CAT) superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxide (GPX) activities and oxidative stress biomarkers (thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) concentration, were assessed. Results: Ischemic stroke caused significantly (p<0.05) decrease in the activities of the enzymes and significant increase (P>0.05) in the concentration of TBARS. Treatment with 45mg/kg of the antioxidant combinations resulted in the significant increase (P<0.05) of the activities of CAT, SOD and GPX. Also, there was significant (p<0.05) decrease in the concentration of TBARS. Conclusion: The combinations of DMSO, Vitamins C and E reduced oxidative stress and its biomarkers in induced ischemic stroke in rats and underscores the relevance of antioxidants in the treatment of IS.
Understanding group design behaviour in engineering design education

Observations in industry show that engineers’ perceptions of design activity tend towards positivistic, rational problem-solving, which is at odds with the nuanced, situated, constructivist nature of observed design behaviour. This paradigmatic mismatch appears to inhibit the ability of engineers to reflect ‘on’ reflecting ‘in’ action, and is apparently formed during engineering design education which, within the UK and commonly elsewhere, is heavily influenced by a positivistic ‘engineering science’ doctrine. In this research natural group design behaviour in engineering design education was explored through detailed observation of undergraduate group-project activity. An analytic framework was formed by three sensitising concepts: design as the resolution of paradoxes, designerly ways of knowing, and design as talk. Key findings conceptualise natural design activity in this setting as a form of constructivist inquiry akin to case study research. Five core activity themes emerged; collecting data, analyzing and interpreting data, identifying themes, theory-building and testing, and telling the story. Students engaged spontaneously in these core activities. Findings were sense-checked from an ontological and epistemological viewpoint, and found to be well-grounded if design is considered from a complexity perspective. Implications are that a radically different pedagogy may be appropriate for engineering design education. Students could significantly benefit from understanding their own design activity as constructivist inquiry, rather than rational problem-solving. Set within a broader education in the ‘philosophy of design’, rooted in a complexity paradigm, students could be better enabled to reflect on their own experiential learning of design. Thus resolving the paradigmatic conflict between perception and practice.