Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SHOT PUT RESULTS ACHIEVED BY CHILDREN AND ATHLETES WITH HEARING LOSS

One of the sports which are available to children with hearing impairment is the shot put, an athletic discipline which contributes to the development of strength, speed, specific endurance and agility. This research was carried out with the aim of comparing results achieved in the shot put at the National Games organized for elementary schoolchildren with hearing impairment in the period from 2005 to 2015, in order to determine the movement of the results and the popularization of sport among this population of schoolchildren. The participants were male and female schoolchildren attending schools for the hearing impaired in the Republic of Serbia, who were diagnosed with hearing loss exceeding 60 dB, aged up to 15. Any deviations in the results between schoolchildren with hearing impairment of both genders from Serbia and the results obtained around the world can be explained by a still insufficient participation both in the shot put and in sports activities in general for the members of this population. It should be pointed out that based on the cited data, hearing impaired children do show interest in the shot put, and it would be desirable to work on their inclusion in competitions with children without hearing loss, for the purpose of improved socialization and the participation of experts of various profiles who could help these children achieve improved health and improved quality of life.
Growth of filter-feeding benthic invertebrates from a region with variable upwelling intensity

Coastal upwelling is an ocean feature thought to have important impacts on benthic marine communities by enhancing planktonic productivity in the nearshore environment. In this study, growth rates of 3 species of filter-feeders were examined over a geographic region that includes sites where upwelling is typically weak (south of Point Conception, California, USA) and sites where upwelling is often strong and frequent (at and to the north of Point Conception). The growth of the mussel Mytilus californianus, the gooseneck barnacle Pollicipes polymerus and the acorn barnacle Balanus glandula, as well as the body condition of M. californianus, were all up to 3-6 times higher at sites furthest south of Point Conception, and decreased dramatically moving north around the point. Spatial variation in food availability (measured as chlorophyll a, particulate organic carbon and particulate organic nitrogen) and food quality (measured as C/N ratios) did not explain these patterns of growth. Tidal height of the organisms also failed to account for persistent spatial variation in growth rates. Water temperature varied in a pattern consistent with growth rates (i.e. mean temperatures were warmer in the south), and was the one factor most often selected in stepwise regressions for models contributing to patterns of filter-feeder growth. This study suggests that factors other than, or in conjunction with, productivity may drive large-scale differences in benthic filter-feeder growth rates.
Interactive comment on “Systematics of past changes in ocean ventilation: a comparison of Cretaceous Ocean Anoxic Event 2 and Pleistocene to Holocene Oxygen Minimum Zones” by J. Schönfeld et al

reply: benthic foraminiferal assemblages exhibited different community structures in Jurassic and Early Cretaceous low oxygen assemblages, which were characterized by low population densities and a dominance of textulariids and lagenids. Modern buliminid-bolivinid dominated benthic foraminiferal OMZ assemblages with a typical productivity driven distribution pattern became fully established during the Santonian/Campanian OAE3 (Holbourn and Kuhnt, 1998). Critical turning points in benthic foraminiferal evolution were the Cretaceous OAEs 1 and 2 (Aptian and Cenomanian/Turonian), when rotaliids began to dominate the assemblages in low oxygen environments. These changes may have been related to changes in benthic pelagic coupling, when diatom-derived phytodetritus became an important source of food for benthic foraminifers in the deep sea. Although morphotypes may be similar in Pleistocene and Cretaceous assemblages, the trophic structure of the faunas were most likely different due to evolutionary changes.
NO Adsorption and Oxidation on Mn Doped CeO2 (111) Surfaces: A DFT+U Study

The adsorption of NO molecules on Mn-doped CeO2 (111) surfaces for NO oxidation has been studied by employing the periodic density functional theory plus U (DFT+U) method. Through our calculations, it is demonstrated how Mn-doped CeO2 with superior NO oxidation activity benefits from the high mobility of the oxygen near the Mn cations. On unreduced Mn-doped CeO2 (111) surfaces, the NO molecule preferentially interacted with the first neighboring O of the Mn cation, with the N also bonding to an Mn cation (Eads = –3.30 eV) or Ce cation (Eads = –2.90 eV). When NO adsorbs on the surface of defective Mn-doped CeO2 with O2 adsorbed in advance, an ONOO* four atoms species is formed on the surface (Eads = –2.51 eV and –2.02 eV), which is an intermediate and can decompose into NO2, NO2* and O*. The adsorption structure with higher adsorption energy has a closer geometry to NO2, indicating a deeper oxidation of NO. The calculation results indicate that the presence of Mn only has a strong effect on the nearby oxygen atoms and that the Mn-doped CeO2 surface has similar properties to a noble metal in NO oxidation catalysis. In DOS plots, the spin of the electron state of the adsorption structures involving the oxidation of NO is symmetric, indicating that electron transfer occurs from the slab to NO and strong covalent bonds are formed between N and O on the slab, which can also be confirmed by the charge density difference plots.
A Proposed Solution for the Chicken-Egg Dilemma in Pricing Currency Options

The implied volatility (IV) estimation process suffers from an obvious chicken-egg dilemma: obtaining an unbiased IV requires the options to be priced correctly and calculating an accurate option price requires an unbiased IV. We address this critical issue in two steps. First, the Granger causality test is employed, which confirms the chicken-and-egg problem in the IV computing process. Secondly, the concept of “moneyness volatility (MV)” is introduced as an alternative to IV. MV is modeled based on an option’s moneyness during the life of the option’s contract. The F-test, Granger-Newbold test and Diebold-Mariano test results consistently show that MV outperforms IV in estimating the exchange rate volatility for pricing options. Further, these series of tests across six major currency options substantiate the validity as well as the reliability of the results. We posit that MV offers a unique solution for pricing currency options accurately.
Damage Assessment of Interim Dry Storage Casks for Spent Nuclear Fuel

This paper addresses different degradation mechanisms in spent nuclear fuel casks made of a concrete outer pack and a steel liner considering realistic environmental and mechanical load histories. To this end a model cask is examined computationally in form of coupled hygro-thermomechanical finite element studies of the underlying mechanical and diffusive transport properties. An accelerated aging program is used to determine environmental degradation mechanisms in form of multiphysics simulations which induce progressive damage under sustained mechanical, thermal, and hygral load histories, and which include chemical effects in form of alkali aggregate reaction. For this purpose the coupled thermo-hygro-mechanical finite element code developed at Padua University, called NEWCON3D, which treats concrete as a multiphase system, will be updated in order to take into account the chemical effects of alkali silica reaction, ASR. The so enhanced code will find application in the study of spent nuclear fuel casks subjected to accelerated aging in order to predict their long-term performance up to 100 years and more.
Taphonomy and geochemistry of a vertebrate microremains assemblage from the Early Triassic fissure deposits at Czatkowice 1, southern Poland

Cook, E. and Trueman, C. 2009. Taphonomy and geochemistry of a vertebrate microremains assemblage from the Early Triassic karst deposits at Czatkowice 1, southern Poland. Palae− ontologia Polonica 65, 17–30. Surface morphology and trace element geochemistry of the bone assemblage from the Early Triassic fissure deposits of the Czatkowice 1 locality near Krakow, Poland, suggest that bones were reworked (probably from ephemeral water bodies) and transported into the nearby cave systems post mortem. Geochemical analyses indicate the influence of aeolian conditions during concentration of the Czatkowice assemblage, and show that the assem− blage is relatively mixed (averaged) when compared to similar Triassic cave deposits. Key wor ds: Taphonomy, Triassic, karst deposits, microvertebrates, Rare Earth Elements (REE), geochemistry.
Development of an Augmented Conceptual Design Tool for Aircraft Gas Turbine Combustors

Combustor design is the most unreliable and challenging portion in the design process of a gas turbine. To ensure the proper performance, many experimental tests must be performed on a combustor in the industry. The above mentioned design phase is costly and time consuming. This paper focused on an automated and augmented conceptual design methodology for conventional combustors. The design tool developed for this study employs empirical and semi-empirical models which include two main parts of the combustor, the reference diameter and area as well as the component design. The necessity of this work arose from an urgent need for comprehensive and fast generation data in the conceptual design phase of a combustion chamber. This automated and comprehensive tool, equipped with the capacity to provide many details, has a considerable impact on the reduction of further experimental effort. Also, the said tool is equipped with a geometrical model generation section that has application in the future design phases, e.g., detail design.
Impact of Savannization on Nitrogen Mineralization in an Indian Tropical Forest

The effects of conversion of an Indian dry tropical forest ecosystem into savanna, on mineral nitrogen (N), net N-mineralization rate and microbial biomass carbon (MBC), nitrogen (MBN) and phosphorus (MBP) in soil were studied for two years. There was a marked seasonal variation in all the above parameters at both (upper, 0-10 cm and lower, 10-20 cm) the soil depths of forest and savanna ecosystems. In forest ecosystems the mean annual values of mineral N, net nitrification rate, net N-mineralization rate, MBC, MBN and MBP at both depths were 17.41 and 13.2 µg g -1 , 18.76 and 10.96 µg g -1 mo -1 , 23.54 and 12.83 µg g -1 mo -1 , 623 and 195µg g -1 , 116 and 29µg g -1 , 16 and 9µg g -1 , respectively; while in savanna ecosystems the values were 20.15 and 15.73 µg g-1, 10.74 and 6.29 µg g-1mo-1, 16.59 and 10.11 µg g -1 mo -1 , 453 and 150µg g -1 , 79 and 21. 7µg g -1 , 13 and 6µg g -1 , respectively. The soil microbial biomass was positively related to root biomass and total plant biomass (i.e., above- and below-ground biomass). Interestingly, seasonal soil moisture and temperature are reciprocally related to microbial biomass and mineral N and directly related to nitrification and N-mineralization. The microbial biomass, nitrification and N-mineralization are negatively related to clay content. Savannization caused significant loss of soil mean organic carbon (OC), total N (TN) total mean annual nitrification, N-mineralization, MBC, MBN and MBP by 40, 42, 27, 27, 29 and 7%, respectively at upper soil depth and 18, 21, 42, 29 and 22%, respectively at lower soil depth. The reflectances of soil microbial biomass to OC were 1.22 and 1.06 folds at upper and lower soil depths, respectively. Thus, conversion of dry tropical forests into savanna affects remarkably the soil N transformation; microbial biomass and loss of soil organic C which adds to the environmental pollution.
Antioksidativna svojstva brašna od heljde – Doprinos funkcionalnosti pekarskih, testeničarskih i brašneno-konditorskih proizvoda

Izvod Heljda se primarno uzgaja zbog zrna, od koga se, nakon ljuštenja, mlevenja i prosejavanja, proizvodi brašno od heljde, koga odlikuje zavidan sadržaj antioksidanata, pre svega polifenola i tokoferola. Visok sadržaj antioksidanata u zrnu heljde, pored drugih funkcionalnih komponenti, predstavlja osnov za korišćenje belog i integralnog heljdinog brašna kao supstituenata pšeničnog brašna ili nekog drugog brašna od cerealija u formulacijama pekarskih, testeničarskih i brašneno-konditorskih proizvoda sa ciljem da se dobiju funkcionalni proizvodi sa dodatom vrednošću ili bezglutenski funkcionalni proizvodi. Tehnološki postupci proizvodnje navedenih grupa proizvoda i pojedini načini pripreme hrane utiču na sastav i sadržaj polifenola, pa posledično i na funkcionalnost finalnih proizvoda.
Fluindione and cefixime induced cutaneous bleeding manifestations –A case report and review of literature

Fluindione an oral vitamin K antagonist is associated with various hemorrhagic and immunoallergic effects. This drug is also prone to produce various drug interactions, which if not taken into consideration while prescribing, might lead to increased incidence of adverse drug reactions for the patients. We report a case of drug interaction between fluindione and cefixime leading to cutaneous bleeding manifestations and raised PT-INR. Our patient was a 59 year old lady, a known case of rheumatic heart disease and mitral valve replacement, on tablet fluindione 20 mg for past 11 years. She was prescribed tablet cefixime 200 mg two times a day for three days for treatment of upper respiratory tract infection, following which she developed cutaneous bleeding manifestations like ecchymosis and purpura in left upper and lower limbs. She also had a rise in PT-INR level to 4.2, predisposing the patient to life threatening bleeding manifestations. Hence, caution is warranted while prescribing antibiotics to patients on oral anticoagulant therapy. Antibiotics that do not cause drug interaction with the anticoagulants must be selected in these patients. Also, periodic monitoring of PT INR in patients on anticoagulants especially when a new drug is co-prescribed is essential to curb the hazards of potential adverse drug interaction.
Google trends as complementary tool for new car sales forecasting : a cross-country comparison along the customer journey

Purpose: The automotive industry is faced with increased demand volatility but still relies on outdated forecasting approaches. The thesis aims to investigate differences in the explanatory power of internet searches to predict new car sales in Germany and the United States with the tool Google Trends. The car buying process is examined and the effect of implementing a time lag within the dataset is assessed to increase the value of internet data. The customer decision journey towards buying a new car illustrates the time lag as the time between the online search for information and the final car purchase decision. Methodology: Several linear regression models were estimated to investigate the relationship between Google Search queries and new car sales data. Findings: The study found a significant and positive relationship between internet searches for car models and the car model sales data in both countries with an accuracy of up to 68.5%. The implementation of a time lag highly improved the validity and the accuracy of prediction models that include internet data and opens up new research possibilities. The thesis stresses the value and the necessity to adjust search query data to predict economic variables but raises the awareness of researchers and practitioners not to rely blindly on internet data. The outcomes suggest that the length of the customer journey depends on the car model, the price and is influenced by the national culture. Academic Contributions: The thesis contributes to the Google Trends literature by examining differences in the prediction accuracy of search queries across countries for the first time and by improving prediction models that include internet data. Practical Contributions: The results encourage decision-makers in the automotive industry to use tailored search engine data as a possibility to observe people´s interests for particular car models and to enhance new car sales forecasting and demand planning across countries.
Application of ANN-ICA Hybrid Algorithm toward Prediction of Engine Power and Exhaust Emissions

Artificial neural network was considered in previous studies for prediction of engine performance and emissions. ICA methodology was inspired in order to optimize the weights of multilayer perceptron (MLP) of artificial neural network so that closer estimation of output results can be achieved. Current paper aimed at prediction of engine power, soot, NOx, CO2, O2, and temperature with the aid of feed forward ANN optimized by imperialist competitive algorithm. Excess air percent, engine revolution, torque, and fuel mass were taken into account as elements of input layer in initial neural network. According to obtained results, the ANN-ICA hybrid approach was well-disposed in prediction of results. NOx revealed the best prediction performance with the least amount of MSE and the highest correlation coefficient(R) of 0.9902. Experiments were carried out at 13 mode for four cases, each comprised of amount of plastic waste (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5g) dissolved in base fuel as 95% diesel and 5% biodiesel. ANN-ICA method has proved to be selfsufficient, reliable and accurate medium of engine characteristics prediction optimization in terms of both engine efficiency and emission.
Sociological Evaluation of the Effect of Advertisement on the Amount and Kind of Consumption among Iranian Women

Today, commercial advertisements are emerged all around the world. They include radio, TV, magazines and newspapers. As it is obvious, advertisement is considered as a live process, an economic activity, industry or profession, and also it is a part of media’s content. Advertisement is a social organization which has no effect on the people, structures, culture and whole community. In this paper we have tried to investigate the reasons of the effects of advertisement on the amount and kind of production consuming by Iran’s girls and women from the view point of sociology. Commercial advertisement’s concept internationally, is to give information and massages to people, which has been produced in the 18s and 19s and specially 20s. In this study, we have used survey method, in which we have applied a questionnaire along with interview. The case studies are Tehran University students from the Northern Tehran unit. Case study was a group of girl students of the BA level of social science major; the number of students was 4000, which were selected randomly. In this study, the main aim is to realize that, whether advertisement would have effect on the women’s consumption; if so, to what extent it is. The aim of this study is to sociological investigation of effects of advertisement on the women consumption.
Characterization of Particle-Size Distribution in Soils with a Fragmentation Model

Particle-size distributions (PSDs) of soils are often used to estimate other soil properties, such as soil moisture characteristics and hydraulic conductivities. Prediction of hydraulic properties from soil texture requires an accurate characterization of PSDs. The objective of this study was to test the validity of a mass-based fragmentation model to describe PSDs in soils. Wet sieving, pipette, and light-diffraction techniques were used to obtain PSDs of 19 soils in the range of 0.05 to 2000 μm. Light diffraction allows determination of smaller particle sizes than the classical sedimentation methods, and provides a high resolution of the PSD. The measured data were analyzed with a mass-based model originating from fragmentation processes, which yields a power-law relation between mass and size of soil particles. It was found that a single power-law exponent could not characterize the PSD across the whole range of the measurements. Three main power-law domains were identified. The boundaries between the three domains were located at particle diameters of 0.51 ± 0.15 and 85.3 ± 25.3 μm. The exponent of the power law describing the domain between 0.51 and 85.3 μm was correlated with the clay and sand contents of the soil sample, indicating some relationship between power-law exponent and textural class. Two simple equations are derived to calculate the parameters of the fragmentation model of the domain between 0.51 and 85.3 μm from mass fractions of clay and silt.
Electoral Systems and Interregional Cooperation: Politics and Economics in Transportation and Metropolitan Planning Organizations

Author(s): Ensch, John L | Abstract: This research analyzes institutions of governance because institutions can constrain or augment the preferences of decision-makers. The objective of this study is to model an important class of regional institutions, namely metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). MPOs are responsible for implementing United States Federal transportation policy at the local level in all areas with a population of 50,000 or more. The primary mission of the MPO is to engage in transportation planning to meet requirements for the receipt of federal funds that number in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
Effects of Rhetorical Analysis and Self-Regulation Strategies on Iranian EFL Learners’ Critical Thinking and Reading Comprehension of Argumentative Texts

A lot of attention has been recently devoted to critical thinking (CT) and reading comprehension as part of the goals of language pedagogy. This study examined the effects of rhetorical analysis and self-regulated strategies on EFL learners’ CT and reading comprehension of argumentative texts. To this end, three groups (one control and twoexperimental groups), each consisting of 20 high intermediate female EFL learners, were selected conveniently from an English language institute. To collect the data, three instruments were used: Oxford Placement Test (OPT), California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST), and reading summary tests. OPT was used to ensure the homogeneity of the participants; CCTST and two reading summary tests were used as the pretests and posttests to assess the participants’ CT and reading comprehension skills, respectively. The first experimental group was taught rhetorical analysis strategies of argument mapping and Socratic questioning and the second group received self-regulated strategy instruction. In the control group, no explicit instructional strategies were taught. Analysis of covariance and mutivariate anlsysis indicated the positive effects of rhetorical analysis and self-regulated strategies on the participants’ CT and reading comprehension skills. Nevertheless, no significant differential effect was found between the effects of the two strategies. Findings provide pedagogical implications for L2 instructors and learners. Keywords: Reading comprehension, Critical thinking, Rhetorical analysis strategies, self-regulated, EFL learners.
Biodegradable Polymers - A Review

Biodegradable polymers are a recently developing field. The present audit article concentrates on Biodegradable polymers in pharmaceutical medication conveyance of remedial operators. Although polymers are used extensively as pharmaceutical packaging; this review is concerned with the use of polymers in the formulation of various dosage forms. Development of biodegradable Polymer frameworks offers the considerable favorable position of empowering either site-particular or systemic organization of pharmaceutical operators without the requirement for ensuing recovery of the conveyance framework.