Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analytical and experimental study on repair effectiveness of CFRP sheets for RC beams

AbstractThis paper presents the results of both analytical and experimental study on the repair effectiveness of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) sheets for RC beams with different levels of pre-repair damage severity. It highlights the effect of fixing CFRP sheets to damaged beams on the load capacity, mid-span deflection, the steel strain and the CFRP strain and failure modes. The analytical study was based on a Finite Element (FE) model of the beam using brick and embedded bar elements for the concrete and steel reinforcement, respectively. The CFRP sheets and adhesive interface were modelled using shell elements with orthotropic material properties and incorporating the ultimate adhesive strain obtained experimentally to define the limit for debonding. In order to validate the analytical model, the FE results were compared with the results obtained from laboratory tests conducted on a control beam and three other beams subjected to different damage loads prior to repair with CFRP sheets. The res.
SOFIA/EXES OBSERVATIONS OF WATER ABSORPTION IN THE PROTOSTAR AFGL 2591 AT HIGH SPECTRAL RESOLUTION

We present high spectral resolution (∼3 km s−1) observations of the &ngr; 2 ? > ro-vibrational band of H2O in the 6.086–6.135 μm range toward the massive protostar AFGL 2591 using the Echelon-Cross-Echelle Spectrograph (EXES) on the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). Ten absorption features are detected in total, with seven caused by transitions in the &ngr; 2 ? > band of H2O, two by transitions in the first vibrationally excited &ngr; 2 ? > band of H2O, and one by a transition in the &ngr; 2 ? > band of H 2 18 ? > O. Among the detected transitions is the &ngr; 2 ? > 1 1,1 ? > –0 0,0 ? > line that probes the lowest-lying rotational level of para-H2O. The stronger transitions appear to be optically thick, but reach maximum absorption at a depth of about 25%, suggesting that the background source is only partially covered by the absorbing gas or that the absorption arises within the 6 μm emitting photosphere. Assuming a covering fraction of 25%, the H2O column density and rotational temperature that best fit the observed absorption lines are N ( H 2 O ) = ( 1.3 ± 0.3 ) × 10 19 ? > cm−2 and T = 640 ± 80 K ? > .
ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF SOME MACROFUNGI EXTRACTS

Natural products have potential of containing agents for various diseases. When extensive drug resistance is taken into account, the need for the investigation of new antimicrobial substances is essential. In this study the antimicrobial activity of Infundibulicybe geotropa, Lactarius controversus, Lactarius deliciosus and Phellinus hartigii is investigated against Candida albicans ATCC 26555, Escherichia coli ETEC LM 63083, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimirium SL 1344 and Shigella flexneri (clinical isolate). As a result it is observed that all extracts had an antibacterial activity against S. flexneri and all extracts except P. hartigii had an antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa.
Modeling near-surface firn temperature in a cold accumulation zone (Col du Dôme, French Alps): from a physical to a semi-parameterized approach

Analysis of the thermal regime of glaciers is crucial for glacier hazard assessment, especially in the context of a changing climate. In particular, the transient thermal regime of cold accumulation zones needs to be modeled. A modeling approach has therefore been developed to determine this thermal regime using only near-surface boundary conditions coming from meteorological observations. In the first step, a surface energy balance (SEB) model accounting for water percolation and radiation penetration in firn was applied to identify the main processes that control the subsurface temperatures in cold firn. Results agree well with subsurface temperatures measured at Col du Dome (4250 m above sea level (a.s.l.)), France. In the second step, a simplified model using only daily mean air temperature and potential solar radiation was developed. This model properly simulates the spatial variability of surface melting and subsurface firn temperatures and was used to accurately reconstruct the deep borehole temperature profiles measured at Col du Dome. Results show that percolation and refreezing are efficient processes for the transfer of energy from the surface to underlying layers. However, they are not responsible for any higher energy uptake at the surface, which is exclusively triggered by increasing energy flux from the atmosphere due to SEB changes when surface temperatures reach 0 °C. The resulting enhanced energy uptake makes cold accumulation zones very vulnerable to air temperature rise.
Enabling Computational Dynamics in Distributed Computing Environments Using a Heterogeneous Computing Template

This paper describes a software infrastructure made up of tools and libraries designed to assist developers in implementing computational dynamics applications running on heterogeneous and distributed computing environments. Together, these tools and libraries compose a so called Heterogeneous Computing Template (HCT). The heterogeneous and distributed computing hardware infrastructure is assumed herein to be made up of a combination of CPUs and GPUs. The computational dynamics applications targeted to execute on such a hardware topology include many-body dynamics, smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) fluid simulation, and fluid-solid interaction analysis. The underlying theme of the solution approach embraced by HCT is that of partitioning the domain of interest into a number of sub-domains that are each managed by a separate core/accelerator (CPU/GPU) pair. Five components at the core of HCT enable the envisioned distributed computing approach to large-scale dynamical system simulation: (a) a method for the geometric domain decomposition and mapping onto heterogeneous hardware; (b) methods for proximity computation or collision detection; (c) support for moving data among the corresponding hardware as elements move from subdomain to subdomain; (d) numerical methods for solving the specific dynamics problem of interest; and (e) tools for performing visualization and post-processing in a distributed manner. In this contribution the components (a) and (c) of the HCT are demonstrated via the example of the Discrete Element Method (DEM) for rigid body dynamics with friction and contact. The collision detection task required in frictional-contact dynamics; i.e., task (b) above, is discussed separately and in the context of GPU computing. This task is shown to benefit of a two order of magnitude gain in efficiency when compared to traditional sequential implementations. Note: Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the US Army. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Army, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
PROPERTIES OF NATURAL RUBBER COMPOUNDED WITH MODIFIED BANANA PSEUDOSTEM FIBRES AND CALCIUM CARBONATE

Investigation into the effects of banana pseudostem fibres on crumb rubber was carried out. The banana pseudostem was first modified via sulphonation, hydroxylation, carbonization and nitration. The unmodified and modified banana pseudostem fibres (BPFs) were characterized and later used as an additive in natural rubber compounding. The vulcanizates obtained were cured at 150oC for 5 minutes at a pressure of 260 psi to give test pieces used for physico-mechanical and chemical tests. The physico-mechanical tests showed that calcium carbonate samples gave the highest tensile strength, followed by the modified fibre samples while the unmodified fibre samples gave the least strengths. Within the modified samples, carbonization was found better than sulphunation, which was better than hydroxylation and better than nitration. Chemical tests were through swelling and solubility tests, which were carried out at room temperature in different solvents; acetone, petrol, diesel, kerosene and water.The swelling results showed that acetone swell the vulcanizates more than petroleum fuels (petrol ˃kerosene ˃ diesel) and swell more than water. In summary, it was observed that the surface modification of the fibres increased the physico-mechanical properties of the vulcanisates especially when compared with unmodified vulcanisates. Keywords : crumb rubber, natural rubber latex, banana pseudostem, fibres, modifications, swelling and solubility.
Analysis of health spa customers expectations and perceptions: The case of Spanish establishments

Although there are many definitions for service quality, the most commonly accepted models in the marketing field are focused on meeting consumer needs and requirements, as well as on deciding whether the service offered meets customers’ expectations. This research focuses upon the analysis of the above elements in the specific case of health spa customers, a market of the tourism industry where very few studies have been carried over until now. The criteria used by customers when rating the quality of this tourist service were analysed, and the perceived service quality according to those criteria was measured. The differences between the so-called private customers and the people who visit spas as part of a social security program (subsidized customers) –a relevant and specific issue of the market under studywere also investigated.
Impact of Working Capital Management on Profitability and Market Evaluation: Evidence from Tehran Stock Exchange

The main objective of this study is providing empirical evidence about the impact of working capital management on profitability and Market evaluation of the companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. For this purpose, we studied a sample of companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange during the years 2006 to 2010. And from these companies we collected 400 years-company as data and analyzed them. In this study we use variables of return on assets ratio and return on invested capital ratio to measure the profitability of companies, variable of Tobin Q ratio to measure the market value of companies and variables of cash conversion cycle, current ratio, current assets to total assets ratio, current liabilities to total assets ratio and total debt to total assets ratio as working capital management Criteria. The results of the research indicate that there is a significant relationship between the working capital management and profitability criteria of company but there is no significant relationship with the criterion of market value of company. Also the results of research show that management can increase the profitability of company through reducing cash conversion cycle and total debts to total assets ratio.
Searching for the most suitable tool to measure satisfaction with healthcare: the importance of patient discontent

User´s satisfaction is an important tool to evaluate the performance of healthcare services. This paper aims to provide the most suitable measure of quality assessment that can help policy-makers in the design and implementation of programs oriented to successfully increase healthcare satisfaction. In doing so, a comparative study is proposed to simultaneously study the effects of individual and market characteristics on two alternative measures of user’s quality assessment, namely: (1) level of confidence with the service provided (5-point Likert scale response), and (2) whether or not you would recommend the service to a friend or relative (dichotomous response). Results indicate that there seems to be an invariant relationship between the two alternative variables and the latent and unobserved variable on users’ global satisfaction opinion or service quality assessment. However, when considering the different dimensions of the service provided, there is a different ranking on the relevance of these dimensions, with the relative importance for the 5 points variable being more equilibrated than the binary choice one. This observation has important implications for health policy management. It is suggested that the dichotomous response is a better tool to highlighting areas of patient discontent.
Transport of interfaces with surface tension by 2D viscous flows

We consider the problem of finding a global weak solution for two-dimensional, incompressible viscous flow on a torus, containing a surface-tension bearing curve transported by the flow. This is the simplest case of a class of two-phase flows considered by Plotnikov in [16] and Abels in [1]. Our work complements Abels’ analysis by examining this special case in detail. We construct a family of approximations and show that the limit of these approximations satisfies, globally in time, an incomplete set of equations in the weak sense. In addition, we examine criteria for closure of the limit system, we find conditions which imply nontrivial dependence of the limiting solution on the surface tension parameter, and we obtain a new system of evolution equations which models our flowinterface problem, in a form that may be useful for further analysis and for numerical simulations.
7 - Récepteur particulaire déterministe en communications radiomobiles pour canaux multi-trajets évanescents. Partie II: DS-CDMA

Nous utilisons pour la reception des signaux FDMA une technique particulaire deterministe, associee a une caracterisation des evanouissements dans le canal radiomobile. Cette caracterisation prend en compte l'effet Doppler du canal et consiste en une base d'approximation minimale qui suffit a representer le signal recu. Les parametres inconnus associes a cette representation doivent etre estimes conjointement a la sequence de symboles contenant le message. Le filtrage particulaire deterministe a maximum de vraisemblance est une solution appropriee pour ce probleme d'estimation/detection conjointe. Les resultats de simulation montrent que le recepteur propose est superieur au PSP (« Per-Survivor Processing ») et que la probabilite d'erreur par symbole tend vers l'optimum theorique, lorsque le nombre de particules augmente.
Work area monitoring in dynamic environments using multiple auto-aligning 3-D sensors

Abstract. Compared to current industry standards future production systems will be more flexible and robust and will adapt to unforeseen states and events. Industrial robots will interact with each other as well as with human coworkers. To be able to act in such a dynamic environment, each acting entity ideally needs complete knowledge of its surroundings, concerning working materials as well as other working entities. Therefore new monitoring methods providing complete coverage for complex and changing working areas are needed. While single 3-D sensors already provide detailed information within their field of view, complete coverage of a complete work area can only be achieved by relying on a multitude of these sensors. However, to provide useful information all data of each sensor must be aligned to each other and fused into an overall world picture. To be able to align the data correctly, the position and orientation of each sensor must be known with sufficient exactness. In a quickly changing dynamic environment, the positions of sensors are not fixed, but must be adjusted to maintain optimal coverage. Therefore, the sensors need to autonomously align themselves in real time. This can be achieved by adding defined markers with given geometrical patterns to the environment which can be used for calibration and localization of each sensor. As soon as two sensors detect the same markers, their relative position to each other can be calculated. Additional anchor markers at fixed positions serve as global reference points for the base coordinate system. In this paper we present a prototype for a self-aligning monitoring system based on a robot operating system (ROS) and Microsoft Kinect. This system is capable of autonomous real-time calibration relative to and with respect to a global coordinate system as well as to detect and track defined objects within the working area.
Нейрокогнитивные механизмы принятия решения в игровой задаче (Iowa Gambling Task)

© 2016 ФГБОУ ВО МГППУ «Московский государственный психолого-педагогический университет» © 2016 Moscow State University of Psychology & Education E-journal «Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology» 2016, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 50–58. doi: 10.17759/jmfp.2016050405 ISSN: 2304-4977 (online) Электронный журнал «Современная зарубежная психология» 2016. Том 5. No 4. С. 50–58. doi: 10.17759/jmfp.2016050405 ISSN: 2304-4977 (online)
DYSBARIC OSTEONECROSIS (DON) IN THE FEMUR OF AN EXPERIMENTAL DOG: PATHOPHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECTS

A 32 months old male beagle dog developed a sign of limb bends in the left posterior limb after a single 24-hour hyperbaric exposure to 3.2 atm abs. with acute decompression. It showed transient MRI lesions in the left femur. Eight weeks after the hyperbaric exposure, histopathological examination disclosed an apparent lesion of dysbaric osteonecrosis (DON), which consists mainly of a cicatrized fibrous tissue including many small necrotic foci in the bone marrow of the left femoral lower shaft. This study supports the potential use of the dog as a model for human DON. The present case and a review of the literature suggest that as for the pathophysiological aspect of DON, changes of the intraosseous nutrient artery and its peripheral microvasculature under stasis of bubbling blood with activation of both Hageman factor and blood platelets are very important.
Genotypic Variation for Tolerance to Low Soil Phosphorous in Common Bean under Controlled Screen House Conditions

Production of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is often limited by the low availability of soil phosphorus (P). Identification of common bean genotypes adapted to low phosphorus (P) availability may be a feasible strategy to overcome the poor plant growth and production in P-deficient soils. Genetic variation for P response of thirteen common bean genotypes was studied under screen house controlled conditions using triple super phosphate as P source. The common bean genotypes varied in leaf area, shoot mass, root mass, total root length, basal and lateral roots production, shoot P concentration and P uptake under phosphorous deficiency and high phosphorous. All the measured variables were significantly correlated with each other, which in turn were correlated to P uptake. Generally the large-seeded genotypes RWR 1946 and RWR 2075 appeared to have the best growth, hence superior P efficiency under low P availability, while at the same time they were more responsive to added P. These results complement the earlier field based observed tolerance to low soil phosphorous of the selected genotypes under the BILFA strategy.
Production Potential of Severe Slugging Control Systems

Abstract The application of riser top valve choking in severe slugging control has shown that feedback control stabilises slug flow with a valve opening larger than manual choking, resulting in an increased oil production. However, the reason and ultimate potential for an active slug control system to increase oil production, as well as how to achieve this potential are still unclear. A systematic method based on the pressure bifurcation map of a riser system is proposed in this work to analyse the production and pressure loss relationship at the different operating points resulting from the various slug control strategies. It is shown that for a given unstable riser production system with known inlet and outlet boundary conditions, production loss or gain due to operation in stable or unstable operating conditions could be predicted by using a pressure dependent dimensionless variable known as production gain index (PGI). This gives a clear indication of the ultimate potential to increase oil production through feedback control. This analysis has been successfully applied to an industrial riser system modeled in the commercial multiphase flow simulator, OLGA. Production predicted by using the PGI agrees with actual simulated production. The analysis is based on the understanding that the closed-loop stable operating point must match the corresponding open loop unstable equilibrium point. This result is very significant in planning and implementing suitable control strategy for stabilizing unstable riser-pipeline production systems with the aim of achieving stability and ensuring increased productivity, especially for brown fields.
Riverine silica flux to the ocean -- a model study

Contribution of riverine nutrients to the silicon biogeochemistry of the global ocean – a model study C. Y. Bernard, H. H. Dürr, C. Heinze, J. Segschneider, and E. Maier-Reimer Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Allégaten 70, 5007 Bergen, Norway Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, 20146 Hamburg, Germany Received: 3 November 2008 – Accepted: 5 December 2008 – Published: 21 January 2009 Correspondence to: C. Y. Bernard (christophe.bernard@bjerknes.uib.no) Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.
M/R estimates for two neutron stars in LMXBs with possible r-mode frequencies detected

The puzzling existence of a number of neutron stars that appear to be in the r-mode instability window supports further investigations of the r-mode frequencies, damping times and saturation amplitudes, especially now in light of the much anticipated and exciting results from LIGO and NICER. It has been suggested by Mahmoodifar and Strohmayer that coherent frequencies found in the RXTE data of the accreting millisecond pulsar XTE J1751-305 and during the 2001 superburst of 4U 1636-536 (one of the accreting sources to be observed by NICER) could, in fact, be r-modes. Based on these observations, we expand here the results of a previous work on relativistic, rotational and differential rotation corrections to the r-mode frequency in order to provide more accurate estimates of the $M-R$ relation for these neutron stars. Finally, we compare our results with predictions from a few realistic tabulated equations of state, providing further constraints that favor more compact models. We find that, if the observed frequencies indeed correspond to r-modes, then the masses of XTE J1751-305 and 4U 1636-536 should lie in the approximate ranges $1.48 - 1.56 M_{\odot}$ and $1.60 - 1.68 M_{\odot}$, respectively.
EVALUATION OF PHARMACEUTICAL CARE SERVICES’ QUALITY IN LATVIA: THE CASE STUDY OF “MENESS APTIEKA”

The availability of quality pharmaceutical care services is an important precondition for the nation’s welfare, therefore their quality maintenance and regular evaluation is one of the main challenges that pharmacies have to deal with. Based on the previous studies of theoretical fundamentals of service quality, the authors have set the research aim to apply SERVPERF and SERVQUAL methods of service quality evaluation for identifying the quality gaps in “Meness aptieka” pharmaceutical services. Retrospective evaluation of service quality can only partly show if quality is at sufficient or insufficient level, therefore authors recommend service providers to use a combined quality evaluation system which includes both identifying of customer expectations and their real experience, afterwards comparing those evaluations to detect gaps in real performance. The research results showed that the quality of the four surveyed “Meness aptieka” pharmacies’ services in Jurmala is at high level and meets customer expectations. There were few minor quality gaps detected, among which most important was customers’ dissatisfaction with new product promotions in pharmacies, which are perceived rather as aggressive sales than holistic care for customer’s health.