Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Universal Void Ratio Function for Small Strain Shear Modulus The Universal Void Ratio Function for Small Strain Shear Modulus

Small strain shear modulus, G max , is a key parameter representing the small strain response of soils under seismic load. It is also an important parameter in design of foundations where only small deformation takes place. It is recognised that G max is significantly influenced by void ratio. The influence of void ratio on G max of a soil has been taken into account by using an empirical void ratio function , F(e), and various forms of F(e) have been proposed. However, each F(e) can only be applied for a given soil within a limited void ratio range. There was no available F(e) that can be applied for all soils over a wide range of void ratios. In this paper, the shear wave velocity propagating in a dry granular medium is considered as a combination of the shear wave velocity through solid particles, and the shear wave velocity through the contact network. To quantify the effect of void ratio, a dry soil element is simplified as a soil model having two phases namely the porous phase and the discontinuous-solid phase. The model suggests that the travel length of shear wave is proportional to the void ratio of the soil. Based on this, a theoretical void ratio function for small strain shear modulus, F(e) = (1+e) -3 , is obtained. The theoretical function is fit well to the experimental data for both clays and sands over a wide void ratio range, and therefore can be considered as the universal void ratio function.
Parametric inference for discretely observed non-ergodic diffusions

We consider a multidimensional diffusion process X whose drift and diffusion coefficients depend respectively on a parameter A and 0. This process is observed at n 41 equally spaced times 0, A? , 2A? , . , ? A? , and Tn = ? A? denotes the length of the 'observation window'. We are interested in estimating A and/or 6. Under suitable smoothness and identifiability conditions, we exhibit estimators Xn and 0? , such that the variables y/n~(6n 0) and y/T^(Xn A) are tight for A? 0 and Tn ? * oo. When A is known, we can even drop the assumption that T? oo. These results hold without any kind of ergodicity or even recurrence assumption on the diffusion process.
A complete mitochondrial genome of a Roman-era Plasmodium falciparum

Malaria has historically been one of the leading infection-related causes of death in human populations. To this day, it continues to pose a significant public health threat in African countries, particularly among children. Humans are affected by five Plasmodium species, with Plasmodium falciparum being the most lethal. The study of pathogenic DNA from ancient human remains has been vital in understanding the origin, evolution, and virulence of human-infecting pathogens. However, there have been no complete pre-20th century mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) or genomic sequences of Plasmodium falciparum reported to date. This gap in knowledge makes it difficult to understand the genetic dynamics of this pathogen in the past. The difficulty in identifying ancient malaria cases through bioarchaeology and the infrequent presence of Plasmodium DNA in ancient bones contribute to these limitations. Here, we present the first complete mtDNA genome of P. falciparum recovered from an archaeological skeleton (a 2nd century CE Roman individual from Italy). The study of the 43-fold mtDNA genome supports the hypothesis of an Indian origin for P. falciparum in Europe and provides evidence for the genetic continuity of this lineage over the past 2,000 years. Additionally, our research highlights that extensive sampling may be necessary for malaria screening to gain insights into the evolution of this vector-borne disease from archaeological samples.
IONIC ABSORPTION BY TOMATO PLANTS AS CORRELATED WITH VARIATIONS IN THE COMPOSITION OF THE NUTRIENT MEDIUM.

The nutritive values of food crops and the factors which may modify them are subjects of increasing interest. In recent years vitamin and mineral constituents of plants have been used to evaluate some aspects of nutritive value, and the importance of a variable supply of minerals from plant sources in animal nutrition has been discussed by Maynard (15). During the summers of 1941 and 1942, extensive experiments have been conducted at this laboratory on the effects of varying the relative proportions of macro-nutrients1 supplied to tomato plants on the vitamin content of tomato fruits (6, 11). Although variations in the mineral constituents of the tomato fruit are of relatively minor nutritional importance (10), studies relative to mineral composition were made to aid in an understanding of the physiological processes involved in mineral absorption by plants. In soil studies of the mineral nutrition of plants, Jenny and Ayers (12) have clearly distinguished two aspects of the problem : 1. Soil colloidal phenomena as they are influenced by fertilization and as they in turn influence the composition of soil solutions ; and 2, the absorption and accumulation of the nutrients by plants from the soil solution. For convenience, they have termed the second aspect "the biological accumulation phase by root hair cells. " More exactly this aspect might include the localized retention of ions by the living system. Since the cytoplasmic constituents of any organism are changing continuously, chemical analysis of any organ at any given interval can only be empirical. Investigations with artificial culture solutions of known composition have been profitable in studying those empirical relationships involved in ionic absorption by plants. Such factors of nutrient composition as the presence of essential ions, the relative concentration of the constituent ions, the osmotic concentration of the solution, the reaction of the medium, and the total quantity of the nutrient available to the plant can be varied over wide ranges under carefully controlled conditions. It is the purpose of this paper to present data concerned primarily with the mineral composition of tomato plants as it is influenced by the composition of the nutrient medium with special attention given to ionic interaction. In many investigations of the effect of changes in nutrient supply on plant composition, nutrient solutions of fixed composition were utilized to ? The term macro-nutrients as used in this paper refers to the six nutrients (Ca, K, Mg, N03, S04, and P04) in contrast to the micro-nutrients (Cu, Mn, B, Zn, Mo, and Fe). The distinction between these two groups of nutrients is based upon the fact that the former group is needed by the plants in much greater amounts than the latter group.
Does TQM impact on role stressors? A conceptual model

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model to examine the multidimensionality of total quality management (TQM) practices and its impact on role stressors.Design/methodology/approach – The background of TQM philosophy and theory of role stressors serve as starting‐points to develop the conceptual model. From the extensive literature review, six practices of TQM and two components of role stressors were identified to construct the model.Findings – The model based on TQM with respect to role stressors provides a basis for assessing the level of role conflict and role ambiguity under which the use of different aspects of TQM should be retained or revised. This finding suggests that TQM is not a panacea that can be unthinkingly applied, but must be practised with a clear sense of the impact on role stressors.Practical implications – Given that role stressors are often detrimental to organizational functional efficiency, it is appropriate for management to invest time and effort to di.
The agency of Andean agrarian NGOs in the relationship with Bolivian state’s political models during the last 20 years (1996-2016)

i Acknowledgements . ii Declaration by candidate . iii Abbreviations and acronyms . vii CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1. Background . 1 1.2. Problem statement . 2 1.3. Main objective and research questions. 3 1.4. Study area . 3 1.5. Methodology in brief . 5 1.6. Thesis outline . 5 CHAPTER TWO. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK . 6 2.1. A definition of NGO and its role . 6 2.2. Social actor and agency . 7 2.3. Government, state and civil society . 8 2.3.1. Power in the relationship. 10 2.3.2. Local and global civil society. 11 2.4. Application of theoretical concepts . 12 CHAPTER THREE. METHODOLOGY . 13 3.1. Epistemological and ontological considerations . 13 3.2. Research strategy. 14 3.3. Research design: Case study . 14 3.4. Data collection. 15 3.5. Data analysis . 16 3.6. Ethical considerations . 16 3.7. Challenges in the field . 17
Overview: Homogeneous nucleation from the vapor phase-The experimental science.

Homogeneous nucleation from the vapor phase has been a well-defined area of research for ∼120 yr. In this paper, we present an overview of the key experimental and theoretical developments that have made it possible to address some of the fundamental questions first delineated and investigated in C. T. R. Wilson's pioneering paper of 1897 [C. T. R. Wilson, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. , A 189, 265-307 (1897)]. We review the principles behind the standard experimental techniques currently used to measure isothermal nucleation rates, and discuss the molecular level information that can be extracted from these measurements. We then highlight recent approaches that interrogate the vapor and intermediate clusters leading to particle formation, more directly.
Is Poor Performance on NBME Clinical Subject Examinations Associated With a Failing Score on the USMLE Step 3 Examination?

Purpose To investigate the association between poor performance on National Board of Medical Examiners clinical subject examinations across six core clerkships and performance on the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 3 examination. Method In 2012, the authors studied matriculants from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences with available Step 3 scores and subject exam scores on all six clerkships (Classes of 2007–2011, N = 654). Poor performance on subject exams was defined as scoring one standard deviation (SD) or more below the mean using the national norms of the corresponding test year. The association between poor performance on the subject exams and the probability of passing or failing Step 3 was tested using contingency table analyses and logistic regression modeling. Results Students performing poorly on one subject exam were significantly more likely to fail Step 3 (OR 14.23 [95% CI 1.7–119.3]) compared with students with no subject exam scores that were 1 SD below the mean. Poor performance on more than one subject exam further increased the chances of failing (OR 33.41 [95% CI 4.4–254.2]). This latter group represented 27% of the entire cohort, yet contained 70% of the students who failed Step 3. Conclusions These findings suggest that individual schools could benefit from a review of subject exam performance to develop and validate their own criteria for identifying students at risk for failing Step 3.
Imagesieve: Exploratory search of museum archives with named entity-based faceted browsing

Over the last few years, faceted search emerged as an attractive alternative to the traditional "text box" search and has become one of the standard ways of interaction on many e-commerce sites. However, these applications of faceted search are limited to domains where the objects of interests have already been classified along several independent dimensions, such as price, year, or brand. While automatic approaches to generate faceted search interfaces were proposed, it is not yet clear to what extent the automatically-produced interfaces will be useful to real users, and whether their quality can match or surpass their manually-produced predecessors. The goal of this paper is to introduce an exploratory search interface called ImageSieve, which shares many features with traditional faceted browsing, but can function without the use of traditional faceted metadata. ImageSieve uses automatically extracted and classified named entities, which play important roles in many domains (such as news collections, image archives, etc.). We describe one specific application of ImageSieve for image search. Here, named entities extracted from the descriptions of the retrieved images are used to organize a faceted browsing interface, which then helps users to make sense of and further explore the retrieved images. The results of a user study of ImageSieve demonstrate that a faceted search system based on named entities can help users explore large collections and find relevant information more effectively.
Modulation of Inhibitory Transmission in the Rat Globus Pallidus by Activation of mGluR4

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Comparison of ADHD symptom subtypes as source-specific syndromes.

BACKGROUND This study examines differences between the three subtypes of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), inattentive (I), hyperactive-impulsive (H), and combined (C), in a heterogeneous sample of 248 boys (ages 6 to 10 years) with emotional and behavioral problems who were recruited for participation in a diagnostic study. METHOD The boys and their mothers participated in an extensive evaluation that involved multiple assessments of cognitive, behavioral, academic, and family functioning. ADHD subtypes were defined on the basis of teacher alone, mother alone, and mother/teacher ratings of DSM-IV symptoms. RESULTS Results indicated ADHD symptom groups showed a differential pattern of impairment socially (H,C>I) and cognitively (I,C>H). The C and H groups were the most and least impaired overall, respectively, and all subtypes were differentiated from the nonADHD clinical control or NONE (N) group in a manner consistent with the primary findings. External validation of group differences was limited, and there were marked inconsistencies in the pattern of findings depending on how groups were defined. For the most part, although the mother/teacher grouping strategy (compared with either alone) captured a greater diversity of differences between subtypes, it also obscured some. CONCLUSIONS Observed findings are consistent with the notion that mothers and teachers interpret symptom statements in terms of behaviors that are most relevant for their daily concerns.
Improved Performance of ELMy H-Modes at High Density by Plasma Shaping in JET

We present the results of experiments in JET to study the effect of plasma shape on high density ELMy H-modes, with geometry of the magnetic boundary similar to that envisaged for the standard Q = 10 operation in ITER. The experiments described are single lower null plasmas, with standard q profile, neutral beam heating and gas fuelling, with average plasma triangularity ? calculated at the separatrix ~0.45-0.5 and elongation ? ~1.75. In agreement with the previous results obtained in JET and other divertor Tokamaks, the thermal energy confinement time and the maximum density achievable in steady state for a given confinement enhancement factor increase with ? The new experiments have confirmed and extended the earlier results, achieving a maximum line average density ne~1.1nGR for H98~0.96. In this plasma configuration, at 2.5? MA/2.7? T (q95~2.8), a line average density ~95%? nGR with H98 = 1 and ? N~2 are obtained, with plasma thermal stored energy content Wth being approximately constant with increasing density, as long as the discharge maintains Type I ELMs, up to nped~nGR (and ne~1.1nGR). A change in the Type I ELMs behaviour is observed for pedestal densities nped70%? nGR, with their frequency decreasing with density (at constant Psep), enhanced divertor D? emission and increased inter-ELM losses. We show that this change in the ELM character at high pedestal density is due to a change in transport and/or stability in the pedestal region, with the ELMs changing from Type I to mixed Type I and Type II. The similarity of these observations with those in the Type II ELM regime in ASDEX? Upgrade and with other small ELM regimes in DIII-D, JT-60U and Alcator C-MOD is discussed. Finally, we present the first results of experiments by studying in more detail the effects of the plasma boundary geometry, in particular by investigating separately the effect of the upper and lower triangularity, at high average ? We show that the changes to the lower ? (or of the radial position of the x-point) affect the pedestal parameters, the size of ELM energy losses as well as the global energy confinement of the plasma.
Nucleus I: Adjunction spectra in recommender systems and descent

Recommender systems build user profiles using concept analysis of usage matrices. The concepts are mined as spectra and form Galois connections. Descent is a general method for spectral decomposition in algebraic geometry and topology which also leads to generalized Galois connections. Both recommender systems and descent theory are vast research areas, separated by a technical gap so large that trying to establish a link would seem foolish. Yet a formal link emerged, all on its own, bottom-up, against authors' intentions and better judgment. Familiar problems of data analysis led to a novel solution in category theory. The present paper arose from a series of earlier efforts to provide a top-down account of these developments.
Learning Activation Functions in Deep (Spline) Neural Networks

We develop an efficient computational solution to train deep neural networks (DNN) with free-form activation functions. To make the problem well-posed, we augment the cost functional of the DNN by adding an appropriate shape regularization: the sum of the second-order total-variations of the trainable nonlinearities. The representer theorem for DNNs tells us that the optimal activation functions are adaptive piecewise-linear splines, which allows us to recast the problem as a parametric optimization. The challenging point is that the corresponding basis functions (ReLUs) are poorly conditioned and that the determination of their number and positioning is also part of the problem. We circumvent the difficulty by using an equivalent B-spline basis to encode the activation functions and by expressing the regularization as an $\ell _1$-penalty. This results in the specification of parametric activation function modules that can be implemented and optimized efficiently on standard development platforms. We present experimental results that demonstrate the benefit of our approach.
Experimental alteration of vivianite to lepidocrocite in a calcareous medium

Abstract Vivianite [Fe3(PO4)2·8H2O] is easily oxidized in the presence of air. In this work, we studied the oxidation and incongruent dissolution of vivianite in a calcareous medium containing an anion-exchange resin (AER) that acted as a sink for phosphate. Freshly prepared vivianite suspensions with calcite sand and an AER membrane were oxidized and stirred by bubbling air or CO2-free O2. Experiments were finished when oxidation rate and P removal by the AER became slow, which was at 53 days (air system) or 28 days (CO2free O2 system). At these times, the respective values of the Fe(II)/total Fe ratio were 0.29 and 0.12, and the respective values of the atomic P/Fe ratio were 0.15 and 0.11. The final product of the oxidation was poorly crystalline lepidocrocite in the form of thin (1–5 nm), irregular lamellae that were soluble in acid oxalate. The unit-cell edge lengths of this lepidocrocite were a = 0.3117, b = 1.2572, and c = 0.3870, vs. a = 0.3071, b = 1.2520 and c = 0.3873 nm for the reference lepidocrocite. The lepidocrocite lamellae contained occluded P (P/Fe atomic ratio = 0.03–0.04). The results of this and a previous study made us hypothesize that this occluded P is structural and occupies tetrahedral sites adjacent to the empty octahedral sites in the sheets extending on {010}.
A tour to sustainability?: A discussion on the potential for tour operators to promote sustainable tourism

Aiming to start a constructive debate,“A tour to sustainability? ” examines the preparedness of the tour operating sector to undertake the challenges of sustainable tourism. Drivers and barriers for acknowledging operators’ share of impacts and consequently their responsibilities for actions are presented and analysed further. The influential potential of tour operators in tourism industry is defined by their unique central position in the distribution chain,connecting the supply and demand sides of the tourism market. Considering the vast influence large operators have through their economies of scale and integrated activities, the report discusses their capability to induce a positive change for improved performance in the entire tourism industry. “A tour to sustainability? ” ends by suggesting some actions to be considered on the side of tour operators, bearing in mind the global efforts made by all industrial sectors for finding the sustainability path.
TESTING AND EVALUATION OF LARGE STONE MIXES USING MARSHALL MIX DESIGN PROCEDURES

ii