Search results for: behavior pattern

Authors: Rafayel Azizyan, Valeri Arakelyan, Aram Gevorgyan, Varduhi Balayan, Emil Gevorgyan

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Currently, mathematical and computer modeling are widely used in different biological studies to predict or assess behavior of such complex systems as biological ones. This study deals with mathematical and computer modeling of bi-substrate enzymatic reactions, which play an important role in different biochemical pathways. The main objective of this study is to represent the results from in silico investigation of bi-substrate enzymatic reactions in the presence of uncompetitive inhibitors, as well as to describe in details the inhibition effects. Four models of uncompetitive inhibition were designed using different software packages. Particularly, uncompetitive inhibitor to the first [ES1] and the second ([ES1S2]; [FS2]) enzyme-substrate complexes have been studied. The simulation, using the same kinetic parameters for all models allowed investigating the behavior of reactions as well as determined some interesting aspects concerning influence of different cases of uncompetitive inhibition. Besides that shown, that uncompetitive inhibitors exhibit specific selectivity depending on mechanism of bi-substrate enzymatic reaction.

Keywords: mathematical modeling, bi-substrate enzymatic reactions, reversible inhibition

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Authors: Wei Gao

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The current study investigates the change of listener responses in social conversations of the second language (L2) speakers who are staying abroad with Chinese L1 speakers in Australian universities and how their long-term stay abroad impacted their design for L2 recipient actions. There is a limited amount of empirical work on L2 English listener response acquisition, particularly regarding the influence of long-term stay abroad in English-speaking countries. Little is known whether the development of L2 listener responses and the improvement of interactional competence is affected by the prolonged residency in the target L2 country. Forty-eight participants were recruited, and they participated in the designed speaking task through Computer-Mediated Communication. Results showed that long-term stay abroad Chinese L1 speakers demonstrated an English-like pattern of listener responses in communication. Long-term stay abroad experience had a significant impact on L2 English listener responses production and organization in social conversation. Long-term stay abroad L1 Chinese speakers had an active and productive response in listenership than their non-stay abroad counterparts in terms of frequency and placement in producing listener responses. However, the L2 English listener response production only occurred to be partial in response tokens, such as backchannels and reactive expressions, also in resumptive openers' employment. This study shows that L2 English listener responses could be acquired during a long-term stay abroad in English-speaking countries but showed partial acquisition in collaborative finishes production. In addition, the most prominent finding was that Chinese L1 speakers changed their overall listener responses pattern from L1 Chinese to L2 English. The study reveals specific interactional changes in English L2 listener responses acquisition. It generates pedagogical implications for cross-cultural communication and L2 pragmatics acquisition during a long-term stay abroad.

Keywords: listener responses, stay abroad, interactional competence, L2 pragmatics acquisition

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Authors: Nina Bijedic, Drazena Gaspar, Mirsad Hadzikadic

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Corruption is an influential and widespread problem. One part of it is so-called petty corruption, related to large-scale bribe giving by ordinary citizens trying to influence the works of public administration or public services. As it is with all means of corruption, petty corruption is related to the level of democracy (or administration efficiency) in a society. The developed model captures some of the factors related to corruptive behavior, as well as people’s attitude towards petty corruption. It has four basic elements: user’s perception of corruption in the society of interest, the influence of social interactions, the influence of penalizing mechanism, and influence of campaigns against petty corruption. The model is agent-based, developed in NetLogo, with a lot of random settings that provide a wider scope of responses. Interactions of different settings for variables of elements provide insight into the influence of each element on attitude towards petty corruption, as well as petty corruptive behavior.

Keywords: agent-based model, attitude, influence, petty corruption, society

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Authors: David Aveiga, Carlos Gonzalez

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Thermoforming of pre-impregnated composites (prepreg) is the most employed process to build high-performance composite structures due to their visible advantage over alternative manufacturing techniques. This method allows easy shape moulding with a simple manufacturing system and a more refined outcome. The achievement of complex geometries can be exposed to undesired defects such as wrinkles. It is known that interply and ply-mould sliding behavior governs this defect generation. This work analyses interply and ply-mould friction coefficients for UD AS4/8552 Carbon/Epoxy prepreg. Friction coefficients are determined by a pull-out test method considering actual velocity, pressure and temperature conditions employed in a thermoforming process of an aeronautical composite component. A Stribeck curve is then constructed to find a mathematical expression that relates all the friction coefficients with the test variables through the Hersey number parameter. Two expressions are proposed to model ply-ply and ply-tool friction behaviors.

Keywords: friction, prepreg composite, stribeck curve, thermoforming.

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Authors: M. T. Islam, S. H. Shakif, R. Hasan, S. H. Kobi

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Investigation of rainfall trends is crucial considering climate change, food security, and the economy of a particular region. This research aims to study seasonal and annual precipitation trends and their abrupt changes over time in the south-central climatic zone of Bangladesh using monthly time series data of 50 years (1970-2019). A trend-free pre-whitening method has been employed to make necessary adjustments for autocorrelations in the rainfall data. Trends in rainfall and their intensity have been observed using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test and Theil-Sen estimator. Significant changes and fluctuation points in the data series have been detected using the sequential Mann-Kendall test at the 95% confidence limit. The study findings show that most of the rainfall stations in the study area have a decreasing precipitation pattern throughout all seasons. The maximum decline in the rainfall intensity has been found for the Tangail station (-8.24 mm/year) during monsoon. Madaripur and Chandpur stations have shown slight positive trends in post-monsoon rainfall. In terms of annual precipitation, a negative rainfall pattern has been identified in each station, with a maximum decrement (-) of 14.48 mm/year at Chandpur. However, all the trends are statistically non-significant within the 95% confidence interval, and their monotonic association with time ranges from very weak to weak. From the sequential Mann-Kendall test, the year of changing points for annual and seasonal downward precipitation trends occur mostly after the 90s for Dhaka and Barishal stations. For Chandpur, the fluctuation points arrive after the mid-70s in most cases.

Keywords: trend analysis, Mann-Kendall test, Theil-Sen estimator, sequential Mann-Kendall test, rainfall trend

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Authors: Kaleem Ahmed, Jamal A. Khan

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Grouping patterns, habitat use, and overlap studies were conducted on five sympatric ungulate species sambar (Cervus unicolor), chital (Axis axis), muntjac (Muntiacus muntjac), goral (Nemorhaedus goral), and serow (Capricornis sumatraensis) in the Dabka watershed area within Indian West Himalayan range. Data on age, sex composition, group size, and various ecological and topographical factors governing the presence/absence of species within the study area were collected using a 250 km of a trail walk, 95 permanent circular plots of 10 m radius, and 3 vantage points with 58 scannings. The highest mean group size was recorded for chital (6.35 ± 0.50), followed by sambar (1.35 ± 0.10), goral (1.25 ±0.63), muntjac (1.12 ± 0.05), and serow (1.00 ± 0.00). Grouping pattern significantly varied among sympatric species (F = 85.10, df. = 6, P = 0.000). The highest mean pellet group density (/ha ± SE) was recorded for sambar (41.56 ± 3.51), followed by goral (23.31 ± 3.45), chital (19.21 ± 3.51), muntjac (7.43 ± 1.21), and serow (1.02 ± 0.10). Two-way variance analysis showed a significant difference in the density of the pellet group of all ungulate species across different study area habitats (F = 6.38, df = 4, P = 0.027). The availability-utilization (AU) analysis reveals that goral was mostly sighted in steep slopes, preferred > 2100 m altitudinal range with low shrub understory, avoided dense forest, and relatively more southern aspects were used. Chital had used a wide range of tree and shrub coverings with a preference towards moderate cover range (26-50%), preferred areas with low slope category ( < 25), avoided areas of high altitude > 900 m. Sambar avoided less tree cover (0-25), preferred slope category (26-500), altitudes between 1600-2100 m, and preferred dense forest with northern aspects. Muntjac used all elevation ranges in the study area with a preference towards the dense forest and northern aspects. Serow preferred high tree cover > 75%, avoided low shrub cover (0-25%), preferred high shrub cover 51-75%, utilized higher elevation > 2100 m, avoided low elevation range and northern aspects. All species occupied similar habitat types, forest or scrub, except for the goral, which preferred open spaces. Between muntjac and sambar, the highest overlap was found (65%), and there was no overlap between chital and serow, chital and goral. Aspect, slope, altitude, and vegetation characteristics were found to be important factors for the overlap of ungulate sympatric species. One major reason for their ecological separation at the fine-scale level is the differential use of altitude by ungulates in the present study. This is confirmed by the avoidance by chital of altitudes > 900 m and serow of < 2100 m.

Keywords: altitude, grouping pattern, Himalayas, overlap, ungulates

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Authors: Peyman Aela, Lu Zong, Guoqing Jing

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Recently, there has been growing interest in numerical modeling of ballast railway tracks. A commonly used mechanistic modeling approach for ballast is the discrete element method (DEM). Up to now, the effects of the contact model on ballast particle behavior have not been precisely examined. In this regard, selecting the appropriate contact model is mainly associated with the particle characteristics and the loading condition. Since ballast is cohesionless material, different contact models, including the linear spring, Hertz-Mindlin, and Hysteretic models, could be used to calculate particle-particle or wall-particle contact forces. Moreover, the simulation of a dynamic test is vital to investigate the effect of damping parameters on the ballast deformation. In this study, ballast box tests were simulated by DEM to examine the influence of different contact models on the mechanical behavior of the ballast layer under cyclic loading. This paper shows how the contact model can affect the deformation and damping of a ballast layer subjected to cyclic loading in a ballast box.

Keywords: ballast, contact model, cyclic loading, DEM

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Authors: Amir Reza Asnafi, Ehsan Tajabadi, Mohsen Hajizeinolabedini

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The purpose of this study is to identify the concept of knowledge flow in central libraries of Tehran universities in by the pattern of American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC). The present study is an applied and descriptive survey in terms of its purpose and the methodology used. In this study, APQC framework was used for data collection. The study population is managers and supervisors of central libraries’ departments of public universities of Tehran belonging to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. These libraries include: Central Libraries of Al-Zahra University, Amir Kabir, Tarbiat Modarres, Tehran, Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology, Shahed, Sharif, Shahid Beheshti, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Iran University of Science and Technology. Due to the limited number of members of the community, sampling was not performed and the census was conducted instead. The study of knowledge flow in central libraries of public universities in Tehran showed that in seven dimensions of knowledge flow of APQC, these libraries are far from desirable level and to achieve the ideal point, many activities in the field of knowledge flow need to be made, therefore suggestions were made in this study to reach the desired level. One Sample t Test in this research showed that these libraries are at a poor level in terms of these factors: in the dimensions of creation, identification and use of knowledge at a medium level and in the aspects of knowledge acquisition, review, sharing and access and also Manova test or Multivariable Analyze of Variance proved that there was no significant difference between the dimensions of knowledge flow between these libraries and the status of the knowledge flow in these libraries is at the same level as well. Except for the knowledge creation aspect that is slightly different in this regard that was mentioned before.

Keywords: knowledge flow, knowledge management, APQC, Tehran’s academic university libraries

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Authors: Olga Santesteban, Glorisa Canino, Hector R. Bird, Cristiane S. Duarte

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Objective: To address whether harsh discipline is associated with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) in Puerto Rican children over time. Background: Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies report that rates of DBD vary by gender, age and other demographics, being more frequent among boys, later in life and among those who live in urban areas. Also, the literature supports the direct, positive association between harsh discipline and externalizing behaviors. Nevertheless, scholars have underscored the important role of race and ethnicity in understanding discipline effects on children. The impact of harsh discipline in a Puerto Rican population remains to be studied. Methods: Sample: This is a secondary analysis of the Boricua Youth Study which assessed yearly (3 times) Puerto Rican children aged 5-15 in two different sites: San Juan (Puerto Rico) and the South Bronx (NY), N=2951. Participants that did not have scores of harsh discipline in the 3 waves were excluded for this analysis (N=2091). Main Measures: a) Harsh Discipline (Parent report) was measured using 6 items from the “Parental Discipline Scale” that measures various forms of punishment, including physical and verbal abuse, and withholding affection; b) Disruptive Behavior Disorder (Parent report): Parent version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-IV (DISC-IV) was used to asses children’s conduct disorders; c) Demographic factors: Child gender, child age, family income, marital status; d) Parental factors: parental psychopathology, parental monitoring, familism, parent support; e) Children characteristics: Controlling for any diagnostic at wave 1 (internalizing or externalizing). Data Analysis: Logistic regression was carried out relating the likelihood of DBD to harsh discipline along waves controlling for potential confounders as demographics, child and parent characteristics. Results: There were no significant differences in harsh discipline by site in wave 1 and wave 2 but there was a significant difference in wave 3. Also, there were no significant differences in DBD by site in wave 1 and wave 2 but there was a significant difference in wave 3. There was a significant difference of discipline by gender and age in all the waves. We calculated unadjusted (OR) and adjusted (AOD) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) showing the relation between harsh discipline at wave 1 and the presence of child disruptive behavior disorder at wave 3 for both South Bronx and Puerto Rico. There was an association between harsh discipline and the likelihood of having DBD in The Bronx (AOR=1.76; 95%CI=1.13-2.74, p.013) and in Puerto Rico (AOR=2.17; 95%CI=1.28-3.67, p.004) having controlled for demographic, parental and individual factors. Conclusions: Context may be an important differential factor shaping the potential risk of harsh discipline toward DBD for Puerto Rican children.

Keywords: disruptive behavior disorders, harsh discipline, puerto rican, psychological education

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Authors: G. Mattia, A. Di Leo, L. Principato

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The purchase impulsiveness is preceded by a lack of self-control: consequently, it is legitimate to believe that a consumer with a low level of self-control can result in a higher probability of cognitive dissonance. Moreover, the process of purchase is influenced by the pre-existing affective state in a considerable way. With reference to on-line purchases, digital behavior cannot be merely ascribed to the rational sphere, given the speed and ease of transactions and the hedonistic dimension of purchases. To our knowledge, this research is among the first cases of verification of the effect of moderation exerted by the positive affective state in the on-line impulse purchase of products with a high expressive value such as a smartphone on the occurrence of cognitive dissonance. To this aim, a moderation analysis was conducted on a sample of 212 impulsive millennials buyers. Three scales were adopted to measure the constructs of interest: IBTS for impulsivity, PANAS for the affective state, Sweeney for cognitive dissonance. The analysis revealed that positive affective state does not affect the onset of cognitive dissonance.

Keywords: cognitive dissonance, impulsive buying, online shopping, online consumer behavior

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Authors: A. S. Mousa, R. I. Rajab, A. A. Pinto

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An envy behavioral game theoretical model with two types of homogeneous players is considered in this paper. The strategy space of each type of players is a discrete set with only two alternatives. The preferences of each type of players is given by a discrete utility function. All envy strategies that form Nash equilibria and the corresponding envy Nash domains for each type of players have been characterized. We use geometry to construct two dimensional envy tilings where the horizontal axis reflects the preference for players of type one, while the vertical axis reflects the preference for the players of type two. The influence of the envy behavior parameters on the Cartesian position of the equilibria has been studied, and in each envy tiling we determine the envy Nash equilibria. We observe that there are 1024 combinatorial classes of envy tilings generated from envy chromosomes: 256 of them are being structurally stable while 768 are with bifurcation. Finally, some conditions for the disparate envy Nash equilibria are stated.

Keywords: game theory, Nash equilibrium, envy Nash behavior, geometric tilings, bifurcation thresholds

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Authors: Tiantian Gu, Dezhi Li, Mian Zhang, Ying Jiang

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Considering the characteristics of residents’ participation in the governance of old community renewal (OCR), a theoretical model of the determinant of residents’ intention to participate in the governance of OCR has been built based on the theory of planned behavior. Seven old communities in Nanjing have been chosen as cases to conduct empirical analysis. The result indicates that participation attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control have significant positive effects on residents’ intention to participate in the governance of the OCR. Recognition of the community, cognition of the OCR and perceived behavioral control have indirect positive effects on residents’ intention to participate in the OCR. In addition, the education level and the length of residence have positive effects on their participation intention, while the gender, age, and monthly income have little effect on it. The research result provides suggestions for the improvement of residents’ participation in the OCR.

Keywords: old community renewal, residents’ participation in governance, intention, theory of planned behavior

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Authors: Maryam Ghavam Sadri, Kimia Moiniafshari

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Objectives: Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder that has negative effects on verbal, mental and behavioral development. Studies have shown the role of a maternal dietary pattern before and during pregnancy. The relation of exerting of nutritional management programs in prevention of Autism has been approved. This review article has been made to investigate the role of nutritional management strategies before and during pregnancy in the prevention of Autism. Methods: This review study was accomplished by using the keywords related to the topic, 67 articles were found (2000-2015) and finally 20 article with criteria such as including maternal lifestyle, nutritional deficiencies and Autism prevention were selected. Results: Maternal dietary pattern and health before and during pregnancy have important roles in the incidence of Autism. Studies have suggested that high dietary fat intake and obesity can increase the risk of Autism in offspring. Maternal metabolic condition specially gestational diabetes (GDM) (p-value < 0.04) and folate deficiency (p-value = 0.04) is associated with risk of Autism. Studies have shown that folate intake in mothers with autistic children is less than mothers who have typically developing children (TYP) (p-value<0.01). As folate is an essential micronutrient for fetus mental development, consumption of average 600 mcg/day especially in P1 phase of pregnancy results in significant reduction in incidence of Autism (OR:1.53, 95%CI=0.42-0.92, p-value = 0.02). furthermore, essential fatty acid deficiency especially omega-3 fatty acid increases the rate of Autism and consumption of supplements and food sources of omega-3 can decrease the risk of Autism up to 34% (RR=1.53, 95%CI=1-2.32). Conclusion: regards to nutritional deficiency and maternal metabolic condition before and during pregnancy in prevalence of Autism, carrying out the appropriate nutritional strategies such as well-timed folate supplementation before pregnancy and healthy lifestyle adherence for prevention of metabolic syndrome (GDM) seems to help Autism prevention.

Keywords: autism, autism prevention, dietary inadequacy, maternal lifestyle

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Authors: Adnan M. Al Assaf

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This research project aims to assess the methods of enhancing tolerant thinking and behavior among Muslim societies. This is in addition to spreading the anti-terrorist approach in their communities. The critical assessment for the Islamic major texts in question is the selected way for convincing, as Muslims adopt these sources as the authentic references for their lives and cultures. Moreover, this research devotes a special room to the analysis of the royal ‘Amman Message’ as a contemporary Islamic approach for enhancing tolerance and anti-terrorism from an Islamic perspective. The paper includes the study of the related concepts, texts, practical applications, with some reference to the history of Islam in human interaction, accepting the others, mercy with minorities, protecting human rights. Furthermore, it assesses the methods of enhancing tolerance and minimizing the terrorist thinking and behavior practically, in the view of Amman message, as well.

Keywords: Islam, tolerance, anti-terrorism, coexistence, Amman Message

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Authors: Janell Jayamohan

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A pilot project based on the Theory of Planned Behavior was completed at a single sex female international high school in order to improve the quality of comprehensive sex education in a 12th grade classroom. The student sample is representative of a growing phenomenon of “Third Culture Kids” or global nomads; often in today’s world, culture transcends any one dominant influence and blends values from multiple sources. The Objective was to improve intentions of condom use during the students’ first or next intercourse. A peer-education session which focused on condom attitudes, social norms, and self-efficacy - central tenets of the Theory of Planned Behavior - was added to an existing curriculum in order to achieve this objective. Peer educators were given liberty of creating and executing the lesson to their homeroom, a sample of 23 senior students, with minimal intervention from faculty, the desired outcome being that the students themselves would be the best judge of what is culturally relevant and important to their peers. The school nurse and school counselor acted as faculty facilitators but did not assist in the creation or delivery of the lesson, only checked for medical accuracy. The participating sample of students completed a pre and post-test with validated questions assessing changes in attitudes and overall satisfaction with the peer education lesson. As this intervention was completed during the Covid-19 pandemic, the peer education session was completed in a virtual classroom environment, limiting the modes of information delivery available to the peer educators, but is planned to be replicated in an in-person environment in subsequent cycles.

Keywords: adolescents, condoms, peer education, sex education, theory of planned behavior, third culture kids

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Authors: Abdelbasit Gadour

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A great number of children in mainstream schools across Libya are currently living with emotional, behavioral difficulties. This study aims to explore teachers’ perceptions of children’s emotional and behavioral difficulties (EBD) and their attributions of the causes of EBD. The relevance of this area of study to current educational practice is illustrated in the fact that primary school teachers in Libya find classroom behavior problems one of the major difficulties they face. The information presented in this study was gathered from 182 teachers that responded back to the survey, of whom 27 teachers were later interviewed. In general, teachers’ perceptions of EBD reflect personal experience, training, and attitudes. Teachers appear from this study to use words such as indifferent, frightened, withdrawn, aggressive, disobedient, hyperactive, less ambitious, lacking concentration, and academically weak to describe pupils with emotional and behavioral difficulties (EBD). The implications of this study are envisaged as being extremely important to support teachers addressing children’s EBD and shed light on the contributing factors to EBD for a successful teaching-learning process in Libyan primary schools.

Keywords: children, emotional and behavior difficulties, learning, teachers'

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Authors: Alexa Rakoski, Yun Suk Eo, Cagliyan Kurdak, Priscila F. S. Rosa, Zachary Fisk, Monica Ciomaga Hatnean, Geetha Balakrishnan, Boyoun Kang, Myungsuk Song, Byungki Cho

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Samarium hexaboride (SmB6) is a strongly correlated mixed valence material and Kondo insulator. In the resistance-temperature curve, SmB6 exhibits activated behavior from 4-40 K after the Kondo gap forms. However, below 4 K, the resistivity is temperature independent or weakly temperature dependent due to the appearance of a topologically protected surface state. Current research suggests that the surface of SmB6 is conductive while the bulk is truly insulating, different from conventional 3D TIs (Topological Insulators) like Bi₂Se₃ which are plagued by bulk conduction due to impurities. To better understand why the bulk of SmB6 is so different from conventional TIs, this study employed a new method, called inverted resistance, to explore the lowest temperatures, as well as standard Hall measurements for the rest of the temperature range. In the inverted resistance method, current flows from an inner contact to an outer ring, and voltage is measured outside of this outer ring. This geometry confines the surface current and allows for measurement of the bulk resistivity even when the conductive surface dominates transport (below 4 K). The results confirm that the bulk of SmB6 is truly insulating down to 2 K. Hall measurements on a number of samples show consistent bulk behavior from 4-40 K, but widely varying behavior among samples above 40 K. This is attributed to a combination of the growth process and purity of the starting material, and the relationship between the high and low temperature behaviors is still being explored.

Keywords: bulk transport, Hall effect, inverted resistance, Kondo insulator, samarium hexaboride, topological insulator

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Authors: Ali Noorzad, Ehsan Badakhshan, Shima Zameni

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The present paper is focused on a generalized failure criterion for geomaterials with cross-anisotropy. The cyclic behavior of granular material primarily depends on the nature and arrangement of constituent particles, particle size, and shape that affect fabric anisotropy. To account for the influence of loading directions on strength variations, an anisotropic variable in terms of the invariants of the stress tensor and fabric into the failure criterion is proposed. In an extension to original CANAsand constitutive model two concepts namely critical state and compact state play paramount roles as all of the moduli and coefficients are related to these states. The applicability of the present model is evaluated through comparisons between the predicted and the measured results. All simulations have demonstrated that the proposed constitutive model is capable of modeling the cyclic behavior of sand with inherent anisotropy.

Keywords: fabric, cohesionless media, cyclic loading, critical state, compact state, CANAsand constitutive model

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Authors: Tholokuhle T. Ntshakala, Seraphin D. Eyono Obono

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Nations are still finding it quite difficult to win mega sport competitions despite the major contribution of sport to society in terms of social and economic development, personal health, and in education. Even though the world of sports has been transformed into a huge global economy, it is important to note that the first step of sport is usually its introduction to children at school through physical education or PE. In other words, nations who do not win mega sport competitions also suffer from a weak and neglected PE system. This problem of the neglect of PE systems is the main motivation of this research aimed at examining the factors affecting the perceived awareness of physical education teachers on the ICT's that are adoptable for the teaching and learning of physical education. Two types of research objectives will materialize this aim: relevant theories will be identified in relation to the analysis of the perceived ICT awareness of PE teachers and subsequent models will be compiled and designed from existing literature; the empirical testing of such theories and models will also be achieved through the survey of PE teachers from the Camperdown magisterial district of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The main hypothesis at the heart of this study is the relationship between the demographics of PE teachers, their behavior both as individuals and as social entities, and their perceived awareness of the ICTs that are adoptable for PE, as postulated by existing literature; except that this study categorizes human behavior under performance expectancy, computer attitude, and social influence. This hypothesis was partially confirmed by the survey conducted by this research in the sense that performance expectancy and teachers’ age, gender, computer usage, and class size were found to be the only factors affecting their awareness of ICT's for physical education.

Keywords: human behavior, ICT Awareness, physical education, teachers

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Authors: Nikhil Jain, Bin Yu

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The material behavior of graphene, a single layer of carbon lattice, is extremely sensitive to its dielectric environment. We demonstrate improvement in electronic performance of graphene nanowire interconnects with full encapsulation by lattice-matching, chemically inert, 2D layered insulator hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). A novel layer-based transfer technique is developed to construct the h-BN/MLG/h-BN heterostructures. The encapsulated graphene wires are characterized and compared with that on SiO2 or h-BN substrate without passivating h-BN layer. Significant improvements in maximum current-carrying density, breakdown threshold, and power density in encapsulated graphene wires are observed. These critical improvements are achieved without compromising the carrier transport characteristics in graphene. Furthermore, graphene wires exhibit electrical behavior less insensitive to ambient conditions, as compared with the non-passivated ones. Overall, h-BN/graphene/h-BN heterostructure presents a robust material platform towards the implementation of high-speed carbon-based interconnects.

Keywords: two-dimensional nanosheet, graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, heterostructure, interconnects

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Authors: Z. Jamalzadeh, A. Niaei, H. Erfannia

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Due to developing industries, the emission of pollutants such as NOx, SOx, and CO2 are rapidly increased. Generally, NOx is attributed to the mono nitrogen oxides of NO and NO2 that is one of the most important atmospheric contaminants. Hence, controlling the emission of nitrogen oxides is environmentally urgent. Selective catalytic reduction of NOx is one of the most common techniques for NOx removal in which zeolites have wide application due to their high performance. In zeolitic processes, the catalytic reaction occurs mostly in the pores. Therefore, investigation of the adsorption phenomena of the molecules in order to gain an insight and understand the catalytic cycle is of important. Hence, in current study, benefiting from molecular simulations, the adsorption phenomena in the nanocatalysts of SCR of NOx process was investigated in order to get a good insight of the catalysts’ behavior. The effect of cation addition to the support in the catalysts’ behavior through adsorption step was explored by Mont Carlo (MC) using Materials Studio Package. Simulation time of 1 Ns accompanying 1 fs time step, COMPASS27 Force Field and the cut off radios of 12.5 Ȧ was applied for performed runs. It was observed that the adsorption capacity increases in the presence of cations. The sorption isotherms demonstrated the behavior of type I isotherm categories and sorption capacity diminished with increase in temperature whereas an increase was observed at high pressures. Besides, NO sorption showed higher sorption capacity than NH3 in H–ZSM5. In this respect, the energy distributions signified that the molecules could adsorb in just one sorption site at the catalyst and the sorption energy of NO was stronger than the NH3 in H-ZSM5. Furthermore, the isosteric heat of sorption data showed nearly same values for the molecules; however, it indicated stronger interactions of NO molecules with H-ZSM5 zeolite compared to the isosteric heat of NH3 which was low in value.

Keywords: Monte Carlo simulation, adsorption, NOx, ZSM5

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Authors: Thanthrige Thiunuwan Priyathilaka, Don Anushka Sandaruwan Elvitigala, Bong-Soo Lim, Hyung-Bok Jeong, Jehee Lee

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Toll like receptors (TLRs) are a phylogeneticaly conserved family of pattern recognition receptors, which participates in the host immune responses against various pathogens and pathogen derived mitogen. TLR21, a non-mammalian type, is almost restricted to the fish species even though those can be identified rarely in avians and amphibians. Herein, this study was carried out to identify and characterize TLR21 from rock bream (Oplegnathus fasciatus) designated as RbTLR21, at transcriptional and genomic level. In this study, the full length cDNA and genomic sequence of RbTLR21 was identified using previously constructed cDNA sequence database and BAC library, respectively. Identified RbTLR21 sequence was characterized using several bioinformatics tools. The quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) experiment was conducted to determine tissue specific expressional distribution of RbTLR21. Further, transcriptional modulation of RbTLR21 upon the stimulation with Streptococcus iniae (S. iniae), rock bream iridovirus (RBIV) and Edwardsiella tarda (E. tarda) was analyzed in spleen tissues. The complete coding sequence of RbTLR21 was 2919 bp in length which can encode a protein consisting of 973 amino acid residues with molecular mass of 112 kDa and theoretical isoelectric point of 8.6. The anticipated protein sequence resembled a typical TLR domain architecture including C-terminal ectodomain with 16 leucine rich repeats, a transmembrane domain, cytoplasmic TIR domain and signal peptide with 23 amino acid residues. Moreover, protein folding pattern prediction of RbTLR21 exhibited well-structured and folded ectodomain, transmembrane domain and cytoplasmc TIR domain. According to the pair wise sequence analysis data, RbTLR21 showed closest homology with orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) TLR21with 76.9% amino acid identity. Furthermore, our phylogenetic analysis revealed that RbTLR21 shows a close evolutionary relationship with its ortholog from Danio rerio. Genomic structure of RbTLR21 consisted of single exon similar to its ortholog of zebra fish. Sevaral putative transcription factor binding sites were also identified in 5ʹ flanking region of RbTLR21. The RBTLR 21 was ubiquitously expressed in all the tissues we tested. Relatively, high expression levels were found in spleen, liver and blood tissues. Upon induction with rock bream iridovirus, RbTLR21 expression was upregulated at the early phase of post induction period even though RbTLR21 expression level was fluctuated at the latter phase of post induction period. Post Edwardsiella tarda injection, RbTLR transcripts were upregulated throughout the experiment. Similarly, Streptococcus iniae induction exhibited significant upregulations of RbTLR21 mRNA expression in the spleen tissues. Collectively, our findings suggest that RbTLR21 is indeed a homolog of TLR21 family members and RbTLR21 may be involved in host immune responses against bacterial and DNA viral infections.

Keywords: rock bream, toll like receptor 21 (TLR21), pattern recognition receptor, genomic characterization

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Authors: Sina Modares Ahmadi, Mohamad Reza Ghazavi, Mandana Sheikhzad

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Squeeze film damper systems (SFD) are often used in machines with high rotational speed to reduce non-periodic behavior by creating external damping. These types of systems are frequently used in aircraft gas turbine engines. There are some structural parameters which are of great importance in designing these kinds of systems, such as oil film thickness, C, and outer race mass, mo. Moreover, there is a crucial parameter associated with manufacturing process, under the title of waviness. Geometric imperfections are often called waviness if its wavelength is much longer than Hertzian contact width which is a considerable source of vibration in ball bearings. In this paper, a system of a flexible rotor and two ball bearings with floating ring squeeze film dampers and consideration of waviness has been modeled and solved by a numerical integration method, namely Runge-Kutta method to investigate the dynamic response of the system. The results show that by increasing the number of wave lobes, which is due to inappropriate manufacturing, non- periodic and chaotic behavior increases. This result reveals the importance of manufacturing accuracy. Moreover, as long as C< 1.5×10-4 m, by increasing the oil film thickness, unwanted vibrations and non-periodic behavior of the system have been reduced, On the other hand, when C>1.5×10-4 m, increasing the outer oil film thickness results in the increasing chaotic and non-periodic responses. This result shows that although the presence of oil film results in reduction the non-periodic and chaotic behaviors, but the oil film has an optimal thickness. In addition, with increasing mo, the disc displacement amplitude increases. This result reveals the importance of utilizing light materials in manufacturing the squeeze film dampers.

Keywords: squeeze-film damper, waviness, ball bearing, bifurcation

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Authors: Atefeh Abedini, Fatemeh Razavi, Mihan Pourabdollah Toutkaboni, Hossein Mehravaran, Arda Kiani

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In countries with the highest prevalence of tuberculosis, such as Iran, the differentiation of malignant tumors from non-malignant is very important. In this study, which was conducted for the first time among the Iranian population, the utility of the ultrasonographic morphological characteristics in patients undergoing EBUS was used to distinguish the non-malignant versus malignant lymph nodes. The morphological characteristics of lymph nodes, which consist of size, shape, vascular pattern, echogenicity, margin, coagulation necrosis sign, calcification, and central hilar structure, were obtained during Endobronchial Ultrasound-Guided Trans-Bronchial Needle Aspiration and were compared with the final pathology results. During this study period, a total of 253 lymph nodes were evaluated in 93 cases. Round shape, non-hilar vascular pattern, heterogeneous echogenicity, hyperechogenicity, distinct margin, and the presence of necrosis sign were significantly higher in malignant nodes. On the other hand, the presence of calcification and also central hilar structure were significantly higher in the benign nodes (p-value ˂ 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression showed that size>1 cm, heterogeneous echogenicity, hyperechogenicity, the presence of necrosis signs and, the absence of central hilar structure are independent predictive factors for malignancy. The accuracy of each of the aforementioned factors is 42.29 %, 71.54 %, 71.90 %, 73.51 %, and 65.61 %, respectively. Of 74 malignant lymph nodes, 100% had at least one of these independent factors. According to our results, the morphological characteristics of lymph nodes based on Endobronchial Ultrasound-Guided Trans-Bronchial Needle Aspiration can play a role in the prediction of malignancy.

Keywords: EBUS-TBNA, malignancy, nodal characteristics, pathology

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Authors: Yushinta Fujaya, Andi Ivo Asphama, Andi Parenrengi, Andi Tenriulo

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Blue Swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus) is an important commercial species throughout the subtropical waters and as such constitutes part of the fisheries resources. Data are lacking on the morphological variations of selected fast-growing crabs reared in a pond. This study aimed to analyze the morphological and molecular character of a selected fast-growing crab reared in ponds in South of Sulawesi. The crab seeds were obtained from local fish-trap and hatchery. A study on the growth was carried out in the population of crabs. The dimensions analyzed were carapace width (CW) measured after 3 months of grow out. Morphological character states were examined based on the pattern of spots on the carapace. Molecular analysis was performed using RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA). Genetic distance was analysed using TFPGA (Tools for Population Genetic Analyses) version 1.3. The results showed that there were variations in the growth of crabs. These crabs clustered morphologically into three quite distinct groups. The crab with white spots irregularly spread over its carapace was the largest size while the crab with large white spots scattered over the carapace was the smaller size (3%). The crab with small white spots scattered over the carapace was the smallest size found in this study. Molecular analysis showed that there are morphologically and genetically different between groups of crabs. Genetic distances among crabs ranged from 0.1527 to 0.5856. Thus, this study provides information the use of white spots pattern over carapace as indicators to identify the type of blue swimming crabs.

Keywords: crab, portunus pelagicus, morphology, RAPD, Carapace

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Authors: Ratih Julistina, M. Agoes Moelyadi

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Innovation in aviation technology evolved rapidly by time to time for acquiring the most favorable value of utilization and is usually denoted by efficiency parameter. Nature always become part of inspiration, and for this sector, many researchers focused on studying the behavior of flying animal to comprehend the fundamental, one of them is birds. Experimental testing has already conducted by several researches to seek and calculate the efficiency by putting the object in wind tunnel. Hence, computational simulation is needed to conform the result and give more visualization which is based on Reynold Averaged Navier-Stokes equation solution for unsteady case in time-dependent viscous flow. By creating model from simplification of the real bird as a rigid body, those are Hawk which has low aspect ratio and Swift with high aspect ratio, subsequently generating the multi grid structured mesh to capture and calculate the aerodynamic behavior and characteristics. Mimicking the motion of downstroke and upstroke of bird flight which produced both lift and thrust, the sinusoidal function is used. Simulation is carried out for varied of flapping frequencies within upper and lower range of actual each bird’s frequency which are 1 Hz, 2.87 Hz, 5 Hz for Hawk and 5 Hz, 8.9 Hz, 13 Hz for Swift to investigate the dependency of frequency effecting the efficiency of aerodynamic characteristics production. Also, by comparing the result in different condition flights with the morphology of each bird. Simulation has shown that higher flapping frequency is used then greater aerodynamic coefficient is obtained, on other hand, efficiency on thrust production is not the same. The result is analyzed from velocity and pressure contours, mesh movement as to see the behavior.

Keywords: characteristics of aerodynamic, efficiency, flapping frequency, flapping wing, unsteady simulation

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Authors: Saeed Talamkhani, Seyed Abolhassan Naeini

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In recent years, the occurrence of several liquefactions in sandy soils containing various values of clay content has shown that in addition to silty sands, clayey sands are also susceptible to liquefaction. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the properties of these soil compositions and their behavioral characteristics. This paper presents the effect of clay fines on the undrained shear strength of sands at various confining pressures. For this purpose, a series of unconsolidated undrained triaxial shear tests were carried out on clean sand and sand mixed with 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 percent of clay fines. It was found that the presence of clay particle in sandy specimens change the dilative behavior to contraction. The result also showed that increasing the clay fines up to 10 percent causes to increase the potential for liquefaction, and decreases it at higher values fine content. These results reveal the important role of clay particles in changing the undrained strength of the sandy soil.

Keywords: clayey sand, liquefaction, triaxial test, undrained shear strength

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Authors: Mathieu Bourdeau, Philippe Basset, Julien Waeytens, Elyes Nefzaoui

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As residential buildings account for a third of the overall energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, building energy modeling is an essential tool to reach energy efficiency goals. In the energy modeling process, calibration is a mandatory step to obtain accurate and reliable energy simulations. Nevertheless, the comparison between simulation results and the actual building energy behavior often highlights a significant performance gap. The literature discusses different origins of energy performance gaps, from building design to building operation. Then, building operation description in energy models, especially energy usages and users’ behavior, plays an important role in the reliability of simulations but is also the most accessible target for post-occupancy energy management and optimization. Therefore, the present study aims to discuss results on the calibration ofresidential building energy models using real operation data. Data are collected through a sensor network of more than 180 sensors and advanced energy meters deployed in three collective residential buildings undergoing major retrofit actions. The sensor network is implemented at building scale and in an eight-apartment sample. Data are collected for over one year and half and coverbuilding energy behavior – thermal and electricity, indoor environment, inhabitants’ comfort, occupancy, occupants behavior and energy uses, and local weather. Building energy simulations are performed using a physics-based building energy modeling software (Pleaides software), where the buildings’features are implemented according to the buildingsthermal regulation code compliance study and the retrofit project technical files. Sensitivity analyses are performed to highlight the most energy-driving building features regarding each end-use. These features are then compared with the collected post-occupancy data. Energy-driving features are progressively replaced with field data for a step-by-step calibration of the energy model. Results of this study provide an analysis of energy performance gap on an existing residential case study under deep retrofit actions. It highlights the impact of the different building features on the energy behavior and the performance gap in this context, such as temperature setpoints, indoor occupancy, the building envelopeproperties but also domestic hot water usage or heat gains from electric appliances. The benefits of inputting field data from an extensive instrumentation campaign instead of standardized scenarios are also described. Finally, the exhaustive instrumentation solution provides useful insights on the needs, advantages, and shortcomings of the implemented sensor network for its replicability on a larger scale and for different use cases.

Keywords: calibration, building energy modeling, performance gap, sensor network

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Authors: Pedro Henrique Alves Martins, Paulo Guilherme Ferreira De Siqueira, Franco De Castro Bubani, Maria Teresa Paulino Aguilar, Paulo Roberto Cetlin

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Cu-base shape-memory alloys (CuZnAl, CuAlNi, CuAlBe, etc.) are promising engineering materials for several unconventional devices, such as sensors, actuators, and mechanical vibration dampers. Brittleness is one of the factors that limit the commercial use of these alloys, as it makes thermomechanical processing difficult. In this work, a method for the hot extrusion of a 75.50% Cu, 16,74% Zn, 7,76% Al (weight %) alloy is presented. The effects of the thermomechanical processing in the microstructure and the pseudoelastic behavior of the alloy are assessed by optical metallography, compression and hardness tests. Results show that hot extrusion is a suitable method to obtain severe cross-section reductions in the CuZnAl shape-memory alloy studied. The alloy maintained its pseudoelastic effect after the extrusion and the modifications in the mechanical behavior caused by precipitation during hot extrusion can be minimized by a suitable precipitate dissolution heat treatment.

Keywords: hot extrusion, pseudoelastic, shape-memory alloy, thermomechanical processing

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Authors: Eleanor Sweeney, Chunyuan Di

Abstract:

The metaphors people use in everyday discourse do not arise randomly; rather, they develop from our physical experiences in our social and cultural environments. Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) explains that through metaphor, we apply our embodied understanding of the physical world to non-material concepts to understand and express abstract concepts. Our most productive source domains derive from our embodied understanding and allow us to develop primary metaphors, and from primary metaphors, an elaborate, creative world of culturally constructed complex metaphors. Cognitive Linguistics researchers draw upon individual embodied experience for primary metaphors. Socioculturally embodied experience through music has long furnished linguistic expressions in diverse languages, as conceptual metaphors or everyday expressions.  Can a socially embodied experience function in the same way as an individually embodied experience in the creation of conceptual metaphors? The authors argue that since music is inherently social and embodied, musical experiences function as a richly motivated source domain. The focus of this study is socially embodied musical experience which is then reflected and expressed through metaphors. This cross-linguistic study explores music as a source domain for metaphors of social alignment in English, French, and Chinese. The authors explored two public discourse sites, Facebook and Linguée, in order to collect linguistic metaphors from three different languages. By conducting this cross-linguistic study, cross-cultural similarities and differences in metaphors for which music is the source domain can be examined. Different musical elements, such as melody, speed, rhythm and harmony, are analyzed for their possible metaphoric meanings of social alignment. Our findings suggest that the general metaphor cooperation is music is a productive metaphor with some subcases, and that correlated social behaviors can be metaphorically expressed with certain elements in music. For example, since performance is a subset of the category behavior, there is a natural mapping from performance in music to behavior in social settings: social alignment is musical performance. Musical performance entails a collective social expectation that exerts control over individual behavior.  When individual behavior does not align with the collective social expectation, music-related expressions are often used to express how the individual is violating social norms. Moreover, when individuals do align their behavior with social norms, similar musical expressions are used. Cooperation is a crucial social value in all cultures, indeed it is a key element of survival, and music provides a coherent, consistent, and rich source domain—one based upon a universal and definitive cultural practice.

Keywords: Chinese, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, cross-linguistic, culturally embodied experience, English, French, metaphor, music

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