Rumor Stance Classification in Online Social Networks: A Survey on the State-of-the-Art, Prospects, and Future Challenges

The emergence of the Internet as a ubiquitous technology has facilitated the rapid evolution of social media as the leading virtual platform for communication, content sharing, and information dissemination. In spite of revolutionizing the way news used to be delivered to people, this technology has also brought along with itself inevitable demerits. One such drawback is the spread of rumors facilitated by social media platforms which may provoke doubt and fear upon people. Therefore, the need to debunk rumors before their wide spread has become essential all the more. Over the years, many studies have been conducted to develop effective rumor verification systems. One aspect of such studies focuses on rumor stance classification, which concerns the task of utilizing users' viewpoints about a rumorous post to better predict the veracity of a rumor. Relying on users' stances in rumor verification task has gained great importance, for it has shown significant improvements in the model performances. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive literature review on rumor stance classification in complex social networks. In particular, we present a thorough description of the approaches and mark the top performances. Moreover, we introduce multiple datasets available for this purpose and highlight their limitations. Finally, some challenges and future directions are discussed to stimulate further relevant research efforts.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, journa

Ground Improvement of Dhu Al-Kifil Minaret Using Micropile and Cement Grouting

The Minaret of Dhu Al-Kifil Nabi (PBUH), located in the city of Kifil with a height of about 25 meters, is one of the historical monuments of Iraq. The 4.5 degree deviation of this Minaret has become a challenge for authorities in recent years. Various reasons, such as the old age of the building and manipulation of the soil of the minaret bed, damage the structure and have caused it to deviate from the vertical direction and form cracks at its height. A temporary metal retaining structure is currently constructed on the site to maintain the building in its current state. Still, in order to remove it and repair the body and foundation of the Minaret, the designs have been carried out by Iranian engineering groups. After that, its strengthening operations have also finished. In this article, after the introduction of the project, the analytical and numerical results of the bed improvement plan using the combination of inclined and vertical micropiles are presented. Finally, the reliability of the plan in controlling the heterogeneous settlement of the Minaret is assessed

Excavation Support and Foundation Ground Improvement Using Jet Grouting Method – A Case Study

One of the soil improvement methods is using soil-cement columns, and one of the most common methods of implementing these columns is the Jet grouting method. In this article, the performance of Jet grouting columns in soil improvement and excavation wall stabilization is investigated in a project located in Chalous, north of Iran, by implementing several experimental soil-cement columns in real scale at depths of 4, 8, and 15 meters and diameter of 80 cm. By comparing the soil settlement before and after the improvement, it was found that the average settlement, which was in the range of 186 mm before the improvement, reached about 68 mm after the improvement using the jet grouting method. It has been observed that the settlement of the foundation has been significantly reduced after improving the ground with soil-cement columns. On the other hand, the results of this study showed that this method has also been very effective in stabilizing the excavation walls. The maximum displacement of the crest of the wall is about 3.4 cm, and the maximum settlement behind the wall is limited to 12 mm

Polyurethane composite adsorbent using solid phase extraction method for preconcentration of metal ion from aqueous solution

Polyurethane composite adsorbent polymeric material was prepared and investigated for selected solid-phase extraction for metal ions, prior to its determination by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. The surface characterisation was done using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The separation and preconcentration conditions of the analytes investigated includes influence of pH, sample loading flow rate, elution flow rate, type and concentration of eluents. The optimum pH for the highest efficient recoveries for all metal ions, which ranged from 70 to 85 %, is pH 7. The metal ions were quantitatively eluted with 5 mL of 2 mol/L HNO3. Common coexisting ions did not interfere with the separation. The percentage recovery of the metal ions ranged between 70 and 89 %, while the results for the limit of detection and limit of quantification ranged from 0.249 to 0.256 and 0.831 to 0.855, respectively. The experimental tests showed good preconcentration results of trace levels of metal ions using synthesised polyurethane polymer adsorbent composite

Removal of nickel(II) and palladium(II) from surface waters

A new sorbent was prepared using alumina and 5-Br-PADAP, and its adsorption ability for the removal of Ni(II) and Pd(II) from different waters was investigated. The procedure is based on retention of the analytes on the alumina load with 5-Br-PADAP at pH ~ 6. The separation/preconcentration conditions for the quantitative recoveries were investigated. The limit of detections (LOD) based on three times the standard deviations of the blank, were 0.187 and 0.253 ng mL^-1 for Ni(II) and Pd(II), respectively. Obtained sorption capacities for 1 g sorbent were 6.0 mg Ni(II) and 11.0 mg Pd(II). The linearity was maintained in the concentration range of 0.625 to 6.0 ng mL^-1 for Ni(II) and 0.416 to 7.0 ng mL^-1 for Pd(II) in the original solution. Eight replicate determinations of a mixture containing 2.0 µg mL^-1 each of the elements in the final solution gave relative standard deviation of ±0.82 and ±1.12% for Ni(II) and Pd(II), respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination trace amounts of Ni(II) and Pd(II) in the surface water samples.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v27i1.

Excavation Support and Foundation Ground Improvement Using Jet Grouting Method – A Case Study

One of the soil improvement methods is using soil-cement columns, and one of the most common methods of implementing these columns is the Jet grouting method. In this article, the performance of Jet grouting columns in soil improvement and excavation wall stabilization is investigated in a project located in Chalous, north of Iran, by implementing several experimental soil-cement columns in real scale at depths of 4, 8, and 15 meters and diameter of 80 cm. By comparing the soil settlement before and after the improvement, it was found that the average settlement, which was in the range of 186 mm before the improvement, reached about 68 mm after the improvement using the jet grouting method. It has been observed that the settlement of the foundation has been significantly reduced after improving the ground with soil-cement columns. On the other hand, the results of this study showed that this method has also been very effective in stabilizing the excavation walls. The maximum displacement of the crest of the wall is about 3.4 cm, and the maximum settlement behind the wall is limited to 12 mm

Ground Improvement of Dhu Al-Kifil Minaret Using Micropile and Cement Grouting

The Minaret of Dhu Al-Kifil Nabi (PBUH), located in the city of Kifil with a height of about 25 meters, is one of the historical monuments of Iraq. The 4.5 degree deviation of this Minaret has become a challenge for authorities in recent years. Various reasons, such as the old age of the building and manipulation of the soil of the minaret bed, damage the structure and have caused it to deviate from the vertical direction and form cracks at its height. A temporary metal retaining structure is currently constructed on the site to maintain the building in its current state. Still, in order to remove it and repair the body and foundation of the Minaret, the designs have been carried out by Iranian engineering groups. After that, its strengthening operations have also finished. In this article, after the introduction of the project, the analytical and numerical results of the bed improvement plan using the combination of inclined and vertical micropiles are presented. Finally, the reliability of the plan in controlling the heterogeneous settlement of the Minaret is assessed

Hospital nurses� disaster competencies

Background: Natural and man-made disasters have significant effects on the physical, psychological, and emotional health of society. Nurses play an essential role in disaster management. Therefore, nurses should have specific core competencies to provide care for affected people during disaster situations. Objectives: This study aimed to assess hospital nurses� disaster competencies in such situations. Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted using a self-report questionnaire that included 50 questions on NCDS (Nurse Competence Disaster Scale) in four domains. The questionnaires were distributed among 142 nurses working in three teaching hospitals in Kerman, Iran, in 2018. Results: The average percentage scores of nurses on their responses to questions in the domains of management, ethical aspects, personal aspects, and technical aspects of disaster competencies were 39.76, 19.53, 32.02, and 75.06, respectively. In multiple regression analysis, nurses� participation in maneuvers and their work experience exerted the strongest influence on disaster nursing core competencies. Nurses who had practice during maneuvers had higher competency scores by 19.63 units than those who had no practice (p=0.0001). Moreover, the competency scores of nurses with more than 11 years of work experience were higher by 11.42 units than the others (p=0.0001). Conclusion: According to the results of the current study, strategies such as disaster drills and continuing education programs need to be developed for nurses to improve their disaster core competency. © 2020 The Author(s)