Behaviour of Helical Pile connectors for New Foundations

Despite the wide application of the connections between slender pile types, which end with a mono steel bar at the ground level (e.g. helical piles and micro piles), and new reinforced concrete foundations with limited width (e.g. RC grade beams) in the piling industry in North America, neither a clear understanding of the connections\u27 behaviour nor a specific design criteria for their implementation is presented. The main goal of this research was to clearly understand the behaviour of these connections and their failure mechanism under monotonic and cyclic loadings. The research methodology involved conducting experimental tests on 33 full-scale pile-foundation connections subjected to tension, compression, and shear loadings. The experimental results were used to calibrate a three-dimensional nonlinear finite element model that accurately simulated the structural behaviour and captured the possible failure modes of these connections. Based on the findings from the experimental and numerical investigations, analytical equations were developed to determine the connection capacity. Both the experimental and the numerical investigations confirmed that it is unsafe to ignore the connection capacity in the foundation design considering only the grade beam capacity. It was shown that the connection behaviour under tension and compression loadings can be represented by the behaviour of the reinforced concrete beams subjected to indirect shear loading, while the connection behaviour under shear loading can be represented by the behaviour of cast-in-place headed anchors subjected to shear loading. The connection behaviour was mainly affected by the concrete compressive strength, the pile embedment depth, the beam\u27s reinforcement, the pile cap configurations, and some other variables depending on the type of loading. Cyclic compression loading had a limited effect on the connection behaviour, while alternating cyclic shear loading had a major effect on the connection behaviour. The developed connection design equations took into consideration the main factors affecting the connection behaviour under different cases of loading including cyclic loading and they were consistent with the recorded results from the experimental and numerical investigations. Finally, the research objectives were achieved by providing a design aid and design precautions for helical pile-RC grade beam connections design

Measuring the Role of Auditor Governance and its Impact on the Gap Credibility of Accounting Information

The study aimed at measuring the role of auditor governance and its effect on the gap credibility of accounting information; that was done from the point of view of auditors in licensed offices in Jordan. To achieve this goal, the researcher dealt with two kinds of data; those were the secondary and the primary ones. A questionnaire was distributed to the sample which included 261 auditors working at the offices included in the study. It was found that there was an effect for the governance mechanisms for the auditors (auditors' independency, auditors' commitment to auditing standards, auditors' commitment to the job behavior rules, and auditors' commitment to the quality control standards) on the accounting information credibility gap from the point of the auditors. Keywords: Auditor governance, Corporate Governance, Gap Credibility of Accounting Information.

Hydroboration of Methyl Esters of Fatty Acids

Hydroboration addition reactions of a boron atom, and hydrogen over unsaturated, have been widely studied. They have excellent access routes to organoborans which have proven to be a very useful synthetic intermediate (Brown et al.; Matteson, 1987; Smith, 1994). The bill might be on one or other of the two carbons of the unsaturation. It is carried out preferentially along the least congested carbon (anti-Markownikov addition). This regioselectivity can be changed against steric effects (Brown & Zweifel, 1960; Brown & Sharp, 1968; Brown et al., 1974). The existence of two active sites in methyl esters of fatty acids, FAME: the carbon-carbon unsaturation and the ester, make their hydroboration reactions more difficult to achieve. However, it has been demonstrated that reducing the ester groups is much slower than that of olefins (Brown & Keblys, 1964). By using suitable operating conditions, it is possible to limit this secondary reaction and to obtain a selective reaction of carboncarbon double bond (Fore & Bickford, 1959). Others have protecting ester function by a silyl group in order to have a single reactive site (Kabalka & Bierer, 1989)

Self-Organized Disjoint Service Placement in Future Mobile Communication Networks

Future mobile communication networks will offer many ubiquitous services to its clients such as voice and video communication, access to data and files, use of virtual resources in cloud, etc. The provision of these services will have to face the different challenges posed by future wireless networks such as changing network topology, variable load conditions, clients’ distribution, QoS requirements etc. is a very difficult task and requires a high degree of self-organization in network operations. One important problem in this context is the self-organized service placement which refers to the problem of finding optimal nodes in the network that are most suitable for hosting a particular service type. An optimal placement of a service and its instances (replicas) not only minimizes the service costs but also reduces the overall network traffic and improves connectivity between clients and servers. This paper proposes a novel network service called Self-Organized Disjoint Service Placement (SO-DSP) service which manages other network services and their instances in order to achieve overall network optimization while keeping the individual service’s quality at the same level for its clients. The clients of SO-DSP are not the end-users of the network but the offered network service

Nonlinear estimation of coupling and directionality between signals: Application to uterine EMG propagation.

International audienceUnderstanding the direction and quantity of information flowing in a complex system is a fundamental task in signal processing. Several measures have been proposed to detect the quantity of synchronization and the directionality between time series and in physiological data. In this paper we use two methods that are widely used in synchronization and directionality analysis: Nonlinear correlation coefficient (h(2)) and the general synchronization (H). The performances of both methods were tested on four dimensional coupled synthetic nonlinear Rössler models. They were then applied to a single real labor contraction uterine EMG burst with the aim of using them to detect synchronization and to plot the map of direction of information flow between the whole signal channels. The results on synthetic signal show a slight superiority of H over h(2). The results obtained on a single contraction are encouraging for the future use of these tools for resolving the open question of the directionality of uterine contractions and may provide a way of finding their source loci

A Weakly Supervised Classifier and Dataset of White Supremacist Language

We present a dataset and classifier for detecting the language of white supremacist extremism, a growing issue in online hate speech. Our weakly supervised classifier is trained on large datasets of text from explicitly white supremacist domains paired with neutral and anti-racist data from similar domains. We demonstrate that this approach improves generalization performance to new domains. Incorporating anti-racist texts as counterexamples to white supremacist language mitigates bias.Comment: ACL 2023 shor

Determinanții sociali la pacienții cu tuberculoză pulmonară

Introduction. People with social vulnerability, such as those without a place for living, migrants, unemployed, and marginalized by addictive behaviors have a high risk for tuberculosis. Objective of the study. The aim of the study was to assess the distribution of the social determinants in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Material and methods. A retrospective, selective, longitudinal study was performed that included 419 patients diagnosed with tuberculosis and registered with a socially vulnerable state in Chisinau during 2017-2019. Results. According to the sex distribution, it was identified that the ratio men/ women consisted 3.5/1; the age group of 35-54 years was prevailed with 226 (54%) cases, followed by the age group of 18-35 years with 125 (30%) cases and the group of 55+ years – with 56 (16%) cases. Unemployed were 328 (78%), low level of education had 342 (82%) cases and poor living conditions had 281 (67%) cases. There were in detention 41 (9%) cases and recently migrated were 53 (13%) cases. Harmful habits such as chronic alcoholism had 61 (15%) cases and patients who are addicted to drugs – 7 (2%) cases. HIV/AIDS was diagnosed in 52 (12%) cases, mental disorders – in 14 (5%) cases, malnourished were 32 (7.6%) patients, undernourished – 28% cases. 48 (11%) cases were in tuberculosis contact. Conclusions. The social determinants of the patients with pulmonary tuberculosis were dominated by unemployment, low level of education and poor living conditions, which often were associated with harmful habits, TB contact, undernourished and HIV-infection.Introducere. Persoanele cu vulnerabilitate socială, precum cele fără loc de trai, marginalizate prin comportamente adictive și migranți constituie un risc sporit de îmbolnăvire de tuberculoză. Scopul. Scopul a fost de a evalua distribuția determinanților sociali la pacienții cu tuberculoză pulmonară. Material și metode. A fost efectuat un studiu retrospectiv, selectiv, descriptiv care a inclus 419 pacienți diagnosticați cu tuberculoză pulmonară și care au fost înregistrați cu un statut social vulnerabil în Chișinău în perioada 2017-2019. Rezultate. Distribuind pacienții în dependență de sex, am identificat că raportul bărbați/femei a constituit 3,5/1, a predominat grupul de vârstă 35-54 ani cu 226 (54%) cazuri, urmat de grupul de vârstă 18-35 ani cu 125 (30%) cazuri și grupul de vârstă 55+ ani – cu 56 (16%) cazuri. Șomeri au constituit 328 (78%) cazuri, nivelul scăzut de studii au avut 342 (82%) cazuri, condiții de viață sărace – 281 (67%) cazuri. Au fost în detenție 41 (9%) cazuri și au migrat recent 53 (13%) cazuri. Deprinderi nocive ca alcoolism cronic au avut 61 (15%) cazuri și au utilizat droguri 7 (2%) pacienți. HIV/SIDA s-a diagnosticat la 52 (12%) pacienți, tulburări psihice – la 14 (5%) cazuri, malnutriți au fost 32 (7,6%) pacienți și subnutriți – 28% cazuri. În contact tuberculos au fost 48 (11%) cazuri. Concluzii. Determinanții sociali la pacienții cu tuberculoză pulmonară au fost dominați de șomaj, nivel redus de școlarizare, condiții nesatisfăcătoare de trai, care frecvent s-au asociat cu deprinderi nocive, contactul tuberculos, subnutriția și infecția HIV