• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.193-202
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• 2017

The study estimated the relationship between carbon dioxide, crop and livestock production index in Ghana: Estimating the long-run elasticities and variance decomposition by employing a time series data spanning from 1960-2013 using both fit regression and ARDL models. There was evidence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between carbon dioxide emissions, crop production index and livestock production index. Evidence from the study shows that a 1% increase in crop production index will increase carbon dioxide emissions by 0.52%, while a 1% increase in livestock production index will increase carbon dioxide emissions by 0.81% in the long-run. There was evidence of a bidirectional causality between a crop production index and carbon dioxide emissions and a unidirectional causality exists from livestock production index to carbon dioxide emissions. Evidence from the variance decomposition shows that 37% of future fluctuations in carbon dioxide emissions are due to shocks in the crop production index while 18% of future fluctuations in carbon dioxide emissions are due to shocks in the livestock production index. Efforts towards reducing pre-production, production, transportation, processing and post-harvest losses are essential to reducing food wastage which affects Ghana's carbon footprint.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.8
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• pp.353-360
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• 2020

The main aim of study is to identify the factors that affect the purchasing intention of young adults. The reference group is an important factor in determining the underlying causes of young adults' purchasing intentions. However, the literature states that young adults prefer to buy brands they trust in order to eliminate the risks that may arise when buying products they may not know. Moving from this perspective, the study proposes a conceptual model that including structural relationships between brand trust, reference group, and purchasing intention. The study aims to contribute to the literature by discussing the moderator role of brand trust in this structure. A series of hypotheses are tested via a survey completed by 749 young people between the ages of 20 and 30 living in Istanbul, Turkey. The data were analyzed with IBM SPSS-23 and AMOS-18 program. In addition to descriptive, reliability, and factor (exploratory and confirmatory) analysis, hierarchical regression analysis was performed to test the research hypotheses. The results show that the reference group positively influences the purchasing intention, and brand trust plays a moderating role in this relationship. The findings are discussed and some practical suggestions are made for mobile phone manufacturers.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.78-86
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of abdominal aroma massage on constipation in college women with functional constipation. Methods: The participants were 24 college women residing in a dormitory of D college located in Gangwon Province. Thirteen were selected for the abdominal aroma massage group (experimental) and 11 for the simple abdominal massage group (control). The experimental treatment was abdominal aroma massage given 5 days a week for 2 weeks. The aroma massage was given using aroma oil mixed with lemon, lavender, rosemary, and cyprus with carrier oil. Weekly defecation frequency, length of time for defecation, and constipation assessment score were measured before the treatment and at 1 week, and 2 weeks after the treatment. Effects of the treatment were tested using repeated measures ANOVA with the SPSS program. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups, but there was a significant difference within the experimental group in length of time for defecation (1st and 2nd week) and in constipation assessment score (2nd week). Conclusion: Results of this study indicate that abdominal aroma massage is useful in relieving constipation and can contribute to the reduction of use of stool softeners, suppositories, or enemas. after different duration of experiment.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.317-330
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• 2021

This paper reports the results of advanced data analysis involving artificial neural networks for the prediction of the unconfined compressive strength of granite using only two non-destructive test indexes. A data-independent site-independent unbiased database comprising 182 datasets from non-destructive tests reported in the literature was compiled and used to train and develop artificial neural networks for the prediction of the unconfined compressive strength of granite. The results show that the optimum artificial network developed in this research predicts the unconfined compressive strength of weak to very strong granites (20.3-198.15 MPa) with less than ±20% deviation from the experimental data for 70% of the specimen and significantly outperforms a number of available models available in the literature. The results also raise interesting questions with regards to the suitability of the Pearson correlation coefficient in assessing the prediction accuracy of models.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.433-444
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• 2022

Concrete's compressive strength is widely studied in order to understand many qualities and the grade of the concrete mixture. Conventional civil engineering tests involve time and resources consuming laboratory operations which results in the deterioration of concrete samples. Proposing efficient non-destructive models for the prediction of concrete compressive strength will certainly yield advancements in concrete studies. In this study, the efficiency of using radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) which is not common in this field, is studied for the concrete compressive strength prediction. Complementary studies with back propagation neural network (BPNN), which is commonly used in this field, have also been carried out in order to verify the efficiency of RBFNN for compressive strength prediction. A total of 13 input parameters, including novel ones such as cement's and fly ash's compositional information, have been employed in the prediction models with RBFNN and BPNN since all these parameters are known to influence concrete strength. Three different train: test ratios were tested with both models, while different hidden neurons, epochs, and spread values were introduced to determine the optimum parameters for yielding the best prediction results. Prediction results obtained by RBFNN are observed to yield satisfactory high correlation coefficients and satisfactory low mean square error values when compared to the results in the previous studies, indicating the efficiency of the proposed model.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.141-168
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• 2012

The Retrofit Yield Spectrum (RYS) is a new spectrum-based device that relates seismic demand of a retrofitted structure with the fundamental design parameters of the retrofit. This is obtained from superposition of Yield Point Spectra with design charts that summarize in pertinent spectrum-compatible coordinates the attributes of a number of alternative retrofit scenarios. Therefore, once the requirements for upgrading a given structure have been determined, the RYS enable direct insight of the sensitivity of the seismic response of the upgraded structure to the preliminary design decisions made while establishing the retrofit plan. By virtue of their spectrum-based origin, RYS are derived with reference to a single mode of structural vibration; a primary objective is to control the contribution of this mode in the retrofit design so as to produce a desirable distribution of damage at the ultimate limit state by removing soft storey formations and engaging the maximum number of structural members in deformation, in response to the input motion. Calculations are performed with reference to the yield-point, where secant stiffness is proportional to the flexural strength of reinforced concrete members. Derivation and use of the Retrofit Yield Spectra (RYS) refers to the seismic demand expressed either in terms of spectral acceleration, spectral displacement or interstory drift, at yield of the first storey. A reinforced concrete building that has been tested in full scale to a sequence of simulated earthquake excitations is used in the paper as a demonstration case study to examine the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.831-849
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• 2015

Seismic-design procedures for walls require that the confinement in the critical (plastic hinge) regions should extend over a length in the compression zone of the cross section at the wall base where concrete strains in the Ultimate Limit State (ULS) exceed the limit of 0.0035. In a performance-based framework, confinement is linked to required curvature ductility so that the drift demand at the performance point of the structure for the design earthquake may be met. However, performance of flexural walls in the recent earthquakes in Chile (2010) and Christchurch (2011) indicates that the actual compression strains in the critical regions of many structural walls were higher than estimated, being responsible for several of the reported failures by toe crushing. In this study, the method of estimating the confined region and magnitude of compression strain demands in slender walls are revisited. The objective is to account for a newly identified kinematic interaction between the normal strains that arise in the compression zone, and the lumped rotations that occur at the other end of the wall base due to penetration of bar tension yielding into the supporting anchorage. Design charts estimating the amount of yield penetration in terms of the resulting lumped rotation at the wall base are used to quantify the increased demands for compression strain in the critical section. The estimated strain increase may exceed by more than 30% the base value estimated from the existing design expressions, which explains the frequently reported occurrence of toe crushing even in well confined slender walls under high drift demands. Example cases are included in the presentation to illustrate the behavioral parametric trends and implications in seismic design of walls.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.279-292
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• 2018

Inspired by the energy harvesting eel, a flexible flag behind a D-shape cylinder in a uniform viscous flow was simulated by using the immersed boundary method (IBM) along with low-speed wind tunnel experimentation. The flag in the wake of the cylinder was strongly influenced by the vortices shed from the upstream cylinder under the vortex-vortex and vortex-body interactions. Geometric and flow parameters were optimized for the flexible flag subjected to passive flapping. The influence of length and bending coefficient of the flexible flag, the diameters (D) of the cylinder and the streamwise spacing between the cylinder and the flag, on the energy generation was examined. Constructive and destructive vortex interaction modes, unidirectional and bidirectional bending and the different flapping frequency were found which explained the variations in the energy of the downstream flag. Voltage output and flapping behavior of the flag were also observed experimentally to find a more direct relationship between the bending of the flag and its power generation.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.532-539
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• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of nutrition education received by fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in state schools in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus, on their students. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The aim of this study is to assess the effect of nutrition education received by fourth- and fifth-grade teachers (n = 27) in state schools in Famagusta on their students. Participants (n = 718) were selected through a regional pilot scheme. The teachers were instructed on nutrition by the researcher and provided with a researcher-prepared nutrition education book "I Am Learning about Healthy Nutrition". Before receiving their nutrition education, the teachers were pretested to assess their baseline nutrition knowledge. Following receipt of their nutrition education, a posttest, which included the same questions as those in the pretest, was administered to the teachers to assess the effectiveness of the training session. Similarly, students were asked pretest researcher-prepared questions to evaluate their baseline nutrition knowledge level. The teachers were then given a period of three to four weeks to instruct the students in nutrition education. Following this instructional period, a posttest that included the same questions as those in the pretest was administered to the students. RESULTS: The results showed that there were significant differences between the pre- and posttest scores of both teachers and students; in both groups, the nutrition knowledge level increased (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results show that the provision of nutrition education training to teachers positively affected the nutrition knowledge level of both teachers and students.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.387-395
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• 2020

This study has been carried out in two-phases to develop Fiber Reinforced Self-Compacting Concrete (FRSCC) performance. In the first phase, the composition of the quaternary composite binder compromised CEM I 42.5N (58-70%), Rice Husk Ash (25-37%), quartz sand (2.5-7.5%) and limestone crushing waste (2.5-7.5%) were optimized. And in the second phase, the effect of two fiber types (steel brass-plated and basalt) was investigated on the SCC optimized with the optimum CB as disperse reinforcement at 6 different ratios of 1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, and 2.0% by weight of mix for each type. In this study, the theoretical principles of the synthesis of self-compacting dispersion-reinforced concrete have been developed which consists of optimizing structure-formation processes through the use of a mineral modifier, together with ground crushed cement in a vario-planetary mill to a specific surface area of 550 m2 / kg. The amorphous silica in the modifier composition intensifies the binding of calcium hydroxide formed during the hydration of C3S, helps reduce the basicity of the cement-composite, while reducing the growth of portlandite crystals. Limestone particles contribute to the formation of calcium hydrocarbonate and, together with fine ground quartz sand; act as microfiller, clogging the pores of the cement. Furthermore, the results revealed that the effect of fiber addition improves the mechanical properties of FRSCC. It was found that the steel fiber performed better than basalt fiber on tensile strength and modulus of elasticity; however, both fibers have the same performance on the first crack strength and sample destruction of FRSCC. It also illustrates that there will be an optimum percentage of fiber addition.