Testing of the fatigue strength along wood fibres at different moisture contents

Testing of the fatigue strength along wood fibres at different moisture contents. The paper determines the effect of wood moisture content on the fatigue strength in compression along fibres. The method of determining the maximum stress at the proportional limit was used for the measurements. Fatigue strength was investigated for three wood species: pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.), bearded birch (Betula pendula Roth.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies L.), with two moisture contents: close to the absolutely dry state and above the fibre saturation point. The ratio of fatigue strength to short term strength depends on moisture content and is similar for birch (70.3% in the dry state and 72.1% in the wet state), for oak (67.4% and 69.5% in both states) and for spruce (66.6% in the dry state and 68.1% in the wet state). The moisture content of the wood clearly influences the fatigue strength of the wood. On average, the fatigue strength of wood with moisture contents above the fibre saturation point constitutes about 0.20 of the fatigue strength of wood with moisture contents close to 0%. This tendency was found regardless of the tested species. The simplified method for testing fatigue strength at the limit of proportionality has shown its limited usefulness, requiring further analysis and comparison with other methods in order to be thoroughly tested and possibly improved.

Hydrological modeling of rainfall-runoff of the semi-arid Aguibat Ezziar watershed through the GR4J model

The management of water resources requires as a first step the modeling of rainfall-runoff. It allows simulating the hydrological behavior of the basin for a good evaluation of the potentiality of this in terms of water production. There are different hydrological models used for water resource assessment, but conceptual models are still the most used due to their simple structure and satisfactory performance. In this study, t he performances of the conceptual model of rainfall and runoff (GR4J) modeled under R with the AirGR package, are used to Aguibat Ezziar the subbasin of the Bouregreg basin in Morocco. The enormous amount of data required and the uncertainty of some of the m makes these models of limited usefulness. The GR4J model allows evaluation of the runoff rates and describes the hydrological behavior of the Aguibat Ezziar watershed, which presents the aim behind writing this paper. A period from 2003 to 2017 has been selected. This period has been divided into two parts: one for calibration (2003-2006), and one for validation (2013-2016). After the calibration of the model and following the performance obtained (Nash higher than 0.72) we can say that the GR4J model behaves well in the Aguibat Ezziar catchment area.

The Effect of Fraud Pentagon and F-Score Model in Detecting Fraudulent Financial Reporting in Indonesia

This study analyzes the effect of fraud pentagon and the efficacy of the F-score model in detecting fraudulent financial reporting in Indonesia. The sample used is the company’s annual report subject to Financial Service Authority (OJK) sanctions and a twofold comparative annual study from companies not subject to sanctions in the same reporting year and industry type. The sample was selected using a purposive sampling method. The data was analyzed using the logistic regression analysis. The test results prove that pressure, opportunity, and rationalization in the fraud pentagon can be used to detect bogus financial reporting. The results reveal that the F-score model is unsuitable for hypothesis testing; consequently, some variables should be eliminated. Therefore, the F-score model has limited usefulness in detecting counterfeit financial reporting in Indonesia. Keywords: F-Score, accounting fraud, fraud detection, fraud pentagon, fraudulent financial reporting

Biomarkers of Recent Cannabis Use in Blood, Oral Fluid and Breath

Proving driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) is difficult. Establishing a biomarker of recent use to supplement behavioral observations may be a useful alternative strategy. We determined whether cannabinoid concentrations in blood, oral fluid (OF), or breath could identify use within 3h, likely the period of greatest impairment. In a randomized trial, 191 frequent (≥4/week) and occasional (<4/week) cannabis users smoked one cannabis (placebo [0.02%], 5.9% or 13.4% THC) cigarette ad libitum. Blood, OF and breath samples were collected prior to and up to 6h after smoking. Samples were analyzed for 10 cannabinoids in OF, 8 in blood, and THC in breath. Frequent users had more residual THC in blood and were categorized as “recently used” prior to smoking; this did not occur in OF. Per se limits ranging from undetectable to 5 ng/mL THC in blood offered limited usefulness as biomarkers of recent use. Cannabinol (CBN, cutoff=1 ng/mL) in blood offered 100% specificity but only 31.4% sensitivity, resulting in 100% PPV and 94.0% NPV at 4.3% prevalence; but CBN may vary by cannabis chemovar. A 10 ng/mL THC cutoff in OF exhibited the overall highest performance to detect use within 3h (99.7% specificity, 82.4% sensitivity, 92.5% PPV, 99.2% NPV) but was still detectable in 23.2% of participants ~4.4h post smoking limiting specificity at later time points. OF THC may be a helpful indicator of recent cannabis intake, but this does not equate to impairment. Behavioral assessment of impairment is still required to determine DUIC. This study only involved cannabis inhalation and additional research evaluating alternative routes of ingestion (i.e., oral) is needed.

Pharmacotherapy for female nocturia

Background: In 2018, nocturia and nocturnal lower urinary tract function definitions were updated in a clinically and practically based consensus report by the International Continence Society Standardization Steering Committee. Previous research has suggested that the pathophysiology of nocturia has a multifactorial etiology, including obstructive sleep apnea, overactive bladder syndrome, diabetes mellitus, sleep disturbance, congestive heart failure, primary polydipsia, and other factors.Current Concepts: Three main mechanisms have been identified: low functional bladder capacity, nocturnal polyuria, and diurnal polyuria (24-hour polyuria). Multifactorial pathophysiology implies multiple possible targets for therapeutic intervention, and suggests that it is unlikely that one treatment modality, including drugs, will be successful in all patients. The bladder diary is the most important diagnostic tool.Discussion and Conclusion: Strong evidence supports the efficacy of desmopressin and continuous positive pressure breathing. Antimuscarinic drugs for treating nocturia display limited usefulness because of their low efficacy for nocturnal polyuria. Management of nocturia may require a multidisciplinary approach to visualization and phenotyping of patients for diagnosis and therapy.

Extraterritorial Bulk Surveillance after the German BND Act Judgment

Foreign surveillance as a means of circumventing existing legal safeguards – Different perspectives on the problem of the extraterritorial application of fundamental rights in US and EU legal models – The limited usefulness of effective control tests for establishing the responsibility of states for action taken in cyberspace – Judgment of Bundesverfassungsgericht in the BND Act case as an interpretative guideline for the regulation of foreign surveillance in EU member states – Electronic surveillance as a threat to European integration process.

Two worlds colliding: Offenders’ rehabilitation and victims’ protection through mutual recognition of probation measures

Framework Decision 2008/947/JHA explicitly combines offenders’ rehabilitation with other purposes, such as the improvement of the protection of victims. This article provides one of the first analysis of the aim of ‘victim protection’ in the Framework Decision and of its limited usefulness. The relationship between victims’ right after sentencing and the transfer of probation measures reveals a contradictory system unable to coordinate victims’ protection and compensation and offenders’ social rehabilitation.

Randomised preconditioning for the forcing formulation of weak constraint 4D-Var

<p>There is growing awareness that errors in the model equations cannot be ignored in data assimilation methods such as four-dimensional variational assimilation (4D-Var). If allowed for, more information can be extracted from observations, longer time windows are possible, and the minimization process is easier, at least in principle. Weak constraint 4D-Var estimates the model error and minimizes a series of linear least-squares cost functions using the conjugate gradient (CG) method; minimising each cost function is called an inner loop. CG needs preconditioning to improve its performance. In previous work, limited memory preconditioners (LMPs) have been constructed using approximations of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the Hessian in the previous inner loop. If the Hessian changes signicantly in consecutive inner loops, the LMP may be of limited usefulness. To circumvent this, we propose using randomised methods for low rank eigenvalue decomposition and use these approximations to cheaply construct LMPs using information from the current inner loop. Three randomised methods are compared. Numerical experiments in idealized systems show that the resulting LMPs perform better than the existing LMPs. Using these methods may allow more efficient and robust implementations of incremental weak constraint 4D-Var.</p>