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Abstract
This study aimed to examine the frequency of reading strategy use among EFL high school students and the relationship between their strategy use and reading comprehension achievement. The research sample consisted of 328 EFL students from four high schools in Central Vietnam. Data collection was carried out using three primary instruments: a questionnaire, follow-up interviews, and two reading comprehension tests. The findings revealed that most participants expressed a generally positive attitude toward the use of reading strategies. However, their actual use of these strategies was found to be limited during the reading process. Moreover, the study identified a significant correlation between the frequency of reading strategy use and students’ reading performance: students who employed reading strategies more frequently achieved higher reading scores. Based on these findings, several pedagogical implications were proposed for both EFL students and teachers, aimed at enhancing the teaching and learning of reading skills in EFL contexts.
 

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Despite the particular importance of the subject of soil-structure interaction, unfortunately, this issue has received little attention from engineers, and seismic codes have not given much recommendation to consider its effects. Seismic wave frequencies vary continuously, and the stiffness of springs and damping of dampers connected to structural supports also vary with the loading frequency. To simplify time-domain numerical analysis, a constant target frequency can be used to keep stiffness and damping values constant. In the substructure method proposed in this study, the optimal target frequency is the one that yields results that most closely match those of a more accurate nonlinear 3D model analyzed using a direct method. A common simplification is to ignore the foundation’s non-linear response, justified by design requirements to prevent permanent deformation and the complexity of frequency-dependent soil behavior. Though not fully precise, this approach (considering soil heterogeneity and optimal target frequency) offers a forward-looking analysis and a basis for future nonlinear studies. This study presents a three-dimensional (3D) numerical model for analyzing the seismic response of soil-foundation-structure systems embedded in granular soil (with different relative densities) considering the effects of soil heterogeneity (With varying shear modulus with depth and compatible with the practical HSsmall model). The model is capable of accounting for the effects of loading frequency along with the radiation damping of the soil system and can integrate with the widely-used substructuring method considering an optimal target frequency. After verifying the proposed model, the dynamic equilibrium equations of the substructuring system were solved in the time domain using Matlab software. The target frequency was determined using i) Case 1: the fundamental frequency of the soil (or the dominant frequency of the excitations), ii) Case 2: the fundamental frequency of the structural system, iii) Case 3: the fundamental frequency of the soil-foundation-structure system; iv) Case 4: the fundamental frequency of structure with static stiffness and damping support (Case 4); and v) the fundamental frequency of fixed base structure and modified stiffness, and the results were compared together. A comparison of the impedance (dynamic stiffness and damping) of foundations situated on homogeneous and heterogeneous soil, as well as an investigation of the structural response in both cases, is another objective of this research. The analysis results demonstrated the accuracy of the proposed model and the acceptable calculation speed for estimating the dynamic response of structures located on heterogeneous soils under frequent operational earthquakes. The results also showed that with an increase in soil relative density, the seismic behavior of structures on homogeneous and heterogeneous granular soils converges. For instance, the response of the foundation on homogeneous soil bed with relative densities of 55%, 75%, and 95% is on average 23%, 19%, and 15% lower than that of heterogeneous soil, respectively. Additionally, for determining the target frequency, the use of frequency‐independent Kelvin–Voigt models (i.e., Cases 1-5) provides acceptable responses. According to the data presented in Table 4 and Figs. 9 and 10, the following conclusions can be drawn: 1) The soil's fundamental frequency (Case 1) yielded the least precise results. 2) While Case 3 offered the most favorable response, closely matching the direct method, determining the soil-structure system's fundamental frequency through complex integration in numerical software is often impractical. 3) Employing the target frequency in Case 2 produced more satisfactory results than Case 1. 4) Cases 4 and 5 generated nearly identical frequencies. Compared to Case 2, these cases enhanced response accuracy, bringing them closer to the best response (i.e., Case 3). Therefore, for practical applications, it is recommended to utilize the fundamental frequency from either Case 4 or Case 5 instead of the soil-structure system's fundamental frequency (Case 3) to establish the optimal target frequency.
 

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adopted here is Social Distance Theory. According to this view, the more social distance among people the less they influence each other. From this viewpoint an increase in social distance among kinsfolk leads to a decrease in mutual influence and this, in turn, affect the emigration tendency. This study is aimed at the investigation of the relationship between kinship solidarity and emigration tendency among educated people. The theoretical framework Based on this theoretical foundation, we have suggested that 4 main variables, the size of kinship network, the strength of kinship relationship, the frequency of kinship relationship, and the profundity of kinship relationship, have negative influences on educated people’s tendency to emigrate. A sample of social sciences and electrical engineering students of the University of Tehran has been surveyed and the empirical data have been analysed both in description and explanation levels. The results indicate that all of the above mentioned variables affect emigration tendency negatively and significantly. Also, our findings suggest that, generally speaking, a negative correlation between the above independent variables and dependent variable of emigration tendency is predictable. In particular, two variables (the strength of kinship relationship, and the profundity of kinship relationship) explain 35% of variances of dependent variable of the tendency to emigrate.

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To identify the fungi associated with foot and root rot of wheat in the Khuzestan province, diseased samples were collected at all growth stages in three growing seasons of 2004-2007. Pieces of infected parts of the root and foot were surface sterilized and cultured on acidic and non acidic PDA media. One hundred and fifteen isolates were obtained and on the basis of macroscopic and microscopic characters and valid keys were identified as Fusarium solani, F. equiseti, F. moniliforme, F. subglutinans, F. sambucinum, F. culmorum, F. proliferatum, F. pseudograminearum, F. longipes, F. avenacium, F. nygamai, F. semitectum, F. lateritium, Rhizoctonia solani, Bipolaris sorokiniana and Pythium sp. F. equiseti, F. solani and F. culmorum with occurrence frequencies of 16.07, 16.07 and 12.5 % respectively were more frequent than all other species. Results of Pathogenicity tests indicated that F. pseudograminearum and F.culmorum were the main fungi associated with wheat root and crown rot disease in khuzestan while other Fusarium spp. such as F. equiseti are probably aggravated by moisture stress at different growth stages of crop due to poor irrigation management. Rhizoctonia solani with occurrence frequency of 8.03 % in some regions such as Ahvaz, Shoush, Shoushtar and Baghmalek was important agent of crown and root rot of wheat second to Fusarium species. Bipolaris sorokiniana and Pythium sp also caused crown and root rot but with less frequency percent.  

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One of the important problems in Structuralist narratology is the relation between narrative and time and the manifestation of time in narrative.Some philosophers such as Paul Ricour believe that understanding time in an abstract form is very difficult but the action in narrative makes the time objective and concrete.According to Structuralists’ analysis, time, -with causality- is one of the essential components in developing the narrative.In addition, every narrative text has two times:the narrative’s signifier time ( the time it takes a reader to read a narrative text) and the narrative’s signified time ( the time taken up by the events of the narrative).The Structuralists, especially Genette, have posed three issues regarding the time in narrative: 1- Order,i.e.the way the events in the narrative are ordered and presented 2- Duration,i.e.the relation between the length of time of the story and the time of the speech or the signifier of the narrative 3- Frequency,i.e.the number of times an event occurs and the number of times that event is narrated.In addition,at the end of the article, different kinds of relations between the time of occurance of the events in the narrative and the time of their narration by the narrator are examined.

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The main purpose of this research is experimental and theoretical study on demulsifying components effect on demulsification rate of water-in-oil emulsions. In other words, some surfactants is considered and their function as a demulsifier in breaking crude oil emulsions has been investigated by bottle test. To develop a theoretical model to take into account the effect of demulsifier agent on demulsification rate of water-in-oil emulsion. Considering similarity between gas adsorption, and agent adsorption on the water-oil interface, a Langmuir isotherm based model is developed to correlate interfacial tension of water and oil phases to demulsifier concentration. Based on the proposed correlation, the collision frequency function in population balance equation is modified to account the effect of demulsifier agent on water droplets coalescence. The proposed model consists of some adjustable parameters that need to be fitted with experimental data. Therefore, a group of surface-active compounds are supplied and their demulsification capability is investigated through bottle test method. The experimental demulsification results are compared with population balance simulation results and it is apperared that the developed model could appropriately reproduce experimental data at different agent concentrations.

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Aims: Toxoplasmosis is a cosmopolitan zoonotic disease caused by an obligate apicomplexan intracellular parasite known as Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). Recently, toxoplasmosis has been suggested as a risk factor for diabetes. Thus, the present study aimed to assess the association between T. gondii infection and two types of diabetes in Tehran, the capital of Iran.
Materials & Methods: In the current cross-sectional study, 98, 95, and 94 blood samples were collected from Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic and nondiabetic individuals, referring to Imam Sajad hospital from February to August 2018, respectively. Anti-T. gondii specific IgG and IgM antibodies were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Moreover, a structured demographic questionnaire was completed for each person.
Results: IgG antibody was found to be positive in 16.32 (16 of 98) and 57.89% (55 of 95) of patients with diabetes Type 1 and Type 2 and 17.02% (16 of 94) of nondiabetic individuals as controls, respectively. However, the prevalence of positive IgM antibody in these groups was determined as 2.04 (2 of 98), 6.32 (6 of 95), and 17.02 % (16 of 94), respectively.
Conclusion: This finding revealed that toxoplasmosis could be considered as a possible risk factor for diabetes Type 2, while no statistically significant association was found between T. gondii infection and diabetes Type 1.  More research is required to be conducted in the future in order to better understand this association.

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In order to study the acoustic features of stress in Tati language, one minimal pair has been selected where in one the stress was on the last syllable and in another on the first syllable. These minimal pairs were embedded in declarative and interrogative carrier sentences. Eight educated native speakers were participated in this experiment reading these in a silent room. Using PRAAT, a textgrid has been made for each in which the vowel boundaries determined, then by a script we measured duration, F1, F2, Fundamental frequency and intensity. The results show that the difference of duration, F0 and intensity between stressed and unstressed vowels is significant while the F1 and F2 are not important cues. So the most important cues distinguishing the place of stress in Tati are F0, Duration and intensity. A final observation concerns the utterance-final syllable interrogative contours Which is H% while declarative utterances end in L%.

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Background and objective: VEP is a powerful method to study visual system via evaluating evoked potentials. Technologic and instrumental restrictions may be the reason of having studies on optical modulation and induction such as color, spatial frequency and contrast. Developments of computer software and hardware may lead to an increase in the flexibility of pattern designs. Material and methods: Visual psychophysical principles of color, spatial frequency and contrast was used to design patterns. Using the Delphi 5 package. Recording system and pattern reversing were synchronized by a software and some hardware components including an A/D, monostable and an extension Board. A trigger signal from a VEP system was used to change optical properties of patterns according to a definite algorithm. Results and conclusion: All of the optical parameters such as color, spatial frequency and contrast that have influence on visual evoked potentials can be changed independently or in an interactive manner by means of user friendly multiple windows and logical methods. Therefore, optical modulation and induction are made possible by this system. Temporal, spatial and contrast modulation can be carried out independently or dependently with a trigger signal from a VEP system. Dynamic interaction of optical parameters shows new horizons on VEP studies.

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Down syndrome (hereafter DS) is a chromosomal condition caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. People with DS may have a variety of intellectual disabilities, a characteristic facial appearance and weak muscle tone. In addition, a global delay that affects their motor development, cognition, communication and language is often reported. This study aims to investigate and compare vowel spaces of healthy and DS children. This research is quantitative and to investigate vowel spaces of participants, twelve subjects (6 healthy children with the average age of 8 and 6 DS children with the average age of 10) attended the research project. The data were 36 monosyllabic (CVC) words and for each of them, the codas and onsets were occupied by similar voiced and voiceless Persian stops. The acoustic data were recorded in a soundproof chamber and the subjects’ production was recorded using SHURE® microphone (SM81 Condenser) placed at the mouth level. Each speech sample was segmented and analyzed acoustically using Praat® speech analysis software (Version 5.2.24). Making a text grid, it was possible to analyze both sound waves and spectrograms simultaneously, securing reliable analyses. Therefore, using PRAAT script, first formant frequency (F1) and second formant frequency (F2) of all the Persian vowels were measured for all the participants. In the next step, repeated measure ANOVA and SPSS (version 17) were performed to investigate differences between vowels of all subjects. The level of significance was α: 0.05. Thus, the confidence interval would be 95%. If the p-value of the repeated measure ANOVA was less than 0.05, post-hoc Bonferroni test would be employed to analyze the dependent variables. Statistical information on mean F1 of vowels shows that F1 of [ɑ, æ, o] in healthy children is more than that in children with DS. This result indicates that these vowels are articulated in a higher position in subjects with DS. From the other hand, mean F1 of [u, i, e] in healthy children is more than that of children with DS. It can be concluded that in children with DS, these vowels are articulated in a lower position. Analyzing statistical information on mean F2 of vowels in subjects with DS indicates that F2 of [æ, i, e] is less than those in healthy children. In other words, these vowels are articulated in a more back position in these participants. Also, analyzing F2 of [ɑ, u, o] in DS children shows that these vowels are articulated in a more front position. Another part of this research is dedicated to analytic statistics of vowels. It was hypothesized that the effect of DS on F1 and F2 of vowels is significant. This hypothesis is partially supported by the findings. The results indicate that there is no significant difference between F1 of all Persian vowels [æ, e, o, ɑ, u, i] in the two groups of subjects. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the difference between F2 of all Persian vowels except [ɑ] is significant between healthy and DS children. All in all, these results support the fact that formant values are more centralized for children with DS, which means a reduced vowel space area. Consequently, it can be concluded that, in DS children, structural features of oral cavity, like smaller oral orifice, narrower but not higher palatal curve and shorter vocal cords have an effect on formant structure of vowels.
 

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The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of enamel plate on the frequency variation of theta, alpha and beta brain waves, with emphasis on gender factor as a demographic variable, to answer to following question: How is a cultural luxury item like a enamel plate changing in the comparison between males and females, considering bioelectric activity of the cerebral cortex is affected by the color element. This study is an applied research with semi-experimental design.
Electroencephalography was recorded in two regions of F3 and F4 in a commercial video of an enamel plate in four colors, blue, yellow, green and red; and in two groups of males and females. The data was recorded using Biofeedback System 2000 of the Sheffield Corporation during the commercial video demonstration. EEG data were processed using MATLAB software 2018 and statistical comparison was performed using SPSS software version 20 using multivariate analysis of variance analysis. Results showed that the color factor had no significant effect on the power of theta, alpha and beta band frequency. In contrast, the effect of gender was significant and the brain electroencephalography pattern of the participants without color was different in both males and females. The normalized electroencephalographic power of women in all colors was higher than mens’. Therefore, in a cultural luxury product, color cannot have a different effect on the electroencephalogram pattern of the frontal lobe of ​​women and men, but the female cortex is more active than men when processing different colors.

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Electrical Kindling is one of the most popular epileptic model techniques that cause seizures such as temporal lobe epilepsy. So far, various therapies have been used to treatment of epilepsy. Among these treatments, low-frequency stimulation (LFS) has been widely considered for improving effect on drug-resistant epilepsy, but its mechanism is not well understood. Since calcium entering to the cytoplasm and increasing its concentration is one of the reasons for seizure, metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR1), dopamine receptor (D1) and ADPR cyclase (CD38), which increased calcium in the cytoplasm from different pathways, were selected. With this aim that by examining the change in the expression of these genes, we help to clarify the LFS improvement effect.  In this study, the hippocampus of rats was used and the changes in genes expression were investigated using real-time PCR technique. The results showed that the expression of all selected genes  increased significantly after kindling and then after the LFS the expression of all was returned to sham value. Hence, one of the ways in which LFS interferes may be related to the pathway for calcium entering to the cytoplasm.

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Aim: Recognition of habitat status and ecological responses of species to environmental variables are prerequisites for better management and providing the ecological needs of each species. This study assessed the current status and distribution of Viburnum lantana L. and described its ecological characteristics in the lowest limit of its distribution in the northern hemisphere, Arasbaran forests.
Materials and Methods: The presence sites of Viburnum lantana L. (wayfaring trees) were selected based on the field observations and library sources, then to collect data, the 114 circular samples with a radius of 17.84 m were laid systematically and randomly out. Within each sampling area the characteristics of each woody species including species name, diameter at the breast height (DBH) and the height of all wayfaring trees and other species were measured. The relative importance value (RIV) of species across all sample plots was calculated to describe the dominant species composition.
 

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- In this paper vibration frequency characteristics of functionally graded cylindrical (FGM) shells are investigated using the differential quadrature method (DQM). The essence of the differential quadrature method is that the partial derivative of a smooth function with respect to a variable is approximated by a weighted sum of function values at all discrete points in that direction. Its weighting coefficients are not related to any special problem and only depend on the grid points and the derivative order. The material properties are graded in the thickness direction of the shell according to the volume fraction power law distribution. The fast convergence behavior of the method is demonstrated and its accuracy is verified by comparing the results with those of other shell theories obtained using conventional methods and also with those of ABAQUS software. Effects of the exponential volume fraction law on the natural frequencies of FGM cylindrical shells for classical boundary conditions (all possible combinations of clamped (C) and simply supported (S) boundary conditions) are studied against circumferential wave number, length to radius ratio and thickness to radius ratio for different values of power law exponents

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This paper illustrates the application of S-transform and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) for fault location in combined overhead line and cable distribution networks. The high frequency transient signals originated by faults are analyzed using S-transform and CWT. The S-transform is found to be applicable in transient based fault location in distribution networks. This technique is an expansion of wavelet transform method and is based on a moving and scalable localizing Gaussian window. Taking into account this fact that the signal energy of faults has high amplitude around certain frequencies, the fault location can be identified considering the relationship between these frequencies and so-called path characteristic frequencies related to the fault traveling waves. The transient voltage signal energy is calculated using S-Transform and CWT. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, the distribution networks with only overhead lines, as well as a combined system (consisting of the overhead lines and underground cables) have been studied. The IEEE 34-bus test distribution network is simulated in EMTP-RV software and the relevant S-transform and CWT analyses are carried out in MATLAB coding environment

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In this paper, free vibration analysis of moderately thick smart FG rectangular plate is presented on the basis of Mindlin plate theory. This structure is composed of a host FG plate and two bonded piezoelectric layers. The plate has two opposite edges simply supported (i.e., Levy-type rectangular plates). The closed circuit piezoelectric layers can be used as an actuator. According to a power-law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents, material properties vary continuously through the thickness of host plate. Using Hamilton's principle and Maxwell electrostatic equation, six complex coupled equations are introduced. These equations are exactly solved introducing the new potential and auxiliary functions as well as using separation of variables method. The accuracy of the frequencies is verified by the available literature and the finite element method. The present exact solution can accurately predict not only the out of plane, but also the in-plane modes of FG plate. Finally, the effects of various parameters such as boundary conditions, gradient index and thickness of piezoelectric layers on the natural frequency are investigated.

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In this paper, crack detection possibility in an arch dam structure is investigated by wavelet transform analysis. An arch dam is a solid concrete dam, curved upstream in plan. In addition to resisting part of the pressure of the reservoir by its own weight, it obtains a large measure of stability by transmitting the remainder of the water pressure and other loads by arch action into the canyon walls. The complete necessity of high safety, economical design, complex of designing and its application increase the importance of concrete arch dams. Successful arch action is dependent on a unified monolithic structure, and special care must be taken in the construction of an arch dam to ensure that no structural discontinuities such as open joints or cracks exist at the time the structure assumes its water load. According to the principles of theory of structures, there is a relationship between the dynamic and static responses and, consequently, the stiffness. Any sudden change in stiffness leads to dynamic and static response variation. This condition will help to estimate the damage and to investigate the structural response before and after the failure. Wavelet analysis has recently been considered for damage detection and structural health monitoring (SHM). It provides a powerful tool to characterize local features of a signal. The basis function in wavelet analysis is defined by two parameters: scale and translation. This property leads to a multi-resolution representation for stationary signals. It has high ability in analysis of static and dynamic response signals. Staionary wavelet transform (SWT) can show the location of frequency changes. That these locations are the points that they have been damaged. The case study is the concrete curvature arch of KAROON-1 (Shahid Abbaspour) dam with the height of 200 m. This dam is considered as one of the most complex dams because of different external and internal radia and angles, as well as asymmetrical center of the external and internal archs in different levels. Using the geometrical dimensions of the above-mentioned dam- from respective design sheetsand its mechanical and physical properties, the dam with and without crack was modeled by the ABAQUS FE software package. After frequency analysis of the dam by ABAQUS for both safe and cracked models in the same frequency mode, displacement responses at the cracked level (crest) were extracted along the reservoir’s longitudinal axis. Afterwards, the responses were used for the wavelet analysis by the wavelet toolbar of the MATLAB software and the detection of crack in the dam structure was investigated with SWT. The results of wavelet analysis showed that the graphs have considerable rise at or around the crack location. But there was no noise or any harmony in the graphs of the safe dam. Hence, detecting the location of crack in dam structures is possible with wavelet transform.

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in this paper natural frequencies of a rectangular mindlin plate with surface bounded piezoelectric patches is obtained. Simply supported boundary condition is imposed at the plate edges. Ritz approach based on the principle of minimum potential energy is applied to obtain the frequency parameters of rectangular plate. Since displacement fields of the plate are postulated by trigonometric series function, solution is a semi analytical one. For verifying the accuracy of this method, results are for the isothropic and piezoelectric plates are compared with those reported in the literature. As we see a good conformance is derived from the obtained results and the exact solution. At the end, natural frequencies of a rectangular mindlin with surface bounded piezoelectric patches is obtained.

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Aims: Over the past twenty years, Iran has experienced a rise in extreme temperatures, particularly in hot events like extreme temperatures, as indicated by recent studies. This research seeks to analyze the annual maximum temperatures (AMT) in the dry Province of Kerman, Iran, focusing on both stationary (S) and nonstationary (NS) behavior.
Materials & Methods: Trend, homogeneity, and stationarity tests were utilized to identify the critical characteristics of the AMTs from 1979 to 2019. Frequency analysis of the AMTs was conducted using both stationary Generalized Extreme Value (S-GEV) and nonstationary GEV (NS-GEV) models, estimating distribution parameters through a maximum likelihood estimator(MLE). In addition to the time-varying NS-GEV (TNS-GEV) investigations, soil moisture (SM) was incorporated as a covariate. 
Findings: Results demonstrate that, compared to the S-GEV case, the NS-GEV frequency analyses significantly impact the return values of the AMTs, leading to an increase. The NS-GEV estimations for 50-year return levels were significantly higher than those in the S-GEV. The study’s findings revealed that the average Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) for both the S-GEV and TNS-GEV estimations decreased from 110 to 71 across all 12 selected stations in Kerman Province. The AIC value for the NS-GEV with the soil moisture (SM) covariate was approximately 94. Thus, the TNS-GEV frequency analysis of AMTs resulted in improved AIC values compared to the NS-GEV with soil moisture as the covariate.
Conclusion: Given the nonstationary (NS) conditions caused by natural and/or human activities, it is recommended to utilize NS frequency analysis for estimating hydrologic variables across different design periods. It has been noted that NS-GEV frequency analyses lead to higher return levels of AMTs than S-GEV analyses.

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This paper deals with the effects of duty cycle on improvement of pressure distribution over a NLF0414 airfoil using the plasma actuators. Three Dielectric barrier discharges as the plasma actuators are flush mounted on the airfoil surface in different positions to improve pressure distribution at post-stall angles of attack. The experiments were performed in wind tunnel with pressure tabs measurements at Re_c=7.5×〖10〗^5. The main objective of these experiments is to find the most effective duty cycles for different excitation frequencies and different angles of attack. Results show that the plasma actuators in unsteady excitations are more effective in lower duty cycles on low excitation frequencies but the lower duty cycles lose their effectiveness on higher excitation frequencies.