Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
UWB channel measurements in an industrial environment

In this paper, we present the (to our knowledge) first measurement results for ultra-wideband channels in industrial environments, i.e., a factory hall. The measurements are done with virtual arrays, which allows analysis of the small-scale fading statistics, as well as a directional analysis. We find that there is dense multipath scattering due to the abundance of metallic scatterers in the considered environment. Multiple scatterer clusters can be identified both in the delay and the angular domain. Typical rms delay spreads lie between 30 ns for LOS scenarios and 40 ns for NLOS scenarios. For non-LOS scenarios at large distances, the maximum of the power delay profile is observed some 40 ns after the arrival of the first multipath components. We also draw conclusions about the behavior of typical UWB system designs in the measured channels.
A dangerous occupation? Violence in public libraries

Outlines the problem of violence in British public libraries, where incidents commonly involve problem groups from drunks to unruly youths to irate patrons. The problem can be more extreme in US libraries with several librarians being killed, in a country that averages 20 workplace murders each week. Current feelings amongst library staff are of managerial apathy and a reluctance to tackle the problem with appropriate resources. Discusses the reasons for violence and suggests measures that can be employed to reduce the threat and deal with incidents if they occur. Risk assessment is the crucial first step in this process and risk management strategies should follow. This should incorporate security measures and staff training. Results of a survey of library workers carried out in 2001 to gauge a random “snapshot” view of violence in libraries is discussed and compared to a similar survey undertaken in 1995 by McGrath.
Improving Bug Location Using Binary Class Relationships

Bug location assists developers in locating culprit source code that must be modified to fix a bug. Done manually, it requires intensive search activities with unpredictable costs of effort and time. Information retrieval (IR) techniques have been proven useful to speedup bug location in object-oriented programs. IR techniques compute the textual similarities between a bug report and the source code to provide a list of potential culprit classes to developers. They rank the list of classes in descending order of the likelihood of the classes to be related to the bug report. However, due to the low textual similarity between source code and bug reports, IR techniques may put a culprit class at the end of a ranked list, which forces developers to manually verify all non-culprit classes before finding the actual culprit class. Thus, even with IR techniques, developers are not saved from manual effort. In this paper, we conjecture that binary class relationships (BCRs) could improve the rankings by IR techniques of classes and, thus, help reducing developers' manual effort. We present an approach, LIBCROOS, that combines the results of any IR technique with BCRs gathered through source code analyses. We perform an empirical study on four programs -- Jabref, Lucene, muCommander, and Rhino -- to compare the accuracy, in terms of ranking, of LIBCROOS with two IR techniques: latent semantic indexing (LSI) and vector space model (VSM). The results of this empirical study show that LIBCROOS improves the rankings of both IR technique statistically when compared to LSI and VSM alone and, thus, may reduce the developers' effort.
Auditory Localisation by Hearing-Impaired Persons Using Binaural In-The-Ear Hearing Aids

The directional hearing for a white noise stimulus presented in the horizontal plane was tested for 11 hearing-impaired persons. Performance with binaural in-the-ear aids was compared to monaurally aided conditions. The data indicate that hearing-impaired subjects localise better with binaural aids. Also, presentation level is an important variable when considering monaural performance because at the higher intensities sufficient sound may enter the unaided ear to yield some binaural effects, i.e., the condition ceases to be a monaural one. Although further investigation is required, it is concluded that a procedure to measure localisation performance is important as a means for deciding whether binaural aids have been satisfactorily fitted.
Ethnic variations in the experiences of mental health service users in England

Background Minority ethnic groups in the UK are reported to have a poor experience of mental health services, but comparative information is scarce. Aims To examine ethnic differences in patients' experience of community mental health services. Method Trusts providing mental health services in England conducted surveys in 2004 and 2005 of users of community mental health services. Multiple regression was used to examine ethnic differences in responses. Results About 27 000 patients responded to each of the surveys, of whom 10% were of minority ethnic origin. In the 2004 survey, age, living alone, detention and hospital admissions were stronger predictors of patient experience than ethnicity Self-reported mental health status had the strongest explanatory effect. In the 2005 survey, the main negative differences relative to the White British were for Asians. Conclusions Ethnicity had a smaller effect on patient experience than other variables. Relative to the White British, the Black group did not report negative experiences whereas the Asian group were most likely to respond negatively. However, there is a need for improvements in services for minority ethnic groups, including access to talking therapies and better recording of ethnicity.
The New Politics of Immigration: “Balanced-Budget Conservatism” and the Symbolism of Proposition 187

This paper focuses on the politics of the new immigration restrictionism as manifest in Proposition 187, passed by California voters in 1994. I first show that restrictionist sentiment and immigrant scapegoating have a long history in U.S. immigration politics, briefly reviewing three periods of early nativism: 1870s to the 1890s; 1900 to World War I; and World War I and its aftermath. I then make two principal arguments. First, I argue that the new nativism embodied in Proposition 187 — which would bar undocumented immigrants in California from receiving social services, including public schooling — corresponds to specific features of the late twentieth-century political-economic landscape. In particular, I link the focus on the alleged tax burden of immigrants and their costly use of social services to ongoing economic transformations, the retrenchment of the welfare state, and what Plotkin and Scheuerman (1994) call “balanced-budget conservatism. ” Second, following Edelman (1977), I show that Proposition 187 is symbolic in that it derives from and evokes beliefs about immigrants' responsibility and blame for the current economic and fiscal crisis. In addition, I suggest that Proposition 187 may represent a new kind of symbolic politics in which alienated voters — those who bother to vote at all — use their ballot symbolically to express anger and “send a message. ”
Do unintended pregnancies carried to term lead to adverse outcomes for mother and child? An assessment in five developing countries

This paper investigates whether children later reported as having been unwanted or mistimed at conception will, when compared with children reported as wanted, show adverse effects when the following criteria are applied: receipt of antenatal care before the sixth month of gestation, supervised delivery, full vaccination of the child, and child growth (stunting). The study uses data from five recent Demographic and Health Survey enquiries in Bolivia, Egypt, Kenya, Peru, and the Philippines. In Peru, children unwanted at conception were found to have significantly worse outcomes than other children, but in the other countries, a systematic effect was found only for receipt of antenatal care. Weak measurement of the complex concept of wantedness may have contributed to these results. Birth order of the child, with which wantedness is inextricably linked, has more powerful and pervasive effects, with first-born and second-born children being much less likely to show adverse effects.
The Study of Quranic Teaching and Learning: United Kingdom Experience

Al-Quran is the revelation to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) started with the word “Iqra’’. Prophet (PBUH) had implemented five principles of al-Quran teaching and learning which his companions and the next generation follow until today. The model consist of Tilawah (good and fluency recitation), Tafahum and Tafsir (knowing and understanding the meaning), Tatbiq (appreciate and implantation of the teaching in daily life), Tahfiz (memorizing some verses for practice and reciting during prayer) and Taranum (reciting al-Quran with a good voice and proper song). In this part of the article, the main areas of discussion will be how the Qur’an is taught in the Muslim community in particular in their mosques, madrasas and community centres and hence their method of teaching and then how it is perceived by the audience i.e. the students, teachers and also parents. The study found that the teachers have been using a variety of strategies in implementing quranic teaching and learning, some teaching methods such as conventional and others reflect new methods taking into consideration the different abilities of the children. This style of teaching totally ignores the quality of recitation and teaching with the rules of Tajwid. This article will then lead to a conclusion, which will include some suggestions on how to improve the main curriculum and how the Qur’an should be taught.
Snakes on the Watershed

We present a new approach for object boundary extraction, called the watersnake. It is a two-step snake algorithm whose energy functional is minimized by the dynamic programming method. It is more robust to local minima because it finds the solution by searching the entire energy space. To reduce the complexity of the minimization process, the watershed transformation and a coarse-to-fine strategy are used. The new technique is compared to standard methods for accuracy in synthetic data and is applied to segmentation of white blood cells in bone marrow images.
Should Students Have a Gap Year? Motivation and Performance Factors Relevant to Time Out after Completing School.

Increasingly, school leavers are taking time out from study or formal work after completing high school? often referred to as a "gap year" (involving structured activities such as "volunteer tourism" and unstructured activities such as leisure). Although much opinion exists about the merits-or otherwise-of taking time out after completing school, relatively little research has sought to understand the gap year from a psychoeducational perspective. Harnessing the theories of planned behavior and reasoned action and using structural equation modeling, the author examines the academic factors that predict gap year intentions among 2,502 high school students (Study 1) and the academic profile in respect to gap year participation of 338 students in university or college (Study 2). Findings in Study 1 show that postschool uncertainty and lower levels of academic motivation predict gap year intentions, that lower motivation and lower performance predict postschool uncertainty, and that these effects are significant over and above the effects of demographic (gender, age, ethnicity) covariates. Findings in Study 2 show that gap year participation positively predicts academic motivation and that this effect is significant over and above the effects of demographic covariates. The present investigation centrally positions psychoeducational theorizing in relation to the potential yields of a gap year in resolving problematic motivation and performance profiles that may have precipitated students' postschool uncertainty and interest in taking a year out after completing school.
Vertical Power ${\rm H}k$-MOSFET of Hexagonal Layout

A vertical power MOSFET with hexagonal cells by using high-k (Hk) insulator (Hk-MOSFET) in voltage-sustaining region is studied. Both cases of the Hk-MOSFET hexagonal cell, one with a semiconductor in the center of each hexagonal cell and another with an insulator in the center, are discussed. The optimized specific on-resistance (Rsp) of an Hk-MOSFET for the former case is around 20% smaller than that of using an interdigitated layout. For the latter case, the optimizedRsp is further reduced. The theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the numerical results from simulation. An example indicates that the Rsp of a hexagonal Hk-MOSFET for the latter case is nearly two-thirds that of an interdigitated one, and is almost identical to that of an optimized superjunction (SJ) MOSFET with a hexagonal cell under the same breakdown voltage (VB). The VB of an Hk device is more robust than that of an SJ device to the charge imbalance effect. Although Hk-MOSFET has a little slower transient response than that of SJ-MOSFET, the body diode reverse recovery behavior is much softer than the latter.
Open Doors and Iron Cages

Organizational dissent and employee voice have been linked to benefits for companies and employees, but part of realizing those benefits is how a supervisor responds to subordinates’ communication. Two studies presented here explored supervisors’ responses to dissent. Results from Study One indicated a continuum of responses to dissent from instrumental support to rejection. However, managers in all points along that continuum claimed to be “open” to employees. In contrast to previous research, supervisors were apt to choose not to act on dissent rather than sanctioning the dissenter. Results also specified conditions that increased the likelihood of employee dissent being successful. Study Two further explored those conditions by comparing supervisors’ recollections of dissent to their perceptions of the effectiveness and appropriateness of that dissent. Both studies draw attention to multiple perspectives of employee dissent and to the importance of supervisors’ perceptions in their responses and in the dissent process.
Female Terrorism: A Review

The sharp growth in the number of publications examining female involvement in terrorism has produced a valuable but un-integrated body of knowledge spread across many disciplines. In this paper, we bring together 54 publications on female terrorism and use qualitative and quantitative analyses to examine the range of theoretical and methodological approaches in these papers. Using a content analysis, we identify six primary research foci: Portrayal in media, Feminism, Interviews with terrorists, Group roles, Motivation and recruitment, and Environmental enablers. Results revealed a reliance on secondary rather than primary data, narrative rather than statistical comparisons, and descriptions rather than explanations of events.
Informal Adult Learning and Everyday Literacy Practices

This study investigated the types of informal learning activities that adults with low literacy skills engage in outside of formal literacy programs and how these activities relate to their literacy practices. Key informants for the study included 10 adults identified at International Adult Literacy Survey levels 1 and 2. Using ethnographic methods, data were collected over three months from several sources. Three major themes emerged: life roles, the situated learning environments, and the practice of everyday literacy activities. Adults with limited literacy perform important life roles in much the same way as more literate adults do. These life roles, which precipitated informal learning, consisted of combinations of parent, supportive partner, family member, volunteer, and employee. A second pattern was the environment in which informal learning was situated. The three environments—home, community, and workplace—were the significant milieus where adults engaged in learning as a result of their life roles. A third theme was the range of everyday literacy activities practiced by adults through informal learning. There was a clear indication that oral communication skills were most often practiced as a result of engaging in an informal learning project, event, or episode at home, in the community, or at work. A discussion focuses on the implications of the findings for literacy research, practice, and policy development.
Exploring news media representations of women’s exercise and subjectivity through critical discourse analysis

Despite the importance of media work from a critical perspective being established, much is to be learned about how women’s exercise is (re)presented within news media discourses and the implications for women’s health promotion. Health promotion researchers need to further consider the media environment in which health-related meanings are constructed and compete. Building on media research from a critical perspective, the current paper used critical discourse analysis to explore the construction of exercise narratives in 40 stories within a ‘women’s health’ section of a Midwestern US newspaper. Analysis of this media feature offers researchers the opportunity to explore taken for granted assumptions and prevailing meanings about women’s exercise and health and the implications for self and subjectivity. Two primary discourses were identified: a discourse of exercise and appearance and a discourse of consumerism. Subject positions identified included: the unfit woman, the ignorant/irrational woman, the expert and the responsible consumer. The implications for women’s health and exercise promotion are discussed in light of these findings.
Single-molecule DNA repair in live bacteria

Cellular DNA damage is reversed by balanced repair pathways that avoid accumulation of toxic intermediates. Despite their importance, the organization of DNA repair pathways and the function of repair enzymes in vivo have remained unclear because of the inability to directly observe individual reactions in living cells. Here, we used photoactivation, localization, and tracking in live Escherichia coli to directly visualize single fluorescent labeled DNA polymerase I (Pol) and ligase (Lig) molecules searching for DNA gaps and nicks, performing transient reactions, and releasing their products. Our general approach provides enzymatic rates and copy numbers, substrate-search times, diffusion characteristics, and the spatial distribution of reaction sites, at the single-cell level, all in one measurement. Single repair events last 2.1 s (Pol) and 2.5 s (Lig), respectively. Pol and Lig activities increased fivefold over the basal level within minutes of DNA methylation damage; their rates were limited by upstream base excision repair pathway steps. Pol and Lig spent >80% of their time searching for free substrates, thereby minimizing both the number and lifetime of toxic repair intermediates. We integrated these single-molecule observations to generate a quantitative, systems-level description of a model repair pathway in vivo.
Mis Research: Reference disciplines and a Cumulative Tradition

This paper discusses what is needed to make MIS into a coherent research field. It defines 3 main needs: 1. Clarification of reference disciplines. 2. Definition of the dependent variable. 3. Building a cumulative tradition. It reviews the relationship of MIS to computer technology and to practice and assess the publishing inlets for MIS
Mast Cell-Deficient KitW-sh Mice Develop House Dust Mite-Induced Lung Inflammation despite Impaired Eosinophil Recruitment

Background: Mast cells are implicated in allergic and innate immune responses in asthma, although their role in models using an allergen relevant for human disease is incompletely understood. House dust mite (HDM) allergy is common in asthma patients. Our aim was to investigate the role of mast cells in HDM-induced allergic lung inflammation. Methods: Wild-type (Wt) and mast cell-deficient Kitw-sh mice on a C57BL/6 background were repetitively exposed to HDM via the airways. Results: HDM challenge resulted in a rise in tryptase activity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of Wt mice, indicative of mast cell activation. Kitw-sh mice showed a strongly attenuated HDM- induced recruitment of eosinophils in BALF and lung tissue, accompanied by reduced pulmonary levels of the eosinophil chemoattractant eotaxin. Remarkably, Kitw-sh mice demonstrated an unaltered capacity to develop lung pathology and increased mucus production in response to HDM. The increased plasma IgE in response to HDM in Wt mice was absent in Kitw-sh mice. Conclusion: These data contrast with previous reports on the role of mast cells in models using ovalbumin as allergen in that C57BL/6 Kitw-sh mice display a selective impairment of eosinophil recruitment without differences in other features of allergic inflammation.
Systemic impairment in relation to disease burden in patients with moderate COPD eligible for a lifestyle program. Findings from the INTERCOM trial

Introduction In contrast with the frequency distribution of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) stages in the population, in which the majority of the patients is classified as GOLD 2, much less information is available on the prevalence and implications of systemic manifestations in less severe patients relative to GOLD 3 and 4. Aim To characterize local and systemic impairment in relation to disease burden in a group of GOLD 2 COPD patients (n = 127, forced expiratory volume in one second (SD): 67 (11)% pred) that were eligible for the Interdisciplinary Community-based COPD management (INTERCOM) trial. Methods Patients were included for this lifestyle program based on a peak exercise capacity (Wmax) <70% of predicted. Metabolic and ventilatory response to incremental cycle ergometry, 6 minute walking distance (6MWD), constant work rate test (CWR), lung function, maximal inspiratory pressure (Pimax), quadriceps force (QF), quadriceps average power (QP) (isokinetic dynamometry), handgrip force (HGF) and body composition were measured. Quality of life (QoL) was assessed by the St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) and dyspnea by the modified Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnea scale. Exacerbations and COPD-associated hospital admissions in 12 months prior to the start of the study were recorded. Burden of disease was defined in terms of exercise capacity, QoL, hospitalization, and exacerbation frequency. GOLD 2 patients were compared with reference values and with GOLD 3 patients who were also included in the trial. Results HGF (77.7 (18.8) % pred) and Pimax (67.1 (22.5)% pred) were impaired in GOLD 2, while QF (93.5 (22.5)% pred) was only modestly decreased. Depletion of FFM was present in 15% of weight stable GOLD 2 patients while only 2% had experienced recent involuntary weight loss. In contrast to Wmax, submaximal exercise capacity, muscle function, and body composition were not significantly different between GOLD 2 and 3 subgroups. Body mass index and fat-free mass index were significantly lower in smokers compared to ex-smokers. In multivariate analysis, QF and diffusing capacity (DLco) were independently associated with Wmax and 6 MWD in GOLD 2 while only 6 MWD was identified as an independent determinant of health-related QoL. HGF was an independent predictor of hospitalization. Conclusions This study shows that also in patients with moderate COPD, eligible for a lifestyle program based on a decreased exercise capacity, systemic impairment is an important determinant of disease burden and that smoking affects body composition.