Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards a Substantive Theory of Decision-Making in Software Project Management: Preliminary Findings from a Qualitative Study

Context: In software project management, the decision-making process is a complex set of tasks largely based on human relations and individual knowledge and cultural background. The factors that affect the decisions of the software project managers (SPMs) as well as their potential consequences require attention because project delays and failures might be related to a series of poor decisions. Goals: To understand how SPMs make decisions based on how they interpret their experiences in the workplace. Further, to identify antecedents and consequences of those decisions in order to increase the effectiveness of project management. We also aim to refine the research design for future investigations. Method: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with SPMs within a Brazilian large governmental organization and a Brazilian large private organization. Results: We found that decision-making in software project management is based on knowledge sharing in which the SPM acts as a facilitator. This phenomenon is influenced by individual factors, such as experience, knowledge, personality, organizational ability, communication, negotiation, interpersonal relationship and systemic vision of the project and by situational factors such as the autonomy of the SPM, constant feedback and team members' technical competence. Conclusions: Due to the uncertainty and dynamism inherent to software projects, the SPMs focus on making, monitoring and adjusting decisions in an argument-driven way. From the initial relationships among the identified factors, the research design was refined.
Genetic variation in dopaminergic activity is associated with the risk for psychiatric side effects of levetiracetam

Purpose: Levetiracetam (LEV) is a highly effective antiepileptic agent. A clinically relevant psychiatric complication of LEV treatment, however, is the provocation of irritability and aggression. Recent behavioral research indicates that personality traits may predispose to these side effects. To assess the genetic basis of the adverse psychotropic profile of LEV, a candidate gene‐based two‐stage association study was conducted.
Quadratic Variation by Markov Chains

We introduce a novel estimator of the quadratic variation that is based on the theory of Markov chains. The estimator is motivated by some general results concerning filtering contaminated semimartingales. Specifically, we show that filtering can in principle remove the effects of market microstructure noise in a general framework where little is assumed about the noise. For the practical implementation, we adopt the discrete Markov chain model that is well suited for the analysis of financial high-frequency prices. The Markov chain framework facilitates simple expressions and elegant analytical results. The proposed estimator is consistent with a Gaussian limit distribution and we study its properties in simulations and an empirical application.
Representative bureaucracy and its symbolic effect on citizens: a conceptual replication

ABSTRACT Representative bureaucracy has been a topic of research for over half a century, but only recently studied experimentally. Initial empirical findings from two prior experiments – one involving policing, the other recycling – showed gender representation effects on citizens’ trust and cooperation. In this conceptual replication, we examine gender representation effects in another policy domain: emergency preparedness. However, despite using a similar sample and experimental paradigm, we find no effects. These null findings are important, as they suggest that the symbolic effects of gender representation may be policy-specific – and that replication is needed to test the boundary conditions of previously reported results.
Dependability Evaluation of Cooperative Backup Strategies for Mobile Devices

Mobile devices (e.g., laptops, PDAs, cell phones) are increasingly relied on but are used in contexts that put them at risk of physical damage, loss or theft. This paper discusses the dependability evaluation of a cooperative backup service for mobile devices. Participating devices leverage encounters with other devices to temporarily replicate critical data. Permanent backups are created when the participating devices are able to access the fixed infrastructure. Several data replication and scattering strategies are presented, including the use of erasure codes. A methodology to model and evaluate them using Petri nets and Markov chains is described. We demonstrate that our cooperative backup service decreases the probability of data loss by a factor up to the ad hoc to Internet connectivity ratio.
Supporting Information for “ Statistical Inference of In Vivo Properties of Human DNA Methyltransferases from Double-Stranded Methylation Patterns ”

Supporting Information for “Statistical Inference of In Vivo Properties of Human DNA Methyltransferases from Double-Stranded Methylation Patterns” Audrey Q. Fu1,∗,†, Diane P. Genereux, Alice F. Burden, Reinhard Stöger, Charles D. Laird, Matthew Stephens 1 Department of Physiology, Development & Neuroscience, and Cambridge Systems Biology Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom 2 Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America 3 School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Leicestershire, United Kingdom 4 Departments of Human Genetics and Statistics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America ∗ E-mail: audreyqyfu@uchicago.edu † Current address: Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
An improvement of the data hiding scheme based on complete complementary codes

Complete complementary code (CCC) is a spread spectrum sequence family with good correlation properties. A data hiding scheme based on CCC has been proposed and applied into image and audio signals. It is known that there is a trade-off between the payload of the embedded information and the quality of the stego media in general. In this study, we propose a method to improve the stego image quality without decreasing the quantity of the embedded secret data, and also without any bit errors in the extraction of the embedded message. The proposed strategy is based on two key ideas. One is employing independent embedding coefficient to each different embedded bit while the other is to replace the cover signal with the embedded signal approximately close to the cover signal. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated through numerical experiments.
Rate-Dependent Changes in Intraventricular Conduction Produced by Procainamide in Anesthetized Dogs: A Quantitative Analysis Based on the Relation Between Phase 0 Inward Current and Conduction Velocity

Antiarrhythmic drug effects on maximal upstroke velocity (Vmax) are frequency dependent, which implies that the effects of these drugs on conduction should also be rate dependent. Previous in vivo studies have been limited by assumptions about unchanging propagation pathway, and by the empirical use of a first-order recovery model. To explore time-dependent antiarrhythmic drug-induced conduction slowing in vivo, we used 56-electrode epicardial mapping in chloralose-anesthetized dogs with formalin-induced atrioventricular block. Intervaldependent changes in conduction time were assessed under control conditions and then after three loading and maintenance infusions of procainamide. Under control conditions, epicardial activation time (86 ± 26 msec at a basic cycle length of 300 msec) was unchanged (87 ± 24 msec) by pauses up to 6.6 ± 2.2 seconds. Procainamide caused conduction slowing that dissipated as a function of recovery interval, with 94 ± 6% recovery over a maximum pause of 6.7 ± 1.5 seconds, but did not alter activation pattern. Drug-induced changes in conduction were evaluated by use of a mathematical model assuming phase 0 inward current proportional to conduction velocity squared. Conduction changes were better fitted by this "quadratic model" (least sum of squared deviations 3.9 ×l0−3 by mapping in five dogs, 2.7 ×l0−3 by use of QRS duration in nine dogs) than by a monoexponential model (sum of squared deviations 5.7×l0−3 by mapping, 3.4×l0−2 with QRS;<0.01 vs. quadratic model for each). As predicted by theoretical analysis, recovery time constants from the quadratic model were similar to time constants for procainamideinduced changes in Vmax In vitro, and significantly longer than values obtained with a monoexponential model. Drug-induced changes in QRS duration were highly correlated with simultaneous changes measured by epicardial mapping (r=0.95, p<0.001), indicating that QRS duration is a valid index of drug effects on ventricular conduction. We concluded that procainamide causes interval-dependent changes in ventricular conduction in vivo that are consistent with a proportional relation between phase 0 inward current and the square of conduction velocity. These observations have important potential implications for the dosedependent and heart rate-dependent effects of antiarrhythmic drugs.
Sustained Attention Across the Life Span in a Sample of 10,000

Normal and abnormal differences in sustained visual attention have long been of interest to scientists, educators, and clinicians. Still lacking, however, is a clear understanding of how sustained visual attention varies across the broad sweep of the human life span. In the present study, we filled this gap in two ways. First, using an unprecedentedly large 10,430-person sample, we modeled age-related differences with substantially greater precision than have prior efforts. Second, using the recently developed gradual-onset continuous performance test (gradCPT), we parsed sustained-attention performance over the life span into its ability and strategy components. We found that after the age of 15 years, the strategy and ability trajectories saliently diverge. Strategy becomes monotonically more conservative with age, whereas ability peaks in the early 40s and is followed by a gradual decline in older adults. These observed life-span trajectories for sustained attention are distinct from results of other life-span studies focusing on fluid and crystallized intelligence.
Converge Cast: On the Capacity and Delay Tradeoffs

In this paper, we define an ad hoc network where multiple sources transmit packets to one destination as Converge-Cast network. We will study the capacity delay tradeoffs assuming that n wireless nodes are deployed in a unit square. For each session (the session is a dataflow from k different source nodes to 1 destination node), k nodes are randomly selected as active sources and each transmits one packet to a particular destination node, which is also randomly selected. We first consider the stationary case, where capacity is mainly discussed and delay is entirely dependent on the average number of hops. We find that the per-node capacity is Θ (1/√(n log n)) (given nonnegative functions f(n) and g(n): f(n) = O(g(n)) means there exist positive constants c and m such that f(n) ≤ cg(n) for all n ≥ m; f(n)= Ω (g(n)) means there exist positive constants c and m such that f(n) ≥ cg(n) for all n ≥ m; f(n) = Θ (g(n)) means that both f(n) = Ω (g(n)) and f(n) = O(g(n)) hold), which is the same as that of unicast, presented in (Gupta and Kumar, 2000). Then, node mobility is introduced to increase network capacity, for which our study is performed in two steps. The first step is to establish the delay in single-session transmission. We find that the delay is Θ (n log k) under 1-hop strategy, and Θ (n log k/m) under 2-hop redundant strategy, where m denotes the number of replicas for each packet. The second step is to find delay and capacity in multisession transmission. We reveal that the per-node capacity and delay for 2-hop nonredundancy strategy are Θ (1) and Θ (n log k), respectively. The optimal delay is Θ (√(n log k)+k) with redundancy, corresponding to a capacity of Θ (√((1/n log k) + (k/n log k)). Therefore, we obtain that the capacity delay tradeoff satisfies delay/rate ≥ Θ (n log k) for both strategies.
QT variability and HRV interactions in ECG: quantification and reliability

In this paper, a dynamic linear approach was used over QT and RR series measured by an automatic delineator, to explore the interactions between QT interval variability (QTV) and heart rate variability (HRV). A low-order linear autoregressive model allowed to separate and quantify the QTV fractions correlated and not correlated with HRV, estimating their power spectral density measures. Simulated series and artificial ECG signals were used to assess the performance of the methods, considering a respiratory-like electrical axis rotation effect and noise contamination with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) from 30 to 10 dB. The errors found in the estimation of the QTV fraction related to HRV showed a nonrelevant performance decrease from automatic delineation. The joint performance of delineation plus variability analysis achieved less than 20% error in over 75% of cases for records presenting SNRs higher than 15 dB and QT standard deviation higher than 10 ms. The methods were also applied to real ECG records from healthy subjects where it was found a relevant QTV fraction not correlated with HRV (over 40% in 19 out of 23 segments analyzed), indicating that an important part of QTV is not linearly driven by HRV and may contain complementary information.
Extensions of Certain Graph-based Algorithms for Preconditioning

The original TPABLO algorithms are a collection of algorithms which compute a symmetric permutation of a linear system such that the permuted system has a relatively full block diagonal with relatively large nonzero entries. This block diagonal can then be used as a preconditioner. We propose and analyze three extensions of this approach: We incorporate a nonsymmetric permutation to obtain a large diagonal, we use a more general parametrization for TPABLO, and we use a block Gauss-Seidel preconditioner which can be implemented to have the same execution time as the corresponding block Jacobi preconditioner. Experiments are presented showing that for certain classes of matrices, the block Gauss-Seidel preconditioner used with the system permuted with the new algorithm can outperform the best ILUT preconditioners in a large set of experiments.
Effect of blood type on survival of Chinese patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of ABO blood group in Chinese patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) after esophagectomy. Methods This study was a retrospective review of the records of 548 patients with ESCC who received cytoreductive surgery between October 2002 and March 2007. The prognostic impact of ABO blood group on overall survival (OS) was analyzed. Results The median follow-up time was 37 months, and the 5-year OS was 43.3%. The overall 5-year OS was 41.2%, 49.7%, 44.0%, and 29.8% for the A, B, O, and AB groups, respectively (P=0.038). Among patients with negative lymph nodes (LNs), the 5-year OS was 59.0%, 68.2%, 57.9%, and 28.6% for the A, B, O, and AB groups, respectively (P<0.001), but blood type had no value in predicting the OS of patients with positive LNs (P=0.524). In multivariate Cox regression analysis of all patients, ABO blood group was not an independent prognostic factor of OS. However, in patients with negative LNs, blood type was an independent prognostic factor of OS, and the higher risk of death for patients of type AB versus non-AB significant in multivariate analyses (hazard ratio [HR], 2.576; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.349–4.919; P=0.004). Conclusion ABO blood group is associated with survival in Chinese patients with ESCC. Patients with blood type AB had a significantly worse OS than patients with non-AB type, especially in patients with negative LNs.
Biogeochemical control of marine productivity in the Mediterranean Sea during the last 50 years

The temporal dynamics of biogeochemical variables derived from a coupled 3‐D model of the Mediterranean Sea are evaluated for the last 50 years (1960–2010) against independent data on fisheries catch per unit effort (CPUE) for the same time period. Concordant patterns are found in the time series of all of the biological variables (from the model and from fisheries statistics), with low values at the beginning of the series, a later increase, with maximum levels reached at the end of the 1990s, and a posterior stabilization. Spectral analysis of the annual biological time series reveals coincident low‐frequency signals in all of them. The first, more energetic signal peaks around the year 2000, while the second, less energetic signal peaks near 1982. Almost identical low‐frequency signals are found in the nutrient loads of the rivers and in the integrated nutrient levels in the surface marine ecosystem. Nitrate concentration shows a maximum level in 1998, with a later stabilization to present‐day values, coincident with the first low‐frequency signal found in the biological series. Phosphate shows maximum concentrations around 1982 and a posterior sharp decline, in concordance with the second low‐frequency signal observed in the biological series. That result seems to indicate that the control of marine productivity (plankton to fish) in the Mediterranean is principally mediated through bottom‐up processes that could be traced back to the characteristics of riverine discharges. The high sensitivity of CPUE time series to environmental conditions might be another indicator of the overexploitation of this marine ecosystem.
New Ultra-Wide Stopband Low-Pass Filter Using Transformed Radial Stubs

A new type of low-pass filter (LPF) with ultra-wide band rejection and compact size by using a proposed transformed radial stubs (TRSs) is introduced and investigated. The operating mechanism of the filter is investigated based on proposed equivalent-circuit model. The implemented LPF with 1-dB cutoff frequency fc of 3 GHz demonstrates stopband rejection up to 8 fc i.e., 24 GHz. The skirt selectivity is achieved up to -144 dB per octave through multiple-zero generation using TRSs. The measured passband insertion loss is less than 1.5 dB. I/O loading cells are used to further extend the deep stopband to more than 13 fc i.e., above 40 GHz. The size of the four-cell LPF is only 0.31 λg × 0.24 λg, (λg is the guide wavelength at center cutoff frequency) without using any lumped elements.
Perceptions of tourism students towards career choice in the Kenyan tourism industry: a comparative study of Moi university and Kenya Utalii College

A number of researches investigating on tourism students’ career choices and course of study selection have been widely documented. However, few studies have been carried out focusing on the process and context in which the Kenyan students make decisions about their careers. The study objectives included; establishing the types of tourism careers sectors preferred by most tourism students, and determining career preference of tourism students for formal employment, informal employment and entrepreneurship. It hypothesized that there was no statistical significant relationship between motivations and the choice of tourism career among tourism students. The study adopted a Cognitive Motivational Theory and Attribution Theory which identifies the impact of internal and external factors affecting student career decisions. This was an exploratory study that utilized qualitative and quantitative research methodology. From the total population of 660 persons, 192 student respondents were chosen for the study using stratified simple random sampling based on their year of study, and 5 lecturers with over five years experience in teaching were chosen purposively from Moi University (MU) and Kenya Utalii College (KUC). Questionnaires were administered to tourism students and semi-structured interviews to tourism lecturers. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The results revealed that a large proportion of students at the diploma level opt to pursue entrepreneurship as compared to the undergraduates who opt for formal employment. This study can be academic and also relevant for policy making in developing countries through unmasking the complexities in designing tourism policies within different socio-economic settings. This research adds to the existing literature, moreso, on sustainability-driven employment and entrepreneurship as perceived by tourism students and developers on their roadmap to achieving Kenya’s Vision 2030.
Psychology Research and Behavior Management Dovepress Assessing Behavioral Patterns of Internet Addiction and Drug Abuse among High School Students

you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms Background: Internet addiction and drug abuse isolate adolescents from their family and friends and cause damage to their health, relations, emotions, and spirit. In the society, adolescents' addiction extracts high cost on health care, educational failure and mental health services. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the behavioral patterns of Internet and drug addiction among urban and rural students in Urmia, Iran. Methods: A sectional and descriptive–analytical approach with stratified sampling method was employed to recruit 385 high school students from urban and rural areas. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and the Addiction Acknowledgement Scale (AAS) were used for data collection. Results: The total score of Internet addiction among the students was 41.72 ± 17.41. Approximately two-third of the students were not addicted to the Internet. The mean score of the AAS was 1.87 ± 1.23 among boys and 1.75 ± 1.31 among girls. Moreover, 8.31% of the students were prone to abusing substances. A statistically significant relationship was found between mother's literacy level and Internet addiction behavior of students (p=0.009). Conclusion: Concentrating on adolescents' behavioral patterns and their tendency toward misusing Internet and drugs is a notable procedure. Therefore, focusing on adolescents' health and institutionalizing appropriate training programs for adolescents and their families are vital.
Occupational Engagement and Academic Major Satisfaction: Vocational Identity's Mediating Role

This study examined vocational identity as a mediator of the relationship between occupational engagement (i.e., participation in a breadth of activities and interactions) and academic major satisfaction. Furthermore, the authors evaluated whether satisfaction with academic major related to academic success (i.e., grade point average). The mediational model was tested in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 215). Results indicated that occupational engagement significantly predicted academic major satisfaction and that vocational identity fully mediated that relationship. These findings support occupational engagement as an important contributor to adaptive career decision making and encourage research on occupational engagement as an intervention point for career counselors.