Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Three‐Dimensional (3D) cell culture monitoring: Opportunities and challenges for impedance spectroscopy

Three‐dimensional (3D) cell culture has developed rapidly over the past 5–10 years with the goal of better replicating human physiology and tissue complexity in the laboratory. Quantifying cellular responses is fundamental in understanding how cells and tissues respond during their growth cycle and in response to external stimuli. There is a need to develop and validate tools that can give insight into cell number, viability, and distribution in real‐time, nondestructively and without the use of stains or other labelling processes. Impedance spectroscopy can address all of these challenges and is currently used both commercially and in academic laboratories to measure cellular processes in 2D cell culture systems. However, its use in 3D cultures is not straight forward due to the complexity of the electrical circuit model of 3D tissues. In addition, there are challenges in the design and integration of electrodes within 3D cell culture systems. Researchers have used a range of strategies to implement impedance spectroscopy in 3D systems. This review examines electrode design, integration, and outcomes of a range of impedance spectroscopy studies and multiparametric systems relevant to 3D cell cultures. While these systems provide whole culture data, impedance tomography approaches have shown how this technique can be used to achieve spatial resolution. This review demonstrates how impedance spectroscopy and tomography can be used to provide real‐time sensing in 3D cell cultures, but challenges remain in integrating electrodes without affecting cell culture functionality. If these challenges can be addressed and more realistic electrical models for 3D tissues developed, the implementation of impedance‐based systems will be able to provide real‐time, quantitative tracking of 3D cell culture systems.
Crustal‐Scale Fault Interaction at Rifted Margins and the Formation of Domain‐Bounding Breakaway Complexes: Insights From Offshore Norway

The large‐magnitude faults that control crustal thinning and excision at rifted margins combine into laterally persistent structural boundaries that separate margin domains of contrasting morphology and structure. We term them breakaway complexes. At the Mid‐Norwegian margin, we identify five principal breakaway complexes that separate the proximal, necking, distal, and outer margin domains. Downdip and lateral interactions between the faults that constitute breakaway complexes became fundamental to the evolution of the 3‐D margin architecture. Different types of fault interaction are observed along and between these faults, but simple models for fault growth will not fully describe their evolution. These structures operate on the crustal scale, cut large thicknesses of heterogeneously layered lithosphere, and facilitate fundamental margin processes such as deformation coupling and exhumation. Variations in large‐magnitude fault geometry, erosional footwall incision, and subsequent differential subsidence along the main breakaway complexes likely record the variable efficiency of these processes.
Engaging SMEs in e-business: insights from an empirical study

The rapid rise of e-business has brought profound impact on, as well as significant challenges to, businesses of all sizes. The lack of anticipated engagement in e-business by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is still a concern to the UK government. Findings from the literature appear to have revealed a contradictory picture of SMEs’ engagement in e-business. There is limited systematic research into how companies, especially small companies, are adopting the Internet technologies. This chapter reviews current research on SMEs’ e-business adoption by following various adoption models. The chapter examines the driving forces and inhibitors that affect the adoption of e-business technology in SMEs. Through interviews with 40 owner/managers in the electronic components industry, the chapter reveals that most of the small firms in this industry are at the lower level of the “e-adoption ladder”—predominantly using the Internet for searching information and e-mail. SMEs in this industry have not yet widely engaged in online transactions. The current level of adoption is driven by both internal and external factors, including operational benefits, industry common practice, and peer pressure. External forces such as a lack of push from suppliers and customers and a lack of strategic vision of using advanced e-business technology for competitive advantages have determinant effects on the level and scale of e-adoption in SME sector.
Reducing Suicidal Ideation: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Unguided Web-Based Self-help

Background Suicidal ideation is highly prevalent, but often remains untreated. The Internet can be used to provide accessible interventions. Objective To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of an online, unguided, self-help intervention for reducing suicidal ideation. Methods A total of 236 adults with mild to moderate suicidal thoughts, defined as scores between 1-26 on the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS), were recruited in the general population and randomized to the intervention (n = 116) or to a waitlist, information-only, control group (n = 120). The intervention aimed to decrease the frequency and intensity of suicidal ideation and consisted of 6 modules based on cognitive behavioral techniques. Participants in both groups had unrestricted access to care as usual. Assessments took place at baseline and 6 weeks later (post-test). All questionnaires were self-report and administered via the Internet. Treatment response was defined as a clinically significant decrease in suicidal ideation on the BSS. Total per-participant costs encompassed costs of health service uptake, participants’ out-of-pocket expenses, costs stemming from production losses, and intervention costs. These were expressed in Euros (€) for the reference year 2009. Results At post-test, treatment response was 35.3% and 20.8% in the experimental and control conditions, respectively. The incremental effectiveness was 0.35 − 0.21 = 0.15 (SE 0.06, P = .01). The annualized incremental costs were −€5039 per participant. Therefore, the mean incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was estimated to be −€5039/0.15 = −€34,727 after rounding (US −$41,325) for an additional treatment response, indicating annual cost savings per treatment responder. Conclusions This is the first trial to indicate that online self-help to reduce suicidal ideation is feasible, effective, and cost saving. Limitations included reliance on self-report and a short timeframe (6 weeks). Therefore, replication with a longer follow-up period is recommended.
Learning to evaluate conditional partial plans

We study agents situated in partially observable environments, who do not have sufficient resources to create conformant plans. Instead, they generate plans which are conditional and partial, execute or simulate them, and learn to evaluate their quality from experience. Our agent employs an incomplete symbolic deduction system based on active logic and situation calculus for reasoning about actions and their consequences. An inductive logic programming algorithm generalises observations and deduced knowledge, allowing the agent to execute a good plan. We show results of using PROGOL learning algorithm to distinguish "bad" plans early in the reasoning process, before too many resources are wasted on considering them. We show that additional knowledge needs to be provided before learning can be successful, but argue that the benefits achieved make it worthwhile. Finally, we identify several assumptions made by PROGOL, shared by other similarly universal algorithms, which are well justified in general, but fail to exploit the properties of the class of problems faced by rational agents.
Bringing the “social” into sociohydrology: Conservation policy support in the Central Great Plains of Kansas, USA

Identifying means of empirically modeling the human component of a coupled, human‐water system becomes critically important to further advances in sociohydrology. We develop a social‐psychological model of environmental decision making that addresses four key challenges of incorporating social science into integrated models. We use the model to explain preferences for three conservation policies designed to conserve and protect water resources and aquatic ecosystems in the Smoky Hill River Basin, a semiarid agricultural region in the Central U.S. Great Plains. Further, we compare the model's capacity to explain policy preferences among members of two groups in the River Basin: agricultural producers and members of nonfarming communities. We find that financial obligation is the strongest and most consistent explanation of support for conservation policies among members of both groups. We also find that policy support is grounded in cultural values—deeply held ideas about right and wrong. Environmental values are particularly important explanations of policy support. The constellations of values invoked to make decisions about policies, and the social‐psychological pathways linking values to policy support, can vary across policies and types of agents (farmers and nonfarmers). We discuss the implications of the results for future research in sociohydrology.
Effect of rubber dam on objective and subjective parameters of stress during dental treatment of children

Background: Rubber dam is advocated for isolating the operating field during clinical dental procedures. Pediatric dentists often omit rubber dam, in patients assuming that it would cause stress to the patient or because of lack of compliance from the patient. Materials and Methods: Sixty lower first permanent molars from 30 patients were included in the study. From each patient, one tooth was selected for the test group using rubber dam. The corresponding tooth from the opposite quadrant was selected for the control group using saliva ejector and cotton roll. On the first visit, rubber dam application was used for fissure sealing procedure. On next visit, cotton rolls and saliva ejector were used for the same procedure. During the procedure, objective parameters of stress, such as blood pressure, breath rate, and pulse rate of patients, were recorded. The pulse rate of operator was recorded by a dental assistant which is indicative of operator's stress level. Results: The pulse rate of the patients in the control group was higher than the test group using rubber dam, and it was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The pulse rate of the operator was considerably lower in the test group using rubber dam as compared to control group using saliva ejector and cotton roll which was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This study concluded that isolation with rubber dam caused less stress in patients and in operator as compared to cotton rolls and saliva ejector.
Towards Real‐Time Continental Scale Streamflow Simulation in Continuous and Discrete Space

The National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts floods at approximately 3,600 locations across the United States (U.S.). However, the river network, as defined by the 1:100,000 scale National Hydrography Dataset‐Plus (NHDPlus) dataset, consists of 2.7 million river segments. Through the National Flood Interoperability Experiment, a continental scale streamflow simulation and forecast system was implemented and continuously operated through the summer of 2015. This system leveraged the WRF‐Hydro framework, initialized on a 3‐km grid, the Routing Application for the Parallel Computation of Discharge river routing model, operating on the NHDPlus, and real‐time atmospheric forcing to continuously forecast streamflow. Although this system produced forecasts, this paper presents a study of the three‐month nowcast to demonstrate the capacity to seamlessly predict reach scale streamflow at the continental scale. In addition, this paper evaluates the impact of reservoirs, through a case study in Texas. Validation of the uncalibrated model using observed hourly streamflow at 5,701 U.S. Geological Survey gages shows 26% demonstrate PBias ≤ |25%|, 11% demonstrate Nash‐Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) ≥ 0.25, and 6% demonstrate both PBias ≤ |25%| and NSE ≥ 0.25. When evaluating the impact of reservoirs, the analysis shows when reservoirs are included, NSE ≥ 0.25 for 56% of the gages downstream while NSE ≥ 0.25 for 11% when they are not. The results presented here provide a benchmark for the evolving hydrology program within the NWS and supports their efforts to develop a reach scale flood forecasting system for the country.
Evaluation and improvement of tail behaviour in the cumulative distribution function transform downscaling method

The cumulative distribution function transform (CDFt) downscaling method has been used widely to provide local‐scale information and bias correction to output from physical climate models. The CDFt approach is one from the category of statistical downscaling methods that operates via transformations between statistical distributions. Although numerous studies have demonstrated that such methods provide value overall, much less effort has focused on their performance with regard to values in the tails of distributions. We evaluate the performance of CDFt‐generated tail values based on four distinct approaches, two native to CDFt and two of our own creation, in the context of a “Perfect Model” setting in which global climate model output is used as a proxy for both observational and model data. We find that the native CDFt approaches can have sub‐optimal performance in the tails, particularly with regard to the maximum value. However, our alternative approaches provide substantial improvement.
Use of Ontologies in a Pervasive Computing Environment

This study reports an emerging application of Semantic Web technologies. The Semantic Web has emerged from Knowledge Engineering and Intelligent Agents, and has been primarily aimed at improved Web Search and Web Services. This study has applied this technology to solve important problems in a CORBA-based Pervasive Computing Infrastructure. Pervasive Computing Environments consist of a large number of independent entities that help transform physical spaces into computationally active and intelligent spaces. These entities could be devices, applications, services or users. A lot of work has been done to enable the different entities to interact with each other. However, not much work has been done in ensuring that the different entities are on the same semantic plane when they interact with each other. To tackle this problem, we have used semantic web technologies to attach semantics to various concepts in Pervasive Environments. We have developed ontologies to describe different aspects of these environments.
PENGARUH TEKNIK AUDIT BERBANTUAN KOMPUTER, PELATIHAN PROFESIONAL, DAN ETIKA PROFESI TERHADAP KINERJA AUDITOR

The development of technology in today's times, leading information technology will continue to evolve subsequently affects every stage of the audit process. Auditors are expected to apply Computer Assisted Audit Techniques as one influence on the development of IT and to improve its performance. This study aims to determine the effect TABK, professional training, and professional ethics on the performance of auditors in the KAP of the province Bali. The data collection is done by distributing questionnaires to the auditor in public accounting firms that are members of the Indonesian Institute of Accountants (Certified) Bali region as respondents using purposive sampling technique sampling. The analysis technique used is multiple linear regression. Based on the results obtained show that TABK, professional training and professional ethics have positive influence on the performance of auditors. This shows that the increasing use of TABK and auditors who often follow professional training as well as the auditor who abide by the ethics of the profession, the auditor's performance is increasing.
Research Area Markets and Politics Research Unit Market Processes and Governance Schwerpunkt Märkte Und Politik Abteilung Marktprozesse Und Steuerung Party Cues and Yardstick Voting Party Cues and Yardstick Voting

Politicians within any given party generally exhibit a degree similarity in terms of (political) viewpoints. Moreover, they are often constrained to follow general party lines on certain policy issues. Finally, they may be more likely to mimic one another than politicians from another party. Hence, parties provide important cues on how politicians will act once elected. The present paper assesses the implications of such party cues for the traditional model of yardstick voting (where voters use what they observe in neighbouring jurisdictions to judge the performance of their incumbent). It is shown that the information content of what happens in neighbouring jurisdictions differs depending on whether or not the same party governs this jurisdiction. More specifically, we find that voters might still take neighbouring jurisdictions into account, but should distinguish between jurisdictions where the same or a different party is in power. The results of the model are in line with recent empirical observations in Sweden and the United States.
Evaluation of Tomato Genotypes for Growth, Yield and Quality Attributes Under Eastern Dry Zone of Karnataka, India

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most important Solanaceous vegetable crops grown widely all over the world. It is a very versatile vegetable for culinary purposes. Ripe, tomato fruit is consumed fresh as salads and consumed after cooking and utilized in the preparation of range of processed products such as puree, paste, powder, ketchup, sauce, soup and canned whole fruits. Unripe green fruits are used for preparation of pickles and chutney. Tomatoes are important sources of lycopene (an antioxidant), ascorbic acid and β-carotene and valued for their colour and flavour. Although tomatoes are commonly consumed fresh, over 80% of tomato consumption comes from processed products such as tomato juice, paste, puree, ketchup and sauce (Takeoka et al., 2001).
The Role of Complementary Resources in the Development of E-supply Chains and the Firm ’ s Performance : An Exploratory Analysis of Secondary Data

E-supply chains (e-SCs), which are Internet-enabled supply chains, are progressively being implemented in companies to improve their operational and financial performance. Several studies exist where the association between the development of an e-supply chain and the performance of a firm, has been investigated. However, there is a paucity of literature that describes how information technology (IT) resources interact with other complementary resources to e-supply chains to positively impact a firm " s performance. This paper seeks to adopt a resource-based view of the firm (RBVF) and empirically tests a framework that identifies and validates the relationships among IT resources, complementary resources to e-supply chains, and performance of a firm. This study utilizes secondary data from two sources – data collected by the South Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) and financial data from the Korea Exchange. The data from a total of 170 firms representing 10 industries in South Korea were analyzed using a partial least-squares technique (PLS). The results of the analysis confirm that IT resources do not directly influence supply chain performance. However, when associated with a complementary resource, IT resources positively affect both supply chain operations and a firm " s financial performance. The findings of this research support the current existing literature on the RBVF approach with regard to the domain of supply chain management, and can provide additional insights to industry practitioners on how to effectively utilize complementary resources in developing e-SCs to deliver improved performance.
Sampling saproxylic beetles with window flight traps: methodological insights

Regards methodologiques sur l'echantillonnage des coleopteres saproxyliques au moyen des pieges-vitres. - Les coleopteres saproxyliques constituent un groupe riche en especes, souvent petites et cryptiques, et difficiles a echantillonner. Differentes methodes sont traditionnellement utilisees pour les collecter: les techniques (i) de collecte active, (ii) d'elevage et (iii) de piegeage. Le piege-vitre est actuellement la methode la plus frequemment utilisee pour la capture des coleopteres saproxyliques aeriens mobiles. Grâce a la combinaison de differents principes, les pieges-vitres comportent de multiples modeles. Cette etude concerne l'influence de 3 facteurs sur les captures de coleopteres saproxyliques, en comparant (i) des pieges plans bidirectionnels ou multidirectionnels en croix (effet de forme), (ii) des pieges transparents ou noirs (effet silhouette), (iii) des pieges suspendus a faible hauteur ou dans la canopee. Six jeux de donnees ecologiques de plaine ou d'altitude, de forets francaises feuillues ou resineuses, et comportant deux pieges differents apparies parplacette, ont ete compiles et analyses pour comparer l'efficacite respective des methodes. La forme du piege a un fort effet significatif sur l'abondance et la richesse specifique, a l'avantage des pieges plans. Neanmoins, en raison de contraintes pratiques ou financieres, les pieges-croix sont recommandes. Les pieges noirs ou transparents fournissent des echantillons comparables en termes d'abondance, de richesse et de composition. Nos resultats confirment la differenciation verticale des assemblages de coleopteres saproxyliques, les pieges bas capturant davantage d'individus et d'especes que les pieges de la canopee. A l'exception des Melyridae, aucune espece n'est associee aux strates hautes. Des analyses complementaires fondees sur de plus amples jeux de donnees sont requises pour optimiser les methodes d'echantillonnage.
Non-commercial Research and Educational Use including without Limitation Use in Instruction at Your Institution, Sending It to Specific Colleagues That You Know, and Providing a Copy to Your Institution's Administrator. All Other Uses, Reproduction and Distribution, including without Limitation Comm

During the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, traditional intervention measures such as quarantine and border control were found to be useful in containing the outbreak. We used laboratory verified SARS case data and the detailed quarantine data in Taiwan, where over 150,000 people were quarantined during the 2003 outbreak, to formulate a mathematical model which incorporates Level A quarantine (of potentially exposed contacts of suspected SARS patients) and Level B quarantine (of travelers arriving at borders from SARS affected areas) implemented in Taiwan during the outbreak. We obtain the average case fatality ratio and the daily quarantine rate for the Taiwan outbreak. Model simulations is utilized to show that Level A quarantine prevented approximately 461 additional SARS cases and 62 additional deaths, while the effect of Level B quarantine was comparatively minor, yielding only around 5% reduction of cases and deaths. The combined impact of the two levels of quarantine had reduced the case number and deaths by almost a half. The results demonstrate how modeling can be useful in qualitative evaluation of the impact of traditional intervention measures for newly emerging infectious diseases outbreak when there is inadequate information on the characteristics and clinical features of the new disease—measures which could become particularly important with the looming threat of global flu pandemic possibly caused by a novel mutating flu strain, including that of avian variety.