Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Retributivism, free will skepticism and the public health-quarantine model: replies to Corrado, Kennedy, Sifferd, Walen, Pereboom and Shaw

I would like to begin by thanking Michael Corrado, Chloë Kennedy, Katrina Sifferd, Alec Walen, Derk Pereboom and Elizabeth Shaw for their astute and challenging comments on my book, Rejecting Retributivism: Free Will, Punishment, and Criminal Justice. It is seldom that one gets the opportunity to put their views to the test by responding to six of the leading figures in their field. While I have had only the briefest time to consider their comments, and more prolonged reflection would no doubt yield more insights, I have already benefited greatly by wrestling with their perceptive criticisms. In this article, I outline the objections, suggestions and critical points presented by each commentor and respond to each as best I can. While I dedicate more space to some challenges than others, this is not a reflection of the quality of the commentaries but is instead due to a limitation on time and space. There is also occasional overlap between the commentaries, and it makes more sense to address common criticisms only once. I begin by responding to Michael Corrado and then proceed in the order indicated in the subtitle.
Adult-Onset IgE-Mediated Food Allergy in Manitoba

BackgroundIt is a putatively understood phenomenon that the overall prevalence of allergic disease has been increasing in recent decades – particularly in industrialized nations. Despite this, there is a relative scarcity of data concerning the development of food-related allergic disease in the adult population. In addition, the paucity of data as it pertains to the Canadian population is particularly marked when compared to other nations. We sought to determine common culprit foods and the reactions they elicited in a series of 14 patients seen in the Winnipeg allergy and immunology clinic. MethodsWe conducted a retrospective review of patients identified by academic allergists in Winnipeg, Manitoba as fitting criteria for adult-onset IgE-mediated food allergy from May 2018 – July 2020. We included patients with IgE-mediated symptoms, including the food pollen syndrome which developed at the age of 16 or later. We collected data regarding the food which induced the reaction, what the reaction was, and any concomitant atopic disease.ResultsThe most common culprit food identified was shellfish, followed by finfish, food pollen syndrome, and wheat/flour. The most common reaction experienced was anaphylaxis, followed by food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis and isolated (muco)cutaneous symptoms. With regard to concomitant atopic disease, allergic rhinitis/rhinoconjunctivitis stood out as the most prevalent.ConclusionsAdult-onset food allergy – particularly with resultant anaphylaxis – is an important phenomenon to recognize, even when patients have previously tolerated the food in question.
LONG AND VERY LONG FATTY ACID FRACTIONATION IN SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS IN THE ACTIVE AND INACTIVE STATUS

Objective: Flare in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an exacerbation of SLE clinical features that were earlier quiescent. The disease activity changes from inactive to active with an increase of several immunological profiles; the rise of immune activity induces a metabolic shift in SLE patients. The previous study aimed to investigate the long and very long fatty acid fractions (LCFA and VLCFA) in the active and inactive statuses of SLE patients and showed there were dynamic changes in fatty acid fractions in SLE patients, compared to healthy subjects. The aim of this preliminary study is to investigate LCFA and VLCFA in the active and inactive condition of SLE patients. Methods: Four serum samples of active and inactive statuses from the same SLE patients were used in this study. Serum LCFA and VLCFA fractions were analyzed by a 7890 Gas Chromatography (GC) System 5977 Mass Selective Detector (MSD). Results: All of the LCFA and VLCFA fractions were increased in the active condition, compared to SLE patients in inactive, although they were statistically not different (p>0.05). The total fatty acid fraction was 38% higher in active condition compare to inactive. The prominent increase of fatty acid fractions was alpha-linolenic acid (inactive vs. active: 23.25±17.97 vs 48.25±38.58 μmol/l), oleic acid (1300±190.4 vs 1774±866.3 μmol/l) and myristic acid (31.25±12.76 vs 59.25±40.4 μmol/l). Conclusion: The serum of LCFA and VLCFA fractions in SLE patients tend to increase in active conditions.
Cultural Backlash

Authoritarian populist parties have advanced in many countries, and entered government in states as diverse as Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland. Even small parties can still shift the policy agenda, as demonstrated by UKIP's role in catalyzing Brexit. Drawing on new evidence, this book advances a general theory why the silent revolution in values triggered a backlash fuelling support for authoritarian-populist parties and leaders in the US and Europe. The conclusion highlights the dangers of this development and what could be done to mitigate the risks to liberal democracy.
Monitoring ground settlement to guide sewer asset management

The study into the influence of (differential) settlement on the functioning of sewer systems was initiated to search for additional criteria to make sewer pipe replacement decisions more sensible. For this Amsterdam was used as a case study. Like many megacities (e.g. Jakarta, Bangkok, Tokyo, Shanghai), Amsterdam is situated in a delta area. As delta areas are characterized by soft soil conditions, it is to be expected that (differential) settlement is an important cause for dysfunctioning of sewer systems. Because the influence of settlement on sewer system performance has not yet been studied using empirical data, a large part of the study was focused on the assessment of the potential and accuracy of methods to study (differential) settlement. Application of the assessed monitoring techniques (sewer invert measurements, sewer profile measurements, visual sewer inspection) showed that even within an area with a limited settlement rate (5 mm/year), the influence of settlement on sewer system performance is significant (blockages, fouling and FOG deposits) and to a large extent predictable. Ultimately, understanding of the failure mechanisms related to settlement can be used to improve decision-making for sewer asset management.
A new perturbed smooth penalty function for inequality constrained optimization

In this paper, we ﬁrst propose a new smoothing approach to the nonsmooth penalty function for constrained optimization problems, and then show that an approximate optimal solution of the original problem can be obtained by solving an optimal solution of the smoothed optimization problem. Based on the perturbed smooth exact penalty function, we develop an algorithm respectively to ﬁnding an approximate optimal solution of the original constrained optimization problem and prove the convergence of the proposed algorithm. The effectiveness of the smoothed penalty function is illustrated through three examples, which show that the algorithm seems efﬁcient.
Effectiveness of plasma with low concentration of platelets combined with hyaluronic acid compared with platelet rich plasma in the conservative treatment of knee osteoarthritis. A retrospective study

Background: Knee osteoarthritis (KO) is one of the most common joint diseases, often determining knee pain and reduction of mobility with impact on the overall quality of life of the patients. Intra-articular injections of different formulations of platelet rich plasma (PRP) are an increasingly common non-surgical treatment for KO. Recently, in order to combine the antinflammatory effect of platelet rich plasma and the viscosupplementation effect of hyaluronic acid, a formulation of plasma with relatively low concentration of platelets and very few leukocytes combined with hyaluronic acid (PRP+HA) has been proposed. The purpose of this study is to retrospectively compare the effectiveness of plasma with high concentration of platelets and leukocytes (L-PRP) with PRP+HA in patients with mild to moderate (Kellegren-Lawrence scale II-III grade) KO.Materials and Methods: Among the 51 patients included, 28 have been treated with L-PRP, while 23 with PRP+HA. A retrospective evaluation at baseline (T0), after 3 months (T1) and 1 year (T2) has been performed. The outcome analyzed are the Knee Society Score(KSS), the Visuo Analogic Scale (VAS) (at T0,T1 and T2) and the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score(KOOS) (T0 and T2). We evaluated change in mean scores within group among different time points using repeated measures ANOVA or paired t-test. Comparison between different groups of treatment has been performed using mixed ANOVA.Results: The main finding is that, although the two treatments have been both effective, PRP+HA determined significantly better functional status, pain and mobility, measured with KSS.Discussion: We observed a significant effect of the two formulations in exam in all the outcomes in analysis: both treatments were effective in improving pain, knee functional status and symptoms, and the benefits persisted after 3 and 12 months from the infiltrative therapy. Nevertheless, patients who received PRP+HA injections presented higher knee mobility and better function (measured by KSS score) after one year.Conclusions: This work compares clinical outcomes of L-PRP and PRP+HA treatment in patients with KO. Our results encourage the use of one of the two treatments in patients with mild to moderate KO. When possible, we suggest to the use of PRP+HA formulation, because it may determine better results in improving knee function and mobility.
Credit Risk Scorecards: Developing and Implementing Intelligent Credit Scoring

Acknowledgments. Chapter 1: Introduction. Scorecards: General Overview. Chapter 2: Scorecard Development: The People and the Process. Scorecard Development Roles. Intelligent Scorecard Development. Scorecard Development and Implementation Process: Overview. Chapter 3: Scorecard Development Process, Stage 1: Preliminaries and Planning. Create Business Plan. Create Project Plan. Why "Scorecard" Format? Chapter 4: Scorecard Development Process, Stage 2: Data Review and Project Parameters. Data Availability and Quality. Data Gathering for Definition of Project Parameters. Definition of Project Parameters. Segmentation. Methodology. Review of Implementation Plan. Chapter 5: Scorecard Development Process, Stage 3: Development Database Creation. Development Sample Specification. Development Data Collection and Construction. Adjusting for Prior Probabilities. Chapter 6: Scorecard Development Process, Stage 4: Scorecard Development. Explore Data. Missing Values and Outliers. Correlation. Initial Characteristic Analysis. Preliminary Scorecard. Reject Inference. Final Scorecard Production. Choosing a Scorecard. Validation. Chapter 7: Scorecard Development Process, Stage 5: Scorecard Management Reports. Gains Table. Characteristic Reports. Chapter 8: Scorecard Development Process, Stage 6: Scorecard Implementation. Preimplementation Validation. Strategy Development. Chapter 9: Scorecard Development Process, Stage 7: Postimplementation. Scorecard and Portfolio Monitoring Reports. Review. Bibliography. Index.
Industry-school partnerships: an ecological approach

Internationally, Industry-School Partnerships (ISPs) are a ubiquitous government approach for enabling school to work transitions. Significant benefits of ISPs for centralised bureaucracies that are seeking to address common educational problems include: i) cost reduction; ii) supply to geographically dispersed locations, and; iii) industry access to innovative education solutions. In Queensland, there exists a government led ISP, the Gateway to Industry Schools Program. Under this initiative is the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy, a lead industry organisation for 34 schools and 17 multinational sponsor companies. Acquiring an understanding of this strategic ISP is critical, given the current Resources Industry boom, and the workforce skills shortage experienced in Australia. This review paper adopts Ecological Systems Theory as a lens to understand the inner workings of ISPs. Acknowledging that ISPs will remain a key feature of government policy, this paper seeks to further illuminate the role of ISPs in transitioning young people from school to the working world.
Bramwell's Helicopter Dynamics

Since the original publication of Helicopter Dynamics by A.R. S. Bramwell in 1976, this book has become the definitive text on helicopter dynamics. As such it is an essential aid to those studying the behavior of helicopters. The second edition builds on the strengths of the original, and hence the approach of the first edition is retained. The authors provide a detailed summary of helicopter aerodynamics, stability, control, structural dynamics, vibration, and aeroelastic and aeromechanical stability.
Why Robot? Speculative design, the domestication of technology and the considered future

One of the enduring objects used to represent the technological future is the robot. This legacy means that its promise has the ability to evolve in accordance with our societal and cultural dreams and aspirations. It can reflect the current state of technological development, our hopes for that technology and also our fears; fundamentally though, after almost a century of media depictions and corporate promises, the robot is yet to enter our homes and lives in any meaningful way. This thesis begins by asking the question: how does an emerging technology (such as robotic) become a domestic product? In addressing this issue I draw from the theory of domestication and the method of speculative design to describe three possible technological journeys: how technology does not, does and could become a domestic product: 1. Technology does not make the transition from laboratory to domestic life. Robots have made countless departures from the habitat of the research laboratory, apparently headed towards the domestic habitat, but the vast majority never arrive. This observation leads to the identification of a third habitat and the current destination for the majority of proposed domestic robots – robot-related imaginaries. _6 In this theatre-like environment, robots exist as either promises or warnings of a potential technological future. The habitat includes technology fairs, laboratory open houses, news articles and the films and novels of science fiction. I conclude by suggesting reasons why these visions of the future so often fail to become domestic products. 2. Technology does make the transition from laboratory to domestic life. Borrowing from the science of ecology and biological concepts of evolution and domestication, I make an analogy between the shift of habitats that occurs when an organism successfully goes through the process of artificial selection (natural to domestic) and the transition an emerging technology makes in order to become a suitable product for domestic use (laboratory to domestic). 3. How technology could make the transition from laboratory to domestic life. This section makes up the core of the thesis as I describe speculative design and how it can be used to present more plausible depictions of near-future technological applications. By stepping out of the normative relationship that ties technological development to commercial markets, speculative design opens a space for alternative perspectives, critical reflection and an examination of contemporary and near-future technological application. Throughout the thesis these theoretical investigations run parallel to the practice-based element, allowing for interplay between the two. This resulted in three projects that exemplify the speculative design approach applied to robots, inviting dialogue and contemplation on what a preferable robotic future might be.
A SOAP Web Services-Based Architecture for Floor Control in Multimedia Conferencing

Multimedia conferencing applications are an important and widely-used category of Web applications. Floor control is a significant and advanced feature of multimedia conferencing applications. Floor control mechanisms, when introduced in audio/video conferencing, control the media streams such as identifying which participant is allowed to send and who can be seen or heard. This prevents conflict and ensures an optimized use of resources between the conference participants. Floor control is composed of three logical entities: a single floor control server (i.e. entity responsible for managing the floors and their status), one or more floor chairs (moderators), and any number of regular conference participants. This thesis proposes a SOAP Web services based architecture for floor control in multimedia conferencing. Web services are designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. They are attractive because of their flexibility. There are two types of web services: SOAP Web services and RESTful Web services. In SOAP Web services, interactions between the entities are based on XML and use SOAP, which is embedded in HTTP. RESTful web services are an architectural design style that rely on HTTP, but do not use SOAP. XML is also optional. We propose a set of floor control requirements and use them to review the related work and pinpoint the weaknesses. The proposed architecture includes the main components of floor control. It also includes a comprehensive set of server-side and client-side SOAP web service APIs that expose the floor control capabilities to application developers. The proposed APIs are programming language-independent and provide a higher level of abstraction to the application developers, which enables the interoperability. Furthermore, in the proposed architecture the floor control clients do not interact directly with the floor control server (FCS) but through a gateway accessible using SOAP web services. This opens up the possibility to use different floor control protocols transparently to the floor control clients. Application portability is no longer a problem because floor clients access the floor capabilities independently of the protocol supported by the FCS. We have built a conferencing application with floor control as a proof of concept to demonstrate the new interface for floor control and the feasibility of the proposed architecture. In addition, performance measurements have also been made to evaluate the viability of the architecture.
UDWDM ACCESS NETWORKS WITH MULTIWAVELENGTH OPTICAL SOURCE

In the presented paper we show an original concept of the enabling technology for the access networks with ultra dense channel multiplexing. A multifrequency optical UDWDM carrier source based on erbium doped fiber ring configuration are presented. Optical frequency comb generation with very stable 1,5 GHz and 2.5 GHz frequency separation was obtained. In paper we proposed original configurations which allow the realization of network devices for gigahertz spacing channel multiplexing such as optical multiplexers, demultiplexers and optical add/drop multiplexers.
Analysis of ultrathin gate-oxide breakdown mechanisms and applications to antifuse memories fabricated in advanced CMOS processes

Non-volatile one-time programmable memories are gaining an ever growing interest in embedded electronics. Chip ID, chip configuration or system repairing are among the numerous applications addressed by this type of semiconductor memories. In addition, the antifuse technology enables the storage of secured information with respect to cryptography or else. The thesis focuses on the understanding of ultrathin gate-oxide breakdown physics that is involved in the programming of antifuse bitcells. The integration of advanced programming and detection schemes is also tackled in this thesis. The breakdown mechanisms in the dielectric material SiO2 and high-K under a high electric field were studied. Dedicated experimental setups were needed in order to perform the characterization of antifuse bitcells under the conditions define in memory product. Typical time-to-breakdown values shorter than a micro second were identified. The latter measurements allowed the statistical study of dielectric breakdown and the modeling in a high voltage range, i.e. beyond the conventional range studied in reliability. The model presented in this PhD thesis enables the optimization of the antifuse bitcell sizes according to a targeted mean time-to- breakdown value. A particular mechanism leading to a high bulk current overshoot occuring during the programming operation was highlighted. The study of this phenomenon was achieved using electrical characterizations and simulations. The triggering of a parasitic P-N-P bipolar transistor localized in the antifuse bitcell appeared as a relevant hypothesis. The analysis of the impact of the programming conditions on the resulting read current measured under a low voltage was performed using analog test structures. The amplitude of the programming current was controlled in an augmented antifuse bitcell. The programming time is controlled by a programming detection system and a delay. Finally, these solutions are to be validated using a 1-kb demonstrator yet designed and fabricated in a logic 32-nm CMOS process.
Impact of size and shape for textile surface electromyography electrodes: a study of the biceps brachii muscle

Electromyography is a technique to record and analyze signals from muscle tissue. Commonly, gel-based (Ag/AgCl) electrodes are used to detect muscle action potentials. Current gel-based electrode designs, however, do not perform well under constant movement and therefore are less suitable to monitor muscle behavior under everyday activities. Textile electrodes do well under movement and extended use, but produce weaker signals than their gel-based counterparts. This work points towards a reduction of this performance gap when the textile electrodes are designed to fit the target muscle. Four textile electrodes of different sizes and shapes are tested on the biceps brachii of 13 subjects. Signal parameters such as the signal-to-noise ratio and voltage root-mean-square are used to determine the quality of the myoelectric signals generated by these electrodes. Results with statistically significant differences show that the electrode area and alignment to the muscle fibers affect signal quality and strength. These results indicate that target muscle characteristics should dictate the electrode dimensional parameters to optimize surface electromyography signal acquisition.
On common ground : the power of professional learning communities

This study guide is a companion to the book On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities, edited by Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Rebecca DuFour. On Common Ground presents the insights and expertise of some of the leading educational thinkers and authors in North America today. Their collective work provides both a sound conceptual framework and specific, practical strategies for improving student achievement by developing the capacity of educators to create professional learning communities within their schools and districts.