Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Third-order generalized discontinuous impulsive Problems on the half-Line

In this paper, we improve the existing results in the literature by presenting weaker sufficient conditions for the solvability of a third-order impulsive problem on the half-line, having generalized impulse effects. More precisely, our nonlinearities do not need to be positive nor sublinear and the monotone assumptions are local ones. Our method makes use of some truncation and perturbed techniques and on the equiconvergence at infinity and the impulsive points. The last section contains an application to a boundary layer flow problem over a stretching sheet with and without heat transfer.
Why Scrum works in new product development: the role of social capital in managing complexity

Abstract Major changes are currently underway across new product development (NPD) practice, and a number of new NPD management methods and processes are emerging. Managers are faced with an array of possible process models and methods to choose from, including the formal Stage-Gate method as well as multiple emerging variants of Agile. The claimed benefits of Agile methods make it attractive, but its suitability is uncertain. In safety-critical organizations and environments a well-controlled, waterfall-based project model would likely be expected. In an empirical study of an R&D department in a large organization creating and adapting complex air traffic management systems we investigate the use and effects of Scrum, the leading Agile method. Since project coordination is a social phenomenon, we apply social capital and project complexity as theoretical lenses for evaluating the effects of Scrum. We find that Scrum and social capital provide reciprocal benefits, and that the stakeholders found Scrum to be an effective and valuable way of working, mitigating the effects of complexity.
Yoghurt: Science and technology

Historical background Background to manufacturing practice Processing plants and equipment Plant cleaning, hygiene and effluent treatment Traditional and new developments in yoghurt production and related products Microbiology of yoghurt and i? ½bioi? ½ starter cultures Biochemistry of fermentation Preservation and production of starter cultures Nutritional value of yoghurt Quality control in yoghurt manufacture.
Barriers and enablers to K-12 blended teaching

Abstract The attributes of post-pandemic blended teaching (BT) will more closely resemble pre-Coronavirus conditions than the outbreak’s emergency remote teaching. Thus, barriers and enablers for teachers transitioning to BT after emergency remote teaching will be similar to those of early BT adopters. K-12 research has identified external and internal barriers and enablers to technology integration but has largely overlooked those of BT. This study involved analyzing 62 interviews of K-12 blended teachers to discover factors that enabled BT, stood as barriers to initial and continued blending efforts, and helped teachers overcome barriers. Teacher-perceived barriers included, among others, costs perceived as outweighing benefits, lack of administrative support, and student characteristics. Enablers included teachers’ dispositions, cohort support, and various classroom benefits. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Determinants of impairments in functioning, fatigue, and participation ability in pediatric brain tumor survivors

Abstract Background Pediatric brain tumor survivors (PBTS) experience disease- and treatment-related sequelae. We aimed to investigate the occurrence of participation limitations, impairments in functioning, fatigue, and the association between patient, tumor- and treatment-related factors and these outcomes. Methods Children (4–18 years) after treatment for a brain tumor between 2005 and 2014 at the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, were eligible. The parent-reported Child and Family Follow-up Survey developed to measure participation and impairments in functioning in youth with acquired brain injury, was used. Fatigue was assessed using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Multidimensional Fatigue Scale. Associations with patient, tumor- and treatment-related factors were explored using univariable analyses. Results Ninety-one PBTS (median age: 11.3 years [range: 9.5–14.1], time since treatment: 3.9 years [range: 4–6.2]) were included (response rate: 55%). Participation limitations were reported in 53% and were associated with impairments in functioning (15–67%) (P ≤ .01) and fatigue (P ≤ .03). Parent- and child-reported fatigue was increased compared to normative values (P ≤ .02). History of hydrocephalus was associated with increased fatigue (P ≤ .04). Younger age at diagnosis and longer time since diagnosis were associated with impairments in functioning and cognitive fatigue (P < .05). Participation limitations, impairments in functioning and fatigue were similar in PBTS who were <3 or ≥3 years since completion of treatment. Conclusion More than half of PBTS reported limited participation ability, which is associated with impairments in functioning and fatigue. The complication hydrocephalus seems to lead to more fatigue. Participation limitations, impairments in functioning and fatigue appear not to diminish in the longer term.
A Bourdieusian Analysis of Good Practice Partnerships: Implications for Private, Voluntary and Independent Early Childcare Leaders

This article applies the theoretical lens of Bourdieu to explore leadership and the distribution of power between teachers and early childhood practitioners in the private voluntary and independent (PVI) sector in a good practice partnership. It questions the effectiveness of such partnerships in bringing about sustained improvements to practice in this sector. Data were collected in three focus groups with practitioners from 10 settings that were recruited by a consortium of schools to the partnership to take part in a 10-week intervention. The findings showed that the power imbalance between teachers and early childhood practitioners cancelled out collaborative pedagogical models of leadership intended to underpin the good practice partnership. Furthermore, this power imbalance contributed to the lack of sustainability of the intervention. In conclusion, leadership practices need to be more closely aligned between early childhood practitioners and teachers by drawing on ideas of moral leadership elicited from a symbolic frame. The article has relevance for leaders operating in collaborative contexts where existing power imbalances are evident.
Dopamine mediates the bidirectional update of interval timing

The role of dopamine as a reward prediction error signal in reinforcement learning tasks has been well-established over the past decades. Recent work has shown that the reward prediction error interpretation can also account for the effects of dopamine on interval timing by controlling the speed of subjective time. According to this theory, the timing of the dopamine signal relative to reward delivery dictates whether subjective time speeds up or slows down: Early DA signals speed up subjective time and late signals slow it down. To test this bidirectional prediction, we reanalyzed measurements of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta of mice performing a self-timed movement task. Using the slope of ramping dopamine activity as a read-out of subjective time speed, we found that trial-by-trial changes in the slope could be predicted from the timing of dopamine activity on the previous trial. This result provides a key piece of evidence supporting a unified computational theory of reinforcement learning and interval timing.
Spatial synchrony in the start and end of the thermal growing season has different trends in the mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere

Changes in spatial synchrony in the growing season have notable effects on species distribution, cross-trophic ecological interactions and ecosystem stability. These changes, driven by non-uniform climate change were observed on the regional scale. It is still unclear how spatial synchrony of the growing season on the climate gradient of the mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere and ecoregions, has changed over the past decades. Therefore, we calculated the start, end, and length of the thermal growing season (SOS, EOS, and LOS, respectively), which are indicators of the theoretical plant growth season, based on the daily-mean temperature of the Princeton Global Forcing dataset from 1948 to 2016. Spatial variations in the SOS, EOS and LOS along spatial climate gradients were analyzed using the multivariate-linear regression model. The changes of spatial synchrony in the SOS, EOS and LOS were analyzed using the segmented model. The results showed that in all ecoregions, spatially, areas with higher temperature tended to have an earlier SOS, later EOS and longer LOS. However, not all the areas with higher precipitation tended to have a later SOS, later EOS, and shorter LOS. The spatial synchrony in the SOS decreased across the entire study area, whereas the EOS showed the opposite trend. Among the seven ecoregions, spatial synchrony in the SOS in temperate broadleaf/mixed forests and temperate conifer forests changed the most noticeably, decreasing in both regions. Conversely, spatial synchrony in the EOS in the taiga, temperate grasslands/savannas/shrublands and tundra changed the most noticeably, increasing in each region. These may have important effects on the structure and function of ecosystems, especially on the changes in cross-trophic ecological interactions. Moreover, future climate change may change the spatial synchrony in the SOS and EOS further; however, the actual impact of such ongoing change is largely unknown.
Short-Term Memory Factors in Ground Controller/Pilot Communication

Communication between ground controllers and pilots was simulated in a short-term memory task in order to explore sources of memory errors in the air traffic control system. As expected from prior short-term memory research, two major determinants of error probability were (1) amount of information that the pilot has to process in a given time and (2) retention interval between the time information is transmitted from the controller and the time it is acted on (recalled) by the pilot. Additionally, the manner of encoding numerical information was varied. The result of this manipulation indicated that, as suggested by recent research in cognitive psychology, the current information-encoding scheme has substantial room for improvement in terms of minimizing memory failure.
The impacts of quality management practices on business performance: An empirical investigation from China

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine the way quality management practices (QMPs) impact quality outcome, R&D process, and business performance, using investigation data from Chinese firms. The possible moderating effects of industrial types and competition on the above influencing relationships were investigated as well.Design/methodology/approach – A two‐round questionnaire survey was conducted to 196 manufacturing and service firms in West China, and hypotheses were verified using a structural equation model with LISREL software.Findings – The results suggest that quality management practices do not have a positive impact on firms' business performance directly, but have an indirect impact on business performance mediated by quality performance and R&D performance. Furthermore, the authors find that industrial type can moderate the relationships between quality management practices and business performance, while competition does not.Originality/value – The findings make a significant contribution to u.
Fendrr synergizes with Wnt signalling to regulate fibrosis related genes during lung development via its RNA:dsDNA triplex element

Long non-coding RNAs are a very versatile class of molecules that can have important roles in regulating a cells function, including regulating other genes on the transcriptional level. One of these mechanisms is that RNA can directly interact with DNA thereby recruiting additional components such as proteins to these sites via a RNA:dsDNA triplex formation. We genetically deleted the triplex forming sequence (FendrrBox) from the lncRNA Fendrr in mice and find that this FendrrBox is partially required for Fendrr function in vivo. We find that the loss of the triplex forming site in developing lungs causes a dysregulation of gene programs, associated with lung fibrosis. A set of these genes contain a triplex site directly at their promoter and are expressed in fibroblasts. We confirm the formation of RNA:dsDNA formation with target promoters. We find that Fendrr with the Wnt signalling pathway regulates these genes, implicating that Fendrr synergizes with Wnt signalling in lung fibrosis.
A non-intrusive fluid-wave actuator and sensor pair for the active control of fluid-borne vibrations in a pipe

This paper describes the design of a non-intrusive fluid-wave actuator and sensor pair for use in an active control system to control fluid-borne vibrations in pipework systems. Piping systems can be excited by sources such as pumps and compressors and vibrational energy can propagate both in the pipe wall and the fluid. The transducers developed in this paper are designed only for the control of the fluid-borne vibrational energy. A theoretical framework is developed that integrates the transducers into the pipe and couples them to the motion of the fluid inside the pipe. A hydraulic actuator driven with a magnetostrictive element and fitted to a water-filled perspex pipe has been designed and tested. The sensor was made from piezoelectric elements fitted around the outer circumference of the pipe. Experimental results show that the actuator is capable of suppressing a propagating fluid-wave, but in doing so it increases the vibration of the pipe-wall in the vicinity of the actuator. When the sensor is employed as an error sensor together with the actuator in the frequency range 10 - 1000 Hz, a reduction in the fluid-wave amplitude of around 20 dB is possible.
Saving and investment behaviour of teachers - An empirical study

The competency of a teacher is a major determinant of the quality of the education. Teacher's professional advancement is decided by many factors. One of the main factors which strongly influence the efficiency of teacher is his quality of life. The quality of one's life is closely related to the level consumption, savings and investment. The attitude of teachers toward consumption, saving and investment would reflect their economic behaviour, which would influence quality of life and in turn influence their profession and the education system. Research in this aspect of important stakeholder in education system assumes significance in the field of educational reform. In this context the present research study titled “An analysis of behaviour of teaching community towards saving & investment” is undertaken. This research paper is focused on saving & investment patterns of primary, high school, college and university teachers in Udupi District of Karnataka State.
Control of File Exchange of Illicit Materials in Peer-to-Peer Environments

The development of computer technology and communication provided new means for the diffusion of illegal material, such as child pornographic images and videos. The legal framework to contrast that diffusion lies, at the European level, in EU Directive 2006/24/EC, after the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, 2001, and in the various transposition laws by the member states (e. g. Law 48 in 2008 in Italy); it deals with: common and shared definition of crimes, definition of enforcement powers, implementation of international cooperation, encouragement to the adoption of best practices sound from the juridical point of view and based on the state-of-art technological and scientific methods. In particular we examine the situation of child pornography related crimes: Internet users more and more have been using peer-to-peer networks and tools to exchange illicit material due to the ease to avoid interception by police and law enforcement investigations. When it becomes necessary to investigate a crime of this type, there are two main issues: difficulty to identify the crime, such as the exchange of illegal material on peer-to-peer network; and difficulty to analyze data: when a person, starting from an Internet address, is supposed guilty of a crime, quite often investigators have to manage a huge quantity of seized materials. Therefore investigators needs new strategies and software tools to support their tasks. We present Emulforensic, developed in Bologna, a tool to analyze the activities performed through eMule files, and make comparisons with other products that work in the same area such as EspiaMule, developed by Brazilian Federal Police, a software tool capable of monitoring the child pornographic file exchanges in peer-to-peer networks, and FIVES, developed by a European consortium led by Karlstadt University, a flexible software tool-set which allows law enforcement organizations to handle efficiently large amounts of image and video material related to child sexual abuse. We give, finally, an evaluation and some comments about the trends of diffusion, at European level, of the exchange of materials about child pornography.
Sensing of Transition Metals by Top-Down Carbon Dots

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are a new class of carbon-rich materials with a range of unique optical and structural properties. They can be defined as carbon nanoparticles, with sizes in the range of 1–10 nm, displaying absorption and emission activities in the UV-VIS range. Depending on the structure, CQDs display a wide variability of properties, which provides the possibility of finely tuning them for several applications. The great advantages of CQDs are certainly the ease of synthesis, non-toxicity, and the strong interactions with the surrounding environment. Based on this, CQDs are especially promising as selective chemosensors. The present study reports on carbon quantum dots synthesized with a top-down (TD) approach, and characterized by different optical, spectroscopic, and morphological techniques to identify the selectivity for metal ions belonging to the first transition series. In particular, the study focuses on the interaction between two samples, namely TD and TDA, featuring different surface functionalization, and heavy metal ions. Their sensing towards Co2+, Cu2+, Fe3+, Zn2+, and Ni2+ has been tested by fluorescence (PL), steady state absorption spectroscopy, and time-resolved PL spectroscopy, in order to determine the fluorescence quenching. We found a PL quenching in the presence of concentrations of metal salts starting from 0.5 µM, and a selectivity towards the interacting ions, depending on CQDs’ surface features paving the way for their use for sensing.
Charting the Corporate Mind: From Dilemma to Strategy

Introduction - "The International Learning Race" 1. How Value is Created: Two Forms of Choice 2. Standing at the Helm 3. Charting Dilemmas and Steering Strategically 4. Odysseus in Silicon Valley 5. Lean and Local: The Integrity of Hanover Insurance 6. Seven Steps to Reconciling Dilemmas Strategically 7. Efficiency and Effectiveness: The Limits of Calvanist Conscience 8. Strategically Outclassed: Culture and Strategy in the Pacific Rim 9. The Shotgun Wedding: Industry and Academia 10. The Hunt for the Unicorn: A Critique of Pure Profit.
High-power microwave/ radio-frequency components, circuits, and subsystems for next-generation wireless radio front-ends

Chen, Kenle Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2013. High-Power Microwave/ Radio-Frequency Components, Circuits, and Subsystems for Next-Generation Wireless Radio Front-Ends. Major Professor: Dimitrios Peroulis. As the wireless communication systems evolve toward the future generation, intelligence will be the main signature/trend, well known as the concepts of cognitive and software-defined radios which offer ultimate data transmission speed, spectrum access, and user capacity. During this evolution, the human society may experience another round of ‘information revolution’. However, one of the major bottlenecks of this promotion lies in hardware realization, since all the aforementioned intelligent systems are required to cover a broad frequency range to support multiple communication bands and dissimilar standards. As the essential part of the hardware, power amplifiers (PAs) capable of operating over a wide bandwidth have been identified as the key enabling technology. This dissertation focuses on novel methodologies for designing and realizing broadband high-power PAs, their integration with highquality-factor (high-Q) tunable filters, and relevant investigations on the reliabilities of these tunable devices. It can be basically divided into three major parts: 1. Broadband High-Efficiency Power Amplifiers. Obtaining high PA efficiency over a wide bandwidth is very challenging, because of the difficulty of performing broadband multi-harmonic matching. However, high efficiency is the critical feature for high-performance PAs due to the ever-increasing demands for environmental friendliness, energy saving, and longer battery life. In this research, novel design methodologies of broad-band highly efficient PAs are proposed, including the first-ever mode-transferring PA theory, novel matching network
Elevation of IL-6 and IL-33 Levels in Serum Associated with Lung Fibrosis and Skeletal Muscle Wasting in a Bleomycin-Induced Lung Injury Mouse Model

Weight loss due to skeletal muscle atrophy in patients with chronic pulmonary disease is negatively correlated with clinical outcome. Pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic and progressive interstitial lung disease characterized by the dysregulated deposition of the extracellular matrix (ECM) with the destruction of normal tissue, resulting in end-stage organ failure. BLM-induced fibrosis is one of several different experimental models of pulmonary fibrosis, characterized by inflammation and excessive ECM deposition. We directly induced mouse lung injury by the intratracheal administration of bleomycin and monitored the physiological and biochemical changes in lung and skeletal muscle tissues by using lung function testing, ELISA, Western blotting, and immunohistochemistry. Here, we found that BLM-induced lung fibrosis with thickened interstitial lung tissue, including fibronectin and collagen, was correlated with the increased serum concentrations of IL-6 and IL-33 and accompanied by reduced lung function, including FRC (functional residual capacity), C chord (lung compliance), IC (inspiratory capacity), VC (vital capacity), TLC (total lung capacity), and FVC (forced vital capacity) (p < 0.05). The activity of AKT in lung tissue was suppressed, but conversely, the activity of STAT3 was enhanced during lung fibrosis in mice. In addition, we found that the amount of sST2, the soluble form of the IL-33 receptor, was dramatically decreased in lung fibrosis tissues. The skeletal muscle tissue isolated from lung injury mice increased the activation of STAT3 and AMPK, accompanied by an increased amount of Atrogin-1 protein in BLM-induced lung fibrosis mice. The mouse myoblast cell-based model showed that IL-6 and IL-33 specifically activated STAT3 and AMPK signaling, respectively, to induce the expression of the muscle-specific proteolysis markers MuRF1 and Atrogin-1. These data suggested that increased levels of IL-6 and IL-33 in the serum of mice with BLM-induced lung injury may cause lung fibrosis with thickened interstitial lung tissue accompanied by reduced lung function and muscle mass through the activation of STAT3 and AMPK signals.
Improving the cane milling efficiency at Sanghar Sugar Mills Ltd., Sanghar.

With 06 years (2007-08 to 2012-13) of study, identification of weak areas and removal of defects & deficiencies, etc. at the Sanghar Sugar Mills Ltd. (SSML), marked improvements were observed in the milling results as compared to the previous 20 years (1987-88 to 2006-07) working data. There was an increase in daily crushing of sugar cane by 29.3%, mill extraction by 0.84o and milling time efficiency by 8.5%.