Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Benefits of Volunteering, Volunteers’ Competencies, and their Integration into Business Education

During voluntary work, volunteers acquire valuable new knowledge and skills, but they often do not recognize these newly developed competencies, cannot apply them in further education, and fail to make others, including potential employers, aware of them. The classification and validation of these competencies can help to facilitate the transfer of volunteers’ competencies within the volunteer and labor markets; however, the required steps for validation of the acquired competencies are frequently complicated or unclear for volunteers. Additionally, accepted ways of validating are lacking in labor market. This paper starts by presenting the value and benefits of volunteering, especially in a business education context. Thereafter, the authors present a European partnership project—the Grundtvig Learning Partnership’s Volunteering Validation Highway (VVH). The partnership aimed to facilitate the validation and transfer of volunteers’ experience. The following paper discuss volunteering as important part of society and a business education approach integrating volunteering. To support the idea of integration, the authors present a study concerning volunteers’ competencies, the benefits of volunteering, and the usefulness in business education of competencies gained through volunteering. The study used data from a questionnaire and group discussions. Regarding different countries, the partners expected different understandings of volunteering; therefore, the researchers conducted mixed-nationality group discussions to develop a mutual understanding of volunteering. The researchers also developed a questionnaire according to the group discussion categories (inductive) and included both open-ended and multiple-choice questions. The results support the idea of integrating volunteering experiences in business education. First, the results showed benefits for society and for the volunteers
Report of the RCMNS working group on fossil mammals

A stacking machine which deposits upon a pallet individual bags of premixed dry concrete, cement, mortar mixtures and other products as the filled bags issue from a processing machine. The stacking machine, in general, comprises a stationary base, a lift and carriage assembly shiftable vertically and also laterally along the base, with a flipper arm including gripping jaws swinging relative to the carriage. The bags are fed at random to a bag conveyor having a lower receiving end tracked upon the floor and an upper discharge end swiveled to the carriage and disposed above the flipper arm so that the bags may issue from the conveyor to be discharged by the flipper arm.
Nitrate removal from subsurface drainage by denitrifying bioreactor

Chichlowski, Erin M. MSE, Purdue University, December 2014. Nitrate Reduction in Subsurface Drainage by Denitrifying Bioreactor. Major Professor: Indrajeet Chaubey. Modern and intensive agriculture has benefited from artificial drainage systems and fertilizer or animal waste application and these same practices which increase production lead to degraded water quality which negatively impacts aquatic ecosystems. Excess nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) not taken up by the plant are transported via subsurface tile drains to local waterways. Elevated concentrations in lakes and coastal waters can lead to eutrophication, toxic algae blooms, and hypoxia. In the Midwest, relatively greater concentrations of nitrate-N (NO3-N) from point and nonpoint sources are consistently found in streams Denitrifying bioreactors are an edge-of-field best management practice that reduce nitrate in runoff and subsurface drainage waters with minimum surface foot print and management requirements. Although denitrifying bioreactors have been shown to be an effective means to nitrate reduction however, limited data are available quantifying the impacts of many environmental factors such as hydraulic retention time, bioreactor saturation, and effects on phosphorus. The objectives of this study included evaluating a 173 m woodchip bioreactor for nitrate reduction and removal rates, the effects on phosphorus, and the impacts of the bioreactor’s physical characteristics on effective nitrate reduction. During periods of flow, weekly water ix samples were collected for lab analysis of nitrate+nitrite (nitrate-N), total nitrogen (TN), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), and total phosphorus (TP) and measurements were made of water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, oxidation reduction potential, temperature, water levels, and
An Empirical Evaluation of Doubly Robust Learning for Recommendation

Methods for bandit learning from user interactions can broadly be divided into two camps: value-based methods that model the likelihood of an action leading to a positive reward, and policy-based methods that model a counterfactual estimate of the reward a given policy will accumulate. A unifying family of “Doubly Robust” approaches brings an explicit reward model into the counterfactual estimator in order to reduce its variance, and has been shown to consistently attain competitive results for various machine learning applications. Theory suggests that the reward estimator should be independent of the logged bandit feedback that is used to train the policy, which can impede its adoption in real-world environments where carefully logged samples are expensive to collect. Recent work provides an empirical analysis of the policy-and value-based families of approaches, but it remains unclear under which circumstances doubly robust learning can lead to a superior recommendation policy. This work aims to fill that gap. We briefly present the doubly robust estimation framework and its extensions in a recommendation context, and present a wide range of empirical results using the RecoGym simulation framework, focusing on the use-case where logging propensities are known and the number of training samples is limited. In line with previous work, our results highlight that the stochasticity of the logging policy is the main factor deciding between the superiority of value-or policy-based methods. In contrast with previous work, our results indicate that recommendation policies learned via standard doubly robust estimation can often be outperformed by either their standalone value-or policy-based component. We discuss the implications of our results for the application of doubly robust learning methods in practice, and propose a scope for future research to further validate our findings.
Constrained Estimation for GPS/Digital Map Integration (Postprint)

Abstract : Linear and nonlinear constrained estimation is investigated in this paper as an optimal method to integrate GPS fixes with digital maps so as to improve accuracy and reliability. In addition to emergency location and roadside assistance, the integration of GPS with digital maps becomes an increasingly popular application in automotives particularly for real-time routing, driving guidance, and street prompting. A position fix is obtained by a GPS receiver, which may be subject to significant errors in urban canyons due to such effects as multipath and weak signal, whereas a digital map provides the road network of a region in which a user is traveling. When the information about roads is as accurate as (or even better than) GPS measurements, it is desired naturally to incorporate such information into position solution. In this paper, roads are modeled with analytic functions and its integration (fusion) with a GPS position fix is cast as linear and/or non-linear state constraints in an optimization procedure. Similarly, the velocity estimates and the road directions are treated as another pair of constraints. The constrained optimization is then solved with the Lagrangian multiplier, leading to a closed-form solution for linear constraints and an iterative solution for nonlinear constraints. Geometric interpretations of the solutions are provided for simple cases. Computer simulation results are presented to illustrate the algorithms.
Gravitational waves in scalar-tensor theory to one-and-a-half post-Newtonian order

We compute the gravitational waves generated by compact binary systems in a class of massless scalar-tensor (ST) theories to the 1.5 post-Newtonian (1.5PN) order beyond the standard quadrupole radiation in general relativity (GR). Using and adapting to ST theories the multipolar-post-Minkowskian and post-Newtonian formalisms originally defined in GR, we obtain the tail and non-linear memory terms associated with the dipole radiation in ST theory. The multipole moments and GW flux of compact binaries are derived for general orbits including the new 1.5PN contribution, and comparison is made with previous results in the literature. In the case of quasi-circular orbits, we present ready-to-use templates for the data analysis of detectors, and for the first time the scalar GW modes for comparisons with numerical relativity results.
Spectral Efficiency Analysis in Downlink Massive MIMO System for Perfect CSI with Precoding

In this paper we first derived the mathematical expression for lower bound spectral efficiency (SE) calculation for zero-force (ZF), and minimum mean square error (MMSE). Secondly, we calculated the simulation SE with three algorithms for ZF and MMSE precoding. We compared the simulation and theoretical results and found that the theoretical results are 1 to 1.5 bits less than the simulation values which implied that the theoretical lower bounds are actually the lower bounds. To achieve the maximum spectral efficiency in downlink massive MIMO systems we assumed perfect CSI, ZF and MMSE precoding in this paper. We also considered that the channel has the characteristics of small and large scale fading (SSF and LSF) as the model is like a practical. We investigated the effect of different SNR, base station (M) and radius (R) of the cell on spectral efficiency for simulation and theoretical results. We also evaluated the performance of SE of each algorithms and precoding schemes for different configurations. From the results we have observed that algorithms-1 and ZF outperform other algorithms and MMSE. From our investigation we noticed that the LSF parameters are the most dominated factor in SE in massive MIMO systems.
Environmental organic geochemistry of sediments from Wadi Gaza and investigation of bioremediation of petroleum derivatives and herbicides by cyanobacterial mats under different experimental conditions

This thesis presents for the first time results of (i) an organic geochemical analysis of sediments from Wadi Gaza, and (ii) an investigation of the degradation potential of naturally occurring cyanobacterial mats originating from Wadi Gaza. In the Wadi Gaza sediments, the presence of pristane and phytane, an unresolved complex mixture (UCM), the UCM/n-alcane ratio, the low carbon preference index (CPI ca. 1), steranes and hopanes and the presence of the phenanthrene, dibenzothiophene and their alkylated homologues confirms the input of crude oil and petroleum derivatives. Wadi Gaza cyanobacterial mats degraded aromatic compounds (phenantrene and dibenzothiophene) faster than aliphatic ones (pristane and n-octadecane) in both laboratory and mesocosm experiments. An Egyptian crude oil was also degraded. More than 80% of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 60% of terbutryn were removed within 30 and 80 days, respectively. We conclude that the Wadi Gaza cyanobacterial mats have grown in a heavily polluted environment, and by that their capacity for bioremediation by degrading petroleum hydrocarbons and herbicides is strong.
Practical intelligence in IT

Introduction What qualities make a successful it professional? Certainty strong technical skills are sine qua non. As a result, the technology geek remains the stereotype of an information technology (IT) professional. Indeed, when companies hire IT professionals, their focus is often on the "hard" skills needed to perform the work, such as years of Java programming experience. However, there is a growing (and gnawing) awareness that technical skills alone are insufficient for success in IT, particularly in today's dynamic, distributed and complex workplace. Companies are exploring outsourcing and offshoring to become more flexible and contain costs while strategically leveraging IT. Consequently, IT professionals (whether onsite or offshore, in-house or outsourced) must acquire a broader set of skills beyond their traditional technical skills. These broader managerial or interpersonal skills are generically labeled "soft skills. " Despite the increasing importance of soft skills, very little systematic research has conceptualized such skills and even less has measured these skills. Given this gap in the literature, this article introduces "practical intelligence" as the overarching concept that could provide a better understanding of this broader set of skills required of IT professionals. We describe the development of the SoftSkills for IT (SSIT) instrument for assessing an IT professional's level of practical intelligence, and report the results of a study that validates this instrument by comparing the practical intelligence of experienced IT professionals versus novices. We conclude by drawing out implications of our study for IT recruitment, training and development, and suggest future research directions.
Fast maximum likelihood for blind identification of multiple FIR channels

We study the estimation of the impulse responses of multiple FIR channels which are driven by a virtually arbitrary unknown input sequence (including nonstationary, non-Gaussian, or/and colored sequences). The channel identifiability conditions are derived using a Fisher information matrix, which is in contrast to several existing approaches which are based on some specific estimation methods. A fast maximum likelihood method is developed, which is a two-step procedure where each step minimizes a quadratic function. The two-step maximum likelihood (TSML) method requires no initial estimates and is asymptotically (high SNR) optimum. Its implementation is discussed. An orthogonal complement system matrix is introduced which lays a foundation for this work. <<ETX>>
The impact of holiday homes on the environment and social capacity of Kapparis, Cyprus

This study aims to consider the impacts of tourism in Kapparis, Cyprus. It looks at holiday home developments which have dominated the coastline and also looks at social capacity using Doxey's Irridex (1975). Questionnaires, interviews and land use mapping were used to asses the impacts of tourism, socially and physically on Kapparis. To investigate social capacity, Doxey's Irridex was used on Kapparis locals and tourists using a survey. It was considered that Kapparis is currently in a state of "Euphoria" according to the Irridex, and was established that there are developments built in the wrong planning zones and some on conservation zones. The impact tourism has had on Kapparis is great, as development has increased and improved the village for both tourists and locals. However, this continued level of development also has negative impacts on social character and environmental quality. For Kapparis to overcome issues such as this, political endorsement of national environmental organisations is crucial.
Perioperative changes in haemoglobin and ferritin concentrations from preoperative intravenous iron isomaltoside for iron deficiency anaemia in patients with colorectal cancer: A pilot randomised controlled trial

Background Patients with colorectal cancer have a high risk of iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) due to chronic tumour induced blood loss, a reduced dietary iron intake from poor nutrition or gastrointestinal malabsorption. This pilot, double blinded, randomised controlled trial (RCT) examined the effect and feasibility of using preoperative iron isomaltoside for treating iron deficiency anaemia. Methods Forty eligible adults with IDA were randomised to receive either intravenous iron isomaltoside (20 mg.kg-1 up to 1000 mg over 30 minutes) or usual preoperative care (control) three weeks before scheduled colorectal surgery. The primary outcomes were perioperative changes in haemoglobin and ferritin concentrations. Results The recruitment rate was 78% of all eligible referred patients (1.9 patients/month). The haemoglobin and ferritin concentrations were higher in the iron isomaltoside group than the control group over the perioperative period (group*time interaction P = 0.042 and P < 0.001 respectively). Mean haemoglobin change from baseline to before surgery was higher in the iron isomaltoside group (7.8, 95% CI: 3.2 to 12.3 g.l-1) than the control group (1.7, 95% CI: -1.9 to 5.3 g.l-1) [mean difference 6.1, 95% CI: 0.3 to 11.8 g.l-1; P = 0.040]. The ferritin change from baseline to before surgery between groups was large in favour of the iron isomaltoside group (mean difference 296.9, 95% CI: 200.6 to 393.2 μg.l-1; P < 0.001]. There were no differences between groups in packed red blood cell transfusions needed, surgical complications, quality of recovery and days (alive and) at home within 30 days after surgery. Conclusion Iron isomaltoside therapy was safe and had a minimal effect on perioperative changes in haemoglobin concentration. Given the slow recruitment and new evidence emerging during the conduct of this study, conducting a multi-centre RCT based on the current pilot trial protocol is unlikely to be feasible. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03565354.
Analysis of Passenger’s Satisfaction with the Quality of the Public Transportation Mode Choices in Bucharest: A Fuzzy Approach

This paper analyses the passenger’s satisfaction towards the quality of existing public transportation mode choices in Bucharest. In order to eliminate the subjective factor from passenger’s judgment, we have used fuzzy multicriteria analysis method. The criteria have been grouped in six groups of satisfaction determinants: convenience of service, comfort, service reliability, safety and security, communication with passengers and price and affordability. According to the criteria analyzed, although the surface transport network offers a wider range of services, the respondents show an overwhelming preference for travelling by underground.
The pursuit of wonder : how Australia's landscape was explored, nature discovered and tourism unleashed

Imagine an Australia before the tour buses and well-trodden bushwalks - a wild and often daunting country that did not easily yield the secrets of its natural beauty. Into this landscape, early Europeans ventured, 'discovering' nature at its most Romantic - sublime lakes, ancient mountain ranges, awe-inspiring caves and plunging waterfalls. Scenery that is now a familiar part of the Australian landscape - the Blue Mountains and the Jenolan Caves in New South Wales, Lake St Clair in Tasmania and Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, Mount Tamborine in Queensland and Mount Lofty in South Australia - stirred in these visitors a sense of awe. Richly illustrated, "The Pursuit of Wonder" is a celebration of travel in its many rambling, striving, inspiring guises and a revelation of a natural world that we now take for granted. Rediscover the wonder.
The aging workforce: Realities, myths, and implications for organizations.

The Aging Workforce examines the changing demographics of the workforce, and their impact on the world of work. The numbers and proportions of older individuals in the U.S. population are increasing. Most organizations are ill-prepared to meet the challenges associated with older workers, and little research has addressed the development and implementation of effective human resource management practices for an aging workforce. The "graying of America" requires that we give more attention to both the problems and potential of an older workforce. Consequently, the book focuses on issues related to work life and aging. Topics include: age stereotyping (and employment discrimination); the impact of aging on cognitive performance, job performance, job attitudes, and motivation; the evolving concept of retirement, and what these issues mean for organizational human resource management policies and procedures. Without being particularly academic, the book provides a "state-of-the-science" perspective on what we know about issues related to the older worker, thus providing a foundation for confronting the challenges facing the workforce of the future. "The Aging Workforce" pulls together research findings relevant to individual older worker performance and motivations, as well as offers discussion related to how best to manage the older worker.
Unsupervised Syntactic Chunking with Acoustic Cues: Computational Models for Prosodic Bootstrapping

Learning to group words into phrases without supervision is a hard task for NLP systems, but infants routinely accomplish it. We hypothesize that infants use acoustic cues to prosody, which NLP systems typically ignore. To evaluate the utility of prosodic information for phrase discovery, we present an HMM-based unsupervised chunker that learns from only transcribed words and raw acoustic correlates to prosody. Unlike previous work on unsupervised parsing and chunking, we use neither gold standard part-of-speech tags nor punctuation in the input. Evaluated on the Switchboard corpus, our model outperforms several baselines that exploit either lexical or prosodic information alone, and, despite producing a flat structure, performs competitively with a state-of-the-art unsupervised lexicalized parser, with a substantial advantage in precision. Our results support the hypothesis that acoustic-prosodic cues provide useful evidence about syntactic phrases for language-learning infants.
Causes and Severity of Ischemic Stroke in Patients With Symptomatic Intracranial Arterial Stenosis

Background and Purpose— There are limited data on the causes and severity of subsequent stroke in patients presenting initially with TIA or stroke attributed to intracranial arterial stenosis. Methods— We evaluated the location, type (lacunar vs nonlacunar), cause, and severity of stroke in patients who had an ischemic stroke endpoint in the Warfarin Aspirin Symptomatic Intracranial Disease (WASID) trial. Results— Of the 569 patients enrolled in the WASID trial, 106 patients (18.6%) had an ischemic stroke during a mean follow-up of 1.8 years. Stroke occurred in the territory of the symptomatic artery in 77 (73%) of 106 patients. Among the 77 strokes in the territory, 70 (91%) were nonlacunar and 34 (44%) were disabling. Stroke out of the territory of the symptomatic artery occurred in 29 (27%) of 106 patients. Among these 29 strokes, 24 (83%) were nonlacunar, 14 (48%) were attributed to previously asymptomatic intracranial stenosis, and 9 (31%) were disabling. Conclusions— Most subsequent strokes in patients with symptomatic intracranial artery stenosis are in the same territory and nonlacunar, and nearly half of the strokes in the territory are disabling. The most commonly identified cause of stroke out of the territory was a previously asymptomatic intracranial stenosis. Penetrating artery disease was responsible for a low number of strokes.