Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parameter Free Piecewise Dynamic Time Warping for time series classification

Several improvements have been done in time series classification over the last decade. One of the best solutions is to use the Nearest Neighbour algorithm with Dynamic Time Warping(DTW), as the distance measure. Computing DTW is relatively expensive especially with very large time series. Piecewise Dynamic Time Warping (PDTW) is an efficient variant which consists of segmenting time series into fixed-length segments. However, the choice of the optimal size (or number) of segments remains a difficult challenge for end users. The Brute-force solution, a naive solution, repeats the classification with each segment size, and selects the one with the best accuracy. This solution is not appropriated especially when dealing with massive and large time series data. In this work, we propose a parameter free approach for PDTW, that finds the size (or number) of segments to be used with the Nearest Neighbour algorithm. Our approach is a heuristic that is parameter free since it does not require any domain specific tuning. Several properties of our heuris-tic are studied, and an extensive experimental comparison demonstrates its efficiency and effectiveness, in terms of accuracy and runtime.
Web 2.0 Emergency Applications: How Useful Can Twitter be for Emergency Response?

Abstract Twitter is a free, platform-independent, Web 2.0 communication application that allows users to send short (up to 140 characters) electronic messages to other individual users and user groups. Twitter users can send messages to one another via most internet-enabled devices capable of text messaging. This new and unique service offers great potential for rapid and integrated response to disasters. We explore the upsides and the downsides of this free service as a modern communications tool in the hands of disaster response professionals, government agencies, crisis management organizations (CMOs), organizations, and victims of disasters.
Mesothelin Is Not Required for Normal Mouse Development or Reproduction

ABSTRACT Mesothelin is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked glycoprotein highly expressed in mesothelial cells, mesotheliomas, and ovarian cancer, but the biological function(s) of the protein is not known. We have analyzed the expression of the mouse mesothelin gene in different developmental stages and in various adult tissues by Northern hybridization. The 2.5-kb mesothelin transcript was detected in the mRNA of E 7.0, E 15.0, and E 17.0 stages of mouse development. In adult tissues the mesothelin gene was expressed in lung, heart, spleen, liver, kidney, and testis. To directly assess the function of the mesothelin in vivo, we generated mutant mice in which the mesothelin gene was inactivated by replacing it with the neomycin resistance gene. In homozygous mutant mice neither mesothelin mRNA nor the protein product was detected. Null mutant mice were obtained in accordance with Mendelian laws, and both males and females produced offspring normally. No anatomical or histological abnormalities were detected in any tissues where mesothelin was reportedly expressed in wild-type mice. Our results demonstrate that mesothelin function is not essential for growth or reproduction in mice.
Plasmid partitioning and the spreading of P1 partition protein ParB

Bacterial plasmids of low copy number, P1 prophage among them, are actively partitioned to nascent daughter cells. The process is typically mediated by a pair of plasmid‐encoded proteins and a cis‐acting DNA site or cluster of sites, referred to as the plasmid centromere. P1 ParB protein, which binds to the P1 centromere (parS), can spread for several kilobases along flanking DNA. We argue that studies of mutant ParB that demonstrated a strong correlation between spreading capacity and the ability to engage in partitioning may be misleading, and describe here a critical test of the dependence of partitioning on the spreading of the wild‐type protein. Physical constraints imposed on the spreading of P1 ParB were found to have only a minor, but reproducible, effect on partitioning. We conclude that, whereas extensive ParB spreading is not required for partitioning, spreading may have an auxiliary role in the process.
Development of a Highly Sensitive Genus-Specific Quantitative Reverse Transcriptase Real-Time PCR Assay for Detection and Quantitation of Plasmodium by Amplifying RNA and DNA of the 18S rRNA Genes

ABSTRACT A highly sensitive genus-specific quantitative reverse transcriptase real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay for detection of Plasmodium has been developed. The assay amplifies total nucleic acids (RNA and DNA) of the 18S rRNA genes with a limit of detection of 0.002 parasite/μl using cultured synchronized ring stage 3D7 parasites. Parasite densities as low as 0.000362 parasite/μl were detected when analyzing clinical samples. Analysis of clinical samples showed that detection of 18S rRNA genes from total nucleic acids increased the analytical sensitivity of the assay by more than 1 log unit compared to DNA only. When clinical samples with no parasites present by microscopy were analyzed by qRT-PCR, 90% (117 of 130) were positive for the presence of Plasmodium nucleic acids. Quantification of clinical samples by qRT-PCR using total nucleic acid versus DNA was compared to microscopy. There was a significantly greater correlation of parasite density to microscopy when DNA alone was used than with total nucleic acid. We conclude that analysis of total nucleic acids by qRT-PCR is a suitable assay for detection of low parasite levels in patients with early-stage malaria and/or submicroscopic infections and could greatly benefit malaria diagnosis, intervention trials, and malaria control and elimination efforts.
Web 2.0 as a marketing tool for conference centres

Purpose – The paper aims to provide an overview of how UK conference centres have incorporated Web 2.0 applications, such as Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter, into their marketing communications strategies.Design/methodology/approach – Following an analysis of the impacts of Web 2.0 applications on purchase decision‐making processes in general, the market environment within which conference centres promote themselves was examined. The results of a questionnaire‐based survey of UK conference centres' marketing communications strategies were then analysed.Findings – The paper's findings suggest that while some UK conference centres have comprehensively adopted Web 2.0 applications into their marketing communications programmes, others have yet to harness the potential of these new promotional tools. A few serious barriers to wider adoption remain.Research limitations/implications – The extent to which the results may be generalised beyond the geographical parameters of this study may be limited, therefore fur.
Can fetal vascular morphology at 30 weeks of gestation have impact on cardiovascular outcomes in childhood?

M any studies demonstrate an association between low birth weight and intrauterine growth retardation, cardiovascular abnormalities, and an increase in blood pressure later in life [1]. Although the initial hypothesis that intrauterine development is a dominant determinant of later blood pressure development and metabolic disorders has been slightly modified [2,3], the developmental origin of adult diseases is a continuing area of research. The question of whether there might be a particular period during fetal development when growth disturbances are of special importance for later cardiovascular outcome has not been thoroughly investigated. The study of fetal hemodynamics in normal-weight, uncomplicated pregnancies and its association with later cardiovascular outcome in childhood is important and might give us additional clues into the origins of the human cardiovascular disease hypothesis. Although reduced umbilical artery resistance has been associated with SBP and left-ventricular mass, low birth weight alone had little effect on childhood blood pressure [4]. In this issue of Journal of Hypertension, Kooijman et al. [5] investigated fetal haemodynamics in fetuses from 917 pregnant women at gestational week 30 and related these findings to the cardiovascular outcomes of offspring at 6 years of age. They examined fetal growth, arterial hemodynamics, and cardiac hemodynamics in developing fetuses by echocardiography. At 6 years, blood pressure measurement, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, and an echocardiogram were performed investigating left cardiac structures and function. The only robust correlation was observed between aorta ascendens diameter during fetal development and aortic root diameter
Variability in response to clopidogrel: where is the threshold for 'low response'?

We read with great interest the recent trial of Geisler et al. 1 investigating the influence of low response to clopidogrel on the 3-month composite endpoint in 379 patients after coronary stent implantation. The authors identified ‘low-responders’ to clopidogrel therapy with a single measurement of optical aggregometry and found that these patients had significantly more major cardiovascular (CV) events within 3 months than those with adequate response. Regarding …
Focus Groups: A Discussion

Considers the focus group as an alternative to the traditional structured questionnaire. Their appeal, what they can and cannot achieve, and four key questions related to conducting focus groups are discussed. Focus groups are relevant to a broad spectrum of marketing issues related to the food industry, and it is concluded that their role will continue to dominate qualitative market research. Increasingly high standards will be demanded of moderators, perhaps leading to recognised qualifications for the holding of focus groups.
Loyalty and or disloyalty to a search engine: the case of young Millennials

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of online loyalty and disloyalty in search engine usage by young Millennials.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 495 pupils between the ages of 14 to 17 years old.Findings – The attitude towards computers is not influencing brand loyalty. The main predictors of brand loyalty are the emotional link that users develop with the search engine, the attitude towards said engine, and in particular the perceived quality of results. The best predictors of disloyalty are the level of two‐way communication, the lack of satisfaction as well as the involvement of the user with computers, while the actual perceived characteristics of the search engine are not predicting disloyalty.Research limitations/implications – Since the data were collected from one school in the UK only, the teenage internet users in the study's sample are likely to come from families with a similar profile. For further research a sample drawn from other areas, t.
Applying usability cost-benefit analysis - explorations in commercial and open source software development contexts

This thesis explores whether usability cost-benefit analysis is helpful when applied to commercial and open source software (OSS) development contexts. First, the thesis examines the differences and commonalities among the existing usability cost-benefit analysis models. The results indicate that there are considerable variations in the usability cost-benefit analysis literature in how the different categories of usability costs and benefits are identified and documented. Second, the thesis examines how well the existing usability cost-benefit considerations fit into practice in closed source software development. The results indicate that there are considerable risks of failure when using usability cost-benefit considerations in the commercial development context, when the inherent costs of usability activities become apparent, concrete, and measurable. Conversely, the potential benefits of better usability remain vague, uncertain, and unconvincing to the management. In order to build better usability cost-benefit models and minimize the potential that the models have unforeseen inherent risks, as outlined in this thesis, researchers should focus strongly on bringing forward the possible benefits of usability instead of focusing on the costs of designing and implementing user interfaces that would be realized in any case, regardless of the usability activities. Third, the thesis identifies the parallels and differences between open source software development and closed source software development in order to identify how usability costs and benefits fit into OSS development. The usability costs and benefits specific to OSS development are reflected in the experiences of bringing usability into the OSS development context. The results indicate that it is possible to fit usability cost-benefit considerations into the OSS development context, even though there are no apparent financial or resource factors to be considered. Furthermore, to fit usability cost-benefit considerations into the OSS development context, the philosophy, principles, hierarchical structure, community structure, and characteristics of OSS development must be considered. Usability cost-benefit considerations that fit into the OSS development context might help convince core developers that usability activities are important and should be integrated into the project roadmap.
BUSINESS ORIENTATIONS FOR SUSTAINABILITY OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

บทคดยอ บทความวชาการนมวตถประสงคเพอพฒนากรอบแนวคดเกยวกบความมงเนนทางธรกจทอธบายความยงยนของวสาหกจขนาดกลางและขนาดยอม แมวาความมงเนนดานการเปนผประกอบการจะเปนนยามเชงโครงสรางทอธบายความสำเรจของวสาหกจนไดอยางมนยสำคญ แตกยงไมเพยงพอตอความยงยนทางธรกจซงประกอบดวยเสาหลกเชงเศรษฐกจ เชงสงคม และเชงสงแวดลอม ทงน เนองจากความมงเนนดงกลาวสามารถอธบายไดอยางดเฉพาะผลลพธเชงเศรษฐกจเทานนแตกลบสามารถอธบายผลลพธเชงสงคมและเชงสงแวดลอมไดนอย บนพนฐานของทฤษฎผมสวนไดสวนเสย บทความนนำเสนอความมงเนนดานการประสานความรวมมอซงใหความสำคญกบผมสวนไดสวนเสยและคณธรรมเปนความมงเนนทจะบรณาการเพมเตมเพอความยงยนทางธรกจ ดงนน วสาหกจขนาดกลางและขนาดยอมจงควรนำความมงเนนดานการเปนผประกอบการและความมงเนนดานการประสานความรวมมอมาปรบใชเพอความสำเรจทางธรกจทยงยน คำสำคญ ความมงเนนดานการเปนผประกอบการ ความมงเนนดานการประสานความรวมมอ ความยงยนทางธรกจ วสาหกจขนาดกลางและขนาดยอม ABSTRACT This academic article aims to conceptualize business orientations explaining sustainability of small and medium enterprises. Although entrepreneurial orientation is a construct for the success of the enterprises significantly, it is insufficient for business sustainability, compounding of economic, social, and environmental pillars. This is because the orientation greatly explains only outcomes in economic one but less maintains outcomes in social and environmental ones. Built upon stakeholder theory, the paper introduces collaborative orientation, focusing on stakeholders and morality, as an additional approach to be integrated with the former one for business sustainability. Therefore, small and medium enterprises should adopt entrepreneurial and collaborative orientation for sustainable business success. KEYWORDS: Entrepreneurial Orientation, Collaborative Orientation, Business Sustainability, Small and Medium Enterprises
A comparative Test of the Efficiency, Focus and Learning Perspectives of Outsourcing

Despite the fact that vertical integration has been a key question of management studies for more than fifty years, we still do not have a unified, coherent view of outsourcing. In particular, multiple theoretical perspectives such as transaction cost economics, industrial organization, and strategy, could explain the outsourcing decision, but the implications of these different streams have neither been theoretically integrated, nor tested simultaneously. In an attempt to disentangle the various causes of outsourcing, we suggest three different rationales for outsourcing: cost reduction, focusing on core capabilities and importing knowledge into the firm. We develop several hypotheses, which we then test on secondary data on French small- and medium-sized enterprises. Results indicate that the learning rationale appears to be the strongest factor influencing the outsourcing decision. Some performance implications of this rationale are also suggested and tested.
Non‐water‐suppressed proton MR spectroscopy improves spectral quality in the human spinal cord

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy enables insight into the chemical composition of spinal cord tissue. However, spinal cord magnetic resonance spectroscopy has rarely been applied in clinical work due to technical challenges, including strong susceptibility changes in the region and the small cord diameter, which distort the lineshape and limit the attainable signal to noise ratio. Hence, extensive signal averaging is required, which increases the likelihood of static magnetic field changes caused by subject motion (respiration, swallowing), cord motion, and scanner‐induced frequency drift. To avoid incoherent signal averaging, it would be ideal to perform frequency alignment of individual free induction decays before averaging. Unfortunately, this is not possible due to the low signal to noise ratio of the metabolite peaks. In this article, frequency alignment of individual free induction decays is demonstrated to improve spectral quality by using the high signal to noise ratio water peak from non‐water‐suppressed proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy via the metabolite cycling technique. Electrocardiography (ECG)‐triggered point resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) localization was used for data acquisition with metabolite cycling or water suppression for comparison. A significant improvement in the signal to noise ratio and decrease of the Cramér Rao lower bounds of all metabolites is attained by using metabolite cycling together with frequency alignment, as compared to water‐suppressed spectra, in 13 healthy volunteers. Magn Reson Med, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Image Motion Direction Detection Based on L-K Optical Flow Method

Abstract. It is difficult to determine the direction of the motion of the image with less time to analyze the series of images taken in the camera movement at a lower resolution. In this paper, a method of L-K optical flow and S-T corner detection is proposed to study the motion direction of the field of view in the image sequence. On this basis, the weighted least squares method is used to further reduce the error. At the same time, the model is extended from two-dimensional to three-dimensional space, so that the model is more universal.
Remote sensing of stratospheric and mesospheric winds by gas correlation electrooptic phase-modulation spectroscopy.

A method is described for directly measuring atmospheric winds in the 20–120-km altitude interval from a spacecraft. The principle of operation of the wind sensor is the measurement of the Doppler shift between the spectral absorption lines of a gas in a cell within the instrument and the thermal emission lines of the same gas in the atmosphere. The wind measurements are to be made with a spacecraft-borne gas correlation spectrometer viewing the limb of the atmosphere. The measurement of the wind-induced Doppler shift between the two spectra, and thence the magnitude of the wind itself, is accomplished by phase modulating the incoming thermal radiation (equivalent to frequency modulation) by means of an electrooptically active crystal to determine the frequency shift required to reestablish exact correlation between the lines in the cell and the lines from the atmosphere. Results of numerical simulations of the wind-sensor performance are presented showing the noise-equivalent-wind to be between 1 and 5 m/sec over most of the stratosphere and mesosphere.
Trade Unions and Occupational Health and Safety

This thesis comprises three essays that study the impact of trade unions on occupational health and safety (OHS). The first essay proposes a theoretical model that highlights the crucial role that unions have played throughout history in making workplaces safer. Firms traditionally oppose better health standards. Workplace safety is costly for firms but increases the average health of workers and thereby the aggregate labour supply. A laissez-faire approach in which firms set safety standards is suboptimal as workers are not fully informed of health risks associated with their jobs. Safety standards set by better-informed trade unions are output and welfare increasing. The second essay extends the model to a two-country world consisting of the capital-rich "North" and the capital-poor "South". The North has trade unions that set high OHS standards. There are no unions in the South and OHS standards are low. Trade between these two countries can imply a reduction in safety standards in the North, lowering the positive welfare effects of trade. Moreover, when trade unions are also established in the South, northern OHS standards might be further reduced. The third essay studies the impact of unions on OHS from an empirical perspective. It focuses on one component of OHS: occupational injuries. A literature summary including 25 empirical studies shows that most studies associate unions with less fatal occupational injuries. This is in perfect line with the anecdotal evidence and the basic model from the first essay. However, the literature summary also shows that most empirical studies associate unions with more nonfatal occupational injuries. This puzzling result has been explained in the literature by (1) lower underreporting in unionized workplaces, (2) unions being more able to organize hazardous workplaces, and (3) unionized workers preferring higher wages at the expense of better working conditions. Using individual-level panel data, this essay presents evidence against all these three explanations. However, it cannot reject the hypothesis that workers reduce their precautionary behaviour when they join a trade union. Hence, the puzzle seems to be due to a strong moral hazard effect. These empirical results suggest that the basic model from the first essay needs to be extended to account for this moral hazard effect. %%%%Diese Doktorarbeit besteht aus drei Aufsatzen, die die Auswirkungen von Gewerkschaften auf die Sicherheit am Arbeitsplatz untersuchen. Der erste Aufsatz schlagt ein theoretisches Modell vor, das die entscheidende Rolle von Gewerkschaften bei der Entwicklung sicherer Arbeitsplatze unterstreicht. Firmen sind traditionell gegen bessere Gesundheitsstandards. Sicherheit am Arbeitsplatz ist teuer fur Firmen, erhoht aber die durchschnittliche Gesundheit der Arbeitskrafte und somit das aggregierte Arbeitsangebot. Ein Laissez-Faire-Ansatz, in dem Unternehmen die Sicherheitsstandards festlegen, ist suboptimal, da Arbeitnehmer nicht in vollem Umfang uber die Gesundheitsrisiken informiert werden, die mit ihren…