Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Attitudes towards internet use among travel agencies in greece

Internet has tremendous potential for creating business opportunities. Travel agencies should take advantage of the Internet and refocus their business strategies to maintain their competitiveness in order to avoid being replaced. The purpose of this study is to explore agents’ attitudes towards Internet applications and also to find out the current state of Internet use and the relative maturity of the websites among travel agencies in Greece. An on-line survey addressed to all tourism agencies which are members of Official Greek web directories, provides the attitudes of travel agents. The findings of the study indicate that Greek travel agencies consider Internet as a means to expand and complete online business, keep up with competition, and do more effective marketing. However security issues and lack of interpersonal communication are the main barriers for Internet adoption. Findings suggest that the current delay regarding full use of Internet adoption will probably last for at least the near future.
Ultrastructural analysis of polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule in the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the adult mouse

The suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the anterior hypothalamus are recognized as the principal circadian clock in mammals. The adult SCN express a high level of polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA‐NCAM), a cell surface sialoglycoprotein capable of modulating cell‐cell interactions. In the present study, the expression of PSA‐NCAM in the mouse SCN was studied at the ultrastructural level by immunolabeling using monoclonal antibodies against the polysialic acid (PSA) moiety of PSA‐NCAM. We showed that neuronal somal expression of PSA‐NCAM was distributed heterogeneously in the SCN, with extensive staining of somas in the central region of the SCN, and minimal somal staining in the ventral portion of the nuclei. In contrast, immunoreactive neuropil, including unmyelinated fine axon fascicles was distributed throughout the SCN. The PSA‐NCAM was also detected adjacent to synaptic junctions by both immunoperoxidase and immunogold techniques. For astrocytes, immunostaining of somas and larger processes was sparse, but staining was profuse along fine processes. Immunostained fine astrocytic processes were frequently observed between apposing neuronal somas, and in close association with synaptic junctions and small blood vessels. These findings, together with the demonstrated role of PSA‐NCAM in modulating cell‐cell interactions in other brain regions support a role for PSA‐NCAM in regulating cell‐cell interactions in the SCN. Anat Rec 256:448–457, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Vision and Method in Historical Sociology: The Social and Historical Landscape of Marc Bloch

In the 1970s the work of the French Annales school (so named after their journal, Annales: Economies, Societies, Civilisations) finally achieved a well-deserved fame in American social science. It is not that it was previously obscure, but it had only been the knowledgeable specialists of European history who had appreciated it. The growth of historical work in sociology has greatly increased the prestige of the Annalistes , and Immanuel Wallerstein has even gone so far as to name his research establishment at the State University of New York the Fernand Braudel Center. Braudel has been the reigning senior member of the Annales since the death of Lucien Febvre, whose student he was. The fame of Braudel and Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, the heir apparent, has spread far beyond the academies, and their works are translated as high-priced trade books for a general intellectual audience. In France, they are best-sellers. The movement, for that is what the Annales group became, was begun by Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch in the 1920s, when they both taught at the University of Strasbourg. Even more than Febvre, Bloch's two decades of unsurpassed scholarship and publication established the intellectual foundations and fame of the Annales. Forty years before it became fashionable to combine history, sociology, anthropology, and economics, Marc Bloch was doing it. His work, and that of his direct followers, has been so influential that Bloch might be considered one of the fathers of contemporary historical sociology.
Smad4 is required to induce digit ray primordia and to initiate the aggregation and differentiation of chondrogenic progenitors in mouse limb buds

SMAD4 is an essential mediator of canonical TGFβ/BMP signal transduction and we inactivated Smad4 in mouse limb buds from early stages onward to study its functions in the mesenchyme. While this Smad4 inactivation did not alter the early Sox9 distribution, prefiguring the chondrogenic primordia of the stylopod and zeugopod, it disrupted formation of all Sox9-positive digit ray primordia. Specific inactivation of Smad4 during handplate development pointed to its differential requirement for posterior and anterior digit ray primordia. At the cellular level, Smad4 deficiency blocked the aggregation of Sox9-positive progenitors, thereby preventing chondrogenic differentiation as revealed by absence of collagen type II. The progressive loss of SOX9 due to disrupting digit ray primordia and chondrogenesis was paralleled by alterations in genes marking other lineages. This pointed to a general loss of tissue organization and diversion of mutant cells toward non-specific connective tissue. Conditional inactivation of Bmp2 and Bmp4 indicated that the loss of digit ray primordia and increase in connective tissue were predominantly a consequence of disrupting SMAD4-mediated BMP signal transduction. In summary, our analysis reveals that SMAD4 is required to initiate: (1) formation of the Sox9-positive digit ray primordia; and (2) aggregation and chondrogenic differentiation of all limb skeletal elements.
Effects of Thermocycling and Occlusal Force on Adhesive Composite Crowns

The aim of this in vitro study was to provide first quantitative data on the marginal adaptation and the required load to fracture of adhesive composite crowns with and without adhesive composite cores. Eighteen caries-free extracted human premolars were restored using fine hybrid composite crowns with margins located entirely in dentin. Six crowns were adhesively luted to dentin stubs, six to endodontically treated teeth with adhesive titanium posts and adhesive composite cores, and six to adhesive composite cores without posts. Another ten unprepared teeth served as a control. All restored teeth were subjected to long-term occlusal and thermal stresses. The marginal adaptation was evaluated in the SEM before and after loading. Load to fracture was recorded at the end of the stress. Before stressing, 72.2 to 85.0%, and after stressing, 51.9 to 66.2% of "continuous margin" were recorded at the dentin-luting composite interface. The best results after stressing were achieved with crowns luted to adhesive composite cores without titanium posts. At the luting composite-composite crown interface, 61.6 to 88.7% of "continuous margin" before and 57.7 to 75.5% after stressing were recorded. The required load to fracture the restored teeth ranged from 72.0 to 89.2% of the unrestored, unloaded control. Adhesive composite cores without titanium posts yielded the best results.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome and risk of AKI among critically ill patients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Increasing experimental evidence suggests that acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) may promote AKI. The primary objective of this study was to assess ARDS as a risk factor for AKI in critically ill patients. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS This was an observational study on a prospective database fed by 18 intensive care units (ICUs). Patients with ICU stays >24 hours were enrolled over a 14-year period. ARDS was defined using the Berlin criteria and AKI was defined using the Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss of kidney function, and End-stage kidney disease criteria. Patients with AKI before ARDS onset were excluded. RESULTS This study enrolled 8029 patients, including 1879 patients with ARDS. AKI occurred in 31.3% of patients and was more common in patients with ARDS (44.3% versus 27.4% in patients without ARDS; P<0.001). After adjustment for confounders, both mechanical ventilation without ARDS (odds ratio [OR], 4.34; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 3.71 to 5.10) and ARDS (OR, 11.01; 95% CI, 6.83 to 17.73) were independently associated with AKI. Hospital mortality was 14.2% (n=1140) and was higher in patients with ARDS (27.9% versus 10.0% in patients without ARDS; P<0.001) and in patients with AKI (27.6% versus 8.1% in those without AKI; P<0.001). AKI was associated with higher mortality in patients with ARDS (42.3% versus 20.2%; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS ARDS was independently associated with AKI. This study suggests that ARDS should be considered as a risk factor for AKI in critically ill patients.
How to counteract systematic errors in quantum state transfer

In the absence of errors, the dynamics of a spin chain, with a suitably engineered local Hamiltonian, allow the perfect, coherent transfer of a quantum state over large distances. Here, we propose encoding and decoding procedures to recover perfectly from low rates of systematic errors. The encoding and decoding regions, located at opposite ends of the chain, are small compared to the length of the chain, growing linearly with the size of the error. We also describe how these errors can be identified, again by only acting on the encoding and decoding regions.
Modified Particle Swarm Algorithm for Decentralized Swarm Agents

In this paper, an attempt has been made by incorporating some special features in the conventional particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique for decentralized swarm agents. The modified particle swarm algorithm (MPSA) for the self-organization of decentralized swarm agents is proposed and studied. In the MPSA, the update rule of the best agent in swarm is based on a proportional control concept and the fitness of each agent is evaluated on-line. In this scheme, each agent self-organizes to flock to the best agent in swarm and migrate to a moving target while avoiding collision between the agent and the nearest obstacle/agent. The simulation results have shown that the proposed scheme effectively constructs a self-organized swarm system in the capability of the flocking and migration
DC-Link Voltage Ripple Compensation for Multilevel Active-Neutral-Point-Clamped Converters Operated With SHE-PWM

This paper presents a dc-link voltage ripple compensation method for flying-capacitor (FC)-based active neutral-point-clamped multilevel converters operating under selective harmonic elimination pulsewidth modulation. The method is based on feedforward modification of the modulation index according to the ripple on the dc-link voltage, effectively altering the switching control functions. The low-order harmonics in the output due to the presence of the dc-link ripple are eliminated. In addition, a control strategy that actively regulates the flying capacitor voltages of each phase to the reference value and controls the neutral point voltage deviation is implemented. The performance of the dc ripple harmonic compensation method and regulation strategies are evaluated through simulation and experimental results from a three-phase, five-level laboratory prototype.
Severe Bilateral Kinetic Tremor Due to Unilateral Midbrain Lesions

Background The dentatothalamic tract connects the dentate nucleus of the cerebellum with the contralateral thalamus and plays a major role in the pathogenesis of tremor. Unilateral lesions of the dentatothalamic pathway may affect its ipsilateral predecussational or its contralateral postdecussational course, which results either in ipsilateral or in contralateral tremor. Case Report Here, we present two patients with a unilateral midbrain lesion resulting in bilateral tremor. Both patients presented with severe kinetic tremor. Discussion The corresponding unilateral mesencephalic lesion affected both the ipsilateral predecussational and the ipsilateral postdecussational dentatothalamic tract originating from the contralateral dentate nucleus, which is very unusual and has not been outlined clearly before.
Risk-Sensitive Reinforcement Learning Applied to Control under Constraints

In this paper, we consider Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) with error states. Error states are those states entering which is undesirable or dangerous. We define the risk with respect to a policy as the probability of entering such a state when the policy is pursued. We consider the problem of finding good policies whose risk is smaller than some user-specified threshold, and formalize it as a constrained MDP with two criteria. The first criterion corresponds to the value function originally given. We will show that the risk can be formulated as a second criterion function based on a cumulative return, whose definition is independent of the original value function. We present a model free, heuristic reinforcement learning algorithm that aims at finding good deterministic policies. It is based on weighting the original value function and the risk. The weight parameter is adapted in order to find a feasible solution for the constrained problem that has a good performance with respect to the value function. The algorithm was successfully applied to the control of a feed tank with stochastic inflows that lies upstream of a distillation column. This control task was originally formulated as an optimal control problem with chance constraints, and it was solved under certain assumptions on the model to obtain an optimal solution. The power of our learning algorithm is that it can be used even when some of these restrictive assumptions are relaxed.
Final Report: Saga 3 Brief History of the Saga Project

This report documents the latest work in the SAGA (Spray Advisor using Genetic Algorithms) project, the goal of which is to provide an effective means for a computer to recommend an optimal set of parameters for spraying a wooded area with pesticide. Current work is in two directions. One of these is the maintenance of older SAGA programs, some of which were built on now-obsolete platforms. The other is the development of a unified framework, SAGA3, to maximize code reuse and provide a consistent and flexible interface across SAGA programs. Brief History of the SAGA Project The most recent work in the SAGA project builds upon what previous researchers have already accomplished. This section briefly describes the history of the SAGA project and its successes to set the stage for discussion of the issues facing SAGA and how we resolve them. SAGA originated as a prototype generational genetic algorithm (henceforth GA) written in Fortran. To compute the fitness of an individual, it created a text file describing the individual and ran a standalone DOS version of AgDisp on it. FortranSAGA proved the feasibility of applying evolutionary computation methods to this domain, but it suffered from a crude interface and long running time. Its successor, VBSAGA, was written in Visual Basic 5. It featured a friendlier graphical user interface and linked to a DLL of AgDisp instead of calling a standalone executable, which resulted in significantly improved running time. A second version of it improved usability and implemented self-adaptation of GA parameters. Yet VB-SAGA still used more or less
Flexible and extensible preference evaluation in database systems

Personalized database systems give users answers tailored to their personal preferences. While numerous preference evaluation methods for databases have been proposed (e.g., skyline, top-k, k-dominance, k-frequency), the implementation of these methods at the core of a database system is a double-edged sword. Core implementation provides efficient query processing for arbitrary database queries, however, this approach is not practical since each existing (and future) preference method requires implementation within the database engine. To solve this problem, this article introduces FlexPref, a framework for extensible preference evaluation in database systems. FlexPref, implemented in the query processor, aims to support a wide array of preference evaluation methods in a single extensible code base. Integration with FlexPref is simple, involving the registration of only three functions that capture the essence of the preference method. Once integrated, the preference method “lives” at the core of the database, enabling the efficient execution of preference queries involving common database operations. This article also provides a query optimization framework for FlexPref, as well as a theoretical framework that defines the properties a preference method must exhibit to be implemented in FlexPref. To demonstrate the extensibility of FlexPref, this article also provides case studies detailing the implementation of seven state-of-the-art preference evaluation methods within FlexPref. We also experimentally study the strengths and weaknesses of an implementation of FlexPref in PostgreSQL over a range of single-table and multitable preference queries.
Combining parallel search and parallel consistency in constraint programming

Program parallelization becomes increasingly important when new multi-core architectures provide ways to improve performance. One of the greatest challenges of this development lies in programming parallel applications. Declarative languages, such as constraint programming, can make the transition to parallelism easier by hiding the parallelization details in a framework. Automatic parallelization in constraint programming has mostly focused on parallel search. While search and consistency are intrinsically linked, the consistency part of the solving process is often more time-consuming. We have previously looked at parallel consistency and found it to be quite promising. In this paper we investigate how to combine parallel search with parallel consistency. We evaluate which problems are suitable and which are not. Our results show that parallelizing the entire solving process in constraint programming is a major challenge as parallel search and parallel consistency typically suit different types of problems. (Less)
Equivalent negative stiffness mechanism using three bundled needles inspired by mosquito for achieving easy insertion

The mosquito proboscis is composed of seven micro parts. Among them, labrum and maxillae play important roles in insertion. The labrum is a central needle which sucks blood; two maxillae are left/right needles aside the labrum, respectively. They cooperatively move, i.e., one maxilla goes forward, labrum goes forward, another maxilla goes forward, successively. We noticed that the maxilla has a jagged harpoon-like shape on its tip area, which has an anchoring effect. We proposed the easy insertion mechanism as follows: the equivalent stiffness, which is the ratio of the resistance force relative to the moving distance, is considered. The total stiffness in pushing out the central needle can be made smaller than zero due to the anchoring effect of the side needles. We named it as “negative stiffness mechanism. ” Equivalent stiffness during pulling/pushing a fabricated needle was experimentally estimated, which indicated the validity of proposed mechanism.
3 D Shape Matching with 3 D Shape Contexts

Content based 3D shape retrieval for broad domains like the World Wide Web has recently gained considerable attention in Computer Graphics community. One of the main challenges in this context is the mapping of 3D objects into compact canonical representations referred to as descriptors or feature vector, which serve as search keys during the retrieval process. The descriptors should have certain desirable properties like invariance under scaling, rotation and translation as well as a descriptive power providing a basis for similarity measure between threedimensional objects which is close to the human notion of resemblance. In this paper we introduce an enhanced 3D approach of the recently introduced 2D Shape Contexts that can be used for measuring 3d shape similarity as fast, intuitive and powerful similarity model for 3D objects. The Shape Context at a point captures the distribution over relative positions of other shape points and thus summarizes global shape in a rich, local descriptor. Shape Contexts greatly simplify recovery of correspondences between points of two given shapes. Moreover, the Shape Context leads to a robust score for measuring shape similarity, once shapes are aligned.
Shape-from-shading on a cloudy day

In the classical shape-from-shading model, surface luminance depends primarily on the unit surface normal. However, under diffuse lighting conditions, such as the sky on a cloudy day, luminance depends primarily on the amount of sky that is visible from each surface element, with surface normal of secondary importance. This claim is formalized in terms of a dominating sky principle and a surface aperture function. An approximately functional constraint between surface luminance and aperture emerges. It is shown how to use this constraint to recover a depth map from an image efficiently. A curious difference from the classical shape-from-shading problem is uncovered. When one assumes a point light source, the local geometric constraints of the shape-from-shading problem lie along the surface. However, in the diffuse-lighting problem, the local geometric constraints are found in a visibility field, which is defined in the free space above the surface.
Assessment of bloodstream infections and risk factors in an intensive care unit.

BACKGROUND/AIM Nosocomial bloodstream infection (BSI) increases mortality rates, duration of stay in hospital, and treatment costs. This study was conducted to determine the rate and the risk factors of BSIs among intensive care unit patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty-four patients with BSIs (patient group) and 79 patients without a nosocomial infection (control group) were enrolled in the study. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria were used for diagnosing BSIs. Potential risk factors were evaluated by multivariate logistic regression model. RESULTS The BSI development rate was 15.7% (64/407), with an incidence rate of 18.2/1000 patient days. Distribution of pathogens among BSI patients were as follows: gram-positive cocci, 42.18% (27/64); gram-negative cocci, 34.3% (22/64); and Candida spp. , 23.4% (15/64). Risk factors were determined as intubation, arterial catheter, tracheostomy, duration of intubation, duration of catheter use, duration of nasogastric catheter, underlying diseases of chronic renal failure and diabetes mellitus, implemented treatments of sedation and enteral nutrition, and APACHE II score. CONCLUSION : BSIs are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in intensive care unit patients. Determination of the local risk factors is important and necessary for decreasing the rate of BSIs and the mortality rates.