Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
de Flexible Information Design for Business Process Visualizations

Profound understanding of business processes is a key success factor for Business Process Management (BPM). As more and more analytical information like runtime data from process execution or statistical data from business intelligence are available, the problem of business process complexity becomes apparent. Process-relevant information needs to be provided as fast as possible while considering easy and fast interpretation and dynamic changes in stakeholders’ demands. The static and usecase specific creation or modification of process visualizations shown in current approaches and tools, however, is complex, time consuming, inflexible and thus costly. To address these shortcomings, we introduce a template-based approach that decouples the creation of visualization templates from concrete process visualizations. The binding of customization points of visualization templates to analytical process information is supported by a graphical editor that enables customization of visualizations in a fast and flexible manner. Moreover, due to the separation of concerns, our approach improves the usability of process visualizations because templates may be created by graphic experts independently from specific visualization demands. The feasibility of our concept is demonstrated by a prototypical implementation. KeywordsBusiness Process Management, Process Visualization, Process Analysis, Service-oriented Architecture
Object-oriented model for partially separable functions in parameter estimation

In parameter estimation, a model function depending on adjustable parameters is (cid:12)tted to a set of observed data. The parameter estimation task is an optimisation problem, which needs a computational kernel for evaluating the model function values and derivatives. This article presents an object-oriented framework for representing model functions, which are partially separable, or structural. Such functions are commonly encountered, e.g., in spectroscopy. The model is general, being able to cover a range of varying model functions. It o(cid:11)ers (cid:13)exibility at runtime allowing the construction of the model functions from prede(cid:12)ned component functions. The mathematical expressions are encapsulated and a close mapping between mathematics and program code is preserved. Also, all interfacing code can be written independently of the particular mathematical formula. These properties together make it easy to adapt the model to di(cid:11)erent problem domains: only tightly controlled changes to the program code are required. The paper shows how derivatives of the model function can be computed using automatic di(cid:11)erentiation relieving the programmer from writing explicit analytical derivative codes. The persistence of the objects involved is discussed and (cid:12)nally the computational e(cid:14)ciency of the function and derivative evaluation is addressed. It is shown that the bene(cid:12)ts of the object-oriented model, namely the higher abstraction level and increased (cid:13)exibility, are achieved with a very moderate loss of performance. This is demonstrated by comparing the performance with low-level tailored C-code.
A gesture-centric Android system for multi-party human-robot interaction

Natural body gesturing and speech dialogue, is crucial for human-robot interaction (HRI) and human-robot symbiosis. Real interaction is not only with one-to-one communication but also among multiple people. We have therefore developed a system that can adjust gestures and facial expressions based on a speaker's location or situation for multi-party communication. By extending our already developed real-time gesture planning method, we propose a gesture adjustment suitable for human demand through motion parameterization and gaze motion planning, which allows communication through eye-to-eye contact. We implemented the proposed motion planning method on an android Actroid-SIT and we proposed to use a Key-Value Store to connect the components of our systems. The Key-Value Store is a high-speed and lightweight dictionary database with parallelism and scalability. We conducted multi-party HRI experiments for 1,662 subjects in total. In our HRI system, over 60% of subjects started speaking to the Actroid, and the residence time of their communication also became longer. In addition, we confirmed our system gave humans a more sophisticated impression of the Actroid.
RO Gandy and CEM Yates Editors Universal Turing Machine

The synthesis of write-ahead logging has developed redundancy, and current trends suggest that the investigation of the Ethernet will soon emerge. Given the current status of client-server models, cyberneticists predictably desire the construction of systems, which embodies the voice-over-IP are rarely incompatible, but rather on presenting an application for consistent hash
Software Transactional Memory as a Building Block for Parallel Embedded Real-Time Systems

The recent trends of chip architectures with higher number of heterogeneous cores, and non-uniform memory/non-coherent caches, brings renewed attention to the use of Software Transactional Memory (STM) as a fundamental building block for developing parallel applications. Nevertheless, although STM promises to ease concurrent and parallel software development, it relies on the possibility of aborting conflicting transactions to maintain data consistency, which impacts on the responsiveness and timing guarantees required by embedded real-time systems. In these systems, contention delays must be (efficiently) limited so that the response times of tasks executing transactions are upper-bounded and task sets can be feasibly scheduled. In this paper we assess the use of STM in the development of embedded real-time software, defending that the amount of contention can be reduced if read-only transactions access recent consistent data snapshots, progressing in a wait-free manner. We show how the required number of versions of a shared object can be calculated for a set of tasks. We also outline an algorithm to manage conflicts between update transactions that prevents starvation.
On the stabilization of high order systems with two unstable poles plus time delay

This work considers the stabilization of linear time invariant high order systems with two unstable poles plus time delay. For this, we will propose a simple observer based controller in order to stabilize the system. Numerical examples and an electronic implementation of the proposed scheme are presented in order to illustrate the performance of the closed loop system.
Inductive transfer through neural network error and dataset regrouping

A new inductive transfer-learning algorithm called NEDRT is presented in this paper in order to improve the classification accuracy of a domain task by using the knowledge learned from labeled data generated from a different domain. NEDRT introduces a novel error function for a constructed neural network by summing a weighted squared difference between the real output and the neural network output for each instance of label training data from the source domain and the target domain. Each weight could be regarded as an instance's contribution degree to transfer, The source data set is partitioned into different sunsets to minimize the imbalance between the target data and source data, and each subset is combined with the target data to form a new training data set. These newly obtained training data sets are used to construct classifiers for the target task. Experimental results of knowledge transfer on UCI data sets and text data sets show that NEDRT performs well.
Computational mechanics and information measures in food webs

In this study we reconstruct predator-prey relationships from biomass time series of a simulated system of interacting species. To overcome the shortcomings of a static food webs representation we introduce a new model which accounts for both population and interaction dynamics. It is a derived version of the light-cone model from special relativity theory. To identify the existence of predator–prey relationships in the system we quantify the notion of distance in a food web. We use known measures from information theory, namely mutual information and transfer entropy, and we introduce a new measure based on causal states of point and patch predictors. To evaluate our results we compare the distances measured with a minimum distance measure from the underlying food web, and examine the accuracy of the measures in inferring the existence of the actual predator–prey relationships. First results show that our new measure based on causal states of point and patch predictors together with the transfer entropy measure outperform the mutual information measure in terms of distance accuracy. A threshold based method to estimate adjacent links shows similar results.
Rho GTPase/Rho Kinase Negatively Regulates Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Phosphorylation through the Inhibition of Protein Kinase B/Akt in Human Endothelial Cells

ABSTRACT Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is an important regulator of cardiovascular homeostasis by production of nitric oxide (NO) from vascular endothelial cells. It can be activated by protein kinase B (PKB)/Akt via phosphorylation at Ser-1177. We are interested in the role of Rho GTPase/Rho kinase (ROCK) pathway in regulation of eNOS expression and activation. Using adenovirus-mediated gene transfer in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), we show here that both active RhoA and ROCK not only downregulate eNOS gene expression as reported previously but also inhibit eNOS phosphorylation at Ser-1177 and cellular NO production with concomitant suppression of PKB activation. Moreover, coexpression of a constitutive active form of PKB restores the phosphorylation but not gene expression of eNOS in the presence of active RhoA. Furthermore, we show that thrombin inhibits eNOS phosphorylation, as well as expression via Rho/ROCK pathway. Expression of the active PKB reverses eNOS phosphorylation but has no effect on downregulation of eNOS expression induced by thrombin. Taken together, these data demonstrate that Rho/ROCK pathway negatively regulates eNOS phosphorylation through inhibition of PKB, whereas it downregulates eNOS expression independent of PKB.
Route BER estimation in wireless ad hoc networks exploiting minimum distance routing

In this paper, we employ an analytical method to evaluate the route bit-error-rate (BER) performance of a wireless ad hoc network which exploits minimum distance routing. First, we estimate the average source-destination distance. Then, we derive an analytical formula to estimate the average number of hops in routes. Finally, we derive the average Route BER based on (1) the transmit power of nodes, (2) the network bandwidth, and (3) the angular view of minimum distance routing. We show that increasing node density leads to a reduction in average route BER until the average interference power overpowers the average received power. The analytical derivations have been validated using simulation studies.
Is fidaxomicin worth the cost? An economic analysis.

BACKGROUND In May 2011, the Food and Drug Administration approved fidaxomicin for the treatment of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). It has been found to be noninferior to vancomycin; however, its cost-effectiveness for the treatment of CDI remains undetermined. METHODS We developed a decision analytic simulation model to determine the economic value of fidaxomicin for CDI treatment from the third-party payer perspective. We looked at CDI treatment in these 3 cases: (1) no fidaxomicin, (2) only fidaxomicin, and (3) fidaxomicin based on strain typing results. RESULTS The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for fidaxomicin based on screening given current conditions was >$43.7 million per quality-adjusted life-year and using only fidaxomicin was dominated (ie, more costly and less effective) by the other 2 treatment strategies explored. The fidaxomicin strategy tended to remain dominated, even at lower costs. With approximately 50% of CDI due to the NAP1/BI/027 strain, a course of fidaxomicin would need to cost ≤$150 to be cost-effective in the treatment of all CDI cases and between $160 and $400 to be cost-effective for those with a non-NAP1/BI/027 strain (ie, treatment based on strain typing). CONCLUSIONS Given the current cost and NAP1/BI/027 accounting for approximately 50% of isolates, using fidaxomicin as a first-line treatment for CDI is not cost-effective. However, typing and treatment with fidaxomicin based on strain may be more promising depending on the costs of fidaxomicin.
Essays on the influence of website emotional design features on users' emotional and behavioral responses

As the Internet technologies have become more advanced, as well as online users that have become more sophisticated, the competition in the e-commerce is increasingly aggressive for online vendors. Therefore, online user experience has emerged as a major issue in developing strategies for online vendors to gain advantage over such changing competitive landscape. Although past studies have widely explored the online user experience, they largely focus on the website design feature (designer) perspective and often ignore the user perspective. Considering both design feature and user perspectives, this research provides a better understanding how different website design features enhance user experience. Three essays are conducted in this dissertation to address the importance of website design features in influencing user experience. The first essay explores how website visual appeal and ease of use impact users’ perceptions of usefulness, trust, and intention to use in the context of unfamiliar website. The study reveals that visual appeal produces a greater influence on the users’ perceptions than ease of use. The findings also indicate that both visual appeal and ease of use are contributing factors in developing online trust among male users, with visual appeal dominating trust formation among female users. The second essay investigates how website visual order and complexity influence users’ initial aesthetic impressions of a website, and how these impressions subsequently impact engagement and intention to use the website. An experiment is conducted to test the durability of the visual design features across two exposure times (1-second vs. no time limit). The results suggest that user can quickly evaluate websites (within 1 second), and these evaluations remain consistent even when time constraints are removed. In addition, the findings also reveal the importance of visual order on user attention span and attention on design elements presented on web pages. The third essay examines how individual differences in the centrality of visual aesthetics (CVA) influence users’ perceptions of a website. A series of three experiments is conducted in this study to provide guidelines how to capture CVA, as well as how CVA subsequently influence users’ response toward a website.
Managing Dual Identities in Nonprofit Rebranding: An Exploratory Study

Nonprofit organizations that engage in rebranding strategies face challenges reconciling normative (social or mission driven) and utilitarian (business driven) identities of their organizations. This research examines the interplay between rebranding processes and dual identities of 10 rebranded charitable organizations, in particular how these identities are reflected in managers’ narratives and subsequently shape rebranding strategies. The study reveals four types of rebranding strategies and the potential drivers for their adoption. Pressure to secure resources can lead nonprofit organizations to emphasize utilitarian identities in rebranding, and so surface hidden tensions among stakeholders reluctant to relinquish established normative identities. In managing the process of rebranding, senior managers engage in practices of justifying, re-visioning, and influencing to reduce emerging tensions. The research suggests that both utilitarian and normative identity concerns need to be addressed during the process.
TIPdb-3D: the three-dimensional structure database of phytochemicals from Taiwan indigenous plants

The rich indigenous and endemic plants in Taiwan serve as a resourceful bank for biologically active phytochemicals. Based on our TIPdb database curating bioactive phytochemicals from Taiwan indigenous plants, this study presents a three-dimensional (3D) chemical structure database named TIPdb-3D to support the discovery of novel pharmacologically active compounds. The Merck Molecular Force Field (MMFF94) was used to generate 3D structures of phytochemicals in TIPdb. The 3D structures could facilitate the analysis of 3D quantitative structure–activity relationship, the exploration of chemical space and the identification of potential pharmacologically active compounds using protein–ligand docking. Database URL: http://cwtung.kmu. edu.tw/tipdb.
Ran-unassisted Nuclear Migration of a 97-kD Component of Nuclear Pore–targeting Complex

A 97-kD component of nuclear pore-targeting complex (the β-subunit of nuclear pore–targeting complex [PTAC]/importin/karyopherin) mediates the import of nuclear localization signal (NLS)-containing proteins by anchoring the NLS receptor protein (the α-subunit of PTAC/importin/karyopherin) to the nuclear pore complex (NPC). The import requires a small GTPase Ran, which interacts directly with the β-subunit. The present study describes an examination of the behavior of the β-subunit in living cells and in digitonin-permeabilized cells. In living cells, cytoplasmically injected β-subunit rapidly migrates into the nucleus. The use of deletion mutants reveals that nuclear migration of the β-subunit requires neither Ran- nor α-subunit–binding but only the NPC-binding domain of this molecule, which is also involved in NLS-mediated import. Furthermore, unlike NLS-mediated import, a dominant-negative Ran, defective in GTP-hydrolysis, did not inhibit nuclear migration of the β-subunit. In the digitonin-permeabilized cell-free import assay, the β-subunit transits rapidly through the NPC into the nucleus in a saturating manner in the absence of exogenous addition of soluble factors. These results show that the β-subunit undergoes translocation at the NPC in a Ran-unassisted manner when it does not carry α-subunit/NLS substrate. Therefore, a requirement for Ran arises only when the β-subunit undergoes a translocation reaction together with the α-subunit/NLS substrate. The results provide an insight to the yet unsolved question regarding the mechanism by which proteins are directionally transported through the NPC, and the role of Ran in this process.
Image Segmentation Based on GC-CV

In this article, an integrated method, named GC-CV, was developed and applied to image segmentation. The proposed method combines graph cut method and the simplified Mumford-Shah model (C-V model), and takes the advantages of both. In this paper, the proposed GC-CV method is put to test in its three different operational modes. The first mode is the segmentation of binary images using GC-CV directly. The second mode is the segmentation of multi-region images by recursive GC-CV. The last one is segmentation of color images and gray images by combining GC-CV with EM algorithm, and using YCbCr color space for color image segmentation. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed GC-CV method is verified by a serious of experiments. Experimental results show that the speed of segmentation can be greatly improved and the number of iterations can be considerably reduced with GC-CV in comparison with C-V model. Experimental results reveal that GC-CV can be a promising approach to image segmentation.
Subjective Validation of Perception Properties in Binaural Sound Reproduction Systems

In general hearing tests are necessary to assess the properties of spatialisation systems. To speed up the procedure of testing different system parameters an objective model of localisation in binaural sound reproduction system is introduced [7]. In the following the localisation properties of an auditory system based on playback via head phones is investigated. Therefore a new design for the experiment setup to investigate the perception of virtual sources is introduced. This paper reports the subjective validation of the objective model by informal listening tests. In addition to the localisation and localisation blur further properties are evaluated. Significant differences between different system setups are studied and depicted.
X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy: very long-chain fatty acid metabolism is severely impaired in monocytes but not in lymphocytes

X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by mutations in the ABCD1 gene, encoding a member of the peroxisomal ABC transporter family. The ABCD1 protein transports CoA-activated very long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) into peroxisomes for degradation via β-oxidation. In the severest form, X-ALD patients suffer from inflammatory demyelination of the brain. As the extent of the metabolic defect in the main immune cells is unknown, we explored their phenotypes concerning mRNA expression pattern of the three peroxisomal ABC transporters, VLCFA accumulation and peroxisomal β-oxidation. In controls, ABCD1 expression was high in monocytes, intermediate in B cells and low in T cells; ABCD2 expression was extremely low in monocytes, intermediate in B cells and highest in T cells; ABCD3 mRNA was equally distributed. In X-ALD patients, the expression patterns remained unaltered; accordingly, monocytes, which lack compensatory VLCFA transport by ABCD2, displayed the severest biochemical phenotype with a 6-fold accumulation of C26:0 and a striking 70% reduction in peroxisomal β-oxidation activity. In contrast, VLCFA metabolism was close to control values in B cells and T cells, supporting the hypothesis that sufficient ABCD2 is present to compensate for ABCD1 deficiency. Thus, the vulnerability of the main immune cell types is highly variable in X-ALD. Based on these results, we propose that in X-ALD the halt of inflammation after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation relies particularly on the replacement of the monocyte lineage. Additionally, these findings support the concept that ABCD2 is a target for pharmacological induction as an alternative therapeutic strategy.