Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
0 Using Flexibility to Enhance the Alignment between Information Systems and Business Strategy : Implications for IT Business Value Draft # 1

While executives continue to rate strategic alignment – denoting the fit between information technology (IT) and the business strategy – as a key IT management issue, the rise in business uncertainty in the late 1990s may have given executives cause to question whether attempts to increase strategic alignment limit their ability to maintain strategic flexibility. How corporations structure their IT decisions has implications for how easily and quickly they can respond to events in their external and internal environment. Using the theory of dynamic capabilities, we develop a model to examine how IT and strategic flexibility interact with, and shape, strategic alignment. By allowing strategic alignment to mediate the link between IT and strategic flexibility and IT business value, we can assess whether capabilities around flexibility can enable corporations to realize greater payoffs from IT investment. Using survey data from 208 U.S. corporations, we find that where corporations have clearly defined goals for IT, there is no tradeoff between IT flexibility and strategic alignment. Instead, IT flexibility enhances strategic alignment and leads to improved IT business value. To investigate this further, we develop a two dimensional framework based on IT flexibility and IT business value, and through the use of measures of industry clockspeed, find that a tradeoff only takes place in highly dynamic environments. In contrast, in stable environments, corporations may have no need for IT flexibility. Even while operating in uncertain and rapidly changing industries, one-third of the firms in our sample successfully combined high strategic alignment with IT flexibility, confirming that IT flexibility and strategic alignment can be complementary, rather than mutually exclusive.
A robust control strategy for parallel-connected distributed generation using real-time simulation

In the context of renewable energy sources integration, the use of microgrids (MGs) with multiple distributed generation (DG) based on voltage source inverters is the solution to significantly reduce the influence of the unpredictable nature of the renewable energy sources on the grid. This paper focuses on the problem of uncertainties and disturbances found in such applications with various LCL filter parameters, load conditions and network conditions, and the problem of voltage control of inverter-interfaced microgrids with radial structure. The main objectives of this paper are to (i) design a robust low-order voltage controller which ensures robustness as well as desired performance of the microgrid system in spite of uncertain parameters; (ii) validate the complete model of MG under different operating conditions using a digital real-time simulator. This simulator is a beneficial tool that allows the verification of several scenarios with different operating conditions. It accelerates the testing process as compared to offline simulations, where computation time is much larger.
Modeling The Water Balance For Aerobic Rice: A System Dynamics Approach

A field soil water balance model is developed for non-ponded “aerobic rice” in North China Plain. Increasing water scarcity necessitates the development of irrigated rice systems that require less water than traditional flooded rice. The aerobic rice is an effort to save water in response to growing worldwide water scarcity with the pressure to reduce water use and increase water productivity in irrigated agriculture. Aerobic rice is not ponded and irrigated similar to other crops and is suitable for water-scarce environments and can stand being periodically flooded.
RoseMerry: A Baseline Message-level Sentiment Classification System

In this paper, we propose a baseline messagelevel sentiment classification method, as developed for SemEval-2015 Task 10, Subtask B. This system leverages both hand-crafted features and message-level embedding features, and uses an SVM classifier for messagelevel sentiment classification. In pre-training the embedding features, we use one million randomly-selected tweets. We present results over SemEval-2015 Task 10, Subtask B, as well as the Stanford Sentiment Treebank. Our experiments show the effectiveness of our method over both datasets.
Whole-Body Motion Generation Integrating Operator's Intention and Robot's Autonomy in Controlling Humanoid Robots

This paper introduces a framework for whole-body motion generation integrating operator's control and robot's autonomous functions during online control of humanoid robots. Humanoid robots are biped machines that usually possess multiple degrees of freedom (DOF). The complexity of their structure and the difficulty in maintaining postural stability make the whole-body control of humanoid robots fundamentally different from fixed-base manipulators. Getting hints from human conscious and subconscious motion generations, the authors propose a method of generating whole-body motions that integrates the operator's command input and the robot's autonomous functions. Instead of giving commands to all the joints all the time, the operator selects only the necessary points of the humanoid robot's body for manipulation. This paper first explains the concept of the system and the framework for integrating operator's command and autonomous functions in whole-body motion generation. Using the framework, autonomous functions were constructed for maintaining postural stability constraint while satisfying the desired trajectory of operation points, including the feet, while interacting with the environment. Finally, this paper reports on the implementation of the proposed method to teleoperate two 30-DOF humanoid robots, HRP-1S and HRP-2, by using only two 3-DOF joysticks. Experiments teleoperating the two robots are reported to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Checking and correcting safety properties using compositional reachability analysis

The software architecture of a distributed program can be represented by a hierarchical composition of subsystems, with interacting processes at the leaves of the hierarchy. Compositional reachability analysis (CRA) is a promising state reduction technique which can be automated and used in stages to derive the overall behaviour of a distributed program based on its architecture. CRA is particularly suitable for the analysis of programs which are subject to evolutionary change. When a program evolves, only the behaviours of those subsystems affected by the change need be reevaluated. The technique however has a limitation. The properties available for analysis are constrained by the set of actions that remain globally observable. Properties involving actions encapsulated by subsystems may therefore not be analyzed. In this paper, we enhance the CRA technique to check safety properties which may contain actions that are not globally observable. To achieve this, the state machine model is augmented with a special trap state labelled as π. We propose a scheme to transform in stages a property that involves hidden actions to one that involves only globally observable actions. The enhanced technique also includes a mechanism aiming at reducing the debugging effort. The technique is illustrated using a case study of a gas station system.
DIFFUSION OF CRIME CONTROL BENEFITS: OBSERVATIONS ON THE REVERSE OF DISPLACEMENT

Preoccupation with the threat of displacement has led crime prevention researchers to overlook the phenomenon of "diffusion of benefits," the unexpected reduction of crimes not directly targeted by the preventive action. This phenomenon, which can bring considerable added value to sltuatlonal measures, has been described as the "complete reverse" of displacement. Two processes underlying diffusion are Identified Involving, on the one hand, offenders' uncertainty about the extent of the Increased risk, and, on the other, their exaggerated perception that the rewards of particular crimes are no longer commensurate with the effort These processes are labeled, respectively, deterrence and discouragement. Recent research provides numerous examples of both kinds of diffusion. Ways of enhancing diffusion are explored, and a program of research Is advocated on offender perceptions of the opening and closing of criminal opportunities.
Automatic detection technology of surface defects on plastic products based on machine vision

It is very necessary to detect surface defects on plastic products during production process and post treatment. The research and application of automatic detection technology of surface defects on plastic products is supposed to greatly liberate the human workforce, improve the automated production level, and has wide application prospect. The development of machine vision's key technologies such as illumination system, CCD camera, image enhancement, image segmentation, image recognition, and so on has been explained in detail. Its application on detection for surface defects on plastic products such as plastic electronic components, strips, PVC building materials, films, leather, bottles, and so on is also presented briefly. Especially, it mainly focuses on the automatic detection of surface defects for injection products, and the automatic detection system is proposed. It is composed of the conveyor belt device, the image acquisition and processing software and PLC control device, et al.
Visual Programming in an Object-Oriented Framework

Instead of scripting, a visual programming approach was explored for a component runtime environment. It provides generic access to framework objects and supports black-box reuse through interactive assembly. This paper describes the execution model of this intuitive composition approach and outlines useful applications that deal with changing requirements, short prototyping cycles, and user-friendly system reconfigurations.
Estimating an Ai System's Validity by a Turing Test

The authors present some ideas on developing a validity statement based on a Tu-ring test { like methodology with a set of test cases. The (anonymous) solutions of these test cases will be rated by a panel of expert va-lidators. Their ratings are used for both the assessement of the experts' competence and the assessment of the system's validity. The objective of this is, of course, to make the result of the validation process (a validity statement) as objective as possible.
Margin-Based Pivot Selection for Similarity Search Indexes

When developing an index for a similarity search in metric spaces, how to divide the space for effective search pruning is a fundamental issue. We present Maximal Metric Margin Partitioning (MMMP), a partitioning scheme for similarity search indexes. MMMP divides the data based on its distribution pattern, especially for the boundaries of clusters. A partitioning boundary created by MMMP is likely to be located in a sparse area between clusters. Moreover, the partitioning boundary is at maximum distances from the two cluster edges. We also present an indexing scheme, named the MMMP-Index, which uses MMMP and pivot filtering. The MMMP-Index can prune many objects that are not relevant to a query, and it reduces the query execution cost. Our experimental results show that MMMP effectively indexes clustered data and reduces the search cost. For clustered data in a vector space, the MMMP-Index reduces the computational cost to less than two thirds that of comparable schemes.
Matchbook a web based recommendation system for matchmaking

In todaypsilas world, many systems and approaches make it possible for us to be guided by the recommendations they provide. Personalization, which intends to resolve the problems caused by the huge amount of information around, is the main goal to be achieved by these systems. In this paper, we represent the Web based recommendation system that we have developed by using personalization techniques combining machine learning with automated reasoning.
Time to relapse and remission of bipolar disorder: findings from a 1-year prospective study in Thailand

Background and methods This study aimed to determine time to relapse and remission of mood episodes in Thai patients with bipolar disorder (BD). The Thai Bipolar Disorder Registry was a multicenter, prospective, naturalistic, observational study conducted in Thailand. Participants were adult inpatients or outpatients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders bipolar disorder. The diagnosis of bipolar disorder, current psychiatric comorbidity, mood relapse, and mood remission were determined by using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Relapse and remission were assessed every 2 months. Results Of 424 BD participants, 404 (95.3%) were BD I, and 258 (60.8%) were female. At entry, 260 (61.3%) had recovered, and 49 (11.6%) were recovering. During 1-year follow-up (381.7 person-years), 92 participants (21.7%) had 119 relapses or 0.31 (95% confidence interval 0.25–0.35) episodes per person-year. Among 119 relapses, 58 (48.7%), 39 (32.7%), and 21 (17.6%) of them were depressive, hypomanic, and manic episodes, respectively. Using the Kaplan–Meier method, we found that 25% of the participants relapsed in 361 days. Of the 400 participants who reached remission, 113 (28.2%) had mood relapses. Of 173 mood events accountable for remission analysis, the median time to remission was 67.5 days (72.5 days for depressive episodes versus 58.0 days for manic episodes, log rank P = 0.014). Conclusions The 1-year relapse rate in Thai patients with BD was 21.7% or 0.31 episodes per person-year. About one-fifth of recovered patients had mood relapses within 371 days. On average, a mood episode would remit in 67.5 days.
Altered Intracellular Localization and Mobility of SBDS Protein upon Mutation in Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome

Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome (SDS) is a rare inherited disease caused by mutations in the SBDS gene. Hematopoietic defects, exocrine pancreas dysfunction and short stature are the most prominent clinical features. To gain understanding of the molecular properties of the ubiquitously expressed SBDS protein, we examined its intracellular localization and mobility by live cell imaging techniques. We observed that SBDS full-length protein was localized in both the nucleus and cytoplasm, whereas patient-related truncated SBDS protein isoforms localize predominantly to the nucleus. Also the nucleo-cytoplasmic trafficking of these patient-related SBDS proteins was disturbed. Further studies with a series of SBDS mutant proteins revealed that three distinct motifs determine the intracellular mobility of SBDS protein. A sumoylation motif in the C-terminal domain, that is lacking in patient SBDS proteins, was found to play a pivotal role in intracellular motility. Our structure-function analyses provide new insight into localization and motility of the SBDS protein, and show that patient-related mutant proteins are altered in their molecular properties, which may contribute to the clinical features observed in SDS patients.
Principle of a Dual Current Source Converter for AC Motor Drives

The principle of operation of a dual current source converter is briefly explained. The combination of two single current source converters (SCSC) to form a ``dual (duplex) current source converter'' (DCSC) is proposed. The DCSC is shown to have the following merits: 1) it retains all the advantages of the SCSC; 2) it reduces the harmonic content of the current waveform considerably; and 3) since the load current is shared equally between two current source converters, ratings of the individual components employed in the circuit are considerably lowered. A DCSC can be an attractive choice for sophisticated large horsepower drives where a good performance of the drive rather than cost is a prime factor. An open-loop control scheme employing the DCSC for an ac motor drive has been successfully implemented in the laboratory. Oscillograms of the improved load current waveforms are shown.
Cyclophosphamide Alters the Gene Expression Profile in Patients Treated with High Doses Prior to Stem Cell Transplantation

Background Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a curative treatment for several haematological malignancies. However, treatment related morbidity and mortality still is a limiting factor. Cyclophosphamide is widely used in condition regimens either in combination with other chemotherapy or with total body irradiation. Methods We present the gene expression profile during cyclophosphamide treatment in 11 patients conditioned with cyclophosphamide for 2 days followed by total body irradiation prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. 299 genes were identified as specific for cyclophosphamide treatment and were arranged into 4 clusters highly down-regulated genes, highly up-regulated genes, early up-regulated but later normalized genes and moderately up-regulated genes. Results Cyclophosphamide treatment down-regulated expression of several genes mapped to immune/autoimmune activation and graft rejection including CD3, CD28, CTLA4, MHC II, PRF1, GZMB and IL-2R, and up-regulated immune-related receptor genes, e.g. IL1R2, IL18R1, and FLT3. Moreover, a high and significant expression of ANGPTL1 and c-JUN genes was observed independent of cyclophosphamide treatment. Conclusion This is the first investigation to provide significant information about alterations in gene expression following cyclophosphamide treatment that may increase our understanding of the cyclophosphamide mechanism of action and hence, in part, avoid its toxicity. Furthermore, ANGPTL1 remained highly expressed throughout the treatment and, in contrast to several other alkylating agents, cyclophosphamide did not influence c-JUN expression.
LECTURES ON HOPF ALGEBRAS

These notes contain the material presented in a series of five lectures at the University of Cordoba in September 1994. The intent of this brief course was to give a quick introduction to Hopf algebras and to prove as directly as possible (to me) some recent results on finitedimensional Hopf algebras conjectured by Kaplansky in 1975. In particular, in the last part of the course I gave a complete proof from scratch of Zhou’s theorem (1994): Any finitedimensional Hopf algebra over the complex numbers of prime dimension p is isomorphic to the group algebra of the group of order p. I would like to thank Nicolas Andruskiewitsch and the members of the Mathematics Department of the FaMAF (University of Cordoba) for the kind invitation to visit Cordoba and for their warm hospitality. I also wish to thank the students in my class for their attention and for most enjoyable hours after the lectures. My special thanks are due to Sonia Natale who has written up the notes of a condensed course with great care and insight.
Sharing a Robotic Pet as a Maintenance Strategy for Romantic Couples in Long-Distance Relationships.: An Autobiographical Design Exploration

Furfur is a robotic pet, designed to create feelings of closeness and togetherness for couples in long-distance relationships. Over a period of 200 days, the first author developed different versions of Furfur and applied it to his own long-distance relationship in the sense of an autobiographical design exploration. The paper summarizes key findings and reflects upon the design process itself.
Growth factor regulation of neutrophil‐endothelial cell interactions

The effects of the angiogenic factors basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on human polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMNL)‐endothelial cell adhesion and transendothelial migration (TEM) were investigated. Stimulation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells by VEGF or bFGF for 18 h up‐regulated intercellular adhesion molecule 1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 expression and significantly increased PMNL adhesion and TEM in response to complement fragment 5a (C5a) or interleukin (IL)‐8. In contrast, continued exposure to bFGF (24 h–6 days) down‐regulated basal and IL‐1‐ or tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐induced intercellular adhesion molecule 1, vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, and E‐selectin expression as well as PMNL adhesion and TEM. These effects could be reversed by introduction of high concentrations of TNF‐α, C5a, or IL‐8. None of these inhibitory effects was observed with VEGF. The acute effects of bFGF and VEGF may facilitate PMNL emigration during acute inflammation, but continued bFGF production may have anti‐inflammatory actions during chronic inflammation, angiogenesis, and tumor defense by inhibition of endothelial activation for leukocyte recruitment.
Solute Transport in Porous Media. Media with Capillaries as Voids

We study solute transport in porous media with periodic microstructures consisting of interconnected thin channels. We discuss a local physical mechanism that occurs at the intersections of channels and promotes mixing of the solute with the solvent (i.e., the host liquid). We identify the parameter regime, where this mechanism is the dominant cause of dispersion, and obtain the effective or macroscopic transport equation that the concentration of solute satisfies when the medium is subjected to a time periodic applied pressure gradient. We conclude with illustrative examples.
Learning Causal Semantic Representation from Information Extraction

For reasoning with uncertain knowledge causal semantic analysis is proposed to construct logical rules,which are extracted from decision tree induction and bayes inference based on generalized information theory. These rules can represent multi-level semantic knowledge of the relationship between the data and information implicated.Empirical studies on a set of natural domains show that the semantic completeness of generalized information theory has clear advantage in representing semantic knowledge from different levels.
Analysis of an underactuated robotic finger with variable pinch and closure grasp stiffness

This paper presents an innovative design concept for an underactuated robotic finger which can perform adaptable closure and pinch grasping. The mechanically simple design combines an underactuated spring-loaded enclosing mechanism with a Variable Stiffness Actuator, which can be used to regulate the mechanical stiffness and interaction forces of the finger during grasping. This highly desirable property can enable the finger to be used as an adaptable and versatile gripper that can interact with its environment with minimal control effort. The design of the proposed underactuated robotic finger is presented and its main features are discussed. The interplay between the finger mechanism and its variably compliant actuation is analyzed for different grasps and load conditions, before the finger's properties are experimentally validated and the pinch and enveloping grasp capabilities demonstrated.
Hierarchical genetic fusion of possibilities

Classification and fusion are major tasks in many applications and in particular for automatic semantic-based video content indexing and retrieval. In this paper, we focus on the challenging task of classifier output fusion. It is a necessary step to efficiently estimate the semantic content of video shots from multiple cues. We propose to fuse the numeric information provided by multiple classifiers in the framework of possibility logic. In this framework, many operators with different properties were suggested to achieve the fusion. We present a binary tree structure to model the fusion mechanism of available cues and the genetic algorithms that are used to determine the most appropriate operators and fusion tree structure. Experiments are conducted in the framework of TRECVID feature extraction task that consists in ordering shots with respect to their relevance to a given class. Finally, we will show the efficiency of our approach.