Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Author's Personal Copy Performance Evaluation Performance Analysis of an Inventory–production System with Shipment Consolidation in the Production Facility

In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: a b s t r a c t We consider an inventory–production system consisting of a warehouse and a production facility. The warehouse is used to store products to satisfy customer demands, and its inventory is controlled by an (r, Q) policy. Products ordered by the warehouse are processed in the production facility on a one-by-one basis, and finished products are consolidated into batches to be shipped from the production facility to the warehouse. Using the matrix-analytic methods, explicit solutions are obtained and computational methods are developed for analyzing system performance measures.
Jailhouse Blues? The Adverse Effects of Pretrial Detention for Prison Social Order

Scholarship suggests that individuals’ experiences in pretrial detention are especially straining. Relative to state prisons, local jails have high rates of inmate and officer turnover, more limited resources, and provide fewer services. Pretrial detention also constitutes an individual’s initial period of incarceration, during which social isolation and fear are experienced acutely but with fewer services in jail. This study assesses whether time spent in pretrial detention adversely affects prison social order. Findings suggest that longer terms of pretrial detention in jails are associated with a modest increase in the likelihood of misconduct later on during a stay in prison. Interaction effects indicate that more time spent in jail prior to imprisonment may be harmful for potentially at-risk inmates—specifically, younger inmates, female inmates, and inmates with mental illness. These results have implications for theory and research on prison experiences and social order and for understanding the adverse implications of pretrial detention and strains incurred in jail.
Geometric dualities in 4 d field theories and their 5 d interpretation

We study four-dimensional N = 1 gauge theories arising on D3-branes probing toric singularities. Toric dualities and flows between theories corresponding to different singularities are analyzed by encoding the geometric information into (p, q) webs. A new method for identifying global symmetries of the four-dimensional theories using the brane webs is developed. Five-dimensional theories are associated to the theories on the D3-branes by using (p, q) webs. This leads to a novel interpretation of Seiberg duality, as crossing curves of marginal stability in five dimensions. ∗Research supported in part by the CTP and the LNS of MIT and the U.S. Department of Energy under cooperative agreement #DE-FC02-94ER40818. A. H. is also supported by the Reed Fund Award and a DOE OJI award.
Design Prototypes as Boundary Objects in Innovation Processes

In our paper we focus on how design prototypes can foster communications in organizations that deal with the development of innovations. We distinguish the impact of prototypes between two different organizational levels; we first conduct the impact of prototypes at the level of organizational design teams that develop ideas and concepts for solutions. We then focus on the impact of prototypes on the level of organizational teams and departments that have not been part of the initial design phase but are responsible for further developments in the innovation process, e.g. production, financing, and marketing. Previous research has indicated that prototypes have a significant influence on both organizational levels. Prototypes, in the best cases, can become so-called boundary objects between different domains and stakeholders and may deliver positive effects within the innovation process. However, the successful management of stakeholders in this context remains highly challenging. In this paper we want to address these difficulties as well as the current state of research in this field. We propose that a prototype does not only stand for an important design technique but should moreover be regarded as a management tool that can be integrated into a structured dialogue between stakeholders. We provide first insights on what a structured dialogue, based on prototypes, can mean and what it thereby should imply. We will synthesize prior research findings and begin to develop a concept on how to utilize prototypes as boundary objects from a management perspective.
Características de las páginas web de los hospitales de la Comunidad de Madrid: relación entre la calidad web y la responsabilidad social corporativa

The aim of this research is to analyse the quality of websites of the public and private hospitals of the Community of Madrid; as well as to identify its relationship with the indicators of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This study is in tune with the increasing demand of digital information about health institutions in follow-up of the Law of Transparency, Access to the Public Information and Good Government. The methodology used, supported by previous academic publications, consists on exploring the scores of hospitals by means of questionnaires and accessibility tools able to identify the quality of a web information, and its statistical relation with CSR indicators, especially in the case of public hospitals.
HMM-based smoothing for concatenative speech synthesis

This paper will focus on our recent efforts to further improve the acoustic quality of the Whistler Text-to-Speech engine. We have developed an advanced smoothing system that a small pilot study indicates significantly improves quality. We represent speech as being composed of a number of frames, where each frame can be synthesized from a parameter vector. Each frame is represented by a state in an HMM, where the output distribution of each state is a Gaussian random vector consisting of x and ∆x. The set of vectors that maximizes the HMM probability is the representation of the smoothed speech output. This technique follows our traditional goal of developing methods whose parameters are automatically learned from data with minimal human intervention. The general framework is demonstrated to be robust by maintaining improved quality with a significant reduction in data.
AAV-Mediated Knock-Down of HRC Exacerbates Transverse Aorta Constriction-Induced Heart Failure

Background Histidine-rich calcium binding protein (HRC) is located in the lumen of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) that binds to both triadin (TRN) and SERCA affecting Ca2+ cycling in the SR. Chronic overexpression of HRC that may disrupt intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis is implicated in pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy. Ablation of HRC showed relatively normal phenotypes under basal condition, but exhibited a significantly increased susceptibility to isoproterenol-induced cardiac hypertrophy. In the present study, we characterized the functions of HRC related to Ca2+ cycling and pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy using the in vitro siRNA- and the in vivo adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated HRC knock-down (KD) systems, respectively. Methodology/Principal Findings AAV-mediated HRC-KD system was used with or without C57BL/6 mouse model of transverse aortic constriction-induced failing heart (TAC-FH) to examine whether HRC-KD could enhance cardiac function in failing heart (FH). Initially we expected that HRC-KD could elicit cardiac functional recovery in failing heart (FH), since predesigned siRNA-mediated HRC-KD enhanced Ca2+ cycling and increased activities of RyR2 and SERCA2 without change in SR Ca2+ load in neonatal rat ventricular cells (NRVCs) and HL-1 cells. However, AAV9-mediated HRC-KD in TAC-FH was associated with decreased fractional shortening and increased cardiac fibrosis compared with control. We found that phospho-RyR2, phospho-CaMKII, phospho-p38 MAPK, and phospho-PLB were significantly upregulated by HRC-KD in TAC-FH. A significantly increased level of cleaved caspase-3, a cardiac cell death marker was also found, consistent with the result of TUNEL assay. Conclusions/Significance Increased Ca2+ leak and cytosolic Ca2+ concentration due to a partial KD of HRC could enhance activity of CaMKII and phosphorylation of p38 MAPK, causing the mitochondrial death pathway observed in TAC-FH. Our results present evidence that down-regulation of HRC could deteriorate cardiac function in TAC-FH through perturbed SR-mediated Ca2+ cycling.
Throwing a chair could save officers’ lives during room entries

Law enforcement officers are sometimes required to perform building searches and room entries to search for, or apprehend, suspects. There have been several instances where officers have been shot while performing a room entry. To date, no research has sought to study methods to improve officer safety while performing room entries. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to assess the efficacy of utilizing everyday objects as a distraction device to slow the reaction speed of hostile suspects and give law enforcement officers a time advantage. The research utilizes a 1 × 2 experimental design with random assignment to conditions. A sample size of 113 is utilized to conduct the study. Data are presented using both a Bayesian and Frequentist style of analysis. The research suggests that law enforcement officers can slow suspect reaction times by deploying basic distraction techniques. The process of slowing suspect reaction time may save officer lives by allowing the officer to enter and assess the room while the suspect is distracted. The data utilized in this experiment and analyses can be accessed through email with the corresponding author.
Design of PM-Free AC Machine-Based Actuators for Elevated-Temperature Environments

This paper discusses the design process of permanent-magnet-free ac machine-based actuators working in elevated-temperature environments for high-dynamic applications. Both demands given by the application with respect to maximum volume, torque-over-speed performance, and the thermal limits of the insulation materials, which limit the maximal loss that may occur, have to be considered. Starting from the geometry, semianalytic modeling approaches are used within an optimization algorithm to obtain a machine design suitable for this application.
Seasonality and Dynamic Spatial Contagion of Air Pollution in 42 Chinese Cities

To monitor and improve the urban air quality, the Chinese government has begun to make many efforts, and the interregional cooperation to cut and improve air quality has been required. In this paper, we focus on the seasonality of the first and second moments of the daily air pollution indexes (APIs) of 42 Chinese sample cities over 10 years, from June 5, 2000 to March 4, 2010, and investigate the dynamic correlation of air pollution indexes (APIs) between 42 Chinese cities and their corresponding regional and national levels; comparison with the model without seasonal consideration is made. By adopting a DCC-GARCH model that accounts for the seasonality, we found that (i) the transformed DCC-GARCH model including seasonality dummies improves the estimation result in this study; (ii) the seasonality feature of the second moment follows that of the first moment, with the condition mean and variance of the second and autumn significantly lower than spring, whereas that of winter is higher than spring; (iii) the correlation between local APIs and their corresponding regional and national levels is dynamic; (iv) comparing with the DCC-GARCH model estimation, the transformed model does not change the feature of the dynamic correlations very much.
The Association Between Organizational Cynicism and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Case Study

The continuation of business activities is possible with motivated and dedicated employees. In this sense, the notion that an organization is devoid of honesty and negative feelings regarding an organization are important because they tend to manifest as the display of abuse and criticism in line with such convictions and emotions and determine organizational citizenship behavior. The objective of this study is to determine the association between organizational cynicism attitudes and organizational citizenship behavior manifestations and corrective measures to be taken by administrators aware of the current status in their enterprises. Within this objective and target, a survey was implemented to the employees of a total of 637 five-star tourism enterprises operating in Antalya province and it has been determined that there is a significant difference between the levels of organizational cynicism and organizational citizenship behavior.
Modulation of Immunity and the Inflammatory Response: A New Target for Treating Drug-resistant Epilepsy

Until recently, epilepsy medical therapy is usually limited to anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs). However, approximately 1/3 of epilepsy patients, described as drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) patients, still suffer from continuous frequent seizures despite receiving adequate AEDs treatment of sufficient duration. More recently, with the remarkable progress of immunology, immunity and inflammation are considered to be key elements of the pathobiology of epilepsy. Activation of inflammatory processes in brain tissue has been observed in both experimental seizure animal models and epilepsy patients. Anti-inflammatory and immunotherapies also showed significant anticonvulsant properties both in clinical and in experimental settings. The above emerging evidence indicates that modulation of immunity and inflammatory processes could serve as novel specific targets to achieve potential anticonvulsant effects for the patients with epilepsy, especially DRE. Herein we review the recent evidence supporting the role of inflammation in the development and perpetuation of seizures, and also discuss the recent achievements in modulation of inflammation and immunotherapy applied to the treatment of epilepsy. Apart from medical therapy, we also discuss the influences of surgery, ketogenic diet, and electroconvulsive therapy on immunity and inflammation in DRE patients. Taken together, a promising perspective is suggested for future immunomodulatory therapies in the treatment of patients with DRE.
Population-based methods in the optimization of stand management.

In Finland, the growth and yield models for tree stands are simulation programs that consist of several sub-models. These models are often non-smooth and non-differentiable. Direct search methods such as the Hooke-Jeeves algorithm (HJ) are suitable tools for optimizing stand management with this kind of complicated models. This study tested a new class of direct search methods, namely population-based methods, in the optimization of stand management. The tested methods were differential evolution, particle swarm optimization, evolution strategy, and the Nelder-Mead method. All these methods operate with a population of solution vectors, which are recombined and mutated to obtain new candidate solutions. The management schedule of 719 stands was optimized with all population-based methods and with the HJ method. The population-based methods were competitive with the HJ method, producing 0.57% to 1.74% higher mean objective function values than HJ. On the average, differential evolution was the best method, followed by particle swarm optimization, evolution strategy, and Nelder-Mead method. However, differences between the methods were small, and each method was the best in several stands. HJ was alone the best method in 7% of stands, and a population based method in 3% (Nelder-Mead) to 29% (differential evolution) of stands. All five methods found the same solution in 18% of stands.
Joint self-localization and tracking of generic objects in 3D range data

Both, the estimation of the trajectory of a sensor and the detection and tracking of moving objects are essential tasks for autonomous robots. This work proposes a new algorithm that treats both problems jointly. The sole input is a sequence of dense 3D measurements as returned by multi-layer laser scanners or time-of-flight cameras. A major characteristic of the proposed approach is its applicability to any type of environment since specific object models are not used at any algorithm stage. More specifically, precise localization in non-flat environments is possible as well as the detection and tracking of e.g. trams or recumbent bicycles. Moreover, 3D shape estimation of moving objects is inherent to the proposed method. Thorough evaluation is conducted on a vehicular platform with a mounted Velodyne HDL-64E laser scanner.
Spirulina in Clinical Practice: Evidence-Based Human Applications

Spirulina or Arthrospira is a blue-green alga that became famous after it was successfully used by NASA as a dietary supplement for astronauts on space missions. It has the ability to modulate immune functions and exhibits anti-inflammatory properties by inhibiting the release of histamine by mast cells. Multiple studies investigating the efficacy and the potential clinical applications of Spirulina in treating several diseases have been performed and a few randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews suggest that this alga may improve several symptoms and may even have an anticancer, antiviral and antiallergic effects. Current and potential clinical applications, issues of safety, indications, side-effects and levels of evidence are addressed in this review. Areas of ongoing and future research are also discussed.
CONCEPTIONS OF CREATIVITY MATHEMATICS: THREE CASE STUDIES WITH STUDENTS IN 3RD CYCLE OF BASIC EDUCATION

Mathematics creativity is difficult to define, given the diversity of meanings that appear to today. But it is crucial, whether in society or in mathematics education. Mathematical creativity today is not valued as an integral part of the classroom context and in practices teachers of teaching, possibly due to the constant changes in the Portuguese curricular. In this sense, it is necessary to promote the development of creativity as an integral part of the pedagogical practice of the teacher, and the role is fundamentally to allow students opportunities to be the use of didactic resources, such as the mathematical tasks and using technology. For this purpose, this paper investigates of possible conceptions of students of the 3rd cycle of basic education about the mathematical creativity, an investigation was in 2013/2014 and 2014/2015, with the use three years of distinct (7th, 8th and 9th years) in total of five classroom, from two public schools Portuguese of northern country. In this investigation was used a methodology qualitative and interpretative nature, with the case study design. The data collection instrument was the questionnaire survey, filled by the participants in math class, because the investigator was the teacher of the discipline. The processing of data was based in the contend analysis of written documents relating to responses of the participants and analysis categories formulation. The results achieved indicated, that conceptions of mathematics creativity, for these participants was divergent. In cases I and II, was associated to "Class Environment" and in case study III the mathematical creativity was view an "Innovation".
The Changes in Electrical and Interfacial Properties of Polyimide Exposed to Dielectric Barrier Discharge in SF6 Medium

The formation mechanism of space charges in polyimide (PI) which was exposed to dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in SF6 medium and the effects of the space charges on interfacial and electrical properties of PI were investigated. The variation of normalized surface charge density on PI sample was calculated and illustrated for different DBD exposure times. The surface potential was measured to determine the effect of the space charges on the sample. Then, the contact angle values were measured to obtain the relation between the surface energy and the surface charge density. The expressions for the total charge and the concentration of trapped electrons were derived by using Poisson and continuity equations at stationary state. The space charges were determined experimentally by using thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) method. Also, SEM image and FTIR spectrum of virgin and treated samples were presented to observe the structural variations. It was seen that the approach for the formation mechanism of the space charges agreed with the experimental data. However, it was concluded particularly for the short-time DBD treatments that the space charges accumulated in the sample should be considered besides the effects of surface functionalization in the determination of the surface energy.
Skeleton extraction: Comparison of five methods on the Arabic IFN/ENIT database

Thinning “Skeletonization” is a very crucial stage in the Arabic Character Recognition (ACR) system. It simplifies the text shape and reduces the amount of data that needs to be handled and it is usually used as a pre-processing stage for recognition and storage systems. The skeleton of Arabic text can be used for: baseline detection, character segmentation, and features extraction, and ultimately supporting the classification. In this paper, five of the state of the art thinning algorithms are selected and implemented. The five algorithms are: SPTA, Zhang-Suen parallel thinning algorithm, Huang-Wan-Liu thinning algorithm, thinning and skeletonization based morphological operation algorithms. The five selected algorithms are applied on the IFN/ENIT dataset. The results obtained by the five methods are discussed and analyzed against the IFN/ENIT dataset based on preserving shape and the text connectivity, preventing spurious tails, maintaining one pixel width skeleton and avoiding the necking problem as well as running time efficiently. In addition to that some performance measurement for checking text connectivity, spurious tails and calculating the stroke thickness are proposed and carried out.
Direct Evaluation of IEC 61850-9-2 Process Bus Network Performance

This letter presents a technique to assess the overall network performance of sampled value process buses based on IEC 61850-9-2 using measurements from a single location in the network. The method is based upon the use of Ethernet cards with externally synchronized time stamping, and characteristics of the process bus protocol. The application and utility of the method is demonstrated by measuring latency introduced by Ethernet switches. Network latency can be measured from a single set of captures, rather than comparing source and destination captures. Absolute latency measures will greatly assist the design testing, commissioning and maintenance of these critical data networks.
A comparison of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and Godly Play

Abstract Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and Godly Play are the two best known variants of Montessori style Religious Education programmes. While they have much in common, there are also obvious differences. This article offers a brief outline of the distinctive features of each programme, including some analysis of their effectiveness in terms of contemporary educational research. The article identifies four areas of significant difference, namely, the understanding of the Imago Dei, the stance taken towards sacraments and sacramentality, pedagogy and the conduct of the sessions themselves. The author argues that these differences create a natural constituency for each programme. Godly Play with its heavy emphasis on the Scriptures as ‘story’ and the interpretation of the Imago Dei in terms of a ‘symbolic/language’ mediation of divine reality fits in well with the insights of mainline Protestant and Evangelical Churches. Catechesis of the Good Shepherd interprets the Imago Dei in terms of sacramentality and ontological similarity – grace building on nature through the use of the material/spiritual composition of the human person. This is better suited for use in Catholic, Orthodox and Anglo-Catholic contexts.