Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tensions in local government employment relationships

Abstract A wide variety of initiatives characterized under the umbrella term of new public management have been introduced over the past two decades to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the public sector. The implications of these initiatives for public sector employment relationships have been the subject of on-going debate. This article contributes to this debate through examining how employees within local authorities are managed in a time of personal crisis with a particular focus on long-term sickness absence in the context of increased management drives for efficiency under the NPM agenda. The findings reveal that for managers in two local authorities that form the focus of this study there is a tension in struggling to achieve a workable balance between the needs of employees and wider operational requirements, resulting in role ambiguity for line managers and detrimental effects for vulnerable public service workers.
- based Parser for Analysing Ill-formed Inputs

When a natural language processing system encounters unparsable inputs, it should not reject the analysis but should attempt to detect the cause of ill-formedness and generate a set of possible interpretations. However, parsing ill-formed inputs suer from large computation time due to extra mechanisms for detecting the existing ill-formedness. This indicates the importance of developing a parallel robust parsing algorithm. The goal of this research is to develop an eective parallel algorithm for parsing ill-formed inputs under the loosely-coupled hardware environment. The parallel parser is implemented on PIM/m with 256 processors. Through the experiments, we show that parsing ill-formed inputs with the proposed parser can acquire a satisfactory result in its performance. 1 Introduction When people use language spontaneously, they do not always put importance in their grammar structure. According to the extensive study done by Thompson[12], 33% of inputs in his query system, was unparsable due to vocabulary problem, punctuation errors, ungrammaticality and spelling errors. A proper system should not reject the analysis of the input but it should try to nd and x the ill-formedness. Coping with such ill-formedness is a challenging problem in natural language parsing. In the past decades, there have been many attempts to modify existing parsing algorithms to handle ill-formed input sentences based on ATN [3][17], Chart parsing [2][6] and GLR[8]. However, as Mellish pointed out[6], handling such ill-formed input sentences takes tremendous amount of time. According to our preliminary experiments, parsing an ill-formed input including more than two errors may be 10,000 times slower than parsing a grammatical input with the same length. Such slowness causes a lot of problems when developing a practical query system that needs realtime responses to realize smooth human machine communications. Thus, it is an urgent theme to develop a natural language processing system that can not only handle ill-formed input sentences but also parse them with reasonable speed. The latter indicates the importance of parallel parsing algorithm for ill-formed input sentences. In general, there is no universal parallel algorithm that is applicable to every kind of problems and the eectiveness of parallel algorithms varies problem by problem. Considering the specic characteristic of each problem, careful tuning of the parallel algorithm is needed[7]. However, for certain problems it is not the case that we can get full gain even after carefully tuning the parallel algorithm. In the area of natural language processing, parallel parsing algorithm[1][4][13] for context-free grammar(cfg) …
Binding Site Flexibility: Molecular Simulation of Partial and Full Agonists within a Glutamate Receptor

Ionotropic glutamate receptors mediate fast synaptic transmission in the mammalian central nervous system and play an important role in many different functions, including memory and learning. They have also been implicated in a variety of neuropathologies and as such have generated widespread interest in their structure and function. Molecular Dynamics simulations (5 × 20 ns) of the ligand-binding core of the GluR2 glutamate receptor were performed. Through simulations of both wild type and the L650T mutant, we show that the degree of protein flexibility can be correlated with the extent to which the binding cleft is open. In agreement with recent experiments, the simulations of kainate with the wild-type construct show a slight increase in β-sheet content that we are able to localize to two specific regions. During one simulation, the protein made a transition from an open-cleft conformation to a closed-cleft conformation. This closed cleft conformation closely resembles the closed-cleft crystal structure, thus indicating a potential pathway for conformational change associated with receptor activation. Analysis of the binding pocket suggests that partial agonists possess a greater degree of flexibility within the pocket that may help to explain why they are less efficient at opening the channel than full agonists. Examination of water molecules surrounding the ligands reveals that mobility in distinct subsites can be a discriminator between full and partial agonism and will be an important consideration in the design of drugs against these receptors.
Closed-form inverse kinematic solution for fluoroscopic C-arms

This paper presents a closed-form solution to the inverse kinematic problem for general fluoroscopic C-arms. The resulting algorithm determines the necessary joint parameters for imaging a given point of interest p→ from a given direction z→. The existence and uniqueness of the solution is proven for all p→ and z→. The inverse kinematics lays the basis for a completely robotized C-arm. The paper describes some applications for such an automatized device and presents the first results.
A Proactive Inferencing Agent for Desk Support

We describe an approach towards integrating the semantics of semi-structured documents with tasksupport for (weakly-structured) business processes and proactive inferencing capabilities of a desk support agent. The proactive assistance of the intelligent agent is motivated by the requirements posed in (weakly-structured) business processes performed by a typical knowledge worker. First, we introduce a reactive agent that provides knowledge out of an organizational memory for the business task at hand. The building of the reactive agent requires rather rigid query structures that do not fit nicely with varying precision of knowledge found in the organizational memory. Thus, we propose an enhanced agent that reasons proactively about what might be interesting to you and what might be due in your next step.
Shape-dependent gloss correction

Visual observation is one of the primary means to interact with the world around us. However, the interplay of geometry, material, and illumination in the perception of objects is still not entirely understood. It is generally accepted that the shape of objects influences the perception of their material appearance. In this paper we investigate and quantify the influence of shape on gloss perception in a realistic setting, using a general cue combination framework and likelihood analysis. Our results show that this influence can be quantified, and that a simple additive model between the shape cue and the actual gloss cue adequately describes this influence. This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the perception of objects, and also enables new applications such as a material selection tool that corrects for the influence of gloss when switching between shapes. This improves the intuitiveness of material selection tools for novices as well as professional artists.
Contemporary British Drama

Introduction Chapter 1: In-Yer-Face Theatre and Legacies of the New Writing Boom Chapter 2: Verbatim Theatre - The Rise of a Political Voice Chapter 3: Writing and Devising - The Call for Collaboration Chapter 4: Black and Asian Writers - A Question of Representation Chapter 5: Theatre for Young People - Audiences of Today Chapter 6: Adaptation and Transposition - Reinterpreting the Past Conclusion Student Resources Index.
Associations between NBS1 Polymorphisms and Colorectal Cancer in Chinese Population

As the central protein of the double strand breaks (DSB)-induced DNA repair pathway, NBS1 participates in detecting the DSBs and plays an essential role in maintaining genomic stability. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in NBS1 gene were commonly tested that associated with the susceptibility to multiple cancers, but the results remained controversial. Thus, we conducted two independent hospital-based case–control studies comprising 1,072 colorectal cancer patients and 1,263 controls to evaluate the association between four NBS1 SNPs and colorectal cancer risk. The result showed that rs2735383C/G polymorphism in the 3’-untranslated region (UTR) of NBS1 was significantly associated with risk of colorectal cancer using logistic regression (P<10-4). Furthermore, we observed that rs2735383CC genotype was associated with substantially increased risk of colorectal cancer (odds ratio=1.55, 95% confidence interval=1.27–1.94), compared with the rs2735383GC+GG genotypes. Further functional experiments demonstrated that the rs2735383C allele in the NBS1 disrupted the binding affinity of has-miR-509-5p to the NBS1 3’-UTR in colorectal cancer cells, affecting the NBS1 transcriptional activity and expression level. In conclusion, current evidence suggests that the rs2735383C/G polymorphism might contribute to the risk for colorectal cancer.
Granting assistance: an analysis of the Child Support Grant and its extension to seven- and eight-year-olds

This paper focuses on the Child Support Grant (CSG), the biggest poverty alleviation mechanism targeting children. The extent of poverty and increased social security provision in South Africa are examined to contextualise the CSG. Since its inception in 1998, this grant has been available to poor children from birth to six years of age. At the beginning of April 2003, eligibility was extended to children under the age of nine as a first step in extending the grant to all poor children up to the age of fourteen. This paper considers the first year of this extension. Using administrative data from the Department of Social Development and relevant development literature, the paper assesses the reach of the CSG and its extension relative to the departments own targets, and absolute poverty lines. Provincial uptake rates are calculated with a view to identifying provinces where additional support is needed to increase uptake of the CSG. The remainder of the paper identifies administrative issues in the roll-out of the grant, highlighting the cases of children whose grants have lapsed due to the age limit, only to re-register a few months later, and concerns about the very low levels of the means test thresholds. The paper then looks at the demographics of beneficiaries of the CSG, including the gender, marital status, rural or urban location and relationship of caregiver to child. The author concludes that the department came close to reaching its own targets, and was successful in reaching very large numbers of children aged seven and eight in this first year of the extension. However, low uptake rates in the Eastern Cape Province in particular are highlighted, while problems in the administrative system are pointed out, as grants lapse because of the death of a caregiver or because of shifting age eligibility. A Children’s Institute Working Paper, Number 2 University of Cape Town, May 2004
Why does the intermediate polar V405 Aurigae show a double-peaked spin pulse?

V405 Aurigae is an intermediate polar showing a double-peaked pulsation in soft X-rays and a single-peaked pulsation in harder X-rays. From XMM–Newton observations, we find that the soft band is dominated by blackbody emission from the heated white dwarf surface. Such emission is at a maximum when either magnetic pole points towards us, explaining the double-peaked pulsation. The symmetry of the pulses requires that the angle between the magnetic and spin axes be high. The single-peaked pulsation in harder X-rays is explained in the usual way, as a result of opacity in the accretion curtains. However, the high dipole inclination means that the accretion curtains are nearly in the plane. Thus the outer regions of the curtains do not cross the line of sight to the accretion footprints, explaining the absence of the deep absorption dip characteristic of many intermediate polars. The sawtooth profile of this pulsation requires that the magnetic axis be offset from the white dwarf centre. We remark also on the double-peaked optical emission in this star. We suggest that the difference between the spin pulse of V405 Aur and those of other intermediate polars is the result of its high dipole inclination.
HDE 245059: A WEAK-LINED T TAURI BINARY REVEALED BY CHANDRA AND KECK

We present the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer and Keck observations of HDE 245059, a young weak-lined T Tauri star (WTTS), member of the pre-main-sequence group in the λ Orionis Cluster. Our high spatial resolution, near-infrared observations with Keck reveal that HDE 245059 is in fact a binary separated by 0. ″87, probably composed of two WTTS based on their color indices. Based on this new information we have obtained an estimate of the masses of the binary components; ≈3 M☉ and ≈2.5 M☉ for the north and south components, respectively. We have also estimated the age of the system to be ≈2–3 Myr. We detect both components of the binary in the zeroth-order Chandra image and in the grating spectra. The light curves show X-ray variability of both sources and in particular a flaring event in the weaker southern component. The spectra of both stars show similar features: a combination of cool and hot plasma as demonstrated by several iron lines from Fe xvii to Fe xxv and a strong bremsstrahlung continuum at short wavelengths. We have fitted the combined grating and zeroth-order spectrum (considering the contribution of both stars) in XSPEC. The coronal abundances and emission measure distribution for the binary have been obtained using different methods, including a continuous emission measure distribution and a multi-temperature approximation. In all cases we have found that the emission is dominated by plasma between ∼8 and ∼15 MK a soft component at ∼4 MK and a hard component at ∼50 MK are also detected. The value of the hydrogen column density was low, NH ∼ 8 × 1019 cm−2, likely due to the clearing of the inner region of the λ Orionis cloud, where HDE 245059 is located. The abundance pattern shows an inverse first ionization potential effect for all elements from O to Fe, the only exception being Ca. To obtain the properties of the binary components, a 3-T model was fitted to the individual zeroth-order spectra using the abundances derived for the binary. We have also obtained several line fluxes from the grating spectra. The fits to the triplets show no evidence of high densities. In conclusion, the X-ray properties of the weak-lined T Tau binary HDE 245059 are similar to those generally observed in other weak-lined T Tau stars. Although its accretion history may have been affected by the clearing of the interstellar material around λ Ori, its coronal properties appear to not have been strongly modified.
Evolution of robot-to-robot nurturing and nurturability

Nurturing is the contribution of resources by one individual to the development of another individual with which it has an ongoing relationship. Nurturing behaviors comprise a fundamental class of actions that can occur between individuals. They are vital components of the behavioral repertoires of numerous biological organisms and are objects of study in numerous disciplines. Here we explore the evolution of nurturing between robots. Using variations of the light-switching experiment, we show that nurturing and nurturability can be evolved in a simple neural controller, that nurturing is more likely to evolve if a parent has greater capabilities than its offspring, and that nurturing is more likely to evolve between parents and offspring than between unrelated individuals.
Phonetic Distance between Dutch Dialects

Traditional dialectology relies on identifying language features which are common to one dialect area while distinguishing it from others. It has difficulty in dealing with partial matches of features and with nonoverlapping language patterns. This paper applies Levenshtein distance—a measure of string distance—to pronunciations to overcome both of these difficulties. Partial matches may be quantified, and nonoverlapping patterns may be included in weighted averages of phonetic distance. The result accords with traditonal dialectology to a satisfying degree.
Filling In The Gaps : Efficient Techniques for Real Time Verification

Real time systems are a class of systems in whose evolution time plays an essential role. Examples of real time systems include controllers in various embedded systems, timed protocols. Standard timed model checking tools like UPPAAL and KRONOS are based either on the region graph construction or on the clock zone concept. Both these approaches treat clock variables differently from other state variables. An alternate approach is to discretize the continuous clock variables and thus treat them as any other state variable. We propose a new discretization method that provides a canonical representation for the discrete clock values. This results in significantly smaller state spaces compared to other discretization methods. Our discretization, which preserves continuous time semantics, also leads to a natural class of abstractions for real time systems. The abstract systems thus obtained simulate the discretized concrete systems and their state spaces are much smaller than the concrete systems. To mitigate the effect of large time constants, a known source of trouble for discretization based methods, we propose a technique called jumps that allows clock variables to advance in large increments. We include the results of our experiments on two previously studied real time examples to demonstrate the efficacy of our methods.
Neural Circuits Mediate Electrosensory Behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans deliberately crawls toward the negative pole in an electric field. By quantifying the movements of individual worms navigating electric fields, we show that C. elegans prefers to crawl at specific angles to the direction of the electric field in persistent periods of forward movement and that the preferred angle is proportional to field strength. C. elegans reorients itself in response to time-varying electric fields by using sudden turns and reversals, standard reorientation maneuvers that C. elegans uses during other modes of motile behavior. Mutation or laser ablation that disrupts the structure and function of amphid sensory neurons also disrupts electrosensory behavior. By imaging intracellular calcium dynamics among the amphid sensory neurons of immobilized worms, we show that specific amphid sensory neurons are sensitive to the direction and strength of electric fields. We extend our analysis to the motor level by showing that specific interneurons affect the utilization of sudden turns and reversals during electrosensory steering. Thus, electrosensory behavior may be used as a model system for understanding how sensory inputs are transformed into motor outputs by the C. elegans nervous system.
Analysis of 3-Dimensional Turbo Codes

Our paper presents a detailed study of the 3-dime nsional turbo code (3D TC). This code which combines both parallel and serial concatenati on is derived from the classical TC by concatenating a rate-1 post-encoder at its output. The 3D TC provides very low error rates for a wide range of block lengths and coding rates, at th e expense of an increase in complexity and a loss in convergence. This paper deals with the performan ce improvement of the 3D TC. First, we optimize the distance spectrum of the 3D TC by mean s of the adoption of a non regular postencoding pattern. This allows us to increase the Mi n mum Hamming Distance (MHD) and thereby to improve the performance at very low error rates. Then, we propose a time varying (TV) construction of the post-encoded parity in order to reduce the observable loss of convergence at high error rates. Performance comparisons are made betwe en the 3GPP2 standardized TC and the corresponding 3D code. The different improvement st ages are illustrated with simulation results, asymptotical bounds and EXIT charts. Keywords— turbo code; iterative decoding; 3-dimensional turbo code; 3GPP2 code; convergence threshold; time varying trellis.
How to achieve evidence-based behavioural change

Practitioners are increasingly aware of the fact that providing for example drinking water disinfection technologies, improved toilets or handwashing facilities will fail to lead to the desired health effects if used inadequately or not at all. Evidence-based behavioural change must therefore be a major component of any mitigation effort. Hans-Joachim Mosler1, Alexandra Huber1, Jennifer Inauen1, Robert Tobias1 Strategic Environmental Sanitation Planning
A Segmentation Method for Shared Protection in WDM Mesh Networks

Shared link and shared path protections have been recognized as preferred schemes to protect traffic flows against network failures. In recent years, another method referred to as shared segment protection has been studied as an alternative solution for protection. This method is more flexible and efficient in terms of capacity utilization and restoration time. However, to our best knowledge, this method has mostly been studied in dynamic provisioning scenarios in which searching for restoration paths is dynamically performed after a failure has occurred. In this paper, based on the path segmentation idea, we propose a method to generate good candidate routes for traffic demands in static provisioning. These candidates are used as input parameters of an integer linear programming (ILP) model for shared backup protection. Numerical results show that the capacity efficiency resulting from these candidates is much better than the best known shared backup path protection (SBPP) schemes. In addition, although the restoration time of our scheme is a little bit longer than those implementing link protection, it is still faster than path protection schemes
Xenon Blocks the Induction of Synaptic Long-Term Potentiation in Pain Pathways in the Rat Spinal Cord In Vivo

BACKGROUND:Xenon’s (Xe) mechanisms for producing anesthesia and analgesia are not fully understood. We tested the effect of Xe equilibrated in a lipid formulation or normal saline on spinal C-fiber-evoked potentials and on the induction of synaptic long-term potentiation (LTP). METHODS:C-fiber-evoked field potentials were recorded in the superficial lumbar spinal cord in response to supramaximal electrical stimulation of the sciatic nerve. Anesthesia was maintained with isoflurane in one-third O2 and two-thirds N2O. Xe equilibrated at a concentration of 600 &mgr;L/mL of Lipofundin MCT® 20%, (n = 5) or solvent alone (n = 3), and Xe equilibrated at a concentration of 100 &mgr;L/mL of normal saline (n = 7) or saline alone (n = 7) was given IV under apnea. High-frequency stimulation of the sciatic nerve was applied 60 min after the injection of Xe-containing formulations or solvents [to induce LTP]. RESULTS:High-frequency stimulation potentiated C-fiber-evoked potentials to 156% ± 14% (mean ± sem) of control. Low-dose Xe in saline 0.9% blocked the induction of LTP. High-dose Xe equilibrated in MC® 20% showed no additional effect when compared with the solvent, which blocked the induction of LTP. CONCLUSION:Low-dose Xe in saline 0.9% revealed no antinociceptive, but preventive, action in spinal pain pathways.