Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Kinetic and fluid models for supply chains supporting policy attributes

We consider a supply chain consisting of a sequence of buffer queues and processors with certain throughput times and capacities. In a previous work, we have derived a hyperbolic conservation law for the part density and flux in the supply chain. In the present paper, we introduce internal variables (named attributes: e.g. the time to due-date) and extend the previously defined model into a kinetic-like model for the evolution of the part in the phase-space (degree-of-completion, attribute). We relate this kinetic model to the hyperbolic one through the moment method and a ’monokinetic’ (or single-phase) closure assumption. If instead multi-phase closure assumptions are retained, richer dynamics can take place. In a numerical section, we compare the kinetic model (solved by a particle method) and its two-phase approximation and demonstrate that both behave as expected.
High efficiency gene transfer is an efficient way of defining therapeutic targets: a functional genomics approach

BACKGROUND Dendritic cells are the most potent antigen presenting cells and key to many aspects of the immune function. Studying the intracellular signalling mechanism used by dendritic cells would provide an insight into the functioning of these cells and give clues to strategies for immunomodulation. METHOD Highly efficient adenoviral infection of dendritic cells for the delivery of transgenes was obtained. These viral vectors were used to introduce IκBα into dendritic cells for the inhibition of NF-κB. This was used to investigate the role of NF-κB in dendritic cell function. RESULTS By blocking the NF-κB function a potent inhibition of the expression of costimulating molecules by dendritic cells with the concomitant loss of T cell stimulating function was demonstrated. CONCLUSION The use of adenoviral vectors may be a useful way of studying the role of genes in dendritic cell function.
Generalized product accumulate codes: analysis and performance

Product accumulate (PA) codes were proposed and shown by Li, Narayanan and Georghiades (see Proc. Intl. Symp. Inform. Theory, Washington DC, p.122-22, June 2001, and IEEE Tran. Info. Theory) to be a class of simple and provably good codes for rate R/spl ges/1/2. This work investigates the generalized product accumulate (GPA) codes which have rates over the entire range and which are also "good" both in the maximum likelihood (ML) sense and under the iterative approach. Analysis concentrates on the weight distribution over the code ensemble, the ML bounds, and the existence and computation of threshold phenomenon in the iterative decoding. A tight upper bound due to Divsalar (see Proc. 1998 Allerton Conf. Commun. and Control, Sept. 1998, p.201-10) and the thresholds computed using density evolution are examined. Simulations are presented and evaluated, especially for rate R/spl les/1/2.
Multi-class action recognition based on inverted index of action states

A fast inverted index based algorithm is introduced for multi-class action recognition. At first, we compute the shape-motion features of the automatically localized actor. Secondly, a binary state tree is built by hierarchically clustering of the extracted features, and the action states are the cluster centers. Then videos are represented as sequences of states by searching the state binary tree. With the labeled state sequences, we create the inverted index tables. During testing, the state and the state transition scores are computed by querying the inverted index tables. With the learned weight, we compute an action recognition score vector. The recognized action class is the index of the maximum score element. Our key contribution is that we propose a fast inverted index based multi-class action recognition approach. Experiments on several challenging data sets confirm the performance of this approach.
Cryptosporidiosis reservoir in wild brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) in the UK

Summary Rats (n = 73) were trapped from nine rural farms around Oxfordshire and faeces were examined using the auramine-phenol and the Modified Ziehl-Neelsen techniques. Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts were detected in the faeces from 46 (63%) rats. This suggests that wild rats represent a risk to human and livestock health through the carriage and transmission of this zoonotic protozoan.
Analysis of range images used in 3D facial expression recognition

Researches on 3D facial expression recognition (3D FER) have been greatly fostered by the creation of BU-3DFE (Binghamton University 3D Facial Expression) database, but given limited 3D methods, they encounter some bottlenecks now. A new approach to solve this problem is to transform facial expression from 3D models into 2D data, thus range image emerges, playing an intermediary role in current researches. There are various range images up to date, but it's relatively tough to identify which one is optimal for 3D FER. This paper aims to analyse the performances of different range images which are generated for 3D FER. Therefore, different features and classifiers are investigated in expression recognition framework. The recognition ratios of proposed experiments are higher than 88%, almost falling within the same scope. It reveals that range images still retain main discriminative information, which is significant for 3D FER. Also, there are a few differences among various range images' performances. More importantly, the range images can make 3D FER implement automatically. The findings above are so remarkable that they would benefit the future research of 3D facial expression recognition.
Multimodal biometric recognition for toddlers and pre-school children

In many applications such as law enforcement, attendance systems, and medical services, biometrics is utilized for identifying individuals. However, current systems, in general, do not enroll all possible age groups, particularly, toddlers and pre-school children. This research is the first of its kind attempt to prepare a multimodal biometric database for such potential users of biometric systems. In the proposed database, face, fingerprint, and iris modalities of over 100 children (age range of 18 months to 4 years) are captured in two different sessions, months apart. We also perform benchmarking evaluation of existing tools and algorithms to establish the baseline results for different unimodal and multimodal scenarios. Our experience and results suggest that while iris is highly accurate, it requires constant adult supervision to attain cooperation from children. On the other hand, face is the most easy-to-capture modality but yields very low verification performance. We assert that the availability of this database can instigate research in this important research problem.
Gender Differences in the Probability of Post-Divorce Rematching and the Quality of the New Match

Using data from a longitudinal post-divorce survey in Belgium we observe the probabilities of post-divorce repartnering and of post-divorce cohabiting with a new partner. We analyse the drivers of these rematching probabilities and find substantial differences between the sexes. We also analyse how the new match differs from the preceding marriage in terms of marital homogamy and the quality of the match. Marital homogamy in terms of earnings is higher in the post-divorce match for both men and women. Age homogamy on the other hand increases for women but decreases substantially for men. Men are specifically likely to repartner with younger women, while women are not likely to repartner with younger men. We proceed by proposing a simple index of the quality of a match and find that men on average repartner with a woman of higher quality, whereas the opposite holds for women.
Health and Environment Information Systems for Exposure and Disease Mapping, and Risk Assessment

A large number of chemicals are used on a regular basis in modern society. Thousands of new chemicals are added each year, many of which may have toxic properties constituting potential health hazards. Rapid assessment of the risk associated with the use of these chemicals is therefore essential to protect people from exposure to potentially harmful substances. Exposures to chemicals (and physical agents) are typically unevenly distributed geographically as well as temporally. Disease occurrence also shows geographically varying patterns. Geographic information systems (GIS) may be used to produce maps of exposure and/or disease to reveal spatial patterns. Exposure mapping using advanced GIS modeling may enhance exposure assessment in environmental epidemiology studies. Disease maps can be valuable tools in risk assessment to explore changes in disease patterns potentially associated with changes in environmental exposures. Spatial variations in risk and trends related to distance from pollution sources may be studied using software tools such as the Rapid Inquiry Facility, developed by the U.K. Small Area Health Statistics Unit and enhanced in the European Health and Environment Information System project, for an initial quick evaluation of any potential health hazards associated with an environmental pollutant.
When Understanding Your Feelings Hurts Performance: Emotional Intelligence in Negotiating Groups

This study examines how emotional intelligence impacts process and outcome in negotiating groups. We measured the negotiators emotional intelligence before they participated in a negotiation simulation. Results indicated that emotional intelligence was negatively related to group performance. Interestingly, the group members self emotional appraisal was the emotional intelligence dimension that was most negatively associated with performance. Group performance was significantly affected by the level and type of interpersonal conflict in the group, but these process measures did not mediate the effect of emotional intelligence
Pharmacological and psychological effects of caffeine ingestion in 40-km cycling performance.

UNLABELLED The ergogenic effects of caffeine are well documented. Research has yet to examine any psychological contribution to this effect. AIM To explore the psychological and pharmacological effects of caffeine in laboratory cycling performance. METHOD Fourteen male competitive cyclists performed 14 40-km time trials (eight experimental interspersed with six baseline). The experimental phase consisted of two trials for each of four experimental conditions: informed caffeine/received caffeine, informed no treatment/received caffeine, informed caffeine/received placebo, and informed no treatment/received no treatment. Conditions were nonrandomized. ANOVA was used to estimate main effects and interactions for mean values of power, heart rate, blood lactate, and maximal oxygen uptake. Probabilistic inferences for mean power were based on a smallest worthwhile change of 1.5%. RESULTS Relative to baseline, a very likely beneficial main effect of receiving caffeine (3.5%; 95% confidence interval 1.5 to 5.5%), and a possibly beneficial main effect of being informed of caffeine (0.7%; -0.7 to 2.1%) were observed. A substantial interaction between belief and pharmacology indicated that caffeine exerted a greater effect on performance in conditions when subjects were informed that they had not ingested it, whereas belief exerted a greater influence on performance in the absence of caffeine (2.6%; -0.7 to 5.9%). A possibly harmful negative placebo (nocebo) effect was observed when subjects were correctly informed that they had ingested no caffeine (-1.9%; -4.1 to 0.3%). No clinically significant changes relative to baseline were observed in mean heart rate. Clear and substantial increases in blood lactate were evident after receipt of caffeine. Data for mean oxygen uptake were unclear. CONCLUSION Our data support the ergogenic efficacy of caffeine but suggest that both positive and negative expectations impact performance.
The Fringe Effect

Numerous studies indicate that civil society organizations create cultural change by deploying mainstream messages that resonate with prevailing discursive themes. Yet these case studies of highly influential organizations obscure the much larger population that have little or no impact. It is therefore unclear whether civil society organizations create cultural change by deploying mainstream discourses or if they become part of the mainstream because of their success. I present an evolutionary theory of how discursive fields settle after major historical ruptures that highlights framing, social networks, and emotional energy. To illustrate this theory, I use plagiarism detection software to compare 1,084 press releases about Muslims produced by 120 civil society organizations to 50,407 newspaper articles and television transcripts produced between 2001 and 2008. Although most organizations deployed pro-Muslim discourses after the September 11th attacks, I show that anti-Muslim fringe organizations dominated the mass media via displays of fear and anger. Institutional amplification of this emotional energy, I argue, created a gravitational pull or “fringe effect” that realigned inter-organizational networks and altered the contours of mainstream discourse itself.
An order n dynamic simulator for a humanoid robot with a virtual spring-damper contact model

This paper describes an efficient dynamic simulation of a humanoid robot. In the simulation, an order n formulation is used to solve the inverse dynamics and forward dynamics of a multi-body system. The formulation can deal with a tree structure and multiple contacts with the environment. In order to simulate a collision with friction between the foot and a floor, a virtual spring-damper contact model is proposed. By introducing this model, computation of contact becomes easier and faster compared with other method such as plastic contact. A simulation of ascending steep stairs is carried out in order to demonstrate the validity of the simulation. The results of the simulation are presented and discussed.
On distributed antenna systems with limited feedback precoding: Opportunities and challenges

The distributed antenna system is a promising technique to enhance system performance in next-generation broadband wireless mobile communications. The application of linear precoding with space time codeword based on channel state information can further enhance the link quality and reduce the receiver complexity in DASs. However, designing the optimal codebook for DAS to convey the precoding information remains an open issue. This article provides a tutorial addressing various issues of DASs with limited feedback, focusing on the challenges in its codebook design. A suboptimal codebook design is then proposed, suitable for DAS. Furthermore, an effective feedback reduction strategy without performance loss is presented by exploiting the channel correlation property. Numerical results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Approximation and moduli of fractional order in Smirnov-Orlicz classes

In this work we investigate the approximation problems in the Smirnov-Orlicz spaces in terms of the fractional modulus of smoothness. We prove the direct and inverse theorems in these spaces and obtain a constructive descriptions of the Lipschitz classes of functions defined by the fractional order modulus of smoothness, in particular. 1. Preliminaries and introduction A function M (u) : R → R is called an N -function if it admits of the representation
NCDREC: A Decomposability Inspired Framework for Top-N Recommendation

Building on the intuition behind Nearly Decomposable systems, we propose NCDREC, a top-N recommendation framework designed to exploit the innately hierarchical structure of the item space to alleviate Sparsity, and the limitations it imposes to the quality of recommendations. We decompose the item space to define blocks of closely related elements and we introduce corresponding indirect proximity components that try to fill in the gap left by the inherent sparsity of the data. We study the theoretical properties of the decomposition and we derive sufficient conditions that guarantee full item space coverage even in cold-start recommendation scenarios. A comprehensive set of experiments on the Movie Lens and the Yahoo! R2Music datasets, using several widely applied performance metrics, support our model's theoretically predicted properties and verify that NCDREC outperforms several state-of-the-art algorithms, in terms of recommendation accuracy, diversity and sparseness insensitivity.
Influences of filler geometry and content on effective thermal conductivity of thermal conductive adhesive

Thermal interface materials (TIMs), including thermal conductive adhesives (TCAs), grease, phase change materials (PCMs) and thermal pads, are widely used in thermal management for electronics system. In this work, a bimodal thermal conductive adhesive (b-TCA) composed of epoxy matrix and silver fillers were developed. The silver fillers consist of silver flakes and silver particles. The specimens have been made with the same filler loading fraction, possessing different ratios of silver flake portion to silver particle one to study the filler geometry effects. The thermal conductivity in vertical and in-plane direction were tested, also the electrical resistance in in-plane direction has been measured. Meanwhile, the numerical simulation was carried out in addition to the experiment. An improved cubic cell model (CCM) was developed to calculate the effective thermal conductivity of the considered b-TCA. Both the experiment and the simulation show the anisotropic thermal conductive property in the b-TCA, but this anisotropy decreased with the increase of silver particle portion in the total filler. And the electrical conductivity also decreased with the increase of silver particles.
Utility and Efficacy of a Smartphone Application to Enhance the Learning and Behavior Goals of Traditional Cardiac Rehabilitation: A FEASIBILITY STUDY

PURPOSE:Most eligible patients do not participate in traditional clinic-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) despite well-established benefits. Novel approaches to overcome logistic obstacles and increase efficiencies of learning, behavior modification, and exercise surveillance may increase CR participation. In an observational study, the feasibility and utility of a mobile smartphone application for CR, Heart Coach (HC), were assessed as part of standard care. Ultimately, innovative CR models incorporating HC may facilitate better CR usage and value. METHODS:Twenty-six patients enrolled in CR installed HC. Over the next 30 days, they were prompted by HC to complete a daily “task list” that included medications, walking, education (text and videos), and surveys. Cardiac rehabilitation providers monitored each patient's progress through a HC-based Web dashboard and also sent them personalized feedback and support. Completion of the tasks and feedback (qualitative and quantitative) from patients and clinicians were tracked. RESULTS:Patients engaged with HC 90% of days during the study period, with uniformly favorable impact on compliance and adherence. Eighty-three percent of patients reported a positive/very positive HC experience. Providers reported that HC enhanced their provision of therapy by improving communication, clinical insight, patient participation, and program efficiency. CONCLUSIONS:Integrating a mobile care delivery platform into CR was feasible, safe, and agreeable to patients and clinicians. It enhanced patient perceptions of CR care and physician perceptions of the CR caregiving process. Mobile-enabled technologies hold promise to extend the quality and reach of CR, and to better achieve contemporary accountable care goals.
Design of Personal Job Recommendation Framework on Smartphone Platform

— Recently, Job Recommender Systems have gained much attention in industries since they solve the problem of information overload on the recruiting website. Therefore, we proposed Extended Personalized Job System that has the capability of providing the appropriate jobs for job seeker and recommending some suitable information for them using Data Mining Techniques and Dynamic User Profile. On the other hands, company can also interact to the system for publishing and updating job information. This system have emerged and supported various platforms such as web application and android mobile application. In this paper, User profiles, Implicit User Action, User Feedback, and Clustering Techniques in WEKA libraries were applied and implemented. In additions, open source tools like Yii Web Application Framework, Bootstrap Front End Framework and Android Mobile Technology were also applied.
Preparation and characterization of polylactide/poly(ε-caprolactone)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ε-caprolactone) hybrid fibers for potential application in bone tissue engineering

The aim of this study was to develop a kind of osteogenic biodegradable composite graft consisting of human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cell (hPMSC) material for site-specific repair of bone defects and attenuation of clinical symptoms. The novel nano- to micro-structured biodegradable hybrid fibers were prepared by electrospinning. The characteristics of the hybrid membranes were investigated by a range of methods, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry. Morphological study with scanning electron microscopy showed that the average fiber diameter and the number of nanoscale pores on each individual fiber surface decreased with increasing concentration of poly(ε-caprolactone)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCEC). The prepared polylactide (PLA)/PCEC fibrous membranes favored hPMSC attachment and proliferation by providing an interconnected, porous, three-dimensional mimicked extracellular environment. What is more, hPMSCs cultured on the electrospun hybrid PLA/PCEC fibrous scaffolds could be effectively differentiated into bone-associated cells by positive alizarin red staining. Given the good cellular response and excellent osteogenic potential in vitro, the electrospun PLA/PCEC fibrous scaffolds could be one of the most promising candidates for bone tissue engineering.
Expression of the Neurotrophin Receptor p75NTR in Medulloblastomas Is Correlated with Distinct Histological and Clinical Features: Evidence for a Medulloblastoma Subtype Derived from the External Granule Cell Layer

Medulloblastomas (MBs) are primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET) of the cerebellum. They represent the most frequent malignant pediatric brain tumors, but their origin still remains unresolved and controversial. MB cells correspond to different stages of neural development and differentiation as illustrated by their expression of neuronal and glial markers. In the present study, we examined the expression pattern of the common low-affinity neurotrophin receptor p75NTR in a series of 167 MBs by immunohistochemistry. While p75NTR was present in only 17% of classic MBs (CMB), we found expression of p75NTR in all desmoplastic (nodular) MBs (DMB) examined, and in 71% of those MBs with a significant desmoplastic component. Furthermore, both desmoplastic histology and p75NTR expression were present preferentially in those tumors of adolescents and adults that are frequently located laterally in the cerebellar hemispheres. In DMBs, p75NTR was expressed predominantly in the proliferative, reticulin-rich areas, which may show coexpression of GFAP. In the pale islands of DMB, p75NTR was expressed only weakly or was absent. The expression pattern showed an inverse relation to that of the synaptic vesicle protein synaptophysin that was predominant in p75NTR negative classic MBs. Since the neurotrophin receptor p75NTR is expressed in cells of the external granule cell layer (EGL) of the fetal cerebellum, our findings suggest that progenitor cells of the EGL are the cellular origin of a distinct subset of MB, namely the desmoplastic variant and MBs with a significant desmoplastic component.