Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Innovation in Natural Resource-based Industrial Clusters: A Study of the Brazilian Oil and Gas Sector

Brazil has emerged within the last 30 years as a centre of excellence for deep and ultradeep water oil & gas exploration and production. This paper analyzes the results of an empirical research involving 10 firms located in the Campos Basin oil & gas province, the main oil producer region in that country. We adopted the case study research method and gathered data from multiple sources, including 45 semi-structured interviews with key-informants, in order to analyze the innovations implemented within the cluster. Companies involved in this study operate in areas of intense technological dynamism supplying goods and services for oilfield operators in the province. Focusing on the innovation system and industrial cluster literatures, this paper aims to understand how innovations are implemented, analyzes what are the origins of such innovations and determines whether the geographical proximity favours innovations in that natural resource-based cluster. The results show evidences that innovations are implemented in a collaborative way and an important role is played by the National Oil Company (Petrobras). The interactions among firms are strongly based on their knowledge base and accumulated technological capabilities of the players. For some groups of firms, geographical proximity favours innovations within the cluster, which supports the technological development and leadership of the cluster. Introduction In recent decades, the search for oil and natural gas has resulted in great technological advancements in exploration, development and production activities within the industry. Situations like the exploration and production of offshore oil & gas in deep waters (more than 1,000 meters of water depth), once unimaginable, are now part of the reality of the firms. This development has been possible because oilfield operators and integrated suppliers of offshore equipment and services have applied substantial efforts in research and development (RD Agrawal & Cockburn, 2003, Globerman et al., 2005), and attracting suppliers from other parts of the world. …
Exposure to the BPA-Substitute Bisphenol S Causes Unique Alterations of Germline Function

Concerns about the safety of Bisphenol A, a chemical found in plastics, receipts, food packaging and more, have led to its replacement with substitutes now found in a multitude of consumer products. However, several popular BPA-free alternatives, such as Bisphenol S, share a high degree of structural similarity with BPA, suggesting that these substitutes may disrupt similar developmental and reproductive pathways. We compared the effects of BPA and BPS on germline and reproductive functions using the genetic model system Caenorhabditis elegans. We found that, similarly to BPA, BPS caused severe reproductive defects including germline apoptosis and embryonic lethality. However, meiotic recombination, targeted gene expression, whole transcriptome and ontology analyses as well as ToxCast data mining all indicate that these effects are partly achieved via mechanisms distinct from BPAs. These findings therefore raise new concerns about the safety of BPA alternatives and the risk associated with human exposure to mixtures.
Effect of Pregabalin and Dexamethasone on Postoperative Analgesia after Septoplasty

Objectives. The aim of this study was to explore effect of a combination of pregabalin and dexamethasone on pain control after septoplasty operations. Methods. In this study, 90 patients who were scheduled for septoplasty under general anesthesia were randomly assigned into groups that received either placebo (Group C), pregabalin (Group P), or pregabalin and dexamethasone (Group PD). Preoperatively, patients received either pregabalin 300 mg one hour before surgery, dexamethasone 8 mg intravenously during induction, or placebo according to their allocation. Postoperative pain treatment included tramadol and diclofenac sodium 30 minutes before the end of the operation. Numeric rating scale (NRS) for pain assessment, side effects, and consumption of tramadol, pethidine, and ondansetron were recorded. Results. The median NRS score at the postoperative 0 and the 2nd h was significantly higher in Group C than in Group P and Group PD (P ≤ 0.004 for both). The 24 h tramadol and pethidine, consumptions were significantly reduced in Groups P and PD compared to Group C (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001). The incidence of blurred vision was significantly higher in Group PD compared to Group C within both 0–2 h and 0–24 h periods (P = 0.002 and P < 0.001, resp.). Conclusions. We conclude that administration of 300 mg pregabalin preoperatively may be an adequate choice for pain control after septoplasty. Addition of dexamethasone does not significantly reduce pain in these patients.
SCMP architecture: an asymmetric multiprocessor system-on-chip for dynamic applications

Future systems will have to support multiple and concurrent dynamic compute-intensive applications, while respecting real-time and energy consumption constraints. Within this framework, this paper presents an architecture, named SCMP. This asymmetric multiprocessor can support dynamic migration and preemption of tasks, thanks to a concurrent control of tasks, while offering a specific data sharing solution. Its tasks are controlled by a dedicated HW-RTOS that allows online scheduling of independent real-time and non-real-time tasks. By incorporating a connected component labeling algorithm into this platform, we have been able to measure its benefits for real-time and dynamic image processing.
RF-based location determination in heterogenous sensor networks using Rayleigh fading channel

Location determination is an essential component in large sensor networks. In those types of networks, sensors are data centric, and hence, the location of each sensor is critical. Furthermore, the need for a cost-effective means for sensor localization eliminates a variety of options including GPS. In this paper, we use particle filters for estimating the location of sensors assuming a noisy Rayleigh fading channel. Simulation results show that the algorithm converges to approximately two-meter error range.
The role of the school management team in developing teacher leadership : the case of two public primary schools on the lower south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

The School Management Teams (SMTs) in South African schools hold formal positions of leadership within the school's organizational structure. Because of this, the SMTs carry the responsibility of ensuring that leadership is distributed to other colleagues irrespective of status or authority in the hierarchy. On the other hand, level one educators do not hold any formal leadership position, yet the Norms and Standards for Educators (2000) expects teachers to take on leadership roles, among others, that of a leader, manager and administrator. The aim of this study was to explore the roles of the SMTs in developing teacher leadership in their schools, and to examine how the SMTs and teachers understood and enabled teacher leadership. This study was conducted in two primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and was qualitative in nature. The study used different data collection techniques, that is, the semi-structured interviews with the SMT members at both schools and focus group interviews with all level one educators at both schools. The findings of this study indicated that it is true that the concept of teacher leadership is relatively new to the majority of researchers and educators in South Africa. The concept was also understood differently by different educators and the concept was associated in the first school with a discourse of delegated leadership as opposed to distributed leadership. In this school the SMT delegated unwanted duties to teachers, not with the aim of developing teachers as leaders, but with the intention of getting administrative assistance for technical and mundane tasks. Findings in the second school revealed that although the participants understood the concept in diverse ways, teacher leadership was indeed happening. In this school it was clear that although educators were not familiar with the concept, teacher leadership was happening within a context of dispersed distributive leadership. Using Grant's (2007) model of teacher leadership, in the first school in this study teacher leadership was restricted to Zone One where the teacher is only concerned with what is happening in his or her classroom. In the second school teacher leadership was understood to operate in Zone One, within the classroom
EEG-based attention recognition

Attention recognition (AR) is an essential component in many applications, however the focus of current research into AR is on ‘face detection’, ‘eye center localization’ and ‘eye center tracking techniques’. This paper describes a research project conducted to investigate the use of electroencephalography (EEG) signals to extend the current approaches and enrich AR. EEG processing and classification algorithms are applied to EEG data to identify a group of features that can be used to effectively implement AR. The experimental results reported in this paper are encouraging with correct classification rates achieved being: 51.9% where attention is divided into 5 classes and 63.9% where attention id divided into 3 classes. The distribution of the ‘training tuples’ and ‘testing tuples’ is discussed along with their impact on the reported results. The paper concludes with an overview of outstanding issues and consideration of projected future research.
Probabilistic opinion pooling generalized Part two : Premise-based opinion pooling

We consider the classical problem of aggregating di¤erent individualsprobability assignments (opinions) over a -algebra of events. In practice, some events represent basic propositions, such as it rainsor CO2 emissions cause global warming, while others represent combinations thereof, for instance disjunctions (unions) of basic events. It is plausible to treat the basic events as premises when forming collective opinions, i.e., to rst form a collective opinion on each basic event based on the individualsopinions on it, and then form collective opinions on other events by taking into account the collective opinions formed on basic events. We formally de ne such premise-based opinion pooling (by a single axiom, independence on premises), and prove that it forces the collective opinion on any premise to be a linear combination of the individualsopinions, as long as unanimities are respected and the premises are interconnected in a suitable sense. This result is obtained in di¤erent variants, some of which relax linearity to neutrality. The paper is the second of two self-contained, but technically related companion papers inspired from judgment aggregation theory.
Identification of the Origin of Transfer (oriT) and DNA Relaxase Required for Conjugation of the Integrative and Conjugative Element ICEBs1 of Bacillus subtilis

ABSTRACT Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs), also known as conjugative transposons, are mobile genetic elements that can transfer from one bacterial cell to another by conjugation. ICEBs1 is integrated into the trnS-leu2 gene of Bacillus subtilis and is regulated by the SOS response and the RapI-PhrI cell-cell peptide signaling system. When B. subtilis senses DNA damage or high concentrations of potential mating partners that lack the element, ICEBs1 excises from the chromosome and can transfer to recipients. Bacterial conjugation usually requires a DNA relaxase that nicks an origin of transfer (oriT) on the conjugative element and initiates the 5′-to-3′ transfer of one strand of the element into recipient cells. The ICEBs1 ydcR (nicK) gene product is homologous to the pT181 family of plasmid DNA relaxases. We found that transfer of ICEBs1 requires nicK and identified a cis-acting oriT that is also required for transfer. Expression of nicK leads to nicking of ICEBs1 between a GC-rich inverted repeat in oriT, and NicK was the only ICEBs1 gene product needed for nicking. NicK likely mediates conjugation of ICEBs1 by nicking at oriT and facilitating the translocation of a single strand of ICEBs1 DNA through a transmembrane conjugation pore.
Adaptive spatial modulation using candidate reduction technique

Adaptive Spatial Modulation (ASM) is a transmission scheme proposed to achieve better system performance. Here, the modulation orders are assigned to the transmit antennas which are dynamically adapted to the changing channel conditions. As the channel slowly varies, the adaptive unit at the receiver computes the optimum candidate and send that information to the transmitter through a low-bandwidth feedback path. This requires high computational complexity and feedback load. To reduce this complexity and improve the channel performance Candidate Reduction method is used. Candidate Reduction method considers only the candidates with higher probability and discards the candidates with lowers probability. By this the performance of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems can be improved.
The chemical, mechanical, and physical properties of 3D printed materials composed of TiO2-ABS nanocomposites

Abstract To expand the chemical capabilities of 3D printed structures generated from commercial thermoplastic printers, we have produced and printed polymer filaments that contain inorganic nanoparticles. TiO2 was dispersed into acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and extruded into filaments with 1.75 mm diameters. We produced filaments with TiO2 compositions of 1, 5, and 10% (kg/kg) and printed structures using a commercial 3D printer. Our experiments suggest that ABS undergoes minor degradation in the presence of TiO2 during the different processing steps. The measured mechanical properties (strain and Young’s modulus) for all of the composites are similar to those of structures printed from the pure polymer. TiO2 incorporation at 1% negatively affects the stress at breaking point and the flexural stress. Structures produced from the 5 and 10% nanocomposites display a higher breaking point stress than those printed from the pure polymer. TiO2 within the printed matrix was able to quench the intrinsic fluorescence of the polymer. TiO2 was also able to photocatalyze the degradation of a rhodamine 6G in solution. These experiments display chemical reactivity in nanocomposites that are printed using commercial 3D printers, and we expect that our methodology will help to inform others who seek to incorporate catalytic nanoparticles in 3D printed structures. Video Abstract Read the transcript Watch the video on Vimeo
Using artificial neural networks and analytic hierarchy process for the supplier selection problem

Pattern classification and its applications are classic domains of study in the area of artificial intelligence. In this study, we integrate neural networks and analytic hierarchy process for the purpose of pattern classification, and showcase the application for the supplier selection problem in the domain of procurement management. Pattern classification has been used for the purpose of supplier base rationalization. In this study, the criteria for decision making have been modeled using fuzzy logic, which further has been modeled as a multi-objective decision making process, by combining the two complementary approaches. The integrated approach drastically reduces the data points required for training and thus extends the applicability of the classifier in the supplier selection domain where the data points is not so high, as is required by classifiers. The proposed integrated approach has been further studied through a case study conducted on a multi-national firm and the results of the analysis have been discussed.
The Prognostic Value of Serum Neuron-Specific Enolase in Traumatic Brain Injury: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background Several studies have suggested that neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in serum may be a biomarker of traumatic brain injury. However, whether serum NSE levels correlate with outcomes remains unclear. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the prognostic value of serum NSE protein after traumatic brain injury. Methods PubMed and Embase were searched for relevant studies published up to October 2013. Full-text publications on the relationship of NSE to TBI were included if the studies concerned patients with closed head injury, NSE levels in serum after injury, and Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) or Extended GOS (GOSE) scores or mortality. Study design, inclusion criteria, assay, blood sample collection time, NSE cutoff, sensitivity and specificity of NSE for mortality prediction (if sufficient information was provided to calculate these values), and main outcomes were recorded. Results Sixteen studies were eligible for the current meta-analysis. In the six studies comparing NSE concentrations between TBI patients who died and those who survived, NSE concentrations correlated with mortality (M.D. 0.28, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.21 to 0.34; I2 55%). In the eight studies evaluating GOS or GOSE, patients with unfavorable outcomes had significantly higher NSE concentrations than those with favorable outcomes (M.D. 0.24, 95% CI, 0.17 to 0.31; I2 64%). From the studies providing sufficient data, the pooled sensitivity and specificity for mortality were 0.79 and 0.50, and 0.72 and 0.66 for unfavorable neurological prognosis, respectively. The areas under the SROC curve (AUC) of NSE concentrations were 0.73 (95% CI, 0.66–0.80) for unfavorable outcome and 0.76 (95% CI, 0.62–0.90) for mortality. Conclusions Mortality and unfavorable outcome were significantly associated with greater NSE concentrations. In addition, NSE has moderate discriminatory ability to predict mortality and neurological outcome in TBI patients. The optimal discrimination cutoff values and optimal sampling time remain uncertain because of significant variations between studies.
Robot perception of environment impedance

Proposes an identification technique of constraint condition that the environment imposes on the robot's end-effector, based on position and force sensing during arbitrary manipulation. In the proposed method, the impedance that constrains the motion of the end-effector is estimated on-line; the uncertainties of the estimates are evaluated; and discontinuous changes of the impedance are detected. This method can be installed on robots as human-like perception of impedance, and can be used for monitoring human demonstration. Results of preliminary experiments are presented.
Mindful regulation of positive emotions: a comparison with reappraisal and expressive suppression

It is often acknowledged that mindfulness facilitates emotion regulation on a long-term scale. Only few empirical studies support the hypothesis that even a brief mindfulness induction among subjects without previous experience of meditation allows an effective reduction of both positive and negative emotions. To the best of our knowledge, this hypothesis has never been tested when comparing mindfulness to other regulation strategies known to be effective. The current study investigates the effects of mindfulness, reappraisal and expressive suppression during the regulation of positive emotions. Forty-five participants without previous meditation experience watched four positive video clips while applying a specific regulation strategy: mindful attention, reappraisal, expressive suppression or no strategy (control condition). Video clips were matched for intensity and positive emotions index. Each of them was evaluated on two dimensions, valence (negative/positive) and arousal (calming/exciting). Moreover, participants’ facial expressions were recorded during the presentation of the video clips. Results showed that (a) participants report less positive affect in reappraisal and mindful attention conditions compared to expression suppression and a control condition; and (b) the facialexpression – activation of AU12 (lip corner pull) and AU6 (cheek raiser) – varies with the regulation strategy applied. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of mindfulness in decreasing both the evaluative judgment of positive video clips and the related facial expression, among participants without previous mindfulness experience.
The Impact of Information on the Willingness-to-Pay for Labeled Organic Food Products

Organic labels potentially play an important role in shaping consumer preferences for organic food products. Information implied by the presence of labels can be used by consumers to facilitate their consumption decisions. Therefore, we investigate the influence of the provision of objective information on the willingness-to-pay of consumers for labeled organic apples in Flanders (Belgium). Initially, we find that Flemish consumers are willing to pay a positive price premium of approximately 33 eurocent per kilogram for labeled organic apples. After the provision of information on the actual environmental and health effects of organic apple production, this price premium becomes even more pronounced and amounts to approximately 56 eurocent per kilogram.
Ant algorithm for the multidimensional knapsack problem

We propose a new algorithm based on the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) meta-heuristic for the Multidimensional Knapsack Problem, the goal of which is to find a subset of objects that maximizes a given objective function while satisfying some resource constraints. We show that our new algorithm obtains better results than two other ACO algorithms on most instances.
Molecular characterization of XVSAP 1 , a stress-responsive gene from the resurrection plant Xerophyta viscosa Baker 1

The strategy of `complementation by functional suf®ciency' was used to isolate a cDNA designated XVSAP1 from a cDNA library constructed from dehydrated Xerophyta viscosa Baker leaves. Analysis of the cDNA sequence indicated a highly hydrophobic protein with six transmembrane regions. Southern blot analysis revealed that there are at least two copies of XVSAP1 in X. viscosa. The deduced amino acid sequence showed 49% identity to WCOR413, a lowtemperature-regulated protein from wheat. The protein also showed between 25% to 56% identity to WCOR413-like proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana. Expression of XVSAP1 in Escherichia coli (srl::Tn10) conferred osmotic stress tolerance when the cells were grown in 1 M sorbitol. Analysis of gene expression using semi-quantitative RT-PCR indicated that XVSAP1 is induced by dehydration, salt stress (100 mM), both low (4 °C) and high temperature (42 °C) and high light treatment (1500 mmol m s). These results suggest that XVSAP1 may have a signi®cant role to play in the response of X. viscosa to abiotic
Massively Parallel Analysis of Similarity Matrices on Heterogeneous Hardware

We conduct a study that investigates the performance characteristics of a set of parallel implementations of the recurrence quantication analysis (RQA) using OpenCL. Being an important tool in climate impact and medical research, a central aspect of RQA is the construction of a binary matrix that captures the similarities of multi-dimensional vectors. Based on this matrix, quantitative measures are derived. Starting with a baseline implementation, we diversify its properties along four dimensions: the representation of input data, the materialisation of the similarity matrix, the representation of similarity values and the recycling of intermediate results. We evaluate the performance of ve implementations by varying the input parameter assignments, the hardware platform employed for execution and the default OpenCL compiler optimisations status. We come to the conclusion that the performance of conducting RQA highly depends on the selected implementation as well as the combination of these variables under investigation. Dierences in runtime of up to one order of magnitude are observed, emphasising the importance of performance studies as presented here.