Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HUBUNGAN RANTAI PASOK (SUPPLY CHAIN RELATIONSHIP) DAN DAYA SAING USAHA KECIL MENENGAH (UKM) SARI APEL DI KOTA BATU

Buah apel memiliki nilai tambah bila diproses menjadi makanan dan minuman olahan. Sari apel adalah salah satu olahan. Karena itulah analisis supply chain menjadi isu penting dalam industri apel. Tujuan utama penelitian ini adalah menginvestigasi apakah hubungan yang baik diantara rantai pasok sari apel positif mempengaruhi daya saing UKM. UKM membutuhkan hubungan yang berkualitas untuk meraih keunggulan kompetitif. Kualitas hubungan menjadi pondasi organisasi untuk tetap bertahan. Kualitas hubungan tersebut meliputi kepercayaan, komitmen dan kepuasan untuk mendapatkan keunggulan kompetitif. Berdasarkan literatur, penelitian yang menginvestigasi kualitas hubungan dan kualitas komunikasi bahwa langsung dan tidak langsung berpengaruh dalam daya saing. Sampel data penelitian ini adalah petani, UKM dan pengecer sari apel di kota Batu yaitu berjumlah Kuesioner disebar di 121 sampel. Data dianalisis menggunakan pendekatan Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Dari hasil analisis didapatkan bahwa daya saing dipengaruhi secara langsung dan tidak langsung oleh kualitas hubungan dan kualitas komunikasi; kualitas hubungan yang meliputi kepercayaan, komitmen dan kepuasan menjadi unsur utama yang menentukan daya saing; kualitas komunikasi mempunyai pengaruh penting juga terhadap daya saing melalui kualitas hubungan. Kata kunci: UKM sari apel, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), kualitas hubungan, kualitas komunikasi dan daya saing
Nonlinear Estimation With State-Dependent Gaussian Observation Noise

We consider the problem of estimating the state of a system when measurement noise is a function of the system's state. We propose generalizations of the extended Kalman filter and the iterated extended Kalman filter that can be utilized when the state estimate distribution is approximately Gaussian. The state estimate is computed by an iterative root-searching method that maximizes a maximum likelihood function. The new filter allows for the consistent treatment of a class of control problem involving nonlinear estimation from measurements with state-dependent noise. The effectiveness of the estimation algorithm is illustrated for a control problem with a mobile bearing-only sensor.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae a‐ and alpha‐agglutinin: characterization of their molecular interaction.

An O‐glycosylated protein of approximately 18 kDa responsible for mating type specific agglutination has been isolated from Saccharomyces cerevisiae a cells, purified to homogeneity and via peptide sequences the gene was cloned by PCR. An open reading frame codes for a protein of 69 amino acids. A minimum of five serine and five threonine residues of the mature protein are glycosylated. alpha‐Agglutinin is a highly N‐glycosylated protein of approximately 250 kDa. Both purified agglutinins form a specific 1:1 complex in vitro. Pretreatment of alpha‐agglutinin, but not of alpha‐agglutinin, with diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC) prevents formation of the complex; treatment of alpha‐agglutinin in the presence of alpha‐agglutinin protects the former from DEPC inactivation. By carboxy terminal shortening of the alpha‐agglutinin gene and by replacing three of its eight histidyl residues by arginine, the active region of alpha‐agglutinin for interaction with alpha‐agglutinin has been defined. Neither the N‐ nor the O‐linked saccharides of the two agglutinins seem to be essential for their interaction.
The Dynamics of Neighbourhood Watch and

We analyze the dynamics of neighbourhood watch programs in a local interaction framework. Agents can watch their neighbours’ houses and thus deter burglars from breaking in. At the same time, agents also try to recruit their neighbours to join the neighbourhood watch program. The probability of an agent joining the neighbourhood watch program depends on the success of the program, i.e., whether burglaries continue to occur. We show that the punishment of burglars plays a dual role in this context. On the one hand, punishment deters burglaries if the level of punishment is sufficiently high. On the other hand, it also affects the probability of an agent joining the neighbourhood watch program. In particular, we show that if recruitment is harder when burglaries do not occur, a legal policy attempting to improve deterrence using more severe punishment is suboptimal. In a second part, we extend our model to the study of norm enforcement in public goods dilemmas and show that our results remain valid if agents can punish each other (instead of burglars) for not contributing to the public good. Our paper thus provides a first analysis of the evolution of “altruistic punishment” in large populations with local interaction. Journal of Economic Literature Classification: C72, K42
On quantifying the effective password space of grid-based unlock gestures

We present a similarity metric for Android unlock patterns to quantify the effective password space of user-defined gestures. Our metric is the first of its kind to reflect that users choose patterns based on human intuition and interest in geometric properties of the resulting shapes. Applying our metric to a dataset of 506 user-defined patterns reveals very similar shapes that only differ by simple geometric transformations such as rotation. This shrinks the effective password space by 66% and allows informed guessing attacks. Consequently, we present an approach to subtly nudge users to create more diverse patterns by showing background images and animations during pattern creation. Results from a user study (n = 496) show that applying such countermeasures can significantly increase pattern diversity. We conclude with implications for pattern choices and the design of enrollment processes.
Vocative constructions in the language of Shakespeare

This study investigates the functions, meanings, and varieties of forms of address in Shakespeare’s dramatic work. New categories of Shakespearean vocatives are developed and the grammar of vocatives is investigated in, above, and below the clause, following morpho-syntactic, semantic, lexicographical, pragmatic, social and contextual criteria. Going beyond the conventional paradigm of power and solidarity and with recourse to Shakespearean drama as both text and performance, the study sees vocatives as foregrounded experiential, interpersonal and textual markers. Shakespeare’s vocatives construe, both quantitatively and qualitatively, habitus and identity. They illustrate relationships or messages. They reflect Early Modern, Shakespearean, and intra- or inter-textual contexts. Theoretically and methodologically, the study is interdisciplinary. It draws on approaches from (historical) pragmatics, stylistics, Hallidayean grammar, corpus linguistics, cognitive linguistics, socio-historical linguistics, sociology, and theatre semiotics. This study contributes, thus, not only to Shakespeare studies, but also to literary linguistics and literary criticism.
Performance evaluation of rain products from a polarimetric X-band radar by using a new raw data processing chain

A new data processing chain has been applied to polarimetric radar observations at X band. The article describes the chain and provides an analysis of the quality of the polarimetric variables. Different algorithms have been studied based on simple Z<sub>h</sub>-R, on Z<sub>h</sub> and Z<sub>dr</sub>, on K<sub>dp</sub> and K<sub>dp</sub> and Z<sub>dr</sub>. Evaluation against rain-gauges, confirms the superiority of polarimetric algorithms. It also shows that the benefits brought by algorithms based on power variables, Z<sub>h</sub> and Z<sub>dr</sub> are critically dependent on the capability of a correct calibration.
A wall-climbing robot without any active suction mechanisms

This paper presents a wall-climbing robot that uses passive suction cups as the adhering components. Using a single motor, this robot can not only move on a wall but can also autonomously attach and detach suction cups to the wall. Passive suction cups do not consume additional energy to maintain adhesion. Therefore, the proposed robot can perform the wall-climbing motion with relatively low energy consumption. In order to prevent the robot from falling, a supporting tail was designed. Moreover, load distribution analysis showed that the tail can be used to enhance the distribution of the loads across the suction cups. In this paper, the optimal parameters of the robot are described and a robot is fabricated based on this analysis. We conducted experiments to verify the robot performance.
Unsupervised Discovery of Negative Categories in Lexicon Bootstrapping

Multi-category bootstrapping algorithms were developed to reduce semantic drift. By extracting multiple semantic lexicons simultaneously, a category's search space may be restricted. The best results have been achieved through reliance on manually crafted negative categories. Unfortunately, identifying these categories is non-trivial, and their use shifts the unsupervised bootstrapping paradigm towards a supervised framework. We present NEG-FINDER, the first approach for discovering negative categories automatically. NEG-FINDER exploits unsupervised term clustering to generate multiple negative categories during bootstrapping. Our algorithm effectively removes the necessity of manual intervention and formulation of negative categories, with performance closely approaching that obtained using negative categories defined by a domain expert.
Mediation of smoking-associated postoperative mortality by perioperative complications in veterans undergoing elective surgery: data from Veterans Affairs Surgical Quality Improvement Program (VASQIP)—a cohort study

Objective To assess the mediation of smoking-associated postoperative mortality by postoperative complications. Design Observational cohort study. Setting Using data from the Veterans Affairs (VA) Surgical Quality Improvement Programme, a quality assurance programme for major surgical procedures in the VA healthcare system, we assessed the association of current smoking at the time of the surgery with 6-month and 1-year mortality. Primary and secondary outcome measures Using mediation analyses, we calculated the relative contribution of each smoking-associated complication to smoking-associated postoperative mortality, both unadjusted and adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, work relative value unit of the operation, surgeon specialty, American Society of Anesthesiologists class and year of surgery. Smoking-associated complications included surgical site infection (SSI), cardiovascular complications (myocardial infarction, cardiac arrest and/or stroke) and pulmonary complications (pneumonia, failure to wean and/or reintubation). Results There were 186 632 never smokers and 135 741 current smokers. The association of smoking and mortality was mediated by smoking-related complications with varying effects. In unadjusted analyses, the proportions of mediation of smoking to 6-month mortality explained by the complications were as follows: SSIs 22%, cardiovascular complications 12% and pulmonary complications 89%. In adjusted analyses, the per cents mediated by each complication were as follows: SSIs 2%, cardiovascular complications 4% and pulmonary complications 22%. In adjusted analyses for 1-year mortality, respective per cents mediated were 2%, 3% and 16%. Conclusions Pulmonary complications, followed by cardiovascular complications and SSIs were mediators of smoking-associated 6-month and 1-year mortality. Interventions targeting smoking cessation and prevention and early treatment of pulmonary complications has the likelihood of reducing postoperative mortality after elective surgery.
Pervasive Healthcare Monitoring System

An unhealthy lifestyle, such as lack of exercise, poor diet, and drinking alcohol excessively can increase the risk of chronic disease. With the growth of Internet of Things (IoT) and the emergence of the wearable devices, it is possible to monitor important aspects of our daily life, with the aim of encouraging healthier lifestyles. This paper proposes a personal healthcare system that will allow the user to track their daily activities such as exercise, sleeping, heart-rate and diet, using only a smart watch and phone. The monitored data, behavior analysis and feedback from user's doctor can be shared via cloud services, and visualized using charts and tables. Users also can chat with an artificial intelligent agent that deals with related questions via a mobile app.
Candidacidal Activity of Selected Ceragenins and Human Cathelicidin LL-37 in Experimental Settings Mimicking Infection Sites

Fungal infections, especially those caused by antibiotic resistant pathogens, have become a serious public health problem due to the growing number of immunocompromised patients, including those subjected to anticancer treatment or suffering from HIV infection. In this study we assessed fungicidal activity of the ceragenins CSA-13, CSA-131 and CSA-192 against four fluconazole–resistant Candida strains. We found that ceragenins activity against planktonic Candida cells was higher than activity of human LL-37 peptide and synthetic cationic peptide omiganan. Compared to LL-37 peptide, ceragenins in the presence of DNase I demonstrated an increased ability to kill DNA-induced Candida biofilm. Microscopy studies show that treatment with LL-37 or ceragenins causes Candida cells to undergo extensive surface changes indicating surface membrane damage. This conclusion was substantiated by observation of rapid incorporation of FITC-labeled CSA-13, CSA-131 or LL-37 peptide into the more lipophilic environment of the Candida membrane. In addition to activity against Candida spp. , ceragenins CSA-131 and CSA-192 display strong fungicidal activity against sixteen clinical isolates including Cryptococcus neoformans and Aspergillus fumigatus. These results indicate the potential of ceragenins for future development as new fungicidal agents.
First International Diagnosis Competition - DXC'09

A framework to compare and evaluate diagnosis algorithms (DAs) has been created jointly by NASA Ames Research Center and PARC. In this paper, we present the first concrete implementation of this framework as a competition called DXC 09. The goal of this competition was to evaluate and compare DAs in a common platform and to determine a winner based on diagnosis results. 12 DAs (model-based and otherwise) competed in this first year of the competition in 3 tracks that included industrial and synthetic systems. Specifically, the participants provided algorithms that communicated with the run-time architecture to receive scenario data and return diagnostic results. These algorithms were run on extended scenario data sets (different from sample set) to compute a set of pre-defined metrics. A ranking scheme based on weighted metrics was used to declare winners. This paper presents the systems used in DXC 09, description of faults and data sets, a listing of participating DAs, the metrics and results computed from running the DAs, and a superficial analysis of the results.
Bayesian speckle noise reduction using the discrete wavelet transform

Speckle noise is an inherent property of SAR images. The discrete wavelet transform results in sub-band decompositions of SAR images which have Laplacian point statistics. The authors propose a Bayesian estimator to perform speckle reduction. They evaluate the speckle reduction results using two measurements: standard-deviation-to-mean ratio and target-to-clutter ratio. They show that good speckle reduction results can be achieved while maintaining the significant information of the SAR image.
Increased postprandial responses of GLP-1 and GIP in patients with chronic pancreatitis and steatorrhea following pancreatic enzyme substitution.

We aimed to investigate how assimilation of nutrients affects the postprandial responses of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and to evaluate the effect of pancreatic enzyme substitution (PES) on insulin secretion in patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI). Eight male patients with CP and PEI were studied. Blood was sampled frequently on two separate days after ingestion of a liquid meal with and without PES, respectively. Eight healthy male subjects served as a control group. beta-Cell responsiveness was estimated as changes in insulin secretion rates in response to changes in postprandial plasma glucose (PG). There was no difference in the PG incremental area under curve (AUC) for patients with and without PES [406 +/- 100 vs. 425 +/- 80 mM.4 h (mean +/- SE), P = 0.8]. The response of total GLP-1 was higher after PES (AUC: 7.8 +/- 1.2 vs. 5.3 +/- 0.6 nM.4 h, P = 0.01), as was the response of total GIP (AUC: 32.7 +/- 7.5 vs. 21.1 +/- 8.3 nM.4 h, P = 0.01). Concurrently, both plasma insulin, plasma C-peptide, and total insulin secretion increased after PES (AUC: 17.7 +/- 4.2 vs. 13.6 +/- 2.9 nM.4 h, P = 0.02; 237 +/- 31.4 vs. 200 +/- 27.4 nM.4 h, P = 0.005; and 595 +/- 82 vs. 497 +/- 80 pmol.kg(-1). 4 h, P = 0.01, respectively). beta-Cell responsiveness to glucose was not significantly different on the two study days for patients with CP. These results suggest that the secretion of GLP-1 and GIP is under influence of the digestion and absorption of nutrients in the small intestine and that PES increases insulin secretion.
Hyperplane Culling for Stochastic Rasterization

We present two novel culling tests for rasterization of simultaneous depth of ﬁeld and motion blur. These tests efﬁciently reduce the set of xyuvt samples that need to be coverage tested within a screen space tile. The first test finds linear bounds in ut - and vt -space using a separating line algorithm. We also derive a hyperplane in xyuvt - space for each triangle edge, and all samples outside of these planes are culled in our second test. Based on these tests, we present an efficient stochastic rasterizer, which has substantially higher sample test efficiency and lower arithmetic cost than previous tile-based stochastic rasterizers.
Efficiently Outsourcing Multiparty Computation Under Multiple Keys

Secure multiparty computation enables a set of users to evaluate certain functionalities on their respective inputs while keeping these inputs encrypted throughout the computation. In many applications, however, outsourcing these computations to an untrusted server is desirable, so that the server can perform the computation on behalf of the users. Unfortunately, existing solutions are either inefficient, rely heavily on user interaction, or require the inputs to be encrypted under the same public key - drawbacks making the employment in practice very limited. We propose a novel technique based on additively homomorphic encryption that avoids all these drawbacks. This method is efficient, requires no user interaction whatsoever (except for data upload and download), and allows evaluating any dynamically chosen function on inputs encrypted under different public keys. Our solution assumes the existence of two non-colluding but untrusted servers that jointly perform the computation by means of a cryptographic protocol. This protocol is proven to be secure in the semi-honest model. By developing application-tailored variants of our approach, we demonstrate its versatility and apply it in two real-world scenarios from different domains, privacy-preserving face recognition and private smart metering. We also give a proof-of-concept implementation to highlight its feasibility.
Identification of Mesencephalic Astrocyte-Derived Neurotrophic Factor as a Novel Neuroprotective Factor for Retinal Ganglion Cells

Mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF), a newly discovered secreted neurotrophic factor, has been proven to not only protect dopaminergic neurons and other cell types but also regulate neuroinflammation and the immune response to promote tissue repair and regeneration. However, to date, there is no information regarding the relationship between MANF and retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the eye. In the current study, we first determined the expression of MANF in the retina and vitreous. Then, we examined the effect of MANF on RGCs using both in vivo and in vitro models and simultaneously explored the underlying neuroprotective mechanisms of MANF. Finally, we measured the concentrations of MANF in the vitreous of patients with different retinopathies. We demonstrated that MANF was highly expressed in RGCs and that exogenous MANF could protect RGCs from hypoxia-induced cell injury and apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo by preventing endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated apoptosis. Furthermore, MANF can be detected in the vitreous humor, and the concentration changed under pathological conditions. Our results provide important evidence that MANF may be a potential therapeutic protein for a range of retinal pathologies in either the preclinical stage or after diagnosis to promote the survival of RGCs. Vitreous MANF may be a promising protein biomarker for the indirect assessment of retinal disorders, which could provide indirect evidence of retinal pathology.
Feasibility of Using Pseudo-Continuous Arterial Spin Labeling Perfusion in a Geriatric Population at 1.5 Tesla

Objectives To evaluate the feasibility of using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) perfusion in a geriatric population at 1.5-Tesla. Materials and Methods In 17 participants (mean age 78.8±1.63 years) we assessed; 1) inter-session repeatability and reliability of resting state perfusion in 27 brain regions; 2) brain activation using finger-tapping as a means to evaluate the ability to detect flow differences; 3) reliability by comparing cerebral blood flow (CBF) with pCASL to CBF with phase contrast (PC-MR). Results The CBF (mean±standard deviation (SD)) for the whole brain grey matter (GM) was 40.6±8.4 and 41.4±8.7 ml/100g/min for the first and second scan respectively. The within-subject standard deviation (SDw), the repeatability index (RI) and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) across the 27 regions ranged from 1.1 to 7.9, 2.2 to 15.5 and 0.35 to 0.98 respectively. For whole brain GM the SDw, RI and ICC were 1.6, 3.2 and 0.96 respectively. The between-subject standard deviation (SDB) was larger than the SDw for all regions. Comparison of CBF at rest and activation on a voxel level showed significantly higher perfusion during finger tapping in the motor- and somatosensory regions. The mean CBF for whole brain GM was 40.6±8.4 ml/100g/min at rest and 42.6±8.6 ml/100g/min during activation. Finally the reliability of pCASL against the reference standard of PC-MR was high (ICC = 0.80). The mean CBF for whole brain measured with PC-MRI was 54.3±10.1 ml/100g/min and 38.3±7.8 ml/100g/min with pCASL. Conclusions The results demonstrate moderate to high levels of repeatability and reliability for most brain regions, comparable to what has been reported for younger populations. The performance of pCASL at 1.5-Tesla shows that region-specific perfusion measurements with this technique are feasible in studies of a geriatric population.
The State of Record Linkage and Current Research Problems

This paper provides an overview of methods and systems developed for record linkage. Modern record linkage begins with the pioneering work of Newcombe and is especially based on the formal mathematical model of Fellegi and Sunter. In their seminal work, Fellegi and Sunter introduced many powerful ideas for estimating record linkage parameters and other ideas that still influence record linkage today. Record linkage research is characterized by its synergism of statistics, computer science, and operations research. Many difficult algorithms have been developed and put in software systems. Record linkage practice is still very limited. Some limits are due to existing software. Other limits are due to the difficulty in automatically estimating matching parameters and error rates, with current research highlighted by the work of Larsen and Rubin.