Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INTELLIGENT CONTROL OF WALKING MOBILE ROBOT WITH OBSTACLES AVOIDANCES

The paper presents an intelligent control algorithm of a walking robot for avoiding obstacles in the work environment. Algorithm is composed of four modules: capture and image analysis, neural controller, Bezier interpolation and generation of new support points. The first module captures images from a camera, proccesses and pass it to a neural controller. Neural controller provides according to recieved data the angle of rotation that robot must made on next step. Bezier interpolation module calculates the deviation from the old path, and the last module provides data to a robot leg control algorithm. The results obtained by applying this algorithm indicates that you can to control the robot in a fast feedback loop and that it can generate the part to the target point on the shortest path with avoiding obstacles in the robot environment.
Evaluation of metabolic syndrome risk in Korean premenopausal women: not waist circumference but visceral fat.

BACKGROUND In clinical practice, using the patient's waist circumference (WC) to evaluate visceral obesity may underestimate disorders with a metabolic origin. This study examined whether or not the WC derived from the cut-off point of the visceral fat area (VFA) can reflect the features of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in premenopausal women. METHODS AND RESULTS Computed tomography-scanned VFA, MetS components and the concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) and adiponectin were measured in a total of 349 premenopausal women. The VFA at the L1 and the L4 sites was a significant index (p<0.001) of incremental MetS risk. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis showed that 75 cm2 of VFA at L4 and 87.5 cm2 at L1 were the optimal thresholds for discrimination of MetS risk. Significant differences in all MetS components, as well as CRP (p<0.05) and adiponectin levels (p<0.005), were observed when subjects were subdivided by the L4 VFA cut-off point (<75/>or=75 cm2), whereas there was a significant difference only in the triglycerides level in the groups divided by WC (WC<88/>or=88 cm). Moreover, subjects with a lower WC-higher VFA showed a similar pattern in MetS components and lower adiponectin than those with a higher WC-higher VFA. CONCLUSIONS This study clarified that VFA rather than WC is a major determinant of MetS risk in premenopausal women.
Health Outcomes Methodology Symposium: Summary and Recommendations

Background.Interest in the philosophy and techniques of the assessment of health outcomes has burgeoned, prompting research funding agencies and others to examine traditional and emerging methods for outcome measurement. Objectives.This report summarizes the presentations and discussions at and research recommendations stemming from an invitational symposium on health outcomes methodology convened in September 1999. Research Design.The summary is based on the preliminary drafts of all formal reports and discussions, transcripts of all presentations and plenary discussions, and notes from break-out groups. Results and Conclusions.Existing health outcomes measures drawn from classic test theory and emerging approaches based on item response theory offer exciting opportunities for appreciably expanded applications in biomedical and health services research, clinical practice and decision making, and policy development. The major research agenda reflects the significance of this field of endeavor, its widening acceptance both at home and abroad, and its increasing applicability to many different patient and user communities. Of particular moment are the following: (1) refining and expanding of measurement techniques that rely on item response theory and making these approaches more understandable to potential users; (2) improving measurement tools to make them more culturally appropriate for diverse populations and more conceptually and psychometrically equivalent across such groups; (3) addressing long-standing issues in preference- and utility-based approaches, particularly in the elicitation of preference responses and scoring instruments; and (4) enhancing the ways in which data from outcomes measurement tools are calibrated against commonly understood clinical and lay metrics, are interpreted, and are made usable for different decision-makers.
High performance work systems in Ireland: human resource and organizational outcomes

From the perspective of the resource based view (RBV), although traditional sources of competitive advantage such as natural resources, technology, economies of scales, and so forth, create value, these resources are increasingly easy to imitate. As such, human capital and human resource management may be an especially important source of sustainable competitive advantage. Over the past few years, there has been growing research interest in the competitive advantage associated with high performance work systems (HPWS), a set of management policies and practices thought to endow employees with greater levels of skill, information, motivation and discretion. In this study, we describe a study examining the relative effectiveness of HPWS in the Irish context. Results suggest that greater use of high performance work systems is associated with positive human resource and organizational outcomes. Specifically, firms utilizing higher levels of HPWS tend to have lower rates of employee absenteeism and voluntary turnover along with higher labor productivity and lower labor costs.
Risk of gastrointestinal events with sorafenib, sunitinib and pazopanib in patients with solid tumors: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of clinical trials

Gastrointestinal (GI) events have been described with sorafenib, sunitinib and pazopanib in cancer patients. We performed an up‐to‐date meta‐analysis to determine the incidence and relative risk (RR) in patients with cancer treated with these agents. PubMed databases were searched for articles published till May 2013. Eligible studies were selected according to PRISMA statement. Summary incidence, RR, and 95% CIs were calculated using random‐effects or fixed‐effects models based on the heterogeneity of selected studies. A total of 6,447 patients were available for the meta‐analysis; 2,260 had renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and 4,187, 1,691 non‐small cell lung cancers, 599 hepatocellular cancers, 1,066 breast cancers, 165 neuroendocrine tumors, 304 gastrointestinal stromal tumors and 362 soft tissue sarcomas. Diarrhea was the most common GI event. When stratified by tumor type (RCC vs. non‐RCC), the difference among the incidences of GI events was significant for diarrhea (p < 0.001) and vomiting (p = 0.006), that resulted higher in RCC patients. In RCC patients, sorafenib registered the lower incidence and RR of all grades GI events. The difference was statistically significant for sorafenib versus sunitinib‐related all and high‐grade events (p < 0.001) and for sorafenib versus pazopanib all grades GI events (p < 0.001) and high‐grade anorexia (p < 0.001). Treatment with VEGFR TKIs sorafenib, sunitinib and pazopanib is associated with a significant increase in the risk of GI events in patients with cancer, and frequent clinical monitoring should be emphasized when managing these three and newer VEGFR TKIs.
RealDroid: Large-Scale Evasive Malware Detection on "Real Devices"

In order to effectively detect malware in Android, dynamic analysis techniques with Android emulators are widely adopted. Emulators can be deployed for large-scale malware detection and restored to an ensured clean state in a short period after each app analysis process such that dynamic analysis upon emulators can effectively detect malware. Moreover, emulators significantly reduce the detection cost compared to real devices. However, emulator-based analysis has limited capability in detecting evasive malware that can detect the presence of the emulator-based environment and hide its malicious behaviors. In this paper, we propose RealDroid, a dynamic and emulator-based analysis system that can capture Android evasive malware and is capable of large-scale malware detection. RealDroid completely simulates a real device such that it can't be identified by evasive malware. Thereby, evasive malware can exhibit its malicious behaviors in RealDroid. Moreover, we propose an automated exploration mechanism, i.e., Android Test Engine (ATE), to improve the code coverage of dynamic analysis in RealDroid, such that it provides efficient and effective automatic detection of large-scale apps. Our experimental results demonstrate that ATE in RealDroid achieves much better exploration effects compared with state-of-the-art automatic exploration tools in large-scale malware detection. In particular, it can successfully detect evasive malware.
Substitution Elasticities between Capital, Labour, Material, Electricity and Fossil Fuels in German Producing and Service Sectors

In this paper, substitutional relationships between capital, labour, material, electricity, and fossil fuels in German producing and service sectors are estimated using a translog cost function. Estimates are based on a pooled time-series cross-sectional data sample for the period 1978-90 and nearly 50 sectors reported by the national account statistics. Results indicate that, except for the service sectors, own-price elasticities of all factor demands are below 0.5 (in absolute terms). In terms of the Morishima elasticity of substitution, labour and capital are substitutes in all sectors. Labour is generally a substitute for electricity, but not for fossil fuels. Results also support the hypothesis of capitalenergy substitutability and that the German economy is characterised by a nonhomothetic, non-constant-returns-to-scale production function. Substitution elasticities between input aggregates are estimated based on the nesting structure which underlies the computable general equilibrium model GEM-E3. Testing for weak homothetic separability restrictions, however, yields that input aggregation is allowed only in particular cases. Simulations with the GEM-E3 model demonstrate that the impacts of an ecological tax reform respond to a variation of substitution elasticities, but, all in all, the model proves to be relatively stable within a plausible range of values.
IL-27 Suppresses Th2 Cell Development and Th2 Cytokines Production from Polarized Th2 Cells: A Novel Therapeutic Way for Th2-Mediated Allergic Inflammation1

IL-27 up-regulates Th1 but down-regulates Th2 responses. However, its molecular mechanism and regulatory effects on polarized Th2 cells remain unclear. In this study, we have revealed that IL-27 inhibits Th2 cell development as well as Th2 cytokines production from already polarized Th2 cells by down-regulation of GATA-3 and up-regulation of T-bet expression simultaneously. In vivo daily IL-27 treatment for 1 wk after Leishmania major infection protects BALB/c mice from footpad swelling by diminishing parasite burden via reciprocal regulation of Th1 and Th2 responses. Furthermore, IL-27 stimulation causes marked reduction in the capacity of host mouse to mount a Th2 response against Strongyloides venezuelensis infection. Thus, IL-27-treated mice failed to develop intestinal mastocytosis after S. venezuelensis infection and exhibited a marked delay in parasite expulsion. Finally, intranasal administration of IL-27 inhibits OVA-induced airway hyperresponsiveness and inflammation in OVA-sensitized animals. Thus, IL-27 could provide us with a novel therapeutic way for treating Th2-associated diseases such as bronchial asthma.
FEA-based multi-objective optimization of IPM motor design including rotor losses

The design optimization of IPM motors for wide speed ranges is considered in this paper by means of a FEAbased multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA). The minimum number of simulations is pursued for the fast evaluation of four goal functions: maximum torque, minimum torque ripple, maximum flux weakening capability and minimum rotor harmonic losses. The paper is focused on the rotor design, that is the most controversial aspect of IPM design due to the difficult modeling dominated by magnetic saturation. Three original results are presented: the elimination of higher order torque ripple harmonics and the minimization of FEA evaluations by means of a random rotor position offset and the evaluation, by means of the same static FEA runs, of the eddy current losses in the rotor core.
Does power mobility training impact a child’s mastery motivation and spectrum of EEG activity? An exploratory project

Abstract Purpose: The purposes of this exploratory project were: (1) to evaluate the impact of power mobility training with a child who has multiple, severe impairments and (2) to determine if the child’s spectrum of electroencephalography (EEG) activity changed during power mobility training. Study design: A single-subject A–B–A–B research design was conducted with a four-week duration for each phase. Two target behaviours were explored: (1) mastery motivation assessed via the dimensions of mastery questionnaire (DMQ) and (2) EEG data collected under various conditions. Power mobility skills were also assessed. Methods: The participant was a three-year, two-month-old girl with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, gross motor function classification system level V. Each target behaviour was measured weekly. During intervention phases, power mobility training was provided. Results: Improvements were noted in subscale scores of the DMQ. Short-term and long-term EEG changes were also noted. Improvements were noted in power mobility skills. Conclusions: The participant in this exploratory project demonstrated improvements in power mobility skill and function. EEG data collection procedures and variability in an individual’s EEG activity make it difficult to determine if the participant’s spectrum of EEG activity actually changed in response to power mobility training. Additional studies are needed to investigate the impact of power mobility training on the spectrum of EEG activity in children who have multiple, severe impairments. Implications for Rehabilitation Power mobility training appeared to be beneficial for a child with multiple, severe impairments though the child may never become an independent, community-based power wheelchair user. Electroencephalography may be a valuable addition to the study of power mobility use in children with multiple, severe impairments. Power mobility training appeared to impact mastery motivation (the internal drive to solve complex problems and master new skills) in a child who has multiple, severe impairments.
Impact of hospitalisation on the outcome of adolescent anorexia nervosa.

BACKGROUND Owing to the lack of controlled trials of treatment setting in adolescent anorexia nervosa, the benefits and costs of in-patient treatment are not established. AIMS To clarify the relationship between a range of presenting features, treatment received and medium- to long-term outcome in adolescent anorexia nervosa. METHOD A range of presenting variables were rated for 75 cases of DSM-III-R anorexia nervosa at presentation to an adolescent service, including the Morgan-Russell Global Assessment Score. Cases were followed up at 2-7 years and outcome rated according to reliable methods. Setting of treatment received was also recorded. RESULTS Two out of 75 cases had died by the time of follow-up. Adequate data for 72 enabled an outcome category to be assigned. The 21 who had received inpatient treatment had a significantly worse outcome than the 51 never admitted to hospital. Multivariate analysis suggests admission to be the major predictor of poor outcome. CONCLUSIONS The benefits and costs of admission to hospital require further investigation, ideally in a randomised-controlled trial. The negative consequences of in-patient treatment are neglected in research.
Continental Economic Integration: Modeling the Impact on Labor

Many labor representatives in the United States and Canada fear that a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will lead to a redirection of investment toward low-wage regions of the continent, consequently reducing wages and employment opportunities in higher-wage areas. These concerns seem to contradict several traditional conclusions of economic theory, and the results of quantitative economic models have suggested that a NAFTA could be beneficial for workers in all three countries. These modeling efforts, however, have been based on highly restrictive assumptions regarding international investment flows, the functioning of labor markets, and other features of the economy. More realistic trade and investment models are needed in order to fairly judge the risks and opportunities posed to labor by continental integration. Some suggestions for future research are provided.
Comovement of Newly Added Stocks with National Market Indices: Evidence from Around the World

We document increased stock price comovement for companies added to major indices around the world. Using data on forty developed and emerging markets for 10 years, we find that in most markets, when added to a major index, firms experience an increase in their beta (especially if their pre-inclusion beta is low) and in the extent to which market returns explain firm stock returns (R-super-2). Stock turnover and analyst coverage also typically increase upon inclusion. Various empirical tests suggest that the category/habitat views of Barberis, Shleifer and Wurgler explain most of these results, although information-related factors also account for some findings. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.
Simultaneous Tuning of Power System Stabilizers Installed in DFIG-Based Wind Generation

This paper addresses the problem of large wind power integration and its impact on damping of the electromechanical modes of oscillation. The viability of the doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) supplying additional damping is discussed and power system stabilizers (PSS) installed in DFIG wind power generators are simultaneously tuned to increase damping levels of a multimachine system.
Osteogenic potential of laser modified and conditioned titanium zirconium surfaces

Statement of Problem: The osseointegration of dental implant is related to their composition and surface treatment. Titanium zirconium (TiZr) has been introduced as an alternative to the commercially pure titanium and its alloys as dental implant material, which is attributed to its superior mechanical and biological properties. Surface treatments of TiZr have been introduced to enhance their osseointegration ability; however, reliable, easy to use surface modification technique has not been established. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the effect of neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd-YAG) laser surface treatment of TiZr implant alloy on their osteogenic potential. Materials and Methods: Twenty disc-shaped samples of 5 mm diameter and 2 mm height were milled from the TiZr alloy ingot. The polished discs were ultrasonically cleaned in distilled water. Ten samples each were randomly selected as Group A control samples and Group B consisted of Nd-YAG laser surface etched and conditioned test samples. These were evaluated for cellular response. Cellular adhesion and proliferation were quantified, and the results were statistically analyzed using nonparametric analysis. Cellular morphology was observed using electron and epiflurosence microscopy. Results: Nd-YAG laser surface modified and conditioned TiZr samples increased the osteogenic potential. Conclusion: Nd-YAG laser surface modification of TiZr, improves the cellular activity, surface roughness, and wettability, thereby increasing the osteogenic potential.
British Techniques of Monetary Policy: A Critical Review

THE TECHNIQUES OF MONETARY CONTROL currently employed by the Bank of England are basically those of direct administrative intervention into financial markets. These direct controls and regulations constitute a systematic but incomplete alternative to the market-oriented and indirect techniques of intervention traditionally employed by the Bank of England in implementing monetary policy. The new system of direct controls has evolved over the past three decades to fill the gap created when the Bank of England abandoned control of the money supply by its traditional instruments of Bank Rate and open market policy. Paradoxically, it is virtually impossible to find an account of the new set of administrative controls viewed as an integrated system. Authoritative accounts of the techniques of British monetary policy continue to stress the traditional policy instruments as central while treating new techniques as temporary anomalies adopted under the stress of emergency situations which have been all too frequent in recent years. Thus, the supposed ineffectiveness of traditional monetary policy under British conditions has served as justification for the steadily expanding network of controls on which the Bank of England has come to rely. The central thesis of this article is that the need for these controls has arisen from a serious misdiagnosis by the British authorities of the applicability of
The research challenge of French business schools: the case of the Grandes Ecoles

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to cover the emergence, history, and development of French business schools. It is a reflection on organizational tensions, more particularly within the Grandes Ecoles system, that the challenge of research has created following the schools internationalization of the last 20 years.Design/methodology/approach – Institutional theory, social dynamics, and history provide the frame of analysis.Findings – Internationalization of the French business schools context has transformed the rules of the game. Ability to produce international quality publications has become a competitive necessity to attract faculty and students. Research is now a priority to gain international credibility, hire new faculty and perform successfully in the accreditation process. The shift from teaching institutions to international and research‐orientated business schools has created tensions and new challenges that need to be met.Originality/value – The paper provides an historical account of th.
The Organization of the Executive Branch in Latin America: What We Know and What We Need to Know

Abstract This article proposes a research agenda for the organization of the executive branch in Latin America by reviewing the literature on the U.S. and Latin American presidencies and outlining the research gap between them. The study finds that while strong, regionwide patterns have been established about cabinets in Latin America, research is lagging behind on the presidential center, presidential advisory networks, and their effects in policymaking. The article sets forth a series of research questions and suggests a combination of quantitative, social network, and case study strategies to address them.