Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measurement of Quality of Life II. From the Philosophy of Life to Science

We believe it should be possible to make operational the philosophical ideas of the good life in order to make it the object of scientific research. The Quality of Life Research Center in Copenhagen, Denmark has therefore spent the last several years with these questions and tried to find practical and evidence-based scientific solutions.This paper describes the theoretical road taken in moving from the abstract philosophy of life to the actual questionnaire. It presents an important aspect of our work with the quality-of-life (QOL) concept though the last decade. We have developed the quality-of-life philosophy; the SEQOL, QOL5, and QOL1 questionnaires; the quality-of-life theory; and the quality-of-life research methodology. We carried out quality-of-life population surveys and developed techniques for improving quality of life with the chronically sick patient. This paper presents the struggle to create a rating scale for the generic measurement of the global quality of life, based on quality-of-life theory, derived from quality-of-life philosophy. The developed rating scale is a ratio scale combining a Likert scale, a visual analogue scale, and a numerical scale, to a reduced combination scale. This allows for the extraction of as much information from the respondents as possible without exhausting them unduly or demanding more than can be reasonably expected.
The Small Heat Shock Protein α-Crystallin B Shows Neuroprotective Properties in a Glaucoma Animal Model

Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease that leads to irreversible retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss and is one of the main causes of blindness worldwide. The pathogenesis of glaucoma remains unclear, and novel approaches for neuroprotective treatments are urgently needed. Previous studies have revealed significant down-regulation of α-crystallin B as an initial reaction to elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), followed by a clear but delayed up-regulation, suggesting that this small heat-shock protein plays a pathophysiological role in the disease. This study analyzed the neuroprotective effect of α-crystallin B in an experimental animal model of glaucoma. Significant IOP elevation induced by episcleral vein cauterization resulted in a considerable impairment of the RGCs and the retinal nerve fiber layer. An intravitreal injection of α-crystallin B at the time of the IOP increase was able to rescue the RGCs, as measured in a functional photopic electroretinogram, retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, and RGC counts. Mass-spectrometry-based proteomics and antibody-microarray measurements indicated that a α-crystallin injection distinctly up-regulated all of the subclasses (α, β, and γ) of the crystallin protein family. The creation of an interactive protein network revealed clear correlations between individual proteins, which showed a regulatory shift resulting from the crystallin injection. The neuroprotective properties of α-crystallin B further demonstrate the potential importance of crystallin proteins in developing therapeutic options for glaucoma.
A NOTE ON COMPUTATION OF THE DOUBLE‐HURDLE MODEL WITH DEPENDENCE WITH AN APPLICATION TO TOBACCO EXPENDITURE

This note shows how the likelihood of the full double-hurdle model with dependence can be reformulated to allow estimation with standard econometric software. An illustrative example is provided, using data on tobacco expenditure by households in the 1984 U.K. Family Expenditure Survey. Copyright 1992 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the Board of Trustees of the Bulletin of Economic Research
Fears of Deflation and Policy Responses then and Now

For the first time since the 1930s, deflation in both goods and asset prices poses as much, or more, of a threat than does inflation. In this paper we explore public and policy maker perceptions and reactions to deflation covering the period from the late 19th century until the present. We also consider the effectiveness of, and rationale for, policy initiatives aimed at combating deflation. We include an analysis of the views of economists and the financial press, primarily in North America and the United Kingdom, during the deflationary period prior to World War II. We also compare the experience of the Great Crash of 1929 with the recent cases of deflation in both asset prices and consumer prices in China and Japan.
Static and Dynamic Views of European Integration

There is a theoretical and empirical need to distinguish between static support for the EU as it now is and dynamic support for further integration. Although most Europeans endorse the EU as a good thing today, the European Election Study finds no popular majority for an ever closer union, the commitment of EU institutions. Less than one-third endorses further integration and less than one-third thinks integration has gone too far. The largest group favours keeping the EU as it is. Their outlook reflects ambivalence; they see the EU as having both strengths and weaknesses. It does not reflect lack of EU knowledge or of socio-economic resources, as is the case with ‘don't knows’. While eurozone institutions are committed to further integration, most EU citizens are not. Likewise, there is no majority supporting eurosceptic demands for returning powers to national governments.
Resource allocation with uncertain sensor models

A Type-2 fuzzy logic approach to model sensor uncertainty is developed. Part of a remotely deployed sensor system, an acoustic array used for both classification and localization was determined to have potential issues with its array elements' locations. These issues can be caused by a number of factors including improper initial deployment, movement of the array elements by external forces, and acoustic obstructions. The uncertainty model used for both tracking and resource allocation itself has uncertainty. Such uncertainty has been modeled using fuzzy logic for the resource allocation effort. The model of the uncertainty was modified using a type-2 fuzzy logic to handle variations in the array placement. This model was then used in the resource allocation technique. The use of uncertainty in the modeling did have a noticeable effect on the system performance with the key difference occurring for mid-level battery power. Also, the initial consideration of the new model for the tracking system is discussed.
Aggregation of DTN bundles for channel asymmetric space communications

Delay/disruption tolerant networking (DTN) is considered one of the most suitable technologies to handle challenging space communications. Aggregation of multiple DTN bundles within a data transport block for space communications has been in controversy for years. In this paper, we present an experimental investigation, using a PC-based testbed, of whether aggregation of multiple DTN bundles within a single Licklider transmission protocol (LTP) block has performance advantage over the default approach of “one bundle per block” for channelrate asymmetric cislunar communications.
Design of ESD Protection Device for  $K\!/\!Ka$ -Band Applications in Nanoscale CMOS Process

An inductor-assisted silicon-controlled rectifier (LASCR) device is proposed to protect the gigahertz ICs in nanoscale CMOS technologies from electrostatic discharge (ESD) damages. The LASCR with the assistance of inductor can provide the bidirectional ESD current paths and fine-tune the high-frequency performances. Each LASCR test device has been implemented in a compact size of ~100 × 100 μm2. The LASCR test devices have been successfully verified in a silicon chip to achieve 4-7.5 kV human-body-model ESD robustness with 1-3-dB loss in K/Ka-band (18-40 GHz). With the better performances, the proposed ESD protection device is very suitable for K/Ka-band applications.
Media independence and firm performance: Evidence from emerging markets

Can media have any influence on firm performance? Do firms incountries with more independent media perform better than firms with lessindependent media? This paper seeks to answer these questions and aims todocument the relationship between media independence and firm performance inemerging markets. Using a dataset fromtwenty-four emerging markets, we show a significantly positive relationshipbetween media independence and firm performance. We argue that independentmedia reduces information asymmetries for stock market participants.Consequently, it becomes hard for managers to expropriate, thereby improvingperformance of firms. We also show that the relationship between mediaindependence and firm performance is more pronounced in firms that have higheragency problem. For instance, our results show stronger impact of mediaindependence on firms with no dividend payouts, no analyst coverage,concentrated ownership, and higher level of operational complexity. It showsthat media can play a substitute for traditional governance mechanisms inemerging markets.
Integrated lean TQM model for sustainable development

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore an “integrated lean TQM model for sustainable development” by synthesising the best practices of TQM in all functions of business and management.Design/methodology/approach – Further to the paper “Integrated lean TQM model for global sustainability and competitiveness” published in The TQM Journal, Vol. 22 No. 2, 2010, the focus of this paper is to provide more practical examples with a view to developing a working model integrating ISO 9000, ISO 14001, OHSAS18001, and six‐σ. Furthermore, a new term called “5S+” is used to combine the two sets of well‐proven 5‐S and lean 5‐S (L5S) audit checklists. The 5S+ approach will ensure subtanable development of most types of organizations in the contemporary business environment.Findings – Since 1993, the author used the proprietary 5S+ audit checklists for training and consultancy in no less than ten countries with over 100,000 persons from around 8,000 organisations worldwide. Based on this rich experience, a new.
Joint Tx/Rx Energy-Efficient Scheduling in Multi-Radio Wireless Networks: A Divide-and-Conquer Approach

Most of the existing works on energy-efficient wireless communications only consider the transmitter (Tx) or the receiver (Rx) side power consumption, but not both. Moreover, the circuit power consumption is often assumed to be constant regardless of the transmission rate or the bandwidth. In this paper, we investigate the system-level energy-efficient transmission in multi-radio access networks by considering joint Tx and Rx power consumption and adopting link-dependent dynamic circuit power model. A combinatorial-type optimization problem for user scheduling, radio-link activation, and power control is formulated with the objective of maximizing joint Tx and Rx energy efficiency (EE). We tackle this problem using a divide-and-conquer approach. Specifically, the concepts of link EE and user EE are first introduced, which have structures similar to the system EE. Then, we explore their hierarchical relationships and propose an optimal algorithm whose complexity is linear in the product of the total number of users and radio links. Furthermore, we investigate the EE maximization problem with minimum user data rate constraints. The divide-and-conquer approach is also applied to find a sub-optimal but efficient solution. Finally, comprehensive numerical results are provided to validate the theoretical findings and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.
Glucocorticoid receptors in childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia.

Abstract Glucocorticoid receptor levels were quantitated in leukemic blasts from bone marrow aspirates of 174 children with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Using a whole-cell assay, we found that [3H]dexamethasone binding had the following characteristics: (a) reached a steady state in 30 min at 22° and was stable for at least 2 hr; (b) was linear with cell number between 1 and 6 × 106 cells/assay; (c) was higher in freshly prepared blasts compared to blasts stored for 18 hr at 4 or 22°; (d) was specific for glucocorticoids; (e) had a Kd of ≈1 × 10-8m; and (f) required a postincubation washing step to maximize sensitivity and decrease nonspecific binding. Glucocorticoid receptor levels in patient samples exhibited a wide range from 2,248 to 79,364 sites/cell (median, 18,123). A lower level was correlated with the following biological and clinical characteristics at diagnosis: high leukocyte count; positive sheep erythrocyte rosette test; T-cell surface antigens; presence of mediastinal mass; age 10 years; central nervous system leukemia; and black race. There was no correlation of receptor levels with in vitro [3H]thymidine labeling indices, terminal deoxynucleotide transferase levels, FAB classification, or sex. For 43 patients treated on Total Therapy Study IX (follow-up duration from 24 to 33 months), a lower receptor level ( 100 × 103/cu mm, positive erythrocyte rosette test, central nervous system involvement, and mediastinal mass) were excluded, lower glucocorticoid receptor levels were still associated with higher risk of relapse (p = 0.007). We conclude that glucocorticoid receptor levels may be an important prognostic indicator in childbood acute lymphocytic leukemia.
The Middle School Achievement Project: Involving Parents and Community in School Improvement

learning and enhance their knowledge of appro priate middle school classroom practices. Currently parents and community members are involved in middle level schools in a variety of ways and most typically they give assistance to students, teachers, and administrators by serving as monitors and ticket sellers for student activities, operating concessions for the benefit of the Shadow study researchers like to observe productive student work groups. PHOTO BY TIMOTHY L. VACULA
Factor affecting mobile adoption companies in Malaysia

Mobile banking refers to the use of smart phones or other mobile devices to perform tasks online banking from your home computer, such as monitoring the account balances, transfer of funds between accounts, pay bills and prepaid top-up. Mobile banking is a new strategy for the bank to enhance their latest technology in a new dynamic marketing environment. The low penetration of mobile banking in Malaysia, especially in terms of adoption patterns is becoming the research interest, especially when compared to the total number of cellular telephone subscriptions, which recorded the highest number of penetration rates in quarter three of 146.2 percent in 2013. Although the number of cellular telephone users is huge, yet the mobile banking penetration rate was just 12.7 percent last year against the total population. This implies that those who employ the mobile banking market is still the minority. Thus, more effort needs to be practiced to amend the number of users and penetration rate of mobile banking. Even if mobile banking is relatively new in Malaysia, it is very important for the banks to mitigate this issue and thus can draw more users. It is a fact that mobile banking is yet in its infancy and quite foreign to the people of Malaysia. The purpose of this study was to explore the affecting factors of intention to use of mobile banking in Malaysia. The issue of risk in term of security, privacy, financial, time and performance are the five important dimensions in risk factor that may affect the user’s intention to adopt the mobile banking services. Therefore, this study attempts to further discuss on the elements of risk to have a better understanding of the adoption of the mobile banking. The findings of this study are very important for the banking services in Malaysia to have a better outcome and strategy to increase the penetration rate of mobile banking users. Keywords : Mobile Banking; Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior; Perceived Risk JEL Classifications: M00
Two sparsity-controlled schemes for 1-norm support vector classification

Support vector machines (SVMs) are currently a very active research area for machine learning, data mining, etc. Sparsity control is an issue deserving further attention for the improvement of existing support vector machines techniques. This work presents two new sparsity control methods for 1- norm support vector classification. The first scheme, called SVC-sc1, is formulated by adding a penalty term in the objective function, whereas the second scheme, called SVC-sc2, is obtained by adding an extra inequality to the original optimization problem. The common goal is to reduce the number of retained support vectors. Besides mathematical formulation, we present test results on the benchmark Ripley data set. The experimental results indicate that both schemes outperform the conventional SVC, whereas SVC-sc2 has a still better performance than SVC-sc1.
Getting started with open‐hardware: Development and control of microfluidic devices

Understanding basic concepts of electronics and computer programming allows researchers to get the most out of the equipment found in their laboratories. Although a number of platforms have been specifically designed for the general public and are supported by a vast array of on‐line tutorials, this subject is not normally included in university chemistry curricula. Aiming to provide the basic concepts of hardware and software, this article is focused on the design and use of a simple module to control a series of PDMS‐based valves. The module is based on a low‐cost microprocessor (Teensy) and open‐source software (Arduino). The microvalves were fabricated using thin sheets of PDMS and patterned using CO2 laser engraving, providing a simple and efficient way to fabricate devices without the traditional photolithographic process or facilities. Synchronization of valve control enabled the development of two simple devices to perform injection (1.6 ± 0.4 μL/stroke) and mixing of different solutions. Furthermore, a practical demonstration of the utility of this system for microscale chemical sample handling and analysis was achieved performing an on‐chip acid–base titration, followed by conductivity detection with an open‐source low‐cost detection system. Overall, the system provided a very reproducible (98%) platform to perform fluid delivery at the microfluidic scale.
Learning engineering in a problem-based and project-oriented learning environment: gendered features of learning and identity development

In many Western countries, the lack of women in the field of science and technology is seen as a problem from a feminist perspective in concern with equal opportunity. As a developed and democratic country, especially in the perspective of gender equality, Denmark witnesses an uneven gender distribution in the engineering profession – women’s participation is 12%. As a joint member of an EU project about gender equality in the engineering profession, the project ‘Get a life, Engineer! ’, managed by the Engineering Association of Denmark, aims at providing a broad picture of gender and technology, finding possibilities of reducing gender gaps and desegregation in the engineering profession and attracting both men and women to become engineers.
Exploring MPE/MWE Training for Chinese Handwriting Recognition

The HMM-based segmentation-free strategy for Chinese handwriting recognition has the merit that the model parameters can be trained with text line samples without annotation of character boundaries. However, the recognition performance has been limited to the general maximum likelihood estimation framework. In this paper, we investigate the discriminative training framework based on MPE/MWE criteria in the context of Chinese handwriting recognition for the first time. It optimizes a objective function that is a smooth measure of recognition error. Then EBW procedure is used to solve such criteria. Some key issues for robust MPE/MWE training are explored. We reveal that MPE/MWE requires more training samples, however, Chinese handwriting recognition poses severe data sparsity problem. We explore the sample synthesizing to help the training process. Experiments are conducted on Chinese handwriting database and the effectiveness of MPE/MWE training is manifested. In particular, at least 28% error reduction of recognition rates is observed in MPE/MWE training with 50 copies of synthetic sample when big ram is used to approximate the language model.
Extending environmental governance : China's environmental state and civil society

This thesis is a study of environmental governance reform in China. It investigates how new governance policies and arrangements are being introduced in order to overcome problems associated with China’s sizable environmental protection ‘implementation deficit’. Using an analytical framework based on ‘good governance’ criteria of accountability, transparency, participation, and rule of law, it focuses on developments within China’s environmental state, which includes state agencies and their policies, and civil society, incorporating environmental protection NGOs, citizen activists, and the media. Based on in-depth, qualitative research, this thesis examines several aspects of environmental governance reform in China: attempts to make local officials pay greater attention to environmental issues, formal public participation legislation and mechanisms, information disclosure, and ‘private interest’ activism. This thesis identifies interactions between the environmental state and civil society as vital in establishing new, more participatory governance processes. Through acting as ‘policy pioneers’, environmental activists can consolidate governance reforms emanating from the environmental state, and promote new governance norms. At the same time, however, this thesis identifies significant obstacles to the establishment of a more inclusive ‘governance’ approach to environmental protection in China that goes beyond Party-state institutions and actors. For this reason, it challenges the argument that China’s system of environmental governance is likely to converge any further with those observed in western liberal democracies.