Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Promise of Baldrige for K-12 Education. Act Policy Report.

This report examines the evidence available on improving school quality through implementation of the Malcolm Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence. The Baldrige criteria address many issues other failed educational efforts have not, including leadership, systems thinking, changes in school culture, and data-driven decision making. The report is intended to provide useful information about the current state of Baldrige applications and to make useful recommendations regarding potential Baldrige K-12 implementation, evaluation, and research. Many published Total Quality Management and Baldrige articles describe a single school or district implementation, and some of the results these implementations have achieved. However, these reports sometimes include surprisingly little detail. Detailed information and comprehensive data are the keys to fulfilling the promise of Baldrige. The literature reviewed for this report reveals that implementing Baldrige successfully involves a longterm perspective and a focus on changing core processes, especially teaching and learning. Training in Baldrige concepts and utilizing quality tools are essential, as is working together in diverse and dedicated teams toward common objectives. Leadership is critical for success. Successful implementations are not easy to achieve, and much more information is needed to enhance success. (Contains 68 references.) (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the ori inal document. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION office of Educational Research and Imorsvernent ED1)1CATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Vrhis document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy
Two flavor color superconductivity and compact stars

At large baryon density, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) becomes a weakly interacting theory of quarks and gluons [ 1]. Because of an attractive interaction between quarks, the ground state of such quark matter is a color superconductor [ 2, 3, 4]. At asymptotic densities, quark matter was studied from first principles in Refs. [ 5, 6, 7, 8]. Unfortunately, these studies are not very reliable quantitatively at realistic densities that exist in nature (i.e., at densities less than about 10ρ0 where ρ0 ≈ 0.15 fm is the normal nuclear density).
A Survey of Lifetime Reliability-Aware System-Level Design Techniques for Embedded Multiprocessor Systems

Lifetime reliability is emerging as a major concern for system design as escalating power density and hence temperature variation continues to accelerate wear-out, leading to a growing prominence of device-defects. This has attracted a significant attention both in industry and in academia to investigate on wear-out mitigation techniques, from micro-architectural adaptations to systemlevel optimization. Task mapping and scheduling-based system-level design techniques provide a low overhead approach for reliability optimization at design-time as well as reliability management at run-time. This paper provides an overview of the developments on reliability optimization using task mapping and scheduling over the past decade, since the introduction of the first reliability-aware system-level design technique in 2004.
Paternal age and birth defects: how strong is the association?

BACKGROUND Although the association between maternal age and the risks of birth defects has been well studied, the evidence from population data linking paternal age with birth defects was limited and inconsistent. METHODS We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of 5,213,248 subjects from the 1999-2000 birth registration data of the USA. Multiple logistic regressions were used to estimate the independent effect of paternal age on all birth defects and 21 specific defects groups after adjusting for potential confounding of maternal age, race, education, marital status, parity, prenatal care initiation, maternal smoking and alcohol drinking during pregnancy. RESULTS A total of 77,514 (1.5%) birth defects were recorded in the study cohort. The adjusted odds ratios were 1.04 (1.01, 1.06), 1.08 (1.04, 1.12), 1.08 (1.02, 1.14) and 1.15 (1.06, 1.24), respectively, for infants born to fathers 30-35, 40-44, 45-49 and over 50 years (test for trend, P = 0.0155), when compared with those infants born to fathers aged 25-29 for any birth defect. Advanced paternal age was associated with increased risks of heart defects, tracheo-oesophageal fistulaoesophageal atresia, other musculoskeletal/integumental anomalies, Down's syndrome and other chromosomal anomalies. Fathers under 25 years of age were also at increased risks of spina bifida/meningocele, microcephalus, omphalocele/gastroschisis and other musculoskeletal/integumental anomalies. CONCLUSIONS Infants born to older fathers have a slightly increased risk of birth defects. Young paternal age is also associated with slightly increased risk of several selected birth defects in their offspring. However, given the weak association, paternal age appears to play a small role in the aetiology of birth defects.
Electronic Reprint Applied Crystallography Expgui, a Graphical User Interface for Gsas Computer Programs Applied Crystallography Expgui, a Graphical User Interface for Gsas

Author(s) of this paper may load this reprint on their own web site provided that this cover page is retained. Republication of this article or its storage in electronic databases or the like is not permitted without prior permission in writing from the IUCr. A description and justi®cation of the EXPGUI program is presented. This program implements a graphical user interface and shell for the GSAS single-crystal and Rietveld package. Use of the Tcl/Tk scripting language allows EXPGUI to be platform independent. Also included is a synopsis of how the program is implemented.
Modeling dual-scale epidemic dynamics on complex networks with reaction diffusion processes

The frequent outbreak of severe foodborne diseases (e.g., haemolytic uraemic syndrome and Listeriosis) in 2011 warns of a potential threat that world trade could spread fatal pathogens (e.g., enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli). The epidemic potential from trade involves both intra-proliferation and inter-diffusion. Here, we present a worldwide vegetable trade network and a stochastic computational model to simulate global trade-mediated epidemics by considering the weighted nodes and edges of the network and the dual-scale dynamics of epidemics. We address two basic issues of network structural impact in global epidemic patterns: (1) in contrast to the prediction of heterogeneous network models, the broad variability of node degree and edge weights of the vegetable trade network do not determine the threshold of global epidemics; (2) a ‘penetration effect’, by which community structures do not restrict propagation at the global scale, quickly facilitates bridging the edges between communities, and leads to synchronized diffusion throughout the entire network. We have also defined an appropriate metric that combines dual-scale behavior and enables quantification of the critical role of bridging edges in disease diffusion from widespread trading. The unusual structure mechanisms of the trade network model may be useful in producing strategies for adaptive immunity and reducing international trade frictions.
Licos Centre for Transition Economics Licos Discussion Papers Comparing Performance of Firms in Eu Accession Countries with an Eu Benchmark Comparing Performance of Firms in Eu Accession Countries with an Eu Benchmark

Comparing Performance Of Firms in EU Accession Countries with an EU Benchmark The process of the East-West integration has come to a point that enlargement appears inevitable. But are these countries really ready to join the EU in terms of competitive performance? Firstly, I construct a virtual best practice production frontier for firms active in a European Union member state (EU) and firms in Central and East European (CEE) countries. By means of this common benchmark, I make inferences about the relative technical efficiency of firms in candidate countries. I show that technical efficiency is higher in the EU, however, firms in CEE countries are converging towards the EU average. I show that efficiency is not only different between countries, but even within countries. The latter suggests the need to look at industry-level technical efficiency. Secondly, I combine two existing techniques to develop a methodology to estimate firm level total factor productivity (TFP) change, decomposed into technical change, technical efficiency change and a scale component. It is mainly technical change that drives the change in TFP, i.e. technological progress. Firms in EU candidate countries are reallocating resources under decreasing returns to scale, leading to an increase in TFP. I suggest interpreting efficiency estimates as measures of firm heterogeneity.
Interpolating Between Truthful and non-Truthful Mechanisms for Combinatorial Auctions

We study the communication complexity of combinatorial auctions via interpolation mechanisms that interpolate between non-truthful and truthful protocols. Specifically an interpolation mechanism has two phases. In the first phase, the bidders participate in some non-truthful protocol whose output is itself a truthful protocol. In the second phase, the bidders participate in the truthful protocol selected during phase one. Note that virtually all existing auctions have either a non-existent first phase (and are therefore truthful mechanisms), or a non-existent second phase (and are therefore just traditional protocols, analyzed via the Price of Anarchy/Stability). The goal of this paper is to understand the benefits of interpolation mechanisms versus truthful mechanisms or traditional protocols, and develop the necessary tools to formally study them. Interestingly, we exhibit settings where interpolation mechanisms greatly outperform the optimal traditional and truthful protocols. Yet, we also exhibit settings where interpolation mechanisms are provably no better than truthful ones. Finally, we apply our new machinery to prove that the recent single-bid mechanism of Devanur et. al. [DMSW15] (the only pre-existing interpolation mechanism in the literature) achieves the optimal price of anarchy among a wide class of protocols, a claim that simply can't be addressed by appealing just to machinery from communication complexity or the study of truthful mechanisms.
Hemoglobin A1c Level Is Not Related to the Severity of Atherosclerosis in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome

Background. The relationship between hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels and the extent of coronary artery stenosis in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remains uncertain. The present study aimed to assess the correlation of HbA1c level with angiographic coronary atherosclerosis. Methods. 292 consecutive ACS patients were enrolled and stratified into three groups according to HbA1c levels (group 1: <6.0%, n = 137; group 2: 6.0–6.4%, n = 67; group 3: ≥6.5%, n = 88). The severity of coronary arteriosclerosis was assessed by Gensini score. The relationship between HbA1c and Gensini score was analyzed by multiple variables analysis. Results. HbA1c level was not associated with the severity of CAD assessed by Gensini score in patients with ACS, even after the adjustment for other risk factors. However, NT-proBNP, ApoA1 and LVEF levels were independent predictors for CAD severity. Moreover, HbA1c level was not associated with the risk of high Gensini score (>40) by logistic regression analysis. Diabetes mellitus (DM) and LVEF levels were two independent risk factors for high Gensini score. Conclusions. HbA1c level is not a significant and independent marker for the severity of angiography in ACS patients, even in high-risk patients.
Proof rules for purely quantum programs

AbstractWe apply the notion of quantumpredicate proposed by D’Hondt and Panangaden to analyzea purely quantum language fragment which describes the quantum part of a future quantumcomputer in Knill’s architecture. The denotational semantics, weakest precondition semantics,and weakest liberal precondition semantics of this language fragment are introduced. To helpreasoning about quantum programs involving quantum loops, we extend proof rules for classicalprobabilistic programs to our purely quantum programs. 1 Introduction The theory of quantum computing has attracted considerable research eﬀorts in the past twentyyears. Beneﬁting from the possibility of superposition of diﬀerent states and the linearity of quantumoperations, quantum computing may provide considerable speedup over its classical analogue [15, 6,7]. The existing quantum algorithms, however, are described at a very low level: they are usuallyrepresented as quantum circuits. A few works have been done in developing quantum programminglanguages which identify and promote high-level abstractions. Knill [8] moved the ﬁrst step byoutlining a set of basic principles for writing quantum pseudo-code; while the ﬁrst actual quantumprogramming language is due to Omer [12]. After that, Sanders and Zuliani [13], Bettelli et¨ al. [1],and Selinger [14] also proposed various quantum languages each having diﬀerent features.The standard weakest precondition calculus [4] and its probabilistic extension [11] have beensuccessful in reasoning about the correctness and even the rigorous derivation of classical programs.This success motivates us to develop analogous tools for quantum programs. Sanders and Zuliani[13] have provided for their qGCL a stepwise reﬁnement mechanics. The approach, however, isclassical in the sense that they treated quantum programs as special cases of probabilistic programs.As a consequence, known results about probabilistic weakest precondition calculus can be applieddirectly to quantum programs. Indeed, Butler and Hartel [2] have used it to reason about Grover’salgorithm.The ﬁrst step towards really quantum weakest precondition calculus was made by D’Hondt andPanangaden [3]. They proposed the brilliant idea that we can treat an observable, mathematicallydescribed by a Hermitian matrix, as the quantum analogue of ‘predicate’. The elegant dualitybetween state-transformer semantics and the weakest precondition semantics of quantum programswas then proven to hold in a more direct way.In this paper, we apply the ideas in [3] to analyze a purely quantum language fragment describingthe quantum part of a potential quantum computer in Knill’s architecture [8]. The syntax followsSelinger’s style but we consider only purely quantum data. We introduce the denotational semantics
Recursibility and optimal linear estimation and filtering

It is well known that the Kalman filter is the recursive linear minimum mean-square error (LMMSE) filter for a linear system with some assumptions on auto- and cross-correlations of process and measurement noise and initial state. It is little known, however, that for many linear systems the LMMSE filter does not have a recursive form. This paper introduces the concept of recursibility and presents related results for optimal linear estimation and filtering for arbitrary auto- and cross-correlations of the noise and state without the Kalman filter assumptions. Specifically, we present necessary and sufficient conditions for the recursibility of LMMSE estimation and filtering; more important, we present recursive LMMSE estimators and filters that are not necessarily equivalent to the batch LMMSE estimators and filters, but are optimal within the recursive class.
The policy process : a practical guide for natural resource professionals

This work is designed to teach natural resources professionals how to be more effective in solving conservation and environmental policy problems. Its presentation of basic concepts, case studies and "real world concerns" offers a deeper understanding of the policy process and should be useful to students and practitioners in such fields as wildlife biology, conservation biology, forestry, range management, ecosystem management and sustainable development. Tim Clark begins by describing the challenges faced by natural resources professionals. He then explains how the substance and process of policy analysis and decision making can be improved by using a policy sciences framework that takes into account biological, social, political and institutional considerations. Finally he reflects on how issues of human rights and morality should affect natural resources management and policy analysis.
Real-Time Gesture Recognition for Controlling a Virtual Hand

Object tracking in three dimensional environments is an area of research that has attracted a lot of attention lately, for its potential regarding the interaction between man and machine. Hand gesture detection and recognition, in real time, from video stream, plays a significant role in the human-computer interaction and, on the current digital image processing applications, this represent a difficult task. This paper aims to present a new method for human hand control in virtual environments, by eliminating the need of an external device currently used for hand motion capture and digitization. A first step in this direction would be the detection of human hand, followed by the detection of gestures and their use to control a virtual hand in a virtual environment.
A neural network based framework for apache YARN

Hadoop has become the most used framework for data intensive processes such as mapreduce. Business intelligence and technology forecasting has played a big part in enhancing the popularity of Hadoop framework. In this paper we have proposed an improvement for apache Hadoop yarn (also known as Hadoop 2.0) architecture. Container nodes, application master, resource manager and the pool of resources are arranged and used in a more efficient way in this framework. We are proposing two new algorithms for selection of application master and for selection of container nodes.
Concurrent Predicates: Finding and Fixing the Root Cause of Concurrency Violations

To reduce the complexity of debugging multithreaded programs, researchers have developed compile- and run-time techniques that automatically detect concurrency bugs. These techniques can identify a wide range of shared memory errors, but are sometimes impractical because they produce many false positives making it difficult to triage and reproduce specific bugs. To address these concerns, we introduce a control structure, called concurrent predicate (CP), which allows programmers to single out a specific bug by specifying the conditions that must be satisfied for the bug to be triggered. Using bugs from a test suite of 23 programs, applications from RADBench, and TBoost.STM, we show how CP is used to diagnose and reproduce such bugs that could not otherwise be reproduced using similar techniques.
Viewpoint-based Meta Model Engineering

Work systems are complex artifacts that address the concerns of a large and diverse group of stakeholders. These concerns must be reflected in the models which are created as used in the development process. Current work systems engineering methods assume that concerns are more or less mutually independent and can be addressed sequentially. We argue - in analogy to other engineering disciplines - that this assumption is too restrictive. To facilitate the creation of models that simultaneously express multiple stakeholder concerns, we propose an approach which systematically elicits the stakeholder concerns, and derive a customized meta model from these concerns. We also show how this approach has been applied in an industrial case study, and propose a set of extensions to the method engineering meta model that allow method engineers to include stakeholder concerns in work system design methods.
Research on Manufacturing Technology and Application of Natural Bamboo Fibre

It is introduced that China's newly developed a new type of natural fiber - the original bamboo fiber. The natural woven processing by the bamboo fabric is eco-friendly, green, natural, etc., and their products bring increasingly ardent attention on industry and social concerns. The article focuses on the natural bamboo fiber manufacturing methods, processes and supporting equipment. The preparation mechanism and research progress of bamboo fiber are analysis. The future-application areas and new products that can be developed are investigated. The main problems to be solved in the bamboo fiber preparation and the main direction of the future are pointed out. In addition, compared with other fibers, the unique advantages and higher economic value-added of the fiber are expounded and broad application prospects are pointed.
Perception of Compliant Environments through a Visual-Haptic Human System Interface

Perception of compliant environments through a human system interface with visual and proprioceptive feedback is investigated. Participants had to explore the virtual environment by gripping with two fingers. Haptically, compliance was generated by an admittance control scheme. Perception of compliance under conflicting multimodal information was analyzed using an adaptive staircase method. Inter alia, experiments showed that conflicts could be detected when compliances by both modalities differ more than 55%.
Multidimensional Threats and Military Engagement: The Case of the Italian Intervention in Libya

The military operation in Libya (2011) is a paradigmatic case regarding the growing interaction of new security challenges: regional instability, transnational organized crime and illegal immigration. The main aim of the paper is to answer the question: Why has Italy employed a specifically military instrument to tackle transnational and non-military threats? Through process tracing the research looks at the political debate over the decision-making process in the case of the Italian military engagement in Libya, emphasizing the role played by the strategic culture, international norms and domestic dynamics.
Survey on feature subset selection for high dimensional data

Nowadays high dimensional data plays an important role in many scientific and research applications. A high dimensional data consists of several features or attributes. These data may contain redundant and irrelevant features. In order to reduce the dimensionality of data, these unwanted and redundant features need to be removed. Feature selection techniques are used to identify the redundant and irrelevant features from the original set of data. Feature selection identifies most representative features from a collection of features. This survey explains a novel clustering based feature subset selection algorithm for high dimensional data, FAST. The algorithm involves removal of irrelevant features from a collection of data, construction of minimum spanning tree followed by tree partitioning and finally selecting subset of features.