Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A large DC-gain highly efficient hybrid switched-capacitor-boost converter for renewable energy systems

A new hybrid switched-capacitor-boost converter in which the energy is processed only once is proposed: the input ports of a switched-capacitor (SC) circuit and a boost power stage are connected in parallel whereas their output ports are connected in series. The SC converter is formed by two sub-stages which are operated with interleaving. It is unregulated. Its capacitors are charged till almost saturation, the difference between the voltages across the capacitors at the end of the charging interval and end of the discharging interval is very small, resulting in a very high efficiency of the capacitors charging process. The purpose of the SC stage is to give most of the voltage step-up gain. It processes most of the energy. Only a small portion of the energy is processed by a PWM boost converter. Its purpose is to assure overall regulation. As the role of this stage is not to step-up the voltage, it can work with a small duty-cycle value, chosen to get the highest possible efficiency. The sub-stages of the SC circuit are interleaved with the boost stage to minimize the input current ripple. As a result, a converter with high efficiency, large voltage step-up, and small input current ripple is obtained. The line and load regulation ability of the new configuration is proved analytically and confirmed experimentally. A 200 W prototype was built to step-up an input voltage of 14 V to 98 V. The measured efficiency is 87%.
Partial nutrient removal under insufficient organic carbon from digested swine wastewater in sequencing batch biofilm reactor

The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of using a biofilm process for partial nutrient removal from digested swine wastewater containing low ratios of chemical oxygen demand (COD) to nitrogen and phosphorus; on average, 1.6 g COD g− 1 N and 7 g COD g− 1 P. We used a laboratory-scale sequencing batch biofilm reactor with alternating conditions of 4 hours anaerobic/ 12 hours aerobic, and a hydraulic retention time of 16 hours. Although the concentration of dissolved oxygen under aerobic conditions was > 2.5 mg L− 1, the efficiency of denitrification was up to 85% of the theoretical maximum at the available influent COD, with an ammonia removal rate of 0.73 g N m− 2 d− 1 and without the accumulation of nitrite or nitrate. Activity tests showed that the biomass from the reactor consisted of denitrifying polyphosphate accumulating organisms (DNPAO) that can use nitrite as an electron acceptor. The organic carbon in the digested swine wastewater was utilized very effectively through the denitrifying phosphorus uptake process, as implied by the low utilization ratios of COD to nitrogen, 4.2 g COD g− 1 N, and phosphorus, 14 g COD g− 1 P. A COD value as low as 50 mg L− 1 and an increased ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus from 4:1 to 6:1 in the effluent, which is more suitable for use as a liquid fertilizer, were achieved through the processes of nitrification and denitrifying phosphorus uptake in the sequencing batch biofilm reactor.
Image-based cycle route generation on mobile devices

Current planning tools for cycling trips do not sufficiently support the often explorative, spontaneous nature of cycling as route creation is not provided in a way suitable for usage on typical mobile devices in situ. In close cooperation with the target group, we developed and evaluated an approach where cycling routes based on selected images of points of interest can be generated on-the-fly.
Adaptive Systems in Pattern Recognition

The perceptual superiority of the human visual system over automata is outlined comparing the properties of both systems. The most effective property with regard to pattern recognition is the internal adaptability and the ability of abstracting. Both properties are well performed by human beings. A mechanical perceptor for complex pattern recognition must also have these capabilities. The use of adaptation for pattern recognition is discussed. The realization of these properties by machines is difficult, especially the development of an adequate feature generator which performs the internal adaptability and thus solves the problem of identification-criteria invariance of patterns. This is assumed to be the main task in pattern recognition research. External teaching processes may be accomplished by adaptive categorizers. The existing classification methods are outlined and discussed with regard to adaptive systems. Adaptive categorizers of a learning matrix type and a perceptron type are compared as to structure, linear classification performance, and training routine. It is assumed, however, that the somewhat passive external adaptation of categorizers must be supplemented by a more active adaptation by the system itself.
GEMSIS - a novel application of speech recognition to emergency and disaster medicine

This paper reports an instance of novel application of speech recognition applied to emergency and disaster medicine. The emergency medical system named “GEMSIS” (Gifu Emergency Medical Supporting Intelligent System) including the speech recognition application is also introduced in this paper. Speech recognition plays an important role in this system; when a paramedic team is sent to a disaster or accident site, a life-saving technician reports the situation using speech recognition in the site. The recognized information are shared by all hospitals and critical care centers. This system can solve the severe issue of the emergency medical care in which pre-hospital medical care is insufﬁcient due to lack of information. A prototype application of speech recognition interface was constructed to evaluate a baseline performance and to make a discussion with medical doctors. Through this work, it is found that the applicable domain of speech processing technology can be extended.
Multibranded Platform Development: A Corporate Strategy with Multimanagerial Challenges

Product platforms have become a principal fundament and a prerequisite for profitable product development in almost every industry today. Since platforms have a desirable potential to reduce development and production costs, there is an extensive bulk of knowledge describing underlying platform principles and challenges. But the vast majority of the identified challenges are based on single firms and brand contexts, which imply that previous findings might not be applicable when platform development involves several brands, here called multibranded platforms. In the present article it is therefore suggested that there is lack of knowledge describing managerial challenges of multibranded platform development. To be able to capture such a strategy that holds certain complexity and unknown dimension, an explorative and longitudinal field study is supposed to achieve the finest insights into a yet incompletely documented phenomenon. Because of the field-study approach, findings from the study are theoretically validated in relation to existing knowledge from other contributions. To start developing a multibranded product platform development framework, the present study identifies three distinctively different strategic forces that must be handled in such multibranded platform development: (1) the creation of a common architecture; (2) accomplishing product differentiation within an expanded and multibranded product scope; and (3) corporate responsibility in the transition from single-branded to multibranded platform development. Three dimensions of managerial challenges are identified. The first is technology management challenges, which deal with commonalization in terms of the development of common multibranded architectures. The major challenge to achieve architectural commonalization is that no individuals from any brand have the proper multibranded architectural knowledge. Instead, multibranded architectures must evolve from the beginning and be founded on a new and expanded brand scope. Architectural commonalization also includes elements of unlearning since previous experiences have little relevance. The second challenge is brand management challenges and deals with brand differentiation in terms of portfolio management. Differentiation is an effect of increased diversification that particularly challenges brands of opposite generic competitive strategies. The third challenge dimension is called corporate management challenges and deals with the combination of the two others. From a corporate management perspective, it seems important to provide new organizational structures that support and combine interests of technology and brand management. Finally, multibranded platform development is a corporate strategy that affects business units and functional units thoroughly.
Employees' Reaction to Enterprise Resource Planning: The Influence of Procedural Justice

Organizations adopt enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, a software program integrating core business functions, to enhance organizational performance. However, ERP systems often run into implementation problems and thus have not lived up to all the promises suggested by advocates. Implementation problems may be traceable to lack of input from employees and delegation of ERP functionality to vendors and consultants. This study investigates the impact of procedural justice, perceived organizational support, and ERP leadership during the ERP implementation process on employee involvement with, and commitment to, ERP systems.
An Investigation of Recurrent Neural Network Architectures Using Word Embeddings for Phrase Break Prediction

This paper presents our investigations of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) for the phrase break prediction task. With the advent of deep learning, there have been attempts to apply deep neural networks (DNNs) to phrase break prediction. While deep neural networks are able to effectively capture dependencies across features, they lack the ability to capture long-term relations that are spread over time. On the other hand, RNNs are able to capture long-term temporal relations and thus are better suited for tasks where sequences have to be modeled. We model the phrase break prediction task as a sequence labeling task, and show by means of experimental results that RNNs perform better at phrase break prediction as compared to conventional DNN systems.
Inferring Loop Invariants Dynamically

There is extensive literature on inferring loop invariants statically (i.e. without explicitly executing the program under analysis). We report on a new dynamic technique for inferring loop invariants based on the invariant detector Daikon [2]. Unlike InvGen [4], this new technique follows a counter example guided approach for refining candidate loop invariants. Let us consider the following annotated program for multiplying 16 bit integers in the left column:
The Relationship between Exporters from a Developing Country and Importers based in a Developed Country: Conflict Considerations

Understanding buyer‐seller relationships in marketing channels relies on modelling conflict, yet little research concerning this question has been conducted in the context of exporter marketing channels. This article focuses on certain conflict‐related aspects of the exporter‐importer trading relationship. The research involves Greek exporters and importers in the UK, and reveals relatively low degrees of conflict. This leads to the identification of both managerial implications and future research directions.
Risk stratification and treatment effect of statins in secondary cardiovascular prevention in old age: Additive value of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide

Background To date, no validated risk scores exist for prediction of recurrence risk or potential treatment effect for older people with a history of a cardiovascular event. Therefore, we assessed predictive values for recurrent cardiovascular disease of models with age and sex, traditional cardiovascular risk markers, and ‘SMART risk score’, all with and without addition of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). Treatment effect of pravastatin was assessed across low and high risk groups identified by the best performing models. Design and methods Post-hoc analysis in 2348 participants (age 70–82 years) with a history of cardiovascular disease within the PROspective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER) study. Composite endpoint was a recurrent cardiovascular event/cardiovascular mortality. Results The models with age and sex, traditional risk markers and SMART risk score had comparable predictive values (area under the curve (AUC) 0.58, 0.61 and 0.59, respectively). Addition of NT-proBNP to these models improved AUCs with 0.07 (p for difference ((pdiff)) = 0.003), 0.05 (pdiff = 0.009) and 0.06 (pdiff < 0.001), respectively. For the model with age, sex and NT-proBNP, the hazard ratio for the composite endpoint in pravastatin users compared with placebo was 0.67 (95% confidence interval 0.49–0.90) for those in the highest third of predicted risk and 0.91 (0.57–1.46) in the lowest third, number needed to treat 12 and 115 (pdiff = 0.038) respectively. Conclusion In secondary cardiovascular prevention in old age addition of NT-proBNP improves prediction of recurrent cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular mortality and treatment effect of pravastatin. A minimal model including age, sex and NT-proBNP predicts as accurately as complex risk models including NT-proBNP.
A Managerial Guide to Forecasting

In order to predict the future we must examine the past in order to observe trends over periods of time and establish the degree of probability with which these trends are likely to repeat themselves in the future. All forecasts are wrong, and management must be aware of this fact and decide upon the degree of inexactitude that can be tolerated when planning for the future.
A Framework for Self-Diagnosis and Condition Monitoring for Embedded Systems Using a SOM-Based Classifier

This paper presents a system level framework for system-on-chip (SoC) based embedded devices that may include adaptive and reconfigurable elements. Current development support and debugging solutions are highly dependant on off-line post-mortem style inspection, and even those that utilise tracing for real-time and schedule-critical systems rely on external development tools and environments. This new framework introduces an AI-lead infrastructure that has the potential to reduce much of the development effort while complementing existing debugging circuits. Specifically this paper investigates how to use a Kohonen self-organising map (SOM) as a classifier, and shows a preliminary investigation into how to determine the quality of a map after training. This classifier is a first step in diagnosing failure, degradation and anomalies (i.e. provides condition monitoring) in an embedded system from a system level point of view, and in the larger task of self-diagnosis of an embedded system.
Database marketing and organizational learning theory: toward a research agenda

Observes that, despite the prevalent use of customer databases, very little academic research has examined the practice. Discusses the plethora of research opportunities in database marketing. First, defines database marketing, and second, promotes organizational learning theory as a useful tool by which database marketing research can advance. Finally reviews prior research, and presents research questions related to the design, maintenance and applications of customer databases.
Fuzzy performance measurement for supply chain management in Malaysian rubber glove manufacturer

Companies are trying to increase their market share due to globalisation in recent years. Various types of products and customers faced different challenges for companies to achieve market share. Hence, to accomplish this goal, successful companies have to concentrate on the efficiency and effectiveness of their activities. Supply chain involves all activities that fulfil customers' demands and transfer materials through downstream into upstream of the chain. Since, the supply chain creates value for customers and companies simultaneously, monitoring supply chain activities is essential. Numerous performance measurement systems and frameworks in the supply chain have been developed in recent years. This paper discusses on the development of a framework for measuring qualitative metrics in supply chain. Qualitative metrics in supply chain management were identified and then experts selected the most common metrics between them. Fuzzy logic controller was applied to translate verbal expression into numerical variables. Finally, a framework was programmed in the MATLAB® software for easy utilisation and evaluation of the qualitative performances in the supply chain.
Immunohistochemical expression of CD23 and CD40 may identify prognostically favorable subgroups of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: a Nordic Lymphoma Group Study.

PURPOSE In search for subgroups of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with different histogenetic origin and prognosis, as has been described by gene expression profiling, we examined tumor specimens from 125 patients with DLBCL, uniformly treated by either cyclophosphamideAdriamycin-vincristine-prednisone or methotrexate, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone, and bleomycin in a multicenter trial set by the Nordic Lymphoma Group 1989-1994. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Bcl-6, CD10, and CD40 were chosen as markers for a germinal center phenotype, CD23 as a marker of pre/early germinal center origin, and CD138 as a marker for postgerminal center origin. In addition, expression of the apoptotic regulators bcl-2 and bax was analyzed. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed using the EnVision method. RESULTS CD10 was positive in 51%, bcl-6 in 97%, and CD138 only in 2% of the cases. No prognostic conclusions could be drawn from analysis of these factors. CD40 was positive in 76% of the cases. This group was associated with superior time to treatment failure (P = 0.027) and overall survival (OS; P = 0.0068). By Cox regression analysis, positivity for CD40 was shown to be a prognostic factor for OS, independent of International Prognostic Index. CD23 was positive in 16% of the cases (all CD5 negative and all CD40 positive). This group showed a strong tendency for better OS (P = 0.033). CD40 expression correlated with bax but not with bcl-2 expression. CONCLUSIONS CD23 and CD40 expression seems to be prognostically favorable in DLBCL. This may be secondary to a germinal center origin or attributable to increased apoptosis via induction of bax and/or enhanced T-cell interaction, resulting in improved autologous tumor response. Confirmatory studies are necessary.
Labor-Based Industry Clusters: Using Occupational Structure to Target Industries in Missouri

The results of this analysis have identified ten labor-based industry clusters, which are to be used for targeted economic development in Missouri. The target clusters include: arts and media; banking; business and organization services; education; finance and insurance; health care; high technology; information technology; transportation; and wholesale trade and purchasing. Collectively, the ten targeted industry clusters identified in the analysis have a substantial impact on Missouri's economy. In 2000, the targeted clusters generated 1.17 million jobs, which accounted for 43.93% of statewide employment. In turn these jobs generated $43.42 billion in wages, which accounted for 51.78% of statewide wages. The clusters pay an above average wage per job of $37,008, which was 117.86% of the state average wage per job. Over the past decade, wage growth has outpaced employment growth, resulting in higher wages per job. Since 1990, employment has grown by 17.92%, wages by 28.81% and average wages per job by 9.24%.
Virological footprint of CD 4 + T-cell responses during chronic hepatitis C virus infection

Received 22 October 2009 Accepted 21 January 2010 Human and animal model evidence suggests that CD4 T cells play a critical role in the control of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. However, despite their importance, the mechanism behind the failure of such populations in chronic disease is not understood and the contribution of viral mutation is not known. To address this, this study defined the specificity and virological footprint of CD4 T cells in chronic infection. CD8 T-cell-depleted peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 61 HCV genotype 1-infected patients were analysed against a panel of peptides covering the HCV genotype 1 core – a region where CD4 T-cell responses may be reproducibly obtained. In parallel, the core region and E2 protein were sequenced. Gamma interferon-secreting CD4 T-cell responses directed against multiple epitopes were detected in 53 % of individuals, targeting between one and four peptides in the HCV core. Viral sequence evaluation revealed that these CD4 T-cell responses were associated with mutants in 2/21 individuals. In these two cases, the circulating sequence variant was poorly recognized by host CD4 T cells. Bioinformatics analyses revealed no overall evidence of selection in the target epitopes and no differences between the groups with and without detectable CD4 T-cell responses. It was concluded that sustained core peptide-specific CD4 T-cell responses may be reproducibly measured during chronic HCV infection and that immune escape may occur in specific instances. However, overall the virological impact of such responses is limited and other causes for CD4 T-cell failure in HCV must be sought.
Developing corporate accounting regulation in Libya past and future challenges

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and development of corporate accounting regulation in Libya. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview methods were used to collect data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with external auditors, financial managers, accounting academics and regulators. Findings – This paper found general agreement that the accounting regulation of public corporations and banks is strongly influenced by the Libyan Commercial Code and the Income Tax Law. Although listed companies and the banking sector in Libya are required to comply with International Accounting Standards (IASs), the majority of them still comply with the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP). Moreover, the conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that the enforcement of IASs through the Libyan Accountants and Auditors Association (LAAA), local auditors and the Libyan Stock Market has not achieved its purpose. The results also .