Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Robust and Efficient Method for Fusing Heterogeneous Data from Traffic Sensors on Freeways

Abstract: Fusing freeway traffic data such as spot speeds and travel times from a variety of traffic sensors (loops, cameras, automated vehicle identification systems) into a coherent, consistent, and reliable picture of the prevailing traffic conditions (e.g., speeds, flows) is a critical task in any off‐ or online traffic management or data archival system. This task is challenging as such data differ in terms of spatial and temporal resolution, accuracy, reliability, and most importantly in terms of spatiotemporal semantics. In this article, we propose a data fusion algorithm (the extended generalized Treiber‐Helbing filter [the EGTF]) which, although heuristic in nature, uses basic notions from traffic flow theory and is generic in the sense that it does not impose any restrictions on the way the data are structured in a temporal or spatial way. This implies that the data can stem from any data source, given they provide a means to distinguish between free flowing and congested traffic. On the basis of (ground truth and sensor) data from a micro‐simulation tool, we demonstrate that the EGTF method results in accurate reconstructed traffic conditions and is robust to increasing degrees of data corruption. Further research should focus on validating the approach on real data. The method can be straightforwardly implemented in any traffic data archiving system or application which requires consistent and coherent traffic data from traffic sensors as inputs.
Beam Hardening Correction in X-Ray Computed Tomography : A Comparison of Two Iterative Model-Based Reconstruction Methods

While the expenses for computational power decrease, iterative reconstruction methods for x-ray computed tomography (CT) that allow the use of improved model assumptions, become more attractive. In applications for non-destructive testing one of the most common degradations of image quality with standard x-ray CT reconstruction methods is beam hardening. Techniques for beam hardening correction using filtered back projection usually account for a single material only. In the case of multiple materials further improvement can be achieved using iterative methods. We developed a framework for reconstruction based on the principles of maximum-likelihood estimation that accounts for beam hardening by adapting the algorithms of L. Brabant (2012) and B. De Man (2001). These algorithms are tested in simulation studies as well as in measurements with multiple materials. We compare the results and show that iterative model-based reconstruction methods turn out to be a promising tool in order to reduce beam hardening.
Gender diversity on the board of directors and its impact on firm value and corporate governance: european evidence

Throughout all Europe, numerous countries have been imposing mandatory quotas regarding the presence of women on the board of directors. This regulation seeks to increase board diversity with the argument that imposed female quotas may help enhance corporate governance and firms’ financial performance. Using a sample of 1092 European firms, from 2005 to 2016, I examine the impact of board gender diversity on firm value and some aspects of corporate governance. In most parts of my dissertation, I follow the approach of Adams and Ferreira (2009). Their insight allowed to formulate 5 hypotheses based on the attendance of the directors, the linkage between directors’ (and CEO’s) compensation and firm’s stock performance, the sensitivity of CEO turnover and, ultimately, the effect of gender diversity on firm value. The literature shows a variety of results regarding this “female effect” on corporate performance. In this study, the results support the hypothesis that women tend to improve the monitoring quality of the board in aspects related to compensation, attendance and CEO Turnover. Overall, the percentage of female in the board is negatively related with firm value. Nevertheless, when controlled for the level of corporate governance and fixed effects, this study demonstrates that women tend to impact positively the value of well-governed firms but end up harming poorly governed firms, maybe due to the constraints produced by entrenched directors. These outcomes support the argument that mandatory quotas serve primarily the purpose of increasing gender diversity and equality of opportunities. However, board female quotas also have some positive consequences for corporate governance and performance in firms with strong prior governance standards.
A review of spiritual assessment in health care practice

The recent surge of interest in links between spirituality and health has generated many assessment approaches that seek to identify spiritual need and suggest strategic responses for health care practitioners. The interpretations of spirituality made within health frameworks do not do justice to the way spirituality is understood in society in general. Spiritual assessment should not impose a view or definition of spirituality, but should seek to elicit the thoughts, memories and experiences that give coherence to a person's life. Spiritual assessment tools should not be used without adequate exploration of the assumptions made. Assessment processes need to be adequately conceptualised and practically relevant.
The Model of Job Satisfaction and Employee Performance

Environmental conditions are increasingly rapid changes and uncertain, demanding an organization, both private, government and BUMD to anticipate these changes, in order to maintain its survival. PT.ABC is no exception, which must be able to serve the community as well as possible, so that employees always strive for their employees to act and work in accordance with the organizational culture so that this company can carry out its vision and mission optimally. The low performance of employees in addition to problems Remuneration compensation, allegedly also due to work satisfaction problems, because remuneration compensation and job satisfaction can provide strong encouragement or motivation for employees to work optimally to achieve high performance. The purpose of this study was to determine and analyse: (1) compensation for remuneration (2) job satisfaction; (3) performance; and (4) the effect of remuneration compensation and job satisfaction on the performance of PT.ABC employees, both simultaneously and partially. The research method used in this research is descriptive survey and explanatory survey, the unit of analysis in this study is the staff in the PT.ABC neighbourhood with a sample of 50 people. The type of investigation is causality, and the time horizon in this study is cross-sectional. Based on the results of the study, it was found that the remuneration compensation given was considered quite appropriate, job satisfaction was considered satisfied, employee performance was considered high, remuneration compensation had an effect on job satisfaction, and remuneration compensation and job satisfaction had an effect on employee performance among remuneration compensation and employee performance satisfaction affect performance, it turns out that remuneration compensation has a dominant influence Because remuneration compensation has a dominant influence on performance rather than job satisfaction, it is advisable to provide appropriate remuneration compensation by increasing other benefits which, so that employees are able to work more professionally.
A novel segmentation method using multiresolution analysis with 3D visualization for X-ray coronary angiogram images

Coronary angiography is a widely used tool in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac diseases. The main cause of coronary artery disease is atherosclerosis, which leads to the narrowing of artery lumen, resulting in decreased blood supply to heart muscles. Determination of narrowing of the lumens mainly depends upon the quality of the segmented image; with improved segmentation technique there is better accuracy in identification of blocks. The main purpose of the paper is to develop an automatic, accurate segmentation technique with 3D visualization for the segmented images. 3D visualization provides clearer information regarding the shape and severity of the lesion. The thresholding technique is one of the oldest and simplest techniques used for segmentation. This paper proposes a multithresholding approach using the entropy measure and multiresolution analysis to ensure automatic and accurate segmentation by overcoming some of the problems encountered in other techniques. Also, segmentation performance analysis was conducted for various segmentation methods. This method is tested with different real coronary angiographic images and was found to perform better than the other techniques.
Tcra Enhancer Activation by Inducible Transcription Factors Downstream of Pre-TCR Signaling

The Tcra enhancer (Eα) is essential for pre-TCR–mediated activation of germline transcription and V(D)J recombination. Eα is considered an archetypical enhanceosome that acts through the functional synergy and cooperative binding of multiple transcription factors. Based on dimethylsulfate genomic footprinting experiments, there has been a long-standing paradox regarding Eα activation in the absence of differences in enhancer occupancy. Our data provide the molecular mechanism of Eα activation and an explanation of this paradox. We found that germline transcriptional activation of Tcra is dependent on constant phospholipase Cγ, as well as calcineurin- and MAPK/ERK-mediated signaling, indicating that inducible transcription factors are crucially involved. NFAT, AP-1, and early growth response factor 1, together with CREB-binding protein/p300 coactivators, bind to Eα as part of an active enhanceosome assembled during pre-TCR signaling. We favor a scenario in which the binding of lymphoid-restricted and constitutive transcription factors to Eα prior to its activation forms a regulatory scaffold to recruit factors induced by pre-TCR signaling. Thus, the combinatorial assembly of tissue- and signal-specific transcription factors dictates the Eα function. This mechanism for enhancer activation may represent a general paradigm in tissue-restricted and stimulus-responsive gene regulation.
Broadband E-shaped microstrip reflectarray antenna with microstrip antenna feed

Broadband reflectarray microstrip antenna with an array and feed element consisting of E-shaped patches is proposed. The reflect array configurations namely, 1 × 3, 3 × 1, plus-shaped and 3 × 3 arrays have been studied. A parametric study for varying distances between the fed E-shaped patch and array of E-shaped patches for varying slot dimensions is presented. The maximum gain of more than 12 dBi with bandwidth of more than 1200 MHz is realized in 3 × 3 reflect array configuration.
Training neural-network-based controller on distributed machine learning platform for power electronics systems

A new training scheme for neural-network-based controller for power electronics systems is proposed. It utilizes the circuit model of the power conversion stage (PCS) in the training process. The training algorithm is a distributed form of evolutionary computation, being able to run on a computer cluster equipped with multiple graphics processing units (GPUs). As a design example, a boost converter has been built and evaluated to exemplify the performance of the neural-network controller trained by the proposed scheme. The experimental results showed that the neural-network controller excels in speed of response and rejection of disturbance once trained properly.
Design for service inclusion: creating inclusive service systems by 2050

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to challenge service researchers to design for service inclusion, with an overall goal of achieving inclusion by 2050. The authors present service inclusion as an egalitarian system that provides customers with fair access to a service, fair treatment during a service and fair opportunity to exit a service. Design/methodology/approach Building on transformative service research, a transformative, human-centered approach to service design is proposed to foster service inclusion and to provide a platform for managerial action. This conceptual study explores the history of service exclusion and examines contemporary demographic trends that suggest the possibility of worsening service exclusion for consumers worldwide. Findings Service inclusion represents a paradigm shift to higher levels of understanding of service systems and their fundamental role in human well-being. The authors argue that focused design for service inclusion is necessary to make service systems more egalitarian. Research limitations/implications The authors propose four pillars of service inclusion: enabling opportunity, offering choice, relieving suffering and fostering happiness. Practical implications Service organizations are encouraged to design their offerings in a manner that promotes inclusion and permits customers to realize value. Originality/value This comprehensive research agenda challenges service scholars to use design to create inclusive service systems worldwide by the year 2050. The authors establish the moral imperative of design for service inclusion.
Autonomic business processes

Business processes in large organisations are typically poorly understood and complex in structure. Adapting such a business process to changing internal and external conditions requires costly and time consuming investigative work and change management. In contrast autonomic systems are able to adapt to changing environments and continue to function without external intervention. Enabling business processes to adapt to changing conditions in the same way would be extremely valuable. This work investigates the potential to self-heal individual business process executions in generic business processes. Classical and Immune-inspired classification algorithms are tested for their predictive utility with Decision Trees augmented with MetaCost and Immunos 99 exhibiting the best performance respectively. An approach to deriving recovery strategies from historical process data in the absence of a process model is presented and tested for suitability. Also presented is an approach to selecting the best of the determined recovery strategies for application to a business process execution, which is then tested to determine the impact of its parameters on the quality of selected recoveries.
Particle Swarm Optimization With an Aging Leader and Challengers

In nature, almost every organism ages and has a limited lifespan. Aging has been explored by biologists to be an important mechanism for maintaining diversity. In a social animal colony, aging makes the old leader of the colony become weak, providing opportunities for the other individuals to challenge the leadership position. Inspired by this natural phenomenon, this paper transplants the aging mechanism to particle swarm optimization (PSO) and proposes a PSO with an aging leader and challengers (ALC-PSO). ALC-PSO is designed to overcome the problem of premature convergence without significantly impairing the fast-converging feature of PSO. It is characterized by assigning the leader of the swarm with a growing age and a lifespan, and allowing the other individuals to challenge the leadership when the leader becomes aged. The lifespan of the leader is adaptively tuned according to the leader's leading power. If a leader shows strong leading power, it lives longer to attract the swarm toward better positions. Otherwise, if a leader fails to improve the swarm and gets old, new particles emerge to challenge and claim the leadership, which brings in diversity. In this way, the concept “aging” in ALC-PSO actually serves as a challenging mechanism for promoting a suitable leader to lead the swarm. The algorithm is experimentally validated on 17 benchmark functions. Its high performance is confirmed by comparing with eight popular PSO variants.
Study of mutual and self-thermal resistance in 90nm SiGe HBTs

Impact of mutual thermal coupling on the performance of a single 90nm SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) due to the presence of power dissipating elements like other HBTs in near vicinity is presented in this paper. Mutual thermal resistance (Rth,mutual) has been computed as a function of spacing between the single HBT and a ring of HBTs surrounding the device. HBT structural design variations including device layout schemes, metal wire stack connected to the emitter, deep trench (DT) depth and emitter to DT spacing, for reduced self thermal resistance (Rth), have been explored in this paper. An updated thermal resistance model accounting for the heat flow through the metal wiring stack connected to the emitter is also reported.
Regulation of ugp, the sn-glycerol-3-phosphate transport system of Escherichia coli K-12 that is part of the pho regulon

The expression of the ugp-dependent sn-glycerol-3-phosphate transport system that is part of the pho regulon was studied in mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 containing regulatory mutations of the pho regulon. The phoR and phoST gene products exerted a negative control on the expression of ugp. Induction of the system was positively controlled by the phoB, phoM, and phoR gene products. Using a ugp-lacZ operon fusion, we showed that the ugp and phoA genes were coordinately derepressed and repressed.
Exploring Digital Divide in Mobile Phone Ownership: Evidence from Nigeria

In 2012, as part of its response to mobile digital divide, the Nigerian government introduced mobile phone subsidies to rural farmers and did not seem to have achieved the expected results. It was argued that no necessary analysis of socioeconomic factors affecting mobile phone ownership had been conducted previously. The paper took advantage of this period to examine socio-economic factors affecting the probability of mobile phone ownership in Nigeria. In order to estimate a logit model we used national representative data from DataFirst on households and individuals ICT access and usage in 2011-2012. In contrast to what had previously been thought, we found out that poverty may not be correlated with the probability of owning a mobile phone. Type of electricity source, education, and activity has the greatest effect on the probability of owning a mobile phone. The findings may help to improve more coordinated digital divide policy, and serve as a complement to ICT Roadmap 2017 to 2020 in Nigeria and similar countries.
Effects of mercury on reproduction, avoidance, and heat shock protein gene expression of the soil springtail Folsomia candida

Based on the Cambisols of Beijing (used as agricultural soils), toxicity tests were conducted to investigate the effects of mercury (Hg) on reproduction and avoidance of Folsomia candida (Hexapoda: Collembola), as well as the transcriptional responses of the hsp70 gene, under different Hg concentrations and at different exposure times. Results showed that the hsp70 gene of the springtail was the most sensitive parameter to soil Hg stress, with a half‐maximal effective concentration (EC50) of 0.42 mg/kg. The EC50 values based on reproduction and avoidance tests were 9.29 and 3.88 mg/kg, respectively. The expression level of the hsp70 gene was significantly up‐regulated when soil Hg concentration was over 0.25 mg/kg (lowest‐observed‐effect concentration [LOEC]). In addition, responses of this gene expression were strongly induced after 48 h exposure under 1 mg/kg soil Hg, which probably was due to the fast and sensitive response of the gene transcription to Hg stress. Thus, the results suggested that the responses of the hsp70 gene and individual‐level effects (reproduction and avoidance) could be integrated to provide helpful information for environmental monitoring and assessment of contaminated soils. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2010;29:654–659. © 2009 SETAC
Solving Most Systems of Random Quadratic Equations

This paper deals with finding an $n$-dimensional solution $\bm{x}$ to a system of quadratic equations $y_i=|\langle\bm{a}_i,\bm{x}\rangle|^2$, $1\le i \le m$, which in general is known to be NP-hard. We put forth a novel procedure, that starts with a \emph{weighted maximal correlation initialization} obtainable with a few power iterations, followed by successive refinements based on \emph{iteratively reweighted gradient-type iterations}. The novel techniques distinguish themselves from prior works by the inclusion of a fresh (re)weighting regularization. For certain random measurement models, the proposed procedure returns the true solution $\bm{x}$ with high probability in time proportional to reading the data $\{(\bm{a}_i;y_i)\}_{1\le i \le m}$, provided that the number $m$ of equations is some constant $c>0$ times the number $n$ of unknowns, that is, $m\ge cn$. Empirically, the upshots of this contribution are: i) perfect signal recovery in the high-dimensional regime given only an \emph{information-theoretic limit number} of equations; and, ii) (near-)optimal statistical accuracy in the presence of additive noise. Extensive numerical tests using both synthetic data and real images corroborate its improved signal recovery performance and computational efficiency relative to state-of-the-art approaches.
The link between HRM practices and performance in Malaysian SMEs

This empirical study investigated HRM-performance links in Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs performance is conceptualized within a multidimensional framework consisting of four dimensions, which are satisfaction with financial performance, satisfaction with non-financial performance, performance relative to competitors and business growth. The five HRM practices adapted consisted of communication and information sharing, compensation, job design, performance appraisal, selection and training and development. The hypothesis of this study has been built on a resource based view. Field research was conducted through surveys with a total of 321 owners/managers of manufacturing SMEs, representing a response rate of 60.5%. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to analyse the quality of the scales and PLS-SEM were conducted to test the hypotheses of the study. Statistical results show certain HRM practices, namely, communication and information sharing and selection are positively related to organizational performance. Finally, this study is useful for future researchers, entrepreneurs and policy makers in realizing the importance of HRM practices towards enhancing SMEs performance.
Motivations for and against second-hand clothing acquisition

One of the possibilities consumers have for more sustainable clothing acquisition is to select pre-owned products. This article explores consumers’ motivations for clothing reuse: why they choose or do not choose to acquire second-hand clothing. First, a taxonomy of motivation categories based on previous studies is presented. This demonstrates that similar properties can be used as arguments both for and against acquisition of second-hand clothing. An analysis of a representative sample of Norwegian consumers shows that both environmental and economic reasons are important for those who take part in informal clothing circulation. Uniqueness and style are more important for those who buy second-hand clothing. Those who do not take part in any of the forms of acquisition of used clothing, use vague and open justifications, as well as contextual aspects; hygiene, health and intimacy. Previous studies have mostly been based on how clothing is reused as part of a market exchange, and therefore the motives have been embedded with a rational choice understanding of consumption. Studies of the private exchange of clothing should also address additional reasons such as routinized practices and established rituals, family ties, feelings, friendship and love. The article concludes with an invitation for further research to explore several possible motivations that are more relevant for private circulation of clothes.