Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Real time image processing based obstacle avoidance and navigation system for autonomous wheelchair application

Wheelchairs have played an important role in both disabled young people and adults not only in term of physically but also psychologically. The idea of electrical wheelchairs has been brought up and carried out as to help these disabled people to be more independent instead of always depending caregivers. However, electronics wheelchairs are not enabling for every patient such as people who have lost mobility due to brain injury or loss of limbs. Thus, the idea of Smart Wheelchair or Autonomous Wheelchair where it is intelligent enough to provide navigation with a series of navigation assistances has brought up to the table. The purpose of this project is to design a navigation system and an obstacle avoidance system for an autonomous wheelchair application. The obstacle detection system is done merely using the camera sensor with the knowledge of image processing. The techniques used are including Canny Edge Detection, Erosion and so on where algorithms are developed to identify and detect the obstacle. The navigation system is performed with the use of compass sensors where the compass calibration, compass reading and compass value comparison are done to ensure the autonomous wheelchair move in a correct direction towards the targeted destination. Enhancement of autonomous wheelchair with Internet connectivity can be achieved using our designed system for enabling Internet of Things (IoT) application on independent disable people.
Binding of Aminoglycoside Antibiotics to Filtration Materials

An investigation to study adsorption of gentamicin and other related aminoglycoside antibiotics to cellulose, diatomaceous earth (Celite), and Seitz filter sheets was carried out. Experiments with five aminoglycosides indicated that 30 to 100% of these antibiotics was adsorbed to cellulose depending on the ratio of antibiotic to adsorbent, and the total quantity could not be removed by acidification. Similarly, a study with gentamicin found adsorption to diatomaceous earth to be in the range of 33 to 98%. Neomycin and gentamicin were also readily adsorbed to Seitz filter sheets. The data indicate that large losses may occur during filtration of these antibiotics under certain conditions, and care should be taken to properly evaluate results during studies with these compounds in the presence of adsorbent materials.
The Property of Kippenhahn Curves of Hadamard Products and Applications

In this paper, and will denote reducible companion matrices. we combine the Kronecker product, Hadamard product with numerical rang of matrices, discuss the relations between the Kronecker product, Hadamard product with numerical rang of matrices, and illustrate that the kippenhahn curve consists of consists of one ellipse whose foci are and axis has a length .
Workplace Culture Mediates Performance Appraisal Effectiveness and Employee Outcomes: A Study in a Retail Setting

ABSTRACT: Performance measures have long played a central role in motivating employees to help achieve organizational objectives. However, previous research regarding the effectiveness of performance measures and the performance appraisal process does not provide consistent recommendations for improvement. This study explores the effect of a positive work environment that mediates the relationship between the effectiveness of the performance appraisal process and employee outcomes. Based upon experimental findings in the growing field of positive psychology as applied to a business setting, or positive organizational scholarship, this study puts forward a new construct, workplace culture, that measures the employees' perception of a positive, holistic, transparent, and supportive workplace and examines how it affects outcomes associated with employee success. Using a large sample of sales associates from a national retailer, our results indicate that workplace culture mediates the relationship between the.
Optimal location of the unified power flow controller in electrical power systems

The main purpose of this paper is to identify the optimal location of the unified power flow controller UPFC in electrical power systems. The proposed algorithm is based on the steady state injection model of UPFC, a continuation power flow and an optimal power flow. The problem is formulated to find the best location of UPFC in order to minimize the generation cost function and the investment on the UPFC device. Digital simulation studies on the IEEE 14-bus test system are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Down-regulation of microRNA-184 contributes to the development of cyanotic congenital heart diseases.

PURPOSE We aimed to investigate the roles of miR-184 in adaptation of hypoxic cardiomyocytes, as well as to elucidate the possible mechanisms of miR-184 in the development of cyanotic congenital heart diseases (CHD). MATERIALS AND METHODS We conducted quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to determine the expression of miR-184 in patients with cyanotic cardiac defects. The embryonic rat ventricular myocardial H9c2 cells were transfected with miR-184 inhibitor and negative scramble RNA. Mock group was untreated by anything. We then used MTT assay and in situ terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labelling (TUNEL) to determine whether inhibition of miR-184 in vitro affect cell proliferation and apoptosis under hypoxic conditions. Besides, the expression levels of caspase-3 and caspase-9 in hypoxic H9c2 cells were determined by western blot. RESULTS MiR-184 was significantly down-regulated in CHD patients with cyanotic cardiac defects. In addition, miR-184 was successfully inhibited in hypoxic H9c2 cells. Moreover, inhibition of miR-184 markedly decreased cell viability and obviously induced apoptosis under hypoxic conditions in vitro. Besides, the expression levels of caspase-3 and caspase-9 in hypoxic H9c2 were significantly increased after miR-184 inhibition. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that inhibition of microRNA-184 may contribute to the development of cyanotic CHD via decreasing proliferation and inducing apoptosis of cardiomyocytes. Moreover, miR-184 inhibition may promote hypoxia-induced apoptosis via activation of caspase-3 and caspase-9. Congenital down-regulation of miR-184 may be a mechanism leading to CHD development.
The regular histories formulation of quantum theory

A measurement-independent formulation of quantum mechanics called ‘regular histories’ (RH) is presented, able to reproduce the predictions of the standard formalism without the need to for a quantum-classical divide or the presence of an observer. It applies to closed systems and features no wave-function collapse. Weights are assigned only to histories satisfying a criterion called ‘regularity’. As the set of regular histories is not closed under the Boolean operations this requires a new concept of weight, called ‘likelihood’. Remarkably, this single change is enough to overcome many of the well-known obstacles to a sensible interpretation of quantum mechanics. For example, Bell’s theorem, which makes essential use of probabilities, places no constraints on the locality properties of a theory based on likelihoods. Indeed, RH is both counterfactually definite and free from action-at-a-distance. Moreover, in RH the meaningful histories are exactly those that can be witnessed at least in principle. Since it is especially difficult to make sense of the concept of probability for histories whose occurrence is intrinsically indeterminable, this makes likelihoods easier to justify than probabilities. Interaction with the environment causes the kinds of histories relevant at the macroscopic scale of human experience to be witnessable and indeed to generate Boolean algebras of witnessable histories, on which likelihoods reduce to ordinary probabilities. Furthermore, a formal notion of inference defined on regular histories satisfies, when restricted to such Boolean algebras, the classical axioms of implication, explaining our perception of a largely classical world. Even in the context of general quantum histories the rules of reasoning in RH are remarkably intuitive. Classical logic must only be amended to reflect the fundamental premise that one cannot meaningfully talk about the occurrence of unwitnessable histories. Crucially, different histories with the same ‘physical content’ can be interpreted in the same way and independently of the family in which they are expressed. RH thereby rectifies a critical flaw of its inspiration, the consistent histories (CH) approach, which requires either an as yet unknown set selection rule or a paradigm shift towards an unconventional picture of reality whose elements are histories-with-respect-to-a-framework. It can be argued that RH compares favourably with other proposed interpretations of quantum mechanics in that it resolves the measurement problem while retaining an essentially classical worldview without parallel universes, a framework-dependent reality or action-at-a-distance.
Reframing the service environment in the fitness industry

Understanding how to be competitive within the fitness industry requires a fundamental awareness of the service environment at the club level. To date, research on the fitness industry has placed considerable focus on the notion of service quality, particularly such elements as equipment, programmes, facilities and ancillary services, and its role in client satisfaction and retention. Recent research suggests that an organization's culture – the values, beliefs and assumptions that reflect how things are done within an organization – may be perceived outside the organization as well. The objective of the study was to examine the relationships between what have thus far been identified as key service elements for fitness organizations, organizational culture values, and the attitudes and intentions of client members from one private fitness company operating in Canada. Findings showed that both the service elements and the corporate values were significantly associated with members' satisfaction and intentions to stay. The findings suggest that what has typically been conceptualized as the service environment of fitness clubs should be revised to include organizational culture elements.
Separating the effects of internal friction and transition state energy to explain the slow, frustrated folding of spectrin domains

The elongated three-helix bundle domains spectrin R16 and R17 fold some two to three orders of magnitude more slowly than their homologue R15. We have shown that this slow folding is due, at least in part, to roughness in the free-energy landscape of R16 and R17. We have proposed that this roughness is due to a frustrated search for the correct docking of partly preformed helices. However, this accounts for only a small part of the slowing of folding and unfolding. Five residues on the A helix of R15, when inserted together into R16 or R17, increase the folding rate constants, reduce landscape roughness, and alter the folding mechanism to one resembling R15. The effect of each of these mutations individually is investigated here. No one mutation causes the behavior seen for the five in combination. However, two mutations, E18F and K25V, significantly increase the folding and unfolding rates of both R16 and R17 but without a concomitant loss in landscape roughness. E18F has the greatest effect on the kinetics, and a Φ-value analysis of the C helix reveals that the folding mechanism is unchanged. For both E18F and K25V the removal of the charge and resultant transition state stabilization is the main origin of the faster folding. Consequently, the major cause of the unusually slow folding of R16 and R17 is the non-native burial of the two charged residues in the transition state. The slowing due to landscape roughness is only about fivefold.
The Evolution of Corporate Charitable Contributions in the UK Between 1989 and 1999: Industry Structure and Stakeholder Influences

According to The Guardian’s 2001 Giving List,British businesses contributed, in cash or in kind,around d700million to charities in the ﬁnancialyear 2000/1. This represents 4.7% of the totalincome of the voluntary sector and, on average,around 0.4% of pre-tax corporate proﬁts. Chari-table contributions may have signiﬁcant implica-tions for corporate performance (Navarro 1988,Hillman and Keim 2001) as ﬁrms respond toincreasing stakeholder pressure for socially re-sponsible behaviour (Kapstein 2001, Berman et al.1999). Corporate charitable contributions provideone mechanism through which ﬁrms can inﬂuencepolicy makers and demonstrate commitment to asocially responsible agenda (Navarro 1988). Thispaper explores the evolution of corporate chari-table donations
Differential Employment Prospects among Atypical Employees: Effects of Type of Contract or Worker Preference

In this study we analyze transitions from atypical to regular employment in Germany, focusing on the effects of different types of atypical employment on the transition probability into full-time and long-term employment. The predictions are tested using discrete-time duration models with random effects. The empirical results confirm the importance of the type of work contract. Fixed-term employment shows the highest transition probabilities into regular employment, compared with agency work and regular part-time employment, while marginal employment yields the lowest chances of upward mobility. These effects can neither be explained by differences in the observed characteristics nor by the preferences for shorter working-hours by part-time employees.
A world without walls : freedom, development, free trade and global governance

List of figures List of tables Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: the making of an internationalist Part I. The Bigger Picture: 2. What does globalisation mean? 3. Food for thought 4. The philosophy, politics and economics of trade and freedom 5. Life is getting better Part II. From Seattle to Doha: 6. Setback in Seattle 7. Why the WTO matters 8. Forging a consensus 9. Denouement at Doha 10. Creating a 'World' Trade Organization 11. How the 'new issues' could strengthen the agenda 12. Why concluding the new round is crucial Part III. Citizens, Corporates and a New Deal for Global Governance: 13. Engaging civil society 14. Corporate social responsibility 15. Time to rethink global governance 16. Future challenges Notes Index.
Protein Kinase C- (cid:1) Knockout in Embryonic Stem Cells and Adipocytes Impairs Insulin-Stimulated Glucose Transport

Atypical protein kinase C (aPKC) isoforms have been suggested to mediate insulin effects on glucose transport in adipocytes and other cells. To more rig-orously test this hypothesis, we generated mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells and ES-derived adipocytes in which both aPKC- (cid:1) alleles were knocked out by recombinant methods. Insulin activated PKC- (cid:1) and stimulated glucose transport in wild-type (WT) PKC- (cid:1) (cid:2) / (cid:2) , but not in knockout PKC- (cid:1) (cid:3) / (cid:3) , ES cells. However, insulin-stimulated glucose transport was rescued by expression of WT PKC- (cid:1) in PKC- (cid:1) (cid:3) / (cid:3) ES cells. Surprisingly, insulin-induced increases in both PKC- (cid:1) activity and glucose transport were dependent on activation of proline-rich tyrosine protein kinase 2, the ERK pathway, and phospholipase D (PLD) but were independent of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) in PKC- (cid:1) (cid:2) / (cid:2) ES cells. Interestingly, this dependency was completely reversed after differentiation of ES cells to adipocytes, i.e . insulin effects on PKC- (cid:1) and glucose transport were dependent on PI3K, rather than proline-rich tyrosine protein kinase 2/ERK/PLD. As in ES cells, insulin effects on glucose transport were absent in PKC- (cid:1) (cid:3) / (cid:3) adipocytes but were rescued by expression of WT PKC- (cid:1) in these adipocytes. Our findings suggest that insulin activates aPKCs and glucose transport in ES cells by a newly recognized PI3K-independent ERK/PLD-dependent pathway and provide a compelling line of evidence suggesting that aPKCs are required for in-sulin-stimulated glucose transport, regardless of whether aPKCs are activated by PI3K-dependent or PI3K-independent mechanisms. ( Endocrinology 18: 373–383,
Dynamic optimization of the quality of experience during mobile video watching

Mobile video consumption through streaming is becoming increasingly popular. The video parameters for an optimal quality are often automatically determined based on device and network conditions. Current mobile video services typically decide on these parameters before starting the video streaming and stick to these parameters during video playback. However in a mobile environment, conditions may change significantly during video playback. Therefore, this paper proposes a dynamic optimization of the quality taking into account realtime data regarding network, device, and user movement during video playback. The optimization method is able to change the video quality level during playback if changing conditions require this. Through a user test, the dynamic optimization is compared with a traditional, static, quality optimization method. The results showed that our optimization can improve the perceived playback and video quality, especially under varying network conditions.
Antioxidant and Inhibitory Effects of Saponin Extracts from Dianthus basuticus Burtt Davy on Key Enzymes Implicated in Type 2 Diabetes In vitro

Context: Dianthus basuticus is a plant of South African origin with various acclaimed pharmaceutical potentials. Aims: This study explored the antioxidant and antidiabetic activities of saponin extract from D. basuticus in vitro. Materials and Methods: Antioxidant activity of saponin was evaluated by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and nitric oxide (*NO)-free radical scavenging activity while antidiabetic potentials were measured by the α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of the saponin extract. Results: The results showed that the saponin extract, compared with quercetin, displayed better DPPH (IC50 = 6.95 mg/ml) and NO (IC50 = 3.31 mg/ml) radical scavenging capabilities. Similarly, the saponin extracts elicited stronger α-glucosidase (IC50 = 3.80 mg/ml) and moderate α-amylase (IC50 = 4.18 mg/ml) inhibitory activities as compared to acarbose. Saponin exhibited a competitive mode of inhibition on α-amylase with same maximum velocity (Vmax) of 0.0093 mM/min for saponin compared with control 0.0095 mM/min and different the Michaelis constant (Km) values of 2.6 × 10-6 mM and 2.1 × 10-5 mM, respectively, while for α-glucosidase, the inhibition was uncompetitive, Vmax of 0.027 mM/min compared with control 0.039 mM/min and Km values of 1.02 × 10-6 mM and 1.38 × 10-6 mM, respectively. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometric analysis revealed the presence of bioactive like β- and α-amyrin, 3-O-methyl-D-glucose, methyl commate, and olean-12-en-3-beta-ol. Conclusion: Overall, the data suggested that the saponin extract from D. basuticus has potentials as natural antioxidants and antidiabetics. Abbreviations used: DPPH: 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, Km: The Michaelis constant, Vmax: Maximum velocity, ROS: Reactive oxygen species, NIDDM: Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, UFS: University of the Free State, GC-MS: Gas chromatography-mass spectrometric, MS: Mass spectrometry, NIST: National Institute of Standards and Technology, DNS: 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid, NO: Nitric oxide, RNS: Reactive nitrogen species, PNPG: p-Nitrophenyl-α-D-glucopyranoside.
HealthTwiSt: The Berlin Twin Registry for Health Research

The Berlin Twin Registry has its focus on health research. It is operated as a private company, making twin studies available to academic institutions as well as commercial partners in the area of biotechnology and nutrition. Recruitment is based on invitation in the context of mass media coverage of scientific results. Phenotyping in the unselected twin subjects is directed toward intermediate phenotypes that can bear on common diseases. These phenotypes include proteomic approaches and gene expression. Some results are briefly described to give an impression of the range of research topics and related opportunities for retrospective and prospective collaborative research.
Design of on-chip and off-chip interfaces for a GALS NoC architecture

In this paper, we propose the design of on-chip and off-chip interfaces adapted to a globally asynchronous locally synchronous (GALS) network-on-chip (NoC) architecture. The proposed on-chip interface not only handles the resynchronization between the synchronous and asynchronous NoC domains, but also implements NoC communication priorities. This design is based on existing multi-clock synchronization fifos based on Gray code, and is adapted to standard implementation tools. Concerning Off-chip communications, a new concept of mixed synchronous/asynchronous dual mode NoC port is proposed as an efficient off-chip NoC interface for NoC-based open-platform prototyping. These interfaces have been successfully implemented in a 0.13mum CMOS technology
Estimation of the number of working hours critical for the development of mental and physical fatigue symptoms in Japanese male workers - application of benchmark dose method.

BACKGROUND To clarify the influence of working hours on subjective fatigue symptoms and obtain the critical dose (number of hours) to determine the number of permissible working hours, we calculated the benchmark dose (BMD) and the 95% lower confidence limit on BMD (BMDL) of working hours for subjective mental and fatigue symptoms using multivariate logistic regression. METHODS Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to all 843 male daytime workers aged < or = 60 years in a single chemical factory, and 715 provided complete replies. The odds ratios of daily working hours were determined using positive findings of the Self-rating Depression Scale and 8 subscales of the Cumulative Fatigue Symptom Index as dependent variables, and other potential covariates as independent variables. Using significant parameters for the working hours and those for other covariates, the BMD and BMDL (BMD/BMDL) values were calculated for corresponding dependent variables. The benchmark response (BMR) was set at 5% or 10%. RESULTS The BMDL with a BMR of 5% was shown to be 9.6-11.6 hr per day, which corresponds to 48-58 working hours per week and 36-78 overtime hours per month. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that special attention should be paid to the workers whose working hours exceed these BMD/BMDL values.
Estimation method of the semiparametric mixture cure gamma frailty model

Mixture cure frailty model has been proposed to analyze censored survival data with a cured fraction and unobservable information among the uncured patients. Different from a usual mixture cure model, the frailty model is employed to model the latency component in the mixture cure frailty model. In this paper, we extend the mixture cure frailty model by incorporating covariates into both the cure rate and the latency distribution parts of the model and propose a semiparametric estimation method for the model. The Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm and the multiple imputation method are employed to estimate parameters of interest. In the simulation study, we show that both estimation methods work well. To illustrate, we apply the model and the proposed methods to a data set of failure times from bone marrow transplant patients. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.