Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Designing Accountability: The Managerial Semiotics Project

Abstract The empirical occasion of this paper is an experiment by the Sharp electronics company in the application of semiotics to the management of aesthetic design. On the assumption that the visual “signs” incorporated into products are freely translatable to and from linguistic messages, a verbal-visual “dictionary of translation” was built up from designers' own accounts of the reasons behind their design decisions. The aim was to construct a form of accountability for design so as to render it transparent to managerial control. This exercise is viewed as an example of the continuing pressure upon management science (“consumer behaviour” in this instance) to produce languages of accountability through which expertise can be made to report to the inexpert. It is suggested that the market for such languages of accountability is rooted in virtual universality of the “task-discontinuous status organisation” (Offe, 1976). Organisations of this kind are characterised by horizontal discontinuities at which the hierarchy of expertise gives way to one of managerial technology. It is these which pose the problem of agency to which languages of accountability appear as an answer. The problem is that such languages are constrained by their market to represent expert practice as intelligible to, and controllable by, a stratum of general managers. Where this is not the case, as is arguably so with aesthetic design, attempts to control practice on the basis of a misleading picture of that practice are likely to result in dysfunctionalities. In the case of the Sharp experiment the outcome was a naive attempt to convey a complex textual message through the choice of a colour for one of the company's products. The paper then discusses the alternative of allowing languages of accountability to emerge from the culture of practice itself. The problem here is that the resulting forms of accountability are likely to allow generous space for professional self-interest. A third possibility is then indicated: that of negotiating forms of accountability between practitioner and user on the model of community participation in architectural design.
Evaluation of cellular networks in Underwater acoustic communication

The characteristics of acoustic propagation through the underwater environment are the greatest challenges faced by Underwater acoustic communications systems. Limit bandwidth in these systems is of paramount obstacles. To overcome this problem the idea of frequency reuse pattern seems to be useful. The key characteristic of a cellular network is the ability to re-use frequencies to increase both coverage and capacity. One element that determines frequency reuse is the reuse distance depending on the cell radius and the number of cells per cluster. Analysis of frequency reuse between adjacent clusters and optimal cell-radius selection criteria has been carried out recently. In other recent woks, the parameters of the cellular networks designing have been calculated based on a rough approximation of the attenuation and propagation model. In our work, after driving the ratio of signal to interference for underwater acoustic channels with more accuracy, the constraints for the cell radius are determined. One of the most important results of this contribution is that, for special parameters like bandwidth, it may be impossible to provide the required signal to interference ratio and bandwidth for the network users. Furthermore, in this paper, the number of supportable users, per-user bandwidth, and the user capacity for a cellular underwater network are determined.
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma and retinoblastoma gene expression.

BACKGROUND The pathogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is not well defined yet. To evaluate oncosuppressor genes in NPC, two NPC cell lines were investigated for expression of the retinoblastoma (RB) gene. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We used Western blotting to identify RB protein species, and checked the RB gene conformation by Southern blotting. We also used immunohistochemistry, in situ nucleic acid hybridization, and in situ extraction of RB protein to observe RB protein in NPC culture cells. RESULTS Both cell lines as well as sublines could synthesize normal RB proteins of 110, 113 and 114 kilodaltons. These cells showed no RB DNA rearrangement. Most interphase cells showed variable amounts of anti-RB reaction product in their nuclei when immunostained by 13 monoclonal antibodies. However, all mitotic cells contained RB protein either in the cytosol or the chromosomes, depending upon the mitotic phase. The level of RB mRNA increased slightly in mitotic cells as compared with interphase cells. Double localization of bromodeoxyuridine and RB protein in NPC cells and localization of RB protein in synchronized NPC cells in different phases of the cell cycle revealed random RB protein expression in each individual tumor cell. Co-localization of RB mRNA and RB protein in interphase cells showed a different degree of RB message expression in each cell. Low-salt hypotonic buffer could remove a fraction of RB protein from stained interphase nuclei. A similar finding with slight variations was observed in 16 other cancer cell lines. CONCLUSIONS These data indicate that our NPC cell lines contain no obvious RB gene rearrangement, but each cancer cell may have an abnormal expression of RB mRNA and protein. This phenomenon may also be true in other cancer cell lines with a normal RB gene.
LONG-TERM OUTCOME OF FOVEOLAR INTERNAL LIMITING MEMBRANE NONPEELING FOR MYOPIC TRACTION MACULOPATHY

Purpose: To investigate the long-term results of a novel technique to preserve the foveolar cone without peeling off the foveolar internal limiting membrane (ILM) during myopic traction maculopathy surgery. Methods: Nineteen patients (19 eyes) were retrospectively studied and divided into 2 groups by the extent of ILM peeled and followed for more than 3 years. Group 1: foveolar ILM nonpeeling group (FN) (12 eyes) and Group 2: total peeling of foveal ILM group (TP) (7 eyes). A donut-shaped ILM was peeled off, leaving a 400-&mgr;m diameter ILM over foveola with a sharp margin in FN group. Results: Macular hole was developed in 2 of the 7 eyes (28.6%) in the TP group and none in the FN group. Long-term central fovea thickness thinning and decrease of vision were found in the TP group, but not in the FN group (P < 0.05). Inner segment/outer segment line recovered in 75% of the 12 eyes in the FN group, but in only 14.3% of the 7 eyes in the TP group. Conclusion: Preservation of the foveolar cone by foveola nonpeeling surgery correlates with better anatomical and visual results than total peel, prevents long-term foveolar retinal thinning, and successfully saves the fovea from macular hole formation.
A consideration of the validity and reliability of suicide mortality data.

The question of the validity and reliability of suicide statistics may be considered at three levels: (1) Are suicide deaths misidentified or differentially identified across jurisdictions or over time? (2) To what degree are suicide deaths misidentified? and (3) Is the degree to which suicides are misidentified sufficient to threaten the validity of research based on suicide statistics? There is general agreement that suicides are likely to be undercounted, both for structural reasons (the burden-of-proof issue, the requirement that the coroner or medical examiner suspect the possibility of suicide) and for sociocultural reasons. There is also substantial anecdotal and empirical evidence suggesting that the mode of death for some true suicides is in fact certified as other than suicide. Overall, it does not seem that very many true nonsuicides are incorrectly certified as suicides. There is not, however, much agreement as to the degree to which true suicides are undercounted. At least some of the inconsistencies in the findings of different investigators arise because the validity of suicide certification seems to vary from place to place. But the source of apparent conflicts in many of the findings is undoubtedly the lack of a "gold standard" against which the verdicts of any given death certification process can be measured. At best, we can estimate that the sensitivity with which coroners and medical examiners certify true suicides varies from approximately 55% to 99%. A central question in estimating the sensitivity of suicide certification is this: What proportion of true suicides are either equivocal or likely to go unsuspected by the coroner or medical examiner? Very little has been done to investigate this issue. Yet the sensitivity of suicide certification clearly varies for equivocal versus unequivocal suicides. As shown in Table 1.2, specificity is also at issue when it comes to certifying equivocal cases. The final question--whether the degree of undercounting of suicide deaths is so great that it threatens the validity of research based on official statistics--is at the crux of the general concern about suicide certification. There are examples of studies in which conclusions based on crude comparisons of reported suicide statistics appear to be invalid. For the most part, these are comparisons among nations with substantially differing death certification procedures. When official statistics are interpreted with a degree of caution and an understanding of the source and direction of biases likely to affect the published rates, however, it seems unlikely that major conclusions based on these statistics will be in error. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Epidermoid Cancer of the Anal Canal

Anal canal cancer is a rare cancer with incidence that continues to rise. This has been in large part due to increased prevalence of immunosuppressed conditions such as organ transplantation and human immunodeficiency virus along with transmission of the human papillomavirus. Identification of high-risk groups and close monitoring of these groups can help to detect earlier stages of cancer. Chemoradiation therapy remains the mainstay of treatment with excellent outcomes. Surgery for anal canal carcinoma remains as a salvage technique for failed chemoradiation or recurrent disease.
An Opto-Electronic Interferometer and Its Use in Subcarrier Add/Drop Multiplexing

Conventional interferometers split and recombine an optical signal after some limited optical processing in one or more of their interference paths. We study an interferometer structure that converts the signal to a different wavelength range for processing and converts it back to the original wavelength for interference. In particular, we consider intradyne conversion of the optical signal in one interferometer arm to digital electronic baseband, followed by digital electronic signal processing and subsequent electro-optic conversion, using the same laser for local oscillator and retransmitted signal. This allows for arbitrary time/frequency manipulations of an optical signal within the system's bandwidth capabilities while letting the other frequency portions of the signal pass through the system unchanged. We quantify the performance of such an opto-electronic interferometer as a subcarrier add/drop node in a digital optical communication system and study its tolerance to important practical hardware limitations.
Identifying NCAA tournament upsets using Balance Optimization Subset Selection

Abstract The NCAA basketball tournament attracts over 60 million people who fill out a bracket to try to predict the outcome of every tournament game correctly. Predictions are often made on the basis of instinct, statistics, or a combination of the two. This paper proposes a technique to select round-of-64 upsets in the tournament using a Balance Optimization Subset Selection model. The model determines which games feature match-ups that are statistically most similar to the match-ups in historical upsets. The technique is then applied to the tournament in each of the 13 years from 2003 to 2015 in order to select two games as potential upsets each year. Of the 26 selected games, 10 (38.4%) were actual upsets, which is more than twice as many as the expected number of correct selections when using a weighted random selection method.
Probing Water and Biomolecules at the Air—Water Interface with a Broad Bandwidth Vibrational Sum Frequency Generation Spectrometer from 3800 to 900 cm−1

We have built a broad bandwidth vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG) spectrometer that can provide high-quality spectra over the range of 3800 to 900 cm−1. The spectrometer contains a commercial Ti:sapphire based 6 W regenerative amplifier as the master light source, a home-built pulse shaper to produce a narrow bandwidth 800 nm beam, a commercial optical parametric amplifier to generate a broad bandwidth femtosecond infrared (IR) pulse, and a detection system with a monochromator and a charge-coupled device (CCD). We applied this spectrometer to obtain VSFG spectra of a lipid monolayer at the air–water interface in the O–H stretching region (3800–3000 cm−1), the C–H stretching region (3100–2700 cm−1), the C–D stretching region (2300–2000 cm−1), the C=O stretching region (1800–1700 cm−1), and the PO2− symmetric stretching region (1200–1000 cm−1). We also obtained the VSFG spectrum of neat water in the O–H stretching region (3800–3000 cm−1) and the VSFG spectrum of a protein, α-synuclein, in the amide I region (1700–1600 cm−1) at the air–water interface. The spectrometer can provide a VSFG spectrum in the O–H stretching region (3800–3000 cm−1) without scanning the IR frequency. This feature will be useful in probing water dynamics at interfaces because the free OH and H-bonded OH can be investigated simultaneously. We have also provided instrumental details and discussed further improvements that should be beneficial to other researchers interested in setting up VSFG instrumentation.
An integral representation for the massive Dirac propagator in Kerr geometry in Eddington-Finkelstein-type coordinates

The massive Dirac equation is considered in the non-extreme Kerr geometry in horizon-penetrating Eddington-Finkelstein-type coordinates. We derive an integral representation for the Dirac propagator involving the solutions of the ODEs which arise in Chandrasekhar's separation of variables. This integral representation describes the dynamics of Dirac waves outside and across the event horizon, up to the Cauchy horizon. For the proof, we write the Dirac equation in Hamiltonian form. One of the main di�culties is that the time evolution is not unitary, because the wave may \hit" the singularity. This problem is resolved by imposing suitable Dirichlet-type boundary conditions inside the Cauchy horizon, having no effect on the outside dynamics. Another main difficulty is that the Dirac Hamiltonian fails to be elliptic at the horizons. Combining the theory of symmetric hyperbolic systems with elliptic methods near the boundary, we construct a self-adjoint extension of the resulting Hamiltonian. We finally apply Stone's formula to the spectral measure of the Hamiltonian and express the resolvent in terms of solutions of the separated ODEs.
Towards a Framework for Enterprise End-User Development Initiatives: _x000D_ A Design Science Research Investigation

This paper presents an overview of a recently instigated research program aimed at devising a systems development and implementation framework for enterprise end-user development (EUD) initiatives. This research aims to investigate use-case scenarios, business process requirements, infrastructure requirements, implementation tactics, and technology governance issues related to the effective implementation and adoption of enterprise EUD technologies. We plan to investigate the efficacy of novel model-based systems design approaches as well as collaborative design processes among end-users and system developers as viable methodologies for EUD implementation. Principles and processes from design science research are being utilized to provide a roadmap for the research program. This paper outlines the study’s research design and its expected research outcomes. The outputs of this research have the potential to advance an understanding of development methodologies and implementation strategies for EUD-based self-service technologies, and facilitate the effective adoption and institutionalization of EUD initiatives in organizations.
Hybridisation of GNSS with other wireless/sensors technologies onboard smartphones to offer seamless outdoors-indoors positioning for LBS applications

Location-based services (LBS) are becoming an important feature on today’s smartphones (SPs) and tablets. Likewise, SPs include many wireless/sensors technologies such as: global navigation satellite system (GNSS), cellular, wireless fidelity (WiFi), Bluetooth (BT) and inertial-sensors that increased the breadth and complexity of such services. One of the main demand of LBS users is always/seamless positioning service. However, no single onboard SPs technology can seamlessly provide location information from outdoors into indoors. In addition, the required location accuracy can be varied to support multiple LBS applications. This is mainly due to each of these onboard wireless/sensors technologies has its own capabilities and limitations. For example, when outdoors GNSS receivers on SPs can locate the user to within few meters and supply accurate time to within few nanoseconds (e.g. ± 6 nanoseconds). However, when SPs enter into indoors this capability would be lost. In another vain, the other onboard wireless/sensors technologies can show better SP positioning accuracy, but based on some pre-defined knowledge and pre-installed infrastructure. Therefore, to overcome such limitations, hybrid measurements of these wireless/sensors technologies into a positioning system can be a possible solution to offer seamless localisation service and to improve location accuracy. This thesis aims to investigate/design/implement solutions that shall offer seamless/accurate SPs positioning and at lower cost than the current solutions. This thesis proposes three novel SPs localisation schemes including WAPs synchronisation/localisation scheme, SILS and UNILS. The schemes are based on hybridising GNSS with WiFi, BT and inertial-sensors measurements using combined localisation techniques including time-of-arrival (TOA) and dead-reckoning (DR). The first scheme is to synchronise and to define location of WAPs via outdoors-SPs’ fixed location/time information to help indoors localisation. SILS is to help locate any SP seamlessly as it goes from outdoors to indoors using measurements of GNSS, synched/located WAPs and BT-connectivity signals between groups of cooperated SPs in the vicinity. UNILS is to integrate onboard inertial-sensors’ readings into the SILS to provide seamless SPs positioning even in deep indoors, i.e. when the signals of WAPs or BT-anchors are considered not able to be used. Results, obtained from the OPNET simulations for various SPs network size and indoors/outdoors combinations scenarios, show that the schemes can provide seamless and locate indoors-SPs under 1 meter in near-indoors, 2-meters can be achieved when locating SPs at indoors (using SILS), while accuracy of around 3-meters can be achieved when locating SPs at various deep indoors situations without any constraint (using UNILS). The end of this thesis identifies possible future work to implement the proposed schemes on SPs and to achieve more accurate indoors SPs’ location.
Soft sensor design for power measurement and diagnosis in electrical furnace: A parametric estimation approach

In this paper, we propose as a first step a software solution to measure the electrical power consumed in an industrial furnace intended essentially for heat treatments. The soft sensor is constructed from the power physical measurement taken as the output of the set (dimmer + resistances), and the control signal measurement provided by a controller with an unknown structure. The second step consists in a detection of faults like a resistance disconnection, for instance. This phase requires the knowledge of the controller model and the furnace system. An overparametrization method was chosen for the controller estimation. An indirect closed-loop Input-Output (IO) identification approach was used for the furnace model estimation through a Tailor-Made and a decomposition of the closed-loop algorithms. A validation with two other experimental tests concludes the paper.
Aide à l'expertise des brevets par alignement avec les publications scientifiques

Ce travail s’inscrit dans le cadre du programme de recherche QUAERO [1] , un vaste projet de recherche et d’innovation se rapportant au traitement automatique de contenus multimedias et multilingues. Cet article propose une methode de classification automatique d’articles dans un plan de classement international de brevets relevant du meme domaine. La finalite applicative de ce travail est une aide aux experts dans le processus d’evaluation de l’originalite et de la nouveaute d’un brevet, en proposant les citations scientifiques les plus pertinentes. Ce sujet souleve de nouveaux defis en categorisation lies au fait que le plan de classement des brevets n’est pas directement adapte a la structure des documents scientifiques et que la repartition des exemples disponibles n’est pas necessairement equilibree entre les differentes classes d’apprentissage. Nous proposons d’appliquer une amelioration de l’algorithme des K-plus-proches-voisins (K-PPV) se basant sur l’exploitation des regles d’associations entre les termes descripteurs des documents et ceux des classes de brevets. En utilisant conjointement comme referentiels une base de brevets du domaine de la pharmacologie et une base bibliographique du meme domaine issue de la collection Medline, nous montrons que cette nouvelle technique de categorisation, qui combine les avantages des approches numeriques et ceux des approches symboliques, permet d’ameliorer sensiblement les performances de categorisation, relativement aux methodes de categorisation usuelles, dans le cas du probleme pose.
NF-κB and Enhancer-binding CREB Protein Scaffolded by CREB-binding Protein (CBP)/p300 Proteins Regulate CD59 Protein Expression to Protect Cells from Complement Attack*

Background: CD59 is the sole membrane complement regulatory protein in restricting membrane attack complex assembly. Results: CD59 gene produces eight transcripts that share three transcriptional initiation sites but the same open reading frame. Conclusion: NF-κB and CREB (as an enhancer-binding protein) bridged by CBP/p300 are responsible for the inducible expression of CD59. Significance: CD59 regulation mechanism suggests potential drug targets for controlling various complement-related human diseases. The complement system can be activated spontaneously for immune surveillance or induced to clear invading pathogens, in which the membrane attack complex (MAC, C5b-9) plays a critical role. CD59 is the sole membrane complement regulatory protein (mCRP) that restricts MAC assembly. CD59, therefore, protects innocent host cells from attacks by the complement system, and host cells require the constitutive and inducible expression of CD59 to protect themselves from deleterious destruction by complement. However, the mechanisms that underlie CD59 regulation remain largely unknown. In this study we demonstrate that the widely expressed transcription factor Sp1 may regulate the constitutive expression of CD59, whereas CREB-binding protein (CBP)/p300 bridge NF-κB and CREB, which surprisingly functions as an enhancer-binding protein to induce the up-regulation of CD59 during in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-triggered complement activation, thus conferring host defense against further MAC-mediated destruction. Moreover, individual treatment with LPS, TNF-α, and the complement activation products (sublytic MAC (SC5b-9) and C5a) could increase the expression of CD59 mainly by activating NF-κB and CREB signaling pathways. Together, our findings identify a novel gene regulation mechanism involving CBP/p300, NF-κB, and CREB; this mechanism suggests potential drug targets for controlling various complement-related human diseases.