Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
European Parliament resolutions—effective agenda setting or whistling into the wind?

ABSTRACT The European Parliament is one of the most studied legislatures in the world. The general consensus in most of these analyses is that the power of the EP in the legislative processes of the EU has increased precipitously, since the introduction of the co-decision procedure. One continuing perceived weakness of the EP, however, is its inability to introduce new legislation. While the EP can request that the Commission initiate a proposal, it lacks the power to introduce bills itself. This research looks at the indirect agenda power of the EP through an analysis of EP own initiative resolutions and their impact on the policy agenda of the EU. The research introduces anew dataset on all EP resolutions between 2000 and 2015 and compares the pre- and post-2009 period to assess the impact of formal treaty changes to the legislative role of the EP have had on its agenda-setting capacity.
DECONSTRUCTIVE LEARNING By MOHSEN ALI A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy DECONSTRUCTIVE LEARNING By Mohsen Ali May 2014 Chair: Jeffrey Ho Major: Computer Engineering This dissertation introduces the novel notion of deconstructive learning and it proposes a practical computational framework for deconstructing a broad class of binary classifiers commonly used in computer vision applications. While the ultimate objective of most learning problems is the determination of classifiers from labeled training data, for deconstructive learning, the objects of study are the classifiers themselves. As its name suggests, the goal of deconstructive learning is to deconstruct a given classifier by determining and characterizing (as much as possible) the full extent of its capability, revealing all of its powers, subtleties and limitations. In particular, this work is motivated by the seemingly innocuous question that given an image-based binary classifier C as a black-box oracle, how much can we learn of its internal working by simply querying it? To formulate and answer this question computationally, I will first describe a general two-component design model employed by many current computer vision binary classifiers, a clear demonstration of the division of labor between practitioners in computer vision and machine learning. In this model, an input image is first transformed via a (nonlinear) feature transform to a feature space and a classifier is applied to the transformed feature to produce the classification output. The deconstruction of such a classifier therefore aims to identify the specific feature transform and the feature-space classifier used in the model.
Existence of solution of a microwave heating model and associated optimal frequency control problems

Microwave heating has been widely used in various fields during recent years. However, it also has a common problem of uneven heating. In this paper, optimal frequency control problem for microwave heating process is considered. The cost function is defined such that the temperature profile at the final stage has a relative uniform distribution in the field. The controlled system is a coupled by Maxwell equations with nonlinear heating equation. The existence of a weak solution for coupled system is proved. The weak continuity of the solution operator is also shown. Moreover, the existence of a global minimizer of the optimal frequency control problems is proved.
A Fault-Tolerant Tightly Coupled GNSS/INS/OVS Integration Vehicle Navigation System Based on an FDP Algorithm

This paper describes an adaptive fault-tolerant triple-integration vehicle navigation system. The proposed triple-integration system is based on a tightly coupled design, which fuses measurements from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), an Inertial Navigation System (INS), and optical velocity sensors (OVS). The difference between GNSS-measured and INS-derived pseudorange and pseudorange rate, and the difference between INS-derived and OVS-measured velocity are taken as the measurement inputs to the system filter, which uses them to obtain accurate and continuous navigation solutions. However, to ensure the optimality and to improve the robustness of the integration system in GNSS-challenging environments, a fault-tolerant fault detection and processing (FDP) algorithm is then applied to detect faults and further process the detected faults in fault-varying methods. The detected faults can be classified as Outliers and Biases according to the designed fault factor; Outliers are excluded and Biases are still utilized by adaptively adjusting the corresponding measurement noise covariance matrix. To evaluate the performance of the proposed triple-integration system, a road test was conducted under different scenarios, including GNSS open-sky, GNSS partly blocked, and GNSS-difficult conditions. The results indicate that the proposed integration system can generate more accurate position solutions than a loosely coupled system. To verify the fault-tolerant ability of the proposed FDP algorithm, typical types of GNSS faults are simulated. The results confirm that the proposed FDP algorithm can improve the system performance in terms of its fault-tolerant ability and accuracy as well.
Market valuation and risk profile of listed European football clubs

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore whether stocks in football clubs are valued in line with the valuation of other capital assets in the capital market. Moreover, it analyzes the risk profile of football stocks. By taking this perspective, the paper also contributes to the discussion on the motives of those who invest in football clubs, particularly the question of whether they expect extra benefits, i.e., in addition to dividends and share price appreciation, from the investments. Design/methodology/approach The empirical study analyzes the share prices of 19 listed European football clubs from January 2010 to December 2016. Building on the capital asset pricing model, the authors used Zellner’s (1962) seemingly unrelated regressions. Findings The results indicate that the majority of the football clubs in the sample are overvalued. This implies that investments in football stocks are mainly attractive for those investors who expect to derive extra benefits from their investment. That might be likely for strategic, patron and fan investors, but not for purely financial investors. Research limitations/implications As a next step, more advanced factor models could be applied to the analysis. Practical implications For investors, the results imply that portfolio diversification is particularly beneficial while buying football stocks. For football clubs, the rather low general market risk, combined with the overvaluation, leads to low equity costs when new shares are issued. Originality/value The results suggest that dividends and share price appreciation are not the only benefits football stock owners derive from the stocks, thus underlining that further investigations in their motives to hold football stocks are very promising.
DETERMINANTS OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN DEVELOPING ECONOMIES:CAPABILITIES-BASED PERSPECTIVE

S mal l and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing economies nowadays experience s strong competitions both locally and at the global markets . Consequently, Hall and Wagner, (2012) demonstrated the needs for an analysis of specific s trategic capabilities required for sustainable development of small businesses . Despite the interest stimulated by the works of numerous scholars (Ma, 2004, Teece, 1992) , there have been limited researches that attempted to examine and demonstrated the factors influencing competitive advantage of SMEs i n developing economies . Devlin and Ennew, (1997) advocated t hat market driven competition arena and source of competitive advantage are easily recogniza ble for particular market . Th is study concep tualized six capabilities as strategic capabilities which can efficiently enhance SMEs competitive advantage at local an d international markets. The results from the comfirmatory factor analysis through Cronbachâ€™s alpha demonstrated the reliability of the items measuring; innovation capability, learning capability, managemnt capability, marketing capability, relational capa bility and technological capability as determinants of SMEs competitive advantage in developing economies.
MULTI-PATCHES IRIS BASED PERSON AUTHENTICATION SYSTEM USINGPARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION AND FUZZY C-MEANS CLUSTERING

Abstract. Locating the boundary parameters of pupil and iris and segmenting the noise free iris portion are the most challenging phases of an automated iris recognition system. In this paper, we have presented person authentication frame work which uses particle swarm optimization (PSO) to locate iris region and circular hough transform (CHT) to device the boundary parameters. To undermine the effect of the noise presented in the segmented iris region we have divided the candidate region into N patches and used Fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) to classify the patches into best iris region and not so best iris region (noisy region) based on the probability density function of each patch. Weighted mean Hammimng distance is adopted to find the dissimilarity score between the two candidate irises. We have used Log-Gabor, Riesz and Taylor’s series expansion (TSE) filters and combinations of these three for iris feature extraction. To justify the feasibility of the proposed method, we experimented on the three publicly available data sets IITD, MMU v-2 and CASIA v-4 distance.
Regulation of Gene Expression During Electron Acceptor Limitation and Bacterial Nanowire Formation in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1

Sarah E. Barchinger, Sahand Pirbadian, Christine Sambles, Carol S. Baker, Kar Man Leung, 5 Nigel J. Burroughs, Mohamed Y. El-Naggar , John H. Golbeck # 6 7 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, 8 University Park, PA, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern 9 California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK; 10 Warwick Systems Biology Centre and Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick, 11 Coventry, UK; Molecular and Computational Biology Section, Department of Biological 12 Sciences, and Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 13 USA; Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA 14 15 Running Title: Shewanella Gene Expression During Electron Acceptor Limitation 16 17 18 Address correspondence to John H. Golbeck, jhg5@psu.edu 19 20 21 AEM Accepted Manuscript Posted Online 24 June 2016 Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.01615-16 Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
A B C D E F G Scientiae Rerum Naturalium Humaniora Technica Medica Scientiae Rerum Socialium Scripta Academica Oeconomica Editor in Chief Publications Editor Acta a Scientiae Rerum Naturalium Supporting Collaborative Development Supporting Collaborative Development Hyysalo, Jarkko, Supporting Collab

The development of embedded systems is becoming increasingly challenging; it is intellectually demanding knowledge work that requires collaboration among a wide range of skills. Software development is a largely cognitive activity, based on the worker’s internal mental processes rather than on physical labour. Developers face several individual and team cognition-related challenges in their work, including complex decision-making and problem-solving processes. Therefore, it is suggested that the software development process should be modelled as a set of problem-solving activities. This thesis proposes that supporting the cognitive work of collaborative development requires addressing the entire system’s life cycle with practical solutions. In this work, the abovementioned challenges are addressed in terms of communication and collaboration practices, knowledge management and coordination, and transparent tools and processes. Moreover, these solutions are integrated into a workflow that structures and supports the development process. Finally, a development process is outlined that addresses the decision-oriented nature of software development in such a manner that the necessary data is provided for decision points that guide and coordinate the development efforts. A qualitative research approach has been chosen, and the work is based on interviewing industrial experts. Several cases were set up to define the state of the practice in industrial organisations developing embedded systems for different domains. Current challenges were identified and solutions were developed and validated in case companies. The main result of the dissertation is a set of solutions integrated into the organisational workflow to support collaborative development. The main principles are that the necessary information must be provided and work and its objectives must be justified and put into the correct context. The industrial cases indicate that utilising the suggested solutions can improve collaboration among organisations and teams by helping disseminate and use the required information. Mitigating the cognitive burden speeds up the development work and reduces the effort required from developers and decision makers. In this manner, organisations may achieve better results, primarily because the produced data and results will fulfil their purposes better and provide less waste.
Germination of Texas Gourd (Cucurbita texana) and Its Control in Soybeans (Glycine max)

Storage of intact Texas gourd [Cucurbita texana (A.) Gray] pepos for 21 days after harvest increased germination of seeds from pepos collected 15 to 47 days after flowering. Germination increased as day length decreased and as osmotic potential of germination media increased. Temperatures of 20, 25, and 30C resulted in 72, 93, and 99% germination, respectively. No seeds germinated at 10 or 40C. Seedling emergence decreased as planting depth increased, with no emergence from 12.5 cm. Control of Texas gourd in soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ] was achieved with preemergence applications of metribuzin [4-amino-6-tert-butyl-3-(methylthio)-as-triazin-5(4H)-one], metribuzin plus alachlor [2-chloro-2′,6′-diethyl-N-(methoxymethyl)-acetanilide], and oxadiazon [2-tert-butyl-4 (2,4-dichloro-5-isopropoxyphenyl)-δ2-1,3,4-oxadiazolin-5-one], with successful control partially dependent on soil and climatological conditions. Postemergence treatments that resulted in adequate control included applications of acifluorfen {5-[2-chloro-4-(trifluoromethyl)-phenoxy]-2-nitrobenzoic acid}, oxyfluorfen [2-chloro-1-(3-ethoxy-4-nitrophenoxy)-4-(trifluoromethyl) benzene], and metribuzin plus 2,4-DB [4-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)butyric acid] applied at an early soybean growth stage and repeated.
Caloric Substitution of Diets with Apple Pomace was Determined to be Safe for Renal and Bone Health Using a Growing Rat Model

Aims: To determine the safety of caloric substitution with 10% (g/kg) apple pomace to a healthy or Western diet. Study Design: Growing (age 22-29 days) female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned (n=8 rats/group) to consume a purified standard rodent diet (AIN-93G), AIN-93G/10% g/kg apple pomace (AIN/AP), Western diet, or Western/10% g/kg apple pomace (Western/AP) diets for 8 weeks. Results: Histological evaluation showed renal interstitial hypercellularity in rats fed AIN/AP, Western, and Western/AP diets. However, there were no effects on renal expression of oxidative stress and inflammatory genes or serum measures of kidney damage and function among diet groups. Apple pomace was also high in calcium which can affect calcium balance. Dietary calcium consumption was highest (P < .001) in rats consuming Western/AP. However, there were no significant differences in calcium absorption and retention among diet groups. Further, there was no evidence of renal calcification. There were also no impacts on femoral calcium, total mineral content, size or strength. Conclusions: Based on the results, apple pomace consumption was safe for renal and bone health in a rodent model, regardless of diet quality. Future preclinical studies should be conducted to further determine the efficacy and safety of apple pomace.
Data mining for road accident analysis in a big data context

Data Mining techniques and extracting association rules from a big dataset play an interesting role in knowledge discovery. Therefore, the decision makers encounter a huge number of resulting association rules that can make them unable to choose and decide rationally between these different extracted rules, also the time of the generation of these association rules brings a new challenge, we propose to overcome these challenges a learning model based on FP-growth algorithm using Apache Spark framework, in order to analyze data and extract interesting association rules by taking into account some quality measures. Experimental results on road accident data in France show that the proposed approach can provide useful information that could help the decision makers to choose the appropriate strategies in the perspective of improving road safety.
Performance of Single-Crystal Silicon Solar Cells With Mist-Deposited Nanocrystalline Quantum Dot Downshifting Films

The paper is concerned with an investigation of the effect of the mist-deposited downshifting nanocrystalline quantum dots (NQD) films both continuous and patterned on the performance of single-crystal commercial silicon solar cells. Different thicknesses of the NQD films are explored in an attempt to improve cell's efficiency in the ultraviolet (UV) range (below 400 nm) of the solar spectrum. The results obtained indicate that the maximum UV absorption is observed with a 50-nm-thick NQD film as reflected by on the average 45% increase in UV external quantum efficiency as compared with the solar cell without the NQD film. The patterned NQD films are showing improved performance in the visible range as compared with unpatterned NQD films without compromising the performance of the cell in the UV range of the solar spectrum. Also, an increase in power conversion efficiency by 12.5% is observed. Overall, an improvement of silicon solar cells performance using mist deposition of downshifting NQD films instead of spin-on coating as previously explored in other studies is demonstrated.
Monodispersed Copper(I)‐Based Nano Metal–Organic Framework as a Biodegradable Drug Carrier with Enhanced Photodynamic Therapy Efficacy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as an alternative treatment of cancers. However, the therapeutic efficiency of PDT is severely limited by the microenvironment of insufficient oxygen (O2) supply and overexpression of glutathione (GSH) in the tumor. Herein, a biodegradable O2‐loaded CuTz‐1@F127 (denoted as CuTz‐1‐O2@F127) metal–organic framework (MOF) therapeutic platform is presented for enhanced PDT by simultaneously overcoming intracellular hypoxia and reducing GSH levels in the tumor. The Cu(I)‐based MOF is capable of a Fenton‐like reaction to generate •OH and O2 in the presence of H2O2 under NIR irradiation. Meanwhile, the CuTz‐1‐O2@F127 nanoparticles (NPs) can release adsorbed O2, which further alleviates intracellular hypoxia. In addition, the CuI in CuTz‐1@F127 can react with intracellular GSH to reduce the excess GSH. In this way, the efficiency of PDT is greatly enhanced. After tail intravenous injection, the NPs show high antitumor efficacy through a synergistic effect under 808 nm laser irradiation. More importantly, the NPs are biodegradable. In vivo biodistribution and excretion experiments demonstrate that a total of nearly 90% of the NPs can be excreted via feces and urine within 30 d, which indicates significant prospects in the clinical treatment of cancers.
The Wisdom of Crowds as a Model for Trust and Security in Peer Groups

Traditional security models are out of place in peer networks, where no hierarchy exists, and where no outside channel can be relied upon. In this nontraditional environment we must provide traditional security properties and assure fairness in order to enable the secure, collaborative success of the network. One solution is to form a Trusted Domain, and exclude perceived dishonest and unfair members. Previous solutions have been intolerant of masquerading, and have suffered from a lack of precise control over the allocation and exercise of privileges within the Trusted Domain. Our contribution is the introduction of a model that allows for controlled access to the group, granular control over privileges, and guards against masquerading. Continued good behavior is rewarded by an escalation of privileges, while requiring an increased commitment of resources. Bad behavior results in expulsion from the Trusted Domain. In colluding with malicious nodes, well behaved nodes risk losing privileges gained over time; collusion is thereby discouraged. We implement our solution on top of the Bouncer Toolkit, produced by Narasimha et al. [25], as a prototype Peer to Peer file sharing network. We make use of social models for trust [24] [30] [26], and rely on new cryptographic primitives from the field of Threshold Cryptography. We present the results of an experimental analysis of its performance for a number of thresholds, and present observations on a number of important performance and security improvements that can be made to the underlying toolkit.
Learning Support Systems Based on Cohesive Learning Analytics

E-learning systems have become indispensable in educational institutions (Alsabawy, Cater-Steel, & Soar, 2013). The Learning Management System (LMS), the Course Management System (CMS), or the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), is one such e-learning system and it is widely accepted in higher education (Islam, 2015). LMSs are used for facilitating e-learning. The LMS process is used to store and disseminate educational material and to support administration and communication associated with teaching and learning (McGill & Klobas, 2009). Ubiquitous technology is effective in enhancing the effects of the LMS and VLE on learning performance (Yin et al., 2015; Yamada et al., 2016). By using logs stored in the server, information technologies allow instructors to understand student learning behaviors. By using various data from sources such as the logs, learning analytics research contributes to the clarification and improvement of education and the learning environment (e.g., Ifenthalar, 2015; Ogata et al., 2015). To support student learning, revealing its patterns by using learning analytics methods might be useful. For example, Oi and her colleagues (Oi et al., 2015; Oi, Okubo, Shimada, Yin, & Ogata, 2015; Oi, Yamada, Okubo, Shimada, & Ogata, 2017) investigated the relationship between the use of e-books outside the classroom and academic achievement. They categorized e-book logs from the e-book delivery system as follows: If a log was recorded before a class session in which the same e-book was used as the textbook, it was labeled a preview log, and if after, a review log. As pointed out by Ausubel (1960) in his classical study, if a student gains knowledge of the contents of a course by performing a preview, it may help the student’s learning in the classroom by acting as an advance organizer. Performing a review may facilitate memory consolidation by working as a rehearsal of the contents of the course. The main findings are as follows: (1) The preview is more deeply related with academic achievement than the review (Oi, Okubo