Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ACIRRT WORKING PAPER “CONTRACTING EMPLOYMENT” A Case Study of how the use of agency workers in the SA Power Industry is reshaping the employment relationship

The workplace of the 1990s has changed significantly and with it the nature of work itself. As many organisations struggle to survive in the new globalised world, workplace flexibility has been hailed as the new competitive advantage. Indeed the significant changes at the workplace and changes to the institutions which regulate work relationships are all reflective of this push to achieve greater levels of flexibility. Recent research indicates that there has been a significant increase in precarious types of work such as casual, part-time temporary work and various forms of contracting arrangements. This growing trend is a response by organisations to increase their labour flexibility. The new workplace is therefore much more fragmented and these new types of arrangements are impacting not only on job security but indications are that they are affecting the traditional employment relationship. A new form of workplace relationship which is being cast to reflect these realities. This study focuses on the changing work environment in a large SA Government power utility which has undergone significant restructuring as it moves from a government agency to a Public Corporation, with its full privatisation imminent. The research traces these changes and with it the changing composition of the workforce, both in terms of total numbers and the increased use of more flexible sources of labour such as agency workers and contracting arrangements. In particular the paper focuses on the extent and use of agency workers in the organisation. The impact that these types of changes bring on the way work is organised and carried out in the organisation is examined, and more particularly how these new forms of work arrangements are impacting on the traditional employment relationship. The findings of the study clearly indicates that a range of precarious work arrangements are being implemented in the workplace to achieve greater level of flexibility, and that these workplace changes are taking place quite apart from (and despite) the enterprise bargaining framework. The research indicates that a core-periphery type workforce model is being introduced into the organisation. Additionally, the research adds a further dimension to the current (scant) literature that is available on this subject, in that it specifically examines in detail the way that the new intermediary in the labour market – the employment agency – operates and how this is reshaping employment relationships. The study findings are suggestive of a new employment relationship emerging one which is built on a contractual-market model and which operates outside of the traditional employment boundaries. Drawing on the experiences and views of a broad spectrum of individuals who are party to the employment relationship the study captures the impacts which are currently affecting the workforce as a whole, and also highlights significant issues that have a profound implication for future labour market policy.
Conversational Agent that Models a Historical Personality

In this paper we discuss the current approaches in question answering (QA) and their applicability in building a conversational agent that models a historical figure that gives informative and relevant answers to user questions about the life of that personality. We analyze two main methods: one in which we use an ontology to build our knowledge base and one where we don't have a knowledge base and we solve the answer sentence selection problem for question answering. We observed that the first method is better for answering more general questions and the second method can deal with more specific and complex lexically and syntactically questions. The implementation of the conversational agent relies on the two combined approaches, the second being a fallback option if the first method is not able to provide an answer. Author
A philosophy of reviewing: Taking cues from Henry James

More than a century ago, Henry James authored The Golden Bowl, The Portrait of a Lady, and The Wings of the Dove—said to be the finest American prose fiction ever written (Bloom 2002:748). These novels are enthusiastically read and appreciated to this day, reflecting not only James’s innate artistry but also his development as a writer in response to critiques of his work. He once commented about the indispensable and unique role of critics in this way:
High performance parallel and distributed computation in compositional CC++

C++ was designed to support a wide range of programming styles. A parallel extension to C++ should support parallelism in all the different programming styles that a C++ program might exploit as well as support a broad range of parallel programming paradigms, such as message passing, active objects and shared memory concurrency. Compositional C++ (CC++) is a parallel C++ that was designed with these goals in mind. In this article, we motivate the design of CC++ and provide a brief overview of the language. We will illustrate how CC++ can be used to define a reusable parallel paradigm libraries and describe how one parallel application used CC++ language features to combine different types of parallelism in a single application.
Round-trip time inference via passive monitoring

The round-trip time and congestion window are the most important rate-controlling variables in TCP. We present a novel method for estimating these variables from passive traffic measurements. The method uses four different techniques to infer the minimum round-trip time based the pacing of a limited number of packets. We then estimate the sequence of congestion windows and round-trip times for the whole flow. We validate our algorithms with the ns2 network simulator.
Reconstructing the history of forest fire frequency: Identifying hazard rate change points using the bayes information criterion

A problem in model selection, namely the identification of multiple change points for a piece‐wise constant hazard rate, is discussed. A methodology using the Bayes Information Criterion is developed in an overdispersed survival model (with corresponding quasi‐likelihood function). The technique is used to identify changes in the historical frequency of forest fire. It is applied to two datasets derived from time‐since‐fire maps in the Canadian Rockies.
Placement Security Analysis for Side-Channel Resistant Dual-Rail Scheme in FPGA

Physical implementations have significant impacts to the security level of hardware cryptography, mainly due to the fact that the bottom-layer logic fundamentals typically act as the exploitable SCA leakage sources. As a widely studied countermeasure category, dual-rail precharged logic theoretically withstands side-channel analysis by compensating the data-dependent variations between two rails. In this paper, different placement schemes, considering dual-rail framework in Xilinx FPGA, are investigated concerning silicon process variations. The presented work is based on the practical implementation of a light-weight crypto coprocessor. Stochastic Approach [9] based SNR estimation is used as a metric to quantify the measurable leakage, over a series of EM traces acquired by surface scanning over a decapsulated Virtex-5 device. Experimental results show that by employing a highly interleaved and identical dual-rail style in diagonal direction, the routing symmetry can be further optimized. This improvement results in less influence from process variation between the dual rails, which in turn yields a higher security grade in terms of signal-to-noise ratio.
On the origin of solar white-light flares

Using the H alpha line intensity as a constraint, we study the role of a chromospheric condensation and the role of nonthermal effects in producing the continuum enhancement of white-light flares. Within an acceptable range of H alpha line intensities and electron energy flux, it is shown that neither a chromospheric condensation nor non-thermal effects alone can directly explain the observed continuum enhancement. The hybrid role of both chromospheric condensation and non-thermal effects can only lead to a Balmer jump, but still not to a significant continuum intensity increase between 4000 and 7000 Angstrom. A possible picture is discussed, that is, the Balmer jump is directly produced by the association of a chromospheric condensation and of non-thermal effects, while the continuum enhancement between 4000 and 7000 Angstrom is indirectly produced by the condensation and the non-thermal effects via radiative heating to the deeper photospheric layers.
A calibration of the relation between the abundance of close galaxy pairs and the rate of galaxy mergers

Estimates of galaxy merger rates based on counts of close pairs typically assume that most of the observed systems will merge within a few hundred Myr (for projected pair separations 6 25h −1 kpc). Here we investigate these assumptions using virtual galaxy catalogues derived from the Millennium Simulation, a very large N-body simulation of structure formation in the concordanceCDM cosmology. These catalogues have been shown to be at least roughly consistent with a wide range of properties of the observed galaxy population at both low and high redshift. Here we show that they also predict close pair abundances at low redshift which agree with those observed. They thus embed a realistic and realistically evolving galaxy population within the standard structure formation paradigm, and so are well-suited to calibrate the relation between close galaxy pairs and mergers. We show that observational methods, when applied to our mock galaxy surveys, do indeed identify pairs which are physically close and due to merge. The sample-averaged merging time depends only weakly on the stellar mass and redshift of the pair. At z 6 2 this time-scale is TTor25M −0.3 ∗ , where r25 is the maximum projected separation of the pair sample in units of 25h −1 kpc, M∗ is the typical stellar mass of the pairs in units of 3 × 10 10 h −1 M⊙, and the coefficient T0 is 1.1 Gyr for samples selected to have line-of-sight velocity difference smaller than 300 km/s and 1.6 Gyr for samples where this velocity difference is effectively unconstrained. These timescales increase slightly with redshift and are longer t han assumed in most observational studies, implying that merger rates have typically been overestimated.
Effect of Trans-ε-Viniferin on In Vitro Porcine Oocyte Maturation and Subsequent Developmental Competence in Preimplantation Embryos

ABSTRACT Trans-ε-viniferin is a naturally occurring polyphenol belonging to the stilbenoid family that has been isolated from Vitis amurensis, one of the most common wild grapes in Asia. We investigated the effects of trans-ε-viniferin on in vitro maturation (IVM) and developmental competence after in vitro fertilization (IVF) or parthenogenesis (PA). We observed that trans-ε-viniferin treatment during IVM did not improve nuclear maturation rates of oocytes in any group, but significantly increased (P<0.05) intracellular glutathione (GSH) levels and reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in the 0.5 µM treatment group. Trans-ε-viniferin treatment during IVM of recipient oocytes promoted higher (P<0.05) expression of DNA methyltransferase-1 (DNMT1) mRNA in the 0.5 µM treatment group as compared with the control group. However, the expression of essential transcriptional and apoptosis-related genes did not significantly differ from that of the control. In cumulus cells, pro-apoptosis gene expressions were changed as apoptosis decreased. Oocytes treated with trans-ε-viniferin during IVM did not have significantly different cleavage rates or blastocyst formation rates after PA, but total cell numbers were significantly higher (P<0.05) in the 0.5 and 5.0 µM treatment groups compared with those in the control group. IVF embryos showed similar results. In conclusion, these results indicate that trans-ε-viniferin treatment during porcine IVM increased the total cell number of blastocysts, possibly by increasing intracellular GSH synthesis, reducing ROS levels, increasing DNMT1 gene expression of oocytes and decreasing pro-apoptosis gene expressions of cumulus cells.
AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Pavithra Venkatraman for the degree of Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering presented on November 04, 2010. Title: Opportunistic Bandwidth Sharing Through Reinforcement Learning Abstract approved:

approved: Bechir Hamdaoui The enormous success of wireless technology has recently led to an explosive demand for, and hence a shortage of, bandwidth resources. This expected shortage problem is reported to be primarily due to the inefficient, static nature of current spectrum allocation methods. As an initial step towards solving this shortage problem, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opens up for the so-called opportunistic spectrum access (OSA), which allows unlicensed users to exploit unused licensed spectrum, but in a manner that limits interference to licensed users. Fortunately, technological advances enabled cognitive radios, which are viewed as intelligent communication systems that can self-learn from their surrounding environment, and auto-adapt their internal operating parameters in real-time to improve spectrum efficiency. Cognitive radios have recently been recognized as the key enabling technology for realizing OSA. In this work, we propose a machine learningbased scheme that exploits the cognitive radios’ capabilities to enable effective OSA, thus improving the efficiency of spectrum utilization. Specifically, we formulate the OSA problem as a finite Markov Decision Process (MDP), and use reinforcement learning (RL) to locate and exploit bandwidth opportunities effectively. Simulation results show that our scheme achieves high throughput performance without requiring any prior knowledge of the environment’s characteristics and dynamics.
A framework for image analysis and object recognition in industrial applications with the ensemble of classifiers

The paper presents a work-in-progress on a classification system for object detection in vision based industrial applications. The main idea of the presented system is application of the ensemble of one-class classifiers trained with specific features of objects of the whole scene. During recognition stage the ensemble tries to recognize the trained patterns. The system is well suited for parallel processing and therefore it can operate in real-time conditions. Preliminary experiments in automotive applications show promising results.
The Politics of Party Funding: State Funding to Political Parties and Party Competition in Western Europe

List of figures and tables List of abbreviations 1. Introduction: State Funding to Political Parties and the Convergence of Party Funding Regimes PART I CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 2. The Comparative Analysis of Party Funding Regimes 3. The Introduction of State Funding to Political Parties from a New Institutionalist Perspective 4. The Relationship between Party Funding and Party Competition PART II THE PARTY SYSTEMS AND PARTY FUNDING REGIMES IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE 5. The Party Systems 6. The Party Funding Regimes PART III CASE STUDIES 7. Germany: The Common Interest in Consensual Politics 8. Sweden: The Institutionally Invoked Consensus 9. Britain: A Growing Conflict Between Party Goals and Societal Norms With (Still) No Consequences 10. France: When The Conflict Between Party Goals and Societal Norms Has Consequences 11. Conclusion: The Determinants of Party Funding Regimes References Index
Defense Technical Information Center Compilation Part Notice ADP 014325 TITLE : Nanoscale Analysis of a Co-SrTiO 3 Interface in a Magnetic Tunnel Junction

The component part is provided here to allow users access to individually authored sections)f proceedings, annals, symposia, etc. However, the component should be considered within [he context of the overall compilation report and not as a stand-alone technical report. ABSTRACT We use High Resolution Electron Microscopy together with Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy to analyze the crystallography and the chemical configuration of a Co/SrTiO3 interface in a Co/SrTiO 3 La2Srt 3 MnO 3 magnetic tunnel junction.
On the complexity of computing peer agreements for consistent query answering in peer-to-peer data integration systems

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) data integration systems have recently attracted significant attention for their ability to manage and share data dispersed over different peer sources. While integrating data for answering user queries, it often happens that inconsistencies arise, because some integrity constraints specified on peers' global schemas may be violated. In these cases, we may give semantics to the inconsistent system by suitably "repairing" the retrieved data, as typically done in the context of traditional data integration systems. However, some specific features of P2P systems, such as peer autonomy and peer preferences (e.g., different source trusting), should be properly addressed to make the whole approach effective. In this paper, we face these issues that were only marginally considered in the literature. We first present a formal framework for reasoning about autonomous peers that exploit individual preference criteria in repairing the data. The idea is that queries should be answered over the best possible database repairs with respect to the preferences of all peers, i.e., the states on which they are able to find an agreement. Then, we investigate the computational complexity of dealing with peer agreements and of answering queries in P2P data integration systems. It turns out that considering peer preferences makes these problems only mildly harder than in traditional data integration systems.
Service-Oriented Business Process Modeling and Performance Evaluation based on AHP and Simulation

With the evolution of grid technologies and the application of service-oriented architecture (SOA), more and more enterprises are integrated and collaborated with each other in a loosely coupled environment. A business process in that environment, i.e., the service-oriented business process (SOBP), shows highly flexibility for its free selection and composition of different services. The performance of the business process usually has to be evaluated and predicted before its being implemented. And it has special features since it includes both business-level and IT-level attributes. However, the existing modeling and performance evaluation methods of business process are mainly concentrated on business-level performance. And the researches on service selection and composition are usually limited to the IT-level metrics. An extended activity-network-based SOBP Model, its three-level performance metrics, and the corresponding calculation algorithm are proposed to fulfill these requirements. The advantages of our method in SOBP modeling and performance evaluation are highlighted also.
A general baseband volterra model for dual-band predistortion

Dual-band and multi-band power amplifiers (PAs) becomes popular as they can effectively reduce the equipment cost and operation cost. On the other hand, the nonlinear interference among signals in different bands needs special attention. Previous modeling results [1] suffer performance degradation when the intermodulation terms among bands fall into bands of the signals. In this paper, we start from the passband Volterra model and derive a general baseband Volterra model considering all possible intermodulation terms. Existing model in [1] is a special case of the proposed baseband Volterra model. Simulation results show that the proposed dual-band Volterra DPD model can provide additional 2 dB performance improvement comparing to the existing dual-band Volterra DPD model.
Record Linkage Using the Combination of Twice Iterative SVM Training and Controllable Manual Review

Record linkage is widely used in many fields, which is a crucial step to increase data quality before data analyzing and data mining. The task of record linkage is to identify records that correspond to the same entities from multi-sources data. In this paper, we describe detailed process of record linkage through an application of internet video, with the purpose of guiding the practice. A method of combination of twice Iterative SVM (Support Vector Machine) training and controllable manual review has been presented. The experiment based on abundant actual data achieves over 98% in F-score.
Citrullinated antigens as C 1 q-binding and monoclonal rheumatoid factor ( mRF )-binding peptides in synovial fluids from rheumatoid arthritis patients

1Third Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo Medical University; 2Department of Allergy and Rheumatology, University of Tokyo School of Medicine; 3Department of Neurology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University; 4Laboratory for Rheumatic Diseases, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Tokyo, Japan. Tetsuji Sawada, MD, PhD Takeyuki Kanzaki, MD Shiori Hashimoto, MD, PhD Akari Suzuki, PhD Ryo Yamada, MD, PhD Masato Odawara, MD, PhD Kazuhiko Yamamoto, MD, PhD Please address correspondence to: Tetsuji Sawada, MD, PhD, Third Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Rheumatology, Tokyo Medical University 7-6-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 160-0023 Japan. E-mail: tsawada@tokyo-med.ac. jp Received on May 31, 2009; accepted on June 19, 2009. © Copyright CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RHEUMATOLOGY 2009.
IMPLICACIONES ELECTORALES DE LA REINSERCIÓN POLÍTICA DE LAS AUTODEFENSAS EN COLOMBIA

Aiming at a better understanding of illegal self-defense groups' role in contemporary Colombian elections, an analysis is undertaken of 2002 Senate election at municipal level. Electoral behavior of municipalities with active presence of said groups is confronted with behavior of municipalities with null or scarce presence of the same groups, and three political and electoral strategies are detected: one of coercion, fraud and vote-buying, with exclusion of rival candidates; a second one of backing a preferred candidate with tolerance vis-a-vis other candidates; and the third, of seeming indifference for the electoral process. It is foreseen that the mentioned groups' interference in electoral processes will be reduced, although not completely, when they demobilize and reinsert in the legal life of the nation.
Tearable Image Warping for Extreme Image Retargeting

We introduce a new image geometric transformation, named tearable image warping, for content-aware image retargeting and recomposition. In tearable image warping, an object is allowed to partially detached from the background during warping, which allows the background to warp more freely without distorting the object. The part of the object that is still attached to the background ensures that spatial semantics between the object and its environment is preserved. Compared to traditional non-homogeneous image warping, tearable warping produces retargeted results with less severe distortions, especially in cases of extreme retargeting. Compared to scene carving, tearable warping can better preserve the global context and achieve better scene consistency by preserving the semantic connectedness between an object and its environment. In addition, tearable warping is also able to alter the objectbackground relationship within the image, which makes it quite suitable for aesthetics-based image recomposition. We also show that tearable image warping is a unified approach of traditional non-homogeneous image warping and the cut-and-paste techniques.