Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transparency and Participation of Civil Society in International Institutions Related to Biotechnology

The advent of biotechnology has provoked a wide array of reactions ranging from optimism to profound scepticism. Despite an enthusiastic reception from some in the USA and elsewhere, biotechnology has encountered significant resistance in many parts of the world. In particular, biotechnology has raised concerns about the impact of the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on human health and the environment. In addition to the scientific controversy relating to the assessment of potential risks of consumption of GMO products or the introduction of GMOs into the environment, there are also societal controversies causing some civil society groups. This chapter aims to explore the level of participation of civil society, identify commonalities and assess transparency in the decision-making processes in three international institutions related to biotechnology: the bodies constituted under the Cartagena Protocol on Bio-Safety, the Codex Alimentarius, and the World Trade Organization. Within the context of these institutions, this paper examines three issues: the normative structure for accommodating participation and inputs from civil society; transparency in the decision-making processes; and the role civil society plays in decision-making and regime formation.
Design Automation and Fault Emulation : BFE Tool

1 This work has been partially funded by FCT (Portugal), POCTI/ESE41788/2001. Abstract. This paper describes a new tool for Built in Self Test (BIST) design automation and fault emulation (FE). Combinational and/or sequential digital modules may be designed with embedded self-test attributes. Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSRs) and Multiple Input Shift Registers (MISRs) are automatically generated and connected to the circuit under test (CUT), implementing different BIST possible architectures. The controller for the emulation process is also automatically generated. Hardware fault emulation (HFE) is especially rewarding for sequential modules, and for comparing different BIST architectures. The methodology is fully automated for Xilinx Spartan2 FPGAs. Results, using a Digilab2 board, ISCAS’85 and ITC99 benchmarks, show that fault emulation can be used for efficient selection of the BIST architecture and LFSR seed, with significant impact on BIST quality.
Staffing the web with interactive characters

Like their human counterparts in the real world, interactive characters will soon play helpful roles, enabling customers of Web enterprises to do the things they go to Web sites to do. They will make it easy for people to interact with them through natural forms of conversation and gesture. They will add interest and warmth to the online experience through their distinctive personas, projecting images and styles designed to appeal specifically to the customers they serve. They will build relationships with customers based on familiarity, affection, and trust. Interactive characters also will surpass their human counterparts in several important ways. They will be able to exploit the Web’s vast information resources. They will deliver desired behavior consistently 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They will scale flexibly in number as needed to give immediate one-to-one service to each and every customer. They will remember important features of past interactions, making customers feel known and valued. They will set a new standard for customer service. We have built several such interactive characters, including Max, who guides visitors at Extempo’s Web site; Merlin, who guides interactive neighborhood tours at Haight Street on the Web; and Jennifer James, who works as a spokesperson at Samson Motors on Extempo’s Web site. All are built on the component-based architecture in Figure 1. The Extempo Improvisational (Imp) engine runs character mind software, providing basic cognitive functions for multiple characters and character instances running simultaneously. Application programming interfaces (APIs) support integration with various knowledge sources. For example, a Webguide character accesses information from a tour database or from a site’s back-end systems. It constructs a personalization database to record and retrieve information it has learned about customers. And it may use the Internet to retrieve information for its dialogs or to send and retrieve email. The mind of an Imp character consists of three pairs of plug-and-play competence/content components: a unique and persistent persona; one of several alternative roles; and the knowledge needed to perform its role in a specific application. Persona competence and content components involve all facets of a character’s identity: backstory; appearance; manner of moving, gesturing, and speaking; voice; knowledge and opinions; and social and emotional dynamics. A character’s persona is revealed through manner, dialog, and behavior. Role competence and content components are the knowledge and skills the character needs to perform his or her job. For example, a character acting as a Web guide has to greet each customer, determine the details of the right “tour,” act as escort to the Staffing the Web with Interactive Characters
Making Markov Martingales Meet Marginals

We present three generic constructions of martingales that all have the Markov property with known and prespecied marginal densities. These constructions are further investigated for the special case when the prespecied marginals satisfy the scaling property and hence datum for the construction is reduced to the density at unit time. Interesting relations with stochastic orders are presented along with numerous examples of the resulting martingales.
THE INCIDENCE OF NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODIES FOR HUMAN INFLUENZA VIRUS IN THE SERUM OF HUMAN INDIVIDUALS OF DIFFERENT AGES

The results of mouse protection tests with 136 human sera and a strain of human influenza virus are described. After the 1st year of life, the sera of approximately half the individuals tested contained sufficient antibody to furnish complete protection to mice. A much higher percentage of the sera obtained from individuals recently convalescent from influenza exerted a completely protective effect. On the other hand, certain sera protected only partially under the conditions of the tests. The results have been compared with those obtained by Shope in tests done with the same sera against swine influenza virus. The possible epidemiological significance of the results is discussed.
A Robust Feature-Based Camera Motion Estimation Method

The camera motion that is caused by the moving camera is one of two types of video motion. The feature-based techniques are known to perform more robust with large motion. The research of such a robust feature-based camera motion estimation method is necessary and possible. In this paper, a robust feature-based camera motion estimation method is proposed. The algorithm uses the motion vectors obtained from a set of selected points to calculate the parameters of the camera motion model. It comprises three steps: the detection of feature points, the computation of correspondences between two sets of features, and the motion parameter estimation. This whole process ensures that only the motion model that had the largest number of inliers is returned as result. Experimental results show the proposed method can be successfully provided with the camera motion estimation capability.
How financial statements enhance(d) the long-term survival of an international religious/charitable organisation

The Salvation Army is a large international religious/charitable organisation with a high profile in Australia. In recent years, the profile of its financial reports has grown, particularly in the context of corporate fundraising. This is one manifestation of the importance for the Army, over its history, of a sound financial reputation. It has always relied heavily on external funds to continue its operations, and its financial statements are, and have been, a useful means by which its image has been enhanced, and it has established a legitimate claim for these funds. The Salvation Army's founding and early years, in the second half of the 19th century in England, provide evidence of this early legitimising role of its financial statements. This is consistent with institutional theory, which emphasises the importance of such legitimacy, but challenges the notion, prevalent in academic literature on accounting in religious organisations, that there is a resistance to the use of accounting as a "secular" activity in an organisation with a "sacred" mission. While techniques and presentation have changed, the need for a resource-dependent organisation like The Salvation Army to create an acceptable financial image in the eyes of the public, has not changed.
Democracy promotion in the EU's neighbourhood : from leverage to governance?

1. EU democracy promotion in the neighbourhood: from leverage to governance? Sandra Lavenex and Frank Schimmelfennig 2. Political Conditionality and European Union's cultivation of democracy in Turkey Paul Kubicek 3. From Brussels with love: leverage, bemchmarking, and the action plans with Jordan and Tunisia in the EU's democratization policy Raffaella del Sarto and Tobias Schumacher 4. The EU's two-track approach to democracy promotion: the case of Ukraine Tom Casier 5. The promotion of participatory governance in the EU's external policies: compromised by sectoral economic interests? Anne Wetzel 6. Transgovernmental networks as catalysts for democratic change? EU functional cooperation with Arab authoritarian regimes and socialization of involved state officials into democratic governance Tina Freyburg 7. Democracy promotion through functional cooperation? The case of the European Neighbourhood Policy Tina Freyburg, Sandra Lavenex, Frank Schimmelfennig, Tatiana Skripka and Anne Wetzel
Knowledge in Societal Development: The Case of Low-Tech Industries

The paper refers to the ongoing discussion on the current societal change termed as the emerging knowledge society. In this discourse long term growth, competitive advantages on the world market and employment effects areprimarily perceived in high-tech sectors, which are regarded as knowledge-intensive. The basis for this perspective are well known statistical indicators like the so called intensity of research and development activities of companies. According to this perspective the question as to the future of industrial sectors and companies that produce mature and conventional standard products is not raised at all. Such industrial sectors are generally regarded as "low-tech" and are deemed as being beset with more or less explicitly negative locational conditions. The more or less implicit but broadly accepted perspective on these sectors and companies is that they move to developing countries and that they have no longer any future in developed countries. However, there are a number of convincing examples of sectors and companies that have been successfully manufacturing low tech products in advanced countries. And there are also convincing examples of industrial districts based on mature technologies which show a remarkable degree of prosperity. This then is the starting point of the arguments in the paper presented: First of all, the widely held view that knowledge is clearly measurable will be reviewed. Then, the concept of knowledge will be discussed working out the specific features of the knowledge which is relevant to the low-tech sector. The specific knowledge base of low-tech companies will be characterized as "practical knowledge". Subsequently, the reorganization measures taken by low-tech companies in order to use and develop their specific knowledge will be shown. In the conclusion of this paper, the findings will be summarized and it will be asked for the developmental future of low-tech industries in the context of the ongoing societal change.
Gastrin-Releasing Peptide Promotes Suprachiasmatic Nuclei Cellular Rhythmicity in the Absence of Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide-VPAC 2 Receptor Signaling

Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) and gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) acting via the VPAC2 receptor and BB2 receptors, respectively, are key signaling pathways in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) circadian clock. Transgenic mice lacking the VPAC2 receptor (Vipr2 / ) display a continuum of disrupted behavioral rhythms with only a minority capable of sustaining predictable cycles of rest and activity. However, electrical or molecular oscillations have not yet been detected in SCN cells from adult Vipr2 / mice. Using a novel electrophysiological recording technique, we found that in brain slices from wild-type and behaviorally rhythmic Vipr2 / mice, the majority of SCN neurons we detected displayed circadian firing patterns with estimated periods similar to the animals’ behavior. In contrast, in slices from behaviorally arrhythmic Vipr2 / mice, only a small minority of the observed SCN cells oscillated. Remarkably, exogenous GRP promoted SCN cellular rhythms in Vipr2 / mouse slices, whereas blockade of BB2 receptors suppressed neuronal oscillations. In wild-type mice, perturbation of GRP-BB2 signaling had few effects on SCN cellular rhythms, except when VPAC2 receptors were blocked pharmacologically. These findings establish that residual electrical oscillations persist in the SCN of Vipr2 / mice and reveal a potential new role for GRP-BB2 signaling within the circadian clock.
Design and realisation of Low leakage 1-bit CMOS based Full Adder Cells for Mobile Applications

For the most recent CMOS feature sizes (e.g., 180nm), leakage power dissipation has become an overriding concern for VLSI circuit designers. As technology scales into the nano meter regime leakage power and noise immunity are becoming important metric of comparable importance to active power, delay and area for the analysis and design of complex arithmetic and logic circuits. In this project, low leakage 1-bit full adder cells are proposed for mobile applications. Noise immunity has been carefully considered since the significant threshold current of the low threshold voltage transition becomes more susceptible to noise. Since, Adders are heart of computational circuits and many complex arithmetic circuits are based on the addition. The vast use of this operation in arithmetic functions attracts a lot of researcher’s attention to adder for mobile applications. In recent years, several variants of different logic styles have been proposed to implement 1-bit adder cells. Therefore a new transistor resizing approach for 1-bit full adder cells to determine the optimal sleep transistor size which reduce the leakage power has been proposed. The simulation results depicts that the proposed design also leads to efficient 1-bit full adder cells in terms of standby leakage power. In order to verify the leakage power, various designs of full adder circuits are simulated using DSCH, Micro wind and Virtuoso (Cadence).
Classifying Video Documents by Hierarchical Structure of Video Contents

Recent advances in video database technology and increasing use of the World Wide Web allow users to access video documents on the Web. Moreover, advances in digital library technologies necessitate the storing of large quantities of video documents. Consequently, video documents must be categorized to assist the user in browsing and searching them by category. This study presents a novel approach to classifying video documents under classes in a predefined class hierarchy. Video documents are classified according to the structural weight of video contents, capturing their characteristics with respect to the hierarchical structure of the video data. Furthermore, while considering the hierarchical relationship among classes, the proposed technique strives for an appropriate balance between specificity and exhaustivity in video classification.
Long Run Determinants of Real Exchange Rates in Latin America

This paper investigates the long run behavior of real exchange rates in nineteen countries of Latin America over the period 1970 - 2006. Our data does not support the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) hypothesis, implying that real shocks tend to have permanent effects on Latin America's real exchange rates. By exploiting the advantage of non stationary panel econometrics, we are able to determinate factors that drive real exchanges rate in the long run : the Balassa-Samuelson effect, government spending, the terms of trade, the openness degree, foreign capital flows and the de facto nominal exchange regime. The latter effect has policy implications since we find that a fixed regime tends to appreciate the real exchange rate. This finding shows the non neutrality of exchange rate regime regarding its effects on real exchange rates. We also run estimations for country subgroups (South America versus Caribbean and Central America). Regional results highlight that several real exchange rates determinants are specific to one geographic zone. Finally, we compute equilibrium real exchange rate estimations. Two main results are derived from the investigation of misalignments, [i ] eight real exchange rates are quite close to their equilibrium level in 2006, and [ii ] our model shows that a part of currencies crises that arose in Latin America was preceded by a real exchange rate overvaluation.
Proposition of a Conceptual Density Based Model to Describe Fine Root Networks in Tree Root Systems

Describing tree root systems development, i.e. spatiotemporal variation of topological, geometrical or functional parameters, is necessary in many application fields. In particular rooting data as Root Area Ratio (RAR) or root length density have to be considered in eco-engineering models that aim in quantifying the influence of vegetation on the increase in soil cohesion and prevention of soil erosion and landslides. It is usually distinguished between coarse roots that play a mechanical role in plant anchorage and fine roots that play a role in water and nutrient uptake. This paper proposes a new mixed modelling approach dedicated to the simulation of tree root growth and considering these two root types. Whereas the coarse root structure is assumed to be known, fine roots are simulated using a density based model expressed under the form of partial differential equations and based on Bastian et al. model. This last aggregated model integrates morphological and functional traits, e.g. branching and elongation functions. Numerical results and analysis of the model parameters are shown considering one fine root source and then a simple root structure with two fine root sources competing each other for space.
Visual Analytics for Roof Savings Calculator Ensembles

The Roof Savings Calculator (RSC) has been deployed for DOE as an industry-consensus, web-based tool for easily running complex building energy simulations. These simulations allow both homeowners and experts to determine building-specific cost and energy savings for modern roof and attic technologies. Using a database of over 3 million RSC simulations for different combinations of parameters, we have built a visual analytics tool to assist in the exploration and identification of features in the data. Since the database contains multiple variables, both categorical and continuous, we employ a coordinated multi-view approach that allows coordinated feature exploration through multiple visualizations at once. The main component of our system, a parallel coordinates view, has been adapted to handle large-scale, mixed data types as are found in RSC simulations. Other visualizations include map coordinated plots, high dynamic range (HDR) line plot rendering, and an intuitive user interface. We demonstrate these techniques with several use cases that have helped identify software and parametric simulation issues.
Power Allocation for Cognitive Radio Systems with Partial Channel State Information

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A study of major Mobile payment systems' functionality in Europe

Mobile payment is an exciting domain, which will rapidly evolve in the years to come. The key to mobile payment acceptance is in the hands of customers. In this paper first some of the major European mobile payment systems are introduced and evaluated base on security, cost , convenes and functionality requirement criteria, then the results of past researches about the customer and merchant adoption of mobile payment systems (mp) are reviewed and barriers and drivers from both customer and merchant view are compared. Here by, this paper tries to find shortcomings in major mp systems and presents the major barriers and drivers to wide spread adoption of mobile payment from both customer and merchant point of view.
Modelling and dynamic analysis of underactuated capsule systems with friction-induced hysteresis

This paper studies modelling and dynamic analysis of underactuated capsule systems exhibiting friction-induced hysteresis. The motion mechanism is novel in utilizing internal centripetal torques generated by a vibration micro-motor mounted on the platform. Up to now, most investigations in frictional interactions towards capsule systems were confined into static or quasi-dynamic circumstance, where it is difficult to facilitate online use and control. It is the first time the dynamic frictional characteristics (non-reversible drooping and hysteresis) are studied towards these systems. An analytical study is primarily conducted to reveal the non-reversible characteristic for the static friction, the pre-sliding regime as well as the pure sliding regime, and the frictional limit boundaries are identified. Subsequently, the studies are mainly focused on dynamic analysis, including friction-driven vibrational responses and qualitative changes induced by control parameter (mass ratio) in capsule dynamics. It is found that the models predict periodic responses for the parameters considered and the average capsule velocity can be controlled through proper tuning of the control parameter around identified control points. The results demonstrate good captions of experimentally observed frictional characteristics, quenching of friction-induced vibrations and satisfaction of energy requirements.
Chinese Frame Identification using T-CRF Model

As one of the important tasks of SemEval Evaluation, Frame Semantic Structure Extraction based on the FrameNet has received much more attention in NLP field. This task is often divided into three sub-tasks: recognizing target words which are word expressions that evoke semantic frames, assigning the correct frame to them, namely, Frame Identification (FI), and for each target word, detecting and labeling the corresponding frame elements properly. Frame identification is the foundation of this task. Since the existence of links between frame semantics and syntactic features, we attempt to study FI on the basis of dependency syntax. Therefore, we adopt a tree-structured conditional random field (T-CRF) model to solve Chinese frame identification based on Dependency Parsing. 7 typical lexical units which belong to more than one frame in Chinese FrameNet were selected to be researched. 940 human annotated sentences serve as the training data, and evaluation on 128 test data achieved 81.46% precision. Compared with previous works, our result shows obvious improvement.