Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Kuwaiti National Security And The U.S. - Kuwaiti Strategic Relationship After Saddam

Abstract : The U.S.-Kuwait military relationship has been of considerable value to both countries since at least 1990. This alliance was formed in the aftermath of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's brutal invasion of Kuwait and the U.S. decision to free Kuwait with military force in 1991. Saddam's later defeat and removal from power in 2003 eliminated an important rationale for the alliance, but a close look at current strategic realities in the Gulf suggests that Kuwait remains an important U.S. ally. It is also an ally that faces a number of serious national security concerns in the turbulent post-Saddam era. Since its independence in 1961, Kuwait has struggled to manage a number of difficult challenges related to protecting its citizens and its territory from the predatory designs of large and dangerous neighbors. The most menacing neighbors have been Iraq and Iran. While Iran has proven a threatening and subversive enemy on key occasions, Iraq is even more problematic. Kuwait has maintained a long and often extremely difficult relationship with Iraq, and a series of Iraqi governments have either pressured Kuwait for territorial concessions or suggested that Kuwait is a lost province of Iraq. Kuwait also must cope with a newly empowered Iran which has at least partially filled the Gulf power vacuum created by Iraq's political crisis. Good Kuwaiti relations with Iran are often viewed with favor by significant elements of Kuwait's Shiite community. Nevertheless, the Kuwaiti leadership fears Iranian interest in domination of the Gulf and is especially opposed to Iranian efforts to compel the United States to withdraw its military forces from the region. The United States also has a vested interest in regional political reform and ongoing democratization in Kuwait. Beyond being a valuable strategic ally, Kuwait also has shown a commitment to expanding democracy in an evolutionary way that supports U.S. aspirations for both stability and more inclusive government within the region.
Romania and foreign direct investment

Thanks to a level of growth in foreign investment, the gap is narrowing between Romania and other East European countries like the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, countries normally considered the preferred choice of foreign investors. In the last years, Romania has become a more appealing target for an increasing number of foreign investors. After its accession in NATO in 2004 and in European Union in 2007, Romania positioned itself very firmly within the Euro - Atlantic zone, with all political, economical and military consequences deriving from it.
SiC based Buck Boost Converter

An attempt has been made to analyze a current controlled buck-boost converter with a SiC diode using a software package ORCAD PSPICE. The simulation results indicate that both in charging mode as well as in discharging modes, the converter with SiC diode has a better performance compared to that with Si diode. The turn-on switching losses are found to be reduced to a great extent when SiC (CSD10060) diode as compared to that of the Si (MUR840) diode has been used. However, there is very little improvement for turn-off switching losses with a SiC diode. The SiC diodes reverse recovery losses have been found to be very low as compared to that of the Si diodes. This is because of very low or negligible value of the reverse recovery current flowing through SiC diode. Due to the reduction in the total losses comprising of switch and the diode losses in the case of the SiC (CSD10060) diode as compared to the Si (MUR840) diode, the overall efficiency of the buck boost converter is increased about 3 to 5 percent.
DEXTER: A workbench for automatic term extraction with specialized corpora†

Abstract Automatic term extraction has become a priority area of research within corpus processing. Despite the extensive literature in this field, there are still some outstanding issues that should be dealt with during the construction of term extractors, particularly those oriented to support research in terminology and terminography. In this regard, this article describes the design and development of DEXTER, an online workbench for the extraction of simple and complex terms from domain-specific corpora in English, French, Italian and Spanish. In this framework, three issues contribute to placing the most important terms in the foreground. First, unlike the elaborate morphosyntactic patterns proposed by most previous research, shallow lexical filters have been constructed to discard term candidates. Second, a large number of common stopwords are automatically detected by means of a method that relies on the IATE database together with the frequency distribution of the domain-specific corpus and a general corpus. Third, the term-ranking metric, which is grounded on the notions of salience, relevance and cohesion, is guided by the IATE database to display an adequate distribution of terms.
Size and HRM in the Spanish manufacturing industry

Attempts to discover any possible links between company size and the handling of human resource management (HRM) in the case of Spanish industrial production workers. The data used as a basis for this study were obtained by means of a survey carried out on 965 Spanish industrial firms covering such aspects as compensation policy, job design and training. The results provide evidence of significant differences in the majority of the practices included in the survey, with a tendency towards their fuller development in larger sized firms. Some areas of human resource management, however, such as job description, promotion within the firm and the use of incentive schemes, do not differ.
Social capital and health in malaria-prevalent areas of the Solomon Islands.

Social capital and health have drawn much attention in public health. Employing three models, this study examines relationships between vertical/horizontal/comprehensive social capital, self-rated health, malaria infection, as well as health-related behaviors/attitudes. In Model 1, odds ratios were calculated to scrutinize the relationships between component variables of social capital and "Self-rated health," one by one. In Model 2, the variable "Health," which combined "Self-rated health" and malaria infection, was used in lieu of "Self-rated health" in Model 1. Lastly, Model 3 utilized three composite measures of social capital and examined their associations with health, and health-related behaviors/attitudes. Model 1 highlighted associations between some of the components of vertical social capital and self-rated health, whereas, in Model 2, it was elucidated that some of the constituent factors classified as horizontal social capital have significant relationships with "Health. " The most comprehensive approach in this study, Model 3, found significant associations between: Horizontal Social Capital (HSC) and "Health"; HSC and infection with malaria; and Vertical Social Capital (VSC) and malaria infection. In addition, Comprehensive Social Capital (CSC) and "Health," CSC and malaria infection, and, finally, CSC and "Feeling threatened by malaria in the community" were found to be significantly associated. In conclusion, the three methods employed in this study indicated some significant associations between social capital (or its components) and health outcomes in general and social capital and malaria infection in particular. It is noteworthy that Model 3 resulted in demonstrating significant relationships between HSC, VSC, respectively on the one hand, and malaria infection, on the other. Hence, developing social capital should possibly help deal with or reduce malaria infection, particularly in nations where other resources are scarce.
Wintertime pollution over the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains as observed from MOPITT, CALIPSO and tropospheric ozone residual data

Abstract. A large wintertime increase in pollutants has been observed over the eastern parts of the Indo Gangetic Plains. We use improved version 4 carbon monoxide (CO) retrievals from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) along with latest version 3 aerosol data from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) lidar instrument and the tropospheric ozone residual products to characterize this pollution pool. The feature is seen primarily in the lower troposphere from about November to February with strong concomitant increases in CO and aerosol optical depth (AOD). The signature of the feature is also observed in tropospheric ozone column data. The height resolved aerosol data from CALIPSO confirm the trapping of the pollution pool at the lowest altitudes. The observations indicate that MOPITT can capture this low altitude phenomenon even in winter conditions as indicated by the averaging kernels.
Political Islam at the crossroads: From hegemony to co-existence

Politically, Turkey constitutes an unusual case where Islamists have been allowed to share power, as a dominant partner in a coalition government, in a broadly open and a strongly secularist political environment. Hence, it provides an interesting context in which to investigate the complex issue concerning the relationship between Islamism and liberal democracy. This article investigates the processes leading to the transformation of Islamists in Turkey from 'moderate fundamentalists' to a milder and more liberal posture in the recent period and attempts to assess the consequences of this phenomenon for the future of the democratic order. A major objective is to highlight some of the paradoxical developments encountered in the process, attempting to consolidate democracy in the current international order within the parameters of neo-liberal globalization.
Benefits and costs of Japanese system of corporate governance

Corporate governance can be defined as the way the management of a firm is influenced by many stakeholders, including owners/shareholders, creditors, managers, employees, suppliers, customers, local residents, and the government. Different economies have systems of corporate governance that differ in how the stakeholders influence the management. The purpose of this paper is to characterize the system of Japanese corporate governance by examining each aspect of the system and to examine its benefits and costs. The paper primarily summarizes what we currently know from the past research about the system of Japanese corporate governance rather than trying to
Western Concepts, Russian Perspectives: Meanings of Advertising in the Former Soviet Union

Abstract Western advertising professionals base their interpretations of advertising in the former Soviet Union on a Western model of advertising and neglect Russian perspectives on advertising. Symbolic interactionism suggests that things have different meanings for different people at different times. The author discusses the influence of Russian culture on advertising in the former Soviet Union and the problem of imposing Western concepts. A month-long research study was conducted in Moscow, Russia in May 1991. Interviews with government officials, business and advertising industry professionals, academicians, and students were audiotaped. Findings suggest that advertising in the former Soviet Union is an interaction between social and economic realities and not just a means of uncovering a new marketplace.
Cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A determines bortezomib-induced apoptosis in leukemia cells

The multiple cellular targets affected by proteasome inhibition implicate a potential role for bortezomib, a first-in-class proteasome inhibitor, in enhancing antitumor activities in hematologic malignancies. Here, we examined the antitumor activity and drug targets of bortezomib in leukemia cells. Human leukemia cell lines were used for in vitro studies. Drug efficacy was evaluated by apoptosis assays and associated molecular events assessed by Western Blot. Gene silencing was performed by small interference RNA. Drug was tested in vivo in xenograft models of human leukemia cell lines and in primary leukemia cells. Clinical samples were assessed by immunohistochemical staining. Bortezomib differentially induced apoptosis in leukemia cells that was independent of its proteasome inhibition. Cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A, a cellular inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A, mediated the apoptotic effect of bortezomib. Bortezomib increased protein phosphatase 2A activity in sensitive leukemia cells (HL-60 and KG-1), but not in resistant cells (MOLT-3 and K562). Bortezomib’s downregulation of cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A and phospho-Akt correlated with its drug sensitivity. Furthermore, cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A negatively regulated protein phosphatase 2A activity. Ectopic expression of CIP2A up-regulated phospho-Akt and protected HL-60 cells from bortezomib-induced apoptosis, whereas silencing CIP2A overcame the resistance to bortezomib-induced apoptosis in MOLT3 and K562 cells. Importantly, bortezomib exerted in vivo antitumor activity in HL-60 xenografted tumors and induced cell death in some primary leukemic cells. Cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A was expressed in leukemic blasts from bone marrow samples. Cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A plays a major role in mediating bortezomib-induced apoptosis in leukemia cells.
Local communities’ participation in decision-making processes through planning and budgeting in African countries

Community participation and community based management are topical themes in current policy and discussion revolving around decision-making processes especially those dealing with natural resources management. This review shows that while governments have accepted the need to either cede or devolve control and management of natural resources to the local communities, the communities are not part and parcel of the planning and budgeting which are crucial in decision-making. Communities were seen to be more involved in the implementation of natural resource management programs but lacked ownership of the projects. This causes lack of commitment to the programs and at times hostile reaction from the communities. The communities are always at the receiving end when it pertains to losses in the exchange. Community participation was shown to be effective when the local population is involved not as co-operating users but as natural resource managers or owner managers.
Cost-efficient enactment of stream processing topologies

The continuous increase of unbound streaming data poses several challenges to established data stream processing engines. One of the most important challenges is the cost-efficient enactment of stream processing topologies under changing data volume. These data volume pose different loads to stream processing systems whose resource provisioning needs to be continuously updated at runtime. First approaches already allow for resource provisioning on the level of virtual machines, but this only allows for coarse resource provisioning strategies. Based on current advances and benefits for containerized software systems, we have designed a cost-efficient resource provisioning approach and integrated it into the runtime of the Vienna Ecosystem for Elastic Stream Processing. Our resource provisioning approach aims to maximize the resource usage for virtual machines obtained from cloud providers. This strategy only releases processing capabilities at the end of the VM's minimal leasing duration instead of releasing them eagerly as soon as possible as it is the case for threshold-based approaches. This strategy allows us to improve the service level agreement compliance by up to 25% and a reduction for the operational cost of up to 36%. ABSTRACT The continuous increase of unbound streaming data poses several challenges to established data stream processing engines. One of the most important challenges is the cost-efﬁcient enactment of stream processing topologies under changing data volume. These data volume pose different loads to stream processing systems whose resource provisioning needs to be continuously updated at runtime. First approaches already allow for resource provisioning on the level of virtual machines, but this only allows for coarse resource provisioning strategies. Based on current advances and beneﬁts for containerized software systems, we have designed a cost-efﬁcient resource provisioning approach and integrated it into the runtime of the Vienna Ecosystem for Elastic Stream Processing. Our resource provisioning approach aims to maximize the resource usage for virtual machines obtained from cloud providers. This strategy only releases processing capabilities at the end of the VM’s minimal leasing duration instead of releasing them eagerly as soon as possible as it is the case for threshold-based approaches. This strategy allows us to improve the service level agreement compliance by up to 25% and a reduction for the operational cost of up to 36%.
Non-verifiability, Costly Renegotiation, and Efficiency

We study the implications of the non verifiability of information for the allocation of resources and the bearing of risk in a two party relationship. We consider a two step approach. In step one the two parties define a non contingent contract which will be executed when the non verifiable information will become common knowledge of the two parties. In step two a costly exogenous bargaining process takes place. The main result is that with risk neutrality it is possible to induce the first best as a Nash equilibrium of the contract without having to renegotiate. A counter-example shows that the result does not extend to risk averse parties for which non verifiability of information will impede in general risk sharing.
Assessment of Single-Bolus Contrast Administration Technique Using Hybrid Dual-Source ECG-Gated Thoracic and Dual-Source Non–ECG-Gated High-Pitch Abdominopelvic CT Acquisitions for Procedural Planning Before Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

Purpose This study aimed to assess vascular contrast opacification and homogeneity using single-bolus contrast administration with hybrid thoracic and abdominopelvic computed tomographic angiography in patients with severe aortic valve stenosis. Materials and Methods Combination electrocardiogram-gated thoracic and dual-source, high-pitch abdominopelvic computed tomographic angiography examinations of 50 patients with severe aortic stenosis between December 2013 and March 2014 were reviewed. Contrast administration was individualized to patient-specific physiology. Image analysis of vascular opacification was obtained and interdependencies of vascular contrast and homogeneity of contrast distribution were assessed. Results The mean volume of contrast administered was 106 ± 11.7 mL. Mean attenuation was 371 ± 90.7 Hounsfield units (HU) in the thoracic aorta and 388 ± 95.9 HU in the abdominal aorta. Homogeneous opacification was obtained throughout with coefficient of variation of 11%. Conclusions Procedural planning for transcatheter aortic valve replacement can be achieved using a single-injection bolus contrast protocol in combination with a 2-part multidetector computed tomographic image acquisition technique with optimal opacification of major arterial structures.
Environmental auditing in the new Europe

In May 2004 the European Union expanded. Although most of the new member states have serious environmental problems, all are required to accept EU environmental legislation and standards. This article outlines and compares the main environmental policy instruments available to the governments of these countries: command and control regulation; market‐based instruments; voluntary agreements and informational devices. Particular attention is given to the promotion of environmental auditing.
Strain relaxation and quantum confinement in InGaN/GaN nanoposts

Nanoposts of 10–40 nm top diameter on an InGaN/GaN quantum well structure were fabricated using electron-beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching. Significant blue shifts up to 130 meV in the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum were observed. The blue-shift range increases with decreasing post diameter. For nanoposts with significant strain relaxation, the PL spectral peak position becomes less sensitive to carrier screening. On the basis of the temperature-dependent PL and time-resolved PL measurements and a numerical calculation of the effect of quantum confinement, we conclude that the optical behaviours of the nanoposts are mainly controlled by the combined effect of 3D quantum confinement and strain relaxation.
Brain MR image segmentation using NAMS in pseudo-color

Abstract Image segmentation plays a crucial role in various biomedical applications. In general, the segmentation of brain Magnetic Resonance (MR) images is mainly used to represent the image with several homogeneous regions instead of pixels for surgical analyzing and planning. This paper proposes a new approach for segmenting MR brain images by using pseudo-color based segmentation with Non-symmetry and Anti-packing Model with Squares (NAMS). First of all, the NAMS model is presented. The model can represent the image with sub-patterns to keep the image content and largely reduce the data redundancy. Second, the key idea is proposed that convert the original gray-scale brain MR image into a pseudo-colored image and then segment the pseudo-colored image with NAMS model. The pseudo-colored image can enhance the color contrast in different tissues in brain MR images, which can improve the precision of segmentation as well as directly visual perceptional distinction. Experimental results indicate that compared with other brain MR image segmentation methods, the proposed NAMS based pseudo-color segmentation method performs more excellent in not only segmenting precisely but also saving storage.
PEG-like algorithm for LDPC codes

Progressive Edge-Growth (PEG) algorithm is one of the promising methods to construct a parity-check matrix (or H matrix) with a large girth for low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. However, generating a large H matrix based on a PEG algorithm usually requires a lot of computations because of its complexity. This paper proposes an alternative method based on a topology matrix to construct the H matrix, which has lower complexity than the PEG algorithm. We refer to the proposed method as a “PEG-like” algorithm. Results indicate that the proposed method can provide the same H matrix as the PEG algorithm does but with lower complexity.
Measuring the unmet need for contraception: comment on Bongaarts.

The author critically examines an article by John Bongaarts in which Bongaarts proposed "a modification in the measurement of unmet need [for contraception] that [Westoff] and others have developed. My aim here is not to review his criticisms in detail nor to discuss their technical aspects but rather to summarize the differences in the major concepts and arguments and to highlight their policy and programmatic implications. " A reply by Bongaarts is included (pp. 126-7). (EXCERPT)
Exploring the Role of a Country's Institutional Environment in Internationalization: Strategic Responses of SMEs in Russia

Based on the suggested five-pillar institutional framework, the study empirically investigates the impact of the institutional environment on internationalization aspirations of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies and maps their strategic responses against imposed institutional pressures. The data collected across five forest cluster SMEs in Saint Petersburg and Moscow are analyzed. Political instability, corruption, bounded cognition, over-patriotism, and high power distance act as the main constraints, while demands for new knowledge and funding are identified as the main drivers for internationalization. The classified institutional challenges are mapped against the possible strategic responses of the SMEs, such as acquiescence, compromise, avoidance, defiance, and manipulation.