Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Power Relations, Industrial Clusters, and Regional Transformations: Pan-European Integration and Outward Processing in the Slovak Clothing Industry

Abstract Since the late 1980s the East European clothing sector has witnessed a dramatic transformation. Driven by increasing costs in Western Europe, Western clothing retailers and buyers have increasingly outsourced production to lower-cost regions of postcommunist Eastern Europe. One consequence of these changes has been a dramatic growth of clothing producers in Eastern Europe, locked into supply relations with Western buyers while simultaneously involved in dense networks of relations between firms in regional clusters. This article focuses on the form that power relations take, which knit together pan-European supply linkages and regional clusters of clothing firms in Slovakia. In drawing on a weak form of actor-network theory and an understanding of capitalist commodity production, the article explores the uneven nature of these power relations, as well as their fluidity at three levels. First, attention is given to relations between Slovak firms and Western buyers that largely involve a tenuous form of price competitiveness, which is simultaneously under threat from lower-cost production zones elsewhere. Second, the variant power relations between producers in regional clusters of clothing firms in Slovakia are explored. Production flexibilities have been built through a network of locally agglomerated workshop production units and domestic home-based workers to whom work is outsourced when required. Third, the implications of these forms of outsourcing are explored in relation to workplace and wage-level pressures. The article therefore suggests the importance of understanding dynamic and fluid power relations in the economic geography of regional clusters and the globalization of outsourcing in the clothing sector.
Space Shift Keying (SSK) Modulation with Partial Channel State Information: Optimal Detector and Performance Analysis over Fading Channels

Space Shift Keying (SSK) modulation is a new and recently proposed transmission technology for Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) wireless systems, which has been shown to be a promising low-complexity alternative to several state-of-the-art MIMO schemes. So far, only optimal or heuristic transceivers with Full Channel State Information (F-CSI) at the receiver have been investigated, and their performance analyzed over fading channels. In this paper, we develop and study the performance of the optimal Maximum-Likelihood (ML) detector with unknown phase reference at the receiver (i.e., Partial-CSI, P-CSI, knowledge). A very accurate analytical framework for the analysis and optimization of this novel detector over generically correlated and non-identically distributed Nakagami-{m} fading channels is proposed, and its performance compared to the optimal receiver design with F-CSI. Numerical results will point out that: i) the performance of SSK modulation is significantly affected by the characteristics of fading channels, e.g., channel correlation, fading severity, and, particularly, power imbalance among the transmit-receive wireless links, and ii) unlike ordinary modulation schemes, there is a substantial performance loss when the receiver cannot exploit the phase information for optimal receiver design. This latter result highlights the importance of accurate and reliable channel estimation mechanisms for the efficient operation of SSK modulation over fading channels. Analytical frameworks and theoretical findings will also be substantiated via Monte Carlo simulations.
Dictionary Learning in Optimal Metric Space

Dictionary learning has been widely used in machine learning field to address many real-world applications, such as classification and denoising. In recent years, many new dictionary learning methods have been proposed. Most of them are designed to solve unsupervised problem without any prior information or supervised problem with the label information. But in real world, as usual, we can only obtain limited side information as prior information rather than label information. The existing methods don’t take into account the side information, let alone learning a good dictionary through using the side information. To tackle it, we propose a new unified unsupervised model which naturally integrates metric learning to enhance dictionary learning model with fully utilizing the side information. The proposed method updates metric space and dictionary adaptively and alternatively, which ensures learning optimal metric space and dictionary simultaneously. Besides, our method can also deal well with highdimensional data. Extensive experiments show the efficiency of our proposed method, and a better performance can be derived in real-world image clustering applications.
Clustering Students in ASSISTments: Exploring System- and School-Level Traits to Advance Personalization

Few attempts have been made to create student models that cluster student and school level traits as a means to design personalized learning interventions. In the present work, data from ASSISTments was enriched with publicly available school level data and K-Means clustering was employed. Results revealed the importance of school locale, measures of district wealth, and system interaction patterns as potential foci for personalization. Clusters were then applied to a test set of held out data and cluster assignments were used to help predict end-of-year standardized mathematics test scores. Findings suggest that while cluster interpretations were not generalizable to held out data, clustering was generally helpful in predicting standardized test scores
Colonoscopic Follow‐up of Adenomas and Colorectal Cancer

Increasing experience with colonoscopy has altered recommendations for the frequency of follow-up surveillance examinations for adenomatous polyps and colorectal cancer. Current recommendations include a follow-up colonoscopy at 1 year for patients with more than two adenomatous or highly suggestive polyps and after curative surgery for colorectal cancer. Other patients can safely receive a follow-up colonoscopy at longer intervals of 3 years. Published data and a review of the Ochsner Clinic experience are presented to support these recommendations.
The attraction effect in motor planning decisions

In motor lotteries the probability of success is inherent in a person’s ability to make a speeded pointing movement. By contrast, in traditional economic lotteries, the probability of success is explicitly stated. Decision making with economic lotteries has revealed many violations of rational decision making models. However, with motor lotteries people’s performance is often near optimal, and is well described by statistical decision theory. We report the results of an experiment testing whether motor planning decisions exhibit the attraction effect, a well-known axiomatic violation of some rational decision models. The effect occurs when changing the composition of a choice set alters preferences between its members. We provide the first demonstration that people do exhibit the attraction effect when choosing between motor lotteries. We also found that people exhibited a similar sized attraction effect in motor and traditional economic paradigms. People’s near-optimal performance with motor lotteries is characterized by the efficiency of their decisions. In attraction effect experiments performance is instead characterized by the violation of an axiom. We discuss the extent that axiomatic and efficiency measures can provide insight in assessing the rationality of decision making.
Identification of promising chemical systems for the synthesis of new materials structure types: An ab initio minimization data mining approach

In this research we performed data exploring for binary compounds with elements from groups V, IV-VI, and III-VII, with the goal to identify chemical systems where the recently proposed “5-5” structure type might be experimentally accessible. Among others, TlF, SnO, SnS, SnSe, GeS, GeSe, PbO, PbS, ZnO and ZnS, were chosen for the study. For each of these systems, a local optimization on ab initio level with the LDA functional was performed for the 5-5 structure type, plus other experimentally observed and theoretically proposed structure types, for comparison. Afterwards, the results were combined with earlier theoretical work involving the 5-5 structure in the earth alkaline metal oxides and the alkali metal halides. As a result, we suggest the GeSe and the ZnO systems as the most suitable ones for synthesizing the 5-5 structure type.
Overcoming growing water scarcity: Exploring potential improvements in water productivity in India

Improvements in water productivity (WP) are often suggested as one of the alternative strategies for overcoming growing water scarcity in India. This paper explores the potential improvements in WP of food grains at district level, which currently varies between 0.11 and 1.01 kilogram per cubic metre (kg/m 3 ), in the 403 districts that account for 98% of the total production of food grains. The paper first finds the maximum yield function conditional on consumptive water use (CWU) and then explores the potential improvements in WP by: (a) bridging the gap between actual and maximum yield while keeping CWU constant; and (b) changing the maximum yield by adjusting the CWU using supplementary or deficit irrigation. Deficit irrigation in some areas may decrease yield but can increase production if land availability is not a constraint. A large potential exists for bridging the yield gap in irrigated areas with CWU between 300 and 475 mm. Of the 222 districts that fall under this category, a 50% reduction in yield gap alone could increase production by 100 million tonnes (Mt) without increasing CWU Supplementary irrigation can increase yield and WP in rain-fed and irrigated areas of 266 and 16 districts with CWU is below 300 mm. Deficit irrigation in irrigated areas of 185 districts with CWU above 475 mm could increase yield, WP and production. Decreasing CWU in irrigated areas with CWU between 425 and 475 mm reduces yield slightly, but if availability of land is not a constraint then the benefits due to water saving and production increases could exceed the cost.
Transposable-Element Associated Small RNAs in Bombyx mori Genome

Small RNAs are a group of regulatory RNA molecules that control gene expression at transcriptional or post-transcriptional levels among eukaryotes. The silkworm, Bombyx mori L. , genome harbors abundant repetitive sequences derived from families of retrotransposons and transposons, which together constitute almost half of the genome space and provide ample resource for biogenesis of the three major small RNA families. We systematically discovered transposable-element (TE)-associated small RNAs in B. mori genome based on a deep RNA-sequencing strategy and the effort yielded 182, 788 and 4,990 TE-associated small RNAs in the miRNA, siRNA and piRNA species, respectively. Our analysis suggested that the three small RNA species preferentially associate with different TEs to create sequence and functional diversity, and we also show evidence that a Bombyx non-LTR retrotransposon, bm1645, alone contributes to the generation of TE-associated small RNAs in a very significant way. The fact that bm1645-associated small RNAs partially overlap with each other implies a possibility that this element may be modulated by different mechanisms to generate different products with diverse functions. Taken together, these discoveries expand the small RNA pool in B. mori genome and lead to new knowledge on the diversity and functional significance of TE-associated small RNAs.
Examining the Relationship between Knowledge Sharing and Performance Rewards in the Hospitality Industry

The hospitality industry is known for having the highest employee turnover rate, which causes a loss in employee knowledge in the workplace. If employees would like to actively share their knowledge with their colleagues, especially with their new colleagues, cost of knowledge loss could be saved. Performance rewards form a competitive atmosphere which could impede knowledge sharing. This study aims to investigate which type of performance rewards, if any, has a positive influence or less negative impact on knowledge sharing. The result of this study will provide hospitality employers suggestions on choosing performance reward to balance motivating employees and enhancing knowledge sharing.
Rates of Return on Art Objects, the Fisher Hypothesis, and Inflationary Expectations

After surveying the evolution of the major methodologies in inflation hedging, this study presents a unique methodology that uses principal component factor analysis to separate the effects of variability in the real rate of return from the nominal rate of return. This approach allows the effects of both anticipated and unanticipated inflation on rates of return to be estimated more precisely. This study finds that art objects perform well in terms of average real rates of return and that the market, though not perfect, integrates anticipated inflation into the rates of return. However, unanticipated inflation is very often negatively related to the rates of return. Copyright 1994 by MIT Press.
Evaluation of the Microbiological Status of Raw Beef in Korea: Considering the Suitability of Aerobic Plate Count Guidelines

This study was conducted to analyze the microbiological contamination status of raw beef distributed in Korea, and evaluate the suitability of current aerobic plate count (APC) guidelines. We analyzed five years (2010-2014) of microbiological monitoring data obtained from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and investigated the microbiological status of raw beef collected from meat packing centers and meat shops in the Seoul/Gyeonggi, Gangwon, and Chungcheong regions in August 2015. From 2010-2014, most raw beef (>94%) displayed APC levels of < 1.0 × 106 CFU/g. However, raw beef samples collected from all three regions in August 2015 had comparatively higher APC levels than those reported in previous years. To evaluate the relationship between the APC level and quality, changes in beef loin were evaluated during cold storage for 15 days at 4°C. On day 11, the mean APC level (4.7 × 106 CFU/g) conformed to current guidelines in Korea (1.0 × 107 CFU/g) and the pH value was 5.82. However, the sensory evaluation score for color and overall acceptability was under 3.0, meaning that the beef loin was not acceptable for eating. These results suggest that current APC guideline for raw beef should be lowered to 1.0 × 106 CFU/g to improve both the microbiological safety and palatability of raw beef.
Spheroplastic phase of mycobacteria isolated from patients with Crohn's disease

Two strains of an unclassified Mycobacterium species were isolated after 18 and 30 months of incubation of media inoculated with resected intestinal tissues from patients with Crohn's disease. These strains represented the third and fourth isolates of this organism from Crohn's disease patients. Ultrastructural examination of this strain and two previously isolated strains revealed the presence of spheroplasts which eventually transformed into the bacillary form of a previously unrecognized Mycobacterium species. These cell wall-deficient forms did not stain with conventional dyes and failed to grow on hypertonic media. Restriction polymorphism of the ribosomal DNA genes was used to determine the relationship between the cell wall-deficient and bacillary forms. Identical restriction patterns of the ribosomal DNA genes were found between the spheroplasts and Mycobacterium sp. isolates with EcoRI, BamHI, and XhoI restriction endonucleases, thus providing definitive evidence of their origin. Unidentified spheroplasts were isolated from an additional 12 patients with Crohn's disease, of which 7 of 10 seroagglutinated with antiserum prepared against the Mycobacterium sp. Spheroplasts were isolated from 16 of 26 (61%) patients with Crohn's disease but not from tissues of 13 patients with ulcerative colitis or 13 patients with other diseases of the bowel. These findings support the role of mycobacteria as etiologic agents in some cases of Crohn's disease.
An Ensemble Kushner-Stratonovich-Poisson Filter for Recursive Estimation in Nonlinear Dynamical Systems

We propose a Monte Carlo filter for recursive estimation of diffusive processes that modulate the instantaneous rates of Poisson measurements. A key aspect is the additive update, through a gain-like correction term, empirically approximated from the innovation integral in the time-discretized Kushner-Stratonovich equation. The additive filter-update scheme eliminates the problem of particle collapse encountered in many conventional particle filters. Through a few numerical demonstrations, the versatility of the proposed filter is brought forth.
An efficient stereological sampling approach for quantitative assessment of nerve regeneration

Aims: The aim of the present study was to find the most efficient sampling strategy for stereological analysis of peripheral nerve, including the number of myelinated nerve fibres, axon cross‐sectional area and myelin sheet thicknesses of nerve fibres. Methods: Two groups of rats underwent experimental resection of the tibial and peroneal nerves. The first group received tibial‐peroneal end to end autograft repair (n = 6). Tibial and peroneal nerves were isolated, transected, and separated 1 cm distal to the trifurcation, where they lay adjacent to each other by a 1‐cm gap, then repaired with an autologous nerve graft taken from the tibial nerve. The proximal stump of the tibial nerve and distal stump of the peroneal nerve were connected to each other by means of the nerve graft. The second group received tibial‐peroneal repair with a flexible collagen tube (n = 6). After 90 days of recovery, animals were sacrificed and nerve segments were removed and sectioned for microscopy. Three different sampling strategies, that is, small, medium and large step sizes were applied to obtain each quantitative parameter. Results: There are no significant differences between these sampling strategies with respect to total number of myelinated nerve fibres, axon cross‐sectional area and myelin sheet thicknesses of nerve fibres. Conclusion: Findings show that one can achieve the desired estimate precisely with a rather large and less time‐consuming sampling approach. In addition, it was observed that the size discrepancy of nerve regeneration can be improved by collagen tube conduit even with a 1‐cm gap.
The Triple Helix Model as an Instrument of Local Response to the Economic Crisis

In an attempt to overcome the impact of the economic crisis that emerged in 2007–2008, the triple helix model (THM) is increasingly being used as an inspiration source for local development policy, even though many localities and regions have not been able to create and sustain the innovation dynamics and sub-dynamics described and prescribed by the model. In fact, in less-advanced contexts, an adaptation and simplification of the THM to the local conditions and practice is likely to occur. Based on semi-structured interviews and direct observation of the evolution of a THM-driven local development environment in a Portuguese small municipality, the authors claim that when the originally complex model is simplified, it seems to be able to mobilize local innovation agents, to legitimize policy efforts and to improve coherence between different policy strands affecting innovation. Even though deprived of its conceptual complexity, the simplified THM may be an effective framework for less-advanced economies to promote innovation and counteract the effects of the economic crisis.
Molecular Evolution of a Pathogenicity Island from Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7

ABSTRACT We report the complete 43,359-bp sequence of the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) from EDL933, an enterohemorrhagicEscherichia coli O157:H7 serovar originally isolated from contaminated hamburger implicated in an outbreak of hemorrhagic colitis. The locus was isolated from the EDL933 chromosome with a homologous-recombination-driven targeting vector. Recent completion of the LEE sequence from enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) E2348/69 afforded the opportunity for a comparative analysis of the entire pathogenicity island. We have identified a total of 54 open reading frames in the EDL933 LEE. Of these, 13 fall within a putative P4 family prophage designated 933L. The prophage is not present in E2348/69 but is found in a closely related EPEC O55:H7 serovar and other O157:H7 isolates. The remaining 41 genes are shared by the two complete LEEs, and we describe the nature and extent of variation among the two strains for each gene. The rate of divergence is heterogeneous along the locus. Most genes show greater than 95% identity between the two strains, but other genes vary more than expected for clonal divergence among E. coli strains. Several of these highly divergent genes encode proteins that are known to be involved in interactions with the host cell. This pattern suggests recombinational divergence coupled with natural selection and has implications for our understanding of the interaction of both pathogens with their host, for the emergence of O157:H7, and for the evolutionary history of pathogens in general.
Helsinki statement on social work practice research*

In 2008, a group of international social work researchers met in Salisbury (UK) to explore the nature of practice research in social work. They developed some preliminary consensus that became known as the Salisbury Statement on Practice Research. The statement arose from a concern that the contemporary emphasis on evidencebased practice was not adequately addressing the complexities of social work practice and the tools for improving practice. Social work and its clients might therefore be better served if we gave a stronger emphasis to practice priorities and to more active engagement with practitioners as researchers. This is reflected in the description of practice research:
LASTRAC . 3 d : Transition Prediction in 3 D Boundary Layers

Langley Stability and Transition Analysis Code (LASTRAC) is a general-purpose, physics-based transition prediction code released by NASA for laminar flow control studies and transition research. This paper describes the LASTRAC extension to general three-dimensional (3D) boundary layers such as finite swept wings, cones, or bodies at an angle of attack. The stability problem is formulated by using a body-fitted nonorthogonal curvilinear coordinate system constructed on the body surface. The nonorthogonal coordinate system offers a variety of marching paths and spanwise waveforms. In the extreme case of an infinite swept wing boundary layer, marching with a nonorthogonal coordinate produces identical solutions to those obtained with an orthogonal coordinate system using the earlier release of LASTRAC. Several methods to formulate the 3D parabolized stability equations (PSE) are discussed. A surface-marching procedure akin to that for 3D boundary layer equations may be used to solve the 3D parabolized disturbance equations. On the other hand, the local line-marching PSE method, formulated as an easy extension from its 2D counterpart and capable of handling the spanwise mean flow and disturbance variation, offers an alternative. A linear stability theory or parabolized stability equations based N-factor analysis carried out along the streamline direction with a fixed wavelength and downstream-varying spanwise direction constitutes an efficient engineering approach to study instability wave evolution in a 3D boundary layer. The surface-marching PSE method enables a consistent treatment of the disturbance evolution along both streamwise and spanwise directions but requires more stringent initial conditions. Both PSE methods and the traditional LST approach are implemented in the LASTRAC.3d code. Several test cases for tapered or finite swept wings and cones at an angle of attack are discussed.