Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ensuring effective overview and scrutiny in a re-organised local government system : a case study of the move to unitary status in England

This thesis is a comparative analysis of the impact of local government reorganisation on the overview and scrutiny functions across four unitary local authorities in England. The creation of new unitary authorities in England in 2009 gave an opportunity to compare how they have maintained and developed effective overview and scrutiny functions previously undertaken by the former district and county councils. Investigating how this was achieved allowed reflection upon New Labour’s aims and objectives within the overall local government modernisation agenda and the wider discourse on local government, new localism and democracy. This research contributes to the knowledge previously established on overview and scrutiny by harnessing original empirical data from the unitary authorities. At the time there were no in-depth studies of how the transition to unitary status has affected and challenged patterns of overview and scrutiny developed in local authorities after 2000. The research for the thesis included a critical examination of the existing literature on local government and the overview and scrutiny function, was undertaken partly as a participant observer within the overview and scrutiny team of one of the case study authorities and through semi-structured interviews of council members and officers. The research found the case study authorities have developed overview and scrutiny functions that: adhere to accepted good practice; reflect the culture of their authorities; is understood and valued by council members and officers; acknowledges the influence of party politics; is dependent upon dedicated officer support and finance and are playing a significant role in meeting New Labour’s aims of transparent, accountable and efficient local government. However it is unclear as to whether they are contributing to ‘new localism’ given their unsuccessful engagement of the general public and communities. The research has also augmented the typologies of effective overview and scrutiny advocated in the existing literature.
Illustrative Data Graphic Style Elements

We describe a set of straight-forward techniques for the precise ink rendering of lines, hatching patterns, and hatched portraits that we employed in a personal data graphics poster inspired by 18th and 19th century visualizations. We outline our approach and rendering techniques and also discuss the relationship and relevance of our techniques to illustrative visualization.
Phylogenomic analysis of type I polyketide synthase genes in pathogenic and saprobic ascomycetes

Fungal type I polyketides (PKs) are synthesized by PK synthases (PKSs) and include well known secondary metabolites such as the anticholesterol drug lovastatin and the potent natural carcinogen aflatoxin. Other type I PKs are known to be virulence factors for some plant pathogens and pigments such as melanin. In this study, a phylogenomic approach was used to investigate the origin and diversity of fungal genes encoding putative PKSs that are predicted to synthesize type I PKs. The resulting genealogy, constructed by using the highly conserved PKS ketosynthase (KS) domain, indicated that: (i) Species within subphylum Pezizomycotina (phylum Ascomycota) but not early diverging ascomycetes, like Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Saccharomycotina) or Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Taphrinomycotina), had large numbers (7–25) of PKS genes. (ii) Bacteria and fungi had separate groups of PKS genes; the few exceptions are the likely result of horizontal gene transfer from bacteria to various sublineages of fungi. (iii) The bulk of genes encoding fungal PKSs fell into eight groups. Four groups were predicted to synthesize variously reduced PKs, and four groups were predicted to make unreduced PKs. (iv) Species within different classes of Pezizomycotina shared the same groups of PKS genes. (v) Different fungal genomes shared few putative orthologous PKS genes, even between closely related genomes in the same class or genus. (vi) The discontinuous distributions of orthologous PKSs among fungal species can be explained by gene duplication, divergence, and gene loss; horizontal gene transfer among fungi does not need to be invoked.
Scalable magnetically mediated thermoacoustic imaging through coil tailoring

Microwave induced thermoacoustic imaging suffers limited penetration for high water content tissues and its system design is difficult to scale for different applications. To provide an alternative solution, magnetically mediated thermoacoustic imaging (MMTI) method is proposed here, which exploits alternating magnetic field of tens MHz to map the dielectric property of matter at ultrasonic resolution. Delivering energy via magnetic field emitting from a coil enables greater penetration as human body is non-magnetic and, the near field energy coupling nature further endows it with good scalability: by tailoring the coil, it allows the penetration and field of view to be scaled from imaging deep laid regions with large view to probing superficial ones within a small area. The coil design is thus critical for achieving scalable MMTI system, apart from affecting the system performance. We demonstrate here experimentally the signal generation performances of three different kinds of coils and showcase the scalable imaging capability of MMTI under two different scales. Furthermore, a 3 D imaging of a phantom using a small coil and mechanical scanning is presented.
Using templates to elicit implied security requirements from functional requirements - a controlled experiment

Context: Security requirements for software systems can be challenging to identify and are often overlooked during the requirements engineering process. Existing functional requirements of a system can imply the need for security requirements. Systems having similar security objectives (e.g., confidentiality) often also share security requirements that can be captured in the form of reusable templates and instantiated in the context of a system to specify security requirements. Goal: We seek to improve the security requirements elicitation process by automatically suggesting appropriate security requirement templates implied by existing functional requirements. Method: We conducted a controlled experiment involving 50 graduate students enrolled in a software security course to evaluate the use of automatically-suggested templates in eliciting implied security requirements. Participants were divided into treatment (automatically-suggested templates) and control groups (no templates provided). Results: Participants using our templates identified 42% of all the implied security requirements in the oracle as compared to the control group, which identified only 16% of the implied security requirements. Template usage increased the efficiency of security requirements identified per unit of time. Conclusion: Automatically-suggested templates helped participants (security non-experts) think about security implications for the software system and consider more security requirements than they would have otherwise. We found that participants need more incentive than just a participatory grade when completing the task. Further, we recommend to ensure task completeness, participants either need a step-driven (i.e., wizard) approach or progress indicators to identify remaining work.
iNuc-PhysChem: A Sequence-Based Predictor for Identifying Nucleosomes via Physicochemical Properties

Nucleosome positioning has important roles in key cellular processes. Although intensive efforts have been made in this area, the rules defining nucleosome positioning is still elusive and debated. In this study, we carried out a systematic comparison among the profiles of twelve DNA physicochemical features between the nucleosomal and linker sequences in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome. We found that nucleosomal sequences have some position-specific physicochemical features, which can be used for in-depth studying nucleosomes. Meanwhile, a new predictor, called iNuc-PhysChem, was developed for identification of nucleosomal sequences by incorporating these physicochemical properties into a 1788-D (dimensional) feature vector, which was further reduced to a 884-D vector via the IFS (incremental feature selection) procedure to optimize the feature set. It was observed by a cross-validation test on a benchmark dataset that the overall success rate achieved by iNuc-PhysChem was over 96% in identifying nucleosomal or linker sequences. As a web-server, iNuc-PhysChem is freely accessible to the public at http://lin.uestc. edu.cn/server/iNuc-PhysChem. For the convenience of the vast majority of experimental scientists, a step-by-step guide is provided on how to use the web-server to get the desired results without the need to follow the complicated mathematics that were presented just for the integrity in developing the predictor. Meanwhile, for those who prefer to run predictions in their own computers, the predictor's code can be easily downloaded from the web-server. It is anticipated that iNuc-PhysChem may become a useful high throughput tool for both basic research and drug design.
Some thoughts on the role of the Reserve Banks: discussion

This topic, and Gary Stern’s well-done comments, take us to the heart of an ongoing debate within the Federal Reserve System that really involves some inside baseball. Given that, let me proceed with a few thoughts. I tend to agree with Gary, particularly about the nature of the changes facing Reserve Banks in the payments system. But I disagree with the thought that the Banks will be done out of a job any time soon by virtue of operating more efficiently; in fact, increased consolidation may help us play our payments and financial stability roles more effectively. Where are the Reserve Banks going? Clearly, the current structure seems odd. The locations of the twelve Banks and twenty-four branches are out of keeping with twenty-first century population and financial service trends and with the waves of technological change that make centralization more and more efficient and effective. But Reserve Banks are more than just operations centers. They are important eyes on the real economy in their respective regions. They also perform important supervisory responsibilities. Over the years, they have become integral parts of their communities. Most important, Reserve Bank presidents and Research Departments contribute significantly to monetary policy formation. Stern points out, and I agree, that the balance between Reserve Bank independence and accountability is vital to the effective conduct of monetary policy. There is no doubt that Reserve Banks have a role to play in maintaining central bank independence through this accountability.
Who wants to be a competent director?: An evaluation tool of directors’ knowledge of governance principles and legal duties

Awareness of the need for board and director performance evaluation is growing, but implementation has been both partial and slow. It is unusual for boards to undertake evaluations of their own performance, and more so to evaluate individual directors. Directors often feel that individual director evaluation has several drawbacks including undermining collegiality in the boardroom. There is thus a perceived attractiveness of director self‐assessments rather than peer review or outsider assessments. Self‐assessment, even though subject to a higher degree of biases than a combination of self‐assessment and peer assessment, is less likely to give rise to defensive routines and can provide a psychologically safe environment for a director to evaluate their own knowledge. Bearing in mind the above, we developed a 20‐question self‐assessment tool, which aims to assist directors in evaluating their understanding of important governance concepts and principles, as well as their legal duties as directors.
Gender discrimination and returns to self-employment Evidence from rural India

Although the importance of reducing gender discrimination for social and economic development is now widely recognized, most studies focus on the formal sector. Representative data from rural India demonstrate that informal markets, which are of great relevance for the poor, are characterized by high gender-wage differentials that are unrelated to productivity. While increasing wage levels, economic development fails to reduce such gender discrimination. Large differences in estimated marginal value products between family and hired labor suggest that improving access by the poor to productive assets that could facilitate self-employment may have significant benefits. Mechanisms for doing so are discussed. 1 World Bank, Washington DC, USA 2 National Council for Applied Economic Research, New Delhi, India
A 52 dBc MTPR line driver for powerline communication HomePlug AV standard in 0.18-μm CMOS technology

In this paper, a line driver for HomePlug AV powerline communication system has been described. The proposed line driver includes a damping factor control (DFC) network which suppressed the open loop high frequency peaking effect to improve the stability for the various characteristic impedance of powerline. The line driver was fabricated in TSMC 0.18-μm CMOS technology and occupied 0.195 mm2 active area. When operating with a power line and a coupling unit including a 1:4 turn ratio transformer, the line driver achieves 60 MHz bandwidth and 52.14 dBc in-band MTPR, with 5.15 dBm output signal power and 4.44 peak-to-average ratio (PAR), while 2.5 V supply voltage.
Aircraft measurements of the impacts of pollution aerosols on clouds and precipitation over the Sierra Nevada

[1] Recent publications suggest that anthropogenic aerosols suppress orographic precipitation in California and elsewhere. A field campaign (SUPRECIP: Suppression of Precipitation) was conducted to investigate this hypothesized aerosol effect. The campaign consisted of in situ aircraft measurements of the polluting aerosols, the composition of the clouds ingesting them, and the way the precipitation-forming processes are affected. SUPRECIP was conducted during February and March of 2005 and February and March of 2006. The flights documented the aerosols and orographic clouds flowing into the central Sierra Nevada from the upwind densely populated industrialized/urbanized areas and contrasted them with the aerosols and clouds downwind of the sparsely populated areas in the northern Sierra Nevada. SUPRECIP found that the aerosols transported from the coastal regions are augmented greatly by local sources in the Central Valley resulting in high concentrations of aerosols in the eastern parts of the Central Valley and the Sierra foothills. This pattern is consistent with the detected patterns of suppressed orographic precipitation, occurring primarily in the southern and central Sierra Nevada, but not in the north. The precipitation suppression occurs mainly in the orographic clouds that are triggered from the boundary layer over the foothills and propagate over the mountains. The elevated orographic clouds that form at the crest are minimally affected. The clouds are affected mainly during the second half of the day and the subsequent evening, when solar heating mixes the boundary layer up to cloud bases. Local, yet unidentified nonurban sources are suspected to play a major role.
Framing war, sport and politics : the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Moscow Olympics

This thesis explores the reporting of the Soviet international broadcaster Radio Moscow, and how it represented to listeners worldwide the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent US-led boycott campaign against the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. In doing so, it builds on literature that has examined Cold War radio broadcasting, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the politics surrounding the Moscow Olympic Games. Specifically, this thesis sheds new light on the outputs of Soviet broadcasting, and on the ways the Soviet Union tried to justify their actions and condemn the actions of the US to different audiences worldwide. Using the BBC Monitoring Service material archived at Imperial War Museums, Duxford, and applying the concept of frame analysis, this thesis concentrates on six key moments after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the build-up to the Moscow Olympics. It provides not only examples of how Radio Moscow reported specific events, but how the reporting evolved over time. In addition, the use of transcripts from broadcasts to multiple target audiences provides evidence of how Soviet broadcasting was adapted to appeal to different listeners worldwide, allowing for a comparison of reporting between regions, as well as over time, and to build understanding of how the Soviet Union viewed the world in 1980. The thesis shows that Radio Moscow adapted its broadcasting to appeal to different audiences, and it highlights key examples of how this was achieved. The case studies demonstrate a series of particularly prominent frames used by Radio Moscow, to both suggest and create divisions between groups and as a way of attempting to reinforce previous Soviet claims about the world. The study also examines how these were localised to appeal to the targeted audience, for example focusing on religion in broadcasts to the Middle East and specific world leaders in broadcasts to North America and Europe. The thesis concludes by discussing what this radio material demonstrates of the Soviet view of the world. In doing this, the thesis also highlights the usefulness of the BBC Monitoring Service as a tool for researchers looking to further explore radio broadcasting and alternative state-to-state diplomacy in detail.
Research on Iris Localization Algorithms

Iris localization affects the iris texture feature extraction, which has an important influence on the result of the analysis. The inner and outer edges of iris as concentric circles in the traditional algorithm caused low recognition accuracy. The pupil iris and iris-sclera borders are non-concentric circles, so the new localization algorithms were applied respectively. The iris image was carried on the dynamic threshold segmentation, then, point Hough transform to the images was applied to get the center of the circle and radius of the inner boundary. The improved Daugman algorithms was used to search the center of the circle and radius of the outer boundary to get the outer edge within the valid range. Through the test of iris images regardless of different size, different degree of clarity and illumination intensity, the results show that rather good segmentation results can be gotten by applying the improved algorithm.
Testing different discourse segmentation models with Portuguese data

The present paper is set to describe one of the initial tasks of PRODIP, a project currently being developed at ILTEC, Lisbon. The main purpose of PRODIP is to investigate what prosodic features speakers use to mark the information structure of spoken discourse and which cues are most relevant for the listeners to identify this structure. There have been no such studies concerning the Portuguese language. PRODIP can thus provide valuable information for computational linguistics, also allowing the comparison between Portuguese and other languages regarding macro-level prosody. The data used in PRODIP have previously been collected for REDIP [20], a project that aims to study the language of Portuguese media, dealing mostly with radio and TV broadcasts. One of the reasons we are using the REDIP corpus is because it contains a large amount of spontaneous speech. The importance of using spontaneous speech in this kind of work has already been outlined in [1, 21].
Sound-localization deficits induced by lesions in the barn owl's auditory space map [published erratum appears in J Neurosci 1993 Apr;13(4):following table of contents]

Barn owls possess a two-dimensional map of auditory space. The map appears in its final form in the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICx) and is projected from there to the optic tectum (OT). To determine the role of the map in ICx or its projected version in OT in the localization of acoustic stimuli, head movements of three adult owls were recorded before and after lesioning parts of the map either in ICx or in OT. Small electrolytic lesions caused sound-localization deficits that were characterized by failures to turn, turns away from the sound source, increased response latencies, and reduced turning amplitudes. These deficits occurred at azimuths expected from the physiological data obtained at the lesion site before passing current. They extended over an azimuthal range of some 20 degrees. Thus, this is the first unambiguous demonstration, for sound localization, of a deficit covering a well circumscribed area within an auditory hemifield. Since the major lesion deficits were restricted to one hemifield, a second lesion was made in the space map of the other side of the brain in each animal. The second lesion resulted in behavioral deficits qualitatively similar to those produced by the first lesion. In total, the study is based on nine lesions, three in each owl. Two lesions were sham lesions. These and two further lesions did not produce a measurable deficit. In four of the five remaining cases, in which a behavioral deficit was observed initially, the behavioral performance recovered with time. In two cases, the deficit disappeared completely. Although improvement occurred also in the remaining two cases, prelesion response amplitudes were not reached in one case, and response latency did not reach prelesion values in the other case. Because the behavioral deficits induced by the second lesions disappeared in the same way as did the deficits induced by the first lesions, the possibility is excluded that the animals learned to respond tactically, that is, that they learned to associate “unlocatable sounds” with the lesioned side. The deficits were also not due to a generalized motor impairment, because immediately after the lesion the animals responded as they did before the lesion to stimulation from outside the well circumscribed affected region of space. The possibility is discussed that plasticity after small central (neural) injuries is maintained longer in the lifetime of an animal than plasticity after peripheral (mechanical) manipulations.
Controlling user flows with RIO and WFQ

The volume of Internet traffic increases every year, caused by increased amounts of individual information. Quality of Service (QoS) controls is necessary to manage this traffic. Differentiated Service (Diffserv) is a promising technique to realize scalable QoS control in the internet; extensive efforts have been made for its practical use and it is already introduced in some networks. The control functions for Diffserv are installed in edge and core router, which enables the scalable QoS control. In this paper, we use Diffserv to control QoS on service classes. We propose a new active queue management scheme for Assured Forwarding (AF) services guaranteeing minimum bandwidth provided that Random Early Detection with IN and OUT (RIO) and Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ) are used as the basic QoS control mechanisms. The proposed method controls the queue threshold values of RIO for each flow and the allocated bandwidth of WFQ for each flow and users' flows. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme reduces the packet discard rate when packets concentrate on a specific flow.