Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Usability and Trust in Information Systems

The need for people to protect themselves and their assets is as old as humankind. People's physical safety and their possessions have always been at risk from deliberate attack or accidental damage. The advance of information technology means that many individuals, as well as corporations, have an additional range of physical (equipment) and electronic (data) assets that are at risk. Furthermore, the increased number and types of interactions in cyberspace has enabled new forms of attack on people and their possessions. Consider grooming of minors in chat-rooms, or Nigerian email cons: minors were targeted by paedophiles before the creation of chat-rooms, and Nigerian criminals sent the same letters by physical mail or fax before there was email. But the technology has decreased the cost of many types of attacks, or the degree of risk for the attackers. At the same time, cyberspace is still new to many people, which means they do not understand risks, or recognise the signs of an attack, as readily as they might in the physical world. The IT industry has developed a plethora of security mechanisms, which could be used to mitigate risks or make attacks significantly more difficult. Currently, many people are either not aware of these mechanisms, or are unable or unwilling or to use them. Security experts have taken to portraying people as "the weakest link" in their efforts to deploy effective security [e.g. Schneier, 2000]. However, recent research has revealed at least some of the problem may be that security mechanisms are hard to use, or be ineffective. The review summarises current research on the usability of security mechanisms, and discusses options for increasing their usability and effectiveness.
Clinical Ophthalmology Dovepress Comparisons of Amplitude of Pseudoaccommodation with Aspheric Yellow, Spheric Yellow, and Spheric Clear Monofocal Intraocular Lenses

Purpose: To determine the amplitude of pseudoaccommodation and higher-order aberrations with three types of implanted monofocal intraocular lenses (IOLs): aspheric yellow (IQ); spheric yellow (NT); and spheric clear (AT). Methods: We studied 60 patients who underwent small incision phacoemulsification with the implantation of a monofocal IQ, NT, or AT IOL. The pseudoaccommodation was measured by the lens-loading method, and the postoperative ocular higher-order aberrations were measured with a Hartmann–Shack wavefront analyzer through natural and 4 mm pupils. Results: Sixty eyes of 60 patients were studied. The average amplitude of the pseudoaccom-modation was 0.45±0.24 D with the IQ IOL, which was significantly lower than that with the AT IOL at 0.81±0.37 D (Tukey's test; P,0.01). The differences in the amplitude of the pseudo-accommodation between the IQ and the NT IOLs, and between the NT and the AT IOLs were not significant (Tukey's test; P.0.05). The degree of spherical aberration was significantly different for the IQ, NT, and AT lenses (analysis of variance, P=0.016). The spherical aberration through the IQ IOL was significantly lower than that through the NT and the AT IOLs (Tukey's test; P,0.01). The fourth-order RMS (root mean square) aberration of the IQ lens was also significantly lower than that of the NT and AT IOLs (Tukey's test; P,0.01). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the spherical aberration and selective spectral transmission of IOLs may work together to increase the amplitude of the pseudoaccommodation.
Online Intelligent Controllers for an Enzyme Recovery Plant: Design Methodology and Performance

This paper focuses on the development of intelligent controllers for use in a process of enzyme recovery from pineapple rind. The proteolytic enzyme bromelain (EC 3.4.22.4) is precipitated with alcohol at low temperature in a fed-batch jacketed tank. Temperature control is crucial to avoid irreversible protein denaturation. Fuzzy or neural controllers offer a way of implementing solutions that cover dynamic and nonlinear processes. The design methodology and a comparative study on the performance of fuzzy-PI, neurofuzzy, and neural network intelligent controllers are presented. To tune the fuzzy PI Mamdani controller, various universes of discourse, rule bases, and membership function support sets were tested. A neurofuzzy inference system (ANFIS), based on Takagi-Sugeno rules, and a model predictive controller, based on neural modeling, were developed and tested as well. Using a Fieldbus network architecture, a coolant variable speed pump was driven by the controllers. The experimental results show the effectiveness of fuzzy controllers in comparison to the neural predictive control. The fuzzy PI controller exhibited a reduced error parameter (ITAE), lower power consumption, and better recovery of enzyme activity.
Rin, a Neuron-Specific and Calmodulin-Binding Small G-Protein, and Rit Define a Novel Subfamily of Ras Proteins

cDNAs encoding two novel 25 kDa Ras-like proteins, Rit and Rin, were isolated from mouse retina using a degenerate PCR-based cloning strategy. Using the expressed sequence tag database, human orthologs were also obtained and sequenced. The protein sequences of Rit and Rin, which are 64% identical, are more similar to each other than to any known Ras protein. Their closest homologs in the databases areMucor racemosus Ras2 and Ras3, to which they show ∼48% identity. Rit and Rin both bind GTP in vitro. An unusual feature of their structure is that they lack a known recognition signal for C-terminal lipidation, a modification that is generally necessary for plasma membrane association among the Ras subfamily of proteins. Nonetheless, transiently expressed Rit and Rin are plasma membrane-localized. Both proteins contain a C-terminal cluster of basic amino acids, which could provide a mechanism for membrane association. Deletion analysis suggested that this region is important for Rit membrane binding but is not necessary for Rin. Rit, like most Ras-related proteins, is ubiquitously expressed. Rin, however, is unusual in that it is expressed only in neurons. In addition, Rin binds calmodulin through a C-terminal binding motif. These results suggest that Rit and Rin define a novel subfamily of Ras-related proteins, perhaps using a new mechanism of membrane association, and that Rin may be involved in calcium-mediated signaling within neurons.
Assessing the Effectiveness of Payment Arrangements for Watershed Ecosystem Services ( PWES )

There is growing interest among both conservation and development organizations in the development of Payment Arrangements for Watershed Ecosystem Services (PWES), for which the primary motives have been to create a steady flow of funding needed to achieve conservation objectives, to contribute to poverty alleviation by creating economic incentives for conservation, and to reduce disparities in the costs and benefits of management actions needed to produce ecosystem services. Willingness to pay (WTP) for watershed ecosystem services has been driven by an increased perception of threats to their continued provision and a recognition of the limits of regulatory approaches and the absence of economic incentives. A recent review by IIED identified 287 initiatives of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), of which 61 are for watershed services, and most of which are in initial or planning phases (Landell-Mills and Porras 2002). Key services paid for have included: ensuring regular flows of water, protection of water quality, and control of sedimentation.
Resources and international marketing strategy in export firms

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to use the resource-based view (RBV) to analyze the influence of the resources available for the export activity (deriving from the firm's size, experience and structure) and the international marketing strategy on export performance. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of Spanish companies is analyzed using logit modeling. Findings - The results show that the resources available are essential antecedents of the type of export strategy chosen by the firm to compete in international markets and of its export performance. Likewise, although the international expansion strategy adopted does not affect export performance, the decision about whether to standardize or adapt the marketing-mix elements does have an impact. Originality/value - The paper tries to solve the problem arising from the contradictory results on the effect of export performance antecedents using the RBV as theoretical foundation. With that purpose, the authors analyze jointly the factors proposed as potential determinants in this research.
Sine and cosine functions based edge detection operators

In this paper, a new method for extracting edges in images is proposed. The local pixel values are normalized to make their sum become unity. Then, a nonlinear filtering process is applied to the normalized pixel values by using the sine or cosine function. Two new edge detection operators, which exploit the local convexity of the sine and cosine functions, are thus defined. The edges are detected at the places where these operators yield large values. The new approach exhibits desirable results in both effect and efficiency compared with some classical methods.
Power System Economics: The Nordic Electricity Market

This book is written as a textbook for students of engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). It is designed for the Power Markets course which is part of the Energy and environment master's programme and the recently established international MSc programme in Electric Power Engineering. As the title indicates, it deals with both power system economics in general and the practical implementation and experience from the Nordic market. Some of the subjects covered: Restructuring/deregulation of the power supply system; Grid access including tariffs and congestion management; Generation planning; Market modelling; Ancillary services; Regulation of grid monopolies. Although it is written primarily as a textbook for students, readers outside the universities may also find the book interesting. It deals with problems that have been subject of considerable attention in the power sector for some years and it addresses issues that are still relevant and important.
Spontaneous redistribution of surface immunoglobulin in the motile B lymphocyte

This paper reports that B cells undergoing translatory motion spontaneously segregate their surface Ig to one portion of their plasma membrane. The spontaneous redistribution of surface Ig was found to be: (a) selective, concanavalin A-dependent on translatory motion and energy metabolism. Abundant B cells undergoing motility were found after cultures in lipopolysaccharide or trypsin, or after brief exposure to cholinergic drugs.
Modelling the Effect of Diet Composition on Enteric Methane Emissions across Sheep, Beef Cattle and Dairy Cows

Simple Summary Enteric methane emissions produced by ruminant livestock has gained global interest due to methane being a potent greenhouse gas and ruminants being a significant source of emissions. In the absence of measurements, prediction models can facilitate the estimation of enteric methane emissions from ruminant livestock and aid investigation of mitigation options. This study developed a practical method using feed analysis information for predicting enteric methane emissions from sheep, beef cattle and dairy cows fed diets encompassing a wide range of nutrient concentrations. Abstract Enteric methane (CH4) is a by-product from fermentation of feed consumed by ruminants, which represents a nutritional loss and is also considered a contributor to climate change. The aim of this research was to use individual animal data from 17 published experiments that included sheep (n = 288), beef cattle (n = 71) and dairy cows (n = 284) to develop an empirical model to describe enteric CH4 emissions from both cattle and sheep, and then evaluate the model alongside equations from the literature. Data were obtained from studies in the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia, which measured enteric CH4 emissions from individual animals in calorimeters. Animals were either fed solely forage or a mixed ration of forage with a compound feed. The feed intake of sheep was restricted to a maintenance amount of 875 g of DM per day (maintenance level), whereas beef cattle and dairy cows were fed to meet their metabolizable energy (ME) requirement (i.e., production level). A linear mixed model approach was used to develop a multiple linear regression model to predict an individual animal’s CH4 yield (g CH4/kg dry matter intake) from the composition of its diet. The diet components that had significant effects on CH4 yield were digestible organic matter (DOMD), ether extract (EE) (both g/kg DM) and feeding level above maintenance intake: CH4 (g/kg DM intake) = 0.046 (±0.001) × DOMD − 0.113 (±0.023) × EE − 2.47 (±0.29) × (feeding level − 1), with concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) = 0.655 and RMSPE = 14.0%. The predictive ability of the model developed was as reliable as other models assessed from the literature. These components can be used to predict effects of diet composition on enteric CH4 yield from sheep, beef and dairy cattle from feed analysis information.
The image blending method for face swapping

Recently, image synthesis technology such as face swapping have been receiving attention gradually. In this issue, the rigid boundary line which is occurred by the large difference of color and brightness between reference and target image in synthesized image is a serious problem. This boundary line is the main cause of unnatural face swapping. In this paper, we propose a blending method which can deal with this problem by adaptive weight value and require low-cost for computation. In experiment, we verify that proposed method can remove the boundary line effectively during the image synthesis and preserve the principal parts of human face such as eyes, nose and mouth. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our method can compute the algorithm with 600 by 600 resolution image in near realtime.
Cross-correlation based binary image registration for 3D palmprint recognition

A new binary image registration algorithm is proposed for 3D palmprint recognition. When two 3D palmprint images are matched, three binary images are extracted from each of them which encode the orientation information. Based on the cross-correlations of the binary images a new algorithm is developed to calculate the translation parameters. Then the binary images are aligned and matched. Experimental results on the HK-Poly 2D+3Dpalmprint database show the good performance of our method.
Networking in gendered regional development

The present Swedish regionalization process creates a lack of institutionalisation called the "regional mess" (Stegmann McCallion 2008:587). According to a state investigation, Sweden has a "fragmented growth- and development policy as well as a weak and unclear regional organisation of society" (SOU 2007:10:18). Old and new structures are intertwined and the question emerges if this situation may create a space for women regarding regional development (Hedfeldt & Hedlund 2009). A multi-level governance perspective (Hedlund & Montin 2009) shows how agents on different levels from EU to local municipalities seem to share the same policy regarding gender and regional development: an increase in women entrepreneurs. The formal alliance between women from different spheres seems to be weak regarding the EU structural fund partnerships (Hedfeldt & Hedlund 2009). If there are more developed networks on local and regional level remains to be investigated. Are there informal gendered networks on different levels which may create a path to gate-keepers or gate-openers for women to gain access to economic resources aimed for innovation, entrepreneurship and regional development? The aim of this paper is to study what kind of gendered networking exists in four different regions regarding the policy objective to increase the share of women in entrepreneurship. Our ambition is to apply a multiscientific approach where network theory from both human geography and political science are combined (Hanson 2000; Bang & Esmark 2009). Our data indicate that women entrepreneurs participate in structural funds projects and are involved through networking. On what terms do they participate? And when are they excluded? We study the networking between local and regional elected officials, business representatives, entrepreneurs, public servants and CGO' s, HNGO's and NGO's regarding different project for funding to support or strengthen women as entrepreneurs. The methods used are document studies, a survey to members in structural fund partnerships and interviews.
Discriminative learning for optimizing detection performance in spoken language recognition

We propose novel approaches for optimizing the detection performance in spoken language recognition. Two objective functions are designed to directly relate model parameters to two performance metrics of interest, the detection cost function and the area under the detection-error-tradeoff curve, respectively. Both metrics are approximated with differentiable functions of model parameters by using a smoothing function based on a class misclassification measure. The model parameters are optimized by using the generalized probabilistic descent algorithm. We conduct experiments on the NIST 2003 and 2005 Language Recognition Evaluation corpora. Results show that the proposed approaches effectively improve the performance over the maximum likelihood training approach.
Big Data Challenges in Application Performance Management

Many web companies deal with enormous data sizes and request rates beyond the capabilities of traditional database systems. This has led to the development of modern Web Data Platforms (WDPs). WDPs handle large amounts of data and activity through massively distributed infrastructures. To achieve performance and availability at Internet scale, WDPs restrict querying capability, and provide weaker consistency guarantees than traditional ACID transactions. The reduced functionality is sufficient for many web applications. High data and query rates also appear in application performance management (APM). APM has similar requirements like current web based information systems such as weaker consistency needs, geographical distribution and asynchronous processing. At the same time, APM has some unique features and requirements that make previously published research and existing architectures inapplicable.
Critical review of published microarray studies for cancer outcome and guidelines on statistical analysis and reporting.

BACKGROUND Both the validity and the reproducibility of microarray-based clinical research have been challenged. There is a need for critical review of the statistical analysis and reporting in published microarray studies that focus on cancer-related clinical outcomes. METHODS Studies published through 2004 in which microarray-based gene expression profiles were analyzed for their relation to a clinical cancer outcome were identified through a Medline search followed by hand screening of abstracts and full text articles. Studies that were eligible for our analysis addressed one or more outcomes that were either an event occurring during follow-up, such as death or relapse, or a therapeutic response. We recorded descriptive characteristics for all the selected studies. A critical review of outcome-related statistical analyses was undertaken for the articles published in 2004. RESULTS Ninety studies were identified, and their descriptive characteristics are presented. Sixty-eight (76%) were published in journals of impact factor greater than 6. A detailed account of the 42 studies (47%) published in 2004 is reported. Twenty-one (50%) of them contained at least one of the following three basic flaws: 1) in outcome-related gene finding, an unstated, unclear, or inadequate control for multiple testing; 2) in class discovery, a spurious claim of correlation between clusters and clinical outcome, made after clustering samples using a selection of outcome-related differentially expressed genes; or 3) in supervised prediction, a biased estimation of the prediction accuracy through an incorrect cross-validation procedure. CONCLUSIONS The most common and serious mistakes and misunderstandings recorded in published studies are described and illustrated. Based on this analysis, a proposal of guidelines for statistical analysis and reporting for clinical microarray studies, presented as a checklist of "Do's and Don'ts," is provided.
Longitudinal analysis of the association between vasomotor symptoms and race/ethnicity across the menopausal transition: study of women's health across the nation.

OBJECTIVES We investigated whether vasomotor symptom reporting or patterns of change in symptom reporting over the perimenopausal transition among women enrolled in a national study differed according to race/ethnicity. We also sought to determine whether racial/ethnic differences were explained by sociodemographic, health, or lifestyle factors. METHODS We followed 3198 women enrolled in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation during 1996 through 2002. We analyzed frequency of vasomotor symptom reporting using longitudinal multiple logistic regressions. RESULTS Rates of vasomotor symptom reporting were highest among African Americans (adjusted odds ratio [OR]=1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.21, 2.20). The transition to late perimenopause exhibited the strongest association with vasomotor symptoms (adjusted OR = 6.64; 95% CI = 4.80, 9.20). Other risk factors were age (adjusted OR=1.17; 95% CI=1.13, 1.21), having less than a college education (adjusted OR = 1.91; 95% CI = 1.40, 2.61), increasing body mass index (adjusted OR=1.03 per unit of increase; 95% CI=1.01, 1.04), smoking (adjusted OR=1.63; 95% CI=1.25, 2.12), and anxiety symptoms at baseline (adjusted OR=3.10; 95% CI=2.33, 4.12). CONCLUSIONS Among the risk factors assessed, vasomotor symptoms were most strongly associated with menopausal status. After adjustment for covariates, symptoms were reported most often in all racial/ethnic groups in late perimenopause and nearly as often in postmenopause.
The external dimension of the Euro area : assessing the linkages

Preface Filippo di Mauro and Robert Anderton 1. Introduction Filippo di Mauro and Robert Anderton 2. The external dimension of the Euro area: stylised facts and initial findings Filippo di Mauro and Robert Anderton 3. Product variety and macro trade models: implications for EU Accession Countries Joseph Gagnon 4. Exchange-rate pass-through to import prices in the Euro area Jose Manuel Campa, Linda S. Goldberg and Jose M. Gonzalez-Minguez 5. The international equity holdings of Euro area investors Philip R. Lane and Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti 6. Global linkages through foreign direct investment W. Jos Jansen and Ad C. J. Stokman 7. Shocks and shock absorbers: the international propagation of equity market shocks and the design of appropriate policy responses Ray Barrel and E. Philip Davis 8. The Euro area in the global economy: its sensitivity to the international environment and its influence on global developments Alessandro Calza and Stephane Dees Index.