Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preparing Engineering Students To Meet The Ecological Challenges Through Sustainable Product Design

In the era of market globalization and the expansion of product responsibility into the entire product life cycle (PLC), cycle economy has emerged as a new paradigm for industry. “Green" design is catching up very fast due to increased governmental regulations and customer concerns for the environment. Graduating engineers are ill-equipped to handle environmental issues since it has traditionally never been a part of the engineering curriculum. Exposing students to green engineering concepts will help students to develop environmental consciousness. This paper presents our efforts to incorporate Sustained Product Design into the engineering curriculum with special emphasis on disassembly, serviceability, remanufacturing, reuse, and recycling aspects. The objective is to promote environmental consciousness amongst engineering students from all disciplines.
Psychology into Economics : Fast and Frugal Heuristics November 2015

The present essay focuses on the fast and frugal heuristics program set forth by Gerd Gigerenzer and his fellows. In particular it examines the contribution of Gigerenzer and Goldstein (1996) ‘Reasoning the Fast and Frugal Way: Models of Bounded Rationality’. This essay, following the theoretical propositions and the empirical evidence of Gigerenzer and Goldstein, points out that simple cognitive mechanisms such as fast and frugal heuristics can be capable of successful performance in real world, without the need of satisfying the classical norms of rational inference.
Small Town Retail Change in East Texas: an Analysis of Retail Growth, Decline, and Spatial Reconfiguration

In recent years, small towns have experienced declining levels of retail activity attributable to a variety of factors. Previously conducted research identifies a number of these factors such as changing population dynamics, continuously evolving retail practices, locational factors, and an assortment of other macroeconomic factors. Although retail decline is common for many small towns, there are some small towns that have been able to maintain their viability in an ever-changing economic climate. The primary purpose of this research is to better understand what spatial and socio-economic characteristics contribute to retail growth and decline in a series of small towns. This research highlights a selection of small towns across a 14 county area within east Texas. The selection of small towns includes a number of towns with an increasing number of retail establishments as well as a number of towns with decreasing retail establishments over the 14 year study timeframe. Contained within this research is a discussion of small town economic and retail development, as well as findings regarding spatial and socio-economic characteristics as they relate to retail growth and decline in small towns. This research finds that locational characteristics do have an effect on retail growth and decline. The research also supports the literature, which states retail growth and decline is more pronounced within certain retail categories.
Request distribution with pre-learning for distributed SSL reverse proxies

As network data security becoming more and more universalized, distributed Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) reverse proxies are often used in Web systems to offload CPU exhausting SSL operations from Web servers and improve the execution performance of the SSL protocol. The distribution strategy of user requests to the SSL reverse proxies is a significant factor affecting the system's performance in processing SSL operations. Aiming at improving the quality of request distribution decisions, this paper proposes a new approach for SSL reverse proxy load estimation, i.e. the family of algorithms called Load Estimation with Pre-Learning (LEPL), which estimates load using pre-learned machine learning models. Using LEPL, high accuracy of load estimation can be achieved, so that better request distribution decisions can be made. Our experimental results show that by using pre-learning, the SSL reverse proxy system's average response time can be shortened by about 30% - 50%.
Chapter 3 Control of chaos in directly modulated InGaAsP semiconductor lasers

In chapter 2, we have demonstrated two different routes through which the directly modulated semiconductor lasers arrive at chaotic behavior. In this chapter, we present the results of our numerical studies on two different delay feedback schemes for controlling chaos and other instabilities in such lasers. The former method is based on the chaos-control algorithm known as Time Delay Auto Synchronization (TDAS) introduced by K. Pyragas [26, 27]. The latter is a simple direct delay feedback that considered for the chaotic semiconductor laser [28]. The motivation behind this attempt is the necessity of suppressing the possible double peak structure of the pulses obtained from the directly modulated InGaAsP laser diode. We show numerically that the unstable periodic orbits of the chaotic laser also contain the second maxima and the proposed direct delay feedback scheme can be used to suppress it. The performance of these two methods are compared using different computational tools such as times series plots, phase portraits, power spectra etc. Since high-speed modulation of semiconductor lasers has vast applications in photonics technology, the study of nonlinear dynamics of laser diodes is relevant in the research in photonics and related areas. A clear understanding of the operating conditions where these lasers show chaos and other nonlinear phenomena would be useful in designing high quality optical and optoelectronic systems using laser diodes for the purposes such as optical communications [4] and optical signal processing [5]. However, it is not necessary to avoid the chaotic regimes completely for practical applications. Various techniques have been developed for controlling and suppressing chaos in different kinds of nonlinear systems [6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. The basic idea behind most of these control schemes is that the
IFRS Convergence in Accounting Curriculum: How It is Perceived

The purpose of this study is to examine the response of Intermediate Accounting lecturer to convergence of IFRS in accounting standards in Indonesia (PSAK). This response will affect the act of lecturers in adjusting the curriculum of Intermediate Accounting based on IFRS. The adjusted Intermediate Accounting curriculum will determine how the classroom teaching and learning will be carried out. Finally, students’ understanding will indicate how successful the process of learning has been held. This study examines the act of Intermediate Accounting lecturers at public universities in Malang that have vision and mission of accounting department in accordance with IFRS. The respondents are six intermediate accounting lecturers and students taking Intermediate Accounting subject. The result of this study is that currently Intermediate Accounting lecturers have a proper and sufficient knowledge of subject matter. Furthermore, they plan the lesson accordance with the needs and implement it in the classroom as well, so that the students get the right understanding as expected.
A fuzzy inference system for the handoff decision algorithms in the virtual cell layout based tactical communications systems

A novel handoff decision algorithm, namely multicriteria handoff decision algorithm (MDA), for the virtual cell layout based mobile subsystem of the next generation tactical communications systems is introduced. In this algorithm, handoff decision metrics are received signal strength measurements from the access points, soft capacities of the access points, and relative directions and speeds of the access points and the base transceivers. Soft capacity of an access point is affected by the interference in the environment. We use a fuzzy inference system to process these metrics. We compare our algorithm with the received signal strength based handoff decision algorithms. Our tests have shown that MDA with lowest membership value threshold achieves minimum number of handoffs, and MDA with highest membership value threshold achieves minimum call blocking rate (GoS), where the call blocking rate is still in an acceptable level in the former case and number of handoffs is in an acceptable level in the latter case.
Comparing Bayesian Networks to Classify Facial Expressions Conference

In this paper are presented two distinct Bayesian networks to analyse human beings’ facial expressions. Both classifiers are completely defined: structure of the networks, belief variables and respective events, likelihoods, initial priors and procedure to change dynamically priors. The performance (relatively to the convergence) of the two approaches is compared. For both networks, the classification is done associating the facial expression to the probabilities of five emotional states: anger, fear, happy, sad and neutral. A justification for the usage of this set is presented: it is based in emotional states presented by human beings during social relationships. Classifiers as these described here can be used in Human Robot Interation. We believe that this interaction shall be done in a similar way of that used by human beings to communicate between them and, after all, facial expressions is one of the main non-verbal means of communication used by human.
Simultaneous detection of tumour cells and positive genetic test results for Mycobacterium tuberculosis in pleural effusion

Pleural effusion is a frequently observed lesion in the course of respiratory diseases such as inflammatory process and cancer metastasis. Its cause may be either tuberculosis (the most common extrapulmonary location is the pleura) and malignant disease of the pleura. Confirmation of tuberculosis is often troublesome. The primary site of cancer may be als difficult to find despite the application of difficult diagnostic methods. Below we present history of 79-year old female in whom carcinomatous cells and positive result of PCR for Mycobacterium tuberculosis in pleural fluid were discovered simultaneously suggesting the tuberculosis and cancer of unknown primary origin.
Early Childhood Stimulation Benefits Adult Competence and Reduces Violent Behavior

OBJECTIVE: An estimated 178 million children younger than 5 years in developing countries experience linear growth retardation and are unlikely to attain their developmental potential. We aimed to evaluate adult benefits from early childhood stimulation and/or nutritional supplementation in growth-retarded children. METHODS: In Kingston, Jamaica, 129 growth-retarded children aged 9 to 24 months took part in a 2-year trial of nutritional supplementation (1 kg milk-based formula per week) and/or psychosocial stimulation (weekly play sessions to improve mother-child interaction). We assessed IQ, educational attainment, and behavior at 22 years old in 105 participants. We used multivariate regressions, weighted to adjust for loss to follow-up, to determine treatment benefits. RESULTS: We found no significant benefits from supplementation. Participants who received stimulation reported less involvement in fights (odds ratio: 0.36 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.12–1.06]) and in serious violent behavior (odds ratio: 0.33 [95% CI: 0.11–0.93]) than did participants with no stimulation. They also had higher adult IQ (coefficient: 6.3 [95% CI: 2.2–10.4]), higher educational attainment (achievement, grade level attained, and secondary examinations), better general knowledge, and fewer symptoms of depression and social inhibition. CONCLUSIONS: Early psychosocial intervention had wide-ranging benefits in adulthood that are likely to facilitate functioning in everyday life. The reductions in violent behavior are extremely important given the high levels of violence in many developing countries. The study provides critical evidence that early intervention can lead to gains in adult functioning.
les mécanismes de susceptibilité réduite à la ciprofloxacine dans les isolats d ’ Escherichia coli des hôpitaux canadiens

OBJeCtIve: To determine whether plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) determinants play a role in the increasing resistance to fluoroquinolones among Escherichia coli isolates in Canadian hospitals, and to determine the mechanisms of reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin in a recent collection of 190 clinical E coli isolates. MetHODS: E coli isolates (n=1702) were collected as part of the 2007 Canadian Hospital Ward Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance (CANWARD) study. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) broth microdilution. Using a representative subset of isolates (n=190), the mechanisms of reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin were detected by polymerase chain reaction and sequencing of the quinolone resistancedetermining regions (QRDR) of chromosomal gyrA and parC genes, and by polymerase chain reaction for the PMQR genes: qnr, aac(6′) Ib-cr and qepA. ReSultS: 2.1% and 1.1% of E coli harboured aac(6′)Ib-cr and qnrB, respectively. Single amino acid substitutions in the QRDR of gyrA were observed among isolates with ciprofloxacin minimum inhibitory concentrations as low as 0.12 μg/mL. As the ciprofloxacin minimum inhibitory concentration increased to 1 μg/mL (which is still considered to be susceptible by the CLSI), the vast majority of isolates demonstrated both gyrA and parC mutations. COnCluSIOn: PMQR determinants and QRDR mutants among clinical E coli isolates with reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin demonstrates the need for increased surveillance and the need to re-evaluate the current CLSI breakpoints to prevent further development of fluoroquinolone resistance.
Key Success Drivers in Public Research Grants: Funding the Seeds of Radical Innovation in Academia?

We study what makes a research grant application successful in terms of ability, type of research, experience, and demographics of the applicants. But our main objective is to investigate whether public funding organizations support the teams that are most likely to undertake transformative or “radical” research. Making use of the literature on recombinant innovation, we characterize such “radical teams” as those formed by eclectic and non-usual collaborators, and those that are heterogeneous and scientifically diverse. Our results, using data from the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), show that the more able, more basic, and more senior researchers, working in a top university, are more likely to be successful. But, radical teams are less likely to be funded by funding bodies. Our analysis of the research output of the awarded projects suggests that, voluntarily or involuntarily, the evaluation process in these organizations is biased against radical teams.
Title On the theory and design of a class of PR uniform and recombination nonuniform causal-Stable IIR cosine modulated filter

This paper studies the theory and design of a class of perfect reconstruction (PR) uniform causal-stable infinite-impulse response (IIR) cosine modulated filter banks (CMFBs). The design approach is also applicable to the design of PR recombination nonuniform (RN) IIR CMFBs. The polyphase components of the prototype filters of these IIR CMFBs are assumed to have the same denominator so as to simplify the PR condition. In designing the proposed IIR CMFB, a PR FIR CMFB with similar specifications is first designed. The finite-impulse response prototype filter is then converted to a nearly PR (NPR) IIR CMFB using a modified model reduction technique. The NPR IIR CMFB so obtained has a reasonably low reconstruction error. Its denominator is designed to be a polynomial in , where is the number of channels, to simplify the PR condition. Finally, it is employed as the initial guess to constrained nonlinear optimization software for the design of the PR IIR CMFB. Design results show that both NPR and PR IIR CMFBs with good frequency characteristics and different system delays can be obtained by the proposed method. By using these IIR CMFBs in the RN CMFBs, new RN NPR and PR IIR CMFBs can be obtained similarly.
649 A new prognostic bulk microphysics scheme for the IFS

A major upgrade to the parametrization of stratiform cloud a n precipitation was implemented in the Integrated Forecast System (IFS) Cycle 36r4, operational a t ECMWF from 9 November 2010. Three additional prognostic variables have been introduced to en abl a more physically based representation of mixed-phase (liquid/ice) cloud and precipitating r ain and snow. A fully implicit method is employed to solve the network of microphysics pathways stab ly for long timesteps. It is the most significant change to the structure of the cloud parametriza tion since the Tiedtke scheme was introduced operationally in 1995. Many aspects of the model are sy stematically improved including the skill of precipitation forecasts, the spatial distributio n f ice and snow in the troposphere, the physical processes in mixed-phase cloud and the impact of cloud and pr ecipitation on radiation.
Doublecortin Is Required in Mice for Lamination of the Hippocampus But Not the Neocortex

Doublecortin (DCX) is a microtubule-associated protein that is required for normal neocortical and hippocampal development in humans. Mutations in the X-linked human DCX gene cause gross neocortical disorganization (lissencephaly or “smooth brain”) in hemizygous males, whereas heterozygous females show a mosaic phenotype with a normal cortex as well as a second band of misplaced (heterotopic) neurons beneath the cortex (“double cortex syndrome”). We created a mouse carrying a targeted mutation in theDcx gene. Hemizygous male Dcx mice show severe postnatal lethality; the few that survive to adulthood are variably fertile. Dcx mutant mice show neocortical lamination that is largely indistinguishable from wild type and show normal patterns of neocortical neurogenesis and neuronal migration. In contrast, the hippocampus of both heterozygous females and hemizygous males shows disrupted lamination that is most severe in the CA3 region. Behavioral tests show defects in context and cued conditioned fear tests, suggesting that deficits in hippocampal learning accompany the abnormal cytoarchitecture.
A 300 GHz PLL in an InP HBT technology

We present a 300 GHz fundamental PLL, based on a 300 GHz VCO, 2:1 dynamic frequency divider, fifth-order sub-harmonic phase detector, and active loop filter, fabricated in an InP HBT technology. The PLL achieves locking from 300.76 to 301.12 GHz, with −23 dBm of output power and −78 dBc/Hz of phase noise at a 100 KHz offset, while consuming 301.6 mW. The PLL occupies 0.84 mm2 including pads. This work represents the highest frequency PLL reported thus far, 2× to 3× faster than previously reported PLLs.
The contradictory faces of social enterprise: impression management as (social) entrepreneurial behaviour

This paper demonstrates that social enterprises can exhibit multiple faces to different stakeholders in order to access resources. The research involved a longitudinal case study of a group of Kurdish refugees and asylum seekers producing a theatrical play based upon their collective experiences. Participant observation enabled a deeper understanding of the phenomena under investigation. The approach to analysis was inductive, drawing out themes for further investigation. This paper focuses upon one particular theme: the role of organisational impression management in resource acquisition. Key findings are that the social enterprise is seen and presented in different ways by different internal stakeholders; social enterprises can use organisational impression management to demonstrate multiple faces to different resource holders in order to acquire resources; however the resource holders are not passive recipients of impression management. Each has a strategic interest in the social enterprise being presented in a particular way and the social enterprise needs to be seen to conform to these impressions.
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SELF-MOTIVATIONAL ATTRIBUTES: SELFEFFICACY, LOCUS OF CONTROL AND GOAL SETTING AMONG STUDENTS PURSUING GENERAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL COURSES.

Self-efficacy is the belief of an individual in succeeding specific situations, events, and tasks. Locus of control means the ability of an individual to have power exerted over the events and influence those events and their outcomes. Self-efficacy and locus of control are considered to be the motivational factors for goal setting and reaching goals. Students pursuing a normal degree and the students pursuing profession courses were administered with General self-efficacy scale (Schwarzer and Jerusalem, 1979) to measure self-efficacy and ‘Levenson’s locus of control scale’ to measure locus of control. Their previous grades and future goal grade points were also gathered to find the influence of self-efficacy and locus of control on their grades (previous grades and future goal grades). Self-efficacy was positively related to previous grade points and future goal grade points. Factors of locus of control including chance factor and external locus of control mainly contributed to their academic achievement and future goal grade points. Internal locus control does not show any contribution to academic achievement and future goal grade points in this study.
Genotyping of Sarawak Rice Cultivars Using Microsatellite Markers

Genetic diversity of 53 Sarawak rice cultivars, originating from Southern Sarawak, was assessed using 54 microsatellite markers. Initial polymorphism detection was conducted using 54 primer pairs distributed on 12 rice chromosomes. Polymorphic markers were chosen from the initial screening results in order to obtain microsatellite marker panels that can differentiate the rice cultivars undertaken in the study. The chosen microsatellite marker panel consisted of RM1, RM240, RM489, RM252, RM413, RM204, RM11, RM404, RM316, RM271, RM206, and RM19, with one representative from each chromosome. A total of 43 alleles were detected with an average of 3.58 alleles per locus. The polymorphism information content (PIC) values obtained from the microsatellite marker panels ranged from 0.306 to 0.730, with an average of 0.622. The Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA) dendrogram (r = 0.789) revealed 2 major groups with 6 sub-clusters and the wide range of similarity values (0.24-1.0) obtained showed a high degree of diversity among the cultivars. The results suggest microsatellite markers as a useful tool for the estimation of genetic diversity and cultivar differentiation and present invaluable genetic information for future breeding and association mapping efforts.
Societal Context and Its Impact on Demand for New Products: the case of grapefruit in South Korea

The average grapefruit consumers in South Korea first consumed the fruit within the past four years. Marketing growth and development have led to increased imports of grapefruit in South Korea. This study investigated factors influencing grapefruit consumption experiences and consumption patterns after initial consumption, focusing on social context, and further divided by physical and social context. Survey results showed that approximately 80% of consumers have consumed fresh grapefruit. Physical contexts such as living area and accessibility of fresh grapefruit were important for consumption experiences, but social facilitation such as having family and peers who like grapefruit were significantly related to repeated consumption. The popularity of grapefruit (boom) influenced not only grapefruit consumption experiences but repeated and returned consumption. Taking prescription medication was a barrier for trying grapefruit, and health conscious consumers were more likely to have stopped consuming grapefruit, which may raise a potential issue of grapefruit-medication interactions in the South Korean market in the future, as has happened in the U.S. and Japan.