Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Brain-Machine Interface Based on EEG: Extracted Alpha Waves Applied to Mobile Robot

The increasing number of signal processing tools for highly parallel neurophysiological recordings opens up new avenues for connecting technologies directly to neuronal processes. As the understanding is taking a better shape, lot more work to perform is coming up. A simple brain-machine interface may be able to reestablish the broken loop of the persons with motor dysfunction. With time the brain-machine interfacing is growing more complex due to the increased availability of instruments and processes for implementation. In this work, as a proof-of-principle we established a brain-machine interface through a few simple processes to control a robotic device using the alpha wave’s event-related synchronization and event-related de-synchronization extracted from EEG.
Contextual effects on educational attainment in individualised, scalable neighbourhoods: Differences across gender and social class

This paper analyses whether a multi-scale representation of geographical context based on statistical aggregates computed for individualised neighbourhoods can lead to improved estimates of neighbourhood effect. Our study group consists of individuals born in 1980 that have lived in Sweden since 1995 and we analyse the effect of neighbourhood context at age 15 on educational outcome at age 30 controlling for parental background. A new piece of software, Equipop, was used to compute the socio-economic composition of neighbourhoods centred on individual residential locations and ranging in scale from including the nearest 12 to the nearest 25,600 neighbours. Our results indicate that context measures based on fixed geographical sub-divisions can lead to an underestimation of neighbourhood effects. A multi-scalar representation of geographical context also makes it easier to estimate how neighbourhood effects vary across different demographic groups. This indicates that scale-sensitive measures of geographical context could help to re-invigorate the neighbourhood effects literature.
FPGA-Based Parallel DNA Algorithm for Optimal Configurations of an Omnidirectional Mobile Service Robot Performing Fire Extinguishment

This paper presents a coarse-grain parallel deoxyribonucleic acid (PDNA) algorithm for optimal configurations of an omnidirectional mobile robot with a five-link robotic arm. This efficient coarse-grain PDNA is proposed to search for the global optimum of the redundant inverse kinematics problem with minimal movement, thereby showing better population diversity and avoiding premature convergence. Moreover, the pipelined hardware implementation, hardware/software co-design, and System-on-a-Programmable-Chip (SoPC) technology on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chip are employed to realize the proposed PDNA in order to significantly shorten its processing time. Simulations and experimental results are conducted to illustrate the merit and superiority of the proposed FPGA-based PDNA algorithm in comparison with conventional genetic algorithms (GAs) for omnidirectional mobile robot performing fire extinguishment.
70S-scanning initiation is a novel and frequent initiation mode of ribosomal translation in bacteria

Significance Until now, two initiation modes for bacterial translation have been described: (i) the standard 30S-binding mode, where the small ribosomal subunit selects the initiation site on an mRNA with the help of three initiation factors (IFs), and (ii) the rare initiation of leaderless mRNAs, which are mRNAs carrying the initiation AUG within the first 5 nt at the 5′-end. The existence of a third “70S-scanning” mode for bacterial initiation was conjectured in past decades but has remained experimentally unproven. Here, we demonstrate the existence of a 70S-scanning mode of initiation and characterize its mechanistic features. The three initiation modes demonstrate specific patterns of requirements for IF1 and IF3. According to the standard model of bacterial translation initiation, the small ribosomal 30S subunit binds to the initiation site of an mRNA with the help of three initiation factors (IF1–IF3). Here, we describe a novel type of initiation termed “70S-scanning initiation,” where the 70S ribosome does not necessarily dissociate after translation of a cistron, but rather scans to the initiation site of the downstream cistron. We detailed the mechanism of 70S-scanning initiation by designing unique monocistronic and polycistronic mRNAs harboring translation reporters, and by reconstituting systems to characterize each distinct mode of initiation. Results show that 70S scanning is triggered by fMet-tRNA and does not require energy; the Shine–Dalgarno sequence is an essential recognition element of the initiation site. IF1 and IF3 requirements for the various initiation modes were assessed by the formation of productive initiation complexes leading to synthesis of active proteins. IF3 is essential and IF1 is highly stimulating for the 70S-scanning mode. The task of IF1 appears to be the prevention of untimely interference by ternary aminoacyl (aa)-tRNA•elongation factor thermo unstable (EF-Tu)•GTP complexes. Evidence indicates that at least 50% of bacterial initiation events use the 70S-scanning mode, underscoring the relative importance of this translation initiation mechanism.
Application of a Packaged Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor to Outdoor Optical Fiber Cabinets for Environmental Monitoring

Outdoor optical fiber cabinets are generally installed along roadsides where environmental conditions, such as sun exposure, rain, and dust, can cause damage to the cabinets. Furthermore, high temperatures and unexpected impacts that cause cabinet deformation may damage the network equipment inside the cabinets, affecting the quality of communications. This paper developed an optical fiber sensing system for real-time monitoring of the temperature variation and external forces exerted on outdoor cabinets using fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). This FBG sensing system was established in the network management center, and was linked to the outdoor cabinets at the remote end through optical fibers in order to monitor the impacts and temperature changes of the cabinets. Experimental results revealed that exerting an external impact force of 297 N on an outdoor cabinet severely dented the impacted cabinet surface. When the monitoring system detects external impacts exceeding 297 N or cabinet temperatures greater than 65 °C, the network management center can then immediately send maintenance personnel to check for any network impairments.
Gibrat’s law: empirical test of Portuguese service industries using dynamic estimators

Using dynamic panel estimators, this article shows rejection of Gibrat’s law for Portuguese companies in the service sector. In companies as a whole, we find that growth depends positively on growth in the previous period and on debt, and depends negatively on size. When we subdivide the sample into small- and medium-sized companies and large companies, the results are similar to those obtained when we take companies as a whole. The differences concern the relationship between ownership control and growth, which is positive in the case of small- and medium-sized companies, and the non-influence of growth in the previous period on growth in the current period in the case of large companies.
Oligopolistic Competition and Intra-industry Trade: Evidence from the OECD

This paper develops a general reciprocal-markets model of intra-industry trade in oligopolistic industries. It shows that the effects of industry characteristics on the extent of bilateral intra-industry trade, as measured by the Grubel-Lloyd index, are invariant to whether firms compete over homogeneous or differentiated products. Based on this model, we investigate industry determinants of bilateral intra-industry trade, using internationally comparable industry data for 22 manufacturing industries in 12 OECD countries during 1970-85. Our estimates indicate that, even after controlling for idiosyncratic industry and country-pair effects, our measures of the industry determinants explain variations in the intensity of bilateral intra-industry trade, for the most part, in accord with what the theory predicts. Copyright 2001 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd/University of Adelaide and Flinders University of South Australia
A Unified Approach for Time-Delay Estimators in Spread Spectrum Communications

This paper addresses the problem of time-delay estimation and proposes an effective time-delay estimator for spread-spectrum communications. The main contribution of our work is twofold: first, we define a new objective function that analytically expresses the performance of different estimation criteria. Second, we introduce a new estimator that outperforms the conventional approaches. In particular, we develop a unified approach, deriving the performance trends of several time-delay estimators by one parametric closed form expression. Furthermore, we propose a new estimator that exploits a fast interpolation, running on few samples in the neighborhood of the coarse estimate, i.e. the (abscissa of the) estimated maximum of the ambiguity function. Mathematical expressions for bias and variance of the estimation error are derived and numerically evaluated by reduced Taylor's expansions up to the second order. The theoretical results, substantiated by computer simulations, have evidenced that the devised method is well suited for spread-spectrum satellite communications.
Accounting for the Joint Effects of the Servicescape and Service Exchange on Consumers’ Satisfaction Evaluations

This study reports the results of a study designed to evaluate the effects of a service exchange on consumers’ satisfaction after accounting for the effects of the servicescape. An experimental design was adopted to show that servicescapes have an effect on individuals’ preexisting mood states. Consumers’ moods after they had been exposed to the servicescape were crossed with two service exchange states: good and bad. Their reported level of satisfaction was measured. Results indicate that servicescapes have an important effect on consumers’ mood states. Direct effects of servicescape type and service exchange are reported and managerial implications discussed.
Multicenter study of first‐trimester screening for trisomy 21 in 75 821 pregnancies: results and estimation of the potential impact of individual risk‐orientated two‐stage first‐trimester screening

To evaluate the performance of first‐trimester screening for trisomy 21 by a combination of maternal age, fetal nuchal translucency (NT) and maternal serum free β‐human chorionic gonadotropin (β‐hCG) and pregnancy‐associated plasma protein‐A (PAPP‐A). In addition, the potential impact of a new individual risk‐orientated two‐stage approach to first‐trimester screening was examined.
Cortical vision, MRI and developmental outcome in preterm infants

Objectives: To test two measures of visual cortical function in the first year of life as early markers of functionally significant brain damage in infants born preterm: orientation-reversal visual event-related potentials (OR-VERP) and a behavioural test of cortically controlled visual attention-fixation shifts under competition (FS). Also to examine how these measures relate to (1) perinatal brain insults identified by MRI, and (2) later neurodevelopmental status. Patients and methods: After neonatal and term-age-equivalent MRI, 26 preterm infants (<32 weeks of gestational age, mean 28.1 weeks) were given the OR-VERP and FS tests before 12 months post-term age and a neurodevelopmental assessment (Griffiths Scales) at 2 years. MRI scans examined for parenchymal lesions, intraventricular haemorrhage, ventricular dilatation and diffuse excessive high signal intensity were classified into three categories of severity. Cortical visual test results were compared across these categories and examined as predictors of developmental status at 2 years. Results: 26 infants were studied. 13/25 infants showed significant OR-VERP responses. 12/26 showed normal FS performance. On both tests, the proportion of infants meeting these criteria decreased significantly with MRI severity. As predictors of Griffiths developmental quotient ⩽80, the FS test had a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 61%, and positive and negative predictive values of 50% and 100%, respectively; corresponding values for OR-VERP were 86%, 65%, 50% and 92% . Conclusions: Visual cortical tests can provide early indicators of the functional impact of perinatal brain damage in the preterm infant.
P2–1: Cathodoluminescent properties of novel Ca6Gd1.5Tb0.5Na2(PO4)6F2 phosphor for field emission display applications

Ca<inf>6</inf>Gd<inf>1.5</inf>Tb<inf>0.5</inf>Na<inf>2</inf>(PO<inf>4</inf>)<inf>6</inf>F<inf>2</inf> phosphor has been studied for FED application. Ca<inf>6</inf>Gd<inf>1.5</inf>Tb<inf>0.5</inf>Na<inf>2</inf>(PO<inf>4</inf>)<inf>6</inf>F<inf>2</inf> phosphor screen has been prepared by a screen-printing method. The luminance and degradation under different bombardment current and voltage were studied. The performance was compared with commercial green phosphor Zn<inf>2</inf>SiO<inf>4</inf>:Mn. The factors affecting the performance of the phosphor screen will be discussed.
Cities, Sports, and Economic Change: A Retrospective Assessment

Through the 1970s and 1990s virtually all central cities and many larger suburban and edge communities focused downtown economic development efforts on some aspect of the hospitality sector. Associated with this trend, the building of facilities for professional sports teams has been a cornerstone of redevelopment programs for almost 30 years. Smaller cities that watched the efforts of Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, and Phoenix have now focused their attention on minor league teams and “second tier sports. ” Cities rely on sports facilities for redevelopment strategies even though numerous independent analyses indicate that these structures and teams are not correlated with regional economic development. If sports facilities shift economic activity to an area that needs redevelopment, then the issue is not whether overall economic activity increased or decreased, but whether the vitality or centrality of the downtown area was enhanced or sustained. Through an examination of outcomes for four cities, the ability of a sports strategy to affect development patterns is assessed.
Financial Viability Analysis and Capital Structure Optimization in Privatized Public Infrastructure Projects

Numerous public infrastructure projects have been privatized worldwide, where responsibilities, risks, and rewards are substantially reallocated between pubic and private sectors. The financial evaluation of a privatized infrastructure project is complex and challenging because of the risks and uncertainties due to the large size, long contract duration, nonrecourse financing, multiple project participants with different motives and interest, and the complexity of the contractual arrangements. Improved financial engineering techniques are required to overcome the limitations of traditional financial analysis techniques in addressing risks and uncertainties. This paper develops a methodology for capital structure optimization and financial viability analysis that reflects the characteristics of project financing, incorporates simulation and financial engineering techniques, and aims for win-win results for both public and private sectors. This quantitative methodology defines the capital structure of a privatized project in four dimensions, examines different project participants' perspectives of the capital structure, optimizes the capital structure, and evaluates the project's financial viability when it is under construction risk, bankruptcy risk and various economic risks (that are dealt with as stochastic variables), and is subject to other constraints imposed by different project participants. This methodology also evaluates the impact of governmental guarantees and supports, and addresses the issue of the equity holders' commitment to project success by initiating the concepts of equity at project risks, value of governmental loan guarantee, and project bankrupt probability during construction. A framework and a solution algorithm are provided for this proposed methodology. These research outputs will significantly facilitate both public and private sector in evaluating a privatized project's financial viability and collectively determining an optimal capital structure that safeguards their respective interests.
Resuscitation With Room Air Instead of 100% Oxygen Prevents Oxidative Stress in Moderately Asphyxiated Term Neonates

Background. Traditionally, asphyxiated newborn infants have been ventilated using 100% oxygen. However, a recent multinational trial has shown that the use of room air was just as efficient as pure oxygen in securing the survival of severely asphyxiated newborn infants. Oxidative stress markers in moderately asphyxiated term newborn infants resuscitated with either 100% oxygen or room air have been studied for the first time in this work. Methods. Eligible term neonates with perinatal asphyxia were randomly resuscitated with either room air or 100% oxygen. The clinical parameters recorded were those of the Apgar score at 1, 5, and 10 minutes, the time of onset of the first cry, and the time of onset of the sustained pattern of respiration. In addition, reduced and oxidized glutathione concentrations and antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase) were determined in blood from the umbilical artery during delivery and in peripheral blood at 72 hours and at 4 weeks' postnatal age. Results. Our results show that the room-air resuscitated (RAR) group needed significantly less time to first cry than the group resuscitated with 100% oxygen (1.2 ± 0.6 minutes vs 1.7 ± 0.5). Moreover, the RAR group needed less time undergoing ventilation to achieve a sustained respiratory pattern than the group resuscitated with pure oxygen (4.6 ± 0.7 vs 7.5 ± 1.8 minutes). The reduced-to-oxidized-glutathione ratio, which is an accurate index of oxidative stress, of the RAR group (53 ± 9) at 28 days of postnatal life showed no differences with the control nonasphyxiated group (50 ± 12). However, the reduced-to-oxidized-glutathione ratio of the 100% oxygen-resuscitated group (OxR) (15 ± 5) was significantly lower and revealed protracted oxidative stress. Furthermore, the activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase in erythrocytes were 69% and 78% higher, respectively, in the OxR group than in the control group at 28 days of postnatal life. Thus, this shows that these antioxidant enzymes, although higher than in controls, could not cope with the ongoing generation of free radicals in the OxR group. However, there were no differences in antioxidant enzyme activities between the RAR group and the control group at this stage. Conclusions. There are no apparent clinical disadvantages in using room air for ventilation of asphyxiated neonates rather than 100% oxygen. Furthermore, RAR infants recover more quickly as assessed by Apgar scores, time to the first cry, and the sustained pattern of respiration. In addition, neonates resuscitated with 100% oxygen exhibit biochemical findings reflecting prolonged oxidative stress present even after 4 weeks of postnatal life, which do not appear in the RAR group. Thus, the current accepted recommendations for using 100% oxygen in the resuscitation of asphyxiated newborn infants should be further discussed and investigated.
Monetary policy rules and indterminacy

In recent papers it is shown that in the presence of price stickiness, investment and capital accumulation activity, active monetary policy (MP) rules can lead to indeterminacy under various assumptions about the structure of the model. We analyze the conditions for real indeterminacy to occur in the model with capital accumulation. The key assumption is that we add response to output to the monetary policy rule. In our paper we show that adding Current or Expected Output to MP rule substantially changes the conditions for real indeterminacy to occur. In contrast to some existing research we show that under current-looking with respect to output MP rules indeterminacy is almost impossible; under forward-looking with respect to output MP rules indeterminacy is almost impossible under active MP rules and very likely to occur under passive MP rules. We also show that stability conditions are almost not sensitive to changes in capital share in output and aggregate markup. We provide the nominal determinacy analysis and show that active and forward-looking MP rules with respect to output give
What's Next in Researching Cluster Policy: Place-Based Governance for Effective Cluster Policy

Despite their immense popularity and rapid proliferation and development, local cluster policies have met mixed results, and often suffer from limited effectiveness. In this paper, we argue that an important reason for the limited success can be found in the way policies have been grafted onto a particular policy rationale, namely of “cluster building”. Responding to this critique, we propose an alternative rationale, that of “policy leverage”, and a governance model which, in the pursuit of “policy leverage”, presents a new approach to intelligence gathering and to collective strategy-making. The model assigns a key role to “civic entrepreneurs” who operate at the interfaces of public and private spheres, and, of endogenous and exogenous drives, in line with “place-based” approaches.
Contented Workers in Inferior Jobs? Re-Assessing Casual Employment in Australia

The increased number of casuals in the Australian workforce has generated considerable concern about a proliferation of inferior jobs in the labour market. Critics of casualisation have pointed to poor outcomes associated with casual work: job insecurity, lack of training and career paths, marginalisation in the workplace and so forth. Thosewho defend casualisation argue that non-standard employment provides greater choice within the labour market, and that casual employees are no less dissatisfied with their jobs than permanent employees. In this paper, I re-assess this debate by examining a recent analysis of job satisfaction among casual employees by Wooden andWarren in 2004. I argue that findings of contentment among casual employees are subject to both methodological and philosophical weaknesses. In place of subjectivemeasures of job satisfaction, I argue that the quality of jobs should be directly assessed by objective criteria like remuneration. Following this, I fit earnings equations to the HILDA data and find that part-time casual employees earn only a modest premium over permanent full-time employees. When the loadings, which casuals are paid, are taken into account, I find that part-time casual employees are actually penalised by virtue of working as casuals. I conclude that casual jobs are inferior jobs, irrespective of the satisfaction levels of their incumbents.
Scottish visitor attractions – a collaborative future?

Although interorganisational collaboration is increasingly being accepted as a necessary, even desirable strategy for the tourism industry as a whole, there would appear to be a number of impediments to the implementation of collaborative initiatives among operators of visitor attractions. This paper focuses on the visitor attractions sector in Scotland, where such impediments are considered to be particularly serious. For a number of reasons, however, collaboration may represent a crucial strategy for visitor attractions in Scotland as they enter the new millennium. This paper sets out to assess the potential for intrasectoral, interorganisational collaborative strategies in enhancing the long-term viability of the Scottish visitor attractions sector. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.