Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent developments in risk management in projects

This contribution to IDAACS2013 is in some sense a continuation of the talk in Prague in 2011. It presents some developments that were elaborated in the meantime (chapter II), but also some totally new ideas (chapter III). In chapter II it is shown that PERT systematically underestimates the real risk. Therefore it is very dangerous to rely on PERT's results. Chapter III deals with the buffers of individual tasks. The main result of this part is that you have to understand that if distributions or densities are introduced in the risk management process everything has to be described by distributions, even the buffers of the individual activities.
Thermal state of the active layer and permafrost along the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Railway from 2006 to 2010

In this study, we investigated changes in active layer thickness (ALT) and permafrost temperatures at different depths using data from the permafrost monitoring network along the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Railway (QXR) since 2005. Among these sites, mean ALT is ~3.1 m, with a range of ~1.1 to 5.9 m. From 2006 through 2010, ALT has increased at a rate of ~6.3 cm a −1 . The mean rate of permafrost temperature rise at the depth of 6.0 m is ~0.02 °C a −1 , estimated by linear regression using 5 yr of data, and the mean rate of mean annual ground temperature (MAGT) rise at a depth of zero amplitude is ~0.012 °C a −1 . Changes for colder permafrost (MAGT −1.0 °C). This is consistent with results observed in the Arctic and subarctic.
Working Papers Department of Economics University of Vienna

Growth effects of inflation in Europe: How low is too low, how high is too high? Abstract This paper reassesses the impact of inflation on long-term growth for a panel of 14 EU countries. While previous research focuses on a linear nexus or allows for a piecewise linear relationship with one single threshold, we take account of a more complex relationship. We use a theoretical framework that allows for an explicit distinction between level and growth effects of inflation. The empirical estimates for the full EU sample confirm the hypothesis that the relationship between inflation and growth is positive for very low inflation rates (i.e. below an estimate of 1.6%), insignificant thereafter and negative for high, two-digit inflation levels. The estimate of the inflation level that divides the insignificant from the negative effect is found to be higher in the group of traditional cohesion countries than for the rest of the sample. Seminar " Interaction of Monetary and Financial Stability in Small Open Economies " in Reykjavík as well as an in-house seminar at the Oesterreichische Nationalbank for very helpful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank.
Sanctions that Signal : an Experiment . ∗

Sanctions are a means to provide incentives towards more pro-social behavior. Yet their implementation can be a signal that past behavior was undesirable. We wish to investigate experimentally the importance of the informational content of the choice to sanction. We place this in a context of a coordination game to focus attention on beliefs and information and less on intrinsic motivation. We compare the effect of sanctions that are introduced exogenously by the experimenter to that of sanctions which have been actively chosen by a subject who takes the role of a fictitious policy maker with superior information about the previous effort of the other players. We find that cooperative subjects perceive actively chosen sanctions as a negative signal which eliminates for them the incentive effect of sanctions.
The impact of diabetes in cognitive impairment: A review of current evidence and prospects for future investigations

Cognitive impairment in individuals with diabetes represents a multifaceted and increasingly prevalent health concern. This review critically examines the current evidence regarding the intricate relationship between diabetes and cognitive decline. It highlights the existing knowledge on the impact of diabetes on cognitive function, spanning from mild cognitive impairment to dementia, including vascular and Alzheimer dementia. The review underscores the need for a standardized diagnostic paradigm and explores research gaps, such as the implications of cognitive impairment in younger populations and various diabetes types. Furthermore, this review emphasizes the relevance of diabetes-related comorbidities, including hypertension and dyslipidemia, in influencing cognitive decline. It advocates for a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach, integrating insights from neuroscience, endocrinology, and immunology to elucidate the mechanistic underpinnings of diabetes-related cognitive impairment. The second part of this review outlines prospective research directions and opportunities. It advocates for longitudinal studies to understand disease progression better and identifies critical windows of vulnerability. The search for accurate biomarkers and predictive factors is paramount, encompassing genetic and epigenetic considerations. Personalized approaches and tailored interventions are essential in addressing the substantial variability in cognitive outcomes among individuals with diabetes.
Natural Selection Signatures in the Hondo and Ryukyu Japanese Subpopulations

Abstract Natural selection signatures across Japanese subpopulations are under-explored. Here we conducted genome-wide selection scans with 622,926 single nucleotide polymorphisms for 20,366 Japanese individuals, who were recruited from the main-islands of Japanese Archipelago (Hondo) and the Ryukyu Archipelago (Ryukyu), representing two major Japanese subpopulations. The integrated haplotype score (iHS) analysis identified several signals in one or both subpopulations. We found a novel candidate locus at IKZF2, especially in Ryukyu. Significant signals were observed in the major histocompatibility complex region in both subpopulations. The lead variants differed and demonstrated substantial allele frequency differences between Hondo and Ryukyu. The lead variant in Hondo tags HLA-A*33:03-C*14:03-B*44:03-DRB1*13:02-DQB1*06:04-DPB1*04:01, a haplotype specific to Japanese and Korean. While in Ryukyu, the lead variant tags DRB1*15:01-DQB1*06:02, which had been recognized as a genetic risk factor for narcolepsy. In contrast, it is reported to confer protective effects against type 1 diabetes and human T lymphotropic virus type 1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis. The FastSMC analysis identified 8 loci potentially affected by selection within the past 20–150 generations, including 2 novel candidate loci. The analysis also showed differences in selection patterns of ALDH2 between Hondo and Ryukyu, a gene recognized to be specifically targeted by selection in East Asian. In summary, our study provided insights into the selection signatures within the Japanese and nominated potential sources of selection pressure.
Assessment of Regional Myocardial Work in Rats

Background—Left ventricular (LV) motion and deformation is dependent on mechanical load and do therefore not reflect myocardial energy consumption directly. Regional myocardial work, however, constitutes a more complete assessment of myocardial function. Methods and Results—Strain was measured using high-resolution phase-contrast MRI in 9 adult male rats with myocardial infarction (MI) and in 5 sham-operated control animals. Timing of LV valvular events and LV dimensions were evaluated by cine MRI. A separate cohort of 14 animals (MI/sham=9/5) underwent measurement of LV pressure concurrent with identification of valvular events by Doppler-echocardiography for the purpose of generating a standard LV pressure curve, normalized to valvular events. The infarctions were localized to the anterolateral LV wall. Combining strain with timing of valvular events and a measurement of peak arterial pressure, regional myocardial work could be calculated by applying the standard LV pressure curves. Cardiac output and stroke work was preserved in the MI hearts, suggesting a compensatory redistribution of myocardial work from the infarcted region to the viable tissue. In the septum, regional work was indeed increased in MI rats compared with sham (median work per unit long-axis length in a mid-ventricular slice: 241.2 [224.1–271.2] versus 137.2 [127.0–143.8] mJ/m; P<0.001). Myocardial work in infarcted regions was zero. Additionally, eccentric work was increased in the MI hearts. Conclusions—Phase-contrast MRI, in combination with measurement of peak arterial pressure and MRI-derived timing of valvular events, represent a noninvasive approach for estimation of regional myocardial work in rodents.
MULTIVARIATE METHODS IN DEMOGRAPHY STUDIES: AN APPLICATION TO MUNICIPAL MIGRATORY BEHAVIOR FOR SETTLEMENT CATEGORY IN CUBA

T P 1 ABSTRACT In this paper a study of the municipal migrations by means of Principal Component Analysis and STATIS is presented. The data used for this purpose are migratory rates calculated at the Office of Statistics of Cuba. The rates are calculated for three periods (1989-1991, 1992-1994 and 1995-1996) for each settlement category (municipality center∗, small urban and small rural settlements) and for two kinds of movements: the migrations within the province and into other provinces of the country. Due to not all municipalities have settlements of all categories, we use a multivariate multilevel model for estimates efficiently the variance and covariance matrix of a vector of multivariate response with missing data.
Modeling Final Outcome and Length of Call Sequence to Improve Efficiency in Interviewer Call Scheduling

Survey practitioners are increasingly interested in how best to use paradata to improve data collection processes. One particular question is if it is possible to identify early on during fieldwork sample cases that may require a long time, and therefore a lot of financial and staff resources, until interviewing is completed. More specifically, we aim to identify cases with long unsuccessful call sequences. This paper models call record data predicting final call outcome and length of a call sequence. Separate binary and joint multinomial logistic models for the two outcomes are presented, accounting for the clustering of households within interviewers. Of particular interest is to identify explanatory variables that predict final outcome and length of a call sequence. The study uses data from Understanding Society, a large-scale UK longitudinal survey. The work has implications for responsive and adaptive survey designs. The results indicate that modelling outcome and length of a call sequence jointly improves the fit of the model. Outcomes of previous calls, in particular from the most recent call, are highly predictive. The timing of calls and interviewer observation variables, although significant in the models, only slightly improve the predictive power.
The NLM Medical Text Indexer: A Tool for Automatic and Assisted Indexing

Influence of treatment parameters on selectivity of verteporfin therapy. PURPOSE: To improve selectivity of verteporfin therapy (PDT) in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) using modified treatment parameters. METHODS: Nineteen consecutive patients with predominantly clas-sic choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in AMD were treated with 6 mg/m2 verteporfin given as bolus infusion. Patients received PDT with a fluence of either 25 or 50 J/cm2. Choroidal perfusion changes were evaluated by indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) at baseline, day 1, week 1, week 4, and month 3. Secondary outcomes were CNV closure rate and therapy-induced leakage documented by fluorescein angiography (FA). The safety of the treatment was assessed with ETDRS visual acuity. RESULTS: Complete CNV closure was achieved in all patients at day 1. Choroidal hypoperfusion was minimal in eyes treated with a reduced fluence of 25 J/cm2. Most patients treated with 50 J/cm2 showed significant choriocapillary nonperfusion at week 1, lasting as long as 3 months. A transient PDT-induced increase in leakage area in FA at day 1 was found to be more extensive in the 50-J/cm2 group. CONCLUSIONS: Bolus
Full Color Reflective Electronic Media

Just as HP is leading the transition to individually tailored content consumption for printed media with variable data printing from its digital presses, it is also actively pursuing full-color reflective display technologies as an electronic media in support of low-power applications for digital content consumption. A great challenge in realizing the potential of reflective electronic media is achieving vivid full colors that match or exceed the color gamut described by printing standards such as the Specifications for Newsprint Advertising Production (SNAP). Based on the principles of color printing, a stacked device design using a novel electrokinetic architecture has been proposed that offers the potential for achieving or exceeding SNAP’s color gamut. Proprietary electrically addressable imaging fluids (electronic inks) have been developed to support such design. Electronic inks with CMY primary colors have been demonstrated to exceed the chroma values of SNAP in a single layer. Integrated into a stack of electro-optic layers employing HP’s electrokinetic architecture, these inks have enabled a reflective full-color electronic media demonstrator built on roll-to-roll manufacturing platform with a color gamut approaching that of the SNAP standard. In this paper we report the development of full color electronic inks and demonstration of stacked full color reflective segmented and pixilated active matrix devices.
Security for PDAs

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are one of the most popular computing tools nowadays. Compared with desktop and notebook computers, PDAs are smaller, lighter and can be carried everywhere. However, PDAs have several limitations. They use smaller microprocessors which are much slower than their PC counterparts. Their lack of computational power makes it very difficult to perform some heavy computations, such as generating RSA keys, which needs large prime numbers. Thus, it is useful to have a combination of a PC and a PDA, where the PC performs heavy computations to assist the PDA. This scenario is feasible as long as we assure that the PC will not learn the secret of the PDA. We propose two schemes, which involve some server-aided computations, where the server will not learn the PDA’s secret from the interaction. This thesis also investigates the security of PDAs when they are used to perform some cryptographic applications. We investigate the computation y = g (mod p), for a prime p, which is believed to be secure in the sense of the Discrete Logarithm Problem (DLP) assumption. To be more precise, knowing only p, g and y, it is hard to derive x. However, due to the limited computational power of PDAs, such computation requires some amount of time (and battery life). We show that by observing one of these parameters, we can reduce the hard problem of the DLP being predictable, and hence it is not secure. We also propose how to securely generate these kinds of computations in PDAs by using some different techniques, so that it will not reveal any additional information to a passive eavesdropper. In addition, along with their popularity, handheld devices are starting to become the target for attackers, who are mainly interested in gaining the data stored in handheld devices. In this thesis, we review the security threats to handheld computers and propose two possible solutions. The first solution is to use a desktop computer to act as a bastion host to protect the handheld computer. The second proposed solution is to
TOXIC ALCOHOLS : ALIPHATIC UNSATURATED ALCOHOLS

1 Institute of Radiology, Toxicology and Civil Protection, Faculty of Health and Social Studies, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic 2 Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospital, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic 3 Center of Advanced Studies, Faculty of Military Health Sciences, University of Defence, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic 4 Department of Toxicology and Military Pharmacy, Faculty of Military Health Sciences, University of Defence, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
Oxidative DNA Damage Is Elevated in Renal Patients Undergoing Haemodialysis

Background: End stage renal disease (ESRD) is associated with an increase in oxidative stress, cardiovascular disease and cancer. The main treatment for ESRD is haemodialysis (HD), which itself induces repetitive bouts of oxidative stress through membrane biocompatibility and endotoxin challenge. The resulting higher levels of reactive oxygen species in turn produce increased levels of oxidative DNA damage leading to genomic instability which may influence the higher risk of cancer reported in HD patients. Our aims were to measure levels of oxidative DNA damage in HD patients and in age and gender matched control volunteers. Methods: Thirty eight patients receiving HD in the Western Health and Social Services Trust (WHSCT) and 8 healthy volunteers were recruited. Volunteers gave informed consent and non-fasting morning blood samples were taken and assessed for DNA disruption using the comet assay modified to identify oxidative specific damage. Results: The HD patients had significantly elevated levels of alkaline DNA damage (19.46% ± 1.37% vs 3.86% ± 1.36% tail DNA, p
FIRE PERFORMANCE OF HARDWOOD SPECIES

In this era of performance-based building codes, there is an increased need for models and data pertaining to the fire safety of building materials. In addition to data for the prescriptive regulatory fire tests, material property data are needed to optimize the advantages of the performance-based building codes that are being introduced worldwide. In this review of our research on the fire performance characteristics and fire safety engineering of wood products, we will present results on the fire performance of hardwood species. Two broad areas of fire safety engineering of materials are 1) Fire initiation and growth, and 2) Fire containment.
4 Mathematical Modelling of Air Drying by Adiabatic Adsorption

The careful control of ambient air moisture content is of concern in many industrial processes, with diverse applications such as in metallurgical processes or pharmaceutical production. In the air-conditioning field, the increasingly concern with sick building syndrome also brings humidity control into a new perspective. Underestimated ventilation rates might result in poor indoor air quality, with a high concentration of volatile organic compounds, smoke, bacteria and other contaminants. Epidemiological studies indicate a direct connection between inadequate levels of moisture and the incidence of allergies and infectious respiratory diseases. A popular method of lowering the concentration of contaminants is to increase the ventilation rates. In fact, the fresh air requirement per occupant/hour imposed by the current air-quality standard has doubled over the last three decades. Since the fresh air has to be brought to the thermal comfort condition, increased ventilation rates imply increased thermal loads, which in turn will demand chillers with increased cooling capacity. Accordingly, there is a trade-off between indoor air quality and energy consumption, which is also of main concern of private and public sectors. Figure (1.a) shows an evaporative cooling system. It essentially consists of a chamber through which air is forced through a water shower. It is a sound system from air-quality, energy consumption and ecological viewpoints. The air quality is provided by a continuous air room change, with no air recirculation. Since the cooling effect is provided by evaporation of water into air, the energy consumption is restricted to the pumping power, which is usually low when compared to the energy needs of a compressor. Unlike vaporcompression systems, which usually employ ozone-depleting refrigerants, evaporative cooling systems exclusively employ water as the refrigerant. Figure (1.b) shows that the evaporative cooling process is isenthalpic, which means that the air stream enthalpy remains unaltered as it flows through the evaporative cooler. Accordingly, the increase in the air stream humidity occurs at the expense of its own sensible energy, and the air stream is cooled and humidified as it crosses the evaporative cooler. Since the heat and mass transfer processes are mutually dependent, the air stream humidity at the inlet of the evaporative cooler has to be significantly low, if an appreciable cooling effect is to be achieved. Unfortunately this is not always the case, and this cooling technique is not as effective as traditional vapour-compression systems, being restricted to applications on low humidity areas (Khuen et al., 1998).
Evidence for late Middle Proterozoic extension in the Precambrian basement beneath the Permian basin

Through an integrated interpretation of gravity, magnetic, seismic reflection, and well data we are able to define the geometry, lateral extent, and tectonic setting of late Middle Proterozoic mafic rocks (the Pecos mafic intrusive suite) in the basement of the Permian basin of west Texas and eastern New Mexico. In this region, seismic reflection data are characterized by subhorizontal layered reflectivity within basement that can be tied to compositional variation in a layered mafic intrusion through well cuttings and a synthetic seismogram. In places the intrusion forms a sill, and the base of the sill is imaged in the reflection data. Integration of the seismic interpretation with gravity models shows that the Pecos mafic intrusive suite is 3 – 10 km thick and 50 – 100 km wide. The overall structure of the suite is that of a sill with a locally dikelike keel. North - south trending gravity and magnetic anomalies associated with the Pecos mafic intrusive suite suggest that it is composed of four large intrusive centers which cover a minimum area of 9200 km2, making it one-seventh the size of the Bushveld Complex and one of the largest layered mafic intrusions in the world. We interpret this massive intrusion to be associated with collisional rifting in the foreland of the Grenville orogeny.
Electroplating of Nanoengineered Polymer Substrate

The development of a polyethylene based polymer with metallic inclusions, a nanoengineered polymer, for new commercial industrial applications. major advantage of developing these nanoengineered polymers is to be able to tailor the resistance and other properties by varying the composition of the polymer. The industrial usage of this polymer beneﬁts from the addition of an electrically conductive, metallic coating. This research develops methods of electroplating nickel and copper layers on to the polymer substrates using DC and pulsed techniques. Electroplating is conducted in a 1000 mL beaker using a specialized plating ﬁxture with Nickel Sulfamate and Copper Acid as the electrolyte solutions for the nickel and copper ﬁlms, respectively. The deposition duty cycles and cathodic current densities are varied to generate 24 unique samples. Examination of the electroplated coatings is completed utilizing Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), as well as nano-indentation analysis to measure mechanical properties. and and nickel electrodeposition signiﬁcant conﬁdence level ANOVA statistical An ANOVA analysis is completed to compare the means of the (within each electroplating parameter category) to the overall