Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PEOPLE OR PROFITS ? THE CHALLENGES OF MANAGING IN CHARITY RETAIL

Disclaimer The opinions expressed in this research paper are the responsibility of the authors alone. The charity retail sector has grown at an unprecedented rate over the last ten years. The professionalisation of the sector is now pretty much taken for granted and nowhere is this more obvious than in charity shop management. Whereas ten years ago charity shops were managed by volunteer staff, most charities now employ salaried managers. However, much more is expected of these managers than before. This paper explores in-depth the present role of charity shop managers and identifies the challenges they face brought about by the professionalisation of the sector. Issues addressed include the increased responsibilities for shop managers and the formalisation of their working practices. INTRODUCTION The closing decades of the twentieth century have seen a tremendous growth in the charity retail sector. In 1990 there were just over 3,200 charity shops in the UK, by 2000 they had almost than doubled to around 6,300 (NGO Finance, 2000). Income from these shops has almost tripled in this period from an estimated £130m in 1990 to £360m in 2000 (NGO Finance, 2000). As the sector is becoming more and more crowded charities are also becoming increasingly innovative in the strategies they use to source and sell goods. The 1980s and 1990s have seen dramatic developments in charities' managerial and operational techniques, their whole approach to selling has become increasingly professional. In the early 1980s many charity shops were little more than 'thrift shops', managed by local groups of volunteers, selling wholly donated goods, and located in back and side streets (Horne, 2000). Twenty years later most shops are staffed by at least one paid manager, sell a percentage of new goods and are located on or near to prime shopping streets. In addition, the downmarket jumble sale image of the shops has been reversed through investment in refurbishment and a focus on merchandising and display. This process of professionalisation has included the introduction of paid staff in charity shops, a feature typical of commercial, profit oriented retail. Merchandising, marketing and customer service typically figure in the charity shop manager's working week. But senior managers admit that they now expect much more of shop managers. Shop income is central to these expectations and many managers are under significant pressure not only to meet sales targets, but also to draw up adequate business plans and generally 'expand …
Study on the Wear Characteristics of a Lapping Wheel in Double-Sided Lapping Based on the Trajectory Distribution

In the process of double-sided lapping, the surface shape of the lapping wheel changes because of uneven wear, which affects the quality of the workpiece, especially the surface shape accuracy of the workpiece (bow, warp, and total thickness variance). Lapping trajectory is the primary reason for uneven wear on the wheel surface. Therefore, the uniformity of the lapping wheel wear during the double-sided lapping process will be investigated based on the trajectory distribution in this paper. First, the kinematics of double-sided lapping is analyzed, and the lapping trajectory equation is established. Then, the simulation calculation is conducted using MATLAB software to obtain the trajectory distribution characteristics of the wheel surface. The wear uniformity of the wheel surface is analyzed according to the distribution density of the trajectory. The wear model of the lapping wheel surface is established. Finally, double-sided lapping experiments with sapphire slices are carried out. Under varied workpiece material removal thicknesses, the changes of the lapping wheel surface profile are measured, and the wear of the lapping wheel surface along the radial direction is obtained and compared with the calculation results. The calculation results are basically consistent with the experimental results, which proves the correctness of the double-sided lapping wheel surface wear model.
On the supernova heating of the intergalactic medium

We present estimates of the energy input from supernovae (SNe) into the intergalactic medium using (i) recent measurements of Si and Fe abundances in the intracluster medium (ICM), and (ii) self-consistent gasdynamical simulations that include processes of cooling, star formation, SNe feedback and a multiphase model of the interstellar medium. We estimate the energy input from observed abundances using two different assumptions: (i) spatial uniformity of metal abundances in the ICM, and (ii) radial abundance gradients. We show that these two cases lead to energy input estimates which are different by an order of magnitude, highlighting a need for observational data on large-scale abundance gradients in clusters. Our analysis indicates that the SNe energy input can be important for the heating of the entire ICM (providing energy of ∼1 keV per particle) only if the ICM abundances are uniform and the efficiency of the gas heating by SN explosions is close to 100 per cent (eSN≈1, implying that all of the initial kinetic energy of the explosion goes into heating of the ICM). The SNe energy input estimate made using simulations of galaxy formation is consistent with the above results derived from observed abundances, provided that large-scale radial abundance gradients exist in clusters. For the cluster AWM7, in which such a gradient has been observed, the energy input estimated using observed metal abundances is ∼0.01 and ∼0.1 keV per particle for eSN=0.1 and eSN=1, respectively. These estimates fall far short of the required energy injection of ∼0.5–3 keV per particle that appears to be needed to bring models of cluster formation into agreement with observations. Therefore our results indicate that, unless the most favourable conditions are met, SNe alone are unlikely to provide sufficient energy input and need to be supplemented or even substituted by some other heating process(es).
A Tuned Mesh-Generation Strategy for Image Representation Based on Data-Dependent Triangulation

A mesh-generation framework for image representation based on data-dependent triangulation is proposed. The proposed framework is a modified version of the frameworks of Rippa and Garland and Heckbert that facilitates the development of more effective mesh-generation methods. As the proposed framework has several free parameters, the effects of different choices of these parameters on mesh quality are studied, leading to the recommendation of a particular set of choices for these parameters. A mesh-generation method is then introduced that employs the proposed framework with these best parameter choices. This method is demonstrated to produce meshes of higher quality (both in terms of squared error and subjectively) than those generated by several competing approaches, at a relatively modest computational and memory cost.
Hints based Speculative Execution for Exploiting Probabilistic Parallelism

Performance growth of processors will depend on the amount of parallelism exposed by software; at the same time, many algorithms are inherently sequential: they have dependencies that prevent parallelism from being automatically exploited. In this paper we describe a new type of parallelism called probabilistic parallelism that can be unlocked in inherently sequential programs using speculative execution based on programmerprovided semantic information. Our preliminary results show promising gains without the need of re-writing applications.
The FMSAT Satis ability Solver : Hypergraph Partitioning meets Boolean Satis ability

This report is intended to present the Fiduccia Mattheyses (FM) heuristic for hypergraph bipartitioning as a method for solving large Boolean Satis ability (SAT) problems. We hope to extend the success of the FM heuristic in the partitioning domain to satis ability. This report outlines how a SAT problem can be viewed as a partitioning problem, which argues for the applicability of FM. Further, we present the software architecture and implementation of our SAT solver, inspired by a previous highly successful implementation of FM for hypergraph bipartitioning. We also brie y discuss experimental results that justify our belief that the FM heuristic shows promise in the satis ability domain.
Media Richness, Communication Apprehension and Participation in Group Videoconferencing

Although videoconferencing technologies perform an important function in organizational communication, many users remain apprehensive about using the medium for routine communication. The study draws on media choice theory to assess the impact of communication apprehension and participation on perceptions of task characteristics and media traits. The results demonstrate that user aversion to videoconferencing has a significant impact on perceptions of task and media. A significant interaction was also revealed between communication apprehension and user participation relating to perceptions of communication richness.
Semantic Cache Mechanism for Heterogeneous

In Web-based searching systems that access distributed information providers, eecient query processing requires an advanced caching mechanism to reduce the query response time. The keyword-based querying is often the only way to retrieve data from Web providers, and therefore standard page-based and tuple-based caching mechanisms turn out to be ineecient for such a task. In this work, we develop a mechanism for eecient caching of Web queries and the answers received from heterogeneous Web providers. We also report results of experiments and show how the caching mechanism is implemented in the Knowledge Broker system.
Mesure de la charge de travail des professionnels de la santé au Québec : analyse descriptive et comparative

Resume Objectif : Presenter le profil des differents systemes de mesure de la charge de travail des professionnels de la sante au Quebec. Mise en contexte : Deux projets de mesure de la charge de travail ont ete lances en pharmacie hospitaliere, en collaboration avec la Societe canadienne des pharmaciens d’hopitaux et l’Association des pharmaciens des etablissements de sante du Quebec. Pour soutenir cette reflexion, et par une approche mixte combinant une revue documentaire et des entrevues, nous nous sommes interesses a la mesure de la charge de travail d’autres professionnels de la sante au Quebec. Resultats : Vingt-cinq articles retenus pour leur pertinence ont ete resumes. En outre, des entrevues realisees aupres de neuf professions de la sante ont permis de recueillir des donnees supplementaires. Les exigences reglementaires, les outils de saisie, les indicateurs et l’utilisation des donnees a l’interne varient d’une profession a une autre. Le ministere de la Sante et des Services sociaux a defini les unites de mesures reglementaires de huit professions ainsi que les interventions devant etre saisies avec des valeurs unitaires cibles (c.-a.-d. temps moyen necessaire a la realisation de l’intervention) concernant trois professions (imagerie medicale, biologie medicale et medecine). Au sein de notre etablissement, nous avons determine six outils de saisie differents portant sur cinq professions. La saisie des activites est donc exhaustive. Conclusion : La mesure de la charge de travail est rendue possible grâce a divers outils et se revele tres differente au sein des differents groupes. Abstract Objective: To present a description of the different systems for measuring the workload of Quebec health professionals. Background: Two workload measurement projects were launched in hospital pharmacies in collaboration with the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists and the Association des pharmaciens des etablissements de sante du Quebec. To support this investigation, and using a mixed approach combining a literature review and interviews, we measured workload among Quebec’s other health professionals. Results: Twenty-five articles of interest were identified and summarized. Relevant data were obtained from interviews for nine health professions. The regulatory requirements, the data entry tools, the indicators and in-house data use vary according to the profession. The Ministry of Health and Social Services has defined regulatory units of measure for eight professions and activities that have to be entered with target unit values (i.e., the average time required to perform the activity) for three professions (medical imaging, laboratory medicine and medicine). At our facility, six different entry tools were identified, and activity entry is exhaustive for only five professions. Conclusion: Workload measurement is made possible by the various tools and varies considerably within the different groups.
Edge-aware temporally consistent SimpleFlow: Optical flow without global optimization

Optical Flow is a very important topic in computer vision, with applications in object tracking, motion estimation and video compression. Recently, Tao et al. proposed the Simple-Flow algorithm - a non-iterative method whose running times increase sublinearly with the number of pixels. SimpleFlow does not use global optimization and uses only local evidence, achieving significant speedups in parallel programming environments. With this, we extend SimpleFlow by taking advantage of edge-aware filtering methods to increase accuracy, and allow SimpleFlow to be temporally consistent over video. The combination of temporal consistency and edge-aware filtering will inevitably create a smooth motion field across the video. We show results illustrating an increase in accuracy in comparison to the original SimpleFlow framework, for images and multi-frame datasets.
A Signal Processing and Randomization Perspective of Robust and Secure Image Hashing

An image hash is a content-based compact representation of an image and finds applications in image authentication, watermarking, and image similarity comparison. This paper reviews representative approaches developed by the research community in constructing robust and secure image hash. A unified framework and case studies on representative image hash schemes are presented to demonstrate important roles of signal processing and controlled randomization in constructing and evaluating robust and secure hashing for visual data.
Moral Emotions and Moral Disengagement: Concurrent and Longitudinal Associations With Aggressive Behavior Among Early Adolescents

The complex temporal associations among moral disengagement, moral emotions, and aggressive behavior were investigated within a short-term four-wave longitudinal study in a sample of early adolescents (at T1: N = 245; Mage = 12.16 years; SD = 0.85). Moral disengagement and aggressive behavior were investigated by validated self-report scales. Shame and guilt were assessed in response to six-story vignettes. A series of four-wave longitudinal mediation analyses were conducted to test several theoretically meaningful models. Mediation models revealed positive reciprocal longitudinal effects between aggressive behavior and moral disengagement. Aggressive behavior negatively predicted moral emotions, and moral disengagement was negatively associated with moral emotions over time. When testing competing models including all three variables in one model, no theoretical meaningful mediation process emerged: Instead, high moral disengagement predicted lower moral emotions but higher aggressive behavior over time. Results are discussed regarding their practical importance for prevention and intervention programs.
Copyright protection for the electronic distribution of text documents

Each copy of a text document can be made different in a nearly invisible way by repositioning or modifying the appearance of different elements of text, i.e., lines, words, or characters. A unique copy can be registered with its recipient, so that subsequent unauthorized copies that are retrieved can be traced back to the original owner. In this paper we describe and compare several mechanisms for marking documents and several other mechanisms for decoding the marks after documents have been subjected to common types of distortion. The marks are intended to protect documents of limited value that are owned by individuals who would rather possess a legal than an illegal copy if they can be distinguished. We describe attacks that remove the marks and countermeasures to those attacks. An architecture is described for distributing a large number of copies without burdening the publisher with creating and transmitting the unique documents. The architecture also allows the publisher to determine the identity of a recipient who has illegally redistributed the document, without compromising the privacy of individuals who are not operating illegally. Two experimental systems are described. One was used to distribute an issue of the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, and the second was used to mark copies of company private memoranda.
Synergistic effect of hypertension with diabetes mellitus and gender on severity of coronary atherosclerosis: Findings from Tehran Heart Center registry

BACKGROUND We performed this study to evaluate the possible synergism between hypertension and other conventional risk factors of coronary artery disease (CAD) on an angiographic severity of coronary atherosclerosis. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted on 10502 consecutive patients who underwent coronary angiography in the cardiac catheterization laboratory of Tehran Heart Center Hospital (Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran), and their conventional risk factors including male gender, hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), dyslipidemia, smoking, and family history of premature CAD were recorded. The severity of coronary atherosclerosis evaluated by calculation of Gensini’s score. RESULTS All aforementioned conventional risk factors of CAD were independently associated with severity of CAD. Multivariate linear regression analysis demonstrated that hypertension had synergistic effect with male gender [Excess Gensini’s score: 5.93, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.72-9.15, P < 0.001] and also with DM (Excess Gensini’s score: 3.99, 95% CI: 0.30-7.69, P = 0.034) on severity of CAD. No interaction was observed between hypertension and smoking, dyslipidemia and also with a family history of CAD. CONCLUSION Hypertension has a synergistic effect with DM and male gender on the severity of CAD. These findings imply that more effective screening and treatment strategies should be considered for early diagnosis and tight control of hypertension in male and diabetic people for prevention of advanced CAD.
Spatial T-H precoding for packet data systems with scheduling

This paper combines spatial Tomlinson-Harashima (T-H) precoding with packet scheduling at the transmitter to improve the system-level performance of packet data systems. Under the assumptions of instantaneous and perfect channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter and independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) user channels with flat fading, the spatially equalized and decoupled multiuser channels are shown to be independently faded with distinct orders of diversity. The potential power gain obtained by multiuser scheduling indicates that at medium to high SNR the average total system throughput can be greatly improved with high spatial multiplexing as compared to a single-antenna system.
Upper Bounds on the Lifetime of Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, we ask a fundamental question concerning the limits of energy efficiency of wireless sensor networks what is the upper bound on the lifetime of a sensor network that collects data from a specified region using a certain number of energy-constrained nodes? The answer to this question is valuable for two main reasons. First, it allows calibration of real world data-gathering protocols and an understanding of factors that prevent these protocols from approaching fundamental limits. Second, the dependence of lifetime on factors like the region of observation, the source behavior within that region, basestation location, number of nodes, radio path loss characteristics, efficiency of node electronics and the energy available on a node, is exposed. This allows architects of sensor networks to focus on factors that have the greatest potential impact on network lifetime. By employing a combination of theory and extensive simulations of constructed networks, we show that in all data gathering scenarios presented, there exist networks which achieve lifetimes equal to or >85% of the derived bounds. Hence, depending on the scenario, our bounds are either tight or near-tight. ∗The authors are with the Department of EECS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139. E-mail: manishb@mit.edu. This research is sponsored by DARPA Power Aware Computing/Communication Program and the Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Materiel Command, USAF, under agreement number F30602-00-2-0551. The first author is supported by an IBM Fellowship.
EMBEDDED LEARNING FOR LEVERAGING MULTI-ASPECT IN RATING PREDICTION OF PERSONALIZED RECOMMENDATION

Collaborative filtering that relies on overall ratings has been widely accepted due to the ability to generate satisfactory recommendations. However, the most challenging difficulty of this approach is the lack of sufficient ratings or the so-called data sparsity. Moreover, sometimes these ratings alone are not sufficient to precisely understand users' specific behaviours. A user may show his/her overall preferences on an item through the overall ratings but at the same time, they may not satisfy with certain aspects of the item. This situation happened due to the emphasis on aspects that may be different among users and will effect a user's final decisions. Therefore, in this paper, we proposed a model called Neural Network model for Multi-Aspect with Strong Correlation (NNMASC) that utilize the significance of aspect’s correlation to enhance the predictive accuracy of personalized recommendation. We integrate the user, item, aspects and overall ratings via embedding features by utilizing the available multi-aspect ratings from hotel reviews dataset. NNMASC adopts a feed-forward neural network with back propagation algorithm to make rating prediction. The experimental result using MAE shows that the proposed model has significantly outperformed the traditional models and the state-of-the-art approaches in terms of prediction accuracy.
Natural Gas Intermittent Kiln for the Ceramic Industry: A Transient Thermal Analysis

Drying and firing of ceramic products are processes that require high energy consumption. Making these processes more efficient can improve product quality, reduce processing time and energy consumption, and promote economic and environmental gains. In this sense, this work aims to quantify heat transfer in an intermittent ceramic kiln during the heating and cooling stages, with and without thermal insulation. All mathematical formulation is based on the first law of thermodynamics. From the results, we conclude that the greatest heat loss occurs by radiation in the sidewalls of the equipment, and that a considerable amount of energy is required to heat the sidewalls, base, and ceiling of the kiln. Further, with the use of thermal insulation, it was concluded that a high reduction in the heat lost through the sidewalls was achieved, thus providing a global energy gain of approximately 35% and a reduction in the maximum external surface temperature from 249.34 to 79.47 °C when compared to the kiln without thermal insulation, reducing the risks of work accidents and thermal discomfort when in operation.