Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Understanding Business Processes on the basis of Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action

The OER-paradigm for understanding organisations and business processes, rooted in Habermas’ theory of Communicative Action is introduced. Based on the OERparadigm, the DEMO methodology for modelling, (re)designing and (re)engineering business processes is developed. A business process is conceived as a molecular structure of atomic building blocks, the DEMO business transactions.
Impact of dietary and exercise interventions on weight change and metabolic outcomes in obese children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials.

IMPORTANCE Diet and exercise represent the mainstays of obesity treatment. No systematic review has been conducted comparing the effect of dietary and exercise intervention in reducing metabolic risks in overweight children. OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of diet-only intervention with those of diet plus exercise or exercise only on weight loss and metabolic risk reduction in overweight children. EVIDENCE REVIEW English-language articles from 1975 to 2010 available from 7 databases were reviewed. One person searched the databases. Two independent reviewers assessed abstracts and articles against the following eligibility criteria: randomized controlled trials conducted in overweight and obese children aged 18 years or younger, comparing dietary intervention with a diet plus exercise program or an exercise-only program. Study quality was critically appraised by 2 reviewers using established criteria. The main outcome measures were body mass index, body fat percentage, lean body mass, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting glucose, and fasting insulin. FINDINGS Fifteen studies were identified and included. Based on the small number of short-term trials currently available, both diet-only and diet plus exercise interventions resulted in weight loss and metabolic profile improvement. However, the addition of exercise to dietary intervention led to greater improvements in levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (3.86 mg/dL [to convert to millimoles per liter, multiply by 0.0259]; 95% CI, 2.70 to 4.63), fasting glucose (-2.16 mg/dL [to convert to millimoles per liter, multiply by 0.0555]; 95% CI, -3.78 to -0.72), and fasting insulin (-2.75 μIU/mL [to convert to picomoles per liter, multiply by 6.945]; 95% CI, -4.50 to -1.00) over 6 months. The diet-only intervention caused greater reductions in levels of triglycerides (at the end of active intervention) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (at subsequent follow-up). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This review provides insights into the impact of dietary and exercise interventions on metabolic risk reduction in the pediatric population. However, further studies are required to confirm the evidence with rigorous design, appropriate sample size, longer duration of follow-up, and better strategies to improve compliance and achieve long-term sustainability.
Increasing elasticity of the value function in the Loewenstein-Prelec theory of intertemporal choice

In a critique of the Loewenstein and Prelec (1992) theory of intertemporal choice, al-Nowaihi and Dhami (2006) point out to four errors. One of the alleged errors was that the value function in prospect theory is decreasing. But it is in fact increasing. We provide a correction and a formal proof. As a corollary, we show that the elasticity of the value function is bounded between zero and one. Nevertheless, all the remaining points in al-Nowaihi and Dhami (2006) remain valid.
Towards optimal softening in three-dimensional N-body codes - I. Minimizing the force error

In N-body simulations of collisionless stellar systems, the forces are softened to reduce the large fluctuations owing to shot noise. Softening essentially modifies the law of gravity at r=|xi−xj| smaller than some softening length e. Therefore, the softened forces are increasingly biased for ever larger e, and there is some optimal e which yields the best compromise between reducing the fluctuations and introducing a bias. Here, analytical relations are derived for the amplitudes of the bias and the fluctuations in the limit of e being much smaller than any physical scale of the underlying stellar system. In particular, it is shown that the fluctuations of the force are generated locally, in contrast to the variations of the potential, which originate from noise in the whole system. Based on these asymptotic relations and using numerical simulations, I study the dependence of the resulting force error on the number of bodies, the softening length, and on the functional form by which Newtonian gravity is replaced. The widely used Plummer softening, where each body is replaced by a Plummer sphere of scale radius e, yields significantly larger force errors than do methods in which the bodies are replaced by density kernels of finite extent. I also give special kernels, which reduce the errors even further. These kernels largely compensate for the errors made with too small interparticle forces at r<e by exceeding Newtonian forces at r∼e. Additionally, the possibilities of locally adapting e and of using unequal weights for the bodies are investigated. By using these various techniques without increasing N, the rms force error can be reduced by a factor ∼2 when compared with the standard Plummer softening with constant e. The results of this study are directly relevant to N-body simulations using direct summation techniques or the tree code for force evaluation.
Wind Power as a Case Study

Meta‐analyses of life cycle assessments (LCAs) have become increasingly important in the context of renewable energy technologies and the decisions and policies that influence their adoption. However, a lack of transparency in reporting modeling assumptions, data, and results precludes normalizing across incommensurate system boundaries or key assumptions. This normalization step is critical for conducting valid meta‐analyses.
Overview of the NiGEM-S Model: Scottish Version of the National Institute Global Econometric Model

The NiGEM-S model is based on the National Institute Global Econometric Model, NiGEM, a large-scale structural macro-econometric model of the world economy, which the National Institute has been developing since 1987. NiGEM is used for forecasting and policy analysis by NIESR and model subscribers, mainly in the policy community, including the ECB, the IMF, the OECD, the FSA, the Bank of England, and the central banks of France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and the Czech Republic. NiGEM-S has two additional countries/regions and one extra-regio sector – Scotland, the rest of the UK and North Sea oil and gas sector – which are used in conjunction with the current UK model. The simulation options are limited to those affecting Scotland, the rest of the UK or North Sea oil and gas sector. NiGEM-S will be available[1] from the National Institute in Q2 2014 with a user-friendly ‘front-end’ specifically designed to facilitate simulation analysis. [1] For details check http://nimodel.niesr. ac.uk/
Noncommutative Geometry

Noncommutative Spaces It was noticed a long time ago that various properties of sets of points can be restated in terms of properties of certain commutative rings of functions over those sets. In particular, this observation proved to be extremely fruitful in algebraic geometry and has led to tremendous progress in this subject over the past few decades. In these developments the concept of a point in a space is secondary and overshadowed by the algebraic properties of the (sheaves of) rings of functions on those spaces. This idea also underlies noncommutative geometry, a new direction in mathematics initiated by the French mathematician Alain Connes and outlined in his recent book [3]. In noncommutative geometry one goes one step further: it is no longer required that the algebra of functions be commutative! Furthermore, while algebraic geometry did not entirely rid itself of the concept of a point, noncommutative geometry does not use this concept at all. In fact, a point in a noncommutative space is often a contradiction in terms. One of the sources of noncommutative geometry is the following classic theorem due to Gelfand and Naimark.
Early Detection of Clinical Parameters in Heart Disease by Improved Decision Tree Algorithm

In this paper, we propose a new pruning method which is a combination of pre-pruning and post-pruning, aiming on both classification accuracy and tree size. Based upon this method, we induce a decision tree. The experimental results are computed by using 18 benchmark datasets from UCI Machine Learning Repository. The results, when compared to benchmark algorithms, indicate that our new tree pruning method considerably reduces the tree size and increases the accuracy in general. We have also conducted a case study of heart disease dataset by using our improved algorithm. This study suggests that (Thal), type of defect in heart is the most important predictor for confirming the presence of heart disease. Number of major vessels colored by fluoroscopy (MV) and type of chest pain (Chest) as biomarkers of heart disease.
Conformal transformation for efficient ROOT-TOA estimation

Wireless location based on TOA (time-of-arrival) requires an accurate estimation of the first time delay. In this context, polynomial rooting techniques can provide an accurate estimation of the first arrival even in adverse multipath scenarios and when the direct path is highly attenuated. In general, these methods imply finding the roots of a complex polynomial. The aim of this paper is to present a conformal mapping that circumvents this problem, transforming it into a root search of a real polynomial with the resulting decrease in computational load.
British Economic Growth Before and After 1979: A Review of the Evidence

The paper surveys the evidence on British economic growth performance since the war. It is shown that the hypotheses proposed by Bacon and Eltis, Kaldor and Thirlwall to account for slow growth are inadequate and that supply side problems leading to poor productivity performance are the most plausible explanation of Britain's relative decline. It is argued both that these failings have their basis in the political and institutional legacy of postwar Britain and that the Thatcher years have seen only a partial solution to supply side weaknesses.
Stream Descriptions and Content based Discarding in IP-Routers

There is a growing set of UDP based applications using inadequate or none congestion control algorithms (i.e., the flow doesn’t throttle back upon receipt of congestion notification). Such UDP applications include streaming applications like packet voice and video, and also multicast bulk data transfer [5]. Congestion avoidance algorithms in routers are not able to cope with these flows and this leads to an unfair distribution of bandwidth among TCP and UDP flows in times of congestion. Moreover the random dropping of IP packets in routers causes a decreasing goodput, delivered to the receiving application because whole TCP or UDP packets are discarded at the receiver when one IP packet is missed. This leads to retransmissions when using TCP and can cause serious problems in the display of a multimedia stream when using UDP. This paper proposes a method to overcome the mentioned problems by introduction of an additional header into the IPv6-header [7] to label the membership in an Application Data Unit (ADU) and the relative priority of the element inside this ADU. This is done by a structured description of the application data contents. The description is mapped onto several priority levels to describe the dependencies within an ADU. This paper also explains the way to derive ADUs from the multimedia data and the benefit which can be taken from IP-labelling inside the Internet.
CMOS Integrated DNA Microarray Based on GMR Sensors

A high density GMR sensor array was integrated with a standard CMOS chip for DNA hybridization detection. Absorption of magnetic nanoparticles by the hybridized DNA alters the sensor resistance, and generated electrical signals are directly measured with the on-die circuitry. The proposed biochip can be applied to other bio-reaction detection, e.g. protein assay, through different surface modifications
Paclitaxel Balloon Coating, a Novel Method for Prevention and Therapy of Restenosis

Background—Drug-eluting stents have shown promising antirestenotic effects in clinical trials. Non–stent-based local delivery of antiproliferative drugs may offer additional flexibility and also reach vessel areas beyond the immediate stent coverage. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a novel method of local drug delivery based on angioplasty balloons. Methods and Results—Stainless steel stents (n=40; diameter, 3.0 to 3.5 mm; length, 18 mm) were implanted in the left anterior descending and circumflex coronary arteries of domestic pigs. Both conventional uncoated and 3 different types of paclitaxel-coated, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty balloons (contact with vessel wall for 1 minute) were used. No difference in short-term tolerance between coated and uncoated balloons and no signs of thrombotic events were observed. Quantitative angiography and histomorphometry of the stented arteries asserted the statistical equality of the baseline parameters between the control and the 3 treatment groups. Paclitaxel balloon coating led to a marked, dose-dependent reduction of parameters characterizing in-stent restenosis (reduction of neointimal area up to 63%). Despite the marked reduction in neointimal proliferation, endothelialization of stent struts was present in all samples. There was no evidence of a significant inflammatory response in the neighborhood of the stent struts. Conclusions—Paclitaxel balloon coating is safe, and it effectively inhibits restenosis after coronary angioplasty with stent implantation in the porcine model. The degree of reduction in neointimal formation was comparable to that achieved with drug-eluting stents.
A Novel Steganography Algorithm for Hiding Text in Image using Five Modulus Method

The needs for steganographic techniques for hiding secret message inside images have been arise. This paper is to create a practical steganographic implementation to hide text inside grey scale images. The secret message is hidden inside the cover image using Five Modulus Method. The novel algorithm is called (ST-FMM. FMM which consists of transforming all the pixels within the 5X5 window size into its corresponding multiples of 5. After that, the secret message is hidden inside the 5X5 window as a non-multiples of 5. Since the modulus of non-multiples of 5 are 1,2,3 and 4, therefore; if the reminder is one of these, then this pixel represents a secret character. The secret key that has to be sent is the window size. The main advantage of this novel algorithm is to keep the size of the cover image constant while the secret message increased in size. Peak signal-to-noise ratio is captured for each of the images tested. Based on the PSNR value of each images, the stego image has high PSNR value. Hence this new steganography algorithm is very efficient to hide the data inside the image.
AN ANALYSIS OF CARGO TRANSPORTATION BEHAVIOUR IN KITA KANTO (JAPAN)

Users of port services internalize various parameters of port efficiency and location in their cargo shipping decisions. Estimating this demand for ports is essential for any policy decisions related to the strengthening of port infrastructure or questions related to the market entry or exit of ports and related services. This paper develops a model to specify and empirically estimate the underlying factors that influence port selection behavior for containerized cargo transportation in the Kita Kanto region of Japan. Due to confidentiality issues that preclude the identification of shippers, the decision-making unit in this paper is at the level of municipality. Shippers in each municipality make their choice regarding ports, and the outcome at the level of municipality is the aggregation of the choices made by shippers located in that municipality. Shipper decision regarding ports is jointly made with the decision on where they want to van or de-van their cargo. Facilities for vanning or devanning at the port, at the shipper's place or any third location is an important decision variable. A discrete choice model is presented where each municipality faces a choice of six alternatives designed on the basis of vanning-devanning facilities and port combinations and makes its decision on one depending on various port and shipper characteristics. The results indicate that time of travel to the municipality from the port, total vessel capacity, and efficiency of port infrastructure play important roles. Market share elasticity of various ports with respect to key policy variables, such as time of travel, is estimated.
Comparison of fluoroscopic versus real-time three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiographic guidance of endomyocardial biopsies.

AIMS Fluoroscopic-guided right ventricular (RV) endomyocardial biopsy (EMBx) is the conventional method for obtaining myocardial samples to assess for rejection following heart transplantation. This study was designed to assess the feasibility and accuracy of guiding RV sheath and bioptome tip position using real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE). METHODS AND RESULTS Forty EMBx procedures were performed in 21 patients. Five procedures were in a native heart and 35 were performed following cardiac transplantation. A RV long sheath was positioned toward the mid to distal interventricular septum using fluoroscopy. RT3DE was used to correlate sheath tip position with fluoroscopic position. Bioptome tip visualization and position against the endocardium was assessed using RT3DE. Sheath tip location was repositioned in 18 cases (46%) following assessment using RT3DE, due to alignment toward the apex (9) and mid (5) or distal RV (4) free wall. The bioptome tip could be clearly visualized using RT3DE in 83% of passes. In 35% of passes, the bioptome tip was repositioned using RT3DE guidance to improve the sampling site. CONCLUSION RT3DE-guided EMBx was feasible in the majority of patients and resulted in sheath repositioning in 46% of patients and bioptome tip reorientation in 35% of cases.
Long-term outcomes of a cell phone-delivered intervention for smokers living with HIV/AIDS.

BACKGROUND People living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS (PLWHA) have a substantially higher prevalence of cigarette smoking compared to the general population. In addition, PLWHA are particularly susceptible to the adverse health effects of smoking. Our primary objective was to design and test the efficacy over 12 months of a smoking cessation intervention targeting PLWHA. METHODS Participants were enrolled from an urban HIV clinic with a multiethnic and economically disadvantaged patient population. Participants received smoking cessation treatment either through usual care (UC) or counseling delivered by a cell phone intervention (CPI). The 7-day point prevalence abstinence was evaluated at 3, 6, and 12 months using logistic regression and generalized linear mixed models. RESULTS We randomized 474 HIV-positive smokers to either the UC or CPI group. When evaluating the overall treatment effect (7-day abstinence outcomes from 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups), participants in the CPI group were 2.41 times (P = .049) more likely to demonstrate abstinence compared to the UC group. The treatment effect was strongest at the 3-month follow-up (odds ratio = 4.3, P < .001), but diminished at 6 and 12 months (P > .05). CONCLUSIONS Cell phone-delivered smoking cessation treatment has a positive impact on abstinence rates compared to a usual care approach. Future research should focus on strategies for sustaining the treatment effect in the long term.
Perceived societal values of Indian managers: Some empirical evidence of responses to economic reform

Societal values are emerging as critical variables in providing context relevance to extending international management research. A hallmark of the 1990s was the widespread adoption of market cultures in Asian nations that embraced large‐scale reform and restructuring. These programmes brought about dramatic changes at organisational level, but the links between the societal upheavals of economic transformation and micro level changes have yet to receive sufficient academic attention. For instance, similarity or dissimilarity about held societal values of managerial groups, within an organisation, as identified by gender, age, educational qualification or family upbringing, or even by the size of the company in which they work, requires comprehensive scrutiny if these reform programmes are to succeed. Since 1991 the Indian economy has embraced economic reform to move towards more empowerment for individual organisations in all spheres. The study reported in this paper explores managerial social orientations in the context of micro‐level organisational functioning. The results of this study, with 421 senior Indian managers, demonstrate that in a relatively short time the fundamental attributes of a competitive market economy have subjugated societal qualities reinforced over hundreds of years and thought to be unchangeable.
Building the Bridge: 10 Big Ideas to Transform America

Four years ago the Progressive Policy Institute's Mandate for Change rocketed onto the New York Times best seller list and popularized many of the "New Democrat" ideas later adopted by the Clinton administration. President-elect Bill Clinton hailed the book as one that "looks beyond the old Left-Right debates of the past and tries to move us toward a better future. " Now, in Building the Bridge: 10 Big Ideas to Transform America, the Institute has brought together some of America's most innovative public thinkers and policy entrepreneurs to challenge the President and all Americans to embrace a bold vision based on new ideas and enduring values. This book looks beyond the election to radically refashion America's political and social agenda for the 21st century. Rejecting both the big government solutions of the left and the economic voodoo of the right, the authors focus on 10 new break-the-mold ideas for guiding America into the information age.
Single-view Perspective Shape-from-Texture with Focal Length Estimation: A Piecewise Affine Approach

We present a new formulation to the well known problem of shape-from-texture from a single image by casting the task as a multi-plane based camera pose estimation problem. Our ﬁrst contribution is methodological: we show that by using a piecewise afﬁne model, instead of a perspective one, we can avoid the numerical instabilities in the estimation of the surface pose compared with the full-perspective model, yet retaining high accuracy. Our second contribution is to show that the information provided by a smooth textured surface makes it possible to perform shape-from-texture and camera focal length calibration jointly. This advances state-of-the-art where a calibrated camera is nearly always assumed in order to compute 3D shape from a single image. We validate both these contributions on simulated and real image data.