Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards the Post-University: Centres of Higher Learning and Creative Spaces as Economic Development and Social Change Agents

A growing debate has emerged abot corporations'growing influence on higher education and universities'role as entrepreneurial agents. At the same time, economically peripheral regions that lack access to higher education resources or fail to attract and retain engineers risk being marginalized in the `informational society'. The apparent tradeoff between `corporatization'and `marginalization'can be resolved if new spaces for higher learning and creativity are created that promote both democracy and sustainable growth. This article outlines a strategy for creating such new intellectual spaces by reviewing discussions about creativity, learning and innovative milieux as well as examples of creative organizations.
A Framework and Positive Results for IAR-answering

Inconsistency-tolerant semantics, like the IAR semantics, have been proposed as means to compute meaningful query answers over inconsistent Description Logic (DL) ontologies. So far query answering under the IAR semantics (IAR-answering) is known to be tractable only for arguably weak DLs like DL-Lite and the quite restricted EL⊥nr fragment of EL⊥. Towards providing a systematic study of IAR-answering, in the current paper we first present a general framework/algorithm for IAR-answering which applies to arbitrary DLs but need not terminate. Nevertheless, this framework allows us to develop a sufficient condition for tractability of IAR-answering and hence of termination of our algorithm. We then show that this condition is always satisfied by the arguably expressive DL DL-Litebool, providing the first positive result for IAR-answering over a non-Horn-DL. In addition, recent results show that this condition usually holds for real-world ontologies and techniques and algorithms for checking it in practice have also been studied recently; thus, overall our results are highly relevant in practice. Finally, we have provided a prototype implementation and a preliminary evaluation obtaining encouraging results.
A 1.1 V 82.3dB audio ΔΣ ADC using asynchronous SAR type quantizer

A switched-capacitor second-order audio ΔΣ analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is presented. The proposed ΔΣ ADC employs low-distortion input feed-forward architecture to relax the linearity requirement of the integrators. A 4-bit asynchronous successive approximation register (SAR) type internal quantizer is used for power efficient design by incorporating the analog adder with the quantizer. A tree-structured dynamic element matching (DEM) technique is employed to reduce the distortion resulted from the capacitor mismatch in the feedback digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The prototype ΔΣ ADC implemented in a 45nm CMOS process achieves 85.4 dB peak signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), 82.3 dB peak signal-to-noise and distortion ratio (SNDR) and 98.1 dB dynamic range (DR) for a signal bandwidth of 24 kHz while consuming 517.4 μW at 1.1 V supply voltage.
Strategic management and public organizations: Testing venerable ideas against recent theories

Miles and Snow (1978), among others, argue that strategy content is an important influence on organizational performance. Their typology, applied recently to public organizations in the United Kingdom (Andrews et al. 2005; 2006; Boyne and Walker 2004), divides strategic actors into four general types: prospectors, defenders, analyzers, and reactors. This paper begins by integrating the typological work on strategy content or strategic management into the O'Toole-Meier formal theory of public management. This exercise shows that strategy content is a subset of generally accepted management functions in public organizations. The paper then proceeds to test the strategic-management concepts in a large, multiyear sample of public organizations. The results show that strategy can be separated out from other elements of management for a distinguishable assessment of its impact on organizational performance. Unlike the predictions of Miles and Snow and the empirical findings of Boyne and Walker, however, we find that the defender strategy is the most effective for the primary mission of the organization and that the prospector strategy works best in regard to the goals of the more politically powerful elements of the organization's environment. A reactor strategy is ineffective in all situations.
Non-Union Employee Representation: Exploring the Riddle of Managerial Strategy

Utilising case-study research in two organisations this article considers the strategy underpinning managerially imposed systems of non-union employee representation. Drawing on Dundon and Gollan's ‘sensitising framework’, an interplay of external factors and internal dynamics is seen to prompt objectives that are both defensive (union avoidance) and proactive in nature (e.g. the legitimisation of change). The article suggests that such goals represent ‘rival logics of action’, the tensions unleashed being ultimately reflected in the ineffective functioning of the institutions under review.
Insights into proceeds from social investments: beyond numbers fetishism and relativism

How profitable are social investments? It is necessary for social professionals to gain and give insight into the proceeds of their work. Both clients and professionals will benefit from a results-oriented approach. Subsidising agencies and financiers will reap the fruits of such an approach as well. But how can we gather evidence on the proceeds of social investments? In this article we distinguish two mutually complementary ways of gaining evidence. The first is known as evidence-based policy and practice, mainly quantitative research on the effects of social interventions and on the causal relations between interventions and outcome. However, limitations are attached to quantitative research because of disruptive factors, a variety of side effects and the dynamics of social reality. Complementary evidence is therefore needed: practice-based evidence, based primarily on qualitative methods that provide insight into mechanisms and conditions under which effects occur. The practice-based method presumes systematically studying a series of small-scale and mindful practices in order to uncover tacit knowledge of professionals. It is exactly this combination of rigid quantitative research and flexible qualitative methods which does justice to the challenging undertaking of clarifying the proceeds from social investments.
The Distribution of Labeled Albumin across the Rabbit Thoracic Aorta in Vivo

SUMMARY. 125I-albumin was injected intravenously into normal conscious rabbits. The rabbits were killed after 10 minutes to 24 hours, and the descending thoracic aorta was excised immediately, opened longitudinally, rinsed, and frozen. Samples of frozen aorta were sectioned parallel to the intimal surface and washed with trichloroacetic acid (TCA) prior to counting. TCA-soluble tissue radioactivity slowly increased with time, suggesting that 125I was cleaved gradually from the labeled albumin within the aortic wall. At up to 4 hours, transmural concentration profiles of TCA-precipitable radioactivity had steep gradients near the intimal surface, moderate gradients near the medial-adventitial border, and were relatively flat in the middle of the media. After 24 hours, the steep intimal gradient had disappeared. Concentrations were otherwise comparable to those at 4 hours. The rate of accumulation of TCA-precipitable radioactivity was rapid initially (measurable concentrations were found throughout the media after only 10 minutes) and decreased with time. The results are consistent with entry of 125I-albumin into the media from both the luminal and adventitial sides. Approximate calculations indicate that the albumin mass transfer resistance associated with the intimal endothelium is about 1 order of magnitude greater than that associated with the media.
Lessons for the Classroom from Luca Pacioli

In 2006, the Teaching and Curriculum Section of the American Accounting Association published a monograph, Reflections on Accounting Education Research. It includes a chapter that demonstrates how research into accounting history can be used in the classroom to inform “students about the changing environment and behavior that influences accounting action. ” This paper seeks to broaden the applicability of accounting history to accounting education by demonstrating that there are lessons to be learned in both textbook writing and in classroom instruction from the earliest known accounting textbook, the bookkeeping treatise contained within Luca Pacioli's Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita.
Volatile anaesthetics may be the main cause of early but not delayed postoperative vomiting: a randomized controlled trial of factorial design.

BACKGROUND Despite intensive research, the main causes of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) remain unclear. We sought to quantify the relative importance of operative, anaesthetic and patient-specific risk factors to the development of PONV. METHODS We conducted a randomized controlled trial of 1180 children and adults at high risk for PONV scheduled for elective surgery. Using a five-way factorial design, we randomly assigned subjects by gender who were undergoing specific operative procedures, to receive various combinations of anaesthetics, opioids, and prophylactic antiemetics. RESULTS Of the 1180 patients, 355 (30.1% 95% CI (27.5-32.7%)) had at least one episode of postoperative vomiting (PV) within 24 h post-anaesthesia. In the early postoperative period (0-2 h), the leading risk factor for vomiting was the use of volatile anaesthetics, with similar odds ratios (OR (95% CI)) being found for isoflurane (19.8 (7.7-51.2)), enflurane (16.1 (6.2-41.8)) and sevoflurane (14.5 (5.6-37.4)). A dose-response relationship was present for the use of volatile anaesthetics. In contrast, no dose response existed for propofol anaesthesia. In the delayed postoperative period (2-24 h), the main predictors were being a child (5.7 (3.0-10.9)), PONV in the early period (3.4 (2.4-4.7)) and the use of postoperative opioids (2.5 (1.7-3.7)). The influence of the antiemetics was considerably smaller and did not interact with anaesthetic or surgical variables. CONCLUSION Volatile anaesthetics were the leading cause of early postoperative vomiting. The pro-emetic effect was larger than other risk factors. In patients at high risk for PONV, it would therefore make better sense to avoid inhalational anaesthesia rather than simply to add an antiemetic, which may still be needed to prevent or treat delayed vomiting.
Long‐term T‐cell‐mediated immunity to Epstein‐Barr virus in man. III. Activation of cytotoxic T cells in virus‐infected leukocyte cultures

Experiments have been conducted to determine the role played by immune T cells in the regression of EB‐virus‐induced transformation which is exclusively seen in leukocyte cultures from seropositive donors. Kinetic studies suggest that, In virus‐infected cultures from such donors, a population of T cells proliferates within the first 2 weeks apparently in response to the appearance of virus‐infected B cells. This proliferation continues to some extent during the period of regression. Nonspecific induction of T‐cell proliferation by PHA did not induce regression in virus‐infected cultures from seronegative donors and actually prevented the regression in seropositive donor cultures. T cells harvested from seropositive donor cultures 11–14 days post infection were generally much more inhibitory to the growth of the autologous EB‐virus‐transformed cell line than were T cells either freshly prepared from whole blood or harvested from corresponding uninfected cultures; this inhibitory activity was either absent or much diminished when assayed against allogeneic target cell lines. The results suggest that virus‐infected individuals possess a pool of virus‐specific memory T cells capable of mounting a cytotoxic response when properly challenged in vitro.
Shared Molecular Pathways and Gene Networks for Cardiovascular Disease and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Women Across Diverse Ethnicities

Background—Although cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) share many common risk factors, potential molecular mechanisms that may also be shared for these 2 disorders remain unknown. Methods and Results—Using an integrative pathway and network analysis, we performed genome-wide association studies in 8155 blacks, 3494 Hispanic American, and 3697 Caucasian American women who participated in the national Women’s Health Initiative single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) Health Association Resource and the Genomics and Randomized Trials Network. Eight top pathways and gene networks related to cardiomyopathy, calcium signaling, axon guidance, cell adhesion, and extracellular matrix seemed to be commonly shared between CVD and T2D across all 3 ethnic groups. We also identified ethnicity-specific pathways, such as cell cycle (specific for Hispanic American and Caucasian American) and tight junction (CVD and combined CVD and T2D in Hispanic American). In network analysis of gene–gene or protein–protein interactions, we identified key drivers that included COL1A1, COL3A1, and ELN in the shared pathways for both CVD and T2D. These key driver genes were cross-validated in multiple mouse models of diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis. Conclusions—Our integrative analysis of American women of 3 ethnicities identified multiple shared biological pathways and key regulatory genes for the development of CVD and T2D. These prospective findings also support the notion that ethnicity-specific susceptibility genes and process are involved in the pathogenesis of CVD and T2D.
Attention Reduces Perceived Brightness Contrast

The effects of attention on brightness perception was investigated in four experiments. In the first three, subjects estimated the brightness of a briefly presented small grey square by selecting a number that corresponded to one of four possible squares varying on a lightness-darkness dimension. In the last experiment, subjects matched the brightness of two peripheral squares, one attended and one unattended. When the stimulus appeared on a white background (Experiments 1, 2, and 4a) it was judged as brighter when attention was directed to its location than when attention was diverted to another location. When the stimulus appeared on a dark background (Experiments 3 and 4b), the opposite pattern of results was obtained: the attended stimulus was judged as darker than the unattended one. These results show that attention reduces the perceived contrast between the stimulus and its background, suggesting that attention enables subjects to provide a more veridical judgement of stimulus brightness by limiting processing resources to the square itself, at the expense of the surrounding background. As attention produced a directional brightness effect rather than just an improvement in report accuracy, the results can be attributed to early perceptual processing effects, hence providing support for early selection views of attention.
L'assurabilité de la dépendance et sa prise en charge par le secteur privé : Une mise en perspective internationale

Since aging will probably cause a sharp increase in the demand for long-term care in the coming decades, in the numerous countries where Social Security does not recognize dependence on long-term care as a general risk of life, private insurance may provide long-term care for those who do not qualify for means-tested benefits. However private insurance for long-term care raises several difficulties: some of them (moral hazard, adverse selection) stem from information asymmetries. But the most serious difficulties are caused by long-term uncertainties: it is not clear whether the long-term care aggregate risk (especially unit costs) can be reasonably predicted. As a response to these difficulties, long-term care policies never pay the full cost of care. The coverage mostly consists of fixed nominal annuities and is exclusively dedicated to high care levels. This allows insurance companies to prevent moral hazard and to transfer the risk – caused mainly by the uncertainty on future aggregate costs – on policy holders. These limitations may be a rationale for not purchasing private long-term care insurance even in countries where welfare programs only provide means-tested benefits. In the United States, the number of policy holders remains low despite the enforcement of strong regulations that upgrade the quality of private insurance products. One is therefore led to consider other possible organizations for the long-term care insurance market, or the possibility for the government to recognize dependence on long-term care as a new risk financed by Social Security. Classification JEL : D80, G22, H50, I11
Learned Shape-Tailored Descriptors for Segmentation

We address the problem of texture segmentation by grouping dense pixel-wise descriptors. We introduce and construct learned Shape-Tailored Descriptors that aggregate image statistics only within regions of interest to avoid mixing statistics of different textures, and that are invariant to complex nuisances (e.g., illumination, perspective and deformations). This is accomplished by training a neural network to discriminate base shape-tailored descriptors of oriented gradients at various scales. These descriptors are defined through partial differential equations to obtain data at various scales in arbitrarily shaped regions. We formulate and optimize a joint optimization problem in the segmentation and descriptors to discriminate these base descriptors using the learned metric, equivalent to grouping learned descriptors. Experiments on benchmark datasets show that the descriptors learned on a small dataset of segmented images generalize well to unseen textures in other datasets, showing the generic nature of these descriptors. We also show state-of-the-art results on texture segmentation benchmarks.
Distribution and neurochemical characterization of sensory dorsal root ganglia neurons supplying porcine urinary bladder.

UNLABELLED Pig has been used recently as an animal model for studying diseases of human urinary tract, however, the sensory innervations of urinary bladder in this species has not been yet described. OBJECTIVE The present study was aimed at neurochemical characterization of sensory neurons of dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) supplying porcine urinary bladder. METHODS Retrograde tracer Fast Blue (FB) was injected into the right half of the urinary bladder wall of six juvenile female pigs. Three weeks later ipsi- and contralateral DRGs of interest were harvested from all animals and a neurochemical characterization of retrogradely-labeled neurons was performed using routine single-immunofluorescence labeling technique on 10 microm-thick cryostat sections. RESULTS 85% of spinal sensory neurons supplying porcine urinary bladder was located in ipsilateral sacral S3-S4 ganglia and in first coccygeal ganglion (Cq1),whereas rest of FB-positive (FB+) nerve cells were found in lumbar L3-L6 DRGs. FB+ neurons belonged mostly to the medium-sized (54%) and small-sized afferent perikarya (45%). Bladder sensory neurons contained substance P (SP), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP), galanin (GAL), neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), somatostatin (SOM) and/or calbindin-28k (CB), and these neurons constituted 45%, 36%, 26%, 6%, 6%, 4% and 3% of all retrogradely traced DRGs perikarya, respectively. Distinct differences in the number of traced cells and their neuropeptide content were observed between the lumbar and sacral/coccygeal division of bladder-projecting DRG neurons. Thus, FB+ neurons expressing CGRP, GAL, nNOS or SOM were more numerous in lumbar DRGs (44%, 9%, 9% and 6%, respectively), than in sacral/coccygeal ganglia (23%, 2%, 1.5% and 0.3%, respectively). On the other hand, more FB+ cells expressed PACAP in sacral (31%) than in lumbar DRGs (23%). However, fractions of SP-IR or CB-IR bladder sensory neurons were similar in lumbar and sacral/coccygeal DRGs. CONCLUSIONS This novel description of both spatial and neurochemical organization pattern of porcine urinary bladder sensory innervation constitutes a basis for further functional studies aimed at unraveling neurogenic mechanisms of urinary bladder diseases.
Creative Destruction and the Natural Monopoly 'Death Spiral': Can Electricity Distribution Utilities Survive the Incumbent's Curse?

The study examines how disruptive technological innovations are likely to impact electricity distribution network utilities and identifies several factors that threaten to inhibit incumbent efforts to adapt and survive. Unlike previous studies of incumbents in competitive markets, this qualitative multi-case study examines 18 electricity distribution network utilities who operate as regulated monopolies. Three important findings emerged from the study: firstly, that disruptive technologies in distributed electricity generation and storage are likely to trigger the ‘creative destruction’ of existing natural monopolies and render incumbent business models unsustainable. Secondly, the task of adapting to disruptive technologies is made more challenging by the additional requirement to simultaneously transition from a monopolistic to competitive marketplace. Thirdly, incumbents face the risk of inertia and paralysis due to a broad range of rigidities and inhibitors which threaten to undermine their efforts to adapt, survive and avoid succumbing to a ‘death spiral scenario’.
Constrained K-means with General Pairwise and Cardinality Constraints

In this work, we study constrained clustering, where constraints are utilized to guide the clustering process. In existing works, two categories of constraints have been widely explored, namely pairwise and cardinality constraints. Pairwise constraints enforce the cluster labels of two instances to be the same (must-link constraints) or different (cannot-link constraints). Cardinality constraints encourage cluster sizes to satisfy a user-specified distribution. However, most existing constrained clustering models can only utilize one category of constraints at a time. In this paper, we enforce the above two categories into a unified clustering model starting with the integer program formulation of the standard K-means. As these two categories provide useful information at different levels, utilizing both of them is expected to allow for better clustering performance. However, the optimization is difficult due to the binary and quadratic constraints in the proposed unified formulation. To alleviate this difficulty, we utilize two techniques: equivalently replacing the binary constraints by the intersection of two continuous constraints; the other is transforming the quadratic constraints into bi-linear constraints by introducing extra variables. Then we derive an equivalent continuous reformulation with simple constraints, which can be efficiently solved by Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) algorithm. Extensive experiments on both synthetic and real data demonstrate: (1) when utilizing a single category of constraint, the proposed model is superior to or competitive with state-of-the-art constrained clustering models, and (2) when utilizing both categories of constraints jointly, the proposed model shows better performance than the case of the single category.