Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Who needs budgets?

Budgeting, as most corporations practice it, should be abolished. That may sound radical, but doing so would further companies' long-running efforts to transform themselves into developed networks that can nimbly adjust to market conditions. Most other building blocks are in place, but companies continue to restrict themselves by relying on inflexible budget processes and the command-and-control culture that budgeting entails. A number of companies have rejected the foregone conclusions embedded in budgets, and they've given up the self-interested wrangling over what the data indicate. In the absence of budgets, alternative goals and measures--some financial, such as cost-to-income ratios, and some nonfinancial, such as time to market-move to the foreground. Companies that have rejected budgets require employees to measure themselves against the performance of competitors and against internal peer groups. Because employees don't know whether they've succeeded until they can look back on the results of a given period, they must use every ounce of energy to ensure that they beat the competition. A key feature of many companies that have rejected budgets is the use of rolling forecasts, which are created every few months and typically cover five to eight quarters. Because the forecasts are regularly revised, they allow companies to continuously adapt to market conditions. The forecasting practices of two such companies, both based in Sweden, are examined in detail: the bank Svenska Handelsbanken and the wholesaler Ahlsell. Though the first companies to reject budgets were located in Northern Europe, organizations that have gone beyond budgeting can be found in a range of countries and industries. Their practices allow them to unleash the power of today's management tools and realize the potential of a fully decentralized organization.
Pannexin1 Channel Proteins in the Zebrafish Retina Have Shared and Unique Properties

In mammals, a single pannexin1 gene (Panx1) is widely expressed in the CNS including the inner and outer retinae, forming large-pore voltage-gated membrane channels, which are involved in calcium and ATP signaling. Previously, we discovered that zebrafish lack Panx1 expression in the inner retina, with drPanx1a exclusively expressed in horizontal cells of the outer retina. Here, we characterize a second drPanx1 protein, drPanx1b, generated by whole-genome duplications during teleost evolution. Homology searches strongly support the presence of pannexin sequences in cartilaginous fish and provide evidence that pannexins evolved when urochordata and chordata evolution split. Further, we confirm Panx1 ohnologs being solely present in teleosts. A hallmark of differential expression of drPanx1a and drPanx1b in various zebrafish brain areas is the non-overlapping protein localization of drPanx1a in the outer and drPanx1b in the inner fish retina. A functional comparison of the evolutionary distant fish and mouse Panx1s revealed both, preserved and unique properties. Preserved functions are the capability to form channels opening at resting potential, which are sensitive to known gap junction and hemichannel blockers, intracellular calcium, extracellular ATP and pH changes. However, drPanx1b is unique due to its highly complex glycosylation pattern and distinct electrophysiological gating kinetics. The existence of two Panx1 proteins in zebrafish displaying distinct tissue distribution, protein modification and electrophysiological properties, suggests that both proteins fulfill different functions in vivo.
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and the Online Classroom

This article explores the meaning of the scholarship of teaching and learning and describes how the concept has evolved over time. It then discusses how the scholarship of teaching and learning might contribute to developing effective online learning and, reciprocally, how online learning might change and advance the scholarship of teaching and learning. Through reflective, inquiry-based learning about teaching and the interactive capabilities of Internet communication technologies, higher education teachers can pursue excellence in promoting student learning.
RF system architectures and circuit techniques for wideband transceivers

This paper addresses design consideration and potential solutions for single-chip CMOS wideband RF transceivers. System architectures are discussed together with their challenges as compared to conventional narrow-band systems. At the circuit level, various wideband design techniques for wideband matching, wideband loading, and wideband frequency tuning range is explored. Finally, detailed design and measurement results of an UWB LNA, an UWB synthesizer, and a wideband VCO is presented.
Modular musical objects towards embodied control of digital music

We present an ensemble of tangible objects and software modules designed for musical interaction and performance. The tangible interfaces form an ensemble of connected objects communicating wirelessly. A central concept is to let users determine the final musical function of the objects, favoring customization, assembling, repurposing. This might imply assembling the wireless interfaces with existing everyday objects or musical instruments. Moreover, gesture analysis and recognition modules allow the users to define their own action/motion for the control of sound parameters. Various sound engines and interaction scenarios were built and experimented. Some examples that were developed in a music pedagogy context are described.
A Reference Architecture for Mobile Code Offload in Hostile Environments

Handheld mobile technology can help disaster relief workers and soldiers in the field with tasks such as speech and image recognition, natural language processing, decision-making, and mission planning. However, these applications are computation-intensive, take a heavy toll on battery power, and often rely on good connectivity to networks, limiting their practical usefulness in a crisis. This paper presents a reference architecture for mobile devices that overcomes these limitations by exploiting cloudlets - VM-based code offload elements that are in single-hop proximity to mobile devices.
Behavioural Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Associated with Recovered Memories

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is sometimes associated with recovered memories (RMs) of traumatic events. That is, the sufferer reports having forgotten traumatic events for a period of time, only to recall them later on. As the memories of traumatic events are recalled, post-traumatic stress disorder may emerge. The cause of recovered memories is uncertain and is the subject of debate. Some recovered memories may be reasonably accurate, while others may be ''recollections'' of imagined rather than actual events. It is unclear whether conventional PTSD therapies, such as behaviour therapy, are appropriate and effective in treating PTSD-RM. The present article considers these issues in the context of a case study, in which a patient with PTSD-RM was treated with behaviour therapy ( in vivo and imaginal exposure). The patient sought treatment because he wanted relief from his PTSD symptoms, regardless of whether his recovered memories were accurate (he was completely convinced in the accuracy of the memories). Treatment outcome was compared with the outcome of 13 PTSD patients who did not have recovered memories, who were also treated with behaviour therapy. Results suggest that PTSD-RM can be effectively treated with behaviour therapy. However, such treatment is unlikely to be appropriate for all cases of PTSD- RM. Selection criteria are discussed.
A Trust and Reputation based Anti-SPIM Method

Instant Messaging (IM) service is a killer application in the Internet. Due to the problem of IM spam (SPIM), building an effective anti-spim method is an important research topic. At present, most of anti-spim solutions are based on email-spam prevention techniques, which are not directly applicable to anti-spim. In this paper, we present a new anti-spim method SpimRank, which integrates trust and reputation mechanisms with black-list technique. SpimRank also tracks user's historical action to deal with spim attacks in nearly real time, which is applicable to IM environment.
Decision issues for multiple heterogeneous vehicles in uncertain environments

This paper focuses on on-going work in the “Action” project related to the decisional processes that are required to allow teams of cooperating heterogeneous vehicles to achieve target localization and tracking missions. Autonomy is made possible thanks to embedded functions such as data fusion, planning and supervision, organized within each vehicle so that they can cooperate together. Two essential characteristics are taken into account: the uncertainty on the environment models and on the vehicle action models (motions, perception and communication) and the constraints on the inter-vehicle communications, that cannot be permanently maintained. The paper presents the overall objectives of the Action project, analyzes the raised problems, and sketches the global approach chosen for the planning and supervision processes.
Deep learning-based recognition of underwater target

Underwater target recognition remains a challenging task due to the complex and changeable environment. There have been a huge number of methods to deal with this problem. However, most of them fail to hierarchically extract deep features. In this paper, a novel deep learning framework for underwater target classification is proposed. First, instead of extracting features relying on expert knowledge, sparse autoencoder (AE) is utilized to learn invariant features from the spectral data of underwater targets. Second, stacked autoencoder (SAE) is used to get high-level features as a deep learning method. At last, the joint of SAE and softmax is proposed to classify the underwater targets. Experiment results with the received signal data from three different targets on the sea indicated that the proposed approach can get the highest classification accuracy compared with support vector machine (SVM) and probabilistic neural network (PNN).
Reproductive Interference Between Animal Species

Although sexual interactions between species (reproductive interference) have been reported from a wide range of animal taxa, their potential for determining species coexistence is often disregarded. Here, we review evidence from laboratory and field studies illustrating that heterospecific sexual interactions are frequently associated with fitness loss and can have severe ecological and evolutionary consequences. We define reproductive interference as any kind of interspecific interaction during the process of mate acquisition that adversely affects the fitness of at least one of the species involved and that is caused by incomplete species recognition. We distinguish seven types of reproductive interference: signal jamming, heterospecific rivalry, misdirected courtship, heterospecific mating attempts, erroneous female choice, heterospecific mating, and hybridization. We then discuss the sex-specific costs of these types and highlight two typical features of reproductive interference: density-dependence and asymmetry. Similar to competition, reproductive interference can lead to displacement of one species (sexual exclusion), spatial, temporal, or habitat segregation, changes in life history parameters, and reproductive character displacement. In many cases, patterns of coexistence might be shaped by reproductive interference rather than by resource competition, as the presence of a few heterospecifics might substantially decrease reproductive success. Therefore, interspecific sexual interactions should receive more attention in ecological research. Reproductive interference has mainly been discussed in the context of invasive species or hybrid zones, whereas its influence on naturally-occurring sympatric species pairs has rarely been addressed. To improve our knowledge of the ecological significance of reproductive interference, findings from laboratory experiments should be validated in the field. Future studies should also focus on ecological mechanisms, such as temporal, spatial, or habitat partitioning, that might enable sexually interacting species to coexist. Reproductive interference also has implications for the management of endangered species, which can be threatened by sexual interactions with invasive or common species. Studies of reproductive interference might even provide new insights for biological pest control.
Percept-Percept Inflation in Microorganizational Research: An Investigation of Prevalence and Effect

Analysis of 42,934 correlations published in 581 articles not only revealed general evidence that self-report methods have produced percept-percept inflation in microresearch on organizations but also suggested that this effect is diminished when 1 or both covariates are demographic variables. Further analysis of a subsample of 11,710 correlations indicated that percept-percept inflation has influenced research on particular bivariate relationships but has not had the broad, comprehensive effects envisioned by critics. These findings challenge the validity of general condemnations of self-report methods, suggesting instead that domain-specific investigations are required to determine which areas of research are especially susceptible to percept-percept effects
Scaling Context Space

Context is used in many NLP systems as an indicator of a term's syntactic and semantic function. The accuracy of the system is dependent on the quality and quantity of contextual information available to describe each term. However, the quantity variable is no longer fixed by limited corpus resources. Given fixed training time and computational resources, it makes sense for systems to invest time in extracting high quality contextual information from a fixed corpus. However, with an effectively limitless quantity of text available, extraction rate and representation size need to be considered. We use thesaurus extraction with a range of context extracting tools to demonstrate the interaction between context quantity, time and size on a corpus of 300 million words.
Role of α-2 adrenergic receptors in anti-ulcer effect mechanism of estrogen and luteinising hormone on rats

Objective. To evaluate anti-ulcer effect of estrogen and luteinising hormone (LH) on indomethacin-induced ulcer model in female rats. Study design. Ovariectomy in healthy adult famale rats. Acute administration of estradiol to ovariectomised rats. Acute administration of LH to intact rats. Combined administration of tamoxifen with estradiol or LH to intact rats. Combined administration of yohimbin with estradiol or LH to intact rats. Combined administration of piperoxan with estradiol or LH to intact rats. Indomethacin administration to all rats. Results. Results have shown that LH exerted anti-ulcer activity at all doses we used but estradiol at 5 and 10 mg/kg. In rats administered yohimbine and piperoxan estradiol and LH could not prevent indomethacin-induced ulcers. In rats administered tamoxifen, estradiol and LH could prevent indomethacin-induced ulcers. Conclusions. LH is a very potent endogen anti-ulcer factor, and the anti-ulcerative activities of estrogen and LH are mediated via α-2 adrenergic receptors, but not es receptors. The resistance of gastric mucosa to aggressive factors may decrease as a result of LH inhibition when estrogen is secreted chronically in the human body.
Deep brain stimulation for gait and postural symptoms in Parkinson's disease

In patients with Parkinson's disease, gait and balance difficulties have emerged as some of the main therapeutic concerns. During earlier stages of the disease, the dopamine‐responsive aspects of gait disorder can be treated initially with dopaminergic drugs or deep brain stimulation. However, certain temporal aspects of parkinsonian gait disorder remain therapeutically resistant in both the short term and the long term. In this review, we summarize the effects of deep brain stimulation on gait and postural symptoms in the five currently available targets (subthalamic nucleus, globus pallidus, ventralis intermedius thalamic nucleus, pedunculopontine nucleus, and substantia nigra) and describe programming strategies for patients who are mainly disabled by gait problems. © 2013 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
The Absence of Nidogen 1 Does Not Affect Murine Basement Membrane Formation

ABSTRACT Nidogen 1 is a highly conserved protein in mammals,Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, and ascidians and is found in all basement membranes. It has been proposed that nidogen 1 connects the laminin and collagen IV networks, so stabilizing the basement membrane, and integrates other proteins, including perlecan, into the basement membrane. To define the role of nidogen 1 in basement membranes in vivo, we produced a null mutation of the NID-1 gene in embryonic stem cells and used these to derive mouse lines. Homozygous animals produce neither nidogen 1 mRNA nor protein. Surprisingly, they show no overt abnormalities and are fertile, their basement membrane structures appearing normal. Nidogen 2 staining is increased in certain basement membranes, where it is normally only found in scant amounts. This occurs by either redistribution from other extracellular matrices or unmasking of nidogen 2 epitopes, as its production does not appear to be upregulated. The results show that nidogen 1 is not required for basement membrane formation or maintenance.
Descriptive Social Norms and Motivation to Vote: Everybody's Voting and so Should You

The fact that many citizens fail to vote is often cited to motivate others to vote. Psychological research on descriptive social norms suggests that emphasizing the opposite—that many do vote—would be a more effective message. In two get-out-the-vote field experiments, we find that messages emphasizing low expected turnout are less effective at motivating voters than messages emphasizing high expected turnout. The findings suggest that descriptive social norms affect vote intention only among citizens who vote infrequently or occasionally. Practically, the results suggest that voter mobilization efforts should emphasize high turnout, especially when targeting occasional and low rate of participation voters. More generally, our findings suggest that the common lamentation by the media and politicians regarding low participation may undermine turnout.
Rate performance objectives of multihop wireless networks

We consider the maximization when designing ad-hoc wireless network protocols such as routing or MAC. We focus on maximizing rates under battery lifetime and power constraints. Commonly used metrics are total capacity (in the case of cellular networks) and transport capacity (in the case of ad-hoc networks). We review this issue for wireless ad-hoc networks. The story is different for max-min fairness. We show that, in the limit of long battery lifetime, the max-min allocation of rates always leads to strictly equal rates, regardless of the MAC layer, network topology, choice of routes and power constraints. This is due to the "solidarity" property of the set of feasible rates. This results in all flows receiving the rate of the worst flow, and leads to severe inefficiency. We show numerically that the problem persists when battery lifetime constraints are finite. This generalizes the observation reported in the literature that, in heterogeneous settings, 802.11 allocates the worst rate to all stations, and shows that this is inherent to any protocol that implements max-min fairness. Proportional fairness is an alternative to max-min fairness that approximates rate allocation performed by TCP in the Internet. We show by numerical simulations that proportional fairness of rates or transport rates is robust and achieves a good trade-off between efficiency and fairness, unlike total rate or maximum fairness. We thus recommend that metrics for the rate performance of mobile ad-hoc networking protocols be based on proportional fairness
Associations between dru Types and SCCmec Cassettes

Molecular typing is an important tool in the investigation of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) outbreaks and in following the evolution of MRSA. The staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) contains a hypervariable region with a variable number of 40 bp repeats named direct repeat units (dru). The dru region has been suggested as a supplementary typing method for MRSA and an international nomenclature exists. The purpose of this study was to investigate the diversity and variability of the dru region in a diverse collection of MRSA. We studied 302 MRSA isolates harbouring SCCmec types I to VI. The isolates represented a broad genetic background based on Staphylococcal protein A (spa) typing and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and included 68 isolates (68 patients) from an outbreak with t024-ST8-IVa and 26 isolates from the same patient. Sequencing identified 53 dru types (dt) in 283 isolates, while eighteen isolates contained no dru repeats and one isolate resisted sequencing. The most common dru type, dt10a, was present in 53% of the sequenced isolates and was found in all SCCmec types, except type II. Seven (10%) of the 68 epidemiologically related patients had isolates with dru type variants indicating that dru typing is not useful as a first line epidemiological typing tool. However, MRSA isolates cultured from a single patient over a three year period exhibited a single dru type. The finding of dt10a in most SCCmec types suggests that dru and mecA originate from the same Staphylococcus species.
Adaptive Power Management Mechanism Considering Remaining Energy in IEEE 802.16e

This letter proposes a new adaptive power management mechanism (APM 2 ) which takes into account the remaining energy in an IEEE 802.16e system. Benefits of the mechanism are the reduction of frame response delay in a state with sufficient remaining energy, and an increase in the life of a station in a state of insufficient remaining energy. An analytical model for sleep mode operation is developed, and the proposed mechanism is validated by computer simulation.
Centering Attention in Discourse.

Abstract Centering is a set of processes by which people can coordinate their attention during conversation. Speakers signal where their attention is via particular lexical, syntactic and prosodic choices. These choices make discourse entities salient to addressees and may also signal whether speakers expect addressees' attention to be already centered on the same entities. Two questions arise: What linguistic devices do speakers use to make an entity salient in a discourse? And how do speakers re-refer to discourse entities that move in and out of the center of attention? I manipulated speakers' center of attention using a videotaped basketball game. Speakers tended to refer to prominent entities as sentence subjects. When they referred to entities as sentence objects, they were more likely to re-refer next by repeating the full noun phrase verbatim rather than pronominalising. This happened even though both a recency-of-mention strategy and world knowledge would have provided enough information to uniqu.