Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integer programming-based real-time scheduler in semiconductor manufacturing

This paper demonstrates how an integer programming-based real-time scheduling heuristic approach can be applied for semiconductor manufacturing. Two integer programming formulations of a simplified version of this problem are proposed to model (1) a full-enumeration scheduling problem which minimizes the makespan (Cmax), and (2) a real-time scheduling problem which simply maximizes job assignments at the current state. The real-time scheduler's overall effectiveness in terms of solution quality and run time is evaluated through computer experiments. The real time scheduler is based on an iterative procedure to calculate the makespan, where a simulator is developed to read the integer programming output and to update the job and machine information at each state. The experimental study shows how a well-defined integer programming-based real-time scheduling heuristic can generate a near-optimal solution.
An introduction to birdsong and the avian song system.

INTRODUCTION Konishi, while a student with Marler, showed that birds must be able to hear themselves sing to develop song normally. Fernando Nottebohm, also This special issue of the Journal of Neurobiology while a student with Marler, showed that the peis devoted to a consideration of the avian song ripheral control of song production is lateralized. control system. In the 20 years that have passed Nottebohm and his colleagues subsequently idensince Nottebohm et al. (1976) first identified foretified neural circuits in the avian forebrain that brain circuits that control song in birds, the song control song behavior. This important discovery system has emerged as a leading model in behavpaved the way for many investigators who have ioral neuroscience. To mark the beginning of the subsequently contributed to our understanding of third decade of study of this model, we invited song behavior and its neural control. several leading investigators to contribute to this The birdsong system offers several advantages volume. We set two goals for the authors: to reas a model for identifying neural mechanisms that view progress in their area of study and, more underlie biologically relevant behavior: important, to identify critical directions for future research. 1. Song is a learned behavior that is controlled The modern study of birdsong began with the by discrete neural circuits. work of William Thorpe (1958, 1961) . He 2. There are distinct phases in the development showed that chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs ) colof song, with well-defined sensitive periods. lected as nestlings and reared in the laboratory in One can relate the ontogeny of song behavior isolation from conspecific adult males produced to the development of the underlying neural very abnormal songs. If these young birds were circuits. exposed to tape recordings of wild chaffinch 3. Song is the product of stereotyped motor prosongs, however, they eventually produced normal grams, with hierarchical organization of the songs that matched those heard on the recordings. premotor and motor nuclei. These studies demonstrated for the first time that 4. Song behavior and the associated neural ciryoung birds must learn the song of their species by cuits are sexually dimorphic in most species. listening to adult conspecifics. Thorpe’s student 5. Gonadal steroid hormones have pronounced Peter Marler greatly expanded upon this early effects on the development and adult function work. Marler and his colleagues demonstrated the of the song control circuits, as well as on song existence of local geographic song ‘‘dialects,’’ behavior. that song learning is characterized by early sensi6. There is extensive plasticity of the adult song tive periods, and that birds have innate predisposisystem, including ongoing neurogenesis and tions to learn the song of their species. Masakazu seasonal changes in morphology. 7. There is pronounced species diversity in different aspects of song behavior, including the Correspondence to: E. A. Brenowitz
Lossless source coding for multiple access networks

A multiple access source code (MASC) is a source code designed for the following network configuration: a pair of jointly distributed information sequences {X/sub i/}/sub i=1//sup /spl infin// and {Y/sub i/}/sub i=1//sup /spl infin// is drawn i.i. d. according to joint probability mass function (p.m.f.) p(x,y); the encoder for each source operates without knowledge of the other source; the decoder receives the encoded bit streams of both sources. The rate region for MASCs with arbitrarily small but non-zero error probabilities was studied by Slepian and Wolf. In this paper, we consider the properties of optimal truly lossless MASCs and apply our findings to practical truly lossless and near lossless code design.
*Reviewing Journal Rankings and Revisiting Peer Reviews: Editorial Perspectives

In this article we respond to the key points made by Macdonald and Kam (2007) in relation to journal quality and the peer review process. Whilst we appreciate that their tone is intentionally provocative, the picture they present is one of unremitting gloom and reluctant acquiescence to a system out of control. It is as if the publication process has a series of self-supporting logics that separate it from any notion of publishing in order to benefit the discipline through the advance of knowledge and understanding. From this perspective the publishing process and the consequent content of management journals are presented as the outcome of a series of ‘games’ that put more emphasis on where someone publishes than on what they publish and its subsequent impact. Such criticisms are not new in that they have been vigorously discussed for decades across a range of disciplines. Furthermore, many of these issues are raised whenever academics get together and discuss their experiences of journal publishing. Given the frustrations and vagaries of the review and publication process, such complaints are understandable. But they deserve further scrutiny. We write this article as two of the General Editors of Journal of Management Studies. This is considered by the broad management studies community to be a ‘quality journal’ and during our time as General Editors, so far, we have overseen the reviewing of 1463 articles. We are therefore insiders. Our broad purpose is to show how journal editors need to intervene in order build and maintain a journal's reputation since it is not as impervious to change as Macdonald and Kam (2007) imply, and to mitigate some of the problems associated with peer review (see also Bedeian, 2004; Campanario, 1998; Miller, 2006; Starbuck, 2003, 2005). In doing so, we demonstrate that journal editors have actively to engage with these issues if they are to ensure that their journal continues to create value for the community at large. Macdonald and Kam's critique therefore reminds us why we have instituted certain practices at JMS. We begin with some general comments about journal quality before turning to the peer review process.
Two-Level Automatic Adaptation of a Distributed User Profile for Personalized News Content Delivery

This paper presents a distributed client-server architecture for the personalized delivery of textual news content to mobile users. The user profile consists of two separate models, that is, the long-term interests are stored in a skeleton profile on the server and the short-term interests in a detailed profile in the handset. The user profile enables a high-level filtering of available news content on the server, followed by matching of detailed user preferences in the handset. The highest rated items are recommended to the user, by employing an efficient ranking process. The paper focuses on a two-level learning process, which is employed on the client side in order to automatically update both user profile models. It involves the use of machine learning algorithms applied to the implicit and explicit user feedback. The system's learning performance has been systematically evaluated based on data collected from regular system users.
Microbial Abundances Predict Methane and Nitrous Oxide Fluxes from a Windrow Composting System

Manure composting is a significant source of atmospheric methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) that are two potent greenhouse gases. The CH4 and N2O fluxes are mediated by methanogens and methanotrophs, nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria in composting manure, respectively, while these specific bacterial functional groups may interplay in CH4 and N2O emissions during manure composting. To test the hypothesis that bacterial functional gene abundances regulate greenhouse gas fluxes in windrow composting systems, CH4 and N2O fluxes were simultaneously measured using the chamber method, and molecular techniques were used to quantify the abundances of CH4-related functional genes (mcrA and pmoA genes) and N2O-related functional genes (amoA, narG, nirK, nirS, norB, and nosZ genes). The results indicate that changes in interacting physicochemical parameters in the pile shaped the dynamics of bacterial functional gene abundances. The CH4 and N2O fluxes were correlated with abundances of specific compositional genes in bacterial community. The stepwise regression statistics selected pile temperature, mcrA and NH4+ together as the best predictors for CH4 fluxes, and the model integrating nirK, nosZ with pmoA gene abundances can almost fully explain the dynamics of N2O fluxes over windrow composting. The simulated models were tested against measurements in paddy rice cropping systems, indicating that the models can also be applicable to predicting the response of CH4 and N2O fluxes to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration and rising temperature. Microbial abundances could be included as indicators in the current carbon and nitrogen biogeochemical models.
Comprehensive Evaluation and Implementation of Improvement Actions in Butcher Shops

Foodborne pathogens can cause acute and chronic diseases and produce a wide range of symptoms. Since the consumption of ground beef is a risk factor for infections with some bacterial pathogens, we performed a comprehensive evaluation of butcher shops, implemented improvement actions for both butcher shops and consumers, and verified the impact of those actions implemented. A comprehensive evaluation was made and risk was quantified on a 1–100 scale as high-risk (1–40), moderate-risk (41–70) or low-risk (71–100). A total of 172 raw ground beef and 672 environmental samples were collected from 86 butcher shops during the evaluation (2010–2011) and verification (2013) stages of the study. Ground beef samples were analyzed for mesophilic aerobic organisms, Escherichia coli and coagulase-positive Staphylococcus aureus enumeration. Salmonella spp. , E. coli O157:H7, non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), and Listeria monocytogenes were detected and isolated from all samples. Risk quantification resulted in 43 (50.0%) high-risk, 34 (39.5%) moderate-risk, and nine (10.5%) low-risk butcher shops. Training sessions for 498 handlers and 4,506 consumers were held. Re-evaluation by risk quantification and microbiological analyses resulted in 19 (22.1%) high-risk, 42 (48.8%) moderate-risk and 25 (29.1%) low-risk butcher shops. The count of indicator microorganisms decreased with respect to the 2010–2011 period. After the implementation of improvement actions, the presence of L. monocytogenes, E. coli O157:H7 and stx genes in ground beef decreased. Salmonella spp. was isolated from 10 (11.6%) ground beef samples, without detecting statistically significant differences between both study periods (evaluation and verification). The percentage of pathogens in environmental samples was reduced in the verification period (Salmonella spp., 1.5%; L. monocytogenes, 10.7%; E. coli O157:H7, 0.6%; non-O157 STEC, 6.8%). Risk quantification was useful to identify those relevant facts in butcher shops. The reduction of contamination in ground beef and the environment was possible after training handlers based on the problems identified in their own butcher shops. Our results confirm the feasibility of implementing a comprehensive risk management program in butcher shops, and the importance of information campaigns targeting consumers. Further collaborative efforts would be necessary to improve foodstuffs safety at retail level and at home.
Handling uncertainty: Standard and local practices in the case of libido and contraception in evidence-based decision-making

Abstract This paper draws from a qualitative study of interviews with 14 health practitioners to explore the use of reproductive health guidelines in contraception consultations. An aim of standardised guidelines is to encourage health practitioners to use scientific evidence in clinical decision-making. The paper uses health practitioners’ management of decreased libido as a case study to highlight the paradox of evidence-based medicine when the evidence and guidelines do not match clinical presentations and practice. This case study also illustrates how the tension between guidelines and clients’ needs are managed in the clinical encounter. The paper suggests that an interactionist approach, which emphasises the interrelationship between guidelines and health practitioners’ clinical work, is an alternative to standardisation for handling uncertainties in clinical practice.
Bone-Remodeling Transcript Levels Are Independent of Perching in End-of-Lay White Leghorn Chickens

Osteoporosis is a bone disease that commonly results in a 30% incidence of fracture in hens used to produce eggs for human consumption. One of the causes of osteoporosis is the lack of mechanical strain placed on weight-bearing bones. In conventionally-caged hens, there is inadequate space for chickens to exercise and induce mechanical strain on their bones. One approach is to encourage mechanical stress on bones by the addition of perches to conventional cages. Our study focuses on the molecular mechanism of bone remodeling in end-of-lay hens (71 weeks) with access to perches. We examined bone-specific transcripts that are actively involved during development and remodeling. Using real-time quantitative PCR, we examined seven transcripts (COL2A1 (collagen, type II, alpha 1), RANKL (receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand), OPG (osteoprotegerin), PTHLH (PTH-like hormone), PTH1R (PTH/PTHLH type-1 receptor), PTH3R (PTH/PTHLH type-3 receptor), and SOX9 (Sry-related high mobility group box)) in phalange, tibia and femur. Our results indicate that the only significant effect was a difference among bones for COL2A1 (femur > phalange). Therefore, we conclude that access to a perch did not alter transcript expression. Furthermore, because hens have been used as a model for human bone metabolism and osteoporosis, the results indicate that bone remodeling due to mechanical loading in chickens may be a product of different pathways than those involved in the mammalian model.
Focus, Locus, and Sensus: The Three Dimensions of Virtual Experience

A model of virtual/physical experience is presented, which provides a three dimensional conceptual space for virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) comprising the dimensions of focus, locus, and sensus. Focus is most closely related to what is generally termed presence in the VR literature. When in a virtual environment, presence is typically shared between the VR and the physical world. "Breaks in presence" are actually shifts of presence away from the VR and toward the external environment. But we can also have "breaks in presence" when attention moves toward absence--when an observer is not attending to stimuli present in the virtual environment, nor to stimuli present in the surrounding physical environment--when the observer is present in neither the virtual nor the physical world. We thus have two dimensions of presence: focus of attention (between presence and absence) and the locus of attention (the virtual vs. the physical world). A third dimension is the sensus of attention--the level of arousal determining whether the observer is highly conscious or relatively unconscious while interacting with the environment. After expanding on each of these three dimensions of experience in relation to VR, we present a couple of educational examples as illustrations, and also relate our model to a suggested spectrum of evaluation methods for virtual environments.
An Institutional Comparison of Child Protection Systems in Australia and Norway Focused on Workforce Retention

Abstract By any standard, child protection work is a demanding field of social services work. Throughout much of the post-industrial world, child protection agencies face significant problems in recruiting and retaining front-line staff with the abilities required to undertake this often complex and stressful work. The capacity of these agencies to achieve their social policy objectives can be compromised by workforce instability. Despite a growing body of evidence about the contribution of local organisational and caseworker characteristics to workforce turnover, policy-makers face a dearth of information about how the broader institutional context of child protection systems contributes to challenges in workforce retention. This lack of evidence is notable given the varying rates of caseworker turnover observed internationally, particularly between social policy regimes where different institutional contexts shape workforce conditions. This article aims to contribute to the evidence base for improving workforce retention in child protection services through an institutional comparison of child protection systems in Queensland (Australia) and Norway. We analyse the role of the institutional conditions in shaping the nature and scope of child protection work, characteristics and responsibilities of caseworkers, and their financial remuneration for this work. We discuss how these institutional effects help to explain the differences in workforce turnover among child protection workers in Queensland and Norway.
Factors affecting pregnancy rate to estrous synchronization and fixed-time artificial insemination in beef cattle.

Application of AI in extensive beef cattle production would be facilitated by protocols that effectively synchronize ovarian follicular development and ovulation to enable fixed-time AI (TAI). The objectives were to determine whether use of a controlled internal drug release (CIDR) device to administer progesterone in a GnRH-based estrous synchronization protocol would optimize blood progesterone concentrations, improve synchronization of follicular development and estrus, and increase pregnancy rates to TAI in beef cows. Beef cows (n = 1,240) in 6 locations within the US Meat Animal Research Center received 1 of 2 treatments: 1) an injection of GnRH [100 µg intramuscularly (i.m.)] followed by PGF(2α) (PGF; 25 mg i.m.) 7 d later (CO-Synch), or 2) CO-Synch plus a CIDR during the 7 d between GnRH and PGF injections (CO-Synch + CIDR). Cows received TAI and GnRH (100 µg i.m.) at 60 h after PGF. Progesterone was measured by RIA in blood samples collected 2 wk before and at initiation of treatment (d 0) and at PGF injection (d 7). Estrous behavior was monitored by Estrotect Heat Detectors. Pregnancy was diagnosed by ultrasonography 72 to 77 d after TAI. Plasma progesterone concentrations did not differ (P > 0.10) between synchronization protocols at first GnRH injection (d 0), but progesterone was greater (P < 0.01) at PGF injection (d 7) in cows receiving CO-Synch + CIDR vs. CO-Synch as a result of fewer CIDR-treated cows having progesterone ≤1 ng/mL at PGF (10.7 vs. 29.6%, respectively). A greater (P < 0.01) proportion of CO-Synch + CIDR vs. CO-Synch cows were detected in estrus within 60 h after PGF (66.7 vs. 57.8 ± 2.6%, respectively) and a greater (P < 0.01) proportion were pregnant to TAI (54.6 vs. 44.3 ± 2.6%, respectively). For both synchronization protocols, cows expressing estrus within 60 h before TAI had a greater pregnancy rate than cows without estrus. For cows with plasma progesterone ≤1 ng/mL at PGF injection, CO-Synch + CIDR increased pregnancy rate (65.2 ± 5.9 vs. 30.8 ± 3.4% with vs. without CIDR), whereas pregnancy rates did not differ (P > 0.10) between protocols (52.1 ± 2.1 vs. 50.0 ± 2.4%, respectively) when progesterone was >1 ng/mL (treatment × progesterone; P < 0.01). Inclusion of a CIDR in the synchronization protocol increased plasma progesterone concentration, proportion of cows detected in estrus, and pregnancy rate; however, the increase in pregnancy rate from inclusion of the CIDR was primarily in cows with decreasing or low endogenous progesterone secretion during treatment.
Down-regulation of Delta by proteolytic processing

Notch signaling regulates cell fate decisions during development through local cell interactions. Signaling is triggered by the interaction of the Notch receptor with its transmembrane ligands expressed on adjacent cells. Recent studies suggest that Delta is cleaved to release an extracellular fragment, DlEC, by a mechanism that involves the activity of the metalloprotease Kuzbanian; however, the functional significance of that cleavage remains controversial. Using independent functional assays in vitro and in vivo, we examined the biological activity of purified soluble Delta forms and conclude that Delta cleavage is an important down-regulating event in Notch signaling. The data support a model whereby Delta inactivation is essential for providing the critical ligand/receptor expression differential between neighboring cells in order to distinguish the signaling versus the receiving partner.
Hypokalemia‐Induced Long QT Syndrome with an Underlying Novel Missense Mutation in S4‐S5 Linker of KCNQ1

Novel Mutation in Hypokalemia‐Induced LQTS. Congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS) is caused by mutations in at least five genes coding for cardiac potassium or sodium channels that regulate the duration of ventricular action potentials. Acquired LQTS often is associated with drugs or metabolic abnormalities. A 47‐year‐old woman who presented with marked QT prolongation (QTc = 620 msec1/2) and repeated episodes of torsades de pointes associated with hypokalemia (2.6 mEq/L) was screened for mutations in LQTS genes using polymerase chain reaction/single‐strand conformation polymorphism (PCR/SSCP). We identified a novel missense mutation in the intracellular linker of S4‐S5 domains of KCNQ1, resulting in an amino acid substitution of cysteine for arginine at position 259 (R259C). Whole cell, patch clamp experiments were conducted on COS7 cells transfected with wild‐type and/or R259C KCNQ1 with or without KCNE1. Functional analyses of the mutant KCNQ1 subunit on COS7 cells revealed its functional channels in the homozygous state, producing a significantly smaller current than the KCNQ1 channels and a less severe dominant‐negative effect on IKS‐ The novel KCNQl mutation R259C is the molecular basis for IKs dysfunction underlying an apparently sporadic case of hypokalemia‐induced LQTS, consistent with a mild mutation likely to disclose the clinical manifestation of LQTS in a context of severe hypokalemia. Our findings suggest that gene carriers with such mild mutations might not he so rare as commonly expected in patients with acquired LQTS, and stress the importance of mutational analysis for detecting either “silent” forms of congenital LQTS or de novo mutations.
An S-band 350W internally matched solid-state power amplifier using GaN power HEMTs

An S-band power amplifier was successfully developed with internally matched three 19.2mm AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). The lumped components, quasi-microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs) together with microstrip divider/combiner were used to realize the input and output matching networks. Under the pulsed condition (200us, 20%), the developed GaN HEMTs power amplifier delivers more than 350W output power, and the PAE of above 52.4% during the operation frequency band from 3.1 to 3.5GHz with 36V drain bias voltage, and a maximum 380W saturated output power with 11.5dB power gain and 58.7% maximum power-added efficiency (PAE) are achieved.