Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sleeping ECG and body position monitoring system

A textile-based ECG system for sleeper is presented. The electrode in the system is supported by a foam pad to ensure good contact as well as comfort to the wearer, and a flexible rubber to ensure that the electrode will electrically connect to the wearer only when pressed. Eight electrodes are multiplexed such that exactly two electrodes are pressed to connect the wearer no matter how the wearer lies. When the wearer lies in different positions, he/she will press different two electrodes, and then the morphology of the output ECG signal will be different accordingly. By this feature, the system can not only detect ECG but also determine the position of the sleeper.
Leadership, culture and performance: The case of the New Zealand public sector

Using comparative structural equation modelling, the present study attempts to test hypothesised relationships between manifestations of leadership, culture type and effectiveness in the public sector. Two consecutive national leadership surveys were conducted to investigate organisational factors that are relevant to the pressing management issues present in the uncertain and turbulent environment of today's public sector. Measured constructs include transformational/transactional organisational culture, climate for innovation, individual transformational leadership, team transformational leadership, and team and organisational outcomes. Support was found for the indirect and direct effects of transformational leadership on outcomes through its influence on transformational/transactional culture and climate for innovation. Implications for leader development and for the development of productive cultures are considered.
Exploring test opportunities for memory and interconnects in 3D ICs

3D-Stacked IC (3D-SIC) based on Through-Silicon-Vias (TSV) is an emerging technology that provides many benefits such as low power, high bandwidth 3D memories and heterogeneous integration. One of the attractive applications making used of such benefits is the stacking of memory dies on logic. System integrators for such application have to provide appropriate test strategy. However, they have to deal with block box IPs as IP providers usually refuse to share the IP content. Moreover, they dislike including JTAG in memory dies. Therefore, developing a low cost and high quality test approaches, while taking these constraints into consideration, is of great importance. This paper presents a framework of interconnect test approaches for memories stacked on logic, and look further than the only proposed JTAG solutions. The benefits and drawbacks of each possible solution is extensively discusses for stacked memories both with and without MBISTs, placed on the memory dies or on a separate logic die.
Supplement 2: Best practice for intercultural learning in international educational exchange

If you do not already think so, the papers in this volume will convince you that study abroad has changed. At the university level, it has transcended its history as a ‘grand tour’ for the leisure class and the more plebian ‘junior year abroad’. Now university study abroad encompasses massive mobility of students among European Union universities and to and from the US and other countries through a myriad school-based and consortia-based programs. At the secondary (high school) level, the traditional AFS Intercultural Programs year in the US or Europe has been expanded by AFS and other organizations to include shorter programs to and from a broader range of countries. Added to the change in format and destination are educational foci that go well
Genital Skin Fibroblasts (GF) of Patients with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Express Higher Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein (IGFBP)-2, -3 and -5 than GF of Normally Virilized Males

Background: We investigated the effects of androgens, estradiol (E2) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I on IGF-II, insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP)-2, -3 and -5 and mRNA in genital fibroblasts (GF) from patients with complete androgen insensitivity (CAIS) and normally virilized males (C). Methods: Proteins were measured by specific RIA and Western ligand blot, and specific mRNA levels by RT-PCR normalized by GAPDH levels. Results: Secretion of IGF-II was lowered in CAIS (p < 0.001) GF and by testosterone + IGF-I in C GF. Secretion of IGFBP-2 was higher (p < 0.001) in CAIS GF and IGFBP-2 mRNA levels were increased by E2 in C GF (p < 0.05). E2 stimulated IGFBP-2, -3 and -5 expression in CAIS GF. CAIS GF also secreted more IGFBP-3 (p < 0.001) and accumulated 3–5 times more IGFBP-5 mRNA than C GF (p < 0.001). Conclusion: In contrast to C GF, the availability of IGF-II in CAIS GF is apparently decreased by two facts: by the decreased expression and by increased expression of IGFBP-2, -3 and -5. Furthermore, E2 and IGF-I modulate the expression of IGF-II and IGFBP in GF. This may play a role in the failure to develop male external genitals in CAIS patients.
Drum-Buffer-Rope: The Technique to Plan and Control the Production Using Theory of Constraints

Theory of Constraints has been emerging as an important tool for optimization of manufacturing/service systems. Goldratt in his first book “ The Goal ” gave the introduction on Theory of Constraints and its applications in a factory scenario. A large number of production managers around the globe read this book but only a few could implement it in their plants because the book did not explain the steps to implement TOC in the factory. To overcome these limitations, Goldratt wrote this book to explain TOC, DBR and the method to implement it. In this paper, an attempt has been made to summarize the salient features of TOC and DBR listed in the book and the correct approach to implement TOC in a factory setting. The simulator available along with the book was actually used by the authors and the claim of Goldratt regarding the use of DBR and Buffer management to ease the work of production managers was tested and was found to be correct. Keywords—Drum Buffer Rope (DBR), Optimized Production Technology (OPT), Capacity Constrained Resource (CCR)
Ecological Specialization and Susceptibility to Disturbance: Conjectures and Refutations

Niche breadth of species has been hypothesized to be associated with species' responses to disturbance. Disturbance is usually believed to affect specialists negatively, while generalists are believed to benefit from disturbance; we call this the “specialization‐disturbance” hypothesis. We also propose an associated hypothesis (the “specialization‐asymmetry‐disturbance” hypothesis) under which both specialization and asymmetry of interactions would explain species’ responses to disturbance. We test these hypotheses using data from a plant‐pollinator system that has been grazed by cattle (i.e., a biological disturbance) in southern Argentina. We quantified specialization in species interactions, specialization of interaction partners, and species’ responses to disturbance. We found no relationship between degree of specialization and a species’ response to disturbance. We also found that plant‐pollinator interactions tend to be asymmetric in this system; there was no relationship between the degree of specialization of a given species and the degree of specialization of its interaction partners. However, asymmetry of interactions did not explain the variability in species’ responses to disturbance. Thus, both hypotheses are rejected by our data. Possible reasons include failure to assess crucial resources, substantial direct effects of disturbance, inaccurate measures of specialization, difficulty detecting highly nonlinear relationships, and limitations of a nonexperimental approach. Or, in fact, there may be no relationship between specialization and response to disturbance.
Emergence of grammatical constructions: evidence from simulation and grounded agent experiments

This research takes grammatical constructions (sentence form-to-meaning mappings) as an alternative to abstract generative grammars in the context of understanding the emergence of language. A model of sentence processing based on this construction grammar approach is presented, and then a series of neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies are reviewed that attempt to validate the model and to establish its neurophysiological underpinnings. The resulting model is demonstrated to provide insight into a developmental and evolutionary passage from unitary idiom-like holophrases to progressively more abstract grammatical constructions. The model is then functionally validated by its insertion into a perceptually grounded system that allows spoken language interaction with a human interlocutor. The potential utility of this emergence approach in understanding language is discussed.
Personal and Organizational Determinants of Perceived Absence Norms

A two-phase study employed a combination ofqualitative and quantitative methodology to studyabsenteeism in a complex, hospital setting. The primaryfocus was to identify the bases of employees' beliefs about what is acceptable and expected in termsof absence behavior. Through a series of employeeinterviews, two different absence cultures wereidentified. We found evidence that employees' normativeperceptions were influenced by their prior personalabsence, and by the average level of absence within boththeir immediate work group and the absence culture towhich they belonged. Perceived norms were also shown to predict future individual absence (totaldays absent) 1 year later. Theoretical and practicalimplications of this research were discussed.
Major Depressive Disorder

A random sample of 3258 adult household residents of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, were interviewed by trained lay interviewers, using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS), which generated DSM‐III diagnosis data. This paper reports results for major depressive disorder (MDD). MDD was found to affect women more than men by a ratio of nearly 2 to 1. The lifetime prevalence rate for both sexes combined was 8.6%. The period prevalence rates for both sexes combined were 3.2% and 4.6%, for six month and one year, respectively. The presence of a recurrent Major Depressive Disorder was associated with an increased risk of substance abuse, panic disorder and dysthymia, whereas a single major depressive episode was not associated with increased comorbidity.
Phonological variation in educated spoken Arabic: a study of the uvular and related plosive types

Phonetic adjustment in conversational exchange between Arabs of different nationalities is a fundamental, subtle aspect of Educated Spoken Arabic in Egypt and the Levant (ESA). More often than not educated Arabs adjust to a ‘classical norm’ of a voiceless uvular plosive (q), usually corresponding to a voiced velar plosive (g) or a glottal plosive (ʢ) in most vernaculars of our region, in a conscious or unconscious attempt both to elevate and to ‘koineize’ their speech. What follows attempts, inter alia, to show something of the relationships between the variants of this diaphonemic entity and such extra-linguistic factors as the biographies of collocutors and speech function, and to illustrate the fact that items with [q] serve the purposes of modernization in the area.
A morphological, affine, and Galilean invariant scale-space for movies

We study a model of multiscale analysis (or scale-space) applied to movies. This model comes from a thorough formalization that has been done in the theory of scale-space of static image. This formulation has led to associate with each multiscale analysis a partial differential equation (PDE). We intend here to examine the case of movies, and to insist on the motion aspects. More precisely, it has been proved in that there exists a unique affine and morphological and Galilean invariant scale-space for movies, the AMG model. This model is described by a partial differential equation. In this paper,we focus on terms appearing in that equation. We show that this model provides a reliable definition of an optical multiscale acceleration. At the practical level, scale is interpreted as a way of characterizing reliable trajectories. As we prove by experiments,the AMG model is a riddle for decimating spurious trajectories due to any kinds of nonadditive impurities and noise. Simple discrete formulae are given to implement the model.
Specific and flexible roles of heparan sulfate modifications in Drosophila FGF signaling

Specific sulfation sequence of heparan sulfate (HS) contributes to the selective interaction between HS and various proteins in vitro. To clarify the in vivo importance of HS fine structures, we characterized the functions of the Drosophila HS 2-O and 6-O sulfotransferase (Hs2st and Hs6st) genes in FGF-mediated tracheal formation. We found that mutations in Hs2st or Hs6st had unexpectedly little effect on tracheal morphogenesis. Structural analysis of mutant HS revealed not only a loss of corresponding sulfation, but also a compensatory increase of sulfation at other positions, which maintains the level of HS total charge. The restricted phenotypes of Hsst mutants are ascribed to this compensation because FGF signaling is strongly disrupted by Hs2st; Hs6st double mutation, or by overexpression of 6-O sulfatase, an extracellular enzyme which removes 6-O sulfate groups without increasing 2-O sulfation. These findings suggest that the overall sulfation level is more important than strictly defined HS fine structures for FGF signaling in some developmental contexts.
Privacy concerns arising from internet service personalization filters

Personal service customization, or personalization, is one of the core tools that are being used by on-line providers of information services such as search engines, social media, news sites and product recommender systems to optimize the individual user experience in hopes of attracting and keeping users. In this paper we will examine the user profile models that are used to achieve this information personalization. From a citizen centric perspective, our concerns focus on the degree of privacy intrusion that is implicitly required to determine the parameter settings of the information filter profile and the ethical implications of the personal behavior predicting properties of the user model itself.
Global Status of DDT and Its Alternatives for Use in Vector Control to Prevent Disease

Objective I review the status of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), used for disease vector control, along with current evidence on its benefits and risks in relation to the available alternatives. Data sources and extraction Contemporary data on DDT use were largely obtained from questionnaires and reports. I also conducted a Scopus search to retrieve published articles. Data synthesis DDT has been recommended as part of the arsenal of insecticides available for indoor residual spraying until suitable alternatives are available. Approximately 14 countries use DDT for disease control, and several countries are preparing to reintroduce DDT. The effectiveness of DDT depends on local settings and merits close consideration in relation to the alternatives. Concerns about the continued use of DDT are fueled by recent reports of high levels of human exposure associated with indoor spraying amid accumulating evidence on chronic health effects. There are signs that more malaria vectors are becoming resistant to the toxic action of DDT, and that resistance is spreading to new countries. A comprehensive cost assessment of DDT versus its alternatives that takes side effects into account is missing. Effective chemical methods are available as immediate alternatives to DDT, but the choice of insecticide class is limited, and in certain areas the development of resistance is undermining the efficacy of insecticidal tools. New insecticides are not expected in the short term. Nonchemical methods are potentially important, but their effectiveness at program level needs urgent study. Conclusions To reduce reliance on DDT, support is needed for integrated and multipartner strategies of vector control and for the continued development of new technologies. Integrated vector management provides a framework for developing and implementing effective technologies and strategies as sustainable alternatives to reliance on DDT.
The Effects of Instructor Immediacy Behaviors in Online Learning Environments

Previous research has indicated that instructor immediacy is associated with learning outcomes, satisfaction, and motivation. However, few researchers have examined instructor immediacy in the context of online learning. This study is the first large experiment ( n = 433) to empirically investigate the effects of instructor imme-diacy behaviors (high versus low) and online delivery modality (audio versus video) on participant perceptions of instructor immediacy and social presence. Results demonstrated that participants assigned to the high-immediacy sessions indicated significantly higher perception of instructor immediacy and social presence than participants assigned to the low-immediacy sessions. Findings also established a strong correlation between participants’ perception of instructor immediacy behaviors and their perception of the instructor’s social presence.
MIMOR @ NTCIR 5: A Fusion-based Approach to Japanese Information Retrieval

In our first participation in the NTCIR Workshop, we focused on the evaluation of the relative effectiveness of different indexing approaches (word-based, N-gram-based, and yomior pronunciation-based) for Japanese IR and the benefits of their fusion. Our MIMOR (“multiple indexing for method-object relations in IR”) system has already proved very effective in CLEF 1 . The
Getting Married, Breaking up, and Making Up for Lost Time

Transitioning from single to married or married to divorced has notable effects on women’s sexuality. In some cases, transitions lead to greater sexual subjectivity by enhancing women’s sexual confidence and sense of entitlement to pleasure. In others, transitions inhibit women’s sexual agency and women feel disconnected from their sexual selves. In this paper, I explore how marriage and divorce function as turning points in women’s construction of sexuality. Based on in-depth interviews with seventy-one heterosexual women, I examine how they experience marriage, separation, and divorce and how their interactions with husbands inhibit or bolster their sexual self-confidence and understandings. My findings reveal that relationships and significant others had the greatest impact on women’s sexual subjectivity. Generation influenced whether or not marriage was a turning point in women’s sexuality and divorce sometimes led to increased sexual subjectivity. Furthermore, women who entered relationships with cumulative disadvantages because of previous negative sexual experiences defined relationship transitions as turning points in their sexuality.
Retinal image segmentation based on weighted local detectors and confusion matrix

The paper presents a method for accurate detection and localization of important regions from retinal images like: optic disc, macula, exudates and hemorrhages. To this end, the image is locally decomposed in sub-images (patches) and then it is processed based on the fusion of different information types: first order statistics, textural, fractal and spectral. Two multilayer processing networks are considered: one for the feature selection and class representative establishment, in the learning phase, and another for voting scheme, based on local detectors, in the classification phase. Taking into account the results from associated confusion matrices, in order to increase the classification accuracy, different weights were assigned to local detectors. It was tested 140 images from different public databases (40 for the learning phase and 100 for the classification phase). The experimental results indicate a good accuracy for all analyzed regions of retinal images.
Developing an Environmental Management Information System to Foster Sustainable Decision-Making in the Energy Sector

We develop an environmental management information system (EMIS) that provides economic and environmental data to suppliers and consumers of electrical energy. This information-sharing fosters sustainable decision-making in accordance with individual preferences and results in time-shifting energy consumption, which ultimately improves the alignment of power supply and demand. In turn, this enhances the integration of renewable energy systems, reduces the use of fossil fuels, and increases energy efficiency. We develop the EMIS based on established architectures and embed it into the Energy Informatics Framework, where it is supposed to operate at the interface of energy supply and demand in a smart grid environment. To conceptualize, design, and evaluate the developed system, we rely on the well-acknowledged research methodology of design science. In line with that, we demonstrate the utility of the EMIS and discuss its benefits regarding sustainability aspects by means of a comprehensive scenario analysis. To sum up, the proposed EMIS applies the promising integration of energy and IS research by means of Energy Informatics and responds to the necessity of incorporating environmental sustainability aspects into both corporate and consumer decision-making.
Emotion in Organizations: A Review in Stages

Emotion has become one of the most popular—and popularized—areas within organizational scholarship. This chapter attempts to review and bring together within a single framework the wide and often disjointed literature on emotion in organizations. The integrated framework includes processes detailed by previous theorists who have defined emotion as a sequence that unfolds chronologically. The emotion process begins with a focal individual who is exposed to an eliciting stimulus, registers the stimulus for its meaning, and experiences a feeling state and physiological changes, with downstream consequences for attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions, as well as facial expressions and other emotionally expressive cues. These downstream consequences can result in externally visible behaviors and cues that become, in turn, eliciting stimuli for interaction partners. For each stage of the emotion process there are distinct emotion regulation processes, that incorporate individual differences and group norms and that can become automatic with practice. Although research often examines these stages in relative isolation from each other, I argue that each matters largely due to its interconnectedness with the other stages. Incorporating intra-individual, individual, interpersonal, and organizational levels of analysis, this framework can be a starting point to situate, theorize and test explicit mechanisms for the influence of emotion on organizational life.
A study of the topographic and electrical properties of self-assembled islands of alkylsilanes on mica using a combination of non-contact force microscopy techniques

We use a combination of non-contact scanning force microscope operation modes to study the changes in topographic and electrostatic properties of self-assembled monolayer islands of alkylsilanes on mica. The combined technique uses simultaneous electrical and mechanical modulation and feedback modes to produce four images that reveal the topography, phase, surface potential and dielectric constant. The results show significant advantages with this combined method. As an example we show that the interaction of water with self-assembled monolayer islands of alkylsilanes produces changes in the surface potential of the system but not in the topography.