Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of information sharing, collective efficacy and team conflict on system development team performance

Understanding the factors that determine information systems development (ISD) outcomes is an important step towards successfully deploying those systems. The ISD process is an information intensive and collaborative endeavour typically performed in teams. As a result, the process involves the sharing of information among multiple individuals. Previous research has demonstrated that information sharing has a direct positive effect on team performance. However, little is known about key mechanisms that underlie this relationship. The goal of this research is to understand direct and indirect effects of information sharing in the ISD context. Specifically, collective efficacy and conflict are theorised as intervening mechanisms in the information sharing and team performance relationship. Data were collected from experienced software development professionals. Information sharing was found to influence ISD team performance directly and indirectly via team conflict and collective efficacy. The results of the study provide important insight into effectively managing software development activities.
The Trust Model of Multiple Factors for Peer-to-Peer Networks

—With internet boom, since more and more people share resource with each other through internet platform, peer-to-peer has become very popular in recent years. In the P2P environment, all nodes share resource with identities as anonymous users, and don't need to account file content they upload, as a result, some node does some malicious work through this leak, and reduce the service quality of internet, which makes security issue on internet very important. In this paper, we design " The Trust Model of Multiple Factors " to calculates the trust value of nodes with multiple factors, and node will choose its own provider through this. Many malicious behaviors may be avoided by this model, and we expected this model to increasedownload success rate and moreover, it may decrease the number of malicious behaviors on internet.
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis with HLA matching – a way to save a child

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis can be used to establish a pregnancy with an embryo that is human leukocyte antigen (HLA)‐matched to a sibling having a hematological or immunological disease and needing a life‐saving bone marrow transplantation. The ethical aspects of this procedure have been discussed intensively. The procedure applies where no unrelated HLA‐matching donor is available or when transplantation from an HLA‐matching sibling is considered a better solution. It is only offered in a limited number of centers in Europe as this is a challenging procedure. Where both HLA matching and diagnosis of a dominant disease are necessary, only a small proportion of the embryos can be used, and the procedure is not always technically feasible. The clinical pregnancy rate per cycle started is much lower than following normal in vitro fertilization (IVF) due to a high cycle cancellation rate, but the success rate is only somewhat lower when measured per transfer.
Generalized $\pi$  Fortescue Equivalent Admittance Matrix Approach to Power Flow Solution

This paper develops a generalized admittance matrix approach in Fortescue coordinate system to solve unbalanced/unsymmetrical distribution networks including different number of phases. This generalized Fortescue π equivalent is defined in this paper for solving the heterogeneous phase, and thus Fortescue, network model. The performance of the approach is demonstrated in different model networks with number of nodes ranging between 168 and 14200. It is found that the current iteration method exploiting the decoupling in admittance matrix in Fortescue coordinate is substantially faster than the typical unbalanced three-phase solution in phase domain. The method has a significant potential for application in real time active power network management.
Layout Uniformity: A metric for yield enhancement

The purpose of this paper is to study the relation between the layout features and the DFM flow effectiveness. First, a brief overview of the Design for Manufacturing (DfM) techniques used in yield aware RTL-to-GDSII design flow is given. This overview points out the possible relationship between the layout feature, i.e. density and uniformity and the DFM effectiveness. In order to validate layout uniformity as a first order metric to quantify layout sensitivity to DfM improvement, experiment is performed on industrial test case. The results of this experiment validate clearly that layout uniformity improvement correlates with CA and Lithography improvements.
Bond insurance: A financing tool for IOUs

Since 1988, the par value of insured, investor-owned utility bonds has surged by $2 billion - no small sum, considering that the total value of insurance provided to this sector during the previous ten years approximated only $500 million. The increased use of bond insurance, however, over the last few years is no aberration. In the current financing environment, triple-A enhanced investor-owned utility (IOU) bonds are yielding some of the lowest interest rates in over a decade. Accordingly, IOUs are using this innovative form of credit enhancement more and more as they strive to keep their embedded cost of capital as low as possible.
Promoting Equity in Education Through ICT:A Double Edged Sword?

Promoting equality in education through ICT has been a vital policy in China. Although there are different opinions,this article argues that ICT has great potential for promoting equal opportunity to access to schools,access to qualified schools,and involve into educational process. However,it may be the time for policy- makers to avoid the path dependent on‘physical access', pay more attention on the emerging ‘new digital divide',and especially focus on the alternative policy path of‘access through skills' and‘access through usage'. Some suggestions about how to deal with‘new digital divide'have been put forward finally.
Interactive Continuous Collision Detection Using Swept Volume for Avatars

We present an interactive algorithm for continuous collision detection between a moving avatar and its surrounding virtual environment. Our algorithm is able to compute the first time of contact between the avatar and the environment interactively, and also guarantees within a user-provided error threshold that no collision ever happens before the first contact occurs. We model the avatar as an articulated body using line skeletons with constant offsets and the virtual environment as a collection of polygonized objects. Given the position and orientation of the avatar at discrete time steps, we use an arbitrary in-between motion to interpolate the path for each link between discrete instances. We bound the swept space of each link using interval arithmetic and dynamically compute a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) to cull links that are not in close proximity to the objects in the virtual environment. The swept volumes (SVs) of the remaining links are used to check for possible interference and estimate the time of collision between the surface of the SV and the rest of the objects. Furthermore, we use graphics hardware to accelerate collision queries on the dynamically generated swept surfaces. Our approach requires no precomputation and is applicable to general articulated bodies that do not contain a loop. We have implemented the algorithm on a 2.8 GHz Pentium IV PC with an NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra graphics card and applied it to an avatar with 16 links, moving in a virtual environment composed of hundreds of thousands of polygons. Our prototype system is able to detect all contacts between the moving avatar and the environment in 1030 ms.
Indirect emotion regulation in intractable conflicts: A new approach to conflict resolution

Intractable conflicts pose a great challenge to both humanity and science. The crucial role played by intergroup emotions in conflict dynamics has long been asserted in the field of conflict resolution. Therefore, regulating emotions in order to change attitudes and behaviour towards promoting peace is vital. One way to transform emotions is to use established emotion regulation strategies to change intergroup emotional experiences, and subsequently political positions. However, the use of direct emotion regulation may pose challenges in its application outside the laboratory, and especially among those who lack the motivation to regulate their emotions. Thus we describe recent research in which Indirect Emotion Regulation is used to overcome those very limitations. Here concrete cognitive appraisals are indirectly altered, leading to attitude change by transforming discrete emotions. Discoveries have both theoretical and practical implications regarding emotion regulation in intractable conflicts, thus promoting attitudes so critical for peace making.
EVIDENCIAÇÃO DE INFORMAÇÕES SOCIOAMBIENTAIS E ISOMORFISMO: UM ESTUDO COM MINERADORAS BRASILEIRAS 1 DISCLOSURE OF SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION AND ISOMORPHISM: A STUDY OF BRAZILIAN MINING COMPANIES DIVULGACIÓN DE INFORMACIÓN SOCIOAMBIENTAL E ISOMORFISMO: UN ESTUDIO CON EMPRESAS MINERAS BRASILEÑAS

This study investigated the possible presence of an isomorphic process among the annual and sustainability reports of the companies that exploit the mining activity, verifying to which extent the volume of information disclosure of this nature are similar. To this end, four groups of indicators were established in line with the procedures established by the Brazilian Accounting Standard T-15 and other recommendations of the Institutes Ethos and Ibase, besides the guidelines established by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for the elaborations of the annual and sustainability reports. 45 annual and sustainability reports from 2005 to 2009 were analyzed. The statistical technique used to support the processing of data was the analysis of variance, seeking to compare the averages for each item that formed the groups of indicators. Results showed an increase in the volume of socio-environmental information during the period studied, which reinforces the assumption of the Theory of Legitimacy. Also, provides evidence that shows the presence of isomorphism regarding internal and external social indicators in the annual and sustainability reports. It was not possible to verify an isomorphic process between the environmental indicators and compliance to GRI guidelines in these reports. These results indicate the need for further discussion on the regulation of socio-environmental information disclosure seeking a standardization that enables safer analysis to the decision-making process of investors and
Fast and robust watermarking of JPEG files

In this paper, we present a fast watermarking method that applies to JPEG images. JPEG is a standard image format supported by virtually all available image software applications. Our method manipulates the quantized DCT coefficients directly and can be implemented in real time. We use texture masking to embed a stronger watermark signal in certain texture areas. Watermark robustness to JPEG compression, additive Gaussian noise and image cropping attacks is studied with the proposed system. The relationship between watermark robustness and watermark position is also studied. A description of the method is included and results are presented along with a discussion of possible improvements.
Application of Fractional Calculus in the Dynamical Analysis and Control of Mechanical Manipulators

Fractional Calculus (FC) goes back to the beginning of the theory of differential calculus. Nevertheless, the application of FC just emerged in the last two decades. In the field of dynamical systems theory some work has been carried out but the proposed models and algorithms are still in a preliminary stage of establishment. This article illustrates several applications of fractional calculus in robot manipulator path planning and control.
Functional versatility supports coral reef biodiversity

We explore the role of specialization in supporting species coexistence in high-diversity ecosystems. Using a novel ordination-based method to quantify specialist and generalist feeding structures and diets we examined the relationship between morphology and diet in 120 wrasses and parrotfishes from the Great Barrier Reef. We find that wrasses, despite their morphological diversity, exhibit weak links between morphology and diet and that specialist morphologies do not necessarily equate to specialized diets. The dominant pattern shows extensive overlap in morphology (functional morphospace occupation) among trophic groups; fish with a given morphology may have a number of feeding modes. Such trophic versatility may lay the foundation for both the origins and maintenance of high biodiversity on coral reefs.
The Role of Influential Perceptual Dimensions on the Client's Use of Internet Banking Services: A Case Study in Pasargad Bank

The aim of the present research is to study the role of the influential perceptual dimensions on the client's use of internet banking services of Pasargad Bank branches of Tehran. For this purpose, 384 of the clients of the branches of this bank in Tehran have been selected by using stratified random sampling method and the research questionnaires were distributed among them. The influential factors on acceptance of these services by the clients were studied in terms of four dimensions of efficiency, individual, social and security and for testing the proportionality of the research questionnaire, the exploratory factor analysis were used. The results indicated that the indices under study relatively represent the dimensions of the study. Hence, during the fitting the structural model, the effect of each of these dimensions were studied on the use of internet banking services, the results of which indicate that the efficiency and security dimensions have a significant effect (p<0.01) on the use of internet banking services while other dimensions such as individual and social dimensions in comparison to the efficiency dimension which were measured in terms of two concepts of usefulness and convenience and security, do not have a significant effect (p<0.01) on the use of internet banking services. Normal 0 false false false RU X-NONE X-NONE
Cardiac ischemic preconditioning prevents dystrophin proteolysis by MMP-2 inhibition

Dystrophin is a membrane-associated protein responsible for structural stability of the sarcolemma in cardiac myocytes and is very sensitive to ischemic damage. The goal of our study was to determine if ischemic preconditioning could prevent dystrophin breakdown through inhibition of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) activity. Isolated rabbit hearts were subjected to global ischemia with or without reperfusion in order to evaluate if dystrophin is preserved by ischemic preconditioning through MMP-2 inhibition. Ischemic preconditioning significantly reduced the infarct size induced by 30 min of ischemia and 180 min of reperfusion. Importantly, it also diminished dystrophin proteolysis and attenuated MMP-2 activity after 30 min ischemia. Thus, our study shows a novel protective role of ischemic preconditioning as a mechanism of preservation of plasma membrane integrity by inhibiting MMP-2 activation.
Retail store layout characteristics as a mechanism for enhancing customer relationships in a retail website environment

As retailers move into the realm of designing website environments, three critical elements of commerce, content and community must be addressed in order to build and facilitate customer relationships. Yet, as often happens with the internet, the enthusiasm generated by future technology overshadows reality. Many retailers have not yet achieved the basics of customer retention, loyalty, and intimacy in the online world as they have in the brick and mortar setting. In this paper, the authors explore the use of established and successful store layout and design characteristics as applied to a retailer's website environment. The utilisation of these characteristics in terms of building stronger customer relationships through the elements of commerce, content, and community in a web page environment is addressed.
Impact of lysozyme and lactoferrin on oral Candida isolates exposed to polyene antimycotics and fluconazole.

OBJECTIVE To assess the antifungal activity of lysozyme and lactoferrin on 10 oral isolates each of Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis following their brief exposure (I h) to subtherapeutic concentrations of two polyene drugs - nystatin, amphotericin B, and an azole -fluconazole. METHODS Yeasts were sequentially exposed to subtherapeutic concentrations of antifungals and then to either lysozyme or lactoferrin and the viability evaluated by quantifying colony-forming units. RESULTS The exposure of both C. albicans and C. tropicalis isolates to all three antifungal agents significantly increased their susceptibility to lysozyme (P < 0.05) but not to lactoferrin. Exposure to the two polyene drugs had a lesser impact on the lysozyme susceptibility of both Candida species compared with the azole drug. Both interspecies and intraspecies sensitivity to lysozyme was noted and C. albicans was less susceptible than C. tropicalis. CONCLUSIONS Lysozyme, in addition to being a potent natural antifungal agent, may act synergistically with the studied antimycotics.
An Empirical Investigation of Auditor Rotation Requirements

We add to the literature on mandatory auditor rotation by examining the Florida government audit environment in which there exist both rotation and non-rotation regimes and in which there exists an independent measure of the joint quality of the audit and of the financial statements of the reporting entity. In this environment we compare rotating entities with entities that have established long-term relationships with their auditors. We find that after controlling for other factors believed to be associated with report quality, governments that rotate receive higher quality reports.
Robust Support Vector Machines for Classification with Nonconvex and Smooth Losses

Abstract This letter addresses the robustness problem when learning a large margin classifier in the presence of label noise. In our study, we achieve this purpose by proposing robustified large margin support vector machines. The robustness of the proposed robust support vector classifiers (RSVC), which is interpreted from a weighted viewpoint in this work, is due to the use of nonconvex classification losses. Besides the robustness, we also show that the proposed RSCV is simultaneously smooth, which again benefits from using smooth classification losses. The idea of proposing RSVC comes from M-estimation in statistics since the proposed robust and smooth classification losses can be taken as one-sided cost functions in robust statistics. Its Fisher consistency property and generalization ability are also investigated. Besides the robustness and smoothness, another nice property of RSVC lies in the fact that its solution can be obtained by solving weighted squared hinge loss–based support vector machine problems iteratively. We further show that in each iteration, it is a quadratic programming problem in its dual space and can be solved by using state-of-the-art methods. We thus propose an iteratively reweighted type algorithm and provide a constructive proof of its convergence to a stationary point. Effectiveness of the proposed classifiers is verified on both artificial and real data sets.
Field Detection of Schistosoma japonicum Cercariae in Environmental Water Samples by Quantitative PCR

ABSTRACT A species-specific quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay was combined with two novel water-sampling methods and compared with the mouse bioassay for the quantitative detection of S. japonicum in surface waters. The novel methods were capable of capturing cercariae and, with subsequent analysis through qPCR, detecting the presence of a minimum of 1 cercaria.
DEALING WITH DANGERS FROM WITHIN

Developments in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and growing dependencies on information systems have made it more difficult to protect and defend confidential and critical data. And, if defending against intruders and their increasingly sophisticated and powerful tools isn’t bad enough, ICT security professionals also have to deal with attacks involving people from within the organisation who already have access to the computer systems. These people take advantage of their knowledge and access privileges to infiltrate networks.
When Are Stockpiled Products Consumed Faster? A Convenience–Salience Framework of Postpurchase Consumption Incidence and Quantity

When people stockpile products, how do they decide when and how much they will consume? To answer this question, the authors develop a framework that shows how the salience and convenience of products influence postpurchase consumption incidence and quantity. Multiple research methods—including scanner data analysis, a field study, and two laboratory studies—show that stockpiling increases product salience and triggers consumption incidence among high-convenience products. However, when the decision is made to consume a product, stockpiling increases the consumption quantity for both high- and low-convenience products. In addition to providing new insights on how consumers make postpurchase consumption decisions, these results have implications for the debate on the value of promotions that induce stockpiling.
Preprocessing of video signals for MPEG coding by clustering filter

We describe an application of the clustering filter to image sequence preprocessing for MPEG encoding. Since noise is unavoidable and compression is lossy, we propose and demonstrate that one can obtain better picture quality if one takes out noise before the video signal is fed into an encoder. This is where our contribution differs from previous work on preprocessing. We test our schemes on digital video in the CCIR 601 format converted from film using a standard telecine process. The results show that the motion estimation is more effective and motion-compensated difference signal is easier to encode, resulting in higher quality at a fixed bit rate or lower bit rate at a fixed quality.
Controlling for logistics complexity : scale development and validation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a basic scale for general logistics complexity that allows researchers to control for this issue in their studies.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology consists of developing the scale based on a literature review and discussion with specialists. The proposed scale is then validated through data analysis from a web‐based survey of logistics managers in Brazil.Findings – The paper provides a valid and reliable scale for general logistics complexity that can be easily incorporated into research surveys. The scale is general enough that it can be used in surveys of firms across diverse industries. In addition, the scale can be further adapted to address more specific logistics complexity issues.Research limitations/implications – Further testing of the scales across multiple contexts is necessary for validity enhancement.Originality/value – Logistics complexity corresponds to a latent construct that has not been systematically developed i.
Asset Building and Low Income Families

Low-income families have scant savings to cushion a job loss or illness, and can find economic mobility impossible without funds to invest in education, homes, or businesses. And though a lack of resources leaves such families vulnerable, income-support programs are often closed to those with a bit of savings or even a car. Considering welfare-to-work reforms, the increasingly advanced skill demands of the American workforce, and our stretched Social Security system, such an approach is inadequate to lift families out of poverty. Asset-based policies? allowing or even helping low-income families build wealth? are an increasingly popular strategy to facilitate financial stability.