Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estructuras y Procesos para el Gobierno de Tecnologías de la Información

The research supports the generation of government knowledge for the Technological Information (TI), within the organization. For this purpose, a model for IT Governance is proposed, the same one that is formed by three constructs or variables: structures, processes, and maturity of the Government of TI. The present work initiates with the analysis of the literature, section where the variables structures and processes are identified and investigation questions appear. The following hypotheses and research models of investigation are proposed. Enclosed is the general review of structural equation models, which is statistically used for measuring and model testing, the same one that was submitted to test in two universities co-financed of Zone 6 of the Republic of Ecuador: The Catholic University of Cuenca (UCACUE) and the Salesian Polytechnic University (UPS). The results were then exhibited after having applied the instruments to the selected sample size. Simultaneously, the consistency of the model is validated through structural equations, using the software product Smart PLS 3.1. 9. ; in the conclusions of the studies questions and suggestions were raised for future research and elaboration.
MULTIENNIAL REPRODUCTION IN FEMALES OF A VIVIPAROUS, TEMPERATE-ZONE SKINK, TILIQUA NIGROLUTEA

We examined the reproductive frequency in wild-caught and captive females of Tiliqua nigrolutea over five consecutive reproductive seasons. Reproductive frequency (0.38 ± SE 0.035) was clearly different from an annual pattern (1.0) in which all females reproduce every year. Individual females did not reproduce every year, but “skipped” seasons were staggered such that a proportion of the population produced a clutch each season. We attribute skipped reproductive opportunities to a combination of a long gestation, high relative clutch mass (0.43 ± SE 0.034), parturition late in the active season, a cessation of feeding in the latter stages of gestation, and low autumn temperatures that limited post-partum feeding opportunities.
Advanced Bit Stuffing Mechanism for Reducing CAN Message Response Time

As customer requirements for safety and convenience in automobiles increases, so does the quantity of electronics and software installed in them. The amount of signal data from the electronics systems needs to be managed, making the design of communication protocols for in-vehicle networks (IVN) more important (Navet et al., 2005). The IVN protocols can be classified into two paradigms: event-triggered and time-triggered (Obermaisser, 2004). The event-triggered protocols are efficient in terms of network utilization, because the messages transmitted within event-triggered protocols are only transmitted when specific events occur. This differs from time-triggered communication in that the response time of message transmission is not predictable (Fabian & Wolfgang, 2006).
Imaging Molecular Signatures of Breast Cancer with X-ray-Activated Nanophosphors PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:

X-ray Luminescence Tomography (XLT) has recently been proposed as a new imaging modality for biological imaging applications. This modality utilizes phosphor nanoparticles which luminesce near-infrared light when excited by X-ray photons. The advantages of this modality are that it uniquely combines high sensitivity of radioluminescent nanoparticles and high spatial localization of collimated X-ray beams. Currently, XLT has been demonstrated using X-ray spatial encoding to resolve the imaging volume. However, there are applications where the X-ray excitation may be limited by geometry, where increased temporal resolution is desired, or where a lower dose is mandatory. This paper extends the utility of XLT to meet these requirements by incorporating a photon propagation model into the reconstruction algorithm to recover dimensions remaining in an X-ray limited angle (LA) geometry. This enables such applications as image-guided surgery, where the ability to resolve lesions at depths of several centimeters can be the key to successful resection. The hybrid X-ray / diffuse optical model is first formulated and then demonstrated in a breast-sized phantom, simulating a breast lumpectomy geometry. Both numerical and experimental phantoms are tested, with lesion-simulating objects of various sizes and depths. Results show localization accuracy with median error of 2.2mm, or 4% of object depth, for small 214mm-diameter lesions positioned from 1cm to 4.5cm in depth. This compares favorably with fluorescence optical imaging, which is not able to resolve such small objects at this depth. The recovered lesion size has lower size-bias in the X-ray excitation direction than the optical direction, which is expected due to the increased optical scatter. However, the technique is shown to be quite invariant in recovered size with respect to depth, as the standard deviation is less than 2.5mm. Sensitivity is a function of dose; radiological doses are found to provide sufficient recovery for μg/ml concentrations, while therapy dosages provide recovery for ng/ml concentrations. Experimental phantom results agree closely with the numerical results, with positional errors recovered within 8.6% of the effective depth for a 5mm object, and within 5.2% of the depth for a 10mm object. Object size median error is within 2.3% and 2% for the 5mm and 10mm objects, respectively. For shallow-to-medium depth applications where optical and radioemission imaging modalities are not ideal, such as in intra-operative procedures, LAXLT may be a useful tool to detect molecular signatures of disease.
Financial Development and Conflict Mitigation: Can Finance Combat Conflict?

A typical conflict is a complex phenomenon. It can have multiple roots; social (ethnic and religious differences), political (civil wars), economic (control of natural resources). In this paper, we investigate whether a specific economic intervention can mitigate conflicts, regardless of their origins and complexity. The intervention that we consider is financial development, measured either as an increase in bank credit supply or an increase in the number of bank accounts, in a conflict-affected area. Using a model as well as extensive empirical tests with district-level data from India over a long sample period (1983-2010), we find consistent and strong evidence that supports our model’s prediction that financial development mitigates conflicts. Multiple identification checks establish causality of our findings. Further tests indicate that employment growth due to financial development serves as a beneficial channel from financial development to conflicts. Our findings offer important policy implications for conflict mitigation.
Triangulation codes: a family of non-linear codes with graceful degradation

—This paper introduces the notion of triangulation codes, a family of non-linear codes that 1) admit efﬁcient encoding/decoding 2) their bit error rate deteriorates gracefully as the quality of the erasure channel degrades. Some coding theoretic properties of these codes are established. In the case of transmitting data over the erasure channel, it is shown that, even with sub-optimal decoding, they can achieve lower bit error rate than uncoded transmission for any number of received output symbols.
Route TESI: Main Street for MSC?

Imagine driving to Santa Monica, CA, from Chicago, IL. How can one determine the most efficient route to get to the destination? Is it the shortest distance? The most highways? The least construction routes? The most scenic routes? All the parameters need to be taken into account when evaluating the trajectory toward the destination. Article, see p 1139 In this issue of Circulation Research , Kanelidis et al1 investigated the impact of cell delivery route for mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) to reach their destination, that is, the heart. Using a meta-analysis approach, they first confirmed that MSC therapy is indeed effective in improving left ventricular ejection fraction and reducing infarct size after myocardial infarction (MI) in rodents, swine, and human studies. Next, to determine which route is the most efficient (in this case, for achieving therapeutic effect), Kanelidis et al1 conducted a meta-analysis focusing on the impact of the delivery route on the therapeutic outcomes in swine and human studies. They found that transendocardial stem cell injection (TESI) was the most efficient in improving left ventricular ejection fraction and reducing the infarct size after acute MI in pigs and humans and chronic MI in pigs. The study has several important implications. First, it provides strong evidence that cardiac MSC therapy can improve cardiac function and can also reduce the infarct size after an MI throughout the various species examined, including humans. Meanwhile, it is very interesting to find that the more advanced the species …
Some singular equations modeling MEMS

In the past fifteen years mathematical models for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have been the subject of several studies, in particular due to the interesting qualitative properties they feature. Still most research is devoted to an illustrative, but simplified model which is deduced from a more complex model when the aspect ratio of the device vanishes, the so-called vanishing (or small) aspect ratio model. The analysis of the aforementioned complex model involving a moving boundary has started only recently and an outlook of the results obtained so far in this direction is provided in this survey.
A possible explanation for the DS86 discrepancy between the data and calculation in Hiroshima

There is a systematic discrepancy between the measured radionuclide activation yields in materials exposed to neutrons from the Hiroshima atomic bomb (A-bomb) and the calculated activation based on the Dosimetry System 1986 (DS86). The data at lkm are 2-10-times greater than the calculation and this implies that the actual level of exposure from the A-bomb must be higher than previously thought. In this paper, these activity data, including 152Eu, 60Co, 36C1 and 32P, were analyzed using a computer code (the Monte Carlo neutron and photon (MCNP) transport code system) to investigate the cause of the discrepancy. We present a possible mechanism of the neutron emission in Hiroshima which can reproduce the activity yields of 152Eu, 60Co, 36C1 and 32P assuming a small amount of leakage in the lateral direction (leakage except that in the direction to the hypocenter area). The DS86 calculation did not take such leakage into account. In addition to this leakage, we assume increase of the burst height about 90 m to adjust the activity yields at relatively short ground distances. Taking these two assumptions into account and using a simple bomb model and leakage, it is shown that our calculation reproduces reasonably both the slopes and the absolute yield data of 152Eu, 32P, 60Co and 36C1 within about 1 km ground range. Over the ground range of about 1 km, it seems that further consideration is necessary concerning not only the calculation but also the data themselves to explain the DS86 discrepancy.
Modelos de gestión y seguridad en aulas informáticas

Gestionar laboratorios informáticos supone, por una parte, conocer muchos de los aspectos técnicos de la Tecnologías de la información y Comunicaciones (TIC) así como del software que se utiliza en las prácticas docentes que se imparten en dichas aulas. Los laboratorios son recursos finitos tanto en capacidad como en horario por lo que la función del técnico consiste básicamente en establecer y hacer cumplir las normas que regulan su uso. Esta función técnica, e incluso normativa, del trabajo de los responsables de las aulas es la que se pretende apoyar y facilitar con modelos de gestión y seguridad para aulas informáticas como el propuesto en este capítulo.
Work Process of Bring Your Own Device to Support Green Computing

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a new approach to optimize the use of Information Technology (IT) devices to carry out their work task. The study of BYOD is focused on work activities that perform by IT worker using IT device in public sector. Work activities can provide important insights into IT device portfolio development, end-user segmentation process and the role of IT workers in public sector. The propose of this study is to explore work process of bringing your own devices to support green computing. A conceptual framework of BYOD work process in public sector through integration of IT devices and end-user segmentation to support green computing was developed based on systematic literature review to highlight the implementation of BYOD. This framework considers that work activities based on IT worker, IT device portfolio and end-user segmentation are the main key for public sector to support green computing. This framework is an initial research for researchers and practitioners to further examine BYOD practices in public sector. In addition, to highlight an important gap, this paper explains how different work activities using different IT device influence the IT worker to select the suitable IT device for BYOD that support green computing.
Antimicrobial Properties of Selected Secondary Plant Metabolites and their Application in Medicine / Własności Antymikrobiologiczne Wybranych Wtórnych Metabolitów Roślinnych I Ich Zastosowanie W Medycynie

One of the oldest achievements of human thought is the use of plants and plant extracts in therapeutics. Drugs of plant origin are characterized by multi-effects. In recent years, much interest in medicinal plants containing a mixture of biologically active substances with antimicrobial properties has increased. In medicine, Extracted from plants and their secondary metabolites and plant extracts have been used for many years used, but now by the development of organic chemistry, pharmacology and medicine, we can determine which biologically active substances produced by these plants are useful. Antimicrobial activity described selected groups of plant secondary metabolites, which potentially would allow their use as antimicrobial substances in medicine. These substances can be complementary to the basic medical treatment because their main advantage is the lower incidence of side effects. This paper presents an overview of research on the antimicrobial properties of alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, essential oils, phytosterols, and phenolic acids. Natural substances that inhibit the growth of microorganisms are becoming an alternative to synthetic compounds, as confirmed by this literature review.
Mechanics of Advanced Composite Structures

Pa per hist ory: Received: 2016-04-24 Revised: 2016-08-05 Accepted: 2016-08-23 Understanding the mechanism underlying the behavior of polymer-based nanocomposites requires investigation at the molecular level. In the current study, an atomistic simulation based on molecular dynamics was performed to characterize the mechanical properties of polycarbonate (PC) nanocomposites reinforced with single-walled armchair carbon nanotubes (SWCNT). The stiffness matrix and elastic properties such as Young’s modulus, shear and bulk moduli, and Poisson’s ratio for the pure PC and PC/CNT nanocomposites were estimated using the constant-strain method. In this research, this method was used for the first time to investigate the effects of different parameters, such as the effects of weight fraction and aspect ratio of CNTs on the elastic properties of PC/SWCNT nanocomposites. From the computational results, the elastic moduli of PC/CNT nanocomposites increased with increasing the amount of incorporated CNTs, while their aspect ratio (l/d) also increased. A significant increase in the elastic modulus (41.2%) was observed, even with the addition of a small quantity (2.4 wt%) of SWCNTs. Upon addition of about 6.9 wt% of SWCNTs, the elastic modulus increased by almost 52%. Keyw ord s: Carbon nanotubes Polymer nanocomposites Mechanical properties Molecular dynamics © 2016 Published by Semnan University Press. All rights reserved.
Effect of Red Grape Juice on Renal Glomeruli in Hypercholestremic Rats

Hypercholesterolemia accompanies renal disorders and is contributed to the progression of renal diseases. The aim of the present study is to investigate the possible ameliorating effects of red grape juice on renal glomeruli of adult rat fed high cholesterol diet. Sixty male albino rats were divided into three groups (n=20 each). Group I served as control (n=20) and received vehicle (saline) alone, Group II served as the high cholesterol diet (HCD) group fed with a high-cholesterol diet for 8 weeks, and Group III rats were fed HCD along with red grape juice (RGJ) for 8 weeks. Kidney was dissected out, weighted and processed for paraffin blocks. General histological and special stains were performed. Glomerular cross-sectional surface area, the capillary diameter within the glomeruli, the mean glomerular tuft area and Bowman’s capsule area of each kidney were measured. Immunohistochemistry assessments for ASMA, desmin, PCNA, eNos and CD68 ; their mean intensity and area percentage of positive glomeruli were measured. HCD resulted in elevated blood glucose, insulin and all serum lipids. It induced mesangial expansion, congestion of glomerular capillaries, thickening of Bowman's capsule and foamy cells in the glomerular tuft and renal fibrosis. HCD induced mesangial-cell activation, podocyte injury, which was associated with eNOs deficiency and increased number of CD68 positive cells in glomeruli and interstitium. RGJ effectively restored most of HCD-induced deleterious effects, suggesting that adding it to diet can play a protective role against renal cortical damage and disturbed serum lipids associated with dietary hypercholesterolemia. [Ghada A. Abdel-Hamid. Effect of Red Grape Juice on Renal Glomeruli in Hypercholestremic Rats. Life Sci J 2014;11(6):234-245]. (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 32
Control Loop Performance Monitoring using the Permutation Entropy of Error Residuals

Abstract Abstract The predictability of a control-loop behavior beyond its control horizon is an unambiguous indication of loop malfunctioning. Based on the dynamic complexity of the error residual time series the permutation entropy is proposed to define a sensitive index for performance monitoring using data from close-loop operation. A generic framework to understand and quantify the distinctive increase in predictability of the controller error resulting from ill-tuning, sensor errors and actuator faults using a entropy-like index is presented. The dynamic complexity of a well-performing control loop should correspond to the maximum entropy. As loop performance degrades the entropy of its residual time series decreases and any loss of dynamic complexity in the control system gives rise to an increase of the predictability of the control error time series. Results obtained using the proposed performance index along with its confidence interval for industrial data sets are presented to discuss the influence of the sample size, control horizon, and variance estimation in the assessment of close-loop performance.
Estimating and Investigating Organic Premiums for Retail‐Level Food Products

ABSTRACT Using 7 years of household‐level scanner data, we use a hedonic pricing model to estimate the organic price premium for four retail‐level food products. In each case, we find strong organic premiums of about 30% for bagged carrots, over 40% for canned soup, over 50% for coffee, and over 70% for milk. Using the estimated results from the hedonic price model, we pool the results across products, markets, and years, and then estimate a novel second‐stage model where we uncover retail‐level market factors associated with higher or lower premiums. For example, we find that category‐level organic sales are associated with higher organic price premiums, whereas category‐level nonorganic sales are associated with lower premiums. Taken collectively, our results suggest that organic price premiums are not threatened in the near term, but that several competing factors help moderate the size of the premiums.
Biomimetic Approaches for Tissue Healing Chapter : Drug Delivery Strategies for Bone Tissue Regeneration

All book chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. However, users who aim to disseminate and distribute copies of this book as a whole must not seek monetary compensation for such service (excluded OMICS Group representatives and agreed collaborations). After this work has been published by OMICS Group, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source.
Top terms of polynomial traces in Kra's plumbing construction.

Let Sigma be a surface of negative Euler characteristic together with a pants decomposition P. Kra's plumbing construction endows Sigma with a projective structure as follows. Replace each pair of pants by a triply punctured sphere and glue, or "plumb", adjacent pants by gluing punctured disk neighbourhoods of the punctures. The gluing across the i -th pants curve is defined by a complex parameter tau(i) is an element of C. The associated holonomy representation rho: pi(1) (Sigma) -> PSL(2, C) gives a projective structure on Sigma which depends holomorphically on the tau(i). In particular, the traces of all elements rho(gamma), gamma is an element of pi(1)(Sigma) are polynomials in the tau(i). Generalising results proved by Keen and the second author [4; 13] for the once and twice punctured torus respectively, we prove a formula giving a simple linear relationship between the coefficients of the top terms of rho(gamma), as polynomials in the tau(i), and the Dehn-Thurston coordinates of gamma relative to P. This will be applied in a later paper [7] by the first author to give a formula for the asymptotic directions of pleating rays in the Maskit embedding of Sigma as the bending measure tends to zero.