Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Real-Time Coordination in Human-Robot Interaction Using Face and Voice

When humans interact and collaborate with each other, they coordinate their turn-taking behaviors using verbal and nonverbal signals, expressed in the face and voice. If robots of the future are supposed to engage in social interaction with humans, it is essential that they can generate and understand these behaviors. In this article, I give an overview of several studies that show how humans in interaction with a humanlike robot make use of the same coordination signals typically found in studies on human-human interaction, and that it is possible to automatically detect and combine these cues to facilitate real-time coordination. The studies also show that humans react naturally to such signals when used by a robot, without being given any special instructions. They follow the gaze of the robot to disambiguate referring expressions, they conform when the robot selects the next speaker using gaze, and they respond naturally to subtle cues, such as gaze aversion, breathing, facial gestures and hesitation sounds.
Weight loss was greater with Weight Watchers than with a behavioral program plus Weight Watchers

Participants: 144 persons 30 to 65 years of age (mean age 50 y, 90% women, mean body mass index [BMI] 36 kg/m2) with a BMI 27 to 50 kg/m2 recruited by newspaper advertisements. Exclusion criteria included current or recent weight loss program or medication, planned bariatric surgery, loss of ≥ 5% body weight in past 6 months, type 2 diabetes with treatment that increased risk for hypoglycemia, or significant psychiatric illness.
The influence of commitment-based HR practices and knowledge-sharing on employees' innovation performance

In this study, we examine firms that have implemented 5 single commitment-based human resources (HR) practices (CBHRPs), including participation, work design, training and development, performance appraisal, and compensation and rewards. This study uses a sample of 402 employees and 116 managers from 116 high-tech firms in Taiwan. The following results were obtained: (a) only participation, work design, training and development, and compensation and rewards positively influence knowledge-sharing (KS) and innovation performance, and (b) only KS positively mediates the relationship between participation, work design, training and development, and innovation performance. However, based on the perspective of strategic human resource management, when firms bundle these 5 CBHRPs together, the following results were obtained: (a) bundled CBHRPs positively influence KS and innovation performance, and (b) KS positively mediates the relationship between bundled CBHRPs and innovation performance.
Polyamine effects on cell function: Possible central role of plasma membrane PI(4,5)P2

The polyamines spermidine, spermine, and putrescine are intimately involved in and required for cell growth and proliferation. There are also multiple effects of polyamines on other cellular processes that seem not to be a result of changes in protein expression. It is a daunting task to classify and understand cellular effects of endogenous polyamines. There has been no central hypothesis how these effects can occur or how spermine and spermidine could be targeted to various signal transduction cascades. However, now there is evidence that multiple effects of endogenous polyamines on different cellular processes may involve plasma membrane PI(4,5)P2 and recent evidence of how polyamines could be targeted to specific cellular functions. J. Cell. Physiol. 221: 544–551, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Complementary theories to supply chain management

Purpose – The paper seeks to discuss and develop SCM as a scientific discipline using different theories from non-logistics areas to explain interorganizational phenomena. It also attempts to establish a frame of reference that allows us to mitigate the gap between the current SCM research and practice and the theoretical explanations of how to structure and manage supply chains. Design/methodology/approach – The paper introduces three different perspectives that together will contribute to a broader understanding of SCM in practice: an economic perspective; a socio-economic perspective; and a strategic perspective. The theoretical framework is applied to two important research topics within SCM: third party logistics (TPL); and new product development (NPD). Findings – There is no such thing as “a unified theory of SCM”. Depending on the concrete situation, one can choose one theory as the dominant explanatory theory, and then complement it with one or several of the other theoretical perspectives. Research limitations/implications – The way the four theories complement one another is explored on a conceptual basis, but further research into this direction may explore more deeply how these alleged complementarities occur in practice, and how managers mould their decisions by these ideas. Practical implications – The four theories can provide normative support to important management decisions in supply chains, such as outsourcing, safeguards against opportunism, and alignment of incentives. Originality/value – The main contribution is that one cannot rely on one theoretical explanation when analyzing phenomena in SCM. It is neccessary to consider several theories and how they may complement one another in order to provide a more comprehensive view of SCM.
Emerging Therapies for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Background: The past decade has seen important advances in the management of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), consisting of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis. The development of TNF antagonists, the recognition of interrupting lymphocyte trafficking as an effective treatment strategy, confirmation of the value of combination therapy, and the need, particularly in CD, for the treatment of high-risk patients early in the disease course are all fundamental concepts upon which the next generation of IBD treatment algorithms will be built. Emerging concepts that will continue to evolve and shape the field include an increased emphasis on personalized medicine (right drug, right dose, right time) and the development of new therapeutic classes. In this article, we review the clinical data and provide some insights into recent data regarding IBD therapies. Key Messages: In this article, we review the mechanism of action and data for novel therapies in IBD with particular focus on the evidence for agents targeting leukocyte trafficking, cytokine signaling, including interleukin-12/23 and the Janus kinase-signal transducers/activators of transcription pathway, and the emergence of antisense therapy for the treatment of IBD. Conclusions: Multiple new therapies are emerging for IBD; however, the potential positioning of these agents in treatment algorithms is difficult to predict in the absence of comparative effectiveness studies.
The Danger of High Home Ownership: Greater Unemployment

z Encouraging home ownership has been a major policy objective for Western governments in recent decades. However, evidence from the United States strongly suggests that high home ownership is a major reason for the high unemployment rates of the industrialized nations in the post-war era. z z Rises in a US state's home-ownership rate are associated with subsequent increases in that state's joblessness. The effects are strikingly large. In the long run, doubling home ownership in a state can lead to more than a doubling of the unemployment rate. z z Three channels - lower mobility, longer home-to-work commute times and lower rates of business formation - can all be expected to contribute to higher unemployment. z z European data provide evidence that is consistent with these findings. z z Governments should encourage more renting, as the Swiss and Germans do, and they should not give financial incentives for ownership. z z Given that for decades Western governments have intervened in housing markets to encourage home ownership, and now grapple with stubbornly high unemployment, these findings should arouse serious concern.
Supply chain integration : a European survey

Purpose – The major goal of this study was to identify the underlying factors of supply chain integration in European firms with particular emphasis on the role of information sharing and interorganizational collaboration.Design/methodology/approach – In order to get an overall view of the state of supply chain integration in European firms, a mail survey was done to investigate the extent and nature of supply chain integration in 149 companies. Using statistical analysis, the study attempts to comprehend if increasing levels of the intensity of supply chain integration show concomitant rise of operational performance.Findings – European firms are starting to be aware of the strategic importance of integration across the boundaries of the supply chain. Both correlation analyses and multiple regression analyses have clearly shown that supply chain integration affects operational performance and the degree of integration also influences cost and efficiency. An interesting and surprising finding from our sur.
Automation in Collaborative Control over Sharing of Electric Power between Nations Using Genetic Algorithm Based Expert System

The generation of power is not uniformly distributed allover the globe. The electric power is required to be shared between Nations with and without natural resources to generate power. This however needs collaborative control. It is necessary that the power demand of the sharing Nations should not cause generators to produce power beyond their capacity and also to maintain supply of power within capacity. The paper therefore presents an expert system which fulfills the objective and provides collaborative control over sharing of power, leading to economic and industrial growth of both the countries. Control of power flow through Tie-line has been exercised to meet the objective. The expert system serves to provide rule based control of sharing of powers. It follows an algorithm based control. The control is exercised through regular monitoring of power being supplied from power producing state to non power producing state. It is also being decided by the operational cost of the power generation on the other hand. Efforts have been made to keep this cost minimum using Genetic Algorithm which serves to yield the optimal cost of operation. The proposed model has been tested for real time conditions and is found to have given satisfactory practical results. of uniform distribution of water as natural resource either along the rivers or along the coastal areas, the generation of power cannot be possible in resource less areas of globe. Thus the power generation has to be taken up at areas with plenty of resources, and has to be given to areas, with scantly distributed or no resource point of the globe. The aim of the present paper is to enable sharing of power between Nations with and without natural resources and to obtain collaborative control by way of interchange of power using expert system to monitor the flow of power. An expert system has been developed to monitor the flow of power, such that the generation does not exceed its capacity and the power is utilized by non-power producing Nations. The collaboration between Nations for sharing of electric power would mark agricultural growth, industrial growth & commercial growth with uplift in the economy of non-power producing countries besides the revenue generation of countries which produce the power. The expert system has been developed on the basis of rules intended to maintain flow of power within given limits, frequency to be constant and operation of generators to be most economical. Further the economic operation of generators has been ensured through Genetic Algorithm.
Structural properties of oxygen-deficient YBa2Cu3O7- delta.

The structural properties of oxygen-deficient YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7{minus}{delta}} have been determined by neutron powder diffraction for 0.07{lt}{delta}{lt}0.91. The samples were produced by quenching into liquid nitrogen from controlled oxygen partial pressures at 520 {degree}C, and they exhibit a clearly defined plateau'' behavior of {ital T}{sub {ital c}} versus {delta}. Superconductivity disappears at the orthorhombic-to-tetragonal transition that occurs near {delta}=0.65. Structural parameters, including the copper-oxygen bond lengths, vary smoothly with {delta} within each phase but exhibit different behavior in the superconducting and nonsuperconducting phases. These observations are consistent with a model in which superconducting behavior is controlled by charge transfer between the conducting two-dimensional CuO{sub 2} planes and the CuO{sub {ital x}} chains, which act as reservoirs of charge.
Glatiramer Acetate (Copolymer-1, Copaxone) Promotes Th2 Cell Development and Increased IL-10 Production Through Modulation of Dendritic Cells1

Glatiramer acetate (GA; copolymer-1, Copaxone) suppresses the induction of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and reduces the relapse frequency in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Although it has become clear that GA induces protective degenerate Th2/IL-10 responses, its precise mode of action remains elusive. Because the cytokine profile of Th cells is often regulated by dendritic cells (DC), we studied the modulatory effects of GA on the T cell regulatory function of human DC. This study shows the novel selective inhibitory effect of GA on the production of DC-derived inflammatory mediators without affecting DC maturation or DC immunostimulatory potential. DC exposed to GA have an impaired capacity to secrete the major Th1 polarizing factor IL-12p70 in response to LPS and CD40 ligand triggering. DC exposed to GA induce effector IL-4-secreting Th2 cells and enhanced levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. The anti-inflammatory effect of GA is mediated via DC as GA does not affect the polarization patterns of naive Th cells activated in an APC-free system. Together, these results reveal that APC are essential for the GA-mediated shift in the Th cell profiles and indicate that DC are a prime target for the immunomodulatory effects of GA.
Efficient analysis of imperfect coverage systems with functional dependence

Traditional approaches to handling functional dependence in systems with imperfect fault coverage are based on Markov models, which are inefficient due to the well-known state space explosion problem. Also, the Markov-based methods typically assume exponential time-to-failure distributions for the system components. In this paper we propose a new combinatorial approach to handling functional dependence in the reliability analysis of imperfect coverage systems. Based on the total probability theorem and the divide-and-conquer strategy, the approach separates the effects of functional dependence and imperfect fault coverage from the combinatorics of the system solution. The proposed approach is efficient, accurate, and has no limitation on the type of time-to-failure distributions for the system components. The application and advantages of the proposed approach are illustrated through analyses of two examples.
Output Sector Munificence Effects on the Internal Political Economy of Marketing Channels

Like any system, a marketing channel will thrive only to the extent it can secure critical resources from the environment. Using a resource dependence perspective, the authors hypothesize that a weaker member's access to relatively munificent output markets can mitigate a power advantage held by the channel partner that otherwise is used to bureaucratize the channel and endanger the quality of the channel relationship. The authors use a structural equation model to analyze data from dealer informants in the auto industry. The results suggest munificence affects the internal workings of the channel.
The Relationship between Financial Leverages and Total Efficiency of the Production Factors among Companies Recognized in Tehran Stock Exchange

The purpose of the present study is to assess the relationship between the financial leverages with the total efficiency of the production factors among the recognized companies in Tehran Stock Exchange between 2007 to 2012, in which the efficiency of workforce and one of the capital were also assessed as the parameters of efficiency. In addition, the role of financial leverages including the ratio of long-term debt to the total asset and the total debts to the total capital, along with the effect of the companies' sales volume on their efficiencies as the control variables were assessed . To have more efficiency, the companies might change their financial leverages and in the study, the relation of each of the independent variables (here the financial leverages ) on the efficiency of the companies were evaluated. The results indicated that there is a meaningful relation between the financial leverages and the efficiency of the companies . Normal 0 false false false RU X-NONE X-NONE
Degranulation of human basophil leukocytes by anti-gamma E antibody.

Leukocytes from normal individuals were incubated with 125I-labeled anti-γE for histamine release and the cells remaining after the reaction were examined by auto-radiography. The results showed that anti-γE degranulated basophil leukocytes. No serum component was essential for the degranulation of basophils. It was also found that ethylenediamine tetraacetate (EDTA), cyclic-AMP, theophylline and diethylcarbamazine, which suppressed anti-γE-induced histamine release from leukocytes, inhibited degranulation of basophils as well. The results indicated that the reaction between anti-γE and basophil-bound γE is responsible for both histamine release from the cells and their degranulation, and that mechanisms of these two reactions share common enzymatic pathways.
Validation of an Immunodiagnostic Assay for Detection of 13 Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotype-Specific Polysaccharides in Human Urine

ABSTRACT To improve the clinical diagnosis of pneumococcal infection in bacteremic and nonbacteremic community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), a Luminex technology-based multiplex urinary antigen detection (UAD) diagnostic assay was developed and validated. The UAD assay can simultaneously detect 13 different serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae by capturing serotype-specific S. pneumoniae polysaccharides (PnPSs) secreted in human urine. Assay specificity is achieved by capturing the polysaccharides with serotype-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) on spectrally unique microspheres. Positivity for each serotype was based on positivity cutoff values calculated from a standard curve run on each assay plate together with positive- and negative-control urine samples. The assay is highly specific, since significant signals are detected only when each PnPS was paired with its homologous MAb-coated microspheres. Validation experiments demonstrated excellent accuracy and precision. The UAD assay and corresponding positivity cutoff values were clinically validated by assessing 776 urine specimens obtained from patients with X-ray-confirmed CAP. The UAD assay demonstrated 97% sensitivity and 100% specificity using samples obtained from patients with bacteremic, blood culture-positive CAP. Importantly, the UAD assay identified Streptococcus pneumoniae (13 serotypes) in a proportion of individuals with nonbacteremic CAP, a patient population for which the pneumococcal etiology of CAP was previously difficult to assess. Therefore, the UAD assay provides a specific, noninvasive, sensitive, and reproducible tool to support vaccine efficacy as well as epidemiological evaluation of pneumococcal disease, including CAP, in adults.
Solvent extraction as an adjunct to rendering: the effect on BSE and scrapie agents of hot solvents followed by dry heat and steam

The study was designed to determine the effect on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and scrapie agents of the solvent extraction processes used in the past by British renderers. The raw material was mouse spleen infected with either the 22A strain of scrapie agent or the 301V strain of BSE agent. Samples were exposed to hexane, heptane, petroleum spirit or perchlorethylene at the relevant temperatures for the appropriate times. Control samples were exposed to the same range of temperatures for the same range of times in saline. Other samples were exposed to the hot solvents, followed by treatment with dry heat at 100°C for 30 minutes and steam at 100°C for 30 minutes. Further samples were exposed only to the dry heat and steam cycles. No single complete process was significantly more effective than any of the others, and they all produced only slight inactivation, less than one log on average for both strains of agent. The average degree of inactivation produced by exposure to hot saline was generally comparable to that produced by exposure to the hot solvents. This was also true for the samples exposed only to dry heat and steam compared with those exposed to hot solvent before treatment with dry heat and steam, and suggests that the slight inactivation was caused by the heat rather than by the solvents. It is concluded that the solvent extraction processes used by renderers in Britain had little capacity to inactivate BSE and scrapie agents.
5-level parallel current source inverter for high power application with DC current balance control

Unbalanced DC currents in parallel current source inverters cause unequal power division in the inverters, higher harmonic content at the AC load side and generally, system performance decline. In this paper, a novel Space Vector Modulation is introduced for a 5-level parallel current source inverter with DC current balance control. The method is working by synthesizing the rotating current reference vector in the inverter's space vector plane with three adjacent switching vectors. One Medium vector is employed as one of adjacent vectors to balance the input DC currents. The switching state for each switching vector is chosen to provide the balanced DC link currents. In addition, lower switching frequency is achievable due to switching design which minimizes the switching loss. Finally, effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by simulation.
A Simple Power Management Scheme with Enhanced Stability for a Solar PV/Wind/Fuel Cell/Grid Fed Hybrid Power Supply Designed for Industrial Loads

This paper proposes a new power conditioner topology with an intelligent power management controller that integrates multiple renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy, and fuel cell energy with battery and AC grid supply as backup to make the best use of their operating characteristics with better reliability than that could be obtained by single renewable energy source based power supply. The proposed embedded controller is programmed to perform MPPT for solar PV panel and WTG, SOC estimation and battery, maintaining a constant voltage at PCC and power flow control by regulating the reference currents of the controller in an instantaneous basis. The instantaneous variation in reference currents of the controller enhances the controller response as it accommodates the effect of continuously varying solar insolation and wind speed in the power management. It also prioritizes the sources for consumption to achieve maximum usage of green energy than grid energy. The simulation results of the proposed power management system with real-time solar radiation and wind velocity data collected from solar centre, KEC, and experimental results for a sporadically varying load demand are presented in this paper and the results are encouraging from reliability and stability perspectives.