Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Simulation Based of Setting Policy in Project Acceptance Based on Experiences in Project-Driven SME's

The acceptance of the right project which leads to the realization of the set objectives is one of the most important issues in project-oriented companies. Therefore, corporate managers prefer to work on those projects which ensures the achievement of goals such as increasing financial profits or being the top brands in their rivals market. The present research aimed at introducing a systematic approach to the project acceptance modeling in order to ensure that effective decision-making can be seen and analysis them with appropriate model. This paper provides a system dynamics model of project accepting which examines the effective factors in decision-making process. This data used in the present research included number of staffs assigned to the projects as well as the identified of delay in project execution. The identified factors have been used to indicate the cause and effect relationships in graphs and calculating the related equations before being integrated into the model. Finally, sensitivity analysis was done by running model and validating it to determine suitable strategies which improve the decision-making of managers when dealing with the process of accepting or rejecting available market’s projects. Therefore, the results can be used in decision –making process.
Unbundling the Pollution Haven Hypothesis

Abstract The "Pollution Haven Hypothesis" (PHH) is one of the most hotly debated predictions in all of international economics. This paper explains the theory behind the PHH by dividing the hypothesis into a series of logical steps linking assumptions on exogenous country characteristics to predictions on trade flows and pollution levels. I then discuss recent theoretical and empirical contributions investigating the PHH to show how each contribution either questions the logical inevitability, or the empirical significance of one or more steps in the pollution haven chain of logic. Suggestions for future research are also provided.
Sourcing the story: journalistic practices and online news coverage of Irish healthcare policy

This research examines how the structures and practices of online news production influence story sourcing, and considers which stakeholders benefit from the perceived requirements of all-day publishing. Work environments and role conceptions appear to shape a news production system which journalists’ actions continually reproduce; this balance between internal structures, external structures and agency – and how these combine to affect output – is analysed using structuration theory. Of particular relevance is the interpretation of online publishing as both an enabling and constraining force, the allocation of resources, and legitimation as a rule shaping perceptions about what news stories should be. Normative media theory, particularly notions of the media as a platform for diverse voices and a space to empower the public, strengthens this framework. Mixed methods provide multiple perspectives into online publishing; an enhanced content analysis of five mainstream websites’ coverage of Ireland’s health service over 14 weeks is complemented with interviews from practitioners and experts. By examining publishing trends, tracing the source material, and investigating the presence of different voices, an important and much-needed link is forged between practices and output. As the debate in media studies regarding the source-journalist power dynamic continues, the results suggest that the range of voices heard may be widening, but such a trend is facilitated by passive approaches to reporting, filling the apparent open-ended news gap with content that often lacks layers and depth. These approaches are becoming ingrained in the online production system, which may be problematic if basic information-processing is normalised at the expense of more original newsgathering. Such passive daily practices may also have repercussions on the opportunities available for journalists to gain the expertise and knowledge to effectively cover a policy area, thus affecting the public’s understanding of the causes and solutions for problems regularly highlighted in news coverage.
Integrated cryptococcal antigen screening and pre-emptive treatment prior to initiation of antiretroviral treatment in Cambodia.

Background: Detection of serum cryptococcal antigen (sCrAg) in HIV-infected patients is associated with 3-6 fold increased mortality. Studies on the feasibility and effectiveness of sCrAg-screening and pre-emptive therapy before antiretroviral treatment (ART) are limited. Amongst antiretroviral treatment-naive adults with baseline CD4 counts <100 cells/µL undergoing pre-ART sCrAg screening, without previous cryptococcal meningitis (CM), we report on the 1) prevalence of sCrAg-positivity; 2) proportion with concurrent CM; 3) six-month patient outcomes. Methods: This is a retrospective hospital-based cohort study evaluating a “screen-and-treat” protocol implemented between 10/2008 and 8/2012 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. All sCrAg(+) patients underwent lumbar puncture (LP). After ruling-out CM, fluconazole was started (400mg/d-10 weeks; 200mg/d secondary prophylaxis) immediately. sCrAg(-) patients received primary prophylaxis (fluconazole 100mg/d). CM was treated with amphotericin-B (0.7mg/ kg-2 weeks, followed by fluconazole 400mg/day for 8 weeks). Results: A total of 357 patients were enrolled with a median age of 38 (IQR 31-43) years and median CD4 count of 28 (IQR 14-53) cells/µL; 54% were male, 20% had BMI <16 kg/m2. Thirty (8.4%) of 357 tested were sCrAg(+). Six (20%) of the 30 sCrAg(+) patients had concurrent CM with no/minimal symptoms. Two were treated as CM without LP done. Amongst sCrAg(+) patients, the following 6-month outcomes were noted: 25 (83.3%) were retained and on ART, 1 (3.3%) patient died and 4 (13.3%) were lost-to-follow-up. Excluding those treated for CM (n=8), one case (1/22; 4.5%) of incident CM was detected by month six. Corresponding 6-month outcomes amongst the 327 CrAg(-) patients were: 269 (82.3%) retained and on ART, 23 (7%) deaths, 29 (9%) lost-to-follow-up, 6 (1.8%) transferred-out. One case (1/327; 0.3%) of incident CM was documented. Conclusion: Outcomes of sCrAg(+) patients with the “screen-and-treat” approach were good. Fluconazole at 400mg/day appears appropriate for treatment of sCrAg(+) patients. Routine LP in sCrAg(+) might be indicated.
Optimization , Design , and Analysis of Flexible-Grid Optical Networks with Physical-Layer Constraints

The theme of this thesis is the optimization, design, and analysis of flexible-grid optical networks that are constrained by physical-layer impairments (PLIs). We consider three flexible-grid network scenarios. The networks in the first class are static nonlinear transparent backbone networks where physical-layer resources are allocated to each traffic demand. The networks in the second class are traffic-variable nonlinear translucent backbone networks where regenerator sites are necessary to recover optical signals from the accumulated noise in long-distance transmission. The third class is data-center networks based on optical spatial division multiplexing. Within each class, our focus is primarily on an efficient and balanced allocation of network resources. Both optimization formulations and heuristic algorithms are proposed for each class. The contributions of this thesis can thus be categorized into three topics, as outlined below. First, we consider the optimization of network resources in the presence of PLI. The PLI between optical connections is characterized by the Gaussian noise (GN) model and incorporated into resource allocation algorithms. As an example, for a link-level optical communication system, the spectrum usage can be reduced by roughly up to 22% by accurately modelling the PLIs and assigning proper modulation formats and spectrum to optical connections. For resource allocation in the network level, the power spectral density of each optical connection is optimized in addition to the previously mentioned resources. As a second topic, the design of flexible-grid optical networks is studied. Specifically, we consider the regenerator location problem in traffic-variable translucent backbone networks. Due to the constantly changing traffic, the PLIs suffered by optical connections are also stochastic and, thus, have to be handled from a probabilistic perspective. A statistical network assessment process is used to characterize the noise distributions suffered by optical connections on each link, based on which a heuristic algorithm is proposed to select a set of regenerator sites with the minimum blocking probability. Finally, we study the trade-off between the blocking probability and total throughput in the modular data center networks (DCNs) based on different optical spatial division multiplexing switching schemes. This performance trade-off is caused by the coexistence of traffic demands with extremely different data rates and number of requests in DCNs. A heuristic resource allocation algorithm is proposed to enable flexible tuning of the objective function and achieve a balanced network performance.
Effects of Heat Shock on Frankliniella occidentalis F 1 Offspring 1157 EFFECTS OF HEAT SHOCK ON LIFE PARAMETERS OF FRANKLINIELLA OCCIDENTALIS ( THYSANOPTERA : THRIPIDAE ) F 1 OFFSPRING

The western flower thrips (WFT), Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), an invasive insect pest in China, causes great economic losses worldwide. To understand the effects of heat shock on WFT population dynamics, we constructed life tables to quantify the effects of heat shock on the growth rate, survival, and fecundity of WFT offspring. WFT adults and 2nd instars were heat shocked at 45 °C, and the treatment was repeated after a 24-h recovery period. Heat-shocked and control insects were reared on the leaves of purple cabbage (Brassica oleracea L.; Brassicales: Brassicaceae), and various lifetable and development parameters of their F1 offspring were evaluated. The duration of the immature period of the offspring of heat-shocked adults was not significantly shorter than that of the control, whereas the duration of the immature period of the offspring of the heatshocked 2nd instars was longer than that of the other treatments, indicating that heat-shock of second instars slowed the development of their offspring. The preoviposition period during the adult stage and the total oviposition period of the F1 offspring of the heat-shocked adults were significantly longer than those of the control. The fecundities of the F1 offspring of the heat-shocked 2nd instars and adults were 81.8 and 70.6 eggs/female, respectively, both of which were significantly less than that of the control (149.1). The use of heated tents might be effective for the prevention and control of WFT infestations in greenhouses. Our life-table analysis of the effects of heat shock on F1 survival and reproduction provides a strong basis for future studies of thermal treatments for the control of WFT.
OncoLncs: Long Non-Coding RNAs with Oncogenic Functions

A decade before the discovery of non-coding transcripts, approximately 98% of the human genome was known as “transcriptional noise” or “junk DNA”. However, with the recent findings, non-coding transcripts are continuously turning into functional non-coding RNAs (ncRNA). NcRNAs comprise multiple classes of RNA transcripts that are not transcribed into proteins but have shown to regulate the transcription, stability, or translation of protein-coding genes in the mammalian genome. Nowadays the most studied ncRNAs are called miRNAs. They have been involved in the biogenesis and development of cancer. More recently, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were discovered and they have been shown not only to play a role in transcriptional and translational regulation, but also be involved in several diseases including cancer. LncRNAs are RNA transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides that do not encode proteins. The accumulating body of evidence suggests that lncRNAs play important roles in a variety of biological processes. They have been reported to be altered in many pathological states including cancer. LncRNAs with oncogenic functions (we may call; OncoLncs) were reported to be overexpressed in cancer cells and involved in the hallmarks of cancer including sustained proliferation, invasion, and metastasis. The field of regulatory RNAs is continuously growing especially the lncRNAs. Thus, in this comprehensive review, we discussed the advances on OncoLncs field in the malignant transformation of cancer and the therapeutics opportunities.
The law of Indies as a foundation of urban design in the Americas

This study analyzes the establishment and functional structure of the population centres during the colonization process of the new provinces in the Americas. It is therefore a valuable attempt at recollecting and understanding information on the phenomena which marked the beginning of these settlements. When the Spanish Empire enacted a series of norms to guide the process of the founding of future populations in the discovered territories, thereby establishing the first territorial codes carried out that could be considered the first record of urban design and planning in the Americas. This paper analyses the criteria used by the Law of Indies in the settlements of frontier towns in Latin America using as a case study the city of Barcelona (Venezuela). This research relies on urban historiography of early cities in Venezuela and the morphology structure of the historic centre of Barcelona (Venezuela) from its foundation in the XVII century (circa 1671) to the turn of the XX century. Barcelona constitutes one of the clearest examples of the implementation of the regulations to direct the foundational process of the new settlements in the Americas. These regulations were based on a number of urban planning and sanitary principles that in turn, fostered order and organization over the colonization process in Hispanic America. On the other hand, the morphological principles derived from the Law of the Indies were already used in the layout of the Pre-Columbian American cities (Cuzco, Peru; Tenochtitlan, Mexico) as timeless ‘Universal’ principles in city design. These principles, conceived more than 400 years ago, are still prevalent as ordering concepts in modern urban planning. The relevance of this work lies in the fact that for the first time the city of Barcelona has gone under scholarly scrutiny of its physical structure and urban form.
Content-based Recommender System for Textual Documents Written in Croatian

The paper describes a content-based recommender system that classifies textual documents written in Croatian. We describe how documents are pre-processed, including procedures of dimensionality reduction, selection of stop-words and creation of document-term matrix. For the text classification, a combination of v-fold cross validation and k - nearest neighbours (kNN) methods is used. This way, the 'optimal' value of k is firstly analyzed, and the results of v-fold cross validation are applied for the selection of value k. Results are given in the form of classification error analysis. Keywords-text mining; recommender system; k-nearest neighbour; content-based classification; document-term matrix.
Rheology of dense bubble suspensions

The rheological behavior of rapidly sheared bubble suspensions is examined through numerical simulations and kinetic theory. The limiting case of spherical bubbles at large Reynolds number Re and small Weber number We is examined in detail. Here, Re=ργa2/μ and We=ργ2a3/s, a being the bubble radius, γ the imposed shear, s the interfacial tension, and μ and ρ, respectively, the viscosity and density of the liquid. The bubbles are assumed to undergo elastic bounces when they come into contact; coalescence can be prevented in practice by addition of salt or surface-active impurities. The numerical simulations account for the interactions among bubbles which are assumed to be dominated by the potential flow of the liquid caused by the motion of the bubbles and the shear-induced collision of the bubbles. A kinetic theory based on Grad’s moment method is used to predict the distribution function for the bubble velocities and the stress in the suspension. The hydrodynamic interactions are incorporated in this the.
Reviews and syntheses: Isotopic approaches to quantify root water uptake: a review and comparison of methods

Abstract. Plant root water uptake (RWU) has been documented for the past five decades from water stable isotopic analysis. By comparing the (hydrogen or oxygen) stable isotopic compositions of plant xylem water to those of potential contributive water sources (e.g., water from different soil layers, groundwater, water from recent precipitation or from a nearby stream), studies were able to determine the relative contributions of these water sources to RWU. In this paper, the different methods used for locating/quantifying relative contributions of water sources to RWU (i.e., graphical inference, statistical (e.g., Bayesian) multi-source linear mixing models) are reviewed with emphasis on their respective advantages and drawbacks. The graphical and statistical methods are tested against a physically based analytical RWU model during a series of virtual experiments differing in the depth of the groundwater table, the soil surface water status, and the plant transpiration rate value. The benchmarking of these methods illustrates the limitations of the graphical and statistical methods while it underlines the performance of one Bayesian mixing model. The simplest two-end-member mixing model is also successfully tested when all possible sources in the soil can be identified to define the two end-members and compute their isotopic compositions. Finally, the authors call for a development of approaches coupling physically based RWU models with controlled condition experimental setups.
Delayed Advective Oscillation of the Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation

A simple dynamic model is proposed to illustrate the multidecadal oscillation of the Atlantic Ocean thermohaline circulation. The proposed oscillation relies on alternating actions of positive and negative feedbacks, which are operated by a slow adjustment of the ocean circulation and the associated time delay in the advective flux response to a change in meridional density gradient. The key element of the oscillation is the time delay, which is conceptually related to the basin-crossing time of long Rossby waves in the highlatitude North Atlantic. For a sufficiently long time delay, the solution becomes unstable in some regions of model parameter space and oscillates with a period of approximately 2 times the delay time.
Biodiversity across a Rural Land‐Use Gradient

Abstract: Private lands in the American West are undergoing a land‐use conversion from agriculture to exurban development, although little is known about the ecological consequences of this change. Some nongovernmental organizations are working with ranchers to keep their lands out of development and in ranching, ostensibly because they believe biodiversity is better protected on ranches than on exurban developments. However, there are several assumptions underlying this approach that have not been tested. To better inform conservation efforts, we compared avian, mesopredator, and plant communities across the gradient of intensifying human uses from nature reserves to cattle ranches to exurban developments. We conducted surveys at randomly selected points on each type of land use in one Colorado watershed between May and August of 2000 and 2001. Seven bird species, characterized as human commensals or tree nesters, reached higher densities ( all p < 0.02 ) on exurban developments than on either ranches or reserves. Six bird species, characterized as ground and shrub nesters, reached greater densities ( all p < 0.015 ) on ranches, reserves, or both of these types of land use than on exurban developments. Domestic dogs ( Canis familiaris ) and house cats ( Felis catus ) were encountered almost exclusively on exurban developments, whereas coyotes ( Canis latrans ) were detected more frequently ( p = 0.047 ) on ranchlands than exurban developments. Ranches had plant communities with higher native species richness and lower non‐native species richness and cover than did the other types of land use ( all p < 0.10 ). Our results support the notion that ranches are important for protecting biodiversity and suggest that future conservation efforts may require less reliance on reserves and a greater focus on private lands.
Fabrication of advanced LTCC structures for microwave devices

The main objective of this thesis was to research the integration of novel materials and fabrication processes into Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) technology; enabling fabrication of Radio Frequency (RF) and microwave components with advanced performance. The research focuses on two specific integration cases, which divide the thesis into two sections: the integration of tunable dielectric structures and the integration of air filled waveguides. The first section of the thesis describes the development and characterization of low sintering temperature Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) thick film paste. Sintering temperature of BST is decreased from approximately 1350 °C down to 900 °C by lithium doping and pre-reaction of the doped composition. This allows the co-sintering of the developed BST paste with commercial LTCC materials. Additionally two integration techniques to embed tunable components in an LTCC substrate using the developed BST paste are also presented and the electrical performance of the components is evaluated. The highest measured tunability value was 44% with a bias field of 5.7 V/μm. The permittivity of the films varied between 790 and 190, and the loss tangent varied between 0.004 and 0.005, all measured unbiased at 10 kHz. The developed LTCC compatible BST paste and the presented integration techniques for tunable components have not been previously published. In the second section of the thesis, a fabrication method for the LTCC integrated air-filled rectangular waveguides with solid metallic walls is presented. The fabrication method is described in detail and implemented in a set of waveguides used for characterization. A total loss of 0.1–0.2 dB/mm was measured over a frequency band of 140–200 GHz. The electrical performance of the waveguides is evaluated and their use demonstrated in an integrated LTCC antenna operating at 160 GHz.
Malolactic Fermentation: The ABC’s of MLF

There are two main fermentations associated with the winemaking process. Alcoholic fermentation is conducted by the yeast culture and malolactic fermentation takes place as a result of the metabolic activity of lactic acid bacteria, specifically from the genera Oenococcus, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and Leuconostoc. Malolactic fermentation is defined as the conversion of malic acid to lactic acid and CO2 and besides deacidification also contributes to microbial stability and modification of the aroma profile. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review discussing all the main aspects and factors related to malolactic fermentation, including practical considerations for monitoring and ensuring a successful fermentation.