Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Causal complexity of new product development processes: a mechanism-based approach

ABSTRACT The outcomes of new product development (NPD) processes are dependent on the interplay of several interdependent activities. One product development activity can be dependent on the presence or absence of other activities, different kinds of NDP processes may lead to the same outcome, and specific kinds of activities may have a positive effect in one process but no effect in other processes. However, we currently lack means to examine and explain this causal complexity inherent in NPD processes. To address this issue, we introduce mechanism-based approach as a way to capture conjunctural and equifinal causal relations. We build this approach on the philosophical literature on mechanism-based explanations and the methodological opportunities provided by the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to identify how the activities of entities are configured together to generate outcomes. We elaborate this approach by presenting an in-depth historical analysis of the NPD projects of Vaisala, a meteorological instrument company. We discover and suggest that the company’s NPD projects were driven by three mechanisms (ideation, evaluation and commercialisation) and that each of them were actualised by a set of different activity configurations. Accordingly, we contribute to the NPD and innovation literature by showing how mechanism-based explanations take into account both the abstract theorisation of NPD processes and their inherent causal complexity.
IoT Arcade using Linux Embedded System

This article describes a retro gaming central developed using Linux embedded system based on Raspberry Pi platform. The retro gaming center uses Internet of Things (IoT) principles to enabling monitor users’ data. Thus, using minimum hardware and the free Linux operating system, the administrator can continuously optimize the project in low cost. The proposed system can be easily configured by beginners in electronics and computing, and also be applied as a didactic tool.
Multi-Gene Genetic Programming for predict rainfall data

Since the beginning of humanity, people have been interested in weather and environment such rainfall, humidity and temperature. A lot of environment specialist has tried to find a lot of methods that would allow them to know the weather in advance. This paper addresses the task of prediction rainfall data by depending on historical data and applying genetic algorithm. The quality of the data is the most important factor influence the performance of the genetic algorithm. The goal of this work is to predict the future rainfall amounts of the selected city as these predictions are very helpful and because rainfall prediction is very important for a lot of sectors such commercial, industrial, tourism and academic purposes. In this work, the genetic algorithm model is suitable for such purposes of predictions.
Protective Effect of Orally Administrated Dandelion Against Carrageenan-induced Ankle Arthritis in Rats

Dandelion (DA) possesses the therapeutic ability to eliminate heat and alleviating swelling, choleresis, dieresis, and inflammation. In order to investigate the anti-arthritic effect of DA, several behavioral parameters such as paw volume, squeaking score, and weight distribution ratio were investigated in a carrageenan-induced arthritis rat model. At the maximum severity of arthritis, the daily administration of DA was initiated and lasted for 9 days. The therapeutic effects of DA were observed on 9th day after the arthritis induction, as compared to saline-treated control group. Oral administration of DA significantly alleviated apparent symptoms of paw volume, squeaking score, and weight distribution ratio in rats. In conclusion, DA was found to be effective in alleviating the inflammatory response and thus arthritic symptoms in carrageenan-induced arthritic rats.
Process Research on Advanced Treatment of Yeast Wastewater Through Enhanced Catalytic Ozonation

After the secondary treatment of yeast wastewater, the chemical oxygen demand(COD) usually remains very high (approximately 800–1500mg/L) in this effluent, which contains various degradation-resistant substances. Because of the presence of bicarbonate ions, which are the inhibitor of ·OH free radical chain reaction, the direct ozonation of a secondary effluent treatment is limited. In this study, the addition of calcium hydroxide as a pretreatment not only eliminates adverse effects of bicarbonate ions on chain reaction of hydroxyl free radical's generation, but also enhances the indirect ozonation by increasing the pH value up to 11. At the same time, heterogeneous catalytic ozonation treatment is also conducted on the secondary effluent of yeast wastewater by the use of manganese sand (containing manganese dioxide as an effective constituent). The COD of the raw water is reduced to 389 mg/L from 853 mg/L, and the total removal rate reaches 54%. Process analysis is conducted on the pH value, OxidationReduction Potential (ORP) value, and the concentration of dissolved ozone through an online monitoring system. A control method is also proposed to strengthen the catalytic ozonation technology by combining the ozone consumption and COD removal variation.
Capital Structure Deviation and Speed of Adjustment

As a firm deviates from its target leverage, marginal bankruptcy costs change at a faster speed than marginal tax shield. This renders the speed of adjustment (SOA) of capital structure an increasing function of the starting deviation from the target. Adopting a bootstrapping-based estimation, we confirm the existence of such heterogeneity in SOA that is statistically significant and economically nontrivial. Typically, if Firm A is one standard deviation (about 17%) and Firm B is two standard deviations away from their leverage targets, then B’s SOA is 41% greater than that of A, and the half life of B’s leverage deviation is shorter by 2.5 years. The findings are consistent with the dynamic tradeoff theory in the presence of reasonable adjustment costs.
RE-STRUCTURING An Architecture-Based Tool

The practice shows that many software systems have been evolving for many years and are now large and complex. Because the structure of these systems is usually not well documented, great research effort is needed to find appropriate abstractions of their structure, that we can simplify their maintenance, evolution and adaptation. A variety of techniques and tools are developed trying to effectively solve this problem. In this paper an Architecture-Based Framework for software re-structuring is discussed. Next, how this framework is implemented in an ever evolving and user-driven tool that can effectively support the software re-structuring process is commented.
Solving a Real Constraint Satisfaction Model for the University Course Timetabling Problem: A Case Study

This paper proposes a real mathematical constraint satisfaction model which defines the timetabling problem in the Faculty of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (FCSE) at the Autonomous University of Morelos State, Mexico. A Constructive Approach Algorithm (CAA) is used to obtain solutions in the proposed model. A comparison is made between the CAA’s results and the schedule generated by the FCSE administration. Using the constraint satisfaction model, it is possible to improve the allocation of class hours in the FCSE so that classroom use is more efficient.
Chapter 2 Gas Sensing Ionic Liquids on Quartz Crystal Microbalance

Recent advances in “designer solvents” have facilitated the development of ultrasensi‐ tive gas sensing ionic liquids (SILs) based on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) that can real‐time detect and discriminate volatile molecules. The amalgamation of tailored‐made SILs and label‐free QCM resulted in a new class of qualitative and semi‐quantitative gas sensing device, which represents a model system of electronic nose. Because a myriad of human‐made or naturally occurring volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are of great interest in many areas, several functional SILs have been designed to detect gaseous alde‐ hyde, ketone, amine and azide molecules chemoselectively in our laboratory. The versa‐ tility of this platform lies in the selective capture of volatile compounds by thin‐coated reactive SILs on QCM at room temperature. Notably, the detection limit of the proto‐ type system can be as low as single‐digit parts‐per‐billion. This chapter briefly introduces some conventional gas sensing approaches and collates recent research results in the inte‐ gration of SILs and QCM and finally gives an account of the state‐of‐the‐art gas sensing technology.
High resolution imaging of a multi-walled carbon nanotube with energy-filtered photoemission electron microscopy

Photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) is a powerful and well established tool in surface science. In recent years, PEEM has been increasingly applied to new terrain, such as imaging of complex nano-objects and functional molecular materials, as well as time-resolved experiments. When applying PEEM to such new terrain, information on the mechanisms causing contrast in the PEEM image is particularly valuable. Here, we present a PEEM study on a complex nano-object - an individual multi-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) - to shed light on the origin of PEEM contrast. The presented PEEM images of the nanotube are of unsurpassed resolution and feature intensity variations along the nanotube. Complementary scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements on the same nanotube reveal topography as the dominant cause for the contrast observed along the nanotube. Energy-filtered PEEM measurements demonstrate that the contrast between nanotube and substrate mainly originates from their different electronic structures. The measurements further demonstrate that energy-filtered PEEM has the potential to image electronic structure variations of complex nano-objects and materials on nanometer length scales.
A 0.5 - 5.5 GHz Distributed Low Noise Amplifier

The Low Noise Ampli¯er (LNA) presented in this work is a 3-stage fully integrated Distributed Amplifier (DA) using a 0.35 ¹m BiCMOS SiGe process. The circuit was designed for integration and for this reason the di®erent parasitical phenomena that concern the spiral inductors and the packaging were evaluated in detail. Noise Figure (NF) and linearity were also investigated through simulations. The designed amplifier offers a gain of about 7 dB with a gain flatness of 0.6 dB over the bandwidth 0.5-5.5 GHz and an average noise ¯gure of 3.2 dB. The RF input port is matched to 50 ­, with worst-case return loss of 10 dB over the whole bandwidth. The input-referred P1dB point varies from 2.2 dBm at 1 GHz to 3.1 dBm at 5 GHz. Within the same bandwidth the IP3 varies from 6 dBm to 13.3 dBm. The estimated power consumption is 82.5 mW from a 3V power supply.
Selected Heuristic Algorithms Analysis and Comparison in Solving Optimization Problems

Three examples of heuristic algorithms: The Firefly Algorithm, The Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm and The Genetic Algorithm, have been tested in regard to the ability of solving four testing cost functions. In this paper the algorithms are explained and the results are discussed and compared. Keywords—metaheuristics, heuristic algorithms, firefly algorithm, artificial bee colony algorithm, genetic algorithm, optimization problem
Saddle-point integration of $C_\infty$ "bump" functions

This technical note describes the application of saddle-point integration to the asymptotic Fourier analysis of the well-known $C_\infty$ "bump" function $\exp[-(1-x^2)^{-1}]$, deriving both the asymptotic decay rate $k^{-3/4} \exp(-\sqrt k)$ of the Fourier transform $F(k)$ and the exact coefficient. The result is checked against brute-force numerical integration and is extended to generalizations of this bump function.
Short-term wind speed forecasting by combination of neural networks

1. Abstract The aim of this work is to improve the prediction of wind speed in the next hours by the combined use of several artificial neural networks. The employment of Multilayer Perceptron networks (MLP) for a month period with ten-minute values of wind speed and direction and the prior choice of these inputs through classifiers networks such as Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) and Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) is evaluated. The adjustment obtained in the prediction is compared with different methodologies.
Admission policies for voice message service in mobile cellular networks

This paper presents two admission control policies for a new communications application named voice message service (VMS) in mobile cellular networks. In circuit-switching systems, a trunk reservation scheme is proposed for the admission of real-time VMS. In integrated voice and data networks, VMS is considered a nonreal-time traffic and a preemptive priority scheme is applied. The system is modeled by a two dimensional Markov chain. The performance of the admission policies is measured in terms of the call blocking and dropping probabilities of voice calls and the average number of queueing VMS requests.
SCHEDULING AND CONTROL CO‐DESIGN FOR DELAY COMPENSATION IN THE NETWORKED CONTROL SYSTEM

The networked control system (NCS) is currently receiving increasing attention from researchers. Researches on this subject, however, have not considered the co‐design of network quality of service (QoS) and control quality of performance (QoP). This paper proposes a novel NCS design framework based on scheduling and control co‐design to compensate for random network‐induced delays. In the framework, a scheduling algorithm used to find the optimal sampling regions of control loops performs rough adjustment and guarantees the network QoS, while a novel adaptive fuzzy PID controller is designed to perform accurate adjustment to guarantee the control QoP. Practical application results obtained with a multi‐loop NCS show that the framework can ensure satisfactory performance due to its robustness against network uncertainty.
Genetically Engineered Mesenchymal Stem Cells Stably Expressing Green Fluorescent Protein

Objective(s) Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are nonhematopoietic stromal cells that are capable of differentiating into and contribute to the regeneration of mesenchymal tissues. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are ideal targets in cell transplantation and tissue engineering. Enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) has been an important reporter gene for gene therapy. The aim of this study was establishment of MSCs expressing GFP. Materials and Methods MSCs were isolated and characterized by Immunophenotyping. The pEGFP-N1 plasmid was extracted from previously transformed Escherichia. coli cells and transfected into MSCs using FuGENE HD transfection reagent. Stable cells were established in the presence of geneticin. Expression of GFP was detected by RT- PCR, western blot analysis and immunoflorecent microscope. Results MSCs were successfully isolated and characterized. The MSCs transfected with the pEGFP-N1 plasmid expressed GFP both in mRNA and protein levels while cells transfected with empty vector did not. Conclusion The results suggested that this engineered cell line will be used in the future studies and can easily be traced in vivo.
Chapter 14 Cell-Based Therapies for Parkinson ’ s Disease : Preclinical and Clinical Perspectives

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a highly prevalent neurodegenerative disease that affects millions of people globally and remains without definitive treatment. There have been many recent advances in cell-based therapy to replace lost neural circuitry and provide chronic biological sources of therapeutic agents to disease-affected brain regions. Early neural transplantation studies highlighted the challenges of immune rejection, graft integration, and the need for renewable, autologous graft sources. Neurotrophic factors (NTFs) offer a potential class of cytoprotective agents that may complement dopa‐ mine (DA) replacement and cell-based therapies in PD. In fact, chronic NTF delivery may be an integral goal of cell transplantation in PD, with ideal grafts consisting of autologous drug (e.g., DA, NTF)-producing cells capable of integration and function in the host brain. This chapter outlines the past and recent preclinical and clinical advances in cell-based and NTF therapies as promising and integrated approaches for the treatment of PD.
Global warming, Bergmann's rule and body size in the masked shrew Sorex cinereus Kerr in Alaska

Summary 1. It was recently shown that body size of Palearctic shrews decreases with increasing latitude, thus contradicting Bergmann’s rule, and this trend was explained by food shortage during the cold northern winter. In Alaska, global warming has resulted in milder winters that may improve food supply. In this study we tested the hypothesis that body size of Alaskan shrews increased during the second half of the twentieth century, in response to global warming. 2. Data on body weight and length of body, tail, hind foot and ear of museum specimens of the masked shrew Sorex cinereus Kerr from Alaska were used in order to examine the effects of latitude, longitude, mean ambient temperature in January and July, and year of collection, on these parameters. 3. We found that variation in body size of the masked shrew in Alaska appears to contradict to the prediction of Bergmann’s rule, decreasing in high latitudes and in areas cold January temperature. 4. Body size of shrews in Alaska increased significantly during the second half of the twentieth century, apparently due to the higher food availability in winter as a result of improved weather conditions for its prey.
Development , relative retention , and fecundity of Tribolium castaneum ( Herbst ) on different

The development, relative retention, and fecundity of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), on six different types of starches, flour, and flour plus yeast were investigated in the laboratory. The size of 90% of particles among the starches was below 15 to 58 μm, while that of the flour was below 133 μm. Larval length, head capsule width, and weight gain of T. castaneum were measured by rearing larvae on starches, flour, and flour plus 5% (by wt) Brewer’s yeast diet for 30 d at 28oC and 65% r.h. Larvae reared on flour or flour plus yeast developed normally and showed better survival compared to those reared on starches. Larvae on starches failed to develop beyond second and rarely third instars. Adults of T. castaneum did not show any preference to flour over starches in dual-choice tests. Tribolium castaneum laid less than 3 eggs/female over a 15 d period on all starches, but laid 97 and 109 eggs/female on flour and flour plus yeast diet, respectively. These initial studies suggest that starches are poor substrates for development, and currently experiments are in progress to improve larval survival and development by incorporating specific nutrients in starches. Starches were as attractive as flour to adults; however, starches do not appear to be a suitable medium for egg-laying. Preliminary experiments by moving adults between starches and flour and vice versa showed that feeding on suitable diets is essential for eliciting oviposition. Although preliminary, these interesting findings suggest that starches may have potential in managing development and reproduction of T. castaneum-a pest that is common and severe in food-processing facilities.
Behavioural Models and Spatial Planning: Some Methodological Considerations and Empirical Tests

This paper is concerned with the relevance of various geographic models of spatial shopping and residential choice behaviour to physical planning. It is argued that models relying on areal aggregation and overt spatial interaction patterns generally do not satisfy a number of methodological requirements considered extremely relevant in an applied context. In addition, it is argued that behavioural models provide a potentially more valuable approach for predicting consumer response to policy decisions with regard to spatial structure. Empirical evidence substantiating the claim that consumer evaluations bear some systematic relationship with objective attributes of spatial alternatives and overt choice behaviour is provided in the context of spatial shopping behaviour and residential choice behaviour.
Adsorption behavior of Zn(II) onto natural minerals in wastewater. A comparative study of bentonite and kaolinite

: In order to remove the harmful metal ions in lead-zinc mineral processing wastewater, two natural clay minerals (bentonite and kaolin) were used as adsorbents and Zn(II) ions were the emphasis in this work. The adsorption behaviors including kinetics and isotherms were investigated by batch experiments. In addition, the adsorption mechanisms were studied by means of zeta potential testing, optical microscope and XRD analysis. The results show that the adsorption process can be best described as the pseudo-second order kinetic model. The adsorption equilibrium data of bentonite and kaolinite can be respectively fitted best by Langmuir and Freundlich models. Thermodynamic studies display that the adsorption of Zn(II) onto clays is non-spontaneous and endothermic. The maximum capacity of Zn(II) adsorbed on bentonite and kaolinite respectively reaches to 79.2 mg·g -1 and 6.35 mg·g -1 at 25 °C. The structural differences of bentonite and kaolinite result in the differences in adsorption behavior and mechanism. The interaction mechanisms of Zn(II) with bentonite and kaolinite involve electrostatic attraction, cation exchange, surface complex and precipitation. Bentonite as adsorbent has the potential to remove Zn 2+ better than kaolinite.
Ab initio investigation of potential‐energy surfaces involved in the photophysics of benzene and pyrazine

Potential‐energy surfaces of the lowest singlet and triplet excited states of benzene and pyrazine have been calculated using complete‐active‐space self‐consistent‐field and multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) techniques. We have focused our attention on the saddle points and surface intersections associated with the reaction path to a biradical form called prefulvene. The barrier heights separating the prefulvenic minimum from the minimum of the planar aromatic form on the ππ* excited singlet surface and on the ground‐state surface have been estimated by large‐scale MRCI calculations. The conical intersection of the lowest ππ* excited singlet surface with the S0 surface has been mapped out in two dimensions, the reaction coordinate to prefulvene and the coordinate of maximum coupling perpendicular to it. The relevance of these ab initio potential‐energy data for the interpretation of photophysical relaxation pathways in benzene and pyrazine (‘‘channel‐three’’ effect) is discussed.
Sickle Cell Disease Revealed by Soft Tissue Abscess: One Case Report

Sickle cell disease is a haemoglobinopathy characterized by the occurrence of vaso-occlusive crises and osteoarticular complications. We report the case of an infant with sickle cell disease revealed by a bilateral abscess of the feet. Our patient is an 18-month-old infant who has had bilateral swelling of the feet for a week with fever of 40 °C, a CRP of 129 mg/l and a leukocytosis of 32,000 elements/mm3 together with normochromic normocytic anemia at 7.9 g/dl. The diagnosis of abscess was taken and a puncture was made finding a purulent fluid with isolation of Salmonella. In front of the bilateral character, Salmonella isolation and normochromic normocytic anemia, electrophoresis of hemoglobin was requested confirming the diagnosis of sickle cell disease. The progress was positive with hydration and antibiotic therapy. Soft-tissue Salmonella infections must lead to thinking of sickle cell disease as a diagnosis especially with normochromic normocytic anemia combined.