Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reliability and Statistics in Geotechnical Engineering

Several of the logic structures and formats used leave much to be desired. Part I leaves the reader with only the barest explanation of which methods apply to which problems. There are rather large leaps in mathematical symbolism that spans algebra, integral calculus, matrices, sets, and directed graphs. Questions regarding the details of computation, code, algorithms, mathematics, and statistics are directed to references. This tactic would be appealing had the citations referred to specific chapters and pages. Another frequent irritation is that much terminology is introduced without definition and many terms are not explained until subsequent chapters. References to case studies in the methods section are few, and the case studies themselves do not obviously point back to the methods section that they support. Consequently, it is easy to get lost in tangential concepts, which could have been avoided with a more sequential presentation. In Part II, each case is presented according to the following outline: Objectives, description of the data, EDA, model building, model comparison, and summary report. Only the models change between cases. The individual cases are well organized, and the structure of the presentation will appeal to any scientifically inclined reader. My only serious criticism of Part II is that the defense of the “best” method chosen often seems highly subjective, especially when computational methods are being evaluated. Although the author has achieved the purposes he sets out in Chapter 1, I can recommend this book only to experienced statisticians and analysts who either have access to SAS EM or are trying to justify its purchase to their management. It might also be of value to users trying to assemble a set of DM procedures, because SAS has clearly defined the state of the art in DM packages. Those interested in the do-it-yourself SAS approach may wish to consult the texts by Fernandez (2003) and Rud (2001), reported in Technometrics by Caby (2004) and Ziegel (2002).
Nitrogen availability in composted poultry litter using natural amendments

Poultry litter compost is used as fertilizer on agricultural land because of its high nutrient content. A major limitation of land application of poultry litter compost is the loss of nitrogen via NH3 volatilization. The present work was conducted to monitor nitrogen availability during composting of poultry litter with natural zeolite, expanded perlite, pumice and expanded vermiculite. Poultry litter was composted for 100 days using five in-vessel composting simulators with a volumetric ratio of natural materials : poultry litter of 1 : 10. It was found that natural materials significantly reduced NH3 volatilization. At the end of the process, the control treatment without any natural materials had the lowest rate of total N: 72% of the initial total N was lost from the compost made with no amendment, while 53, 42, 26 and 16% of initial total N was lost from compost containing expandable perlite, expandable vermiculite, pumice and natural zeolite, respectively.
Harmonic-balance techniques for the design of coupled-oscillator systems in both unforced and injection-locked operation

This paper presents harmonic-balance techniques for the analysis and synthesis of coupled-oscillator systems. Compared to previous works, a realistic calculation of the system solution is carried out, using accurate models of the linear and nonlinear elements and taking into account the influence of harmonic terms. Good harmonic-balance convergence is enabled by the system symmetry. The techniques allow an accurate determination of the oscillator elements and tuning voltages in order to achieve a particular phase distribution. Different operation modes are studied and compared. Unforced operation is initially considered. Then, single and double injection from an external synchronization source is analyzed. The instability phenomena delimiting the maximum achievable phase shift are studied through pole-zero identification and bifurcation-detection techniques. Phase noise is calculated through the carrier modulation and conversion-matrix approaches. For validation, an array of four oscillators, operating at 5 GHz has been designed and implemented with very good experimental results.
Plan de mercadeo para moto-reductores Sumitomo-Hyponic en Colombia.

Colombia`s market auto parts faces a new economic context determined by the Free Trade Agreements. This article aims to show the relevance of relational marketing as a development tool for the market. For this, the conclusions of the studies carried out by Cabanas, Valencia and Mejia Ramirez (2014) and Kuster (1999) were taken as a basis for analysis, taking into account the theoretical framework of Ragan and Isaacson (1994), Cordoba (2009) and Cabrejos (2000). The review shows that the sector is not prepared for the demands of the new economic environment, and also reveals the relevance of relational marketing as a tool for economic development in the sector.
Internet use and E - government diffusion: an empirical estimation by using panel data from Fiji, Jamaica and Mauritius

Intuitively, it is logical to think that citizens using the internet are likely to use e-government services. Consequently, the role of the government would be to provide more e-government services. This paper test the relationship between internet use and e-government diffusion. The study used secondary data from the World Bank and United Nations database to examine the effect of internet use on e-government diffusion. Three small island developing countries were studied - Fiji, Jamaica and Mauritius. The findings show that internet use had a positive and significant effect on e-government diffusion only in Fiji but not in Jamaica and Mauritius.
Bicarbonate Stimulated Adenylyl Cyclases

Bicarbonate ion is fundamental to the biology of all living organisms. HCO3‐ is vital to such diverse physiological processes as carbon fixation, cellular homeostasis, sperm maturation, and nucleotide synthesis. A defined subset of adenylyl cyclases identified in eukaryotes and prokaryotes are directly activated by HCO3‐. As such, cAMP represents the first identified biological effector for fluctuations in intracellular inorganic carbon levels. The identification of a signal transduction pathway activated by HCO3‐ has far reaching implications for understanding how the cell responds to fluctuations in this essential anion. IUBMB Life, 56: 529‐534, 2004
Radiation impedance of an array of circular capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers

The radiation impedance of a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT) with a circular membrane is calculated analytically using its velocity profile for the frequencies up to its parallel resonance frequency for both the immersion and the airborne applications. The results are verified by finite element simulations. The work is extended to calculate the radiation impedance of an array of cMUT cells positioned in a hexagonal pattern. A higher radiation resistance improves the bandwidth as well as the efficiency of the cMUT. The radiation resistance is determined to be a strong function of the cell spacing. It is shown that a center-to-center cell spacing of 1.25 wavelengths maximizes the radiation resistance, if the membranes are not too thin. It is also found that excitation of nonsymmetric modes may reduce the radiation resistance in immersion applications.
Débruitage et correction d'images IRM. Application à la caractérisation de produits agroalimentaires

L’imagerie par resonance magnetique (IRM) est une modalite non-invasive developpee pour le diagnostic clinique. D’autres domaines se sont approprie cette technique, comme l'analyse de produits agroalimentaires. Le cadre applicatif de nos travaux est l’etude de la repartition des tissus adipeux chez le poisson en IRM bas champ. Au-dela de la visualisation, c’est la quantification des tissus qui nous interesse ici. Une quantification precise requiert le debruitage des images et la correction des inhomogeneites d'intensite liees a la variation spatiale du champ magnetique radiofrequence (RF). En IRM ponderee-T1 utilisee ici, les inhomogeneites de la RF ont un effet complexe et introduisent un biais qui depend du tissu en presence. La methode proposee aborde de facon unifiee la correction et le debruitage dans le cadre de la resolution des problemes inverses. Elle prend en compte un modele de biais issu de la physique de l'IRM auquel s’ajoute un modele de l’echantillon vu comme une somme ponderee de tissus. La methode est basee sur la minimisation d’un critere penalise comprenant des termes d’attache aux donnees et des termes de regularisation assurant des solutions spatialement lisses tout en conservant les contours dans l’image. Elle impose d’acquerir plusieurs images avec des protocoles differents. La minimisation est basee sur une resolution par blocs de variables, chaque bloc faisant appel a l’algorithme du gradient conjugue. Des resultats obtenus sur des images de poisson valident l’approche. Nous presentons de plus les resultats preliminaires d’une demarche de planification d’experience pour choisir les protocoles permettant une estimation optimale des variables.
Agonistic and antagonistic activities of bacterially derived Rhodobacter sphaeroides lipid A: comparison with activities of synthetic material of the proposed structure and analogs

Lipid A from the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides (RSLA) has been previously shown to antagonize many of the effects of endotoxins from more pathogenic gram-negative bacteria. We have reported on the synthesis of the proposed structure of RSLA and determined that bacterially derived RSLA is not identical to its proposed structure (W.J. Christ, P. D. McGuinness, O. Asano, Y. Wang, M. A. Mullarkey, M. Perez, L. D. Hawkins, T. A. Blythe, G. R. Dubuc, and A. L. Robidoux, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 116:3637-3638, 1994). Here we report results of analyzing the antagonistic and agonistic activities of bacterially derived RSLA in comparison with the activities of chemically synthesized material of the proposed structure of RSLA and analogs. Results indicated that all compounds were approximately equally potent at inhibiting endotoxin-induced release of tumor necrosis factor alpha from human monocytes and human whole blood as well as endotoxin-induced generation of nitric oxide in murine macrophages. In addition, all compounds were of equivalent potencies at inhibiting the binding of 125I-labelled lipopolysaccharide derivatized with 2-(p-azido-salicylamido) ethyl-1-3'-dithiopropionate to murine macrophages. Higher concentrations of bacterially derived RSLA (10 to 100 microM) were agonistic in human and murine assays. In gamma interferon-treated murine macrophages, agonism was exhibited at concentrations as low as 100 nM. In contrast, all synthetic materials were either dramatically less agonistic or devoid of agonistic activity when tested at concentrations as high as 100 microM. It is possible either that bacterially derived RSLA contains a small amount of a highly agonistic impurity or that the agonistic activity of RSLA is intrinsic to its molecular structure. In either case, these biological results support our previous report concluding that biologically derived RSLA is not identical to synthetic material of its proposed structure.
The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Purchase Intention: An Emerging Market Perspective

This study investigates the impact of celebrity endorsement and the moderating effect of negative publicity on consumer purchase intention or attitudes in an emerging market. Employing a quantitative research design, 500 respondents were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The findings indicate that a celebrity endorser who has attributes such as attractiveness, trustworthiness, and familiarity has a positive influence on consumer’s perception of quality, purchase intentions, and brand loyalty. However, celebrity endorser’s negative publicity had no moderation effect on consumer purchase intention. This article provides key theoretical and practical implications for researchers and practitioners on the use of celebrity endorsers.
The Face of Fear and Anger: Facial Width-to-Height Ratio Biases Recognition of Angry and Fearful Expressions

The ability to rapidly and accurately decode facial expressions is adaptive for human sociality. Although judgments of emotion are primarily determined by musculature, static face structure can also impact emotion judgments. The current work investigates how facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR), a stable feature of all faces, influences perceivers’ judgments of expressive displays of anger and fear (Studies 1a, 1b, & 2), and anger and happiness (Study 3). Across 4 studies, we provide evidence consistent with the hypothesis that perceivers more readily see anger on faces with high fWHR compared with those with low fWHR, which instead facilitates the recognition of fear and happiness. This bias emerges when participants are led to believe that targets displaying otherwise neutral faces are attempting to mask an emotion (Studies 1a & 1b), and is evident when faces display an emotion (Studies 2 & 3). Together, these studies suggest that target facial width-to-height ratio biases ascriptions of emotion with consequences for emotion recognition speed and accuracy.
Pennywise, Pound Foolish: Balancing Guest Service and Financial Control on Hotel Overcharged Credit Card Dispute

While reviewing her credit card statement, a hotel loyalty reward program member discovered she was overcharged $56 for a recent hotel stay. After contacting the hotel she was told the charge was for guest room mini bar items. As the guest never consumed items from the mini bar, she requested a refund. After failing to receive a satisfactory response from the hotel, the guest disputed the charge and received a refund from the credit card company. What should the hotel have done differently?
Degradation of formaldehyde at high concentrations by phenol-adapted Ralstonia eutropha closely related to pink-pigmented facultative methylotrophs

The ability of the phenol-adapted Ralstonia eutropha to utilize formaldehyde (FD) as the sole source of carbon and energy was studied. Adaptation to FD was accomplished by substituting FD for glucose in a stepwise manner. The bacterium in the liquid test culture could tolerate concentrations of FD up to 900 mg L−1. Degradation of FD was complete in 528 h at 30°C with shaking at 150 rpm (r = 1.67 mg L−1 h−1), q = 0.035 gFD gcell −1 h−1. Substrate inhibition kinetics (Haldane and Luong equations) are used to describe the experimental data. At non-inhibitory concentrations of FD, the Monod equation was used. According to the Luong model, the values of the maximum specific growth rate (μmax), half-saturation coefficient (kS), the maximum allowable formaldehyde concentration (Sm), and the shape factor (n) were 0.117 h−1, 47.6 mg L−1, 900 mg L−1, and 2.2, respectively. The growth response of the test bacterium to consecutive FD feedings was examined, and the FD-adapted R. eutropha cells were able to degrade 1000 mg L−1 FD in 150 h through 4 cycles of FD feeds. During FD degradation, formic acid metabolite was formed. Assimilation of FD, methanol, formic acid, and oxalate by the test bacterium was accompanied by the formation of a pink pigment. The carotenoid nature of the cellular pigment has been confirmed and the test bacterium appeared to be closely related to pink-pigmented facultative methylotrophs (PPFM). The extent of harm to soil exposed to biotreated wastewaters containing FD may be moderated due to the association between methylotrophic/oxalotrophic bacteria and plants.
Intracellular signal transduction pathways: good therapeutic targets for joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis

Preventing joint destruction is one of the most challenging issues in treating patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and I propose that intracellular signaling pathways in osteoclasts and synovial fibroblastic cells (SFCs) can be good therapeutic targets. Osteoclasts are primarily involved in the bone destruction in RA joints, and SFCs support osteoclast differentiation and activation by producing various proinflammatory cytokines including receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL), the osteoclast differentiation factor belonging to the tumor necrosis factor-α superfamily. Suppressing c-Src pathways by adenovirus vector-mediated C-terminal Src family kinase (Csk) gene or Ras/extracellular-regulating kinase (ERK) pathways by introducing dominant negative Ras (RasDN) adenovirus reduced osteoclastic bone resorption as well as the abnormal proliferation and interleukin-6 production of SFCs, and the local injection of these viruses ameliorated the joint destruction in adjuvant arthritis rats. Moreover, chondrogenic differentiation of SFCs could be induced by stimulating activin receptor-like kinase 3 pathways.
A practical interface for microfluidics and nanoelectrospray mass spectrometry

We report a new method for fabricating nanospray ionization tips for MS, formed from glass substrates and the inert polymer, parylene‐C. Using a single photolithography step, the emitters are formed contiguously with microchannels, such that no dead volumes are observed. In addition, because the devices are very thin (∼0.3 mm) and the tips are formed at rectangular corners, the Taylor cone volumes are small, which makes the method attractive for future integration with microfluidic separations. Device performance was demonstrated by evaluating diverse analytes, ranging from synthetic polymers, to peptides, to nucleic acids. For all analytes, performance was similar to that of conventional emitters (pulled‐glass capillaries and the Agilent HPLC Chip™) with the advantage of rapid, batch fabrication of identical devices.
ASSESSMENT OF BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT FOR MSMEs IN EAST JAVA

The role of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) for the economy of many countries, especially Indonesia are very important. The garment industry is one of the developing industries in Indonesia. Enterprises need to understanding, documenting, modelling, analyzing, simulating, implementing to increasing the value and achieving business operational efficiency and survive business competition. Therefore, it is necessary to know assess the maturity level of business process management in MSMEs. The purpose of this study is to assess the maturity level of business process management from MSMEs. First, the relevant literature is reviewed to gain insight into the practice of business process management in general, the context of MSME in Indonesia and previous studies related to business process management in the context of MSMEs. This research was conducted in East Java and data collection was done by distributing questionnaires to MSME owners. This study shows that a lack of knowledge resources about BPM is the main factor causes the MSMEs have low business process maturity level.
Blood Pressure and Mood Responses in Hypertensive Patients on Antihypertensive Medications

&NA; Nurse practitioners who are responsible for the clinical management of patients with hypertension must choose antihypertensive medications that minimize side effects. Nurse practitioners must be aware of the drugs’ potential influences on physiologic and psychological variables and include adequate assessment of these responses in patients during treatment. Pindolol, propranolol, and hydrochlorothiazide were equally effective in reducing systolic and diastolic blood pressure in essential hypertensives, although pindolol and hydrochlorothiazide did not affect resting heart rate (an advantage in some patients). Hydrochlorothiazide was associated with a trend for several negative mood changes in black subjects; depression scores of black subjects were significantly increased with hydrochlorothiazide. The results of this study indicate the need to consider race and other factors in research about antihypertensive mood responses.
Extra»c~ao de Informa»c~oes Padronizadas para a Avalia»c~ao de Regras Induzidas por Algoritmos de Aprendizado de Maquina Simbolico

ResumoDadoumconjuntodeexemplos(rotulados)detreinamento,¶eposs¶³vel aplicar diversosalgoritmos de Aprendizado de M¶aquina supervisionado, obtendo, para cada um dess-es algoritmos, uma descri»c~ao do conceito (classi¯cador) que descreve o conhecimentoimplicito nesses exemplos de uma forma mais compacta. Em geral, ¶eposs¶³vel trans-formar um classi¯cador, obtido atrav¶es de um algoritmo de aprendizado simb¶olico, osquais descrevem o conhecimento induzido em uma forma diretamente interpret¶avelpor seres humanos, para um conjunto de regras.Essas regras podem ser avaliados em conjunto, comparando o desempenho de cadaclassi¯cador em rela»c~ao a outros classi¯cadores como uma \caixa preta", ou cadaregra pode ser avaliada individualmente, quanto µa qualidade, interessabilidade, novi-dade, entre outras medidas objetivas.Para a avalia»c~ao das regras, s~ao necess¶arias informa»c~oes que permitam derivar facil-mente medidas objetivas. Entretanto, somente alguns algoritmos de aprendizadoapresentam essas informa»c~oes, mas de uma forma n~ao uniforme.Neste trabalho¶e o proposta e implementadauma biblioteca de ferramentas quecalcu-la um conjunto m¶³nimo de informa»c~oes para cada regra, de uma forma padronizada,para um conjunto de algoritmos de aprendizado de m¶aquina supervisionado freqAuen-temente utilizados pela comunidade. Essa biblioteca est¶aintegradaaumsistemacomputacional de maior porte, que vem sendo desenvolvido em nosso Laborat¶oriode Intelig^encia Computacional {LABIC {, para realizar, entre outros, extra»c~ao au-tom¶atica e an¶alise de conhecimento.A biblioteca foi projetada de forma a admitir, futuramente, a inclus~ao de novosindutores.Palavras-Chave: Aprendizado de M¶aquina, Avalia»c~ao de Regras.Julho 2001
Endothelial dysfunction and hypertension: cause or effect?

Endothelial dysfunction refers to impairment of endothelium-dependent vasodilatation and implies widespread abnormalities in endothelial integrity and homeostasis. The ability to assess endothelial function has been critical to advancing our understanding of the significance of this complex monolayer to cardiovascular (CV) disease. Early human translational approaches required invasive assessments in the coronary and brachial circulatory beds but had limited utility. Popularization of brachial reactivity testing using ultrasound by Celermajer et al,1 better known as flow-mediated dilatation (FMD), allowed more widespread clinical application by providing an estimate of conductance vessel NO bioactivity in response to a fixed hyperemic stimulus. Although the link between endothelial dysfunction and adverse CV events was first described in studies performed in the human coronary circulation,2 the development of this noninvasive method led to widespread expectations that FMD could be used as a risk prediction tool and as a surrogate end point for novel therapies. Numerous studies demonstrated significant association between impaired FMD and CV risk factors. Although studies in those with CV disease have shown prognostic association with lower FMD predicting worse long-term outcomes,2 the real promise of FMD as a noninvasive tool was in demonstrating predictive use in community-based population cohorts. In the largest of just 3 studies addressing this question, Yeboah et al3 examined 3026 subjects free of CV disease from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) cohort. They demonstrated that, at 5 years, after multivariate analysis, each SD increase in FMD conferred a hazard ratio of 0.84 for incident CV events. Importantly, FMD also improved net reclassification of risk when compared with the Framingham risk score. Two further studies in more selected populations, including the Cardiovascular Health Study of elderly subjects and a study by Rossi et al4 on >2000 postmenopausal women, support these findings by demonstrating significant association …