Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-positive Approaches to Research in the Third Sector: Empowered Policy-making

This paper defines, describes and discusses non-positivism and demonstrates its application to the analysis of the structures, processes and outcomes found in and delivered by third sector non-government organisations [NGOs]. The emergence of the discipline of political science brought with it a widespread conviction that the application of the positivist approach was necessary to deliver robust and valid research findings. A parallel school of thought rejected this view, refuting positivist claims of objectivity and assumptions of a superior form of knowledge. Non-positivism is ‘that which is not positivist’ but has other fundamental characteristics. While positivism is wholly empirical, attributing to the researcher skills and insights not available to the research subjects, a non-positivist perspective maintains that evidenced based reasoning can be used incorporating a voice for those providing the research data. Many nonpositivists reject the concept of human ‘research subjects’, as this implies a methodologically unsound separation of the researcher and the researched. Nonpositivist data is collected transparently, emphasising ethics, and no particular data type is prioritised; no voice is given credence at the expense of another. Non-positivism as a term emerged in response to the dominance of the positivist perspective in the social sciences, but it contributes much more than simply a rebuttal of positivism and has a long and glorious history. The principles of the positivist approach to research on human social matters have always been controversial and hotly debated. Positivism has been a popular and highly influential approach to research in the natural and social sciences, contending that a rigorous and appropriate scientific research structure is likely result in the discovery of the truth [Bevir and Rhodes, 2004]. Non-positivists recognise that data collected through a positivist approach, such as empirical data, is important and relevant, but reject the positivist treatment. Several strands of this approach have emerged that emphasise particular aspects of the approach. Hermeneutics, phenomenology and interpretivism are examples [Blaikie, 1993]. More recently, the use of storytelling through a multiple perspective framework has emerged as a powerful technique for collecting and interpreting data, and constructing enlightened accounts of policy development and implementation episodes [Rhodes, 2011]. The non-positivist approach is particularly appropriate for the study of non-government organisations (NGOs), enabling a discursive empowering approach that returns value to the organisations to use at their discretion. In the case study used to illustrate a nonpositivist approach in action, a range of methods and data types is used including document search, key informant interviews, observation, and secondary data in the form of statistics. This research based paper describes the theory, provides a context by exploring its historical dimension and demonstrates non-positivism in use in the case of non-government organisations.
Big speech data analytics for contact centers BISON

Due date:​ 31/07/2017 Submission date:​ 31/07/2017 Project start date:​ 1/1/2015 Duration:​ 36 months Lead beneficiary:​ PHO Revision:​ 1 Lead Author:​ Marek Klimeš (PHO) Contributors: Jan “Honza” Černocký (BUT), Jordi Luque (TID), Carlos Segura (TID), Martin Karafiát (BUT), Igor Szöke (BUT), Miroslav Skácel (BUT), Karel Veselý (BUT), Karel Beneš (BUT), Murali Karthick Baskar (BUT), Johan Rohdin (BUT), Pavel Matějka (BUT), Jan Švec (PHO), Michal Veselý (PHO) and Pavel Krajča (PHO)
A PLASMA EXPANSION MODEL BASED ON THE FULL EULER–POISSON SYSTEM

In this paper, we consider a quasi-neutral plasma expanding in the vacuum gap separating two electrodes. During the expansion, some particles are emitted from the plasma-vacuum interface and form a beam in the vacuum. Starting from the two-fluid full Euler–Poisson model, we derive an asymptotic model. This asymptotic model consists of a quasi-neutral model in the plasma region, a Child–Langmuir law in the beam region and connection relations at the plasma-beam interface. For this model, we propose a numerical scheme which accounts for the motion of the plasma-beam interface and is much more efficient than the resolution of the original two-fluid Euler–Poisson problem. We demonstrate the efficiency of the model by means of numerical simulations for two different one-dimensional test cases.
The impact of physical activity on cancer prevention and survivorship

Cancer is expected to affect approximately one in three people currently under the age of 75 in developed countries. According to Global Burden of Disease Study, the incidence of cancer increased by 33% between 2005 and 2015 [1], and the number of people with cancer around the world is expected to increase by approximately 75% until 2030, due to changes in demographics and lifestyle, among other factors [2]. Meanwhile, survival rates for several cancers are increasing as progress is made with therapeutic strategies, leading to an increasing number of cancer survivors (people living with the disease long-term). Cancer survivors face disabilities to daily living due to intensive therapy and side effects, as well as disease progression. These disabilities can lead to decreased physical activity (PA) of patients, and this adversely affects the quality of life (QoL) for both patients and their caregivers. In the field of cancer therapy, enhancing or maintaining the PA of survivors is a necessary aim, along with considerations of how to improve QoL.
Structural evidence of diffuse growth and parenchymatous cell division in the cortex of the umbilicate lichen Lasallia pustulata

Abstract How growth is distributed within the morphologically diverse thalli of lichens is still poorly known and the anatomical mechanisms involved are not well understood. This work applies electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) to examine cell- and tissue-level events in the umbilicate thallus of Lasallia pustulata, whose pattern of expansion was the subject of a previous field study. Stacks of epinecral tissue accumulating at the thallus surface showed broadening bases and recurring rupture attributable to diffuse expansion of the living tissue below. Cortical cells, dividing anticlinally, adjoined septa to previous septa, indicating parenchymatous divisions. These observations are all consistent with previous contentions that mature, organized tissues within the thallus are capable of continued diffuse growth. They provide a developmental explanation for the morphology of the epinecral layer and suggest that anatomical characteristics may be helpful in recognizing diffuse growth patterns. Parenchymatous cell divisions, believed until recently to never occur in lichen thallus tissues, are shown to play a developmental role in the diffuse growth of the umbilicate lichen thallus.
El desarrollo global del ciberespacio: nuevos desafíos para los Estados y la sociedad civil

The following article aims to incorporate the discipline of International Relations into the discussion of global change caused by the recent technological revolution. While change is identified and characterized as being caused by technologies known as Information and Communication Technologies (ict), in the following analysis we argue that applying International Relations concept help make sense of the actions and processes that take place virtually by actors such as the state, 1. Académico del Instituto de Estudios Internacionales, profesor de la Universidad de Chile. Correo electrónico: d.aguirre@u.uchile.cl 2. Académico del Instituto de Estudios Internacionales, profesor de la Universidad de Chile. Correo electrónico: jmorande@uchile.cl Daniel Aguirre Azócar, José Morandé Lavín 54 l InterNaciones. Año 4, núm. 10, enero-abril 2017 non-governmental and civil society organizations. This article via an inductive and exploratory approach, combines theory and practice based recent cases that exemplify and suggest the need to advance thought within the discipline taking into consideration the intersection of international affairs and technology in the xxi century.
Improving Deep Forest by Confidence Screening

Most studies about deep learning are based on neural network models, where many layers of parameterized nonlinear differentiable modules are trained by backpropagation. Recently, it has been shown that deep learning can also be realized by non-differentiable modules without backpropagation training called deep forest. The developed representation learning process is based on a cascade of cascades of decision tree forests, where the high memory requirement and the high time cost inhibit the training of large models. In this paper, we propose a simple yet effective approach to improve the efficiency of deep forest. The key idea is to pass the instances with high confidence directly to the final stage rather than passing through all the levels. We also provide a theoretical analysis suggesting a means to vary the model complexity from low to high as the level increases in the cascade, which further reduces the memory requirement and time cost. Our experiments show that the proposed approach achieves highly competitive predictive performance with significantly reduced time cost and memory requirement by up to one order of magnitude.
High-performance mesh morphing with adaptive B-splines

A novel mesh morphing method based on adaptive hierarchical B-splines is proposed. We discuss the mathematical background of the method and demonstrate the parallelization approach in an MPI environment. The performance and scalability data of the method is provided. The mesh deformation quality is compared with the industry-acknowledged RBF-based morpher.
Gamification e game-based learning: estratégias eficazes para promover a competitividade positiva nos processos de ensino e de aprendizagem

O artigo apresenta um estudo que procurou identificar as principais implicacoes do uso da gamification e o game-based learning como forma de promover a competitividade positiva em alunos de um curso profissional de Informatica. Num cenario de jogo, foi desenhada uma narrativa composta por seis desafios diferentes (mas interligados), que pretenderam melhorar a experiencia de aprendizagem dos alunos, quer individualmente quer em grupo. Apoiados na observacao direta e inquerito por entrevista do tipo focus group aos alunos, bem como dados automaticos por software logging a plataforma de partilha online, monitorizamos um grupo de 23 alunos durante o processo. Os dados obtidos permitem apontar para a validade pedagogica da integracao do jogo e da gamification nos processos de ensino e aprendizagem. Os alunos jogaram, individualmente e em colaboracao dentro dos grupos, ate ao limite do tempo dos desafios, na busca da pontuacao maxima, sem sinais aparentes de desinteresse.
Pseudostate description of diatomic-molecule scattering from a hard-wall potential

A collinear scattering of a structured particle from a hard wall is studied with consideration of vibrational transitions initiated by the collision. It is shown that this problem can be solved analytically in the framework of the source-function method. With the use of the continuum discretization technique we are able to take into account both discrete and continuum states. No approximations of the interatomic potential is required. We illustrate our approach for the case of a hydrogen molecule bound by the realistic Morse potential. simple systems. The results by Sato and Kayanuma (13) indicate that the initial molecule ground state cannot survive after the collision when the energy difference between this state and the first-excited state goes to zero. Contrarily, Kavka et al. (9) show that an arbitrarily weakly bound molecule scattering from an arbitrarily high step potential remains in the ground state with probability equal to unity. Moreover, the molecule center of mass cannot get closer to the hard wall than ξ0 ln(V0/Ein) where ξ0 is a constant of order of the mean distance between the atoms, V0 is the potential barrier heights and Ein is the molecule impact energy. The case where the hard wall is infinitely high is particularly interesting because the molecule reflects from the surface at an infinitely large distance from the surface. In the next section we present the general analytical solution to the problem of interest for case where V0 is infinite. Our approach requires no approximations on the form of the interparticle interaction. To illustrate our theory we give a numerical example in Sec. III. In the conclusion we present the summary of the results.
Vesicle dynamics in confined steady and harmonically modulated Poiseuille flows

We present a numerical study of the time-dependent motion of a two-dimensional vesicle in a channel under an imposed flow. In a Poiseuille flow the shape of the vesicle depends on the flow strength, the mechanical properties of the membrane, and the width of the channel as reported in the past. This study is focused on the centered snaking (CSn) shape, where the vesicle shows an oscillatory motion like a swimmer flagella even though the flow is stationary. We quantify this behavior by the amplitude and frequency of the oscillations of the vesicle's center of mass. We observe regions in parameter space, where the CSn coexists with the parachute or the unconfined slipper. The influence of an amplitude modulation of the imposed flow on the dynamics and shape of the snaking vesicle is also investigated. For large modulation amplitudes transitions to static shapes are observed. A smaller modulation amplitude induces a modulation in amplitude and frequency of the center of mass of the snaking vesicle. In a certain parameter range we find that the center of mass oscillates with a constant envelope indicating the presence of at least two stable states.
Cospectral Graphs and Digraphs

Introduction At a meeting of the American Mathematical Society, one of us hazarded a conjecture that the characteristic polynomial of the adjacency matrix of a graph characterizes the graph, that is, that two graphs are isomorphic if and only if the characteristic polynomials of their adjacency matrices are the same. The conjecture was promptly shot down by a member of the audience (R. C. Bose), who produced a counter-example. In fact, it was already a matter of public record that the conjecture was not true, since Collatz and Sinogowitz [1] had displayed two different trees with 8 nodes having the same characteristic polynomial. In what follows we give an account of some recent computer investigations of the smallest graphs and digraphs of various kinds whose adjacency matrices have the same characteristic polynomial, in order to illuminate the extent to which the characteristic polynomial can be used to characterize a graph.
Physical and Computer-based Too

Tools for teaching phonetics were considered. We especially focused on two types of tools: physical and computer-based. There are several important aspects of each type. For physical tools, 1) they are real and they enable students to understand the material intuitively; 2) we can show students phenomena in real-time; and 3) students can use them for hands-on experiments. For computer-based tools, 4) we can deal with complex and/or high-speed phenomena virtually; 5) we can visualize unseen phenomena; 6) multi-media environments are possible; and 7) we can effectively use the World Wide Web. In this paper, existing physical and computer-based tools were evaluated in the light of the seven points above. In addition, a new attempt was proposed, an integration of a physical model of the human vocal tract and a computer-based model. Although there are many of tools already in existence, we need to develop tools that are particularly suited for teaching phonetics.
“Imaging of metabolism”: the role of imaging in the study of body composition

Poster: "ECR 2012 / C-2589 / “Imaging of metabolism”: the role of imaging in the study of body composition" by: "A. Bazzocchi1, D. Diano1, F. Ponti1, G. Filonzi1, G. Facchini1, G. Guglielmi2, U. Albisinni1, C. Rossi3; 1Bologna/IT, 2Foggia/IT, 3Parma/IT"
TAKLİT ÜRÜN SATIN ALMA DAVRANIŞINDA BİREYSEL CAYDIRICI OLARAK RİSK FAKTÖRLERİ: AKSESUAR ÜRÜNLERİ ÜZERİNE BİR ARAŞTIRMA

Taklit urunler bugun tum dunyada uzerine dusunulen ve cozum aranan onemli bir konudur. Taklit urunler kullanimlari ile tuketicilere, uretimi ile mikro duzeyde isletmelere makro duzeyde ise ekonomilere zarar vermektedir. Bu calismada, taklit urunlere yonelik arzin olusmasinda onemli bir rol ustlenen tuketicilerin taklit urun satin alma davranisina cesitli risk faktorlerinin etkisi incelenmistir. Arastirmada urun kategorisi olarak tuketicilerin bircok noktada kolayca ulasabildigi aksesuar urunleri secilmistir. Arastirma kapsaminda Turkiye ornekleminden 351 katilimciya anket teknigi ile ulasilmistir. Taklit urun satin alma davranisinin onunde bir engel olusturacagi dusunulen fiziksel, sosyal, finansal, psikolojik risk faktorleri ile satin alma niyeti arasindaki iliskilere dayanan arastirma modeli olusturulmustur. Arastirma sonucunda finansal riskin taklit aksesuar urunu satin alma davranisini guclu bir sekilde azalttigi sonucuna ulasilmistir. Diger risk faktorlerinin ise taklit aksesuar urunu satin alma niyeti uzerinde bir etkisinin olmadigi gorulmustur. Bu bulgudan yola cikarak pazarlama program ve uygulamalarinda taklit urun kullanimi ile karsilasilacak finansal zararlara vurgu yapilmasinin faydali olacagi soylenebilir.
Spillovers from High-Skill Consumption to Low-Skill Labor Markets

Abstract The least-skilled workforce in the United States is disproportionally employed in the provision of time-intensive services that can be thought of as market substitutes for home production activities. At the same time, skilled workers, with their high opportunity cost of time, spend a larger fraction of their budget in these services. Given the skill asymmetry between consumers and providers in this market, product demand shifts—such as those arising when relative skilled wages increase—should boost relative labor demand for the least-skilled workforce. We estimate that this channel may explain one-third of the growth of employment of noncollege workers in low-skill services in the 1990s.
The dust mass in Cassiopeia A from a spatially resolved Herschel analysis

Theoretical models predict that core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) can be efficient dust producers (0.1–1.0 M⊙), potentially accounting for most of the dust production in the early Universe. Observational evidence for this dust production efficiency is however currently limited to only a few CCSN remnants (e.g. SN 1987A, Crab nebula). In this paper, we revisit the dust mass produced in Cassiopeia A (Cas A), a ∼330-yr old O-rich Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) embedded in a dense interstellar foreground and background. We present the first spatially resolved analysis of Cas A based on Spitzer and Herschel infrared and submillimetre data at a common resolution of ∼0.6 arcmin for this 5 arcmin diameter remnant following a careful removal of contaminating line emission and synchrotron radiation. We fit the dust continuum from 17 to 500 μm with a four-component interstellar medium and supernova (SN) dust model. We find a concentration of cold dust in the unshocked ejecta of Cas A and derive a mass of 0.3–0.5 M⊙ of silicate grains freshly produced in the SNR, with a lower limit of ≥0.1–0.2 M⊙. For a mixture of 50 per cent of silicate-type grains and 50 per cent of carbonaceous grains, we derive a total SN dust mass between 0.4 and 0.6 M⊙. These dust mass estimates are higher than from most previous studies of Cas A and support the scenario of SN-dominated dust production at high redshifts. We furthermore derive an interstellar extinction map for the field around Cas A which towards Cas A gives average values of AV = 6–8 mag, up to a maximum of AV = 15 mag.
A Robust Real-Time Mobile Robot Self-Localization with ICP Algorithm

Even if there are lots of researches on localization using 2D range finder in static environment, very few researches have been reported for robust real-time localization of mobile robot in uncertain and dynamic environment. In this paper, we present a new localization method based on ICP(Iterative Closest Point) algorithm for navigation of mobile robot under dynamic or uncertain environment. The ICP method is widely used for geometric alignment of three-dimensional models when an initial estimate of the relative pose is known. We use the method to align global map with 2D scanned data from range finder. The proposed algorithm accelerates the processing time by uniformly sampling the line fitted data from world map of mobile robot. A data filtering method is also used for threshold of occluded data from the range finder sensor. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been demonstrated through computer simulation and experiment in an office environment. Keywords: Localization, ICP, Dynamic environment, Uncertain environment, Uniform sample, Filtering method.
Opportunistic Fungal Infections, Part 2: Candida and Aspergillus

Morbidity and mortality attributed to Candida and Aspergillus infections can be quite high in immunocompromised hosts. The epidemiology and clinical manifestations as well as clinical pearls on prevention of infections caused by Candida and Aspergillus are discussed in this second installment of a 3-part series on opportunistic infections in immunosuppressed patients. [Infect Med. 2008;25:498-505]
The Relationship Between Maternal Beliefs and Behavior During Shared Reading

The goal of the present study was to increase understanding of the connection between maternal beliefs and behavior during shared reading and to examine the relation of these maternal beliefs to children's reading engagement. The study included survey and observational data from an ethnically diverse sample of 50 mothers and their 5- to 6-year-old children. As predicted, mothers who believed that shared reading should involve learning showed more learning-focused behaviors. Similarly, the belief that reading should be fun predicted more positive interactions. Some relationships between beliefs and behavior were moderated by gender. For girls, higher maternal expectations for children's future reading grades were associated with better scaffolding, but this pattern was not found for boys. There was a positive relationship between mothers' belief that reading should be fun and their sons' engagement. No gender differences were found in maternal expectations and beliefs or in observed maternal learning-focused behaviors or positive support. However, girls were observed to be significantly more engaged during the reading interaction. These results point to the connections between maternal beliefs and behaviors during shared reading, as well as the need to consider child gender in understanding these connections.
ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF COMPUTERIZATION ON PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFITABILITY OF INDIAN BANKS AN APPLICATION OF DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS

NDIAN Indian banks are investing heavily in the technologies such as telebanking, mobile banking, net banking, automated teller machine (ATMs), credit cards, debit cards, smart cards, call centers, CRM, data warehousing etc. To convince the management, investors and other stakeholders for this heavy investment in technology, it is desirable to evaluate the impact of computerization on the performance of Indian banks in terms of their profitability and productivity. In this paper, after defining input and output parameters, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used to study the impact of computerization on Indian banks profitability and productivity. Private sector banks, which took more IT initiative were found to be more efficient in productivity and profitability parameters than public sector banks.