Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A SYSTEM MODEL FOR PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

The main objective of this study was to design a model system for Performance Management (PM) in public sector organizations. In this research, the system components of the performance management was Designed and to develop a system Approach to PM Scopes. Research method is based on system and Process approach to PM. Approach to data analysis in this research is fuzzy. In order to research the modeling of Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) method is used. In this research, PM is divided into four sub-systems of PM for Organization Level (PMO), PM for Executive Managers Level (PMM), PM for Staff level (PME) and Accountability of Performance. For each of the following systems with the nature of the input, processing, output and feedback were identified and analyzed. Results of research showed that all performance management subsystems interact with other. Designing an effective performance management system is dependent to explore the relationships between subsystems. The results showed that Goals and functions of organization and General Indicators of Performance Measurement are the most important input and output of PMO. Productivity monitoring is most important feedback of PMO. Goals and functions of organization and specific Indexes to evaluate the performance of managers are the most important input and output of PMM. Performance monitoring of senior manager has high level degree of correction performance management correction. Detailed explanation of the duties expected of staff and General evaluation indexes of staff performance are the most important input and output of PMS. The results showed that accountability of managers is very important of accountability of staff.
Modulation of spatial attention to visual targets by emotional environmental sounds

research has shown that visual spatial attention can be modulated by emotional prosody cues, but it is not known whether such crossmodal modulation of visual attention is associated with the engagement or disengagement of attentional resources. To test this, we employed a modified spatial cueing task, where participants indicated whether a visual target appeared either on the left or the right, after hearing a spatially non-predictive peripheral sound. Prior studies using prosody cues have found that modulation of visual attention by emotional auditory cues was lateralized, but this may have been due to the speech content of the stimuli; here instead we used non-speech environmental sounds. The sound was either emotional (pleasant, unpleasant) or neutral, and was presented either on the same side as the visual target ('valid' trial) or on the opposite side ('invalid' trial). For the cue validity index (RT to invalid cue minus RT to valid cue), we found differences between emotional and neutral cues, but only for visual targets presented in the right hemifield; here the cue validity index was lower for unpleasant compared to neutral and pleasant cues. Absolute RTs for targets on the right were faster for invalid trials following unpleasant cues, compared to pleasant and neutral cues, indicating that the reduced cue validity effect was due to faster disengagement from unpleasant auditory cues. Further, our results show that the laterality effect is related to the emotional nature of the cues, rather than the speech content of the stimuli. Keywords: emotion, crossmodal, attention, spatial, cueing. Received 05 July 2013; received in revised form 08 August 2013; accepted 17 August 2013. Available online 23 December 2013.
Emerging pattern of global change in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere

In the upper atmosphere, greenhouse gases produce a cooling effect, instead of a warming effect. Increases in greenhouse gas concentrations are expected to induce substantial changes in the mesosphere, thermosphere, and ionosphere, including a thermal contraction of these layers. In this article we construct for the first time a pattern of the observed long-term global change in the upper atmosphere, based on trend studies of various parameters. The picture we obtain is qualitative, and contains several gaps and a few discrepancies, but the overall pattern of observed long-term changes throughout the upper atmosphere is consistent with model predictions of the effect of greenhouse gas increases. Together with the large body of lower atmospheric trend research, our synthesis indicates that anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are affecting the atmosphere at nearly all altitudes between ground and space.
Challenges in identifying the beneficiaries of the poverty reduction strategy in Northern Mountains of Vietnam: the case of Xuan Phong and Tu Ly communes, Hoa Binh Province

In many developing countries, poverty alleviation programs have been implemented since the 1980’s and 1990’s, and will be continued into the next decades. The emerging question is why “poverty issues” still exist for such a long time and do challenge not only the Vietnamese government but also many countries all over the world. One may ask if poverty reduction strategies, applied in Vietnam and other countries, are suited to the real poverty situation, and if they are sustainable. This paper is based on a research to investigate the nature of government’s interventions as a “poverty reduction strategy”, at Tu Ly and Xuan Phong communes in Hoa Binh province. Vietnam’s official poverty identification method and participatory poverty assessment of people are applied. This study does claim that the currently “inappropriate definition of poverty” is one of keys problems at the roots of the lack of obvious success of the ongoing strategy.
Money, information and heat in social networks dynamics

We propose an information theoretic model for sociological networks that includes money transfer. The model is a microcanonical ensemble of states and particles. The states are the possible pairs of nodes (i.e. people, sites and alike) which exchange information. The particles are the information bits, which may interpreted as money. In this case money transfer is simulated by bits transfer which is heat (energy). With analogy to bosons gas, we define for these networks’ model: entropy, volume, pressure and temperature. We show that these definitions are consistent with Carnot efficiency (the second law) and ideal gas law. Therefore, if we have two large networks: hot and cold, having temperatures T H and T C , and we remove Q bits (money) from the hot network to the cold network, we can save W profit bits. The profit will be calculated from W< Q (1-T H /T C ), namely, Carnot formula. In addition, it is shown that when two of these networks are merged the entropy increases. This explains the tendency of economic and social networks to merge.
Effects of Divided Attention on Speech in Parkinson's Disease

Effects of Divided Attention on Speech in Parkinson’s Disease Melissa Inkley Department of Communication Disorders, BYU Master of Science The effects of divided attention on speech in Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been studied for a variety of tasks in recent years. Much of the previous research studied gait patterns while participants concurrently performed another task. There have been few studies regarding the effects of divided attention on speech in individuals with PD. The ability to communicate effectively relies in part on an appropriate rate of speech, vocal intensity, and fundamental frequency control. This study included 27 participants: 8 with PD, 12 neurologically healthy older (HO) adults, and 7 healthy younger (HY) adults. Each participant was given a list of topics to speak about during the experiment. They produced monologues under three conditions: standing, walking on a treadmill, and walking over obstacles on a treadmill. Each monologue was recorded and trimmed of pauses between topics, experimenter speech, and nonspeech behaviors before analysis. Speech rate, speaking versus pausing time, overall intensity, and intensity and fundamental frequency (F0) variability were analyzed. Median, mean, maximum, and minimum F0 increased as the gait task increased in difficulty. Mean and standard deviation of intensity also increased with gait demands. All groups had increased intensity variability when walking compared to standing. Speaking versus pausing time did not differ significantly as a function of the walking task and the results varied across the groups; the same was true for speech rate. These findings reflect changes in performance during divided attention tasks, with a greater effect on HO adults and individuals with PD than their younger counterparts.
Concentration Dependent Effect of Plant Root Exudates on the Chemosensory Systems of Pseudomonas putida KT2440

Plant root colonization by rhizobacteria can protect plants against pathogens and promote plant growth, and chemotaxis to root exudates was shown to be an essential prerequisite for efficient root colonization. Since many chemoattractants control the transcript levels of their cognate chemoreceptor genes, we have studied here the transcript levels of the 27 Pseudomonas putida KT2440 chemoreceptor genes in the presence of different maize root exudate (MRE) concentrations. Transcript levels were increased for 10 chemoreceptor genes at low MRE concentrations, whereas almost all receptor genes showed lower transcript levels at high MRE concentrations. The exposure of KT2440 to different MRE concentrations did not alter c-di-GMP levels, indicating that changes in chemoreceptor transcripts are not mediated by this second messenger. Data suggest that rhizosphere colonization unfolds in a temporal fashion. Whereas at a distance to the root, exudates enhance chemoreceptor gene transcript levels promoting in turn chemotaxis, this process is reversed in root vicinity, where the necessity of chemotaxis toward the root may be less important. Insight into KT2440 signaling processes were obtained by analyzing mutants defective in the three cheA paralogous genes. Whereas a mutant in cheA1 showed reduced c-di-GMP levels and impaired biofilm formation, a cheA2 mutant was entirely deficient in MRE chemotaxis, indicating the existence of homologs of the P. aeruginosa wsp and che (chemotaxis) pathways. Signaling through both pathways was important for efficient maize root colonization. Future studies will show whether the MRE concentration dependent effect on chemoreceptor gene transcript levels is a feature shared by other species.
Discovery of Pathologic GPCR Aggregation

The family of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is one of the most important drug targets. Mechanisms underlying GPCR activation and signaling are therefore of great pharmacologic interest. It was long thought that GPCRs exist and function as monomers. This feature was considered to distinguish GPCRs from other membrane receptors such as receptor tyrosine kinases or cytokine receptors, which signal from dimeric receptor complexes. But during the last two decades it was increasingly recognized that GPCRs can undergo aggregation to form dimers and higher order oligomers, resulting in homomeric and/or heteromeric protein complexes with different stoichiometries. Moreover, this protein complex formation could modify GPCR signaling and function. We contributed to this paradigm shift in GPCR pharmacology by the discovery of the first pathologic GPCR aggregation, which is the protein complex formation between the angiotensin II AT1 receptor and the bradykinin B2 receptor. Increased AT1-B2 heteromerization accounts for the angiotensin II hypersensitivity of pregnant women with preeclampsia hypertension. Since the discovery of AT1-B2, other pathologic GPCR aggregates were found, which contribute to atherosclerosis, neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's disease. As a result of our findings, pathologic GPCR aggregation appears as an independent and disease-specific process, which is increasingly considered as a novel target for pharmacologic intervention.
Review of Printed Electrodes for Flexible Devices

Printed electronic technologies draw tremendous attention worldwide due to their ability to surpass the limitations of traditional high-cost electronics based on rigid silicon and manufacture various devices on flexible substrates. As a critical component of flexible electronics, electrodes fabricated on soft, bendable and stretchable substrates are of great importance. Based on the fabrication process, this paper classifies the mainstream technologies into two categories: top-down and bottom-up. To be specific, the top-down technology includes physical evaporation methods, printing technologies and soft lithography and the bottom-up technology involves polymer-assisted-metal-deposition methods and ion-exchange methods, respectively. In contrast to the top-down technology that transfers the functional ink onto the substrate directly, the bottom-up methods achieve great improvement in the adhesion between the substrates and the metal electrodes. In the end of the paper, the challenges for top-down technologies, including costs, synthesis and choice of ink for printing technologies, the limited choice of metal for bottom-up technologies and the mass production of these methods are also discussed.
Intrinsic FGFR2 and Ectopic FGFR1 Signaling in the Prostate and Prostate Cancer

Advanced castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) is a poorly prognostic disease currently lacking effective cure. Understanding the molecular mechanism that underlies the initiation and progression of CRPC will provide new strategies for treating this deadly disease. One candidate target is the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling axis. Loss of the intrinsic FGF7/FGF10-type 2 FGF receptor (FGFR2) pathway and gain of the ectopic type 1 FGF receptor (FGFR1) pathway are associated with the progression to malignancy in prostate cancer (PCa) and many other epithelial originating lesions. Although FGFR1 and FGFR2 share similar amino acid sequences and structural domains, the two transmembrane tyrosine kinases elicit distinctive, even sometime opposite signals in cells. Recent studies have revealed that the ectopic FGFR1 signaling pathway contributes to PCa progression via multiple mechanisms, including promoting tumor angiogenesis, reprogramming cancer cell metabolism, and potentiating inflammation in the tumor microenvironment. Thus, suppression of FGFR1 signaling can be an effective novel strategy to treat CRPC.
On the Use of Nudges to Affect Spillovers in Environmental Behaviors

Environmental self-identity is considered a promising lever to generate positive spillovers across pro-environmental behaviors: existing evidence shows that it is positively correlated with pro-environmental choices and that it can be easily manipulated, by reminding individuals of their past pro-environmental actions. However, it remains unclear whether it can be successfully used for environmental policy making. In two online, incentive-compatible experiments, we manipulate participants’ environmental self-identity and test whether this leads to increased donations to an environmental charity. Additionally, we investigate the interaction between self-identity priming and two commonly used behavioral policy tools: social information (Study 1, N = 400) and goal commitment (Study 2, N = 495). Our results suggest caution in leveraging environmental self-identity to promote pro-environmental behaviors, provide indications on how to target policies based on self-identity primes, and offer novel evidence on the interaction between different behavioral policy tools.
Thirty Years of Kawasaki Disease: A Single-Center Study at the University Hospital of Lausanne

Kawasaki disease is an acute vasculitis with a particular involvement of the coronary arteries. Coronary artery aneurysms develop in 20% of untreated children. It has been shown that early treatment with intravenous immunoglobulins and aspirin decreases this risk to 5%, but the medium to long term prognosis of children with Kawasaki disease is still unclear. To determine the outcome of the disease and risk factors for poor evolution, we reviewed retrospectively the medical records of all patients with a diagnosis of Kawasaki disease at our Institution between 1981 and 2014. Among the 207 patients included in the study, 96 patients had coronary diameter anomalies (46.4%) at diagnosis and children with atypical ages for Kawasaki disease (<1 year or >10 year of age) were more often affected with aneurysms or dilatations. Eighty-four of them had complete regression of coronary aneurysms during the follow-up (87.5%) Absence of immunoglobulins in the acute phase was associated with less regression rate (57.1 vs. 92.2%), and boys had greater z-scores at last echocardiography, statistically significant for the left anterior descending artery. We found rare complications after the acute phase documented in our patient charts (only 3.8%). Recurrence of the disease occurred in 5 children (2.4%) and myocardial ischemia in 3 patients (1.4%), all with initial coronary aneurysm. Conclusion: Medium to long term prognosis after Kawasaki disease is excellent. Boys, patients not treated with immunoglobulins or outside the usual age range are more at risk for an unfavorable outcome.
Diagnóstico de engranajes en sistemas de propulsión marinos utilizando técnicas ANFIS

espanolEn este trabajo se aplican nuevas tecnicas de diagnostico para el mantenimiento basado en condicion de diferentes sistemas de propulsion de pequenos vehiculos marinos que utilizan helices para el desplazamiento y que se utilizan de forma habitual en entornos marinos. En todos estos casos uno de los elementos de mayor interes es el analisis del correcto funcionamiento de las cajas reductoras. El determinar con suficiente anticipacion posibles fallos es de vital importancia en ambientes marinos, donde las averias se pueden producir en condiciones muy adversas. Concretamente el estudio se ha centrado en el diagnostico de defectos incipientes en los engranajes utilizando tecnicas basadas en inteligencia artificial con la finalidad de determinar la aparicion del defecto incipiente y el tipo de defecto. Se ha realizado la toma de datos de un conjunto de engranajes defectuosos y normales para, posteriormente, realizar ensayos con las tecnicas citadas. Los resultados obtenidos muestran la potencialidad de estas nuevas tecnicas, presentandose en este articulo resultados satisfactorios en los ensayos realizados. EnglishIn this work, new diagnostic techniques of condition based maintenance of different propulsion systems of small marine vehicles that use propellers for movement and are used widely in marine environments are applied. Determining potential failures well in advance is vital in marine environments where failures can occur in very adverse conditions. Specifically, the study has focused on the diagnosis of incipient faults in the gears using artificial intelligence techniques in order to determine the occurrence of an incipient defect and the type of defect. It has made data collection from a set of defective gear and a normal one to then carry out tests with those techniques. In this paper satisfactory tests results are presented that show the potential of these new techniques.
Identification and Characterization of Known Biallelic Mutations in the IFT27 (BBS19) Gene in a Novel Family With Bardet-Biedl Syndrome

Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS; MIM 209900) is a rare ciliopathy characterized by retinitis pigmentosa, postaxial polydactyly, obesity, hypogonadism, cognitive impairment and kidney dysfunction. Mutations in 22 BBS genes have been identified to cause the disease. We report a family with typical BBS features (retinitis pigmentosa, postaxial polydactyly, obesity, cognitive impairment, and atrioventricular septal defect) mutated in IFT27/BBS19. IFT27 is part of the Intraflagellar transport (IFT), a bidirectional mechanism allowing the protein motility within the cilia. Using whole exome sequencing, two compound heterozygous mutations were found in the proband (NM_006860.4:c.[104A > G];[349+1G > T], p.[Tyr35Cys];[? ]) consistent with the expected autosomal recessive inheritance mode. These two mutations have already been reported but independently in other families and lacking either familial segregation or functional validation. This is the third report of IFT27 mutations in BBS patients confirming IFT27 as a BBS gene (BBS19). Mutations in IFT genes (IFT27, IFT172 and IFT74) confirm the IFT-pathway as a pathomechanism for BBS.
Position/Force Tracking Impedance Control for Robotic Systems with Uncertainties Based on Adaptive Jacobian and Neural Network

In this paper, an adaptive Jacobian and neural network based position/force tracking impedance control scheme is proposed for controlling robotic systems with uncertainties and external disturbances. To achieve precise force control performance indirectly by using the position tracking, the control scheme is divided into two parts: the outer-loop force impedance control and the inner-loop position tracking control. In the outer-loop, an improved impedance controller, which combines the traditional impedance relationship with the PID-like scheme, is designed to eliminate the force tracking error quickly and to reduce the force overshoot effectively. In this way, the satisfied force tracking performance can be achieved when the manipulator contacts with environment. In the inner-loop, an adaptive Jacobian method is proposed to estimate the velocities and interaction torques of the end-effector due to the system kinematical uncertainties, and the system dynamical uncertainties and the uncertain term of adaptive Jacobian are compensated by an adaptive radial basis function neural network (RBFNN). Then, a robust term is designed to compensate the external disturbances and the approximation errors of RBFNN. In this way, the command position trajectories generated from the outer-loop force impedance controller can be then tracked so that the contact force tracking performance can be achieved indirectly in the forced direction. Based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, it is proved that all the signals in closed-loop system are bounded and the position and velocity errors are asymptotic convergence to zero. Finally, the validity of the control scheme is shown by computer simulation on a two-link robotic manipulator.
FPSA: A Full System Stack Solution for Reconfigurable ReRAM-based NN Accelerator Architecture

Neural Network (NN) accelerators with emerging ReRAM (resistive random access memory) technologies have been investigated as one of the promising solutions to address the memory wall challenge, due to the unique capability of processing-in-memory within ReRAM-crossbar-based processing elements (PEs). However, the high efficiency and high density advantages of ReRAM have not been fully utilized due to the huge communication demands among PEs and the overhead of peripheral circuits. In this paper, we propose a full system stack solution, composed of a reconfigurable architecture design, Field Programmable Synapse Array (FPSA) and its software system including neural synthesizer, temporal-to-spatial mapper, and placement & routing. We highly leverage the software system to make the hardware design compact and efficient. To satisfy the high-performance communication demand, we optimize it with a reconfigurable routing architecture and the placement & routing tool. To improve the computational density, we greatly simplify the PE circuit with the spiking schema and then adopt neural synthesizer to enable the high density computation-resources to support different kinds of NN operations. In addition, we provide spiking memory blocks (SMBs) and configurable logic blocks (CLBs) in hardware and leverage the temporal-to-spatial mapper to utilize them to balance the storage and computation requirements of NN. Owing to the end-to-end software system, we can efficiently deploy existing deep neural networks to FPSA. Evaluations show that, compared to one of state-of-the-art ReRAM-based NN accelerators, PRIME, the computational density of FPSA improves by 31x; for representative NNs, its inference performance can achieve up to 1000x speedup.