Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Better Than Good: Three Dimensions of Plan Quality

The literature suggests that plan quality should be distinguished as a type of plan evaluation not only for its focus on content but also for its communicative ends. This distinction is important for expanding the scope of plan quality evaluation, but it also highlights ambiguity about what we mean by “quality. ” As a way to address this ambiguity we propose three dimensions of plan quality: documentation (comprehensiveness), policy focus (strength), and discourse (persuasiveness). We also propose a set of four principles for evaluating the strength of policy focus: maximize stability, minimize uncertainty, integrate public priorities across jurisdictions, and accommodate flexibility.
When to use single-inhaler triple therapy in COPD: a practical approach for primary care health care professionals

While single-inhaler triple therapy (SITT) devices were not available when the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease strategy and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines were developed, two devices are now available in the UK. This paper offers practical, patient-focused advice to optimize placement of SITT in the management of COPD. A survey of UK health care professionals (HCPs) identified issues around, and attitudes toward, SITT, which informed a multidisciplinary expert panel’s discussions. The survey confirmed the need to clarify the place of SITT in COPD management. The panel suggested three criteria, any one of which identifies a high-risk patient where escalation to triple therapy from monotherapy or double combination treatment is appropriate: 1) at least two exacerbations treated with oral corticosteroids, antibiotics, or both in the previous year; 2) at least one severe exacerbation that required hospital admission in the previous year; 3) one exacerbation a year on a repeated basis for 2 consecutive years. Appropriate non-pharmacological management is essential for all patients and should be considered before stepping up treatment. Regular review is essential. During each review, HCPs should consider stepping treatment up or down. If patients exacerbate despite adhering to triple therapy, an individualized approach should be considered if the inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) confers benefit or causes side effects. In this situation, the blood eosinophil count could aid decision making. ICSs should be continued when the history suggests that asthma overlaps with COPD. Training, counseling, and education should be individualized. HCPs should consider referral: 1) when there is limited response to treatment and persistent exacerbations; 2) where there is diagnostic uncertainty or suspected comorbidity; 3) whenever they feel “out of their depth. ” Overall, the panel concurred that when used correctly, SITT has the potential to improve adherence, symptom control, and quality of life, and reduce exacerbations. Studies using real-world evidence need to confirm these benefits.
University of Birmingham On Blaming and Punishing Psychopaths

: Current legal practice holds that a diagnosis of psychopathy does not remove criminal responsibility. In contrast, many philosophers and legal experts are increasingly persuaded by evidence from experimental psychology and neuroscience indicating moral and cognitive deficits in psychopaths and have argued that they should be excused from moral responsibility. However, having opposite views concerning psychopaths’ moral responsibility, on the one hand, and criminal responsibility, on the other, seems unfortunate given the assumption that the law should, at least to some extent, react to the same desert-based considerations as do ascriptions of moral responsibility. In response, Stephen Morse has argued that the law should indeed be reformed so as to excuse those with severe psychopathy from blame, but that psychopaths who have committed criminal offences should still be subject to some legal repercussions such as civil commitment. We argue that consequentialist and norm-expressivist considerations analogous to those that support punishing psychopaths, or at least retaining some legal liability, might also be drawn on in favour of holding psychopaths morally accountable.
Dedicated to Professor Lucian B adescu on the occasion of his 70th birthday ON A CLASS OF ALGEBRAIC SURFACES CONSTRUCTED FROM ARRANGEMENTS OF LINES

Covering spaces are a fundamental construction in complex geometry. For a given connected complex manifold Z, a nite branched covering of Z is by de nition a nite proper holomorphic mapping h : Y → Z of an irreducible normal complex space Y onto Z. The rami cation locus R is the hypersurface in Y consisting of the points around which h is not biholomorphic. The image of R under h is the branching locus B, which is a hypersurface in Z. The restriction h0 : Y \ h−1(B) → Z \ B of h is a nite unbranched covering. The Grauert-Remmert correspondence h ↔ h0 gives an equivalence between nite unbranched coverings of Z \B and nite coverings of Z branched at most at B, in the holomorphic category, cf. [24], and further on in the algebraic category, as shown by O. Zariski [42], cf. [38]. The topological version is due to R. Fox [23]. In this paper we aim to revisit and enlarge two classes of algebraic surfaces that appear as desingularizations of branched coverings of the projective plane P2. The particularity of the construction is that the coverings are Galois and nite abelian and the rami cation locus consists of a union of lines. From this deceivingly simple situation one obtains special, sophisticated surfaces of general type S, such as the examples with vanishing geometric genus and
Abimbola Omidiora Working Towards an ITIL Compliant Configuration Management

Author Title Number of Pages Date Abimbola Omidiora Working towards an ITIL Compliant Configuration Management 68 pages + 6 appendices 10 May 2012 Degree Master’s Degree Degree Programme Master’s Degree in Industrial Management Instructor Marjatta Huhta, DSc (Tech) The objective of this Thesis is to suggest how to implement an ITIL compliant configuration management based on a set of ITIL-oriented recommendations tailored for the case company. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a de facto standard to manage complex IT systems which comprises best practices from IT Service Management (ITSM). Configuration Management (CM) is an integral part of ITIL processes designed to streamline IT management by systematizing IT environment, and thus increase the reliability of the company IT system. A new, well-defined process is expected to serve as a store-house for the company IT infrastructure assets, provide impact analysis of the changes, and offer the right information to ICT users at the right time. To develop the recommendations for such a process, this Thesis first reviews the relevant ITIL literature on Configuration Management and Configuration Management Database (CMDB). The literature analysis is then followed by data collection via a case study research method. Subsequently, the obtained results are compared to demonstrate and analyze the differences between the current case company practices and the CM-compliant process suggested by ITIL. As its outcome, this Thesis proposes a set of recommendations and managerial implications, based on the literature review and findings from the case company that would help the company during the implementation of a new, pragmatic, ITIL-compliant Configuration Management process. These recommendations include a proposal for building a CMDB, as well draw attention to the areas that deserve special emphasis during the CMDB implementation.
Zermelo-Markov-Dubins problem and extensions in marine navigation*

This note accounts for optimal control techniques applied to marine navigation for seismic acquisition. More precisely, the goal is to gain time in turns and alignment maneuvers. A model for the kinematics of the marine vessel and sea current is proposed, then extended to include the evolution of the shape of the towed underwater cables during the maneuver. Two minimum time problems are stated, depending on whether the shape of the streamers is in the model or not. The simpler case is the so-called Zermelo-Markov-Dubins problem, recently studied in the literature. It generalizes the classical Dubins problem. The complete model is not standard, and preliminary analysis of controllability and of properties of minimum time trajectories are given.
Are Several Village-based Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) Necessary for Conserving Coastal Resources in a Municipality? : A Case of Municipality of Gonzaga, Cagayan, Philippines

This research examined the necessity of establishing several village-based MPAs as management strategy in conserving coastal resources in a single municipality through comparative assessment of the 2 marine protected areas in the municipality of Gonzaga, Cagayan, Philippines. For data collection, key informant interview was conducted on the establishment of MPAs and clarification on its current conditions. In addition, a household survey in the 2 MPA sites (San Jose and Casitan) was accomplished in March 2015 through one-on-one interview conducted by trained enumerators. A total of 250 respondents were selected by random sampling from the List of Registered Household Heads. Socio-economic conditions, fishing profiles, and knowledge, awareness and approval on the presence of MPAs were elicited using structured questionnaire. Results showed that development process on the establishment of respective MPAs and its management structures is almost the same in both villages. It was noted however, that the major differences in the 2 villages include: size (land area) and location with respect to marine resources, income level and discrepancy, occupational structure, fishing style and knowledge on the purpose of MPA. Considering these variances, the study concludes that establishing MPAs situated in respective villages is an ideal approach for coastal resource conservation in the municipality. Difficulty in consensus building and free riding can be minimized when residents managed their own resources. Inhabitants of the same village has higher intensity of socio-economic and cultural similarities so management will be easier especially when done in voluntary manner. Lone MPA encompassing several villages within a municipality may lead to demanding consultations and resource user’s conflicts therefore needs a more structured governance. Considering these social parameters is important in promoting sustainable use of resources through MPAs.
Synthetic lethality of a cell-penetrating anti-RAD51 antibody in PTEN-deficient melanoma and glioma cells

PTEN is a tumor suppressor that is highly mutated in a variety of human cancers. Recent studies have suggested a link between PTEN loss and deficiency in the non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway of DNA double strand break (DSB) repair. As a means to achieve synthetic lethality in this context, we tested the effect of 3E10, a cell-penetrating autoantibody that inhibits RAD51, a key factor in the alternative pathway of DSB repair, homology dependent repair (HDR). We report here that treatment of PTEN-deficient glioma cells with 3E10 leads to an accumulation of DNA damage causing decreased proliferation and increased cell death compared to isogenic PTEN proficient controls. Similarly, 3E10 was synthetically lethal to a series of PTEN-deficient, patient-derived primary melanoma cell populations. Further, 3E10 was found to synergize with a small molecule inhibitor of the ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related (ATR) protein, a DNA damage checkpoint kinase, in both PTEN-deficient glioma cells and primary melanoma cells. These results point to a targeted synthetic lethal strategy to treat PTEN-deficient cancers through a combination designed to disrupt both DNA repair and DNA damage checkpoint signaling.
A nutritional and rumen ecological evaluation of the biorefinery by-product alfalfa silage cake supplemented with Scrophularia striata extract using the rumen simulation technique.

BACKGROUND By-products of the food production chain are gaining importance as feedstuffs for ruminants. Alfalfa silage cake (AC) is an unexploited biorefinery by-product rich in fiber. The aim of this study was to test AC, using an in vitro rumen simulation technique (Rusitec), for its suitability as a fiber source for cattle. Three diets with similar crude protein (CP) content were formulated; they contained the biorefinery by-product AC, the original alfalfa silage (OA), or a fiber-rich hay. As fibrous feedstuffs are known to promote ruminal methanogenesis, we additionally tested a plant extract of Scrophularia striata (60 mg g-1 dry matter) for its methane mitigation and antimicrobial properties. RESULTS Diets containing AC displayed lower nutrient degradability, with the largest difference in CP degradation (P < 0.001). Sequencing of microbial DNA revealed several effects of the diet and of the addition of S. striata extract, but no inhibitory effect on methanogens. Likewise, methane production, which, in general, is lower with AC and OA diets, was not inhibited by S. striata extract, while the short chain fatty acid (SCFA) profiles were unaffected. CONCLUSION Although CP degradation of the AC diet was lower, degradation of the fiber fractions was similar among diets. According to the present results, AC can be used as fibrous feedstuff for ruminants. Supplementation with S. striata extract did not inhibit methane formation. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.
Resilience by Reconfiguration: Exploiting Heterogeneity in Robot Teams

We propose a method to maintain high resource availability in a networked heterogeneous multi-robot system subject to resource failures. In our model, resources such as sensing and computation are available on robots. The robots are engaged in a joint task using these pooled resources. When a resource on a particular robot becomes unavailable (e.g., a sensor ceases to function), the system automatically reconfigures so that the robot continues to have access to this resource by communicating with other robots. Specifically, we consider the problem of selecting edges to be modified in the system’s communication graph after a resource failure has occurred. We define a metric that allows us to characterize the quality of the resource distribution in the network represented by the communication graph. Upon a resource becoming unavailable due to failure, we reconFigure the network so that the resource distribution is brought as close to the maximal resource distribution as possible without a large change in the number of active inter-robot communication links. Our approach uses mixed integer semi-definite programming to achieve this goal. We employ a simulated annealing method to compute a spatial formation that satisfies the inter-robot distances imposed by the topology, along with other constraints. Our method can compute a communication topology, spatial formation, and formation change motion planning in a few seconds. We validate our method in simulation and real-robot experiments with a team of seven quadrotors.
Postoperative Venous Thromboembolism after Extracranial Otologic Surgery

Objective To determine the incidence of postoperative venous thromboembolism (VTE) in adults undergoing otologic surgery. Study Design Cross-sectional retrospective study. Setting Single tertiary academic center. Subjects and Methods Adults undergoing nononcologic, extracranial otologic surgery from August 2009 to December 2016. Patients with postoperative diagnosis VTE codes were identified. Imaging and clinical documents were searched for VTE evidence within the first 30 postoperative days. Methods of thromboprophylaxis were documented, and Caprini risk scores were calculated. Results In total, 1213 otologic surgeries were evaluated. No postoperative VTE events were identified (0/1268). Mean age was 51.0 ± 17.3 years (range, 18.1-93.4 years). Average length of surgery was 136.0 ± 79.0 minutes (range, 5-768 minutes). The average Caprini score in all patients was 4.0 ± 1.7 (range, 1-15). Eighty-five percent of patients had a Caprini score ≥3, the threshold at which chemoprophylaxis has been recommended in general surgery patients by the American College of Chest Physicians 2012 guidelines. Six patients had documented preoperative chemoprophylaxis and a Caprini score of 4.8 ± 1.7. This was not significantly different from that of patients who did not receive preoperative chemoprophylaxis (t test, P = .3). The literature would estimate a rate of 3.7% VTE in adults with similar Caprini scores undergoing general surgery procedures with no VTE prophylaxis. Conclusion The Caprini risk assessment model may overestimate VTE risk in patients undergoing extracranial otologic surgery. Postoperative VTE following otologic surgery is rare, even in patients traditionally considered moderate or high risk. Chemoprophylaxis guidelines in this group should be balanced against the potential risk of increased intraoperative bleeding and its associated effects on surgical visualization and morbidity.
Are Emotionally Intelligent People More Creative? A Meta-Analysis of the Emotional Intelligence–Creativity Link

Although emotional intelligence (EI) is positively associated with beneficial outcomes such as higher job performance and better psychological well-being, its relationship with creativity is uncertain. To assess an overall correlation between EI and creativity, in the present study a meta-analysis of 96 correlations obtained from 75 studies with a total sample size of 18,130 was conducted. The results uncovered a statistically significant moderate correlation (r = 0.32, 95% CI, 0.26–0.38, p < 0.01) between these two constructs. Moderation analyses revealed that the link was modulated by the type of creativity/EI measure and sample characteristics, such as gender, employment status, and culture. Specifically, the link was stronger when EI and creativity were measured using subjective reports (EI: trait EI; creativity: creative behavior and creative personality) compared to objective tests (EI: ability EI; creativity: divergent thinking test, remote associate test, and creative product). In addition, the link was stronger in males compared to females, in employees compared to students, and in East Asian samples compared to Western European and American samples. Theoretical implications and future directions are discussed in detail.
Demographic factors and religiosity dimensions as predictors of Islamic ethical work behavior in Brunei

Religion has always been argued as a cultural factor that influences behavior. Similarly, previous studies had shown that demographic factors such as age, gender, education level, and work experience were linked to behavior. This present study examined if demographic factors and religiosity dimensions could predict ethical behavior, specifically Islamic ethical work behavior, in Brunei. This study used an existing data set, which had been employed with a different approach and research questions. A total of 370 respondents were analyzed. Model analysis involved the use of binomial logistic regression. It correctly classified 77% of cases. The result showed that demographic factors were not significant predictors of Islamic ethical work behavior. However, all religiosity dimensions were significant predictors of Islamic ethical work behavior, providing support for religion influencing behavior in the workplace—to a certain extent, in the society—although the degree of effects varied, suggesting opportunities for further research. The findings were discussed, and limitations and recommendations were then presented.
Service Capacity Enhanced Task Offloading and Resource Allocation in Multi-Server Edge Computing Environment

An edge computing environment features multiple edge servers and multiple service clients. In this environment, mobile service providers can offload client-side computation tasks from service clients' devices onto edge servers to reduce service latency and power consumption experienced by the clients. A critical issue that has yet to be properly addressed is how to allocate edge computing resources to achieve two optimization objectives: 1) minimize the service cost measured by the service latency and the power consumption experienced by service clients; and 2) maximize the service capacity measured by the number of service clients that can offload their computation tasks in the long term. This paper formulates this long-term problem as a stochastic optimization problem and solves it with an online algorithm based on Lyapunov optimization. This NPhard problem is decomposed into three sub-problems, which are then solved with a suite of techniques. The experimental results show that our approach significantly outperforms two baseline approaches.
Impact of Public Spending on Human Capital on Benin's Economic Growth

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of public spending on human capital on economic growth. It is the human capital production function of Barro (1996) that was inspired for the specification of the model of this work. The study covered the period from 1980 to 2014. The work took into account the variables related to health, those related to education, economic policy and phenomena beyond the actions of governments. Thus, we have included in the model GDP per capita, public expenditure on health per capita, life expectancy at birth, investment expenditure on health (in the absence of sufficient data on health infrastructure coverage). , gross primary and secondary enrollment rates, population growth rate, openness of the economy and average rainfall. As a result of our work, these variables account for 98% overall and significantly the variations in GDP per capita over the long term and 83% for the short term. From the results of our econometric estimations, it appears that: In the long term, an increase in public health expenditure of 1% will lead to an increase in the Gross Domestic Product of 0.17%, all else being equal. In the short term, the effect on economic growth of the same change (1%) in public health spending would be 1.07%. However, the short-term effect of these expenditures on GDP is not significant. Keyword: Impact, Human Capital, Growth, Benin
Flexural Properties and Elastic Modulus of Different Esthetic Restorative Materials: Evaluation after Exposure to Acidic Drink

Background Acidic beverages, such as soft drinks, can produce erosion of resin composites. The purpose of the present study was to investigate mechanical properties of different esthetic restorative materials after exposure to acidic drink. Methods Nine different composites were tested: nanofilled (Filtek Supreme XTE, 3M ESPE), microfilled hybrid (G-ænial, GC Corporation), nanohybrid Ormocer (Admira Fusion, Voco), microfilled (Gradia Direct, GC Corporation), microfilled hybrid (Essentia, GC Corporation), nanoceramic (Ceram.X Universal, Dentsply De Trey), supranano spherical hybrid (Estelite Asteria, Tokuyama Dental Corporation), flowable microfilled hybrid (Gradia Direct Flo, GC Corporation), and bulk fill flowable (SureFil SDR flow, Dentsply De Trey). Thirty specimens of each esthetic restorative material were divided into 3 subgroups (n=10): specimens of subgroup 1 were used as control, specimens of subgroup 2 were immersed in 50 ml of Coca Cola for 1 week, and specimens of subgroup 3 were immersed in 50 ml of Coca Cola for 1 month. Flexural strength and elastic modulus were measured for each material with an Instron Universal Testing Machine. Data were submitted to statistical analysis. Results After distilled water immersion, nanofilled composite showed the highest value of both flexural strength and elastic modulus, but its flexural values decreased after acidic drink immersion. No significant differences were reported between distilled water and acidic drink immersion for all other materials tested both for flexural and for elastic modulus values. Conclusions Even if nanofilled composite showed highest results, acidic drink immersion significantly reduced flexural values.