Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Public Bikesharing in North America

Public bikesharing, the shared use of a bicycle fleet by the public, is an innovative mobility strategy that has emerged recently in major North American cities. Typically, bikesharing systems position bicycles throughout an urban environment, within a network of docking stations, for immediate access. Bikesharing services with a basis in information technology (IT) began to emerge in North America approximately 5 years ago. Twenty-eight IT-based programs were deployed between 2007 and March 2013. Twenty-four are operational, two are temporarily suspended, and two are now defunct. This study examined the growth potential of bikesharing in North America on the basis of a survey of all 15 IT-based public bikesharing systems in operation in the United States and all four programs deployed in Canada as of January 2012. These programs accounted for 172,070 users and 5,238 bicycles in the United States and for 44,352 users and 6,235 bicycles in Canada. Early operator understanding of North American public bikesharing is reviewed and emerging trends for prospective program start-ups are discussed.
Project Management Accounting: Budgeting, Tracking, and Reporting Costs and Profitability

Praise for Project Management Accounting: Budgeting, Tracking, and Reporting Costs and Profitability "You don't need to be a Six Sigma Black Belt or a CPA to understand the principles and the practical tools presented by Callahan, Stetz, and Brooks in Project Management Accounting. Their approach focuses on sound financial practices that will improve the ROI of your project whether it is your first or your hundred-and-first experience. " —Barry Van Dyck, PhD Director of Degree Programs, Executive Education, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame "Project Management Accounting serves as a solid resource for the project manager seeking to leverage the tools of accounting and finance to maximize the quality of project outcomes. " —Jeffrey J. Lampe, CFA Vice President, Hopewell Ventures "Project Management Accounting clearly communicates fundamental accounting principles and applies them skillfully to the field of project management . even seasoned accounting managers will likely benefit from the application to project management. Talented project managers will find enough finance and accounting tools to transition toward profit and loss responsibility. This book will serve as a handy reference. " —Warren Davidson CEO, Global Source Mfg. "This is a must-read for everyone in business, whether you have made a career in project management, operations, facilities, or anywhere else. Project Management Accounting provides the framework to understand not only how to manage any project, but how the project interacts with the different functions of the company for the overall good. When applied, [this book] will improve the profitability of the company through an understanding of the costs and benefits of each project. " —Michael Alte Management Director, ArvinMeritor Today's project managers need to understand finance and accounting concepts in order to make both informed decisions and a greater contribution to their organization. Written for readers with limited business backgrounds, Project Management Accounting is an invaluable guide to successfully performing projects using sound finance and accounting concepts. With the collected insights of authors and respected industry experts Kevin Callahan, Gary Stetz, and Lynne Brooks, Project Management Accounting offers guidance that project managers can use right away to know how to budget appropriately. Brief in presentation and rich in content, Project Management Accounting equips the leaders of today and tomorrow to hit the ground running with a profound business perspective in their current work and in future projects.
Impact of Obesity in Kidney Diseases

The clinical consequences of obesity on the kidneys, with or without metabolic abnormalities, involve both renal function and structures. The mechanisms linking obesity and renal damage are well understood, including several effector mechanisms with interconnected pathways. Higher prevalence of urinary albumin excretion, sub-nephrotic syndrome, nephrolithiasis, increased risk of developing CKD, and progression to ESKD have been identified as being associated with obesity and having a relevant clinical impact. Moreover, renal replacement therapy and kidney transplantation are also influenced by obesity. Losing weight is key in limiting the impact that obesity produces on the kidneys by reducing albuminuria/proteinuria, declining rate of eGFR deterioration, delaying the development of CKD and ESKD, and improving the outcome of a renal transplant. Weight reduction may also contribute to appropriate control of cardiometabolic risk factors such as hypertension, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and dyslipidemia which may be protective not only in renal damage but also cardiovascular disease. Lifestyle changes, some drugs, and bariatric surgery have demonstrated the benefits.
Sex Differences of Visceral Fat Area and Visceral-to-Subcutaneous Fat Ratio for the Risk of Incident Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background This study aimed to determine the optimal cut-off values of visceral fat area (VFA) and visceral-to-subcutaneous fat ratio (VSR) for predicting incident type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods A total of 10,882 individuals (6,835 men; 4,047 women) free of T2DM at baseline aged between 30 and 79 years who underwent abdominal computed tomography scan between 2012 and 2013 as a part of routine health check-ups were included and followed. VFA, subcutaneous fat area, and VSR on L3 vertebral level were measured at baseline. Results During a median follow-up of 4.8 years, 730 (8.1% for men; 4.3% for women) incident cases of T2DM were identified. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the optimal cut-off values of VFA and VSR for predicting incident T2DM were 130.03 cm2 and 1.08 in men, respectively, and 85.7 cm2 and 0.48 in women, respectively. Regardless of sex, higher VFA and VSR were significantly associated with a higher risk of incident T2DM. Compared with the lowest quartiles of VFA and VSR, the highest quartiles had adjusted odds ratios of 2.62 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.73 to 3.97) and 1.55 (95% CI, 1.14 to 2.11) in men, respectively, and 32.49 (95% CI, 7.42 to 142.02) and 11.07 (95% CI, 3.89 to 31.50) in women, respectively. Conclusion Higher VFA and VSR at baseline were independent risk factors for the development of T2DM. Sex-specific reference values for visceral fat obesity (VFA ≥130 cm2 or VSR ≥1.0 in men; VFA ≥85 cm2 or VSR ≥0.5 in women) are proposed for the prediction of incident T2DM.
Planar Accelerometer Configurations

Numerous accelerometer configurations have been proposed and implemented by previous researches to determine parameters of the motion of the body to which the accelerometers are attached. To date, there has been no study of the geometric requirements of such configurations. This paper presents the requirements for minimal configurations for the case of general planar motion.
MicroRNA Member TaMIR5062 in T. Aestivum Involves Plant Drought and Salt Acclimation via Regulating Physiological Processes Associated with Water Retention and ROS Homeostasis

microRNA members negatively regulate target genes via posttranscriptional cleavage or translation repression mechanisms, impacting on plant growth, development, and stress response. In this study, we characterized TaMIR5062, a miRNA member in T. aestivum, in mediating drought and salt responses. TaMIR5062 interacts with six target genes, including two encoding calmodulins, three coding for 4-oxalocrotonate tautomerases, and one for pumilio-family RNA binding domain protein. The TaMIR5062 transcripts were gradually upregulated in plants upon 27-h drought and salt treatments, whose induced expression under stress treatments was restored following the normal recovery condition. Tobacco (N. tabacum) lines transformed with TaMIR5062 modified growth traits under drought and salt treatments; the lines overexpressing miRNA (i.e., Sen 1 and Sen 2) improved growth traits (i.e., biomass, leaf area, and root length) whereas those with knockdown (Anti 1) alleviated growth features compared with wild type. These results suggested the critical role of TaMIR5062 in improving plant drought and salt tolerance. In line with growth traits in stress-challenged lines, improved leaf water retention (i.e., promoted stomata closing, water losing rate, and osmolytes) and ROS-associated parameters (higher SOD, CAT, and POD activities, etc.) were shown in Sen 1 and Sen 2 under stress conditions. Antioxidant enzyme (AE) genes NtMnSOD1, NtCAT, and NtPOD9 encoding SOD, CAT, and POD, respectively, enhanced transcription in Sen 1 and downregulated expression in Anti 1 challenged with drought and salt stress. These results suggested the improved ROS homeostasis mediated by TaMIR5062 associates modified expression of distinct AE genes. Quantities of genes functional into categories “biological process”, “cellular component”, and “molecular function” contribute to TaMIR5062-mediated osmotic stress adaptation by regulating distinct biological pathways (i.e., protein folding) and metabolisms (i.e., photosynthesis and isoprenoid biosynthesis), which impact on plant osmotic-regulation, ROS homeostasis, and stress defensiveness underlying miRNA regulation. TaMIR5062 is a valuable target for molecular breeding of drought-tolerant crop cultivars.
MAC scheme for hybrid return link in a DVB RCS+M railway scenario

This paper addresses the return channel resource allocation in a DVB-RCS mobile system. As introduced in the new version of the DVB-RCS standard, the possibility of using a continuous carrier operation mode has been evaluated proposing a mechanism able to switch the mobile terminals from a classical MF-TDMA to a continuous carrier access scheme mode. The paper shows results that can provide some guidelines to the satellite operators that want to adopt in their satellite system this hybrid mode. (5 pages)
Negative labeling of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs): the experience of rBST.

Voluntary negative labeling may provide a solution to the current controversy over labeling of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in agriculture. The U.S. experience in the dairy sector with milk from cows treated with recombinant bovine somatotropin offers an example of how a voluntary negative labeling strategy evolved.
Neural network-based estimation of power electronic waveforms

Artificial neural network techniques are indicating a lot of promise for application in power electronic systems. So far, these applications are mainly confined to control, identification, and diagnostic problems, but the application in estimation is fairly new. The paper explores the application of neural networks for estimation of power electronic waveforms. The distorted line current waveforms in a single-phase thyristor AC controller and a three-phase diode rectifier that feeds an inverter-machine load have been taken into consideration, and neural networks have been trained to estimate the total RMS current, fundamental RMS current, displacement factor, and power factor. The performance of the neural network-based estimators has been compared with the actual values, and excellent performance is indicated. Neural network-based estimation has the usual advantages of very fast and simultaneous response of all the outputs, noise, and fault-tolerant performance and can be easily implemented in dedicated analog or digital hardware chips, which can coexist with digital signal processor (DSP) and/or application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips. The estimation techniques can be extended to more complex waveforms in power electronics.
Present Status and Future Projections of Electrical Energy in Turkey

In Turkey, electricity is generated from thermal, hydro, wind and geothermal power plants. There is no commercial nuclear power plant yet. Turkey’s energy demand has grown rapidly almost every year and, it is expected to continue growing. According to the high scenario, the total installed capacity and gross electricity generation of Turkey will reach to 91,827 MW and 450,152 GWh by the year 2017, respectively. On the other hand, net electricity consumption of the country will increase to 355,600 GWh. For meeting this rising energy demand, Turkey gives a great importance to the private sector investments. In this paper, present situation of Turkey’s electrical energy and future projections are investigated in order to give some help to energy planners in the country. Key Words : Electricity consumption, electricity generation, future projections, installed capacity, Turkey.
A Multi-Modal Robotic Gripper with a Reconfigurable Base: Improving Dexterous Manipulation without Compromising Grasping Efficiency

Design optimization can lead to the development of robotic end-effectors with optimal grasping and dexterous, in-hand manipulation capabilities. In particular, the finger link dimensions have been identified as one of the primary design parameters that affects the performance of a robotic gripper. The ability of a gripper to manipulate objects is mainly attributed to the interaction between a set of coordinated fingers. This coordination is primarily affected by the inter-finger distance. This paper presents a framework for finding an appropriate distance between the finger bases of a two-fingered robotic gripper so as to increase the dexterous manipulation workspace for a range of object sizes. To do that, a parallel multi-start search algorithm is employed to solve a multiparametric optimization problem. The results demonstrate that different distances lead to completely different workspace shapes and that the ratio defined by the area of the optimized workspace (nominator) and the union of all workspaces (denominator) is always significantly less than 1. This means that the area of the union of all workspaces is always larger than the area of the "optimized" workspace. Based on these results a multi-modal robotic gripper with movable finger bases was developed. The proposed gripper can vary the distance between the finger bases online and it offers an increased dexterous manipulation workspace without sacrificing grasping performance.
Moving Asian American History from the Margins to the Middle in Elementary Social Studies Classrooms

This article describes how three Asian American elementary teachers in Texas reflected on the absence of Asian American histories in their own educational experiences, which later inspired them to teach Asian American histories in their classrooms. The teachers’ lessons about Asian American history required them to first (re)define the term Asian American with their students, and the teachers also (re)defined what it meant to be American. Ultimately, they promoted cultural citizenship, which is more inclusive and critical than traditional forms of citizenship that are defined by individual acts like voting and following rules. Cultural citizenship promotes difference as a resource; emphasizes the need to respect and humanize others; includes the voices, experiences, and perspectives of People of Color; and emphasizes human rights and agency. Asian American children’s literature was an essential tool in disrupting exclusionary histories and notions of citizenship as equal to whiteness, and the teachers' work demonstrates how educators can move Asian Americans from the margins to the middle of social studies instruction to support better teaching of U.S. history and democracy.
Leadership Style in World of Warcraft Raid Guilds

This study shows how guild leaders in World of Warcraft (WOW) and leaders of real life organizations compare in terms of leadership style. This comparison is used to shed some light on leadership in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs). 12 interviews were conducted, six with leaders of successful WOW raiding guilds and six with leaders of various real life organizations. The Leadership Grid was used to analyze and compare the different leadership styles. The leadership style of the guild leaders can be described as “Janus-faced”. It uses both “County-Club Management” putting human needs first and “Authority-Compliance Management” focusing on efficiency and results depending on the situation. To secure the success of the raid a leadership style with focus on results is used during the actual raid. During the every-day life, outside of the actual raid, a leadership style concerned about human needs is chosen to be able to solve social problems and build strong social relationships using only digital media for communication.
Four-port scattering matrix for dual-polarized wave transmission and reflection network

Co-directional and bi-directional, co-polarized and cross-polarized characteristics of a lossless, matched four-port transmission network have been examined. For example, an arbitrary-inclined dielectric plate in a circular or square waveguide supporting dual-orthogonal linearly polarized modes has been analyzed, and a coordinate system is defined to apply for co-directional and bi-directional propagating circularly polarized waves. The matrix elements are polarization state and network dependent. Instead of using the terms network reciprocity and matrix symmetry, the matrix elements are discussed in terms of ratios to describe co-directional, bi-directional, co-polarized, cross-polarized, and polarization discrimination properties. Some of the ratios are equal to 1/spl ang/0/spl deg/ and others 1/spl ang/180/spl deg/. Applications of this analysis are described. If the properties of the four-port network are frequency dependent and integrated over a bandwidth, and/or time dependent and integrated temporally, the scattering matrix formulation is not valid due to the presence of a randomly polarized component; in these cases a Mueller matrix is used to characterize the network.
Radar Visual Inertial Odometry and Radar Thermal Inertial Odometry: Robust Navigation even in Challenging Visual Conditions

In this paper, we propose to fuse radar measurements with Visual Inertial Odometry (RVIO) or Thermal Inertial Odometry (RTIO). FMCW radar sensor data enables to estimate the 3D ego velocity independent of the visual conditions. Fusion with VIO or TIO heavily improves the robustness in challenging conditions such as darkness, direct sunlight or fog.Specifically, we propose RRxIO: An extension to the state of the art filter based VIO framework Robust Visual Inertial Odometry (ROVIO) to fuse radar sensor data. Due to the drift free 3D radar ego velocity estimates, scale errors are reduced and only a small number of features needs to be tracked to achieve good results. This yields faster runtimes while outperforming state of the art VIO frameworks regarding accuracy. RVIO is able to bridge phases of degraded or even no visual features resulting in a low cost system even for poor visual conditions. RTIO is robust even in environments with small temperature gradients and bridges phases of no thermal images caused by Non-Uniformity Corrections (NUCs). We evaluated our system with various experiments in different environments and visual conditions. Comparison to other state of the art dual domain approaches including radar-inertial, visual-inertial and thermal-inertial proves superior performance of our approach regarding accuracy and processing time.
Research of Highway Alignment Design Safety Evaluation Using Curvature Change Rate

Aiming at the disadvantages of traditional design method of highway alignment and existent problems including subjectivity, reliability index, comprehensive, applicability etcetera in highway alignment evaluation with running speed. On the basis of the “safety first” idea for highway design, the concept of change rate of curvature has been proposed. Curvature change rate is the clear factor impacting on road traffic safety. Road quality evaluation standard is established based on the curvature change rate and its application method in highway alignment design method. The method not only effectively evaluates highway alignment quality, but also may be used as the basis for the selection index of highway geometric design.
The direct and indirect impact of product quality on financial performance: A causal model

The ‘quality–financial performance’ relationship has been studied extensively in the managerial literature, yet no firm conclusion has been reached regarding its nature. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this study proposes a new model for the ‘quality–financial performance’ relationship. The proposed model was empirically tested using the structural equation method and data gathered from 133 Tunisian companies in the plastic transformation sector. The results showed no direct link between product quality and financial performance; however, they did show an indirect link that was attributable to intermediate variables.
Time series-based prediction of fade dynamics and shadowing correlation statistics for navigation systems

In this paper, a physical-statistical approach is used in combination with time series simulations, which rely directly upon distributions of physical parameters and simple electromagnetic theory to predict fade dynamics and shadowing correlation statistics for navigation systems. In the former case, a UTD-based ray-tracing is used with a series of roadside buildings, randomly generated according to known statistical distributions for building height and spacing, street width, etc. When dealing with shadowing correlation statistics for a given satellite constellation, the distribution of the shadowing correlation coefficient is then obtained by deriving time series of first and second elevation angles as well as of azimuth separation, using an orbit generator as input.
Analytical analysis of IF-penalties for different FSK and CPFSK detection schemes

Due to the nonnegligible laser linewidth in coherent optical systems, IF bandwidths larger than the Nyquist signaling rate are required. This causes additional sensitivity penalties, which are evaluated for three types of coherent optical FSK (frequency-shift-keying) detection; two-filter-, delay-line discriminator-, and phase-diversity detection. Sensitivity as a function of the relative IF-bandwidth is given in a fully analytical form and confirmed by experimental measurements. >