Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The discrepancy between goal expectation and goal achievement of ISO 9000 internal benefits: evidence from Egypt

This paper provides two reliable and valid constructs, 'human resources development' and 'cost reduction', for measuring ISO 9000 expected internal benefits. In a sample of 50 Egyptian certified plants, expected benefit, perceived achievement and the difference (gap) between them are presented. The study also investigates the effects of plant characteristics on these benefits and gaps. Findings support the existence of significant gaps between the level of expectation and the level of perceived achievement of all goals. Egyptian firms did not get what they asked for when applying for ISO 9000 certification. The findings also reveal that none of the plant's characteristics has any significant effect on its level of expectation and/or perceived achievement. Disappointment appears generally among all manufacturing units and among all types of certification. Finally, the use of goal expectation as predictor of goal achievement was confirmed for each of the two internal benefit groups.
Reply to 'Comments on 'Linearization Techniques for Nth-Order Sensor Models in MOS VLSI technology''

For the original article see IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. , vol.38, no.12, p.1439-50 (1991). The author notes that the double-MOSFET method that was discussed in the above comment by Z. Czarnul (ibid., vol.39, no.9, p.677, 1992) is a design methodology relating the four-transistor circuit to a pair of voltage-controlled floating resistors and as such provides a systematic way to convert active-RC prototypes to MOSFET-C counterparts. Furthermore, it establishes necessary topological conditions that must exist in the active-RC prototype for a successful conversion. The author takes issue with the impression given by the commenter that he did not give proper credit to the latter's work. >
Functional characterization of the novel thyroid hormone transporter SLC17A4.

Background A recent genome-wide association study identified the SLC17A4 locus associated with circulating free T4 concentrations. Human SLC17A4, being widely expressed in the gastro-intestinal tract, was characterized as a novel T3 and T4 transporter. However, apart from the cellular uptake of T3 and T4, transporter characteristics are currently unknown. Here, we delineated basic transporter characteristics of this novel thyroid hormone (TH) transporter. Methods We performed a broad range of well-established TH transport studies in COS-1 cells transiently over-expressing SLC17A4. We studied cellular TH uptake in various incubation buffers, TH efflux, and the inhibitory effects of different TH metabolites and known inhibitors of other TH transporters on SLC17A4-mediated TH transport. Finally, we determined the effect of tunicamycin, a pharmacological inhibitor of N-linked glycosylation, and targeted mutations in Asn residues on SLC17A4 function. Results SLC17A4 induced the cellular uptake of T3 and T4 by ~4-times, and of reverse (r)T3 by 1.5-times over control cells. The uptake of T4 by SLC17A4 was Na+- and Cl--independent, stimulated by low extracellular pH, and reduced by various iodothyronines and metabolites thereof, particularly those that contain at least 3 iodine moieties irrespective of the presence of modification at the alanine side-chain. None of the classical TH transporter inhibitors studied attenuated SLC17A4-mediated TH transport. SLC17A4 also facilitates the efflux of T3 and T4, and to a lesser extent of 3,3'-T2. Immunoblot studies on lysates of transfected cells cultured in absence or presence of tunicamycin indicated that SLC17A4 is subject to N-linked glycosylation. Complementary mutational studies identified Asn66, Asn75 and Asn90, which are located in extracellular loop 1, as primary targets. Conclusions Our studies show that SLC17A4 facilitates the transport of T3 and T4, and less efficiently rT3 and 3,3'-T2. Further studies should reveal the physiological role of SLC17A4 in TH regulation.
Mutual coupling between two ports of dual slot-coupled circular patch antennas

The mutual coupling between two ports of dual slot-coupled circular patch antennas is studied using the spectral domain moment approach. The calculated results agree well with experimental ones. It is clarified that the mutual coupling between two ports decreases as the slot length decreases and the slot offsets are increased. The resonant frequency of the patch antenna should be as close to the resonant frequency of the dominant mode of the circular microstrip disk resonator as possible in order to obtain a CP (circularly polarized) wave with a good axial ratio. <<ETX>>
Design and Analysis of 2D Photonic Crystal Waveguides for High Coupling Efficiency

In this paper we have proposed a photonic crystal structure to enhance the coupling efficiency between photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) and the conventional dielectric waveguide. The proposed waveguide characterized with employing the taper structure and varying the holes’ radius in the taper. Two-dimensional (2D) finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method has been used to analyze the structure. The simulation results show that the coupling efficiency can be achieved as high as 81.6% at the wavelength of 1.55um.
EXTRACTING TOPICS FROM A TV CHANNEL'S FACEBOOK PAGE USING CONTEXTUALIZED DOCUMENT EMBEDDING

Abstract. Topic models extract meaningful words from text collection, allowing for a better understanding of data. However, the results are often not coherent enough, and thus harder to interpret. Adding more contextual knowledge to the model can enhance coherence. In recent years, neural network-based topic models become available, and the development level of the neural model has developed thanks to BERT-based representation. In this study, we suggest a model extract news on the Aljazeera Facebook page. Our approach combines the neural model (ProdLDA) and the Arabic Pre-training BERT transformer model (AraBERT). Therefore, the proposed model produces more expressive and consistent topics than ELMO using different topic model algorithms (ProdLDA and LDA) with 0.883 in topic coherence.
The synergy of patterns vs. processes at a community level: a successful mechanism underlying subtropical native forests along the urban riparian zone

Riparian zone possesses ecological position with biota differing from aquatic body and terrestrial lands, and plant-animal coevolution may be the main factor for the framework of riparian vegetation. In the current study, the riparian plant community patterns along the subtropical mountainous riparian belts of Chongqing, China, was proposed to be regulated by co-evolving with the avifauna through propagule-dispersal process. The results show that: 1) the forests’ species composition and vertical layers are dominated by native catkins of Moraceae species with adapting traits of small and numerous propagules to frugivorous bird species, revealing an evolutionary trend different from the one in the terrestrial plant climax communities in the subtropics, and which forms a biological base for the plant-bird co-evolution; 2) there are significant associations of plant-bird species clusters, i.e., four plant-bird co-evolution groups (PBs) were divided out according to the plant species’ dominance and growth form relating to the fruit-dispersing birds’ abundance; 3) the correlation intensity within PB ranks as PBⅠ>Ⅱ>Ⅳ>Ⅲ, indicating the PBⅠis the leading type of co-evolution mainly shaped by the dominant plant species; 4) the PB correlation may be a key node between patterns vs. process of a riparian ecosystem responsible for the native vegetation, or even the ecosystem health. The results theoretically contribute new evidence to plant-animal co-evolution interpreting the forests’ characters in riparian environments, and urban planner and managers may simulate the native forests for restoring a more stable riparian biota, a better functioning ecosystem in subtropical zone.
Extraction Method of Version Number in Engineering Drawing

In manufacturing industry, engineering drawing is used to facilitate the process of designing a product. In real situations, engineering drawing is usually in large quantities and not in order. In the process of designing a product, it produced many drawing. This paper describes a research and development of an extraction technique in the field of engineering drawing. Non-geometry information that will be emphasis in this research is version number.
CCMP - Climate Change Modelling and Policy

Summary This paper is based on empirical research on a taxonomy of technologicalenvironmental innovations. It draws on a databank with over 500 examples of newtechnologies (materials, products, processes and practices) which come with benignenvironmental effects. The approaches applied to interpreting the datasets areinnovation life cycle analysis, and product chain analysis. Main results include thefollowing:1. Innovations merely aimed at eco-efficienc y do in most cases not represent significantcontributions to improving the properties of the industrial metabolism. This can betterbe achieved by technologies that fulfill the criteria of eco-consistency (metabolicconsistency), also called eco-effectiveness.2. Ecological pressure of a technology is basically determined by its conceptual make-up and design. Most promising thus are technologies in earlier rather than later stages oftheir life cycle (i.e. during R&D and customisation in growing numbers), because it isduring the stages
Puzzlement Detection from Facial Expression Using Active Appearance Models and Support Vector Machines

Affective state detection, as an emerging field of artificial intelligence, is the key to designing effective natural human-computer interaction, especially for e-learning. It will be helpful to make the computer understand learners’ perceptions and provide appropriate guidance, just like teachers in traditional face-to-face classroom learning. Puzzlement is the most frequent non-neutral affective state in learning, and it is usually a sign that learners need more information and guidance. In this paper, we explore a machine learning approach for puzzlement detection from natural facial expression. We use active appearance models (AAMs) to decouple shape and appearance parameters from the face video sequences. Support vector machines (SVMs) are utilized to classify puzzlement and non-puzzlement with several features derived from AAMs. Using a 10-fold cross validation, we achieve the highest recognition rate of 98.9%. Experimental results indicate the feasibility of automatic framelevel puzzlement detection.
Clinical and Organizational Impacts of Medical Ordering Settings on Patient Pathway and Community Pharmacy Dispensing Process: The Prospective ORDHOSPIVILLE Study

During the dispensing process of medical orders (MOs), community pharmacists (CPs) can manage drug-related problems (DRPs) by performing pharmacist interventions (PIs). There is little evidence that the PI rate is higher with MOs from hospitals (MOHs) than ambulatory (MOAs) settings, and their impact on the patient and community pharmacy is unknown. The primary objective of this study was to compare the MOH and MOA PI rates. The secondary objective was to describe PIs and their clinical and organizational impacts on patient and community pharmacy workflow. A total of 120 CPs participated in a prospective study. Each CP included 10 MOH and 10 MOA between January and June 2020. DRP and PI description and clinical and organizational impacts between MOH and MOA were assessed and compared. We analyzed 2325 MOs. PIs were significantly more frequent in MOH than in MOA (9.7% versus 4.7%; p < 0.001). The most reported PI was the difficulty of contacting hospital prescribers (n = 45; 52.2%). MOHs were associated with a longer dispensing process time and a greater impact on patient pathway and community pharmacy workflow than MOAs. Lack of communication between hospital and primary care settings partly explains the results. Implementation of clinical pharmacy activities at patient discharge could alleviate these impacts.
LATTICE DESIGN OF THE SSRF STORAGE RING WITH SUPER BEND

Enhancement of high brightness hard X-ray production by installing higher-field, superconducting bend magnets (super bends) is proposed for the SSRF upgrade. Conceptual designs for single- and eight-superbend lattices are described here, as are the results of some preliminary studies that had the aim of maintaining machine performance.
Impact of Capacity Building Programmes and Organizational Environment on Developing Managerial Skills

During the last two decades, there has been emphasis on capacity building programmes and organizational environment for developing specific skills among teachers of professional colleges. Impact of various professional development programmes in developing skills has not been given due emphasis in research studies. The present study is undertaken to identify the impact of capacity building programmes, organizational environment on developing managerial skills among teachers in professional colleges. The study is based on randomly selected sample of 133 teachers of professional colleges. Reliability and validity of the tools used has been established. Appropriate statistical techniques are employed to analyze data on capacity building, organizational environment and managerial skills. The present study reveals that capacity building programmes has significant impact on developing managerial skills namely, planning, decision-making, time management and resourcefulness . Organizational environment is also found a significant factor in developing managerial skills. In open and moderate types of organizational environment managerial skills are found higher as compared to close environment. Managerial skills are found highly associated with capacity building programmes. Significant relationships have been found between capacity building programmes, organizational environment and managerial skills. The present study has wider implications for professionals, institutions and policy planners.
Zeroth Order Policy Search Methods for Global Optimization Problems: An Experimental Study

Os métodos Policy Search (PS) vem sendo utilizados nos últimos anos para se aprender, automaticamente, algoritmos de otimização, obtendo resultados animadores. Neste trabalho, consideramos métodos PS para aprender algoritmos de otimização para problemas de otimização global, considerando um cenário pouco estudado: funções de alta dimensionalidade e os algoritmos de otimização não possuem acesso às derivadas da função a ser otimizada. Os resultados apontam, que apesar das dificuldades, os algoritmos de otimização aprendidos têm um desempenho promissor no cenário estudado.
Curcumin-Chitosan Nanocomposite Formulation Containing Pongamia pinnata-Mediated Silver Nanoparticles, Wound Pathogen Control, and Anti-Inflammatory Potential

Background Because of its diverse range of use in several ethics of diagnosis and care of multiple diseases, nanotechnology has seen remarkable growth and has become a key component of medical sciences. In recent years, there has been rapid advancement in medicine and biomaterials. Nanomedicine aids in illness prevention, diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment. Aim The purpose of this work is to evaluate the antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and cytotoxic capabilities of green produced silver nanoparticle with the addition of curcumin-assisted chitosan nanocomposite (SCCN) against wound pathogenic as reducing agents. Materials and Methods The plant extract of Pongamia pinnata, silver nanoparticles, and its based curcumin nanoformulations was studied in this study utilizing UV visible spectrophotometer, selected area electron diffraction (SAED), and TEM. Anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic tests were performed on silver nanoparticles with the addition of curcumin-assisted chitosan nanocomposite (SCCN). Furthermore, these produced nanocomposites were coated on clinical silk and tested for antibacterial activity. Results The produced silver nanoparticle with the addition of curcumin-assisted chitosan nanocomposite (SCCN) has significant antibacterial activities against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and staphylococcus aureus. They are as well as possess anti-inflammatory activity and furthermore prove to be biocompatible. Conclusion This advancement in the field of biomaterials, which means nanocomposite, not only helps to reduce the harmful effects of pathogenic organisms while representing an environmentally benign material but it also shows to be a material with zero danger to humans and the environment.
Diagnostic Challenges of Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans (DFSP), a Rare Spindle Cell Tumor of Breast

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a low-grade, fibroblastic tumor that is rarely seen in the breast with only a few cases reported in the literature. DFSP poses a diagnostic challenge as there is significant cytomorphological overlap with other spindle cell lesions. We report a case of a 42-year-old female who presented with a nodule in the right breast. Histology revealed a hypercellular lesion composed of spindle cells infiltrating the fat. A diagnosis of spindle cell lipoma was made. However, two years later, the patient developed a recurrent mass in the right breast that was histologically consistent with DFSP with a predominant myxoid stroma obscuring the characteristic storiform architecture with a focal component of giant cell fibroblastoma. A careful histomorphological examination is warranted as DFSP tends to recur if not completely excised.
PHENOLOGICAL SENSITIVITIES TO CLIMATE ARE SIMILAR IN TWO CLARKIA CONGENERS: INDIRECT EVIDENCE FOR FACILITATION, CONVERGENCE, NICHE CONSERVATISM, OR GENETIC CONSTRAINTS

Abstract To date, most herbarium-based studies of phenological sensitivity to climate and of climate-driven phenological shifts fall into two categories: detailed species-specific studies vs. multi-species investigations designed to explain inter-specific variation in sensitivity to climate and/or the magnitude and direction of their long-term phenological shifts. Few herbarium-based studies, however, have compared the phenological responses of closely related taxa to detect: (1) phenological divergence, which may result from selection for the avoidance of heterospecific pollen transfer or competition for pollinators, or (2) phenological similarity, which may result from phylogenetic niche conservatism, parallel or convergent adaptive evolution, or genetic constraints that prevent divergence. Here, we compare two widespread Clarkia species in California with respect to: the climates that they occupy; mean flowering date, controlling for local climate; the degree and direction of climate change to which they have been exposed over the last ∼115 yr; the sensitivity of flowering date to inter-annual and to long-term mean maximum spring temperature and annual precipitation across their ranges; and their phenological change over time. Specimens of C. cylindrica were sampled from sites that were chronically cooler and drier than those of C. unguiculata, although their climate envelopes broadly overlapped. Clarkia cylindrica flowers ∼ 3.5 d earlier than C. unguiculata when controlling for the effects of local climatic conditions and for quantitative variation in the phenological status of specimens. However, the congeners did not differ in their sensitivities to the climatic variables examined here; cumulative annual precipitation delayed flowering and higher spring temperatures advanced flowering. In spite of significant spring warming over the sampling period, neither species exhibited a long-term phenological shift. Precipitation and spring temperature interacted to influence flowering date: the advancing effect on flowering date of high spring temperatures was greater in dry than in mesic regions, and the delaying effect of high precipitation was greater in warm than in cool regions. The similarities between these species in their phenological sensitivity and behavior are consistent with the interpretation that facilitation by pollinators and/or shared environmental conditions generate similar patterns of selection, or that limited genetic variation in flowering time prevents evolutionary divergence between these species.
WCDGAN: Weakly Connected Dense Generative Adversarial Network for Artifact Removal of Highly Compressed Images

In highly compressed images, i.e. quality factor $q \leq 10$ , JPEG compression causes severe compression artifacts including blocking, banding, ringing and color distortion. The compression artifacts seriously degrade image quality, which is not conducive to subsequent tasks, such as object detection and semantic segmentation. In this paper, we propose a weakly connected dense generative adversarial network for artifacts removal of highly compressed images, named WCDGAN. WCDGAN has three main ingredients of mixed convolution, weakly connected dense block (WCDB), and mixed attention. In the loss function, we add a perceptual loss to generate photo-realistic images with compression artifact removal. Experimental results show that WCDGAN successfully removes compression artifacts and produces sharp edges, clear textures and vivid colors even in highly compressed images. Moreover, WCDGAN outperforms state-of-the-art methods for compression artifact removal in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM).
Matrix Metalloproteinases Shape the Tumor Microenvironment in Cancer Progression

Cancer progression with uncontrolled tumor growth, local invasion, and metastasis depends largely on the proteolytic activity of numerous matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which affect tissue integrity, immune cell recruitment, and tissue turnover by degrading extracellular matrix (ECM) components and by releasing matrikines, cell surface-bound cytokines, growth factors, or their receptors. Among the MMPs, MMP-14 is the driving force behind extracellular matrix and tissue destruction during cancer invasion and metastasis. MMP-14 also influences both intercellular as well as cell–matrix communication by regulating the activity of many plasma membrane-anchored and extracellular proteins. Cancer cells and other cells of the tumor stroma, embedded in a common extracellular matrix, interact with their matrix by means of various adhesive structures, of which particularly invadopodia are capable to remodel the matrix through spatially and temporally finely tuned proteolysis. As a deeper understanding of the underlying functional mechanisms is beneficial for the development of new prognostic and predictive markers and for targeted therapies, this review examined the current knowledge of the interplay of the various MMPs in the cancer context on the protein, subcellular, and cellular level with a focus on MMP14.
Load Capacity of Reinforced Concrete Continuous Deep Beams

Most codes of practice, such as EC2 and ACI 318-05, recommend the use of strut-and-tie models for the design of reinforced concrete deep beams. However, studies on the validity of the strut-and-tie models for continuous deep beams are rare. This paper evaluates the strut-and-tie model specified by ACI 318-05 and mechanism analysis of the plasticity theory in predicting the load capacity of 75 reinforced concrete continuous deep beams tested in the literature. The influence of such main parameters as compressive strength of concrete, shear span-to-overall depth ratio, main longitudinal bottom reinforcement, and shear reinforcement on the load capacity is also investigated using both methods and experimental results. Experimental results were closer to the predictions obtained from the mechanism analysis than the strut-and-tie model. The strut-and-tie model highly overestimated the load capacity of continuous deep beams without shear reinforcement.