pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
An exploratory study in communication in Agile Global Software Development

Global software development (GSD) is gaining ever more relevance. Although communication is key in the exchange\ud
of information between team members, multi-site software development has introduced additional obstacles (different\ud
time-zones and cultures, IT infrastructure, etc.) and delays into the act of communication, which is already problematic.\ud
Communication is even more critical in the case of Agile Global Software Development (AGSD) in which communication plays a primary role. This paper reports an exploratory study of the effects of tools supporting communication\ud
in AGSD. More precisely, this paper analyses the perception of team members about communication infrastructures\ud
in AGSD. The research question to which this study responds concerns how development teams perceive the communication infrastructure while developing products using agile methodologies. Most previous studies have dealt with communication support from a highly technological media tool perspective. In this research work, instead, observations were obtained from three perspectives: communication among team members, communication of the status of the development process, and communication of the status of the progress of the product under development.\ud
\ud
It has been possible to show that team members perceive advantages to using media tools that make them\ud
feel in practice that teams are co-located, such as smartboards supported by efficient video-tools, and combining media tools with centralized repository tools, with information from the process development and product characteristics,\ud
that allow distributed teams to effectively share information about the status of the project/process/product\ud
during the development process in order to overcome some of the still existing problems in communication in AGSD
A study of pulsed thermography for life assessment of thin EB-PVD TBCs undergoing oxidation ageing

This paper presents an assessment of ageing for thin Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBC) using active thermography. As TBCs undergo ageing during their service life, sintering changes the porosity, elements migrate from the substrate, and micro-cracks build up in the structure of the material, exhibiting a change in thermal conductivity and diffusion properties. As the material ages and these properties change over time, it is possible to exploit trends in this change for characterisation of coating ageing, which would provide a diagnostics tool to estimate remaining useful life. In this study, through-depth diffusivity measurement has been applied to thin EB-PVD coatings which are artificially aged via oxidation furnace cycles. In order to address the difficulties of capturing a fast thermal event in a thin coating, a novel parametric study approach has been carried out to optimise data capture and analysis, maximising available frames for the model fitting step. Through-depth diffusivities have been measured during ageing for six samples, yielding a repeatable trend in thermal diffusivity measurements, with three features, which can be exploited for ageing characterisation of thin EB-PVD TBCs, and used as an alarm of imminent failure
Loss of nephrocystin-3 function can cause embryonic lethality, Meckel-Gruber-like syndrome, situs inversus, and renal-hepatic-pancreatic dysplasia

Many genetic diseases have been linked to the dysfunction of primary cilia, which occur nearly ubiquitously in the body and act as solitary cellular mechanosensory organelles. The list of clinical manifestations and affected tissues in cilia-related disorders (ciliopathies) such as nephronophthisis is broad and has been attributed to the wide expression pattern of ciliary proteins. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms leading to this dramatic diversity of phenotypes. We recently reported hypomorphic NPHP3 mutations in children and young adults with isolated nephronophthisis and associated hepatic fibrosis or tapetoretinal degeneration. Here, we chose a combinatorial approach in mice and humans to define the phenotypic spectrum of NPHP3/Nphp3 mutations and the role of the nephrocystin-3 protein. We demonstrate that the pcy mutation generates a hypomorphic Nphp3 allele that is responsible for the cystic kidney disease phenotype, whereas complete loss of Nphp3 function results in situs inversus, congenital heart defects, and embryonic lethality in mice. In humans, we show that NPHP3 mutations can cause a broad clinical spectrum of early embryonic patterning defects comprising situs inversus, polydactyly, central nervous system malformations, structural heart defects, preauricular fistulas, and a wide range of congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT). On the functional level, we show that nephrocystin-3 directly interacts with inversin and can inhibit like inversin canonical Wnt signaling, whereas nephrocystin-3 deficiency leads in Xenopus laevis to typical planar cell polarity defects, suggesting a role in the control of canonical and noncanonical (planar cell polarity) Wnt signaling
A parameter robust numerical method for a two dimensional reaction-diffusion problem.

In this paper a singularly perturbed reaction-diffusion partial differential equation in two space dimensions is examined. By means of an appropriate decomposition, we describe the asymptotic behaviour of the solution of problems of this kind. A central finite difference scheme is constructed for this problem which involves an appropriate Shishkin mesh. We prove that the numerical approximations are almost second order uniformly convergent (in the maximum norm) with respect to the singular perturbation parameter. Some numerical experiments are given that illustrate in practice the theoretical order of convergence established for the numerical method
Nickel(II)-catalysed oxidative guanine and DNA damage beyond 8-oxoguanine

Oxidative DNA damage is one of the most important and most studied mechanisms of disease. It has been associated with a range of terminal diseases such as cancer, heart disease, hepatitis, and HIV, as well as with a variety of everyday ailments. There are various mechanisms by which this type of DNA damage can be initiated, through radiation and chemical oxidation, among others; however, these mechanisms have yet to be fully elucidated. A HPLC-UV-EC study of the oxidation of DNA mediated by nickel(II) obtained results that show an erratic, almost oscillatory formation of 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) from free guanine and from guanine in DNA. Sporadic 8-oxoG concentrations were also observed when 8-oxoG alone was subjected to these conditions. A HPLC-MS/MS study showed the formation of oxidised-guanidinohydantoin (oxGH) from free guanine at pH 11, and the formation of guanidinohydantoin (GH) from DNA at pH 5.5
Real time hand gesture recognition including hand segmentation and tracking

In this paper we present a system that performs automatic gesture recognition. The system consists of two main components: (i) A unified technique for segmentation and tracking of face and hands using a skin detection algorithm along with handling occlusion between skin objects to keep track of the status of the occluded parts. This is realized by combining 3 useful features, namely, color, motion and position. (ii) A static and dynamic gesture recognition system. Static gesture recognition is achieved using a robust hand shape classification, based on PCA subspaces, that is invariant to scale along with small translation and rotation transformations. Combining hand shape classification with position information and using DHMMs allows us to accomplish dynamic gesture recognition
Fitness: Philosophical Problems

Fitness plays many roles throughout evolutionary theory, from a measure of populations in the wild to a central element in abstract theoretical presentations of natural selection. It has thus been the subject of an extensive philosophical literature, which has primarily centered on the way to understand the relationship between fitness values and reproductive outcomes. If fitness is a probabilistic or statistical quantity, how is it to be defined in general theoretical contexts? How can it be measured? Can a single conceptual model for fitness be offered that applies in all biological cases, or must fitness measures be case-specific? Philosophers have explored these questions over the last several decades, largely in the context of an influential definition of fitness proposed in the late 1970s: the propensity interpretation. This interpretation as first described undeniably suffers from significant difficulties, and debate regarding the tenability of amendments and alternatives to it remains unsettled
An embedded cohesive crack model for finite element analysis of brickwork masonry fracture

This paper presents a numerical procedure for fracture of brickwork masonry based on the strong discontinuity approach. The model is an extension of the cohesive model prepared by the authors for concrete, and takes into account the anisotropy of the material. A simple central-force model is used for the stress versus crack opening curve. The additional degrees of freedom defining the crack opening are determined at the crack level, thus avoiding the need of performing a static condensation at the element level. The need for a tracking algorithm is avoided by using a consistent procedure for the selection of the separated nodes. Such a model is then implemented into a commercial code by means of a user subroutine, consequently being contrasted with experimental results. Fracture properties of masonry are independently measured for two directions on the composed masonry, and then input in the numerical model. This numerical procedure accurately predicts the experimental mixed-mode fracture records for different orientations of the brick layers on masonry panels
Bubble size distribution resulting from the breakup of an air cavity injected into a turbulent water jet

We investigated experimentally the shape of the final size PDF(D) resulting from the breakup of an air bubble injected into the fully developed region of a high Reynolds number turbulent water jet. It is shown that the PDF(Dcirc) of the normalized bubble size Dcirc=D/D32, where D32 is the Sauter mean diameter of the distribution, has a universal single shape independent of the value of the turbulent kinetic energy of the water jet at the bubble injection point and of the air void fraction, α. The shape of the exponential tails characterizing each PDF(D) is shown to be only a function of the initial bubble size D0 and the critical bubble size Dc, defined as Dc=(1.46σ/ρ)3/5ɛ-2/5, where ɛ is the value of the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy per unit mass at the air injection point
Forecasting Electricity Prices and their volatilities using Unobserved Components.

The liberalization of electricity markets more than ten years ago in the vast majority of developed countries has introduced the need of modelling and forecasting electricity prices and volatilities, both in the short and long term.\ud
Thus, there is a need of providing methodology that is able to deal with the most important features of electricity price series, which are well known for presenting not only structure in conditional mean but also time-varying conditional variances.\ud
In this work we propose a new model, which allows to extract conditionally heteroskedastic common factors from the vector of electricity prices. These common factors are jointly estimated as well as their relationship with the original vector of series, and the dynamics affecting both their conditional mean and variance. The estimation of the model is carried out under the state-space formulation.\ud
The new model proposed is applied to extract seasonal common dynamic factors as well as common volatility factors for electricity prices and the estimation results are used to forecast electricity prices and their volatilities in the Spanish zone of the Iberian Market.\ud
Several simplified/alternative models are also considered as benchmarks to illustrate that the proposed approach is superior to all of them in terms of explanatory and predictive power
Occurrence and formation of indole-3-acetamide in Arabidopsis thaliana

An HPLC/GC–MS/MS technique (high-pressure liquid chromatography in combination with gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry) has been worked out to analyze indole-3-acetamide (IAM) with very high sensitivity, using isotopically labelled IAM as an internal standard. Using this technique, the occurrence of IAM in sterile-grown Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. was demonstrated unequivocally. In comparison, plants grown under non-sterile conditions in soil in a greenhouse showed approximately 50% higher average levels of IAM, but the differences were not statistically significant. Thus, microbial contributions to the IAM extracted from the tissue are likely to be minor. Levels of IAM in sterile-grown seedlings were highest in imbibed seeds and then sharply declined during the first 24 h of germination and further during early seedling development to remain below 20–30 pmol g–1 fresh weight throughout the rosette stage. The decline in indole-3-aetic acid (IAA) levels during germination was paralleled by a similar decline in IAM levels. Recombinant nitrilase isoforms 1, 2 and 3, known to synthesize IAA from indole-3-acetonitrile, were shown to produce significant amounts of IAM in vitro as a second end product of the reaction besides IAA. NIT2 was earlier shown to be highly expressed in developing and in mature A. thaliana embryos, and NIT3 is the dominantly active gene in the hypocotyl and the cotyledons of young, germinating seedlings. Collectively, these data suggest that the elevated levels of IAM in seeds and germinating seedlings result from nitrilase action on indole-3-acetonitrile, a metabolite produced in the plants presumably from glucobrassicin turnover
EVA: Laparoscopic instrument tracking based on endoscopic video analysis for psychomotor skills assessment

INTRODUCTION: The EVA (Endoscopic Video Analysis) tracking system a new tracking system for extracting motions of laparoscopic instruments based on non-obtrusive video tracking was developed. The feasibility of using EVA in laparoscopic settings has been tested in a box trainer setup. \ud
 METHODS: EVA makes use of an algorithm that employs information of the laparoscopic instrument's shaft edges in the image, the instrument's insertion point, and the camera's optical centre to track the 3D position of the instrument tip. A validation study of EVA comprised a comparison of the measurements achieved with EVA and the TrEndo tracking system. To this end, 42 participants (16 novices, 22 residents, and 4 experts) were asked to perform a peg transfer task in a box trainer. Ten motion-based metrics were used to assess their performance.\ud
 RESULTS: Construct validation of the EVA has been obtained for seven motion-based metrics. Concurrent validation revealed that there is a strong correlation between the results obtained by EVA and the TrEndo for metrics such as path length (p=0,97), average speed (p=0,94) or economy of volume (p=0,85), proving the viability of EVA.\ud
 CONCLUSIONS: EVA has been successfully used in the training setup showing potential of endoscopic video analysis to assess laparoscopic psychomotor skills. The results encourage further implementation of video tracking in training setups and in image guided surgery
Identification of relationship between housing difficulty and property values in urban areas

The objective of the present work is to use statistical data to identify territorial zones characterized by the correlation between urban access to services and quality of housing and the value of property ownership. While poverty is widely accepted to be an inherently multi-dimensional concept, it has proved very difficult to develop measures that both capture this multidimensionality and make comparisons over time and space easy. With this in mind, we attempt to apply a Total Fuzzy and Relative (TFR) approach, based on a fuzzy measure of the degree of association of an individual to the totality of the poor and an approach of semantic distance (Munda, 1995), based on the definition of a “fuzzy distance” as a discriminating reference to rank the availability to property in real estate market, as complement of urban poverty, in a specific case (the Italian City of Bari).
Like Mother(-in-Law) Like Daughter? Influence of the Older Generation’s Fertility Behaviours on Women’s Desired Family Size in Bihar, India

This paper investigates the associations between preferred family size of women in rural Bihar, India and the fertility behaviours of their mother and mother-in-law. Scheduled interviews of 440 pairs of married women aged 16–34 years and their mothers-in-law were conducted in 2011. Preferred family size is first measured by Coombs scale, allowing us to capture latent desired number of children and then categorized into three categories (low, medium and high). Women’s preferred family size is estimated using ordered logistic regression. We find that the family size preferences are not associated with mother’s fertility but with mother’s education. Mother-in-law’s desired number of grandchildren is positively associated with women’s preferred family size. However, when the woman has higher education than her mother-in-law, her preferred family size gets smaller, suggesting that education provides women with greater autonomy in their decision-making on childbearing
Aerosol-radiation interaction in atmospheric models: Idealized sensitivity study of simulated short-wave direct radiative effects to particle microphysical properties

We assessed the impact of the microphysical parameterization of natural and anthropogenic aerosols on simulated short-wave radiative effects due to Aerosol-Radiation Interaction (ARI). Layer radiative properties (optical depth, single scattering albedo and asymmetry factor) of dry mineral dust, organic carbon and a black carbon-sulfate mixture have been calculated with a T-matrix code in the short-wave spectral region, after perturbing relevant particle microphysical properties (size distribution, refractive index, mixing state). For each aerosol species, an idealized atmospheric layer and three events of increasing intensity have been set. Then, short-wave direct radiative effects (clear-sky) have been simulated at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) and at surface (SFC) using the radiative transfer model RRTMG_SW (widely used in atmospheric models), separately for each aerosol species. We observed considerably variable impacts of the particle microphysical perturbations on the layer radiative properties for mineral dust and organic carbon, mainly due to the different sizes of the two species. For the black carbon-sulfate mixture, the single scattering albedo has been found to be much lower in the internal mixing case. Regarding the direct radiative effects, we observed perturbation-induced variability ranges (evaluated against the base net fluxes in absence of aerosols) always within the perturbation range set for the particle microphysical properties . This work, therefore, quantitatively demonstrates that small uncertainties on the aerosol microphysical parameterization propagate on the simulated direct radiative effects mainly with a loss of strength. Considerable perturbation-induced absolute variations of the direct radiative effects have been found (above all for large aerosol amounts), which could significantly affect the model assessments of the ARI radiative effects and therefore meteorological forecasts and climate predictions.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant: CGL2013-46736-R] and by the\ud
ACTRIS Research Infrastructure Project of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [grant agreement:\ud
No. 654169]. Further support has been provided by the Severo Ochoa Program, awarded by the Spanish Government [grant:\ud
SEV-2011-00067]. Vincenzo Obiso is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [‘FPI-SO’ grant: SVP-2013-\ud
067953].Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Integrated field, laboratory, and theoretical study of PKD spread in a Swiss prealpine river

Proliferative kidney disease (PKD) is a major threat to wild and farmed salmonid populations because of its lethal effect at high water temperatures. Its causative agent, the myxozoan Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae, has a complex lifecycle exploiting freshwater bryozoans as primary hosts and salmonids as secondary hosts. We carried out an integrated study of PKD in a prealpine Swiss river (the Wigger). During a 3-year period, data on fish abundance, disease prevalence, concentration of primary hostsâ\u80\u99 DNA in environmental samples [environmental DNA (eDNA)], hydrological variables, and water temperatures gathered at various locations within the catchment were integrated into a newly developed metacommunity model, which includes ecological and epidemiological dynamics of fish and bryozoans, connectivity effects, and hydrothermal drivers. Infection dynamics were captured well by the epidemiological model, especially with regard to the spatial prevalence patterns. PKD prevalence in the sampled sites for both young-of-the-year (YOY) and adult brown trout attained 100% at the end of summer, while seasonal population decay was higher in YOY than in adults. We introduce a method based on decay distance of eDNA signal predicting local speciesâ\u80\u99 density, accounting for variation in environmental drivers (such as morphology and geology). The model provides a whole-network overview of the disease prevalence. In this study, we show how spatial and environmental characteristics of river networks can be used to study epidemiology and disease dynamics of waterborne diseases
Influence of Detritus on the Structure of the Invertebrate Community in a Small Portuguese Stream

This study tests if the coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM) mass was related to the invertebrate community structure in riffles and sandy pools of a fourth-order reach of a stream after partialling out the effects of physical characteristics of the sampled patches. Diversity and structure of the assemblages differed between habitats. In both, CPOM mass was positively correlated with total density and with all functional feeding groups excepting filterers. Redundancy analyses and variance partitioning procedures indicated that (1) CPOM stocks influenced the assemblage structure in both habitats, and (2) most of those effects were unrelated to sampling date and measured physical characteristics (water depth in sandy pools, Froude number and substrate composition in riffles) of the patches. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/iroh.20051082
An iron-based T1 contrast agent made of iron-phosphate complexes: In vitro and in vivo studies

Abstract  A new iron-based T 1 contrast agent consisting of a complex of iron ions coordinated to phosphate and amine ligands (Fe(phos) in short) has been characterized by spectroscopic and magnetic measurements. NMR relaxation studies showed r 1 values to be dependent on the phosphate salt concentration, K2HPO4, present in the medium. r 1 reaches a maximum value of 2.5 mM-1 s-1 for measurements carried out at 7 T and 298 K. 31P MRS, Mssbauer spectroscopy and magnetic measurements of Fe(phos) solutions suggest paramagnetic Fe3+ ions present in the studied iron–phosphate complex. In vitro and in vivo toxicity experiments with C6 cells and CD1 mice, respectively, demonstrated lack of toxicity for Fe(phos) at the highest dose tested in the MRI experiments (12 mM iron for C6 cells and 0.32 mmol iron/kg for mice). Finally, T 1 weighted images of brain tumours in mice have shown positive contrast enhancement of Fe(phos) for tumour afflicted regions in the brain.http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10334-006-0066-