Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spillovers and wage determination within firms

In this paper, matched employer-employee data constructed by the United States Census Bureau are used to study the effects of co-worker ability on wages, with a multiple imputation procedure used to complete missing data on job tenure. Basic wage equations are augmented by the addition of average years of schooling and tenure within each firm. The average levels of education and experience among a person’s co-workers are found to have a positive effect on wages, indicating the presence of human capital spillovers. Co-worker education has a larger effect on highly-educated workers and in larger firms. For a given average level of education within a firm, it appears that workers benefit from being higher in the firm’s education distribution. These results support the predictions of Rosen’s (1982) model of intra-firm wage setting. In contrast, co-worker tenure has a bigger impact on new entrants to a firm, although its effect is considerably smaller than that of co-worker education.
TLC-Direct Bioautography as a High Throughput Method for Detection of Antimicrobials in Plants

The richness of bioactive compounds in plant materials encourages continuous development of separation methods and bioassays for their isolation and identification. Thin-layer chromatography-direct bioautography links separation on the adsorbent layer with biological tests performed directly on it. Therefore, the method is very convenient for searching plant constituents with biological activity, such as antibiotics. Test bacteria grow directly on a plate surface excluding places where antibacterials are located. They can be detected with reagents converted by living bacteria. TLC-DB is a high throughput method enabling analyses of many samples in parallel and the comparison of their activity. Both screening and semi-quantitative analysis is possible. The targeted compounds can be identified using spectroscopic methods, mostly mass spectrometry, that can be performed directly on a TLC plate. This paper discusses all above mentioned aspects of TLC-DB, illustrating them with literature, schemes and our own results.
Life in the last lane: star formation and chemical evolution in an extremely gas rich dwarf

ABSTRACT We present an analysis of HI, Hα, and oxygen abundance data for NGC 3741. This galaxyhas a very extended gas disk (∼ 8.8 times the Holmberg radius), and a dark to luminous (i.e.stellar) mass ratio of ∼ 149, which makes it one of the “darkest” dwarf irregular galaxie sknown. However its ratio of baryons (i.e. gas + stellar) mass to dark mass is typical of thatin galaxies. Our new high-resolution HI images of the galaxyshow evidence for a large scale(purely gaseous) spiral arm and central bar. From our HI data, a rotation curve can be derivedout to ∼ 37− 44 disk scale lengths in the J and B band respectively. This is just slightlyshort of the radius at which one would expect an NFW type rotation curve to start falling.The galaxy has an integrated star formation rate of ∼ 0.0034 M ⊙ yr −1 , while the average starformation rate within the optical disk is ∼ 0.0049 M ⊙ yr −1 kpc −2 . Despite the gaseous spiralfeature and the on-going star formation, we ﬁnd that the global gas density in NGC 3741 issigniﬁcantly lower than the Toomre instability criterion. This is consistent with the behaviourseen in other dwarf galaxies. We also ﬁnd that the star format ion rate is consistent with thatexpected from the observed correlations between HI mass and SFR and the global Kennicutt-Schmidt law respectively.We measure the oxygenabundanceto be 12+ log(O/H)=7.66±0.10,which is consistent with that expected from the metallicity-luminosity relation, despite itsextreme gas mass ratio. We also examine the issue of chemical evolution of NGC 3741 in thecontext of closed-box model of chemical evolution. The effective oxygen yield of NGC 3741is consistent with recent model estimates of closed-box yields, provided one assumes that thegas has been efﬁciently mixed all the way to edge of the HI disk (i.e. > 8 times the opticalradius). This seems a priori unlikely. On the other hand, using a sample of galaxies with bothinterferometric HI maps and chemical abundance measurements, we ﬁnd that the effectiveyield is anti-correlated with the total dynamical mass, as expected in leaky box models.Key words: galaxies: dwarf - galaxies: kinematics and dynamics – galaxies: individual:NGC 3741 radio lines: galaxies
Use of e-learning at higher educational institutions in Bangladesh

Purpose Although e-learning has already been accepted globally as an effective medium of delivery of quality education and ensure optimum student participation, Bangladeshi higher educational institutions are still at a very early stage of adopting such technologies. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to critically examine the suitability of implementing effective e-learning through learning management system (LMS) at the tertiary educational institutions in Bangladesh, and how both students and teachers experience and respond to this new learning platform. Following mixed-methods techniques, data for this study were collected from students and respective course teachers of a private university in Bangladesh by administering questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The findings of this paper reveal that e-learning has been well accepted by most of the students as they are found routinely spending time on the LMS on a regular basis for watching lecture videos, viewing course information, reading postings of the fellow students in the forum. However, there are constraints as well, since the learning materials are poorly designed that do not allow much interaction between students and lecturers. There are also some technical problems such as poor internet connection which restrict access to e-learning platforms. To harness the optimum benefit of e-learning, this paper recommends a concerted effort by all stakeholders, such as students, lecturers, administrators and policy makers so that each of their priorities and expectations are reflected in the designing and implementing e-learning platforms. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on the qualitative evaluation of Education 3.0 platform. Primary data were collected from the students using a well-structured survey questionnaire, and the findings of the survey have subsequently been cross-referred and supplemented by non-participatory observations with semi-structured interviews which allowed a better in-depth understanding of the issue at hand. Findings The findings of the study suggest that a majority of the students are found to be highly enthusiastic about the online courses. They are eager to participate and interact in the online platforms, which are somehow limited in the traditional classroom settings. However, there are several institutional, administrative and technical limitations of implementing e-learning in Bangladesh. It is recommended that better orientation of the users, quality content distribution though user-friendly systems and enhanced asynchronous interaction between the lecturers and students are the key pre-requisites to harness the optimum benefit from e-learning technologies in Bangladesh. Originality/value The data have been analyzed and discussed using qualitative framework which allows an in-depth understanding of the opportunities and challenges of the use of e-learning technologies at the higher educational institutions in Bangladesh.
THE COVARIANCE STRUCTURE OF LIFE‐HISTORY CHARACTERS IN DAPHNIA PULEX

The genetic covariance structure for life‐history characters in two populations of cyclically parthenogenetic Daphnia pulex indicates considerable positive correlation among important fitness components, apparently at odds with the expectation if antagonistic pleiotropy is the dominant cause of the maintanence of genetic variation. Although there is no genetic correlation between offspring size and offspring number, present growth and present reproduction are both strongly positively correlated genetically with future reproduction, and early maturity is genetically correlated with larger clutch size. Although the ubiquity of antagonistic pleiotropy has been recently questioned, there are peculiarities of cyclical parthenogenesis that could lead to positive life‐history covariance even when negative covariance would be expected in a similar sexual species. These include the influence of nonadditive gene action on evolution in clonally reproducing organisms, and the periodic release of hidden genetic variance within populations of cyclical parthenogens.
Mouse Lung and Spleen Natural Killer Cells Have Phenotypic and Functional Differences, in Part Influenced by Macrophages

NK cells are lymphocytes of the innate immune system which are a first line of defense against infections and tumor cells, in bone marrow and peripheral organs like lung and spleen. The lung is an organ in contact with respiratory pathogens and the site of inflammatory disorders triggered by the respiratory environment. In contrast, spleen is a lymphatic organ connected to the blood system which regulates the systemic immune response. Here we compare NK cell maturation and expansion as well as expression of NK cell receptors in spleen and lung compartments. We show that spleen and lung NK cells differ in phenotypic and functional characteristics due to a difference of maturity and cellular microenvironment. Indeed we observe that spleen and lung macrophages have the capacity to influence the cytotoxicity of NK cells by cell-to-cell contact. This suggests that the differences of NK cell subsets are in part due to a modulation by the organ environment.
Source-oriented topology aggregation with multiple QoS parameters in hierarchical ATM networks

We investigate the problem of topology aggregation (TA) for scalable, QoS-based routing in ATM networks. TA is the process of summarizing the topological information of a subset of network elements. This summary is flooded throughout the network, and is used by various nodes to determine appropriate routes for connection requests. A key issue in the design of a TA scheme is the appropriate balance between compaction and the corresponding routing performance. The contributions of this paper are twofold. First, we introduce a source-oriented approach to TA, which provides better performance than existing approaches. The intuition behind this approach is that the advertised topology-state information is used by source nodes to determine tentative routes for connection requests. Accordingly, only relevant information to source nodes needs to be advertised. We integrate the source-oriented approach into three new TA schemes that provide different tradeoffs between compaction and accuracy. Second, we extend our source-oriented approach to multi-QoS-based TA. A key issue here is the determination of appropriate values for the multiple QoS parameters that are associated with a logical link. Two new approaches to computing these values are introduced. Extensive simulations are used to evaluate the performance of our proposed schemes.
Immunodominant Tuberculosis CD8 Antigens Preferentially Restricted by HLA-B

CD8+ T cells are essential for host defense to intracellular bacterial pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), Salmonella species, and Listeria monocytogenes, yet the repertoire and dominance pattern of human CD8 antigens for these pathogens remains poorly characterized. Tuberculosis (TB), the disease caused by Mtb infection, remains one of the leading causes of infectious morbidity and mortality worldwide and is the most frequent opportunistic infection in individuals with HIV/AIDS. Therefore, we undertook this study to define immunodominant CD8 Mtb antigens. First, using IFN-γ ELISPOT and synthetic peptide arrays as a source of antigen, we measured ex vivo frequencies of CD8+ T cells recognizing known immunodominant CD4+ T cell antigens in persons with latent tuberculosis infection. In addition, limiting dilution was used to generate panels of Mtb-specific T cell clones. Using the peptide arrays, we identified the antigenic specificity of the majority of T cell clones, defining several new epitopes. In all cases, peptide representing the minimal epitope bound to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricting allele with high affinity, and in all but one case the restricting allele was an HLA-B allele. Furthermore, individuals from whom the T cell clone was isolated harbored high ex vivo frequency CD8+ T cell responses specific for the epitope, and in individuals tested, the epitope represented the single immunodominant response within the CD8 antigen. We conclude that Mtb-specific CD8+ T cells are found in high frequency in infected individuals and are restricted predominantly by HLA-B alleles, and that synthetic peptide arrays can be used to define epitope specificities without prior bias as to MHC binding affinity. These findings provide an improved understanding of immunodominance in humans and may contribute to a development of an effective TB vaccine and improved immunodiagnostics.
The Resolved Stellar Populations in NGC 1705

We present HST photometry of the resolved stellar population in the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 1705. The galaxy has been observed with both WFPC2 and NICMOS, and successful images have been obtained in the F555W, F814W, F110W, and F160W bands. The optical fields cover most of the galaxy, while the infrared field (NIC2) maps only its central regions. The optical photometry provides ∼20,000 objects down to mF555W ≲ 29 in the PC field of view and ∼20,000 in the three WFCs. In the infrared we have been able to resolve ∼2400 stars down to mF110W, mF160W ≈ 26. A subsample of 1834 stars has been unambiguously measured in all four bands. The corresponding color-magnitude diagrams confirm the existence of an age gradient, showing that NGC 1705 hosts both young (a few megayears) and very old (up to 15 Gyr) stars, with the former strongly concentrated toward the galactic center and the latter present everywhere, but much more easily visible in the external regions. The tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) is clearly visible both in the optical and in the infrared CMDs and allows us to derive the galaxy distance. Taking into account the uncertainties related to both the photometry and the TRGB magnitude-distance relation, we find that the distance modulus of NGC 1705 is (m - M)0 = 28.54 ± 0.26, corresponding to a distance D = 5.1 ± 0.6 Mpc.
An Approach of Improving Students Academic Performance by using k means clustering algorithm and Decision tree

Improving students academic performance is not an easy task for the academic community of higher learning. The academic performance of engineering and science students during their first year at university is a turning point in their educational path and usually encroaches on their General Point Average,GPA in a decisive manner. The students evaluation factors like class quizzes mid and final exam assignment lab work are studied. It is recommended that all these correlated information should be conveyed to the class teacher before the conduction of final exam. This study will help the teachers to reduce the drop out ratio to a significant level and improve the performance of students. In this paper, we present a hybrid procedure based on Decision Tree of Data mining method and Data Clustering that enables academicians to predict students GPA and based on that instructor can take necessary step to improve student academic performance.
Conjunctive Representations in Contingent Planning: Prime Implicates Versus Minimal CNF Formula

This paper compares in depth the effectiveness of two conjunctive belief state representations in contingent planning: prime implicates and minimal CNF, a compact form of CNF formulae, which were initially proposed in conformant planning research (To et al. 2010a; 2010b). Similar to the development of the contingent planner CNFct for minimal CNF (To et al. 2011b), the present paper extends the progression function for the prime implicate representation in (To et al. 2010b) for computing successor belief states in the presence of incomplete information to handle non-deterministic and sensing actions required in contingent planning. The idea was instantiated in a new contingent planner, called PIct, using the same AND/OR search algorithm and heuristic function as those for CNFct. The experiments show that, like CNFct, PIct performs very well in a wide range of benchmarks. The study investigates the advantages and disadvantages of the two planners and identifies the properties of each representation method that affect the performance.
MicroRNA-19a and CD22 Comprise a Feedback Loop for B Cell Response in Sepsis

Background MicroRNA-19a (miR-19a), an oncogenic microRNA, has been recently reported to target CD22 in B cell lymphoma cell lines, but its role in inflammatory response is unclear. CD22 is a negative regulator for BCR signaling, and we hypothesize that miR-19a regulates B cell response by targeting CD22 in sepsis. Material/Methods In order to determine whether miR-19a-CD22 pathway was involved in sepsis, and what role it played in the regulatory mechanisms, we detected the levels of miR-19a in B cells obtained from patients with sepsis, and measured the levels of miR-19a and CD22 expression in B cells activated by LPS in vitro. Additionally, we investigated the correlation between miR-19a and CD22, as well as the influence of this pathway on BCR signaling, in transfected B cells. Results We found that septic patients displayed up-regulated miR-19a in B cells. In vitro, miR-19a was increased in activated B cells, with CD22 expression initially enhanced but subsequently decreased. Moreover, overexpression of miR-19a resulted in an amplified BCR signaling, while overexpression of CD22 attenuated the effect of miR-19a and increased its expression. Conclusions Our study demonstrated that miR-19a and CD22 comprised a feedback loop for B cell response in sepsis, providing a potential therapeutic target to recover the immune homeostasis.
Infantile status epilepticus in Tunisia. Clinical, etiological and prognostic aspects

This retrospective study includes 139 infants (74 girls and 65 boys) treated for status epilepticus at two University hospitals in Tunisia between 1990 and 1997. Their mean age was 11 months. The majority of seizures were generalized (74%) and lasted between 30 minutes and 1 hour (70%). The cause of status epilepticus was classified as acute symptomatic in 56, febrile in 57, remote symptomatic in nine, progressive neurologic in 10 and idiopathic in seven. Overall mortality was 15.8% and neurological sequelae were identified in 36% of the cases during the mean follow-up time of 3.5 years. The incidence of significant sequelae was a function of aetiology (especially acute symptomatic causes) and age (under 1 year of age). We conclude that the most frequent causes of infantile status epilepticus in Tunisia were fever and acute symptomatic causes. Status epilepticus among infants is an important public health problem, with significant associated mortality and morbidity. Management of status epilepticus can be improved by more rapid access to appropriate medical care.
Preparation and in-vitro evaluation of self emulsifying drug delivery system of antihypertensive drug valsartan

The present study deals with formulation of a valsartan based Self emulsifying drug delivery system of a poorly water soluble drug. SEDDS are the isotropic mixtures of oil, surfactant, co surfactant and drug that form oil in water microemulsion when introduced into aqueous phase under gentle agitation. The present research work describes a Self Emulsifying Drug Delivery System (SEDDS) of valsartan using Castor oil, Tween-80, PEG-600. Valsartan is an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor with limited water solubility, which accounts for a low and variable oral bioavailability (19-25%). Hence, the main objective of study was to formulate SEDDS of valsartan in order to achieve a better dissolution rate which would further help in enhancing oral bioavailability. Pseudo-ternary phase diagrams were plotted to check for the micro-emulsification range and also to evaluate the effect of valsartan on the emulsification behavior of the phases. The mixtures consisting of oil (castor oil) with surfactant (tween 80), co-surfactant (PEG 600) were found to be optimum formulations. Prepared SEDDS formulations were tested for microemulsifying properties and the resultant microemulsions were evaluated for robustness to dilution, assessment of efficiency of self emulsication, emulsification time, turbidity measurment, viscosity, drug content and in-vitro dissolution. The optimized SEDDS formulation further evaluated for heating cooling cycle, centrifugation studies and freeze thaw cycling, particle size distribution, zeta potential were carried out to confirm the stability of the formed SEDDS. The formulation was found to show a significant improvement in terms of the drug release with complete release of drug within 60 minutes. Thus, Self microemulsifying formulation of valsartan was successfully developed.
Power-free values of polynomials and integer points on irrational curves

Let $f\in \mathbb{Z}\lbrack x\rbrack$ be a polynomial of degree $r\geq 3$ without roots of multiplicity $r$ or $(r-1)$. Assume that $f(x)\not\equiv 0 \mo p^{r-1}$ has a solution in $(\mathbb{Z}/p^{r-1})^*$ for every $p$. Erd\H{o}s conjectured that $f(p)$ is then free of $(r-1)$th powers for infinitely many primes $p$. This is proved here for every $f$ a root of which generates its splitting field, and for some other $f$ as well. The proof takes advantage of a certain kind of repulsion among integer points in curves of positive genus. Probabilistic arguments also come into play.
The Determinants of Motherhood and Work Status: A Survey

In this paper we present important empirical evidence regarding recent trends in women’s participation and fertility in European countries, and provide several interpretations of the differences across countries. Several recent analyses have considered labour supply and fertility as a joint decision and have explicitly taken into account the endogeneity of fertility in labour market participation decisions of women. We survey microeconomic analyses that explore the impact of social policies on the joint decisions of labor market participation and fertility. The results of most analyses indicate that social policies, taking into account several variables (family background, the allocation of time within the household, religion and culture), have a very relevant role in explaining different degrees of incompatibility between employment and child rearing across different countries. The incompatibilities between motherhood and careers find reconciliation in policies that enhance employment flexibility and diminish the potential opportunity costs of children.
Influence of Organizational Culture on Competitive Intelligence Practice: A Conceptual Framework

—The competitive pressure in business environment has increased tremendously especially in the knowledge age. As a result, companies must focus their actions in activities such as collecting, filtering, and dissemination information about market, about competitors and their actions. Those are part of competitive intelligence practice (CI). Nowadays, CI represents one of the most important pieces in strategic management of organizations in order to sustain and enhance competitive advantage over competitors. A major facilitator of CI according to the literature is an appropriate organizational culture (OC). The issue of appropriate OC for successful CI is the main theme of this paper. The incentive review of previous study is explored a serious gap in the literature of relationship among OC and CI practice success. Subsequently, this study will try to fill the gap from the perspective of OC and CI. This study is proposed conceptual framework. The proposed conceptual framework is considered a contribution towards the enrichment of the relevant literature. Moreover, this study as a stepping stone for further research of finding importance OC towards enhance successful CI practice.