Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Principal Leadership and Organizational Culture on the Teachers’ Performance

Optimal teacher’s performance is one of the main factors in the student's learning achievement. Therefore, the study of variables that are thought to have an influence on teacher’s performance is very important. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of (1) principal's leadership on teachers’ performance; (2) organizational culture on the teacher’s performance. And (3) principals’ leadership and organizational culture together on the teacher’s performance. The method of the research, is correlational research. The population in this study were teachers of senior high schools in Kepahiang Regency, totally 258 people. Samples were taken by cluster random sampling. The research sample consisted of 72 respondents. Data collection use questionnaire techniques. Data analysis used is descriptive analysis and inferential analysis. Descriptive analysis presents data characteristics of each variable in the form of data presentation, central size, and data distribution. Inferential analysis by analyzing the percentages of normality, linearity test, and regression significance. The results of this study are: (1) there is a positive significant influence between the principal's leadership on teacher performance; (2) there is a positive significant influence between organizational culture on teacher performance, and (3) there is a positive significant influence between principal leadership and organizational culture together on teacher performance. Keywords—principal leadership; organizational culture; teacher performance
A Secure and Energy Efficient Data Dissemination Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Data dissemination is important concept in wireless sensor networks (WSN). In this paper, we propose a secure and energy efficient data dissemination protocol for WSN. A routing metric is defined to choose the best route from the available routes. This metric guides those routes to be chosen that consume less energy. Moreover, for secure data dissemination, a session key is established between different parties to be communicated. This session key is then used for secure communication among nodes for data dissemination. The performance of proposed protocol is evaluated using NS-2 simulator with respect to the metrics like control overhead, network lifetime, and throughput. It is found that the proposed protocol is quite effective in comparison to the existing protocols with respect to these metrics.
The GAIN Short Screener (GSS) as a Predictor of Future Arrest or Incarceration Among Youth Presenting to Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Treatment

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) data harmonization project on existing measures (www.phenx.org) has recommended the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN)–-Short Screener (GSS) as one of the most reliable, valid, efficient, and inexpensive general behavioral health screeners to quickly identify people with internalizing and externalizing mental health disorders, substance use disorders, and crime/violence problems. The present study examined how well the four GSS screeners and their sum predict future arrest or incarceration among individuals entering treatment for a substance use disorder. Using a cross-validation design, a diverse sample of 6,815 youth with substance use disorders was split into a development sample and a validation sample. Overall, results found the GSS's crime and violence screener (CVScr) and the substance disorder screener (SDScr) to be the two best predictors of arrest/incarceration within the 12 months following treatment intake. Additionally, we found that these screeners could be used to categorize individuals into three groups (low risk, moderate risk, high risk) and this simplified classification had good predictive validity (Area Under the Curve = 0.601). In sum, the GSS's predictive validity was similar to other instruments that have been developed to predict risk for recidivism; however, the GSS takes only a fraction of the time to collect (ie, approximately 2–3 minutes for just these two screeners).
Factors Associated with Adenoma Detection Rate and Diagnosis of Polyps and Colorectal Cancer during Colonoscopy in France: Results of a Prospective, Nationwide Survey

Introduction Colonoscopy can prevent deaths due to colorectal cancer (CRC) through early diagnosis or resection of colonic adenomas. We conducted a prospective, nationwide study on colonoscopy practice in France. Methods An online questionnaire was administered to 2,600 French gastroenterologists. Data from all consecutive colonoscopies performed during one week were collected. A statistical extrapolation of the results to a whole year was performed, and factors potentially associated with the adenoma detection rate (ADR) or the diagnosis of polyps or cancer were assessed. Results A total of 342 gastroenterologists, representative of the overall population of French gastroenterologists, provided data on 3,266 colonoscopies, corresponding to 1,200,529 (95% CI: 1,125,936-1,275,122) procedures for the year 2011. The indication for colonoscopy was CRC screening and digestive symptoms in 49.6% and 38.9% of cases, respectively. Polypectomy was performed in 35.5% of cases. The ADR and prevalence of CRC were 17.7% and 2.9%, respectively. The main factors associated with a high ADR were male gender (p=0.0001), age over 50 (p=0.0001), personal or family history of CRC or colorectal polyps (p<0.0001 and p<0.0001, respectively), and positive fecal occult blood test (p=0.0005). The prevalence of CRC was three times higher in patients with their first colonoscopy (4.2% vs. 1.4%; p<0.0001). Conclusions For the first time in France, we report nationwide prospective data on colonoscopy practice, including histological results. We found an average ADR of 17.7%, and observed reduced CRC incidence in patients with previous colonoscopy.
Progression of leprosy neuropathy: a case series study

A need still exists to determine the clinical and neurophysiological characteristics of leprosy neuropathy at distinct times of the disease by different methods that measure the various nerve fiber functions. A prospective clinical study was performed with 10 paucibacillary (PB) and 12 multibacillary (MB) patients evaluated at diagnosis and one year after cessation of multidrug therapy (MDT). Peripheral nerve function was assessed clinically and by means of the sympathetic skin response, skin vasomotor reflex, and nerve conduction study (NCS). At diagnosis, 73% of the total 22 patients had nerve function impairment (NFI). Autonomic function (χ2= 5.5, P= 0.019) and NCS (χ2= 7.765, P= 0.01) were significantly more altered in MB than PB patients. At final evaluation, NFI of the MB patients had worsened, especially among the six who had leprosy reaction. As the NFI of PB patients showed improvement, a significant difference between the two groups (χ2= 12.320, P= 0.001) was observed. A high prevalence of neuropathy was observed in newly diagnosed patients. Associating different tests with a thorough clinical neurological evaluation increases detection rates.
Human Resource Management: Managerial Efficacy in Recruiting and Retaining Teachers-- National Implications.

Human Resource Management is a branch of an organization which recruits and develops personnel to promote the organization’s objectives. Human Resource Management involves interviewing applicants, training staff, and employee retention. Compensation, benefits, employee/labor relations, health, safety, and security issues are a few of the aspects of the Human Resource Management division. The ultimate goal of the human resource department is to manage people, human capital, and culture for the organization’s success. In the educational arena, the selection of an effective school administrator is crucial in maintaining a nurturing and supportive environment for teachers. Note: Special note of gratitude to Dr. Kimberly Grantham Griffith for her assistance in getting this article published. See: www.nationalforum. com ______________________________________________________________________
Why are Stock Buyback Announcements Good News?

The positive stock price reaction to stock buyback announcements reported in many previous studies is commonly interpreted as a signal that the firm's future profitability will rise, or that the firm is decreasing its agency costs by dispersing free cash flow, or that the firm is increasing its leverage toward a more optimal capital structure. We examine a sample of 7,079 buybacks (open market and tender offers) announced between 1981 and 1995, and follow each firm for five years after their buyback announcement. Consistent with prior work, we find that our sample firms repurchase most (and more in many cases) of the shares that they target in their announcements. We also find, however, that our sample firms issue shares following buyback announcements. In fact, our average sample firm increases its shares outstanding 23.73 percent following its buyback announcement, and our typical sample firm has an insignificant change of -0.88 percent. With no change in shares outstanding, our results are generally not supportive of commonly accepted buyback theories. For example, we find no consistent evidence of positive long-term abnormal operating performance or stock returns following buybacks; we also find no consistent evidence of a decrease in cash flow from financing, or an increase in the firm's debt ratio or default risk. Instead, we find that the buying and selling of their own shares that firms do following buyback announcements increases their stock's liquidity and this explains the positive stock price reaction to these announcements.
Does financial intermediation matter for macroeconomic performance ? 20 February 2006

This paper investigates whether financial intermediary development influences macroeconomic technical efficiency on a sample of 47 countries, both developed and developing, over 1980-1995. We do so by applying Battese and Coelli (1995)’s method at the aggregate level. It is found that financial intermediary development, except financial depth, is on average associated with more efficiency. However we find strong evidence that this relationship is conditional on the level of economic development. The lower the economic development the weaker is the impact of financial development on efficiency. That impact can even become negative among the poorest countries.
Energy laws in human travel behaviour

We show that energy concepts can contribute to the understanding of human travel behaviour. First, the average journey times for different modes of transport are inversely proportional to the energy consumption rates measured for the respective human physical activities. Second, when daily travel-time distributions for different modes of transport such as walking, cycling, bus or car travel are appropriately scaled, they turn out to have a universal functional relationship. This corresponds to a canonical-like energy distribution with exceptions for short trips, which can be theoretically explained. Combined, this points to a law of constant average energy consumption for the physical activity of daily travel. Applying these natural laws could help to improve long-term urban and transport planning.
Effects of Metformin in Experimental Stroke

Background and Purpose— Adenosine 5′-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an important sensor of energy balance. Stroke-induced AMPK activation is deleterious because both pharmacological inhibition and genetic deletion of AMPK are neuroprotective. Metformin is a known AMPK activator but reduces stroke incidence in clinical populations. We investigated the effect of acute and chronic metformin treatment on infarct volume and AMPK activation in experimental stroke. Methods— Male mice were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion after acute (3 days) or chronic (3 weeks) administration of metformin. Infarct volumes, AMPK activation, lactate accumulation, and behavioral outcomes were assessed. The roles of neuronal nitric oxide synthase and AMPK were examined using mice with targeted deletion of AMPK or neuronal nitric oxide synthase. Results— Acute metformin exacerbated stroke damage, enhanced AMPK activation, and led to metabolic dysfunction. This effect was lost in AMPK and neuronal nitric oxide synthase knockout mice. In contrast, chronic metformin given prestroke was neuroprotective, improved stroke-induced lactate generation, and ameliorated stroke-induced activation of AMPK. Similarly, the neuroprotective effect of chronic prestroke metformin was lost in neuronal nitric oxide synthase knockout mice. Conclusions— AMPK is an important potential target for stroke treatment and prevention. These studies show that the timing, duration, and amount of AMPK activation are key factors in determining the ultimate downstream effects of AMPK on the ischemic brain.
What Can I Get For It? The Relationship Between the Choice Equivalent, Willingness to Accept and Willingness to Pay

We hypothesise and confirm a novel empirical result concerning the willingness to accept (WTA)-willingness to pay (WTP) disparity. Employing data from what has become the classic experimental design, we reveal systematic variation in the relative magnitudes of three valuations: WTA, WTP and choice equivalent (CE). Individuals with low CE relative to others set a proportionally higher WTA, while those with high CE set a proportionally lower WTP. The effect size is substantial in relation to the WTA-WTP disparity itself. These results are predicted by a model in which subjects behave as if maximising surplus over a sequence of exchange encounters, as typifies real exchanges outside the laboratory. They are at odds with models based on loss aversion, which either predict constant relativities between the three valuations or the opposite of the pattern observed.
Role of Na,K‐ATPase in regulating acidification of early rat liver endocytic vesicles

Endocytic vesicles are acidified by an electrogenic proton pump and a parallel chloride conductance; however, acidification might be decreased if electrogenic transporters, such as Na,K‐ATPase, that increase vesicle interior‐positive membrane potential were also present. We examined this issue in early rat liver endosomes using ion substitution and inhibitors to alter Na,K‐ATPase activity. These early endosomes, labeled for 2 min with the fluorescent fluid‐phase marker fluorescein isothiocyanate‐dextran, consistently acidified faster than endosomes similarily labeled for a 10‐min period. In chloride‐free media initial rates of acidification of early endosomes were faster in K+ media than in Na+ medium, although addition of K+ to Na+ or Na+ to K+ media to allow Na,K‐ATPase to function did not decrease the rate of acidification. In chloride‐containing media, rates were the same regardless of cation composition. The Na,K‐ATPase inhibitor vanadate was prepared from orthovanadate by several methods, all of which inhibited liver ATPase activity. Two hundred μmol/L vanadate, prepared Cl−‐free, tended to decrease rates of acidification in all media tested and these effects achieved statistical significance in Cl−‐free media containing 150 mmol/L K+ or mixtures of Na+ and K+ and in 145 mmol/L KCl/5 mmol/L NaCl medium. Vanadate stocks pH‐adjusted with hydrogen chloride increased rates of acidification in sodium gluconate buffers, probably as a result of the effects of the included Cl−. Five mmol/L ouabain (loaded into vesicles by endocytosis) and the membrane‐permeable analog strophanthidin (2 mmol/L) both markedly inhibited endosome acidification, regardless of buffer ion composition. Collectively, these results suggest that Na,K‐ATPase does not regulate acidification of rat liver early endocytic vesicles, that vanadate may modestly inhibit endosome acidification and that ouabain at high concentrations may inhibit acidification from the vesicle interior face. (HEPATOLOGY 1994;19:1034–1043.)
Flow Cytometric DNA Index and Karyotype in Childhood Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Flow cytometric DNA-index (DIFCM) and karyotype were analysed in 82 consecutive children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) during a 10 year period. A statistically significant correlation existed between modal chromosome number and DIFCM (p = 0.009). DIFCM could reliably identify leukemias with >51 chromosomes, whereas only three out of 12 cases with modal chromosome numbers between 47–51 were classified as aneuploid by DIFCM. In the pseudodiploid group only one out of 20 leukemias had a DIFCM>1.0. Five leukemias with a diploid karyotype showed an aneuploid DIFCM and in three patients the flow cytometric measurement revealed biclonality undetected by karyotyping. During treatment aneuploid clones could be detected by DIFCM in a substantial number of cases where the cytogenetic analysis was normal, and the opposite was also demonstrated in one case. DIFCM gave prognostic information, showing that cases with a DI >1.12 (corresponding to 51 chromosomes) had a superior outcome with treatment protocols today in use.
Interaction of Huntingtin-Associated Protein with Dynactin P150Glued

Huntingtin is the protein product of the gene for Huntington’s disease (HD) and carries a polyglutamine repeat that is expanded in HD (>36 units). Huntingtin-associated protein (HAP1) is a neuronal protein and binds to huntingtin in association with the polyglutamine repeat. Like huntingtin, HAP1 has been found to be a cytoplasmic protein associated with membranous organelles, suggesting the existence of a protein complex including HAP1, huntingtin, and other proteins. Using the yeast two-hybrid system, we found that HAP1 also binds to dynactin P150Glued (P150), an accessory protein for cytoplasmic dynein that participates in microtubule-dependent retrograde transport of membranous organelles. An in vitro binding assay showed that both huntingtin and P150 selectively bound to a glutathione transferase (GST)–HAP1 fusion protein. An immunoprecipitation assay demonstrated that P150 and huntingtin coprecipitated with HAP1 from rat brain cytosol. Western blot analysis revealed that HAP1 was enriched in rat brain microtubules and comigrated with P150 and huntingtin in sucrose gradients. Immunofluorescence showed that transfected HAP1 colocalized with P150 and huntingtin in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells. We propose that HAP1, P150, and huntingtin are present in a protein complex that may participate in dynein–dynactin-associated intracellular transport.
Degree-based network models

We derive the sampling properties of random networks based on weights whose pairwise products parameterize independent Bernoulli trials. This enables an understanding of many degree-based network models, in which the structure of realized networks is governed by properties of their degree sequences. We provide exact results and large-sample approximations for power-law networks and other more general forms. This enables us to quantify sampling variability both within and across network populations, and to characterize the limiting extremes of variation achievable through such models. Our results highlight that variation explained through expected degree structure need not be attributed to more complicated generative mechanisms.
Large-Scale Electron Microscopy Image Segmentation in Spark

The emerging field of connectomics aims to unlock the mysteries of the brain by understanding the connectivity between neurons. To map this connectivity, we acquire thousands of electron microscopy (EM) images with nanometer-scale resolution. After aligning these images, the resulting dataset has the potential to reveal the shapes of neurons and the synaptic connections between them. However, imaging the brain of even a tiny organism like the fruit fly yields terabytes of data. It can take years of manual effort to examine such image volumes and trace their neuronal connections. One solution is to apply image segmentation algorithms to help automate the tracing tasks. In this paper, we propose a novel strategy to apply such segmentation on very large datasets that exceed the capacity of a single machine. Our solution is robust to potential segmentation errors which could otherwise severely compromise the quality of the overall segmentation, for example those due to poor classifier generalizability or anomalies in the image dataset. We implement our algorithms in a Spark application which minimizes disk I/O, and apply them to a few large EM datasets, revealing both their effectiveness and scalability. We hope this work will encourage external contributions to EM segmentation by providing 1) a flexible plugin architecture that deploys easily on different cluster environments and 2) an in-memory representation of segmentation that could be conducive to new advances.
Macronutrients, fatty acids, cholesterol and prostate cancer risk.

BACKGROUND The role of selected macronutrients, fatty acids and cholesterol in the etiology of prostate cancer was analyzed using data from a case-control study carried out in five Italian areas between 1991 and 2002. PATIENTS AND METHODS Cases were 1294 men with incident, histologically confirmed prostate cancer, and admitted to the major teaching and general hospitals of study areas. Controls were 1451 men admitted for acute, non-neoplastic conditions to the same hospital network. Information on dietary habits was elicited using a validated food frequency questionnaire including 78 food groups and recipes. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for increasing levels of nutrient intake. RESULTS A direct association with prostate cancer was found for starch intake (OR = 1.4 in the highest versus the lowest quintile of intake; 95% CI: 1.1-1.8), whereas an inverse association emerged for polyunsaturated fatty acids (OR = 0.8; 95% CI: 0.6-1.0). Among polyunsaturated fatty acids, linolenic acid (OR = 0.7; 95% CI: 0.6-0.9) and linoleic acid (OR = 0.8; 95% CI: 0.6-1.0) were inversely related to prostate cancer. When the six major macronutrients were included in the same model, the adverse effect of high intake of starch and monounsaturated fatty acids was statistically significant together with the protective effect of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Results were consistent in separate strata of age, body mass index and family history of prostate cancer. CONCLUSIONS Starch and monounsaturated fatty acids were directly associated with prostate cancer risk and polyunsaturated fatty acids were inversely associated.
Nd-FeB permanent magnets for passive and hybrid magnetic bearings with extended application temperature range

I. CATEGORIES Digest Categories: Magnetic bearing Abstract—Passive magnetic bearings or hybrid passive magnetic bearings are commonly built up with Sm-Co or with Nd-Fe-B magnets. One of the most important item of those magnets is it’s homogeneity in flux density distribution and the precise angularity. A miss-match would cause an undesired displacement. It may therefore be very important to measure these homogeneity’s and angular deviation very precisely. Some application call for a higher temperature, thus a need of higher remanence Br is inevitable and in some cases the temperature coefficient Tk of remanence Br is also of importance. This may be achieved by applying the Grain Boundary Diffusion GBD. In the following paper we will give an overview of the current development to ensure this future demand. A variation of parameter studies will give an overview of the main influencing factors which act on the bearing forces and stiffness.