Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Methods of Combinatorial Optimization to Reveal Factors Affecting Gene Length

In this paper we present a novel method for genome ranking according to gene lengths. The main outcomes described in this paper are the following: the formulation of the genome ranking problem, presentation of relevant approaches to solve it, and the demonstration of preliminary results from prokaryotic genomes ordering. Using a subset of prokaryotic genomes, we attempted to uncover factors affecting gene length. We have demonstrated that hyperthermophilic species have shorter genes as compared with mesophilic organisms, which probably means that environmental factors affect gene length. Moreover, these preliminary results show that environmental factors group together in ranking evolutionary distant species.
Long-term follow-up of clinical trials of multiple sclerosis therapies

Results from registry studies can provide valuable information about the prevalence and clinical course of different forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Such studies can also help identify medical practice patterns in a real-world setting and important risk factors that may affect long-term outcomes in patients with MS. To date, however, these observational studies have provided less information than well-planned, randomized, controlled trials on the long-term treatment effects of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs). Short-term clinical trial results have indicated that currently available DMTs are effective in reducing disease activity, manifested by relapse or MRI change, and may slow disease progression. Because MS is a chronic disease that evolves over a period of 30 to 40 years, determining the long-term effects of treatment is of critical importance to both patients and providers. This article discusses long-term studies of DMTs in patients with MS. Exploratory data provided thus far support the hypothesis that early optimal treatment aimed at reducing disease activity can improve longer-term outcomes by delaying disease progression.
All Risks Matter

We derive the total variance risk premium for an index in the stochastic environment of Driessen, Maenhout and Vilkov (2009) and correct the previous authors omission of certain components which contribute significantly to index option expected returns. This study provides a mathematically complete decomposition of an index's total variance risk premium, and a mathematically complete description of the dynamic asset pricing for the system consisting of the index and the index's component stocks. Previous authors studying this exact stochastic structure, have neglected important elements which contribute to the index's total variance risk premium. We illustrate that an index's total variance risk premium is due not only to changes in index component's variance and changes in component's return correlations, but is also due to important interactions between component's variances, changes in component's variances; correlations among component's returns and changes in correlations. We identify the roles of the total risk components within an option pricing framework and provide empirical verification of the statistical significance of the previously omitted adapting correlations and interactive risks. Furthermore we establish the generalized Black-Scholes-Merton partial differential system in the presence of nontrivial and stochastic correlations. The unified treatment of the partial differential system identifies interactive risks affecting index option price which have been ignored before. We also introduce the quantified systemic risk indicator. We show that all risks are economically significant determinants of option prices.
Lateral mode intrinsically switchable barium titanate film bulk acoustic wave resonators

This paper presents the design, simulation results, and measurement results of lateral mode intrinsically switchable bulk acoustic wave resonators based on the ferroelectric material barium titanate. Lateral dimensions of these devices determine their resonance frequencies, significantly simplifying the fabrication of monolithic multi-frequency circuits. By applying a dc bias, the resonance modes can be excited and the resonators are switched on. Resonator designs with parallel plate electrodes and interdigitated electrodes are demonstrated and have resonance frequencies from 160 MHz to 1.67 GHz. When the dc bias is removed, the resonances are switched off and the devices behave as capacitors.
Pattern of Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms among Patients with Bipolar-I Disorder

Background: Clinicians have observed the occurrence of obsessive and/or compulsive symptoms within the course of bipolar disorder. However the pattern of their occurrence is not clearly delineated. This study aimed to explore this pattern. Method: A cross sectional study. All patients were assessed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID I) to diagnose bipolar disorder (BD) and comorbid obsessive compulsive (OC) symptoms. The symptom severity was assessed by Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), Yale-Brown Obsessions and compulsions Scale (Y-BOCS). Results: Sixty two patients were classified into two groups: BD comorbid with OC symptoms (BD-OC) and BD with no comorbidity (BD). High rates of OC symptoms in BD patients (38.7%) with higher educational level in the BDOC group, and higher rates of unemployment were noticed among patients of BD–OC group. The smoking was more prevalent in BD group than BD-OC group. The most common among BD-OC subjects were contamination, religious and aggressive obsessions and cleaning/washing and counting compulsions. Limitations: The prevalence rates are not to be generalized because of the small size of the sample. Most of the history was taken from the patients and their relatives depending on their memory. More experimental study designs about the effectiveness of different types of management strategies would be beneficial to the patients. Conclusion: Bipolar Patients with comorbid Obsessive and/or Compulsive symptoms showed higher educational levels, unemployment, greater functional impairment, and less smoking. Most common obsessions were contamination, religious and aggressive obsessions, cleaning and counting compulsions.
CHINESE AMERICAN ONLINE BANKING : MULTICULTURAL ACCEPTANCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Technology acceptance research can be used to develop global strategies for e-commerce/service industries with market segments having multiple cultural identities. For banks to attract the fastgrowing Chinese American population, knowing the factors influencing Internet banking adoption is important. The survey (N=254 Chinese Americans) used demographic and attitudinal factors from the Technology Acceptance Model and the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. Recommendations for online banking implementation are based on analysis supporting the significance of gender, language, and attitudinal factors.
Undergraduate Honors Theses Honors Program Spring 2013 Behavioral and Early Developmental Biology of a Mouthbrooding Malawian Cichlid , Melanochromis johanni

5 Introduction.6 Objectives.7 Dominance and Territoriality.7 Courtship and Breeding.8 Reproductive and Developmental Biology.8 Background.8 Family Cichlidae.8 African Rift Valley.9 Lake Malaŵi. 9 Conservation of the African Rift Lakes.10 Study species.11 Characterizing a species.11 Dominance. 11 Territoriality.12 Courtship and Breeding.13 Reproductive and Developmental Biology.13 Methods.14 Behavioral Studies.14 General Observations.14 Dominance Observation.15 Territory and Shared Dominance Observation.16
Psychological Mechanisms of Deliberative Transformation: The Role of Group Identity

Democratic deliberation has been shown to lead to shifts in people’s preferences for particular issues. The psychological mechanisms that underpin such shifts are not well understood. Against the backdrop of a deliberative forum we examined participants’ preferences for various types of political systems, how these preferences changed as deliberations proceeded and how the final preferences were associated with different levels of inclusiveness of a social identity. The results showed that at the end of the deliberations people’s preferences moved in the direction of satisfaction with the political system, and that this preference was positively associated with identification with the superordinate identification but negatively associated with the subgroup identification. We discuss the implication of these results for the design of deliberative forums as well as the role of social identity in deliberative democracy.
Causative Microorganisms of Infectious Endophthalmitis: A 5-Year Retrospective Study

This study aimed to identify the microbial etiology of infectious endophthalmitis and to determine the antibacterial susceptibilities of bacterial isolates at an eye hospital in South China. A retrospective analysis was carried out on 330 patients with clinically diagnosed infectious endophthalmitis who underwent microbiological evaluation from January 2010 to December 2014. Of the 330 patients, 193 patients (58.5%) had posttraumatic endophthalmitis, 67 patients (20.3%) had postoperative endophthalmitis, 61 patients (18.5%) had endogenous endophthalmitis, and 9 patients (2.7%) had postcorneal infective endophthalmitis. Of the 105 cases (31.8%) of culture-positive endophthalmitis, 79 cases (75.2%) had bacterial growth and 26 cases (24.8%) had fungal growth. In posttraumatic endophthalmitis, Gram-positive bacteria were the predominant species, followed by Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. In endogenous endophthalmitis, Gram-negative bacteria were the predominant species, followed by fungi and Gram-positive bacteria. In postsurgical endophthalmitis, all infections were bacterial. However, in postcorneal infective endophthalmitis, all infections were fungal. Overall, levofloxacin showed the highest activity against bacterial isolates. There was a significant difference in the susceptibility to tobramycin between the isolates from posttraumatic and postoperative endophthalmitis (p < 0.05). The results of this study identify the microbial spectrum of infectious endophthalmitis in this clinical setting.
Performance of differential quasi-orthogonal space-time block coded cellular system in the presence of interference

In this paper, we propose a simple differential quasi-orthogonal space-time block code, which can offer full rate and full diversity. At the transmitter end, we divide the codes into sub-coding blocks, and combine the sub-coding blocks into one at the receiver to employ differential decoding by channel power estimation instead of decoding each sub-coding block at first hand. Our general approach can be extended to the recent proposed quasi-orthogonal codes with full rate and half diversity. Moreover, this scheme is not limited to PSK constellations but can also utilize QAM constellations, so that additional coding gain can be obtained. We first examine our work in an individual link with fixed position without the presence of co-channel interference. Then, we investigate the performance in MIMO cellular systems.
Federalization in multinational Spain

Some countries face a national dilemma. Spain has rather a dilemma of nationalities. This is chiefly cultural and political with inter-regional disparities tending also to reinforce internal cleavages. Despite its secular conflicts of internal ethnoterritorial accommodation, Spain is an entity clearly identifiable as a country of countries, or a nation of nations. However, the social and cultural cohesion that makes up Spain's unity does not obliterate its internal rivalries. After a long hyper-centralist dictatorship (1939-75), and peaceful transition to democracy (1975-79), Spain has undergone a process of deep decentralisation. The 'open model' of home-rule-all-round has evolved into a gradual process of top-down 'federalization', despite that the Spanish 1978 Constitution does not include the word "federal" in any of its provisions. This paper analyses the main features of the ongoing process of 'devolutionary federalism' and provides with insights concerning the evolution of the competitive interplay among Spanish regions and nationalities.
An investigation into the reasons why deputy head teachers either decide/not decide to take the journey to headship

There has been a significant increase in interest in the recruitment crisis in the United Kingdom. Many schools have had to re-advertise jobs for head teachers. This study therefore focuses on why headship roles are proving to be so difficult to fill. What are the possible drivers or barriers that deputy head teachers face on their journey to headship? It also considers the support and guidance that head teachers give their deputies. The study produced data that described the reasons why some deputies want to progress to headship (described as drivers) and why some do not (described as barriers). It also gave insight into head teacher’s perceptions of the support that they provided their deputies and whether these correlated with what deputies perceived. In this first study three groups appear to emerge: those who want to progress to headship; those who do not want to progress to headship and those who are unsure about their progression. Applying established models of journey to headship such as Gronn’s (1999) process of leader accession, a suggested extended model of ‘accession’ is offered for consideration and will be applied to deputy head teachers for the first time. Whilst being subject to further research and development, these findings can be used to further understand the trajectory of deputy heads and has potential implications for the management of talent within organisations. This has important implications when developing potential leaders.
p53 and TAp63 Promote Keratinocyte Proliferation and Differentiation in Breeding Tubercles of the Zebrafish

p63 is a multi-isoform member of the p53 family of transcription factors. There is compelling genetic evidence that ΔNp63 isoforms are needed for keratinocyte proliferation and stemness in the developing vertebrate epidermis. However, the role of TAp63 isoforms is not fully understood, and TAp63 knockout mice display normal epidermal development. Here, we show that zebrafish mutants specifically lacking TAp63 isoforms, or p53, display compromised development of breeding tubercles, epidermal appendages which according to our analyses display more advanced stratification and keratinization than regular epidermis, including continuous desquamation and renewal of superficial cells by derivatives of basal keratinocytes. Defects are further enhanced in TAp63/p53 double mutants, pointing to partially redundant roles of the two related factors. Molecular analyses, treatments with chemical inhibitors and epistasis studies further reveal the existence of a linear TAp63/p53->Notch->caspase 3 pathway required both for enhanced proliferation of keratinocytes at the base of the tubercles and their subsequent differentiation in upper layers. Together, these studies identify the zebrafish breeding tubercles as specific epidermal structures sharing crucial features with the cornified mammalian epidermis. In addition, they unravel essential roles of TAp63 and p53 to promote both keratinocyte proliferation and their terminal differentiation by promoting Notch signalling and caspase 3 activity, ensuring formation and proper homeostasis of this self-renewing stratified epithelium.
A TRANSMISSION SPECTRUM OF TITAN'S NORTH POLAR ATMOSPHERE FROM A SPECULAR REFLECTION OF THE SUN

Cassini/VIMS T85 observations of a solar specular reflection off of Kivu Lacus (87.°4N 241.°1E) provide an empirical transmission spectrum of Titan's atmosphere. Because this observation was acquired from short range (33,000 km), its intensity makes it visible within the 2.0, 2.7, and 2.8 μm atmospheric windows in addition to the 5 μm window where all previous specular reflections have been seen. The resulting measurement of the total one-way normal atmospheric optical depth (corresponding to haze scattering plus haze and gas absorption) provides strong empirical constraints on radiative transfer models. Using those models, we find that the total haze column abundance in our observation is 20% higher than the Huygens equatorial value. Ours is the first measurement in the 2–5 μm wavelength range that probes all the way to the surface in Titan's arctic, where the vast majority of surface liquids are located. The specular technique complements other probes of atmospheric properties such as solar occultations and the direct measurements from Huygens. In breaking the degeneracy between surface and atmospheric absorptions, our measured optical depths will help to drive future calculations of deconvolved surface albedo spectra.
DIFFUSE PERIPAPILLARY CHOROIDAL MELANOMA THAT EVOLVED FROM A SMALL PRESUMED CHOROIDAL NEVUS SUCCESSFULLY TREATED WITH GAMMA KNIFE RADIOTHERAPY

The authors report a case of an asymptomatic small choroidal nevus documented with fundus photographs. Six years later, the lesion had become a peripapillary diffuse choroidal melanoma. The lesion was successfully treated with Leksell Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery and 5.5 years postradiation therapy, the visual acuity remained 20/20.
A particle method for blood flow simulation: application to flowing red blood cells and platelets

A new computer simulation using a particle method was proposed to analyze the microscopic behavior of blood flow. A simulation region, including plasma, red blood cells (RBCs) and platelets, was modeled by an assembly of discrete particles. The proposed method was applied to the motions and deforma- tions of a single RBC and multiple RBCs, and the thrombogenesis caused by platelet aggregation. It is expected that, combined with a sophisticated large-scale computational technique, the simulation method will be useful for understanding the overall properties of blood flow from blood cellular level (microscopic) to the resulting rheological properties of blood as a mass (macroscopic).
Implementation in Minimax Regret Equilibrium

This note studies the problem of implementing social choice correspondences in environments where individuals have doubts about the rationality of their opponents. We postulate the concept of "-minimax regret as our solution concept and show that social choice correspondences that are Maskin monotonic and satisfy the no-veto power condition are implementable in "-minimax regret equilibrium for all " ? [0, 1).
Evaluation of a simulation-based workshop on clinical performance for emergency physicians and nurses.

BACKGROUND Simulation-based medical education has been growing rapidly and becomes one of the most popular teaching methods for improving patient safety and patient care. The Simulation Subcommittee of the Hong Kong College of Emergency Medicine organized an educational program emphasizing the team training, clinical decision-making and communication skills. This study aimed to evaluate the attitude of the participants toward a new training program and the change in the knowledge on clinical performance in emergency physicians and nurses after attending the educational program. METHODS A course evaluation form was filled in by the participants at the end of the workshop. An assessment of 20 multiple-choice questions with 5 options was administered to the participants before and after the 2-day simulation-based training workshop. RESULTS A total of 72 doctors and nurses working in the Accident and Emergency Department were enrolled. The average pretest and posttest scores were 12 and 14.3 respectively. The percentage improvement in the mean score of the pretest and posttest was 11.5%. The Chi-square test showed significant improvement in the pretest and posttest score grading (P=0.00). Paired t-test revealed significant difference between the mean scores of the pretest and posttest (P=0.00). CONCLUSIONS Participants had positive attitude toward this new training program. Significant improvement of the knowledge on clinical performance in healthcare professionals in the Accident and Emergency Department was observed after the participation in this simulation-based educational program.
A Comparative Analysis of Orientation Estimation Filters using MEMS based IMU

conventional position and Orientation estimating filters lead to the development of simple and equally efficient algorithms. The extensive research in this area resulted in relatively simple and robust techniques. Explicit complementary filter and Gradient descent based algorithm are such examples of the computationally simple and still efficient algorithms which are applicable to low cost tri-gyroscopes and tri-accelerometers based inertial measurement units (IMUs) using quaternion representation. These orientation estimators fuse gyro output for high frequency estimation along with accelerometer output for low frequency attitude estimation. This paper evaluates the performance of aforementioned two algorithms using both simulated and experimental data acquired from IMU. Simulated data was generated for known orientation to validate the filters performance whereas for experimental data; MPU6050 IMU was used for different scenarios. The assessment is based on the root mean square error computation for both algorithms. Moreover, both algorithms are equipped with adjustable parameters (filter gains) which were exploited for a range of values in the quest for perfection.
The contribution of geomagnetic observatories and magnetic models to the study of secular variation and jerks in Antarctica

Some of the most interesting features of the geomagnetic field and its time variations are displayed in polar areas. Observatory monthly means usually provide an excellent opportunity to study the temporal changes of the magnetic field at a given location. Unfortunately, on the Antarctic continent the distribution of the permanent ground- based observatories does not permit a uniform coverage of the examined area. Furthermore, the magnetic records are characterized by intense external disturbances and noise that make the analysis of the magnetic field difficult. To improve our knowledge of the secular variation and detect the presence of secular variation impulses (geomagnetic jerks) in Antarctica, we use both observatory data and the CM4 quiet time magnetic field model. In particular CM4 improves our knowledge of geomagnetic jerks over Antarctica through the study of the sign changes of the secular acceleration maps.
Overexpression of the marA or soxSRegulatory Gene in Clinical Topoisomerase Mutants ofEscherichia coli

ABSTRACT The contribution of regulatory genes to fluoroquinolone resistance was studied with clinical Escherichia coli strains bearing mutations in gyrA and parC and with different levels of fluoroquinolone resistance. Expression of marAand soxS was evaluated by Northern blot analysis of isolates that demonstrated increased organic solvent tolerance, a phenotype that has been linked to overexpression of marA,soxS, and rob. Among 25 cyclohexane-tolerant strains detected by a screen for increased organic solvent tolerance (M. Oethinger, W. V. Kern, J. D. Goldman, and S. B. Levy, J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 41:111–114, 1998), we found 5 Mar mutants and 4 Sox mutants. A further Mar mutant was detected among 11 fluoroquinolone-resistant, cyclohexane-susceptible E. colistrains used as controls. Comparison of the marOR sequences of clinical Mar mutants with that of E. coli K-12 (GenBank accession no. M96235) revealed point mutations in marR in all mutants which correlated with loss of repressor function as detected in a marO::lacZtranscriptional assay. We found four other amino acid changes in MarR that did not lead to loss of function. Two of these changes, present in 20 of the 35 sequenced marOR fragments, identified a variant genotype of marOR. Isolates with the samegyrA and parC mutations showed increased fluoroquinolone resistance when the mutations were accompanied by overexpression of marA or soxS. These data support the hypothesis that high-level fluoroquinolone resistance involves mutations at several chromosomal loci, comprising structural and regulatory genes.