Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Finding Balance Within Excellence

physical and mental requirements have been recognized as necessary for excellence in sport. However, minimal research has examined the lives of high performance athletes as a whole and their perception of balance or imbalance in their life. The present study, therefore, set out to explore elite athletes' perceptions of balance in their lives. In-depth, semi-structured interviews and modified self-report diaries (Krampe, 1994) were conducted with 10 elite athletes (5 currently competing and 5 retired athletes). Inductive analysis of interview transcripts revealed that half of these athletes (2 current and 3 retired) defined balance primarily as having a vision or goal and striving towards it, while the other half (3 current and 2 retired) defined balance as respecting different parts of their lives. Balance in these athletes' lives was perceived to fluctuate in cycles in accordance with their needs and wants for particular times in their lives. Athletes identified six prerequisites for attaining balance: (1) make a conscious decision to have balance; (2) have strong self discipline; (3) enjoy what you are doing; (4) have a supportive network; (5) have leisure time; and (6) be in the moment.
Expression of Mcl‐1 in mantle cell lymphoma is associated with high‐grade morphology, a high proliferative state, and p53 overexpression

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a distinct type of B‐cell non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma characterized by the t(11;14)(q13;q32) and cyclin D1 overexpression. Defects in apoptosis may contribute to pathogenesis. This study evaluated the expression of the anti‐apoptotic protein Mcl‐1 in two MCL cell lines and five frozen MCL tumours (four small‐cell, one blastoid/large‐cell) using western blot analysis. Mcl‐1 expression was also assessed in 36 formalin‐fixed, paraffin wax‐embedded MCL tumours (24 small‐cell, 12 blastoid/large‐cell) by immunohistochemistry. Western blot analysis revealed the expected 37 kD protein product in both MCL cell lines and in five frozen tumours, with the blastoid case having the highest expression level. Using a cut‐off of >10% immunolabelled cells for Mcl‐1, it was found that 12 of 36 MCL tumours were positive. Mcl‐1‐positive tumours had a higher frequency of blastoid/large‐cell morphology (8/12 versus 4/24, p = 0.009), p53 overexpression (3/10 versus 1/23, p = 0.04), and higher Ki67 immuno‐labelling (p = 0.002). It is concluded that expression of Mcl‐1 in MCL is heterogeneous. A relatively high level of Mcl‐1 expression correlates with high‐grade morphology, a high proliferative state, and p53 overexpression. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Attitudes towards cohabitation and marriage in Canada.

Living arrangements of people changed significantly in the 1980s. To greater understand these changes one must examine how attitudes toward cohabitation and marriage are formed and what are their correlates. To that end this paper explores attitudes toward cohabitation and marriage in Canada focusing upon the structural variables molding these attitudes. In Canada marriage age has increased over the years accompanied by a compensating increase in the prevalence of cohabitation. 5315 women of all marital statuses in reproductive years 18-49 were interviewed in the random telephone-based 1984 Canadian Fertility Survey. Analysis of the survey reveals that attitudes are significantly related with age marital status place of residence and work status educational attainment region religion religiosity and the total number of children desired. Place of residence and work status are insignificant in shaping attitudes. Moreover urbanization has little correlation with the molding of ones views on marriage and cohabitation. Of greater importance are factors associated with rural small town or urban environments including educational attainment religiosity and the desired number of children.
Algorithms for classification of combinatorial objects

A recurrently occurring problem in combinatorics is the need to completely characterize a finite set of finite objects implicitly defined by a set of constraints. For example, one could ask for a list of all possible ways to schedule a football tournament for twelve teams: every team is to play against every other team during an eleven-round tournament, such that every team plays exactly one game in every round. Such a characterization is called a classification for the objects of interest. Classification is typically conducted up to a notion of structural equivalence (isomorphism) between the objects. For example, one can view two tournament schedules as having the same structure if one can be obtained from the other by renaming the teams and reordering the rounds. This thesis examines algorithms for classification of combinatorial objects up to isomorphism. The thesis consists of five articles—each devoted to a specific family of objects—together with a summary surveying related research and emphasizing the underlying common concepts and techniques, such as backtrack search, isomorphism (viewed through group actions), symmetry, isomorph rejection, and computing isomorphism. From an algorithmic viewpoint the focus of the thesis is practical, with interest on algorithms that perform well in practice and yield new classification results; theoretical properties such as the asymptotic resource usage of the algorithms are not considered. The main result of this thesis is a classification of the Steiner triple systems of order 19. The other results obtained include the nonexistence of a resolvable 2-(15, 5, 4) design, a classification of the one-factorizations of k-regular graphs of order 12 for k ≤ 6 and k = 10, 11, a classification of the nearresolutions of 2-(13, 4, 3) designs together with the associated thirteen-player whist tournaments, and a classification of the Steiner triple systems of order 21 with a nontrivial automorphism group.
A comprehensive comparison of RNA-Seq-based transcriptome analysis from reads to differential gene expression and cross-comparison with microarrays: a case study in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

RNA-seq, has recently become an attractive method of choice in the studies of transcriptomes, promising several advantages compared with microarrays. In this study, we sought to assess the contribution of the different analytical steps involved in the analysis of RNA-seq data generated with the Illumina platform, and to perform a cross-platform comparison based on the results obtained through Affymetrix microarray. As a case study for our work we, used the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain CEN.PK 113-7D, grown under two different conditions (batch and chemostat). Here, we asses the influence of genetic variation on the estimation of gene expression level using three different aligners for read-mapping (Gsnap, Stampy and TopHat) on S288c genome, the capabilities of five different statistical methods to detect differential gene expression (baySeq, Cuffdiff, DESeq, edgeR and NOISeq) and we explored the consistency between RNA-seq analysis using reference genome and de novo assembly approach. High reproducibility among biological replicates (correlation ≥0.99) and high consistency between the two platforms for analysis of gene expression levels (correlation ≥0.91) are reported. The results from differential gene expression identification derived from the different statistical methods, as well as their integrated analysis results based on gene ontology annotation are in good agreement. Overall, our study provides a useful and comprehensive comparison between the two platforms (RNA-seq and microrrays) for gene expression analysis and addresses the contribution of the different steps involved in the analysis of RNA-seq data.
Excessive Serum Insulin Response to Oral Glucose in Obesity and Mild Diabetes Study of 501 Patients

Glucose tolerance tests and immunoreactive insulin responses were analyzed in 203 subjects with abnormal glucose tolerance and in 298 nondiabetics. All subjects were grouped as obese (greater than 115 per cent of ideal body, weight) or lean. Those with an abnormal glucose tolerance test were further subdivided: (1) Normal fasting glucose and one or more abnormal subsequent values, and (2) elevated fasting glucose and an abnormal tolerance test. The total mean glucose and insulin concentrations, expressed as the areas under the three-hour glucose tolerance curves, were compared in the six subgroups. Hyperinsulinism was found in obese nondiabetics as compared to lean nondiabetics. Mildly impaired glucose tolerance in both obese and non-obese patients was associated with increased insulin levels compared to nondiabetics. Despite increased immunoreactive insulin levels in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance, the concentrations were less than expected for corresponding glucose levels during the early portion of the tolerance test. Decompensated diabetes, manifested by fasting hyperglycemia, was associated with absolute as well as relative deficiency of endogenous insulin. While definite trends in glucose-induced insulin responses could be determined in specific groups, there was marked individual variation.
Effects of acute tryptophan depletion on prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle (eyeblink) response and the N1/P2 auditory evoked response in man

Contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscle in response to a sudden loud sound (acoustic startle response) and the N1/P2 component of the auditory evoked potential are both attenuated when a brief low-intensity stimulus is presented 30–500 ms before the ‘startle-eliciting’ stimulus (prepulse inhibition). Here, we report the effect of acute tryptophan depletion on prepulse inhibition of these responses. Thirteen males (21–52 years) participated in two sessions separated by 7 days, in which they ingested a drink containing a mixture of amino-acids, which either included (+ TP) or did not include (– TP) tryptophan, according to a balanced double-blind design. Electromyographic (EMG) responses of the orbicularis oculi muscle and N1/P2 auditory evoked potentials were recorded in a 20-min session, 6 h after ingestion of the mixture. Subjects received 40 trials in which 1-kHz sounds were presented: (i) 40 ms, 115 dB (‘pulse alone’ trials) and (ii) 40 ms, 85 dB, followed after 120 ms by 40 ms, 115 dB (‘prepulse/pulse’ trials). Mean amplitudes of the EMG response and the N1/P2 potential were derived from the pulse-alone trials and, in each case, percentage prepulse inhibition was calculated. Plasma tryptophan levels were measured from blood samples taken before and 7 h after each treatment. Under the + TP condition, both the EMG response and the N1/P2 complex showed > 60% prepulse inhibition. The – TP condition was associated with (i) significant suppression of prepulse inhibition of the EMG response, with no significant change in response amplitude and (ii) reduction of the amplitude of the N1/P2 potential, with no significant change in prepulse inhibition of this response. Tryptophan levels rose by 90 ± 15% under the + TP condition and fell by 81 ± 3% under the – TP condition. The suppression of prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response under the – TP condition suggests that central 5-hydroxytryptaminergic mechanisms may be involved in regulating prepulse inhibition of this response. The lack of effect of tryptophan depletion on prepulse inhibition of the N1/P2 potential suggests that different mechanisms are involved in prepulse inhibition of the startle response and the N1/P2 complex.
Marginal asymptotics for the “large $p$, small $n$” paradigm: With applications to microarray data

The "large p, small n" paradigm arises in microarray studies, image analysis, high throughput molecular screening, astronomy, and in many other high dimensional applications. False discovery rate (FDR) methods are useful for resolving the accompanying multiple testing problems. In cDNA microarray studies, for example, p-values may be computed for each of p genes using data from n arrays, where typically p is in the thousands and n is less than 30. For FDR methods to be valid in identifying differentially expressed genes, the p-values for the nondifferentially expressed genes must simultaneously have uniform distributions marginally. While feasible for permutation p-values, this uniformity is problematic for asymptotic based p-values since the number of p-values involved goes to infinity and intuition suggests that at least some of the p-values should behave erratically. We examine this neglected issue when n is moderately large but p is almost exponentially large relative to n. We show the somewhat surprising result that, under very general dependence structures and for both mean and median tests, the p-values are simultaneously valid. A small simulation study and data analysis are used for illustration.
Indirect genetics effects and evolutionary constraint: an analysis of social dominance in red deer, Cervus elaphus

By determining access to limited resources, social dominance is often an important determinant of fitness. Thus, if heritable, standard theory predicts mean dominance should evolve. However, dominance is usually inferred from the tendency to win contests, and given one winner and one loser in any dyadic contest, the mean proportion won will always equal 0.5. Here, we argue that the apparent conflict between quantitative genetic theory and common sense is resolved by recognition of indirect genetic effects (IGEs). We estimate selection on, and genetic (co)variance structures for, social dominance, in a wild population of red deer Cervus elaphus, on the Scottish island of Rum. While dominance is heritable and positively correlated with lifetime fitness, contest outcomes depend as much on the genes carried by an opponent as on the genotype of a focal individual. We show how this dependency imposes an absolute evolutionary constraint on the phenotypic mean, thus reconciling theoretical predictions with common sense. More generally, we argue that IGEs likely provide a widespread but poorly recognized source of evolutionary constraint for traits influenced by competition.
Postglacial climate reconstruction based on compound‐specific D/H ratios of fatty acids from Blood Pond, New England

We determined hydrogen isotope ratios of individual fatty acids in a sediment core from Blood Pond, Massachusetts, USA, in order to reconstruct climate changes during the past 15 kyr. In addition to palmitic acid (C16n‐acid), which has been shown to record lake water D/H ratios, our surface sediments and down core data indicate that behenic acid (C22n‐acid), produced mainly by aquatic macrophytes, is also effective for capturing past environmental change. Calibration using surface sediments from two transects across eastern North America indicates that behenic acid records δD variation of lake water. Down core variations in δD values of behenic acid and pollen taxa are consistent with the known climate change history of New England. By evaluating the hypothesis that D/H fractionations of long chain even numbered fatty acids (C24‐C32n‐acids) relative to lake water provide independent estimates of relative humidity during the growing season, we find that differences between lake‐level records and isotopically inferred humidity estimates may provide useful insight into seasonal aspects of the hydrologic cycle. Combined analyses of D/H of short and long chain fatty acids from lake sediment cores thus allow reconstructions of both past temperature and growing season relative humidity. Comparison of δD records from two lakes in New England provides critical information on regional climate variation and abrupt climate change, such as the 8.2 ka event.
Structural equation model for estimating risk factors in type 2 diabetes mellitus in a Middle Eastern setting: evidence from the STEPS Qatar

Aims Understanding type 2 diabetes mellitus is critical for designing effective diabetes prevention policies in Qatar and the Middle East. Methods Using the Qatar 2012 WHO STEPwise approach to surveillance survey, a subsample of 1224 Qatari participants aged 18–64 years was selected. Subjects had their fasting blood glucose levels tested, had not been diagnosed with or treated for diabetes, had a fasting time >12 hours and were not pregnant. We applied a hypothesized structural equation model (SEM) to assess sociodemographic, behavioral, anthropometric and metabolic variables affecting persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Results There is a direct effect of triglyceride levels (0.336) and body mass index (BMI) (0.164) on diabetes status. We also found that physical activity levels negatively affect BMI (−0.148) and positively affect high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (0.106); sociodemographic background negatively affects diet (−0.522) and BMI (−0.352); HDL positively affects total cholesterol (0.230) and has a negative effect on BMI (−0.108), triglycerides (−0.128) and waist circumference (−0.104). Diet has a positive effect on triglycerides (0.281) while family history of diabetes negatively affects total cholesterol (−0.104). BMI has a positive effect on waist circumference (0.788) and mediates the effects of physical activity over diabetes status (−0.028). BMI also mediates the effects that sociodemographic factors (−0.058) and physical activity (−0.024) have on diabetes status. BMI and HDL (−0.002) together mediate the effect of physical activity on diabetes status and similarly HDL and tryglycerides (−0.005) also mediate the effect of physical activity on diabetes status. Finally diet and tryglycerides mediate the effects that sociodemographic factors have on diabetes status (−0.049). Conclusions This study's main finding is that triglyceride levels and BMI are the main variables directly affecting diabetes status in the Qatari population.
A novel efficient rate control algorithm for hardware implementation in JPEG2000

In multimedia applications where images are extremely used, the rate control method has a significant role in image encoder performance, computational complexity and hardware implementation. We propose a simple rate control algorithm suitable for the hardware implementation of a JPEG2000 encoder with less computational complexity and area. The proposed algorithm, which is based on exponential modeling of R-D curves, employs distortion instead of slope values. Simulation results show similar performance compared to the full search method, with considerable reduction in hardware resources.
Matching ThisType to subtyping

The notion of ThisType has been proposed to promote typesafe reuse of binary methods and recently extended to mutually recursive definitions. It is well-known, however, that ThisType does not match with subtyping well. In the current type systems, type safety is guaranteed by the sacrifice of subtyping, hence dynamic dispatch. In this paper, we propose two mechanisms, namely, nonheritable methods and local exactization to remedy the mismatch between ThisType and subtyping. We rigorously prove their safety by modeling them in a small calculus.
Reliability and validity of Champion's Health Belief Model Scale for breast cancer screening among Malaysian women.

INTRODUCTION Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Malaysian women, and the use of breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination (CBE) and mammography remain low in Malaysia. Therefore, there is a need to develop a valid and reliable tool to measure the beliefs that influence breast cancer screening practices. The Champion's Health Belief Model Scale (CHBMS) is a valid and reliable tool to measure beliefs about breast cancer and screening methods in the Western culture. The purpose of this study was to translate the use of CHBMS into the Malaysian context and validate the scale among Malaysian women. METHODS A random sample of 425 women teachers was taken from 24 secondary schools in Selangor state, Malaysia. The CHBMS was translated into the Malay language, validated by an expert's panel, back translated, and pretested. Analyses included descriptive statistics of all the study variables, reliability estimates, and construct validity using factor analysis. RESULTS The mean age of the respondents was 37.2 (standard deviation 7.1) years. Factor analysis yielded ten factors for BSE with eigenvalue greater than 1 (four factors more than the original): confidence 1 (ability to differentiate normal and abnormal changes in the breasts), barriers to BSE, susceptibility for breast cancer, benefits of BSE, health motivation 1 (general health), seriousness 1 (fear of breast cancer), confidence 2 (ability to detect size of lumps), seriousness 2 (fear of long-term effects of breast cancer), health motivation 2 (preventive health practice), and confidence 3 (ability to perform BSE correctly). For CBE and mammography scales, seven factors each were identified. Factors for CBE scale include susceptibility, health motivation 1, benefits of CBE, seriousness 1, barriers of CBE, seriousness 2 and health motivation 2. For mammography the scale includes benefits of mammography, susceptibility, health motivation 1, seriousness 1, barriers to mammography seriousness 2 and health motivation 2. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients ranged from 0.774 to 0.939 for the subscales. CONCLUSION The translated version of the CHBMS was found to be a valid and reliable tool for use with Malaysian women. It can be used easily to evaluate the health beliefs about breast cancer, BSE, CBE and mammography and for planning interventions. For greater applicability, it is recommended that this tool be tested among ethnically diverse populations.
Comparative Genomics Analysis of a New Exiguobacterium Strain from Salar de Huasco Reveals a Repertoire of Stress-Related Genes and Arsenic Resistance

The Atacama Desert hosts diverse ecosystems including salt flats and shallow Andean lakes. Several heavy metals are found in the Atacama Desert, and microorganisms growing in this environment show varying levels of resistance/tolerance to copper, tellurium, and arsenic, among others. Herein, we report the genome sequence and comparative genomic analysis of a new Exiguobacterium strain, sp. SH31, isolated from an altiplanic shallow athalassohaline lake. Exiguobacterium sp. SH31 belongs to the phylogenetic Group II and its closest relative is Exiguobacterium sp. S17, isolated from the Argentinian Altiplano (95% average nucleotide identity). Strain SH31 encodes a wide repertoire of proteins required for cadmium, copper, mercury, tellurium, chromium, and arsenic resistance. Of the 34 Exiguobacterium genomes that were inspected, only isolates SH31 and S17 encode the arsenic efflux pump Acr3. Strain SH31 was able to grow in up to 10 mM arsenite and 100 mM arsenate, indicating that it is arsenic resistant. Further, expression of the ars operon and acr3 was strongly induced in response to both toxics, suggesting that the arsenic efflux pump Acr3 mediates arsenic resistance in Exiguobacterium sp. SH31.
Error Probability Analysis of Bidirectional Relay Systems Using Alamouti Scheme

We consider a bidirectional relay system using a physical-layer network coding (PNC) protocol with Alamouti's space-time block coding (STBC) at the two source nodes while there is only one antenna at the relay node. Upper and lower bounds on symbol error probability (SEP) are derived for Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation scheme. It is shown that a diversity order of 2 can be achieved even that the relay node has only a single antenna. Simulation results are provided to confirm our analysis for the SEP.