Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of mixing across the polar vortex edge on Match ozone loss estimates

The Match method for quantification of polar chemical ozone loss is investigated mainly with respect to the impact of mixing across the vortex edge onto this estimate. We show for the winter 2002/03 that significant mixing across the vortex edge occurred and was accurately modeled by the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere. Observations of inert tracers and ozone in-situ from HAGAR on the Geophysica aircraft and sondes and also remote from MIPAS on ENVISAT were reproduced well. The model even reproduced a small vortex remnant that was isolated until June 2003 and was observed in-situ by a balloon-borne whole air sampler. We use this CLaMS simulation to quantify the impact of cross vortex edge mixing on the results of the Match method. It is shown that a time integration of the determined vortex average ozone loss rates as performed in Match results in larger ozone loss than the polar vortex average ozone loss in CLaMS. Also, the determination of the Match ozone loss rates can be influenced by mixing. This is especially important below 430 K, where ozone outside the vortex is lower than inside and the vortex boundary is not a strong transport barrier. This effect and further sampling effects cause an offset between vortex average ozone loss rates derived from Match and deduced from CLaMS with an even sampling for the entire vortex. Both, the time-integration of ozone loss and the determination of ozone loss rates for Match are evaluated using the winter 2002/03 CLaMS simulation. These impacts can explain the differences between CLaMS and Match column ozone loss. While the investigated effects somewhat reduce the apparent discrepancy in January ozone loss rates, a discrepancy between simulations and Match remains. However, its contribution to the accumulated ozone loss over the winter is not large.
Prevalence of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus as an etiology of community-acquired pneumonia.

BACKGROUND Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a common cause of skin infections. Recent case series describe severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) caused by MRSA, but the prevalence and risk factors are unknown. METHODS We prospectively enrolled adults hospitalized with CAP from 12 university-affiliated emergency departments during the winter-spring of 2006 and 2007. Clinical information and culture results were collected, and factors associated with MRSA were assessed. RESULTS Of 627 patients, 595 (95%) had respiratory (50%) and/or blood cultures (92%) performed. A pathogen was identified in 102 (17%); MRSA was identified in 14 (2.4%; range by site, 0%-5%) patients and in 5% of patients admitted to the intensive care unit. Two (14%) MRSA pneumonia patients died. All 9 MRSA isolates tested were pulsed-field type USA300. Features significantly associated with isolation of MRSA (as compared with any other or no pathogen) included patient history of MRSA; nursing home admission in the previous year; close contact in the previous month with someone with a skin infection; multiple infiltrates or cavities on chest radiograph; and comatose state, intubation, receipt of pressors, or death in the emergency department. CONCLUSIONS Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus remains an uncommon cause of CAP. Detection of MRSA was associated with more severe clinical presentation.
Counting walks in a quadrant: a unified approach via boundary value problems

The aim of this article is to introduce a unified method to obtain explicit integral representations of the trivariate generating function counting the walks with small steps which are confined to a quarter plane. For many models, this yields for the first time an explicit expression of the counting generating function. Moreover, the nature of the integrand of the integral formulations is shown to be directly dependent on the finiteness of a naturally attached group of birational transformations as well as on the sign of the covariance of the walk
Students dropout factor prediction using EDM techniques

This study analyses the factors affecting students' academic performance that contributes to the prediction of their failure and dropout using educational data mining. This paper suggests the use of various data mining techniques to identify the weak students who are likely to perform poorly in their academics. WEKA, an open source tool for data mining was used to evaluate the attributes predicting school failure. The data set comprised of 670 student records with 57 attributes of students registered between year 2011 and 2013 in a reputed school in Kerala, India. Various classification techniques like induction rules and decision tree have been applied to the data. The results of each of these approaches have been compared to select the one that achieves high accuracy.
The Leadership Behaviour of the Accounting Students: A Dilemma for Higher Education

The place and the importance of the accountant in the organisation is not related to a decision-making position and for this reason the accounting students do not identify themselves as leaders in their future career. Motivated by this assumption, the current study aimed to investigate the relationship between faculty curriculum and accounting students career choice and to find out that it is whether a faculty curriculum influence the leadership behaviour of the accounting students. We applied the leadership theory to the accounting students and expected that the faculty curriculum-leadership behaviour of the accounting students’ linkage might differ due to the labour market development and business environment. Our systematic approach conducted to a concept map of the factors which influence the accounting students’ leadership behaviour. This map gives us a general view of the principal factors which can contribute to the improvement of the leadership behaviour of the undergraduate accounting students. The results extend the leadership theory argument that the leadership behaviour resulting from the interaction between the accounting students and the professors affect the accounting students’ career choice. Given the support for our hypotheses, we suggest that the development of the faculty curriculum with disciplines which develop the leadership behaviour of the accounting students are needed to understand and improve the leadership implications of the accounting students’ behaviour. Our findings offer a new approach for the undergraduate accounting students, because they have the possibility to discover and develop their leadership competences in a strong relationship with increasing their professional quality when they asses the path of their career.
The communication requirements of mutual exclusion

This paper examines the amount of communication that is required for performing mutual exclusion. It is assumed that n processors communicate via accesses to a shared memory that is physically distributed among the processors. We consider the possibility of creating a scalable mutual exclusion protocol that requires only a constant amount of communication per access to a critical section. We present two main results, First, we show that there does not exist a scalable mutual exclusion protocol that uses only read and write operations. This result solves an open problem posed by Yang and Anderson, Second, we prove that the same result holds even if test-and-set, compare-andswap, load-and-reserve and store-conditional operations are allowed in addition to read and write operations. Our results hold even if an amortized analysis of communication costs is used, an arbitrary amount of memory is available, and the processors have coherent caches. In contrast, a mutual exclusion protocol is known that uses only read, write and swap operations, performs a constant amount of communication per access to the critical section, uses a constant amount of memory per process, and does not require coherent caches. Our results suggest that many current generation microprocessors have instruction sets that are not well-suited to performing mutual exclusion in a shared memory environment.
Asymmetric and Independent Contribution of the Second Transmembrane Segment 12′ Residues to Diliganded Gating of Acetylcholine Receptor Channels

Mutagenesis studies have suggested that the second transmembrane segment (M2) plays a critical role during acetylcholine receptor liganded gating. An adequate description of the relationship between gating and structure of the M2 domain, however, has been hampered by the fact that many M2 mutations increase the opening rate constant to levels that, in the presence of acetylcholine, are unresolvably fast. Here, we show that the use of saturating concentrations of choline, a low-efficacy agonist, is a convenient tool to circumvent this problem. In the presence of 20 mM choline: (a) single-channel currents occur in clusters; (b) fast blockade by choline itself reduces the single-channel conductance by ∼50%, yet the excess open-channel noise is only moderate; (c) the kinetics of gating are fitted best by a single-step, C ↔ O model; and (d) opening and closing rate constants are within a well resolvable range. Application of this method to a series of recombinant adult mouse muscle M2 12′ mutants revealed that: (a) the five homologous M2 12′ positions make independent and asymmetric contributions to diliganded gating, the δ subunit being the most sensitive to mutation; (b) mutations at δ12′ increase the diliganded gating equilibrium constant in a manner that is consistent with the sensitivity of the transition state to mutation being ∼30% like that of the open state and ∼70% like that of the closed state; (c) the relationship between δ12′ amino acid residue volume, hydrophobicity or α-helical tendency, and the gating equilibrium constant of the corresponding mutants is not straightforward; however, (d) rate and equilibrium constants for the mutant series are linearly correlated (on log–log plots), which suggests that the conformational rearrangements upon mutation are mostly local and that the position of the transition state along the gating reaction coordinate is unaffected by these mutations.
High-Throughput Multi-Analyte Luminex Profiling Implicates Eotaxin-1 in Ulcerative Colitis

Accurate and high-throughput technologies are needed for identification of new therapeutic targets and for optimizing therapy in inflammatory bowel disease. Our aim was to assess multi-analyte protein-based assays of cytokines/chemokines using Luminex technology. We have reported that Luminex-based profiling was useful in assessing response to L-arginine therapy in the mouse model of dextran sulfate sodium colitis. Therefore, we studied prospectively collected samples from ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and control subjects. Serum, colon biopsies, and clinical information were obtained from subjects undergoing colonoscopy for evaluation of UC or for non-UC indications. In total, 38 normal controls and 137 UC cases completed the study. Histologic disease severity and the Mayo Disease Activity Index (DAI) were assessed. Serum and colonic tissue cytokine/chemokine profiles were measured by Luminex-based multiplex testing of 42 analytes. Only eotaxin-1 and G-CSF were increased in serum of patients with histologically active UC vs. controls. While 13 cytokines/chemokines were increased in active UC vs. controls in tissues, only eotaxin-1 was increased in all levels of active disease in both serum and tissue. In tissues, eotaxin-1 correlated with the DAI and with eosinophil counts. Increased eotaxin-1 levels were confirmed by real-time PCR. Tissue eotaxin-1 levels were also increased in experimental murine colitis induced by dextran sulfate sodium, oxazolone, or Citrobacter rodentium, but not in murine Helicobacter pylori infection. Our data implicate eotaxin-1 as an etiologic factor and therapeutic target in UC, and indicate that Luminex-based assays may be useful to assess IBD pathogenesis and to select patients for anti-cytokine/chemokine therapies.
Despotic societies, sexual attraction and the emergence of male 'tolerance': An agent-based model

Summary During the period when females are sexually attractive — but only then — males of certain species of primates, such as chimpanzees, allow females access to resources. Because males are usually dominant over females, such male ‘tolerance’ is explained as a special, reproductive strategy to gain access to females. In this paper a simpler hypothesis is proposed on the basis of an individual-based model (called DomWorld): male ‘tolerance’ towards females arises in ‘despotic’ artificial societies as a kind of ‘respectful timidity’, because sexual attraction automatically increases female dominance over males as a side-effect. The model consists in a homogeneous, virtual world with agents that group and perform dominance-interactions in which the effects of victory and defeat are self-reinforcing. The artificial sexes differ in that VirtualMales have a higher intensity of aggression, they start with a greater capacity to win conflicts than VirtualFemales and they are especially attracted to the opposite sex during certain periods, whereas VirtualFemales are not. I shall explain how the introduction into DomWorld of the attraction of VirtualMales by VirtualFemales leads to female dominance, why it does so only in despotic, but not in egalitarian societies, and how it leads to other phenomena that are relevant to the study of primate behaviour.
Sleep Quality Types and Their Influences on Psychological and Physical Health in Chinese Adolescents: A Person-Centered Approach

Poor sleep in adolescents is a global health problem. This study examined Chinese adolescents’ sleep quality types by using a person-centered approach and examined the associations of adolescent sleep quality types with psychological characteristics and health risk behaviors. Using data from 1,310 Chinese adolescents (53.7% male; mean age = 13.48 years) and latent class analyses, four distinct sleep quality types were identified: good sleepers (26%), fair sleepers (55%), short sleepers (8%), and poor sleepers (11%). These types of sleepers exhibited differences in their psychological characteristics and health risk behaviors. Good sleepers displayed the best psychological health (highest self-esteem, life satisfaction and positive well-being, and fewest depressive symptoms), followed by short sleepers, fair sleepers, and poor sleepers. Good sleepers were least likely to have suicidal thoughts. Short sleepers were most likely to be physically inactive. Poor sleepers were most likely to drink alcohol and have suicidal thoughts. The implications are discussed.
Electric brain responses reveal gender differences in music processing

The present study investigates gender differences in the functional organization of the brain for music processing. In the language domain, males appear to have greater left hemisphere control than females. Despite some overlap of neural structures and processes for the perception of music and language, gender differences of musical functions have so far not been reported. Data sets of three previous music experiments with event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were pooled and re-analyzed. Results demonstrate that an electrophysiological correlate of music-syntactic processing (ERAN, or music-syntactic MMN) is generated bilaterally in females, and with right hemispheric predominance in males. The present findings indicate that gender differences for the analysis of auditory information are not restricted to processes in the linguistic domain such as syntax, semantics, and phonology.
A framework for empathy in design: stepping into and out of the user's life

In user-centred design, a widespread recognition has surfaced for the importance of designers to gain empathy with the users for whom they are designing. Several techniques and tools have been developed to support an empathic design process and several issues are indicated that support an empathic process, but precise definitions and a framework of what makes ‘empathy’ is missing. Although the need for empathic approaches in design has been repeatedly stressed, a fundamental basis of the concept of empathy is missing. The goal of this paper is to inform the discussion in the design community by applying the concept of empathy as it has developed in psychology. This paper presents a review of how empathy has been discussed in design and psychology literature, and proposes a background framework for supporting empathic approaches in designing. The framework presents empathy in design as a process of four phases, and gives insight into what role the designer's own experience can play when having empathy with the user. This framework can be applied to three areas: research activities, communication activities and ideation activities.
Corporate default analysis in Tunisia using credit scoring techniques

The present paper aims at empirically comparing the performance of the different scoring techniques in detecting corporate default on a corporate loan portfolio of 151 big size companies hold by one of the biggest banks in Tunisia. Our objective is to identify the most performing internal credit scoring model for Tunisian banks which aim at improving their current predictive power of financial risk factors. Our results show that on our sample of Tunisian corporate loans the neural networks outperform all the other scoring techniques and that the most statistically relevant financial ratios for predicting loan default for the Tunisian bank are linked to the investment policy, the importance of the debt service, the short term liquidities and the firm’s competitiveness. We thus underline the whole reasoning process behind the screening of loan applications and stress that borrowers should pay attention to reduced number of financial ratios when managing their business. JEL Classification: B41, C14, D81, G21, P43
Analisis Tingkat Kemampuan Berpikir Kreatif Matematis Siswa SMP Dalam Menyelesaikan Open – Ended Problem Pada Materi Bangun Datar Segi Empat

Abstrak : Jenis penelitian yang dilakukan adalah penelitian diskriptif kualitatif yang bertujuan mendeskripsikan tingkat kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa kelas VIII SMP Negeri 1 Getasan materi bangun datar segi empat. Pengambilan subjek menggunakan purposive sampling. Subjek penelitian meliputi 6 siswa kelas VIII SMP Negeri 1 Getasan. Penelitian dilakukan dengan cara observasi, tes dan wawancara. Berdasarkan hasil analisis data dari 6 subjek yang diteliti dapat disimpulkan bahwa: (1)subjek yang memiliki kemampuan tinggi belum tentu menunjukkan bahwa dia kreatif; (2)2 subjek yang memiliki kemampuan sedang menunjukkan bahwa tingkat kemampuan berpikir kreatif mereka berbeda; (3) 2 subjek yang memiliki kemampuan rendah menunjukkan bahwa keduanya tidak kreatif. Abstract: The researcher used descriptive kualitative method the aim to describe the level of students’ ability in creative thinking. The study was conducted in the material about plane rectanguler at grade VIII in Junior High School 1 Getasan. In collecting the data used purposive sampling. The participans of this study were 6 students grade 8th in SMP Negeri 1 Getasan. The study was conducted by observation, test and interview. Based on the data analysis result from 6 subjects, the reseacher concluded that: (1) subjects who have high ability don’t necessarily show that they are creative, (2)2 subjects who have medium abilty show that the level of students’ ability in thinking createvely are different; (3) 2 subjects who have low ability show that both of them are not creative.
Investments in Intangibles, ICT-Hardware, Productivity Growth and Organisational Change: an Introduction". Background paper on the NewKind-project: New Indicators for the Knowledge Based Economy

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Roball , a Spherical Robotic Toy Used in Child Development

Designing interactive mobile robots is a multidisciplinary endeavor that profits from having people interact with robots in different contexts, observing the effects and impacts. To do so, two main issues must be addressed: integrating perceptual and decision-making capabilities in order to interact in meaningful and efficient ways with people, and the ability to move in human settings. This paper describes four robotic platforms demonstrated at the AAAI 2005 Robot Competition, each addressing these issues in their own ways.
Spectral graph-based semi-supervised learning for imbalanced classes

Semi-supervised learning makes the realistic assumptions that labelled data is typically rare, and that unlabelled data that are similar are likely to belong to the same class. Unlabelled data are assigned the labels associated with their “most similar” labelled neighbors. For graph-based semi-supervised learning, “most similar” is defined by weighted multipath path length in a graph. When classes are of different sizes, or the number of labelled nodes per class is not the same across classes, the performance of existing graph-based algorithms degrades sharply. We develop a new algorithm that creates representative nodes for each class, connects them to the labelled nodes of that class, adds negative edges between them, embeds the resulting graph using a signed graph Laplacian technique, and then predicts the unlabelled nodes using distance-based techniques in the geometry of the embedding. Its performance matches current algorithms for balanced datasets, but is much better for datasets where the classes, or the number of labelled records, differ in size.
The organization of the motoneurons innervating the axial musculature of vertebrates: II. Florida water snakes (Nerodia fasciata pictiventris)

The motor pools of axial muscles in Florida water snakes (Nerodia fasciata pictiventris) were studied by applying horseradish peroxidase (HRP) to branches of spinal nerves innervating individual muscles or groups of muscles. Motor pools of different muscles or muscle groups were located in characteristic positions in both the transverse and the longitudinal extent of the motor column. Epaxial pools were located ventromedially in the column, segregated from most hypaxial ones, which were dorsolateral. The only exception to this general rule was the motoneurons innervating the levator costae muscle. Some of the motoneurons innervating this hypaxial muscle were located in the ventral part of the motor column, like epaxial motoneurons, but they were segregated longitudinally from epaxial ones.