Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mean squared error of empirical predictor

The term empirical predictor refers to a two-stage predictor of a linear combination of fixed and random effects. In the first stage, a predictor is obtained but it involves unknown parameters; thus, in the second stage, the unknown parameters are replaced by their estimators. In this paper, we consider mean squared errors (MSE) of empirical predictors under a general setup, where ML or REML estimators are used for the second stage. We obtain second-order approximation to the MSE as well as an estimator of the MSE correct to the same order. The general results are applied to mixed linear models to obtain a second-order approximation to the MSE of the empirical best linear unbiased predictor (EBLUP) of a linear mixed effect and an estimator of the MSE of EBLUP whose bias is correct to second order. The general mixed linear model includes the mixed ANOVA model and the longitudinal model as special cases.
Role of NMO-IgG in Distinguishing the Type of Optic Neuritis

Purpose. To emphasize the importance of neuromyelitis optica (NMO)-immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies testing in patients with typical optic neuritis (ON) refractory to steroid treatment. Methods. Two patients were evaluated with ON refractory to steroid therapy and poor visual acuity; they were tested for NMO-IgG antibodies. Results. Brain magnetic resonance imaging was normal in both patients. The serum and cerebrospinal fluid were positive for NMO-IgG antibodies. Magnetic resonance imaging of the cervical and thoracic spine revealed lesions longer than three vertebral segments and the diagnosis of NMO was confirmed. Treatment with plasma exchange and immunosuppressive therapy resulted in marked improvement of visual acuity. This improvement was sustained. Conclusions. The testing for NMO-IgG antibodies is important for distinguishing ON in NMO from multiple sclerosis in cases of ON refractory to steroid treatment. These cases suggest that testing for NMO-IgG antibodies should be performed in comparative trials on a larger series.
Connection between London moment and Meissner effect from classical electrodynamics

Theory and experiment on the London moment is reviewed. A simple mathematical model is motivated and then used to study the responses of a spherical superconductor to an external field and to rotation. It reveals a connection between perfect diamagnetism (Meissner effect) and the London moment. In the model neither of these are exact but the deviation from B = 0 internal field in the former and from B = (2mc/e) in the latter case is described by the same dimensionless parameter. Apart from its pedagogical values the model might throw some light on the controversy surrounding the correction to the London moment.
A Dual Perspective on Separable Semidefinite Programming With Applications to Optimal Downlink Beamforming

This paper considers the downlink beamforming optimization problem that minimizes the total transmission power subject to global shaping constraints and individual shaping constraints, in addition to the constraints of quality of service (QoS) measured by signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). This beamforming problem is a separable homogeneous quadratically constrained quadratic program (QCQP), which is difficult to solve in general. Herein we propose efficient algorithms for the problem consisting of two main steps: 1) solving the semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxed problem, and 2) formulating a linear program (LP) and solving the LP (with closed-form solution) to find a rank-one optimal solution of the SDP relaxation. Accordingly, the corresponding optimal beamforming problem (OBP) is proven to be “hidden” convex, namely, strong duality holds true under certain mild conditions. In contrast to the existing algorithms based on either the rank reduction steps (the purification process) or the Perron-Frobenius theorem, the proposed algorithms are based on the linear program strong duality theorem.
A comparative analysis of transformation techniques for the reconstruction of medical images

This paper discusses few transformation techniques used in medical image compression. The transformation techniques are namely: Discrete Cosine Transform, Discrete Wavelet Transform, Integer Wavelet Transform and Principal Component Analysis. These transformations are applied to magnetic resonance image (MRI) and computed tomography image (CT). These modalities provide the reviewing of the anatomical cross sections and physiological states of patient. The finding shows that the wavelet techniques provided highest peak-to-noise ratio which implies that the quality of the image recovered after reconstruction is almost to original.
Behavioral Coursework in Business Education: Growing Evidence of a Legitimacy Crisis

Business recruiters generally report seeking to hire well-rounded students who have not only technical knowledge and skills, but also behavioral ones. However, business students appear to be somewhat skeptical of this claim. One reason for this skepticism may be students' attention to recruiter signals concerning the importance of behavioral knowledge and skills during the recruitment and selection process. In an attempt to determine whether the addition of significant behavioral coursework to a student's portfolio enhances recruiters' assessments of student employability, we conducted two studies using different methodologies. Results showed that when asked directly about their preferences (Study 1), a clear majority of recruiters (78%) indicated that they preferred business graduates who supplemented functional-area (e.g., finance, accounting) coursework with equivalent amounts of behavioral coursework. However, when evaluating specific student resumes (Study 2). recruiters gave the same employability r.
FIRE: An Integrated Trust and Reputation Model for Open Multi-Agent Systems

Trust and reputation are central to effective interactions in open multi-agent systems in which agents, that are owned by a variety of stakeholders, can enter and leave the system at any time. This openness means existing trust and reputation models cannot readily be used. To this end, we present FIRE, a trust and reputation model that integrates a number of information sources to produce a comprehensive assessment of an agent's likely performance. Specifically, FIRE incorporates interaction trust, role-based trust, witness reputation, and certified reputation to provide a trust metric in virtually all circumstances. FIRE is empirically benchmarked and is shown to help agents effectively select appropriate interaction partners.
Social Reproduction and Change in the Transition from Youth to Adulthood

Over the past decade research into youth and the transition to adult status has focused on the relationship between labour force and domestic life course trajectories, in the context of employment restructuring and declining demand for youth labour. Some writers have addressed a hypothesis of deferral amongst recent cohorts of young people in the timing of transitions from the partial dependence of youth to forms of adult independence. This hypothesis has been explored through consideration of significant life course events, particularly the attainment of independence from the parental home, cohabitation, marriage and birth of the first child. Critics have argued that research has not fully succeeded in locating youth and transition in relation to general social arrangements. It is argued that this problem arises as a consequence of a conceptual framework which foregrounds the issue of transitions from dependence to independence but undertheorises the relationship between them. The approach argues that employment and household resourcing arrangements together shape `dependence' and `independence'. Change in patterns of transition is integral to change in these general arrangements. The argument is developed through an analysis of change in the structure of rewards to employment and patterns of delay in family formation.
Childhood sexual abuse, early cannabis use, and psychosis: Testing the effects of different temporal orderings based on the National Comorbidity Survey

Research has shown that childhood sexual abuse and cannabis use below the age of 16 significantly increased the risk of psychosis. The aim of this study was to estimate the effects of the different temporal ordering of exposure to cannabis and sexual trauma on psychosis. Data from the National Comorbidity Survey were used to construct a variable representing different exposures (no sexual trauma or cannabis use, sexual trauma only, cannabis use only, sexual trauma preceded cannabis use, cannabis use preceded sexual trauma). A hierarchical binary logistic regression model was specified with a diagnosis of psychosis as the dependent variable, background variables entered in the first block and the sexual trauma and cannabis use variable entered in the second block. The results indicated that sexual trauma with no cannabis use increased the risk of psychosis (OR=2.45, p<.05), and the risk increased for cannabis use before (OR=4.39, p<.05) or after (OR=4.25, p<.05) sexual trauma. The findings are discussed with reference to the existing research literature on the development of psychosis symptoms.
The Effects of Cooperative Learning on the Academic Achievement and Knowledge Retention

This experimental study investigated the effects of cooperative learning on the achievement and knowledge retention of 110 first-year primary education students toward the psychology subject over the eight weeks of instruction at An Giang University. These tertiary students were divided into two matched groups of 55 to be taught by the same lecturer. In the experimental group, cooperative learning was employed, while in the control group, lecture-based teaching was used. The results showed that after approximately 8 weeks students who were instructed using cooperative learning achieved significantly higher scores on the achievement and knowledge retention postteststhan did students who were instructed using lecture-based teaching. The study supports the effectiveness of cooperative learning in Vietnamese higher education.
Marsupial and Shape-Shifting Robots for Urban Search and Rescue

Urban search and rescue (USAR) focuses on locating and extracting people trapped in collapsed or damaged structures. Rescuers are under extreme time pressure; after 48 hours, victim mortality drastically increases owing to exposure and lack of food, water, and medical treatment. Rescuing can be as dangerous to the workers and the victims as the initial event. Moving through the structure or widening entry points for humans and equipment can cause further collapse, injuring or killing the trapped survivors or rescuers. Gas leaks and explosions are also possible. Rescue dogs can help reduce human risk and can enter smaller voids in the rubble than a human can, but they cannot replace a video camera or structural assessment equipment. Lightweight mobile robots could benefit USAR while reducing the risk to humans and dogs. For example, they could: conduct tedious searches for survivors with a level of rigor that is normally fatiguing to humans; insert specialized sensors into the rubble and position them; collect visual and seismic data to assess structural damage; deposit radio transmitters or small amounts of food and medication with the survivors; guide the insertion of jaws-of-life tools, and identify the location of limbs to prevent workers from damaging a victim's arm or leg during extraction. Toward that end, the author has been developing USAR mobile robot hardware and software. Two promising technologies have emerged that present interesting challenges for artificial intelligence: shape-shifting, marsupial robots.
Crystal structure of deoxycytidylate hydroxymethylase from bacteriophage T4, a component of the deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate‐synthesizing complex

Bacteriophage T4 deoxycytidylate hydroxymethylase (EC 2.1.2.8), a homodimer of 246‐residue subunits, catalyzes hydroxymethylation of the cytosine base in deoxycytidylate (dCMP) to produce 5‐hydroxymethyl‐dCMP. It forms part of a phage DNA protection system and appears to function in vivo as a component of a multienzyme complex called deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) synthetase. We have determined its crystal structure in the presence of the substrate dCMP at 1.6 Å resolution. The structure reveals a subunit fold and a dimerization pattern in common with thymidylate synthases, despite low (∼20%) sequence identity. Among the residues that form the dCMP binding site, those interacting with the sugar and phosphate are arranged in a configuration similar to the deoxyuridylate binding site of thymidylate synthases. However, the residues interacting directly or indirectly with the cytosine base show a more divergent structure and the presumed folate cofactor binding site is more open. Our structure reveals a water molecule properly positioned near C‐6 of cytosine to add to the C‐7 methylene intermediate during the last step of hydroxymethylation. On the basis of sequence comparison and crystal packing analysis, a hypothetical model for the interaction between T4 deoxycytidylate hydroxymethylase and T4 thymidylate synthase in the dNTP‐synthesizing complex has been built.
Sword or Shield? A Systematic Review of the Roles FASD Evidence Plays in Judicial Proceedings

In this first-ever systematic review of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in all federal court cases arising prior to 2011, the authors identified 1713 cases, with 131 cases substantively relevant to mental capacity, criminal intent, sentencing, and attorney malpractice. The majority of cases arose after Atkins v. Virginia, the pivotal Supreme Court case that prohibits the death penalty for mentally disabled persons. Among other things, this study reveals that FASD evidence usually defeats a death penalty sentence, but the lower courts reflect inconsistencies in how courts receive and handle mental health evidence.
Justice Needs a Blindfold: Effects of Gender and Attractiveness on Prison Sentences and Attributions of Personal Characteristics in a Judicial Process

This study examined the effect of gender and facial characteristics of criminal offenders on attributions of crime-relevant traits. The stimulus pictures portrayed women and men of varying attractiveness. Participants were presented with pictures of these female or male faces along with accompanying crime accounts. The crime account described the individual in the picture as a person who had committed one of the following crimes: theft, fraud, drug crime, child molestation, child abuse, or homicide. After reading one case account the participants were asked to evaluate the credibility and other crime-relevant personality traits of the offender. Results showed that female defendants were rated more favourably than were male defendants. Gender worked to the advantage of the female perpetrator. There were also slight tendencies towards more lenient appraisal of the more attractive women.
Assessment of the Quality of MODIS Cloud Products from Radiance Simulations

Abstract Observations made by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO), and CloudSat are synergistically used to evaluate the accuracy of theoretical simulations of the radiances at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). Specifically, TOA radiances of 15 MODIS bands are simulated for overcast, optically thick, and single-phase clouds only over the ocean from 60°N to 60°S, corresponding to about 12% of all the MODIS cloud observations. Plane parallel atmosphere is assumed in the simulation by restricting viewing/solar zenith angle to be less than 40°. Input data for the radiative transfer model (RTM) are obtained from the operational MODIS-retrieved cloud optical thickness, effective radius, and cloud-top pressure (converted to height) collocated with the AIRS-retrieved temperature and humidity profiles. In the RTM, ice cloud bulk scattering properties, based on theoretical s.
Low conservation of alternative splicing patterns in the human and mouse genomes.

Alternative splicing has recently emerged as a major mechanism of generating protein diversity in higher eukaryotes. We compared alternative splicing isoforms of 166 pairs of orthologous human and mouse genes. As the mRNA and EST libraries of human and mouse are not complete and thus cannot be compared directly, we instead analyzed whether known cassette exons or alternative splicing sites from one genome are conserved in the other genome. We demonstrate that about half of the analyzed genes have species-specific isoforms, and about a quarter of elementary alternatives are not conserved between the human and mouse genomes. The detailed results of this study are available at www.ig-msk.ru:8005/HMG_paper.
Osteopontin Induces AP-1-mediated Secretion of Urokinase-type Plasminogen Activator through c-Src-dependent Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Transactivation in Breast Cancer Cells*

We have recently reported that osteopontin (OPN) stimulates cell motility and nuclear factor κB-mediated secretion of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) through phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt signaling pathways in breast cancer cells (Das, R., Mahabeleshwar, G. H., and Kundu, G. C. (2003) J. Biol. Chem. 278, 28593–28606). However, the role(s) of OPN on AP-1-mediated uPA secretion and cell motility and the involvement of c-Src/epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in these processes in breast cancer cells are not well defined. In this study we report that OPN induces αvβ3 integrin-mediated c-Src kinase activity in both highly invasive (MDA-MB-231) and low invasive (MCF-7) breast cancer cells. Ligation of OPN with αvβ3 integrin induces kinase activity and tyrosine phosphorylation of EGFR in MDA-MB-231 and wild type EGFR-transfected MCF-7 cells, and this was inhibited by the dominant negative form of c-Src (dn c-Src) indicating that c-Src kinase plays a crucial role in this process. OPN induces association between αvβ3 integrin and EGFR on the cell membrane in a macromolecular form with c-Src. Furthermore, OPN induces αvβ3 integrin/EGFR-mediated ERK1/2 phosphorylation and AP-1 activation. Moreover, dn c-Src also suppressed the OPN-induced phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase activity in these cells indicating that c-Src acts as master switch in regulating MEK/ERK1/2 and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt signaling pathways. OPN-induced ERK phosphorylation, AP-1 activation, uPA secretion, and cell motility were suppressed when cells were transfected with dn c-Src or pretreated with αvβ3 integrin antibody, c-Src kinase inhibitor (pp2), EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (PD153035), and MEK-1 inhibitor (PD98059). To our knowledge, this is the first report that OPN induces αvβ3 integrin-mediated AP-1 activity and uPA secretion by activating c-Src/EGFR/ERK signaling pathways and further demonstrates a functional molecular link between OPN-induced integrin/c-Src-dependent EGFR phosphorylation and ERK/AP-1-mediated uPA secretion, and all of these ultimately control the motility of breast cancer cells.
How Should We Study Foreign Policy Change?

Freed from the shackles imposed by the Cold War, many states have chosen to make radical changes in their foreign policy orientations. This trend is reflected within Foreign Policy Analysis, where the study of change appears to be moving towards the top of the research agenda. In this article, six different models of foreign policy change are examined. After concluding that these contributions contain both promising ideas and analytical pitfalls, I present a model of my own, arguing that this constitutes a more promising route to the study of foreign policy change. In short, I argue that theoretical efforts in this field should focus on the simultaneous occurrence of changes in fundamental structural conditions, strategic political leadership, and the presence of a crisis of some kind. Though the existing models pay attention to some of these elements, none is designed to include all three.
The moderating and mediating roles of self-acceptance and tolerance to others in the relationship between mindfulness and subjective well-being

This study explored the moderating and mediating influences of self-acceptance and tolerance to others in the relationship between mindfulness and subjective well-being. In total, 301 (130 males) university students completed the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, Index of Well-being, Self-acceptance Questionnaire, and Tolerance Scale. The results showed that the positive link between mindfulness and subjective well-being was significantly mediated by self-acceptance only. Tolerance played a moderating role. The implications of the results for relevant research and mindfulness training were discussed.
Loss or Somatic Mutations of hMSH2 Occur in Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancers with hMSH2 Germline Mutations

Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is a major cancer susceptibility syndrome known to be caused by the inheritance of mutations in DNA mismatch repair genes, such as hMSH2, hMLH1, hPMS1 and hPMS2. To investigate the role of genetic alterations of hMSH2 in HNPCC tumorigenesis, we analyzed 36 Japanese HNPCC kindreds as to hMSH2 germline mutations. Moreover, we also examined somatic mutations of hMSH2 or loss of heterozygosity at or near the hMSH2 locus in the tumors from the hMSH2‐related kindreds. Germline mutations were detected in five HNPCC kindreds (5/36, 14%). Among them, three were nonsense mutations, one was a frameshift mutation and the other was a mutation in an intron where the mutation affected splicing. Loss of heterozygosity in four and somatic mutations in one were detected among the eight tumors with hMSH2 germline mutations. All these alterations were only detected in genomic instability(+) tumors, i.e., not in genomic instability(‐) ones, indicating that mutations of hMSH2 were responsible for at least some of the tumors with genomic instability. These data establish a basis for the presymptomatic diagnosis of HNPCC patients, and constitute further evidence that both DNA mismatch repair genes and tumor suppressor genes may share the same requirement, i.e., two hits are necessary to inactivate the gene function.
The Effects of International Remittances on Poverty and Inequality in Ethiopia

Abstract The article studies the effects of international remittances on poverty and inequality in Ethiopia using an urban household survey from 2004. Counterfactual consumption in the hypothetical case of no remittance is estimated in a selection-corrected estimation framework. Inequality and poverty values in the hypothetical and actual cases are then compared. There is a significant reduction in poverty, while inequality does not change. The head count, the poverty gap and the squared poverty gap ratios decreased from 0.41 to 0.38, 0.14 to 0.13, and 0.064 to 0.057 respectively.
Terahertz study of 1,3,5-trinitro-s-triazine by time-domain and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

This letter describes the use of THz time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) applied in transmission to the secondary explosive 1,3,5 trinitro-s-triazine. Samples were also subjected to Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy over the same range for comparison. A detailed spectroscopy study is presented. General agreement between results from both methods confirms the absorption features found. A comparison study with computer molecular simulations shows that THz-TDS is sensitive to collective modes or vibrational modes of material.