Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thermophilic Fungi: Their Physiology and Enzymes

SUMMARY Thermophilic fungi are a small assemblage in mycota that have a minimum temperature of growth at or above 20°C and a maximum temperature of growth extending up to 60 to 62°C. As the only representatives of eukaryotic organisms that can grow at temperatures above 45°C, the thermophilic fungi are valuable experimental systems for investigations of mechanisms that allow growth at moderately high temperature yet limit their growth beyond 60 to 62°C. Although widespread in terrestrial habitats, they have remained underexplored compared to thermophilic species of eubacteria and archaea. However, thermophilic fungi are potential sources of enzymes with scientific and commercial interests. This review, for the first time, compiles information on the physiology and enzymes of thermophilic fungi. Thermophilic fungi can be grown in minimal media with metabolic rates and growth yields comparable to those of mesophilic fungi. Studies of their growth kinetics, respiration, mixed-substrate utilization, nutrient uptake, and protein breakdown rate have provided some basic information not only on thermophilic fungi but also on filamentous fungi in general. Some species have the ability to grow at ambient temperatures if cultures are initiated with germinated spores or mycelial inoculum or if a nutritionally rich medium is used. Thermophilic fungi have a powerful ability to degrade polysaccharide constituents of biomass. The properties of their enzymes show differences not only among species but also among strains of the same species. Their extracellular enzymes display temperature optima for activity that are close to or above the optimum temperature for the growth of organism and, in general, are more heat stable than those of the mesophilic fungi. Some extracellular enzymes from thermophilic fungi are being produced commercially, and a few others have commercial prospects. Genes of thermophilic fungi encoding lipase, protease, xylanase, and cellulase have been cloned and overexpressed in heterologous fungi, and pure crystalline proteins have been obtained for elucidation of the mechanisms of their intrinsic thermostability and catalysis. By contrast, the thermal stability of the few intracellular enzymes that have been purified is comparable to or, in some cases, lower than that of enzymes from the mesophilic fungi. Although rigorous data are lacking, it appears that eukaryotic thermophily involves several mechanisms of stabilization of enzymes or optimization of their activity, with different mechanisms operating for different enzymes.
Conditioned Diffusions and the Equity Premium

We apply the theory of conditioned diffusions to consider the effect of survivorship bias on a variety of issues in empirical finance. We provide a spatial analysis of this phenomenon as opposed to the more temporal analysis of Brown, Goetzmann and Ross (1995). We find that survivorship bias generates a high spurious equity premium in the 1930s when survival concerns were the highest. These findings are consistent with the analysis of Stambaugh and Pastor (2001). We also find that survivorship effects can explain some of the equity premiums in emerging markets, which are typically quite high. Finally, we provide closed form solutions for the effect of survivorship bias on dividend-yield regressions.
Soret-Dufour and Radiation effect on unsteady MHD flow over an inclined porous plate embedded in porous medium with viscous dissipation

We study Soret-Dufour and radiation effects on unsteady viscous incompressible MHD flow along semi infinite inclined permeable moving plate with variable temperature and mass diffusion embedded in a porous medium numerically, by taking into account the effect of viscous dissipation. The dimensionless governing equations of flow field are solved numerically by Crank-Nicolson finite difference method for different values of governing flow parameters. The velocity temperature, concentration, skin-friction, Nusselt number, Sherwood number are shown through graphs and tables. MSC: 76W05 76R50 78A40 76M20
ONLINE PEDAGOGICAL QUALITY QUESTIONED: PROBING INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNERS' PERCEPTIONS OF LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES CRITICAL TO PRACTICE

Improvements in the quality of online courses and programs for higher education are not keeping pace with burgeoning academic enrollments. While efforts as recent as 2010 have advanced assessments of online program administration and of elements in course designs, evidence is lacking of improved pedagogies. This present study posited that less attention has been paid to causal factors of quality, such as instructional designers’ understanding and application of personal leadership in practice. To explore this situation, a qualitative, phenomenological study of a panel of experts was undertaken. Indepth interviews were guided by the central research question, “What instructional design leadership competencies are identified as critical to creating quality online learning designs? ” Participants identified three major critical leadership competencies for quality instructional designs, particularly for web-based higher education: strategy—team oriented and instructional, vision—for the field and pedagogies, and interpersonal skills—communication and character traits. When interview findings were triangulated with personal documents, participant-designed online courses and student evaluations, two evidence-based quality predictors—student-centeredness and student satisfaction— were found to be prevalent. Aggregated study results confirmed a strong relationship between leadership competencies in practice and quality outputs. Conclusions extended a traditional view of organizational and positional leadership to individual designers, along with relevant competencies, for designing quality learning events. Significant to the field of instructional design was the implication that practitioners approach the craft of online learning interventions with oversight and foresight, underpinned by relevant research, in order to lead in an on-going paradigm shift of how knowledge is acquired and assimilated. The research study report concludes by offering a new model of leadership principles for instructional designers committed to excellence in crafting interventions for the 21 century and beyond.
Female Policymaker and Educational Expenditure: Cross-Country Evidence

This paper investigates the influence of women in politics on decision-making using public educational expenditures as the outcome of interest. The results suggest that an increase in the share of female legislators by one percentage point increases the ratio of educational expenditures to GDP by 0.028 percentage points. I then consider some contexts, on which the influence of female legislators may depend. The effect of female legislators on educational policies is strengthened accounting for forms of government, but not influenced by left-wing government, electoral rules, parliamentary system and non-marriage. Moreover, this study supports the hypothesis that the identity of the legislator matters for policy.
Labour Turnover and Labour Productivity in a Retail Organization

We study the impact of labour turnover on labour productivity using a panel dataset of 347 shops belonging to a large UK clothing retailer over1995-1999. For the within-shop link – holding constant the shop’s permanent characteristics – we observe an inverted U-shape effect of labour turnover on productivity. The productivity-maximizing rates of FTE-adjusted quits and hires are each about 20% per year, improving productivity by 2.5% compared to the zero turnover level. We explain the difference between this optimal level of labour turnover and its observed average (quits and hires each around 10%) through the costs of hiring estimated at about £600 per hire. By contrast, between shops, there is a positive link between average rates of turnover and average productivity, suggesting that an unobservable management quality factor generates both high turnover and productivity, which we discuss.
A New Approach for Information Security using an Improved Steganography Technique

Abstract —This research paper proposes a secured, robust approach of information security using steganography. It presents two component based LSB (Least Significant Bit) steganography methods for embedding secret data in the least significant bits of blue components and partial green components of random pixel locations in the edges of images. An adaptive LSB based steganography is proposed for embedding data based on the data available in MSB’s (Most Significant Bits) of red, green, and blue components of randomly selected pixels across smooth areas. A hybrid feature detection filter is also proposed that performs better to predict edge areas even in noisy conditions. AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and random pixel embedding is incorporated to provide two-tier security. The experimental results of the proposed approach are better in terms of PSNR and capacity. The comparison analysis of output results with other existing techniques is giving the proposed approach an edge over others. It has been thoroughly tested for various steganalysis attacks like visual analysis, histogram analysis, chi-square, and RS analysis and could sustain all these attacks very well.
Wealth Effects and Monetary Policy

This paper explores the importance of wealth effects for monetary policy in the context of the policy strategy of the European Central Bank (ECB). Causality tests indicate that nominal equity prices have predictive power for ECB policy indicators of real activity, while housing prices have predictive power for price indicators, and money and credit aggregates. This means that, at least indirectly, monetary policy takes asset price developments into account. The results, however, point to strong differences among individual euro area countries. On the question of whether or not a central bank should explicitly target asset prices directly or through the inclusion of asset prices in its measure of inflation, counterfactual model simulations suggest that this would not have led to a significantly different macroeconomic performance in the euro area.
Secular Trends in Overweight and Obesity among Urban Children in Guangzhou China, 2007-2011

Abstract Background No studies have been reported on children obesity prevalence of Guangzhou, one of the most urbanized areas in China. This study tracks the secular trends of obesity prevalence of children. Methods The data were derived from the surveys on students’ constitution and health carried out by government. Randomly, 3832 students in 2007, 13141 in 2008, 14052 in 2009, 13750 in 2010, and 15225 in 2011, aged 7-12 years, from urban primary school were examined. Anthropometric parameters were measured in all students. Results The mean of body mass index increased significantly from 16.6 in 2008 to 16.8 in 2011 in the total group of children, and the total prevalence of overweight and obesity increased from 9.4 and 6.2 to 10.5 and 7.5 from 2007 to 2011, respectively. The minimum value of the mean body mass index and the overweight and obesity prevalence in the total age group all appeared in 2008. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in males was significantly higher than that in females in each year among the 5 years. Conclusion Although the prevalence of children obesity in Guangzhou in 2011 is still lower than the average values of Chinese large coastal cities, a significant increase was found in their prevalence from 2007 to 2011 and the total obesity prevalence of children is even higher than that of adolescent. Furthermore, we found that the minimum value of overweight and obesity prevalence of the total group and almost all gender-specific age groups appeared in 2008.
Robust Synchronization for Two-Dimensional Discrete-Time Coupled Dynamical Networks

In this paper, a new synchronization problem is addressed for an array of two-dimensional (2-D) coupled dynamical networks. The class of systems under investigation is described by the 2-D nonlinear state space model which is oriented from the well-known Fornasini-Marchesini second model. For such a new 2-D complex network model, both the network dynamics and the couplings evolve in two independent directions. A new synchronization concept is put forward to account for the phenomenon that the propagations of all 2-D dynamical networks are synchronized in two directions with influence from the coupling strength. The purpose of the problem addressed is to first derive sufficient conditions ensuring the global synchronization and then extend the obtained results to more general cases where the system matrices contain either the norm-bounded or the polytopic parameter uncertainties. An energy-like quadratic function is developed, together with the intensive use of the Kronecker product, to establish the easy-to-verify conditions under which the addressed 2-D complex network model achieves global synchronization. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the theoretical results and the effectiveness of the proposed synchronization scheme. Keywords—Two-dimensional systems, Complex networks, Coupling, Synchronization, Parameter uncertainties.
Afterhyperpolarization Regulates Firing Rate in Neurons of the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

Cluster I neurons of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which are thought to be pacemakers supporting circadian activity, fire spontaneous action potentials that are followed by a monophasic afterhyperpolarization (AHP). Using a brain slice preparation, we have found that the AHP has a shorter duration in cells firing at higher frequency, consistent with circadian modulation of the AHP. The AHP is supported by at least three subtypes of KCa channels, including apamin-sensitive channels, iberiotoxin-sensitive channels, and channels that are insensitive to both of these antagonists. The latter KCa channel subtype is involved in rate-dependent regulation of the AHP. Voltage-clamped, whole-cell Ca2+ channel currents recorded from SCN neurons were dissected pharmacologically, revealing all of the major high-voltage activated subtypes: L-, N-, P/Q-, and R-type Ca2+channel currents. Application of Ca2+ channel antagonists to spontaneously firing neurons indicated that predominantly L- and R-type currents trigger the AHP. Our findings suggest that apamin- and iberiotoxin-insensitive KCachannels are subject to diurnal modulation by the circadian clock and that this modulation either directly or indirectly leads to the expression of a circadian rhythm in spiking frequency.
The spatial knowledge of retail decision makers: capturing and interpreting group insight using a composite cognitive map

The paper argues that existing techniques for retail site evaluation ignore the useful "soft" insights of retail executives. It outlines a technique for constructing a composite map of retail decision makers' insights into the location influences affecting store performance. It has two objectives: to show how the method can be used to construct a basic knowledge base by helping to elicit decision makers' spatial knowledge; and to clarify the status of the maps in terms of the process of group decision making. Illustrations are given from current work drawn from interviews with executives of a major multiple superstore retailer in the UK. The paper shows how composite mapping provides a means to reduce the ideas of a group without any loss of detail, using key cognitive constructs as a "glue" to provide a template against which individual maps can be compared and better understood. The interpretative method provides a flexible and expedient means for constructing an organizational knowledge base for site location - the value of which can then be tested for modelling purposes - and as an effective counterweight to normative procedures.
Interactive navigation of humans from a game theoretic perspective

Humans are more successful in planning collision free, continuous trajectories through populated environments than any motion planning algorithm so far. This is due to the fact that they consider the conditionally cooperative, interactive behavior of the surrounding persons, for example the possibility of mutual avoidance maneuvers. In this paper, interaction during navigation is regarded from a game theoretic perspective and the concept of Nash equilibria is applied to analyze human motion. In contrast to other methods, the game theoretic approach does not necessarily rely on learning the interaction itself and is extendable. Our approach is based on human motion data that is captured during experiments. Two hypotheses are verified: for one thing, interaction exists during human navigation, for another thing, the mutual avoidance behavior of humans can be modeled with the theory of Nash equilibria in non-cooperative games. This knowledge can be used to enhance existing motion planning algorithms for autonomous robots.
Inequality Assessment Tool for Urban Development Using GIS-Based Accessibility Measures and Fractal Version of Theil's Index

Assessments of transportation investment from a “social efficiency” viewpoint are absent from transportation policy analysis and marketing practice. This is mainly due to lack of tools capable to assess the role of transportation infrastructure investment on the provision of activity opportunities to residents of each locality. In this paper, we demonstrate a method that identifies specific locations in an entire state where resource allocation has succeeded in maximizing benefits to the public. In addition, the method based on the Theil inequality index and the Geographic Information System maps derived from this technique show which locations in California fail to be equitable and require their residents to travel excessively to pursue the same amount of activities when compared to other locations around the state where travelling enables better time allocation. Inequality is measured through the prism of accessibility. Accessibility is here considered as the amount of roads and activity opportunities reachable within a given travel time buffer. These activities include retail, education, health, manufacturing, and all other activities. The mapping tool thus developed shows which residents suffer the most from suboptimal time allocation and what type of investment is needed to alleviate this suffering. In addition to the substantive findings about and mapping of the relative investment inequality in California, this paper presents a method to capture the multi-scale structure of inequality in a multi-objective environment.
Local Democracy Ltd

Abstract A number of European countries have witnessed a proliferation of local government enterprises in recent years. Norwegian local councillors are seemingly particularly exposed to this ‘enterprise fever’. Our article explores local governments' approaches to the political control of such companies. We observe a reluctance to intervene directly in the affairs of an enterprise, but there is a last-resort preparedness to take more resolute action. Lastly, in contrast to what the prototypical agency model postulates, we find that those who attach strong aspirations of increased capacity to the establishment of companies appear to lack trust in the same companies' performance capability.
Microenterprise financing preference: Testing POH within the context of Ghana's rural financial market

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of financing preference of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) whilst distinguishing a broader range of financing sources beyond what is typically the case within the corporate finance literature. Design/methodology/approach - Under the framework of ordinal logistic regression, the paper also tests whether there is evidence of hierarchical preference ordering as predicted by pecking order theory (POH) using field survey data for 2009. Findings - The authors relate that new enterprises are more likely to prefer low cost and less risky or less formal financing such as internal or bootstrap finances. However, as the enterprise gets established or matures, its capacity to seek formal financing increases, thereby becoming more likely to prefer or being in a higher category of formal financing. While the paper affirms the POH, it is argued that this order is a consequence of severe persistent constraints other than sheer preference. The findings further reveal that, microentrepreneur's and MSE's-specific level socio-economic characteristics such as owner's education or financial literacy status, households tangible assets, ownership structure, enterprise size, as well as sensitivity to high interest rates in the credit market, to be important determinants of either past (start-up), present or future financing preference. Originality/value - The main value of this paper is to analyse the determinants of financing preference of MSEs within the context of rural financial market (RFM) from a developing country perspective.
Gender Effects in Young Road Users on Road Safety Attitudes, Behaviors and Risk Perception

In the present study, we investigated gender-related effects on road safety attitudes in 2681 young drivers (1458 males, 54.4%; aged 18–22) who filled out several scales assessing attitudes toward road safety issues, driving behavior in specific hypothetical situations, accident risk perception, and concerns about such a risk. We focused only on young drivers to better understand the role of gender in road safety attitudes in a period of life in which risky behaviors are widespread for males and females. Indeed, there is still no agreement as to the nature of these gender differences. According to some authors, the effects of gender on being involved in a crash due to driving skills are either non-existent or largely explained by differences in alcohol consumption. In our study, we found gender differences in road safety attitudes (i.e., “negative attitude toward traffic rules and risky driving”; “negative attitude toward drugs and alcohol” and “tolerance toward speeding”) and in driver behavior (i.e., “errors in inattentive driving” and “driving violations”). This result is consistent in all drivers coming from nine different European countries. Our analyses yielded an important finding concerning risk perception. The results indicate that the level of risk perception during driving is the same for males and females. However, these two groups differ in the level of concern about this risk, with males being less concerned about the risk of a road accident. This suggests that the main difference between these two groups is not strictly related to judgment of the perceived risk probability but rather to the level of concern experienced about the consequences of the risk. This difference between risk perception and worry could explain differences in the frequency of car accidents in the two groups. The present findings may provide new insights for the development of gender-based prevention programs.
Convergence, Connectivity, and the Case of Japanese Mobile Gaming

The specificities of Japanese mobile telephony are giving rise to new cultural economies of games production and engendering new paradigms of gameplay. These topical developments have considerable technosocial bearing and consequence. The tension between the virtual and the actual resides at the heart of topical debates about the modalities of co-presence in mobile telephony. The potential loss of anonymity in location-based mobile gaming and the increasing awareness that mobile games are mostly played at home add considerable complexity to the already-blurred boundaries of physical and virtual co-presence. The micronarratives of such newly configured and articulated social tropes arguably need to be incorporated into macroperspectives on convergence culture if only to invest the latter with additional levels of nuance and complexity. Japanese mobile gaming therefore has strategic utility in this article as a situated context for analyzing the localized cultural politics of convergence and connectivity in mobile telephony.