Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Organizing Knowledge in Internal Networks; A Multilevel Study

Organizing knowledge is fundamental to the competitive success of firms. Recent research shows that many firms experience difficulty in transferring and integrating knowledge across their organizational units, and that its remedy requires that firms change their organization forms. This PhD study seeks to examine how internal network forms of organizing influence the organization and integration of knowledge. Employing a longitudinal case study method and two questionnaires, four studies are conducted in which the effect and performance implications of both corporate-level and business-level elements shaping knowledge integration in internal networks are examined. The results demonstrate that firms improve the integration and organization of knowledge by adopting sets of complementary elements characteristic of internal networks at the corporate level, as well as through the contribution of internal networks in developing the capacity to absorb knowledge at the business level.
Topographic Organization and Corticocortical Connections of the Forepaw Representation in Areas S1 and SC of the Opossum: Evidence for a Possible Role of Area SC in Multimodal Processing

In small-brained mammals, such as opossums, the cortex is organized in fewer sensory and motor areas than in mammals endowed with larger cortical sheets. The presence of multimodal fields, involved in the integration of sensory inputs has not been clearly characterized in those mammals. In the present study, the corticocortical connections of the forepaw representation in the somatosensory caudal (SC) area of the Didelphis aurita opossum was studied with injections of fluorescent anatomical tracers in SC. Electrophysiological mapping of S1 was used to delimit its respective rostral and caudal borders, and to guide SC injections. The areal borders of S1 and the location of area SC were further confirmed by myeloarchitecture. In S1, we found a well-delimited forepaw representation, although it presented a crude internal topographic organization. Cortical projections to S1 originate in somatosensory areas of the parietal cortex, and appeared to be mostly homotopic. Physiological and connectional evidence were provided for a topographic organization in opossum area SC as well. Most notably, corticocortical projections to the forepaw representation of SC originated from somatosensory cortical areas and from cortex representing other sensory modalities, especially the visual peristriate cortex. This suggests that SC might be involved in multimodal processing similar to the posterior parietal cortex of species with larger brains.
Role of Procalcitonin and C-Reactive Protein As Biomarkers of Infection in Children With Liver Disease

Objectives: Early and accurate identification of infection in patients with liver disease is challenging. The present study evaluated the role of procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) as biomarkers of bacterial infection in children with liver disease. Methods: Demographic and clinical data of consecutive children admitted with acute liver failure (ALF) or decompensated chronic liver disease (DCLD) were collected. PCT and CRP were measured within 24 hours of admission. Blood and urine culture, chest x-ray, and ascitic fluid analysis were done. Results: One hundred sixty-four children (113 boys, age 76 [0.5–204] months, ALF 69, DCLD 95) were enrolled. Seventy-seven (47%) had infection. Most common site was ascitic fluid (n = 35), followed by urinary tract (n = 26), pneumonia (n = 22), and blood stream infection (n = 16). Twenty-one children had multiple-site infections, 18 had severe sepsis, and 36 had systemic inflammatory response syndrome. PCT and CRP correlated with infection severity, higher in severe sepsis (8.3 [3.5–38] ng/mL and 4.1 [0.3–13.8] mg/dL) than only infection (0.89 [0.1–8] ng/mL and 1.7 [0.32–24] mg/dL) and no infection (0.3 [0.1–6.75] ng/mL and 0.3 [0.1–4.16 mg/dL]). Systemic inflammatory response syndrome was more common in patients with infection (31/77 vs 5/87, P = 0.00). PCT (>0.5 ng/mL) and CRP (>0.6 mg/dL) performed better in DCLD (AUC of 0.90 and 0.83) compared with patients with ALF (AUC of 0.73 and 0.69). Conclusions : PCT and CRP are reliable markers of infection and correlate with infection severity in children with liver disease. Their diagnostic accuracy is better in DCLD than ALF cases.
Speech Reconstruction in Post-Laryngectomised Patients by Formant Manipulation and Pitch

rehabilitation of the ability to speak in a natural sounding voice, for patients who suffer larynx and voice box deficiencies, has long been a dream for both patients and researchers working in this field. Removal of, or damage to, the voice box in a surgical operation such as laryngectomy, affects the pitch generation mechanism of the human voice production system. Such patients speech thus becomes hoarse, whisper like and sometimes not easily perceptible. This speech is obviously different to that from normal speakers, and will have lost many of the distinctive characteristics of the original speech. However, these patients typically retain the ability to whisper in a similar way to normal speakers. This paper aims to present an engineering approach to providing laryngectomy patients the capacity to regain their ability to speak with a more natural voice, and as a side effect, to allow them to conveniently use a mobile phone for communications. The method uses auditory information only, allied with analysis, formant insertion and novel methods for spectrum enhancement and formant smoothing within the reconstruction process. In effect, natural sounding speech is obtained from their spoken whisper-speech, without recourse to surgery. The method builds upon our previously published works using an analysis-by-synthesis approach for voice reconstruction with a modified CELP codec.
Clinical Epidemiology of Chickenpox in Iraq from 2007-2011

Varicella zoster (chickenpox) infection is an acute common disease caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV). Children are most susceptible to infection. In non-vaccinated populations, primary infection tends to occur at a younger age. In 1998, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that routine childhood varicella vaccination be considered in countries where the disease is a relatively important public health and socioeconomic problem, and where high (85 to 90%) and sustained vaccine coverage can be achieved. Aim: 1- To determine the trend (occurrence, age and gender distribution, seasonal variation) of registered clinical cases of chickenpox in Iraq from 2007-2011.2- To determine the need for the use of chicken pox vaccine in Iraq and putting a plan for its use accordingly. Methods: Retrospective descriptive study. Results: Frequency of clinical cases shows an obvious rise in the registration of chickenpox cases from 21798 case in 2007 through 59681 in 2008 to 74195 in 2011 with possible outbreaks occurred in 2008 and 2011. Rate of occurrence of clinical chickenpox cases also shows an obvious rise in the occurrence that ranges from 73.41/100000 in 2007 to 222.61/100000 in 2011. The rate in 2008 and 2011 is suggestive of a possible outbreak. Although the total number of chickenpox varies from 2007-2011 but all have shown the same seasonal distribution, being highest in spring (April, May) season. The largest no. recorded was in 2011 (14000 cases in April and May). The lowest no. recorded was in 2007 (4000 cases in April and May). The highest registered number of chickenpox cases was in provinces of Ninawa, Baghdad/russafa, Dihok, Baghdad/karkh, Al-Basrah, As-Sulaymaniyah. Regarding gender distribution there was sustained preponderance for the males over females with nearly the same percentage over the years. Age distribution of the registered cases had shown that most of the cases occurred in those of age 5-14 years (65%), only 1% occur in those >45 years with statistical significance p=0.001. Conclusions: 1- There is a rising trend in the registration of clinical chickenpox cases.2- Most cases occur in the age group of less than 15 years. Males are a little bit higher than females.3- The highest frequencies were reported in March, April, and May.4- Most of the cases were registered in Baghdad, Ninawa, Dihok and Al-Basrah.
Striatal Extracellular Dopamine Levels in Rats with Haloperidol-Induced Depolarization Block of Substantia Nigra Dopamine Neurons

Correlations between substantia nigra (SN) dopamine (DA) cell activity and striatal extracellular DA were examined using simultaneous extracellular single-unit recordings and in vivomicrodialysis performed in drug-naive rats and in rats treated repeatedly with haloperidol (HAL). Intact rats treated with HAL for 21–28 d exhibited significantly fewer active DA cells, indicating the presence of depolarization block (DB) in these cells. However, in rats that received surgical implantation of the microdialysis probe followed by a 24 hr recovery period, HAL-induced DA cell DB was reversed, as evidenced by a number of active DA neurons that was significantly higher than that in HAL-treated intact rats and similar to that of drug-naive rats. In contrast, using a modified probe implantation procedure that did not reverse SN DA neuron DB, we found striatal DA efflux to be significantly lower than in controls and significantly correlated with the reduction in DA neuron spike activity. Furthermore, although basal striatal DA efflux was independent of SN DA cell burst-firing activity in control rats, these variables were significantly correlated in rats with HAL-induced DA cell DB. Therefore, HAL-induced DB of SN DA neurons is disrupted by implantation of a microdialysis probe into the striatum using standard procedures. However, a modified microdialysis method that allowed reinstatement of DA neuron DB revealed that the HAL-induced inactivation of SN DA neurons was associated with significantly lower extracellular DA levels in the striatum. Moreover, the residual extracellular DA maintained in the presence of DB may, in part, depend on the burst-firing pattern of the noninactivated DA neurons in the SN.
Comparison of Classifiers Efficiency on Missing Values Recovering: Application in a Marketing Database with Massive Missing Data

Missing data in databases are considered to be one of the biggest problems faced on data mining application. This problem can be aggravated when there is massive missing data in the presence of imbalanced databases. Several techniques as samples deletion, values imputation, values prediction through classifiers and approximation of patterns have been proposed and compared, but these comparisons do not consider adverse conditions found in real databases. In this work, it is presented a comparison of techniques used to classify records from a real imbalanced database with massive missing data, where the main objective is the database pre-processing to recover and select records completely filled for further techniques application. It was compared with other algorithms such as clustering, decision tree, artificial neural networks and Bayesian classifier, expressing their efficiency through ROC curves. Through the results, it can be verified that the problem characterization and database understanding are essential steps for a correct techniques comparison in a real problem. It was observed that artificial neural networks are an interesting alternative for this kind of problem since it was capable to obtain satisfactory results even when dealing with real-world problems.
Disruption of AtWNK8 Enhances Tolerance of Arabidopsis to Salt and Osmotic Stresses via Modulating Proline Content and Activities of Catalase and Peroxidase

With no lysine kinases (WNKs) play important roles in plant growth and development. However, its role in salt and osmotic stress tolerance is unclear. Here, we report that AtWNK8 is mainly expressed in primary root, hypocotyl, stamen and pistil and is induced by NaCl and sorbitol treatment. Compared to the wild-type, the T-DNA knock-out wnk8 mutant was more tolerant to severe salinity and osmotic stresses, as indicated by 27% and 198% more fresh weight in the NaCl and sorbitol treatment, respectively. The wnk8 mutant also accumulated 1.43-fold more proline than the wild-type in the sorbitol treatment. Under NaCl and sorbitol stresses, catalase (CAT) activity in wnk8 mutant was 1.92- and 3.7-times of that in Col-0, respectively. Similarly, under salt and osmotic stress conditions, peroxidase (POD) activities in wnk8 mutant were 1.81- and 1.58-times of that in Col-0, respectively. Taken together, we revealed that maintaining higher CAT and POD activities might be one of the reasons that the disruption of AtWNK8 enhances the tolerance to salt stress, and accumulating more proline and higher activities of CAT and POD might result in the higher tolerance of WNK8 to osmotic stress.
Prostaglandins as PPARγ Modulators in Adipogenesis

Adipocytes and fat cells play critical roles in the regulation of energy homeostasis. Adipogenesis (adipocyte differentiation) is regulated via a complex process including coordinated changes in hormone sensitivity and gene expression. PPARγ is a ligand-dependent transcription factor and important in adipogenesis, as it enhances the expression of numerous adipogenic and lipogenic genes in adipocytes. Prostaglandins (PGs), which are lipid mediators, are associated with the regulation of PPARγ function in adipocytes. Prostacyclin promotes the differentiation of adipocyte-precursor cells to adipose cells via activation of the expression of C/EBPβ and δ. These proteins are important transcription factors in the activation of the early phase of adipogenesis, and they activate the expression of PPARγ, which event precedes the maturation of adipocytes. PGE2 and PGF2α strongly suppress the early phase of adipocyte differentiation by enhancing their own production via receptor-mediated elevation of the expression of cycloxygenase-2, and they also suppress the function of PPARγ. In contrast, PGD2 and its non-enzymatic metabolite, Δ12-PGJ2, activate the middle-late phase of adipocyte differentiation through both DP2 receptors and PPARγ. This paper focuses on potential roles of PGs as PPARγ modulators in adipogenesis and regulators of obesity.
Scientists and Software Engineers: A Tale of Two Cultures

The two cultures of the title are those observed in my field studies: the culture of scientists (financial mathematicians, earth and planetary scientists, and molecular biologists) developing their own software, and the culture of software engineers developing scientific software. In this paper, I shall describe some problems arising when scientists and software engineers come together to develop scientific software and discuss how these problems may be ascribed to their two different cultures.
Effects of a Paleolithic Diet on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

There is some evidence supporting the beneficial effects of a Paleolithic Diet (PD) on cardiovascular disease risk factors. This diet advises consuming lean meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, and nuts and avoiding intake of grains, dairy products, processed foods, and added sugar and salt. This study was performed to assess the effects of a PD on cardiovascular disease risk factors including anthropometric indexes, lipid profile, blood pressure, and inflammatory markers using data from randomized controlled trials. A comprehensive search was performed in the PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases up to August, 2018. A meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model to estimate the pooled effect size. Meta-analysis of 8 eligible studies revealed that a PD significantly reduced body weight [weighted mean difference (WMD) = -2.17 kg; 95% CI: -3.48, -0.87 kg], waist circumference (WMD = -2.90 cm; 95% CI: -4.51, -1.28 cm), body mass index (in kg/m2) (WMD = -1.15; 95% CI: -1.68, -0.62), body fat percentage (WMD = -1.38%; 95% CI: -2.08%, -0.67%), systolic (WMD = -4.24 mm Hg; 95% CI: -7.11, -1.38 mm Hg) and diastolic (WMD = -2.95 mm Hg; 95% CI: -4.72, -1.18 mm Hg) blood pressure, and circulating concentrations of total cholesterol (WMD = -0.22 mg/dL; 95% CI: -0.42, -0.03 mg/dL), TGs (WMD = -0.23 mg/dL; 95% CI: -0.46, -0.01 mg/dL), LDL cholesterol (WMD = -0.13 mg/dL; 95% CI: -0.25, -0.01 mg/dL), and C-reactive protein (CRP) (WMD = -0.41 mg/L; 95% CI: -0.81, -0.008 mg/L) and also significantly increased HDL cholesterol (WMD = 0.05 mg/dL; 95% CI: 0.005, 0.10 mg/dL). However, sensitivity analysis revealed that the overall effects of a PD on lipid profile, blood pressure, and circulating CRP concentrations were significantly influenced by removing some studies, hence the results must be interpreted with caution. Although the present meta-analysis revealed that a PD has favorable effects on cardiovascular disease risk factors, the evidence is not conclusive and more well-designed trials are still needed.
Nanocluster's magnetron sputtering of carbon-nitride and hybrid nickel-carbon-nitride films

High argon and nitrogen gas pressure and low plasma power has been used to produce carbon nitride (CNx) and nickel carbon nitride (Ni@CNx) films by reactive dc magnetron sputtering. Under these conditions, the growth of the film occurs as a process of precipitation of clusters of sputtered material, rather than individual atoms. Scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution x-ray photoemission spectroscopy were used for structural characterization of CNx films on quartz substrates. The corresponding structural diagram determined by the substrate temperature and nitrogen concentration in the CNx film has been built. It includes four main nanostructures: graphite-like, fullerene-like, diamond-like and nano columnar. Production conditions of core/shell (nickel/carbon-nitride) nanocolumnar structures have been discussed.
Speculation techniques for high level synthesis of control intensive designs

The quality of synthesis results for most high level synthesis approaches is strongly affected by the choice of control flow (through conditions and loops) in the input description. In this paper, we explore the effectiveness of various types of code motions, such as moving operations across conditionals, out of conditionals (speculation) and into conditionals (reverse speculation), and how they can be effectively directed by heuristics so as to lead to improved synthesis results in terms of fewer execution cycles and fewer number of states in the finite state machine controller. We also study the effects of the code motions on the area and latency of the final synthesized netlist. Based on speculative code motions, we present a novel way to perform early condition execution that leads to significant improvements in highly control-intensive designs. Overall, reductions of up to 38 \% in execution cycles are obtained with all the code motions enabled.
Template-assisted fabrication of nano-biomaterials

I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. II TABLE OF CONTENTS.III CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. 1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE . 2 RESEARCH PLAN . 2 THESIS ORGANIZATION . 4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. 6 TEMPLATE-ASSISTED FABRICATION . 6 NANOSTRUCTURES FOR DRUG DELIVERY . 12 CHAPTER 3: PUBLICATIONS . 20 PAPER 1: TEMPLATE-ASSISTED FABRICATION OF PROTEIN NANOCAPSULES . 20 PAPER 2: FABRICATION OF PROTEIN NANOTUBES USING TEMPLATE-ASSISTED ELECTROSTATIC LAYER-BY-LAYER METHODS. 38 PAPER 3: FABRICATION OF SEGMENTED NANOFIBERS BY TEMPLATE WETTING OF MULTILAYERED ALTERNATING POLYMER THIN FILMS. 56 PAPER 4: CORE-SHELL POLYMER NANORODS BY A TWO-STEP TEMPLATE WETTING PROCESS . 64 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK. 81 APPENDICES. 83 APPENDIX 1. PROCESS USED TO DETERMINE AVERAGE PORE SIZE AND NANOTUBE WALL THICKNESS USING IMAGEJ IMAGE ANALYSIS SOFTWARE . 83 APPENDIX 2. FABRICATION OF BOVINE SERUM ALBUMIN NANOTUBES THROUGH TEMPLATE ASSISTED LAYER BY LAYER ASSEMBLY . 85 APPENDIX 3. TOWARDS BIODEGRADABLE SEGMENTED NANORODS FOR CONTROLLED DRUG DELIVERY. 96 APPENDIX 4. PRELIMINARY DATA FOR DRUG RELEASE FROM NANOPOROUS ALUMINA MEMBRANES . 106
Core Knowledge, Language, and Number

ABSTRACT The natural numbers may be our simplest, most useful, and best-studied abstract concepts, but their origins are debated. I consider this debate in the context of the proposal, by Gallistel and Gelman, that natural number system is a product of cognitive evolution and the proposal, by Carey, that it is a product of human cultural history. I offer a third proposal that builds on aspects of these views but rejects one tenet that they share: the thesis that counting is central to number. I suggest that children discover the natural numbers when they learn a natural language: especially nouns, number words, and the rules that compose quantified noun phrases. This learning, in turn, depends both on cognitive systems that are innate and shared by other animals, and on our species-specific language faculty. Thus, natural number concepts are unique to humans and culturally universal, yet they are learned.
Preventing School Dropouts through Classroom Guidance.

There has been increasing concern nationally, statewide, and locally regarding the growing number of school dropouts. A national study conducted in 1983 by Educational Testing Services indicated that 25% of students who were sophomores in 1980 did not complete high school 2 years later; nearly 25% of Black students and almost 30% of Hispanic students dropped out, and dropouts were also more likely to be older boys than older girls who attended public schools in urban areas in the south or west (Eckstrom, Goertz, Pollack, & Rock, 1986). Other recent studies have also shown that it is not students' background but schools' response to students' background that determines students' success in school. Wehlage and Rutter's work (1986) has been the most effective in linking self-esteem and other psychological variables to data on dropout. Several authors have found that the characteristics of potential dropouts can be recognized as early as the third grade (Lloyd, 1978; Walters & Kranzler, 1970; Wehlage, 1988) and yet according to a report compiled by the Center for Dropout Prevention, University of Miami (1988), there has yet to be a comprehensive response on a national level toward ameliorating this problem. A Miami report published in 1986-1987 by the Office of Educational Accountability of the Dade County Public Schools, which is identified as the fourth largest school district in the country, revealed that 29.5% of its eighth-grade student population dropped out of school before graduation (Stephenson, 1986-1987). The high costs to these young people and to all of our society when students leave school without a diploma is tragic. It is evident that dropouts are less able to find jobs and are more likely to end up in crime-related activities. A Potential Dropout Profile prepared by the Dade County Public Schools revealed that children who were most likely to drop out of school came from Hispanic or Black families and were 2 or more years older than their peers because they had repeated one or more grades. They were also poorer readers, had been suspended from school because of inappropriate behavior, came from families that moved from place to place, had attended three or
A General Treatment of Solubility. 1. The QSPR Correlation of Solvation Free Energies of Single Solutes in Series of Solvents

We present an extended QSPR modeling of solubilities of about 500 substances in series of up to 69 diverse solvents. The models are obtained with our new software package, CODESSA PRO, which is furnished with an advanced variable selection procedure and a large pool of theoretically derived molecular descriptors. The squared correlation coefficients and squared standard deviations (variances) range from 0.837 and 0.1 for 2-pyrrolidone to 0.998 and 0.02 for dipropyl ether, respectively. The predictive power of the models was verified by using the "leave-one-out" cross-validation procedure. The QSPR models presented are suitable for the rapid evaluation of solvation free energies of organic compounds.