Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EVALUATION OF JOB STRESS FACTORS ( ORGANIZATIONAL AND MANAGERIAL ) AMONG HEADS OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION ORGANIZATIONS

At the beginning of the 21st century, although there were advances in technology and facilities for organizational affairs, the more complex role of managers and the necessity of possessing various skills have resulted in an increase in job stress among managers. The purpose of this research project was to evaluate all job stress factors at two levels: organizational (over 7 factors) and managerial (over 8 factors). Also, the relations between parameters such as age, gender, education level, records of service, etc. and all other factors were evaluated. The Spielberger standard questionnaire was completed by 91 physical education organization managers and the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the non-parametric test of the Spearman correlation coefficient, the Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests, the Alpha Cronbach correlation coefficient and the Regression equation. The results indicate that there is a meaningful correlation between organizational job stress and managerial job stress (p < 0.001). Factors such as bonuses and development of human resources were among the most intensive organizational job stress factors while factors such as maximum pressure for work quality, job importance and time pressure were among the most intensive managerial job stress factors. There was no meaningful relation between the above personal characteristics and organizational job stress, managerial job stress, and total stress types (p > 0.05).
Analysis of demographics and results of student's opinion survey of a large scale mooc deployment for the spanish speaking community

We describe the demographics and comment the completion rate and satisfaction results of Universität Politecnica de Valencia first three MOOC editions, 2 in its platform upvx.es and one in Universia's platform miriadax.net. We have the completion rate data of over 83.000 students, demographic data from precourse enrollment (more than 30.000) and opinion data from postcourse surveys (9000, mostly from successful students). What we obtain is consistent with the results found in former articles about MOOCs in the leading US platforms: The students like the courses and the system (95% think that the system is excellent or good and 70% think they have learnt a lot or quite a lot) but passing rate (15%) and engagement in forums is low. He have a majority of men and most of the enrolled students have a university background and are between 25 and 45 years old. We see that the perception of the quality of the learning systems and the courses is similar in the first two editions (with answers mostly from completers) and in UPV[X]-2 edition with 40% of answers from non completers We have also found that the main cause cited to quit the courses is "lack of time".
Exosome-Based Cancer Therapy: Implication for Targeting Cancer Stem Cells

Drug resistance, difficulty in specific targeting and self-renewal properties of cancer stem cells (CSCs) all contribute to cancer treatment failure and relapse. CSCs have been suggested as both the seeds of the primary cancer, and the roots of chemo- and radio-therapy resistance. The ability to precisely deliver drugs to target CSCs is an urgent need for cancer therapy, with nanotechnology-based drug delivery system being one of the most promising tools to achieve this in the clinic. Exosomes are cell-derived natural nanometric vesicles that are widely distributed in body fluids and involved in multiple disease processes, including tumorigenesis. Exosome-based nanometric vehicles have a number of advantages: they are non-toxic, non-immunogenic, and can be engineered to have robust delivery capacity and targeting specificity. This enables exosomes as a powerful nanocarrier to deliver anti-cancer drugs and genes for CSC targeting therapy. Here, we will introduce the current explorations of exosome-based delivery system in cancer therapy, with particular focus on several exosomal engineering approaches that have improved their efficiency and specificity for CSC targeting.
Whole-Genome Analysis of Individual Meiotic Events in Drosophila melanogaster Reveals That Noncrossover Gene Conversions Are Insensitive to Interference and the Centromere Effect

A century of genetic analysis has revealed that multiple mechanisms control the distribution of meiotic crossover events. In Drosophila melanogaster, two significant positional controls are interference and the strongly polar centromere effect. Here, we assess the factors controlling the distribution of crossovers (COs) and noncrossover gene conversions (NCOs) along all five major chromosome arms in 196 single meiotic divisions to generate a more detailed understanding of these controls on a genome-wide scale. Analyzing the outcomes of single meiotic events allows us to distinguish among different classes of meiotic recombination. In so doing, we identified 291 NCOs spread uniformly among the five major chromosome arms and 541 COs (including 52 double crossovers and one triple crossover). We find that unlike COs, NCOs are insensitive to the centromere effect and do not demonstrate interference. Although the positions of COs appear to be determined predominately by the long-range influences of interference and the centromere effect, each chromosome may display a different pattern of sensitivity to interference, suggesting that interference may not be a uniform global property. In addition, unbiased sequencing of a large number of individuals allows us to describe the formation of de novo copy number variants, the majority of which appear to be mediated by unequal crossing over between transposable elements. This work has multiple implications for our understanding of how meiotic recombination is regulated to ensure proper chromosome segregation and maintain genome stability.
From Gene to Brain and Behavior: Dopaminergic Effects on Motor Sequence Learning in Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting the dopamine neurotransmitter system which is crucial for motor control and cognitive function. Dopaminergic medications alleviate Parkisonian motor symptoms however evidence shows that they also interfere with normal functioning in other domains. The current dissertation aimed to determine the effect of dopaminergic medication on motor sequence learning which underlies daily motor adaptability. In order to gain a thorough understanding of the nature of medication effects on sequence learning behavior, I performed four separate studies using behavioral, pharmacological, functional brain imaging and genetics approaches. The first study determined the behavioral effects of medication over the time course of motor sequence learning. I report a selective medication-associated learning impairment in the early acquisition phase of sequence learning. The second study addressed the neural underpinnings of L-DOPA medication effects during motor sequence learning. The results showed an L-DOPA associated decrease in ventral putamen activation which correlated with the degree of L-DOPA associated motor sequence learning impairment at the early phase. The last two studies aimed to identify how factors contributing to the endogenous level of dopamine transmission interact with L-DOPA associated sequence learning changes. In the third study, the level of nigrostriatal dopaminergic denervation (assessed with C-DTBZ PET) was used as an
BioID : A Multimodal Biometric Identification System

M ost systems that control access to financial transactions, computer networks, or secured locations identify authorized persons by recognizing passwords or personal identification numbers. The weakness of these systems is that unauthorized persons can discover others' passwords and numbers quite easily and use them without detection. Biometric identification systems, which use physical features to check a person's identity, ensure much greater security than password and number systems. Biometric features such as the face or a fingerprint can be stored on a microchip in a credit card, for example. If someone steals the card and tries to use it, the impostor's bio-metric features will not match the features stored in the card, and the system will prevent the transaction. A single feature, however, sometimes fails to be exact enough for identification. Consider identical twins, for example. Their faces alone may not distinguish them. Another disadvantage of using only one feature is that the chosen feature is not always readable. For example, some five percent of people have fingerprints that cannot be recorded because they are obscured by a cut or a scar or are too fine to show up well in a photograph. Therefore, our company, Dialog Communication Systems (DCS AG), developed BioID, a multimodal identification system that uses three different fea-tures—face, voice, and lip movement—to identify people. With its three modalities, BioID achieves much greater accuracy than single-feature systems. Even if one modality is somehow disturbed—for example, if a noisy environment drowns out the voice—the other two modalities still lead to an accurate identification. BioID is the first identification system we know of that uses a dynamic feature, lip movement. 1 This feature makes BioID more secure against fraud than systems using only static features such as fingerprints. Commercially available since 1998, the system has demonstrated its reliability in many installations around the world. Figure 1 diagrams BioID's functions. The system acquires (records), preprocesses, and classifies each biometric feature separately. During the training (enrollment) of the system, biometric templates are generated for each feature. For classification, the system compares these templates with the newly recorded pattern. Then, using a strategy that depends on the level of security required by the application, it combines the classification results into one result by which it recognizes persons. The input to the system is a recorded sample of a person speaking. The one-second sample consists of a 25-frame video sequence and an audio signal. …
A RADARSAT-2 Quad-Polarized Time Series for Monitoring Crop and Soil Conditions in Barrax, Spain

An analysis of the sensitivity of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter (σo) to crop and soil conditions was conducted using 57 RADARSAT-2 C-band quad-polarized SAR images acquired from April to September 2009 for large fields of wheat, barley, oat, corn, onion, and alfalfa in Barrax, Spain. Preliminary results showed that the cross-polarized σHVo was particularly useful for monitoring both crop and soil conditions and was the least sensitive to differences in beam incidence angle. The greatest separability of barley, corn, and onion occurred in spring after the barley had been harvested or in the narrow time window associated with grain crop heading when corn and onion were still immature. The time series of σo offered reliable information about crop growth stage, such as jointing and heading in grain crops and leaf growth and reproduction in corn and onion. There was a positive correlation between σo and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index for onion and corn but not for all crops, and the impact of view direction and incidence angle on the time series was minimal compared to the signal response to crop and soil conditions. Related to planning for future C-band SAR missions, we found that quad-polarization with image acquisition frequency from 3-6 days was best suited for distinguishing crop types and for monitoring crop phenology, single- or dual-polarization with an acquisition frequency of 3-6 days was sufficient for mapping crop green biomass, and single- or dual-polarization with daily image acquisition was necessary to capture rapid changes in soil moisture condition.
Explorer The genome landscape of indigenous African cattle

Background: The history of African indigenous cattle and their adaptation to environmental and human selection pressure is at the root of their remarkable diversity. Characterization of this diversity is an essential step towards understanding the genomic basis of productivity and adaptation to survival under African farming systems. Results: We analyze patterns of African cattle genetic variation by sequencing 48 genomes from five indigenous populations and comparing them to the genomes of 53 commercial taurine breeds. We find the highest genetic diversity among African zebu and sanga cattle. Our search for genomic regions under selection reveals signatures of selection for environmental adaptive traits. In particular, we identify signatures of selection including genes and/ or pathways controlling anemia and feeding behavior in the trypanotolerant N’Dama, coat color and horn development in Ankole, and heat tolerance and tick resistance across African cattle especially in zebu breeds. Conclusions: Our findings unravel at the genome-wide level, the unique adaptive diversity of African cattle while emphasizing the opportunities for sustainable improvement of livestock productivity on the continent.
Supervised pattern classification based on optimum‐path forest

We present a supervised classification method which represents each class by one or more optimum‐path trees rooted at some key samples, called prototypes. The training samples are nodes of a complete graph, whose arcs are weighted by the distances between the feature vectors of their nodes. Prototypes are identified in all classes and the minimization of a connectivity function by dynamic programming assigns to each training sample a minimum‐cost path from its most strongly connected prototype. This competition among prototypes partitions the graph into an optimum‐path forest rooted at them. The class of the samples in an optimum‐path tree is assumed to be the same of its root. A test sample is classified similarly, by identifying which tree would contain it, if the sample were part of the training set. By choice of the graph model and connectivity function, one can devise other optimum‐path forest classifiers. We present one of them, which is fast, simple, multiclass, parameter independent, does not make any assumption about the shapes of the classes, and can handle some degree of overlapping between classes. We also propose a general algorithm to learn from errors on an evaluation set without increasing the training set, and show the advantages of our method with respect to SVM, ANN‐MLP, and k‐NN classifiers in several experiments with datasets of various types. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 19, 120–131, 2009.
A Natural Plasmid Uniquely Encodes Two Biosynthetic Pathways Creating a Potent Anti-MRSA Antibiotic

Background Understanding how complex antibiotics are synthesised by their producer bacteria is essential for creation of new families of bioactive compounds. Thiomarinols, produced by marine bacteria belonging to the genus Pseudoalteromonas, are hybrids of two independently active species: the pseudomonic acid mixture, mupirocin, which is used clinically against MRSA, and the pyrrothine core of holomycin. Methodology/Principal Findings High throughput DNA sequencing of the complete genome of the producer bacterium revealed a novel 97 kb plasmid, pTML1, consisting almost entirely of two distinct gene clusters. Targeted gene knockouts confirmed the role of these clusters in biosynthesis of the two separate components, pseudomonic acid and the pyrrothine, and identified a putative amide synthetase that joins them together. Feeding mupirocin to a mutant unable to make the endogenous pseudomonic acid created a novel hybrid with the pyrrothine via “mutasynthesis” that allows inhibition of mupirocin-resistant isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase, the mupirocin target. A mutant defective in pyrrothine biosynthesis was also able to incorporate alternative amine substrates. Conclusions/Significance Plasmid pTML1 provides a paradigm for combining independent antibiotic biosynthetic pathways or using mutasynthesis to develop a new family of hybrid derivatives that may extend the effective use of mupirocin against MRSA.
Adalimumab in juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated chronic anterior uveitis.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of adalimumab in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)-associated uveitis. METHODS Retrospective observational study of 20 patients with JIA and chronic uveitis on adalimumab treatment. The ocular inflammation and improvement was assessed according to the Standardization of Uveitis Nomenclature criteria. RESULTS At the initiation of adalimumab, the mean age of patients was 13.4 yrs and the mean duration of uveitis 8.7 yrs. Seventeen (85%) patients had polyarticular JIA and 19 (95%) had previously been on anti-TNF treatment. The mean duration of adalimumab therapy was 18.7 months. Of the 20 patients, 7 (35%) showed improved activity, 1 (5%) worsening activity and in 12 (60%) no change was observed in the activity of uveitis. Those with improved activity were younger and had shorter disease duration. The mean number of flares/yr decreased from 1.9 to 1.4 during adalimumab treatment. Serious adverse events or side-effects were not observed. Seven patients discontinued adalimumab during the follow-up: six because of inefficacy and one because of inactive uveitis. CONCLUSION Adalimumab is a potential treatment option in JIA-associated uveitis, even in patients non-responsive to previous other anti-TNF therapy.
Breast Cancer Resistance Protein Impacts Clinical Outcome in Platinum-Based Chemotherapy for Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the level of expression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter proteins, and response to chemotherapy and prognosis in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Experimental Design: Expression of ABC transporter proteins, including P-glycoprotein, multidrug resistance protein (MRP) 1, MRP2, MRP3, and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), was examined immunohistochemically in 72 formalin-fixed tumor samples from untreated stage IIIB or IV NSCLC patients. All of the patients received platinum-based chemotherapy. Response to chemotherapy, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival were compared in relation to expression of each of the ABC transporter proteins and clinicopathological factors. Results: Expression of P-glycoprotein, MRP1, and MRP3 was not significantly associated with response to chemotherapy or survival. MRP2 expression was associated with overall survival (P = 0.002) but not with response to chemotherapy and PFS. By contrast, the response rate to chemotherapy of patients with BCRP-negative tumors was 44%, as opposed to 24% in patients with BCRP-positive tumors. Response rate was lower in BCRP-positive tumors, although this difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.08). BCRP-positive patients had also shorter PFS (P = 0.0003) and overall survival (P = 0.004) than BCRP-negative patients. Multivariate analysis confirmed BCRP status as an independent variable related to PFS (P = 0.001). Conclusions: Positive immunostaining for BCRP appears to be a predictor of survival in patients with advanced NSCLC. These findings indicate that BCRP may serve as a molecular target for reducing drug resistance to chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC patients.
Changes in intraocular pressure and central corneal thickness during pregnancy: a systematic review and Meta-analysis.

AIM To conduct a Meta-analysis for investigating the variations in intraocular pressure (IOP) and central corneal thickness (CCT) during normal pregnancy. METHODS We searched for clinical trials published up to November 2015 without language or region restrictions in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid, EBSCO, Elsevier, the Chinese Biomedicine Database, WanFang, CNKI, CQVIP and Google Scholar. Studies of the ocular changes observed in pregnant women were selected. The main outcomes were assessed by changes in IOP and CCT. RESULTS Fifteen studies were included. In subgroup analyses, IOP was significantly decreased during the second MD=-1.53, 95%CI (-2.19, -0.87); P<0.00001, and third MD=-2.91, 95%CI (-3.74, -2.08); P<0.00001 trimesters of pregnancy. CCT was increased during the second MD=10.12, 95%CI (2.01, 18.22); P=0.01, trimester of pregnancy; moreover, during the third trimester of pregnancy, the CCT displayed an increasing trend, but the difference was not significant MD=5.98, 95%CI (-1.11, 13.07); P=0.1. CONCLUSION A decrease in IOP is accompanied by an increase in CCT in the second and third trimesters of a normal pregnancy in women.
Local Linearizability

The semantics of concurrent data structures is usually given by a sequential specification and a consistency condition. Linearizability is the most popular consistency condition due to its simplicity and general applicability. Nevertheless, for applications that do not require all guarantees offered by linearizability, recent research has focused on improving performance and scalability of concurrent data structures by relaxing their semantics. In this paper, we present local linearizability, a relaxed consistency condition that is applicable to container-type concurrent data structures like pools, queues, and stacks. While linearizability requires that the effect of each operation is observed by all threads at the same time, local linearizability only requires that for each thread T, the effects of its local insertion operations and the effects of those removal operations that remove values inserted by T are observed by all threads at the same time. We investigate theoretical and practical properties of local linearizability and its relationship to many existing consistency conditions. We present a generic implementation method for locally linearizable data structures that uses existing linearizable data structures as building blocks. Our implementations show performance and scalability improvements over the original building blocks and outperform the fastest existing container-type implementations.
Regulating Exclusion from Financial Markets

We study optimal enforcement in credit markets in which the only threat facing a defaulting borrower is restricted access to financial markets. We solve for the optimal level of exclusion, and link it to observed institutional arrangements. Regulation in this environment must accomplish two objectives. First, it must prevent borrowers from defaulting on one bank and transferring their resources to another bank. Second, and less obviously, it must give banks the incentive to make sizeable loans, and to honour their promises of future credit. We establish that the optimal regulation resembles observed laws governing default on debt. Moreover, if debtors have the right to a "fresh start" after bankruptcy then this must be balanced by enforceable provisions against fraudulent conveyance. Our optimal regulation is robust, in that it can be implemented in a way that does not require the regulator to have information about either the borrower or lender. Our results isolate the way in which specific institutions surrounding bankruptcy—namely rules governing asset garnishment and fraudulent conveyances—support loan markets in which borrowers have no collateral. Copyright 2004, Wiley-Blackwell.