Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of virtual team in Nigerian construction industry

Abstract The rationale behind any construction project varies; it might be to achieve value, time, quality, cost or just satisfaction for the client. Irrespective of any or all of these reasons, the team members involved in conception, inception, construction and delivery of a project are aware that a good teamwork is of essence. This is in the context of growing needs of client and the ever-growing improvement in methods of project delivery as influenced by technology. This article looks into the team type in the Nigerian construction industry from the angle of a virtual team (VT) using the mixed-method research design. VT is simply a type of team wherein the members operate from different geographical regions and function majorly with the aid of information and communications technology media. Data for the study were collected from relevant literature, interviews were conducted with 20 selected professionals in the construction industry and, thereafter, a questionnaire was drafted from the results of the interviews and administered to selected relevant professionals. The study revealed that communication among team members, flexibility of operation and decision making are usually the most influencing strengths of the VT, while some of its weaknesses are a need for special training, conflict among team members and client's acceptance of team type. Reduction in time-to-market, collaboration ability of team members and delivery time of project were seen as opportunities, while recognized threats were members’ performance level and complexity of technical application. The study concludes that the success of the VT depends highly on exploiting the opportunities opened to it.
Long memory properties and covariance structure of the EGARCH model

The EGARCH model of Nelson [29] is one of the most successful ARCH models which may exhibit characteristic asymmetries of financial time series, as well as long memory. The paper studies the covariance structure and dependence properties of the EGARCH and some related stochastic volatility models. We show that the large time behavior of the covariance of powers of the (observed) ARCH process is determined by the behavior of the covariance of the (linear) log-volatility process; in particular, a hyperbolic decay of the later covariance implies a similar hyperbolic decay of the former covariances. We show, in this case, that normalized partial sums of powers of the observed process tend to fractional Brownian motion. The paper also obtains a (functional) CLT for the corresponding partial sums' processes of the EGARCH model with short and moderate memory. These results are applied to study asymptotic behavior of tests for long memory using the R/S statistic.
Olanzapine, weight change and metabolic effects: a naturalistic 12-month follow up

Objective: Olanzapine is an atypical antipsychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia. Some of the adverse effects related to its use are obesity, hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes and hypertension, which may result in development of metabolic syndrome. This study aimed to investigate a possible increase in some anthropometric and biochemical parameters, and the existence of any correlation between them in Brazilian patients with schizophrenia treated with olanzapine in the mid term. Methods: Thirty subjects with schizophrenia were evaluated, 16 women and 14 men, aged between 18 and 47 years. All patients underwent blood collection and anthropometric measurements at four different times during 12 months of follow up; thus each patient was his or her own control. Results: Evaluation of some anthropometric measurements showed significant differences when comparing the mean values obtained in each of the different data collection times (p < 0.05). However, the biochemical indicators of development of metabolic syndrome measured in our study did not show the same rate of increment, with only the total cholesterol and glucose levels presenting statistically significant changes (p < 0.05), but without the same magnitude of weight change. Conclusion: We conclude that medium-term treatment with olanzapine promoted a substantial weight gain and increased visceral fat, while the metabolic profile did not show the same magnitude of change, suggesting a dissociation between weight gain and blood parameters, despite the severe weight gain observed among subjects evaluated.
Splanchnic sympathectomy prevents translocation and spreading of E coli but not S aureus in liver cirrhosis

Introduction Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is mainly caused by bacterial translocation of enteric Gram-negative bacteria, predominantly Escherichia coli. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is activated in advanced cirrhosis, particularly in the splanchic circulation, and exerts potent immunosuppressive actions. However, the role of splanchnic SNS activity in bacterial translocation and bacterial spreading in cirrhosis remains unclear. Methods E coli or Stapylococcus aureus (106 CFU) were given intraperitoneally. After 6 h, mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN), liver, spleen, lung and peripheral blood were harvested from ascitic cirrhotic rats (LC) and healthy controls with and without splanchnic sympathectomy (SE). The bacterial tissue burden was determined by standard microbiological culture techniques. In vitro phagocytic activity of peritoneal polymorphonuclear leucocytes was assessed by FACS analysis. Results Under basal conditions SE reduced bacterial translocation to MLN in LC rats from 45% to 17%. LC rats had a marked increase in bacteraemia after E coli and S aureus challenge and an increased incidence and degree of E coli translocation to MLN, liver, spleen and lung compared with control rats. SE prevented bacteraemia in LC rats after E coli but not after S aureus challenge. Prior SE abolished the difference in incidence as well as the bacterial tissue burden in each organ after E coli application in LC rats, being no longer significantly different from control rats with or without SE. The protective effects of SE against E coli were associated with a greater influx of mononuclear cells into the peritoneal cavity and increased phagocytic activity of peritoneal polymorphonuclear leucocytes. Conclusions In cirrhosis with bacterial peritonitis, hyperactivity of the splanchnic sympathetic nervous system contributes to the translocation of E coli but not S aureus to MLN and extraintestinal sites. This indicates a key role for sympathetic drive in the impairment in host defence against Gram-negative bacteria in cirrhosis.
Interval training intensity affects energy intake compensation in obese men.

PURPOSE Compensatory responses may attenuate the effectiveness of exercise training in weight management. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of moderate- and high-intensity interval training on eating behavior compensation. METHODS Using a crossover design, 10 overweight and obese men participated in 4-week moderate (MIIT) and high (HIIT) intensity interval training. MIIT consisted of 5-min cycling stages at ± 20% of mechanical work at 45%VO(2)peak, and HIIT consisted of alternate 30-s work at 90%VO(2)peak and 30-s rests, for 30 to 45 min. Assessments included a constant-load exercise test at 45%VO(2)peak for 45 min followed by 60-min recovery. Appetite sensations were measured during the exercise test using a Visual Analog Scale. Food preferences (liking and wanting) were assessed using a computer-based paradigm, and this paradigm uses 20 photographic food stimuli varying along two dimensions, fat (high or low) and taste (sweet or nonsweet). An ad libitum test meal was provided after the constant-load exercise test. RESULTS Exercise-induced hunger and desire to eat decreased after HIIT, and the difference between MIIT and HIIT in desire to eat approached significance (p = .07). Exercise-induced liking for high-fat nonsweet food tended to increase after MIIT and decreased after HIIT (p = .09). Fat intake decreased by 16% after HIIT, and increased by 38% after MIIT, with the difference between MIIT and HIIT approaching significance (p = .07). CONCLUSIONS This study provides evidence that energy intake compensation differs between MIIT and HIIT.
Power Allocation for Outage Minimization in State Estimation Over Fading Channels

This paper studies the outage probability minimization problem for state estimation of linear dynamical systems using multiple sensors, where an estimation outage is defined as an event when the state estimation error exceeds a pre-determined threshold. The sensors amplify-and-forward their measurements (using uncoded analog transmission) to a remote fusion center over wireless fading channels. For stable systems, the resulting infinite horizon problem can be formulated as a constrained average cost Markov decision process (MDP) control problem. A suboptimal power allocation that is less computationally intensive is proposed and numerical results demonstrate very close performance to the power allocation obtained from the solution of the MDP based average cost optimality equation. Motivated by practical considerations, assuming that sensors can transmit with only a finite number of power levels, optimization of the values of these levels is also considered using a stochastic approximation technique. In the case of unstable systems, a finite horizon formulation of the estimation outage minization problem is presented and solved. An extension to the problem of minimization of the expected error covariance is also studied.
Search and Product Differentiation at an Internet Shopbot

Price dispersion among commodity goods is typically attributed to consumer search costs. We explore the magnitude of consumer search costs using a data set obtained from a major Internet shopbot. For the median consumer, the benefits to searching lower screens are $2.24 while the cost of an exhaustive search of the offers is a maximum of $2.03. Interestingly, in our setting, consumers who search more intensively are less price sensitive than other consumers, reflecting their increased weight on retailer differentiation in delivery time and reliability. Our results demonstrate that even in this nearly-perfect market, substantial price dispersion can exist in equilibrium from consumers preferences over both price and non-price attributes
Extending AToCC: a reply

The intention of my paper, The Attentional Theory of Cinematic Continuity (AToCC; this volume) was to bring together disparate lines of research on cinematic continuity and make an intentionally provocative first stab at theorising a cognitive foundation for the continuity editing conventions that pervade film. If our understanding of film cognition is to progress, clear hypotheses need to be proposed that can be empirically tested and theoretically challenged. To this end, the high quality and variety of the six responses that constitute the rest of this volume are hugely encouraging. My only regret is that I will not be able to deal with each of their insightful comments in the space permitted.
CaMK4 Gene Deletion Induces Hypertension

Background The expression of calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase IV (CaMKIV) was hitherto thought to be confined to the nervous system. However, a recent genome-wide analysis indicated an association between hypertension and a single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs10491334) of the human CaMKIV gene (CaMK4), which suggests a role for this kinase in the regulation of vascular tone. Methods and Results To directly assess the role of CaMKIV in hypertension, we characterized the cardiovascular phenotype of CaMK4−/− mice. They displayed a typical hypertensive phenotype, including high blood pressure levels, cardiac hypertrophy, vascular and kidney damage, and reduced tolerance to chronic ischemia and myocardial infarction compared with wild-type littermates. Interestingly, in vitro experiments showed the ability of this kinase to activate endothelial nitric oxide synthase. Eventually, in a population study, we found that the rs10491334 variant associates with a reduction in the expression levels of CaMKIV in lymphocytes from hypertensive patients. Conclusions Taken together, our results provide evidence that CaMKIV plays a pivotal role in blood pressure regulation through the control of endothelial nitric oxide synthase activity. (J Am Heart Assoc. 2012;1:e001081 doi: 10.1161/JAHA.112.001081.)
The EBI SRS server-new features

MOTIVATION Here we report on recent developments at the EBI SRS server (http://srs.ebi.ac.uk). SRS has become an integration system for both data retrieval and sequence analysis applications. The EBI SRS server is a primary gateway to major databases in the field of molecular biology produced and supported at EBI as well as European public access point to the MEDLINE database provided by US National Library of Medicine (NLM). It is a reference server for latest developments in data and application integration. The new additions include: concept of virtual databases, integration of XML databases like the Integrated Resource of Protein Domains and Functional Sites (InterPro), Gene Ontology (GO), MEDLINE, Metabolic pathways, etc., user friendly data representation in 'Nice views', SRSQuickSearch bookmarklets. AVAILABILITY SRS6 is a licensed product of LION Bioscience AG freely available for academics. The EBI SRS server (http://srs.ebi.ac.uk) is a free central resource for molecular biology data as well as a reference server for the latest developments in data integration.
CD4:CD8 Ratio Comparison between Cohorts of HIV-Positive Asians and Caucasians upon Commencement of Antiretroviral Therapy

Background In the era of effective antiretroviral treatment (ART) CD4:CD8 ratio is proposed as a potential marker for HIV-positive (HIV+) patients at increased risk for non-AIDS comorbidities. The current study aims to compare CD4:CD8 ratio between Asian and Caucasian HIV+ patients. Methods HIV+ patients from the Australian HIV Observational Database (AHOD) and the TREAT Asia HIV Observational Database (TAHOD) meeting specific criteria were included. In these analyses Asian and Caucasian status were defined by cohort. Factors associated with a low CD4:CD8 ratio (cutoff <0.2) prior to ART commencement, and with achieving a normal CD4:CD8 ratio (>1) at 12 and 24 months post ART commencement were assessed using logistic regression. Results There were 591 patients from AHOD and 2,620 patients from TAHOD who met the inclusion criteria. TAHOD patients had a significantly (P<0.001) lower odds of having a baseline (prior to ART initiation) CD4:CD8 ratio greater than 0.2. After 12 months of ART, AHOD patients were more than twice as likely to achieve a normal CD4:CD8 ratio compared to TAHOD patients (15% versus 6%). However, after adjustment for confounding factors there was no significant difference between cohorts in the odds of achieving a CD4:CD8 ratio >1 (P=0.475). Conclusions We found a significantly lower CD4:CD8 ratio prior to commencing ART in TAHOD compared to AHOD even after adjusting for confounders. However, after adjustment, there was no significant difference between the cohorts in odds of achieving normal ratio. Baseline CD4+ and CD8+ counts seem to be the main driver for this difference between these two populations.
Oxidation Simulation of Thermal Barrier Coatings with Actual Microstructures Considering Strength Difference Property and Creep-Plastic Behavior

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) image based direct finite element (FE) mesh reconstruction method is employed to reflect microstructure features of thermal barrier coatings (TBC). The creep-plastic assumption of thermally grown oxide (TGO) scale and metallic bond coat (BC) as well as the strength difference (SD) property of ceramic top coat (TC) are considered to simulate the mechanical behavior. A diffusion oxidation model considering oxygen consumption is proposed to characterize TGO growth. The oxidation simulation of TBC is carried out under the consideration of actual microstructure features. The results revealed that the interface defects increase the surface-area-to-volume ratio of BC exposed to oxygen anion. This leads to the non-uniform TGO growth, which has also been observed in experimental studies. The microstructures and mechanical behavior strongly affect stress evolution in TBC. The consideration of actual microstructure features and reasonable mechanical behaviors, including the creep-plastic behavior and SD property, is helpful for the accurate evaluation of interface stress.
Minimum required signal‐to‐noise ratio for optimal precision in HPLC and CE

In a survey, results of more than 100 assay determinations of various analytes (active pharmaceutical ingredients, methylparabene, chlorthalidone, and proteins) at different concentration levels were collected with signal‐to‐noise ratio (S/N) levels between 2 and higher than 10 000. It must be concluded that without having a S/N of at least 50, repeatabilities (combination of injection, separation process, and integration) of 2% cannot be achieved, in contrast to the general assumption that a S/N of 10 is sufficient for analytical HPLC. These data now confirm an earlier assumption with a much broader fundamental of measurements. The empirical functions %RSD = 58/(S/N) + 0.30 (for HPLC data) and %RSD = 73/(S/N) + 1.07 (for CE data) could be derived. It was shown that a S/N of greater than 100 is necessary for optimal precision. Before optimizing HPLC or CE methods, for example, for sample pretreatment, S/N > 100 should be the prerequisite, else optimal precision will not be achieved. Only after the detection‐related scatter is sufficiently reduced, other sources of variation can be successfully tackled.
Intermuscular Adipose Tissue and Subclinical Coronary Artery Calcification in Midlife: The CARDIA Study (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults)

Objective— Excess deposition of fat within and around vital organs and nonadipose tissues is hypothesized to contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. We evaluated the association of abdominal intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) volume with coronary artery calcification in the CARDIA study (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) participants. Approach and Results— We measured IMAT in the abdominal muscles, visceral adipose tissue and pericardial adipose tissue, and coronary artery calcification using computed tomography in 3051 CARDIA participants (56% women) at the CARDIA year 25 examination (2010–2011). Mean IMAT volume and mean IMAT/total muscle volume (IMAT normalized for muscle size) were calculated in a 10-mm block of slices centered at L3–L4. Multivariable analyses included potential confounders and traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors. Compared with the lowest quartile, the upper quartile of abdominal IMAT volume was associated with higher coronary artery calcification prevalence (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.6 [1.2–2.1]) after adjusting for cardiovascular disease risk factors. Results were similar for highest versus lowest quartile of IMAT normalized to total muscle volume (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.5 [1.1–2.0]). Significant associations of higher IMAT and normalized IMAT with coronary artery calcification prevalence persisted when body mass index, visceral adipose tissue, or pericardial adipose tissue were added to the models. Conclusions— In a large, community-based, cross-sectional study, we found that higher abdominal skeletal muscle adipose tissue volume was associated with subclinical atherosclerosis independent of traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors and other adipose depots.
Nanoherbals in Human Healthcare: A Proposed Research and Development Roadmap I

Bioactive secondary metabolites derived from herbs are examined for their suitability of conversion into nanoforms having flexible morphological controls, surface stabilizations and surface functionalization. This can lead to stable chemical conjugations based on molecular recognition for their possible applications in the form of smart pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmaceuticals and many other related areas of human healthcare using green chemistry routes. Using the principles of nanoscience and technology in association with genomics and proteomics, an attempt has been made to decipher whether a suitable form of drug discovery and targeted drug delivery like schemes arefeasible in case of such nano phytochemicals using various kinds of nanosize carriers and labelling molecules already identified in the course of investigations of contemporary single molecule drug developments. Additional efforts can clarify whether such species will be successful in the early detection of diseases based on marker molecules. Once identified, these green phytochemicals will certainly replace many hazardous chemical compounds by their environmentally friendly and sustainable forms in times to come.
A Modified Regularized Non-Negative Matrix Factorization for MovieLens

This paper studies the matrix factorization technique for recommendation systems. The problem is to modify and apply non-negative matrix factorization to predict a rating that a user is likely to rate for an item in MovieLens dataset. First, based on the original randomize non-negative matrix factorization, we propose a new algorithm that discovers the features underlying the interactions between users and items. Then, in the experimentation section, we provide the numerical results of our proposed algorithms performed on the well-known MovieLens dataset. Besides, we suggest the optimization parameters which should be applied for Matrix Factorization to get good results on MovieLens. Comparison with other recent techniques in the literature shows that our algorithm is not only able to get high quality solutions but it also works well in the sparse rating domains.
Nonepitaxial Growth of Hybrid Core-Shell Nanostructures with Large Lattice Mismatches

Perfect Mismatch Heteroepitaxy, or the overgrowth of one crystalline material onto a second crystalline material, is a key fabrication method for making thin films and nanoparticles. But if the lattice mismatch between the two materials is too large or messy, fractured interfaces result. Zhang et al. (p. 1634) describe a synthesis strategy to obtain spherical nanoparticles with a core-shell architecture that does not depend on heteroepitaxy. Silver was deposited and converted to various semiconductors through a series of chemical transformations to yield structurally perfect single-crystal semiconductor shells on a gold core, despite mismatches approaching 50%. Chemical transformations create nanoparticles with large lattice mismatches between their metal cores and semiconductor shells. We report a synthetic route to achieving nanoscale heterostructures consisting of a metal core and monocrystalline semiconductor shell with substantial lattice mismatches between them, which cannot be obtained by conventional epitaxial techniques. By controlling soft acid-base coordination reactions between molecular complexes and colloidal nanostructures, we show that chemical thermodynamics can drive nanoscale monocrystalline growth of the semiconductor shell with a lattice structure incommensurate with that of the core. More complex hybrid core-shell structures with azimuthal and radial nanotailoring of structures and compositions of the monocrystalline semiconductor shell are also demonstrated.