Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Malaysian Entrepreneurs Propensity to Use IT Innovation

Purpose - Since technology adoption is frequently replicated with minor tweaks and extensions; the theoretical perspective from other fields is used to shed additional light on an individual’s technology acceptance. The Entrepreneurial Event Model (EPM) is an intentional model, which measures the volitional aspect of the behaviour. The current study seeks to revise and validate this model in the technology acceptance context, and investigate IT innovation adoption.Design/methodology/approach - In order to test the proposed research model, data are collected through a questionnaire survey from 1000 entrepreneurs involved in providing professional services in manufacturing, telecommunication, education, banking and finance, service, and agriculture within Malaysia. Structural equation modelling technique was used to evaluate the research model.Finding - The results of the study revealed that the model is a robust model to measure individual dimensions towards technology adoption. The results indicated that the propensity to use, perceived desirability and perceived feasibility are significantly and positively related to the intention to use IT innovation. EPM was able to account for 82 percent of the variance in usage intention, and provide a useful tool for managers to access the likelihood of success for new technologies.Originality/value - This paper has positive implications for academic, managers and policy makers. Applying EPM model in technology acceptance will shed additional light on this area, and reveal new knowledge perspectives. Policy makers could encourage early adopter entrepreneurs to adopt and use IT innovation in their businesses, which in turn, will encourage others to look to early adopter and emulate them, thus increasing the rate of adoption and the use of IT innovation.
A Model-Driven Top-Down Approach to Inter-organizational Systems: From Global Choreography Models to Executable BPEL

Today, most approaches for inter-organizational business processes start bottom-up from the interfaces and the workflows of each partner described on the IT layer. Alternatively, one may start from the commitments and agreements between business partners to reach their complementary business goals. The latter approach is target of the UN/CEFACT Modeling Methodology (UMM), which models a global choreography. In a model driven approach the UMM artifacts must be further elaborated toward an IT solution for each participating business partner. For this purpose we have developed a UML profile to model a local choreography or an orchestration that respects the agreements made in the global choreography. In order to execute the local choreography / orchestration in the local IT, the processes must be machine-readable. For this purpose we demonstrate a transformation to the business process execution language (WS-BPEL).
Milk protein-derived peptide inhibitors of angiotensin-I-converting enzyme

Numerous casein and whey protein-derived angiotensin-I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides/hydrolysates have been identified. Clinical trials in hypertensive animals and humans show that these peptides/hydrolysates can bring about a significant reduction in hypertension. These peptides/hydrolysates may be classified as functional food ingredients and nutraceuticals due to their ability to provide health benefits i.e. as functional food ingredients in reducing the risk of developing a disease and as nutraceuticals in the prevention/treatment of disease.
Do National Homicide Rates Follow Supranational Trends?

Objectives: We explored supranational trends in national homicide rates. We searched for a global trend, regional trends, and trends specific to other theoretically relevant groups of nations. We also tested two common metanarratives—modernization and conflict—as potential explanations for any global trend present in homicide rates. Method: We obtained annual homicide victimization rates for 94 nations between 1979 and 2013. We examined year-to-year differences, squared semipartial correlation coefficients to search for supranational trends, and pooled cross-sectional mixed models to test potential explanations of any global trend. Results: There was a very weak global homicide trend. We found strong regional trends in Eastern Europe and in Northern Europe, a weak trend for South and Central America, and no trend for Asia. Both wealthy and nonwealthy nations exhibited weak trends. Transitional nations shared a strong homicide trend. Modernization and conflict theories fared poorly as explanations for the weak global trend. Conclusions: The presence or absence of supranational homicide trends holds significant implications for theory. A weak global trend is evidence against widely held metanarratives such as the modernization, civilizing, and conflict perspectives. Strong subregional homicide trends in Eastern Europe and Northern Europe demand further exploration and should shift popular attention away from Western Europe. The lack of a homicide trend in developed or developing nations and the presence of a strong trend among transitional nations are curious features requiring further consideration.
Synaptic Ras GTPase Activating Protein Regulates Pattern Formation in the Trigeminal System of Mice

The development of ordered connections or “maps” within the nervous system is a common feature of sensory systems and is crucial for their normal function. NMDA receptors are known to play a key role in the formation of these maps; however, the intracellular signaling pathways that mediate the effects of glutamate are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that SynGAP, a synaptic Ras GTPase activating protein, is essential for the anatomical development of whisker-related patterns in the developing somatosensory pathways in rodent forebrain. Mice lacking SynGAP show only partial segregation of barreloids in the thalamus, and thalamocortical axons segregate into rows but do not form whisker-related patches. In cortex, layer 4 cells do not aggregate to form barrels. In Syngap+/− animals, barreloids develop normally, and thalamocortical afferents segregate in layer 4, but cell segregation is retarded. SynGAP is not necessary for the development of whisker-related patterns in the brainstem. Immunoelectron microscopy for SynGAP from layer 4 revealed a postsynaptic localization with labeling in developing postsynaptic densities (PSDs). Biochemically, SynGAP associates with the PSD in a PSD-95-independent manner, and Psd-95−/− animals develop normal barrels. These data demonstrate an essential role for SynGAP signaling in the activity-dependent development of whisker-related maps selectively in forebrain structures indicating that the intracellular pathways by which NMDA receptor activation mediates map formation differ between brain regions and developmental stage.
Administrative data outperformed single-day chart review for comorbidity measure.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article is to compare the Charlson comorbidity index derived from a rapid single-day chart review with the same index derived from administrative data to determine how well each predicted inpatient mortality and nosocomial infection. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING The study was conducted in the context of the Swiss Nosocomial Infection Prevalence (SNIP) study in six hospitals, canton of Valais, Switzerland, in 2002 and 2003. PARTICIPANTS We included 890 adult patients hospitalized from acute care wards. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The Charlson comorbidity index was recorded during one single-day for the SNIP study, and from administrative data (International Classification of Disease, 10th revision codes). Outcomes of interest were hospital mortality and nosocomial infection. RESULTS Out of 17 comorbidities from the Charlson index, 11 had higher prevalence in administrative data, 4 a lower and two a similar compared with the single-day chart review. Kappa values between both databases ranged from - 0.001 to 0.56. Using logistic regression to predict hospital outcomes, Charlson index derived from administrative data provided a higher C statistic compared with single-day chart review for hospital mortality (C = 0.863 and C = 0.795, respectively) and for nosocomial infection (C = 0.645 and C = 0.614, respectively). CONCLUSIONS The Charlson index derived from administrative data was superior to the index derived from rapid single-day chart review. We suggest therefore using administrative data, instead of single-day chart review, when assessing comorbidities in the context of the evaluation of nosocomial infections.
Neil1 is a genetic modifier of somatic and germline CAG trinucleotide repeat instability in R6/1 mice

Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by trinucleotide repeat (TNR) expansions. We show here that somatic TNR expansions are significantly reduced in several organs of R6/1 mice lacking exon 2 of Nei-like 1 (Neil1) (R6/1/Neil1−/−), when compared with R6/1/Neil1+/+ mice. Somatic TNR expansion is measured by two different methods, namely mean repeat change and instability index. Reduced somatic expansions are more pronounced in male R6/1/Neil1−/− mice, although expansions are also significantly reduced in brain regions of female R6/1/Neil1−/− mice. In addition, we show that the lack of functional Neil1 significantly reduces germline expansion in R6/1 male mice. In vitro, purified human NEIL1 protein binds and excises 5-hydroxycytosine in duplex DNA more efficiently than in hairpin substrates. NEIL1 excision of cytosine-derived oxidative lesions could therefore be involved in initiating the process of TNR expansion, although other DNA modifications might also contribute. Altogether, these results imply that Neil1 contributes to germline and somatic HD CAG repeat expansion.
Cortical and Spinal Mechanisms of Task Failure of Sustained Submaximal Fatiguing Contractions

In this and the subsequent companion paper, results are presented that collectively seek to delineate the contribution that supraspinal circuits have in determining the time to task failure (TTF) of sustained submaximal contractions. The purpose of this study was to compare adjustments in supraspinal and spinal excitability taken concurrently throughout the performance of two different fatigue tasks with identical mechanical demands but different TTF (i.e., force-matching and position-matching tasks). On separate visits, ten healthy volunteers performed the force-matching or position-matching task at 15% of maximum strength with the elbow flexors to task failure. Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), paired-pulse TMS, paired cortico-cervicomedullary stimulation, and brachial plexus electrical stimulation were delivered in a 6-stimuli sequence at baseline and every 2–3 minutes throughout fatigue-task performance. Contrary to expectations, the force-matching task TTF was 42% shorter (17.5±7.9 min) than the position-matching task (26.9±15.11 min; p<0.01); however, both tasks caused the same amount of muscle fatigue (p = 0.59). There were no task-specific differences for the total amount or rate of change in the neurophysiologic outcome variables over time (p>0.05). Therefore, failure occurred after a similar mean decline in motorneuron excitability developed (p<0.02, ES = 0.35–0.52) coupled with a similar mean increase in measures of corticospinal excitability (p<0.03, ES = 0.30–0.41). Additionally, the amount of intracortical inhibition decreased (p<0.03, ES = 0.32) and the amount of intracortical facilitation (p>0.10) and an index of upstream excitation of the motor cortex remained constant (p>0.40). Together, these results suggest that as fatigue develops prior to task failure, the increase in corticospinal excitability observed in relationship to the decrease in spinal excitability results from a combination of decreasing intracortical inhibition with constant levels of intracortical facilitation and upstream excitability that together eventually fail to provide the input to the motor cortex necessary for descending drive to overcome the spinal cord resistance, thereby contributing to task failure.
A Note on Parity Violation and the Immirzi Parameter

There has been considerable recent interest in the Immirzi parameter as a measure of parity violating effects in the classical theory of gravitation with fermion coupling. Most recently it was shown that the Immirzi parameter together with the non-minimal coupling constant of Dirac spinors provides the measure for parity violating spin-spin interaction terms in the effective field theory. For complex values of the Immirzi parameter, the resulting effective field theory yields complex values for the torsion, and a non-unitary effective field theory that blows up for the special cases $\gamma=\pm i$ where the gravitational kinetic term is the Ashtekar action. We show that by restricting ourselves to real values for the torsion, there is a natural set of choice for the non-minimal coupling constant that yields real and unitary effective field theory that does not blow up for the special cases $\gamma=\pm i$. We then show that these particular values for the non-minimal coupling coefficients most naturally follow from a non-minimal pseudo-kinetic term in the fermion Lagrangian.
Transgenic Mice Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in HLA-DR2 Histological Signs of Chronic Experimental 35-55 Peptide and Reverses Clinical and to Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Recombinant TCR Ligand Induces Tolerance

In a previous study, we demonstrated that myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)-35-55 peptide could induce severe chronic experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in HLA-DR2 (cid:1) transgenic mice lacking all mouse MHC class II genes. We used this model to evaluate clinical efﬁcacy and mechanism of action of a novel recombinant TCR ligand (RTL) comprised of the (cid:2) 1 and (cid:3) 1 domains of DR2 (DRB1*1501) covalently linked to the encephalitogenic MOG-35-55 peptide (VG312). We found that the MOG/DR2 VG312 RTL could induce long-term tolerance to MOG-35-55 peptide and reverse clinical and histological signs of EAE in a dose- and peptide-dependent manner. Some mice treated with lower doses of VG312 relapsed after cessation of daily treatment, but the mice could be successfully re-treated with a higher dose of VG312. Treatment with VG312 strongly reduced secretion of Th1 cytokines (TNF- (cid:2) and IFN- (cid:4) ) produced in response to MOG-35-55 peptide, and to a lesser degree puriﬁed protein derivative and Con A, but had no inhibitory effect on serum Ab levels to MOG-35-55 peptide. Abs speciﬁc for both the peptide and MHC moieties of the RTLs were also present after treatment with EAE, but these Abs had only a minor enhancing effect on T cell activation in vitro. These data demonstrate the powerful tolerance-inducing therapeutic effects of VG312 on MOG peptide-induced EAE in transgenic mice and support the potential of this approach to inhibit myelin Ag-speciﬁc responses in multiple
The Level of Stress among College Students: A Case in the College of Education, Eritrea Institute of Technology

The transition of students from high school level to the college level is inherently stressful for students. It could cause psychological, academic and social shock to them. From this perspective, this research was aimed to investigate the level of stress among the College of Education (CoE) students in Eritrea Institute of Technology. Descriptive research was undertaken to assess the students’ level of stress. A randomly drawn participants (N = 123) completed a self-developed questionnaire assessing their levels of stress on five domains (physiological, social, psychological, academic, and environmental). The results revealed that there was a moderate level of stress among the students. Out of the five domains, academic and environmental stressors were found contributing most to the students’ level of stress. Besides, the students’ levels of stress were found to have no statistically significant associations with their gender and grade point average. The study may theoretically contribute to the body of scientific knowledge on mental health studies. Practically, the study may also guide college communities to take concrete steps towards the improvement of the learning environment and subsequently mitigating the adverse impact of stress on students’ wellbeing and learning outcomes.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Identification of deleted consonants

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The impact of positive psychological capital on psychological distress of primary and secondary education teachers

Teaching is one of the professions in which individuals are more likely to develop high levels of anxiety and stress. The persistence of these symptoms can lead to severe depressive cases. Nevertheless, numerous teachers are able to react functionally while facing these professymptomatology. This study examines the impact of positive psychological capital (PsyCap) on psychological distress of primary and secondary education teachers. The sample consists of 425 teachers in public and private schools aged between 26 and 62 years. For this purpose, we used the Psychological Capital Questionnaire and the scales of Depression, Anxiety and Stress. Findings show that optimism is the variable with the highest positive impact on psychological distress, because the most optimistic teachers showed lower ratings of anxiety, depression and stress. The negative correlations between all the variables in the study suggest that the higher the PsyCap values are, the lower the psychological anguish of the teachers. In this study, it was tions higher than degree level reveal greater medium values of psychological distress.
Soluble RAGE is deficient in neutrophilic asthma and COPD

The receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) is a pattern-recognition receptor involved in the host response to injury, infection and inflammation. It is a membrane receptor, but also has soluble forms (sRAGE). Deficiencies in sRAGE are linked to heightened inflammation in various chronic conditions. We determined whether airway and systemic levels of sRAGE and the RAGE ligands HMGB1 (high-mobility group box-1) and serum amyloid A (SAA) are related to neutrophilic inflammation in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Bronchial lavage fluid from subjects with moderate-to-severe persistent asthma (n=16) or COPD (n=37), or from healthy controls (n=18), was analysed for neutrophils, total sRAGE, endogenous secretory RAGE (esRAGE), HMGB1 and SAA. We also determined systemic levels of sRAGE in a separate group of asthmatic (n=101) and COPD (n=34) subjects. Subjects with neutrophilic asthma or COPD had undetectable levels of lung sRAGE, while levels of sRAGE in asthma/COPD without neutrophilia were similar to those in controls. Systemic sRAGE was significantly decreased in subjects with neutrophilic asthma or COPD compared with those without airway neutrophilia. There was significant positive correlation between total sRAGE and esRAGE in the lung and systemically. HMGB1 levels were similar in all subject groups, while SAA was below detectable levels. Neutrophilic airway inflammation in asthma and COPD is associated with reduced sRAGE.
Sequential Support Vector Classifiers and Regression

Support Vector Machines(SVMs) map the input training data into a high dimensional feature space and nds a maximal margin hyperplane separating the data in that feature space. Extensions of this approach account for non-separable or noisy training data (soft classi ers) as well as support vector based regression. The optimal hyperplane is usually found by solving a quadratic programming problem which is usually quite complex, time consuming and prone to numerical instabilities. In this work, we introduce a sequential gradient ascent based algorithm for fast and simple implementation of the SVM for classi cation with soft classi ers. The fundamental idea is similar to applying the Adatron algorithm to SVM as developed independently in the Kernel-Adatron [7], although the details are di erent in many respects. We modify the formulation of the bias and consider a modi ed dual optimization problem. This formulation has made it possible to extend the framework for solving the SVM regression in an online setting. This paper looks at theoretical justi cations of the algorithm, which is shown to converge robustly to the optimal solution very fast in terms of number of iterations, is orders of magnitude faster than conventional SVM solutions and is extremely simple to implement even for large sized problems. Experimental evaluations on benchmark classi cation problems of sonar data and USPS and MNIST databases substantiate the speed and robustness of the learning procedure.
From SPS to RHIC: Breaking the barrier to the quark-gluon plasma

After 15 years of heavy-ion collision experiments at the AGS and SPS, the recent turn-on of RHIC has initiated a new stage of quark-gluon plasma studies. I review the evidence for deconfined quark-gluon matter at SPS energies and the recent confirmation of some of the key ideas by the new RHIC data. Measurements of the elliptic flow at RHIC provide strong evidence for efficient thermalization during the very early partonic collision stage, resulting in a well-developed quark-gluon plasma with almost ideal fluid-dynamical collective behavior and a lifetime of several fm/c.
Prognostic utility of ST2 in patients with acute dyspnea and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction.

BACKGROUND Soluble ST2 (sST2), an interleukin-1 receptor family member, is an emerging risk indicator for patients with cardiovascular disease. We evaluated the prognostic role of sST2 for patients presenting to the emergency department with acute dyspnea, with a focus on those with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF ≥50%), as risk stratification is often most complex in this subgroup. METHODS We conducted a post hoc analysis of 387 patients [39% female, mean (SD) age 57.6 (14.5) years] presenting to the emergency department with dyspnea and followed for 1 year (97% complete follow-up). We examined clinical data, concentrations of serum biomarkers [sST2, amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP)], and transthoracic echocardiography. RESULTS Patients had a median sST2 concentration of 38.4 U/mL [interquartile range (IQR) 25.5-64 U/mL]. Forty-six patients (12%) died during follow-up. Log sST2 [hazard ratio (HR) (95% CI) 2.85 (2.04-3.99), P < 0.001rsqb] and log NT-proBNP [1.28 (1.13-1.45), P < 0.001] concentrations were significant predictors of mortality at 1 year. After multivariate adjustment, only sST2 remained predictive of mortality [per log: 2.14 (1.37-3.38), P = 0.001]. In the subpopulation of individuals with normal systolic function (n = 200), only sST2 continued to predict mortality after multivariate adjustment [per log: 2.57 (1.12-5.91), P = 0.03]. Only NT-proBNP, but not sST2, concentrations correlated with multiple echocardiographic indices of left ventricular diastolic function. CONCLUSIONS sST2 is a strong predictor of mortality in patients presenting with acute dyspnea, particularly those with preserved LVEF, and may be useful for triage and risk stratification of this challenging group.