Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clonal selection theory and Clonalg: the clonal selection classification algorithm (CSCA)

The vertebrate immune system is a robust and powerful information process system that demonstrates features such as distributed control, parallel processing and adaptation and learning via experience. Artificial Immune Systems (AIS) are machine-learning algorithms that embody some of the principles and attempt to take advantages of the benefits of natural immune systems for use in tackling complex problem domains. The Clonal Selection Algorithm (CLONALG) is one such system inspired by the clonal selection theory of acquired immunity, which has shown success on broad range of engineering problem domains. The focus of this work is the CLONALG algorithm, specifically the techniques history, previous research and algorithm function. In addition, this work seeks to take desirable elements from CLONALG implementations and devise a clonal selection based classification algorithm. Competence with the CLONALG algorithm is demonstrated in terms of theory and application. The algorithm is analysed from the perspective of desirable features for an immune inspired classifier and a number a new clonal selection inspired technique called the Clonal Selection Classification Algorithm (CSCA) is proposed, designed, specified and preliminary tested. The technique is shown to be robust, self-tuning (in terms of resources used), insensitive to user parameters and competitive as a classification system on common problem domains. An implementation of the CSCA is provided as a plug-in for the WEKA machine-learning workbench, as is a naïve implementation of the CLONALG algorithm for classification. ii Acknowledgements
The Role of Holistic Processing in Perceived Attractiveness

This thesis focuses on the concept of holistic processing and the disruption of it. It reviews the previous literature relating to holistic processing as it relates to symmetry and attractiveness. I hypothesize that when holistic processing is disrupted, faces will be perceived as more symmetrical and attractive. Furthermore, I apply this concept to in-group versus outgroup attractiveness, with the prediction that individuals find out-group faces to be more symmetrical and attractive. In the experiment, in-group and out-group faces were artificially created by telling participants that they would be viewing faces of students and alumni from Penn State and the University of Michigan. In reality, these faces were from a data set that did not come from Penn State or the University of Michigan. The faces were presented in a randomized order with a randomized border of either Penn State or University of Michigan logos. The experiment consisted of two studies. In Study 1, participants rated faces on symmetry; and in Study 2, different participants rated faces on attractiveness. I expected differences in ratings of in-group and out-group, same-sex and opposite-sex faces. The results lean towards supporting my hypothesis, but they also show that the relationship between symmetry and attractiveness is more complex than previous research has claimed. Finally, I discuss the implications of this research and future research that can be done to build on my results.
Gamma-ray bursts observed with the spectrometer SPI onboard INTEGRAL

The spectrometer SPI is one of the main detectors of ESA’s INTEGRAL mission. The instrument offers two interesting and valuable capabilities for the detection of the prompt emission of Gamma‐ray bursts. Within a field of view of 16 degrees, SPI is able to localize Gamma‐ray bursts with an accuracy of 10 arcmin. The large anticoincidence shield, ACS, consisting of 512 kg of BGO crystals, detects Gamma‐ray bursts quasi omnidirectionally above ∼70keV. Burst alerts from SPI/ACS are distributed to the interested community via the INTEGRAL Burst Alert System. The ACS data have been implemented into the 3rd Interplanetary Network and have proven valuable for the localization of bursts using the triangulation method. During the first 8 months of the mission approximately one Gamma‐ray burst per month was localized within the field of flew of SPI and 145 Gamma‐ray burst candidates were detected by the ACS from which 40 % have been confirmed by other instruments.
Stochastic modeling hysteresis and resistive switching in bipolar oxide-based memory

We have developed a stochastic model of the resistive switching mechanism in resistive random access memory (RRAM) based on electron hopping. The distribution of electron occupation probabilities obtained with our approach is in good agreement with previous work. In particular, a low occupation region is formed near the cathode for bipolar switching behavior or near the anode for unipolar switching behavior. This result indicates that a decrease of the switching time with increasing temperature cannot be explained only by reduced occupations of the vacancies in the low occupation region, but is related to an increase of the mobility of the oxide ions. A hysteresis cycle of RRAM switching simulated with our stochastic model is in good agreement with experimental results.
The automatic nature of motivated belief updating

Abstract People's risk estimates often do not align with the evidence available to them. In particular, people tend to discount bad news (such as evidence suggesting their risk of being involved in a car accident is higher than they thought) as compared to good news (evidence suggesting it is lower) – this is known as the belief update bias. It has been assumed that individuals use motivated reasoning to rationalise away unwanted evidence (e.g., “I am a safe driver, thus these statistics do not apply to me”). However, whether reasoning is required to discount bad news has not been tested directly. Here, we restrict cognitive resources using a cognitive load (Experiment 1) and a time restriction manipulation (Experiment 3) and find that while these manipulations diminish learning in general, they do not diminish the bias. Furthermore, we also show that the relative neglect of bad news happens the moment new evidence is presented, not when participants are subsequently prompted to state their belief (Experiment 2). Our findings suggest that reasoning is not required for bad news to be discounted as compared to good news.
Change in Phylogenetic Community Structure during Succession of Traditionally Managed Tropical Rainforest in Southwest China

Tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia are facing increasing and ever more intense human disturbance that often negatively affects biodiversity. The aim of this study was to determine how tree species phylogenetic diversity is affected by traditional forest management types and to understand the change in community phylogenetic structure during succession. Four types of forests with different management histories were selected for this purpose: old growth forests, understorey planted old growth forests, old secondary forests (∼200-years after slash and burn), and young secondary forests (15–50-years after slash and burn). We found that tree phylogenetic community structure changed from clustering to over-dispersion from early to late successional forests and finally became random in old-growth forest. We also found that the phylogenetic structure of the tree overstorey and understorey responded differentially to change in environmental conditions during succession. In addition, we show that slash and burn agriculture (swidden cultivation) can increase landscape level plant community evolutionary information content.
Seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C in maintenance dialysis in a public hospital in a developing country.

BACKGROUND Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on maintenance dialysis are predisposed to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection for a number of reasons. In a similar way, the prevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies among patients on chronic haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis is consistently higher than in healthy populations. There are few published data on these diseases in patients undergoing maintenance dialysis in sub-Saharan Africa. OBJECTIVE To determine the seroprevalence of HBV and HCV in patients on maintenance dialysis. SETTING Renal Unit, Kenyatta National Hospital, the largest public referral and teaching hospital in Kenya. DESIGN Cross-sectional descriptive study. STUDY POPULATION All 100 patients on maintenance dialysis during the 9-month study period were evaluated. METHOD The following information was obtained from all the patients: socio-demographic data, date of diagnosis of ESRD and commencement of dialysis, and number of blood transfusions. Additionally, a history suggestive of hepatitis in spouses was looked for and physical examination for tattoos and other scars was carried out. Laboratory investigations included urea, electrolytes and serum creatinine, liver enzymes, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), immunoglobulin M anti-hepatitis B core antibody (IgM anti-HBc), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and anti-HCV antibodies. Student's t-test was used to assess the significance of the data collected. RESULTS The results were expressed as mean (+/- SD). Fifty-seven males and 43 females were studied. Mean age was 44.3 +/- 14.6 years. Ten patients (10%) had elevated aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (> 40 U/l for both). HBsAg was found in 8 patients (8%), IgM anti-HBc in 2%, and HBeAg in none. Anti-HCV antibody was found in 5%. Six of the HBsAg-positive patients were on haemodialysis, the other 2 on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). There was no coexistence of HBV and HCV markers. Longer duration of dialysis and the number of blood transfusions were associated with an increased seroprevalence of HBV and HCV. CONCLUSION There is a low seroprevalence of HBV and HCV in our dialysis population. This should not lead to complaisance in screening for these potentially lethal complications.
Impact of Social Networking Sites (SNSs): Are Youth affected by its usage?

The popularity of online social networking sites (SNS) is constantly growing. New social networking practices are being used in areas such as knowledge sharing, development of ideas, creative production, communication etc. especially by adolescents and young adults. These groups can be called the IGENERATION as majority of their daily activities including staying connected, doing project work/assignments as well as information gathering about the happening around them, they use internet as opposed to the older generations who used resources like newspaper, library or television to stay update. The purpose of the study was to examine the usage pattern of social networking sites among the youth of today’s generation. Descriptive research design was used in order to understand the usage pattern of SNS amongst youth and its impact on their performance and psychological well being. Survey was conducted using a self-made questionnaire to study the ‘usage pattern of social networking sites amongst the youth and its impact on their performance and psychological well-being’ in Dehradun, capital of Uttarakhand. Stratified random sampling technique was used for the study. The sample includes different age groups, gender, and regional background. Results indicated that the students have access to internet, 73% are members of any one of the social networking sites, Facebook being very popular followed by Google +. Majority of the students used social networking sites mainly for social purposes rather than for educational purposes. It was also reported that SNSs did not affect performance and study habits though it affected language to a certain extent.
Gerbes on complex reductive Lie groups

We construct a gerbe over a complex reductive Lie group G attached to an invariant bilinear form on a maximal diagonalizable subalgebra which is Weyl group invariant and satisfies a parity condition. By restriction to a maximal compact subgroup K, one then gets a gerbe over K. For a simply-connected group, the parity condition is the same used by Pressley and Segal; in general, it was introduced by Deligne and the author. The gerbe is defined by geometric methods, using the so-called Grothendieck manifold. It is equivariant under the conjugation action of G; its restriction to a semisimple orbit is not always trivial. The paper starts with a discussion of gerbe data (in the sense of Chatterjee and Hitchin) and of gerbes as geometric objects (sheaves of groupoids); the relation between the two approaches is presented. There is an Appendix on equivariant gerbes, discussed from both points of view.
The Interaction Effects between Supply Chain Integration and IT Capabilities on Firm Performance

It is well touted that embedding information technology (IT) capabilities in supply chain processes would allow firms to derive competitive advantage. Yet the outcomes of such embeddedness vary greatly across companies. Investigating how a firm configures appropriate IT capabilities with supply chain integration (SCI) to achieve superior performance is of significance. Drawing upon the dynamic capabilities theory, we examine how SCI and IT capabilities jointly affect firm performance. We test the hypotheses of interest with data collected from 252 firms in China. The results of hierarchical regression analysis reveal that the interactive effects of SCI and IT capabilities on firm performance vary across different combinations of dimensions of SCI (i.e., information sharing and collaborative planning) and IT capabilities(i.e., IT infrastructure flexibility, IT assimilation capability, and top management’s IT knowledge). In addition, the dimensions of SCI and IT capabilities have differential effects on firm performance. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications of the current research are discussed.
Ready to Lead? A Look into Jewish Religious School Principal Leadership and Management Training

ABSTRACT Although most Jewish supplementary religious school principals have graduated from various academic training programs, there are no data about how these programs sufficiently prepare educational leaders. This study examined the essential leadership and management skills of effective Jewish religious school leaders, and assessed their preparation to undertake the key challenges of this complex job. This study also investigated the principals’ perceptions about their training and whether they experienced a knowledge gap as school leaders. The respondents felt unprepared to conduct essential tasks—such as working with lay leaders, managing human resources, and planning budgets—after completing their training programs.
Technology Is More Than Just Error

Modern technology and technological advances offer a variety of benefits and challenges for assessment, data collection, communication, and other research- and practice-related endeavors. The focal article written by Morelli, Potosky, Arthur, and Tippins (2017) offers a segue into discussions about some of these issues. Although the authors offer some unique insights, we believe their view is incomplete, as it is potentially limited by their focus on testing and assessment. Below, we outline a few key points we hope will advance the conversation. Our commentary is largely grounded in the field of human–computer interaction (HCI), which is an interdisciplinary field that integrates expertise from computer science, psychology (and other behavioral sciences), and many other fields. Whereas psychology tends to place the human user at the forefront of discussions concerning technology, HCI expands beyond just the user's psychology, focusing on the design of interfaces that allow users to interact with computing technology in new ways (Card, Moran, & Newell, 1983).
Plasma Lipid Composition and Risk of Developing Cardiovascular Disease

Aims We tested whether characteristic changes of the plasma lipidome in individuals with comparable total lipids level associate with future cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcome and whether 23 validated gene variants associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) affect CVD associated lipid species. Methods and Results Screening of the fasted plasma lipidome was performed by top-down shotgun analysis and lipidome compositions compared between incident CVD cases (n = 211) and controls (n = 216) from the prospective population-based MDC study using logistic regression adjusting for Framingham risk factors. Associations with incident CVD were seen for eight lipid species (0.21≤q≤0.23). Each standard deviation unit higher baseline levels of two lysophosphatidylcholine species (LPC), LPC16∶0 and LPC20∶4, was associated with a decreased risk for CVD (P = 0.024–0.028). Sphingomyelin (SM) 38∶2 was associated with increased odds of CVD (P = 0.057). Five triglyceride (TAG) species were associated with protection (P = 0.031–0.049). LPC16∶0 was negatively correlated with the carotid intima-media thickness (P = 0.010) and with HbA1c (P = 0.012) whereas SM38∶2 was positively correlated with LDL-cholesterol (P = 0.0*10−6) and the q-values were good (q≤0.03). The risk allele of 8 CAD-associated gene variants showed significant association with the plasma level of several lipid species. However, the q-values were high for many of the associations (0.015≤q≤0.75). Risk allele carriers of 3 CAD-loci had reduced level of LPC16∶0 and/or LPC 20∶4 (P≤0.056). Conclusion Our study suggests that CVD development is preceded by reduced levels of LPC16∶0, LPC20∶4 and some specific TAG species and by increased levels of SM38∶2. It also indicates that certain lipid species are intermediate phenotypes between genetic susceptibility and overt CVD. But it is a preliminary study that awaits replication in a larger population because statistical significance was lost for the associations between lipid species and future cardiovascular events when correcting for multiple testing.
Transformational leadership in higher education research supervision

This thesis investigated the application of transformational leadership (TL) in the higher education (HE) research supervision context, with a specific focus on mechanisms underpinning leader effectiveness. In Chapter 1, the concept of TL is introduced, and the current research in HE briefly reviewed. The chapter highlights the suitability of the context for study in TL, and the need for research with a focus on mechanisms. In Chapter 2 the issue of contextually valid measurement is addressed. In a two-phase study (N = 389), the measurement properties of the Differentiated Transformational Leadership Inventory were explored using conventional confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and bi-factor models. Traditional CFA confirmed the eight-factor structure of the scale in the supervision context, while bi-factor models revealed a dominant general TL factor. Consequently, an abbreviated global scale was developed using the factor analyses and confirmed using multi-level CFA. In Chapter 3, two studies examined the role of several variables as mediators of the TL-performance relationship. Mediation analysis in Study 1 (N = 155) showed mixed support for the hypothesis that transformational leadership would positively impact grade performance via its influence on leader-member exchange, needs satisfaction and engagement, sequentially. A second study (N = 139) incorporating a time lag between leadership and LMX showed more positive support for the proposed indirect effects. Findings suggest that LMX, need satisfaction and engagement are important mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of TL. Chapter 4 examined the role of students’ implicit theories of ability as an alternative mechanism. A rationale is proposed whereby transformational supervisors may develop incremental beliefs of ability in their students that subsequently enable them to cope more effectively with setbacks. A sample of 421 PhD students completed an online questionnaire measuring TL, their implicit beliefs of ability in their PhD, and their coping styles. Mediation analyses provided some support for the hypotheses, demonstrating an indirect effect of transformational leadership on approach coping via students’ entity beliefs. Finally, in Chapter 5 the theoretical and applied implications of the thesis findings are discussed in relation to existing research. Overall, the findings of the thesis emphasise the applicability of transformational leadership to the HE supervision context, having demonstrated its direct and indirect relationship with key student outcomes including grade performance. Furthermore, the results provide insight into the mechanisms of transformational leader effectiveness that may aid practitioners in their own supervision practices. Finally, the thesis presents two new scales for the measurement of transformational leadership in the HE context for use by practitioners and researchers alike.
Allelic frequencies and statistical data obtained from 12 codis STR loci in an admixed population of the Brazilian Amazon

The allelic frequencies of 12 short tandem repeat loci were obtained from a sample of 307 unrelated individuals living in Macapá, a city in the northern Amazon region, Brazil. These loci are the most commonly used in forensics and paternity testing. Based on the allele frequency obtained for the population of Macapá, we estimated an interethnic admixture for the three parental groups (European, Native American and African) of, respectively, 46%, 35% and 19%. Comparing these allele frequencies with those of other Brazilian populations and of the Iberian Peninsula population, no significant distances were observed. The interpopulation genetic distances (FST coefficients) to the present database ranged from FST = 0.0016 between Macapá and Belém to FST = 0.0036 between Macapá and the Iberian Peninsula.
Procedural Justice, Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour: Mediating Role of Organizational Trust—Indian Tourism Industry Study

This study attempts to understand job satisfaction (JS) and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in relation to procedural justice (PJ). It also studies the mechanism through which PJ is likely to influence the dependent variables. On the basis of existing literature, organizational trust is identified as the mediating instrument through which PJ may affect JS and OCB. A survey-based design was used to collect data from 204 employees in the National Capital Region of Delhi. The respondents were working in organizations that broadly encompass the tourism industry. Correlation, regression and hierarchical multiple regression were used to test the model in the study. The mediation model was also tested using the bias-corrected percentile method with 5000 bootstrap samples. The results of the study corroborated with the previous findings and the stated hypotheses, with the exception that organizational trust was found not to mediate the relation between PJ and OCB. Some significant implications for managers and organizations can be gauged from this study. Managers must work towards establishing fair procedures in all aspects of organizational functioning. They should also decipher the attributes of organizational trust which are perceived as valuable by the employees.