Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A high Speed 8 Transistor Full Adder Design Using Novel 3 Transistor XOR Gates

— The paper proposes the novel design of a 3T XOR gate combining complementary CMOS with pass transistor logic. The design has been compared with earlier proposed 4T and 6T XOR gates and a significant improvement in silicon area and power-delay product has been obtained. An eight transistor full adder has been designed using the proposed three-transistor XOR gate and its performance has been investigated using 0.15 (cid:80) m and 0.35 (cid:80) m technologies. Compared to the earlier designed 10 transistor full adder, the proposed adder shows a significant improvement in silicon area and power delay product. The whole simulation has been carried out using HSPICE.
Surgical interventions for gastric cancer: a review of systematic reviews.

AIM To evaluate methodological quality and the extent of concordance among meta-analysis and/or systematic reviews on surgical interventions for gastric cancer (GC). METHODS A comprehensive search of PubMed, Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane library and the DARE database was conducted to identify the reviews comparing different surgical interventions for GC prior to April 2014. After applying included criteria, available data were summarized and appraised by the Oxman and Guyatt scale. RESULTS Fifty six reviews were included. Forty five reviews (80.4%) were well conducted, with scores of adapted Oxman and Guyatt scale ≥ 14. The reviews differed in criteria for avoiding bias and assessing the validity of the primary studies. Many primary studies displayed major methodological flaws, such as randomization, allocation concealment, and dropouts and withdrawals. According to the concordance assessment, laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy (LAG) was superior to open gastrectomy, and laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy was superior to open distal gastrectomy in short-term outcomes. However, the concordance regarding other surgical interventions, such as D1 vs. D2 lymphadenectomy, and robotic gastrectomy vs. LAG were absent. CONCLUSION Systematic reviews on surgical interventions for GC displayed relatively high methodological quality. The improvement of methodological quality and reporting was necessary for primary studies. The superiority of laparoscopic over open surgery was demonstrated. But concordance on other surgical interventions was rare, which needed more well-designed RCTs and systematic reviews.
Evidence That Clustered Phosphocholine Head Groups Serve as Sites for Binding and Assembly of an Oligomeric Protein Pore*

High susceptibility of rabbit erythrocytes toward the poreforming action of staphylococcal α-toxin correlates with the presence of saturable, high affinity binding sites. All efforts to identify a protein or glycolipid receptor have failed, and the fact that liposomes composed solely of phosphatidylcholine are efficiently permeabilized adds to the enigma. A novel concept is advanced here to explain the puzzle. We propose that low affinity binding moieties can assume the role of high affinity binding sites due to their spatial arrangement in the membrane. Evidence is presented that phosphocholine head groups of sphingomyelin, clustered in sphingomyelin-cholesterol microdomains, serve this function for α-toxin. Clustering is required so that oligomerization, which is prerequisite for stable attachment of the toxin to the membrane, can efficiently occur. Outside these clusters, binding to phosphocholine is too transient for toxin monomers to find each other. The principle of membrane targeting in the absence of any genuine, high affinity receptor may also underlie the assembly of other lipid-inserted oligomers including cytotoxic peptides, protein toxins, and immune effector molecules.
CEO values, organizational culture and firm outcomes.

Few empirical works have examined the process through which CEO dispositions relate to organizational outcomes. In this study we examined the relationships between CEO values and organizational culture, and between organizational culture and firm performance. Data were collected from different sources (26 CEOs, 71 Senior Vice Presidents and 185 other organizational members), and include organizational financial performance data collected at two points in time. In support of our hypotheses, CEO self-directive values were associated with innovation-oriented cultures, security values were associated with bureaucratic cultures and benevolence values were related to supportive cultures. In turn, cultural dimensions showed differential associations with subsequent company sales growth, an index of organizational efficiency and assessments of employee satisfaction. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Therapeutical Measures to Control Airway Tolerance in Asthma and Lung Cancer

Airway tolerance is a specialized immunological surveillance which is activated by the cells of the lung to deal with and distinguish between innocuous and pathogenic inhalants. However, this distinction does not always occur. Airway tolerance is necessary to avoid the development of allergic disorders, such as asthma, which is dominated by a pathological expansion of Th2 and Th17 cells in the airways. By contrast, tumor cells induce tolerogenic factors in their microenvironment to evade T-cell mediated anti-tumor-immune responses. This review updates current understandings on the effect of the cytokines TGF-β, IL-10, and IL-17A on the lung immune responses to antigen, and analyzes their involvement in allergic asthma and lung cancer. The aim of the review is to evaluate where therapeutic intervention may be feasible and where it might fail. The multifunctional role of these cytokines further complicates the decision on the timing and concentration for their use as therapeutical targets. In fact, TGF-β has suppressive activity in early tumorigenesis, but may become tumor-promoting in the later stages of the disease. This dual behavior is sometimes due to changes in the cellular target of TGF-β, and to the expansion of the induced (i)-Tregs. Similarly, IL-17A has been found to elicit pro- as well as anti-tumor properties. Thus, this pro-inflammatory cytokine induces the production of IL-6 which interferes with Treg development. Yet IL-17A could promote tumor growth in conjunction with IL-6-dependent activation of Stat3. Thus, understanding the mechanisms of airway tolerance could help to improve the therapy to both, allergic asthma and lung cancer. Hereby, asthma therapy aims to induce and maintain tolerance to inhaled allergens and therapy against lung cancer tries to inhibit the tolerogenic response surrounding the tumor.
Neurodegenerative Diseases: An Overview of Environmental Risk Factors

The population of the United States is aging, and an ever-increasing number of Americans are afflicted with neurodegenerative diseases. Because the pathogenesis of many of these diseases remains unknown, we must consider that environmental factors may play a causal role. This review provides an overview of the epidemiologic evidence for environmental etiologies for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, parkinsonian syndromes (multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Epidemiologic evidence for an association between environmental agents’ exposure and neurodegenerative diseases is not conclusive. However, there are indications that there may be causal links, and the need for more research is obvious.
Medial Frontal Cortex Mediates Perceptual Attentional Set Shifting in the Rat

If rodents do not display the behavioral complexity that is subserved in primates by prefrontal cortex, then evolution of prefrontal cortex in the rat should be doubted. Primate prefrontal cortex has been shown to mediate shifts in attention between perceptual dimensions of complex stimuli. This study examined the possibility that medial frontal cortex of the rat is involved in the shifting of perceptual attentional set. We trained rats to perform an attentional set-shifting task that is formally the same as a task used in monkeys and humans. Rats were trained to dig in bowls for a food reward. The bowls were presented in pairs, only one of which was baited. The rat had to select the bowl in which to dig by its odor, the medium that filled the bowl, or the texture that covered its surface. In a single session, rats performed a series of discriminations, including reversals, an intradimensional shift, and an extradimensional shift. Bilateral lesions by injection of ibotenic acid in medial frontal cortex resulted in impairment in neither initial acquisition nor reversal learning. We report here the same selective impairment in shifting of attentional set in the rat as seen in primates with lesions of prefrontal cortex. We conclude that medial frontal cortex of the rat has functional similarity to primate lateral prefrontal cortex.
Cloudrise: Exploring Cloud Computing Adoption and Governance with the TOE Framework

Executives around the globe are investigating the benefits that cloud computing can deliver above and beyond cost savings. What is its contribution to competiveness - through improved agility, expanded business networks, and enhanced decision-making? At the same time, the organizational factors inhibiting or supporting cloud computing adoption are poorly understood. This paper builds on Tornatzky et al.'s Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) frame-work to investigate the factors influencing cloud computing adoption. Another objective pursued is to conceptualize and understand how IT governance processes and structures moderate those factors. Our augmented TOE framework is developed in a set of hypotheses that are tested in a quantitative study of 24 global enterprises across various industries. Our results indeed indicate that the technology and organization context affect implementation decisions. A discussion and identification of next research steps round off the paper.
Cultural aspects of fuelwood shortage in the Kenyan highlands.

The Kenya Woodfuel Development Programme aims at developing a self-sustaining system of tree planting to improve the supply of woodfuel at the individual farm level. A basic approach of the pro- gramme is that such development has to match the cultural and social aspects of life in the communities involved. The programme has therefore made an effort to study and understand the relationship between cul- tural/social attitudes and the management and exploitation of tree resources at the farm level. This relationship has been analysed through cultural surveys carried out in the three districts where the programme is working, namely, Kakamega, Kisii and Murang'a. The expectation of the Kenya Woodfuel Development Programme is that there is a way of coping with these social/cultural attitudes through an intervention strategy involving: creating an awareness of the woodfuel problem as a family problem; such an awareness would in turn give scope for tree planting, management and exploitation by both men and women; promotion of tree species which are relatively fast growing and which do not yet have a cash value attached to them, but which are planted for woodfuel production.
A novel maximum power point tracker for PV panels using switching frequency modulation

A novel technique for efficiently extracting maximum power from photovoltaic (PV) panels is presented. The power conversion stage, which is connected between a PV panel and a load or bus, is a SEPIC or Cuk converter or their derived circuits operating in discontinuous inductor-current or capacitor-voltage mode. A method of locating the maximum power point (MPP) is based on injecting a small-signal sinusoidal perturbation into the switching frequency and comparing the AC component and the average value of the panel terminal voltage. Apart from not requiring any sophisticated digital computation of the panel power, the proposed technique does not approximate the panel characteristics and can globally locate the MPP under wide insolation conditions. The tracking capability has been verified experimentally with a 10 W solar panel under a controlled experimental setup. Performances under the steady state and in the large-signal change of the insolation level will are given.
I want to be creative, but … preference for creativity, perceived clear outcome goals, work enjoyment, and creative performance

In today’s quickly changing work environment, many individuals want to be creative at their workplace, but only some of them succeed at manifesting these tendencies. In three studies, using both field and experimental data, we focused on transforming individuals’ preference for creativity, defined as an inclination for liking and wanting to be creative, into actual creativity. We first conducted a pilot Study 1 to establish discriminant validity to related constructs and provided initial evidence on predictive and incremental validity of the preference-for-creativity scale. Next, we performed a field Study 2, where we found that transforming preferences for creativity into supervisor-rated creativity is contingent upon employees’ perceptions of clear outcome goals. Clear outcome goals fostered individuals’ preference for creativity to result in higher levels of supervisor-rated creative behaviour—a finding that was replicated in an experimental Study 3. Furthermore, we explored whether work enjoyment mediated the moderated relationship between preference for creativity and creative outcomes. The results supported our mediated moderation model, whereby the manipulation of clear goals led to higher work enjoyment, influencing individuals’ preference for creativity to result in higher ratings of their creative outcomes.
Repositioning Education Through the Analysis of Mathematics Anxiety Among Universal Basic Education Teachers in Kaduna State, Nigeria

This study is on Repositioning Education through the Analysis of Mathematics Anxiety among Universal Basic Education (UBE) Teachers in Sabon-Gari Local Government Area, Kaduna State Nigeria. The population of the study comprised 45 UBE teachers selected from 10 primary schools in the study area. The study adopts the One-Short Case Design (OSCD) which involves a treatment and a posttest. The UBE Anxiety about Mathematics Teaching Questionnaire (UBEAMTQ) and the UBE Teachers’ Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (UBETMARS) were used for data collection. The research questions were answered by the descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficient at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that the UBE teachers have anxiety for mathematics and about the teaching of the subject. It is recommended that a periodic mathematics clinic and workshops for teachers in basic primary mathematics curriculum and a Basic Primary School Mathematics Aptitude Test (BPSMAT) set by the Universal Basic Education Commission in alliance with the Examination Resource Centre (ERC) at the point of recruitment of teachers.
Single and searching: how older and younger adults seek romantic partners online

Single and Searching: How Older and Younger Adults Seek Romantic Partners Online Eden Morris Davis, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2014 Supervisor: Karen Fingerman Co-Supervisor: Lisa Neff Despite a growing population of single older adults, past research and theory on romantic relationship formation has primarily focused on younger adults. Online dating has become an increasingly prevalent context for both older and younger adults to form romantic relationships. Nonetheless, adults of different ages may have different motivations for seeking dating partners. Using a framework of agency and communion to synthesize disparate literatures on personal goals, evolutionary motivations, and socioemotional motivations across the lifespan, the current research focuses on age differences in self-presentations in 4000 online dating profiles sampled from two popular online dating websites. Themes in these profiles were identified using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software (LIWC; Pennebaker, Booth & Francis, 2007). Regression analyses revealed significant associations between age and word use. Older adults were more likely to use first person plural pronouns (e.g. we, us, our), reflecting a iv focus on connectedness as well as words associated with health and positive emotion. Younger adults were more likely to emphasize the self, using more first person pronouns and were more likely to use words associated with work and achievement. Results suggest younger adults focus on enhancing the “self” when seeking romantic partnership. Consistent with theories of adult development, older adults are more positive in their profiles and appear to focus more on the “self” as embedded in relationships.
Robust minimum statistics project coefficients feature for acoustic environment recognition

Acoustic environment recognition has been widely used in many applications, and is a considerable difficult problem for the real-life and complex environment. This paper proposes a novel feature, named minimum statistics project coefficients (MSPC), and intents to solve this problem. The MSPC feature is extracted from the background sound which is more robust than the foreground sound for the task of acoustic environment recognition. Experimental results show the outstanding performance of the MSPC feature compared with the conventional acoustic features, especially in very complex acoustic environments.
DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF CHLORPROMAZINE UPON PASSIVE AVOIDANCE RESPONSE IN RATS UNDER TWO TYPES OF SHOCK TREATMENT

Chlorpromazine at 2 mg/kg, i.p. was shown to inhibit the rat's passive avoidance response in a two-compartment apparatus when the rat was given unescapable electric shock, being confined in the small compartment, while the same effect failed to appear when the rat, placed in the large compartment, received electric shock only upon attempting to enter the small compartment and thus the shock was escapable. A slight but nonsignificant drug-learning dissociation appeared in the" concfinement shock" rat. 17 min after the two-compartment training, the rat was observed spontaneous activities in an open-field but no clear-cut differences were found between two types of shock treatment, or between saline and chlor-
Grouping and Recognition of Dot Patterns with Straight Offset Polygons

When the boundary of a familiar object is shown by a series of isolated dots, humans can often recognize the object with ease. This ability can be sustained with addition of distracting dots around the object. However, such capability has not been reproduced algorithmically on computers. We introduce a new algorithm that groups a set of dots into multiple non-disjoint subsets. It connects the dots into a spanning tree using the proximity cue. It then applies the straight polygon transformation to an initial polygon derived from the spanning tree. The straight polygon divides the space into polygons recursively and each polygon can be viewed as grouping of a subset of the dots. The number of polygons generated is O($n$). We also introduce simple shape selection and recognition algorithms that can be applied to the grouping result. We used both natural and synthetic images to show effectiveness of these algorithms.
Using Number Lines to Solve Math Word Problems: A Strategy for Students with Learning Disabilities

Students with learning disabilities (LD) consistently struggle with word problem solving in mathematics classes. This difficulty has made curricular, state, and national tests particularly stressful, as word problem solving has become a predominant feature of such student performance assessments. Research suggests that students with LD perform poorly on word problem–solving items due primarily to deficits in problem representation. Therefore, it is imperative that teachers provide these students with supplemental problem–solving instruction that specifically targets the development of representational strategies. This article describes how one representational strategy, using number lines, can be used to model word problems as part of a comprehensive problem–solving intervention to improve the conceptual understanding of math word problems and, subsequently, the problem–solving performance of students with LD.
Evaluation of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in Alzheimer ’ s disease using optical Coherence tomography

30 diagnosed cases of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) were enrolled in this prospective study done from Apr 2015Mar 2016.The age range of patients was 67-83 years. All subjects underwent detailed ocular examination. Average peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness of all patients was measured using Spectral is optical coherence tomography (OCT). These were compared with average RNFL thickness of age matched controls. There was a significant difference between RNFL thickness among two groups (p<0.05). The average RNFL thickness was found to be significantly less in patients compared to controls. Alzheimer’s disease being a neurodegenerative disorder may affect retinal ganglion cells too, reducing retinal nerve fiber layer thickness. Further, RNFL thickness may be used as a potential biological marker in diagnosis as well as progression of Alzheimer’s disease as OCT provides excellent means of keeping track of RNFL thickness.
Prevalence of Diabetes and Hypertension in a Rural Population of Bangladesh

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and hypertension in a rural community of Bangladesh. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A cluster sampling of 1,005 subjects > 15 years of age in the rural community of Dohar was investigated. Capillary blood glucose of fasting and 2 h after 75 g oral glucose (2hBG) were estimated. World Health Organization criteria were used for diagnosis of NIDDM and IGT. Blood pressure, height, and weight were also measured. RESULTS The crude prevalence of NIDDM was 2.1% (men 3.1, women 1.3%) and IGT was 13.3% (men 14.4, women 12.4%). Age-adjusted (30–64 years of age) prevalence was 2.23% (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–3.45) for NIDDM and 15.67% (95% CI 12.59–18.75) for IGT. Prevalence of hypertension with systolic blood pressure (sBP) ≥140 mmHg was 10.5% and with diastolic blood pressure (dBP) >90 mmHg was 9.0%. Increased age was the risk factor for NIDDM, IGT, and hypertension; whereas increased BMI showed inconsistent association with them. Relative risk for sBP with higher BMI (<22.0 vs. ≥22.1) was 1.94 with CI 1.55–2.43 and for dBP it was 2.2 with CI 1.40–3.46. Correlation of sBP was significant with age, BMI, and 2hBG. Similar correlation was also observed with dBP. CONCLUSIONS High prevalences of NIDDM, IGT, and hypertension were observed among rural subjects. Increased age was shown to be an important risk factor for all these disorders, whereas BMI-associated risk was significant with NIDDM and hypertension but not with IGT.