Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intracluster Planetary Nebulae in Virgo: Photometric Selection, Spectroscopic Validation, and Cluster Depth

We have imaged an empty area of 34 × 34 arcmin2 1. °5 north of the Virgo Cluster core to survey for intracluster planetary nebula (PN) candidates. We have implemented and tested a fully automatic procedure for the selection of emission-line objects in wide-field images, based on the on-off technique from Ciardullo and Jacoby. Freeman et al. have spectroscopically confirmed a sample of intracluster planetary nebulae in one Virgo field. We use the photometric and morphological properties of this sample to test our selection procedure. In our newly surveyed Virgo field, 75 objects were identified as best candidates for intracluster PNe. The luminosity function of the spectroscopically confirmed PNe shows a brighter cutoff than the planetary nebula luminosity function for the inner regions of M87. Such a brighter cutoff is also observed in the newly surveyed field and indicates a smaller distance modulus, implying that the front end of the Virgo Cluster is closer to us by a significant amount: 14% closer (2.1 Mpc) than M87 for the spectroscopic field, using the PN luminosity function distance of 14.9 Mpc to M87, and 18% closer (2.8 Mpc) than M87 for the newly surveyed field. Independent distance indicators (Tully-Fisher relation for Virgo spirals and surface brightness fluctuations for Virgo ellipticals) agree with these findings. From these two Virgo Cluster fields there is no evidence that the surface luminosity density for the diffuse stellar component in the cluster decreases with radius. The luminosity surface density of the diffuse stellar population is comparable to that of the galaxies.
Readiness assessment of cloud-computing adoption within a provincial government of South Africa

Cloud computing, as a shifting paradigm, is expanding its “bandwagon effect” across industries worldwide. This is due to the several advantages of cloud computing that have been revealed by the public sectors (empirical setting of this study), including improved levels of flexibility and mobility, lower total cost of ownership, reduced energy savings and carbon missions. Most importantly, cloud computing can free government from building, maintaining and upgrading its infrastructures and technologies, and focus more on serving the citizens with optimised resources. Hence, this paper focuses on the readiness assessment of cloud-computing adoption within the Provincial Government of the Western Cape (WCG), South Africa, which is in its cloud-computing embryonic phase. An extensive study of the literature on cloud-computing concepts, its characteristics, the possible nontechnological readiness indicators for cloud-computing adoption, was conducted. This led to the identification of three main groups of readiness indicators: (i) Infrastructural indicators; (ii) organisational indicators; and (iii) environmental indicators. A conceptual model was then developed, according to these three main groups, with twelve sub-indicators. This model was subsequently tested in the empirical setting of WCG by using the qualitative approach through the case-study methodology. The intended audience for this study are both academic and practitioners as it brings a conceptual model and the guidelines for assessing the government’s readiness for the adoption of these cloud-computing technologies and services.
Tripeptidyl Peptidase II Regulates Sperm Function by Modulating Intracellular Ca2+ Stores via the Ryanodine Receptor

Recent studies have identified Ca2+ stores in sperm cells; however, it is not clear whether these Ca2+ stores are functional and how they are mobilized. Here, in vitro and in vivo, we determined that tripeptidyl peptidase II antagonists strongly activated the cAMP/PKA signaling pathway that drives sperm capacitation-associated protein tyrosine phosphorylation. We demonstrated that in the absence of Ca2+, TPIII antagonists elevated the intracellular Ca2+ levels in sperm, resulting in a marked improvement in sperm movement, capacitation, acrosome reaction, and the in vitro fertilizing ability. This antagonist-induced release of intracellular Ca2+ could be blocked by the inhibitors of ryanodine receptors (RyRs) which are the main intracellular Ca2+ channels responsible for releasing stored Ca2+. Consistent with these results, indirect immunofluorescence assay using anti-RyR antibodies further validated the presence of RyR3 in the acrosomal region of mature sperm. Thus, TPPII can regulate sperm maturation by modulating intracellular Ca2+ stores via the type 3 RyR.
Efficient Hardware Implementations of Low Bit Depth Motion Estimation Algorithms

In this paper, we present efficient hardware implementation of multiplication free one-bit transform (MF1BT) based and constraint one-bit transform (C-1BT) based motion estimation (ME) algorithms, in order to provide low bit-depth representation based full search block ME hardware for real-time video encoding. We used a source pixel based linear array (SPBLA) hardware architecture for low bit depth ME for the first time in the literature. The proposed SPBLA based implementation results in a genuine data flow scheme which significantly reduces the number of data reads from the current block memory, which in turn reduces the power consumption by at least 50% compared to conventional 1BT based ME hardware architecture presented in the literature. Because of the binary nature of low bit-depth ME algorithms, their hardware architectures are more efficient than existing 8 bits/pixel representation based ME architectures.
Care leavers’ views about transition: a literature review

Purpose Considerable attention has been given to the vulnerability of young people leaving care in the UK in their transition to adulthood. To date, however, there has been limited focus on the perceptions of care leavers about what factors enable and inhibit effective practice. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This systematic literature review sought to elicit the views of UK care leavers in identifying barriers and facilitators to the process of transition to adulthood. Qualitative studies in the care-leaving field were identified, of which seven met inclusion criteria and were included in the final synthesis. Findings The findings yielded a range of facilitators, including authentic and consistent relationships with those acting in the role of corporate parent; and flexible systems, which accommodated personal readiness for leaving care. Barriers included insufficient recognition of, and a lack of support for, the psychological dimensions of transition, exacerbated by insufficient support networks. Research limitations/implications This literature search yielded seven qualitative papers, some with small sample sizes, meaning that the findings may not be representative of a wider population or directly relevant to international contexts. Practical implications Suggestions for enhancing the transition process are posited. In particular, the potential usefulness of an “interdependence” transition approach for UK care leavers is proposed. Originality/value This study analyses qualitative data, thus constituting a response to policy calls for care leaver views to be central to transition processes.
Immune response genes controlling responsiveness to major transplantation antigens. Specific major histocompatibility complex- linked defect for antibody responses to class I alloantigens

We have identified two major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-linked Ir genes that control the antibody response made by rats against class I major alloantigens. We have named these genes Ir-RT1Aa and Ir-RT1Ac. These Ir genes determine responsiveness of the immunized animal in a typical codominant fashion. There is no evidence so far for trans- complementation between low-responder haplotypes. Detailed studies of Ir-RT1Aa indicate that it controls the antibody response to at least two distinct alloantigenic determinants on RT1Aa molecules. These class I molecules thus behave like hapten-carrier conjugates when the response against the carrier is under Ir gene control. Analysis of the origin of alloantibody-forming cells in tetraparental radiation chimeras indicates that Ir-RT1Aa must control the provision of effective help to B cells. In many respects therefore, the properties of Ir-RT1Aa are broadly similar to those described for Ir genes controlling antibody responses to conventional antigens. The existence of apparently conventional Ir genes controlling the antibody response to major alloantigens strongly suggest that the processing of these transmembrane molecules by host antigen-presenting cells is a prerequisite for immune induction, and that it is the MHC of the responder rather than that of the allograft to which T helper cells are restricted in alloimmune responses in vivo.
Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences the Relationship between Study Skills and Academic Performance of University Students

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between various study skills and academic performance of university students. Materials & Methods: A total of 179 male and female junior and senior medical and dental students participated in the present study. The instrument was "Study Skills Assessment Questionnaire" taken from counseling services of Houston University. The content validity of this questionnaire was approved by ten psychologist and faculty members of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences. The data were collected and analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: The findings of the study showed that the study skills scores of university students with a grade point average (GPA) of 15 or more (out of 20), were statistically higher than that of those students with a GPA of less than 15 in all of the 7 skills of time management and procrastination (P<.01), concentration and memory (P<.01), study aids and note taking (P<.02), test strategies and test anxiety (P<.01), organizing and processing information (P<.01), motivation and attitude (P<.04), and reading and selecting the main idea (P<.0001). Conclusion: Teaching of study skills to university students can play an important role in the improvement of students' academic performance.
Optimal training sequences in MIMO channel estimation with spatially correlated Rician flat fading

In this article, we deal with the Training-Based Channel Estimation (TBCE) scheme in the spatially correlated Rician flat fading Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) channels. The performance of the Least Squares (LS) and Linear Minimum Mean Square Error (LMMSE) estimators is investigated. Moreover, optimal training signals in the Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) sense are achieved. It is shown that the traditional LS estimator cannot exploit the knowledge of the first and second-order statistics about the Rician fading MIMO channel. However, the LMMSE estimator uses the knowledge of spatial correlation. Furthermore, when the Rice factor increases, the Mean Square Error (MSE) of this estimator significantly decreases. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the performance of the LMMSE estimator in the Rician model compared with Rayleigh one is much better.
Underreaction, Trading Volume and Post Earnings Announcement Drift

In this paper, we develop a simple model in which trading volume contains information about future stock returns. Specifically, our model explains why high trading volume is observed when a firm announces earnings news and how trading volume can be related to the initial underreaction of the stock price. Our model has a clear testable implication that high abnormal trading volume predicts a stronger drift. We test our model’s implication and find strong evidence for the model in the case of positive news. Weaker evidence is found in the case of negative news. We also discuss possible explanations for the asymmetric informativeness of trading volume.
apc: A Package for Age-Period-Cohort Analysis

The apc package includes functions for age-period-cohort analysis based on the canonical parametrisation of Kuang et al. (2008). The package includes functions for organizing the data, descriptive plots, a deviance table, estimation of (sub-models of) the age-period-cohort model, a plot for speci cation testing, plots of estimated parameters, and sub-sample analysis.
Mitogenic analysis of murine B-cell heterogeneity

The B-cell mitogens lipopolysaccharide (LPS), Nocardia water-soluble mitogen (NWSM), and dextran sulfate (DxS) react with different subpopulations of B lymphocytes. Selective in vitro killing of cells responding to either LPS or NWSM has little effect on the in vitro response to the other mitogen, although the response to DxS is reduced in both cases. If, after selective in vitro killing, cells are injected into irradiated mice for 2-3 wk before measuring their in vitro mitogen responses, the same specificity pattern is seen. Thus, one is dealing with different B-cell subpopulations rather than different stages of maturation of a single population. Treatment with various alloantisera and complement before measuring the mitogen response to LPS and NWSM shows that (a) whereas all LPS response cells carry surface Ig, a subpopulation of NWSM responsive cells does not; (b) both LPS- and NWSM- responsive cells carry I-A antigens but might not I-E or I-J antigens; (c) all LPS-responsive cells carry I-C antigens, whereas approximately 25% of NWSM responsive cells do not: (d) there is a subpopulation of NWSM-responsive cells carrying neither surface Ig nor I-C antigens and resistant to anti-theta treatment.
Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Rotavirus Molecular Signatures Using Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Human enteric virus infections range from gastroenteritis to life threatening diseases such as myocarditis and aseptic meningitis. Rotavirus is one of the most common enteric agents and mortality associated with infection can be very significant in developing countries. Most enteric viruses produce diseases that are not distinct from other pathogens, and current diagnostics is limited in breadth and sensitivity required to advance virus detection schemes for disease intervention strategies. A spectroscopic assay based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has been developed for rapid and sensitive detection of rotavirus. The SERS method relies on the fabrication of silver nanorod array substrates that are extremely SERS-active allowing for direct structural characterization of viruses. SERS spectra for eight rotavirus strains were analyzed to qualitatively identify rotaviruses and to classify each according to G and P genotype and strain with >96% accuracy, and a quantitative model based on partial least squares regression analysis was evaluated. This novel SERS-based virus detection method shows that SERS can be used to identify spectral fingerprints of human rotaviruses, and suggests that this detection method can be used for pathogen detection central to human health care.
The simulation of free surface flows with Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational fluid dynamics is a powerful and versatile tool for the analysis of flow problems encountered in the maritime environment. The University of Southampton Fluid-Structure Interactions research group use ANSYS CFX to model a wide variety of flow problems; to gain insight into flow physics, improve designs and increase the efficiency and safety of marine vehicles. A series of three case studies from on-going research looks at: loads applied on liquefied natural gas tanks due to sloshing, slamming pressures experienced by high speed craft as well as the influence of propellers on the resistance characteristics of autonomous underwater vehicles. The presence of the free surface, complex shapes and the unsteady nature of these applications make their simulation with computational fluid dynamics particularly challenging. The successful validation of the computational models has resulted in the development of a selection process for suitable multiphase models as well as cost-effective meshing strategies.
Matrix Profile I: All Pairs Similarity Joins for Time Series: A Unifying View That Includes Motifs, Discords and Shapelets

The all-pairs-similarity-search (or similarity join) problem has been extensively studied for text and a handful of other datatypes. However, surprisingly little progress has been made on similarity joins for time series subsequences. The lack of progress probably stems from the daunting nature of the problem. For even modest sized datasets the obvious nested-loop algorithm can take months, and the typical speed-up techniques in this domain (i.e., indexing, lower-bounding, triangular-inequality pruning and early abandoning) at best produce one or two orders of magnitude speedup. In this work we introduce a novel scalable algorithm for time series subsequence all-pairs-similarity-search. For exceptionally large datasets, the algorithm can be trivially cast as an anytime algorithm and produce high-quality approximate solutions in reasonable time. The exact similarity join algorithm computes the answer to the time series motif and time series discord problem as a side-effect, and our algorithm incidentally provides the fastest known algorithm for both these extensively-studied problems. We demonstrate the utility of our ideas for two time series data mining problems, including motif discovery and novelty discovery.
DUCKING FOR COVER : MERGERS IN RESPONSE TO TRADE LIBERALIZATION

This paper employs industry-level data to confirm that merger activity increases as a result of exposure to trade liberalization. Despite the conflicting theoretical conjectures, it is established that merger activity increases in industries that have been subject to trade liberalization. The effect of liberalization on merger activity occurs rather quickly and dissipates after a few years. Additionally, it is established that exposure to trade liberalization raises merger activity across the board – even in cases where no apparent relationship between the merging firms exists. This finding questions the traditional notions that liberalization-induced mergers are motivated by scale economies or market power considerations.
A Flowchart Approach to Asia ’ s Industrial Cluster Policy

Policy for forming an industrial cluster, or industrial cluster policy, plays an important role in developing a region in East Asia. Industrial cluster policy is followed not only in Japan by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, but also in most countries in East Asia such as Malaysia and Singapore. Silicon Valley in the US and Bangalore in India are well-known success stories of development in information technology. Agglomeration theory and cluster theory explain that an industrial cluster is effective in generating external economies and reducing transportation costs. But it is necessary that we should make it clear what are the required conditions for f orming a cluster particularly in developing countries when discussing growth strategy. Porter (1998) paid attention to industrial cluster polic y as growth strategy. According to Fujita and Thisse (2002), central issues of spatial economics are to explain mechanisms for forming an agglomeration and linking an industrial agglomeration to innovations. Porter (1998) considered that the latter is more important than the former and examined how an industrial cluster brought innovations by us ing his diamond approach in cluster theory. There are two kinds of explanation of the former mechanism of forming an agglomeration: one is what factors form an agglomeration and the other is which equilibrium becomes a core industrial agglomeration under certain conditions in the case of multiple equilibria. The latter case of equilibrium theory is mathematically easy to analyze and we can find the equilibrium analysis of urban agglomeration in Nishikimi and Hamaguchi (1997). Many papers such as Sonobe and Kawakami (2001) explained industrial agglomeration in a country by econometric methods. Kuchiki (2003) found that conditions of forming new clusters in northern Vietnam were (a) industrial zones, (b) capacity building of physical infrastructure and institutional reforms in investment procedures, (c) anchor firms in the manufacturing industry, showing that industrial zones together with the combination of infrastructure and institutions played a crucial role in an industrial agglomeration and that Sogoshosha of Japanese trading corporations played an important role in inviting Japanese manufacturing firms to the industrial zones. The anchor firm of the cluster Canon, a Japanese firm, exported its products. We called this case the Canon effect. This paper will generalize the typical pattern of forming industrial agglomerations in East Asia by illustrating another case. The purpose of this paper is to build a framework to analyze industrial cluster policy. The framework is a …
Ongoing Variable Payments in Portuguese and Spanish Franchise Systems

This article provides evidence on the determinants of the ongoing variable payments used in Portuguese and Spanish franchise systems. Consistent with the Two-Sided Moral Hazard Model, the ongoing variable payments decrease as the costs of monitoring franchisees’ efforts rise. The results also show that the higher the franchisors' inputs, the higher the ongoing variable payments. The findings are also consistent with the Property Rights Theory: the ongoing variable payments to provide the necessary incentives for the franchisor increase as the franchisor's system-specific investments rise, and the more important the franchisee's intangible investments, the lower the ongoing variable payments to provide the incentive for the franchisees.
A Stakeholder Perspective of Strategy Formation

Strategy formation traditionally involves the use analytical tools and highly structured processes (Heracleous, 1998; Wilson, 1998; Mintzberg 1994; Porter, 1980). This approach continues to assist in surfacing the 'wicked' nature of strategic issues and testing of assumptions in strategy making, (Christensen, 1997; Mason and Mitroff, 1981), however theorists and practitioners in the past decade have identified a shift to more emergent characteristics in the strategy making process combining stakeholder considerations and strategic conversations during strategy formation with select stakeholders (Moss Kanter, 2002; Liedtka 1998a, 1998b; Heracleous, 1998; Christensen, 1997). The first acknowledgements of the approach to consider stakeholder needs in strategy formation date back to Freeman (1984). This paper presents case analysis of field investigations of strategy formation processes on two organizations. In both organizations the principal author facilitated strategy development processes with board members, senior executives and staff. A core theme in the strategy making process for each organization was the strong emphasis on stakeholder considerations in strategic thinking (Ohmae, 1982; Heracleous, 1998; Liedtka 1998a, 1998b) and also in developing strategic plans using emergent practices to supplement traditional planning process in strategy formation (Christensen, 1997; Mintzberg, 1994; Mintzberg and Waters, 1985).
Histological Study of the Bursa of Fabricius of Broiler Chickens During Heat Stress.

One hundred, one day old Boiler chicks were randomly divided into two groups and kept in two rooms of different temperatures, first at a temperature of 35±2°C and the second at a temperature of 24±2°C (neutral). A samples were collected after heat exposure at 4 stages during experimental (1st, 2nd, 4th and 6 th week). Samples which were taken from the second room were served as control group. The result revealed that heat stress decreased weight of the bursa of Fabricius. Birds sacrificed at the sixth week showed a bursa with a thin parenchyma, the basal membrane hardly visible, the epithelium is folded, appearance of numerous cysts and leading subepithelial connective tissue, follicles showing lymphoid depletion and necrosis in more than 45 % of cells and moderate interfollicular fibrosis.