Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of ISO 14001 certification announcements on stock performance

Purpose – This study aspires to explore how the US stock market reacts to ISO 14001 certification announcements.Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs an event‐study methodology on a sample of 140 announcements and matching control firms to study the impact of ISO 14001 certification announcements.Findings – The results suggest that ISO 14001 certification announcements have a negative impact on stock performance. More importantly, they show that the shareholder wealth reduced due to these certifications announcements.Research limitations/implications – This study focuses on short‐term stock market reaction. Future studies should consider the entire sample of ISO 14001‐certified firms within the USA and use certification date to evaluate short‐ as well as long‐term improvements in shareholder wealth.Practical implications – The results suggest that firms will need to educate shareholders about their actions towards the betterment of the environment. Such coordinated communication will ensure that.
Influence of Early In Utero Infection with Human Cytomegalovirus on the Course of Pregnancy

Previous studies of in utero-infection with the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) were focused on HCMV- seropositive women. Here, we assessed the clinical relevance of HCMV infection in normal pregnancies. In a prospective cohort study, amniotic fluids from 403 pregnant women undergoing amniocentesis for non-virological reasons were tested for HCMV DNA (nested PCR analysis of amniotic fluids), and sera of mothers and their neonates for IgG and IgM anti- bodies against HCMV (ELISA). Clinical data were obtained through questionnaires at the time of amniocentesis and at delivery. HCMV DNA was found in 3% of amniotic fluids, and was associated with an increased occurrence of preterm delivery, reduced birth weight, premature labor and preeclampsia. The seroprevalence of HCMV-specific IgG in maternal and newborn sera was about 40%, IgM was very rarely found in mothers, and in none of the neonates. Serological results were not associated with pregnancy complications. Hence, in utero HCMV infection is rare in normal pregnancies but might have consequences for the course of pregnancy.
Photoluminescent Gold Nanoclusters as Sensing Probes for Uropathogenic Escherichia coli

Glycan-bound nanoprobes have been demonstrated as suitable sensing probes for bacteria containing glycan binding sites. In this study, we demonstrated a facile approach for generating glycan-bound gold nanoclusters (AuNCs). The generated AuNCs were used as sensing probes for corresponding target bacteria. Mannose-capped AuNCs (AuNCs@Mann) were generated and used as the model sensors for target bacteria. A one-step synthesis approach was employed to generate AuNCs@Mann. In this approach, an aqueous solution of tetrachloroauric acid and mannoside that functionized with a thiol group (Mann-SH) was stirred at room temperature for 48 h. The mannoside functions as reducing and capping agent. The size of the generated AuNCs@Mann is 1.95±0.27 nm, whereas the AuNCs with red photoluminescence have a maximum emission wavelength of ∼630 nm (λexcitation = 375 nm). The synthesis of the AuNCs@Mann was accelerated by microwave heating, which enabled the synthesis of the AuNCs@Mann to complete within 1 h. The generated AuNCs@Mann are capable of selectively binding to the urinary tract infection isolate Escherichia coli J96 containing the mannose binding protein FimH expressed on the type 1 pili. On the basis of the naked eye observation, the limit of detection of the sensing approach is as low as ∼2×106 cells/mL.
Perception of the Professional Competences of Last Year’s Students of Pre-Primary Education and Primary Education Degrees and Students of Training Teachers Master

This research aims to obtain knowledge of the perception of last year´s students’ in Pre-primary and Primary Education Degrees and Secondary Education, Vocational Education and Languages Education in Teachers University Master (better known as Training Teachers Master or Secondary Education Master) at Jaen University (UJA) and the National Distance Education University (UNED), about the most important competences in their learning process. Those competences allow students to develop their knowledge and practice, in order to be capable of dealing with those real demands that surround them. In order to achieve this, we use a descriptive methodology. We apply an ad hoc, pre-designed questionnaire,(n=638). The results reveal a positive opinion in students in relation to competences and how those competences are developed within their classrooms or Study centers. In addition to that, students present some proposals to boost the improvement of competences. They invite teachers to innovate and to create new educative models that allow them to achieve an optimal development as future professionals.
Three-dimensional acoustic-roughness receptivity of a boundary layer on an airfoil: experiment and direct numerical simulations

The paper is devoted to an experimental and numerical investigation of the problem of excitation of three-dimensional Tollmien–Schlichting (TS) waves in a boundary layer on an airfoil owing to scattering of an acoustic wave on localized microscopic surface non-uniformities. The experiments were performed at controlled disturbance conditions on a symmetric airfoil section at zero angle of attack. In each set of measurements, the acoustic wave had a fixed frequency fac, in the range of unstable TS-waves. The three-dimensional surface non-uniformity was positioned close to the neutral stability point at branch I for the two-dimensional perturbations. To avoid experimental difficulties in the distinction of the hot-wire signals measured at the same (acoustic) frequency but having a different physical nature, the surface roughness was simulated by a quasi-stationary surface non-uniformity (a vibrator) oscillating with a low frequency fv. This led to the generation of TS-wavetrains at combination frequencies f1,2=fac ∓ fv. The spatial behaviour of these wavetrains has been studied in detail for three different values of the acoustic frequency. The disturbances were decomposed into normal oblique TS-modes. The initial amplitudes and phases of these modes (i.e. at the position of the vibrator) were determined by means of an upstream extrapolation of the experimental data. The shape of the vibrator oscillations was measured by means of a laser triangulation device and mapped onto the Fourier space.
Molecular Cloning and Characterization of a Xanthone Prenyltransferase from Hypericum calycinum Cell Cultures

In plants, prenylation of metabolites is widely distributed to generate compounds with efficient defense potential and distinct pharmacological activities profitable to human health. Prenylated compounds are formed by members of the prenyltransferase (PT) superfamily, which catalyze the addition of prenyl moieties to a variety of acceptor molecules. Cell cultures of Hypericum calycinum respond to elicitor treatment with the accumulation of the prenylated xanthone hyperxanthone E. A cDNA encoding a membrane-bound PT (HcPT) was isolated from a subtracted cDNA library and transcript preparations of H. calycinum. An increase in the HcPT transcript level preceded hyperxanthone E accumulation in cell cultures of H. calycinum treated with elicitor. The HcPT cDNA was functionally characterized by expression in baculovirus-infected insect cells. The recombinant enzyme catalyzed biosynthesis of 1,3,6,7-tetrahydroxy-8-prenylxanthone through regiospecific C–8 prenylation of 1,3,6,7-tetrahydroxyxanthone, indicating its involvement in hyperxanthone E formation. The enzymatic product shared significant structural features with the previously reported cholinesterase inhibitor γ-mangostin. Thus, our findings may offer a chance for semisynthesis of new active agents to be involved in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Analisis Kemampuan Berpikir Kritis Siswa Kelas X SMA dalam Menyelesaikan Masalah Identitas Trigonometri Ditinjau dari Gender

Abstrak Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis kemampuan berpikir kritis dalam menyelesaikan masalah identitas trigonometri ditinjau dari gender di SMA. Dalam pengambilan subjek dilakukan dengan cara think a loud. Siswa yang cenderung memenuhi kriteria berpikir kritis selanjutnya dikelompokkan berdasarkan gender. Berdasarkan data jenuh yang diperoleh berdasarkan masing-masing gender, selanjutnya di ambil masing-masing satu orang untuk dianalisis kemampuan berpikir kritis. Berdasarkan hasil analisis kemampuan berpikir kritis ditinjau dari gender dalam menyelesaikan masalah identitas trigonometri diperoleh bahwa siswa yang berjenis kelamin laki-laki dan siswa yang berjenis kelamin perempuan cenderung memenuhi 5 indikator berpikir kritis yaitu (1) mampu merumuskan pokok permasalahan; (2) mampu mengungkapkan fakta yang dibutuhkan dalam menyelesaikan suatu masalah; (3) mampu memilih argumen yang logis, relevan dan akurat; (4) mampu mendeteksi bias berbeda pada sudut pandang berbeda dan (5) Mampu menentukan akibat dari suatu pernyataan yang di ambil sebagai suatu keputusan. Dalam proses penyelesaian berdasarkan tahapannya tampak bahwa siswa perempuan cenderung teliti dan sistematis dibandingkan siswa laki-laki. Kata kunci: Kemampuan berpikir kritis, gender. Abstract This study aimed to analyze critical thinking ability when solved trigonometry identity problem based on gender difference in senior high school. Subject were selected by think a loud. Most of student can do critical thinking criteria and then make a group difference based on gender. Based on saturated data that have obtained for each gender, and then take one of them to analyze critical thinking ability. Based on result shows that male student and female student mostly can complete five indicators of critical thinking such as 1) can formulate the core problem; 2) can express fact that requirement to solve the problem; 3) can choose logically argument, relevant, and accurate; 4) can detect different refraction when get different solution; and 5) can determint cause of the statement that it have took as a decision. When solved the problem based on the its phase, showed that female student are more careful and more sistematic than male student.
Starvation after Cobalt-60 γ-Ray Radiation Enhances Metastasis in U251 Glioma Cells by Regulating the Transcription Factor SP1

Radiation is of clinical importance during glioma therapy; however, vasculature damage is observed over the treatment course. This type of tissue damage might lead to starvation conditions, affecting tumor metastasis. To test this possibility, we compared starvation conditions in conjunction with radiation treatment to monitor metastatic ability in the U251 glioma cell line. Transcriptome, western blot, and immunofluorescence analyses were used to measure the RNA and protein expression changes of the U251 cells after various treatments. We found that starvation combined with radiation treatment yielded the most significant expression changes in metastasis-related factors compared to that in the control groups. In addition, a metastasis assay was used to directly measure the metastatic ability of the treated cells, which confirmed that the U251 cells treated with starvation combined with radiation possessed the highest metastatic ability. Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that SP1 represented a common transcription factor associated with changes in metastasis-related factors. Blocking SP1 activity by an inhibitor suppressed the starvation-plus-radiation treatment-mediated enhancement of U251 cell metastasis. Our study provides the first evidence that starvation caused by radiation might play a significant role in enhancing the ability of the glioma cell line U251 to metastasize via regulation of the transcription factor SP1.
Classifying Gene Expression Data using an Evolutionary Algorithm

Since the advent of microarray technology, the large amount of gene expression data leads to statistical and analytical challenges. One challenge area in the studies of gene expression data is the classification of the expression dataset into correct classes. The dissertation is addressing multiclass classification which has been shown to be more difficult than the binary classification. The main difficulties in solving microarray classification are the availability of very small amount of samples compared to the number of genes in the sample and the extremely large search space of solutions. Moreover, the variation in microarray experiment also causes noise in the gene expression data. This makes classification task more difficult in order to be able discover the underlying pattern in noisy gene expression data. The dissertation aims to implement and evaluate an evolutionary algorithm described in Deutsch (2003) for microarray multiclass classification. Starting with normalization on gene expression data to reduce the variance and noise in microarray data. Next step, some genes are used to build the initial gene pool. The evolutionary algorithm is implemented to explore the large search spaces to discover the best solution with optimal number of predictive genes in the initial gene pool. Performance of the solutions is evaluated using the k-nearest neighbour classifier to identify the class on training samples with the leave-one-out cross validation technique. Furthermore, the dissertation aims to evaluate the parameters that may affect the performance of the evolutionary algorithm: population size, feature size, and initial gene pools built by various ranking methods. Finally, the best parameters will be tested again using the 0.632 bootstrap estimation method to give effective performance.
Mitochondrial gene arrangement of the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus L.: conservation of major features among arthropod classes.

Numerous complete mitochondrial DNA sequences have been determined for species within two arthropod groups, insects and crustaceans, but there are none for a third, the chelicerates. Most mitochondrial gene arrangements reported for crustaceans and insect species are identical or nearly identical to that of Drosophila yakuba. Sequences across 36 of the gene boundaries in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of a representative chelicerate. Limulus polyphemus L. , also reveal an arrangement like that of Drosophila yakuba. Only the position of the tRNA(LEU)(UUR) gene differs; in Limulus it is between the genes for tRNA(LEU)(CUN) and ND1. This positioning is also found in onychophorans, mollusks, and annelids, but not in insects and crustaceans, and indicates that tRNA(LEU)(CUN)-tRNA(LEU)(UUR)-ND1 was the ancestral gene arrangement for these groups, as suggested earlier. There are no differences in the relative arrangements of protein-coding and ribosomal RNA genes between Limulus and Drosophila, and none have been observed within arthropods. The high degree of similarity of mitochondrial gene arrangements within arthropods is striking, since some taxa last shared a common ancestor before the Cambrian, and contrasts with the extensive mtDNA rearrangements occasionally observed within some other metazoan phyla (e.g., mollusks and nematodes).
Flexible Guidance Generation Using User Model in Spoken Dialogue Systems

We address appropriate user modeling in order to generate cooperative responses to each user in spoken dialogue systems. Unlike previous studies that focus on user's knowledge or typical kinds of users, the user model we propose is more comprehensive. Specifically, we set up three dimensions of user models: skill level to the system, knowledge level on the target domain and the degree of hastiness. Moreover, the models are automatically derived by decision tree learning using real dialogue data collected by the system. We obtained reasonable classification accuracy for all dimensions. Dialogue strategies based on the user modeling are implemented in Kyoto city bus information system that has been developed at our laboratory. Experimental evaluation shows that the cooperative responses adaptive to individual users serve as good guidance for novice users without increasing the dialogue duration for skilled users.
Lifeway alibis: The biographical bases for unruly bricolage

The function of marketplace ideology to provide a framework that guides individuals’ conduct as consumers is well recognized, though less is known about how individuals address, resist or reconcile themselves to such ideology. Drawing upon ‘lifeway alibis’, assembled from a life course reading of de Certeauean tactics, this article deepens our understanding of how the ideology of nutritionism is renegotiated in the context of dietary health to better accommodate individuals’ life events, circumstances and timing in lives. Based on the interpretations of interview data, we argue that biographical matrices must be observed as principal facilitators for critical reflexivity beyond antagonistic and politico-collective motivations. Here, we consider critically reflexive behaviour – or unruly bricolage – to be organized around dynamic life experiences and circumstances rather than statically against marketplace ideology itself. This outlook prompts us to recognize biography as a catalyst for circumventing certain ideological mandates while the overall ideology remains perpetuated throughout circumvention.
An aerobiological perspective in allergy and asthma

Allergic diseases are amongst the most common chronic disorders worldwide. Today, more than 300 million of the population is known to suffer from one or other allergic ailments affecting the socio-economic quality of life. Major causative agents implicated are pollen grains, fungal spores, dust mites, insect debris, animal epithelia, etc. Several aerobiological studies have been conducted in different parts of the world to ascertain aerial concentration and seasonality of pollen grains and fungi. Especially from clinical point of view, it is important to know the details about the pollen season and pollen load in the atmosphere. The flowering time of higher plants are events that come periodically in each season, but the time of blooming may differ from year to year, in different geographic locations. Based on differences recorded in several years of observations in airborne pollen, pollen calendars are drawn as an aid to allergy diagnosis and management. This review article emphasises on various aerobiological parameters of environmental pollen from different parts of the world with special emphasis from India. The role of aerobiology in the diagnosis and management of allergic diseases is reviewed briefly in this article.
Phase diagram and thermodynamics of the PNJL model

QCD-based thermodynamics at zero and finite quark chemical potential is studied using an extended Nambu and Jona-Lasinio approach in which quarks couple simultaneously to the chiral condensate and to a background temporal gauge field representing Polyakov loop dynamics. This so-called PNJL model thus includes features of both deconfinement and chiral symmetry restoration. We discuss the phase diagram as it emerges from this approach in close comparison with results from lattice QCD thermodynamics. The critical point, separating crossover from first order phase transition, is investigated with special focus on its quark mass dependence, starting from the relatively large masses presently accessible by lattice simulations, down to the chiral limit.
Increased expression of axogenesis-related genes and mossy fibre length in dentate granule cells from adult HuD overexpressor mice

The neuronal RNA-binding protein HuD plays a critical role in the post-transcriptional regulation of short-lived mRNAs during the initial establishment and remodelling of neural connections. We have generated transgenic mice overexpressing this protein (HuD-Tg) in adult DGCs (dentate granule cells) and shown that their mossy fibres contain high levels of GAP-43 (growth-associated protein 43) and exhibit distinct morphological and electrophysiological properties. To investigate the basis for these changes and identify other molecular targets of HuD, DGCs from HuD-Tg and control mice were collected by LCM (laser capture microscopy) and RNAs analysed using DNA microarrays. Results show that 216 known mRNAs transcripts and 63 ESTs (expressed sequence tags) are significantly up-regulated in DGCs from these transgenic mice. Analyses of the 3′-UTRs (3′-untranslated regions) of these transcripts revealed an increased number of HuD-binding sites and the presence of several known instability-conferring sequences. Among these, the mRNA for TTR (transthyretin) shows the highest level of up-regulation, as confirmed by qRT–PCR (quantitative reverse transcription–PCR) and ISH (in situ hybridization). GO (gene ontology) analyses of up-regulated transcripts revealed a large over-representation of genes associated with neural development and axogenesis. In correlation with these gene expression changes, we found an increased length of the infrapyramidal mossy fibre bundle in HuD-Tg mice. These results support the notion that HuD stabilizes a number of developmentally regulated mRNAs in DGCs, resulting in increased axonal elongation.
Functional Multiplex PageRank

Recently it has been recognized that many complex social, technological and biological networks have a multilayer nature and can be described by multiplex networks. Multiplex networks are formed by a set of nodes connected by links having different connotations forming the different layers of the multiplex. Characterizing the centrality of the nodes in a multiplex network is a challenging task since the centrality of the node naturally depends on the importance associated to links of a certain type. Here we propose to assign to each node of a multiplex network a centrality called Functional Multiplex PageRank that is a function of the weights given to every different pattern of connections (multilinks) existent in the multiplex network between any two nodes. Since multilinks distinguish all the possible ways in which the links in different layers can overlap, the Functional Multiplex PageRank can describe important non-linear effects when large relevance or small relevance is assigned to multilinks with overlap. Here we apply the Functional Page Rank to the multiplex airport networks, to the neuronal network of the nematode C. elegans, and to social collaboration and citation networks between scientists. This analysis reveals important differences existing between the most central nodes of these networks, and the correlations between their so-called pattern to success.