Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Overexpression of the pathogen-inducible wheat TaWRKY45 gene confers disease resistance to multiple fungi in transgenic wheat plants

Recently we cloned and characterized the gene for the wheat transcription factor TaWRKY45 and showed that TaWRKY45 was upregulated in response to benzothiadiazole (BTH) and Fusarium head blight (FHB) and that its overexpression conferred enhanced resistance against F. graminearum. To characterize the functional role of TaWRKY45 in the disease resistance of wheat, in the present study we conducted expression analyses of TaWRKY45 with inoculations of powdery mildew and leaf rust and evaluated TaWRKY45-overexpressing wheat plants for resistance to these diseases. TaWRKY45 was upregulated in response to infections with Blumeria graminis, a causal fungus for powdery mildew, and Puccinia triticina, a causal fungus for leaf rust. Constitutive overexpression of the TaWRKY45 transgene conferred enhanced resistance against these two fungi on transgenic wheat plants grown under greenhouse conditions. However, the expression of two resistance-related genes, Pm3 and Lr34, was not induced by the inoculation with powdery mildew in TaWRKY45-overexpressing wheat plants. These results suggest that TaWRKY45 is involved in the defense responses for multiple fungal diseases in wheat but that resistance involving TaWRKY45 differs from at least Pm3 and/or Lr34-related resistance. Our present and previous studies indicate that TaWRKY45 may be potentially utilized to improve a wide range of disease resistance in wheat.
Stereotypical trust and bias in dynamic multiagent systems

Large-scale multiagent systems have the potential to be highly dynamic. Trust and reputation are crucial concepts in these environments, as it may be necessary for agents to rely on their peers to perform as expected, and learn to avoid untrustworthy partners. However, aspects of highly dynamic systems introduce issues which make the formation of trust relationships difficult. For example, they may be short-lived, precluding agents from gaining the necessary experiences to make an accurate trust evaluation. This article describes a new approach, inspired by theories of human organizational behavior, whereby agents generalize their experiences with previously encountered partners as stereotypes, based on the observable features of those partners and their behaviors. Subsequently, these stereotypes are applied when evaluating new and unknown partners. Furthermore, these stereotypical opinions can be communicated within the society, resulting in the notion of stereotypical reputation. We show how this approach can complement existing state-of-the-art trust models, and enhance the confidence in the evaluations that can be made about trustees when direct and reputational information is lacking or limited. Furthermore, we show how a stereotyping approach can help agents detect unwanted biases in the reputational opinions they receive from others in the society.
Decentralized Demand-Side Contribution to Primary Frequency Control

Frequency in large power systems is usually controlled by adjusting the production of generating units in response to changes in the load. As the amount of intermittent renewable generation increases and the proportion of flexible conventional generating units decreases, a contribution from the demand side to primary frequency control becomes technically and economically desirable. One of the reasons why this has not been done was the perceived difficulties in dealing with many small loads rather than a limited number of generating units. In particular, the cost and complexity associated with two-way communications between many loads and the control center appeared to be insurmountable obstacles. This paper argues that this two-way communication is not essential and that the demand can respond to the frequency error in a manner similar to the generators. Simulation results show that, using this approach, the demand side can make a significant and reliable contribution to primary frequency response while preserving the benefits that consumers derive from their supply of electric energy.
Achilles Tendinopathy: Current Concepts about the Basic Science and Clinical Treatments

Achilles tendinopathy is one of the most frequently ankle and foot overuse injuries, which is a clinical syndrome characterized by the combination of pain, swelling, and impaired performance. The two main categories of Achilles tendinopathy are classified according to anatomical location and broadly include insertional and noninsertional tendinopathy. The etiology of Achilles tendinopathy is multifactorial including both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Failed healing response and degenerative changes were found in the tendon. The failed healing response includes three different and continuous stages (reactive tendinopathy, tendon disrepair, and degenerative tendinopathy). The histological studies have demonstrated an increased number of tenocytes and concentration of glycosaminoglycans in the ground substance, disorganization and fragmentation of the collagen, and neovascularization. There are variable conservative and surgical treatment options for Achilles tendinopathy. However, there has not been a gold standard of these treatments because of the controversial clinical results between various studies. In the future, new level I researches will be needed to prove the effect of these treatment options.
Executive Cash Compensation and Corporate Performance During Different Economic Cycles

Current practice of management cash compensation is based on budgeted, financial targets. These financial targets for a year may be above, equal to or below previous year? s publicly available performance measures based in part on the prevailing economic conditions. Accordingly, during economic growth a positive relation is predicted between changes of management cash compensation and corporate performance measures like changes in annual report or return on equity. On the other hand, during economic downturn, a flat relation between changes in management cash compensation and simple changes in corporate performance is predicted. The evidence of this study is based on the period of 1987 - 1995. Pooled, cross sectional results are consistent with the propositions of significant positive relation during economic growth, no relation between changes in management cash compensation and changes in measures of corporate performance during periods of economic downturn.
Soybean Sowing Date: The Vegetative, Reproductive, and Agronomic Impacts

The sensitivity of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ] main stem node accrual to ambient temperature has been documented in greenhousegrown plants but not with fi eld-grown plants in the north-central United States. Biweekly V-node and R-stage, stem node number, internode length, and other traits were quantifi ed in an irrigated split-plot, four-replicate, randomized complete block experiment conducted in Lincoln, NE, in 2003–2004. Main plots were early-, mid-, late
Impact of aided AAC interventions on speech comprehension of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities: A critically appraised topic

Abstract A critically appraised topic (CAT) is one form of rapid review that can be particularly useful for informing practice. The purpose of this CAT was twofold: to determine (a) the impact of aided augmentative and alternative communication interventions on speech and graphic symbol comprehension in children, aged birth-18 years with neurodevelopmental disabilities and (b) whether there are any potential learner characteristics that serve as moderators or mediators regarding intervention outcomes. In addition to the methodology, the authors present and discuss the findings of this CAT. The authors propose an update to this CAT in January 2022.
The impact of stress on students in secondary school and higher education

ABSTRACT Students in secondary and tertiary education settings face a wide range of ongoing stressors related to academic demands. Previous research indicates that academic-related stress can reduce academic achievement, decrease motivation and increase the risk of school dropout. The longer-term impacts, which include reduced likelihood of sustainable employment, cost Governments billions of dollars each year. This narrative review presents the most recent research concerning the impact of academic-related stress, including discussion of the impact on students’ learning capacity and academic performance, mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, sleep disturbances and substance use.
Stability and stabilization of the constrained runs schemes for equation-free projection to a slow manifold

In [C. W. Gear, T. J. Kaper, I. G. Kevrekidis and A. Zagaris, Projecting to a slow manifold: Singularly perturbed systems and legacy codes, SIAM J. Appl. Dyn. Syst. 4 (2005), 711--732], we developed the family of constrained runs algorithms to find points on low-dimensional, attracting, slow manifolds in systems of nonlinear differential equations with multiple time scales. For user-specified values of a subset of the system variables parametrizing the slow manifold (which we term observables and denote collectively by u ), these iterative algorithms return values of the remaining system variables v so that the point (u,v) approximates a point on a slow manifold. In particular, the m− th constrained runs algorithm (m=0,1,…) approximates a point (u,vm) that is the appropriate zero of the (m+1)− st time derivative of v. % The accuracy with which (u,vm) approximates the corresponding point on the slow manifold with the same value of the observables has been established in [A. Zagaris, C. W. Gear, T. J. Kaper and I. G. Kevrekidis, Analysis of the accuracy and convergence of equation-free projection to a slow manifold, ESAIM: M2AN 43(4) (2009) 757--784] for systems for which the observables u evolve exclusively on the slow time scale. There, we also determined explicit conditions under which the m− th constrained runs scheme converges to the fixed point (u,vm) and identified conditions under which it fails to converge. Here, we consider the questions of stability and stabilization of these iterative algorithms for the case in which the observables u are also allowed to evolve on a fast time scale. The stability question in this case is more complicated, since it involves a generalized eigenvalue problem for a pair of matrices encoding geometric and dynamical characteristics of the system of differential equations. We determine the conditions under which these schemes converge or diverge in a series of cases in which this problem is explicitly solvable. We illustrate our main stability and stabilization results for the constrained runs schemes on certain planar systems with multiple time scales, and also on a more-realistic sixth order system with multiple time scales that models a network of coupled enzymatic reactions. Finally, we consider the issue of stabilization of the m− th constrained runs algorithm when the functional iteration scheme is divergent or converges slowly. In that case, we demonstrate on concrete examples how Newton's method and Broyden's method may replace functional iteration to yield stable iterative schemes.
A Minimax Framework for Classification with Applications to Images and High Dimensional Data

This paper introduces a minimax framework for multiclass classification, which is applicable to general data including, in particular, imagery and other types of high-dimensional data. The framework consists of estimating a representation model that minimizes the fitting errors under a class of distortions of interest to an application, and deriving subsequently categorical information based on the estimated model. A variety of commonly used regression models, including lasso, elastic net and ridge regression, can be regarded as special cases that correspond to specific classes of distortions. Optimal decision rules are derived for this classification framework. By using kernel techniques the framework can account for nonlinearity in the input space. To demonstrate the power of the framework we consider a class of signal-dependent distortions and build a new family of classifiers as new special cases. This family of new methods-minimax classification with generalized multiplicative distortions-often outperforms the state-of-the-art classification methods such as the support vector machine in accuracy. Extensive experimental results on images, gene expressions and other types of data verify the effectiveness of the proposed framework.
The Market Value of the Vote: A Contingent Claims Approach

The paper presents a new methodology to estimate the market value of the right to vote that is embedded in common stocks. The difference in the price of the stock and the synthetic stock (constructed with options) quantifies the value of the right to vote during the expected life of the synthetic stock. Consistent with the theory we find that our measure increases with the expected life of the synthetic stock. We quantify the value of the right to vote during the next year at 1.64%. As expected, the value of the vote increases around special meetings and around M&A events. The evidence presented has implications for the option pricing literature as well. We point out that early exercise of Call options can be optimal even in the absence of dividends on the underlying security.
Sensitivity and specificity of the method used for ascertainment of healthcare-associated infections in the second Slovenian national prevalence survey

Abstract Introduction The second Slovenian national healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) prevalence survey (SNHPS) was conducted in acute-care hospitals in 2011. The objective was to assess the sensitivity and specificity of the method used for the ascertainment of six types of HAIs (bloodstream infections, catheter-associated infections, lower respiratory tract infections, pneumoniae, surgical site infections, and urinary tract infections) in the University Medical Centre Ljubljana (UMCL). Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in patients surveyed in the SNHPS in the UMCL using a retrospective medical chart review (RMCR) and European HAIs surveillance definitions. Sensitivity and specificity of the method used in the SNHPS using RMCR as a reference was computed for ascertainment of patients with any of the six selected types of HAIs and for individual types of HAIs. Agreement between the SNHPS and RMCR results was analyzed using Cohen’s kappa coefficient. Results 1474 of 1742 (84.6%) patients surveyed in the SNHPS were included in RMCR. The sensitivity of the SNHPS method for detecting any of six HAIs was 90% (95% confidence interval (CI): 81%-95%) and specificity 99% (95% CI: 98%-99%). The sensitivity by type of HAI ranged from 63% (lower respiratory tract infections) to 92% (bloodstream infections). Specificity was at least 99% for all types of HAIs. Agreement between the two data collection approaches for HAIs overall was very good (κ=0.83). Conclusions The overall sensitivity of SNHPS collection method for ascertaining HAIs overall was high and the specificity was very high. This suggests that the estimated prevalence of HAIs in the SNHPS was credible.
Personality, Romantic Attitude, and Happiness in Young Adults

The present study investigated the relationship between personality traits, romantic attitude, and happiness in young adults. It was hypothesized that a positive relationship exists between extraversion, agreeableness, openness, romantic attitude, and happiness whereas neuroticism is negatively correlated with happiness. Nonprobability convenience sample of 150 students (85 women, 65 men), with age range of 18-25 years (M = 21.76, SD = 1.35) were selected from 3 educational institutions of Lahore. Neo Five-factor Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992a), Romantic Attitude Scale (Zafar & Amjad, 2012) and Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hills & Argyle, 2002) were used to assess study variables. Correlation analyses revealed a significant positive relationship of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience with happiness. Romantic attitude had significant positive relationship with neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness. There was a significant negative relationship between neuroticism and happiness. Neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion were significant predictors of happiness. Neuroticism was the strongest significant negative predictor of happiness. Findings are discussed in view of theoretical and empirical implications.
Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience Cellular Neuroscience Review Article Odorant Receptors (ors) Structural Features of Receptor Proteins

olfactory receptors constitute a highly divergent group of receptors, consistent with the structural diversity of odorous compounds. In this review, structural features and functional implications of the olfactory receptor families are discussed and their common as well as their specifi c features are summarized. The structure of OR proteins is characterized by seven hydropho-bic, putative membrane-spanning domains, the hallmark of all GPCRs. Based on their primary sequence, GPCRs are categorized into three classes: A, B or C (Jacoby et al., 2006). According to this classifi cation, due to their domain organization, the ORs belong to GPCR class A, like e.g. rhodopsin (Jacoby et al., 2006). OR proteins have an average length of about 320 ± 25 amino acids residues; the differences in length result mainly from variable N-and C-terminal stretches. The N-terminal region which is exposed extracellularly contains a well conserved NXS/T consensus for N-linked glycosylation. ORs are distinguishable from other GPCRs by several conserved amino acid motifs; these include an LHTPMY motif within the fi rst intracellular loop, the most characteristic MAYDRYVAIC motif at the end of transmembrane (TM) domain 3 (TM3), a very short SY motif at the end of TM5, an FSTCSSH stretch at the beginning of TM6 and PMLNPF in TM7. Although these sequences are slightly different between species they were used to identify OR genes from many genomes. Extensive comparative analyses have identifi ed more than 80 short motifs (Liu et al., 2003; Zhang et al., 2007), some of which are specifi c for distinct subfamilies or species and have been implicated in ligand binding. Seven cysteine residues are well conserved, a couple of them are thought to play a
Antecedents of turnover intention and actual turnover among information systems personnel in South Africa

This study investigates Information Systems (IS) personnel turnover in South Africa. The results indicate that there is significant positive correlation between job satisfaction, career satisfaction and organisational commitment, whereby individuals experiencing job satisfaction are more likely to be committed to their organisation and experience career satisfaction. In addition, job satisfaction, career satisfaction and organisational commitment were all found to be negatively related to turnover intention. Based on these findings it is clear that organisations seeking a reduction in IS personnel turnover should consider the individual wants of employees and facilitate more appropriate matches between employees and jobs.
Information transfers and learning in financial markets: Evidence from short selling around insider sales

We document significant increases in short positions on days when company insiders sell their firms’ shares. Short selling increases before insider sales are publicly reported and often before insiders finish selling. Furthermore, the magnitude of short selling activity is consistent with short sellers’ knowledge of the insider’s rank (e.g., CEO, CFO, or a lower-ranked manager) and with knowledge of the unobservable size of the insider’s trading position. We show that short sellers’ superior timing is consistent with (i) monitoring of order flow and (ii) obtaining price-relevant information from brokerages that execute insider sales. Some of our results extend to insider purchases.
The myth of Afghan electoral democracy: the irregularities of the 2014 presidential election

ABSTRACT This article systematically assesses the 2014 Afghanistan Presidential Election, the first transfer of power from President Hamid Karzai to an elected successor, using provincial voting data as well as explicit data from polling centers. The analysis finds unusual voting results in the April election, where no candidate received 50%+1 votes required by the Afghan constitution, versus the voting results realized for the June ‘runoff election. ’ As in other Afghan voting analyses, this article finds voting based on ethno-linguistic preferences, and interestingly found Dr. Ashraf Ghani receiving almost all the swing votes in the runoff election even though the other leading candidate from the April election all endorsed Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. More importantly, however, the research presented here clearly finds extremely strange voting patterns. For example, the polling data center analysis finds 606 polling places where Ghani received all 600 votes and Abdullah received none and another 900 polling centers that gave virtually all its votes to Ghani. These results in combination with other analyses raise the very real possibility that the election results were illegitimate. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the research to future Afghan elections and their processes as well as to the long-standing conflict in the country.
Character detection and recognition system for visually impaired people

Nowadays, increasing use of digital technology, availability of economical image capturing devices like mobile phones, digital cameras, etc. and need of powerful technology to aid blind or visually impaired people, attracting researchers to the problem of recognizing text in images. Detecting text from scene image is more difficult as compared to that from printed documents. Lots of research has been done on detecting scene text to overcome certain challenges like perspective distortion, aspect ratio, font size, etc. Speed, complexity, cost and accuracy are important parameters must be taken into consideration while designing such systems. Computer vision is one of the emerging technologies that can be used to aid visually impaired people for navigation (both indoor and outdoor), accessing printed material, etc. This paper describes an approach to extract and recognize text from scene images effectively using computer vision technology and to convert recognized text into speech so that it can be incorporated with hardware to develop Electronic travel aid for visually impaired people in future.