Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Conveying Quality and Value in Emerging Industries: Star Scientists and the Role of Learning in Biotechnology

Managers of private entrepreneurial firms face obstacles in raising capital both in placing a value on a firm and conveying value to investors. These problems are exacerbated when the firm is small, has limited assets (except for human capital) and has yet to have a lead product. In such cases metrics are necessary to convey the value of the firm to investors. Here we explore the importance within the biotechnology industry of the non-financial metrics firms used to convey value during two important initial public offerings (IPO) windows (1989 to 1992 and 1996 to 2000). We also examine whether there was a change over time in the importance of various metrics in determining the value of a biotechnology firm. We find that firms with an affiliated Nobel laureate succeeded in raising the value of their firms by more than $30 million compared to firms without a Nobel laureate during the first period, suggesting that a Nobel laureate served as a powerful signal of firm value. Our results also suggest that the biotechnology regime changed and the Nobel Prize lost its luster as a signal of value in the second period. The importance of several other non-financial metrics changed as well. We conclude that these non-financial metrics of value change in relative importance to potential investors and financial markets as learning occurs and as an industry matures.
A device and standard variables to describe microhabitat structure of small mammals based on plant cover.

Studies quantifying habitat structure generally use several instruments. This paper aims to propose a new and efficient device to characterize microhabitat structure of small mammals. Seven measurements were taken: plant cover, litter cover, rock cover, canopy cover, and vegetative obstruction at three heights. The device is a 0.25 m2 square wooden frame (0.50 m x 0.50 m) divided in to 100 open squares by wire mesh. Average time spent to measure each trapping station was six minutes. This new device is efficient, i.e., quick, practical, simple, and reliable. It can be used in any kind of forest. We propose this method as a standard method to describe habitat structure.
The Prevalence and Genotype Distribution of Human Papillomavirus in the Genital Tract of Males in Iran

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common viral sexually-transmitted infection. Despite HPV infection is associated with several malignant disorders including penile and anal cancers, little is known about the epidemiology of HPV infection in males, particularly in developing countries. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HPV infection and its genotype distribution among Iranian males. Patients and Methods: Between March 2009 and April 2014, a total number of 483 males, referred to Iran University of Medical Sciences-affiliated sexually transmitted infections (STI) clinics, were enrolled in this study. Following DNA extraction, HPV detection and genotyping were performed using INNO-LiPA HPV Genotyping Extra assay. To analyze the association of HPV infection and age, the logistic regression was employed. Results: No statistical association between HPV infection and age was observed (P = 0.469). Furthermore, there was no statistically significant correlation between HR HPV infection and age (P = 0.330). Conclusions: In this investigation, the prevalence of HPV infection was relatively substantial. Totally, 17 different HPV genotypes were detected and the most frequently detected genotypes were HPV6, HPV11, HPV16, HPV18 and HPV52, respectively. The data from this study is essential for planning future public health strategies including HPV vaccination programs.
Chief executive scanning, environmental characteristics, and company performance: An empirical study

Chief executives in 50 manufacturing companies were interviewed about the perceived strategic uncertainty in six environmental sectors, and the frequency and mode of scanning used for each sector. The findings suggest that customer, economic and competitor sectors generated greater strategic uncertainty than technological, regulatory and sociocultural sectors. When sector uncertainty was high, executives reported greater frequency of scanning and greater use of personal information sources. Chief executives in high‐performing companies scanned more frequently and more broadly in response to strategic uncertainty than their counterparts in low‐performing companies.
The Sensitivity Matrix

H 0 is chosen as in the static case and the observation noise covariance is taken as R k = 0:01 2 I 72272. The estimation performance of the CSKF-p Algorithm in the dynamic case is presented in Fig. 3(a). This figure depicts the mean square estimation error based on N = 50 Monte Carlo runs for N = 100 PM iterations. As can be seen, the best estimation performance in this case is attained by the CSKF-p aided by the approximate l 0 norm (16). Again, the CSKF-1 exhibits the worst performance compared to the other filters. The attainable estimation errors in this case are slightly higher than in the static case. Nevertheless, it seems that the algorithms manage to adequately estimate the behavior of the nonzero processes as shown for the CSKF-1 in Fig. 3(b). The CSKF method was applied to image classification in [13]. The classifier derived in [13] utilizes a static version of the CSKF-1 (i.e., with A = In2n and Q k = 0) for learning a sparse random field model individually for each class. The new classifier, which is applied for prediction of mental states based on fMRI scans, is shown to outperform other schemes that rely on state-of-the-art methods such as naive Bayes and LASSO. VI. CONCLUSION We have presented simple Kalman-filtering-based algorithms for sparse signal recovery from a series of noisy observations. The proposed methods utilized a pseudo-measurement technique for enforcing an l p norm constraint. In the first approach, the Kalman filter was augmented by an l 1 norm constraint, which retained the linearity of the filter. The simplicity of this method stems from the fact that no considerable modifications are required in the basic Kalman filter formulation. In the second approach, a quasi-norm constraint was used, giving rise to an extended Kalman filter. Both formulations were inspired by recent results in compressed sensing theory, albeit the new algorithms are much simpler for implementation than existing algorithms. The simulation study showed that the static version of the l 1-constrained filter outperforms the Dantzig selector, which was suggested as an ideal scheme for solving the compressed sensing problem. Moreover, it was shown that using a quasi-norm-constrained filter outperforms the l 1-constrained filter both in the static and dynamic settings. Robust uncertainty principles: Exact signal reconstruction from highly incomplete frequency information , " IEEE Trans. Sparse MRI: The application of compressed sensing for …
The Profile of Self Efficacy Beliefs among English Teachers without L2 Teaching Degree

Teachers’ belief of their own competence, especially subject-matter and pedagogical, is instrumental in teaching success and failure. This selfbelief, commonly called self-efficacy, is believed to determine teachers’ effort, persistence, goal setting, and aspirations for themselves and their students. Despite playing the crucial motivational role, self-efficacy of EFL teachers has yet to receive due attention, let alone on that of teachers who have no English teaching degree. In addition, research on this self-belief mainly focuses on its link with other constructs, and few have looked into its source of information. Therefore, this study examined 1) the level of self-efficacy beliefs in English and pedagogical competence among English teachers in an Indonesian university, and 2) how the sources of information, as postulated by Bandura, related to the teachers’ English and pedagogical selfefficacy. The data were collected from Academic English teachers who did not have English teaching degree through a questionnaire. Results indicated that teachers had quite firm confidence in English skill and classroom management, but not in instructional strategies. Additionally, social persuasion had the strongest link with self-efficacy in English, instructional strategies, and classroom management. These findings could shed light on the nature of such teachers’ selfbelief and how the belief is shaped.
MicroRNA-19b Associates with Ago2 in the Amygdala Following Chronic Stress and Regulates the Adrenergic Receptor Beta 1

Activation of the stress response in the presence of diverse challenges requires numerous adaptive molecular and cellular changes. To identify specific microRNA molecules that are altered following chronic stress, mice were subjected to the chronic social defeat procedure. The amygdala from these mice was collected and a screen for microRNAs that were recruited to the RNA-induced silencing complex and differentially expressed between the stressed and unstressed mice was conducted. One of the microRNAs that were significantly altered was microRNA-19b (miR-19b). Bioinformatics analysis revealed the adrenergic receptor β-1 (Adrb1) as a potential target for this microRNA with multiple conserved seed sites. Consistent with its putative regulation by miR-19b, Adrb1 levels were reduced in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) following chronic stress. In vitro studies using luciferase assays showed a direct effect of miR-19b on Adrb1 levels, which were not evident when miR-19b seed sequences at the Adrb1 transcript were mutated. To assess the role of miR-19b in memory stabilization, previously attributed to BLA-Adrb1, we constructed lentiviruses designed to overexpress or knockdown miR-19b. Interestingly, adult mice injected bilaterally with miR-19b into the BLA showed lower freezing time relative to control in the cue fear conditioning test, and deregulation of noradrenergic circuits, consistent with downregulation of Adrb1 levels. Knockdown of endogenous BLA-miR-19b levels resulted in opposite behavioral and noradrenergic profile with higher freezing time and increase 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol/noradrenaline ratio. These findings suggest a key role for miR-19b in modulating behavioral responses to chronic stress and Adrb1 as an important target of miR-19b in stress-linked brain regions.
A Tale of Two Features: Perception of Cantonese Lexical Tone and English Lexical Stress in Cantonese-English Bilinguals

This study investigated the similarities and differences in perception of Cantonese tones and English stress patterns by Cantonese-English bilingual children, adults, and English monolingual adults. All three groups were asked to discriminate pairs of syllables that minimally differed in either Cantonese tone or in English stress. Bilingual children’s performance on tone perception was comparable to their performance on stress perception. By contrast, bilingual adults’ performance on tone perception was lower than their performance on stress perception, and there was a similar pattern in English monolingual adults. Bilingual adults tended to perform better than English monolingual adults on both the tone and stress perception tests. A significant correlation between tone perception and stress perception performance was found in bilingual children but not in bilingual adults. All three groups showed lower accuracy in the high rising-low rising contrast than any of the other 14 Cantonese tone contrasts. The acoustic analyses revealed that average F0, F0 onset, and F0 major slope were the critical acoustic correlates of Cantonese tones, whereas multiple acoustic correlates were salient in English stress, including average F0, spectral balance, duration and intensity. We argue that participants’ difficulty in perceiving high rising-low rising contrasts originated from the contrasts’ similarities in F0 onset and average F0; indeed the difference between their major slopes was the only cue with which to distinguish them. Acoustic-perceptual correlation analyses showed that although the average F0 and F0 onset were associated with tone perception performance in all three groups, F0 major slope was only associated with tone perception in the bilingual adult group. These results support a dynamic interactive account of suprasegmental speech perception by emphasizing the positive prosodic transfer between Cantonese tone and English stress, and the role that level of bilingual language experience and age play in shaping suprasegmental speech perception.
Characterization of the Drosophila Ortholog of the Human Usher Syndrome Type 1G Protein Sans

Background The Usher syndrome (USH) is the most frequent deaf-blindness hereditary disease in humans. Deafness is attributed to the disorganization of stereocilia in the inner ear. USH1, the most severe subtype, is associated with mutations in genes encoding myosin VIIa, harmonin, cadherin 23, protocadherin 15, and sans. Myosin VIIa, harmonin, cadherin 23, and protocadherin 15 physically interact in vitro and localize to stereocilia tips in vivo, indicating that they form functional complexes. Sans, in contrast, localizes to vesicle-like structures beneath the apical membrane of stereocilia-displaying hair cells. How mutations in sans result in deafness and blindness is not well understood. Orthologs of myosin VIIa and protocadherin 15 have been identified in Drosophila melanogaster and their genetic analysis has identified essential roles in auditory perception and microvilli morphogenesis, respectively. Principal Findings Here, we have identified and characterized the Drosophila ortholog of human sans. Drosophila Sans is expressed in tubular organs of the embryo, in lens-secreting cone cells of the adult eye, and in microvilli-displaying follicle cells during oogenesis. Sans mutants are viable, fertile, and mutant follicle cells appear to form microvilli, indicating that Sans is dispensable for fly development and microvilli morphogenesis in the follicle epithelium. In follicle cells, Sans protein localizes, similar to its vertebrate ortholog, to intracellular punctate structures, which we have identified as early endosomes associated with the syntaxin Avalanche. Conclusions Our work is consistent with an evolutionary conserved function of Sans in vesicle trafficking. Furthermore it provides a significant basis for further understanding of the role of this Usher syndrome ortholog in development and disease.
Systematic review of the use of prophylactic dressings in the prevention of pressure ulcers

This systematic review considers the evidence supporting the use of prophylactic dressings for the prevention of pressure ulcer. Electronic database searches were conducted on 25 July 2013. The searches found 3026 titles and after removal of duplicate records 2819 titles were scanned against the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of these, 2777 were excluded based on their title and abstract primarily because they discussed pressure ulcer healing, the prevention and treatment of other chronic and acute wounds or where the intervention was not a prophylactic dressing (e.g. underpads, heel protectors and cushions). Finally, the full text of 42 papers were retrieved. When these 42 papers were reviewed, 21 were excluded and 21 were included in the review. The single high‐quality randomised controlled trial (RCT) and the growing number of cohort, weak RCT and case series all suggest that the introduction of a dressing as part of pressure ulcer prevention may help reduce pressure ulcer incidence associated with medical devices especially in immobile intensive care unit patients. There is no firm clinical evidence at this time to suggest that one dressing type is more effective than other dressings.
The Limits of Online Consensus Effects: A Social Affirmation Theory of How Aggregate Online Rating Scores Influence Trust in Factual Corrections

Research on bandwagon effects suggests that people will yield to aggregate online rating scores even when forming evaluations of contentious content. However, such findings derive mainly from studying partisan news selection behaviors, and therefore, are incomplete. How do people use ratings to evaluate whether factual corrections on contentious issues are trustworthy? Through what I term the social affirmation heuristic, I hypothesize, people will first assess rating scores for compatibility with their own beliefs; and then they will invest trust only in ratings of factual messages that affirm their beliefs, while distrusting ratings that disaffirm them. I further predict that distrusted ratings will elicit boomerang effects, causing evaluations of message trustworthiness to conflict with rating scores. I use an online experiment (n = 157) and a nationally representative survey experiment (N = 500) to test these ideas. All hypotheses received clear support. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Coping with pseudo-single parenting : experience of Chinese mothers in astronaut families in Canada

This explorative research project examined the pseudo-single parenting experience of Chinese and Taiwanese mothers in astronaut families in British Columbia, Canada. Enhanced Critical Incident Technique was utilized to answer research questions including what helps and what hinders the mothers’ coping experiences with parenting alone, as well as their wishes and/or expectations within the parenting process. Individual and in-person interviews were conducted with 8 Taiwanese mothers and 7 Chinese mothers. Participants reported 150 helping and 63 hindering critical incidents, and 27 wish items in the areas of intrapersonal process, family process, social interactions, and external resources and conditions. These areas consisted of 12 helping and 7 hindering categories. Approximately 70% of the critical incidents fell under the intrapersonal process (38%) and family process (34%) areas. Adaptability (87%) was the most endorsed helping category, juggling multiple responsibilities (80%) was the most endorsed hindering category, and expectations for children (47%) was the most endorsed wish list item. The results suggested that the astronaut family arrangement is a goal-oriented family project. The advancement of international transportation and communication technologies helped the family stay connected. Astronaut mothers in this research made informed decisions to undertake the primary care taker’s role. Participants coped with quasi-single parenting by connecting to various sources of support intrapersonally and externally. They demonstrated resilience and flexibility when confronted with parenting difficulties. Counselling practitioners are encouraged to make multidimensional assessments for case conceptualizations when working with mothers in astronaut families. Risk and protective factors can be explored in the areas of intrapersonal process, family process, social interactions, and external resources and conditions. Improving the mothers’ internal strengths and increasing sources of validation are likely helpful for successful coping.
The Dark Side of Personality: Anti-Sociality Increases Strategic Game Play

We assess the role of anti-social personality traits in explaining heterogeneity in commonly observed social preferences. We identified a personality profile that clearly reflects anti-social personality characteristics, with high positive loadings on Machiavellianism and high negative loadings on empathy, trustworthiness and agreeableness. Anti-sociality predicts decision strategies in a manner that is consistent with its name: significantly lower levels of trust and decreased trustworthiness. To identify the strategic nature of anti-social behavior in changing environments, we assessed the moderating role of personality on investor trust and trustee reciprocity in the presence relative to the absence of the investor’s option to punish. Our results show that only the anti-social personality profile is associated with specific payoff maximizing strategy shifts induced by these environmental changes: when punishment was not available to investors, we observe significantly lower levels of investor trust and trustee reciprocity, while there is a significant increase in both behaviors when punishment was available. These effects were specific for anti-sociality, as no other personality factor was associated with such a strong adjustment of decision strategies in the presence of punishment. These results demonstrate that anti-social personality characteristics are associated with strategic behavioral shifts aimed at maximizing the extraction of resources from their counterparts. The reliability of the strategic effects of anti-social personality during trust, reciprocity and punishment strongly supports the notion that self-projection underlies anti-social decision-making.
Corporate Governance and Intellectual Capital Archive Research Papers Diversity in Corporate Governance and Its Impact on Intellectual Capital Performance in an Emerging Economy

This study addresses various deficiencies in the corporate governance and intellectual capital literature by examining the association between the level of gender and ethnic diversity on the boards of directors of South African publicly listed firms and their degree of intellectual capital performance. A total of eighty-four South African publicly listed firms were included in this study. Empirical results indicated a positive association between the percentage of female and non-white directors on the boards of directors of South African publicly listed status and a firm’s intellectual capital performance. Based on the results of this study, it is concluded South African publicly listed firms may be able to enhance their intellectual capital performance by utilizing a well balanced and structured board of directors in terms of gender and ethnic representation. Finally, for a conceptual perspective, the results of this study support the application of resourcedependence theory as a relevant theoretical framework to examine and explain factors influencing intellectual capital performance.
Clinico-Haematological Profile of Acute Megakaryoblastic Leukaemia: Report of Five Cases

Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) is a rare subtype of acute myeloid leukemia. Although known as a distinct entity for a very long time, because of lack of distinct clinical features and morphological criteria, it is difficult to diagnose this variant correctly. We herein present the clinical, morphological, cytochemical, and immunocytochemical features of five cases of AMKL. Certain morphological features such as presence of abnormal platelet count, giant platelets, and cytoplasmic blebbing in blasts were found to be important pointers towards the diagnosis. However, none of the features were found to be consistent and thus morphological diagnosis has to be confirmed by cytochemistry and immunocytochemistry.
Myelin Impairs CNS Remyelination by Inhibiting Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cell Differentiation

Demyelination in the adult CNS can be followed by extensive repair. However, in multiple sclerosis, the differentiation of oligodendrocyte lineage cells present in demyelinated lesions is often inhibited by unknown factors. In this study, we test whether myelin debris, a feature of demyelinated lesions and an in vitro inhibitor of oligodendrocyte precursor differentiation, affects remyelination efficiency. Focal demyelinating lesions were created in the adult rat brainstem, and the naturally generated myelin debris was augmented by the addition of purified myelin. After quantification of myelin basic protein mRNA expression from lesion material obtained by laser capture microdissection and supported by histological data, we found a significant impairment of remyelination, attributable to an arrest of the differentiation and not the recruitment of oligodendrocyte precursor cells. These data identify myelin as an inhibitor of remyelination as well as its well documented inhibition of axon regeneration.