Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relevance of Academic Research to Hospitality Practitioners

ABSTRACT This mixed-methods study aimed to evaluate, from hospitality practitioners’ perspectives, the relevance of academic research to practice and the effectiveness of dissemination of research. Other objectives included exploring practitioners’ information sources and how academic research can reach a wider practitioner audience and make an impact on the industry. The quantitative results revealed that respondents’ most common sources of information were company and personal networks, and the least common sources were academic journals and conferences. Academic journal readership and interest in research collaboration remained low among practitioners. Yet they considered the prevalent hospitality and tourism research topics relevant. This conflicting result implies the need to review four main themes that emerged in the qualitative analysis—content, topic, accessibility, and method of academic research. The study also found associations between certain demographic characteristics and frequency of reading academic journals. Implications for hospitality education and program design are discussed.
Asymmetry of Information in Emerging Markets: Should a Firm Issue its Securities Locally or Abroad?

We observe different market reactions regarding whether firms based in emerging countries issue equity locally or abroad. This finding suggests that the decision on where to issue may convey information regarding the value of the firm. Constructing indexes for market openness and information disclosure, we empirically find that the probability of issuing in inter national markets decreases by 7 per cent as the asymmetry of information between domestic and foreign investors decreases. Furthermore, the risk premium on market-to-book value estimated by Fama and French (1992) is correlated with the firm's decision on where to issue public securities. We use a switching-regression model to compute the price reactions to the firm's issue decision, where the endogenous switching corresponds to the firm's decision on where to issue. Our results reveal that foreign issues are associated with lower risk premium suggesting that a firm signals high quality when issuing in international markets. Finally, we find that firms that issue both locally and abroad tend to issue earlier internationally and later in domestic markets, supporting the idea that foreign issues are associated with higher fixed costs.
Epstein-Barr virus infection-induced inflammasome activation in human monocytes

Inflammasomes are cytoplasmic sensors that regulate the activity of caspase-1 and the secretion of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) or interleukin-18 (IL-18) in response to foreign molecules, including viral pathogens. They are considered to be an important link between the innate and adaptive immune responses. However, the mechanism by which inflammasome activation occurs during primary Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection remains unknown. Human B lymphocytes and epithelial cells are major targets of EBV, although it can also infect a variety of other cell types. In this study, we found that EBV could infect primary human monocytes and the monocyte cell line, THP-1, inducing inflammasome activation. We incubated cell-free EBV with THP-1 cells or primary human monocytes, then confirmed EBV infection using confocal microscopy and flow cytometry. Lytic and latent EBV genes were detected by real-time RT-PCR in EBV-infected monocytes. EBV infection of THP-1 cells and primary human monocytes induced caspase-dependent IL-1β production, while EBV infection of B-cell or T-cell lines did not induce IL-1β production. To identify the sensor molecule responsible for inflammasome activation during EBV infection, we examined the mRNA and the protein levels of NLR family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3), absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2), and interferon-inducible protein 16 (IFI16). Increased AIM2 levels were observed in EBV-infected THP-1 cells and primary human monocytes, whereas levels of IFI16 and NLRP3 did not show remarkable change. Furthermore, knockdown of AIM2 by small interfering RNA attenuated caspase-1 activation. Taken together, our results suggest that EBV infection of human monocytes induces caspase-1-dependent IL-1β production, and that AIM2, acting as an inflammasome, is involved in this response.
Mixed higgsino dark matter from a large SU(2) gaugino mass

We observe that in SUSY models with non-universal GUT scale gaugino mass parameters, raising the GUT scale SU(2) gaugino mass |M2| from its unified value results in a smaller value of ? mHu2 at the weak scale. By the electroweak symmetry breaking conditions, this implies a reduced value of ? 2 vis ? vis models with gaugino mass unification. The lightest neutralino can then be mixed Higgsino dark matter with a relic density in agreement with the measured abundance of cold dark matter (DM). We explore the phenomenology of this high |M2| DM model. The spectrum is characterized by a very large wino mass and a concomitantly large splitting between left- and right- sfermion masses. In addition, the lighter chargino and three light neutralinos are relatively light with substantial higgsino components. The higgsino content of the LSP implies large rates for direct detection of neutralino dark matter, and enhanced rates for its indirect detection relative to mSUGRA. We find that experiments at the LHC should be able to discover SUSY over the portion of parameter space where m 2350? 2750 GeV, depending on the squark mass, while a 1 TeV electron-positron collider has a reach comparable to that of the LHC. The dilepton mass spectrum in multi-jet + ? +? +ETmiss events at the LHC will likely show more than one mass edge, while its shape should provide indirect evidence for the large higgsino content of the decaying neutralinos.
Robust Iterative Noncoherent Reception of Coded FSK over Block Fading Channels

An iterative noncoherent receiver is developed for bit-interleaved coded orthogonal multiple frequency-shift keying (FSK) over block fading channels. The receiver uses the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm to jointly estimate the received amplitude and noise spectral density of each block. The received symbols and their corresponding channel estimates are passed through a soft-output demapper, deinterleaved, and decoded. Soft-outputs from the decoder are passed back to the channel estimator and demapper to refine estimates of the channel and bit likelihoods, respectively. Several techniques for reducing the estimator's complexity are discussed, and the performance is assessed through simulation.
Efficient Event-Triggered Tasks in an RTOS

In this paper, we add predictable and resource efficient event-triggered tasks in an RTOS. This is done by introducing an execution model suitable for example control software and component-based software. The execution model, denoted single-shot execution (SSX), can be realized with very simple and resource efficient run-time mechanisms and is highly predictable, hence suitable for use in resource constrained real-time systems. In an evaluation, we show that significant memory reductions can be obtained by using the SSX model.
Biochemical Characterization of the Stimulatory Effects of Halothane and Propofol on Purified Brain Protein Kinase C

Halothane and propofol stimulate activation of protein kinase C (PKC) in the presence of physiologically relevant lipid bilayer vesicles in vitro.The mechanism of this stimulation was characterized by analyzing the effects of halothane and propofol on the activation of purified rat brain PKC by its three essential activators, phosphatidylserine, diacylglycerol, and Ca2+, each of which is known to interact with the regulatory domain. Clinically relevant concentrations of halothane (2.4 vol%) and propofol (200 micro Meter) increased the Vmax without affecting the Km for phosphorylation of the artifical substrate histone H1 by PKC, and increased the sensitivity of PKC to activation by phosphatidylserine, diacylglycerol, and Ca2+. Halothane reduced the EC50 values for phosphatidylserine from 18 +/- 2.5 to 11 +/- 0.6 mol% (P < 0.05), for diacylglycerol from 1.6 +/- 0.3 to 0.87 +/- 0.2 mol% (P < 0.05) and for free Ca2+ from 4.5 +/- 1.0 to 2.8 +/- 0.4 micro Meter (P < 0.05). Propofol reduced the EC50 values for phosphatidylserine from 18 +/- 1.9 to 11 +/- 1.2 mol% (P < 0.01), for diacylglycerol from 2.5 +/- 0.3 to 1.2 +/- 0.4 mol% (P < 0.01) and for free Ca2+ from 2.8 +/- 0.7 to 1.9 +/- 0.2 micro Meter (P < 0.05). The IC50 values for inhibition of PKC activity by the regulatory domain-specific PKC inhibitor sphingosine were increased from 20 +/- 1.5 to 26 +/- 0.6 micro Meter (P < 0.001) by halothane and from 24 +/- 4.8 to 34 +/- 4.8 micro Meter (P < 0.05) by propofol. These data suggest that halothane and propofol stimulate brain PKC activity by stabilizing its active conformation through an interaction with its regulatory domain. Given the diverse role of PKC in physiologic regulation, alterations in PKC activity may be a relevant mechanism for general anesthetic effects. (Anesth Analg 1995;81:1216-22)
Interest-based Recommendation in Digital Library

With the huge amount and large variety of information available in a digital library, it’s becoming harder and harder for users to identify and get hold of their interested documents. To alleviate the difficulty, personalized recommendation techniques have been developed. Current recommendation techniques rely on similarity between documents. In our work, recommendations are made based on three factors: similarity between documents, information amount, and information novelty. With the introduction of degree of interest, users’ interests can be better characterized. Theoretical analysis and experimental evaluations demonstrate that our techniques can improve both the recommendation recall and recommendation precision.
3D evaluation of tricuspid annulus morphology in patients with pulmonary hypertension

Tricuspid valve (TV) dilatation is associated with tricuspid regurgitation and right ventricular failure. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) secondary to mitral valve disease is a common cause of TV dilatation. Decision regarding when to surgically repair the TV, while operating on the mitral valve, is a topic of debate, and is frequently based solely on 2D echocardiographic measurement of TV diameters. To facilitate decision-making, we sought to develop software for 3D analysis of TV morphology from real-time 3D echocardiographic images. Novel custom software was used to trace and measure TV annulus (TA) in 10 patients with PH and 10 control subjects (CTRL). To trace the TA, 10 rotated planes (18° apart) were displayed and two TA points were selected in each plane. Points were interpolated using smooth splines. The following parameters were automatically computed in 3D: area, perimeter, height, eccentricity, segment lengths, diameters and segmental annulus curvature. Compared to CTRL, in patients with PH, the TA was: (1) bigger and less planar; (2) less elliptical, i.e. more round Interestingly, changes in annular shape were not uniform, as the anterior and posterior segments showed altered segment lengths and curvature, while the septal segment remained unchanged Our new software revealed that PH affects both size and shape of the TA, suggesting that 3D analysis may be useful for pre-surgical evaluation of TV pathology.
Comprehensive All-sky Search for Periodic Gravitational Waves in the Sixth Science Run LIGO Data

We report on a comprehensive all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in the frequency band 100-1500 Hz and with a frequency time derivative in the range of $[-1.18, +1.00]\times 10^{-8}$ Hz/s. Such a signal could be produced by a nearby spinning and slightly non-axisymmetric isolated neutron star in our galaxy. This search uses the data from the Initial LIGO sixth science run and covers a larger parameter space with respect to any past search. A Loosely Coherent detection pipeline was applied to follow up weak outliers in both Gaussian (95% recovery rate) and non-Gaussian (75% recovery rate) bands. No gravitational wave signals were observed, and upper limits were placed on their strength. Our smallest upper limit on worst-case (linearly polarized) strain amplitude $h_0$ is ${9.7}\times 10^{-25}$ near 169 Hz, while at the high end of our frequency range we achieve a worst-case upper limit of ${5.5}\times 10^{-24}$. Both cases refer to all sky locations and entire range of frequency derivative values.
Optimizing linear system switching

This paper considers a class of control problems where there is a need to find switching-sequences between different linear systems, as well as linear control laws, to minimize some quadratic cost function. An algorithm to optimize the switching sequences for a class of switched linear problems is presented. The algorithm searches for solutions which are arbitrarily close to optimal finding the optimal solution often require a much larger search. Both deterministic and stochastic problems are considered.
IoT Healthcare Analytics: The Importance of Anomaly Detection

Healthcare data is quite rich and often contains human survival related information. Analyzing healthcare data is of prime importance particularly considering the immense potential of saving human life and improving quality of life. Furthermore, IoT revolution has redefined modern health care systems and management. IoT offers its greatest promise to deliver excellent progress in healthcare domain. In this talk, proactive healthcare analytics specifically for cardiac disease prevention will be discussed. Anomaly detection plays a prominent role in healthcare analytics. In fact, the anomalous events are to be accurately detected with low false negative alarms often under high noise (low SNR) condition. An exemplary case of smartphone based cardiac anomaly detection will be presented.
Risk Attitudes and Internet Search Engines: Theory and Experimental Evidence

This paper analyzes the impact on consumer prices of the size and biases of price comparison search engines. We develop several theoretical predictions, in the context of a model related to Burdett and Judd (1983) and Varian (1980), and test them experimentally. The data supports the model’s predictions regarding the impact of the number of firms, and the type of bias of the search engine. The data does not support the model’s predictions regarding the impact of the size of the search engine. We identified several data patterns, and developed an econometric model for the price distributions. Variables accounting for risk attitudes improved significantly the explanatory power of the econometric model.
Comparison of serum calcium, total protein and uric acid levels between hypertensive and healthy pregnant women in an Iranian population

The objective of this study was to compare serum calcium, total protein, and uric acid levels between hypertensive and healthy pregnant women. In this cross-sectional study, 100 healthy and 48 hypertensive pregnant women with singleton pregnancy who were at ≥ 28 weeks of gestation were included and serum calcium, total protein, and uric acid levels were compared between these two groups. Hypertensive group consisted of 28 subjects with mild preeclampsia, 17 with severe preeclampsia. Mean (±SD) serum calcium level was 7.88 (±0.94) mg/dl (range, 6.94-8.82) in hypertensive and 8.28 (±0.77) mg/dl (range, 7.51-9.05) in control group (P = 0.01). Mean (±SD) serum total protein level was 6.023 (±0.91) gr (range, 5.32-7.14) in hypertensive and 6.13±0.77 (5.36-6.9) in control group (P > 0.05). Mean (±SD) level of serum uric acid was 5.32 (±1.41) mg/dl (range, 3.91-6.73) in hypertensive and 4.55 (±1.14) mg/dl (range, 3.41-5.09) in control group (P = 0.001). Mean serum Ca level was significantly lower in hypertensive pregnant women in comparison with healthy ones. Considering this factor in prenatal care is important. [Azin Alavi, Keramat allah Jahanshahi, Samie Karimia, Nasim Arabzadea, Soghra Fallahi. Comparison of serum calcium, total protein and uric acid levels between hypertensive and healthy pregnant women in an Iranian population. Life Sci J 2012;9(4):485-488] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 73
French-speaking children’s freely produced labels for facial expressions

In this study, we investigated the labeling of facial expressions in French-speaking children. The participants were 137 French-speaking children, between the ages of 5 and 11 years, recruited from three elementary schools in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The facial expressions included expressions of happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger, and disgust. Participants were shown one facial expression at a time, and asked to say what the stimulus person was feeling. Participants’ responses were coded by two raters who made judgments concerning the specific emotion category in which the responses belonged. 5- and 6-year-olds were quite accurate in labeling facial expressions of happiness, anger, and sadness but far less accurate for facial expressions of fear, surprise, and disgust. An improvement in accuracy as a function of age was found for fear and surprise only. Labeling facial expressions of disgust proved to be very difficult for the children, even for the 11-year-olds. In order to examine the fit between the model proposed by Widen and Russell (2003) and our data, we looked at the number of participants who had the predicted response patterns. Overall, 88.52% of the participants did. Most of the participants used between 3 and 5 labels, with correspondence percentages varying between 80.00% and 100.00%. Our results suggest that the model proposed by Widen and Russell (2003) is not limited to English-speaking children, but also accounts for the sequence of emotion labeling in French-Canadian children.
Bizarreness across the first four cycles of sleep.

An agreement among researchers about dream definition is far from being reached. Nevertheless, everyone probably agrees to consider bizarreness as a frequent characteristic of dream-like activity. Several terms referring to bizarreness have been used in the literature, but it seems possible to summarise the concept of bizarreness by using two terms: impossibility and improbability. The first term includes those situations that are impossible from a physical and/or logical point of view. The second term implies an improbability from a statistical point of view, comparing the content of the dream with common daily experiences. Sleep and dream psychophysiology has been dominated for several years and, under certain aspects it is so still today, by a strong bias which considers the dream-like activity (bizarreness included) as a peculiar aspect of REM sleep. For example, the activation-synthesis model (1) or A.I.M. Model (Activation level, Input source, information processing Mode model) (2,3) states that bizarreness is a result of randomly generated inputs from the brainstem (PGO spikes). From this point of view bizarreness should be not only a typical feature of REM dream, but it could be present during REM sleep only. Besides the models proposed by Hobson and co-workers, other interpretative models have been developed. Some of them have basically proposed again, in a more or less strong way, the role played by PGO waves in the production of bizarre events and, more generally, in the oneiric production (4-6). Other authors have instead supplied cognitive or connessionist type interpretations and models, like, for example, Antrobus (7,8) and Foulkes (9). Bizarreness Across the First Four Cycles of Sleep
Burst Transmission for Energy-Efficient Ethernet

The proposed Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE) standard reduces energy consumption by defining two operation modes for transmitters and receivers: active and low power. Burst transmission can provide additional energy savings when EEE is used. Collecting data frames into large-sized data bursts for back-to-back transmission maximizes the time an EEE device spends in low power, thus making its consumption nearly proportional to its traffic load. An initial evaluation shows that the additional savings in the scenarios considered range from 5 to 70 percent for conventional users and approximately 50 percent for large data centers.
Testing Protoplanetary Disk Alignment in Young Binaries

We present K-band (2.2 μm) imaging polarimetry that resolves 19 T Tauri binary and multiple systems in the Taurus-Auriga and Scorpius-Ophiuchus star-forming regions. We observed systems with projected separations 1. ″5-7. ″2 (~200-1000 AU) in order to determine the relative orientation of the circumstellar disks in each binary system. Scattered light from these disks is polarized, allowing us to deduce the position angle of the disk on the sky from the position angle of polarization even though our observations do not resolve the disks themselves. We detected measurable polarization (typically 0.5%-2%, with typical uncertainty 0.1%) from both stars in 14 of the systems observed. In eight of the nine binary systems, the two stars' polarization position angles are within 30° of each other, inconsistent with random orientations. In contrast, the five triple and quadruple systems appear to have random disk orientations when comparing the polarization position angles of the widest pair in the system; the close pairs are unresolved in all but one system. Our observations suggest that disks in wide (200-1000 AU) binaries are aligned with each other within ≲20° but not perfectly coplanar. However, we cannot conclusively rule out random relative disk orientations if the observed polarizations are significantly contaminated by interstellar polarization. Even in the presence of interstellar polarization our observations securely exclude coplanar disks. These results provide constraints on possible binary formation mechanisms if the observed orientations are primordial. On the other hand, models of disk-binary interactions indicate that the disks may have had time to decrease their relative inclinations since formation. If the common orientation of the disks in these binaries is a tracer of the binary orbital plane, then our results also have significance for the stability of planetary orbits, suggesting that planetary systems in wide binaries should be stable over 109 yr timescales.
LMI robust control design for boost PWM converters

This work presents an analytical study and an experimental verification of a robust control design based on a linear matrix inequalities (LMI) framework for boost regulators. With the proposed LMI method, non-linearities and uncertainties are modelled as a convex polytope. Thus, the LMI constraints permit to robustly guarantee a certain perturbation rejection level and a region of pole location. With this approach, the multiobjective robust controller is computed automatically by a standard optimisation algorithm. The proposed method results in a state-feedback law efficiently implementable by operational amplifiers. PSIM simulations and experimental results obtained from a prototype are used to validate this approach. The results obtained are compared with a conventional PID controller.