Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Who's on the Hot Seat for an SEC Investigation? Implications for Financial Misreporting Research

While decades of research focuses on the effectiveness of public enforcement and managers’ incentives for financial misreporting, little is known about how the SEC selects targets for investigation. Using a new database of formal SEC investigations, we triangulate the determinants of SEC investigatory activity. We then statistically incorporate SEC case selection into the model for enforcement actions and revisit prior work on the motives for and financial characteristics that reflect financial misreporting. We find that only capital market pressure is a significant predictor of enforcement actions after accounting for SEC case selection, while other theorized motives appear to reflect attributes of the case selection process. In contrast, common financial characteristics examined in prior work (e.g., abnormal accruals) are not incorporated into SEC case selection decisions. However, these characteristics remain significant predictors of enforcement actions, even after accounting for the case selection of the SEC.
Evaluation of Multiple Planetary Boundary Layer Parameterization Schemes in Southeast U.S. Cold Season Severe Thunderstorm Environments

AbstractSoutheast U.S. cold season severe weather events can be difficult to predict because of the marginality of the supporting thermodynamic instability in this regime. The sensitivity of this environment to prognoses of instability encourages additional research on ways in which mesoscale models represent turbulent processes within the lower atmosphere that directly influence thermodynamic profiles and forecasts of instability. This work summarizes characteristics of the southeast U.S. cold season severe weather environment and planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization schemes used in mesoscale modeling and proceeds with a focused investigation of the performance of nine different representations of the PBL in this environment by comparing simulated thermodynamic and kinematic profiles to observationally influenced ones. It is demonstrated that simultaneous representation of both nonlocal and local mixing in the Asymmetric Convective Model, version 2 (ACM2), scheme has the lowest overall errors .
Scenario development at JET with the new ITER-like wall

: In the recent JET experimental campaigns with the new ITER-like-Wall (ILW), major progress has been achieved in the characterisation of the H-mode regime in a metallic first wall: i) plasma breakdown and L-mode operation have been recovered in a few days of operation. ii) Stable type I ELMy H-modes with b N ~1.4 have been achieved in low and high triangularity ITER–like shape plasmas and their operational domain at H=1 is significantly reduced with the ILW for equivalent amount of deuterium gas injection than with the carbon wall. iii) Deuterium gas injection (10 22 D/s) are needed to control the core radiation. iii) In contrast, the hybrid H-mode scenario has reached H factor close to 1.3 at b N of 3 for 2 to 3s. iv) In comparison to carbon equivalent discharges, total radiation is similar but the edge radiation is lower and Z eff of the order of 1.3-1.4. It appears that at low gas fuelling (0.5 10 22 D/s), impurity transport plays a key role in the behaviour of the H-mode discharges. This paper reviews the major physics and operational achievements and challenges that JET has to face to produce stable plasma scenarios with maximised performance in an ITER-like wall.
Discovery protocols for SDN-based Wireless Sensor Networks with unidirectional links

Ad hoc and wireless sensor networks routing protocols are usually oblivious to the existence of unidirectional links. We propose to use Software Defined Network to take advantage of these links, instead of using the flooding-based or specificpurpose protocols found in the literature. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to devise Controller Discovery and Neighbor Discovery protocols tailored for unidirectional networks. We designed and implemented such algorithms and compared to the traditional Collect-based approach. The results show that SDN is a promising alternative to routing in unidirectional networks. Keywords— Wireless sensor networks, Software defined networks, Unidirectional networks, Neighbor Discovery
Instability-driven oscillations of elastic microfilaments

Cilia and flagella are highly conserved slender organelles that exhibit a variety of rhythmic beating patterns from non-planar cone-like motions to planar wave-like deformations. Although their internal structure, composed of a microtubule-based axoneme driven by dynein motors, is known, the mechanism responsible for these beating patterns remains elusive. Existing theories suggest that the dynein activity is dynamically regulated, via a geometric feedback from the cilium’s mechanical deformation to the dynein force. An alternative, open-loop mechanism based on a ‘flutter’ instability was recently proven to lead to planar oscillations of elastic filaments under follower forces. Here, we show that an elastic filament in viscous fluid, clamped at one end and acted on by an external distribution of compressive axial forces, exhibits a Hopf bifurcation that leads to non-planar spinning of the buckled filament at a locked curvature. We also show the existence of a second bifurcation, at larger force values, that induces a transition from non-planar spinning to planar wave-like oscillations. We elucidate the nature of these instabilities using a combination of nonlinear numerical analysis, linear stability theory and low-order bead–spring models. Our results show that, away from the transition thresholds, these beating patterns are robust to perturbations in the distribution of axial forces and in the filament configuration. These findings support the theory that an open-loop, instability-driven mechanism could explain both the sustained oscillations and the wide variety of periodic beating patterns observed in cilia and flagella.
Photodynamic Inactivation of Endopathogenic Microbiota Using Curcumin- mediated Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy

Root canal disinfection is one of the main factors governing success of endodontic therapy. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) is presented as a promising antimicrobial therapy that can eliminate microbiota present in infected root canal systems. In this study, a series of experiments investigated the effects of aPDT on cell viability and biofilm degradation ability of endopathogenic microbiota. Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains as the versatile pathogenic microbiota in endodontic infections were used as the tested strains. Curcumin (CUR) and light-emitting diode (LED) were used as the photosensitizer and light source, respectively. The antimicrobial and anti-biofilm effects of CUR-aPDT were assessed by colony forming unit (CFU), and crystal violet assays. CUR-aPDT significantly decreased the CFU/mL count of E. faecalis and P. aeruginosa compared to the control group (P<0.05). The killing percentage of aPDT was achieved 95.0% for E. faecalis and 81.1% for P. aeruginosa. In addition, the biofilm degradation ability of E. faecalis and P. aeruginosa significantly decreased to 41.2% and 30.2%, respectively (P<0.05). According to the results, neither CUR nor LED showed the antimicrobial and anti-biofilm effects when used alone. In conclusion, the results of this study indicated that CUR-aPDT has an appreciable effect on endopathogenic microbiota upon photoactivation.
Dense In Dense : Training Segmentation from Scratch

In recent years, training image segmentation network often needs fine-tuning the model which comes from the initial training upon large-scale classification datasets like ImageNet. Such fine-tuning methods are confronted with three problems: (1). domain gap. (2). mismatch between data size and model size. (3). poor controllability. A more practical solution is to train the segmentation model from scratch, which motivates our Dense In Dense(DID) network. In DID, we put forward an outstanding architecture based on DenseNet to further accelerate the information flow inside and outside the dense block with less parameter burden. Deep supervision also applies to a progressive upsampling rather than the traditional straight-forward upsampling. Our DID Network reaches state-of-the-art in the Camvid Dataset by training DID Network from scratch. The additional result of training DID from scratch on Aerial Image Labeling dataset proves that fine-tuning is not essential for reaching state-of-the-art performance in datasets whose distribution apparently differs with ImageNet. Notably, our result also performs favorably against the fine-tuning method based on ResNet101.
J. Gen. Appl. Microbiol

None of the authors of this manuscript has any financial or personal relationship with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence their work. major component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. The regulator protein PmrA activation status responds not only to extracellular Fe3+, a signal of the sensor histidine kinase PmrB (Wösten et al., 2000), but also to low Mg2+, an activation signal of another two-component regulatory system PhoP/PhoQ (García Véscovi et al., 1996), in a PmrD-dependent manner (Kato and Groisman, 2004; Kox et al., 2000). Thus, under high Fe3+, or low Mg2+, conditions, the PmrA/PmrB system activates genes such as ugd/pbgPE, pmrC, and pmrR, which together change the chemical structure of the lipid A anchor of LPS (Fig. 1). Ugd/PbgPE modifies phosphates of lipid A with L-4-aminoarabinose (L-Ara4N) at the 1 and 4¢ positions (Gunn et al., 1998), whereas PmrC adds phosphoethanolamine (pEtN) primarily to phosphate at the 1 position of lipid A (Kato et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2004). The PmrCmediated pEtN modification at position 1 of lipid A requires the concomitant action of a novel membrane peptide PmrR (Kato et al., 2012), which inhibits the formation of the LpxT-mediated pyrophosphate at position 1 (1PP) (Herrera et al., 2010; Touze et al., 2008). In addition, in the presence of both high Fe3+, and low Mg2+, signals, phospho-PmrA binds to the pmrD promoter to exert partial inhibition of PhoP-dependent transcriptional initiation (Kato et al., 2003). Previous studies have demonstrated that the iron sensitivity of the pmrAB mutant was equivalent to that of a triple mutant at loci encoding for the PmrAactivated proteins, Ugd/PbgPE, PmrC, and PmrG, the last of which is a phosphatase that targets the Hep(II) phosphate in the core region of the LPS (Nishino et al., 2006), while polymyxin B sensitivity of the pmrA mutant was equivalent to that of a double mutant at loci encoding for the PmrA-activated Ugd/PbgPE and PmrC proteins (Lee et al., 2004). One of the above three pathways was sufficient for exhibiting wild-type level iron resistance on solid media (Nishino et al., 2006). Fe3+-dependent epistasis between the CpxR-activated loci and the PmrA-activated LPS modification loci in Salmonella enterica
Weakening portfolio effect strength in a hatchery-supplemented Chinook salmon population complex

Biocomplexity contributes to asynchronous population dynamics, buffering stock complexes in temporally variable environments, a phenomenon referred to as a “portfolio effect”. We previously revealed a weakened but persistent portfolio effect in California’s Central Valley fall-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), despite considerable degradation and loss of habitat. Here, we further explore the timing of changes in variability and synchrony and relate these changes to factors hypothesized to influence variability in adult abundance, including hatchery release practices and environmental variables. We found evidence for increasing synchrony among fall-run populations that coincided temporally with increased off-site hatchery releases into the estuary but not with increased North Pacific environmental variability (measured by North Pacific Gyre Oscillation), nor were common trends well explained by a suite of environmental covariates. Moreover, we did not observe a simultaneous increase in synchro.
Deep Diffeomorphic Transformer Networks

Spatial Transformer layers allow neural networks, at least in principle, to be invariant to large spatial transformations in image data. The model has, however, seen limited uptake as most practical implementations support only transformations that are too restricted, e.g. affine or homographic maps, and/or destructive maps, such as thin plate splines. We investigate the use of flexible diffeomorphic image transformations within such networks and demonstrate that significant performance gains can be attained over currently-used models. The learned transformations are found to be both simple and intuitive, thereby providing insights into individual problem domains. With the proposed framework, a standard convolutional neural network matches state-of-the-art results on face verification with only two extra lines of simple TensorFlow code.
Simulation of stream flow components in a mountainous catchment in northern Thailand with SWAT, using the ANSELM calibration approach

Highland agriculture is intensifying rapidly in South‐East Asia, leading to alarmingly high applications of agrochemicals. Understanding the fate of these contaminants requires carefully planned monitoring programmes and, in most cases, accurate simulation of hydrological pathways into and through water bodies. We simulate run‐off in a steep mountainous catchment in tropical South‐East Asia. To overcome calibration difficulties related to the mountainous topography, we introduce a new calibration method, named A Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency Likelihood Match (ANSELM), that allows the assignment of optimal parameters to different hydrological response units in simulations of stream discharge with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model. ANSELM performed better than the Parasol calibration tool built into SWAT in terms of model efficiency and computation time. In our simulation, the most sensitive model parameters were those related to base flow generation, surface run‐off generation, flow routing and soil moisture change. The coupling of SWAT with ANSELM yielded reasonable simulations of both wet‐season and dry‐season storm hydrographs. Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiencies for daily stream flow during two validation years were 0.77 and 0.87. These values are in the upper range or even higher than those reported for other SWAT model applications in temperate or tropical regions. The different flow components were realistically simulated by SWAT, and showed a similar behaviour in all the study years, despite inter‐annual climatic differences. The realistic partitioning of total stream flow into its contributing components will be an important factor for using this hydrological model to simulate solute transport in the future. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A review of natural fibers and processing operations for the production of binderless boards

Decreasing wood supplies and the need for formaldehyde-free particleboard have become important issues. This has led to studies about the use of raw materials other than wood, along with the manufacture of particleboard without using any synthetic adhesives. This paper presents an overview of the development of binderless boards from natural fibers using a diverse range of manufacturing processes, such as heat and steam treatments. The features of binderless boards produced with various parameters, such as pressing parameters, particle sizes, and additional substances, under various manufacturing processes, are discussed. Based on the availability of natural fibers, binderless boards are typically evaluated for their physical, mechanical, and thermal properties. This review is approached with an understanding of the processes and contributing factors in producing binderless boards, helping to overcome some critical issues that are necessary for the development of future new “green” binderless boards through value-addition to enhance their usage.
Performance of Cone Beam Computed Tomography Systems in Visualizing the Cortical Plate in 3D Image Reconstruction: An In Vitro Study

Introduction: Cortical bone is an important anatomical structure and its thickness needs to be determined prior to many dental procedures to ensure treatment success. Imaging modalities are necessarily used in dentistry for treatment planning and dental procedures. Three-dimensional image reconstruction not only provides visual information but also enables accurate measurement of anatomical structures; thus, it is necessarily required for maxillofacial examination and in case of skeletal problems in this region. Aims: This study aimed to assess the ability of three Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) systems including Cranex 3D, NewTom 3G and 3D Promax for Three-Dimensional (3D) image reconstruction of the cortical plate with variable thicknesses. Methods: Depending on the cortical bone thickness, samples were evaluated in three groups of ≤ 0. 5 mm, 0.6 -1 mm and 1.1-1.5 mm cortical bone thickness. The CBCT scans were obtained from each sample using three systems, their respective FOVs, and 3D scans were reconstructed using their software programs. Two observers viewed the images twice with a two-week interval. The ability of each system in the 3D reconstruction of different thicknesses of cortical bone was determined based on its visualization on the scans. The data were analyzed using SPSS and Kappa test. Results: The three systems showed the greatest difference in the 3D reconstruction of cortical bone with < 0.5 mm thickness. Cranex 3D with 4×6 cm2 FOV had the highest and 3D Promax with 8×8 cm2 FOV had the lowest efficacy for 3D reconstruction of cortical bone. Cranex 3D with 4×6 cm2 and 6×8 cm2 FOVs and NewTom 3G with 5×5 cm2 and 8×5 cm2 FOVs showed significantly higher efficacy for 3D reconstruction of cortical bone with 0.6-1mm thickness while 3D Promax followed by NewTom 3G with 8×8 cm2 FOV had the lowest efficacy for this purpose. Conclusion: Most CBCT systems have high efficacy for 3D image reconstruction of cortical bone with thicknesses over 1 mm while they have poor efficacy for image reconstruction of cortical bone with less than 0.5 mm thickness. Thus, for accurate visualization of anatomical structures on CBCT scans, systems with smaller FOVs and consequently smaller voxel size are preferred.
Illness-related diabetes social support and glycemic control among middle aged and older adults: Gender Differences

V LIST OF TABLES . IX LIST OF FIGURES . X LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . XI CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW . 3 2.1 PUBLIC HEALTH SIGNIFICANCE . 3 2.2 SOCIAL SUPPORT . 5 2.3 SOCIAL SUPPORT AND GLYCEMIC CONTROL . 6 2.4 RACIAL/ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN SOCIAL SUPPORT AND GLYCEMIC CONTROL . 7 2.5 THE IMPORTANCE OF ILLNESS-RELATED DIABETES SOCIAL SUPPORT . 9 CHAPTER 3: METHODS . 13 3.1 AIM AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS . 13 3.2 DATA SOURCE . 14 3.3 STUDY POPULATION . 16
Flow cytometry for rapid detection of Salmonella spp. in seed sprouts

Seed sprouts (alfalfa, mung bean, radish, etc.) have been implicated in several recent national and international outbreaks of salmonellosis. Conditions used for sprouting are also conducive to the growth of Salmonella. As a result, this pathogen can quickly grow to very high cell densities during sprouting without any detectable organoleptic impact. Seed sprouts typically also support heavy growth (~108 CFU g-1) of a heterogeneous microbiota consisting of various bacterial, yeast and mold species, often dominated by non-pathogenic members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. This heavy background may present challenges to the detection of Salmonella, especially if this pathogen is present in relatively low numbers. We combined DNA-based fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with flow cytometry (FCM) for the rapid molecular detection of Salmonella enterica Ser. Typhimurium in artificially contaminated alfalfa and other seed sprouts. Components of the assay included a set of cooperatively binding probes, a chemical blocking treatment intended to reduce non-specific background and sample concentration via tangential flow filtration (TFF). We were able to detect S. Typhimurium in sprout wash at levels as low as 103 CFU ml-1 sprout wash (104 CFU g-1 sprouts) against high microbial backgrounds (~108 CFU g-1 sprouts). Hybridization times were typically 30 min, with additional washing, but we ultimately found that S. Typhimurium could be readily detected using hybridization times as short as 2 min, without a wash step. These results clearly demonstrate the potential of combined DNA-FISH and FCM for rapid detection of Salmonella in this challenging food matrix and provides industry with a useful tool for compliance with sprout production standards proposed in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
The Relationship between Body Mass Index and Adolescent Well-Being

Abstract Background: The substantial increase in youth obesity during the last two decades may have serious biological as well as behavioral/mental health consequences. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess how ecological factors and hence overall well-being were related to body mass index (BMI) in youths. Methods: Three BMI categories (normal; at risk for overweight; overweight) were calculated for 847 adolescents. Behavioral/mental associations were assessed for each category as well as between normal and at risk for overweight and overweight combined. Results: Significant associations existed between BMI and depression, suicidal ideation (combined data), use/abuse of drugs (combined data), race, age, parental marital status, and parental employment status. No significant associations were found between BMI and anxiety, use/abuse of alcohol, or gender. Discussion: The significant associations between BMI and depression/suicidal ideation suggest thorough screening with at-risk youths, especially those from ethnic minority groups and those experiencing changes in parental marital or employment status. Translation to Health Education Practice: It is imperative that health care professionals who work with weight problems attend to the ecological contexts of clients/patients. Data supports the need for collaboration between the medical and mental health communities in this regard.