Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Probabilistic inference in ecological networks; graph discovery, community detection and modelling dynamic sociality

This thesis proposes a collection of analytical and computational methods for inferring an underlying social structure of a given population, observed only via timestamped occurrences of its members across a range of locations. It shows that such data streams have a modular and temporally-focused structure, neither fully ordered nor completely random, with individuals appearing in "gathering events". By exploiting such structure, the thesis proposes an appropriate mapping of those spatio-temporal data streams to a social network, based on the co-occurrences of agents across gathering events, while capturing the uncertainty over social ties via the use of probability distributions. Given the extracted graphs mentioned above, an approach is proposed for studying their community organisation. The method considers communities as explanatory variables for the observed interactions, producing overlapping partitions and node membership scores to groups. The aforementioned models are motivated by a large ongoing experiment at Wytham woods, Oxford, where a population of Parus major wild birds is tagged with RFID devices and a grid of feeding locations generates thousands of spatio-temporal records each year. The methods proposed are applied on such data set to demonstrate how they can be used to explore wild bird sociality, reveal its internal organisation across a variety of different scales and provide insights into important biological processes relating to mating pair formation.
Comparing bedside methods of determining placement of gastric tubes in children.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy and predictive validity of pH, bilirubin, and CO2 in identifying gastric tube placement errors in children. DESIGN AND METHODS After the tube was inserted into 276 children, the CO2 monitor reading was obtained. Fluid was then aspirated to test pH and bilirubin. RESULTS Lack of ability to obtain tube aspirate was the best predictor of NG/OG placement errors with a sensitivity of 34.9% and a positive predictive value of 66.7%. Measuring pH, bilirubin, and CO2 of tube aspirate was less helpful. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Healthcare providers should suspect NG/OG tube misplacement when no fluid is aspirated.
Corporate Governance and Its Effect on Productivity under Different Business Environments: Evidence from Latin America

We study the relationship between corporate governance and productivity in non-financial publicly traded firms based in Latin America. Using a sample of 670 firm-year observations during the period 2006-2014, we show that board size, gender diversity, institutional ownership, and the presence of independent directors, affect firms’ productivity. We find a statistically significant nonlinear relationship between board size and productivity. Institutional ownership has a positive effect on productivity. Board independence has a negative effect on productivity. However, when controlling for the country’s business friendliness and institutional ownership, the relationship between the level of board independence and productivity turns positive and statistically significant. Finally, a higher proportion of female directors relates negatively to productivity. This latter result adds to the puzzling mixed evidence about the effect of gender diversity on performance, in this case, on productivity.
Antisense‐mediated suppression of Bcl‐2 highlights its pivotal role in failed apoptosis in B‐cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Although advances have been made in the development of more effective treatment modalities, B‐cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B‐CLL) remains incurable due to the development of drug resistance. Defective programmed cell death mechanisms rather than dysregulation of cell cycle appears to predominate in B‐CLL and it is likely that a failure to initiate apoptosis contributes to chemoresistance. Most B‐CLL cells contain high levels of the anti‐apoptotic protein Bcl‐2 and high Bcl‐2/Bax ratios have been associated with in vitro resistance to cytotoxic agents. In this study we evaluated the cellular responses to a Bcl‐2 antisense oligonucleotide in terms of Bcl‐2 mRNA and protein expression and the induction of apoptosis. The antisense molecule induced a specific reduction in Bcl‐2 mRNA and protein expression over the 48 h culture period and was associated with increased apoptosis. The study indicates that Bcl‐2 protein is central to the mediation of resistance to apoptosis in B‐CLL. Therefore Bcl‐2 antisense oligonucleotides might be useful in the treatment of B‐CLL.
The Influence of IT Features on M-commerce User Behaviors

M-commerce research suffers from critical shortcomings due to an extensive reliance on TAM. As such, little is known about mobile IT artifacts, their features and their influence on m-commerce user behaviors. Based on evidence which suggests that the use of IT artifact features vary over time and that it is the specific features used at any point in time that determine work outcomes, it is important that we better understand the influence of mobile IT artifact features over time. To do so, we propose to use a different theoretical lens than TAM, to study sensory mobile IT artifact features and to distinguish between stages of the mcommerce adoption process. Accordingly, the literatures on IT artifacts, Kaplan and Kaplan’s (1982) framework and mobile IT artifact features are examined to propose a research model, its related hypotheses, and methodological aspects regarding its empirical validation. Finally, the proposed model’s anticipated contributions are discussed. Keywords-component; M-commerce; IT features; Kaplan and Kaplan’s preference framework; longitudinal
Credit provision by banks: a case study analysis of small businesses in South Africa

Small business sector is considered as an important economic driver by many countries. In South Africa, small business sector has been acknowledged as the driving force to boost the economic growth and an important source of job creation. This article aims at identifying factors that are a challenge in obtaining bank finance by small businesses in South Africa. Primary data for this study involved a survey questionnaire directed to owners of small businesses operating in Ekurhuleni Metropolitan area, Gauteng, South Africa. Factors that were deemed to influence bank loan decision were examined. The research findings revealed that factors such as age of business, business plans availability, educational background of business owner, experience of business owner and availability of a collateral have an influence on the bank loan decisions. This research also found that the accessibility of loan funding from banks was a constraint on business operations and growth. The findings of this study indicate that the mentioned factors are a challenge for small businesses in accessing bank loans to fund their operations. The findings of this study will be of great value to small business owners and policy makers in finding solutions to address the identified barriers. Raphael N. Ngcobo (South Africa) BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES LLC “СPС “Business Perspectives” Hryhorii Skovoroda lane, 10, Sumy, 40022, Ukraine www.businessperspectives. org CREDIT PROVISION BY BANKS: A CASE STUDY ANALYSIS OF SMALL BUSINESSES IN
Molecular pathways and targets in cancer-related inflammation

Abstract Selected inflammatory conditions increase the risk of cancer. An inflammatory component is present also in the micro-environment of tumours epidemiologically unrelated to inflammation. An intrinsic (driven by genetic events that cause neoplasia) and an extrinsic (driven by inflammatory conditions which predispose to cancer) pathway link inflammation and cancer. Smouldering inflammation in the tumour microenvironment contributes to proliferation and survival of malignant cells, angiogenesis, metastasis, subversion of adaptive immunity, response to hormones, and chemotherapeutic agents. Emerging evidence also suggests that cancer-related inflammation promotes genetic instability. Thus, cancer-related inflammation represents a target for innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
Debt Sustainability Analysis for Euro Area Sovereigns: A Methodological Framework

The euro area sovereign debt crisis has highlighted the importance of reducing public debt levels and building up sufficient fiscal buffers during normal and good times. It has also reaffirmed the need for a thorough debt sustainability analysis (DSA) to act as a warning system for national policies. This paper introduces a comprehensive DSA framework for euro area sovereigns that could be used for analysis of fiscal risks and vulnerabilities. Specifically, this framework consists of three main building blocks: (i) a deterministic DSA, which embeds debt simulations under a benchmark and various narrative shock scenarios; (ii) a stochastic DSA, providing for a probabilistic approach to debt sustainability; and (iii) other relevant indicators capturing liquidity and solvency risks. The information embedded in the three main DSA blocks can be summarised in a heat map, which can provide guidance on the overall assessment of risks to debt sustainability. This method reflects the need to have a broad-based assessment, cross-checking information and perspectives from various sources with a view to deriving a robust debt sustainability assessment. JEL Classification: E62, H62, H63, H68
Determinants of smallholder farmers market participation; a case study of rice marketing in Ahero irrigation scheme

The extent of market participation among smallholder farmers indicates the level of commercialization of rural production. The marketed surplus reaches the urban consumers and other rural non-producers through market participation by the producing households. During the government management, rice farmers within the Kenya National Irrigation Schemes were compelled to deliver all their output to the National Irrigation Board mills for milling and marketing. Currently farmers market their own rice and make any use decisions with their output, a case that attracted many private traders. The entry of the private sector traders is often regarded as a motivation to a wide number of participants. The objective of the study was to characterize smallholder rice farmers in Ahero Irrigation Scheme, determine the rice marketing outlets and their price differential, determine the factors that influence smallholder farmers’ choice of marketing outlets and the extent of market participation. The study was conducted in Ahero irrigation Scheme, in Kisumu County Kenya. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to contact 182 respondents and a semi-structured and pre-tested questionnaire used to collect data from smallholder rice farmers in the scheme through face to face interview. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Multinomial Logit Model and Multiple Regression model. SPSS and STATA computer programs were used to process the data. Among the five marketing outlets, Private Millers handled 39% of rice produce, followed by NIB Millers 30.8%, Brokers 20.9%, Others outlets 7.1% and last was Consumers with 2.2%. It emerged that there was statistically significant price differentials among the various participating marketing outlets. Choice of marketing outlet was significantly influenced by age, gender, years of education, land tenure, contract marketing, regular buyer, market distance, group marketing and market information source. The result indicated that about 89% of rice produced in the scheme was marketed. Eight factors; household size, off farm income, grading, group marketing, source of market information, level of output, extension services accessed and access to credit significantly influenced the extent of rice marketing among the farmers. Based on the results of this study, there is need to harmonize rice prices to benefit all the farmers. Market information and extension services should be timely delivered to farmers to empower them with market opportunities and market demand and more farmer friendly credit institutions be made accessible to farmers to ensure greater depth of outreach in provision of credit.
Children's Attitudes Toward People With AIDS in Puerto Rico: Exploring Stigma Through Drawings and Stories

AIDS stigma refers to prejudice and discrimination directed at people or groups perceived to have HIV/AIDS (Herek, 1999). Although AIDS stigma has been found in adolescent and adult populations, few researchers have explored it among children. Misconceptions about people with AIDS (PWA) might lead to negative attitudes toward PWA and obstruct HIV prevention efforts. The authors assessed 110 Puerto Rican children's attitudes toward PWA using drawings (n = 65) and stories (n = 45). Although participants held stigmatizing attitudes toward PWA across both methods, the approaches captured different beliefs and attitudes. Drawings depicted PWA as physically deteriorated and performing socially condemned behaviors, whereas stories describing PWA highlighted children's fear of contagion and death. Stigma toward PWA was more pronounced than toward other illnesses (e.g., cancer). The study highlights the importance of assessing children's attitudes through creative data collection procedures.
The Impact of Market-Based Ratios on Stock Returns: The Evidence from Insurance Sector in Turkey

Abstract In this paper, we test the impact of market based ratios on stock returns of insurance companies in Turkey by applying panel data regression analysis. We use Earning per share (EPS), price to earning ratio (P/E) and market to book ratio (M/B) as a proxy of market based ratios. As a result, we find that market based ratio have explanatory power on both the changes in current stock returns and one period ahead stock returns. However, while EPS, P/E and M/B explains 6% of changes in current stock returns, EPS, P/E and M/B explains 63% of one period ahead stock returns. Keywords: Market Based Ratios, Insurance Sector, Panel Data Analysis JEL Classification Codes: C33,G14, G22 1. Introduction Information level is one of the most important factor which determines financial market efficiency. Investors can increase their profits according to the impact of this information on stock prices. Efficient market is one in which investors can not profit by using the existing information in the market. Information gathering from financial tables is the basic information which investors use in investing; through financial ratios from these financial tables, investors seek the ways to get abnormal returns. The market where investors can get abnormal returns by using past prices or financial ratios is not weak form efficienct as well. Investors can diversify their investments by examining the present value and estimating future value of their companies. In addition, stocks are the most preferred invesment instruments since they provide higher return than other instruments. Thus, the factors determining stock returns are one of the most important subjects in finance literature. In determining the market value of companies, market-based ratios are the most used ones by investors. Investors can forecast the real value of stocks by using market based ratios such as price to earning ratio (P/E), earnings per share (EPS) and market to book ratio (M/B). If the real value of stock is greater than the market value of stock, investors will prefer to buy this stock. In this respect, market based ratios are important indicators for investment decisions.
Visual Psychophysics and Physiological Optics Anterior Corneal , Posterior Corneal , and Lenticular Contributions to Ocular Aberrations

METHODS. There were 61 healthy participants with ages ranging from 20 to 55 years and refractions 8.25 diopters (D) to þ3. 25 D. Anterior and posterior corneal topographies were obtained with an Oculus Pentacam, and ocular aberrations were obtained with an iTrace aberrometer. Raytracing through models of corneas provided total corneal and surface component aberrations for 5-mm-diameter pupils. Lenticular contributions were given as differences between ocular and corneal aberrations. Theoretical raytracing investigated influence of object distance on aberrations.
Description of a New Species of Crassicutis Manter, 1936, Parasite of Cichlasoma beani Jordan (Osteichthyes: Cichlidae) in Mexico, Based on Morphology and Sequences of the ITS1 and 28S Ribosomal RNA Genes

A new species of Crassicutis Manter, 1936 is described from the Sinaloan cichlid Cichlasoma beani (Jordan) (Osteichthyes: Cichlidae) in the upper Río Santiago basin. Crassicutis choudhuryi n. sp. differs from most of the other nominal species by having testes located in a symmetrical position. The only other species of the genus that includes some specimens exhibiting this trait is Crassicutis intermedius (Szidat 1954), a species found in 5 species of siluriforms and 1 species of characiform in South America. However, this species differs from Cr. choudhuryi n. sp. by having testes almost half of the size, and vitelline follicles extending anteriorly to the region between the acetabulum and the intestinal bifurcation. The new species is morphologically very similar to Crassicutis cichlasomae Manter, 1936, but clearly differs from this species because of the constantly symmetrical position of the testes. Additionally, Cr. choudhuryi n. sp. is found in the Santiago River basin on the Pacific slope of Mexico, parasitizing specifically the endemic Ci. beani that does not co-occur with any other cichlid. Cr. cichlasomae exhibits more hosts (about 25 species of cichlids only in Mexico) and a wider distribution range that extends from northeastern Mexico southward to Central America, Cuba, and Brazil. To corroborate that our specimens were not conspecific with Cr. cichlasomae, sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) and the 28S ribosomal RNA genes of individuals from several populations (recently collected in southeastern Mexico) were obtained and compared to the species described herein. Sequence divergence (1.3% for the 28S and 4.0% for the ITS1) gives further support to the erection of a new species.
An Integrated Model for the Effects of Perceived Product, Perceived Service Quality, and Perceived Price Fairness on Consumer Satisfaction and Loyalty

A survey of 495 customers is conducted in 15 repair centers of three major auto firms, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Toyota. The results illustrate that (a) perceived service quality mainly affects consumer loyalty through satisfaction, while (b) perceived product quality and perceived price fairness have both direct and indirect (through satisfaction) effects on loyalty. Consumers' perceptions about service quality, product quality, and perceived price fairness are almost equally important to build up their satisfaction. It is suggested that managers consider product quality and price as the foundations to build up consumer satisfaction and loyalty and to improve service quality as an add-on value to consumers.
The use of sugammadex in a patient with Kennedy's disease under general anesthesia

Kennedy's disease (KD), also known as spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy, is a rare, X-linked recessive, neurodegenerative disorder of the lower motor neurons characterized by progressive bulbar and appendicle muscular atrophy. Here we report a case of a 62-year-old male patient with KD, weighing 70 kg and 173 cm tall, was scheduled for frontal sinusectomy due to sinusitis. General anesthesia was induced through propofol 80 mg, remifentanil 0.25 μg/kg/min and 40 mg rocuronium. We were successfully able to use a sugammadex on a patient suffering from KD in order to reverse rocuronium-induced neuromuscular blockade.
Competition between Online Stock Message Boards in Predictive Power : Focused on Multiple Online Stock Message Boards

This research aims to examine the predictive power of multiple online stock message boards, namely, NAVER Finance and PAXNET, which are the most popular stock message boards in South Korea, in stock market activities. If predictive power exists, we then compare the predictive power of multiple online stock message boards. To accomplish the research purpose, we constructed a panel data set with close price, volatility, Spell out acronyms at first mention.PER, and number of posts in 40 companies in three months, and conducted a panel vector auto-regression analysis. The analysis results showed that the number of posts could predict stock market activities. In NAVER Finance, previous number of posts positively influenced volatility on the day. In PAXNET, previous number of posts positively influenced close price, volatility, and PER on the day. Second, we confirmed a difference in the prediction power for stock market activities between multiple online stock message boards. This research is limited by the fact that it only considered 40 companies and three stock market activities. Nevertheless, we found correlation between online stock message board and stock market activities and provided practical implications. We suggest that investors need to focus on specific online message boards to find interesting stock market activities.
Regulatory T cells in autologous stem cell transplantation for autoimmune disease

Since a decade autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is successfully performed to treat patients with severe autoimmune disease. However, the mechanism of action of this intervention remains largely unknown. Scarce data from animal studies and human clinical trials indicate that, besides extensive immune ablation, restoration of regulatory immune networks is of critical importance. This review focuses on the role of naturally occurring and induced regulatory T cells in controlling immune reconstitution and restoration of immune tolerance and in preventing relapses of disease following ASCT.
The Study on Urban Agglomeration Environmental Rights Trading Paradigm—With the Emission Trading Model of Wan-Jiang City Belt

As the deterioration of the modern environmental problems, developed countries started to explore concrete ways of internalization of external effects produced by environmental problems. The theory of new institutional economics which produced the environmental property theory is widely used in the research of environmental management. On the premise of total amount control of pollution, the subjects of public power distribute or sell the rights is the basic paradigm of this method. Buyers take possession of the rights and utilize, profit from or dispose of them. The coordinated development of urban agglomeration is the main direction of China’s regional development strategy. As there are differences in environmental governance in different cities, the environment property trading system of urban agglomeration needs to be established urgently. Due to environmental property’s complexity and its attributes of public goods, the transaction of environmental property is restricted by amounts of factors. This research concludes that it is necessary to define the possessor of environmental property, strengthen the construction of trading platform, improving the public participation and supervision mechanism and control transaction cost by establishing and analyzing the emission trading model of the city-cluster along the Yangtze River in Anhui Province.