Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selecting Factors Predictive of Heterogeneity in Multivariate Event Time Data

Summary. In multivariate survival analysis, investigators are often interested in testing for heterogeneity among clusters, both overall and within specific classes. We represent different hypotheses about the heterogeneity structure using a sequence of gamma frailty models, ranging from a null model with no random effects to a full model having random effects for each class. Following a Bayesian approach, we define prior distributions for the frailty variances consisting of mixtures of point masses at zero and inverse‐gamma densities. Since frailties with zero variance effectively drop out of the model, this prior allocates probability to each model in the sequence, including the overall null hypothesis of homogeneity. Using a counting process formulation, the conditional posterior distributions of the frailties and proportional hazards regression coefficients have simple forms. Posterior computation proceeds via a data augmentation Gibbs sampling algorithm, a single run of which can be used to obtain model‐averaged estimates of the population parameters and posterior model probabilities for testing hypotheses about the heterogeneity structure. The methods are illustrated using data from a lung cancer trial.
Polycomb and polyhomeotic are constituents of a multimeric protein complex in chromatin of Drosophila melanogaster.

The polycomb group (Pc‐G) genes are responsible for maintaining the repressed state of homeotic genes during development. It has been suggested that the Pc‐G exerts its transcriptional control by regulating higher order chromatin structure. In particular, the finding of genetic and molecular similarities to components involved in heterochromatin formation, led to the proposal that homeotic genes are permanently repressed by mechanisms similar to those responsible for heterochromatin compaction. Because of synergistic effects, Pc‐G gene products are thought to act in a multimeric complex. Using immunoprecipitation we show that two members of the Pc‐G, Polycomb and polyhomeotic, are constituents of a soluble multimeric protein complex. Size fractionation indicates that a large portion of the two proteins are found in a distinct complex of molecular weight 2–5 × 10(6) Da. During embryogenesis the two proteins show the same spatial distribution. In addition, by double‐immunofluorescence labelling we can demonstrate that Polycomb and polyhomeotic have exactly the same binding patterns on polytene chromosomes of larval salivary glands. We propose that some Pc‐G proteins act in multimeric complexes to compact the chromatin of stably repressed genes like the homeotic regulators.
Cerebrovascular dysplasia in neurofibromatosis type 1

Objective: To assess the frequency and clinical characteristics of the increasingly recognised complication of cerebrovascular dysplasia in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). Methods: A series of seven patients with NF1 and cerebrovascular dysplasias that were not secondary to radiotherapy were identified and prospectively assessed. An extensive review of the literature was also performed to identify associated features and the natural history of this potentially severe complication of NF1. Results: The frequency of cerebrovascular dysplasia in NF1 was found to be 2–5%, and vascular lesions were clearly visible on routine MRI of the brain. The majority of patients were clinically asymptomatic, despite angiographic progression in some cases. Hypoplastic carotid canals and early appearance on MRI suggested that a proportion of cases of cerebrovascular dysplasia were congenital in origin. Conclusion: These findings have implications for screening of asymptomatic patients with NF1, and highlight the difficult management decisions in those patients identified with cerebrovascular malformations.
Transfer-Appropriate Processing, Response Fluency, and the Mere Measurement Effect

The mere measurement of a person's intention to behave has been shown to influence his or her likelihood of engaging in the behavior. The mere measurement effect has been attributed to an increased accessibility of the attitude toward the behavior. Another source of the mere measurement effect may be the redundancy in the cognitive processes used to generate the mere measurement response and the cognitive processes used to decide whether to engage in the behavior. Process redundancy creates a fluency that can be interpreted as supportive of the behavioral tendency. Across eight studies, the authors show that processing fluency also contributes to the mere measurement effect.
Characterization of silicon-on-sapphire IGFET transistors

Under dynamic operation conditions, the potential of the floating substrate in a silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) device is primarily controlled by the capacitive coupling of the substrate to other device terminals. However, a key parameter that plays a major role in defining that potential during switching is the avalanche multiplication current produced by the channel current carriers in the surface space charge region adjacent to the drain. A closed form expression is derived for the avalanche current, enabling the development of a nonlinear equivalent circuit model of the device. Comparison of measurements with device terminal characteristics, as well as the switching behavior of the device, shows good agreement.
The Effect of Social and News Media Sentiments on Financial Markets

As new technologies continue to push towards democratization of knowledge, various platforms have been vying to become the premiere source of knowledge in this knowledge driven economy. At one end, we have online discussion forums morphing into social media platforms, where retail investors flock to seek and share their opinions about financial markets, a classical example of a self-sustainable knowledge factory, where community generates and consumes the knowledge. On the other end, we have news media platforms, fighting to maintain their status as premier knowledge sources, touting domain experts as their contributors. This research compares the effect of these two knowledge sources on financial markets. We use text mining methods to capture the sentiments revealed on the most popular stock discussion forum (HotCopper) and a very popular news media platform (Google Finance) in Australia. We find that both of sentiments from social media and news media predict future stock returns at the individual firm level. But the effect of social media appears to stronger and long lasting compared to news media.
Genetic Diversity and Drug Susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates from Zunyi, One of the Highest-Incidence-Rate Areas in China

ABSTRACT Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from Zunyi were found more diversified but clustered less frequently to the Beijing family compared to isolates from other areas of China. These observations, on top of the fact that the Zunyi area has a high prevalence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), support the notion that Beijing family isolates may not be linked to MDR-TB.
Factors Affecting the Internationalisation of Manufacturing SMEs in Zimbabwe

This policy brief presents evidence that SME internationalisation is at very low level in Zimbabwe. It identifies the major factors that are inhibitors of SME internationalisation in the manufacturing sector, including negative attitudes by SME owner/managers, lack of international market knowledge, risk perception by owner/ managers, inadequate financial resources, poor networks and unfavourable regulation. Furthermore, it outlines the actions the government and industry associations need to take to improve the performance of manufacturing SMEs through internationalisation. It is recommended that government should work closely with SME associations to better understand their resource needs.
Synthesis and evaluation of transthyretin amyloidosis inhibitors containing carborane pharmacophores

Carboranes represent a potentially rich but underutilized class of inorganic and catabolism-inert pharmacophores. The regioselectivity and ease of derivatization of carboranes allows for facile syntheses of a wide variety of novel structures. The steric bulk, rigidity, and ease of B- and C-derivatization and lack of π-interactions associated with hydrophobic carboranes may be exploited to enhance the selectivity of previously identified bioactive molecules. Transthyretin (TTR) is a thyroxine-transport protein found in the blood that has been implicated in a variety of amyloid related diseases. Previous investigations have identified a variety of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and structurally related derivatives that imbue kinetic stabilization to TTR, thus inhibiting its dissociative fragmentation and subsequent aggregation to form putative toxic amyloid fibrils. However, the cyclooxygenase (COX) activity associated with these pharmaceuticals may limit their potential as long-term therapeutic agents for TTR amyloid diseases. Here, we report the synthesis and evaluation of carborane-containing analogs of the promising NSAID pharmaceuticals previously identified. The replacement of a phenyl ring in the NSAIDs with a carborane moiety greatly decreases their COX activity with the retention of similar efficacy as an inhibitor of TTR dissociation. The most promising of these compounds, 1-carboxylic acid-7-[3-fluorophenyl]-1,7-dicarba-closo-dodecaborane, showed effectively no COX-1 or COX-2 inhibition at a concentration more than an order of magnitude larger than the concentration at which TTR dissociation is nearly completely inhibited. This specificity is indicative of the potential for the exploitation of the unique properties of carboranes as potent and selective pharmacophores.
Cat-301 antibody selectively labels neurons in the Y-innervated laminae of the cat superior colliculus

Abstract Cat-301 is a monoclonal antibody which recognizes a cell surface associated antigen of selected neurons in the central nervous system (CNS). In the visual system, cat-301 selectively labels Y-like cells in several visual structures, including portions of the lateral geniculate nucleus complex and visual cortex. The cat superior colliculus (SC) also receives Y input and contains cells driven by Y input which are selectively distributed in the deep superficial gray and deeper laminae. If cat-301 is selective to the Y-cell system in SC, labeled cells should be restricted to those laminae. To test this hypothesis, we have examined quantitatively the laminar distribution, percentage, size, and morphology of cells in SC labeled by the cat-301 antibody. Cat-301 labeled a variety of cells in the cat SC. Labeled cells were found within the deep portion of the superficial gray layer (6.6%), optic layer (27.6%), intermediate gray layer (26.9%), and the deep gray and white layers (38.5%). By contrast, only 2 of 667 labeled cells (0.3%) were found within that part of the upper superficial gray layer innervated exclusively by W input and thought to contain only W-driven cells. When considered as a percentage of the total cell population, cat-301 labeled cells represented less than 3% of cells in the superficial gray layer and approximately 15% in the deeper layers. Neurons labeled by cat-301 were all of medium to large size (mean average diameter = 33.3μm; range = 15–84μm) and included vertical fusiform and stellate cells in the upper layers and the very large neurons found in the intermediate gray and deeper layers. These results provide further evidence that the cat-301 antibody selectively recognizes the Y channel of the cat visual system.
An analysis of the adoption and use of HRIS in the public universities in Saudi Arabia

Evaluating the use of human resource information systems (HRIS) by employees working in the human resource management (HRM) departments of the public universities in Saudi Arabia is one of the main aims of this project. Other researchers in this field have proposed several success models for HRIS use, and they are suitable for organisations working in the conditions and circumstances surrounding a particular region; however, they cannot be applied directly to Saudi organisations. Thus, it is very important to construct an HRIS use model for higher education institutions. In view of the weaknesses of other HRIS success models for the particular environment in Saudi Arabia, this study has integrated some incumbent factors into the DeLone and McLean HRIS success model to develop a new model that provides comprehensive insight into the most important factors affecting the issue of HRIS within the HR Departments of Saudi universities. This results in the development of a theoretical framework as a model to carry out the investigation into the impacts of various dimensions of the proposed model on the use of HRIS by employees. A mixed-method research design involving interviews and questionnaires was used to collect qualitative and qualitative data; analytical techniques along with SPSS20 were employed to analyse the data. The results obtained from the qualitative phase showed that there were six factors that affected the use of HRIS in the HR Departments of public universities: usefulness, a speedier decision-making process, system quality, ease of use, subjective norms (social and peer pressures), and the unification of systems. The impact of these dimensions on the use of HRIS was measured in the qualitative phase, showing the positive impact of system quality, service quality, and ease of use on the use of a system. Furthermore, the impact of HRIS on human resources (HR), based on performance and productivity, was investigated through interviews and surveys with the sample population. In general, it was found that HRIS have a significant and positive impact on the performance and productivity of the HR Departments of public universities in Saudi Arabia. This study’s main contribution is the successful development of an adoption model for the measurement of HRIS use in Saudi public universities, by taking into account the social elements that play an important role in the use of HRIS in Saudi Arabia. This is the first study of its kind that has been performed to measure the factors and map the strength of their relationship with the use of HRIS, user satisfaction and HRIS adoption.
Schools and the Heritability of Smoking Behaviors: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

Gas lasers are described in which the tube is of metal. In one embodiment, the tube is of metal for substantially the complete axial length thereof between the electrodes, the tube being insulated from and at a floating electrical potential with respect to the electrodes. In a second described embodiment, the tube is made of a plurality of metal sections each being of optimum length to provide optimum electron temperature for maximum power output and being insulated from the other sections and from the electrodes.
Steroid Control of Longevity in Drosophila melanogaster

Ecdysone, the major steroid hormone ofDrosophila melanogaster, is known for its role in development and reproduction. Flies that are heterozygous for mutations of the ecdysone receptor exhibit increases in life-span and resistance to various stresses, with no apparent deficit in fertility or activity. A mutant involved in the biosynthesis of ecdysone displays similar effects, which are suppressed by feeding ecdysone to the flies. These observations demonstrate the importance of the ecdysone hormonal pathway, a new player in regulating longevity.
NS1 Protein of Influenza A Virus Down-Regulates Apoptosis

ABSTRACT Wild-type (WT) influenza A/PR/8/34 virus and its variant lacking the NS1 gene (delNS1) have been compared for their ability to mediate apoptosis in cultured cells and chicken embryos. Cell morphology, fragmentation of chromatin DNA, and caspase-dependent cleavage of the viral NP protein have been used as markers for apoptosis. Another marker was caspase cleavage of the viral M2 protein, which was also found to occur in an apoptosis-specific manner. In interferon (IFN)-competent host systems, such as MDCK cells, chicken fibroblasts, and 7-day-old chicken embryos, delNS1 virus induced apoptosis more rapidly and more efficiently than WT virus. As a consequence, delNS1 virus was also more lethal for chicken embryos than WT virus. In IFN-deficient Vero cells, however, apoptosis was delayed and developed with similar intensity after infection with both viruses. Taken together, these data indicate that the IFN antagonistic NS1 protein of influenza A viruses has IFN-dependent antiapoptotic potential.
Genetic Diversity of Clinical and Environmental Vibrio parahaemolyticus Strains from the Pacific Northwest

ABSTRACT Since 1997, cases of Vibrio parahaemolyticus-related gastroenteritis from the consumption of raw oysters harvested in Washington State have been higher than historical levels. These cases have shown little or no correlation with concentrations of potentially pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus (positive for the thermostable direct hemolysin gene, tdh) in oysters, although significant concentrations of tdh + V. parahaemolyticus strains were isolated from shellfish-growing areas in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). We compared clinical and environmental strains isolated from the PNW to those from other geographic regions within the United States and Asia for the presence of virulence-associated genes, including the thermostable direct hemolysin (tdh), the thermostable-related hemolysin (trh), urease (ureR), the pandemic group specific markers orf8 and toxRS, and genes encoding both type 3 secretion systems (T3SS1 and T3SS2). The majority of clinical strains from the PNW were positive for tdh, trh, and ureR genes, while a significant proportion of environmental isolates were tdh + but trh negative. Hierarchical clustering grouped the majority of these clinical isolates into a cluster distinct from that including the pandemic strain RIMD2210633, clinical isolates from other geographical regions, and tdh +, trh-negative environmental isolates from the PNW. We detected T3SS2-related genes (T3SS2β) in environmental strains that were tdh and trh negative. The presence of significant concentrations of tdh +, trh-negative environmental strains in the PNW that have not been responsible for illness and T3SS2β in tdh- and trh-negative strains emphasizes the diversity in this species and the need to identify additional virulence markers for this bacterium to improve risk assessment tools for the detection of this pathogen.
Tamoxifen but Not Other Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators Antagonizes Estrogen Actions on Luteinizing Hormone Secretion while Inducing Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Self-Priming in the Rat

Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) are compounds which may function as agonists or antagonists depending upon the target tissue. This study compares the actions of different SERMs on luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion, and on gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) self-priming in the rat. To do this, 4-day cyclic rats were injected twice, on day 2 (metestrus) and day 3 of the estrous cycle, with one of the following SERMs: 0.25 mg ICI 182,780, 3 mg tamoxifen (TX), LY139481-HCl or LY117018-HCl, or 0.5 mg RU58668. Control rats were given subcutaneous injections of 0.2 ml oil. On the morning of day 4 (proestrus in controls), rats from each group were either injected intraperitoneally with pentobarbital (40 mg/kg) for in vivo study or decapitated and their pituitaries collected for incubation (in vitro study). Additionally, pituitaries taken on each day of the estrous cycle from control rats as well as on day 4 from SERM-treated rats were processed for immunohistochemical determination of the estrogen receptor-α (ERα) gonadotrope. The plasma concentration or accumulation of LH in the medium was determined after 1 h (basal secretion). Thereafter, an intravenous bolus of GnRH (50 ng/0.5 ml/100 g BW) or 10–8M GnRH was injected or added to the medium, respectively. After 1 h of GnRH exposure, blood or medium were taken, and another challenge of GnRH was made. At the end of the 3rd h of the experiment, blood or medium samples were taken again and the LH plasma concentration or accumulation in the medium were determined. All SERM treatments reduced uterus weight and decreased basal and stimulated LH secretion. Also, on day 4, rats treated with any SERM other than TX showed vaginal smears infiltrated by leukocytes and a reduction in GnRH self-priming. TX-treated rats exhibited cornified vaginal smears and an estrogenic effect on GnRH self-priming. Moreover, 15-min exposure to two consecutive GnRH (10–8M) challenges 1 h apart in incubated pituitaries with estradiol (E2, 10–8M), TX (10–7M), E2 + TX, or medium alone form ovariectomized rats injected for 3 days with estradiol benzoate (25 µg), TX (3 mg), estradiol benzoate + TX, or 0.2 ml oil, respectively, showed that TX increased GnRH self-priming, as did E2, whereas it reduced the E2-sensitizing effect on GnRH-stimulated LH secretion and cancelled the E2-dependent GnRH self-priming. All SERMs prevented the physiological nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of ERα exhibited during proestrus in control rats, and TX, in addition, induced a significantly larger number of gonadotropes displaying strong cytosolic immunosignals corresponding to ERα than the rest of the experimental groups. Overall, data from this study indicated that, in contrast to the general antagonistic effect of the tested SERMs, TX seemed to display both selective agonist and antagonist activity at the gonadotrope level and on GnRH self-priming of LH secretion respectively.
INFLUENCE OF DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS ON ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS IN KENYA

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to assess the influence of age, education and business experience on entrepreneur success in Kenya. Methodology: The study applied a descriptive research design. The researcher used both structured questionnaire that was designed for the entrepreneurs and interview schedules that were designed for SME managers/owners. The analysis of data was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23.0) computer software. Results: The findings indicate that the age and education level of entrepreneurs influence their success while the influence of their experience before the start of business contributes little to their success. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: The study recommended the revision of Kenya’s educational curriculum to incorporate entrepreneurship skills at all levels of education.
An Extended MRR Model for Transaction-Level Analysis of High Frequency Trading Processes

Transaction-level analysis of security price change due to Madhavan, Richardson and Roomans (1997, hereafter MRR) has been a useful framework in financial analysis. The one order Markov property of the trade indicator variables is a key assumption in the MRR model, which contradicts the information lag empirically evidenced in high frequency trading processes. In this paper, a non-parametric test is employed, showing that the Markov property of the trade indicator variables is rejected in most of trading days. Based on the spread decomposed structure, an extended MRR model is proposed with a moving average structure adopted to absorb the information lag as an extension. Empirical results show that the information lag plays an important role and the difference of the adverse selection risk parameter between the original and the extended is significant. Further, our analysis suggests that the information lag parameter can be a useful measure of the average speed at which the information integrates into the price.