Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Understanding the Dynamics and Optimizing the Performance of Chemostat Selection Experiments

A chemostat enables long-term, continuous, exponential-phase growth in an environment limited as prescribed by the researcher. It is thus a potent tool for laboratory evolution - selecting for strains with desired phenotypes. However, despite the apparently simple design governed by a limited set of rules, analysis of chemostat dynamics shows that they display counter-intuitive properties. For example, the concentration of limiting substrate in the chemostat is independent of the concentration in the influx and only dependent on the dilution rate and the strain parameters. Moreover, choosing optimal operational parameters (dilution rate, volume size, etc.) can be challenging. There are conflicting requirements in the experimental design, such as a need for relatively fast growth conditions for mutation accumulation on the one hand versus slow dilution for a large fitness advantage for mutants to take over the population quickly on the other.In this study, we provide analytic and computational tools to help understand and predict chemostat dynamics, and choose suitable operational parameters. We refer to five stages of the process: (A) parameter choice and setup, (B) basic steady state growth, (C) mutation, (D) single takeover and (E) successive takeovers. We present a qualitative and quantitative framework to answer the questions confronted in each of these stages. We provide a set of simulations which support the quantitative results, and a graphical user interface to give a hands-on opportunity to experience and visualize the analytic results. We detail conditions that produce ineffectual selection regimes, and find that when avoided, the selection time is relatively robust, and usually varies by less than an order of magnitude. Finally, we suggest rules of thumb to help ensure that the chosen parameters lead to effective selection and minimize the duration of the selection process.
Universal versus contextual effects on TQM: a triangulation study using neural networks

Abstract The objective of this study is to extend previous research on total quality management (TQM)-context-performance relationships and ‘fit’ using multiple methods. We combine artificial neural networks (ANNs) with structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse several hypotheses and propositions. This is the first study in this area of research that utilises ANNs and a triangulation technique in the presence of several contextual factors. The SEM analyses suggest that company size and industry type may have contingency effects on some of the TQM practices and/or TQM-performance relationships. However, the ANN models have shown that these two contingency factors do not moderate TQM outcomes, implying that all organisations can benefit from TQM regardless of size and type. As well, these models show that formal TQM implementation and/or ISO certifications do not add any predictive power to the ANN models except in one case: TQM implementation and/or ISO certification added to organisational effectiveness and customer results to predict financial and market (F&M) results. The results further indicate that even though implementing TQM alone has a bigger impact on F&M results than obtaining ISO certification alone, combining the two will have an even greater impact on these results. Joint implementation leads to greater improvements in organisational effectiveness, which, in turn, has a positive effect on customer results and consequently F&M results. This is a unique finding within the context of moderator effects on TQM-performance relationships.
Attitudes towards alcohol and alcohol-related problems: Comparison among nurses from different Brazilian health care settings

Objective: This descriptive, exploratory study sought to compare the attitudes of nurses from different health care settings towards alcohol, alcoholism and alcoholics. Method: A total of 526 nurses working at several Brazilian health care facilities participated in this study by answering a 96-item attitude scale. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the attitudes of the participants according to their health caresetting, and a multiple comparisons test was used to identify the groups in which this difference was statistically significant. Results: The results showed that nurses working at specialized facilities displayed more positive attitudes towards alcoholics (working and interpersonal relations) and alcohol but negative attitudes towards alcoholism and its etiology when compared tothe other nurses. Conclusion: This study suggests that nurses’ attitudes towards alcohol and alcohol-related problems differ depending on the health care setting; in particular, nurses working at specialized facilities tend to show more positive attitudes than nurses working in other health care facilities toward alcohol-related problems.
QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus Is a More Sensitive Screening Tool than QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube for Latent Tuberculosis Infection among Older Adults in Long-Term Care Facilities

We investigated the prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among the residents in seven long-term care facilities (LTCFs) located in different regions of Taiwan and compared the performance of two interferon gamma release assays, i.e., QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) and QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) for screening LTBI. We also assessed the diagnostic performance against a composite reference standard (subjects with persistent-positive, transient-positive, and negative results from QFTs during reproducibility analysis were classified as definite, possible, and not LTBI, respectively). ABSTRACT We investigated the prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among the residents in seven long-term care facilities (LTCFs) located in different regions of Taiwan and compared the performance of two interferon gamma release assays, i.e., QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) and QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) for screening LTBI. We also assessed the diagnostic performance against a composite reference standard (subjects with persistent-positive, transient-positive, and negative results from QFTs during reproducibility analysis were classified as definite, possible, and not LTBI, respectively). Two hundred forty-four residents were enrolled, and 229 subjects were included in the analysis. The median age was 80 years (range, 60 to 102 years old), and 117 (51.1%) were male. Among them, 66 (28.8%) and 74 (32.3%) subjects had positive results from QFT-GIT and QFT-Plus, respectively, and the results for 215 (93.9%) subjects showed agreement. Using the composite reference standard, 66 (28.8%), 11 (4.8%), and 152 (66.4%) were classified as definite, possible, and not LTBI, respectively. For definite LTBI, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of QFT-GIT were 89.4%, 95.7%, 89.4%, and 95.7%, respectively, and those for QFT-Plus were 100.0%, 95.1%, 89.2%, and 100.0%, respectively. The sensitivity of QFT-GIT decreased gradually with patient age. Compared to QFT-GIT, QFT-Plus displayed significantly higher sensitivity (100.0% versus 89.4%, P = 0.013) and similar specificity (95.1% versus 95.7%). In conclusion, a high prevalence of LTBI was found among elders in LTCFs in Taiwan. The new QFT-Plus test demonstrated a higher sensitivity than QFT-GIT in the older adults in LTCFs.
Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivations of Master of Library and Information Science students: A cross-cultural comparative study

This study examined the career and learning motivation of students studying a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree programs at universities located in four different countries, namely the University of Hong Kong, National Taiwan Normal University, Peking University, and the University of Copenhagen. The MLIS students from these four universities were invited to take part in a self-completion online questionnaire survey, and 200 responses were collected in total. We discovered that their prior working experience in the library had an impact on their decision to pursue the MLIS program. We also categorized the career and learning motivation factors of MLIS learners into intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and discovered that the participants were motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors to pursue their graduate studies in the Library and Information Science (LIS) field. We found that intrinsic factors influenced the students of University of Copenhagen significantly more than the other student groups, and this could be explained by Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Our findings can assist with the formulation of development strategies for MLIS programs through a review of the LIS curriculum and help MLIS programs in different countries attract more people to pursue a career in LIS.
Predictors of right ventricular failure after implantation of left ventricular assist devices.

Congratulations to Boegershausen et al. [1] on their study. As the authors have noted, the incidence of right ventricular failure (RVF) development after implantation of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), which is the most important treatment option for advanced stage heart failure, is not very low. In various series, this ratio is up to 50% [2–4]. As can be seen, RVF development rates are extremely high. Even more important subject is the increased mortality rates when RVF develops after LVAD. Therefore, determining the RVF predictors after LVAD is frequently discussed as an important topic today. But, in the literature, many different parameters have been emphasized with regard to the predictive factors for the development of RVF after LVAD. For example, in this study, Boegershausen et al. report that only the basal longitudinal systolic strain of the right ventricular (RV) free wall (PSLSbasal) and the central venous pressure are predictive factors for RVF. Similarly, another study of 4428 patients reported that high central venous pressure and low right ventricular stroke work index were predictive factors for RVF after LVAD [4]. But, in the same study, unlike the study by Boegershausen et al., they reported that international normalized ratio, N-terminal pro-b-type natriuretic peptide, moderate-to-severe right ventricular dysfunction, increased right ventricular/ left ventricular ratio and preprocedural ventilator dependence were also predictive factors for RVF after LVAD implantation. Another study [5] reported that parameters such as increased pulmonary artery pressure, increased right atrial pressure, decreased stroke volume, preoperative severe tricuspid regurgitation and renal replacement therapy were risk factors for RFV, unlike the study by Boegershausen et al. It is, of course, it is possible to increase these examples. However, it is clear that there is no single predictive factor for the development of RVF after LVAD. Another issue that we want to mention is that the main treatments applied by Boegershausen et al. for RVF after LVAD implantation are vasodilator inhalation, prolongation of inotropic treatment and right-sided extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. However, other ventricular support systems, such as a Levitronix CentriMag ventricular assist device for the right side, have never been used. How do authors explain the reason for this? We believe that sharing the authors’ ideas on this subject will add value to their study.
The Impact of Ignoring the Level of Nesting Structure in Nonparametric Multilevel Latent Class Models

The multilevel latent class model (MLCM) is a multilevel extension of a latent class model (LCM) that is used to analyze nested structure data structure. The nonparametric version of an MLCM assumes a discrete latent variable at a higher-level nesting structure to account for the dependency among observations nested within a higher-level unit. In the present study, a simulation study was conducted to investigate the impact of ignoring the higher-level nesting structure. Three criteria—the model selection accuracy, the classification quality, and the parameter estimation accuracy—were used to evaluate the impact of ignoring the nested data structure. The results of the simulation study showed that ignoring higher-level nesting structure in an MLCM resulted in the poor performance of the Bayesian information criterion to recover the true latent structure, the inaccurate classification of individuals into latent classes, and the inflation of standard errors for parameter estimates, while the parameter estimates were not biased. This article concludes with remarks on ignoring the nested structure in nonparametric MLCMs, as well as recommendations for applied researchers when LCM is used for data collected from a multilevel nested structure.
Lexical Substitution for Evaluating Compositional Distributional Models

Compositional Distributional Semantic Models (CDSMs) model the meaning of phrases and sentences in vector space. They have been predominantly evaluated on limited, artificial tasks such as semantic sentence similarity on hand-constructed datasets. This paper argues for lexical substitution (LexSub) as a means to evaluate CDSMs. LexSub is a more natural task, enables us to evaluate meaning composition at the level of individual words, and provides a common ground to compare CDSMs with dedicated LexSub models. We create a LexSub dataset for CDSM evaluation from a corpus with manual “all-words” LexSub annotation. Our experiments indicate that the Practical Lexical Function CDSM outperforms simple component-wise CDSMs and performs on par with the context2vec LexSub model using the same context.
N-body simulations with a cosmic vector for dark energy

We present the results of a series of cosmological N-body simulations of a vector dark energy (VDE) model, performed using a suitably modified version of the publicly available gadget-2 code. The set-ups of our simulations were calibrated pursuing a twofold aim: (1) to analyse the large scale distribution of massive objects and (2) to determine the properties of halo structure in this different framework. We observe that structure formation is enhanced in VDE, since the mass function at high redshift is boosted up to a factor of 10 with respect to ? cold dark matter ( CDM), possibly alleviating tensions with the observations of massive clusters at high redshifts and early reionization epoch. Significant differences can also be found for the value of the growth factor, which in VDE shows a completely different behaviour, and in the distribution of voids, which in this cosmology are on average smaller and less abundant. We further studied the structure of dark matter haloes more massive than 5 x 1013 h-1 M? , finding that no substantial difference emerges when comparing spin parameter, shape, triaxiality and profiles of structures evolved under different cosmological pictures. Nevertheless, minor differences can be found in the concentrationmass relation and the two-point correlation function, both showing different amplitudes and steeper slopes. Using an additional series of simulations of a ? CDM scenario with the same and s8 used in the VDE cosmology, we have been able to establish whether the modifications induced in the new cosmological picture were due to the particular nature of the dynamical dark energy or a straightforward consequence of the cosmological parameters. On large scales, the dynamical effects of the cosmic vector field can be seen in the peculiar evolution of the cluster number density function with redshift, in the shape of the mass function, in the distribution of voids and on the characteristic form of the growth index (z). On smaller scales, internal properties of haloes are almost unaffected by the change of cosmology, since no statistical difference can be observed in the characteristics of halo profiles, spin parameters, shapes and triaxialities. Only halo masses and concentrations show a substantial increase, which can, however, be attributed to the change in the cosmological parameters.
Model-based meta-analysis to evaluate optimal doses of direct oral factor Xa inhibitors in atrial fibrillation patients.

The noninferiority of direct oral factor Xa (FXa) inhibitors (rivaroxaban, apixaban, and edoxaban) in treatment of atrial fibrillation were demonstrated compared with warfarin by several large clinical trials; however, subsequent meta-analyses reported a higher risk of major bleeding with rivaroxaban than with the other FXa inhibitors. In the present study, we first estimated the changes of prothrombin time (PT) in 5 randomized trials based on reported population pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic models and then carried out a model-based meta-analysis to obtain models describing the relationship between PT changes and the event rates of ischemic stroke/systemic embolism (SE) and of major bleeding. By using the models, we simulated the optimal therapeutic doses for each FXa inhibitor. It was suggested that dose reduction of rivaroxaban from the current 20 mg/d to 10 mg/d would decrease patient deaths from major bleeding (hazard ratio [HR], 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.64-0.74) with little increase in those for ischemic stroke/SE (HR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.07-1.20). The overall decrease in the mortality caused by both events was estimated as 5.81 per 10 000 patient-years (95% CI, 3.92-8.16), with an HR of 0.87 (95% CI, 0.83-0.91). For apixaban and edoxaban, no distinct change in the overall mortality was simulated by dose modification. This study suggested that the current dose of rivaroxaban might be excessive and would need to be reduced to decrease the excess risk of major bleeding.
Hyperspectral imaging system in the delineation of Ill‐defined basal cell carcinomas: a pilot study

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common skin cancer in the Caucasian population. Eighty per cent of BCCs are located on the head and neck area. Clinically ill‐defined BCCs often represent histologically aggressive subtypes, and they can have subtle subclinical extensions leading to recurrence and the need for re‐excisions.
A Current-Mode Capacitively-Coupled Chopper Instrumentation Amplifier for Biopotential Recording With Resistive or Capacitive Electrodes

This brief presents a high-density, low-noise analog front-end (AFE) for capacitively coupled neural recording applications. Conventional capacitively coupled AFEs, when chopper-stabilized, require large coupling capacitors or servo loops to minimize <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ {1/f^{2}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> input-referred noise and chopper-induced offsets, limiting channel density. In this brief, a current-mode capacitively coupled chopper instrumentation amplifier with embedded delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is presented that enables an area-efficient low-noise design via chopper-stabilized current-mode amplification. In this design, 60 channels are implemented in a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ {2 \times 2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm<sup>2</sup> 180-nm CMOS chip, and each channel consumes <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4~ {\mu }\text{W}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, achieves an input referred noise of 160 nV/<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\sqrt {\text{Hz}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and an ADC effective number of bits of 8.5 bits.
Healthy Weight and Cardiovascular Health Promotion Interventions for Adolescent and Young Adult Males of Color: A Systematic Review

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality in the United States, accounting for one fourth of deaths. Higher rates of obesity put Hispanic and Black men at increased risk. The American Heart Association cites diet quality, physical activity, and body weight as alterations responsive to health promotion intervention. Prevention strategies need to begin in adolescence and the emerging adulthood years to impact cumulative risk factors. A scoping review identified search terms and this was followed by a systematic review of Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and PubMed databases for articles published in English from January 1, 2002, through May 11, 2017. This review explores community-based content, delivery, recruitment, or retention strategies used with young men of color aged 15 to 24 years. Of 17 articles describing 16 individual interventions and 1 describing multiple interventions (with samples ranging from 37 to 4,800), 13 reported significant results in one or more domains. No studies specifically targeted the needs of young men and only three had more than 50% male participants. There was a gap in studies that addressed young men in the ages of interest with most interventions reaching participants aged 11 to 19 years. Cultural tailoring was addressed through recruitment setting, interventionist characteristics, community involvement, and theoretical frameworks such as motivational interviewing that allow individual goal setting. Because young men seek access to preventive health services less than young women, it is suggested that interventions that are community based or use push technology (send information directly to the user) be increased.
The Impact of Decision Types on Revenue Management Decisions: An Experimental Study

In the standard two-class revenue management model, the decision maker allocates a fixed resource between two customer classes with hierarchical prices and uncertain demand. The normative (i.e., expected revenue-maximizing) allocation is given by Littlewood's Rule, but little is known about how decision makers actually form these decisions. We report results of an experimental study that investigates revenue management decision-making. We find that subjects' behavior is influenced by the decision type. In particular, our subjects reserve more units for the high-end segment when they are asked to set the protection level (the number of units to set aside for the higher priced class) compared to when they set the booking limit (the number of units available for the lower priced class). We propose that this behavioral pattern can be explained by our subjects’ different valuations of revenues from the high- and low-end sales. We also observe that when there is a change in segment prices, although decision makers adjust allocations in the direction suggested by normative theory, the magnitude of adjustments is greater (and hence closer to the normative level) when the source of the price change matches the class whose allocation they determine.
Investigating the Trimethylaluminium/Water ALD Process on Mesoporous Silica by In Situ Gravimetric Monitoring

A low amount of AlOx was successfully deposited on an unordered, mesoporous SiO2 powder using 1–3 ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) cycles of trimethylaluminium and water. The process was realized in a self-built ALD setup featuring a microbalanceand a fixed particle bed. The reactor temperature was varied between 75, 120, and 200 °C. The self-limiting nature of the deposition was verified by in situ gravimetric monitoring for all temperatures. The coated material was further analyzed by nitrogen sorption, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, attenuated total reflection Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. The obtained mass gains correspond to average growth between 0.81–1.10 Å/cycle depending on substrate temperature. In addition, the different mass gains during the half-cycles in combination with the analyzed aluminum content after one, two, and three cycles indicate a change in the preferred surface reaction of the trimethylaluminium molecule from a predominately two-ligand exchange with hydroxyl groups to more single-ligand exchange with increasing cycle number. Nitrogen sorption isotherms demonstrate (1) homogeneously coated mesopores, (2) a decrease in surface area, and (3) a reduction of the pore size. The experiment is successfully repeated in a scale-up using a ten times higher substrate batch size.