Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accounting for subject-level heterogeneity in sieve analysis of vaccine efficacy

Accounting for subject-level heterogeneity in sieve analysis of vaccine efficacy Jason Shao Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Paul T. Edlefsen, Ph.D. Biostatistics In randomized trials of preventative vaccines, sieve analysis tests whether vaccine efficacy differs by a characteristic of the disease endpoint. These methods often assume a leaky model, in which treatment proportionally reduces the hazard of each disease type homogeneously in all subjects. Significant biases can occur in estimation and testing when this assumption does not hold. To allow for unobserved heterogeneity in participant response to vaccination, we propose a frailty mixture model for sieve analysis which incorporates unobserved, subjectlevel, random effects into a competing risks survival analysis framework. We show that parameters in the model can be straightforwardly and reliably estimated using standard numeric optimization methods. In simulation studies, our approach performs favorably to existing methods in cases where the leaky vaccine assumption is not appropriate. Finally, we implement our method on existing clinical trial datasets and discuss the implications of our findings for the design and interpretation of vaccine efficacy studies.
Detecting a mass change inside a volcano by cosmic‐ray muon radiography (muography): First results from measurements at Asama volcano, Japan

A visual detection and monitoring of volcanic eruptions is the most essential information. In February 2, 2009, Asama volcano, Japan erupted and a large amount of volcanic ash was ejected from the vent. We have observed the activity at Asama since October 12, 2008. For eruption monitoring we used cosmic‐ray muon radiography (muography), a new volcano monitoring system recently developed by Tanaka et al. (2009). We measured a quantitative mass loss inside the crater during the eruption event although no changes were found below the crater. The measured value of 30,780 tons is consistent with a model calculation of volcanic ash flow as observed on February 2, 2009. The obtained radiographic image suggests that a “boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion” occurred and a part of an old lava mound was exploded. This picture is consistent with the analytical result of the volcanic ash ejected on February 2, 2009.
Management of Students’ Records at Koforidua Polytechnic: Implications for Good Governance

The study examined the management of students’ records at the koforidua Polytechnic and the implication for good governance. Governance is the essential purpose of any organisation. Governance is the process by which individuals organise themselves, function, exercise authority and ensure continuity. In this study, records keeping is a core component of good governance and records enable programmes and services as well as public access to them. Archival records support a variety of functions and help institutions and society exploit the value of individual and collective experience.Student records are particularly important records series in any educational institution. Student records are created for the student once they enroll on the programme of the polytechnic. The completeness and reliability of the records are critical to the polytechnic system itself and to the student.The study relied on the case study method which was qualitative and investigative. Data collected was through interview and observation and analysed qualitatively. A total of 15 people been primary users of student records participated in the study. The records life cycle was used as the theoretical framework. Finding revealed the absence of a records management policy and a weak programme structure for managing records. Keywords : Student records, Records management, Koforidua, Polytechnic, Good governance
INTEGRATED STELLAR POPULATIONS: CONFRONTING PHOTOMETRY WITH SPECTROSCOPY

We investigate the ability of spectroscopic techniques to yield realistic star formation histories (SFHs) for the bulges of spiral galaxies based on a comparison with their observed broadband colors. Full spectrum fitting to optical spectra indicates that recent (within ∼1 Gyr) star formation activity can contribute significantly to the V-band flux, whilst accounting for only a minor fraction of the stellar mass budget which is made up primarily of old stars. Furthermore, recent implementations of stellar population (SP) models reveal that the inclusion of a more complete treatment of the thermally pulsating asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) phase to SP models greatly increases the NIR flux for SPs of ages 0.2–2 Gyr. Comparing the optical–NIR colors predicted from population synthesis fitting, using models which do not include all stages of the TP-AGB phase, to the observed colors reveals that observed optical–NIR colors are too red compared to the model predictions. However, when a 1 Gyr SP from models including a full treatment of the TP-AGB phase is used, the observed and predicted colors are in good agreement. This has strong implications for the interpretation of stellar populations, dust content, and SFHs derived from colors alone.
Advantages and potentialities of electro-optic sensors for an ultra wide bandwidth characterization of radiated or guided electric fields

We present different electro-optic sensors dedicated to the vectorial measurement of high frequency electric fields either guided (1) or radiated in free space (e.g. field radiated by antennas (2)). These sensors are based on organic and inorganic electro-optic crystals, isotropic and anisotropic, these latter ones being used as amplitude modulator or as polarization state modulator for a laser beam passing through them. We follow by a discussion on the main advantages and the performances of the developed electro-optic sensors.
Innovation vs Imitation and the Evolution of Productivity Distributions

We develop a tractable dynamic model of productivity growth and technology spillovers that is consistent with the emergence of real world empirical productivity distributions. Firms can improve productivity by engaging in in-house R&D, or alternatively, by trying to imitate other firms’ technologies subject to limits to their absorptive capacities. The outcome of both strategies is stochastic. The choice between in-house R&D and imitation is endogenous, and based on firms’ profit maximization motive. Firms closer to the technological frontier have less imitation opportunities, and tend to choose more often in-house R&D, consistent with the empirical evidence. The equilibrium choice leads to balanced growth featuring persistent productivity differences even when starting from ex-ante identical firms. The long run productivity distribution can be described as a traveling wave with tails following Zipf’s law as it can be observed in the empirical data. Idiosyncratic shocks to firms’ productivities of R&D reduce inequality, but also lead to lower aggregate productivity and industry performance.
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting by Commercial Banks in Annual Reports: Evidence from Malawi

There is a crying need for an in-depth study into the quality, quantity of corporate social disclosure and identification of areas for future improvement so that transparency can be ensured, especially in developing countries where CSR studies are limited. The study explores the corporate social responsibility reporting practices in the annual reports of commercial banks of Malawi. The study uses content analysis in examining the annual reports of the sampled commercial banks. The paper found that all the sampled banks (100%) made some sort of CSR disclosures. Furthermore the banks relatively placed more emphasis in disclosing community related activities (0.49) followed by products and customers activities (0.38) and human resources activities (0.2). The least disclosed theme was environmental activities (0.08). The overall disclosure level was low (0.3) meaning that less than one third of the items on the CSR disclosure framework were disclosed. The study provides insight and adds to literature regarding the level of CSR disclosures from a developing country focusing on the banking sector which is an important sector in the economy.
Ecology of nematode parasitism in red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) in Spain

Summary …………. We examined the nematode fauna of 79 shot red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) from Southern Spain. Four species (Trichostrongylus tenuis, Heterakis gallinarum, Cyrnea seurati, and Cheilospirura gruveli) were recorded, C. gruveli being identified as the core species of this population. Trichostrongylus tenuis showed higher prevalence and abundance in adults than in juveniles. The infection with C. gruveli increased with age in females but decreased in males. The occurrence of C. gruveli and C. seurati in individual partridges was not independent in juveniles. The C. gruveli population was female-biased, more markedly at high intensities. The presence of spirurid eggs in faeces and C. gruveli females was not independent in ju veniles and showed the same trend in adults. The abundance of C. gruveli was positively correlated with the gizzard weight in juvenile partridges. Juvenile females parasitised by C. gruveli had a heavier spleen than those nonparasitised. Adult partridges harbouring C. gruveli were in poorer body condi-tion than those free of the parasite. about the structure, ecology, and host-parasite relationships of the helminth communities of wild red-legged partridge populations. This contrasts with other galliform species, whose helminth ecology has been thoroughly studied (Davidson et al. , 1980; Shaw and Moss, 1989; Rizzoli et al. , 1997; Holmstad and Skorping, 1998). The availability of such information has fostered the investigations into the role of nematodes in their host’s population dynamics (e.g. Hudson and Dobson, 1997). The present study is part of a long-term investigation on red-legged partridge ecology and diseases. The objectives of this work were to: i) determine the composition of the nematode community of a natural population of this species in the southernmost range of its distribution; ii) investigate characteristics of the ecology of the nematode community, such as species associations, sex ratios, or parasite fecundity; and iii) obtain information on nematode distribution depending on its host’s sex and age classes, niche size, or host body condition.
Political Regimes and Economic Growth

Are political regimes drivers of economic growth? While political institutions are influenced by economic development, they are in turn a key determinant of the development process. This study builds in the Neoclassical Growth theory to identify the influence of political regimes on economic development through a panel data sample of 170 countries from 1960 to 2000. results suggest that once fixed effects are considered, the positive relationship between income per capita and political regimes measured by different democracy variables disappears.
Phase I Dose Escalation Study with Expansion Cohort of the Addition of Nab-Paclitaxel to Capecitabine and Oxaliplatin (CapOx) as First-Line Treatment of Metastatic Esophagogastric Adenocarcinoma (ACTION Study)

First-line triplet chemotherapy including a taxane may prolong survival in patients with metastatic esophagogastric cancer. The added toxicity of the taxane might be minimized by using nab-paclitaxel. The aim of this phase I study was to determine the feasibility of combining nab-paclitaxel with the standard of care in the Netherlands, capecitabine and oxaliplatin (CapOx). Patients with metastatic esophagogastric adenocarcinoma received oxaliplatin 65 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8, and capecitabine 1000 mg/m2 bid on days 1–14 in a 21-day cycle, with nab-paclitaxel on days 1 and 8 at four dose levels (60, 80, 100, and 120 mg/m2, respectively), using a standard 3 + 3 dose escalation phase, followed by a safety expansion cohort. Baseline tissue and serum markers for activated tumor stroma were assessed as biomarkers for response and survival. Twenty-six patients were included. The first two dose-limiting toxicities (i.e., diarrhea and dehydration) occurred at dose level 3. The resulting maximum tolerable dose (MTD) of 80 mg/m2 was used in the expansion cohort, but was reduced to 60 mg/m2 after three out of eight patients experienced diarrhea grade 3. The objective response rate was 54%. The median progression-free (PFS) and overall survival were 8.0 and 12.8 months, respectively. High baseline serum ADAM12 was associated with a significantly shorter PFS (p = 0.011). In conclusion, albeit that the addition of nab-paclitaxel 60 mg/m2 to CapOx may be better tolerated than other taxane triplets, relevant toxicity was observed. There is a rationale for preserving taxanes for later-line treatment. ADAM12 is a potential biomarker to predict survival, and warrants further investigation.
POLITECNICO DI TORINO Repository ISTITUZIONALE Dynamic Gap Selector : A Smith Waterman Sequence Alignment Algorithm with Affine Gap Model

SmithWaterman algorithm (S-W) is a widespread method to perform local alignments of biological sequences of proteins, DNA and RNA molecules. Indeed, S-W is able to ensure better accuracy levels with respect to the heuristic alignment algorithms by extensively exploring all the possible alignment configurations between the sequences under examination. It has been proven that the first amino acid (AA) or nucleotide (NT) inserted/deleted (that identify a gap open) found during the alignment operations performed on sequences is more significant, from a biological point of view, than the subsequent ones (called gap extension), making the so called Affine Gap model a viable solution for biomolecules alignment. However, this version of S-W algorithm is expensive both in terms of computation as well as in terms of memory requirements with respect to others less demanding solutions such as the ones using a Linear Gap model. In order to overcome these drawbacks we have developed an optimised version of the S-W algorithm based on Affine Gap model called Dynamic Gap Selector (DGS S-W). Differently from the standard S-W Affine Gap method, the proposed DGS S-W method reduces the memory requirements from 3*N *M to N *M, where N and M represent the size of the compared sequences. In terms of computational costs, the proposed algorithm reduces by a factor of 2 the number of operations required by the standard Affine Gap model. DGS S-W method has been tested on two protein and one RNA sequences datasets, showing mapping scores very similar to those reached thanks to the classical S-W Affine Gap method and, at the same time, reduced computational costs and memory usage.
Intergranular Corrosion of the as Cast Hypoeutectic Zinc-Aluminium Alloy

The paper presents the research results of the solenoid housing made of the Zn4Al1Cu alloy that was destroyed as a result of corrosion. Surface of the tested part showed macroscopically the features typical for white corrosion, and the resulting corrosion changes led to a disturbance of the alloy cohesion. The research performed have shown that the tested solenoid valve has intergranular corrosion as a reaction of the environment containing road salt. The corrosion was initiated in the areas of the alfa phase existence appearing in the eutectic areas which propagated over dendritic areas of the alloy. Initiation of the corrosion followed as a result of the galvanic effect of the alfa phase reach in aluminium showing higher electrochemical potential, in contact with the eta phase reach in zinc. The impact of the phase reach in lead present in the microstructure on the corrosion processes run was not found.
Entry Regulation, Labor Laws and Informality: Evidence from India ⁄

This paper examines how industrial entry regulation and labor laws afiect informality, using district-level panel data on informal manufacturing enterprises in India. A major policy reform in 1991 removed license controls on the setup and expansion of factories in several industries. Variation in the pre-reform size of deregulated industries across districts within states, and in labor laws across states allow for a difierences in difierences approach to measuring how the impact of this reform on informality depended on labor regulation. The paper flnds that following this reform, the informal sector contracted to a greater extent in states with more ∞exible labor laws. The associated increase in value added per worker in manufacturing too was larger in these states. These flndings suggest that entry deregulation can lead to productivity-enhancing labor reallocation from the informal to the formal sector, if labor laws are ∞exible.
Effects of a Tier 3 Self-Management Intervention Implemented with and without Treatment Integrity

This study investigated the effects of a Tier 3 peer-matching self-management intervention on two elementary school students who had previously been less responsive to Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions. The Tier 3 self-management intervention, which was implemented in the general education classrooms, included daily electronic communication between the teachers and the children’s parents. Results indicated that this intervention effectively reduced disruptive behaviors and increased total engagement when implemented with integrity; without integrity results were variable.
limate change impacts on rainfed agriculture in the Guadiana river asin ( Portugal )

In this study, the crop yield response of rainfed crops to climate change was evaluated focusing on the most representative crops in the Guadiana river basin. The quantification of crop yields was performed using a simple soil water balance model framework. The herbaceous crop yields were evaluated with the ISAREG model, implementing a water balance approach combined with the Stewart method. A similar water balance approach was used to estimate the yields for the most representative permanent rainfed woody crops in the region using an alternative spreadsheet-based model, but implementing a more detailed water stress evaluation through the crop cycles. Yields were simulated for two future periods (2011–2040) and (2041–2070) using, as climate inputs, temperature and precipitation series, reflecting a combination of five climate change scenarios (CCS) created using the ensemble-delta technique applied to CMIP3 climate projections datasets to represent different alternative climate change bracketing conditions for rainfall and air temperature. The results showed that comparatively with the reference period climate (1961–1990) rainfed crop yields will decrease in future period 1 (2011–2040) and reach even higher losses in future period 2 (2041–2070). Within the herbaceous crops, sunflower and winter wheat were the most susceptible to yield losses under climate change, reaching estimated maximum losses for future period 2 of respectively 18.5% and 13.6%, followed by natural grown pastures with 11.5%. For woody crops, maximum estimated yields losses were considerably higher for almond (27.2%) than grapevine (5.4%) and olive (14.9%). © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
The effect of exogenous enzymes on the performance and digestibility of nutrients in broiler

Here we tested how feeding with exogenous enzymes affects the performance, carcass yield, and ileal digestibility in broilers from 21- to 42-days-old. The study included 1008 male broilers randomly distributed into six diets: positive control (PC), corn and soybean meal containing all the nutritional requirements; negative control (NC), with a 120 kcal.kg-1 reduction in metabolizable energy relative to the PC; enzyme complex one (NC + 100 ppm of endo-1,4-beta-xylanase); enzyme complex two (NC + 200 ppm of xylanase, amylase and protease); enzyme blend one (NC + 100 FXU kg-1 of xylanase and 200 FXU kg-1 of amylase); and enzyme blend two (NC + 100 FXU kg-1 of xylanase and 300 FXU kg-1 of amylase). The enzyme complex two (CN + 100 FXU.kg de xilanase e 300 FXU.kg de amilase) and enzyme blend two (NC + 100 FXU kg-1 of xylanase and 300 FXU kg-1 of amylase) had greater weight gain, feed conversion, carcass yield, and digestibility of nutrients than the NC (P < 0,05). We found that enzyme complex two and enzyme blend two valued their nutritional matrix promoting better performance and digestibility of broilers.
An Author-based Citation and Co-citation Analysis on Tourism Research: 1998-2007

This study explores the intellectual structure of tourism research in the last decade by identifying the most important publications and the most influential scholars as well as correlations among various publications. In this study citation and co-citation analysis was used to examine intellectual pillars of tourism literature. We analyze 49, 840 citations from 1, 878 published articles indexed in SSCI and SCI in the field of tourism to map the knowledge network of tourism studies, revealed in the interlinked author network. The results showed that research on tourism in the past decade has shifted from the studies of destination community to the studies of demand forecasting and authenticity. These results thus provide a valuable tool that could help researchers to access tourism related literature and act as a study guide for future research.
People in City: The relation of urban park and the quality of life

Well-designed of an urban park is one of the best ways to achieve the city sustainable development and contributes to the quality of life in many ways. Central to this argument is the claim that the variables need to be considered and thus, this research was conducted to assess the quality of urban park by empirically evaluating through behavioral competencies and psychological well-being from the model of Lawton’s Quality of Life. A quantitative research method was employed for the research with 138 respondents in Taman Lembah Bukit SUK, Shah Alam. Results confirm that the urban park provides the potential for psychological well-being, but it often underutilized and attract the aged of 19-50 years old of a user group.
The Length Weight Correlation And Population Dynamics Of Razor Clams (Solen Regularis) In Surabaya East Coast, Indonesia

Trisyani N, Herawati EY, Widodo MS, Setyohadi D. 2016. The length-weight correlation and population dynamics of razor clams (Solen regularis) in Surabaya east coast, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 17: 808-813. Solen regularis is a pelecypod species living in intertidal areas at sandy substrate. In Surabaya east coast, Solen regularis is exploited by the locals for consumption, both as freshseafood or processed one. This research aims to analyze the length-weight correlation of the clams and the population dynamics, conducted from August 2014 to July 2015 in Surabaya east coast. The results show that the correlation is explained in the equation W = 0.038L2. 798with the correlation coefficient of 0.9. Also, the allometric growth pattern is proven negative as the increase in body length is faster than that in weight. Growth is measured with von Bertalanffy growth model Lt = 8.0 ( 1-e (-0.7(t+0.003)) and the result from the parameter analysis using ELEFAN I method in FISAT II software show that Lâˆž = 8.0 cm and k = 0.7/year. The estimated weight at t0 in Paulyâ€™s empirical formula is -0.003 cm. Mortality rates are shown as follows: natural mortality (M) is 2.05/year, fishing mortality (F) is 2.01/year, and total mortality is 4.05/year. Exploitation rate (E) is 0.50/year indicating that the exploitation of Solen regularis is inoptimal condition. The B/R and Y/R value is 1.4%/year. It can be suggested from the findings of the research that knowledge on population dynamics may be useful for the utilization and management of Solen regularis in order to preserve its environmental and ecological sustainability.Keywords: Growth, mortality, razor clams, Solen regularis, Surabaya east coast