Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
R&D Alliances and Firm Performance: The Impact of Technological Diversity and Alliance Organization on Innovation

In response to competitive pressures, firms increasingly use R&D alliances to complement in-house R&D efforts. However, empirical evidence to date provides little guidance on how firms can use this strategy effectively. Here, I examine why some R&D alliances contribute more than others to firm innovative performance. I suggest that technological diversity, or differences in technological capabilities between partners, determines firm benefits from such alliances. Further, I argue that how partners organize their alliance activities influences this relationship between technological diversity and firm innovation. To test these relationships, I examine firm patenting performance with a sample of 463 R&D alliances in the telecommunications equipment industry. I find that alliances contribute far more to firm innovative performance when technological diversity is moderate, rather than low or high. Some diversity is required, or firms have nothing to learn from their partners. However, when very diverse, firms have difficulty learning from their partners. While this relationship holds irrespective of alliance organization, I find that hierarchical organization, such as the equity joint venture, improves firm benefits from alliances with high levels of technological diversity. Thus, alliance organization likely influences partner ability and incentives to share information, which affects performance. Keywords: alliances, R&D, patents
Migration of Age and Sex Classes of Passerines on the Atlantic Coast in Autumn

THERE seems to be general agreement that in many species of birds the adults and immatures, and perhaps males and females, migrate at different times or by different routes in autumn. However, there is less than general agreement on what the order of migration is-do adults precede the immatures, or vice versa? Tordoff and Mengel (1956), after reviewing the work on this problem, concluded that "the whole subject is still unsettled. " The lack of agreement results from inadequate data, which are usually obtained sporadically from birds killed at lighthouses, ceilometers, and television towers. The use of mist-nets at selected locations makes it possible to capture and examine migrants daily throughout the migratory period. During the autumn of 1963, I had the opportunity to determine the age of several thousand passerine migrants at the Island Beach Operation Recovery Station in New Jersey. The data obtained form the basis of this paper.
Body dissatisfaction in school children from two cities in the South of Brazil

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of body dissatisfaction among students and identify the associated factors in two small cities in the south of Brazil. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with 573 students aging from 8 to 10 years old from the cities of Dois Irmaos and Morro Reuter, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Data were collected on the children's body dissatisfaction and weight through a corporal image scale (Children's figure rating scale) and anthropometry. The mothers answered a questionnaire on preoccupations and perceptions regarding the child's weight. The body mass index was utilized for nutritional status classification. A logistic regression analysis was done to determine associations between the studied variables and body dissatisfaction. RESULTS: The prevalence of body dissatisfaction was about 63.9% and 16.9% were overweight. The variables associated with body dissatisfaction were: risk for obesity (Odds ratio=2.91; IC95% 1.26-6.74); obesity (Odds ratio=4.47; IC95% 1.12-17.9); living in urban area (Odds ratio=1.75; IC95% 1.03-2.97); mothers with less than eight years of formal education (Odds ratio=1.57; IC95% 1.03-2.40); evaluation, according to mother, that the child's weight was below or above the adequate weight (Odds ratio=1.65; IC95% 1.05-2.59) and child worried with their own weight (Odds ratio=1.53; IC95% 1.05-2.23). CONCLUSION: A high prevalence of body dissatisfaction is also observed in preadolescents of small cities. The data generated by this study are enough to alert parents, educators and health professionals for the necessity to develop strategies that aim to improve the child's satisfaction with their own body.
Screening of six rice varieties against yellow stem borer, Scirpophaga incertulus Walker.

Studies were conducted on the relative resistance of six rice varieties (Basmati-385, IRRI6, Basmati Super, Basmati370, DR83 and KSK282) against the yellow stem borer (Scirpophaga incertulus Walker) in 2007, at the Research Farm of Agricultural Faculty, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan. Maximum dead-hearts (58.35%) and white-ear heads (13.67%) were found in Basmati Super whereas minimum dead-hearts (13.63%) and white-ear heads (2.35%) were found in IRRI-6 followed by DR-83 and KSK-282 with 20.06% and 25.74% dead-hearts and 9.45% and 4.97% white ear heads, respectively. IRRI-6 was found not only tolerant to rice stem borer attack but also showed maximum number of tillers (49.60), spike length (32.61cm), grains spike (132.8), thousand grains weight (35.67g) and yield hectare (6.53 tons). However, it showed less plant height (97.22 cm) compared to other tested varieties. Over all, results showed that fine varieties (Basmati) were highly susceptible to the yellow stem borer compared to the coarse varieties tested.
Having students design and develop laboratory exercises improves student learning outcomes in undergraduate physiology.

Science classes typically include laboratory exercises with the intent of providing complimentary active learning opportunities in conjunction with lectures. Involving students in the subject material improves student comprehension of complex scientific concepts. The goals of these laboratory exercises are to not only help students comprehend and internalize class material, but also improve critical thinking skills. Traditionally, laboratory activities are created by the instructor in advance. This format of laboratory activities may be beneficial; however, the pre‐made laboratory activities may not be the most effective active learning approach. Alternatively, we hypothesize that having students design one's own laboratory activity enhances learning and retention of complex concepts relative to students who only perform the lab. In order to test this hypothesis undergraduate research student were asked to design, and create two undergraduate physiology laboratories: a lab studying the mean electrical axis of the heart using the ECG; the other lab studying pulmonary function using a spirometer. A quiz assessing basic, intermediate, and advanced knowledge was given to research students before and six months after completing the laboratory designs. Similarly, human physiology students also took the pre‐ and post‐quizzes. However, the post‐quiz assessment occurred one week after completing the labs. Overall, the students who were not taking human physiology but designed labs scored 13% higher than the students who only performed the research student generated labs.
The use of Reading Assignments and Learning Issues as an alternative to anatomy lectures in Team‐Based Learning curriculum.

In anatomy, we have cut all basic anatomy lectures but retained embryology and clinical correlations. To maintain the course content and effective teaching without lectures we developed focused reading assignments and learning issues and adopted TBL strategy that promotes active learning. 180 students were divided into teams of 8. Each team received a series of assignments on basic anatomy and clinical correlations to emphasize anatomical concepts. Teams discussed these assignments during TBL sessions. The authors circulated among the teams to clarify difficult issues and to ask probing questions to further insure student comprehension. The data on departmental and NBME exams showed that students in the TBL curriculum performed better than the students in the traditional curriculum. We attribute this to TBL, which improved students' preparedness by keeping up with the assignments and created peer pressure to contribute to team discussions. Inclusion of clinical reasoning exercises for team discussions, and incorporation of high quality problem solving items written in collaboration with clinicians in the departmental exams might have contributed to better NBME performance. We found that TBL is effective, efficient and appealing to both students and faculty.
Protein secondary structure prediction based on SVM

Protein structure prediction is one of most important problems in modern computational biology,but protein secondary structure prediction is the foundation for high-level structure prediction.At the present time,there are many methods for protein secondary structure prediction,where one can obtain higher precision of prediction with SVM.The emphasis is put on how to apply SVM to protein secondary structure prediction,and some notes when comparing with other approaches,thus providing reference and inspiration for further study.
In vitro Propagation Protocol of Oroxylum indicum Vent

An efficient protocol for in vitro propagation of the high value endangered medicinal plant, Oroxylum indicum Vent. was developed using nodal segments in Woody Plant medium. Benzyl amino purine (BA, 3.0 mg/I) was more effective in bud break and induced maximum 7.6 shoots/explant with significant number of leaves (20.4) after 60 days of culture. The shoot elongation was maximum with shoot length of 1.6 cm in medium containing BA (0.5 mg/I) among various concentrations of growth regulators tried. The best in vitro rooting response (6.0 roots/shoot; 1.8 cm root length) was observed in ¼ strength WPM containing naphthalene acetic acid (NAA, 0.5 mg/I), though maximum length of root (2.5 cm) developed in medium containing NAA (0.25 mg/I) and indole acetic acid (IAA, 0.5 mg/I). The well rooted plants were sequentially hardened and acclimatized with 70% survival rate in the potting mixture having soil, perlite and compost (1: 1: 1). When transplanted in field, these plants showed 80% survival after 2 months.
Cyber bullying: A new face of peer bullying

Problem Statement: Information and communication technologies provide a wide range of benefits for schools but it comes with a cost: Cyber bullying (also called electronic bullying) as a new form of bullying has emerged from the misuse of those technologies. Although cyber bullying has been a growing concern in several countries, research substantiating this concern is limited. Purpose of the Study: The aim of the study is to describe the appearances of cyber bullying as it was experienced by high school students in Turkey in addition to the frequency usage of internet based communication tools and cellular phones. Method: The participants of the study consist of 228 high school students (44% male and 55% female). The ages of the students range from 14 to 19 and the majority of them were 16 years old. For the purpose of gathering data, a survey was created by the researcher based on the existing cyber bullying literature. This survey has two main and identical forms except the fact that one form measures cyber bullying experiences and the other measures cyber bullying victimization. Descriptive and comparative data analyses were utilized. Results: The findings revealed that Turkish high school students are also prone to cyber bullying both as a cyber bully and cyber victim. Male students compared to female students reported to more likely be a cyber bully and cyber victim. The frequency usage of internet, MSN, SMS, cellular phone, form sites, and chat room were found to be positively correlated to being a cyber bully as well as being a cyber victim. However, income level of family, type of school, grades, and age were not found to be related to being a cyber bully and cyber victim. Recommendations: In order to prevent cyber bullying in school, school personnel and parents should take responsibility in terms of supervising the students and helping students to be responsible and ethical users of information and communication technologies.
Deep adversarial one-class learning for normal and abnormal chest radiograph classification

In machine learning, one-class classification tries to classify data of a specific category amongst all data, by learning from a training set containing only the data of that unique category. In the field of medical imaging, one-class learning can be developed to model only normality (similar to semi-supervised classification or anomaly detection), since the samples of all possible abnormalities are not always available, as some forms of anomaly are very rare. The one-class learning approach can be naturally adapted to the way radiologists identify anomalies in medical images: usually they are able to recognize lesions by comparing them with normal images and surroundings. Inspired by the traditional one-class learning approach, we propose an end-to-end deep adversarial one-class learning (DAOL) approach for semi-supervised normal and abnormal chest radiograph (X-ray) classification, by training only from normal X-ray images. The DAOL framework consists of deep convolutional generative adversarial networks (DCGAN) and an encoder at each end of the DCGAN. The DAOL generator is able to reconstruct the normal X-ray images while not adequate for well reconstructing the abnormalities in abnormal X-rays in the testing phase, since only the normal X-rays were used for training the network, and the abnormal images with various abnormalities were unseen during training. We propose three adversarial learning objectives which optimize the training of DAOL. The proposed network achieves an encouraging result (AUC 0.805) in classifying normal and abnormal chest X-rays on the challenging NIH Chest X-ray dataset in a semi-supervised setting.
Efeito inibitório de eugenol, beta-pineno e alfa-pineno sobre o crescimento de bactérias Gram-positivas potencialmente causadoras de endocardite infecciosa

This study was led with the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of eugenol, b-pinene and a-pinene in inhibiting the growth of potential infectious endocarditis causing gram-positive bacteria. The phytochemicals Minimum Inhibitory Concentration-MIC was determined by solid medium diffusion procedure, while the interference of the MIC values on the bacterial cell viability was performed by viable cells count. Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and S. pyogenes strains were used as test microorganisms. The assayed phytochemicals showed effectiveness in inhibiting all assayed bacteria strains presenting MIC values between 2.5 and 40 µL/mL. Eugenol showed the lowest MIC values which were between 2.5 and 5 µL/mL for the most bacteria strains. MIC values found to the phytochemicals were able to inhibit the cell viability of S. aureus providing a total elimination of the bacteria inoculum in a maximum time of 24 hours of exposure. These data showed the interesting antibacterial property of the assayed phytochemicals and support their possible and rational use in the antimicrobial therapy.
Turfgrass Species and Endophyte Effects on Survival, Development, and Feeding Preference of Black Cutworms (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Growth, developmental rate, and survival of black cutworms, Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel), were compared on cool-season turfgrasses used commonly on golf courses, including cultivars with or without Neotyphodium spp. (= Acremonium spp.) endophytes. We also studied feeding preferences of neonates and 5th instars, including possible effects of induction of preference, to clarify patterns of movement of larvae between creeping bentgrass, Agrostis palustds Hudson, putting greens and peripheral areas. Development of black cutworms on 3 diverse cultivars of Kentucky bluegrass, Poa pratensis L. , was much poorer than on all other turfgrasses tested. Most larvae that fed on Kentucky bluegrass did not survive to pupation. In contrast, endophyte-free ‘Assure’ perennial ryegrass, Lolium perenne L. , and ‘SR8300’ tall fescue, Festuca arundinacea Schreber, were generally as suitable for cutworms as creeping bentgrass, the standard grass used on putting greens. Larvae reared on endophyte-infected SR8300 tall fescue showed no adverse effects; those fed endophyte-infected Assure perennial ryegrass showed only small reductions in growth rate compared with larvae reared on the same cultivar without endophyte. In laboratory choice tests, 1-d-old larvae consistently preferred creeping bentgrass over Kentucky bluegrass or tall fescue, regardless of which grass they had fed upon during the preceding 24 h. There was evidence for induction of preference for perennial ryegrass over creeping bentgrass in 1 of 2 trials. Preferences of 5th instars were more variable, but creeping bentgrass was preferred consistently over Kentucky bluegrass. In paired field plots, 5th instars did not discriminate between creeping bentgrass and perennial ryegrass, but preferred both of those species over Kentucky bluegrass. These results indicate that black cutworm densities could build up in areas of tall fescue or perennial ryegrass surrounding golf course putting greens and tees, and that endophyte infection of those grasses will not necessarily provide resistance. Use of Kentucky bluegrass in higher-mowed, peripheral areas may reduce numbers of black cutworms developing in roughs and fairways and later crawling onto putting greens.
Burbot growth and diets in Lakes Michigan and Huron: an ongoing shift from native species to round gobies

—Burbot Lota lota is a native species of cod (Gadidae) found in the coldwater regions of all five Laurentian Great Lakes. Burbot age-at-length data from along western Lake Huron showed that fish reached 18 years of age. Fish age 7 and younger grew more slowly in southern Lake Huron than in north-central and northern Lake Huron, while this trend was reversed for fish ≥ 8 years old. Burbot growth and diet data were recorded for fish collected near Leland, Fairport, and Bridgman (D. C. Cook nuclear power plant), Michigan and Washington Island, Wisconsin in Lake Michigan and Alpena, Michigan in northern Lake Huron to determine changes in growth and diet with the recent invasion of the nonindigenous round goby Neogobius melanostomus. We compared burbot growth at four length intervals (500–800 mm) among these locations and found significantly lower growth at Alpena compared with the other sites; burbot from Bridgman at 500 and 600 mm were the lightest among all sites. Burbot diets have changed substantially in some areas from native fish and invertebrate species to a diet that includes large proportions of the nonindigenous round goby (77% by wet weight in Lake Huron near Alpena, 53% in Lake Michigan near Fairport). Establishment of round gobies in the open waters of the Great Lakes is likely to change coldwater food webs, including replacement of sculpins (Cottus spp.) at depths up to 70 m, where round gobies have been found. Burbot, whose diets were composed of large amounts of round gobies, showed lower growth, and there is a potential for decreased bioaccumulation of toxic substances because round gobies consume zebra mussels Dreissena polymorpha and quagga mussels D. bugensis, which are lower in the food chain than organisms that native species eat. * Corresponding author: shensler@umich.edu Introduction Burbot Lota lota, a top predator with a circumpolar distribution, inhabit the coldwater regions of the Great Lakes. Historically, they coevolved with lake trout Salvelinus namaycush as the two most important top predators in these coldwater lakes (Ward et al. 2000). Lake trout were extirpated in all the Great Lakes except Lake Superior, while burbot populations were greatly depressed in Lake Michigan and other Great Lakes during the 1950s (Wells and McLain 1973), following colonization by the invasive sea lam-
Non-ICT executive perceptions of, and attitudes towards, ICT infrastructure projects : do they influence the outcomes of such projects

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Assessment of Writing Skills of Hearing Impaired Students Who Attend Mainstream Classes

This study examines writing skills of 25 hearing impaired students who attend mainstream schools at 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades and factors which might be effective on writing skill levels. The effective factors included degree of hearing loss, the age of onset of hearing aid use, duration of hearing aid use and chronological age. Descriptive and relational models were used for analyzing data. Descriptive data were analyzed using mean, standart deviation and coefficient of variation then interpreted. Relational data were analyzed using simple or multiple lineer regression and Pearson correlation coefficient. Findings show that all areas of the writing skills of the hearing impaired children were insufficient to some extend. Degree of hearing loss and the age starting use of the hearing aids explains 81% of variation in writing skills. The relation between the chronological age and the writing skill levels was not significant.
Diagnostic assessment of OCT3000 and HRT-II in detecting glaucoma

目的 比较OCT3000与HRT-Ⅱ对正常眼和开角型青光眼的诊断能力. 方法 对54例86眼(正常46眼,开角型青光眼40眼)OCT3000、HRT-Ⅱ检测的各项参数行受试者特征曲线(ROC)分析,评价不同参数对于青光眼的诊断价值. 对两种检查方法进行一致性评估. 结果 最佳敏感性、特异性和ROC曲线下面积是:OCT3000(下方神经纤维层厚度:90,89.1,0.936),HRT-Ⅱ(盘沿面积:82.5,87,0.919). OCT3000和HRT-Ⅱ之间的结果判断一致性(kappa值)是0. 661. 结论 两种仪器检测青光眼时具有良好的一致性. OCT3000较HRT-Ⅱ拥有更好的诊断价值。
Effect of Weed Control and Nutrient Management Practices in Rice

A field experiment was conducted during rainy seasons of 1998, 1999 and 2000 in acid inceptisol to find out most effective weed control and nutrient management practice for rice. Results revealed that butachlor 1.0 kg ha−1 or pretilachlor 0.75 kg ha−1 applied three days after transplanting (DAT) significantly reduced weed infestation till 45 DAT and resulted in higher yield of rice over weedy check. Nutrient management practices showed no significant variation in weed density and dry matter accumulation. Vermicompost (2.5 t ha−1 or fresh biomass of either Ipomoea or Crotolaria each 5 t ha−1 alongwith 75% recommended fertilizer dose resulted in significantly higher grain yield and soil organic carbon and available N, P and K over recommended fertilizer dose.