Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Concurrent genetic and standard screening test for hearing reduction

Reduction of hearing is the most common sensory impairment among newborns with an incidence of 1-3 per 1000 births. Introduction of an Auditory Newborn screening program allows early identification of hearing impairment. Mainly, congenital hearing loss in early childhood is a result of genetic changes. Due to high frequency of GJB2 pathogenic variants, its molecular characterization among sensorineural hearing reduction cases is already conducted as a routine analysis in many countries. The aim of this study is to show our initial results in the effort to determine whether genetic screening along with the standard hearing screening in newborns is justified. Otoacoustic emission (OAE) method was conducted in 223 newborns at risk of hearing impairment. Among them, 7 did not pass the test in both ears while 9 exhibited one-sided hearing loss. In all 7 children with indication of profound bilateral deafness, the diagnosis was confirmed using auditory brainstem response. Genetic screening of GJB2 gene was performed in 6 of them. Genetic analysis of GJB2 revealed homozygous state of the most common pathogenic variant 35delG in 3 (50%) of the analyzed infants. In the remaining 3 no pathogenic variant was determined. The results indicate that performing auditory OAE together with genetic screening is justified. In newborns who have not passed the hearing screening test and have profound hearing loss, without other syndrome traits, screening for mutations of GJB2 gene should be conducted. Genetic screening enables establishment of early definite diagnosis for deafness and helps in conducting adequate therapy providing timely rehabilitation and social inclusion of deaf child. Key words: hearing loss, genetic screening, auditory screening, GJB2 gene
International Journal of Computational Geometry & Applications C World Scientiic Publishing Company the L1 Voronoi Diagram of Segments and Vlsi Applications

In this paper we address the L1 Voronoi diagram of polygonal objects and present applications in VLSI layout and manufacturing. We show that the L1 Voronoi diagram of polygonal objects consists of straight line segments and thus it is much simpler to compute than its Euclidean counterpart; the degree of the computation is signiicantly lower. Moreover, it has a natural interpretation. In applications where Euclidean precision is not essential the L1 Voronoi diagram can provide a better alternative. Using the L1 Voronoi diagram of polygons we address the problem of calculating the critical area for shorts in a VLSI layout. The critical area computation is the main computational bottleneck in VLSI yield prediction.
Allocating Tasks in Extreme Teams

Extreme teams are on the horizon: large-scale agent teams operating in dynamic environments, problematic for current task allocation algorithms due to the lack of locality in agent interactions. We propose a novel distributed task allocation algorithm for extreme teams, called LA-DCOP, that incorporates three key ideas. First, LA-DCOP's task allocation is based on a dynamically computed minimum capability threshold which uses approximate knowledge of task load — given lack of locality, obtaining knowledge of exact task load at each agent is highly communication intensive. Second, LA-DCOP uses tokens to represent tasks and further minimize communication. Third, it creates potential tokens to deal with inter-task constraints of simultaneous execution. We show that LA-DCOP convincingly out-performs competing distributed task allocation algorithms while using orders of magnitude fewer messages. LA-DCOP has allowed a dramatic scale-up in extreme teams, allocating tasks in a fully distributed, proxy-based team of 200 agents, and its varying threshold are seen to be key in its outperforming competing distributed algorithms in the domain of simulated disaster rescue.
Evaluation of Weak and Strong Basic Anion Exchange Resins for NOM Removal

AbstractThe feasibility of using ion exchange resins in stirred (suspended) mode operation for the removal of natural organic matter (NOM) from surface water was investigated. Resins were compared in terms of their NOM removal capacity, kinetics, and regeneration efficiency under batch and consecutive batch loading conditions. The dominant mechanism for NOM removal with the strong basic A860 resin was ion exchange whereas a combination of ion exchange and surface adsorption governed the removal with the weak basic A847. The estimated limiting capacity (qm) and the equilibrium constant (α) for A860 were higher than the ones for A847, showing greater affinity of A860 for natural organic matter. Also, under consecutive batch loadings, the strong basic resin showed greater removal (∼10% higher) compared to A847. Different regeneration scenarios were also examined and A860 resin showed a superior regeneration efficiency (∼20%) compared to A847. Overall, findings indicated the strong basic resin as a better can.
CHAPTER 23 Self-Interest and Beyond BasicPrinciples of Social Interaction

What interpersonal orientations drive sodal interactions? Does selfishness underlie most of our behavior? Are we also inclined to benefit others? Are we naturally committed to sharing and pursuing equality? Do we tend to compete with others, even ifwe suffer from it by doi~g so? When and why do we aggress? Such questions are among the most fundamental to understanding interpersonal relations and group processes, which may explain why these topics have attracted the attention of so many scientists from so many fields and disciplines for so long. A complementary reason may be that the questions raised above touch on the long-standing scientific debate about "human nature": Are people by nature good or bad? Thomas Hobbes is of ten acknowledged as being one ofthe first to explicitly addtess this basic question. In Leviathan (1651/1996) he raised the interesting problem of why societies and collectivities are able to function at all, if-so he believed-humankind is basically selfinterested. The puzzle, which later was termed "the Hobbesian paradox," is central to much theory developed in the social and behavioral sciences. It deals with relation.ships between the individual and the society at large, but also lO smaller scale issues, such as the relationships between individuals in dyads or small groups, and to relationships between groups. How have the social and behavioral sciences sought to solve the Hobbesian paradox?
J un 2 00 5 Evanescence in Coined Quantum Walks

In this paper we complete the analysis begun by two of the authors in a previous work on the discrete quantum walk on the infinite line [J. Phys. A 36:8775-8795 (2003) quant-ph/0303105]. We obtain uniformly convergent asymptotics for the “exponential decay” region in the Schrödinger (or wave-mechanics) picture. In so doing, we rigorously establish the full Feynman equivalence between the path-integral and wave-mechanics representations for this system; taken together with the previous work, we can now prove every theorem by both routes. This calculation required us to generalise the method of stationary phase and we describe this extension in some detail, including self-contained proofs of all the technical lemmas required.
Comparison of CAI5-3 and Carcinoembryonic Antigen in Monitoring the Clinical Course of Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer1

Fifty-three women with metastatic breast cancer and serial plasma samples were selected to study the correlation between disease course and variations in circulating CAI5-3 and Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels. Forty-nine patients had their first sample drawn at the beginning of therapy, while four patients did not receive any treatment during the period of study. Clinical course was scored as progressive disease (PD), responsive disease (RD), and stable disease on the basis of radiological and physical evaluations. The percentage of variation in antigen level between the initial sample and samples drawn at the time of the clinical evaluation was correlated with clinical course. CAI5-3 levels above 22.0 units/ml and CEA levels above 3.0 ng/ml were considered elevated values. Antigen levels that increased >25% and decreased >25% from the initial value were considered to correlate with PD and RD, respectively. Vari ations in antigen levels Â±25%from the initial value were considered to correlate with stable disease. Significantly more patients had elevated circulating levels of CA15-3 than CEA (96.2 versus 69.Â»%;P < 0.01) at some point in the course of disease. Overall, CAI5-3 correlated with disease progression, regression, or stability in a higher number of patients than CEA (60.3 versus 39.6%; P = 0.02). CAI5-3 increased >25% more often than CEA in patients with PD (75.0 versus 58.3%) and decreased 225V, more often than CEA in patients with RD (38.1 versus 23.8%). In a logistic regression model, changes in CAI5-3 levels correlated signifi cantly with both PD (/' = 0.0004) and RD (/' = 0.02), while changes in CEA levels did not (PD, P = 0.34; RD, P = 0.92). Furthermore, correlations obtained when using both antigens together failed to improve the results obtained with CA15-3 alone. The present study thus demon strates that CAI5-3 is more useful than CEA in monitoring the clinical course of patients with metastatic breast cancer.
No . 83 – January 2000 SWITCHING FROM SINGLE TO MULTIPLE BANK LENDING RELATIONSHIPS : DETERMINANTS AND IMPLICATIONS by

Our results show that the majority of firms borrow for the first time from a single bank, but soon afterwards some of them start borrowing from several banks. Duration analysis shows that the likelihood of a firm substituting a single with multiple relationships increases with the duration of the single relationship and that firms with more growth opportunities and more bank debt are more likely to initiate multiple relationships. Firms with poor performance, too, are more likely to initiate multiple relationships. The analysis of the ex post effects of the initiation of multiple relationships does not detect an increase in the firm’s overall indebtedness and investment, but it finds an increase in its trade credit reliance and no improvement in its performance. Overall these results suggest to us that a potential unwillingness by the incumbent bank to increase its exposure to a firm because of its past poor performance appears to explain better firms’ decision to initiate multiple relationships than the hypothesis that they do so to protect themselves against the hold-up rents inherent to exclusive relationships because they have many growth opportunities. * The authors are economists at the Bank of Portugal and the Bank for International Settlements respectively. They thank Mark Flannery, Stanley Longhofer, David Smith, Steven Ongena, Pedro Portugal, Mário Santos, Reint Gropp, Kostas Tsatsaronis, Oved Yosha and seminar participants at the Bank for International Settlements, the European Central Bank and the 1999 FMA International meetings for useful comments and suggestions, and Lucena Vieira for valuable data assistance. The views stated herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily the views of the Bank of Portugal or of the Bank for International Settlements.
A bottom-heavy initial mass function for the likely-accreted blue-halo stars of the Milky Way

We use Gaia DR2 to measure the initial mass function (IMF) of stars within 250 pc and masses in the range 0.2 < m/M < 1.0, separated according to kinematics and metallicity, as determined from Gaia transverse velocity, vT , and location on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HRD). The predominant thin-disc population (vT < 40 km s−1) has an IMF similar to traditional (e.g. Kroupa 2001) stellar IMFs, with star numbers per mass interval dN/dm described by a broken power law, m−α, and index αhigh = 2.03+0.14 −0.05 above m ∼ 0.5, shallowing to αlow = 1.34 +0.11 −0.22 at m . 0.5. Thick-disc stars (60 km s −1 < vT < 150 km s−1) and stars belonging to the “high-metallicity” or “red-sequence” halo (vT > 100 km s−1 or vT > 200 km s−1, and located above the isochrone on the HRD with metallicity [M/H] > −0.6) have a somewhat steeper high-mass slope, αhigh = 2.35+0.97 −0.19 (and a similar low-mass slope αlow = 1.14+0.42 −0.50). Halo stars from the “blue sequence”, which are characterised by low-metallicity ([M/H] < −0.6), however, have a distinct, bottom-heavy IMF, well-described by a single power law with α = 1.82+0.17 −0.14 over most of the mass range probed. The IMF of the low-metallicity halo is reminiscent of the Salpeter-like IMF that has been measured in massive early-type galaxies, a stellar population that, like Milky-Way halo stars, has a high ratio of α elements to iron, [α/Fe]. Blue-sequence stars are likely the debris from accretion by the Milky Way, ∼ 10Gyrs ago, of the Gaia-Enceladus dwarf galaxy, or similar events. These results hint at a distinct mode of star formation common to two ancient stellar populations—elliptical galaxies and galaxies possibly accreted early-on by ours.
Thermal Decomposition of RDX and HMX Part I: Characteristic Values of Thermal Analysis

In this paper the thermal decompositions of RDX and HMX explosives were investigated by using DSC and TG-DTG. The influence of experimental condition, including sample size, heating rate and ambient pressure under static and dynamic pressure, on the thermal behaviors was considered. The exothermic decomposition of HMX is sharper than that of RDX, the reason mainly being the solid-liquid phase change occurring for decomposition of the former. Thus the self-heating and auto-catalysis of sample for HMX are stronger than those for RDX.
Characteristics of Dynamics Sorption Isotherms of Date Flesh Powder Rich in Fiber

Abstract Dynamic vapor sorption equipment (AQUADVS) was used to determine adsorption and desorption isotherms for powder rich in fiber (PRF) produced from Palm Date flesh of Sifri cultivar (Phoenix dactylifera L.) at temperatures 25, 35 and 45 °C in a wide range of water activity (0.09–0.87). Equilibrium was achieved within 29 and 25 h for the adsorption and desorption process respectively. The obtained data were fitted to ten models (Peleg, GAB, BET, Halsey, Oswin, Smith, Modified Henderson, Adam and Shove, Modified Oswin and Modified Halsey). The results indicated that the PRF followed type III behavior. The empirical Peleg model was found to be the best to represent the experimental data in the water activity range 0.09–0.87. The isosteric heat of sorption and the differential entropy decreased by increasing the moisture content and can be predicted by polynomial functions. Glass transition temperatures (Tg) of PRF were determined. The Tg decreased as the moisture content increased and can be correlated using the Gordon and Taylor model (R2=0.976). The PRF should be stored at moisture less than 9 d.b. % and temperature less than 35 °C.
PlasLR Enables Adaptation of Plasmid Prediction for Error-Prone Long Reads

Plasmids are extra-chromosomal genetic elements commonly found in bacterial cells that support many functional aspects including environmental adaptations. The identification of these genetic elements is vital for the further study of function and behaviour of the organisms. However it is challenging to separate these small sequences from longer chromosomes within a given species. Machine learning approaches have been successfully developed to classify assembled contigs into two classes (plasmids and chromosomes). However, such tools are not designed to directly perform classification on long and error-prone reads which have been gaining popularity in genomics studies. Assembling complete plasmids is still challenging for many long-read assemblers with a mixed input of long and error-prone reads from plasmids and chromosomes. In this paper, we present PlasLR, a tool that adapts existing plasmid detection approaches to directly classify long and error-prone reads. PlasLR makes use of both the composition and coverage information of long and error-prone reads. We evaluate PlasLR on multiple simulated and real long-read datasets with varying compositions of plasmids and chromosomes. Our experiments demonstrate that PlasLR substantially improves the accuracy of plasmid detection on top of the state-of-the-art plasmid detection tools. Moreover, we show that using PlasLR before long-read assembly helps to enhance the assembly quality in terms of plasmid recovery and near complete chromosome assembly from metagenomic datasets.
Anti-Müllerian hormone immunolocalization in growing follicles of replacement gilts culled due to anestrus

In female pigs, the anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) produced by granulosa cells of developing follicles plays an important role in ovarian reserves of follicles and serum AMH levels are the biological marker of gilt reproductive performance. In the present study, we determined the AMH expression during follicular growth in replacement gilts culled due to anestrus by immunohistochemical technique. A total of 20 reproductive organs from crossbred Landrace  Yorkshire gilts were collected from swine commercial farms in Thailand and categorized by the reasons for culling, i.e., the anestrus group (n=12) and other causes not related to reproduction as the control group (n=8). As expected, the AMH immunolocalization in control gilts was markedly observed in most granulosa cells of healthy preantral, early antral, large antral and preovulatory follicles. The AMH immunostaining in the granulosa cells of most presumably healthy follicles in anestrus gilts depicted weak immunoreaction and the intensity score was significantly lower (P<0.05) than the control gilts. Certainly, the granulosa cells within the atretic follicles in both the control and anestrus groups were faint from AMH immunoreaction. The findings indicate that the low intensity of AMH immunoexpression found in the granulosa cells might be associated with a decreasing of serum AMH level in anestrus gilts. This phenomenon confirms that the insufficient physiological function of AMH during follicular growth is relevant to the cause of anestrus in replacement gilts.
Dynamic Viscoelastic Properties of Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Skin Gelatin

ABSTRACT The viscoelastic properties of gelatin extracted from tilapia skin (protein yield: 21.2%) were evaluated using dynamic rheology tests. The flow curves of tilapia gelatin sols (1.0–6.6% w/w, 40°C; 0.5%, 2–40°C) complied with the Herschel-Bulkley model (R2 = 0.92–0.99), indicating the presence of yield stress, while the gelling and melting temperature of gelatin dispersions (1.0–6.6%) fit well with the Eldridge-Ferry model (R2 = 0.97). Tilapia skin gelatin displayed good thermo-stability and strong gel-forming properties, showing great potential as an alternative for mammal-based gelatin applied in various food products.
‘Rallying round the flag effect’ in Israel’s first COVID-19 wave

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the surge in support for PM Benjamin Netanyahu during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Israel within the framework of the rally effect. Israel was chosen as a case study for two reasons. First, the country was repeatedly polled during the first wave of infection. Second, a strict compartmentalised lockdown limited to certain areas, as a natural experimentation, had been in place for some time. These two factors fresh important light on the circumstances under which a society supports its political leaders during a national crisis.
Analysis of microstructure, kinetics of isothermal solidification and mechanical properties of IN718/MBF-20/SS316L TLP joints

ABSTRACT In this research, transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding of IN718 and SS316L dissimilar alloys was carried out using MBF-20 amorphous interlayer. The effects of bonding temperature and time ranging from 1030°C to 1110°C and 1–30 min on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the bonded samples were studied. The mechanism of the microstructure formation and the solidification sequence at the joint area were discussed. Two diffusion models assuming stationary and moving solid/liquid interface were used to study the isothermal solidification kinetics and the time required for the complete isothermal solidification (tf) at different temperatures was predicted. The results suggest that the tf values obtained by the moving interface approach are closer to those of the experiments. The minimum difference between the experimental value of tf and that calculated by the moving interface approach was about 26%, while it was about 106% by considering the stationary interface approach. A more uniform hardness distribution across the joint area and the highest shear strength values were observed in the samples with complete isothermal solidification. The maximum shear strength of 440 MPa was obtained for the sample bonded at 1030°C for 30 min. This was attributed to the formation of a eutectic-free joint in these samples.
Antecedents and outcomes of employee engagement in sport for development

ABSTRACT Employee engagement has an extensive history of application in the broader management and human resource development literature yet its application in sport contexts has been minimal. This study helps to fill that gap through a structural model of employee engagement in a set of North American sport for development (SFD) agencies. The direct outcome of this work includes field sensitive conceptual clarity of the engagement construct for sport management researchers and the utility of employee engagement in the context of the SFD workforce. Results indicate significant relationships between employee engagement and turnover intentions, psychological wellbeing, organizational performance, and innovative work behavior. Furthermore, mission attachment, intrinsic motivation, and identified regulation motivation were significant preconditions of employee engagement. The findings indicate that employee engagement provides a meaningful framework for understanding employee experiences in SFD agencies. Implications from this study include the integration of compassionate leader behaviors, specific communication strategies highlighting mission attachment, and opportunities for recognition that drive value orientation. HIGHLIGHTS An empirical investigation of the role of employee engagement in sport for development. Provides conceptual clarity of the engagement construct in sport management. Establish the utility of employee engagement in the SFD workforce. Mission attachment, intrinsic motivation, and identified regulation predict employee engagement. Employee engagement significantly predicts turnover intentions, psychological wellbeing, organizational performance, and innovative work behavior.
Ageing in Contemporary China: The Ziran Approach

ABSTRACT Based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with older women and men in two cities in mainland China, this article reports respondents’ experiences of ageing. Interviewees’ attitudes to health and their changing bodies suggest an orientation unlike the ‘medicalization’ approach. They report personal strategies that navigate conditions of ongoing social and economic change by both drawing on and modifying traditional norms, including those related to filial obligation in their relations with adult children as well as to terminal disease and death. Practices of ‘getting old’ in contemporary China reshape gender norms and expectations. The examination of ageing reported here identifies the notion of ziran as an approach to ageing quite distinct from discourses frequently reported in the literature.