Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Faculty Intent to Stay and the Perceived Relationship with Supervisor at a Career-Focused University

The relationship between faculty members’ perceptions of the quality of the faculty-administrator relationship, and faculty intent to stay at one’s institution was examined at a Florida-based, multi-campus, non-profit, career-focused university. The pool of potential participants included the total population of 1,085 full-time and part-time campus-based undergraduate and graduate faculty. Survey instruments included: Leader-Member Exchange Version 7 (LMX-7) Questionnaire (faculty-administrator relationship); Price and Mueller’s (1986) Measure of Turnover Intent (Intent to Stay); Mowday, Steers and Porter’s (1979) Measure of Organizational Commitment as adopted by Daly and Dee (2006); and Heneman and Schwab’s (1985) Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire as adopted by Neumann & Finaly-Neumann, (1990). Data were collected anonymously through an internet based questionnaire. Results indicated that years teaching at the institution, Pay Satisfaction, and Organizational Commitment were predictors of Intent to Stay. Although LMX-7 was a significant variable predicting Intent to Stay, it became non-significant when Organizational Commitment was included in a hierarchical regression. Potential implications for practical application, theory development, and future research are discussed.
A Knee Point-Driven Evolutionary Algorithm for Many-Objective Optimization

Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) have shown to be promising in solving many-objective optimization problems (MaOPs), where the performance of these algorithms heavily depends on whether solutions that can accelerate convergence toward the Pareto front and maintaining a high degree of diversity will be selected from a set of nondominated solutions. In this paper, we propose a knee point-driven EA to solve MaOPs. Our basic idea is that knee points are naturally most preferred among nondominated solutions if no explicit user preferences are given. A bias toward the knee points in the nondominated solutions in the current population is shown to be an approximation of a bias toward a large hypervolume, thereby enhancing the convergence performance in many-objective optimization. In addition, as at most one solution will be identified as a knee point inside the neighborhood of each solution in the nondominated front, no additional diversity maintenance mechanisms need to be introduced in the proposed algorithm, considerably reducing the computational complexity compared to many existing multiobjective EAs for many-objective optimization. Experimental results on 16 test problems demonstrate the competitiveness of the proposed algorithm in terms of both solution quality and computational efficiency.
(FeCo/Ppy@C): Pt-Free FeCo-Polypyrrole Nanocomposites Supported On Porous Carbon For Electrochemical Application

The synthesis and characterization of pyrolyzed carbon-supported transition metal/nitrogen (M–Nx/C) material based on FeCo alloy and Polypyrrol as source of N atoms are presented. Two different synthetic protocols, a multi-step and a novel one pot single-step approach are compared. In both approaches two different Fe:Co ratio (50:50 and 75:25) were used to obtain Pt-free FeCo-Polypyrrole nanocomposites supported on porous carbon (FeCo/Ppy@C). Structural and morphological characterizations of the samples before and after pyrolysis were carried out by using X-Ray Powder Diffracion, Infrared Spectroscopy and High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy. For both approaches, nanoparticles with a core shell structure but different size and matrix polidispersivity were observed after pyrolysis when a Fe:Co 50:50 ratio was used. Bigger nanoparticles were obtained after pyrolysis in the 75:25 ratio samples, with no significant differences between the two approaches. The electrocatalytical properties of the final samples, investigated by cyclic voltammetry in an acidic electrolyte, showed the presence of a cathodic current density. Copyright © 2019 VBRI Press.
Diversity of Algerian oases date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L., Arecaceae): Heterozygote excess and cryptic structure suggest farmer management had a major impact on diversity

Date palm (Phoenix dactyliferaL.) is the mainstay of oasis agriculture in the Saharan region. It is cultivated in a large part of the Mediterranean coastal area of the Sahara and in most isolated oases in the Algerian desert. We sampled 10 oases in Algeria to understand the structure of date palm diversity from the coastal area to a very isolated desert location. We used 18 microsatellite markers and a chloroplast minisatellite to characterize 414 individual palm trees corresponding to 114 named varieties. We found a significant negative inbreeding coefficient, suggesting active farmer selection for heterozygous individuals. Three distinct genetic clusters were identified, a ubiquitous set of varieties found across the different oases, and two clusters, one of which was specific to the northern area, and the other to the drier southern area of the Algerian Sahara. The ubiquitous cluster presented very striking chloroplast diversity, signing the frequency of haplotypes found in Saudi Arabia, the most eastern part of the date palm range. Exchanges of Middle Eastern and Algerian date palms are known to have occurred and could have led to the introduction of this particular chlorotype. However, Algerian nuclear diversity was not of eastern origin. Our study strongly suggests that the peculiar chloroplastic diversity of date palm is maintained by farmers and could originate from date palms introduced from the Middle East a long time ago, which since then, hasbeen strongly introgressed. This study illustrates the complex structure of date palm diversity in Algerian oases and the role of farmers in shaping such cryptic diversity.
Influence of host size variation on the development of a koinobiont aphid parasitoid, Lysiphlebus ambiguus Haliday (Braconidae, Hymenoptera)

Abstract To determine whether host body size is the currency used by the aphidiine parasitoid, Lysiphlebus ambiguus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), in assessing host quality, the aphid, Aphis fabae Scopoli (Homoptera: Aphididae), was reared at either high or low temperature to yield hosts of the same instar with different body sizes. Cohorts of A. fabae raised at 15°C and 30°C and exposed to individual female L. ambiguus in no-choice tests were successfully parasitized in all host stages from 1st instar nymphs to adults. However, younger and smaller aphids were more susceptible to parasitism than older and larger nymphs or adults, as measured by the number of mummies produced. For aphid cohorts reared at 15°C, the proportion of female progeny, progeny adult size, and development time all increased linearly with aphid size at the time of attack. In contrast, for aphid cohorts raised at 30°C, the proportion of female progeny and progeny adult size declined with aphid size, while development time remained unaffected. Through manipulation of host rearing temperature, we have shown that at cooler temperatures the koinobiont parasitoid, L. ambiguus, responds to host size in the same way as an idiobiont parasitoid, but that this response is compromised at higher temperatures. Our results suggest that differential mortality during development is likely to influence the observed secondary sex ratio in relation to aphid size for aphid cohorts raised at higher temperatures due to disruption of the activity of the host's primary endosymbiont and that such reduced nutritional quality of aphids cannot be compensated by increased development time.
Sliding Mode Control for Mismatched Uncertain Systems Using an Extended Disturbance Observer

This paper extends a recent result on sliding mode control for general n th order systems with mismatched uncertainties. In this paper, a control is proposed to handle a larger class of mismatched uncertainties by extending the disturbance observer and modifying and generalizing the sliding surface. The practical stability of the overall system is proved and the results are verified by simulation of an illustrative example.
Reaction-Diffusion Computation in Wireless Sensor Networks

Biological systems exhibit an amazing array of distributed sensor/actuator systems, and the exploitation of principles and practices found in nature will lead to more effective artificial systems. The retina is an example of a highly tuned sensing organ, and the human skin is comprised of a set of heterogeneous sensor and actuator elements. Moreover , the specific organization and architecture of these systems depends on contextual influences during the developmental stages of the organism. Comparable theoretical and technological methodologies need to be found for wireless sensor networks. We propose the study of reaction-diffusion systems from mathematical biology as a starting point for this endeavor. The main result is the demonstration of the feasibility of computing useful patterns using reaction-diffusion mechanisms in wireless sensor networks; for example, providing clearly delineated stripes which serve as lane markers for robots. Section 1. Reaction-Diffusion Fundamentals Alan Turing introduced a revolutionary reaction-diffusio n model as the chemical basis of morphogenesis [17], and this method lends itself particularly well to pattern synth esis in distributed systems. For more detailed explanations , see his original paper (which provides an exemplar of the scientific paper – theory, analysis and numerical solution o n the Manchester machine which Turing helped design and build! ), as well as the works of Murray [13], Meinhardt [11], etc. Turing’s key insight was that diffusion of an inhibitory morphogen could lead to the formation of stable and variegated patterns. This is related to nonlinear far fr om equilibrium thermodynamics, and dissipative structures ( e.g., see Prigogine [16] who received the Nobel prize in chemistry for work in this area). One of the goals of our work is to understand how these principles behave practically in biological sensor systems and how they may be exploited in wireless sensor networks. More recently, reaction-diffus ion computers have been proposed. For an in-depth introduction to R-D computers, see Adamatzky et al. [1]. A wide range of issues are discussed there, including: (1) R-D processor s, (2) R-D geometrical computation (e.g., Voronoi diagrams an d skeletons), (3) R-D logic circuits, (4) R-D robot control, a nd (5) programming R-D computers. Due to its two chemical activator-inhibitor system which produces appropriate waves for the patterns required, we us e Turing’s reaction-diffusion mechanism to generate patter ns in wireless sensor networks [6] (we use here some introductory material from that paper); [4] provides an introduction to T.C. Henderson is with the School of Computing, University of Utah, SLC, UT, USA;tch at cs.utah. edu K. Luthy and E. Grant are with the Dept of Electrical and Comput er Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC , USA;egrant at ncsu.edu nonlinear parabolic systems theory and related techniques as they apply to R-D systems. A set of equations forms the basis of this mechanism that mimics the reaction and diffusion aspects of certain chemical kinetics:
Age-Related Differences and Heritability of the Perisylvian Language Networks

Acquisition of language skills depends on the progressive maturation of specialized brain networks that are usually lateralized in adult population. However, how genetic and environmental factors relate to the age-related differences in lateralization of these language pathways is still not known. We recruited 101 healthy right-handed subjects aged 9–40 years to investigate age-related differences in the anatomy of perisylvian language pathways and 86 adult twins (52 monozygotic and 34 dizygotic) to understand how heritability factors influence language anatomy. Diffusion tractography was used to dissect and extract indirect volume measures from the three segments of the arcuate fasciculus connecting Wernicke's to Broca's region (i.e., long segment), Broca's to Geschwind's region (i.e., anterior segment), and Wernicke's to Geschwind's region (i.e., posterior segment). We found that the long and anterior arcuate segments are lateralized before adolescence and their lateralization remains stable throughout adolescence and early adulthood. Conversely, the posterior segment shows right lateralization in childhood but becomes progressively bilateral during adolescence, driven by a reduction in volume in the right hemisphere. Analysis of the twin sample showed that genetic and shared environmental factors influence the anatomy of those segments that lateralize earlier, whereas specific environmental effects drive the variability in the volume of the posterior segment that continues to change in adolescence and adulthood. Our results suggest that the age-related differences in the lateralization of the language perisylvian pathways are related to the relative contribution of genetic and environmental effects specific to each segment. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Our study shows that, by early childhood, frontotemporal (long segment) and frontoparietal (anterior segment) connections of the arcuate fasciculus are left and right lateralized, respectively, and remain lateralized throughout adolescence and early adulthood. In contrast, temporoparietal (posterior segment) connections are right lateralized in childhood, but become progressively bilateral during adolescence. Preliminary twin analysis suggested that lateralization of the arcuate fasciculus is a heterogeneous process that depends on the interplay between genetic and environment factors specific to each segment. Tracts that exhibit higher age effects later in life (i.e., posterior segment) appear to be influenced more by specific environmental factors.
Increased CD40+ Fibrocytes in Patients With Idiopathic Orbital Inflammation

Objective: To investigate the phenotypic and functional characteristics of peripheral and tissue-infiltrating stem cells called fibrocytes in patients with idiopathic orbital inflammation (IOI). Methods: Seven patients with IOI were studied. In the 3 patients requiring orbital biopsy, fibrocytes were identified in orbital tissue from patients with IOI compared with healthy controls using immunohistochemistry. Fibrocytes from the peripheral blood of all 7 patients and controls were quantified and phenotyped by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence for expression of CD34, alpha smooth muscle actin, CD40, and collagen 1. Quantitation of CD40-mediated interleukin-6 (IL-6) production was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Orbital biopsy specimens from patients with IOI demonstrate tissue infiltration by fibrocytes (n = 3). Fibrocytes are present in the peripheral blood of IOI patients (n = 7) but are scarce in healthy donors (n = 19). Fibrocytes from IOI patients express substantial levels of CD40, and ligation of CD40 increases IL-6 expression. Conclusions: Fibrocytes are present in the peripheral blood and orbital tissues of patients with IOI and constitutively express CD40 and express IL-6 in response to ligation. This site-specific predilection of CD34+ fibrocytes to sites of orbital inflammation and fibrosis may suggest a role in IOI. Moreover, CD40-mediated activation cytokine production may contribute to the proinflammatory and profibrotic features of IOI and may provide a mechanism for future targeted therapy.
Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase Gene Expression and the Surgical Management of Suspicious Thyroid Tumors

Purpose: Patients with a preoperative cytologic diagnosis of a suspicious thyroid nodule present a therapeutic dilemma because surgery differs for benign and malignant lesions. To address this issue, several molecular markers, including human telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), have been tested as markers of thyroid cancer. Because most studies select cases falling into well-defined categories to test new markers, they may overestimate their discriminatory power when applied to samples that are difficult to classify. Fine-needle aspirates (FNAs) of the thyroid with indeterminate cytology are an example of such cases. Experimental Design: We examined whether assessing TERT mRNA by reverse transcription-PCR could have improved the surgical management in a cohort of 100 patients undergoing thyroidectomy for indeterminate FNA results. Results: Ninety percent of 48 cancers were TERT positive, as were 35% of 52 benign lesions. When 10 cases with concomitant lymphocytic thyroiditis were excluded, the overall sensitivity of TERT was 91% (95% confidence interval, 80–98%) and specificity was 79% (64–90%). No clinical or tumor variable contributed to the predictive ability of TERT except for tumor size, which added only marginally. Basing the surgical approach on the TERT assay alone would have reduced lobectomies performed for malignant disease from 11 to 4 cases and reduced total thyroidectomies for benign lesions from to 15 to 9, an overall 50% reduction in suboptimal treatment. Conclusions: The overall performance of preoperative differential diagnosis for thyroid tumors with indeterminate FNA results can be substantially improved by the inclusion of molecular markers such as TERT.
Monochrome glove: A robust real-time hand gesture recognition method by using a fabric glove with design of structured markers

This paper presents a method for recognizing human-hand postures in real time, even if environment light cannot be configured appropriately. The key technology is a monochrome glove that is patterned with augmented reality (AR) markers on its palm and is also designed with a structured marker on each finger. As the glove only uses white color for the design of the patterns, it can achieve robust gesture recognition in a natural lighting environment by using a single camera to track a hand wearing the glove. The structured marker facilitates the recognition of a fingertip. Our system can recognize at least 96 hand postures by using the features of the fingers. The AR pattern can be of various configurations. Thus, by utilizing different patterned gloves, we can represent different interactions from the same hand posture. The extensive experiments we conducted demonstrate the accuracy, efficiency, and robustness of our gesture recognition method.
Changes in Selection Regime Cause Loss of Phenotypic Plasticity in Planktonic Freshwater Copepods

Rapid phenotypic adaptation is critical for populations facing environmental changes and can be facilitated by phenotypic plasticity in the selected traits. Whereas recurrent environmental fluctuations can favour the maintenance or de novo evolution of plasticity, strong selection is hypothesized to decrease plasticity or even fix the trait (genetic assimilation). Despite advances in the theoretical understanding of the impact of plasticity on diversification processes, comparatively little empirical data of populations undergoing diversification mediated by plasticity are available. Here we use the planktonic freshwater copepod Acanthodiaptomus denticornis from two lakes as model system to study UV stress responses of two phenotypically different populations under laboratory conditions. Our study reveals heritable lake- and sex-specific differences of behaviour, physiological plasticity, and mortality. We discuss specific selective scenarios causing these differences and argue that phenotypic plasticity will be higher when selection pressure is moderate, but will decrease or even be lost under stronger pressure.
Cumulon: Cloud-Based Statistical Analysis from Users Perspective

Cumulon is a system aimed at simplifying the development and deployment of statistical analysis of big data on public clouds. Cumulon allows users to program in their familiar language of matrices and linear algebra, without worrying about how to map data and computation to specific hardware and software platforms. Given user-specified requirements in terms of time, money, and risk tolerance, Cumulon finds the optimal implementation alternatives, execution parameters, as well as hardware provisioning and configuration settings—such as what type of machines and how many of them to acquire. Cumulon also supports clouds with auction-based markets: it effectively utilizes computing resources whose availability varies according to market conditions, and suggests best bidding strategies for such resources. This paper presents an overview of Cumulon and the challenges encountered in building this system.
Minority Stress Predicts Depression in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Emerging Adults via Elevated Diurnal Cortisol

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals report higher levels of stressful interpersonal conflicts with others because of their divergence from heterosexual social norms. In a biopsychosocial model of minority stress, we tested diurnal cortisol slopes and internalized homonegativity (IH) as two potential mechanisms linking experiences of LGB-related stress to depression. The sample consisted of 27 lesbian and bisexual young women and 35 gay and bisexual young men (N = 62; age, 17–27, M = 21.34 years) from the greater metropolitan area of Montréal, Québec. We predicted that (a) LGB-related stress, IH, and diurnal cortisol slopes would be positively associated with each other and with depression; and (b) flatter diurnal cortisol slopes and/or greater IH would mediate the link between LGB-related stress and depression. LGB-related stress, diurnal cortisol slopes, and IH were positively associated with depression, and mediation analyses showed that diurnal cortisol slopes mediated the link between LGB-related stress and depression. These findings suggest that external stressors associated with being LGB can impact individuals’ physiological coping resources, thus affecting their psychological health.
Automatic Chord Detection Incorporating Beat and Key Detection

We introduce an algorithm that analyzes audio signals to extract chord-sequence information. The main goal of our approach lies in incorporating music theoretical knowledge without restricting the input data to a narrow range of musical styles. At the basis of our approach lies pitch detection using enhanced autocorrelation, supported by key detection and beat tracking. The chords themselves are identified by comparing generated and reference pitch class profiles. A smoothing algorithm is applied to the chord sequence which optimizes the number of chord changes and thus takes into consideration the comparatively stable nature of chords. In this paper we present an evaluation performed on a large set of 35 pieces of diverse music showing an average performance of 65% accuracy.