Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A review of workplace substance use policies in Canada. Strengths, gaps and key considerations.

Substance use policies and practices in the workplace are at a relatively early stage, and research and information in this area is limited. There are many areas where improved knowledge and understanding could be beneficial for various stakeholders, particularly employers and employees. Given these facts, the objectives of this study were: • To review, analyze and provide a general overview of the state of workplace policies on substance use in Canada, their common components and unique elements, and any gaps; • To identify lessons learned and best practices in developing and implementing workplace substance use policies from the experiences of safety-sensitive organizations; and • To determine which policy areas require more guidance, tools and resources, and from this information make recommendations to help improve policy development and employer responses to substance use affecting the workplace. This study is the first of its kind to explore the state of Canadian substance use policies in the workplace. It is primarily intended for employers and human resources professionals interested in developing or improving workplace policies and best practices related to substance use, and secondarily for other professionals working with organizations (e.g., medical professionals, SAPs/SAEs, lawyers, etc.).
Essays in empirical corporate finance

This thesis explores three topics in empirical corporate finance. The first chapter examines the cross-border private equity buyout performance. The second chapter investigates social ties and venture capital investment. The final chapter looks into the internal capital market of the conglomerate and examines the investment efficiency by taking the equity carve-out as the restructuring event. The first chapter examines the question of a country’s institutional quality as a determinant of the cross-border buyout performance. Using a sample of 2,665 cross-border buyout investments from 1998 to 2007 in 40 countries and regions, I find that institution quality of the portfolio company nation, as measured by the ranking in the composite index of political, economic and financial risk, is important to cross-border buyout performance in terms of exit success. In a high institution quality country, the probability of a successful exit via Initial Public Offerings (IPO) or Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) is higher. Institutional distance between portfolio company country and private equity (PE) firm country lowers the exit success. PE firms’ international experience, industrial experience, and reputation based on deal experience help to improve buyout exit success and their industrial experience could mitigate the adverse influence of institutional distance. The second chapter investigates how social ties between VC partners and start-up founders influence the venture capital investment. We find that if the VC partners have social ties, obtained from previous education, past employment or ethnic minority community, with the start-up founders, the collaboration between the VC firm and the start-up is more likely to happen. Also, this homophily improves the post investment outcome and we observe higher probability of next round financing, higher hazard rate of next round financing and shorter expected duration, larger amounts of fund-raising in the next round, and higher probability of the VC firm taking the start-up to Initial Public Offerings (IPO) or Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). Using the estimate of a two-stage Heckman selection model and addressing the selection effect, we find that post-investment monitoring effect still accounts for the performance patterns. In the third chapter, we examine whether equity carve-outs (ECOs) lead to improvements in the functioning of the internal capital markets (ICM) of diversified firms. Divestments, including spin-offs, sell-offs, and ECOs, can be employed by firms to improve allocative efficiency. Equity carve-outs, unlike spin offs and sell-offs, leave the parent’s ICM intact but provide the opportunity to enhance internal and external corporate governance mechanisms. Using a U.S. sample of 354 ECOs completed between 1980 and 2013, we find that the allocative efficiency of parents is augmented significantly following ECOs. This increase in investment efficiency is related to the improvements in the internal and external governance characteristics of parent companies.
Subspace clustering for high dimensional datasets

Clustering high dimensional data is a challenging problem because of the existence of many irrelevant and redundant attributes. Conventional clustering algorithms identify a global set of relevant attributes prior to clustering using attribute selection and feature extraction techniques. All the globally relevant attributes are used in the similarity calculation while clustering. These algorithms fail to identify true clusters that are present in a subset of attributes. So, subspace clustering has become the thrust area of research in the recent past. Subspace clustering detects the clusters that exist in subsets of dimensions. Different types of subspace clustering algorithms are proposed in the literature. This paper discusses the different types of subspace clustering algorithms with main emphasis on 2D subspace clustering. Availability of new and huge datasets like spatiotemporal datasets, temporal datasets, spatial datasets and genomic data has necessitated the development of 3D subspace clustering. This paper presents an overview of subspace clustering for the research community who is interested in subspace clustering.
Ten polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci for paternity and population genetics analysis in the fen raft spider ( Dolomedes plantarius )

Ten polymorphic di- and trinucleotide microsatellite loci were developed in the fen raft spider Dolomedes plantarius from a partial phagemid genomic library enriched for microsatellite inserts. The expected heterozygosity at these loci ranges from 0.62 to 0.9, with the observed allele numbers varying from four to 15 in the 22 individuals tested. Average paternity exclusion probabilities ranged between 0.290 and 0.686. In combination, the 10 polymorphic loci elicit an exclusion probability of 0.999. The high level of polymorphism of these microsatellite loci makes them ideal genetic markers for paternity and population genetics analysis in this endangered species.
Dynamic droop based inverter control for autonomous microgrid

Developments in the renewable generation along with the power electronic converters gave huge scope of research in microgrid through which there can be little chance of meeting the load demand. Integration of microgrids into the existing system leads to lots of changes in the power system. So detail analysis is required for the microgrid level to achieve better performance in the existing system. In this paper the systematic small signal modeling of an islanded AC microgrid operating under various kinds of loading conditions is discussed. From the small-signal dynamic analysis of the microgrid, it can be observed as the loading condition changes, the low-frequency modes of the power sharing dynamics drifts to new locations and the damping of the system varies according to the real power load which affects relative stability of the system, and eventually may lead to instability. To avoid this instability a dynamic droop settings is proposed in this work which modifies its droop in accord to the inverter output current.
Aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons in tropical recent sediments of Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil

Sediment samples from the Imbe, the Urubu and the Ururai rivers and from Lake de Cima were studied. These sites are located in the county of Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Aliphatic and aromatic fractions were analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS in order to gather information on the degree of contamination by anthropogenic activities and other biogenic contributions. Concentrations of total aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons were 1.2, 2.8, 5.8 and 4.3 mg g-1 and 74, 30, 722 and 340 ng g-1 in the Imbe, Ururai, Urubu rivers and Lake de Cima, respectively. The C20 highly branched isoprenoid alkane was identified in the Urubu sediment. There were no hopanes or steranes in any sample. Anthropogenic aromatic compounds, detected at trace levels, were observed only in the Imbe and in Lake de Cima (227 ng g-1). The fluoranthene/pyrene rate for Lake de Cima was 4.2, suggesting a combustion origin for the PAH. This data is consistent with the frequently sugar cane burning practice that occurs in this region. A greater input from higher plants was observed in the Urubu, Imbe and Lake de Cima sediments; on the other hand, the aquatic input predominates for Ururai. In summary, Lake de Cima sediment is considered very slightly polluted, while the others are unpolluted.
Public financial support and innovation in Colombian manufacturing firms

We evaluate the impact of public financial support, both subsidies and credit, on different types of innovation in Colombian industry. We compare it with the effects of financing innovation with own resources and with private loans, and analyze the issue of crowding-out, for different classes of innovation. To control for potential selection bias, we apply Propensity Score Matching (PSM) techniques to a sample of 9173 manufacturing firms for the period 2011-2012, combining data from two available sources (Development and Technological Innovation Survey Â–EDIT6- and Annual Manufacturing Survey Â–EAM-). Results show that public financial support has a significant positive effect on products new for the international market and on process innovations. We further find that allocation of own resources of the firm to innovation activities has a positive effect on a wide variety of forms of innovation. Notwithstanding, its impact is substantially smaller than that of public funding in the cases of products new for the international market and on new processes. Commercial loans for innovation activities have no significant effects on either product or process innovations. Finally, we find that public funding increases the probability of allocating own resources to finance innovation activities, but reduces the probability of using private external sources.
A Small-Molecule Inhibitor Targeting the Mitotic Spindle Checkpoint Impairs the Growth of Uterine Leiomyosarcoma

Purpose: Uterine leiomyosarcoma (ULMS) is a poorly understood cancer with few effective treatments. This study explores the molecular events involved in ULMS with the goal of developing novel therapeutic strategies. Experimental Design: Genome-wide transcriptional profiling, Western blotting, and real-time PCR were used to compare specimens of myometrium, leiomyoma, and leiomyosarcoma. Aurora A kinase was targeted in cell lines derived from metastatic ULMS using siRNA or MK-5108, a highly specific small-molecule inhibitor. An orthotopic model was used to evaluate the ability of MK-5108 to inhibit ULMS growth in vivo. Results: We found that 26 of 50 gene products most overexpressed in ULMS regulate mitotic centrosome and spindle functions. These include UBE2C, Aurora A and B kinase, TPX2, and Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1). Targeting Aurora A inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in LEIO285, LEIO505, and SK-LMS1, regardless of whether siRNA or MK-5108 was used. In vitro, MK-5108 did not consistently synergize with gemcitabine or docetaxel. Gavage of an orthotopic ULMS model with MK-5108 at 30 or 60 mg/kg decreased the number and size of tumor implants compared with sham-fed controls. Oral MK-5108 also decreased the rate of proliferation, increased intratumoral apoptosis, and increased expression of phospho-histone H3 in ULMS xenografts. Conclusions: Our results show that dysregulated centrosome function and spindle assembly are a robust feature of ULMS that can be targeted to slow its growth both in vitro and in vivo. These observations identify novel directions that can be potentially used to improve clinical outcomes for this disease. Clin Cancer Res; 18(12); 3352–65. ©2012 AACR.
Zwischen den Molekülen : Beiträge zur Philosophie der Genetik

Ein philosophisches Verstandnis der Lebensprozesse muss die Befunde der Molekularbiologie zur Kenntnis nehmen. Die Philosophie der Genetik hat zur Aufgabe, hartnackig an diese Befunde und von ihnen ausgehend weiterfuhrende Fragen zu stellen und so die Voraussetzungen fur die Interpretation der Genetik zu klaren. Strittige Annahmen betreffen die Konzeptionen der Rolle des Genoms im Rahmen der Entwicklung und des Lebens eines Organismus sowie seine Bedeutung fur die Wahrnehmung der Korperlichkeit des Menschen, fur Gesundheit und Krankheit, fur Diagnostik, Prognostik und Therapie. Fur die Ethik und fur die Biopolitik sind namlich gerade die theoretischen Umbruche in der Genetik und Genomik, die sich im Laufe der letzten Jahre ergeben haben, von unmittelbarer Relevanz. Sie beeinflussen die Wahrnehmung der ethischen Fragen, die mit den gentechnologischen und biomedizinischen Moglichkeiten eroffnet sind. In Auseinandersetzung mit den Biowissenschaften sucht der Autor einen eigenstandigen Weg des Philosophierens.
Pittsburgh genetic-based machine learning in the data mining era: representations, generalization, and run-time

El enfoque de Pittsburgh (DeJong, Spears, & Gordon, 1993) del aprendizaje evolutivo es, entre otras alternativas (Wilson, 1955; Venturini, 1993), la aplicacion de las tecnicas de computacion evolutiva (Holland, 1975; Godberg, 1989a) a las tareas de aprendizaje artificial, Los sistemas que aplican este enfoque se caracterizan por hacer evolucionar individuos que consisten en un conjunto de reglas, habitualmente de tamano variable. Por lo tanto, la solucion propuesta al problema a resolver por este tipo de sistemas es el mejor individuo de la poblacion. Cuando se usa este enfoque es necesario soluciona correctamente algunos asuntos como el control del tamano de los individuos de la poblacion, aplicar el grado correcto de presion de generalizacion sobre un conjunto amplio de problemas, reduccion del coste computacional del sistema, tratar problemas con tipos de atributo diversos, etc. Todos estos problemas son todavia mas serios cuando se pretende solucionar problemas modernos de mineria de datos. El objetivo general de esta tesis es adaptar el enfoque de Pittsburgh para solucionar con exito este tipo de problemas. Este objetivo general se divide en tres partes: (1) mejorar la capacidad de generalizacion, (2) reducir el coste computacional y (3) representaciones para atributos reales. Estos tres objetivos se han logrado mediante la combinacion de cuatro tipos de contribuciones. Algunas de estas propuestas solo solucionan uno de los objetivos. Otras pueden solucionar mas de un objetivo al mismo tiempo. Todas estas propuestas estan integradas en el sistema llamado GAssist (Genetic clASSIfier sySTem), La experimentacion realizada incluye un amplio espectro de problemas de mineria de datos. Esta experimentacion esta dividida en dos partes. En la primera parte se ha experimentado con diversas alternativas por separado para cada uno de los cuatro tipo de contribuciones realizadas en esta tesis. El objetivo de est
Mitosis Detection in Breast Cancer Histological Images Based On Texture Features Using AdaBoost

Counting mitotic figures present in tissue samples from a patient with cancer, plays a crucial role in assessing the patient’s survival chances. In clinical practice, mitotic cells are counted manually by pathologists in order to grade the proliferative activity of breast tumors. However, detecting mitoses under a microscope is a labourious, time-consuming task which can benefit from computer aided diagnosis. In this research we aim to detect mitotic cells present in breast cancer tissue, using only texture and pattern features. To classify cells into mitotic and non-mitotic classes, we use an AdaBoost classifier, an ensemble learning method which uses other (weak) classifiers to construct a strong classifier. 11 different classifiers were used separately as base learners, and their classification performance was recorded. The proposed ensemble classifier is tested on the standard MITOS-ATYPIA-14 dataset, where a 64 64 pixel window around each cells center was extracted to be used as training data. It was observed that an AdaBoost that used Logistic Regression as its base learner achieved a F1 Score of 0.85 using only texture features as input which shows a significant performance improvement over status quo. It is also observed that "Decision Trees" provides the best recall among base classifiers and "Random Forest" has the best Precision.
Producing Opportunities Together: Sharing-Based Policy Approaches for Marginal Mobilities in Bogotá

Everyday mobility practices are increasingly an element of interest for urban policy, as well as for suggesting alternative solutions to urban issues. Amongst their manifold contributions, practices can be relevant for securing individuals’ access to places and opportunities. They can do so by promoting services and behaviours based on resources that individuals may share between themselves. This role could be significant especially for those settings where the traditional provision of transport services and infrastructures is more difficult, such as in the informal settlements of the urban South. Drawing on these assumption, this paper intends to investigate policy solutions based on mobility practices, as a suitable way to enhance the access to urban opportunities from informal settlements. Policy approaches focused on mobility supply and demand are explored, addressing options such as the coproduction of mobility services and behavioural approaches based on demand matchmaking. A possible operationalization of such approaches is explored in the marginal informal neighbourhoods of Bogota, considering their accessibility issues, how shared use mobility policies may tackle them, and what features are necessary for the implementation of such measures. The proposed policy measures emerge as suitable operational options that nonetheless require recognition and support by the institutions responsible for urban mobility planning.
Blueberry husks, rye bran and multi-strain probiotics affect the severity of colitis induced by dextran sulphate sodium

Objective. The enteric microbiota is a pivotal factor in the development of intestinal inflammation in humans but probiotics, dietary fibres and phytochemicals can have anti-inflammatory effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of multi-strain probiotics and two conceivable prebiotics in an experimental colitis model. Material and methods. Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a fibre-free diet alone or in combination with Lactobacillus crispatus DSM 16743, L. gasseri DSM 16737 and Bifidobacterium infantis DSM 15158 and/or rye bran and blueberry husks. Colitis was induced by 5% dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) given by oro-gastric tube. Colitis severity, inflammatory markers, gut-load of lactobacilli and Enterobacteriaceae, bacterial translocation and formation of carboxylic acids (CAs) were analysed. Results. The disease activity index (DAI) was lower in all treatment groups. Viable counts of Enterobacteriaceae were reduced and correlated positively with colitis severity, while DAI was negatively correlated with several CAs, e.g. butyric acid. The addition of probiotics to blueberry husks lowered the level of caecal acetic acid and increased that of propionic acid, while rye bran in combination with probiotics increased caecal CA levels and decreased distal colonic levels. Blueberry husks with probiotics reduced the incidence of bacterial translocation to the liver, colonic levels of myeloperoxidase, malondialdehyde and serum interleukin-12. Acetic and butyric acids in colonic content correlated negatively to malondialdehyde. Conclusions. A combination of probiotics and blueberry husks or rye bran enhanced the anti-inflammatory effects compared with probiotics or dietary fibres alone. These combinations can be used as a preventive or therapeutic approach to dietary amelioration of intestinal inflammation.
How Design Factors for Advergames Impact Consumers' Attitudes and Behaviors: The Perspective of Engagement Theory

Drawing on the engagement theory literature, the aim of this study is to understand the impact of advergames on consumer behaviors and attitudes. Research hypotheses are tested using 145 subjects from collected web questionnaires. Research result shows that the attractiveness of advergames had significantly positive influences on impulsive purchase, product recommendations, and brand attitudes. On the other hand, the attractiveness of advergames was significantly influenced by two factors, namely, cognitive fit and expectancy in design elements. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.
MRI characteristics and scoring in HDLS due to CSF1R gene mutations

Objective: To describe the brain MRI characteristics of hereditary diffuse leukoencephalopathy with spheroids (HDLS) with known mutations in the colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor gene (CSF1R) on chromosome 5. Methods: We reviewed 20 brain MRI scans of 15 patients with autopsy- or biopsy-verified HDLS and CSF1R mutations. We assessed sagittal T1-, axial T1-, T2-, proton density-weighted and axial fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images for distribution of white matter lesions (WMLs), gray matter involvement, and atrophy. We calculated a severity score based on a point system (0−57) for each MRI scan. Results: Of the patients, 93% (14 of 15) demonstrated localized WMLs with deep and subcortical involvement, whereas one patient revealed generalized WMLs. All WMLs were bilateral but asymmetric and predominantly frontal. Fourteen patients had a rapidly progressive clinical course with an initial MRI mean total severity score of 16.7 points (range 10−33.5). Gray matter pathology and brainstem atrophy were absent, and the corticospinal tracts were involved late in the disease course. There was no enhancement, and there was minimal cerebellar pathology. Conclusion: Recognition of the typical MRI patterns of HDLS and the use of an MRI severity score might help during the diagnostic evaluation to characterize the natural history and to monitor potential future treatments. Indicators of rapid disease progression were symptomatic disease onset before 45 years, female sex, WMLs extending beyond the frontal regions, a MRI severity score greater than 15 points, and mutation type of deletion.