Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Response to Neutrons and γ-rays of Two Liquid Scintillators

UltimaGoldTM AB and OptiphaseTrisafe are two liquid scintillators made by Perkin Elmer and EG & G Company respectively. Both are commercially promoted as scintillation detectors for α and β particles. In this work, the responses to γ-rays and neutrons of UltimaGoldTM AB and OptiphaseTriSafe liquid scintillators, without and with reflector, have been measured aiming to use these scintillators as γ-rays and neutron detectors. Responses to γ-rays and neutrons were measured as pulse shape spectra in a multichannel analyzer. Scintillators were exposed to gamma rays produced by 137Cs, 54Mn, 22Na and 60Co sources. The response to neutrons was obtained with a 241AmBe neutron source that was measured to 25 and 50 cm from the scintillators. The pulse height spectra due to gamma rays are shifted to larger channels as the photon energy increases and these responses are different from the response due to neutrons. Thus, UltimaGoldTM AB and OptiphaseTrisafe can be used to detect γ-rays and neutrons.
Models for the Relationship Between Ambient Temperature and Daily Mortality

Background: Ambient temperature is an important determinant of daily mortality that is of interest both in its own right and as a confounder of other determinants investigated using time-series regressions, in particular, air pollution. The temperature-mortality relationship is often found to be substantially nonlinear and to persist (but change shape) with increasing lag. We review and extend models for such nonlinear multilag forms. Development: Popular models for mortality by temperature at given lag include polynomial and natural cubic spline curves, and the simple but more easily interpreted linear thresholds model, comprising linear relationships for temperatures below and above thresholds and a flat middle section. Most published analyses that have allowed the relationship to persist over multiple lags have done so by assuming that spline or threshold models apply to mean temperature in several lag strata (eg, lags 0–1, 2–6, and 7–13). However, more flexible models are possible, and a modeling framework using products of basis functions (“cross-basis” functions) suggests a wide range, some used previously and some new. These allow for stepped or smooth changes in the model coefficients as lags increase. Applying a range of models to data from London suggest evidence for relationships up to at least 2 weeks' lag, with smooth models fitting best but lag-stratified threshold models allowing the most direct interpretation. Conclusions: A wide range of multilag nonlinear temperature-mortality relationships can be modeled. More awareness of options should improve investigation of these relationships and help control for confounding by them.
Scale estimation for monocular SLAM using depth from defocus

An autonomous robot must map its environment and estimate its egomotion to perform effectively. Monocular simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) can generate maps of the robot’s environment, except for the absolute scale. Alternatives based on stereo or RGB-D camera based SLAM systems can obtain the metric scale but have disadvantages in terms of the cost, size and power requirements. This thesis is focused on the development of an absolute metric scale monocular SLAM system for autonomous robots. A depth from defocus (DfD) technique that relies on image blur is used to estimate the metric scale. However, existing methods for DfD suffer from ambiguities caused by texture, motion blur, and the location of the focal plane. The novelty of this research is combining DfD with camera motion to resolve estimation errors caused by these ambiguities and compute a reliable measure of metric scale. Monocular SLAM algorithms are also prone to scale drift, where the scale gradually changes while mapping. It is demonstrated that integrating DfD into monocular SLAM eliminates scale drift and results in accurate metric scale maps.
Cross Border M&As in Emerging Economies: Evidence from Indian Trends and Future Directions

Abstract The global reforms in the last two and half decades have resulted in the adoption of different growth and expansion strategies by enterprises in the emerging economies. In this backdrop, Indian enterprises have been undertaking restructuring exercises primarily through M&As to make their presence felt even across the borders. This new trend of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (CBMAs) activity occurred in India with the advancement of liberalization and globalization process. This paper has been successful in exploring and documenting the evolution and trends of CBMAs for the period of 1990–2011 and analyzes the emerging patterns of cross-border engagement of Indian enterprises with a comparative domain to unearth the reasons and future directions. Direction from this paper indicates that firms from emerging countries like India go for international diversification to obtain intangible assets and resources which they do not possess.
Molecular Characterization of Sucrose:Sucrose 1-Fructosyltransferase and Sucrose:Fructan 6-Fructosyltransferase Associated with Fructan Accumulation in Winter Wheat during Cold Hardening

We isolated two cDNAs of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), designated wft1 and wft2, which encoded sucrose:fructan 6-fructosyltransferase (6-SFT) and sucrose:sucrose 1-fructosyltransferase (1-SST; EC 2.4.1.99), respectively, which are involved in the synthesis of fructan in wheat. wft1 and wft2 were cloned by screening of a cDNA library with probed-cDNA fragments corresponding to plant fructosyltransferase and invertase. The identity of the clones was verified by functional characterization of recombinant proteins expressed in methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris. Northern blotting showed that the level of wft2 transcripts increased from autumn to early winter in the crown tissues of all field-grown wheat cultivars examined. Higher levels of wft1 and wft2 transcripts were found in leaf tissues of snow mold-resistant cultivars, which accumulated more fructan than other cultivars. Our results showed that Wft1 and Wft2 were important in fructan accumulation during cold hardening of winter wheat.
Aesthetic measures for automated document layout

A measure of aesthetics that has been used in automated layout is described. The approach combines heuristic measures of attributes that degrade the aesthetic quality. The combination is nonlinear so that one bad aesthetic feature can harm the overall score. Example heuristic measures are described for the features of alignment regularity separation balance white-space fraction white-space free flow proportion uniformity and page security.
Sense of place and tourism business development

ABSTRACT This study is to investigate the role of sense of place on residents' participation in tourism-related businesses. Emphasis was placed on understanding whether and how sense of place influenced people's decisions to operate a tourism-related business. Thus, this framework and the empirical validation presented are the result of triangulating quantitative survey data (n = 118) tourism business operators and follow-up with qualitative interviews (n = 72) respondents in Tai O, Hong Kong, the linkages between sense of place and small and medium business enterprises (SMTEs) were explored. The findings revealed that sense of place played an important role in encouraging move-out residents and their descendants to return and participate in a tourism-related business. Sense of place also influenced some people's decisions regarding the type of business they were involved in and the manner in which they operated their business. The findings suggested that operators of tourism-related businesses who have a strong sense of place, whether local residents or outsiders, can contribute to preserving a community's culture and for sustainable tourism development.
Effect of hippotherapy on physiological cost index and walking speed of adolescents with diplegia

Introduction This research describes the therapeutic impact of hippotherapy on adolescents with cerebral palsy diplegia using the Physiological Cost Index and walking speed as outcome measures. Method A single-system multiple-baseline design across subjects was implemented. Ten adolescents with diplegia were included. Participants had to be able to walk independently or with an assistive device. Adolescents were classified using the gross motor functional classification system levels I to III, and were 12 to 17 years old. Physiological Cost Index and walking speed were measured. Hippotherapy sessions took place once a week over a 12-week period. Each hippotherapy session (conducted by an occupational therapist) lasted 30 minutes. Average baseline measurements were compared with measurements taken before each intervention session and with post-intervention measurements. Results One participant’s Physiological Cost Index values decreased significantly (p = 0.014). Walking speed increased significantly over the course of treatment from the sixth intervention session (Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, p = 0.024 post-intervention). The greatest improvement in walking speed was seen at intervention session 12 (p = 0.018). Conclusion One participant’s Physiological Cost Index decreased and 10 participants showed increased walking speeds. Adolescents with diplegia need to adjust to increased growth and their walking ability may regress if therapy is not provided. Hippotherapy supports gross motor functioning and simulates the pelvic movement of normal walking.
Oscillatory interlayer magnetic coupling of wedged Co/Cu/Co sandwiches grown on Cu(100) by molecular beam epitaxy.

Co/Cu/Co sandwiches were grown by molecular beam epitaxy onto a Cu(100) crystal with the intervening Cu layer fabricated to be wedge shaped. Electron diffraction was used to monitor the layer-by-layer growth. Films with 8, 14, and 20 monolayer- (ML) thick Co layers were investigated {ital in} {ital situ} by means of the magneto-optic Kerr effect. Characteristic hysteresis loops along the wedges, as a function of Cu thickness, unambiguously identify the oscillatory behavior in the sign of the exchange coupling between the two Co films. The oscillation periodicity (5.5 ML's of Cu) and, most importantly, the coupling strength are shown to be independent of the Co-layer thickness.
An Escherichia coli Mutant That Makes Exceptionally Long Cells

ABSTRACT Although Escherichia coli is a very small (1- to 2-μm) rod-shaped cell, here we describe an E. coli mutant that forms enormously long cells in rich media such as Luria broth, as long indeed as 750 μm. These extremely elongated (eel) cells are as long as the longest bacteria known and have no internal subdivisions. They are metabolically competent, elongate rapidly, synthesize DNA, and distribute cell contents along this length. They lack only the ability to divide. The concentration of the essential cell division protein FtsZ is reduced in these eel cells, and increasing this concentration restores division. IMPORTANCE Escherichia coli is usually a very small bacterium, 1 to 2 μm long. We have isolated a mutant that forms enormously long cells, 700 times longer than the usual E. coli cell. E. coli filaments that form under other conditions usually die within a few hours, whereas our mutant is fully viable even when it reaches such lengths. This mutant provides a useful tool for the study of aspects of E. coli physiology that are difficult to investigate with small cells.
The Gagauz, a Linguistic Enclave, are not a Genetic Isolate

The Gagauz are a Turkic‐speaking group that migrated from Turkey to their present location in the southern part of the Republic of Moldova about 150 years ago. Surrounded by Indo‐European‐speaking populations, they thus form a linguistic enclave, which raises the following question: to what extent have they remained in genetic isolation from their geographic neighbours? Analyses of mtDNA and Y chromosome variation indicate that despite their linguistic differences, the Gagauz have admixed extensively with neighbouring groups. Our data suggest that there has been more mtDNA than Y chromosome admixture, in keeping with the patrilocal nature of these groups. Moreover, when compared with another linguistic enclave, the Kalmyks there appears to be a correlation between the amount of genetic admixture and the amount of linguistic influence that these two linguistic enclaves have experienced from neighbouring groups.
The Electronic Medical Record: A Challenge for Computer Science to Develop Clinically and Socially Relevant Computer Systems to Coordinate Information for patient Care and Analysis

Abstract Creating a Patient Centered Information System (PCIS) or Electronic Medical Record System (EMRS)—the former terminology emphasizing the clinical purpose, the latter the missing product—is now viewed by the health care community as necessary to coordinate modern patient care in a manner that can control costs. However, despite 25 years of significant effort, the distance between the information systems available today in health care and what will be needed to fulfill this promise in the future remains very large. Success depends on achieving three goals that are generally in conflict: (1) giving the users the full scope of features and detail needed to create and use electronic clinical records for decision making, (2) providing the speed and reliability necessary for their online use, and (3) preserving system security and patient confidentiality. The vendors of the current generation of Hospital Information Systems (HIS) are being asked to supply these new capabilities before most have fully suc.
Impact of NERICA Adoption on Productivity and Income in Benin: Is There Gender Difference

This paper analyzes the gender differential impact of NERICA adoption on rice yield and farmers' annual household income using data from 342 rice farmers in Benin. NERICA varieties have been developed by AfricaRice which won its creator Monty Jones the 2004 World Food Prize. The paper applies the potential outcomes framework to estimate the Local Average Treatment Efffect (LATE). The results show that NERICA adoption has positive and significant impact on farmers' yield and household per capita income. The impacts of NERICA adoption are not homogeneous across farmers' categories and are higher for female farmers than male farmers. The findings suggest the widely dissemination of NERICA varieties, mainly upland NERICA, with a focus on women, in order to increase rice productivity and consequently total production and income.
A direct estimation of the context effect on the efficiency of termination.

An in vitro assay in which terminating Escherichia coli ribosomes with different stop signals in the A-site compete for a limited amount of a release factor (RF1 or RF2) has been used to estimate the relative termination efficiencies at stop codons with different adjacent downstream nucleotides. The assay allows direct measurements of relative kcat/Km parameters for the productive association of release factors to ribosomes. The kcat/Km parameter is larger for UAA(U) than for UAA(C) programmed ribosomes and the difference in kcat/Km is much larger for RF2 (about 80%) than for RF1 (about 30%). These differences in the kcat/Km parameter are not affected by the addition of release factor RF3. The only discernible effect of RF3 is a considerable acceleration of RF1/2 recycling.The estimated kcat/Km parameters correlate well with the affinities of release factors for ribosomes programmed with different stop signals. These affinities were estimated from the extent of inhibition of ribosomal recycling by high concentrations of release factors in the absence of release factor RF3. The affinity for RF2 depends on the immediate downstream context of the stop codon in the translated mRNA and is about three times higher for UAA(U) than for UAA(C). The corresponding difference in affinities for RF1 is twofold. For all stop signals studied, the estimated affinity of RF2 for terminating ribosomes is much lower than that of RF1. It is also striking that the affinity of ribosomes for a chromosomally expressed RF2 is at least three times higher than for RF2 isolated from an overproducing E. coli strain.
Experiments of multi-channel 802.11 wireless mesh networks with TCP proxies

IEEE 802.11 wireless access technology is a possible candidate for constructing wireless mesh networks. However, multi-hop 802.11 wireless networks suffer heavy co-channel interference. In this paper, the 802.11-based networks are extended to operate using multi-radio multi-channel designs to inhibit the interference effects. Using a partially overlapped channel scenario and an orthogonal channel scenario, it has been confirmed that the introduction of multiple channels is capable of improving network performance. Despite these gains, TCP performance degrades exponentially with hop counts; therefore, wireless mesh networks may further be improved by adding an n-hop proxy service. In terms of hop counts, these proxies break long connections into relatively shorter connections with tighter transport layer control. A trade-off between the number of proxies and the length of proxies has become evident through testbed evaluation. With respect to this trade-off, the queuing delays at proxies and the amount of collisions over the lossy wireless links signify the need for a suitable protocol to control the efficient usage of multiple channels and proxies.
An investigation into factors influencing rural youth entrepreneurs' intentions to use ICT: a case of Malaysia

Attention has been paid in Malaysia to the potential for information communication technology (ICT) being a key driver of competitive advantage, and the opportunity to benefit rural youth entrepreneurs. Thus, the aim of this study is to develop additional constructs, or 'entrepreneurial knowledge' (EK), to the entrepreneurial potential model (and thus validating it in the context of ICT) in order to augment factors influencing rural youth entrepreneurs' intention to use ICT. In this research, the data from 400 rural youth entrepreneurs were examined using SEM to analyse hypothesised causes as suggested in our proposed model. Results showed that attitude and EK significantly influenced the Malaysian rural youth entrepreneurial intention (EI) to use ICT. This paper demonstrates that the new model is capable of evaluating the causal flow that leads to the intentional behaviour between the suggested external factors and also makes useful contributions to the literature on EI, which could assist policymakers in creating successful ICT intervention strategies to support Malay rural youth entrepreneurs.
LABOR INTENSITY AND OPERATING LEVERAGE IN MANUFACTURING FIRMS

I show that industry adjusted labor intensity is positively related to expected returns for firms in the manufacturing industry. Labor is one the most important factor of productions for a firm. When a negative shock hits the economy, revenues fall. However, labor costs do not fall as much as revenues. On average at the firm level, revenues are more procyclical than labor costs and labor costs are less procyclical than capital expenditures. Therefore, firms with relatively high labor intensity are more vulnerable to the business cycle than those with less labor intensity. I also show that firms with higher labor intensity have higher cash flow sensitivity to the aggregate shocks. This result supports the operating leverage mechanism behind the labor intensity and return relationship.
Topoisomerase assays.

Topoisomerases are nuclear enzymes that play essential roles in DNA replication, transcription, chromosome segregation, and recombination. All cells have two major forms of topoisomerases: type I enzymes, which make single-stranded cuts in DNA, and type II enzymes, which cut and pass double-stranded DNA. DNA topoisomerases are important targets of approved and experimental anti-cancer agents. The protocols described in this unit are for assays used to assess new chemical entities for their ability to inhibit both forms of DNA topoisomerase. Included are an in vitro assay for topoisomerase I activity based on relaxation of supercoiled DNA, and an assay for topoisomerase II based on the decatenation of double-stranded DNA. The preparation of mammalian cell extracts for assaying topoisomerase activity is described, along with a protocol for an ICE assay to examine topoisomerase covalent complexes in vivo, and an assay for measuring DNA cleavage in vitro. Curr. Protoc. Pharmacol. 57:3.3. 1-3.3. 27. © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Keywords: topoisomerase; topoisomerase I; topoisomerase II; camptothecin; etoposide; topoisomerase poison
Establishment of Reference Intervals for Kaolin-Activated Thromboelastography in Dogs Including an Assessment of the Effects of Sex and Anticoagulant Use

Tissue factor (TF)- and kaolin-activated thromboelastography (TEG) have been performed in a small number of healthy dogs, but reference intervals have not been assessed in a larger number of dogs. The goal of the current study was to establish reference intervals and assess intra-assay repeatability for kaolin-activated TEG in dogs. Additionally, the impact of sex and the influence of anticoagulant (native blood vs. recalcified citrate anticoagulated blood) were evaluated. Thromboelastography analyses were performed in 56 healthy dogs including German Shepherd Dogs (n = 19), Beagles (n = 15), and others (n = 22). Median age was 2 years (range: 1–6 years) and sex was evenly distributed (31 males and 25 females). To establish reference intervals, citrated whole-blood samples were collected, and TEG was performed 1 hr after sampling. Five TEG variables (R = reaction time; K = clot formation time; α = angle α; MA = maximal amplitude; G-value reflecting clot stability) were evaluated, and reference intervals were defined as the mean + 1.96-fold standard deviation. Intra-assay repeatability was assessed by calculating the pooled variance estimate in duplicate measurements of 6 healthy dogs. The effect of anticoagulant was assessed in 17 specimens. Reference intervals were as follows: R = 1.8–8.6 min; angle α = 36.9–74.6 degrees; K = 1.3–5.7 min; MA = 42.9–67.9 mm, and G = 3.2–9.6 Kdyn/cm 2 . Coefficients of variation for R, K, angle α, MA, and G were 7.6%, 17.7%, 7.4%, 2.9%, and 6.6%, respectively. There was no significant impact of sex or anticoagulant on results. Interindividual variation was higher in native samples than in citrated whole blood. A limitation of the current study was that most of the samples were obtained from Beagles and German Shepherd Dogs. This study provides useful reference intervals for kaolin-activated TEG.