Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploitation versus Exploration in Market Competition

A general simulation model of market competition is developed to explore the effectiveness of and interactions between different types of product exploration and exploitation strategies, that is, innovation, imitation and process improvement. The model, like real markets, is highly non‐linear such that analytical solutions are not possible. We use simulation experiments to examine firm survival and the effectiveness of different strategies under different market conditions including competitors' strategies, how long it takes for each strategy to bear fruit and how costly it is, and the timing, growth and duration of product life cycles. The model is implemented on the Internet and provides the basis for further experiments to examine the impact of different combinations of firm strategies on survival and performance.
Erythropoiesis is regulated by the transcription elongation factor Foggy/Spt5 through gata1 gene regulation

Recent studies have showed that transcription elongation factors regulate early development. Foggy/Spt5 is a subunit of DRB sensitivity‐inducing factor, which negatively and positively regulates transcription elongation. Here, we report that the positive function of Foggy/Spt5 is required for gata1 expression during zebrafish embryonic hematopoiesis. Antisense morpholino oligonucleotide (MO)‐mediated knockdown of foggy/spt5 has led to a reduction in the expression of gata1 and the gata1 target genes alas2 and hbae3 and inhibited proper hemoglobin production. By contrast, expression of hematopoietic stem cell and endothelial markers, including scl, lmo2, gata2, fli‐1, and flk‐1, and expression of biklf, whose product directs gata1 expression via its direct binding to the gata1 promoter, were unaltered, suggesting that gata1 is a functionally important target gene of Foggy/Spt5. The MO‐mediated gata1 repression was relieved by forced expression of wild‐type foggy/spt5, but not by a mutant lacking the positive function. Therefore, this study provides evidence that Foggy/Spt5 plays an important role in gata1 gene expression and erythropoiesis through its transcriptional activation domain.
3D in-hand manipulation planning

This paper describes a global motion planner for dextrous manipulation of 3D objects by a multifingered robotic hand. We focus on the reconfiguration problem: find a feasible quasi-static trajectory (motions and contact forces) that moves a hand-object system from an initial grasp to a final desired configuration of the object. The planner is designed as a two-level process: a global level that expands a tree of sub-goals in the configuration space of the object, and a local level that searches for feasible quasi-static trajectories of the entire manipulation system between adjacent sub-goals. A key feature of the planner is that it exploits the redundancy of the system by using, in a complementary way, different canonical manipulation modes and tackles the high dimensionality of the solution space (configuration and control spaces) by making use, instantaneously, of a random search over it. The planner is applied in simulation for achieving several nontrivial reconfiguration tasks for (piecewise-) smooth convex objects demonstrating the promise of our approach.
A sensitive and practical bioassay for thyrotropin using cultured FRTL-5 cells: assessment of bioactivity for serum TSH in patients with chronic renal failure.

A sensitive bioassay for TSH employing a practical extraction method was developed, and the bioactivities in patients with chronic renal failure receiving hemodialysis were compared with those in normal subjects. Serum samples were obtained from 12 normal subjects and 12 patients with chronic renal failure receiving hemodialysis. TSH was extracted from the serum using anti-human TSH monoclonal antibody coated tubes, followed by elution with 2.0 mol/l guanidine-HC1 solution (pH 3.2). After the eluate had been dialyzed against phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.4) and again against TRIS-HC1 solution (pH 7.4) and then lyophilized, it was reconstituted with hypotonic Hanks' solution. Bioassay for TSH was performed by measuring the levels of cAMP released into the medium from cultured FRTL-5 cells incubated with the extract. The mean immunoreactive recovery rates of TSH from the serum in normal subjects and patients with chronic renal failure were about 42% (+/- 6) and 40% (+/- 2), respectively. The present bioassay was sufficiently sensitive to detect a serum TSH level of 1.0 mU/l when 3.0 ml of serum was used. Extracts from standard sera at concentrations ranging from 1.0 to 10 mU/l added to the culture medium caused significant linear increases in cAMP production. Based on analysis of covariance the regression line between the immunoreactivities and bioactivities of serum TSH in patients with chronic renal failure (y = 0.90x + 0.3, r = 0.92) was not significantly different from that in normal subjects (y = 1.04x + 0.1, r = 0.93). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Thrombolytic Therapy for Patients Who Wake-Up With Stroke

Background and Purpose— Approximately 25% of ischemic stroke patients awaken with their deficits. The last-seen-normal time is defined as the time the patient went to sleep, which places these patients outside the window for thrombolysis. The purpose of this study was to describe our center’s experience with off-label, compassionate thrombolysis for wake-up stroke (WUS) patients. Methods— A retrospective review of our database identified 3 groups of ischemic stroke patients: (1) WUS treated with thrombolysis; (2) nontreated WUS; and (3) 0- to 3-hour intravenous tissue plasminogen activator-treated patients. Safety and clinical outcome measures were symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage, excellent outcome (discharge modified Rankin score, 0–1), favorable outcome (modified Rankin score, 0–2), and mortality. Outcome measures were controlled for baseline NIHSS using logistic regression. Results— Forty-six thrombolysed and 34 nonthrombolysed WUS patients were identified. Sixty-one percent (28/46) of the treated WUS patients underwent intravenous thrombolysis alone whereas 30% (14/46) were given only intra-arterial thrombolysis. Four patients received both intravenous and intra-arterial thrombolysis (9%). Two symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhages occurred in treated WUS (4.3%). Controlling for NIHSS imbalance, treated WUS had higher rates of excellent (14% vs 6%; P=0.06) and favorable outcome (28% vs 13%; P=0.006), but higher mortality (15% vs 0%) compared to nontreated WUS. A second comparison controlling for baseline NIHSS between treated WUS and 174 intravenous tissue plasminogen activator patients treated within 3 hours of symptoms showed no significant differences in safety and clinical outcomes. Conclusion— Thrombolysis may be safe in WUS patients. Our center’s experience supports considering a prospective, randomized trial to assess the safety and outcome of thrombolysis for this specific patient population.
Supporting Postsecondary Education Programs for Individuals With an Intellectual Disability

As postsecondary education (PSE) programs for individuals with an intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) emerge across the country, it is crucial that these programs involve adult agency partners to enhance planning and service delivery, thereby increasing the likelihood that the skills obtained during these experiences will lead to improved employment outcomes. The present study aims to extend the current knowledge base regarding PSE programs’ and vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies’ collaborative roles and activities. The present study examines state VR involvement with PSE programs as perceived by PSE administrators, specifically, the extent to which PSE and VR are collaborating, and the roles and activities rehabilitation counselors perform during this collaboration. Findings indicate that PSE administrators report variability in both the levels of collaboration with state VR agencies and the understanding of VR roles. Furthermore, data show that the majority of respondents felt VR seldom or never provide services beyond financial assistance. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.
Time bounded medium access control for ad hoc networks

Most previous work on medium access control (MAC) protocols for wireless ad hoc networks has focused on the twin goals of maximising throughput and minimising average packet delay as required for general-purpose applications.In this paper we describe a new MAC protocol for use in multi-hop ad hoc networks whose goal is to provide, with high probability, time-bounded access to the wireless medium for applications with guaranteed response time requirements.The Time-Bounded Medium Access Control (TBMAC) protocol is based on time-division multiple access with dynamic but predictable slot allocation. TBMAC uses a light-weight atomic multicast protocol to achieve distributed agreement on slot allocation and employs location information to minimise contention for slots.TBMAC is the first time-bounded MAC protocol for multi-hop wireless ad hoc networks. In this paper we describe the protocol and provide a number of time bounds for the transmission of messages.
Perception of Western Musical Modes: A Chinese Study

The major mode conveys positive emotion, whereas the minor mode conveys negative emotion. However, previous studies have primarily focused on the emotions induced by Western music in Western participants. The influence of the musical mode (major or minor) on Chinese individuals’ perception of Western music is unclear. In the present experiments, we investigated the effects of musical mode and harmonic complexity on psychological perception among Chinese participants. In Experiment 1, the participants (N = 30) evaluated 24 musical excerpts in five dimensions (pleasure, arousal, dominance, emotional tension, and liking). In Experiment 2, the participants (N = 40) evaluated 48 musical excerpts. Perceptions of the musical excerpts differed significantly according to mode, even if the stimuli were Western musical excerpts. The major-mode music induced greater pleasure and arousal and produced higher liking ratings than the minor-mode music, whereas the minor-mode music induced greater tension than the major-mode music. Mode did not influence the dominance rating. Perception of Western music was not influenced by harmonic complexity. Moreover, preference for musical mode was influenced by previous exposure to Western music. These results confirm the cross-cultural emotion induction effects of musical modes in Western music.
Golden Path Analyzer: using divide-and-conquer to cluster Web clickstreams

This paper describes a novel algorithm and deployed system Golden Path Analyzer (GPA) that analyzes clickstreams of people trying to complete the same task on a website. It finds the shortest, successful paths taken by users - 'golden paths' - and uses these as seeds for clickstream clusters. Other users are assigned to a cluster if their clickstream is a supersequence of the golden path. The advantages of this approach are that the resulting clusters are easily comprehended, they are few in number, correspond to semantically different strategies used by the users, and jointly partition all the clickstreams. GPA's key contribution over prior work in process funnels is that by not excluding users that make diversions from the golden path, GPA is able to assign more users to fewer clusters. Another key contribution is to use actual full clickstreams as cluster seeds to which supersequences of other users are added. Golden paths correspond to complete clickstreams that are based on actual user page transitions. GPA is particularly useful for site designers to improve processes such as shopping, returns and registration. Its analyses identify which web pages cause many users to deviate from a golden path, which links distract users and the percentage of users taking each golden path. GPA has demonstrated value on more than twenty client projects in diverse industries.
An evaluation of positive psychology intervention effectiveness trials using the re-aim framework: A practice-friendly review

Meta-analyses indicate the efficacy of positive psychology interventions in promoting well-being. But, despite accumulating empirical and anecdotal evidence of these interventions’ implementation in real-world settings, no review of effectiveness research exists. Accordingly, we identified 40 positive psychology intervention effectiveness trials targeting adults, and scored their reporting using the practice-friendly RE-AIM tool which assesses five dimensions of intervention utility: Reach, Efficacy, Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance. Reporting levels varied substantially: reporting on Reach scored 64%; Efficacy scored 73%; Adoption scored 84%; Implementation scored 58%; and Maintenance scored 16%. Within these five dimensions, reporting on participation rates, methods to select delivery agents, differences between participants and non-participants, programme maintenance and costs, was particularly sparse. The studies involved 10,664 participants, approximately half required specialist delivery, and 12 were researcher delivered. To maximize the potential of PPIs for population health promotion, expanded reporting on effectiveness trials is required. Recommendations to assist this process are offered.
Sport Psychology Consultants as Agents of Child Protection

The purpose of this study was to assess the experiences and perceived knowledge base of sport psychology consultants (SPCs) with respect to issues of child protection. A mixed-method research design was employed: 75 SPCs completed an online questionnaire, and 8 expert SPCs participated in semi-structured interviews. Data gleaned from the questionnaire were analyzed descriptively, and interview data were analyzed through the identification and categorization of meaning units. Findings of this study suggest that SPCs are in a position to act as agents of child protection in sport. Limitations of the study are reviewed and future recommendations are discussed.
Bax ablation prevents dopaminergic neurodegeneration in the 1-methyl- 4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine mouse model of Parkinson's disease

1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) damages dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) as seen in Parkinson's disease. Here, we show that the pro-apoptotic protein Bax is highly expressed in the SNpc and that its ablation attenuates SNpc developmental neuronal apoptosis. In adult mice, there is an up-regulation of Bax in the SNpc after MPTP administration and a decrease in Bcl-2. These changes parallel MPTP-induced dopaminergic neurodegeneration. We also show that mutant mice lacking Bax are significantly more resistant to MPTP than their wild-type littermates. This study demonstrates that Bax plays a critical role in the MPTP neurotoxic process and suggests that targeting Bax may provide protective benefit in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
DNA Microarray Characterization of Pathogens Associated with Sexually Transmitted Diseases

This study established a multiplex PCR-based microarray to detect simultaneously a diverse panel of 17 sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)-associated pathogens including Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma genitalium, Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma, Herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2, and Human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 54 and 58. The target genes are 16S rRNA gene for N. gonorrhoeae, M. genitalium, M. hominism, and Ureaplasma, the major outer membrane protein gene (ompA) for C. trachomatis, the glycoprotein B gene (gB) for HSV; and the L1 gene for HPV. A total of 34 probes were selected for the microarray including 31 specific probes, one as positive control, one as negative control, and one as positional control probe for printing reference. The microarray is specific as the commensal and pathogenic microbes (and closely related organisms) in the genitourinary tract did not cross-react with the microarray probes. The microarray is 10 times more sensitive than that of the multiplex PCR. Among the 158 suspected HPV specimens examined, the microarray showed that 49 samples contained HPV, 21 samples contained Ureaplasma, 15 contained M. hominis, four contained C. trachomatis, and one contained N. gonorrhoeae. This work reports the development of the first high through-put detection system that identifies common pathogens associated with STDs from clinical samples, and paves the way for establishing a time-saving, accurate and high-throughput diagnostic tool for STDs.
Experimental Verification of a Negative Index of Refraction

We present experimental scattering data at microwave frequencies on a structured metamaterial that exhibits a frequency band where the effective index of refraction (n) is negative. The material consists of a two-dimensional array of repeated unit cells of copper strips and split ring resonators on interlocking strips of standard circuit board material. By measuring the scattering angle of the transmitted beam through a prism fabricated from this material, we determine the effective n, appropriate to Snell's law. These experiments directly confirm the predictions of Maxwell's equations that n is given by the negative square root ofɛ·μ for the frequencies where both the permittivity (ɛ) and the permeability (μ) are negative. Configurations of geometrical optical designs are now possible that could not be realized by positive index materials.
Public administration mentorship: conceptual and pragmatic considerations

This paper explores the value of informal and formal mentoring for the preparation of senior administrative ranks in the public sector. Through the construction of a conceptual framework identifying essential features of mentoring roles, qualifying characteristics, relationships, and stages, and a consideration of the organizational conditions under which it is more likely to succeed, planned mentoring programs and their administrative implications are evaluated.
Biosynthetic production of human growth hormone gene in methylotrophic yeast , Pichia pastoris

Introduction Human growth hormone (hGH) is secreted from the anterior pituitary gland and exerts a wide variety of functions such as, IGF-1 production, protein synthesis, glucose metabolism, lipolysis, lipogenesis, and cell proliferation/differentiation (Isaksson et al., 1985; Press, 1988; Thorner and Vance, 1988; Strobl and Thomas, 1994). Moreover, recently, hGH has attract much interest from scientists because it is found to not only retard biological aging, but also to significantly reverse many of the effects of aging (Klatz and Kahn, 1998). Besides 22K-hGH (22,000 Dalton), which is a major component composed of 191 amino acids, 20K-hGH (20,000 Dalton) is also known to be naturally secreted, being encoded by the same gene as 22K-hGH and lacking 15 amino acids (residues 32–46) by alternative messenger RNA (mRNA) splicing (DeNoto et al., 1981; Lewis, et al., 1980). The methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris has become the second most important yeast expression system after S. cerevisiae. P. pastoris has been developed as an expression system for high-level production of recombinant proteins (Buckholz & Gleeson, 1991; Cregg et al., 1993). Pichia offers the features of (i) methanol-induced expression of heterologous genes via integration of the gene into the genome adjacent to the alcohol oxidase I (AOX1) gene promoter, (ii) growth to high cell density in inexpensive, chemically defined media, and (iii) the capacity to carry out post-translational modifications resembling those of mammalian cells (Cregg et al., 1993; Romanos, 1995). Due to the absence of stable episomal vector in Pichia, recombinant plasmid has to be recombined into Pichia chromosome via gene conversion or integration events, thus generating two types of methanol utilization phenotype (Romanos, 1995). Integration of recombinant plasmid at his4 or AOX1 locus will revealed methanol utilization plus (Mut) phenotype in GS115 and SMD1168 strains; on the other hand, replacement of AOX1 locus via gene conversion will generate methanol utilization slow (Mut) phenotype in GS115 and SMD1168 strains. In this report, we describe the construction of synthetic hGH gene and the expression of recombinant hGH in Pichia strains GS115 and SMD1168 via shake-flask culture.
On computational theories and multilevel, multitask models of cognition: The case of word recognition

Starting from Marr's ideas about levels of explanation, a theory of the data structures and access processes in human memory is demonstrated on 10 tasks. Functional characteristics of human memory are captured implementation-independently. Our theory generates a multidimensional task classification subsuming existing classifications such as the distinction between tasks that are implicit versus explicit, data driven versus conceptually driven, and simple associative (two-way bindings) versus higher order (threeway bindings), providing a broad basis for new experiments. The formal language clarifies the binding problem in episodic memory, the role of input pathways in both episodic and semantic (lexical) memory, the importance of the input set in episodic memory, and the ubiquitous calculation of an intersection in theories of episodic and lexical access.
A new feature selection model based on ID3 and bees algorithm for intrusion detection system

Intrusion detection systems (IDSs) have become a necessary component of computers and information security framework. IDSs commonly deal with a large amount of data traffic and these data may contain redundant and unimportant features. Choosing the best quality of features that represent all of the data and exclude the redundant features is a crucial topic in IDSs. In this paper, a new combination approach based on the ID3 algorithm and the bees algorithm (BA) is proposed to select the optimal subset of features for an IDS. The BA is used to generate a subset of features, and the ID3 algorithm is used as a classifier. The proposed model is applied on KDD Cup 99 dataset. The obtained results show that the feature subset generated by the proposed ID3-BA gives a higher accuracy and detection rate with a lower false alarm rate when compared to the results obtained by using all features.
Robust speech activity detection using LDA applied to FF parameters

Speech detection becomes more complicated when performed in noisy and reverberant environments like e.g. smart rooms. In this work, we design a robust speech activity detection (SAD) algorithm and we evaluate it on distant microphone signals acquired in a smart room-like environment. The algorithm is based on a measure obtained from applying linear discriminant analysis (LDA) on frequency filtering (FF) features. With a time sequence of this measure, a decision tree based speech/non-speech classifier is trained. The proposed SAD system is evaluated together with other SAD systems (GSM SAD and ETSI advanced front-end standard SAD) using a set of general SAD metrics as well as using the ASR accuracy as a metric. The proposed SAD algorithm shows better average results than the other tested SAD systems for both the set of general SAD metrics and the ASR performance.