Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of location and fade-in time of (audio-)visual cues on response times and success-rates in a dual-task experiment

While performing multiple competing tasks at the same time, e.g., when driving, assistant systems can be used to create cues to direct attention towards required information. However, poorly designed cues will interrupt or annoy users and affect their performance. Therefore, we aim to identify cues that are not missed and trigger a quick reaction without changing the primary task performance. We conducted a dual-task experiment in an anechoic chamber with LED-based stimuli that faded in or turned on abruptly and were placed in the periphery or front of a subject. Additionally, a white noise sound was triggered in a third of the trials. The primary task was to react to visual stimuli placed on a screen in front. We observed significant effects on the response times in the screen task when adding sound. Further, participants responded faster to LED stimuli when they faded in.
Contrasting rDNA Evolution in Lima Bean (Phaseolus lunatus L.) and Common Bean (P. vulgaris L., Fabaceae)

Phaseolus vulgaris has two 5S rDNA sites in chromosomes 6 and 10 and from two up to nine 45S rDNA sites depending on the accession. The presence of three 45S rDNA sites, in chromosomes 6, 9 and 10, is considered the ancestral state for the species. For P. lunatus, only one 5S and one 45S rDNA sites in distinct chromosomes were known. In order to investigate the homeologies among these rDNA-bearing chromosomes and the stability of the rDNA sites in P. lunatus, rDNA and P. vulgaris chromosome-specific probes were hybridized in situ to P. lunatus. The chromosomes bearing the 5S and the 45S rDNA of P. lunatus are homeologous to chromosomes 10 and 6 of P. vulgaris, respectively. In contrast to the common bean, no variation in the number of rDNA loci was detected, except for a duplication of the 5S rDNA in the same chromosome in a small group of cultivars. These results suggest that the 5S rDNA site in chromosome 10 and the 45S rDNA site in chromosome 6 represent the ancestral loci in the genus. The 5S rDNA site in chromosome 10 of P. vulgaris is located in the long arm, while in P. lunatus it is present in the short arm, suggesting the occurrence of a transposition or a pericentric inversion after separation of both lineages.
The impact of the dimensions of green supply chain management practices on corporate performance

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Operational Test and Evaluation of Human Factors Interventions for Airport Security Screeners

As the terrorist threat to civil aviation evolves, future improvements in aviation security must be accomplished by adopting innovative, proactive methods of enhancing screener contributions to overall security system effectiveness. The Screener Proficiency Evaluation and Reporting System (SPEARS) is a person-centered approach to improve screener selection, training, and performance. Screener selection uses a battery of perceptual tests to identify job candidates with optimal potential to be successful screeners. Computer-based training is multimedia instruction to prepare screeners for all of their job responsibilities, with an emphasis on identifying sophisticated threats. Threat Image Projection provides the capability to insert fictional threat images into the X-ray image displays of actual passenger bags. This is done to increase screener vigilance and measure system detection performance. A 6-month test and evaluation of SPEARS is being conducted in conjunction with 9 major air carriers, involving thousands of screeners at the 19 major U.S. airports.
Voluntary Adoption of Internal Audit by NASDAQ Firms and its Impact on Financial Reporting

While regulators recognize internal audit as an important governance function, the recent rejection by managers of NASDAQ firms of a proposal that would require NASDAQ listed firms to have an internal audit function indicates that management may not have the same regard for internal audit and may be unclear regarding internal audit’s value. Using hand-collected data for a sample of firms that have and have not voluntarily adopted an internal audit function, I run regressions to identify the impact of internal audit adoption on financial reporting and audit fees. I also identify the factors that drive the adoption decision. I find that internal audit satisfies demand for an objective monitoring function by reducing management opportunism and highlighting issues that may have otherwise gone unreported. Firms with internal audit have lower discretionary accruals and are more likely to report a material weakness. Firms also implement an internal audit function over time and as they become financially healthier and feel more external monitoring pressure (e.g., from debtholders). The findings suggests that notwithstanding the lack of a regulatory internal audit mandate, internal audit currently fulfills a natural demand for monitoring within NASDAQ firms and that a systematic internal audit adoption decision making process may already exist. Voluntary Adoption of Internal Audit by NASDAQ Firms and its Impact on Financial Reporting
Impact of comorbid panic and posttraumatic stress disorder on outcomes of collaborative care for late-life depression in primary care.

OBJECTIVE Comorbid anxiety disorders may result in worse depression treatment outcomes. The authors evaluated the effect of comorbid panic disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on response to a collaborative-care intervention for late-life depression in primary care. METHODS A total of 1,801 older adults with depression were randomized to a collaborative-care depression treatment model versus usual care and assessed at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months, comparing differences among participants with comorbid panic disorder (N=262) and PTSD (N=191) and those without such comorbid anxiety disorders. RESULTS At baseline, patients with comorbid anxiety reported higher levels of psychiatric and medical illness, greater functional impairment, and lower quality of life. Participants without comorbid anxiety who received collaborative care had early and lasting improvements in depression compared with those in usual care. Participants with comorbid panic disorder showed similar outcomes, whereas those with comorbid PTSD showed a more delayed response, requiring 12 months of intervention to show a significant effect. At 12 months, however, outcomes were comparable. Interactions of intervention status by comorbid PTSD or panic disorder were not statistically significant, suggesting that the collaborative-care model performed significantly better than usual care in depressed older adults both with and without comorbid anxiety. CONCLUSIONS Collaborative care is more effective than usual care for depressed older adults with and without comorbid panic disorder and PTSD, although a sustained treatment response was slower to emerge for participants with PTSD. Intensive and prolonged follow-up may be needed for depressed older adults with comorbid PTSD.
Application of temporal superresolution for measuring fast single-shot optical waveforms

Measurements of ultrafast optical waveforms using phase modulation (so-called time lens) have recently attracted considerable attention [1,2]. These methods allow one to achieve high resolutions up to 10 fs and to measure waveforms with temporal lengths up to 100 ps. However, nonideal lensing, the mismatch between a time lens and dispersions and higher-order dispersions lead to temporal aberrations of measured waveforms. Recently, a method of temporal superresolution based on periodic intensity modulation [3,4] has been proposed that does not require any dispersion and a specific shape of modulation. In this work, we propose the application of this method for measuring single-shot optical waveforms and numerically demonstrate its implementation.
The novel ant colony system for DNA sequencing by hybridization

DNA sequencing by hybridization (SBH) has been a very challenging problem in computational biology. We propose a novel ant colony system through a detailed analysis of SBH. Firstly, the SBH problem is subtly transformed into a selective asymmetric traveling salesman problem with constraint condition. Then, the local mutation and neighborhood searching technique are introduced to improve the solution quality and accelerate the convergence according to the characteristic of SBH. Finally, the optimal DNA sequence is obtained by using an effective results-post-processing technique. Experimental results from extensive simulations confirm that our proposed method is significantly superior to the state-of-the-art methods in accuracy and stability.
Coalitional control: An irrigation canal case study

We present a hierarchical distributed control scheme for large-scale systems in which the network topology is adjusted to fit to the dynamic coupling among the subsystems, considering the cost of data transmission. Each group of linked subsystems forms a coalition controlled by a closed-loop MPC scheme at the lower layer. The goal is to find a trade-off between the control performance and a reduced communicational cost. To set the proposed approach in a real scenario, the control scheme is tested on a model of an existing irrigation canal.
Clusters and Ising critical droplets: a renormalisation group approach

The Migdal-Kadanoff renormalisation group for two-dimensions is employed to obtain the global phase diagram for the site-bond correlated percolation problem. It is found that the Ising critical point (K=Kc,H=O) is a percolation point for a range of bond probability rho B such that 1>or= rho B>or=1-e-2Kc. In particular, as rho B approaches 1-e-2Kc, the percolation clusters become less compact and coincide with the Ising critical droplets.
Closed-End Real Estate Funds in Comparison with other Investment Opportunities in Poland

Abstract The first closed-end real estate investment funds in Poland began to appear in 2004, along with the development of the capital market and the real estate market. The funds invested both in the housing market and in the commercial market. In general, they encouraged potential investors to purchase investment fund units by pointing to positive results obtained by similar funds in other countries, as well as the dynamic growth of prices in domestic real estate markets. However, the analysis of the performance of closed-end real estate funds in Poland shows that they have failed to earn satisfactory rates of return. The aim of the study was to compare their performance with the profitability of other investment instruments in the 2004 to 2014 period. In addition, the authors aimed to establish why closed-end real estate funds had failed to succeed in Poland, by analyzing, among other things, their institutional context. The study was based on a comparison of the characteristics and performance of particular funds, and also analyzed the profitability of selected alternative investments.
Ornithine Decarboxylase of Stagonospora (Septoria) nodorum Is Required for Virulence toward Wheat*

A knockout strain of Stagonospora (Septoria) nodorum lacking the single ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) allele has been created by targeted gene replacement. A central region of the S. nodorum ODC gene was isolated by polymerase chain reaction using degenerate oligonucleotides and used to probe a λ genomic library. The gene was sequenced and the encoded ODC protein sequence was shown to be similar to those from other fungi. The functionality of the S. nodorum ODC was confirmed by complementation of an Aspergillus nidulans mutant (puA) strain devoid of ODC activity, restoring growth in the absence of exogenous polyamines. Sporulation of the transformants was reduced suggesting abberant regulation of the S. nodorum gene in A. nidulans. Transformation-mediated gene replacement was used to create strains which were auxotrophic for putrescine and lack ODC coding sequences. Pathogenicity studies on these mutants showed that they are greatly reduced in virulence compared with non-disrupted transformants. This confirms that the strains carrying an ODC disruption cannot obtain sufficient polyamines from the host plant for normal growth and, thus, that fungal ODC may be a suitable target for chemical intervention.
Tumor and Salivary Matrix Metalloproteinase Levels Are Strong Diagnostic Markers of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background: The matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) cause degradation of the extracellular matrix and basement membranes, and thus may play a key role in cancer development. Methods: In our search for biomarkers for oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC), we compared primary OSCC, oral dysplasia and control subjects with respect to: (i) expression of MMP1, MMP3, MMP10, and MMP12 in oral epithelial tissue using Affymetrix U133 2.0 Plus GeneChip arrays, followed by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) for MMP1, and (ii) determination of MMP1 and MMP3 concentrations in saliva. Results: MMP1 expression in primary OSCC (n = 119) was >200-fold higher (P = 7.16 × 10−40) compared with expression levels in nonneoplastic oral epithelium from controls (n = 35). qRT-PCR results on 30 cases and 22 controls confirmed this substantial differential expression. The exceptional discriminatory power to separate OSCC from controls was validated in two independent testing sets (AUC% = 100; 95% CI: 100–100 and AUC% = 98.4; 95% CI: 95.6–100). Salivary concentrations of MMP1 and MMP3 in OSCC patients (33 stage I/II, 26 stage III/IV) were 6.2 times (95% CI: 3.32–11.73) and 14.8 times (95% CI: 6.75–32.56) higher, respectively, than in controls, and displayed an increasing trend with higher stage disease. Conclusion: Tumor and salivary MMPs are robust diagnostic biomarkers of OSCC. Impact: The capacity of MMP gene expression to identify OSCC provides support for further investigation into MMPs as potential markers for OSCC development. Detection of MMP proteins in saliva in particular may provide a promising means to detect and monitor OSCC noninvasively. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 20(12); 2628–36. ©2011 AACR.
Comparison of Genome-Wide Binding of MyoD in Normal Human Myogenic Cells and Rhabdomyosarcomas Identifies Regional and Local Suppression of Promyogenic Transcription Factors

ABSTRACT Rhabdomyosarcoma is a pediatric tumor of skeletal muscle that expresses the myogenic basic helix-loop-helix protein MyoD but fails to undergo terminal differentiation. Prior work has determined that DNA binding by MyoD occurs in the tumor cells, but myogenic targets fail to activate. Using MyoD chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to high-throughput sequencing and gene expression analysis in both primary human muscle cells and RD rhabdomyosarcoma cells, we demonstrate that MyoD binds in a similar genome-wide pattern in both tumor and normal cells but binds poorly at a subset of myogenic genes that fail to activate in the tumor cells. Binding differences are found both across genomic regions and locally at specific sites that are associated with binding motifs for RUNX1, MEF2C, JDP2, and NFIC. These factors are expressed at lower levels in RD cells than muscle cells and rescue myogenesis when expressed in RD cells. MEF2C is located in a genomic region that exhibits poor MyoD binding in RD cells, whereas JDP2 exhibits local DNA hypermethylation in its promoter in both RD cells and primary tumor samples. These results demonstrate that regional and local silencing of differentiation factors contributes to the differentiation defect in rhabdomyosarcomas.
A Fast Settling Dual-Path Fractional- $N$ PLL With Hybrid-Mode Dynamic Bandwidth Control

The dual-path ΔΣ fractional-N PLL provides linear charge pump gain and small VCO gain variation good for digital modulation but suffers from long settling time due to the narrowband coarse-tuning control path. By employing a dynamic gain-bandwidth control scheme for both paths, a high-gain coarse-tuning loop can be utilized for fast settling time. While maintaining a small control voltage range in the loop filter during frequency acquisition, the proposed method makes both coarse-tuning and fine-tuning paths active with compensated open-loop gain design, which results in a smooth transition from transient to normal mode. A 4 GHz dual-path ΔΣ fractional-N synthesizer with the nominal fine-tuning bandwidth of 60 kHz exhibits less than 68 μs transient settling time for 91 MHz frequency step.
TEM-4, a new plasmid-mediated beta-lactamase that hydrolyzes broad-spectrum cephalosporins in a clinical isolate of Escherichia coli

A clinical isolate of Escherichia coli, strain CB-134, recovered in 1986 from an abdominal abscess, exhibited resistance to penams, oxyimino-beta-lactams including broad-spectrum cephalosporins (cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, ceftazidime), and aztreonam but remained susceptible to cephamycins (cefoxitin, cefotetan) and to moxalactam and imipenem. Clavulanate (2 micrograms/ml) restored the susceptibility of the strain to broad-spectrum cephalosporins and aztreonam. A beta-lactamase with an isoelectric point (pI) of 5.9 was detected in strain CB-134, and the corresponding gene was transferred by conjugation to E. coli together with the associated aminoglycoside resistance determinant [AAC(3)-II] and tetracycline, trimethoprim, and sulfonamide resistance. The beta-lactamase efficiently hydrolyzed cefotaxime and ceftriaxone but only moderately hydrolyzed ceftazidime and was inhibited by clavulanate and sulbactam (1 microM) and by anti-TEM-1 and anti-TEM-2 sera. This extended-spectrum beta-lactamase, conferring resistance to cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, and aztreonam, was comparable to CTX-1 (TEM-3) but differed from it by pI. Agarose gel electrophoresis of the plasmid DNA indicated that this new enzyme was coded by pUD16, a plasmid of 220 kilobases which belongs to the Inc6 incompatibility group. Hybridization with an intragenic probe for TEM-1 revealed that this beta-lactamase derives from TEM-type beta-lactamases and hence it was named TEM-4.
Rapid detection of neuron specific enolase by chemiluminescence immunoassay using bio-functionlized magnetic nanocomposites

To detect a biomarker for small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), neuron specific enolase (NSE), a chemiluminescent immunoassay combined with immunomagnetic separation was proposed, in which bio-functionalized magnetic nanocomposites (BFMNs) were used as mobile substrate for capturing and isolating the NSE proteins. The BFMNs coated with anti-NSE antibody would connect with NSE and horseradish peroxidase labeled anti-NSE antibody in a sandwich-type detection manner. After fast magnetic collection, the sandwich immunocomplex is separated from excess antiboby or non-specific proteins. The immunocomplex further reacts with chemiluminescent substrate to produce chemiluminescence. A home-made three-channel luminometer was used to detect the chemiluminescence so as to improve the detection speed. There is a good linear response between the chemiluminescence intensity and the NSE concentration in the range from 2 to 200 ng/mL. The proposed immunoassay also shows good reproducibility and excellent selectivity for NSE against other proteins. The whole detection process including incubation, washing and detection could be performed within 40 min. The proposed method offers a simple, noninvasive and reliable tool for detecting SCLC and has potential application for clinical testing.
The Business of Being a User: The Role of the Reference Actor in Shaping Packaged Enterprise System Acquisition and Development

The paper extends the concept of "user" to account for a new, more formalized role that some client organizations play in the diffusion of packaged enterprise systems. Package vendors are attempting to draw parts of their user base into activities related to the promotion, selling, and commodification of systems. Users, in turn, appear willing to help construct these systems as objects of consumption for others. This can appear to be rather idiosyncratic behavior. Information Systems scholars have argued that relations between packaged enterprise system vendors and users are attenuated. Why might the user help the vendor market its systems in this way? What benefits accrue from it? And what role are users performing in carrying out this work? To show how this is becoming a general facet of the work of some packaged enterprise system users, we develop the notion of "reference actor," which is an extension of the earlier Information Systems concept of "social actor. " In combining insights from the social shaping of technology and the biography of artifacts, and drawing on long-term qualitative fieldwork, we analyze this new actor role in relation to expectations and commitments coming from the wider packaged enterprise system community. In return for the help provided to prospective adopters, reference actors are also able to gather various kinds of benefits for themselves and others. In particular, they build closer relations with vendors such that they can influence product development strategies.
Penentuan Kelayakan Kredit Dengan Algoritma Naïve Bayes Classifier: Studi Kasus Bank Mayapada Mitra Usaha Cabang PGC

In analyzing a credit sometimes a less accurate credit officer in credit analysis, so that it can lead to increased bad debts. Classification data mining algorithms are widely used to determine the credit worthiness of one Naive Bayes classifier, NBC superior in increasing the value of high accuracy but weak in the selection of attributes. After testing Naive Bayes classifier algorithm the results obtained is Naive Bayes classifier algorithm produces an accuracy of 89.33% and AUC values for 0.955. Keyword: Credit Analysis, Naive Bayes ClassifierAlgorithm
Mode of Entry into Hybrid Entrepreneurship: New Venture Start-Up Versus Business Takeover

Many entrepreneurs start their ventures while retaining jobs in wage employment; this phenomenon is called hybrid entrepreneurship. Little is known about the entry modes (new venture start-up vs. business takeover) of hybrid entrepreneurs. Our study aims to close this gap by investigating the path to hybrid entrepreneurship. Using a large sample of French hybrid entrepreneurs, we show that educational attainment and management experience are associated with new venture start-up, whereas being female, having worker experience, and having received social benefits are linked to business takeover. With these results, our study contributes to research on hybrid entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship entry modes. Moreover, it informs policy makers about the nature of hybrid entrepreneurship and contributes to the design of effective policies to promote business takeover, which is of high interest, given the growing number of businesses seeking outside successors.