Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Training opportunities, technology acceptance and job satisfaction: A study of Italian organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to study the role of the opportunity to receive job training in enhancing people's willingness to accept information technologies (IT) and in achieving employee satisfaction. The study aims to consider training opportunities as a predictor of IT self-competence, TAM model constructs and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation models are used with a sample of 497 Italian workers who filled in a questionnaire. Findings – The results show a good fit between hypothesis and empirical data. Moderator roles of individual and contextual variables on training opportunities effects were studied. Practical implications – The practical implications of this study relate to the role played by training opportunities in the IT acceptance process and in creating job satisfaction. Originality/value – The most innovative finding pertains to moderator roles of individual and contextual variables on training opportunities effects.
Characterization of the cis‐acting elements of the mouse myelin P2 promoter

Myelin P2 is a basic protein of an apparent molecular weight of 14,800. Expression of P2 has been found largely in the cytosol of Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system. Although the function of P2 is unknown, its striking homology to a family of fatty acid binding proteins has led to the idea that P2 may function as a fatty acid transport molecule. To investigate the DNA elements that control the expression of P2, sequences 5′ to the coding region were cloned upstream of the cat reporter gene. A series of 3′ and 5′ promoter mutants was constructed and their activity determined following transfection into secondary Schwann cells and the MT4H1 Schwann cell line. Using this strategy, we have identified a 217 bp silencer region and a 142 bp positive regulatory region. In addition, we have localized the 5′ flanking sequences in the promoter that are responsive to cAMP induction and to the transcription factor CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP). © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Genetic Environment of 16S rRNA Methylase Gene rmtD

ABSTRACT The genetic environment of the 16S rRNA methylase gene rmtD was investigated. rmtD was flanked by a novel ISCR motif located downstream of class I integron In163 in the original Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain. rmtD found in Klebsiella pneumoniae appeared to have been mobilized from P. aeruginosa by an IS26-mediated event.
Anomaly Detection Using Temporal Data Mining in a Smart Home Environment

Summary Objectives: To many people, home is a sanctuary. With the maturing of smart home technologies, many people with cognitive and physical disabilities can lead independent lives in their own homes for extended periods of time. In this paper, we investigate the design of machine learning algorithms that support this goal. We hypothesize that machine learning algorithms can be designed to automatically learn models of resident behavior in a smart home, and that the results can be used to perform automated health monitoring and to detect anomalies. Methods: Specifically, our algorithms draw upon the temporal nature of sensor data collected in a smart home to build a model of expected activities and to detect unexpected, and possibly health-critical, events in the home. Results: We validate our algorithms using synthetic data and real activity data collected from volunteers in an automated smart environment. Conclusions: The results from our experiments support our hypothesis that a model can be learned from observed smart home data and used to report anomalies, as they occur, in a smart home.
Delay-Differential Equations with Constant Lags

This article concerns delay–differential equations (DDEs) with constant lags. DDEs increasingly are being used to model various phenomena in mathematics and the physical sciences. For such equations the value of the derivative at any time depends on the solution at a previous “lagged” time. Although solving DDEs is similar in some respects to solving ordinary differential equations (ODEs), it differs in some rather significant ways. These differences are discussed briefly. The effect the differences can have on systems of ODEs and DDEs is illustrated. Popular approaches used in the development of numerical methods for solving DDEs are described. AvailableMatlab DDE solvers and a Fortran 90 solver based on these approaches are mentioned. Finally, some pointers to further resources available to interested readers are given.
Development of a Data Mining Education Framework for Data Visualization in Distance Learning Environments

With the increasing interest in developing Learning Analytics tools that can be integrated into the well-known Moodle course management systems nowadays, many tools have already been developed. These tools usually requires the user to know data mining techniques, and also requires time to get mining results from the tools. To address this problem, in this article, we present a structure that uses pre-built data mining through Shiny to quickly obtain results with a focus on visualizing data with graphs, and thus allows the integration of other research, called FMDEV. Guided by the proposed framework, a tool was developed for display the data mining results in a few clicks for Moodle users who wish to have them for day-to-day use and allows users with more experience in data mining to integrate new research. Finally, we used FMDEV tool to generate some experimental results using a set of real-life sample data from undergraduate students. Moodle; Distance Learning; Framework; Educational Data Mining; tools.
The YaaA Protein of the Escherichia coli OxyR Regulon Lessens Hydrogen Peroxide Toxicity by Diminishing the Amount of Intracellular Unincorporated Iron

ABSTRACT Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is commonly formed in microbial habitats by either chemical oxidation processes or host defense responses. H2O2 can penetrate membranes and damage key intracellular biomolecules, including DNA and iron-dependent enzymes. Bacteria defend themselves against this H2O2 by inducing a regulon that engages multiple defensive strategies. A previous microarray study suggested that yaaA, an uncharacterized gene found in many bacteria, was induced by H2O2 in Escherichia coli as part of its OxyR regulon. Here we confirm that yaaA is a key element of the stress response to H2O2. In a catalase/peroxidase-deficient (Hpx−) background, yaaA deletion mutants grew poorly, filamented extensively, and lost substantial viability when they were cultured in aerobic LB medium. The results from a thyA forward mutagenesis assay and the growth defect of the yaaA deletion in a recombination-deficient (recA56) background indicated that yaaA mutants accumulated high levels of DNA damage. The growth defect of yaaA mutants could be suppressed by either the addition of iron chelators or mutations that slowed iron import, indicating that the DNA damage was caused by the Fenton reaction. Spin-trapping experiments confirmed that Hpx− yaaA cells had a higher hydroxyl radical (HO•) level. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy analysis showed that the proximate cause was an unusually high level of intracellular unincorporated iron. These results demonstrate that during periods of H2O2 stress the induction of YaaA is a critical device to suppress intracellular iron levels; it thereby attenuates the Fenton reaction and the DNA damage that would otherwise result. The molecular mechanism of YaaA action remains unknown.
Predicting mortality and morbidity of patients operated on for perforated peptic ulcers.

HYPOTHESIS Since the early 1990s, the laparoscopic technique has been increasingly used for the treatment of perforated peptic ulcer. It is important to validate a risk scoring system that can stratify patients into various risk groups before comparing the treatment outcome of laparoscopic repair against that of conventional open surgery. The scoring system should be able to predict the likelihood of mortality and morbidity. Boey score and APACHE II (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II) score may be of use in patient stratification. DESIGN Retrospective review of relevant case notes by one reviewer. SETTING A teaching hospital treating 0. 5 million to 1 million patients during the study period. PATIENTS Patients operated on for perforated peptic ulcer between January 1989 and December 1998. Patients treated conservatively were excluded. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Mortality and postoperative complications (morbidity). RESULTS A total of 436 patients (365 male and 71 female) with a mean +/- SD age of 51.5 +/- 18.3 years (range, 14-92 years) were studied. Duodenal perforation accounted for 344 (78.9%) of 436 cases. The mortality rate was 7.8% (34/436), and 89 patients had postoperative complications. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that only the APACHE II score predicted both mortality and morbidity. Although the Boey score predicted mortality, it failed to predict morbidity. However, the Boey score predicted the chance of conversion in patients undergoing laparoscopic repair. CONCLUSIONS The APACHE II score may be a useful tool for stratifying patients into various risk groups, and the Boey score might select appropriate patients for laparoscopic repair.
Pulse Doppler Radar Target Recognition using a Two-Stage SVM Procedure

It is possible to detect and classify moving and stationary targets using ground surveillance pulse-Doppler radars (PDRs). A two-stage support vector machine (SVM) based target classification scheme is described here. The first stage tries to estimate the most descriptive temporal segment of the radar echo signal and the target signal is classified using the selected temporal segment in the second stage. Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients of radar echo signals are used as feature vectors in both stages. The proposed system is compared with the covariance and Gaussian mixture model (GMM) based classifiers. The effects of the window duration and number of feature parameters over classification performance are also investigated. Experimental results are presented.
CHC++: Coherent Hierarchical Culling Revisited

We present a new algorithm for efficient occlusion culling using hardware occlusion queries. The algorithm significantly improves on previous techniques by making better use of temporal and spatial coherence of visibility. This is achieved by using adaptive visibility prediction and query batching. As a result of the new optimizations the number of issued occlusion queries and the number of rendering state changes are significantly reduced. We also propose a simple method for determining tighter bounding volumes for occlusion queries and a method which further reduces the pipeline stalls. The proposed method provides up to an order of magnitude speedup over the previous state of the art. The new technique is simple to implement, does not rely on hardware calibration and integrates well with modern game engines.
Increasing Role of Titin Mutations in Neuromuscular Disorders

The TTN gene with 363 coding exons encodes titin, a giant muscle protein spanning from the Z-disk to the M-band within the sarcomere. Mutations in the TTN gene have been associated with different genetic disorders, including hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy and several skeletal muscle diseases. Before the introduction of next generation sequencing (NGS) methods, the molecular analysis of TTN has been laborious, expensive and not widely used, resulting in a limited number of mutations identified. Recent studies however, based on the use of NGS strategies, give evidence of an increasing number of rare and unique TTN variants. The interpretation of these rare variants of uncertain significance (VOUS) represents a challenge for clinicians and researchers. The main aim of this review is to describe the wide spectrum of muscle diseases caused by TTN mutations so far determined, summarizing the molecular findings as well as the clinical data, and to highlight the importance of joint efforts to respond to the challenges arising from the use of NGS. An international collaboration through a clinical and research consortium and the development of a single accessible database listing variants in the TTN gene, identified by high throughput approaches, may be the key to a better assessment of titinopathies and to systematic genotype– phenotype correlation studies.
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is characterized by brief recurrent episodes of vertigo triggered by changes in head position. BPPV is the most common etiology of recurrent vertigo and is caused by abnormal stimulation of the cupula by free-floating otoliths (canalolithiasis) or otoliths that have adhered to the cupula (cupulolithiasis) within any of the three semicircular canals. Typical symptoms and signs of BPPV are evoked when the head is positioned so that the plane of the affected semicircular canal is spatially vertical and thus aligned with gravity. Paroxysm of vertigo and nystagmus develops after a brief latency during the Dix-Hallpike maneuver in posterior-canal BPPV, and during the supine roll test in horizontal-canal BPPV. Positioning the head in the opposite direction usually reverses the direction of the nystagmus. The duration, frequency, and symptom intensity of BPPV vary depending on the involved canals and the location of otolithic debris. Spontaneous recovery may be expected even with conservative treatments. However, canalithrepositioning maneuvers usually provide an immediate resolution of symptoms by clearing the canaliths from the semicircular canal into the vestibule.
Variability of Anthropogenic Gases: Nitrogen Oxides, Sulfur Dioxide, Ozone and Ammonia in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

ABSTRACTKathmandu Valley is one of the largest and most polluted metropolitan regions in the Himalayan foothills. Rapidly expanding urban sprawl and a growing fleet of vehicles, and industrial facilities such as brick factories across the valley have led to conditions where ambient concentrations of key gaseous air pollutants are expected to exceed Nepal’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. In order to understand the spatial variation of the trace gases in the Kathmandu Valley, passive samples of SO2, NOx, NO2, NH3, and O3 were collected simultaneously from fifteen locations between March and May 2013. A follow-up study during two separate campaigns in 2014 sampled these gases, except ammonia, one site at a time from thirteen urban, suburban and rural stationary sites. In 2013, urban sites were observed to have higher weekly averaged NO2 and SO2 (22.4 ± 8.1 μg m–3 and 14.5 ± 11.1 μg m–3, respectively) than sub-urban sites (9.2 ± 3.9 μg m–3 and 7.6 ± 2.8 μg m–3, respectively). Regions located within 3 km of brick factories had higher SO2 concentrations (22.3 ± 14.7 μg m–3) than distant sites (5.8 ± 1.1 μg m–3). Higher O3 (108.5 ± 31.4 μg m–3) was observed in rural locations compared to urban sites (87.1 ± 9.2 μg m–3), emphasizing the importance of meteorological factors and precursor species for ozone production and titration. Parallel to previous studies, these results suggest that ground-level O3, as its levels frequently exceeded guidelines throughout the sampling periods, is an important concern throughout the valley. NH3 near polluted rivers and SO2 around brick factories are also important pollutants that need more intensive monitoring, primarily due to their importance in particulate matter formation chemistry.
Correlation between Hamstring Flexor Power Restoration and Functional Performance Test: 2-Year Follow-Up after ACL Reconstruction Using Hamstring Autograft

Purpose To evaluate the restoration of the flexor power and the correlation between the flexor power and functional performance tests (FPTs) after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with hamstring autograft. Materials and Methods Twenty-three men, who underwent ACL reconstruction with hamstring autograft, were evaluated using Lysholm, Subjective IKDC, Tegner activity score, isokinetic flexion and hyperflexion power test, and the FPTs at 1 and 2-year follow-up. We analyzed the mean change from 1 to 2 year and the correlation between both the flexion and hyperflexion power deficit with the FPTs at each follow-up. Results Mean age of the patients was 30.9 years (range, 19 to 44). Tegner activity score was significantly increased from 5.7 to 6.3 (p=.010). Hyperflexion power of the involved knee deficits significantly decreased at 2 year follow-up compared with 1 year (p<.001). There was a correlation between the flexor power deficit and the co-contraction, carioca, and involved one-legged hop test at each follow-up. However, no significant correlations were revealed between the hyperflexion power deficit and the FPTs. Conclusions Hyperflexion power deficit after ACL reconstruction with the hamstring autograft decreased at 2 year follow-up compared to 1 year and does not affect the results of the FPTs.
Do emotions or gender drive our actions? A study of motor distractibility

People’s interaction with the social environment depends on the ability to attend social cues with human faces being a key vehicle of this information. This study explores whether directing the attention to gender or emotion of a face interferes with ongoing actions. In two experiments, participants reached for one of two possible targets by relying on one of two features of a face, namely, emotion (Experiment 1) or gender (Experiment 2) of a non-target stimulus (a task-relevant distractor). Participants’ reaching movements deviated toward the task-relevant distractor in both experiments. However, when attending to the gender of the face the distractor effect was modulated by both gender (task-relevant feature) and emotion (task-irrelevant feature), with the largest movement deviation being observed toward angry male faces. Endogenous allocation of attention toward faces elicits a competing motor response to the ongoing action and the emotional content of the face contributes to this process at a more automatic and implicit level.
Role of Cognitive Styles in Business and Management: Reviewing 40 Years of Research

In line with increased attention on the application of cognitive approaches to industrial, work and organizational psychology, the last 40 years have witnessed a growing interest in application of the cognitive style construct to the field of business and management. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, we wish to advance understanding of cognitive styles research by elucidating trends and perspectives related to business and management. Second, we identify gaps in the literature and promising areas of research that can be further developed. This is accomplished by means of a review of papers published between 1969 and 2009. Eight themes emerged from our analysis: (a) vocational and occupational issues; (b) national culture; (c) teamwork and interpersonal relationships; (d) learning; (e) decision making; (f) creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship; (g) sales and marketing; and (h) management information systems, information management and use. Third, we identify valid and reliable methods of assessment of cognitive style for use in business and management settings. Finally we draw a number of conclusions regarding the current state of cognitive styles research and promising directions for future research.
DIALOGIC ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT

O rganization development (OD) emerged in the 1960s as an identifiable field ofpractice that included action research, survey research, T-groups, humanistic psychology, open systems theory, team building, and process con­ sultation. Since then, ideas and methods have enriched and expanded its range of theories and approaches. Many of these ideas and methods have converged since the 1980s into a form of OD that differs in important ways from earlier OD theory and practice. We have labeled this recent develop­ ment "dialogic OD" and contrasted it with forms of "diagnostic OD" based on the earlier, foundational ideas and practices (Bushe & Marshak, 2009, Marshak & Bushe, 2013). The purpose of this chapter is to introduce and explain what dialogic OD is and in what ways it is both similar to and differs from other forms of OD, the basic methods or practices associated -with it, and ways to think about when to use it. Throughout, we make references to additional, useful information on dialogic OD theory and practice.
Evaluating students' understanding of chemical bonding

Problems students encounter with understanding the abstract concept of chemical bonding, as revealed in previous research, are outlined. The development of a two-tier multiple-choice diagnostic instrument for assessing alternative conceptions about chemical bonding held by 14-16 year-olds is described. The instrument was administered to 119 chemistry students and the results analysed. The common alternative conceptions they were found to hold are listed and discussed. It was found that this instrument provided an easy-to-administer tool, providing results in a readily accessible form.
Assessing the Service Linkages of Substance Abuse Agencies with Mental Health and Primary Care Organizations

Fragmentation of substance abuse treatment represents a major barrier to effective treatment for individuals with cooccurring substance abuse and mental and physical health disorders. Linkages of substance abuse treatment organizations with primary care and mental health agencies are widely considered to be a feasible way to integrate services. In this study, we analyzed information collected from a national sample of 62 outpatient substance abuse treatment units (OSATs) to understand the extent of services linkages in these organizations and to identify facilitators and barriers to service linkages. Results showed that OSATs had limited service linkages with primary care and mental health providers. The cited barriers to linkages included clients' financial problems, managed care restrictions, and limited organizational capacity. Onsite service provision was implemented in some OSATs. The pattern of service linkages in OSATs appeared to reflect the health needs of substance abuse clients.
Policy of reviewing statistics in Indian medical and surgical journals

Source of statistical editors Associate editor with statistical expertise 4 Statistical consultants 4 Ad hoc basis 2 Current employment of the statistical reviewer Profit organization 3 Universities 6 Nonprofit organization 1 Compensation is given for the statistical reviewer Yes 1 No 9 Statistical reviewer sees the manuscript after the revisions are suggested Yes 9 No 1 Have written guidelines for statistical review Yes 1 No 9 Editor required to undergo any special training in statistical review of journal articles Yes 6 No 4 How much knowledge of statistics a journal editor should have To the extent of understanding the comments of journal’s statistical editor or reviewer 3