Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elevated Proportions of Deleterious Genetic Variation in Domestic Animals and Plants

Abstract A fraction of genetic variants segregating in any population are deleterious, which negatively impacts individual fitness. The domestication of animals and plants is associated with population bottlenecks and artificial selection, which are predicted to increase the proportion of deleterious variants. However, the extent to which this is a general feature of domestic species is unclear. Here, we examine the effects of domestication on the prevalence of deleterious variation using pooled whole-genome resequencing data from five domestic animal species (dog, pig, rabbit, chicken, and silkworm) and two domestic plant species (rice and soybean) compared with their wild ancestors. We find significantly reduced genetic variation and increased proportion of nonsynonymous amino acid changes in all but one of the domestic species. These differences are observable across a range of allele frequencies, both common and rare. We find proportionally more single nucleotide polymorphisms in highly conserved elements in domestic species and a tendency for domestic species to harbor a higher proportion of changes classified as damaging. Our findings most likely reflect an increased incidence of deleterious variants in domestic species, which is most likely attributable to population bottlenecks that lead to a reduction in the efficacy of selection. An exception to this pattern is displayed by European domestic pigs, which do not show traces of a strong population bottleneck and probably continued to exchange genes with wild boar populations after domestication. The results presented here indicate that an elevated proportion of deleterious variants is a common, but not ubiquitous, feature of domestic species.
Structure of the Membrane-tethering GRASP Domain Reveals a Unique PDZ Ligand Interaction That Mediates Golgi Biogenesis*

Biogenesis of the ribbon-like membrane network of the mammalian Golgi requires membrane tethering by the conserved GRASP domain in GRASP65 and GRASP55, yet the tethering mechanism is not fully understood. Here, we report the crystal structure of the GRASP55 GRASP domain, which revealed an unusual arrangement of two tandem PDZ folds that more closely resemble prokaryotic PDZ domains. Biochemical and functional data indicated that the interaction between the ligand-binding pocket of PDZ1 and an internal ligand on PDZ2 mediates the GRASP self-interaction, and structural analyses suggest that this occurs via a unique mode of internal PDZ ligand recognition. Our data uncover the structural basis for ligand specificity and provide insight into the mechanism of GRASP-dependent membrane tethering of analogous Golgi cisternae.
The usefulness of experience sampling in understanding the urge to move in anorexia nervosa

Background: Physical hyperactivity has often been described in anorexia nervosa (AN) patients but up until now in-depth research has been scarce. Experience sampling methodology (ESM), a structured diary technique assessing momentary mental state at random times during the day, may be useful in studying hyperactivity in AN. Methods: In two single case reports, ESM was used to investigate the variation across time of the urge to move in relation to potentially relevant eliciting conditions such as positive and negative emotions, weight preoccupation and attractiveness. Results: Frequency distribution of the involved variables indicated substantial individual differences between patients. While both patients' tendency to be hyperactive was positively related to their weight preoccupation and negative emotions, in only one patient, the urge to move turned out to be significantly related to (the absence of) positive emotions. Conclusions: ESM can be useful to test whether general theories of psychopathology apply to specific patients, and it may be conceived as an individually tailored approach to self-monitoring. As such, it may guide the clinician to devise therapeutic interventions in particular patients.
Multilevel modeling of determinants of fertility status of married women in Ethiopia

The main objective of this study is to investigate the determinant factors of fertility status of married women in Ethiopia and to examine the reasons for variations of fertility across regions of Ethiopia based on data on 7052 married women obtained from Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS, 2011). Multilevel binary logistic regression models on fertility status of married women were employed. This study revealed that the random intercept and fixed slope model fits the data significantly better than the other multilevel logistic regression models. The results confirmed that woman’s education level, sex of household head, being visited by family planning worker last twelve months, child loss experience, woman’s occupation, religion and age of woman at first birth were found to be significant determinants and also contributing factors for variation in fertility status of married women among the regions of Ethiopia. In random intercept model the overall variance of constant term was found to be statistically significant implies that women with the same characteristics in two different regions have different fertility status: that is, there is a clear region effect. In this study multilevel model best fit the data as compared to single level model.
Ten-m2 Is Required for the Generation of Binocular Visual Circuits

Functional binocular vision requires that inputs arising from the two retinae are integrated and precisely organized within central visual areas. Previous studies have demonstrated an important role for one member of the Ten-m/Odz/teneurin family, Ten-m3, in the mapping of ipsilateral retinal projections. Here, we have identified a distinct role for another closely related family member, Ten-m2, in the formation of the ipsilateral projection in the mouse visual system. Ten-m2 expression was observed in the retina, dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), superior colliculus (SC), and primary visual cortex (V1) of the developing mouse. Anterograde and retrograde tracing experiments in Ten-m2 knock-out (KO) mice revealed a specific decrease in ipsilateral retinal ganglion cells projecting to dLGN and SC. This reduction was most prominent in regions corresponding to ventral retina. No change in the topography of ipsilateral or contralateral projections was observed. While expression of a critical ipsilateral fate determinant, Zic2, appeared unaltered, a notable reduction in one of its downstream targets, EphB1, was observed in ventral retina, suggesting that Ten-m2 may interact with this molecular pathway. Immunohistochemistry for c-fos, a neural activity marker, revealed that the area of V1 driven by ipsilateral inputs was reduced in KOs, while the ratio of ipsilateral-to-contralateral responses contributing to binocular activation during visually evoked potential recordings was also diminished. Finally, a novel two-alternative swim task revealed specific deficits associated with dorsal visual field. These data demonstrate a requirement for Ten-m2 in the establishment of ipsilateral projections, and thus the generation of binocular circuits, critical for mammalian visual function.
RESOURCE ALLOCATION AND ASSET PRICING

This paper presents a unified treatment of the production and financial decisions available to a firm facing frictionless financial markets and a stochastic production technology under minimal assumptions on the firm's stochastic technology and objective function. The key concept is that of a 'derivative-cost function', which gives the minimal cost (maximal buying price) of constructing an asset by combining financial and real production activities.
PCA-based Offline Handwritten Character Recognition System

Principal component analysis (PCA) has been used widely in pattern recognition to reduce the extent of the data. In this paper, we explore using this technique to recognize offline handwritten Gurmukhi characters, and a system for offline handwritten Gurmukhi character recognition using PCA is proposed. The system first prepares a skeleton of the character so that meaningful feature information about the character can be extracted. For classification, we used k-nearest neighbor, Linear-SVM, polynomial-SVM and RBF-SVM based approaches and combinations of these approaches. In this work, we collected 16,800 samples of isolated offline handwritten Gurmukhi characters. These samples were divided into three categories. In category 1 (5600 samples), each Gurmukhi character was written 100 times by a single writer. In category 2 (5600 samples), each Gurmukhi character was written 10 times by 10 different writers, and in category 3 (5600 samples), each Gurmukhi character was written by 100 different writers. The set of the basic 35 akhars of Gurmukhi has been considered here. A partitioning strategy for selecting the training and testing patterns is also explored in this work. We used zoning, diagonal, directional, transition, intersection and open end point, parabola curve fitting? based and power curve fitting? based feature extraction in order to find the feature set for a given character. The proposed system achieves a recognition accuracy of 99.06% in category 1, 98.73% in category 2 and 78.30% in category 3.
The effects of fatigue on soccer skills performed during a soccer match simulation.

PURPOSE This study examined the effects of exercise-induced fatigue on soccer skills performed throughout simulated match play. METHODS Fifteen academy soccer players completed a soccer match simulation (SMS) including passing, dribbling, and shooting skills. Precision, success rate, and ball speed were determined via video analysis for all skills. Blood samples were obtained before exercise (preexercise), every 15 min during the simulation (15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 min), and 10 min into half-time. RESULTS Preliminary testing confirmed test-retest repeatability of performance, physiological, and metabolic responses to 45 min of the SMS. Exercise influenced shooting precision (timing effect: P = .035) and passing speed (timing effect: P = .011), such that shots taken after exercise were 25.5 ± 4.0% less accurate than those taken before exercise and passes in the last 15 min were 7.8 ± 4.3% slower than in the first 15 min. Shot and pass speeds were slower during the second half compared with the first half (shooting: 17.3 ± 0.3 m·s-1 vs 16.6 ± 0.3 m·s-1, P = 0.012; passing: 13.0 ± 0.5 m·s-1 vs 12.2 ± 0.5 m·s-1, P = 0.039). Dribbling performance was unaffected by exercise. Blood lactate concentrations were elevated above preexercise values throughout exercise (time of sample effect: P < .001). CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrate that soccer-specific exercise influenced the quality of performance in gross motor skills, such as passing and shooting. Therefore, interventions to maintain skilled performance during the second half of soccer match play are warranted.
An irreducible Heegaard diagram of the real projective 3-space p3

We give a genus 3 Heegaard diagram H of the real projective space p3, which has no waves and pairs of complementary handles. So Negami's result that every genus 2 Heegaard diagram of p3 is reducible cannot be extended to Heegaard diagrams of p3 with genus 3.
Visual Analysis and Lexical Access of Chinese Characters by Chinese as Second Language Readers

To assess the learning of word form, pronunciation, and meaning in an unfamiliar writing system, we carried out Event Related Potential (ERP) experiments with learners of Chinese at the end of their first and second terms of Chinese class at an American university. The subjects were required to recognize a target Chinese character or English word with ERP recorded. They named filler targets indicated by a signal 1000ms after the onset of the stimuli. The orthographic processing of characters and words was extracted as a 200ms component by Principle Component Analysis (PCA). The semantic processing was extracted as a 400ms component (N400). The 200ms PCA component was negative at occipital (N200) and positive at frontal electrodes (P200). It was sensitive to visual analysis and lexical access respectively. ERP results showed that the visual analysis of Chinese was more difficult than English at the first term, but not the second term. The lexical access was more difficult and the semantic processing was slower for Chinese than English at both terms. Faster lexical access was obtained for familiar characters at the first term, but not the second term. The separation of visual analysis and lexical access at the second term indicates a threshold style processing of Chinese characters for the learners with moderate reading proficiency.
Value as a principal dimension in business model

The aim of the study is to present the concept of value creation as a principal dimension in a business model of the enterprise. The problem of creating value has been attracting interest among theorists and practitioners of management. These problems are of interdisciplinary character. Generation of value depends on numerous variables in the enterprises and the factors that remain outside the influence of the entity. Suitable configuration of resources used by the enterprise allows for building competitive advantage which is conducive to creating value. Ability to define and redefine business models depends on key competencies which are conducive to building enterprise's value. Architecture of business model can be considered as a system of connections and cause-and-effect correlations between individual components of this model configured in order to implement the assumptions adopted by the enterprise. Therefore, it is essential for building competitiveness to ensure proper conditions that are conducive to supplying the value for stakeholders. The most of definitions that have described the problems of business model in the related literature points to value as a central category of long-term decision processes in the enterprise. Consequently, it can be indicated that the concept of business models is inherent in the problems of management of enterprises value. It should be emphasized that strategy of the increase in value and the respective concept of building business model represent the essential source of achievement of success through contemporary enterprises which are at risk of unpredictable behaviour from the market environment. Turbulent environment substantially changes market conditions of enterprise's operation. The relations between stakeholders are changing. This concerns in particular relationships with customers. In order to maintain competitive ability of the enterprise, they have to regularly adjust their offer to customer need, thus verifying the value they supply. This translates into the necessity of verification of business models used previously in the enterprise.
Scottish Sustainable Internationalisation: What are the determinants of firm exporting?

The aim of this thesis is to estimate which types of firms export and which processes firms go through before becoming exporters. This involves determining which variables, such as age and industry, help determine firms as exporters in Scotland. Other areas investigated include the relationship between exporting intensity and levels of exporting experience across European firms. Previous studies were limited because of the lack of Scottish data, for this a new survey had to be created; this was a challenge to devise and carry out. This part of the thesis was crucial as the information from this survey would then be used to find firms to interview. This involved face to face interviews and phone interviews of the firms, with a member of the management of the firm, which gave further qualitative information to the survey. Additionally another data set, for European firms, was utilized to study other relationships, such as between exporting intensity. In the first empirical chapter, the determinants of exporting are explored: first utilizing the most current information available at the time and then with a self made survey. The next chapter involved interviews of firms chosen from the self made survey; these interviews attempted to discover differences between exporters and non-exporters and examined the motivations and advantages exporters may have had. The last chapter examined other firms in Europe, using a different data set, the purpose of which was to help support the work done on Scottish firms and also to make use of other information, such as on exporting intensity, which was not collected for Scottish firms.
Foundations of Net-Enhanced Organizations

Preface.Chapter 1. The Migration from Traditional to Net-Enhanced Organizations and Systems.Chapter 2. Principles of Networked Economy Businesses.Chapter 3. Structures, Frameworks, and Classes of Net-Enhancement.Chapter 4. Basic NE Infrastructure.Chapter 5. Middleware Technologies and Applications.Chapter 6. NE Security, Trust, and Payments.Chapter 7. Competitive NE Strategy.Chapter 8. Business Models and Strategic Planning.Chapter 9. Intermediation and Cybermediation.Chapter 10. Strategic Partnering, Outsourcing, and Virtual Organizations.Chapter 11. Strategizing for E-Markets.Chapter 12. Deploying NE Solutions.Chapter 13. Challenges to Implementation.Chapter 14. Societal and International Issues.Chapter 15. Reflections: The Future of E-Commerce.Glossary. Credits.Index.
A Study of the Participation of the Private Sector Companies of India in Corporate Social Responsibility Activities through Conjoint Analysis

This paper aims to explore into the aspect of establishment of a pattern of participation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities amongst the private sector companies as reflected in the respective company documents in the public domain, taking rate of growth of profit as the parameter. An empirical and analytical study was undertaken whereby the corporate official websites of the companies were analyzed. Data were then generated from such an analysis using qualitative document analysis. For this study, we used ‘number of sentences’ as the unit for measurement of CSR participation. Data were entered into SPSS to generate descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, multiple regression analysis and conjoint analysis. The most preferred CSR activities were observed to be education, health and environment. Drinking water and sanitation was least preferred activity. A high level of dispersion was observed with respect to drinking water and sanitation and a low level with respect to education, health, environment and ‘others’. The pattern across the deciles was observed to be random with respect to average sentences spent as well as coefficient of variance (CV). The activities that had an impact on the deciles at different levels as per the multiple regression analysis were: education, health, environment, disaster relief, employability, drinking water and sanitation, rural upliftment and others. Companies belonging to the manufacturing sector and the services sector have shown the highest responsiveness towards all the activities. Companies had attached the highest importance (Level 1) to the following CSR activities: education, environment and ‘others’.
Conducting content‐analysis based literature reviews in supply chain management

Purpose – Inconsistent research output makes critical literature reviews crucial tools for assessing and developing the knowledge base within a research field. Literature reviews in the field of supply chain management (SCM) are often considerably less stringently presented than other empirical research. Replicability of the research and traceability of the arguments and conclusions call for more transparent and systematic procedures. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the importance of literature reviews in SCM.Design/methodology/approach – Literature reviews are defined as primarily qualitative synthesis. Content analysis is introduced and applied for reviewing 22 literature reviews of seven sub‐fields of SCM, published in English‐speaking peer‐reviewed journals between 2000 and 2009. A descriptive evaluation of the literature body is followed by a content analysis on the basis of a specific pattern of analytic categories derived from a typical research process.Findings – Each paper was assess.
The accuracy of Influenza A (H1N1) "swine flu" laboratory testing: A systematic review of diagnostic test accuracy.

Review question/objective The aim of this systematic review is to comprehensively search the available literature and to synthesise the best available evidence to determine the diagnostic accuracy of currently available laboratory tests for swine flu (H1N1), using viral culture as a reference test. Inclusion Criteria Types of participants Studies will be considered for inclusion in the review if the participants are human patients exhibiting influenza-like symptoms who have been tested for swine flu (H1N1) using both a diagnostic and reference test. There will be no exclusion based on age, gender or co-morbidities, but subgroup analysis will be conducted if there is sufficient data and if appropriate. Phenomenon of interest The phenomenon of interest is the correct identification of H1N1 infection. This review will consider studies that compare the accuracy of laboratory tests aiming to diagnose swine flu (H1N1) in patients presenting with influenza-like symptoms, in comparison to viral culture. Outcome measures The accuracy of diagnostic tests will be determined by how well the test correctly gives positive results for patients with confirmed swine flu (H1N1) and negative results for patients without, as determined by viral culture. It is anticipated that data will be presented as raw test results or sensitivities and specificities of the test compared with viral culture will be presented. Other statistics to elaborate on diagnostic test accuracy may include likelihood ratios and/or predictive values.
Implementing international qualitative research: techniques and obstacles

While it is well accepted that good research is essential to developing the most effective international marketing strategies, until recently many warned that using qualitative techniques was fraught with pitfalls. However, no study had been completed which describes the use of various qualitative techniques in specific markets. This preliminary study, based on interviews with 39 experienced market research managers, shows that most qualitative techniques are used in nearly every one of the 17 countries included. International researchers interviewed are well aware of the cultural problems they may face in completing international qualitative research. These cluster around relations with the in‐country research firm, reactions of respondents and interpretation of data. In this study, they offer specific strategies they use to overcome these problems: patience and sensitivity in developing working relationships with the local firm and meeting the needs of respondents and first‐hand in‐country experience.
Entrepreneurship education at university: a driver in the creation of high growth firms?

There is, in the UK, increasing attention being paid to the potential of university education to facilitate high quality growth firms. While some commentators believe that this potential can be realised in the short term, many believe that only a long‐term view of the entrepreneurial potential of graduate entrepreneurship is feasible as new graduates lack the resources, skills and experience necessary for sustainability and growth of ventures. Like most university entrepreneurship “departments”, the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde examines the profile of students and outcome of entrepreneurship electives in terms of student ambition and motivation. Using data from this exercise along with data from a study of 2,000 Strathclyde alumni, an impression of potentiality and actual outcome of entrepreneurship electives is possible.