Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of equity, trust and information on user fee acceptance in protected areas and other public lands: a structural model

Although inequity has been considered as a major concern of user fees on public lands, there is a lack of sufficient empirical research on understanding how perceptions of inequity influence fee acceptance. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the role of three equity constructs on fee acceptance, and (2) to test whether perceptions of inequity mediate the relationship between trust, information and fee acceptance. This study is based on a telephone survey conducted with residents of Oregon and Washington, United States. The sampling was conducted using a random-digit dial process, yielding 366 completed interviews. The results of structural equation modeling showed that, among the three-dimensional equity constructs, i.e. compensatory equity, democratic equity and equity belief, only equity belief influenced fee acceptance. Further, equity belief partially mediated the effects of information and trust on fee acceptance. Providing more information about fees to the public such as why fees are collected, and where the fee dollars went, and gaining trust with the public through more accountability, transparency and public participation can help to reduce the perception of inequity, and consequently help to build support towards the recreation user fee programme.
Isolation and Characterization of a Dominant Negative Mutant of Bacillus subtilis GTP-binding Protein, YlqF, Essential for Biogenesis and Maintenance of the 50 S Ribosomal Subunit*

The circularly permuted GTPase YlqF is essential for cell viability and is broadly conserved from Gram-positive bacteria to eukaryotes. We previously reported that YlqF participates in the late step of 50 S ribosomal subunit assembly in Bacillus subtilis. Here, we demonstrate that an N-terminal deletion mutant of YlqF (YlqFΔN10) inhibits cell growth even in the presence of wild-type YlqF. In contrast to the wild-type protein, the GTPase activity of this mutant was not stimulated by the 50 S subunit and did not dissociate from the premature 50 S subunit. Thus, YlqFΔN10 acts as a competitive inhibitor of wild-type YlqF. Premature 50 S subunit lacking ribosomal protein L27 and with a reduced amount of L16 accumulated in YlqFΔN10-overexpressing cells and in YlqF-depleted cells, suggesting that YlqFΔN10 binds to the premature 50 S subunit. Moreover, premature 50 S subunit from both YlqFΔN10-overexpressing and YlqF-depleted cells more strongly enhanced the GTPase activity of YlqF than the mature 50 S subunit of the 70 S ribosome. Collectively, our results indicate that YlqF is targeted to the premature 50 S subunit lacking ribosomal proteins L16 and L27 to assemble functional 50 S subunit through a GTPase activity-dependent conformational change of 23 S rRNA.
Hyperspectral image classification using set-to-set distance

Hyperspectral image (HSI) classification has attracted much attention and extensive research efforts over the past decade. Due to few labeled samples versus high dimensional features, it is a challenging problem in practice. Recently, combining the pixel spectral information and the spatial (neighborhood) information has been verified to be effective for HSI classification. In this paper, we introduce a novel method for HSI classification using set-to-set distance (SSD). Based on the assumption that neighbor pixels tend to belong to the same class with high probability, we model a test pixel and its neighbor pixels as a testing set (or a neighbor set) inspired by bilateral filtering. Meanwhile, the training pixels belong to the same class are modeled as a training set. Therefore, the classification is based on comparisons of sets distances. Experiments on a real HSI dataset show that our proposed method outperforms a number of existing state-of-the-art approaches.
Development of a simplified approach based on the EFQM model and Six Sigma for the implementation of TQM principles in a university administration

The total quality management (TQM) principles have been successfully applied to private companies over the years: the present challenge is to apply this approach proficiently also to the public administrations (PAs) in order to improve the efficiency of their processes. The complexity of the PAs' processes, the lack of experience in the field of process improvement and the reduced human resources usually dedicated to this task are responsible for the difficulty often encountered by the PAs in monitoring, analysing and improving their processes. This paper proposes a simplified model, developed in order to solve this problem, to bring the TQM principles into reality for a PA. The model is based both on the European Foundation for Quality Management auto-evaluation model and the Six Sigma approach and it is specifically designed for PA processes. The general idea is to define a simple but rigorous approach to evaluate and improve the health status of a single process without taking into account the whole organisation, which will allow the activation of effective improvement projects with reduced need of preventive training and resources. This model has been applied to a variety of administrative processes of the University of Firenze and a case study on Master courses management is reported.
The Impact of Movie Reviews on Box Office: Media Portfolios and the Intermediation of Genre

For experience goods, such as motion pictures, consumers rely on third-party endorsements as quality signals. Often, other media are used to disseminate such endorsements. As a result, their impact on a consumer is likely to depend on the consumer's type and frequency of media choices—that is, his or her media portfolio. This article argues that viewers who prefer literary genre motion pictures have distinct media portfolios that make them more responsive to professional reviews. The article demonstrates this effect through an analysis of the impact of professional reviews on box office receipts for the 750 leading titles released in the United States between 2004 and 2008.
Naturally Occurring Diterpenoid Dimers: Source, Biosynthesis, Chemistry and Bioactivities

Abstract Diterpenoid dimers are rare in nature and mainly found in higher plants including the families Acanthaceae, Annonaceae, Asteraceae, Calceolariaceae, Chrysobalanaceae, Cupressaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Liliaceae, Meliaceae, Rhizophoraceae, Taxaceae, Velloziaceae, and Zingiberaceae. In addition, a few diterpenoid dimers have been also reported from fungi (Psathyrellaceae), liverworts (Scapaniaceae), and a gorgonian (Gorgoniidae). They feature a wide variety of structures due to different core skeletons, linkage patterns, substituents, and configurations. Accordingly, diterpenoid dimers exhibit a broad range of bioactivities, including cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antimalarial, and antifouling properties, which have attracted more and more research interests in the past decades. This review with 176 metabolites from 109 references provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the source, biosynthesis, structure, synthesis, and bioactivities of diterpenoid dimers.
A Global Contour Measure for Image Segmentation

The global approach to image segmentation defines a function of image partitions whose maxima correspond to perceptually salient segments. We extend previous approaches following this framework by requiring that our image model sharply decreases in its power to organize the image as a segment’s boundary is perturbed from its true position. Instead of making segment boundaries prefer image edges, we add a term to the objective function that seeks abrupt change in the global representation and not just the local image brightness. We also introduce a prior on the shape of a salient contour that expresses the observed multi-scale distribution of contour curvature for physical contours. We show that our new term correlates strongly with salient structure. We apply our method to real images and verify that the new term improves performance. Comparisons with other state–of–the–art approaches validate our method’s advantages. c © 2008 Optical Society of America
Redesigning Welfare Services for Policies Effectiveness: The non-profit organizations (NPOs) perspective

Abstract The relationship between governments and Third Sector is an important subject of public administration studies which attribute non-profit organizations (NPOs) the double function of welfare service delivery, and – according to a participatory governance model – participation in policies' definition. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the comprehension of the NPOs' approach to addressing human needs through their services, in order to support new ways to promote the citizens' initiative. Through a qualitative services analysis, seven case studies have been assessed. Results suggest that NPOs' approach is characterized by the attention to individual as a whole, networking with other NPOs, and focus on users autonomy. To promote participatory governance models, some suggestions for policy-makers are highlighted.
Temperature-based covert channel in FPGA systems

This paper reports the temperature-based covert communication channel implemented in FPGA system. The channel enables bidirectional transmission and exchange of an arbitrary bit stream between two, electrically separated parts of the FPGA circuit during its normal operation. Transmission to and from the FPGA device is also reported. Transmitter and receiver modules are based on ring-oscillator which utilize 60 and 51 look-up tables respectively. The proof of concept was implemented in the Xilinx Spartan-IIE device and allows for transmission speed of 1/8 bit/s between FPGA and external transceiver. Internal communication is faster and allows to transmit up to 1 bit per second.
Effects of Antipsychotic Treatment on Depressive Symptoms With Respect to Genetic Polymorphisms Related to Dopaminergic and Serotoninergic Neurotransmission in Schizophrenia Patients

A ccumulating evidence indicates that certain antipsychotics exert considerable antidepressant efficacy that originates from differential affinity to dopamine and serotonin receptors. Although the mechanisms of antipsychotics' antidepressant action have been widely investigated, there have been only a few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the efficacy of antipsychotics in treating depressive symptoms in schizophrenia patients. In 2 RCTs, clozapine was superior to risperidone, whereas in 1 RCT, it was superior to quetiapine. Other differences between distinct secondgeneration antipsychotics (SGAs) with respect to antidepressant efficacy have not been reported so far. In addition, no significant differences between first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs) and SGAs in treating depressive symptoms have been demonstrated. It has been shown that there is a high interindividual variability in the extent of response to antipsychotic treatment that appears to be most likely due to the contribution of genetic factors. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare antidepressant efficacy of SGAs (ziprasidone and olanzapine) with perazine that represents FGAs taking into account the contribution of genetic polymorphisms associated with dopaminergic and serotonergic neurotransmission. Perazine is a phenothiazine derivative with D2 receptor affinity similar to that of chlorpromazine but lower than that of haloperidol. Additionally, perazine is a potent inhibitor of central histaminergic receptors and exerts antagonistic effects on α1-adrenergic receptors. 6 Currently, its use is limited to Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and former Yugoslavia. A detailed description of methodological issues was provided in our previous articles. In brief, 201 nonconsanguineous paranoid schizophrenia patients of Caucasian ethnicity (96 men aged 32.7 ± 10.4 years and 105 women aged 38.9 ± 13.2 years) were recruited at 2 university centers in
Cognitive impairment and 7-year mortality in dialysis patients.

BACKGROUND Although dementia has predicted mortality in large dialysis cohorts, little is known about the relationship between less pronounced cognitive deficits and mortality in patients with end-stage renal disease. This study assessed whether cognitive impairment without dementia was an independent predictor of 7-year survival in dialysis patients after controlling for other risk factors. STUDY DESIGN Prospective single-cohort study. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS 145 prevalent dialysis patients from 2 units in London, UK, were followed up for 64.3 ± 27.4 months and censored at the time of change to a different treatment. PREDICTORS Cognitive impairment, defined as performance 1 standard deviation less than normative values on 2 or more cognitive tests within a neurocognitive battery assessing attention/concentration, memory, and psychomotor function domains. Depression, quality-of-life, and clinical measures also were obtained. OUTCOMES & MEASUREMENTS All-cause mortality was the primary outcome. Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess the contribution of demographics and clinical and psychological measures and cognitive impairment to mortality. RESULTS 98 (67.6%) patients were cognitively impaired at baseline. At follow-up, 56 (38.6%) patients had died, 29 of cardiac causes. Unadjusted Kaplan-Meier analysis showed higher mortality in cognitively impaired patients, in whom 7-year survival was 49% versus 83.2% in those with no cognitive impairment (P < 0.001). Mortality risk associated with cognitive impairment remained significant in adjusted analysis controlling for sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological factors (adjusted HR, 2.53; 95% CI, 1.03-6.22; P = 0.04). LIMITATIONS Small sample size and number of events. CONCLUSIONS Cognitive impairment is an independent predictor of mortality in dialysis patients. Although the implications of early recognition and treatment of cognitive impairment for clinical outcomes are unclear, these results suggest that patient management protocols should attempt to ensure prevention of cognitive decline in addition to managing coexisting medical conditions.
Insights into success factors of innovation projects

Despite the huge amount of studies about innovation success factors we found various factors that have been neglected in previous research. In a joint project with three large-sized companies in Germany we collected data about 48 innovation projects using robust qualitative and quantitative methods for analysis. After a systematic literature review and development of a framework for categorising success factors in soft and hard factors, we matched the revealed factors with the ones identified in literature. We found three success factors that help these companies to turn new ideas into success: quick decision-making by superiors throughout the innovation process, the existence of a cross-project guiding idea, and the persuasion of colleagues during idea development. The findings show the importance of the coexistence of soft and hard factors and may help company leaders to properly boost innovation activities and manage the innovation process.
Community ambulation: Influences on therapists and clients reasoning and decision making

Background. Community ambulation is an important element of a rehabilitation training programme and its achievement is a goal shared by rehabilitation professionals and clients. The factors that influence a physiotherapist's or health professionals decision making around the preparation of a client for community ambulation and the factors that influence a client's decision to return to walking in their community are unclear. Objective. To review the available literature about the factors that have influenced the reasoning and decision making of rehabilitation therapists and clients around the topic of ambulation in the community. Method. Three separate searches of the available literature were undertaken using Ovid, Cinahl, ProQuest, Medline and Ebscohost databases. Databases were searched from 1966 to October 2006.The first search explored the literature for factors that influence the clinical reasoning of rehabilitation therapists. The second search explored the literature for factors that influence client's decision to ambulate in the community. A third search was undertaken to explore the literature for the demands of community ambulation in rural communities. Results. Very few studies were found that explored community ambulation in the context of clinical reasoning and decision making, the facilitators and barriers to a clients return to ambulation in their community or the demands of ambulation in a rural community. Conclusion. Consideration of the environment is key to the successful return to walking in the community of clients with mobility problems yet little literature has been found to guide physiotherapist's decision making about preparing a clients to return to walking in the community. An individual's participation in their society is also a result of the interaction between their personal characteristics and his or her environment. The influence of these characteristics may vary from one individual to another yet the factors that influence a person's decision to return to walking in their community after stroke remain unclear.
Linkages between eBusiness and sustainability outcomes: An exploratory study

Summary This paper addresses the intersection of two global trends through a study examining the impact of eBusiness capabilities on the natural environment. The growing requirements of organisations to deploy information systems innovatively and strategically, and to engage in corporate sustainability practices lead to their examination. The paper contributes to the debates in this area by using an exploratory case study method to examine four key propositions regarding the ecological impacts of eBusiness innovations. The study found eBusiness to be exporting resource consumption. It also found that economic growth enabled by eBusiness could erode era-efficiencies. Additionally, the study identified a measurement gap, leaving organisations handicapped in their decision-making by the inability to account for dissimilar ecological impacts without difficulty. The study supports the existence of significant links between eBusiness and the natural environment, along with the need to weave corporate sustainability into the early stages of organisational design and eBusiness strategy development to create positive and purposeful ecological impacts.
A Reverse-Sandwich Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Verocytotoxin 1 and 2 Antibodies in Human and Bovine Sera

ABSTRACT A reverse-sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), in which an antibody is sandwiched by antigens, was established for the titration of antibodies to verocytotoxins (VT) in human and animal sera. This assay has two advantages over a conventional indirect ELISA: (i) higher specificity and sensitivity and (ii) the ability to comparably titrate antibodies from different species. The VT1 (Shiga-like toxin 1) antibody-positive rates were 5% in 202 normal adult humans and 99% in 93 normal cattle at a dairy farm. This ELISA is most suitable for seroepidemiologic studies of infections with VT-producing Escherichia coli in humans and various animal species.
Values of Australian wheat and flour quality characteristics

There is currently a lack of information regarding the values of Australia's wheat and flour characteristics. A hedonic price function is applied to Australia's wheat exports over the period 1976-1977 to 1990-1991 to estimate the implicit prices of wheat and flour characteristics. The results suggest that protein is the most important wheat characteristic with a premium of $8.80|T|percentage point. Other wheat characteristics such as thousand-kernel weight and ash content are also found to have significant premiums and discounts. For flour, protein with a premium of $5.34|T|percent-age point and color grade are the most important characteristics. The implications of the results for policy formulation in relation to the grading system, breeding programs, and marketing are discussed. ©1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Consistent and Specific Multi-View Subspace Clustering

Multi-view clustering has attracted intensive attention due to the effectiveness of exploiting multiple views of data. However, most existing multi-view clustering methods only aim to explore the consistency or enhance the diversity of different views. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-view subspace clustering method (CSMSC), where consistency and specificity are jointly exploited for subspace representation learning. We formulate the multi-view self-representation property using a shared consistent representation and a set of specific representations, which better fits the real-world datasets. Specifically, consistency models the common properties among all views, while specificity captures the inherent difference in each view. In addition, to optimize the non-convex problem, we introduce a convex relaxation and develop an alternating optimization algorithm to recover the corresponding data representations. Experimental evaluations on four benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves better performance over several state-of-the-arts.
Screening of Bacillus mojavensis biofilms and biosurfactants using laser ablation electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy

Biofilms are composed of micro‐organisms within a matrix of chemically complex polymer compounds and from these structures many unknown competitive factors are suggested that many considered are important consequences for biological control. This research was undertaken to study further the endophyte, Bacillus mojavensis and its relationships to biofilm and two classes of lipopeptides considered relevant for biocontrol of plant pathogens.
Job Security, Financial Security and Worker Well‐Being: New Evidence on the Effects of Flexible Employment

This paper uses panel data drawn from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to provide new evidence of the links between unemployment, wages, job security, financial security and workers' well-being for workers in flexible employment. Our findings indicate that workers in flexible employment encounter more unemployment and experience increased job insecurity; unemployment is associated with wage penalties. Lower wages, job insecurity and financial insecurity affect well-being. However, these negative outcomes are mitigated by longer job tenure. Our results have implications for moves towards a flexicurity model of employment
When and who at risk? Call back at these critical points

Since MOOC is suﬀering high dropout rate, researchers try to explore the reasons and mitigate it. Focusing on this task, we employ a composite model to infer behaviors of learners in the coming weeks based on his/her history log of learning activities, including interaction with video lectures, participation in discussion forum, and performance of assignments, etc. The prediction accuracy of our proposed model outperforms related methods. Besides, we try combining the model with suggested interventions, such as sending reminder emails to at-risk learners. Future work, which is currently underway, will evaluate its inﬂuence on mitigating dropout rate.