Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discrete particle swarm optimization based influence maximization in complex networks

The aim of influence maximization problem is to mine a small set of influential individuals in a complex network which could reach the maximum influence spread. In this paper, an efficient fitness function based on local influence is designed to estimate the influence spread. Then, we propose a discrete particle swarm optimization based algorithm to find the final set with the maximum value of the fitness function. In the proposed algorithm, discrete position and velocity are redefined and problem-specific update rules are designed. In order to accelerate the convergence, we introduce a degree-based population initialization method and a mutation learning based local search strategy. Experimental results compared with four comparison algorithms show that our proposed algorithm is able to efficiently find good-quality solutions.
Combination of event-related potentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging during single-letter reading

This work proposes a mathematical approach for combining event-related potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI). Data were separately recorded during the same event-related experimental design, consisting of visually presented single letters and non-alphabetic symbols, that had to be either simply observed (passive condition) or read aloud (active condition). This protocol was useful for exploring the neural correlates of reading processes. Healthy adults participated in the experiment. Averaged ERPs were decomposed by independent component analysis; low resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) was applied to estimate the current density distribution maps of each independent component. fMRI images time series were analyzed by multiple linear regression. ERP-fMRI correspondence was quantified by computing the Euclidean distance between LORETA local maxima and clusters of significantly activated fMRI voxels. During reading aloud of letters, that is clearly the task most similar to natural reading conditions, significant electrical and hemodynamic response was observed in the left medial frontal gyrus (BA 6) and left middle temporal gyrus (BA 22/39) just before articulation and in the bilateral middle superior temporal gyrus (BA 22/37) during and after verbal-motor production. These results indicate that the middle-superior temporal gyrus plays a crucial and multifunctional role in grapheme-phoneme matching
Advanced Tools for Digital EEG Review:: Virtual Source Montages, Whole-head Mapping, Correlation, and Phase Analysis

Summary Digital EEG allows one to combine recorded EEG channels into new montages without the need to record new data. Using spherical splines, voltages can be estimated at any point on the head. This allows one to generate various montages with the recorded or virtual electrodes at standardized locations, to interpolate bad electrodes, and to generate topographic maps over the whole head. Simulations of EEG activity originating in various brain regions are used to illustrate the effects of known generators on various montages and on whole-head maps. Some properties of spatial filters are introduced, and it is shown how they can be used to develop source montages with signals that estimate the activity in specific brain regions. The usefulness and validity of a source montage designed to focus on temporal lobe activity is illustrated with simulations and examples of temporal lobe spikes and seizures. Additional tools such as cross-correlation among channels, fast Fourier transform, and phase maps are described. These tools are useful in estimating time lags between source channels and in interpreting propagating spike and seizure activity. In combination, these tools help to analyze and to enhance activities that may be hard to detect from the background scalp EEG in traditional montages.
On passivity of delayed Markovian jump systems subject to parametric uncertainties

In this paper the problem of passivity analysis is investigated for Markovian jump time-delay systems subject to norm-bounded parametric uncertainties. A mode-dependent Lyapunov functional is introduced together with some slack variables to derive new delay-dependent conditions that guarantee the passivity of uncertain Markovian jump time-delay systems. The derived passivity conditions in the form of linear matrix inequalities not only are readily checkable but also are shown to be less conservative than the existing results. The theoretical predications are justified by an illustrative example.
Amplification of the DNA Repair GeneO 6-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase Associated with Resistance to Alkylating Drugs in a Mammalian Cell Line*

The cytotoxic action of such alkylating chemotherapeutic drugs as 2-chloroethyl-N-nitrosourea (CNU) derivatives is countered by the repair proteinO 6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT), which removes O 6-alkylguanine induced in the DNA by these agents. Resistance to these drugs is often correlated with the MGMT levels in normal and tumor cells of human and rodent origin. Exposure of mouse 3T3 cells to increasing concentrations of CNU, and subsequent selection of resistant cells, led to the isolation of clones with 5–10 times higher levels of MGMT activity than in the control. The increased MGMT expression at both mRNA and protein levels resulted from 5- to 10-fold amplification of the Mgmt gene. Amplification of this gene was not associated with concomitant amplification of another alkylation damage repair gene,N-methylpurine-DNA glycosylase. No amplification of at least three other genes on chromosome 7 (which contains theMgmt gene) was observed in the drug-resistant cells. Furthermore, the amplified Mgmt sequence was not associated with a homogeneously staining region, or double minute chromosomes, nor present as episomal DNA. In situ hybridization of metaphase chromosomes of the drug-resistant cells indicated both translocation and localized amplification of the Mgmt gene.
Performance Comparison of a Freeform Lens and a CDTIRO When Combined With an LED

This paper compares the features and performance of two secondary optics when combined with an LED. The aim and application of the secondary optic are explained in the introduction section. Sections 2 and 3 introduce two optics: A freeform lens and a novel circular dielectric totally internally reflecting optic (CDTIRO), which can provide uniform illumination. The design process, ray tracing simulations and experimental performance of the freeform lens are described in detail in Section 2. The ray tracing simulation and experimental performance of the CDTIRO are presented in Section 3. Section 4 presents a comparison of the features of both lenses and their performance. Both optics can produce over 95% uniformity within an illuminated area. However, the uniformity produced by the freeform lens reduces abruptly compared with the CDTIRO when some parameters such as size and the position of the light source are changed.
Blockade of GPIIb/IIIa by eptifibatide and tirofiban does not alter tissue factor induced thrombin generation in human endotoxemia

Summary Activated platelets facilitate thrombin generation by providing a catalytic surface on which coagulation activation occurs. The glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptor might play a major role in this process as shown by in vitro and animal experiments. However, it is controversial whether the GPIIb/IIIa receptor facilitates tissue factor-induced thrombin generation in humans as well. We therefore investigated whether two clinically used GPIIb/IIIa antagonists (tirofiban and eptifibatide) may blunt TF-induced coagulation in humans. Thirty male volunteers received 2 ng/kg endotoxin and standard doses of eptifibatide, tirofiban or placebo over 5 hours in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, double-dummy parallel-group trial. Markers of thrombin generation (prothrom-bin fragment 1+2, thrombin-antithrombin complexes), fibrinoly-sis (D-dimer, plasmin-antiplasmin complexes) as well as inflammatory markers (interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α) were measured by enzyme linked immunoasssays, TF-mRNA expression was quantified by RT-PCR. Neither eptifibatide nor tirofiban influenced LPS-induced coagulation activation or fibrinolytic activity. Additionally, the increase of TNF-α and IL-6 was similar in all groups. In conclusion, GPIIb/IIIa blockade with eptifibatide or tirofiban did not influence TF-induced coagulation activation in human low grade endotoxemia.
Customer Satisfaction at Public Hospitals in Pakistan: PAKSERV Application

Research studies investigating service quality in organizations have popularized various tools. However, the usefulness of these tools in cross-cultural settings has been challenged and needs further investigation. The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of PAKSERV in deciphering the service quality of public sector hospitals in the Asian context of Pakistan. The study used a survey method where data was collected through a questionnaire which employed the PAKSERV dimensions of tangibility, reliability, assurance, sincerity, personalization and formality. Data was collected from 500 respondents visiting different public sector hospitals in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The collected responses were analyzed using means, correlations and confirmatory factor analysis to interrogate the PAKSERV model’s reliability and confirmation in an entirely new context. Findings suggest some clear gaps in the quality of public hospitals in Pakistan, specifically in the ‘formality’ and ‘tangibility’ dimensions. However, all PAKSERV dimensions generated excellent results except for the ‘Formality’ dimension, which indicates a need for theoretical adjustments while investigating further the service quality of public sector health care. This research is an original contribution to the body of knowledge as PAKSERV has been used for the first time to measure service quality of public sector hospitals in Asian settings. The formality dimension is not valid in case of measuring service quality of public sector hospitals. It indicates a clear need to further investigate PAKSERV service quality with public sector organizations. The study uncovers certain areas that were not previously discussed through SERVQUAL service quality measures of public sector hospitals in an Asian setting. The findings of this study will be beneficial for health care quality assurance officials, aspiring to improve the current stature of public sector health care in countries like Pakistan. The research is limited to public health care in Pakistan as the sample consisted of middle-class people, visiting various public sector hospitals.
Public–Private Partnership’s Procurement Criteria: The case of managing stakeholders’ value creation in Kazakhstan

Abstract The article presents the study of the criteria that Kazakhstan’s government used for granting a public–private partnership (PPP) contract to a private investor for construction and operation of eleven kindergartens in the city of Karaganda during 14 years. From the perspective of value creation for critical stakeholders, there was often misalignment between bidders’ views of these criteria and the perceived value for citizens and the government. The latter may significantly enhance the creation of shared values in a PPP by actively engaging stakeholders in the design of the bids’ assessment criteria.
Sales manager training practices in small and large firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine practices of and differences between small and large organizations as they relate to the training of sales managers. Design/methodology/approach – Utilizing a survey approach, data were collected from a sample of sales managers and trainers employed by firms across the USA. Analysis was conducted between “small” and “large” organizations based on sales force size. Findings – While many similarities do exist between small and large firms' sales manager training practices, some significant differences also exist in terms of teaching approaches, types of instructors, training locations, methods, and content utilized. Results of the current study exhibit both similarities and differences as compared to results of sales manager training practices found in earlier studies. Research limitations/implications – The study was based on a sample of sales managers and trainers employed by firms within the USA. Sales manager training practices could differ due to cultural differences, the industry the firm competes in, and other factors. Practical implications – First, sales manager training activities show more similarities than differences between small and large firms. Second, internet-based training methods are becoming prevalent in large firms while still struggling for acceptance in smaller ones. Third, no one type of instructor is viewed as being highly effective in either small or large firms. Fourth, senior management must support and encourage positive behavioral changes associated with sales manager training or else efforts will fail. Originality/value – The current study answers the call for research to identify contemporary sales manager training practices, building upon results of previous studies. Classification-JEL: R00, Z0
Features of Two Cases with 18q Deletion Syndrome

The 18q Deletion syndrome is seen in 1 out of 10 000 live births. The main features of the syndrome are short stature, hearing loss, hypotonia, mental retardation, endocrine disorders and autoimmunity. Here, we present 2 patients with this syndrome admitted to our clinic who were found to have insulin resistance in addition to mental retardation, short stature, autoimmune thyroiditis and hearing loss. The need to perform a karyogram analysis in cases presenting with these features is emphasized.
The Agency Effect of Repurchases on Closed‐End Funds

Share prices rise after companies announce repurchases, but there are differing views as to why this happens. Repurchases are announced by closed-end funds when their discounts are widening (market-to-book is falling). The immediate post-announcement effect is a small jump in a fund's share price, but the main effect occurs over the next four years during which time there is significant outperformance both of the fund's price and of its investment portfolio. Liquidity of the shares does not change. Repurchases, if executed, reduce the size of a fund and therefore the manager's fees. Our findings are consistent with directors using the threat of repurchases to discipline managers whose investment performance has been poor, leading to a closer alignment of pay and performance. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
The role of resources: micro‐firms internationalization in the French context

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze resources and capabilities that distinguish between traditional, slow born‐global and rapid born‐global micro‐firms.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses multiple case study methodology. Three case studies are presented to compare the internationalization pathways of three French micro‐firms.Findings – The paper emphasizes the importance of leveraging between internal and external resources for rapid internationalization of micro‐firms. The rapid internationalization is driving and facilitated by managerial abilities, innovation and network. The study shows that analysis of micro‐firms in terms of resources and capabilities enhances the understanding of internationalization.Research limitations/implications – Because it is limited to three case studies, the generalization of findings to a broad sample of French micro‐firms will be needed.Practical implications – The research suggests that two‐level analysis (i.e. individual level and mi.
Significant alterations in peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets in patients with somatoform disorder

Objective: Previous studies have suggested that somatoform disorders (SFD) might be associated with changes in the function of the central and autonomic nervous systems. The aim of this study was to examine the possible immunological differences between SFD and healthy controls. Methods: Twenty-four patients with SFD and 13 healthy individuals completed the psychological questionnaires to assess symptom reporting [Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R)] and to diagnose for SFD [Screening for Somatoform Symptoms scale (SOMS-scale)]. Participants also provided a blood sample taken in the morning, which was analysed with an automated cell counter to determine the number of leucocytes per μl and with flow cytometry to determine lymphocyte subsets. Results: With the exception of a higher T4/T8 ratio in the patient group, which was mainly because of lower CD8 counts, there were no significant differences in the absolute number of lymphocytes (subsets) between patients with SFD and healthy subjects. A positive correlation between B-lymphocyte subsets (CD19+CD22+, CD19+CD5+, CD19+CD3−) to all scales of the SCL-90-R, except somatisation, were found in SFD. Additionally, a positive correlation was found in SFD between CD14+CD16+ monocytes and somatisation (0.573) on the SCL-90-R scale. Conclusion: These data indicate that patients with SFD have an enhanced humoral immunity as shown by increased B-cell numbers and furthermore an elevated T4/T8 ratio because of lower CD8 suppressor cells. Further studies will be required to determine whether these alterations in lymphocyte subsets are directly involved in the pathophysiology of SFD.
Depictions of Mental Illness in Print Media: A Prospective National Sample

Objective: Because there are no published reports of depictions of mental illness in print media based on national samples, we set out to prospectively collect and analyse a near complete New Zealand sample of print media. Methods: A commercial clipping bureau was contracted to provide cuttings of all items with any mental health or illness aspect over a four week period. These items were analysed for potentially positive and negative depictions and how mental illness was represented within each item. An independent search for additional newspaper items concerning one prominently featured topic indicated that the rate of identification of relevant stories was at least 91%. Result: The collection consisted of six hundred print items which were most commonly news or editorial pieces (n = 562, 93.7%). Negative depictions predominated, with dangerousness to others (n = 368, 61.3%) and criminality (n = 284, 47.3%) being the most common. Positive depictions, including human rights themes, leadership and educational accomplishments occurred in 27% (n = 164) of all items. Generic mental illness terminology without reference to specific diagnostic categories was present in 47% of all items (n = 284). Conclusions: Negative depictions that predominate confirm the stereotypic understanding of mental illness that is stigmatizing. These findings underscore the challenge facing us as mental health professionals attempting to change attitudes towards mental disorders when the stereotypes are so regularly reinforced.
Trajectory Mapper: Interactive Widgets and Artist-Designed Encodings for Visualizing Multivariate Trajectory Data

We present Trajectory Mapper, a system of novel interactive widgets and artist-designed visual encodings to support exploratory multivariate visualization of spatial trajectories. Trajectories are rendered using a three-way multi-texturing algorithm so that the color, texture, and shape of each mark can be manipulated separately in response to data. Visual encodings designed by artists and arranged in categories (e.g., divergent, linear, structured) are utilized as strong starting points for visual exploration. Interactive widgets including linked parallel coordinates plots, 3D camera controls, and projection to arbitrary 3D planes facilitate data exploration. An innovative visual mapper menu enables rapid experimentation with alternative data mappings using the artist-designed or custom encodings that can be created with no programming using image editing software. In addition to system design details and insights, two applications with collaborating domain science users are presented. The ﬁrst requires analyzing 2D crowd simulations and the second 3D tool traces from laparoscopic surgery training exercises.
Atomic Distributed Semaphores for Accessing Networked Data

Distributed hash tables (DHTs), based on consistent hashing, offer efficient lookup services for decentralized distributed systems. DHTs operate efficiently to handle large number of network nodes with continual node arrivals, departures, and failures. Upon addressing the crucial issues of communication efficiency and offering load balancing in dynamic networking environments, DHTs are the essential components for building structured peer-to-peer (P2P) overlay networks. Although structured overlays improve data availability and consistency, they do not provide strong semantics on distributed data mutual exclusion operations. For a robust network operating system, it is essential to provide atomic data access semantic services. In this paper, a distributed semaphore (DISEM) mechanism is proposed, and it is designed on top of a dynamic structured overlay. The proposed design circumvents the availability and consistency issues. Independent of any underlying overlay algorithms, DISEM provides a tunable level of data availability and consistency, while offering fault tolerance and reliable delivery services. A testbed prototype has been implemented to validate the mutual exclusiveness of networked replicas under different traffic loadings. The measured results indicate that DISEM offers high mutual exclusive access rates under different networking conditions.
Motor performance of the hand in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

OBJECTIVES To examine the motor performance of the hand in a sample of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). SUBJECTS The patient group comprised 21 (two men, 19 women) patients with RA. Twenty one control subjects matched for age and sex were selected from a larger reference group, which had been drawn from the local population. METHODS The measured motor performance aspects were simple reaction time, choice reaction time, speed of movement, finger tapping speed, and coordination (that is, speed of movement/accuracy). Results were compared for age and sex matched pairs. The measurements were made with the Human Performance Measurement/Basic Elements of Performance system, which is a multifunctional system designed to measure different motor aspects of the hands, including reaction time, movement speed, tapping speed, and coordination. RESULTS A comparison of the results for the patient and control groups indicated that the motor functions of patients with RA were impaired in all the measured aspects (with the exception of the index finger tapping test). The difference between the groups varied between 11% and 21% for the reaction time tasks, between 12% and 18% for the speed of movement tasks, and between 15% and 17% for the coordination task. CONCLUSION Based on the results of our research, it seems that RA decreases some motor performance functions of the hand expressed as simple reaction time, choice reaction time, speed of movement, and coordination. The changes were emphasised in movements performed with several joints.
An Application of the Critical Incident Technique in Gaming Research

Abstract This paper discusses using the critical incident technique (CIT) to identify perceptual gaps in service quality in the gaming environment. The qualitative nature of the CIT allowed the gathering of detailed perceptions of service quality that could not have been captured using a more quantitatively focused survey. The incident classification scheme of Bitner et al. (1990) was extended with the addition of supplementary categories specific to gaming. The findings indicate the need to consider aspects of service successes and failures in the gaming industry as unique compared with traditional services and to develop specific approaches to enhance gaming service quality.