Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A west coast North American comparative study of: venture capitalists' perception risks when selecting life science investment opportunities

Life science technologies are some of the most comprehensive and difficult to evaluate as investment opportunities. If Venture Capitalists can only invest in a specific number of portfolio investments, it is crucial that the investment opportunities chosen are those that are also the most likely to succeed. Investor perception risks due to lack of qualification, technology comprehension, information asymmetry or overconfidence, are factors that may limit Venture Capitalists from choosing investments that create wealth. To date, little research has been dedicated into the understanding of risk perception and technology comprehension among Venture Capitalists who specialize in life science investment opportunities. This study included a literature review as well as nineteen (19) semi-formal interviews with Venture Capitalists located on the West Coast of Canada and United States. Results show that interviewed Venture Capitalists are, overall, qualified in making life science investment decisions. However, results also showed that there are trends towards Venture Capital adverse selection and overconfidence during investment selection, particularly with respect to personal performance. Results further showed that adverse selection may occur simply as a way of reducing risk, particularly information asymmetry risk. In these instances it appears that opportunity selection is geared towards selection of known and trusted management rather than actual investment opportunity. Differences between West Coast Canadian and United States Venture Capitalists were also found. These differences specifically included the degree to which selection risks are taken, where interviews Canadian Venture Capitalists appeared to be more ethical and cautious investors, and interviewed United States Venture Capitalists were concerned with creating wealth out of innovative technologies in a wide variety of geographical locations.
Development of Economic Tools for Managing Regional Innovation Clusters

Investment policy aimed at strengthening the innovative potential of the regional economy is an important tool to increase its competitiveness, improve the quality and standard of living of the population. This research proposes the main economic indicators (efficiency ratio of the state investment policy (Kef), venture investments, the economic link between the university and the enterprise) necessary for the effective management of the development of regional Innovation Clusters (IC). The implementation of these indicators in the Skolkovo Innovation Center (Russia) was analyzed. As a result of the research, it was found that in Russia the efficiency of innovation management tools in clusters such as business incubators and technology parks of the university is not high, and the average is 1.3 (unit/1000 students). This means that the economic link between the university and the enterprise is low. It has been shown that ICs attract venture capital investments. In particular, the Skolkovo Innovation Center attracts 40% of Russia's total venture capital investments. The developed tools demonstrate the regional authorities how to structure their activities in the IC management. Also, they give an opportunity to propose strategies for entrepreneurs and provide them with the information on how to take the advantage of innovation clusters.
Mental wellbeing and quality of sexual life in women with primary Sjögren’s syndrome are related to circulating dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate

Objectives: To evaluate the possible effect of androgen status on sexuality and mental wellbeing in patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS). Methods: Serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S), testosterone (T), androstenedione, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), and the SHBG/T ratio were measured in 21 women with pSS. Sexual life was assessed by a Swedish version of the McCoy scale, which covers sexual experience and responsiveness during the past 30 days. A standardised questionnaire, the Psychological General Well-Being Index (PGWB), was used to examine quality of life and psychological symptoms in patients with pSS. Results: Positive correlations were found between DHEA-S serum levels and the total McCoy score (rs=0.62; p<0.01), as well as the subscales of this score reflecting arousal (0.59; p<0.05), desire (rs=0.52; p<0.05), and satisfaction (rs=0.66; p<0.01). Serum DHEA-S concentrations were also related to the total PGWB score (rs=0.60; p<0.01) and subscales of this score: depression (rs=0.62; p<0.01), wellbeing (rs=0.64; p<0.01), general health (rs=0.67; p<0.01), and self control (rs=0.67; p<0.01). Total McCoy and PGWB scores and their subscales were not related to the serum levels of testosterone and androstenedione or the T/SHBG ratio. Conclusions: Circulating levels of the weak androgen DHEA-S are positively related to the quality of sexual life and mental wellbeing in women with pSS.
The Use of Lympho-Venous Anastomoses to Prevent Complications from Ilio-Inguinal Dissection

Lympho-venous anastomoses (LVA) were performed in 30 patients, immediately after the completion of ilio-inguinal dissection for metastatic nodal involvement. This surgical procedure, originally devised to treat post-mastectomy lymphedema from radical mastectomy, was intended in this series of cases to prevent complications from ilio-inguinal nodal dissection. Actually, when compared to another group of 84 patients previously operated on by ilioinguinal nodal dissection without lympho-venous anastomoses, the series showed a lower rate of local-regional complications (38% vs 65.9%). The mean duration of hospital stay was also reduced (18.5 vs 34.7 days). Distant lymphedema of the lower limb was observed in 7 of 23 patients who had received LVA, whereas in the control group, lymphedema was recorded in 39 of 52 patients who were regularly followed-up (30% vs 75%). LVA should be routinely used, as a useful surgical procedure, to prevent or reduce the occurrence of local-regional complications following ilio-inguinal nodal dissections.
Terminal dynamics approach to cellular neural networks

This paper considers Cellular Neural Networks (CNNs) based on the paradigm of terminal dynamics. They are presented as unpredictable systems, and it is shown that sign strings at the critical points are able to control them. A CNN is able to reproduce a prescribed behavior with a prescribed accuracy by changing a combination of signs, related to interconnections between neighboring neurons. The design approach of CNN template coefficients is considered as well.
RoosterFS CS 260 Project Writeup

Formal verification of file systems is critical to ensure data integrity and file system consistency, both during regular operation and in the event of an unexpected crash. While a handful of verified file systems have been developed in the past few years, none of them support fully concurrent file system write operations. In this work, we introduce concurrent crash Hoare logic (CCHL) as a means of reasoning about system correctness in the presence of of both concurrency and crashes. We have implemented the logic in Coq proof assistant and have begun proving it sound according to the semantics of an imperative language with locks, heap, and disk operations. We intend to use this language to implement a fully concurrent file system that supports buffered writes and an asynchronous disk, and we will then use concurrent crash Hoare logic to prove this file system correct according to specifications that we have already begun forming.
Reconstructing, Monitoring, and Predicting Multidecadal-Scale Changes in the North Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation with Sea Surface Temperature

Sea surface temperature (SST) observations in the North Atlantic indicate the existence of strong multidecadal variability with a unique spatial structure. It is shown by means of a new global climate model, which does not employ flux adjustments, that the multidecadal SST variability is closely related to variations in the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC). The close correspondence between the North Atlantic SST and THC variabilities allows, in conjunction with the dynamical inertia of the THC, for the prediction of the slowly varying component of the North Atlantic climate system. It is shown additionally that past variations of the North Atlantic THC can be reconstructed from a simple North Atlantic SST index and that future, anthropogenically forced changes in the THC can be easily monitored by observing SSTs. The latter is confirmed by another state-ofthe-art global climate model. Finally, the strong multidecadal variability may mask an anthropogenic signal in the North Atlantic for some decades.
Expression of antimicrobial neutrophil defensins in epithelial cells of active inflammatory bowel disease mucosa.

BACKGROUND/AIMS The normal intestinal epithelium is increasingly being recognised as an important component of the mucosal innate protection against microorganisms. Human neutrophil defensins 1-3 (HNP 1-3) and lysozyme are components of the systemic innate immunity. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of HNP 1-3 and lysozyme in normal and active inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) mucosa. METHODS Mucosal tissue sections were studied by immunohistochemistry using antibodies to neutrophil defensins 1-3 and lysozyme. Extracts of purified intestinal epithelial cells were used for immunoblotting studies and antimicrobial activity against the phoP negative strain of Salmonella typhimurium. RESULTS Surface epithelial cells strongly immunoreactive for neutrophil defensins and lysozyme were seen in active ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease (but not normal or inactive IBD) mucosal samples. Many of these cells coexpressed both of the antimicrobial proteins. Immunoblotting studies confirmed the expression of neutrophil defensins in extracts of purified ulcerative colitis epithelial cells, which also demonstrated antimicrobial activity. CONCLUSION HNP 1-3 and lysozyme are expressed in surface enterocytes of mucosa with active IBD and they may play an important role in intestinal host defence against luminal microorganisms.
Detection of molecular particles in live cells via machine learning

Clathrin‐coated pits play an important role in removing proteins and lipids from the plasma membrane and transporting them to the endosomal compartment. It is, however, still unclear whether there exist “hot spots” for the formation of Clathrin‐coated pits or the pits and arrays formed randomly on the plasma membrane. To answer this question, first of all, many hundreds of individual pits need to be detected accurately and separated in live‐cell microscope movies to capture and monitor how pits and vesicles were formed. Because of the noisy background and the low contrast of the live‐cell movies, the existing image analysis methods, such as single threshold, edge detection, and morphological operation, cannot be used. Thus, this paper proposes a machine learning method, which is based on Haar features, to detect the particle's position. Results show that this method can successfully detect most of particles in the image. In order to get the accurate boundaries of these particles, several post‐processing methods are applied and signal‐to‐noise ratio analysis is also performed to rule out the weak spots. © 2007 International Society for Analytical Cytology.
Issue a Boil-Water Advisory or Wait for Definitive Information? A Decision Analysis

OBJECTIVE Study the decision to issue a boil-water advisory in response to a spike in sales of diarrhea remedies or wait 72 hours for the results of definitive testing of water and people. METHODS Decision analysis. RESULTS In the base-case analysis, the optimal decision is test-and-wait. If the cost of issuing a boil-water advisory is less than 13.92 cents per person per day, the optimal decision is to issue the boil-water advisory immediately. CONCLUSIONS Decisions based on surveillance data that are suggestive but not conclusive about the existence of a disease outbreak can be modeled.
Diaphragmatic microcirculation measured by laser-Doppler flowmetry in the rat.

The applicability of laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF) in measuring regional blood flow of the diaphragm (Qdi) was evaluated in anesthetized and mechanically ventilated rats. Specifically, we assessed the issues of the degree of tissue perfusion, spatial variations of Qdi signals, and the correlation between these signals and total Qdi. Qdi was detected from an area 1 mm in diameter and 0.5 mm in depth. With Ringer solution continuously suffusing the abdominal surface of the left hemidiaphragm, drugs were applied to the surface of the diaphragm at 1/100 of the flow rate of the suffusing fluid. In 13 rats, resting Qdi and the response of Qdi to a single concentration of adenosine (10(-4) M) remained unchanged over a 2-h period. Increasing adenosine concentrations (10(-9) to 10(-3) M) in eight rats elicited a progressive rise in Qdi. In six rats, the variability of Qdi in a given rat was assessed over five different sites at 2-mm intervals in a line on the diaphragm. A wide range of variability in Qdi was noticed among different sites. The depth of tissue penetration of LDF was little affected when a piece of freshly diaphragm was interposed between the probe and the perfused diaphragm, suggesting that LDF signals arise from complete penetration of the perfused diaphragm. Finally, significant linear relationships between mean Qdi and total Qdi were observed in all animals; however, the slopes of these relationships varied significantly between animals. In conclusion, LDF provides a stable and continuous method for monitoring regional microvascular diaphragmatic perfusion. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Preschool Teacher Perceptions of Assistive Technology and Professional Development Responses

Bloomington District 87 Schools Abstract: This study investigated the perspectives of teachers in an early childhood center concerning their thoughts and feelings about the implementation of a school wide assistive technology (AT) program designed to enhance emergent literacy skills for children identified as being at-risk or having special needs. Qualitative methodology was used to gain perspectives of all participants. Semi-structured interviews, observations in the classroom, and a self-assessment of AT knowledge and practice were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using a multiple coding approach resulting in identification of four major themes: (a) perceptions of technology, (b) perceived challenges to implementing technology, (c) perceptions of AT and literacy and (d) self-reported AT use. Discussion and recommendations focus on best practices of implementing school wide AT in early childhood settings.
Increasing inclusiveness for women, youth and seniors in Canada

Women, youth and seniors face barriers to economic inclusion in Canada, with considerable scope to improve their labour market outcomes. There has been no progress in shrinking the gender employment gap since 2009, and women, particularly mothers, continue to earn significantly less than men, in part due to a large gap in unpaid childcare responsibilities. Outside the province of Quebec, low (but increasing) rates of government support for childcare should be expanded considerably, as should fathers’ low take-up of parental leave. Skills development should be prioritised to arrest declining skills among youth and weak wage growth among young males with low educational attainment. Fragmented labour market information needs to be consolidated to address wage penalties associated with the widespread prevalence of qualifications mismatch. Growth in old-age poverty should be tackled through further increases in basic pension payments over time. Linking changes in the age of eligibility for public pensions to life expectancy would boost growth by increasing employment of older Canadians still willing and able to work. For all three groups, well-targeted expansions of in-work tax benefits and active labour market spending have the potential to increase employment.
The Sound of Disgust: How Facial Expression May Influence Speech Production

In speech articulation, mouth/lip shapes determine properties of the front part of the vocal tract, and so alter vowel formant frequencies. Mouth and lip shapes also determine facial emotional expressions, e.g., disgust is typically expressed with a distinctive lip and mouth configuration (i.e., closed mouth, pulled back lip corners). This overlap of speech and emotion gestures suggests that expressive speech will have different vowel formant frequencies from neutral speech. This study tested this hypothesis by comparing vowels produced in neutral versus disgust expressions. We used our database of five female native Cantonese talkers each uttering 50 CHINT sentences in both a neutral tone of voice and in disgust to examine five vowels ([5], [E:], [i:], [O:], [u:]). Mean fundamental frequency (F0) and the first two formants (F1 and F2) were calculated and analysed using mixed effects logistic regression. The results showed that the disgust vowels showed a significant reduction in either or both formant values (depending on vowel type) compared to neutral. We discuss the results in terms of how vowel synthesis could be used to alter the recognition of the sound of disgust.
Cross Border Merger & Acquisition vs Domestic Merger & Acquisition: Which of them give greater return to the Acquirer? In UK perspective

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) are one of the key strategies used by corporate entities to grow and sustain in this competing world. This dissertation studies impact of cross border and domestic M&A on share price of acquirer. This study concentrated on UK public listed companies which participated in M&A. After globalisation lot of corporates started to penetrate other markets to gain from such collaboration. So, there is a need for study on how well the strategy of M&A work on the acquirer company. The core objective of this thesis is to investigate M&A event and compare cross border M&A and domestic M&A performed by UK public companies between 2012 to 2016. Share price analysis is performed on sample of companies and compared returns in both domestic and cross border M&A events. Two types of models (market and mean adjusted model) are used to examine the returns due to M&A event and empirically studied the trends of M&A in United Kingdom. Market model compared the returns due to M&A to market returns while Mean adjusted model compared the returns due to M&A to returns of same company at an event free period. This study also discusses how shareholders of acquirer firms received returns at various intervals in long and short term. After different types of data analysis this study concluded with a finding that domestic M&A gave higher or significantly more returns to shareholders of acquirer firms than cross border M&A.
Grid-connected PV system based on a single-phase three-level qZS inverter

This paper describes the operation of a grid-connected PV system based on a single-phase 3L-NPC qZSI using PSCAD as simulation tool for modelling the system: PV array, single-phase 3L-NPC qZSI, filter stage and electrical grid. The control system considers a maximum power point tracking algorithm, a phase loop locked for synchronization with the grid voltage, a control strategy to inject current in phase with the voltage at the point of common coupling and the modulation technique that also take into account shoot-through duty cycle. Simulation results are provided in order to show the viability of using this topology for PV energy systems connected to the electrical grid.
Efficient channel estimation using TCH codes

In this paper, we consider the use of TCH codes to perform channel estimation in an OFDM system, using either data multiplexed pilots or superimposed pilots over the data. TCH codes possess several properties that allow us to use them efficiently in various applications which includes channel estimation, as we address in this paper. With this objective, several performance results were obtained through simulations which allowed the evaluation of the impact of different pilot power levels and modulations, as well as the comparison of TCH against other conventional pilots. In order to cope with the interference between pilots and data, an iterative receiver with interference suppression was employed for the superimposed pilots method.
Escherichia coli Enoyl-Acyl Carrier Protein Reductase (FabI) Supports Efficient Operation of a Functional Reversal of the β-Oxidation Cycle

ABSTRACT We recently used a synthetic/bottom-up approach to establish the identity of the four enzymes composing an engineered functional reversal of the β-oxidation cycle for fuel and chemical production in Escherichia coli (J. M. Clomburg, J. E. Vick, M. D. Blankschien, M. Rodriguez-Moya, and R. Gonzalez, ACS Synth Biol 1:541–554, 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/sb3000782). While native enzymes that catalyze the first three steps of the pathway were identified, the identity of the native enzyme(s) acting as the trans-enoyl coenzyme A (CoA) reductase(s) remained unknown, limiting the amount of product that could be synthesized (e.g., 0.34 g/liter butyrate) and requiring the overexpression of a foreign enzyme (the Euglena gracilis trans-enoyl-CoA reductase [EgTER]) to achieve high titers (e.g., 3.4 g/liter butyrate). Here, we examine several native E. coli enzymes hypothesized to catalyze the reduction of enoyl-CoAs to acyl-CoAs. Our results indicate that FabI, the native enoyl-acyl carrier protein (enoyl-ACP) reductase (ENR) from type II fatty acid biosynthesis, possesses sufficient NADH-dependent TER activity to support the efficient operation of a β-oxidation reversal. Overexpression of FabI proved as effective as EgTER for the production of butyrate and longer-chain carboxylic acids. Given the essential nature of fabI, we investigated whether bacterial ENRs from other families were able to complement a fabI deletion without promiscuous reduction of crotonyl-CoA. These characteristics from Bacillus subtilis FabL enabled ΔfabI complementation experiments that conclusively established that FabI encodes a native enoyl-CoA reductase activity that supports the β-oxidation reversal in E. coli.