Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consumers' Perception of Quality and Health Beliefs of Sachet Drinking Water: Evidence from Obuasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

The consistent rise in the utilization of sachet water as a primary source of drinking water for households and the general public has come of note in recent times. Government efforts to provide a safe and reliable source of drinking water has not been fully realized thus alternative sources of water provisioning are sought by the population. In spite of the varying levels of contamination reported in all studies in Ghana on sachet water quality, it still receives an appreciable level of trust from consumers. This study therefore employed both quantitative and qualitative research designs to elicit survey and semi – structured interview responses. The semi – structured interviews were a follow up to probe further respondents’ health beliefs and concerns associated with sachet water. The study unveiled health beliefs associated with sachet water, concerns about tap and bottled water, respondents’ admission to littering with plastic sachet, brand loyalty, attitudes towards the cross – checking of labeling requirements and respondents’ perceived quality of sachet water. Others included respondents’ consumption behavior and sachet water companies’ compliance to labeling requirements on sachet water. Many a respondent were unsure of any health beliefs with regard to sachet water but were concerned about its storage. Brand loyalty played a good role in consumers’ choice of sachet water with organoleptic properties (colour, taste and odour) the main factors influencing the perceived quality of sachet water. Others included religious affiliation of sachet water producing companies, packaging and radio advertisements.
Valence and Party Support: The Measurement of Mood in Issue Competence

This paper presents a newly compiled aggregate measure of issue competence for the Republicans and Democrats based on 2,450 survey items on issue competence over six decades. Using quarterly time series data between 1980 and 2008 we test three theoretical propositions about the issue valence of U.S. parties: citizens’ ratings of party competence on valence issues tend to move in common over time, consistent with the existence of a prevailing mood in public opinion, controlling for partisan bias; issue valence is driven by presidential performance when the party is in power, but by other valence indicators when the party is in opposition; and, the effect of valence exerts a substantive influence upon electoral support. The paper therefore reveals that existing performance measures of party choice are useful indicators of competence, but issue valence provides a valuable contribution to explaining party choice. The implications are significant for the analysis of electoral choice in U.S. politics and for our understanding of dynamics of public opinion and party competition.
Effect of crystal orientation on fracture strength and fracture toughness of single crystal silicon

This paper presents the dependence of fracture toughness, fracture strength, and fracture behavior, such as crack propagation, on the crystal orientation of single-crystal silicon. We conducted on-chip tensile testing to measure fracture strength and fracture toughness of single-crystal silicon films with [100] and [110] surface in the <100> and <110> loading direction. The loading direction had a significant effect on fracture toughness, which was 2.17 MPa/spl radic/m in the <100> direction and 1.27 MPa/spl radic/m in <110>. However, the fracture stress varies with both loading direction and surface orientation. We observed a fracture specimen on which a [111] cleavage plane eventually appeared on any crystal types of the specimen.
Diet/Energy Balance Affect Sleep and Wakefulness Independent of Body Weight.

STUDY OBJECTIVES Excessive daytime sleepiness commonly affects obese people, even in those without sleep apnea, yet its causes remain uncertain. We sought to determine whether acute dietary changes could induce or rescue wake impairments independent of body weight. DESIGN We implemented a novel feeding paradigm that generates two groups of mice with equal body weight but opposing energetic balance. Two subsets of mice consuming either regular chow (RC) or high-fat diet (HFD) for 8 w were switched to the opposite diet for 1 w. Sleep recordings were conducted at Week 0 (baseline), Week 8 (pre-diet switch), and Week 9 (post-diet switch) for all groups. Sleep homeostasis was measured at Week 8 and Week 9. PARTICIPANTS Young adult, male C57BL/6J mice. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Differences in total wake, nonrapid eye movement (NREM), and rapid eye movement (REM) time were quantified, in addition to changes in bout fragmentation/consolidation. At Week 9, the two diet switch groups had similar body weight. However, animals switched to HFD (and thus gaining weight) had decreased wake time, increased NREM sleep time, and worsened sleep/wake fragmentation compared to mice switched to RC (which were in weight loss). These effects were driven by significant sleep/wake changes induced by acute dietary manipulations (Week 8 → Week 9). Sleep homeostasis, as measured by delta power increase following sleep deprivation, was unaffected by our feeding paradigm. CONCLUSIONS Acute dietary manipulations are sufficient to alter sleep and wakefulness independent of body weight and without effects on sleep homeostasis.
SDF-1 Chemokine Signalling Modulates the Apoptotic Responses to Iron Deprivation of Clathrin-Depleted DT40 Cells

We have previously deleted both endogenous copies of the clathrin heavy-chain gene in the chicken pre B-cell-line DT40 and replaced them with clathrin under the control of a tetracycline-regulatable promoter (Tet-Off). The originally derived cell-line DKO-S underwent apoptosis when clathrin expression was repressed. We have also described a cell-line DKO-R derived from DKO-S cells that was less sensitive to clathrin-depletion. Here we show that the restriction of transferrin uptake, resulting in iron deprivation, is responsible for the lethal consequence of clathrin-depletion. We further show that the DKO-R cells have up-regulated an anti-apoptotic survival pathway based on the chemokine SDF-1 and its receptor CXCR4. Our work clarifies several puzzling features of clathrin-depleted DT40 cells and reveals an example of how SDF-1/CXCR4 signalling can abrogate pro-apoptotic pathways and increase cell survival. We propose that the phenomenon described here has implications for the therapeutic approach to a variety of cancers.
The kappa statistic in reliability studies: use, interpretation, and sample size requirements.

PURPOSE This article examines and illustrates the use and interpretation of the kappa statistic in musculoskeletal research. SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS The reliability of clinicians' ratings is an important consideration in areas such as diagnosis and the interpretation of examination findings. Often, these ratings lie on a nominal or an ordinal scale. For such data, the kappa coefficient is an appropriate measure of reliability. Kappa is defined, in both weighted and unweighted forms, and its use is illustrated with examples from musculoskeletal research. Factors that can influence the magnitude of kappa (prevalence, bias, and non-independent ratings) are discussed, and ways of evaluating the magnitude of an obtained kappa are considered. The issue of statistical testing of kappa is considered, including the use of confidence intervals, and appropriate sample sizes for reliability studies using kappa are tabulated. CONCLUSIONS The article concludes with recommendations for the use and interpretation of kappa.
Robust H/sub /spl infin// control for uncertain Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems with interval time-varying delay

This paper is concerned with the problem of delay-dependent robust H/sub /spl infin// control for uncertain time-delay fuzzy systems with norm-bounded uncertainty. The time-delay is assumed to be a time-varying continuous function belonging to a given interval, which means that the lower and upper bounds for the delay are available. No restriction on the derivative of the time-varying delay is needed, which allows the time-delay to be a fast time-varying function. The state-space Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) uncertain fuzzy model with interval time-varying delay is adopted. Delay-dependent conditions for the existence of robust H/sub /spl infin// controller are presented in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). A numerical example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Supporting the Requirements Prioritization Process. A Machine Learning approach

Requirements prioritization plays a key role in the requirements engineering process, in particular with respect to critical tasks such as requirements negotiation and software release planning. This paper presents a novel framework which is based on a requirements prioritization process that interleaves human and machine activities, enabling for an accurate prioritization of requirements. Similarly to the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, our framework adopts an elicitation process based on the acquisition of pairwise preferences. Differently from AHP, where scalability is a big issue, the framework enables a prioritization process even over a large set of requirements, thanks to the exploitation of machine learning techniques that induce requirements ranking approximations at run time, and to the use of a boolean metrics. Moreover the new approach allows to reduce the bias of a dominance hierarchy, a strategy introduced by AHP to deal with the scalability issue. The paper describes also a methodology for the experimental evaluation of the framework and discusses the results of a first set of experiments designed on a real casestudy which shows that an high accuracy in the final ranking can be obtained within a limited elicitation effort.
Either ZEB1 or ZEB2/SIP1 Can Play a Central Role in Regulating the Epstein-Barr Virus Latent-Lytic Switch in a Cell-Type-Specific Manner

ABSTRACT We previously reported that the cellular protein ZEB1 can repress expression of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) BZLF1 gene in transient transfection assays by directly binding its promoter, Zp. We also reported that EBV containing a 2-bp substitution mutation in the ZEB-binding ZV element of Zp spontaneously reactivated out of latency into lytic replication at a higher frequency than did wild-type EBV. Here, using small interfering RNA (siRNA) and short hairpin RNA (shRNA) technologies, we definitively show that ZEB1 is, indeed, a key player in maintaining EBV latency in some epithelial and B-lymphocytic cell lines. However, in other EBV-positive epithelial and B-cell lines, another zinc finger E-box-binding protein, ZEB2/SIP1, is the key player. Both ZEB1 and ZEB2 can bind Zp via the ZV element. In EBV-positive cells containing only ZEB1, knockdown of ZEB1 led to viral reactivation out of latency, with synthesis of EBV immediate-early and early lytic gene products. However, in EBV-positive cells containing both ZEBs, ZEB2, not ZEB1, was the primary ZEB family member bound to Zp. Knockdown of ZEB2, but not ZEB1, led to EBV lytic reactivation. Thus, we conclude that either ZEB1 or ZEB2 can play a central role in the maintenance of EBV latency, doing so in a cell-type-dependent manner.
A time-space tradeoff for sorting on a general sequential model of computation

In a general sequential model of computation, no restrictions are placed on the way in which the computation may proceed, except parallel operations are not allowed. We show that in such an unrestricted environment TIME•SPACE&equil;Ω(N<supscrpt>2</supscrpt>/log N) in order to sort N elements, each in the range [1,N<supscrpt>2</supscrpt>].
A Bayesian View of Challenges in Feature Selection : Multilevel Analysis , Feature Aggregation , Multiple Targets , Redundancy and Interaction

In the paper we discuss applications of the Bayesian approach to new challenges in relevance analysis. Earlier, we formulated a Bayesian approach to Feature Subset Selection using Bayesian networks to jointly estimate the posteriors of Markov Blanket Memberships (MBMs), Markov Blanket Sets (MBSs), and Markov Blanket Graphs (MBGs) for a given target variable. These results of the Bayesian Multilevel Analysis of relevance (BMLA) correspond respectively to a model-based pairwise relevance, relevance of sets, and to the interaction models of relevant variables. Now we formulate refined levels in BMLA by introducing the concepts of k-MBSs and k-MBGs, which are intermediate, scalable model properties expressing relevance. We consider the extension of BMLA to multiple targets. We introduce and investigate a score for feature redundancy and interaction based on the decomposability of the structure posterior. Finally, we overview the problems of conditional and contextual relevance. We demonstrate the use of concepts and methods in the field of genomics of asthma.
Energy‐Based Image Deformation

We present a general approach to shape deformation based on energy minimization, and applications of this approach to the problems of image resizing and 2D shape deformation. Our deformation energy generalizes that found in the prior art, while still admitting an efficient algorithm for its optimization. The key advantage of our energy function is the flexibility with which the set of “legal transformations” may be expressed; these transformations are the ones which are not considered to be distorting. This flexibility allows us to pose the problems of image resizing and 2D shape deformation in a natural way and generate minimally distorted results. It also allows us to strongly reduce undesirable foldovers or self‐intersections. Results of both algorithms demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
Dual Control of sbo-alb Operon Expression by the Spo0 and ResDE Systems of Signal Transduction under Anaerobic Conditions in Bacillus subtilis

ABSTRACT The Bacillus subtilis sbo-alb operon containssboA, the structural gene for the bacteriocin subtilosin, and the alb genes required for subtilosin production. Transcription from the sbo-alb promoter is highly induced by oxygen limitation. The transcriptional regulation of thesbo-alb operon is under dual control involving the transition state regulator AbrB and the two-component regulatory proteins ResD and ResE.
Adaptive Partial Differential Equation Learning for Visual Saliency Detection

Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) have been successful in solving many low-level vision tasks. However, it is a challenging task to directly utilize PDEs for visual saliency detection due to the difficulty in incorporating human perception and high-level priors to a PDE system. Instead of designing PDEs with fixed formulation and boundary condition, this paper proposes a novel framework for adaptively learning a PDE system from an image for visual saliency detection. We assume that the saliency of image elements can be carried out from the relevances to the saliency seeds (i.e., the most representative salient elements). In this view, a general Linear Elliptic System with Dirichlet boundary (LESD) is introduced to model the diffusion from seeds to other relevant points. For a given image, we first learn a guidance map to fuse human prior knowledge to the diffusion system. Then by optimizing a discrete submodular function constrained with this LESD and a uniform matroid, the saliency seeds (i.e., boundary conditions) can be learnt for this image, thus achieving an optimal PDE system to model the evolution of visual saliency. Experimental results on various challenging image sets show the superiority of our proposed learning-based PDEs for visual saliency detection.
So you call that research? Mending methodological biases in strategy and organization departments of top business schools

We believe that all strategy and organization (SO) scholars should be able to decide for themselves whether to specialize in certain parts of the knowledge cycle or adopt a broader, multi-method view on the scientific process. In a situation of ―methodological pluralism‖, individuals might choose to contribute to the construction of new administrative theories by means of qualitative works like case studies, ethnographies, biographies, or grounded theory studies (e.g., see Denzin and Lincoln, 2000). Others could then specialize in testing these theories by means of experiments, surveys, or longitudinal econometric studies (e.g., see Lewis-Beck, 1987-2004). Again others could combine both approaches in Herculean attempts to conduct high-impact, integrative research with the potential to change the way we understand the field as a whole.
A Versatile Transreplication-Based System To Identify Cellular Proteins Involved in Geminivirus Replication

ABSTRACT A versatile green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression cassette containing the replication origins of the monopartite begomovirus Tomato yellow leaf curl Sardinia virus (TYLCSV) is described. Transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana plants containing one copy of the cassette stably integrated into their genome were superinfected with TYLCSV, which mobilized and replicated the cassette as an episomal replicon. The expression of the reporter gene (the GFP gene) was thereby modified. Whereas GFP fluorescence was dimmed in the intercostal areas, an increase of green fluorescence in veins of all leaves placed above the inoculation site, as well as in transport tissues of roots and stems, was observed. The release of episomal trans replicons from the transgene and the increase in GFP expression were dependent on the cognate geminiviral replication-associated protein (Rep) and required interaction between Rep and the intergenic region of TYLCSV. This expression system is able to monitor the replication status of TYLCSV in plants, as induction of GFP expression is only produced in those tissues where Rep is present. To further confirm this notion, the expression of a host factor required for geminivirus replication, the proliferating cellular nuclear antigen (PCNA) was transiently silenced. Inhibition of PCNA prevented GFP induction in veins and reduced viral DNA. We propose that these plants could be widely used to easily identify host factors required for geminivirus replication by virus-induced gene silencing.
Green ideology: A discursive reading

Abstract How is Green ideology structured? What differentiates it from other ideologies that include ‘Green’ components? Does it really constitute a new ideological articulation or not? These are some of the still unresolved questions that this article attempts to explore. A discursive theory of ideology, based on the innovative work of Jacques Lacan as well as on a plurality of other theoretical insights on ideology (here the work of theorists such as Žižek, Laclau and Moujfe, Freeden, and Lefort is of great importance) provides the tools necessary in order to articulate some plausible answers to these and to many more relevant questions. Green ideology, I shall argue, is a new articulation of pre‐existing ideological elements. It is new in the sense that it is articulated around a new, distinct nodal point (or family of nodal points). The establishment of this nodal point gives a new meaning to a series of pre‐existing elements, transforming them into moments of Green ideology. This essay also examines .
Using mutual information for designing the measurement matrix in phase retrieval problems

In the phase retrieval problem, the observations consist of the magnitude of a linear transformation of the signal of interest (SOI) with additive noise, where the linear transformation is typically referred to as measurement matrix. The objective is then to reconstruct the SOI from the observations up to an inherent phase ambiguity. Many works on phase retrieval assume that the measurement matrix is a random Gaussian matrix, which in the noiseless scenario with sufficiently many measurements guarantees uniqueness of the mapping between the SOI and the observations. However, in many applications, e.g., optical imaging, the measurement matrix corresponds to the underlying physical setup, and is therefore a deterministic matrix with structure constraints. In this work we study the design of deterministic measurement matrices, aimed at maximizing the mutual information between the SOI and the observations. We characterize necessary conditions for the optimal measurement matrix, and propose a practical design method for measurement matrices corresponding to masked Fourier measurements. Simulation tests of the proposed method show that it achieves the same performance as random Gaussian matrices for various phase recovery algorithms.
Computation of spectral and root MUSIC through real polynomial rooting

We present a technique to compute the Spectral and (Unitary) Root MUSIC estimations from the roots of a real polynomial in the problem of estimating the angles of arrival to a Uniform Linear Array (ULA). The computed estimations are the actual MUSIC or (Unitary) Root MUSIC estimations, but the need for a one-dimensional (1-D) search in Spectral MUSIC is eliminated, and the number of polynomial coefficients to compute in (Unitary) Root MUSIC is halved. Besides, the proposed technique makes it possible to perform the polynomial rooting step in these methods through real arithmetic.
Goal Orientations in Young Competitive Athletes: Physical Achievement, Social–Relational, and Experiential Concerns

Abstract This field study examined the structure and relative importance of sport goal orientations in 9- to 14-year-old competitive gymnasts. Questionnaires assessed the importance of physical achievement, social–relational, and experiential concerns. Factor analysis identified four goal orientation factors: Mastery, Competitive Achievement, Social Acceptance and Affiliation, and Positive Social Experiences. Means indicated that the development and demonstration of athletic skill or mastery was most valued, followed by experiencing socially-based enjoyment and positive social relationships. Competitive (social–comparative) achievement was least important. No significant gender, age, or sport experience differences were found. Discussed are the limited support found in this naturalistic setting for dispositional development–judgment goal distinctions (cf. Dweck & Leggett, 1988) and the breadth of concerns valued by these youngsters.
Impact of Takeover Defenses on Managerial Incentives July 2002

The article studies how takeover defenses influence managerial incentives with respect to long term investments, excess liquidity and the amount of debt relative to equity. The article conducts a cross-sectional regression based on a sample of Danish listed firms, dealing explicitly with the problem of causation between the variables. Takeover defenses adopted by Danish firms mainly consist of shares with dual class voting rights often in combination with foundation ownership. The article finds that protected firms have significantly less debt to equity. However, protected firms are not significantly more oriented towards the long-term and do not have significantly more excess liquidity. JEL: C31, G32, G34, K22