Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Isoperformance Curves in Applied Psychology

Isoperformance is a technique for reading information out of a data-analytic model, comparable to expected mean square or omega squared analyses. It results in a trade-off function (an isoperformance curve) among the determinants of performance. The technique was developed primarily to generate trade-off functions between personnel aptitude and time in training or on the job. However, the technique is general and can be applied in any trade-off situation. In part, the purpose of this paper is to recall the antecedents of isoperformance in psychophysics and to recount the origins and development of the isoperformance readout. Its main purpose, however, is to present several examples of isoperformance curves in applied psychology and to make the case for their usefulness.
The ABC of pneumococcal infections and vaccination in patients with chronic kidney disease

Background In the general population, pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines (PPV) decrease the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) whereas the impact on the prevention of noninvasive pneumococcal disease is less clear. As compared with PPV, pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) provoke a higher, longer-lasting immune response resulting in a 45% decreased incidence in vaccine-type pneumonia, and a 75% decrease in vaccine-type IPD. Methods Literature review on pneumococcal vaccination in end-stage renal disease. Results As compared with the general population, patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) suffer increased mortality and morbidity from pneumococcal disease (PD), being up to 10-fold for those treated with dialysis. Numerous, usually small and methodological heterogeneous studies demonstrate that PPV provokes a serological response in dialysis patients, kidney transplant recipients, children with nephrotic syndrome and CKD patients receiving immunosuppressive medication. This response is of less intensity and duration than in healthy controls. Similar observations were made for the PCV. The protective value of these vaccine-elicited anti-pneumococcal antibodies in the CKD population remains to be substantiated. For patients treated with dialysis, epidemiological data demonstrate a correlation—which does not equal causality—between pneumococcal vaccination status and a slightly decreased total mortality. Clinical outcome data on the effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccination in the prevention of morbidity and mortality in the CKD population are lacking. Conclusions Awaiting better evidence, pneumococcal vaccination should be advocated in all patients with CKD, as early in their disease course as possible. The ACIP schedule recommends a PCV-13 prime vaccination followed by a PPV-23 repeated vaccine at least 8 weeks later in pneumococcal non-vaccinated patients, and a PCV-13 vaccine at least 1 year after the latest PPV vaccine in previously vaccinated patients. In the UK, vaccination with PPV-23 only is recommended. There exist no good data supporting re-vaccination after 5 years in the dialysis population.
An empirical exploration of CTC acoustic models

The connectionist temporal classification (CTC) loss function has several interesting properties relevant for automatic speech recognition (ASR): applied on top of deep recurrent neural networks (RNNs), CTC learns the alignments between speech frames and label sequences automatically, which removes the need for pre-generated frame-level labels. CTC systems also do not require context decision trees for good performance, using context-independent (CI) phonemes or characters as targets. This paper presents an extensive exploration of CTC-based acoustic models applied to a variety of ASR tasks, including an empirical study of the optimal configuration and architectural variants for CTC. We observe that on large amounts of training data, CTC models tend to outperform state-of-the-art hybrid approach. Further experiments reveal that CTC can be readily ported to syllable-based languages, and can be enhanced by employing improved feature front-ends.
Ontology-Based Annotation of Multimedia Language Data for the Semantic Web

There is an increasing interest and effort in preserving and documenting endangered languages. Language data are valuable only when they are well-cataloged, indexed and searchable. Many language data, particularly those of lesser-spoken languages, are collected as audio and video recordings. While multimedia data provide more channels and dimensions to describe a language's function, and gives a better presentation of the cultural system associated with the language of that community, they are not text-based or structured (in binary format), and their semantics is implicit in their content. The content is thus easy for a human being to understand, but difficult for computers to interpret. Hence, there is a great need for a powerful and user-friendly system to annotate multimedia data with text-based, well-structured and searchable metadata. This chapter describes an ontology-based multimedia annotation tool, OntoELAN, that enables annotation of language multimedia data with a linguistic ontology.
Failure to trigger the oxidative metabolic burst by normal macrophages: possible mechanism for survival of intracellular pathogens

As previously reported, normal human monocytes (11) and activated mouse macrophages (9) are able to kill or inhibit intracellular replication of Toxoplasma that are not antibody coated, whereas normal human and mouse macrophages are not (7, 9). Each of these types of mononuclear phagocytes is able to kill antibody-coated Toxoplasma. In our studies, phagocytosis of antibody-coated Toxoplasma stimulated the respiratory burst by each of these types of mononuclear phagocytes, whereas phagocytosis of organisms that were not antibody coated stimulated the respiratory burst only by human monocytes and by activated mouse macrophages. Phagocytosis of Toxoplasma did not inhibit production of reactive oxygen metabolites by normal macrophages; rather, it failed to stimulate their production. Killing of Toxoplasma by monocytes from a child with X-linked chronic granulomatous disease and his heterozygote mother was impaired. Thus, reactive oxygen metabolites, perhaps in conjunction with lysosomal contents, appear to be first-line mechanisms whereby mononuclear phagocytes kill this organism. We were not able to determine the exact mechanisms whereby mononuclear phagocytes inhibit the replication of those Toxoplasma that were not killed, although both oxygen-dependent and other nonlysosomal mechanisms may be involved. The differences we observed in oxidative response to phagocytosis of Toxoplasma appear to be one determinant of the antimicrobial activity of these cells and may account for the ability of some intracellular pathogens to survive within phagocytes. These differences may be membrane related. Further studies of Toxoplasma membranes, phagocyte membrane receptors for Toxoplasma, and membrane-related mechanisms for activation of the respiratory burst are needed to define their true basis.
From Prediction to Explanation: Reconceptualizing and Extending the Perceived Characteristics of Innovating

Individual adoption and use of technology remains a critical concern for both managers and professionals. Despite the widespread integration of technology into work and organizations, there remain many opportunities for individuals to either extend or limit their use of IT at work. This paper extends work on the Perceived Characteristics of Innovating (PCI), as defined by Moore and Benbasat in 1991. Building on studies over the past ten years as well as on additional empirical research, we provide two contributions – a reconceptualization and refinement of the PCI constructs, and an extended theoretical model of their influence on users’ behavior. The construct refinements aim to provide greater theoretical clarity and to address challenges in the measurement of the constructs. The extended theoretical model provides a more complete picture of the influence of the PCIs, by considering the complex web of relationships among them in addition to their potential direct effects on usage.
Multiple Discriminant Analysis and Neural-Network-Based Monolith and Partition Fault-Detection Schemes for Broken Rotor Bar in Induction Motors

Broken rotor bars in induction motors can be detected by monitoring any abnormality of the spectrum amplitudes at certain frequencies in the motor-current spectrum. It has been shown that these broken-rotor-bar specific frequencies are located around the fundamental stator current frequency and are termed lower and upper sideband components. Broken-rotor-bar fault-detection schemes should rely on multiple signatures in order to overcome or reduce the effect of any misinterpretation of the signatures that are obscured by factors such as measurement noises and different load conditions. Multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) provide appropriate environments to develop such fault-detection schemes because of their multiinput-processing capabilities. This paper describes two fault-detection schemes for a broken-rotor-bar fault detection with a multiple signature processing and demonstrates that the multiple signature processing is more efficient than a single signature processing. The first scheme, which will be named the "monolith scheme," is based on a single large-scale MDA or ANN unit representing the complete operating load-torque region of the motor, while the second scheme, which will be named the "partition scheme," consists of many small-scale MDA or ANN units, each unit representing a particular load-torque operating region. Fault-detection performance comparison between the MDA and the ANN with respect to the two schemes is investigated using the experimental data collected for a healthy and a broken-rotor-bar case. Partition scheme distributes the computational load and complexity of the large-scale single units in a monolith scheme to many smaller units, which results in the increase of the broken-rotor-bar fault-detection performance, as is confirmed with the experimental results
Low admission Norton scale scores are associated with falls long after rehabilitation in the elderly with hip fractures

Background In this study, we investigated if low admission Norton scale scores (ANSS) are associated with falls, fractures, hospitalizations, and death, after rehabilitation in the elderly with hip fractures. Methods This prospective historical study followed consecutive elderly patients (≥65 years) who were admitted for rehabilitation following hip fracture surgery during 2009 and followed up in January or February 2012. The incidence of falls, number of falls, incidence of fractures, number of hospitalizations, and death rates were compared between patients with low (≤14) and high (≥15) ANSS. Results The final cohort included 174 patients of mean age 83.6 ± 6.2 years, with 133 (76.4%) being women. Fifty-seven (27.0%) patients died during follow-up. Of the remaining 127 patients, 44 (34.6%) fell at least once and 15 (11.8%) suffered fractures. Overall, 81 (46.6%) patients had a low ANSS. Relative to patients with a high ANSS, they had a higher incidence of falls (odds ratio 3.3, 95% confidence interval 1.5–7.1; P = 0.002) and fell more times (1.2 ± 1.8 versus 0.6 ± 1.7; P = 0.002). Regression analysis showed that ANSS (as a parametric variable) as well as a low ANSS (as a nonparametric variable) were independently associated with falls (P = 0.002 and P = 0.009, respectively). There were no differences between patients with low and high ANSS in terms of incidence of fractures, number of hospitalizations, and death rates. Conclusion The Norton scoring system may be used for predicting falls long after rehabilitation in the elderly with hip fractures.
Regulation of hisHF transcription of Aspergillus nidulans by adenine and amino acid limitation.

The hisHF gene of Aspergillus nidulans encodes imidazole-glycerole-phosphate (IGP) synthase, consisting of a glutamine amidotransferase and a cyclase domain. The enzyme catalyzes the fifth and sixth steps of histidine biosynthesis, which results in an intermediate of the amino acid and an additional intermediate of purine biosynthesis. An A. nidulans hisHF cDNA complemented a Saccharomyces cerevisiae his7Delta strain and Escherichia coli hisH and hisF mutant strains. The genomic DNA encoding the hisHF gene was cloned and its sequence revealed two introns within the 1659-bp-long open reading frame. The transcription of the hisHF gene of A. nidulans is activated upon amino acid starvation, suggesting that hisHF is a target gene of cross pathway control. Adenine but not histidine, both end products of the biosynthetic pathways connected by the IGP synthase, represses hisHF transcription. In contrast to other organisms HISHF overproduction did not result in any developmental phenotype of the fungus in hyphal growth or the asexual life cycle. hisHF overexpression caused a significantly reduced osmotic tolerance and the inability to undergo the sexual life cycle leading to acleistothecial colonies.
Vaginal cytokines do not differ between postmenopausal women with and without symptoms of vulvovaginal irritation

ObjectiveThe aim of this exploratory pilot study was to determine if there are differences in vaginal cytokine levels between postmenopausal women with and without vulvovaginal irritative symptoms (itching, burning, or pain). MethodsPostmenopausal women (n = 34) not using hormone therapy and presenting with or without symptoms of vulvovaginal irritation were asked to volunteer for this study. Each participant underwent a vaginal examination and screening for vaginitis using Amsel criteria, pH, and light microscopy. A vaginal lavage with 5.0 mL of sterile saline was carried out, and a peripheral blood sample was obtained. The vaginal lavage and serum samples were assayed for interleukin (IL)-1&bgr;, IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor-&agr; by specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Results were adjusted for total protein concentration and presented as the amount of cytokines per protein (pg/&mgr;g protein). Statistical analysis was performed using SAS version 9.3 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC). The means and SDs of all variables among women with and without vulvovaginal irritation were compared using independent-samples Student’s t test. ResultsA total of 26 postmenopausal women were enrolled into the study (symptomatic, n = 15; asymptomatic, n = 11). The mean (SD) vaginal pH for all participants was 5.9 (1.2). There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in age, age at menopause, vaginal pH, and vaginal and serum cytokines and chemokines (IL-1&bgr;, IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor-&agr;) among symptomatic versus asymptomatic women. IL-8 was the most abundant vaginal cytokine, with mean (SD) vaginal IL-8 levels being 4.1 (3.4) and 3.1 (3.9) pg/&mgr;g protein in the symptomatic versus asymptomatic groups, respectively (P = 0.55). There were no significant linear correlations (P > 0.05) between serum and vaginal cytokine levels for all endpoints. ConclusionsThe presence or absence of postmenopausal vulvovaginal symptoms does not significantly differentiate vaginal inflammatory markers. Serum and vaginal cytokines are not significantly linearly correlated among postmenopausal women with and without symptoms commonly associated with vaginal atrophy, implying that this is a local reaction.
Transversion‐enriched sequence saturation mutagenesis (SeSaM‐Tv+): A random mutagenesis method with consecutive nucleotide exchanges that complements the bias of error‐prone PCR

The sequence saturation mutagenesis (SeSaM) method has been advanced to a random mutagenesis method with adjustable mutational biases. SeSaM offers, for example, a bias that is complementary to error‐prone (ep) PCR and is enriched in transversions (SeSaM‐Tv+). dNTPαS and three degenerate bases (P, K and I) are used to control mutational bias flexibly. After quantifying incorporation rates of dPTP, dKTP and dITP by terminal transferase using a luciferase‐based assay and investigating the read and/or write activities of eight DNA polymerases, a transversionenriched protocol has been developed. In a mutant library generated using dGTPαS and dPTP, transversion frequencies of 16.22–22.58% (G→T) and 6.38–9.69% (G→C) were achieved. These mutational spectra are complementary and occur twice as frequently in comparison to standard epPCR methods employing Taq DNA polymerase. For generating more complex mutant libraries, the occurrence of consecutive nucleotide exchanges was increased by 105–106‐fold compared to epPCR. Finally, 16.7% of all sequenced mutants contained consecutive nucleotide exchanges composed mainly of a transversion followed by a transition.
Discriminability of Subjective Performance Measures and its Impact on Ratee Incentives

Prior research primarily addresses optimal contract design issues that the principal must address to provide proper incentives to the agent. However, there has been limited empirical assessment of how agents actually respond to the performance evaluation schemes in the contracts offered them. Moreover, prior research overlooks factors other than those from the pay-for-performance context that may impact the effectiveness of incentive provisions. This study considers the effect of two performance measure characteristics (discriminability and subjectivity) on agent effort allocation and performance. We find that (i) agent performance improvement is positively associated with the degree of discriminability; (ii) subjective measures are inferior to objective measures in providing incentive to the agent because of the lack of discriminability; and (iii) the inferiority of subjective measures for purposes of motivation is exacerbated in circumstances where the discriminability gap between objective and subjective measures is significant. Our findings suggest that, in order to have subjective measures effectively complement objective measures, the accounting profession must develop sound performance measurement systems that define and measure subjective performance with sufficient discriminability.
Discovering Admissible Simultaneous Equations of Large Scale Systems

SSF is a system to discover the structure of simultaneous equations governing an objective process through experiments. SSF combined with another system SDS to discover a quantitative formula of a complete equation derives the quantitative model consisting of simultaneous equations reflecting the first principles underlying in the objective process. The power of SSF comes from the use of the complete subset structure in a set of simultaneous equations which can be experimentally identified. The theoretical foundations of the structure identification and the algorithm of SSF are described, and its efficiency and practicality are demonstrated and discussed with large scale working examples. This work is to promote the research of scientific discovery to a novel and promising direction, since the conventional equation discovery systems could not handle such a simultaneous equation process.
Host-Specific and Segment-Specific Evolutionary Dynamics of Avian and Human Influenza A Viruses: A Systematic Review

Understanding the evolutionary dynamics of influenza viruses is essential to control both avian and human influenza. Here, we analyze host-specific and segment-specific Tajima’s D trends of influenza A virus through a systematic review using viral sequences registered in the National Center for Biotechnology Information. To avoid bias from viral population subdivision, viral sequences were stratified according to their sampling locations and sampling years. As a result, we obtained a total of 580 datasets each of which consists of nucleotide sequences of influenza A viruses isolated from a single population of hosts at a single sampling site within a single year. By analyzing nucleotide sequences in the datasets, we found that Tajima’s D values of viral sequences were different depending on hosts and gene segments. Tajima’s D values of viruses isolated from chicken and human samples showed negative, suggesting purifying selection or a rapid population growth of the viruses. The negative Tajima’s D values in rapidly growing viral population were also observed in computer simulations. Tajima’s D values of PB2, PB1, PA, NP, and M genes of the viruses circulating in wild mallards were close to zero, suggesting that these genes have undergone neutral selection in constant-sized population. On the other hand, Tajima’s D values of HA and NA genes of these viruses were positive, indicating HA and NA have undergone balancing selection in wild mallards. Taken together, these results indicated the existence of unknown factors that maintain viral subtypes in wild mallards.
Preface to special section on East Asian Studies of Tropospheric Aerosols: An International Regional Experiment (EAST‐AIRE)

daily mean surface solar radiation by � 30–40 W m � 2 , but barely changed solar reflection at the top of the atmosphere. Aerosol loading, particle size and composition vary considerably with location and season. The MODIS AOD data from Collection 5 (C5) agree much better with ground data than earlier releases, but considerable discrepancies still exist because of treatments of aerosol SSA and surface albedo. Four methods are proposed/adopted to derive the SSA by means of remote sensing and in situ observation,
Downregulation of CD1 Marks Acquisition of Functional Maturation of Human Thymocytes and Defines a Control Point in Late Stages of Human T Cell Development

We have investigated whether in the human thymus transition of CD4+CD8+ double positive (DP) to CD4+ or CD8+ single positive (SP) cells is sufficient for generation of functional immunocompetent T cells. Using the capacity of thymocytes to expand in vitro in response to PHA and IL-2 as a criterion for functional maturity, we found that functional maturity of both SP and DP thymocytes correlates with downregulation of CD1a. CD1a− cells with a persistent DP phenotype were also found in neonatal cord blood, suggesting that at least a proportion of mature DP cells can emigrate from the thymus. The requirements for generating functional T cells were investigated in a hybrid human/mouse fetal thymic organ culture. MHC class II– positive, but not MHC class II–negative, mouse thymic microenvironments support differentiation of human progenitors into TCRαβ+CD4+ SP cells, indicating that mouse MHC class II can positively select TCRαβ+CD4+ SP human cells. Strikingly, these SP are arrested in the CD1a+ stage and could not be expanded in vitro with PHA and IL-2. CD1a+CD4+ SP thymocytes do not represent an end stage population because purified CD1a+CD4+ SP thymocytes differentiate to expandable CD1a− cells upon cocultivation with human thymic stromal cells. Taken together these data indicate that when CD1a+ DP TCRαβlow cells mature, these cells interact with MHC, but that an additional, apparently species-specific, signal is required for downregulation of CD1a to generate functional mature TCRαβ+ cells.
Poster Abstract : Towards Integrated and Self-configuring Routing and Interest Dissemination Strategies for Wireless Sensor Networks

The focus of this abstract is on a complete system for interest dissemination and routing in wireless sensor networks. To this end, we integrated algorithms developed in the recent literature, which we modified by optimizing their efficiency under very low duty cycle operations. Each sensor is autonomously capable of initiating neighbor estimation procedures, forwarding data traffic towards the sink or propagating interests (sink → sensor nodes). These operations are executed in parallel and as different tasks of the same protocol. Routing is carried out by exploiting hop count coordinates, which are proactively propagated along with interest dissemination packets. Moreover, MAC and routing algorithms are jointly designed to improve both energy consumption and the quality of the selected paths. Finally, neighbor estimation algorithms are activated on demand and exploited to optimize the operations during all phases of the protocol.