Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cultural differences and choice of mode of entry: A qualitative comparative analysis

This study explores the influence of cultural dimensions on the choice of entry mode in foreign direct investment processes. It focuses on the impact of differences between the home and the target along four cultural dimensions: Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism / Collectivism and Masculinity / Femininity. The analysis applies a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis on a dataset of Spanish investments located in the European Union (EU), OECD (non-EU) countries and Latin America. Results allow the identification of alternative configurative models that explain the choice of entry mode, providing support to the contingent role of cultural differences.
Animal performance and reproductive aspects of female Rhamdia quelen fed on different levels of digestible energy

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different diet energy levels on animal performance. Specifically, this investigation examined the reproductive and histological aspects of the liver and gonads of female silver catfish (Rhamdia quelen). These fish were fed for 210 days with diets containing 30% digestible protein (DP) and digestible energy (DE) that corresponded to 11.93, 12.98, 14.03, 15.07 and 16.12 MJ of DE kg−1. The initial and final lengths, weights, and weight gains, the visceral, gonadal, and hepatosomatic indices, and the histological parameters hepatocytes area and gonadal stages were evaluated. In the reproductive season, the fish were submitted to an artificial reproduction protocol and the percentage of spawning females and their relative and absolute fecundity were evaluated. DE did not affect reproductive or animal performance aspects (P > 0.05). Cytoplasmic vacuoles in hepatocytes were observed in higher DE levels. Thus, female Rhamdia quelen can be fed a diet of 30% DP with 11.93 MJ of DE kg−1 without reproductive or performance losses.
Interaction between Transmembrane Domains Five and Six of the α-Factor Receptor*

The α-factor pheromone receptor (STE2) activates a G protein signal pathway that induces conjugation of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Previous studies implicated the third intracellular loop of this receptor in G protein activation. Therefore, the roles of transmembrane domains five and six (TMD5 and -6) that bracket the third intracellular loop were analyzed by scanning mutagenesis in which each residue was substituted with cysteine. Out of 42 mutants examined, four constitutive mutants and two strong loss-of-function mutants were identified. Double mutants combining Cys substitutions in TMD5 and TMD6 gave a broader range of phenotypes. Interestingly, a V223C mutation in TMD5 caused constitutive activity when combined with the L247C, L248C, or S251C mutations in TMD6. Also, the L226C mutation in TMD5 caused constitutive activity when combined with either the M250C or S251C mutations in TMD6. The residues affected by these mutations are predicted to fall on one side of their respective helices, suggesting that they may interact. In support of this, cysteines substituted at position 223 in TMD5 and position 247 in TMD6 formed a disulfide bond, providing the first direct evidence of an interaction between these transmembrane domains in the α-factor receptor. Altogether, these results identify an important region of interaction between conserved hydrophobic regions at the base of TMD5 and TMD6 that is required for the proper regulation of receptor signaling.
Nutritive value of browse plants selected by range goats in the Mexican plateau

The study was conducted in the south-west Tlaxcala, Mexico. Two simultaneous trials were carried out in range goats, during dry and wet seasons, to determine the nutritive value of selected forages and dry matter intake (DMI) using Cr2O3. The crude protein (CP) content varied from 2.89 to 19.8 g/100 g, and acid detergent fiber (ADF) from 23.4 to 67.7 g/100 g. The highest CP content was in the plants Simpsia amplexicahuale and Senecio salignus. The ADF and ash contents increased in dry season (p<0.05). Conversely, dry matter digestibility (DMD) increased in wet season (p<0.05). DMI of goats was 98.1 and 90.3 g/kg LW0.75 (p<0.01) for dry and wet season, respectively. In dry season protein requirements of goats were fulfilled only by S. salignus. In wet season, all evaluated plants covered the requirements of CP for maintenance. Simpsia amplexicahuale and Bouvardia ternifolia showed outstanding CP and DMD.
MACHINE LEARNING IN HEALTHCARE: AN OVERVIEW

Machine learning has been widely used in many domains lately and an increasing trend can be observed. New algorithms have been developed and older ones have been improved or combined to get better results. Healthcare is one of the domains that has seen the beneﬁts of using these new computation methods. Considering that early prototypes of artiﬁcially intelligent doctors already exist [2], in the not too distant future we could be greeted by robot nurses or even doctors at medical facilities. This paper aims to present, analyze and discuss some of the latest advancements in machine learning from the healthcare point of view. Important aspects that this paper covers are: recently used machine learning algorithms in healthcare, data available for research purpose and the ﬁelds that healthcare extends to. A conclusion based on these aspects is drawn, whether there is a need and possibility for potential further development of machine learning algorithms in healthcare. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classiﬁcation: 68T01, 68T05
Nitrifying and Denitrifying Bacteria in Epiphytic Communities of Submerged Macrophytes in a Treated Sewage Channel

A quantification of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria present in different compartments (water, sediments, submerged macrophytes) of a treated sewage channel was made to estimate their influence on the nitrogen balance and to assess the significance of macrophytes for nitrification and nitrogen conversions in general. Considerable numbers of autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrifying and denitrifiying bacteria were found to be present in the epiphytic communities of different species of submerged macrophytes of a treated sewage channel. Comparing the influence of the different compartments on total stream nitrification and denitrification it could be concluded that dense beds of submerged macrophytes particularly positively influence nitrification. Epiphytic nitrifiers were estimated to be as important for the total nitrification as nitrifiers in the sediment. Denitrification was mainly taking place in the sediment. The influence of the suspended nitrifiers and denitrifiers on the nitrogen balance was assumed to be negligible.
Virtual Pets and Virtual Selves as Exercise Motivation Tools

Virtual pet gamesin which a user regularly cares for a small creaturehave been effectively used as health behavior change agents with children. Research using virtual selves (avatars) have also provided promising results. In this paper, we outfitted two groups (N=20) of college-age students with fitness trackers that controlled either (1) the health and happiness of a virtual pet or (2) the weight and happiness of a virtual avatar, and compared the effects on their exercise patterns over the course of two weeks. We also measured participant narcissism, empathy, and self-image to compare psychographic data against exercise motivation and pet/avatar attachment. Differences in exercise behavior where not significant, however the human group had higher engagement and attachment to their avatar. The data suggests that empathetic people may grow more attached to pets, but with such a small sample this claim requires further verification.
Global Surrogate Modelling of Gas Turbine Aerodynamic Performance

The prediction of compressor and turbine aerodynamic performance in gas turbine engines relies heavily on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Prior to CFD, performance predictions were largely completed using simplified oneand two-dimensional methods coupled with empirical loss models. Although CFD has a number of advantages over the classical techniques, it does also have a number of drawbacks. Numerical stability, approximations required to model multiple blade rows, the cumbersome and manual meshing process, simulation time, the requirement for geometric and operational data to construct the models are some of the issues that need to be dealt with. The aim of this research is to overcome these drawbacks by combining the advantages of the current state-of-theart in CFD and the speed, efficiency and fundamental understanding of legacy oneand two-dimensional methods in predicting compressor and turbine aerodynamic performance. This in turn will greatly enhance the efficiency and speed with which performance predictions are made.
Expression of transforming‐growth‐factor (TGF)‐β receptors and Smad proteins in glioblastoma cell lines with distinct responses to TGF‐β1

A panel of 6 human glioma cell lines was examined for TGF‐β1 responsiveness. U‐178 MG and U‐251 MG AgCl1 were significantly inhibited by TGF‐β1, while U‐343 MGa 31L and U‐343 MGa 35L were potently stimulated to proliferate. TGF‐β1 induced endogenous PAI‐1 protein synthesis, Smad binding element/(CAGA)12‐luciferase‐reporter activity, as well as mRNA expression of Smad6 and Smad7 in all gliomas. Interestingly, TGF‐β1 differentially stimulated or inhibited the expression of TβR‐I and TβR‐II mRNA in the gliomas. Affinity cross‐linking studies using 125I‐TGF‐β1 revealed that the gliomas expressed TGF‐β‐type‐I(TβR‐I) and ‐type‐II(TβR‐II) receptors, although binding to TβR‐II in U‐343 MGa 31L and U‐251 MG AgCl1 was low to undetectable. Smad2 protein was abundantly present in U‐178 MG, U‐343 MG, and U‐343 MGa 35L, while Smad3 was readily detectable in U‐178 MG, U‐343 MG, U‐343 MGa 35L and U‐251 MG AgCl1. In all gliomas, TGF‐β1 induced phosphorylation of Smad2. The level to which TGF‐β1 could activate the pathway leading to induction of the (CAGA)12‐luciferase reporter seemed to correlate to the expression levels of TGF‐β receptors, Smad3 and Smad4 proteins. However, despite the plethora of data regarding TGF‐β1 signalling in the different glioma cell lines, the mechanism underlying the differential growth effects mediated by TGF‐β1 is still unclear. The results suggest that a complex balance between several components in the TGF‐β signalling pathway controls glioma responsiveness to TGF‐β1, and extend reports indicating that distinct signal transduction pathways are involved in growth inhibition and other cellular responses. Int. J. Cancer 80:756–763, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Nonlinear Analyses of Stiffened Steel Plate Shear Walls Considering Gravity Effects

Steel Plate Shear Walls (SPSWs) are lateral load resisting systems that consist of a boundary frame and an infill steel panel. Due to the construction time limit of high-rise buildings in China, SPSWs could not wait to be installed after the floors are in place, and the wall system has to undertake part of the vertical loads along with lateral loads. Therefore, SPSWs are needed to avoid buckling during construction and under the serviceability limit states, meanwhile remain elastic under the frequent earthquake load. In this paper, elastic buckling analyses and nonlinear pushover analyses are conducted on a set of stiffened and comparative unstiffened SPSWs with varying design parameters such as number and layout of stiffeners and gravity effects, in order to investigate the global behavior of stiffened SPSWs considering gravity effects and propose design recommendations. Channel stiffeners are adopted as they provide higher out-of-plane and torsional constraint than plate stiffeners do. Results show that compared with unstiffened SPSWs, SPSWs with limited number of channel stiffeners can have higher lateral strength and significantly higher lateral stiffness and less out-of-plane displacement. Especially when gravity effects are considered, the advantages of channel stiffened SPSWs is more outstanding compared to unstiffened SPSWs.
Analyzing Usage of Activity Based Costing In Commercial Banking Institutions of Tripoli Libya: A Technological Acceptance Model Approach

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of Technology Acceptance model (TAM) on increasing the usage of Activity based costing in the commercial banking institutions of Libya. A survey was conducted and the survey questionnaire was distributed to around 180 respondents which in return around 125 questionnaires was used for the analysis. The location of the respondents was within the areas of Tripoli Libya. From the findings it was noted that the most important role of the activity based costing system in the banking institutions of Libya is to increase the costing and cost control and the customer profitability. There was around 81% of influence of costing and cost control on the usage of activity based costing system and around 78% of the influence of activity based costing system is to increase the customer’s profitability. The results of the study showed that perceived usefulness was most influential in determining the usage of Activity based costing system in the bankers of Libya.
Mining Top-k pairs of correlated subgraphs in a large network

We investigate the problem of correlated subgraphs mining (CSM) where the goal is to identify pairs of subgraph patterns that frequently co-occur in proximity within a single graph. Correlated subgraph patterns are different from frequent subgraphs due to the flexibility in connections between constituent subgraph instances and thus, existing frequent subgraphs mining algorithms cannot be directly applied for CSM. Moreover, computing the degree of correlation between two patterns requires enumerating and finding distances between every pair of subgraph instances of both patterns - a task that is both memory-intensive as well as computationally demanding. To this end, we propose two holistic best-first exploration algorithms: CSM-E (an exact method) and CSM-A (a more efficient approximate method with near-optimal quality). To further improve efficiency, we propose a top-k pruning strategy, while to reduce memory footprint, we develop a compressed data structure called Replica, which stores all instances of a subgraph pattern on demand. Our empirical results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms not only mine interesting correlations, but also achieve good scalability over large networks.
Multi Band Spectral Subtraction Combined with Adaptive Noise Estimation

Speech enhancement is a prerequisite for many speech communication applications like speech coders, hearing aids, voice recognition systems, Man –Machine communication, Video conferencing etc . For all these practical systems input is a noisy speech , so it requires a pre-processing operation for further processing. This paper gives a method to improve the speech quality in presence of background noise, based on Multi Band Spectral Subtraction combined with adaptive noise estimation. Further the performance analysis of this method is done using objective quality measures like Segmental SNR(segSNR),Weighted SlopeSpectral Distance (WSSD),Log Likelihood Ratio(LLR),Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) and Composite Measures under highly non-stationary noise. Finally the results were compared against Spectral Subtraction(SS), Multi Band Spectral Subtraction(MBSS) methods and the results shows that the proposed method shows consistence performance against all the cases considered
Life‐history traits of Encarsia guadeloupae, a natural enemy of the invasive spiralling whitefly Aleurodicus dispersus

On south‐west Indian Ocean islands, many crops and ornamental plants are threatened by the spiralling whitefly Aleurodicus dispersus (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), which is a polyphagous pest that is native to the Caribbean region. Aleurodicus dispersus causes economic damage to various crops on all the islands in the south‐west Indian Ocean. The hymenopteran parasitoid Encarsia guadeloupae (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) is a natural enemy of A. dispersus on the Caribbean islands. In this study, we assessed the geographical distribution of the parasitoid in La Réunion, an island in the south‐west Indian Ocean where the parasitoid was first observed in 2004. We also investigated its main life‐history traits. Field surveys indicated that the parasitoid is widespread in most of the low‐lying areas of the island and exhibits high parasitism rates on A. dispersus populations. At 25°C, E. guadeloupae adults had a mean longevity of 33.6 days, and its pre‐imaginal development required 23 days. The lower temperature threshold and thermal constant were estimated to be 7.9°C and 132 degree‐days, respectively. Females of E. guadeloupae preferred to deposit eggs in early rather than in late instars of A. dispersus, and oviposition rates were highest in the second larval instar. Females of E. guadeloupae were able to oviposit in larvae of other species of whiteflies found in La Réunion (Bemisia tabaci and Dialeurolonga simplex), although subsequent development of the parasitoid was not monitored. Finally, we discuss the potential use of E. guadeloupae for the control of whitefly populations on islands in the south‐west Indian Ocean.
Environmental and Population Strain Effects on Survival of Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in Walker Lake, Nevada: A Bayesian Approach

Abstract Lahontan cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawi are listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Populations inhabiting terminal lakes in the Great Basin of Utah and adjacent states face increasing salinity associated with increased anthropogenic use of water and climate change. We used tag recovery models and Markov chain–Monte Carlo methods to assess models of variation in annual survival and tag recovery rates for two genetic strains (Pilot Peak and Pyramid Lake) of Lahontan cutthroat trout stocked into Walker Lake, Nevada, from 1998 to 2008. The best-performing model of annual survival and tag recoveries allowed recovery probability in the first year after release to differ from subsequent recovery rates. The best model contained an interaction between strain and total dissolved solids (TDS) for annual survival. That is, the annual survival of both strains declined as TDS increased, but the Pilot Peak strain was more sensitive to TDS than was the Pyramid Lake strain. The.
ADOPT: Practical Add-On MIMO Receiver for Concurrent Transmissions

—Recent MIMO-based techniques allow concurrent transmissions of packets. With signals received from multiple antennas, a receiver can extract concurrently transmitted packets solving linear equations. While the receiver requires essential physical layer parameters for such MIMO decoding, existing signal processing techniques are not capable of obtaining those parameters from interfered preambles. Thus recent proposals enforce communicating senders and receivers go through non-overlapping training period per each packet transmission. For example, senders precisely schedule transmissions such that preamblesof the concurrent packets do not overlap. But this coordination process is not trivial and signiﬁcantly reduces the efﬁciency of concurrent transmissions. We present ADOPT, a practical add-on MIMO receiver for decoding concurrent transmissions in the absence of coordination. Using the unique combination of novel signal processing technique, called FDCM , with existing linear adaptive ﬁlters, ADOPT successfully performs packet decodings in uncoordinated transmissions. Using FDCM, ADOPT can obtain the essential physical layer parameters - carrier frequency offset and the start of frames, from overlapped or interfered preambles. The information is then fed into the linear adaptive ﬁlter, that in turn extracts each packet successively. As a result, ADOPT builds as a complete black box decoder and increases the link efﬁciency. We implement ADOPT with 8 USRP2s and test in two of the most common CSMA networks, ZigBee and WiFi. Combined with an aggressive channel access, our extensive experimental evaluations show that the throughput gain becomes up to 231% in WiFi and 319% in ZigBee.
Comparison of nucleic acid hybridisation and other tests for detecting tobacco rattle virus in narcissus plants and potato tubers

SUMMARY All isolates of tobacco rattle virus (TRV) found in naturally infected narcissus leaves produced nucleoprotein particles, mostly in large concentrations but, because of antigenic diversity, less than half of the isolates were identified by immunosorbent electron microscopy (ISEM) and still fewer by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. All were identified by a nucleic acid hybridisation test in which DNA complementary to RNA-1 of strain PRN of TRV was allowed to react with nucleic acid extracted from leaf tissue. Spraing-affected tubers in some potato stocks yielded only NM isolates of TRV. These isolates do not produce virus particles and they were therefore not detected by ISEM. The infectivity of nucleic acid extracts from recently harvested tubers with spraing symptoms was much greater than that of extracts prepared from tubers after 8 months' storage. In other potato stocks, some spraing-affected tubers contained NM isolates and the rest contained particle-producing isolates (M isolates) of TRV. The infectivity of sap and of nucleic acid, extracted 7 months after harvest from tubers infected with M isolates, was much greater than that of nucleic acid extracted from comparable tubers infected with NM isolates. TRV was detected by nucleic acid hybridisation in extracts of almost all tubers containing either M or NM isolates, even when the tubers were not tested until 7–8 months after harvest. The probable sequence of events occurring after tubers are infected with TRV is outlined, and it is suggested that the virus will rarely become established in fields as a result of planting infected tubers.
THE SEX HORMONE EXCRETION OF CHILDREN

Koch (1) in summarizing the findings of his research group stated that there are marked daily fluctuations in the urinary excretion of androgens and estrogens in normal men and women. He found an average daily excretion of 60 international units of androsterone in men and 50 I.U. in women. He gave no data on children. He found as an average daily excretion of estrogens, expressed as estrone, 9 to 12 γ for men and 18 to 36 γ for women. In male castrates he found exceedingly small amounts of sex hormones in the urine. Kochakian (2) has not expressed his units in terms of any standard; however, he found that young men excreted 6 to 36 capon units daily with an average of 14 C.U. Old men excreted less hormone. He was unable to recover more than 6 per cent of the androstendion injected into either men, rabbits, or dogs. Pedersen-Bjergaard (3) did not define the size of his capon unit but showed a hormone excretion for a normal adult male of 15 to 25 C.U. and gave the excretion of an 8-year-old boy as less than.
The Gilets Jaunes: Offline and Online

We study the Gilets jaunes movement, which blocked most of France off in November 2018. We first analyze the complementarity/substitutability between the different forms of mobilization and find that blockades were planned online and later reinforced online activism. Second, we do textual analysis and show that online discussions evolved from local concerns to widespread critique. Finally, while the Gilets jaunes refused to designate candidates for the subsequent European elections, we ask whether the movement had electoral consequences nonetheless. We show that blockades boosted the performance of the government's party in its bastions, except when they nurtured further online dissent.