Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Examining the impacts of relevant contextual influences on the extent of use of e-business technologies: Perspectives from Atlantic Canada's SMEs

The spread of internet and e-business technologies (IEBT) globally is attracting the attention of both practitioners and researchers. Needless to say, IEBT have enabled businesses (both large and small) to improve their reach and enhance productivity. The literature has shown that the acceptance of such technologies lags behind in small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This present study is designed to enrich our knowledge with regard to the impacts of relevant contextual factors on extent of IEBT use among SMEs. For illustrative purposes, this study uses a survey to sample opinions in one region of Canada. The contextual factors considered in the study include management support, technology characteristics, pressures from sources external to the business, and government support. These are among the cited factors that influence the acceptance of IEBT and e-business in SMEs. A research model was developed, and relevant hypotheses tested. Data analysis was performed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach. The results revealed that aforementioned factors positively impact the extent of IEBT use in participating SMEs. The implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.
Emotional remapping of music to facial animation

We propose a method to extract the emotional data from a piece of music and then use that data via a remapping algorithm to automatically animate an emotional 3D face sequence. The method is based on studies of the emotional aspect of music and our parametric-based behavioral head model for face animation. We address the issue of affective communication remapping in general, i.e. translation of affective content (eg. emotions, and mood) from one communication form to another. We report on the results of our MusicFace system, which use these techniques to automatically create emotional facial animations from multi-instrument polyphonic music scores in MIDI format and a remapping rule set.
A Handbook for the Study of Mental Health: Stressors, Stress, and Distress

This chapter focuses on three areas: brain structure and function (neuroanatomy), brain activity (functional brain imaging), and gene effects (genetics). Information from each area is beginning to be integrated, with the goal of understanding biological disease processes. The chapter focuses on the neurons because it is their functioning that is largely the basis of theories of psychiatric disorders at the level of analysis, with the recognition that the glial cells that support the neurons may also be relevant. Researchers have used several methods to test the hypothesis that psychiatric disorders reflect dysfunctions in neuronal communication systems. Researchers have also examined postmortem brain tissue to see changes in the shapes of neurons and their connections. Sociological analyses of the social construction of psychiatric disorders are also important; particularly at this juncture when the number of disorders officially recognized in psychiatry is growing at an unprecedented rate.
Revisiting Dreyfus: A More Complete Account of a Trial by Mathematics

Legal literature and case law depicts the infamous conviction of Alfred Dreyfus for treason and espionage in 1899 as a prime example of the irresistible power of even grossly fallacious mathematical demonstrations to overwhelm a legal tribunal. This essay shows that Dreyfus is not a case of mathematics run amok, unchecked and uncomprehended. To the contrary, the defects in the mathematical proof were dramatically exposed, and this evidence did not lead Dreyfus's judges to condemn him. This history undercuts the reliance of modern courts and commentators on Dreyfus as an indication or illustration of the alleged dangers of probability evidence in criminal cases.
[Disintegration of social cognitive processes in schizophrenia].

UNLABELLED Despite rapid development of research on social cognition (SC) impairments in schizophrenia, efforts are still made to generate new, broader theoretical models which include the neural network approach to those dysfunctions. The aim of this study was the evaluation of the structure of SC in patients with schizophrenia in comparison to healthy subjects. METHODS The studied groups consisted of 55 subjects: 30 patients with paranoid schizophrenia according to DSM-IV criteria, and 25 control healthy subjects matched for age, gender and education to the clinical group. In order to assess processes of SC, a battery of tests was administered: Theory of Mind Picture Stories to assess theory of mind, trials "Faces" (from Ekman and Friesen's set of emotional expressions) and "Figures" (from the publication by Argyle) to evaluate recognition of emotions from facial and gesture expression. The methods included also an assessment of self-criticism (insight) relating to the subject's processes of SC. RESULTS The level of efficacy of SC was lower in the patients compared to the controls. In the clinical group, theory of mind was the most important factor for the overall level of SC and its impairments. There was inadequate, decreased patients' self-criticism regarding their execution of SC tests. The insight did not correlate with any other SC variables in the clinical group. In general, the group characterized by lower integration of social cognitive processes, also obtained lower scores in individual dimensions of SC. CONCLUSIONS The structure of social cognitive processes in schizophrenic group, unlike in healthy subjects, shows characteristics of generalized disintegration.
Interactions with RNA direct the Polycomb group protein SCML2 to chromatin where it represses target genes

Polycomb repressive complex-1 (PRC1) is essential for the epigenetic regulation of gene expression. SCML2 is a mammalian homolog of Drosophila SCM, a Polycomb-group protein that associates with PRC1. In this study, we show that SCML2A, an SCML2 isoform tightly associated to chromatin, contributes to PRC1 localization and also directly enforces repression of certain Polycomb target genes. SCML2A binds to PRC1 via its SPM domain and interacts with ncRNAs through a novel RNA-binding region (RBR). Targeting of SCML2A to chromatin involves the coordinated action of the MBT domains, RNA binding, and interaction with PRC1 through the SPM domain. Deletion of the RBR reduces the occupancy of SCML2A at target genes and overexpression of a mutant SCML2A lacking the RBR causes defects in PRC1 recruitment. These observations point to a role for ncRNAs in regulating SCML2 function and suggest that SCML2 participates in the epigenetic control of transcription directly and in cooperation with PRC1. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.02637. 001
Influences of Perceived Risk and System Usability on the Adoption of Mobile Banking Service

In mobile situations, consumers’ perceived risk is the important determinant of whether they adopt the mobile banking service. Meanwhile the root cause of consumers’ perceived risk is the existence of system usability of mobile banking service. After reviewing relevant literature, this text pointed out the system usability of mobile banking service is the important factor of consumers’ perceived risk, introduced perceived risk into the study of adoption behavior of mobile banking service, and proposed a research model of the adoption willingness of mobile banking service based on perceived risk and system usability. This model framework can help scholars to understand the perceived risk and usability issues of mobile banking service can also help mobile banking provider to improve the product and service quality of mobile banking service, further promote consumers’ acceptance and adoption willingness of mobile banking service.
Novel Engagement of CD14 and Multiple Toll-Like Receptors by Group B Streptococci1

Group B streptococcus (GBS) imposes a major health threat to newborn infants. Little is known about the molecular basis of GBS-induced sepsis. Both heat-inactivated whole GBS bacteria and a heat-labile soluble factor released by GBS during growth (GBS-F) induce nuclear translocation of NF-κB, the secretion of TNF-α, and the formation of NO in mouse macrophages. Macrophages from mice with a targeted disruption of MyD88 failed to secrete TNF-α in response to both heat-inactivated whole bacteria and GBS-F, suggesting that Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are involved in different aspects of GBS recognition. Immune cell activation by whole bacteria differed profoundly from that by secreted GBS-F. Whole GBS activated macrophages independently of TLR2 and TLR6, whereas a response to the secreted GBS-F was not observed in macrophages from TLR2-deficient animals. In addition to TLR2, TLR6 and CD14 expression were essential for GBS-F responses, whereas TLR1 and TLR4 or MD-2 did not appear to be involved. Heat lability distinguished GBS-F from peptidoglycan and lipoproteins. GBS mutants deficient in capsular polysaccharide or β-hemolysin had GBS-F activity comparable to that of wild-type streptococci. We suggest that CD14 and TLR2 and TLR6 function as coreceptors for secreted microbial products derived from GBS and that cell wall components of GBS are recognized by TLRs distinct from TLR1, 2, 4, or 6.
Myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia.

Myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia is classified broadly as a chronic myeloid disorder and, more specifically, as a chronic myeloproliferative disease1 (Figure 1). The primary pathogenetic mechanism is a clonal stem-cell disorder that leads to ineffective erythropoiesis, dysplastic-megakaryocyte hyperplasia, and an increase in the ratio of immature granulocytes to total granulocytes. This clonal myeloproliferation is characteristically accompanied by reactive myelofibrosis (bone marrow fibrosis) and by extramedullary hematopoiesis in the spleen or in multiple organs. The diagnosis is often suspected when teardrop-shaped red cells and myeloid precursors are detected in the peripheral blood. The typical clinical features include marked splenomegaly, progressive anemia, .
A robust Hidden Markov Model based clustering algorithm

Hidden Markov models (HMMs) are widely employed in sequential data modeling both because they are capable of handling multivariate data of varying length, and because they capture the underlying hidden properties of time-series. Over the years, HMM-based clustering methods have been widely investigated and improved. However, their performance on noisy data and the effectiveness of similarity measure between sequences remain less explored. In this paper, we present a robust algorithm for sequential data clustering by combining spectral analysis with HMMs. We first derive Fisher kernels from continuous density HMMs for similarity matrix construction, and then apply spectral clustering algorithm to the mapped data. The eigenvector decomposition step in spectral analysis is critical for noise removal and dimensionality reduction. Experimental results on both synthetic and real-world data indicate that our proposed approach is more tolerant to noise and achieves improved accuracy compared to many state-of-the-art algorithms.
Destination image of Indian tourism destinations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate tourist destinations’ image based on the attributes obtained from the extant literature using correspondence analysis. Design/methodology/approach – This study is aimed at measuring and illustrating destination image of tourism destinations perceived by domestic tourists. Five tourism destinations – Ooty, Shimla, Manali, Mussoorie and Mount Abu were selected as the subject of the study. Based on a representative sample of 800 respondents from the surveys across destinations, correspondence analysis was employed to illustrate an attribute based comparative analysis of the destination image of the tourist destinations. Findings – Findings reveal that the attribute natural attraction was positively perceived by respondents across all destinations and the attribute infrastructure emerged as an area in need of dire attention. Further, the most dominant attributes which marked destinations’ positioning were – local cuisine and food outlets, hotels and restauran.
Content congruency and its interplay with temporal synchrony modulate integration between rhythmic audiovisual streams

Both lower-level stimulus factors (e.g., temporal proximity) and higher-level cognitive factors (e.g., content congruency) are known to influence multisensory integration. The former can direct attention in a converging manner, and the latter can indicate whether information from the two modalities belongs together. The present research investigated whether and how these two factors interacted in the perception of rhythmic, audiovisual (AV) streams derived from a human movement scenario. Congruency here was based on sensorimotor correspondence pertaining to rhythm perception. Participants attended to bimodal stimuli consisting of a humanlike figure moving regularly to a sequence of auditory beat, and detected a possible auditory temporal deviant. The figure moved either downwards (congruently) or upwards (incongruently) to the downbeat, while in both situations the movement was either synchronous with the beat, or lagging behind it. Greater cross-modal binding was expected to hinder deviant detection. Results revealed poorer detection for congruent than for incongruent streams, suggesting stronger integration in the former. False alarms increased in asynchronous stimuli only for congruent streams, indicating greater tendency for deviant report due to visual capture of asynchronous auditory events. In addition, a greater increase in perceived synchrony was associated with a greater reduction in false alarms for congruent streams, while the pattern was reversed for incongruent ones. These results demonstrate that content congruency as a top-down factor not only promotes integration, but also modulates bottom-up effects of synchrony. Results are also discussed regarding how theories of integration and attentional entrainment may be combined in the context of rhythmic multisensory stimuli.
Natural History of Postoperative Nonfunctioning Pituitary Adenomas: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective: Previous studies attempting to define the natural history of postoperative nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas (pNFPAs) were somewhat limited by selection bias and/or small numbers and/or lack of consistency among the study findings. The aim of this study was to scrutinize the literature in order to analyze the natural history of pNFPAs. Methods: Electronic database including MEDLINE, PubMed and Cochrane CENTRAL were searched. The literature relating to the patients with pNFPAs without postoperative radiotherapy and pharmacotherapy was collected. Eligible studies reported on the rate of tumor recurrence, the tumor growth-free survival rate (TGFSR) at 5 and 10 years, and/or the residual tumor volume doubling time (TVDT). Results: 19 studies met the criteria. The pNFPAs were divided into two groups: the pooled recurrence rate of group I without detectable residual tumor (371 patients) was 12% (95% CI 6–19%), the TGFSR at 5 and 10 years were 96% (95% CI 89–99%) and 82% (95% CI 65–94%), respectively. The pooled recurrence rate of group II with residual tumor (600 patients) was 46% (95% CI 36–56%), the TGFSR at 5 and 10 years were 56% (95% CI 41–71%) and 40% (95% CI 27–53%), respectively. The mean TVDT was 3.4 years (95% CI 2.4–4.5 years). Conclusions: pNFPAs, with or without detectable residual tumor, need stratification of treatment and radiological/endocrinological follow-up strategy. According to the TVDT, residual tumor regrowth is very slow, which permits an extensive and safe follow-up program for most patients.
Preventing black hole attacks in MANETs using secure knowledge algorithm

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are a collection of mobile hosts which communicate with each other with no central network authority or fixed infrastructure. Due to its characteristics like mobility and heterogeneity ad hoc networks are more vulnerable to attacks. Black hole is an attack where all the packets forwarded to attacker node, by neighboring nodes, are dropped intentionally. In this paper, we propose a secure knowledge algorithm which aims to detect and prevent the black hole by considering the packet drop reasons in promiscuous mode. Existing AODV routing protocol is modified to detect and prevent the black hole attack The experiment results show that our proposed algorithm secure the AODV against black hole attack in MANETs.
An Improved Adaptive Preemption Policy in MPLS Networks

In this paper, a new preemption policy is proposed to minimize rerouting in MPLS networks. It is complemented by an adaptive scheme that selects lower priority LSPs that can afford to have their rate reduced. The selected LSPs will fairly reduce their rate in order to accommodate the new high-priority LSP setup request. Simulation results indicate that our policy can improve the network resource utilization while minimizing LSPs' rerouting. Moreover, the computational complexity of our algorithm is acceptable for router's online computing in large scale networks.
Cigarette smoking and changes in the histopathology of lung cancer.

BACKGROUND Adenocarcinoma of the lung, once considered minimally related to cigarette smoking, has become the most common type of lung cancer in the United States. The increased incidence of this cancer might be explained by advances in diagnostic technology (i.e., increased ability to perform biopsies on tumors in smaller, more distal airways), changes in cigarette design (e.g., the adoption of filtertips), or changes in smoking practices. We examined data from the Connecticut Tumor Registry and two American Cancer Society studies to explore these possibilities. METHODS Connecticut Tumor Registry data from 1959 through 1991 were analyzed to determine whether the increase in lung adenocarcinoma observed during that period could be best described by birth cohort effects (i.e., generational changes in cigarette smoking) or calendar period effects (i.e., diagnostic advances). Associations between cigarette smoking and death from specific types of lung cancer during the first 2 years of follow-up in Cancer Prevention Study I (CPS-I), initiated in 1959) and Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS-II, initiated in 1982) were also examined. RESULTS Adenocarcinoma incidence in Connecticut increased nearly 17-fold in women and nearly 10-fold in men from 1959 through 1991. The increases followed a clear birth cohort pattern, paralleling gender and generational changes in smoking more than diagnostic advances. Cigarette smoking became more strongly associated with death from lung adenocarcinoma in CPS-II compared with CPS-I, with relative risks of 19.0 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 8.3-47.7) for men and 8.1 (95% CI = 4.5-14.6) for women in CPS-II and 4.6 (95% CI = 1.7-12.6) for men and 1.5 (0.3-7.7) for women in CPS-I. CONCLUSIONS The increase in lung adenocarcinoma since the 1950s is more consistent with changes in smoking behavior and cigarette design than with diagnostic advances.
Deltex-1 Activates Mitotic Signaling and Proliferation and Increases the Clonogenic and Invasive Potential of U373 and LN18 Glioblastoma Cells and Correlates with Patient Survival

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly malignant primary tumor of the central nervous system originating in glial cells. GBM results in more years of life lost than any other cancer type. Low levels of Notch receptor expression correlates with prolonged survival in various high grade gliomas independent of other markers. Different downstream pathways of Notch receptors have been identified. We tested if the Notch/Deltex pathway, which is distinct from the canonical, CSL-mediated pathway, has a role in GBM. We show that the alternative or non-canonical Notch pathway functioning through Deltex1 (DTX1) mediates key features of glioblastoma cell aggressiveness. For example, DTX1 activates the RTK/PI3K/PKB and the MAPK/ERK mitotic pathways and induces anti-apoptotic Mcl-1. The clonogenic and growth potential of established glioma cells correlated with DTX1 levels. Microarray gene expression analysis further identified a DTX1-specific, MAML1-independent transcriptional program - including microRNA-21- which is functionally linked to the changes in tumor cell aggressiveness. Over-expression of DTX1 increased cell migration and invasion correlating to ERK activation, miR-21 levels and endogenous Notch levels. In contrast to high and intermediate expressors, patients with low DTX1 levels have a more favorable prognosis. The alternative Notch pathway via DTX1 appears to be an oncogenic factor in glioblastoma and these findings offer new potential therapeutic targets.
The Medium Run Effects of Education Expansion: Evidence from A Large School Construction Program in Indonesia

This paper studies the medium run consequences of an increase in the rate of accumulation of human capital in a developing country. From 1974 to 1978, the Indonesian government built over 61,000 primary schools. The school construction program led to an increase in education among individuals who were young enough to attend primary school after 1974, but not among the older cohorts. 2SLS estimates suggest that an increase of 10 percentage points in the proportion of primary school graduates in the labor force reduced the wages of the older cohorts by 3.8% to 10% and increased their formal labor force participation by 4% to 7%. I propose a two-sector model as a framework to interpret these findings. The results suggest that physical capital did not adjust to the faster increase in human capital.
Vertical Parallax from Moving Shadows

This paper presents a method for capturing and computing 3D parallax. 3D parallax, as used here, refers to vertical offset from the ground plane, height. The method is based on analyzing shadows of vertical poles (e.g., a tall building’s contour) that sweep the object. Unlike existing beam-scanning approaches, such as shadow or structured light, that recover the distance of a point from the camera, our approach measures the height from the ground plane directly. Previous methods compute the distance from the camera using triangulation between rays outgoing from the light-source and the camera. Such a triangulation is difficult when the objects are far from the camera, and requires accurate knowledge of the light source position. In contrast, our approach intersects two (unknown) planes generated separately by two casting objects. This omits the need to precompute the location of the light source. Furthermore, it allows a moving light source to be used. The proposed setup is particularly useful when the camera cannot directly face the scene or when the object is far away from the camera. A good example is an urban scene captured by a single webcam.
The Opportunity Structure for Discrimination1

Gender disparities in wages and attainment caused by employer discrimination can come about by three very different processes: allocative discrimination, within‐job wage discrimination, and valuative discrimination. For the United States, it has been established that within‐job wage discrimination no longer is a major source of wage differences, while valuative discrimination potentially is. Less known is the role of allocative discrimination, especially in the hiring process, which we identify as the point where discrimination is most feasible. Our analysis uses personnel data on all entrants into a large U.S. service organization in the period 1978–86, focusing on managerial, administrative, and professional employees. We study the placement at initial hire and then follow job levels, wages, promotions, as well as departures, in years subsequent to hire.