Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discovery and occurrence of the fumonisins: a historical perspective.

This article describes the events leading to the discovery of the fumonisins in South Africa in 1988 and highlights the first 10 years (1988-1998) of fumonisin research. The predominant fungus isolated from moldy corn implicated in a field outbreak of equine leukoencephalomalacia (ELEM) in South Africa in 1970 was Fusarium verticillioides (F. moniliforme). This fungus was also prevalent in moldy home-grown corn consumed by people in high-incidence areas of esophageal cancer (EC) in the Transkei region of South Africa. Culture material on corn of F. verticillioides strain MRC 826, which was isolated from moldy corn in Transkei, was shown to cause ELEM in horses, porcine pulmonary edema (PPE) syndrome in pigs, and liver cancer in rats. A short-term cancer initiation/promotion assay in rat liver was used to purify the carcinogen(s) in the culture material. These efforts finally met with success when fumonisins B1 and B2 novel mycotoxins with cancer-promoting activity in rat liver, were isolated from culture material of F. verticillioides MRC 826 at the Programme on Mycotoxins and Experimental Carcinogenesis of the Medical Research Council in Tygerberg, South Africa. Following the elucidation of the chemical structure of the fumonisins, these carcinogenic mycotoxins were shown to occur naturally in moldy corn in Transkei. Shortly thereafter, high levels of fumonisins in the 1989 U.S. corn crop resulted in large-scale field outbreaks of ELEM and PPE in horses and pigs, respectively, in the United States. Subsequently the fumonisins were found to occur naturally in corn worldwide, including corn consumed as the staple diet by people at high risk for EC in Transkei and China. These findings, together with the fact that the fumonisins cause field outbreaks of mycotoxicoses in animals, are carcinogenic in rats, and disrupt sphingolipid metabolism, have resulted in much worldwide interest in these compounds during the first 10 years after the discovery of the fumonisins in 1988.
Online Steiner Tree with Deletions

In the online Steiner tree problem, the input is a set of vertices that appear one-by-one, and we have to maintain a Steiner tree on the current set of vertices. The cost of the tree is the total length of edges in the tree, and we want this cost to be close to the cost of the optimal Steiner tree at all points in time. If we are allowed to only add edges, a tight bound of Θ(log n) on the competitiveness has been known for two decades. Recently it was shown that if we can add one new edge and make one edge swap upon every vertex arrival, we can still maintain a constant-competitive tree online. But what if the set of vertices sees both additions and deletions? Again, we would like to obtain a low-cost Steiner tree with as few edge changes as possible. The original paper of Imase and Waxman (SIAM J. Disc. Math, 4(3): 369--384, 1991) had also considered this model, and it gave an algorithm that made at most O(n3/2) edge changes for the first n requests, and maintained a constant-competitive tree online. In this paper we improve on these results: • We give an online algorithm that maintains a Steiner tree under only deletions: we start off with a set of vertices, and at each time one of the vertices is removed from this set---our Steiner tree no longer has to span this vertex. We give an algorithm that changes only a constant number of edges upon each request, and maintains a constant-competitive tree at all times. Our algorithm uses the primal-dual framework and a global charging argument to carefully make these constant number of changes. • We also give an algorithm that maintains a Steiner tree in the fully-dynamic model (where each request either adds or deletes a vertex). Our algorithm for this setting makes a constant number of changes per request in an amortized sense.
Symbolic Petri Net Analysis Using Boolean Manipulation

This work presents an ennumerative analysis approach for bounded Petri nets. The structure and behavior of the petri net are symbolically modeled by using boolean functions; thus, reducing reasoning about Petri nets to boolean calculation. The set of reachable markings is enumerated by symbolically ring the transitions in the Petri net. Highly concurrent Petri nets may suuer from the state explosion problem; that is, an exponential increase in the number of reachable markings. This state explosion is managed by using Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs), which are capable to represent large sets of markings in small data structures. Petri nets have the ability to model a large variety of systems, the exibility to describe causality, concurrency and conditional relations. These inherent features, together with the generality of boolean algebras, and the eecient implementation of BDDs, provide a general environment to eeciently analyze a wide range of problems, e.g. deadlock freeness, liveness, concurrency. A number of examples are presented in order to show how large reachability sets (up to 10 18 markings) generated, represented, and analyzed with moderate BDD sizes (only 10 3 nodes). By using this symbolic framework, properties requiring an exhaustive analysis of the reachability graph can be veriied in polynomial time with respect to the size of the BDD. 1 Petri nets are a graph based mathematical formalism adequate to describe, model and analyze the behavior of discrete event concurrent systems. More precisely, they allow the description of asynchronous sequential and non-sequential behaviors (including concurrence and nondeterministic choice), where sets of processes can interact, cooperate and compete. Since its introduction by C.A. Petri in 1962 21], Petri nets (PNs) have been extensively used in a wide range of areas such as communication protocols and networks, computer architecture, distributed systems, manufacturing planning, digital circuit synthesis and veriication, and high-level synthesis. In particular, they play an increasingly important role in the synthesis and veriication of digital asynchronous circuits 23, 11, 7]. Several methods for the analysis of PNs have been proposed in the literature. They can be mainly classiied into four categories 18], reachability tree methods, enumerative methods, matrix-equation methods, and reduction or decomposition methods. Traditionally, the rst and second methods are only applicable to small PNs due to the explosion of the number of markings, while the third and forth methods are restricted to special sub-classes of nets. Enumerative methods permit to answer of any analysis question in systems with a …
PRINCIPALS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD THE INCLUSION OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN THE GENERAL EDUCATION SETTING – THE CASE OF PUBLIC SECONDARY AND HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE NORTH WEST REGION OF CAMEROON

ABSTRACT Since the beginning of special education, educators have explored the topic of how best to serve students with disabilities. Only recently have schools begun to integrate students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms. Principals are now faced with deciding which students with disabilities will benefit from inclusion and how the inclusion process should be implemented. Because of the role principals play in implementing inclusion programmes into their schools, it is important to study how principals’ attitudes of inclusion guide their decisions. This question was the foundation for the purpose of this study, which was to determine the attitudes and perceptions of school principals relative to including students with disabilities in general education classrooms. This study investigated how demographic variable and experience affected principals’ attitudes about inclusion in Cameroon. In addition, it also examined the principals’ perception regarding the appropriateness of the placement of students based on the type of disabilities. The principals were randomly selected. The sample survey included a total of ninety (90) principals, of which seventy-three (73) completed the survey. The results of the study indicated that demographic factors, special education teaching experience and training, did not have a statistically significant effect on principals’ attitudes toward inclusion. The results equally showed that principals’ knowledge of special education law has a significant effect on principals’ attitudes toward inclusion. The results from this study indicated that the importance of developing educational administration programmes and including curriculum studies in teachers’ training colleges that will prepare feature school principals with stronger, more positive attitudes toward including students with disabilities in general education setting in Cameroon.
Social Media and Web 2.0 for Rethinking E-Government Maturity Models

In this chapter, the authors argue that social media and Web 2.0 technologies have the potential to enhance government responsiveness, representation, citizen participation, and overall satisfaction with the public policy-making process. To do that, this chapter suggests the dialectical approach of a new E-government maturity model through both New Public Service and Social Construction of Public Administration views. Then, they provide guidance to practitioners who are responsible for developing social media and Web 2.0 strategies for public service organizations. Finally, to provide guidelines for public administrators, this chapter argues that the “public sphere” should be redefined by citizen’s online social networking activities with public administrators and capacity building activities among practitioners in public service agencies through their use of social media and Web 2.0 tools. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0071-3.ch016
The Study of Chinese Real Estate Enterprises Issuing Perpetual Bonds Financing: Advantage and Risk

In recent years, with the regulation of national policy, Chinese real estate market has been rapidly cooling, and real estate enterprises also have difficulties in financing. Perpetual bonds as a historic mezzanine financial instrument abroad was formally introduced into China in 2013 and its own characteristics can satisfy the current needs of the real estate enterprises. This paper analyzes the plight of the real estate market and real estate financing under the current environment, discusses the issue of perpetual debt financing, and analyzes the advantages and risks of issuing perpetual bonds in multiple aspects.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT OF MUSICAL PERFORMANCE ANXIETY: CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

A comprehensive review of research evaluating psychological treatments of musical performance anxiety is provided. Studies were evaluated against key methodological criteria for psychotherapy outcome research. Available literature points to the utility of exposure and cognitive therapies, although there is no clear-cut evidence suggesting the superiority of one approach or benefits of combining the two. Past research is characterized by recurring methodological limitations, particularly overreliance on self-report outcome measures. Future investigations should consider screening out individuals who do not evidence marked dysfunction and whose anxiety results from weak technical ability, as well as including treatment manuals, multiple therapists, multichannel outcome measures, and follow-up data. Clinicians working with musicians experiencing performance anxiety may wish to incorporate exposure and cognitive restructuring in treatment.
Sind gemischt-geschlechtliche Führungsteams erfolgreicher? : Der Zusammenhang zwischen Mixed Leadership und Unternehmensperformanz

Der Anteil von Frauen in Führungsgremien ist gegenwärtig vor allem durch die Diskussion über die Einführung einer gesetzlichen Frauenquote Gegenstand des öffentlichen Interesses. Vor diesem Hintergrund bilanziert der vorliegende Beitrag die bisherigen wissenschaftlichen Befunde zum Zusammenhang zwischen gemischt-geschlechtlichen Führungsteams (sog. „Mixed Leadership“) und finanziellem Unternehmenserfolg (z. B. Gesamtkapitalrentabilität, Eigenkapitalrentabilität oder Buch-zu-Markt-Wert). Dabei wird deutlich, dass Mixed Leadership keine eindeutig positiven Effekte auf den finanziellen Erfolg von Unternehmen hat. Vielmehr scheint die Realisierung des Potentials von Mixed Leadership von spezifischen Randbedingungen abhängig zu sein, die auf Grundlage der bestehenden Forschung überblicksartig zusammengefasst werden.
TFpredict and SABINE: Sequence-Based Prediction of Structural and Functional Characteristics of Transcription Factors

One of the key mechanisms of transcriptional control are the specific connections between transcription factors (TF) and cis-regulatory elements in gene promoters. The elucidation of these specific protein-DNA interactions is crucial to gain insights into the complex regulatory mechanisms and networks underlying the adaptation of organisms to dynamically changing environmental conditions. As experimental techniques for determining TF binding sites are expensive and mostly performed for selected TFs only, accurate computational approaches are needed to analyze transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes on a genome-wide level. We implemented a four-step classification workflow which for a given protein sequence (1) discriminates TFs from other proteins, (2) determines the structural superclass of TFs, (3) identifies the DNA-binding domains of TFs and (4) predicts their cis-acting DNA motif. While existing tools were extended and adapted for performing the latter two prediction steps, the first two steps are based on a novel numeric sequence representation which allows for combining existing knowledge from a BLAST scan with robust machine learning-based classification. By evaluation on a set of experimentally confirmed TFs and non-TFs, we demonstrate that our new protein sequence representation facilitates more reliable identification and structural classification of TFs than previously proposed sequence-derived features. The algorithms underlying our proposed methodology are implemented in the two complementary tools TFpredict and SABINE. The online and stand-alone versions of TFpredict and SABINE are freely available to academics at http://www.cogsys. cs.uni-tuebingen.de/software/TFpredict/ and http://www.cogsys. cs.uni-tuebingen.de/software/SABINE/.
Impact of the Berlin Accord and European Enlargement on Dairy Markets, The

This paper analyzes the effect on dairy markets of the Berlin Accord and the European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms. It also investigates the consequences of the EU enlargement to include three Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, with sizeable agricultural and dairy markets. While the analyses are dependent on a series of assumptions relating to the functioning of EU markets and the future world agricultural and macroeconomic situations, the paper concludes that CAP reforms resulting from the Berlin Accord are likely to create substantial changes in the European agricultural markets. Policy changes in the dairy sector in addition to the accession of the three CEECs will lead to a permanent but moderate decrease in EU milk and dairy product prices.
A Taxonomy of Global Data Grids

Data Grids have been adopted as the platform for scientific applications that need to access, transport and process large data collections distributed worldwide. They combine high-end computing technologies with high-performance networking and wide-area storage management techniques. In this paper, we discuss the key concepts behind Data Grids and compare them with other data sharing and distribution paradigms such as content delivery networks, peer-to-peer networks and distributed databases. We then provide comprehensive taxonomies that cover various aspects of architecture, data transportation, data replication and resource allocation and scheduling. Finally, we map the proposed taxonomy to various Data Grid systems not only to validate the proposed taxonomy but also to identify areas for future exploration.
Car2X-based perception in a high-level fusion architecture for cooperative perception systems

In cooperative perception systems, different vehicles share object data obtained by their local environment perception sensors, like radar or lidar, via wireless communication. In this paper, this so-called Car2X-based perception is modeled as a virtual sensor in order to integrate it into a highlevel sensor data fusion architecture. The spatial and temporal alignment of incoming data is a major issue in cooperative perception systems. Temporal alignment is done by predicting the received object data with a model-based approach. In this context, the CTRA (constant turn rate and acceleration) motion model is used for a three-dimensional prediction of the communication partner's motion. Concerning the spatial alignment, two approaches to transform the received data, including the uncertainties, into the receiving vehicle's local coordinate frame are compared. The approach using an unscented transformation is shown to be superior to the approach by linearizing the transformation function. Experimental results prove the accuracy and consistency of the virtual sensor's output.
Quantum Computability

In this paper some theoretical and (potentially) practical aspects of quantum computing are considered. Using the tools of transcendental number theory it is demonstrated that quantum Turing machines (QTM) with rational amplitudes are sufficient to define the class of bounded error quantum polynomial time (BQP) introduced by Bernstein and Vazirani [Proc. 25th ACM Symposium on Theory of Computation, 1993, pp. 11--20, SIAM J. Comput. , 26 (1997), pp. 1277--1339]. On the other hand, if quantum Turing machines are allowed unrestricted amplitudes (i.e., arbitrary complex amplitudes), then the corresponding BQP class has uncountable cardinality and contains sets of all Turing degrees. In contrast, allowing unrestricted amplitudes does not increase the power of computation for error-free quantum polynomial time (EQP). Moreover, with unrestricted amplitudes, BQP is not equal to EQP. The relationship between quantum complexity classes and classical complexity classes is also investigated. It is shown that when quantum Turing machines are restricted to have transition amplitudes which are algebraic numbers, BQP, EQP, and nondeterministic quantum polynomial time (NQP) are all contained in PP, hence in ${\rm P}^{\#{\rm P}}$ and PSPACE. A potentially practical issue of designing "machine independent" quantum programs is also addressed. A single ("almost universal") quantum algorithm based on Shor's method for factoring integers is developed which would run correctly on almost all quantum computers, even if the underlying unitary transformations are unknown to the programmer and the device builder.
Compression for quadratic similarity queries via shape-gain quantizers

We study the problem of compression of a Gaussian vector for the purpose of similarity identification, where similarity is defined by the mean square Euclidean distance between vectors. While the asymptotical fundamental limits of the problem - the minimal compression rate and the error exponent - were found in a previous work, in this paper we focus on the nonasymptotic domain. We first present a finite blocklength achievability bound based on shape-gain quantization: The gain (amplitude) of the vector is compressed via scalar quantization, and the shape (the projection on the unit sphere) is quantized using a spherical code. The results are numerically evaluated, and they converge to the asymptotic values as predicted by the error exponent. For a practical implementation of such a scheme, we use wrapped spherical codes, studied by Hamkins and Zeger, and use the Leech lattice as an example for an underlying lattice. As a side result, we obtain a bound on the covering angle of any wrapped spherical code, as a function of the covering radius of the underlying lattice.
Monitoring unresolved scales in multiscale turbulence modeling

This paper extends the two-level variational multiscale (VMS) method for large-eddy simulation, introduced by Hughes et al. [Comput. Visual. Sci. 3, 47 (2000)], to a three-level approach that clarifies the role of unresolved scales of motion on the resolved scales. It is shown that the multiscale framework does not obviate modeling on the large scales, but that VMS allows for different modeling assumptions to be used on each scale range. In particular, one can choose to neglect the effect of the unresolved scales on the large scales which is reasonable for sufficiently large-scale separation.
Targeted treatments for cervical cancer: a review

Cervical cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in women worldwide and the development of new diagnosis, prognostic, and treatment strategies merits special attention. Although surgery and chemoradiotherapy can cure 80%–95% of women with early stage cancer, the recurrent and metastatic disease remains a major cause of cancer death. Many efforts have been made to design new drugs and develop gene therapies to treat cervical cancer. In recent decades, research on treatment strategies has proposed several options, including the role of HPV E6 and E7 oncogenes, which are retained and expressed in most cervical cancers and whose respective oncoproteins are critical to the induction and maintenance of the malignant phenotype. Other efforts have been focused on antitumor immunotherapy strategies. It is known that during the development of cervical cancer, a cascade of abnormal events is induced, including disruption of cellular cycle control, perturbation of antitumor immune response, alteration of gene expression, and deregulation of microRNA expression. Thus, in this review article we discuss potential targets for the treatment of cervical cancer associated with HPV infection, with special attention to immunotherapy approaches, clinical trials, siRNA molecules, and their implications as gene therapy strategies against cervical cancer development.
Crosstalk Reduction by Transistor Sizing

In this paper we consider transistor sizing to reduce crosstalk. First, crosstalk noise dependency on wire width, wire spacing, driver and receiver sizes are discussed, and validated by experiments. Then transistor sizing for timing and noise is discussed and solved using optimization techniques. Experimental results suggest that crosstalk violations can be removed by transistor sizing with very small area overhead.