Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Resilience of Zostera muelleri seagrass to small-scale disturbances: the relative importance of asexual versus sexual recovery

Resilience is the ability of an ecosystem to recover from disturbance without loss of essential function. Seagrass ecosystems are key marine and estuarine habitats that are under threat from a variety of natural and anthropogenic disturbances. The ability of these ecosystems to recovery from disturbance will to a large extent depend on the internsity and scale of the disturbance, and the relative importance of sexual versus asexual reproduction within populations. Here, we investigated the resilience of Zostera muelleri seagrass (Syn. Zostera capricorni) to small-scale disturbances at four locations in Lake Macquarie – Australia's largest coastal lake – and monitored recovery over a 65-week period. Resilience of Z. muelleri varied significantly with disturbance intensity; Z. muelleri recovered rapidly (within 2 weeks) from low-intensity disturbance (shoot loss), and rates of recovery appeared related to initial shoot length. Recovery via rhizome encroachment (asexual regeneration) from high-intensity disturbance (loss of entire plant) varied among locations, ranging from 18-35 weeks, whereas the ability to recover was apparently lost (at least within the time frame of this study) when recovery depended on sexual regeneration, suggesting that seeds do not provide a mechanism of recovery against intense small-scale disturbances. The lack of sexual recruits into disturbed sites is surprising as our initial surveys of genotypic diversity (using nine polymorphic microsatellite loci) at these location indicate that populations are maintained by a mix of sexual and asexual reproduction (genotypic diversity [R] varied from 0.24 to 0.44), and populations consisted of a mosaic of genotypes with on average 3.6 unique multilocus genotypes per 300 mm diameter plot. We therefore conclude that Z. muelleri populations within Lake Macquarie rely on clonal growth to recover from small-scale disturbances and that ongoing sexual recruitment by seeds into established seagrass beds (as opposed to bare areas arising from disturbance) must be the mechanism responsible for maintaining the observed mixed genetic composition of Z. muelleri seagrass meadows.
A code compression system based on pipelined interpreters

This paper describes a system for compressed code generation. The code of applications is partioned into time‐critical and non‐time‐critical code. Critical code is compiled to native code, and non‐critical code is compiled to a very dense virtual instruction set which is executed on a highly optimized interpreter. The system employs dictionary‐based compression by means of superinstructions which correspond to patterns of frequently used base instructions. The code compression system is designed for the Philips TriMedia VLIW processor. The interpreter is pipelined to achieve a high interpretation speed. The pipeline consists of three stages: fetch, decode, and execute. While one instruction is being executed, the next instruction is decoded, and the next one after that is fetched from memory. On a TriMedia VLIW with a load latency of three cycles and a jump latency of four cycles, the interpreter achieves a peak performance of four cycles per instruction and a sustained performance of 6.27 cycles per instruction. Experiments are described that demonstrate the compression quality of the system and the execution speed of the pipelined interpreter; these were found to be about five times more compact than native TriMedia code and a slowdown of about eight times, respectively. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Perceptions of antisocial behaviour and negative attitudes towards young people: focus group evidence from adult residents of disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods (Glasgow, UK)

This qualitative study explores claims that concern about antisocial behaviour (ASB) may be linked to generally negative attitudes towards young people. The study uses focus groups, sampling adults living in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods (Glasgow, UK). We found some evidence of negative attitudes, in the form of generalised negative stereotyping of young people, but not of a ‘general climate of intolerance’. During the focus group discussions, the kinds of comments made about young people ranged from strongly pejorative to sympathetic and empathetic. On the whole, the discussions tended to emphasise the heterogeneity of young people and their behaviours, suggesting that many local young people were not perceived to be perpetrators of ASB. The findings indicate that although adult residents of disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods perceive young people's ASB to be a serious issue, they assume that such behaviours occur in the context of poor environments, poor parenting and poor adult behaviour.
Recent perspectives of endocrine therapy for breast cancer

The choice of endocrine therapy for breast cancer depends on the menopausal status and stage of disease. Endocrine therapy remains the first choice and most important component in the treatment of hormone sensitive non-life threatening advanced breast cancer. In premenopausal women with metastatic disease, the combination of a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) agonist plus tamoxifen is reasonable as first-line endocrine therapy. In postmenopausal patients with recurrent disease progressing after or during adjuvant tamoxifen, third-generation aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are the preferred first-line endocrine treatment. Many premenopausal and postmenopausal women with hormone responsive breast cancer benefit from sequential use of endocrine therapies at the time of disease progression. Recent clinical trials designs have been implemented, employing AIs as monotherapy in postmenopausal breast cancer patients, as first-line adjuvant therapy, and in sequence either 2–3 or 5 years, with initial tamoxifen. Emerging results from these trials indicate an advantage to patients for any of these strategies, and most international guidelines now suggest the use of an AI in the adjuvant setting in postmenopausal women. The use of endocrine treatment for metastatic and early breast cancer will be reviewed here.
The influence of closing poor performing primary schools on the educational attainment of students

This paper examines whether the closure of poor performing primary schools improved students' educational attainment. It is believed that school closure affects children's educational outcomes positively because children switch to better primary schools. At the same time, school closure creates a social disturbance such that educational outcomes may be affected negatively. There is no previous literature on the effect of this type of school closure on student performance. The empirical results indicate that student test scores are not affected by the school closure. Children are, however, tracked into higher secondary education levels after the school closure if they received more education years at the new primary school. This effect fades out and eventually becomes negative for children who received more than one education year at the new primary school. The results further suggest that there are no detrimental effects of a school closure in terms of educational performance.
A method for extracting respiratory frequency during blood pressure measurement, from oscillometric cuff pressure pulses and Korotkoff sounds recorded during the measurement

Respiratory frequency is an important physiological feature commonly used to assess health. However, the current measurements involve dedicated devices which not only increase the medical cost but also make health monitoring inconvenient. Earlier studies have shown that respiratory frequency could be extracted from electrocardiography (ECG) signal, but little was done to assess the possibility of extracting respiratory frequency from oscillometric cuff pressure pulses (OscP) or Korotkoff sounds (KorS), which are normally used for measuring blood pressure and more easily accessible than the ECG signal. This study presented a method to extract respiratory frequency from OscP and KorS during clinical blood pressure measurement. The method was evaluated with clinical data collected from 15 healthy participants, and its measurement accuracy was compared with a reference respiratory rate obtained with a magnetometer. Experimental results showed small non-significant mean absolute bias (0.019 Hz for OscP and 0.024 Hz for KorS) and high correlation (0.7 for both OscP and KorS) between the reference respiratory frequency and respiratory frequency extracted from OscP or KorS, indicating the high reliability of extracting respiratory frequency from OscP and KorS during normal blood pressure measurement.
Looking toward the future of clinical trials: The application of communication variables to the recruitment of women into breast cancer clinical trials

Current literature on the recruitment of individuals into clinical trials has confirmed many potential barriers to participation (Swanson and Ward, 1995). Discussion of these barriers has emphasized physical constraints. However, there may be cognitive and/or emotional processes that could better explain why individuals do or do not choose to participate in clinical trials. This research seeks to better understand these processes by examining the effects of individuals’ pre‐existing characteristics on their desire to participate in clinical research on breast cancer. The findings indicate that increases in the perceived severity of breast cancer and in perceived ability to avert this threat resulted in research participants’ positive attitude about participating in the clinical trial. These results may be particularly helpful in the creation of appeals designed to motivate individuals to participate in clinical trials.
A 65-nm CMOS Temperature-Compensated Mobility-Based Frequency Reference for Wireless Sensor Networks

A temperature-compensated CMOS frequency reference based on the electron mobility in a MOS transistor is presented. Over the temperature range from -55°C to 125°C , the frequency spread of the complete reference is less than ±0.5% after a two-point trim and less than ±2.7% after a one-point trim. These results make it suitable for use in Wireless Sensor Network nodes. Fabricated in a baseline 65-nm CMOS process, the 150 kHz frequency reference occupies 0.2 mm2 and draws 42.6 μA from a 1.2-V supply at room temperature.
The SCIRun Inverse EEG Pipeline | A Modeling and Simulation System for CorticalMapping and Source

The goal of the inverse problem in electroencephalography is to determine electrical activity within the cranial volume, based on potential measurements taken from the scalp. In this paper, we discuss our implementation of a exible, extensible system to solve the inverse EEG problem. Our implementation is constructed on top of the SCIRun problem solving environment, a exible framework for implementing large-scale scientiic and engineering applications. We leverage the power of this underlying software architecture in the design and implementation of our inverse EEG pipeline. We apply our inverse EEG software system to a test subject's P300 auditory response.
Cross-Point Coordination with Aggregated Scheduling and Power Allocation in Multi-Carrier MF-HSDPA

Multi-point transmission has not received adequate attention in the evolution of UMTS networks until multi-flow transmission is proposed in the HSPA+ network recently. In the multi-flow transmission, the cross-point coordination is regarded as an important technique to enhance the system performance. In the existing research, most studies have only involved the multi-flow transmission in a non-coordinated pattern and considered it in the single-carrier HSPA+ system. The major contribution of this paper is to propose a cross-point coordination scheme in the multi-carrier Multi-flow HSDPA (MF-HSDPA) network. Our scheme is able to achieve the coordination of both the aggregated scheduling and power allocation to improve the system performance in the multi-point and multi-carrier layout. Simulation results will show the advantages of the proposed scheme.
Integrative Leadership in the Public Sector

This article proposes a new model for understanding leadership in the public sector. The integrative approach to leadership focuses on how leaders choose, promote, institutionalize, and use public management systems, and reform those in time. Using data from a 50-state survey, this article explores the role of integrative leadership in one of the most popular reforms of government in recent years, managing for results. The findings suggest that leadership does indeed matter to the use of performance information in decision making and offer insights into how and when leadership matters.
LAL Regulators SCO0877 and SCO7173 as Pleiotropic Modulators of Phosphate Starvation Response and Actinorhodin Biosynthesis in Streptomyces coelicolor

LAL regulators (Large ATP-binding regulators of the LuxR family) constitute a poorly studied family of transcriptional regulators. Several regulators of this class have been identified in antibiotic and other secondary metabolite gene clusters from actinomycetes, thus they have been considered pathway-specific regulators. In this study we have obtained two disruption mutants of LAL genes from S. coelicolor (Δ0877 and Δ7173). Both mutants were deficient in the production of the polyketide antibiotic actinorhodin, and antibiotic production was restored upon gene complementation of the mutants. The use of whole-genome DNA microarrays and quantitative PCRs enabled the analysis of the transcriptome of both mutants in comparison with the wild type. Our results indicate that the LAL regulators under study act globally affecting various cellular processes, and amongst them the phosphate starvation response and the biosynthesis of the blue-pigmented antibiotic actinorhodin. Both regulators act as negative modulators of the expression of the two-component phoRP system and as positive regulators of actinorhodin biosynthesis. To our knowledge this is the first characterization of LAL regulators with wide implications in Streptomyces metabolism.
Securing generic platforms for NFC-based solutions

Many service platforms have been revolutionized by smartcards because of their security and ease-of-use. As contactless communication is recognized to be one of the key-factors in enhancing convenience for the next generation services, service providers are seeking ways to securely enable the contactless communication schemes between the service terminals and the user devices in the existing service infrastructures. While many services have successfully been upgraded to wireless standards such as RFID or NFC, the end-user device base consists solely of different Proximity Integrated Circuit Cards (PICC) provided by the service providers. Simultaneously the sensor arrays in standard mobile devices are extensively becoming compliant with standards like NFC, increasing their potential to combine the existing variety of PICC-based devices to a single user-managed mobile device. This paper presents the potential of contactless service infrastructures, existing contactless solutions and the benefits, requirements and open challenges of combining the variety of PICC-based devices to a single generic mobile device.
The Predictors of Falls in Adult and Senior Women from Cities of Lower Silesia, Poland

Purpose. balance disorders are considered a significant problem in the elderly as they are associated with an increased incidence of falls. In effect, they can lead to numerous injuries, disability, or even death. The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between the risk of falling and various factors (morphology, socioeconomic status, physical fitness, and physical activity level) in adult and elderly women. Methods. The study population sample included 149 women aged 47–89 years living in the province of Lower Silesia, Poland. The women were divided into two age groups of younger (n =83, age = 59.09 years) and older (n = 66, age = 70.77 years) participants. Measures included bMI, marital status, and physical activity, physical fitness, and education levels. Statistical analysis included a chi-squared ( ) test, cluster analysis, logistic regression, and correspondence analysis. Results. bMI and physical fitness were strongly correlated with falls: the higher the bMI (overweight or obese) and the lower physical fitness, the greater the risk of falling. The remaining variables showed a weak relationship with falling. Conclusions. The fall risk of women who are overweight or obese or with a low physical fitness level is approximately 2.5 times higher than those with normal and healthy levels of bMI and physical fitness. The presence of both risk factors increased the likelihood of falling.
Optimization of modular multiplication on FPGA using don't care conditions

In this paper we make use of don't care conditions to propose a word-level Don't-Care Optimization (DC-Opt) technique for modular multipliers by taking into account LUT-based FPGA architectures. This technique can easily be utilized for large arithmetic circuits and it can provide a superior implementation in terms of area compared to the state-of-the art optimizations. Experimental results show an average saving of 17% of area consumption compared to the conventional binary structures and Residue Number System (RNS) based multipliers on FPGA.
Cross-Informant Agreement and Stability of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Among Finnish Mainstream and Special Education Students

This study investigated the cross-informant agreement among student self-report, teacher report, and parent report on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire translated into Finnish (SDQ-Fin) and estimated mean convergent and divergent correlations with a sample of fifth-grade Finnish students (N = 588) and the cross-informant agreement among student-teacher-parent informants separately for those with and without special education support. In addition, the study estimated the within-rater stabilities of SDQ subscales for students with and without special education support between two measurements at a one year interval. The cross-informant agreement on SDQ-Fin subscales was moderate with cross-informant correlations ranging from . 12 to . 42. The cross-informant agreement between teachers and students was in general higher for students with special education (SE) support than students without special education (NSE) support. The mean convergent correlations were higher than the mean divergent correlations across raters. The rater stabilities of SDQ subscales for NSE students and SE students between fifth and sixth grade as indicated by stability correlations were all statistically significant. Our findings provide additional evidence of the usefulness of the SDQ in school environments, and underline the importance of a multi-informant approach to the evaluation of emotional and behavioral problems.
Stepwise construction and refinement of dependability models

This paper presents a stepwise approach for dependability modeling, based on Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets (GSPNs). The first-step model called functional-level model, can be built as early as system functional specifications and then completed by the structural model as soon as the system architecture is known, even at a very high level. The latter can be refitted according to three different aspects: component decomposition, state and event fine-tuning and distribution adjustment to take into account increasing event rates. We define specific rules to make the successive transformations as easy and systematic as possible. This approach allows the various dependencies to be taken into account at the right level of abstraction: functional dependency, structural dependency and those induced by non-exponential distributions. A part of the approach is applied to an instrumentation and control system (I&C) in power plants.
Upregulated MicroRNA-29a by Hepatitis B Virus X Protein Enhances Hepatoma Cell Migration by Targeting PTEN in Cell Culture Model

Hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) plays important roles in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) contribute to cancer development by acting as oncogenes or tumor suppressors. Previously, we reported that HBx was able to promote the migration of hepatoma HepG2 cells. However, the regulation of miRNAs in the development of HBV-related HCC is poorly understood. In the present study, we reported that miR-29a was a novel regulator of migration of hepatoma cells mediated by HBx. Our data showed that the expression of miR-29a was dramatically increased in p21-HBx transgenic mice, HBx-transfected hepatoma HepG2-X (or H7402-X) cells and HepG2.2. 15 cells that constitutively replicate HBV. However, our data showed that miR-29a was upregulated in 4 of the 11 clinical HCC samples. We found that the overexpression of miR-29a promoted the migration of HepG2 cells, while a specific miR-29a inhibitor could partially abolish the enhanced migration of HepG2-X cells. Moreover, we identified PTEN was one of the target genes of miR-29a in HepG2 cells. The deletion of the miR-29a-binding site was able to abolish the role of miR-29a in suppression of luciferase activity of the PTEN 3′UTR reporter. Meanwhile, the overexpression of PTEN was able to reverse the promoted migration of HepG2 cells mediated by miR-29a. Moreover, our data showed that the modulation of Akt phosphorylation, a downstream factor of PTEN, was involved in the cell migration enhanced by miR-29a, suggesting that miR-29a is responsible for the cell migration through its target gene PTEN. Thus, we conclude that miR-29a is involved in the regulation of migration of hepatoma cells mediated by HBx through PTEN in cell culture model.
PATTERNS OF SEXUAL VULNERABILITY AMONG ADOLESCENTS AND YOUTHS IN SRI LANKA

To elucidate the level of sexual awareness, behaviour and vulnerability experienced by adolescents and youths in Sri Lanka, data were collected from an island-wide survey of 4004 unmarried and married persons aged 10–24. Most 10–14-year-olds do not possess sufficient knowledge on sexual behaviour, or hesitate to acknowledge it due to prevailing cultural barriers. Females show less knowledge on sexual behaviour, while those in the estate sector indicate the lowest awareness. Respondents aged 15–17 did not report a sound knowledge on sexuality. Of the unmarried urban males aged 18–24, nearly half believed that their peers had already experienced sexual intercourse, while the corresponding proportion of females was only 19 per cent. These estimates are significantly higher than the figures reported for the 15–17 age group of urban males (31 per cent) and females (12 per cent). Among those who had premarital sex, the majority had it with their lover; nevertheless, a substantial proportion of adolescents and youths may be vulnerable to contracting sexually transmitted infection (STI), including HIV/AIDS as they had potentially high-risk persons as sex partners. Comprehensive awareness programmes on sexual health are needed in order to lower their vulnerability.