Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decoding youth DNA: The relationship between social engagement and news interest, news media use and news preferences of Dutch millennials

There is a growing concern in Western democracies about the decline in young people’s use of news media. Some scholars see it as a result of a diminishing interest in social issues and even of a more general deterioration in civic culture. Others claim that young people still feel socially engaged but that they turn their back to mainstream news media because they are increasingly irrelevant to them. This study focuses on the question how Dutch millennials’ social engagement relates to their news interest, their news media use and their news preferences. It concludes that the relation between young people’s social engagement and their news interest is still strong. Furthermore, it shows that social engagement is clearly related to the use of most national news media, including the use of Facebook. However, social engagement is not so much related to the use of most local/regional news media. Finally, findings show that social engagement is positively related to a citizen-oriented approach of news but not to a consumer-oriented approach. Overall, the study provides insights that can broaden our understanding of the complex relationship between news interest, news media use and news preferences of young people and their engagement with society. Next to that, it can help professional journalism to get (re)connected with the up-growing generation.
The Argus® II retinal prosthesis system: An overview

The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System is the only commercially-approved treatment for severe to profound Retinitis Pigmentosa in the world. Over 10 years of research and development have gone into this device; it is now commercially available in the European Economic Area, Saudi Arabia, and in the United States. The Argus II System consists of an implant (including an epiretinal electrode array, an electronics case, and a receiver antenna), as well as a body-worn computer and a pair of glasses with a miniature video camera. It converts video images from the camera into stimulation patterns that are transmitted to the implant in real time, allowing users to perceive patterns of light. All aspects of the System have been extensively bench tested and found to provide long-term reliability. These findings have been borne out in a clinical trial; in over 120 subject-years of testing, there has been only one device failure. Clinical trial results have established the safety and probable benefit of the Argus II System.
Semi-automatic Derivation of Specific-Domain Ontologies for the Semantic Web

This paper describes an approach for helping in the semi-automatic construction of specific-domain ontology components contained in a digital archive. This proposal for extracting knowledge from digital sources allows users to have a view of this knowledge and visualize specific-domain ontology components that with further processing can be shared with software agents by embedding it into digital archives themselves in the context of the Semantic Web. In particular, we deal with the issue of not constructing the ontology from scratch, our approach helps us to speed up the ontology creation process.
The Effect of Time on Gait Recognition Performance

Many studies have shown that it is possible to recognize people by the way they walk. However, there are a number of covariate factors that affect recognition performance. The time between capturing the gallery and the probe has been reported to affect recognition the most. To date, no study has isolated the effect of time, irrespective of other covariates. Here, we present the first principled study that examines the effect of elapsed time on gait recognition. Using empirical evidence we show for the first time that elapsed time does not affect recognition significantly in the short-medium term. This finding challenges the existing view in the literature that time significantly affects gait recognition. We employ existing gait representations on a novel dataset captured specifically for this study. By controlling the clothing worn by the subjects and the environment, a Correct Classification Rate (CCR) of 95% has been achieved over the longest time period yet considered for gait on the largest ever temporal dataset. Our results show that gait can be used as a reliable biometric over time and at a distance if we were able to control all other factors such as clothing, footwear etc. We have also investigated the effect of different type of clothes, variations in speed and footwear on the recognition performance. The purpose of these experiments is to provide an indication of why previous studies (employing the same techniques as this study) have achieved significantly lower recognition performance over time. Our experimental results show that clothing and other covariates have been confused with elapsed time previously in the literature. We have demonstrated that clothing drastically affects the recognition performance regardless of elapsed time and significantly more than any of the other covariates that we have considered here.
A fast disasters assessment algorithm with fuzzy, incomplete and noisy information

In the early stage of the emergency response process, fast disasters assessment is the foundation and key step of decision making and emergencies management. This paper describes the importance of disasters assessment and information management in emergency decision with the incomplete, fuzzy, noisy emergency information. We also discuss how to process the incomplete information and make fast disasters assessment using data mining technique and rough sets. Finally, we introduce the multi-criteria decision making theory to optimize the decision making and minimize the emergency damage.
A taxonomy of challenges to resilient message dissemination in VANETs

Inter-vehicular communications is seen as a promising solution to a number of issues related with public road safety, road congestion management, and infotainment. However, Vehicular Ad-hoc NETworks (VANETs) characterized by high mobility of vehicles and facing a number of other issues related with high frequency wireless communications and network disconnections, encounter major challenges related with reliability of message delivery. This issue, despite a number of relevant publications, has not been extensively researched so far. This paper is the first one to provide a definition of information resilience for VANETs and the respective taxonomy of challenges to resilient message delivery for all types of VANET applications (being adaptation of a general taxonomy of challenges for networked systems). Example challenges related to technical aspects of resilient message dissemination for PHY/MAC layer, broadcast transmission, and multi-hop routing are outlined in the final part of the paper.
Opening the Iron Box: Transcriptional Metalloregulation by the Fur Protein

It is generally accepted that iron is the most important micronutrient used by bacteria. With members of the family Lactobacillae being the only exceptions so far (3), this metal is essential for cellular metabolism, since it is needed as a cofactor for a large number of enzymes (96). However, this element is not easily available to microorganisms in aerobic environments. While in anaerobic conditions Fe2+ is soluble at physiological pH and cells obtain iron without much difficulty from the external medium, the ion becomes quickly converted to Fe3+ upon exposure to oxygen and forms insoluble hydroxides at neutral pH, making the available metal very scarce (20). In order to acquire iron from the extracellular medium, virtually all aerobic bacteria produce and secrete low-molecular-weight compounds termed siderophores (sideros phoros, iron carriers). These compounds chelate Fe3+ with high affinity and specificity (68). Subsequently, the cell recovers the ferrisiderophore complexes through specific outer membrane receptors (30). Some of these high-affinity systems of iron uptake are important virulence factors in bacteria infecting animal fluids and tissues because they can chelate the metal bound to host proteins (7, 36, 60, 71). Furthermore, because iron availability is generally growth limiting for bacteria thriving in an animal millieu, the lack of the metal is a major environmental signal to trigger expression of virulence determinants (60). However, an excess of iron is toxic because of its ability to catalyse Fenton reactions and formation of active species of oxygen. Iron uptake has to be, therefore, exquisitely regulated to maintain the intracellular concentration of the metal between desirable limits. Considering that excretion mechanisms for iron are not known in bacteria, microorganisms appear to control iron homeostasis, regulating its transport through the membrane (5, 21).
INDUCTORS INFLUENCE OVER THE DC-DC CONVERTER PERFORMENCE

This paper concerns the technological limitation of fully monolithic dc-dc converters. Two types of circuits were investigated on AMS CMOS 0.35 μm process. Comparison between efficiency results of architectures used on-chip and off-chip filter’s inductors are made. The inductors influence over the dc-dc converters performance is evaluated. Input voltage of 3.6V, which is the normal voltage for Lithium-Ion battery cell that is typically used in battery-powered devices, is chosen.
The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire-Argentine (AEQ-AR): internal and external validity, reliability, gender differences and norm-referenced interpretation of test scores

This article reports on the reliability, internal validity, external validity, gender differences, and norms of a Spanish version of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (Pekrun et al., 2011) adapted for Argentinean university students (namely AEQ-AR). The AEQ-AR contains 24 scales measuring enjoyment, hope, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom during class, while studying, and when taking tests and exams. Argentinean undergraduates studying at the National University of Cordoba participated in the study. An estimation sample (N = 400) and a validation sample (N = 266) were formed to examine internal validity and reliability. The total sample (N = 666) was used to analyze external validity, gender differences and to obtain norms for the scales. Results indicate that the scales are reliable, internally valid as demonstrated by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and externally valid in terms of relationships with task value, social academic self-efficacy, achievement goals, avoidance of help seeking, and academic performance. In addition, partial support for the gender differences hypothesis of prospective and retrospective emotions related to negative results was found. The obtained norms for male and female students will allow interpret the scores obtained for practical purposes. Finally, instructions and scales of the AEQ-AR are presented in the appendix.
Indefinite Trust Region Subproblems and Nonsymmetric Eigenvalue Perturbations

This paper extends the theory of trust region subproblems in two ways: (i) it allows indefinite inner products in the quadratic constraint, and (ii) it uses a two-sided (upper and lower bound) quadratic constraint. Characterizations of optimality are presented that have no gap between necessity and sufficiency. Conditions for the existence of solutions are given in terms of the definiteness of a matrix pencil. A simple dual program is introduced that involves the maximization of a strictly concave function on an interval. This dual program simplifies the theory and algorithms for trust region subproblems. It also illustrates that the trust region subproblems are implicit convex programming problems, and thus explains why they are so tractable.The duality theory also provides connections to eigenvalue perturbation theory. Trust region subproblems with zero linear term in the objective function correspond to eigenvalue problems, and adding a linear term in the objective function is seen to correspond to a p.
GATA4 regulates ANF expression synergistically with Sp1 in a cardiac hypertrophy model

Cardiac hypertrophy in response to multiple stimuli has important physiological and pathological significances. GATA4 serves as a nuclear integrator of several signalling pathways during cardiac hypertrophy. Sp1 and Sp3 are also reported to be involved in this process. However, the mechanism by which GATA4 acts as a mediator, integrating these ubiquitously expressed transcriptional factors, is poorly understood. We found that the expression of GATA4 and Sp1 was up‐regulated in the myocardium of a pressure overload hypertrophy rat model, as well in phenylephrine‐induced (PE‐induced) hypertrophic growth of neonatal cardiomyocytes. GST pull‐down assays demonstrated that GATA4 could interact with Sp1 in vitro. Therefore, we proposed that GATA4 cooperates with Sp1 in regulating ANF expression, as its reactivation is closely linked with hypertrophy. Further studies demonstrated that GATA4 could activate the ANF promoter synergistically with Sp1 through direct interaction. In contrast, Sp3 exhibited antagonistic function, and overexpression of Sp3 repressed the transcriptional synergy between Sp1 and GATA4. We also found that Sp1 alone could activate the ANF promoter in cardiomyocytes, whereas Sp3 exerted negative effects on ANF expression. Bioinformatics analysis revealed novel Sp‐binding sites on the ANF promoter. The recruitment of GATA4 and Sp1 on the ANF promoter was enhanced during phenylephrine‐mediated hypertrophy, whereas the recruitment of Sp3 was reduced. The phosphorylation of GATA4 by ERK1/2 kinase could enhance the affinity between GATA4 and Sp1. Thus, our findings revealed the critical interaction of GATA4 and Sp1 in modulating ANF expression, indicating their involvement in cardiac hypertrophy.
Weak ergodicity breaking in an anomalous diffusion process of mixed origins.

The ergodicity breaking parameter is a measure for the heterogeneity among different trajectories of one ensemble. In this report, this parameter is calculated for fractional Brownian motion with a random change of time scale, often called "subordination. " We show that this quantity is the same as the known continuous time random walks case.
MavEStream: Synergistic Integration of Stream and Event Processing

Although research seems to address event and stream data processing as two separate topics, there are a number of similarities between them. For many advanced stream applications, both event and rule processing are needed and are not currently well-supported. Extant event processing systems concentrate primarily on complex events and rules and stream processing systems concentrate on stream operators, scheduling, and quality of service issues. Synergistic integration of these models will be better than the sum of its parts. We propose an integrated model to combine the capabilities of both models for applications that need both of them. Specifically, we introduced a number of enhancements, including stream modifiers, semantic windows, event generators, and enhanced event and rule specifications, to couple two models seamlessly. We prototype our integrated system using the stream processing system (MavStream) with the event processing system (Snoop and Sentinel) and discuss the design and implementation issues of our prototype.
Establishment of a New Murine Elastase-Induced Aneurysm Model Combined with Transplantation

Introduction The aim of our study was to develop a reproducible murine model of elastase-induced aneurysm formation combined with aortic transplantation. Methods Adult male mice (n = 6–9 per group) underwent infrarenal, orthotopic transplantation of the aorta treated with elastase or left untreated. Subsequently, both groups of mice were monitored by ultrasound until 7 weeks after grafting. Results Mice receiving an elastase-pretreated aorta developed aneurysms and exhibited a significantly increased diastolic vessel diameter compared to control grafted mice at 7 week after surgery (1.11±0.10 mm vs. 0.75±0.03 mm; p≤0,001). Histopathological examination revealed disruption of medial elastin, an increase in collagen content and smooth muscle cells, and neointima formation in aneurysm grafts. Conclusions We developed a reproducible murine model of elastase-induced aneurysm combined with aortic transplantation. This model may be suitable to investigate aneurysm-specific inflammatory processes and for use in gene-targeted animals.
Diagnostic Value of Amsel’s Clinical Criteria for Diagnosis of Bacterial Vaginosis

Introduction: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is one of the most prevalent infections in women of reproductive age. Amsel’s criteria and Nugent scoring system are among the most commonly used diagnostic methods. Although Nugent scoring system is considered the gold standard for diagnosing BV, it is time consuming and costly, and its interpretation needs lab equipment and experts. Hence, most physicians are inclined to use simpler clinical criteria that are yet accurate instead. The present study aimed to determine the diagnostic value of Amsel’s criteria in diagnosing BV. Material and Methods: This present study was conducted to validate diagnostic tests of BV in 120 married women in 2013. Amsel’s criteria and Nugent scoring system were used to diagnose BV. Nugent scoring system was considered the gold standard and sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of Amsel’s criteria were compared with those of Nugent scoring system. Results: Kappa coefficient was used to assess the diagnostic value of Nugent scoring system and Amsel’s criteria. Kappa coefficient was found 0.8, which confirms the reliability of both diagnostic methods. McNemar test did not reveal a significant difference between Nugent scoring system and Amsel’s criteria in terms of diagnosing BV. As compared to Nugent scoring system, Asmel’s criteria enjoy sensitivity of 0.91, specificity of 0.91, positive predictive value of 0.86, negative predictive value of 0.94, and accuracy of 0.91. Conclusion: If lab equipment is not available for diagnosing BV, Amsel’s criteria can be as good as Nugent scoring system at diagnosing this infection.
Impact of Platelet Function Test on Platelet Responsiveness and Clinical Outcome After Coronary Stent Implantation: Platelet Responsiveness and Clinical Outcome

Background and Objectives The aim of this study was to confirm the predictive cut-off values for P2Y12 reaction units (PRU) and aspirin reaction units (ARU) and to evaluate the clinical impact of VerifyNow® assays. Subjects and Methods From November 2007 to October 2009, 186 eligible patients were prospectively recruited. Post-treatment platelet reactivity was measured by VerifyNow® assays within 12 to 24 hours after intervention, followed by standard dual maintenance dose therapy for 1 year. All patients had scheduled clinical follow-ups at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. Results The rate of low responders to clopidogrel, aspirin, and both drugs were 41.4%, 10.2%, and 3.8%, respectively. The predictive factors for low responsiveness to clopidogrel (PRU ≥240) were female sex, age, and non-use of cilostazol medication in our univariate analysis and age ≥65 years and non-use cilostazol in the multivariate analysis. The predictors of low responsiveness to aspirin (ARU ≥550) were male sex and age in both univariate and multivariate analyses. There was no significant difference in the clinical event rate with a cut-off value of PRU ≥240 or ARU ≥550 for 30 days and 1-year (p>0.05). Conclusion Hyporesponsiveness to antiplatelet agents (namely aspirin and clopidogrel) was identified in about half of the patients. The cut-off point of PRU ≥240 or ARU ≥550 did not confer predictive value for 30-day or 1-year clinical event rates in patients who had undergone coronary intervention with drug-eluting stents.
Compensation Management And Employee Retention Of Selected Commercial Banks In Anambra State, Nigeria

This study was necessitated due to rate of employee turnover, which is increasing in Nigeria banking system; a situation whereby employee continuously move from one bank to another in a short period of time. This paper seeks to examine the influence of compensation management on employee retention. It specifically set out to examine the relationship between Salary and Employee satisfaction in selected Commercial banks in Awka. The study employed descriptive research design. Primary source of data was the major instrument used for this study. 60 copies of questionnaire were administered to employees of selected commercial banks (First bank, Fidelity and Sterling bank); 56 were retrieved and they were all useful. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation was used for the analyses. The findings revealed that there is a positive weak relationship between salary and employee satisfaction. This shows that employees were not satisfied despite their seemingly attractive salary. In view of the finding, the study concluded that if management fail to formulate, administer and implement a good compensation policies that would allow them retain their talented employee; these employee might leave their job if they find a better offer elsewhere. The researcher recommended among others that compensation structure should include new and enticing ways to motivate and retain employee with wide range of benefits other than salary.
The role of dose rate in radiation cancer risk: evaluating the effect of dose rate at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels using key events in critical pathways following exposure to low LET radiation

Abstract Purpose: This review evaluates the role of dose rate on cell and molecular responses. It focuses on the influence of dose rate on key events in critical pathways in the development of cancer. This approach is similar to that used by the U.S. EPA and others to evaluate risk from chemicals. It provides a mechanistic method to account for the influence of the dose rate from low-LET radiation, especially in the low-dose region on cancer risk assessment. Molecular, cellular, and tissues changes are observed in many key events and change as a function of dose rate. The magnitude and direction of change can be used to help establish an appropriate dose rate effectiveness factor (DREF). Conclusions: Extensive data on key events suggest that exposure to low dose-rates are less effective in producing changes than high dose rates. Most of these data at the molecular and cellular level support a large (2–30) DREF. In addition, some evidence suggests that doses delivered at a low dose rate decrease damage to levels below that observed in the controls. However, there are some data human and mechanistic data that support a dose-rate effectiveness factor of 1. In summary, a review of the available molecular, cellular and tissue data indicates that not only is dose rate an important variable in understanding radiation risk but it also supports the selection of a DREF greater than one as currently recommended by ICRP (2007) and BEIR VII (NRC/NAS 2006).
Trading Frequency and Asset Pricing on the London Stock Exchange: Evidence from a New Price Impact Ratio

This study proposes a new price impact ratio as an alternative to the widely used Amihud’s (2002) Return-to-Volume ratio. We demonstrate that the new price impact ratio, which is deemed Return-to-Turnover ratio, has a number of appealing features. Using daily data from all stocks listed on the London Stock Exchange over the period 1991–2008, we provide overwhelming evidence that this ratio, while being unequivocal to construct and interpret, is also free of a size bias. More importantly, it encapsulates the stocks’ cross-sectional variability in trading frequency, a relatively neglected but possibly important determinant of stock returns given the recently observed trends in financial markets. Overall, our findings argue against the conventional wisdom that there is a simple direct link between trading costs and stock returns by strongly suggesting that it is the compound effect of trading frequency and transaction costs that matters for asset pricing, not each aspect in isolation.