Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PROGRESSION THROUGH THE RANKS: ASSESSING EMPLOYEE REACTIONS TO HIGH-STAKES EMPLOYMENT TESTING

Employee reactions to promotional examinations were investigated in 2 studies (N = 498 & 182, respectively) of police officers. Anxiety, motivation, and justice perceptions were examined as possible predictors of promotional exam performance and intentions to recommend the exam to others. Reactions to a promotional examination were significantly and differentially related to those criteria. Motivation predicted performance whereas justice perceptions predicted recommendation intentions. In Study 2, the role of cognitive processing was also investigated. Results indicated that candidate reactions predicted exam performance through cognitive processing mechanisms. Exam motivation facilitated cognitive processing, which resulted in higher levels of exam performance. In contrast, exam anxiety exhibited both facilitative and debilitative cognitive processing effects.
Online Linear Optimization with Sparsity

Now, let us consider the case ofK = Kb with b ∈ (1,∞). For v ∈ R andQ ⊆ [d], let vQ denote the 6 projection of v to those dimensions inQ. Then for any v ∈ R, and any w ∈ Kb withQ = {i : wi 6= 7 0}, we know by Hölder’s inequality that 〈w,v〉 = 〈wQ,vQ〉 ≥ −‖w‖b · ‖vQ‖a , for a = b/(b− 1). 8 Moreover, one can have 〈wQ,vQ〉 = −‖w‖b · ‖vQ‖a , when |wi| /‖w‖b = |vi|/‖v‖a and 9 wivi ≤ 0 for every i ∈ Q. Thus, to find w ∈ Kb which minimizes 〈w,v〉, we first letQ = [k] so that 10 ‖vQ‖a ≥ ‖vQ′‖a for any Q ′ ⊆ [d] with |Q′| ≤ k. Then we let ŵi = −sign(vi)|vi|1i∈Q, and 11 choose wi = ŵi/‖ŵ‖b. Clearly, we have w ∈ K and 〈w,v〉 = −‖vQ‖a ≤ −‖vQ′‖a ≤ 〈w ′,v〉 12 for any w′ ∈ K with Q′ = {i : w′ i 6= 0} as |Q′| ≤ k. 13
Learning how to increase the chance of human-robot engagement

The increasing use of mobile robots in social contexts makes it important to provide them with the ability to behave in the most socially acceptable way possible. In this paper we investigate the problem of making a robot learn how to approach a person in order to increase the chance of a successful engagement. We propose the use of Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), combined with ideas from reinforcement learning to make sure the space is properly and continuously explored. In the proposed example scenario, this is used by the robot to predict the best decisions in relation to its position in the environment and approach distance, each one accordingly to a certain time of the day. Numerical simulations show a significant performance improvement when compared with a random technique. The robot is able to improve performance after just one day of interaction (a few dozens of trials), and achieves the maximum expected value for the proposed approach within sixty days.
Population-Level Antibody Estimates to Novel Influenza A/H7N9

Abstract There are no contemporary data available describing human immunity to novel influenza A/H7N9. Using 1723 prospectively collected serum samples in southern Vietnam, we tested for antibodies to 5 avian influenza virus antigens, using a protein microarray. General-population antibody titers against subtype H7 virus are higher than antibody titers against subtype H5 and lower than titers against H9. The highest titers were observed for human influenza virus subtypes. Titers to avian influenza virus antigens increased with age and with geometric mean antibody titer to human influenza virus antigens. There were no titer differences between the urban and the rural location in our study.
An Introduction to Functional dependency in Relational Databases

This write-up is the suggested lecture notes for a second level course on advanced topics in database systems for master's students of Computer Science with a theoretical focus. A prerequisite in algorithms and an exposure to database systems are required. Additional reading may require exposure to mathematical logic. The starting point for these notes are from M.Y. Vardi's survey listed herein as a reference - some of the proofs are presented as such . This select rewrite on functional dependency is intended to provide a few clarifications even though radically new design approaches are now being proposed.
Genetics of Recurrent Vertigo and Vestibular Disorders

We present recent advances in the genetics of recurrent vertigo, including familial episodic ataxias, migraneous vertigo, bilateral vestibular hypofunction and Meniere’s disease. Although several vestibular disorders are more common within families, the genetics of vestibulopathies is largely not known. Genetic loci and clinical features of familial episodic ataxias have been defined in linkage disequilibrium studies with mutations in neuronal genes KCNA1 and CACNA1A. Migrainous vertigo is a clinical disorder with a high comorbidity within families much more common in females with overlapping features with episodic ataxia and migraine. Bilateral vestibular hypofunction is a heterogeneous clinical group defined by episodes of vertigo leading to progressive loss of vestibular function which also can include migraine. Meniere’s disease is a clinical syndrome characterized by spontaneous episodes of recurrent vertigo, sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus and aural fullness and familial Meniere’s disease in around 10-20% of cases. An international collaborative effort to define the clinical phenotype and recruiting patients with migrainous vertigo and Meniere’s disease is ongoing for genome-wide association studies.
The Trimmed Iterative Closest Point algorithm

The problem of geometric alignment of two roughly preregistered, partially overlapping, rigid, noisy 3D point sets is considered. A new natural and simple, robustified extension of the popular Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm (Besl and McKay, 1992) is presented, called the Trimmed ICP (TrICP). The new algorithm is based on the consistent use of the least trimmed squares (LTS) approach in all phases of the operation. Convergence is proved and an efficient implementation is discussed. TrICP is fast, applicable to overlaps under 50%, robust to erroneous measurements and shape defects, and has easy-to-set parameters. ICP is a special case of TrICP when the overlap parameter is 100%. Results of testing the new algorithm are shown.
Mitotic Functions for SNAP45, a Subunit of the Small Nuclear RNA-activating Protein Complex SNAPc

The small nuclear RNA-activating protein complex SNAPc is required for transcription of small nuclear RNA genes and binds to a proximal sequence element in their promoters. SNAPc contains five types of subunits stably associated with each other. Here we show that one of these polypeptides, SNAP45, also known as PTF δ, localizes to centrosomes during parts of mitosis, as well as to the spindle midzone during anaphase and the mid-body during telophase. Consistent with localization to these mitotic structures, both down- and up-regulation of SNAP45 lead to a G2/M arrest with cells displaying abnormal mitotic structures. In contrast, down-regulation of SNAP190, another SNAPc subunit, leads to an accumulation of cells with a G0/G1 DNA content. These results are consistent with the proposal that SNAP45 plays two roles in the cell, one as a subunit of the transcription factor SNAPc and another as a factor required for proper mitotic progression.
Exploring the Meaning of Symptom Awareness and Unawareness in Dementia

&NA; This interpretive phenomenological study explores the commonalities and differences in how people with dementia understand the meaning of their symptoms, comparing those who are aware of their impairment, those who are unaware, and those who have mixed awareness. Participants included five women and four men with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. The Anosognosia Questionnaire‐Dementia (AQ‐D) was used to measure symptom awareness, and in‐depth interviews and participant observations were conducted to gather qualitative data about the meaning of symptoms. AQ‐D results identified a range of awareness across the nine participants. Three were aware of their symptoms, three were unaware, and three had mixed awareness. Interpretive analysis of the qualitative data revealed three meaning narratives that illustrate qualitative distinctions in symptom experience across the different levels of awareness: (a) “Everything works more slowly” is a narrative of awareness; (b) “It's just old age” is a narrative of unawareness; (c) “It does not stick in the brain” is a narrative of mixed awareness. Such narratives offer important clues about the meaning and significance of symptoms for people with dementia. Nurses might use this information to tailor strategies for interacting with and offering support to people with dementia, depending on each individual's level of awareness.
CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE Overnight prescription of oxygen in long term oxygen therapy: time to reconsider the guidelines?

Background: Guidelines for long term oxygen therapy (LTOT) recommend increasing oxygen flow by 1 l/min overnight. A study was undertaken in patients with COPD on LTOT to determine the prevalence of overnight desaturation if the usual oxygen flow rate is not increased at night, whether resting oxygen saturation predicts overnight desaturation, and whether overnight desaturation correlates with health related quality of life (HRQL) and sleep quality. Methods: A cross sectional prospective study was performed on consecutive patients with COPD on LTOT attending our regional outpatient oxygen service. All patients fulfilled standard criteria for LTOT, had been established on LTOT at a flow to achieve resting oxygen saturations . 90%, but had not been instructed to increase oxygen flow overnight. Overnight desaturation was defined as ,90% for >30% of the night on either of two consecutive nights. HRQL was evaluated with the SF-36 Health Survey Questionnaire, Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Results: Thirty eight patients (63% men) of mean (SD) age 73.5 (8.04) years and mean (SD) forced expiratory volume in 1 second 0.77 (0.35) l were evaluated. Overnight desaturation occurred in six (16%; 95% CI 4 to 27). Desaturators had mean (SD) resting oxygen saturation on room air of 88 (4.2)% compared with 90 (4.1)% in non-desaturators (p = 0.15), and corrected saturations of 93 (2.0)% versus 94 (2.0)% (p = 0.18). HRQL and sleep quality were poor but did not differ between desaturators and nondesaturators. Conclusions: Most patients did not exhibit overnight desaturation despite not increasing their LTOT prescription overnight. These results challenge the recommendation of routinely increasing overnight oxygen flow in patients receiving LTOT.
Isolation and morphological characterization of a mycelial mutant of Candida albicans

In this paper we describe the isolation of a novel strain of Candida albicans which is a mycelium at ambient temperatures. Mutagenesis of C. albicans ATCC 10261 with N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine followed by plating on solid media at 28 degrees C yielded colony morphology variants which were characterized by a raised, rough-surfaced colony of irregular outline in marked contrast to the flat, shiny circular colonies of the parental 10261 strain. One mutant colony, hOG301, was studied in detail. Strain hOG301 was stable and exhibited mycelial morphology over a wide temperature range (5 to 40 degrees C) in several media. The hyphae comprising hOG301 mycelium were examined by light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy and showed morphological features described in the literature as being typical of both true hyphae and pseudohyphae. In contrast to 10261, hOG301 was not pathogenic after intraperitoneal injection in mice. This is the first report of a mycelial C. albicans that is stable at ambient temperatures.
Preoperative Hospitalization Is Independently Associated With Increased Risk for Venous Thromboembolism in Patients Undergoing Colorectal Surgery: A National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Database Study

BACKGROUND: An important factor in the pathophysiology of venous thromboembolism is blood stasis, thus, preoperative hospitalization length of stay may be contributory to risk. OBJECTIVE: We assessed preoperative hospital length of stay as a risk factor for venous thromboembolism. DESIGN: We performed a retrospective review of patients who underwent colorectal operations using univariate and multivariable propensity score analyses. SETTINGS: This study was conducted at a tertiary referral hospital. PATIENTS: Data on patients was obtained from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 2005–2011 Participant Use Data Files. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Short-term (30-day) postoperative venous thromboembolism was measured. RESULTS: Our analysis included 242,670 patients undergoing colorectal surgery (mean age, 60 years; 52.9% women); of these, 72,219 (29.9%) were hospitalized preoperatively. The overall rate of venous thromboembolism was 2.07% (1.4% deep vein thrombosis, 0.5% pulmonary embolism, and 0.2% both). On multivariable analysis, the most predictive independent risk factors for venous thromboembolism were return to the operating room (OR, 1.62 (95% CI, 1.44–1.81); p < 0.001) and chronic steroid use (OR, 1.59 (95% CI, 1.41–1.80); p < 0.001); preoperative hospitalization also independently predicted venous thromboembolism (OR, 1.39 (95% CI, 1.28–1.51); p < 0.001), whereas the use of laparoscopy was protective (OR, 0.75 (95% CI, 0.67–0.83); p < 0.001). Propensity score stratification (capped at 7 days, 100 strata, area under the curve = 0.73) indicated that each day of preoperative hospitalization increased the odds of venous thromboembolism (OR, 1.42 (95% CI, 1.32–1.53); p < 0.001). All of the analyses showed a dose-response relationship between preoperative lengths of stay and risk of postoperative venous thromboembolism (p < 0.001). Patients who experienced venous thromboembolism had a higher 30-day mortality rate (3.7% vs 8.9%; p < 0.001). LIMITATIONS: This study has limited potential generalizability and a retrospective design. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative hospitalization is an independent risk factor for venous thromboembolism and its associated increase in mortality after colorectal surgery, whereas laparoscopy is a strong protective variable. Further research into preoperative screening for highest-risk patients is indicated.
A Simple Deformable Model for Shark Recognition

The great white shark is a large marine animal that is a potential threat to swimmers. There were many shark attack reports worldwide and many of the attacks happened in shallow waters. One way to reduce the incidence of shark attacks is to employ shark patrols. This is done by flying a light plane along the coast and the shark spotting is done by humans. The aim of this research is to automate this process. Gururatsakul [2] proposed a technique to recognize sharks from dolphins and shark-like objects in top-view aerial images by focusing on shape feature characteristics. This work proposes an alternate way of distinguishing sharks from dolphins and shark-like objects by considering two-dimensional deformable models. A deformable model is represented by variables and two reference tables. These variables are optimized (deforming the model to best fit a test object) by iteratively adjusting their values to reduce the error output from the objective function. The classification of sharks from dolphins and shark-like objects is based on the best matching model. A high result of 93% on identifying sharks, dolphins, and shark-like objects has been achieved by the proposed method.
How to improve security and reduce hardware demands of the WIPR RFID protocol

In this paper, we analyze and improve WIPR, an RFID identification scheme based on public key techniques with efficient hardware implementation. First we analyze the security and privacy features of WIPR. We show that a reduced version of WIPR is vulnerable to short padding attacks and WIPR needs a random number generator with certain properties to withstand reset attacks. We discuss countermeasures to avoid these attacks. Then we propose two variants of WIPR, namely WIPR-SAEP and WIPR-RNS, to improve its security and to further reduce its hardware cost. Using an additional hash function, WIPR-SAEP achieves provable security in the sense that violating the security properties leads to solving the integer factoring problem. WIPR-RNS uses a residue number system (RNS) for computation, and reduces the hardware costs of WIPR. WIPR-RNS provides a better security guarantee than WIPR in that it does not use a non-standard cryptographic primitive in WIPR. WIPR-SAEP and WIPR-RNS can be combined into one scheme.
An Active Vision System for Detecting, Fixating and Manipulating Objects in the Real World

The ability to autonomously acquire new knowledge through interaction with the environment is an important research topic in the field of robotics. The knowledge can only be acquired if suitable perception— action capabilities are present: a robotic system has to be able to detect, attend to and manipulate objects in its surrounding. In this paper, we present the results of our long-term work in the area of vision-based sensing and control. The work on finding, attending, recognizing and manipulating objects in domestic environments is studied. We present a stereo-based vision system framework where aspects of top-down and bottom-up attention as well as foveated attention are put into focus and demonstrate how the system can be utilized for robotic object grasping.
Automatic location of optic disk in retinal images

On the research work leading to automatic analysis of retinal fundus images, the knowledge of the optic disk location is essential, and a new method to locate the optic disk automatically is proposed. The candidate regions are first determined by clustering the brightest pixels in the intensity image. Principal component analysis (PCA) is then applied to these candidate regions. The minimum distance between the original retinal image and its projection onto "disk space" is located as the center of the optic disk. The algorithm has been tested and compared with another commonly used method and the results show that the method proposed here can provide more acceptable automatic location of the optic disk.
Using learning networks to understand complex systems: a case study of biological, geophysical and social research in the Amazon

Developing high‐quality scientific research will be most effective if research communities with diverse skills and interests are able to share information and knowledge, are aware of the major challenges across disciplines, and can exploit economies of scale to provide robust answers and better inform policy. We evaluate opportunities and challenges facing the development of a more interactive research environment by developing an interdisciplinary synthesis of research on a single geographic region. We focus on the Amazon as it is of enormous regional and global environmental importance and faces a highly uncertain future. To take stock of existing knowledge and provide a framework for analysis we present a set of mini‐reviews from fourteen different areas of research, encompassing taxonomy, biodiversity, biogeography, vegetation dynamics, landscape ecology, earth‐atmosphere interactions, ecosystem processes, fire, deforestation dynamics, hydrology, hunting, conservation planning, livelihoods, and payments for ecosystem services. Each review highlights the current state of knowledge and identifies research priorities, including major challenges and opportunities. We show that while substantial progress is being made across many areas of scientific research, our understanding of specific issues is often dependent on knowledge from other disciplines. Accelerating the acquisition of reliable and contextualized knowledge about the fate of complex pristine and modified ecosystems is partly dependent on our ability to exploit economies of scale in shared resources and technical expertise, recognise and make explicit interconnections and feedbacks among sub‐disciplines, increase the temporal and spatial scale of existing studies, and improve the dissemination of scientific findings to policy makers and society at large. Enhancing interaction among research efforts is vital if we are to make the most of limited funds and overcome the challenges posed by addressing large‐scale interdisciplinary questions. Bringing together a diverse scientific community with a single geographic focus can help increase awareness of research questions both within and among disciplines, and reveal the opportunities that may exist for advancing acquisition of reliable knowledge. This approach could be useful for a variety of globally important scientific questions.
Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of the Heat Distribution in Pulsed Magnets

The heating and cooling of a pulsed magnet has been measured by means of embedded thermocouples. The results are in reasonable agreement with the calculated temperature distribution taking into account magneto-resistance and eddy current heating. The extremely fast cooling of the innermost layer that is in direct contact with liquid nitrogen has been measured with and without a simulated cryostat inside the bore
Late-passage SC-1 cells resistant to N- and B-tropic viruses but sensitive to NB-tropic viruses

A late-passage derivative of SC-1 cells with stable relative resistance to N- and B-tropic viruses but with retained sensitivity to NB-tropic viruses has been identified. Dual resistance was seen with the XC plaque assay, as well as reverse transcriptase assay and radioimmunoassay for viral p30. Evidence was found for resistance in clonal derivatives. These findings suggest a possible instability in determinants of cellular resistance to endogenous retroviruses and may be useful in further analysis of resistance to retrovirus infection.
Dynein-dependent nuclear dynamics affect morphogenesis in Candida albicans by means of the Bub2p spindle checkpoint

Candida albicans, the most prevalent fungal pathogen of humans, grows with multiple morphologies. The dynamics of nuclear movement are similar in wild-type yeast and pseudohyphae: nuclei divide across the bud neck. By contrast, in hyphae, nuclei migrate 10-20 μm into the growing germ tube before dividing. We analyzed the role of the dynein-dynactin complex in hyphal and yeast cells using time-lapse fluorescence microscopy. Cells lacking the heavy chain of cytoplasmic dynein or the p150Glued subunit of dynactin were defective in the position and orientation of the spindle. Hyphal cells often failed to deliver a nucleus to the daughter cell, resulting in defects in morphogenesis. Under yeast growth conditions, cultures included a mixture of yeast and pseudohyphal-like cells that exhibited distinctive defects in nuclear dynamics: in yeast, nuclei divided within the mother cell, and the spindle position checkpoint protein Bub2p ensured the delivery of the daughter nucleus to the daughter cell before cytokinesis; in pseudohyphal-like cells, pre-mitotic nuclei migrated into the daughter and no checkpoint ensured return of a nucleus to the mother cell before cytokinesis. Analysis of double mutants indicated that Bub2p also mediated the pre-anaphase arrest and polarization of pseudohyphal-like cells. Thus, Bub2p has two distinct roles in C. albicans cells lacking dynein: it mediates pre-anaphase arrest and it coordinates spindle disassembly with mitotic exit.