Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors Influencing the Adoption of Internet Banking In Kenya.

This research project seeks to improve the rare empirical knowledge on the adoption of internet banking in Kenya. Traditional branch based retail banking remains the most widespread method for conducting banking transactions in Kenya with agency banking and mobile banking being the recently adopted and widely used. However, internet technology is rapidly changing the way personal financial services are being designed and delivered.Among the major objectives of the study are, to determine how awareness of IB by the consumers affect adoption of internet banking, to determine how website security affects adoption of internet banking and to determine to what extent website features affect adoption of internet banking. The population is all the individuals who own bank accounts and currently have, those who have not adopted the internet banking as a mode of transacting. A total of 100 respondents were issued with questionnaires of which 81 were successively recovered.A random sampling was used to select the customers that would participate in the study. Content analysis and descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. Statistical package for social science (SPSS) was used to analyze the data through the equation for best line of fit. Multi-linear regression analysis was used to test models' prediction capabilities. All hypotheses were tested at 0 . 05 level of significance.The result showed that more men have adopted banking than women; education level is not a barrier to the banking services, the middle-aged people have embraced the banking services than any other age category; awareness, website features and security all affect the adoption of IB. The major recommendations of the study are; Internet banking should be adopted by both individuals and cooperates since it is inevitable in the 21st Century, and the banking institutions should also enlighten the public about internet banking.
Periodontal status among relatives of aggressive periodontitis patients and reliability of family history report.

OBJECTIVES To assess the periodontal status of relatives of Aggressive Periodontitis (AgP) patients, and to evaluate the reliability of the family history report as provided by the proband. MATERIAL AND METHODS Data from 54 AgP patients were gathered along with a family history report for each of their relatives. Only 27 patients (probands) had relatives willing to be examined. This yielded a total of 61 relatives from whom the periodontal status was obtained. The family history report for each examined relative was compared with the periodontal diagnosis made at examination to assess reliability. RESULTS Eight percentage of the examined relatives, aged between 12-76, were diagnosed with AgP, while chronic periodontitis was present in 39%, gingivitis in 38% and 15% were healthy. If the report provided by the proband was positive, the likelihood of finding any type of periodontitis in that relative was 85.7%, whereas if the report was negative the likelihood of the absence of periodontitis was 70.6%. CONCLUSION The percentage of examined relatives who were affected with AgP (8%), although lower than percentages reported in other AgP family studies, was still higher than the prevalence of the condition in random populations. Reliability of periodontal family history was considered good and more reliable when it was positive.
Object-sensitive Deep Reinforcement Learning

Deep reinforcement learning has become popular over recent years, showing superiority on different visual-input tasks such as playing Atari games and robot navigation. Although objects are important image elements, few work considers enhancing deep reinforcement learning with object characteristics. In this paper, we propose a novel method that can incorporate object recognition processing to deep reinforcement learning models. This approach can be adapted to any existing deep reinforcement learning frameworks. State-of-the-art results are shown in experiments on Atari games. We also propose a new approach called "object saliency maps" to visually explain the actions made by deep reinforcement learning agents.
Cellular Iron Depletion Stimulates the JNK and p38 MAPK Signaling Transduction Pathways, Dissociation of ASK1-Thioredoxin, and Activation of ASK1*

The role of signaling pathways in the regulation of cellular iron metabolism is becoming increasingly recognized. Iron chelation is used for the treatment of iron overload but also as a potential strategy for cancer therapy, because iron depletion results in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. This study examined potential signaling pathways affected by iron depletion induced by desferrioxamine (DFO) or di-2-pyridylketone-4,4-dimethyl-3-thiosemicarbazone (Dp44mT). Both chelators affected multiple molecules in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, including a number of dual specificity phosphatases that directly de-phosphorylate MAPKs. Examination of the phosphorylation of major MAPKs revealed that DFO and Dp44mT markedly increased phosphorylation of stress-activated protein kinases, JNK and p38, without significantly affecting the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). Redox-inactive DFO-iron complexes did not affect phosphorylation of JNK or p38, whereas the redox-active Dp44mT-iron complex significantly increased the phosphorylation of these kinases similarly to Dp44mT alone. Iron or N-acetylcysteine supplementation reversed Dp44mT-induced up-regulation of phospho-JNK, but only iron was able to reverse the effect of DFO on JNK. Both iron chelators significantly reduced ASK1-thioredoxin complex formation, resulting in the increased phosphorylation of ASK1, which activates the JNK and p38 pathways. Thus, dissociation of ASK1 could serve as an important signal for the phosphorylation of JNK and p38 activation observed after iron chelation. Phosphorylation of JNK and p38 likely play an important role in mediating the cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induced by iron depletion.
For every dollar spent--the cost-savings argument for prenatal care.

Public spending for prenatal care in the United States has been justified in recent years primarily by the cost-savings argument. Prenatal care, it is argued, can prevent the costs and medical complications associated with low birth weight; it is public health spending that pays for itself. This proposition seems intuitively reasonable and supports a popular public policy. Moreover, the findings of the body of research we consider here have given this assertion considerable weight and remarkable precision. Few other claims in medicine or in public health can be encapsulated into the statement that for every $1.00 spent, $1.701 (or $2.57 .
Employee Perceived Training Effectiveness Relationship to Employee Attitudes.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between perceived employee training effectiveness and job satisfaction, motivation and commitment.Design/methodology/approach – The study examined the responses of 134 employees and lower managers, of five large Greek organizations, after they had completed a training program. The questions asked contained information about the employee attitudes towards tvhe training received, as well as their attitudes towards their employers.Findings – The results of the study provide support to the hypotheses proposed, indicating that there is a significant correlation between the employee perceived training effectiveness and their commitment, job satisfaction and motivation. Additionally, high correlations were found between the latter three variables.Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to examining employee feelings, not taking into account their personal characteristics, which may be important.Practical implications – The im.
Coarse‐to‐fine surface simplification with geometric guarantees

Let PC be a 3D point cloud and ε be a positive value called tolerance. We aim at constructing a triangulated surface S based on a subset PCU of PC such that all the points in PCL=PC∖PCU are at distance at most ε from a facet of S. (PCU and PCL respectively stand for Point Cloud Used and Point Cloud Left.) We call this problem simplification with geometric guarantees.
Phishpin: An Integrated, Identity-based Anti-phishing Approach

Phishing is a social engineering technique used to fraudulently acquire sensitive information from users by masquerading as a legitimate entity. One of the primary goals of phishing is to illegally carry fraudulent financial transactions on behalf of users. The two primary vulnerabilities exploited by phishers are: Inability of non-technical/unsophisticated users to always identify spoofed emails or Web sites; and the relative ease with which phishers masquerade as legitimate Web sites. This paper presents Phishpin, an approach that leverages the concepts of mutual authentication to require online entities to prove their identities. To this end, Phishpin builds on One-Time-Password, DNS, partial credentials sharing, & client filtering to prevent phishers from masquerading as legitimate online entities.
Selective acidosis in venous blood during human cardiopulmonary resuscitation: A preliminary report

During experimental CPR, a marked venoarterial gradient in Pco2 has been reported. This is accompanied by a disproportionate decrease in venous pH and a simultaneous increase in arterial pH. This study includes a case report of human CPR in which simultaneous arterial and mixed venous blood gases were obtained before and after cardiac arrest. Similar venoarterial Pco2 gradients were observed subsequently in six additional patients during arrest. These clinical data indicate that arterial blood gases fail to reflect striking increases in venous Pco2 and decreases in pH due to respiratory acidosis on the venous side of the circulation.
Automatic estimation of severity of Parkinson's disease based on speech rhythm related features

Diseases, such as Parkinson, impairs cognitive processes of patients, through which speech is also affected. In this paper, we propose a method for Parkinson's disease severity level estimation based on speech rhythm related features extracted from running speech (read texts and monologue) uttered by Hungarian Parkinson patients and healthy control population. Classification and regression models are built using various machine-learning methods for both linguistic types separately. Separate and joint decisions were made for the different text types. The final prediction was obtained by fusing the separate estimations for each speaker. Test trials were run in order to investigate, if age is a relevant feature for the machine learning tasks. It was found that the investigated features are useful and highly relevant for the automatic diagnosis of Parkinson's disease based on the classification and regression performances. The best results were obtained using support vector machine (and regression) with 84.62% accuracy for binary classification and 0.735 Spearman correlation for Parkinson severity level estimation measured on the Hoehn-Yahr scale.
p38 MAP Kinase Links CAR Activation and Inactivation in the Nucleus via Phosphorylation at Threonine 38

Nuclear receptor constitutive androstane receptor (CAR, NR1I3), which regulates hepatic drug and energy metabolisms as well as cell growth and death, is sequestered in the cytoplasm as its inactive form phosphorylated at threonine 38. CAR activators elicit dephosphorylation, and nonphosphorylated CAR translocates into the nucleus to activate its target genes. CAR was previously found to require p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) to transactivate the cytochrome P450 2B (CYP2B) genes. Here we have demonstrated that p38 MAPK forms a complex with CAR, enables it to bind to the response sequence, phenobarbital-responsive enhancer module (PBREM), within the CYP2B promoter, and thus recruits RNA polymerase II to activate transcription. Subsequently, p38 MAPK elicited rephosphorylation of threonine 38 to inactivate CAR and exclude it from the nucleus. Thus, nuclear p38 MAPK exerted dual regulation by sequentially activating and inactivating CAR-mediated transcription through phosphorylation of threonine 38.
Managing user Interaction in an Ontology-based System

In this paper, we present an approach to the management of user interaction within an ontology-based system. In particular, we discuss the case of ARNEIS, an “intelligent” web-based repository of software solutions, that enables software houses to upload a description of their software solutions for business automation, and small-to-medium sized enterprises to find software products or services supporting their activities. To this purpose, as argued in the paper, a particularly meaningful field is Customer Relationship Management, that is thus exploited as a test bed domain. The functionality of ARNEIS is based on an ontological representation of the domain knowledge, which represents the shared conceptual vocabulary to express software descriptions and technological requirements. In this paper we describe our proposal for the management of a user-friendly interaction enabling software houses to upload the semantic representation of the description of their offers. The approach we propose within the ARNEIS scenario represents an example of a more general solution to face the issue of how to build formal representations of resources in an ontology-based IR system.
Clinical practice. Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.

A 40-year-old obese black woman has had weakness and epigastric pain for several weeks and diarrhea and vomiting for four days. She does not appear acutely ill; physical examination is normal except for abdominal tenderness. Her hematocrit is 25 percent. Her white-cell count and differential count are normal. The platelet count is 10,000 per cubic millimeter. The peripheral-blood smear shows occasional fragmented and polychromatophilic red cells. The serum creatinine level is 1.1 mg per deciliter (97.2 pmol per liter), bilirubin 2.5 mg per deciliter (42.8 μmol per liter), and lactate dehydrogenase 722 U per liter (normal, <250). How should this case be managed?
Maxillary ameloblastomas: a review of the literature and of a 15-year database.

INTRODUCTION Cases of maxillary ameloblastomas from 15-year database (1986-2000) collected in the Department of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery of the University Hospital of Zurich were evaluated. PATIENTS Twenty-six patients suffering from ameloblastoma had been collected. Five of them, had a maxillary ameloblastoma, three females and two males. METHODS A clinical retrospective study was performed. In addition a review of the literature was undertaken and the findings have been compared and contrasted. PATIENTS The overall incidence of ameloblastoma within the mandible (21) was four times higher than in the maxilla (5). In 69 per cent of the cases (18) it occurred in men, in 31 percent (8) in women. The sex ratio differed with the maxillary ameloblastomas: 40 percent male (2) and 60 per cent female (3). Although slow growing and nearly painless, it can reach a considerable size within the mid-face involving such highly specialized structures as the orbit, skull-base and brain. Wide resections with a safety margin of healthy bone to prevent local recurrence were undertaken. Nevertheless, recurrence was frequent due to invasion of the adjacent bone. CONCLUSION On the one hand, a recurrence was found after a simple curettage of a 'dental cyst'. On the other hand, extensive bone destruction, involvement of the nasal cavity, the ethmoidal and sphenoidal sinuses, infiltration of the skull-base and distant metastasis were observed. The current treatment of choice is partial maxillectomy with a 10-15 mm safety margin of healthy bone including the alveolar ridge, the hard palate, the mucosa of the maxillary sinus and the lateral nasal wall. For the removal of tumours close to or invading the retromaxillary space the temporal approach gives ample access.
Serum cryoglobulin and chronic hepatitis C virus disease among Japanese patients.

OBJECTIVES Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated mixed cryoglobulins appear to be detected often in hepatitis C-related chronic liver disease. The association of the two phenomenon among Japanese patients is the subject of the present study. METHODS Serum levels of total hemolytic complement (CH50) and anti-C3d-binding immune complex, as well as the prevalence of cryoglobulins, were studied in 213 patients with chronic liver disease (hepatitis C, 155; hepatitis B, 58). Cryoprecipitates were tested for anti-HCV Ab and HCV RNA. RESULTS CH50 activity was significantly lower in patients with hepatitis C than in those with hepatitis B except in responders to interferon who showed a sustained loss of HCV RNA. Cryoglobulins were detected in 24 (37%) of 65 patients with hepatitis C; they generally consisted of polyclonal immunoglobulins but one case. Cryoglobulins were more frequently observed in cirrhotic patients and in those with a longer duration of disease. Cryoglobulinemia-related clinical signs such as vasculitis occurred in only three cases. Patients with cryoglobulins had lower CH50 activity and higher immune complex values than those without cryoglobulins. Anti-HCV Ab and HCV RNA were detected in all cryoprecipitates tested. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that HCV is a major cause of cryoglobulins and advanced liver damage. However, serum cryoglobulins with polyclonal immunoglobulins appear to be less frequent among Japanese patients than among those studied in Western countries.
The world's biggest gamble

The scale of the decarbonisation challenge to meet the Paris Agreement is underplayed in the public arena. It will require precipitous emissions reductions within 40 years and a new carbon sink on the scale of the ocean sink. Even then, the world is extremely likely to overshoot. A catastrophic failure of policy, for example, waiting another decade for transformative policy and full commitments to fossil‐free economies, will have irreversible and deleterious repercussions for humanity's remaining time on Earth. Only a global zero carbon roadmap will put the world on a course to phase‐out greenhouse gas emissions and create the essential carbon sinks for Earth‐system stability, without which, world prosperity is not possible.
KSHV-K5 inhibits phosphorylation of the major histocompatibility complex class I cytoplasmic tail.

The carboxy-terminal region of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) molecules is required for the rapid internalization mediated by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) proteins K3 and K5. The cytoplasmic tail of MHC I contains highly conserved serine phosphorylation sites that have been implicated in intracellular trafficking. Indeed, in vivo labeling experiments reveal a lack of MHC I phosphorylation in K5-transfected HeLa cells. Phosphorylation of the MHC I tail was restored upon mutation of the PHD/LAP domain of K5. However, deletion and mutation studies of the MHC I tail show that both K3 and K5 are able to downregulate MHC I lacking the conserved phosphorylation site. This result suggests that inhibition of phosphorylation reflects, but does not cause, MHC I internalization. Interestingly, K3 and K5 differ from each other, as well as from human immunodeficiency virus nef, with respect to the minimal MHC I tail sequences required for MHC downregulation. These data support the notion that K3 and K5 downregulate MHC I molecules by a distinct molecular mechanism that is different from other viral immune evasion molecules.
Méthode de conception rapide d'architecture massivement parallèle sur puce : de la modélisation à l'expérimentation sur FPGA. (A rapid design method of a massively parallel System on Chip: from modeling to FPGA implementation)

Les travaux presentes dans cette these s'inscrivent dans le cadre des recherches menes sur la concep- tion et implementation des systemes sur puce a hautes performances afin d'accelerer et faciliter la conception ainsi que la mise en œuvre des applications de traitement systematique a parallelisme de donnees massif. Nous definissons dans ce travail un systeme SIMD massivement parallele sur puce nomme mppSoC : massively paral- lel processing System on Chip. Ce systeme est generique et parametrique pour s'adapter a l'application. Nous proposons une demarche de conception rapide et modulaire pour mppSoC. Cette conception se base sur un assemblage de composants ou IPs. A cette fin, une bibliotheque mppSoCLib est mise en place. Le concepteur pourra directement choisir les composants necessaires et definir les parametres du systeme afin de construire une configuration SIMD repondant a ses besoins. Une chaine de generation automatisee a ete developpee. Cette chaine permet la generation automatique du code VHDL d'une configuration mppSoC modelisee a haut niveau d'abstraction (UML). Le code VHDL produit est directement simulable et synthetisable sur FPGA. Cette chaine autorise la definition a un haut niveau d'abstraction d'une configuration adequate a une application donnee. A partir de la simulation du code genere automatiquement, nous pouvons modifier la configuration dans une demarche d'exploration pour le moment semi-automatique. Nous validons mppSoC dans un contexte applicatif reel de traitement video a base de FPGA. Dans ce meme contexte, une comparaison entre mppSoC et d'autres systemes montre les performances suffisantes et l'efficacite de mppSoC.
A Large Toxin from Pathogenic Escherichia coli Strains That Inhibits Lymphocyte Activation

ABSTRACT The mechanisms by which bacteria resist cell-mediated immune responses to cause chronic infections are largely unknown. We report the identification of a large gene present in enteropathogenic strains of Escherichia coli (EPEC) that encodes a toxin that specifically inhibits lymphocyte proliferation and interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, and gamma interferon production in response to a variety of stimuli. Lymphostatin, the product of this gene, is predicted to be 366 kDa and shares significant homology with the catalytic domains of the large clostridial cytotoxins. A mutant EPEC strain that has a disruption in this gene lacks the ability to inhibit lymphokine production and lymphocyte proliferation. Enterohemorrhagic E. coli strains of serotype O157:H7 possess a similar gene located on a large plasmid. Loss of the plasmid is associated with loss of the ability to inhibit IL-2 expression while transfer of the plasmid to a nonpathogenic strain of E. coli is associated with gain of this activity. Among 89 strains of E. coli and related bacteria tested, lifA sequences were detected exclusively in strains capable of attaching and effacing activity. Lymphostatin represents a new class of large bacterial toxins that blocks lymphocyte activation.
Cell wall assembly during inhibition of DNA synthesis in Streptococcus faecium

Growth sites which are bounded by raised wall bands can be observed in electron micrographs of replicas of Streptococcus faecium. When mitomycin C was added to an exponential-phase culture doubling in mass every 64 min, DNA synthesis was inhibited, and eventually cell division stopped. The growth sites formed before and after inhibition of DNA synthesis enlarged until they contained about 0.25 micron3 of cell volume, at which point they ceased to increase in size. When these sites approached this 0.25-micron3 limit, new sites were initiated; this result had also been observed in untreated cells undergoing a large range of exponential-phase mass doubling times. Thus, regardless of whether chromosome replication is inhibited or uninhibited, sites have the same finite capacity to enlarge to about 0.25 micron3, and when this capacity is reached, new sites are initiated. Although initiation of new growth sites seems to be independent of normal chromosome replication, these results confirm previous studies showing that chromosome replication is necessary for the terminal events of growth site development which result in the division of a site into two separate poles. Two classes of models for the regulation of growth site initiation are discussed.