Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Smart hospitality: Taiwan hotel stakeholder perspectives

Purpose The term smartness has been discussed in the academia for many years; prior research has listed numerous advantages and encouraged business entities to implement smart technologies. However, stakeholders’ knowledge level, support intention and barriers to smart technology have been under investigated. Without the support of stakeholders, smart projects can hardly be implemented. This paper aims to explore the above-mentioned under investigated area and identify the gaps between academia and the hotel industry in Taiwan. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews were conducted with nine hotel stakeholders in Taiwan with investors, owners, managers, technology suppliers and information technology consultants. Three key areas were focused on: smart hotel definition, expectations from smart hotel and known barriers for implementing smart technologies. Findings The definition of smart hotel among all stakeholders was inconsistent. Stakeholders defined a smart hotel according to their role in the organization: revenue boost, service customization, operations effectiveness and in-room automation. However, the key functions of smart technologies, such as interconnectivity and interoperability with business partners’ application (e.g. online travel agencies) and linkage to external Big data for accurate revenue forecast, were not mentioned by the interviewees. In addition, social media monitoring, robots and artificial intelligence were not mentioned during the interview. Originality/value This study attempted to identify Taiwanese hotel stakeholders’ perspective on smart hotel and to compare the outcome with academic research. The result indicated that there is a big gap in the definition of “smart hotel” among stakeholders and academia and reflected several barriers that prohibit hotel owners and investors in implementing smart systems.
Transposons Inactivate Biosynthesis of the Nonribosomal Peptide Microcystin in Naturally Occurring Planktothrix spp

ABSTRACT The filamentous cyanobacteria Planktothrix spp. occur in the temperate region of the Northern hemisphere. The red-pigmented Planktothrix rubescens bacteria occur in deep, physically stratified, and less eutrophic lakes. Planktothrix is a known producer of the toxic heptapeptide microcystin (MC), which is produced nonribosomally by a large enzyme complex consisting of peptide synthetases and polyketide synthases encoded by a total of nine genes (mcy genes). Planktothrix spp. differ in their cellular MC contents as well as the production of MC variants; however, the mechanisms favoring this diversity are not understood. Recently, the occurrence of Planktothrix strains containing all mcy genes but lacking MC has been reported. In this study, 29 such strains were analyzed to find out if mutations of the mcy genes lead to the inability to synthesize MC. Two deletions, spanning 400 bp (in mcyB; one strain) and 1,869 bp (in mcyHA; three strains), and three insertions (IS), spanning 1,429 bp (in mcyD; eight strains), 1,433 bp (in mcyEG; one strain), and 1,433 bp (in mcyA; one strain), were identified. Though found in different genes and different isolates and transcribed in opposite directions, IS were found to be identical and contained conserved domains assigned to transposable elements. Using mutation-specific primers, two insertions (in mcyD and mcyA) and one deletion (in mcyHA) were found regularly in populations of P. rubescens in different lakes. The results demonstrate for the first time that different mutations resulting in inactivation of MC synthesis do occur frequently and make up a stable proportion of the mcy gene pool in Planktothrix populations over several years.
ACUTE TOXICITY AND THE EFFECTS OF COPPER SULPHATE (CUSO4.5H2O) ON THE BEHAVIOR OF THE BLACK FISH (CAPOETA FUSCA)

Background: The development of toxicity tests regarding toxic responses of different fish species could be more effectively used in predictive toxicology and risk assessment. In this study lethal concentrations (LC50-96 h) values of copper sulphate; an important toxic industrial pollutant, on Capoeta fusca were determined. Behavioral changes at different concentrations of CuSO4 were determined for the C.fusca. Methods: The sample fishes were collected from Qanat in Birjand and were transported to the laboratory in polythene bags. The exposure time of fish to CuSO4 was 96 hours. Mortalities were recorded at 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours of exposure, and the dead fish were removed regularly from the test aquariums. Physicochemical parameters, such as dissolved oxygen, pH and Total hardness of aquaria were monitored daily. Results: The LC50 values for CuSO4 at 24, 48, 72, and 96 h of exposure, were 43.62, 12.6, 7.66, and 6.85 mg/L, respectively. The median LC50 value of CuSO4 for C.fusca was found to be 6.928 mg/L by EPA method and estimated to be 6.787 mg/L with SPSS statistical software. Conclusion: The mortality decreased with time, and most of the deaths occurred during the first 24 h. In addition, behavioural changes increased with increased concentration. This metal is an important constituent in industrial effluents discharged into freshwaters. The results obtained in this study clearly revealed the fact that it is necessary to control the use of a heavy metal such as copper.
Caption insertion method for 3D broadcasting service

In this paper, we present a new caption insertion method for three-dimensional (3D) broadcasting service. Caption insertion technique for broadcasting service is very important because the caption emphasizes significant information during a broadcasting program and can help the hearing impairment people. In recent years, some caption insertion method has been proposed for 3D broadcasting called next generation broadcasting service. However, recently proposed caption insertion methods possess problems such as the visual discomfort during the disparity of 3D caption. To solve this problem, we propose a new caption insertion method by using histogram based K-means clustering based on depth image based rendering (DIBR). Through the proposed method, visual discomfort during the disparity of 3D caption can be relieved. Furthermore, proposed method provides selectivity of caption disparity for various user viewing environments by using clustering technique. Experimental results show the contents with the proposed 3D caption insertion method.
Testing for mating isolation between ecotypes: laboratory experiments with lake, stream and hybrid stickleback

Mating isolation is a frequent contributor to ecological speciation – but how consistently does it evolve as a result of divergent selection? We tested for genetically based mating isolation between lake and stream threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) from the Misty watershed, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. We combined several design elements that are uncommon in the studies of stickleback mate choice: (i) we used second‐generation laboratory‐reared fish (to reduce environmental and maternal effects), (ii) we allowed for male–male competitive interactions (instead of the typical no‐choice trials) and (iii) we included hybrids along with pure types. Males of different types (Lake, Inlet, hybrid) were paired in aquaria, allowed to build nests and then exposed sequentially to females of all three types. We found that Lake and Inlet males differed in behaviours thought to influence stickleback mate choice (inter‐ and intra‐sexual aggression, display and nest activities), whereas hybrids were either intermediate or apparently ‘inferior’ in these behaviours. Despite these differences, Lake and Inlet fish did not mate assortatively and hybrid males did not have a mating disadvantage. Our study reinforces the noninevitability of mating isolation evolving in response to ecological differences and highlights the need to further investigate the factors promoting and constraining progress towards ecological speciation.
A flow cytometric assay using mepacrine for study of uptake and release of platelet dense granule contents

Summary. Diagnosis of platelet dense granule storage pool disease and release defects at present requires a combination of studies including lumiaggregometry, conventional platelet aggregation, radioactive serotonin uptake and release, and electron microscopy. Flow cytometric methods have been developed to study platelet activation, aggregation, and α‐granule protein release. Here, we have investigated the use of flow cytometry for analysis of platelet dense granule content uptake and release using mepacrine as a fluorescent marker. Mepacrine (quinacrine) is rapidly taken up and localized in dense granules of platelets. For the assay, as little as 20 μl of blood from a fingerstick collected without anticoagulant or venous blood collected in 3.8% sodium citrate were diluted 1:40 with 2 ml Hanks balanced salt solution (BSS). 300 μl of this cell suspension were incubated with mepacrinc alone, or simultaneously with a mouse monoclonal antibody to human platelet glycoprotein IIb (Tab), used as a platelet‐specific marker. The bound monoclonal antibody was then indirectly labelled with the fluorochrome, RED670. 100 μl of the sample were further diluted with Hanks BSS for one‐ or two‐colour flow cytometric analysis. To verify that mepacrine uptake was related to platelet dense granule content, platelets of beige mice, a strain with dense granule deficiency, were examined. Their mepacrine uptake was substantially decreased compared to that of normal mice. Decreased mepacrine uptake also was demonstrated in platelets of a patient with Hermansky‐Pudlak syndrome in which a deficiency of platelet dense granules is characteristic. In both human and mouse platelets, mepacrine uptake was proportional to platelet size. Thrombin induced mepacrine release in a dose‐dependent manner from 0.003 to 0.4 U/ml. Therefore both platelet uptake and release of mepacrine can be readily detected by flow cytometry. Flow cytometry provides an attractive alternative to aggregation and radioactive serotonin as methods to study defects in platelet dense granule function.
Information Retrieval of Text, Structure and Sequential Data in Heterogeneous XML Document Collections. (Recherche et filtrage d'information multimédia (texte, structure et séquence) dans des collections de documents XML hétérogènes)

Les documents numeriques sont aujourd'hui des donnees complexes qui integrent d'une maniere heterogene des informations textuelles, structurelles, multimedia ainsi que des meta-donnees. Le langage de balisage generique XML s’est progressivement impose comme support privilegie non seulement pour l’echange des donnees mais aussi pour leur stockage. La gestion des documents stockes sous les formats XML necessite le developpement de methodes et d'outils specifiques pour l'indexation, la recherche, le filtrage et la fouille des donnees. En particulier, les fonctions de recherche et de filtrage doivent prendre en compte des requetes disposant de connaissances incompletes, imprecises, parfois meme erronees sur la structure ou le contenu des documents XML. Ces fonctions doivent par ailleurs maintenir une complexite algorithmique compatible avec la complexite des donnees et surtout avec leur volume toujours en forte croissance, ceci pour assurer le passage a l'echelle des solutions informatique. Dans cette these, nous etudions des methodes et developpons des outils pour indexer et rechercher des informations multimedia heterogenes stockees dans des banques de documents XML. Plus precisement, nous abordons la question de la recherche par similarite sur des donnees composites decrites par des elements structurels, textuels et sequentiels. En s'appuyant sur la partie structurelle des documents XML, nous avons defini un modele de representation, d'indexation et d'interrogation flexible pour des types heterogenes de donnees sequentielles. Les principes que nous developpons mettent en oeuvre des mecanismes de recherche qui exploitent simultanement les elements des structures documentaires indexees et les contenus documentaires non structures. Nous evaluons egalement l’impact sur la pertinence des resultats retournes par l'introduction de mecanismes d'alignement approximatif des elements structurels. Nous proposons des algorithmes capables de detecter et de suggerer les « meilleurs points d'entree » pour acceder directement a l’information recherchee dans un document XML. Finalement, nous etudions l'exploitation d’une architecture materielle dediee pour accelerer les traitements les plus couteux du point de vue de la complexite de notre application de recherche d’information structuree.
Cdc42 and Rac small G proteins activated by trans‐interactions of nectins are involved in activation of c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase, but not in association of nectins and cadherin to form adherens junctions, in fibroblasts

Background: Nectins are Ca2+‐independent immunoglobulin‐like cell‐cell adhesion molecules which associate with cadherins to form adherens junctions (AJs) in epithelial cells and fibroblasts. Nectin‐1 and ‐3 are members of the nectin family which most strongly trans‐interact, causing cell‐cell adhesion. The trans‐interaction between nectin‐1 and ‐3 induces the activation of both Cdc42 and Rac small G proteins in epithelial cells. We studied the roles of Cdc42 and Rac activated in this way in L fibroblasts stably expressing both nectin‐1 and E‐cadherin (nectin‐1‐EL cells).
Inpatient stays for patients diagnosed with severe psychiatric disorders and substance abuse.

OBJECTIVE To empirically determine if a substance abuse comorbidity is related to longer inpatient stays for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and affective psychoses. STUDY DESIGN A cross-sectional analysis of patients in three states: Maryland, California, and Arizona. Using multivariate techniques, we control for the effects of patient severity, insurance, and hospital characteristics on length of stay. DATA COLLECTION We used a patient-level and state-specific hospital discharge database merged with hospital characteristics from the American Hospital Association. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The conventional wisdom is that patients with a substance abuse comorbidity have longer inpatient stays than similar patients without a substance abuse comorbidity. We did not observe this trend. We found wide variation in length of stay by state and patients' health insurance. In some cases, length of stay was statistically shorter for patients with a substance abuse comorbidity. CONCLUSIONS Our research demonstrates that a substance abuse comorbidity does not necessarily equate to longer inpatient stays and that previous studies may overstate the impact of substance abuse on inpatient care utilization. In addition, we find that a relationship between substance abuse and length of stay may not be generalizable across states, diagnoses, hospitals, and/or insurance types. Future studies of the impact of substance abuse on inpatient stays need to control for these important covariates.
Does post-exercise massage treatment reduce delayed onset muscle soreness? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is a frequent problem after unaccustomed exercise. No universally accepted treatment exists. Massage therapy is often recommended for this condition but uncertainty exists about its effectiveness. AIM: To determine whether post-exercise massage alleviates the symptoms of DOMS after a bout of strenuous exercise. METHOD: Various computerised literature searches were carried out and located seven controlled trials. RESULTS: Most of the trials were burdened with serious methodological flaws, and their results are far from uniform. However, most suggest that post-exercise massage may alleviate symptoms of DOMS. CONCLUSIONS: Massage therapy may be a promising treatment for DOMS. Definitive studies are warranted.
Relationship of Clinic Medical Home Scores to Quality and Patient Experience

We tested the association between medical home characteristics and measures of technical quality and patient experience of care in the 21 clinics of a large medical group that had all achieved level III recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. There was substantial variation among them in both scores on the recognition instrument and in clinic performance measures. However, the few statistically significant associations that were identified disappeared when correction for multiple analyses was applied. We conclude that among primary care clinics recognized as high-level medical homes, the instrument used to assess medical home characteristics cannot differentiate their quality.
Binding energies of protonated betaine complexes: a probe of zwitterion structure in the gas phase.

The dissociation kinetics of proton-bound dimers of betaine with molecules of comparable gas-phase basicity were investigated using blackbody infrared radiative dissociation (BIRD). Threshold dissociation energies were obtained from these data using master equation modeling. For bases that have comparable or higher gas-phase basicity, the binding energy of the protonated base.betaine complex is approximately 1.4 eV. For molecules that are approximately 2 kcal/mol or more less basic, the dissociation energy of the complexes is approximately 1.2 eV. The higher binding energy of the former is attributed to an ion-zwitterion structure which has a much larger ion-dipole interaction. The lower binding energy for molecules that are approximately 2 kcal/mol or more less basic indicates that an ion-molecule structure is more favored. Semiempirical calculations at both the AM1 and PM3 levels indicate the most stable ion-molecule structure is one in which the base interacts with the charged quaternary ammonium end of betaine. These results indicate that the measurement of binding energies of neutral molecules to biological ions could provide a useful probe for the presence of zwitterions and salt bridges in the gas phase. From the BIRD data, the gas-phase basicity of betaine obtained from the kinetic method is found to be 239.2 +/- 1.0 kcal/mol. This value is in excellent agreement with the value of 239.3 kcal/mol (298 K) from ab initio calculations at the MP2/6-31+g** level. The measured value is slightly higher than those reported previously. This difference is attributed to entropy effects. The lower ion internal energy and longer time frame of BIRD experiments should provide values closer to those at standard temperature.
The virus infecting the parasitoid Leptopilina boulardi exerts a specific action on superparasitism behaviour

Parasites often induce behavioural changes in their host. However, it is not necessarily easy to determine whether these changes are representative of an adaptation of the parasite (parasite manipulation), an adaptive response of the host or a side-effect of infection. In a solitary parasitoid of Drosophila larvae (Leptopilina boulardi), viral particles (LbFV) modify the host acceptance behaviour of infected females by increasing their tendency to superparasitize. This behavioural alteration allows for the horizontal transmission of the virus within superparasitized Drosophila larvae. To add support for or against the ‘manipulation hypothesis’, we investigated whether other behavioural components of the parasitoid are affected by viral infection, and whether other forms of horizontal transmission exist. Neither the ability of females to locate host kairomones nor their daily rhythm of locomotor activity was affected by viral infection. However, infected females showed a lower rate of locomotor activity, suggesting a physiological cost of infection. The searching paths of females were also unaffected. Males from infected and uninfected lines showed the same ability to locate females'sexual pheromones. Moreover, alternative modes of horizontal transmission (through food consumption and/or contact with the same Drosophila larvae) did not lead to viral contamination of the parasitoid. The overall specificity of behavioural alteration and of viral horizontal transmission is consistent with the hypothesis that the virus manipulates the behaviour of the parasitoid.
EVALUATION OF THE GOVERNANCE OF EXTERNAL SUPERVISORY INSTITUTIONS TOWARDS SOCIAL SECURITY AGENCY (BADAN PENYELENGGARA JAMINAN SOSIAL/BPJS) FOR HEALTHCARE

Since the formation of the Social Security Agency (Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial/BPJS) for Healthcare has found the public spotlight rising with its management; including the regulatory body BPJS for Healthcare activities. BPJS for Healthcare external supervisors such as DJSN, OJK, BPK are entities established according to the Law of the Republic of Indonesia 24 Year 2011. However, there are views on neutrality, independence, and supervisor capability. By using Soft System Methodology, this research invites us to understand the problem situation and what efforts should be taken in managing the complexity. This paper will analyze the co-operation with collaborative governance perspective as a cooperative approach in overseeing BPJS for Healthcare. The focus of this paper is in the stage of identifying a series of factors that are crucial within the collaborative process itself, which includes shared understanding as stated by Ansel & Gash (2008) and Emerson & Nabatchi (2015).
A Novel Brain-specific Box C/D Small Nucleolar RNA Processed from Tandemly Repeated Introns of a Noncoding RNA Gene in Rats*

Antisense box C/D small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) guide the 2′-O-ribose methylations of eukaryotic rRNAs and small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) through formation of a specific base pairing at each RNA methylation site. By analysis of a box C/D snoRNA cDNA library constructed from rat brain RNAs, we have identified a novel box C/D snoRNA, RBII-36, which is devoid of complementarity to rRNA or an snRNA and exhibits a brain-specific expression pattern. It is uniformly expressed in all major areas of adult rat brain (except for choroid plexus) and throughout rat brain ontogeny but exclusively detected in neurons in which it exhibits a nucleolar localization. In vertebrates, known methylation guide snoRNAs are intron-encoded and processed from transcripts of housekeeping genes. In contrast, RBII-36 snoRNA is intron-encoded in a gene preferentially expressed in the rat central nervous system and not in proliferating cells. Remarkably, this host gene, which encodes a previously reported noncoding RNA, Bsr, spans tandemly repeated 0.9-kilobase units including the snoRNA-containing intron. The novel brain-specific snoRNA appears to result not only from processing of the debranched lariat but also from endonucleolytic cleavages of unspliced Bsr RNA (i.e. an alternative splicing-independent pathway unreported so far for mammalian intronic snoRNAs). Sequences homologous to RBII-36 snoRNA were exclusively detected in the Rattus genus of rodents, suggesting a very recent origin of this brain-specific snoRNA.