Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DAGNOSING SCHIZOPHRENA AND SCHIZOPHRENA SUBTYPE

A method and apparatus for diagnosing schizophrenia, schizophrenia disorder subgroup, or predisposition thereto in a test subject is disclosed. The method includes the steps of determining an interhemispheric switch rate of the test subject. In one embodiment, the interhemispheric switch rate of the test Subject is under conditions of increasing rate of dichoptic reversal, and comparing the Switch rate with a corresponding reference Switch rate to diagnose presence or absence of Schizophrenia, a schizophrenic disorder Sub group, or predisposition thereto. In a preferred embodiment, the interhemispheric Switch rate is determined by measuring the rate of binocular rivalry in the test subject. Also dis closed is use of a diagnostic method in genetic linkage studies for the identification of the molecular defect(s) underlying schizophrenia, and for the identification of com pounds which may alleviate the disorder.
Evaluation of VGG Networks for Semantic Image Segmentation of Malaysian Meals

This paper evaluates VGG-16 and VGG-19 networks in performing semantic image segmentation of Malaysian meals. This is a preliminary investigation of using transfer learning models to recognize food objects in typical Malaysian meals. Most current works of food recognition system calculate the calories and nutritional content of a meal based on the food object recognition, regardless of the portion size. Our final aim is to develop a food recognition system that considers the portion size in calculating the calories and nutritional content. Therefore, semantic segmentation of the food objects in the meal is a very important stage. Our work also initiated the training datasets for Malaysian meals that will be made available to the public. Using a small training dataset and a basic configuration of the VGG network, our results show inconsistent findings of the performance of VGG-16 and VGG-19. These findings will serve as a fundamental guideline to improve the semantic segmentation of food images.
Overivew of the Rocky Intertidal Systems of Southern California

INTRODUCTION The Southern California Bight (Fig. 1) has been defined (SCCWRP 1973) as the open embayment of the Pacific Ocean bounded on the east by the North American coastline extending from Point Conception, California, to Cabo Colnett, Baja California, Mexico, and on the west by the California Current. The climate of the Southern California Bight has been amply studied in quantitative terms and is relatively well known (for physical, air, and seawater data, see Kimura 1974). Wind conditions are extremely important in that major reversals occur predominantly throughout late fall and winter. This results in strong, hot, and dry "Santa Ana" winds from the inland desert regions at the time of low tides during the daylight hours, thereby causing extreme heating, desiccation, and insolation stress to intertidal organisms. Another important ecological factor is the protection of certain mainland shores and the mainland sides of islands from open ocean swell and storm waves. This leads to a higher wave-energy regime on the unprotected outer island shores with marked effects on their biological communities. Nearly all of the southern California mainland coastline is protected to some degree by the outlying islands (Ricketts, Calvin, and Hedgpeth 1968). The only mainland sites receiving direct westerly swell are near the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego. A number of substrate types were present among the 10 rocky intertidal habitats studied (Fig. 1), ranging from hard, irregular flow breccia to smooth sandstone or siltstone. Some sites were heavily influenced by sand which inundates and removes organisms. The presence of extensive loose boulder fields at some habitats constitutes another form of environmental instability limiting community development. The existence of such natural disturbances has important implications in interpreting changes associated with petroleum exploration and development. Cockerell (1939) was among the first to point out that the region, especially near the Northern Channel Islands, is remarkable for the impingement and mixing of both cold and warm waters, and is thus comparable in certain respects to such diverse regions as the Galapagos Islands. For example, Santa Cruz Island is periodically exposed to both cold and warm currents, San Clemente Island lies in relatively warm southern waters, while the cold California Current impinges on San Nicolas Island throughout much of the year (Neushul, Clarke, and Brown 1967). These climatic, physical, and hydrographic variations result in a complex intermingling of environmental conditions that are reflected in the diversity of marine biota in the Bight.
Non-LTE effects on the lead and thorium abundance determinations for cool stars

Context. Knowing accurate lead abundances of metal-poor stars provides constraints on the Pb production mechanisms in the early Galaxy. Accurately deriving thorium abundances permits a nucleo-chronometric age determination of the star. Aims. We aim to improve the calculation of the Pb i and Th ii lines in stellar atmospheres based on non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) line formation, and to evaluate the influence of departures from LTE on Pb and Th abundance determinations for a range of stellar parameters by varying the metallicity from the solar value down to [Fe/H] = −3. Methods. We present comprehensive model atoms for Pb i and Th ii and describe calculations of the Pb i energy levels and oscillator strengths. Results. The main non-LTE mechanism for Pb i is the ultraviolet overionization. We find that non-LTE leads to systematically depleted total absorption in the Pb i lines and accordingly, positive abundance corrections. The departures from LTE increase with decreasing metallicity. Using the semi-empirical model atmosphere HM74, we determine the lead non-LTE abundance for the Sun to be log ePb,� = 2.09, in agreement with the meteoritic lead abundance. We revised the Pb and Eu abundances of the two strongly r-process enhanced stars CS 31082-001 and HE 1523-0901 and the metal-poor stellar sample. Our new results provide strong evidence of universal Pb-to-Eu relative r-process yields during the course of Galactic evolution. The stars in the metallicity range −2.3 < [Fe/H] < −1.4 have Pb/Eu abundance ratios that are, on average, 0.51 dex higher than those of strongly r-process enhanced stars. We conclude that the s-process production of lead started as early as the time when Galactic metallicity had reached [Fe/H] = −2.3. The average Pb/Eu abundance ratio of the mildly metal-poor stars, with −1.4 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤− 0.59, is very close to the corresponding Solar System value, in line with the theoretical predictions that AGB stars with [Fe/H] �− 1 provided the largest contribution to the solar abundance of s-nuclei of lead. The departures from LTE for Th ii are caused by the pumping transitions from the levels with Eexc < 1 eV. Non-LTE leads to weakened Th ii lines and positive abundance corrections. Overall, the abundance correction does not exceed 0.2 dex when collisions with H i atoms are taken into account in statistical equilibrium calculations.
Tetrahedral Element Shape Optimization via the Determinant and Condition Number

\Ve present a new shape measure for tetrahedral elements that is optimal in the sense that it gives the distance of a tetrahedron from the set of inverted elements. This measure is constructed from the condition number of the linear transformation between a unit equilateral tetrahedron and any tetrahedron with positive volume. We use this shape measure to formulate two optimization objective functions that are differentiated by their goal: the first seeks to improve the average quality of the tetrahedral mesh; the second aims to improve the worst-quality element in the mesh. Because the element condition number is not defined for tetrahedral with negative volume, these objective functions can be used only when the initial mesh is valid. Therefore, we formulate a third objective function using the determinant of the element Jacobian that is suitable for mesh untangling. We review the optimization techniques used with each objective function and present experimental results that demonstrate the effectiveness of the mesh improvement and untangling methods. We show that a combined optimization approach that uses both condition number objective functions obtains the best-quality meshes.
Social Information Retrieval (Proposal)

Despite recent efforts in personalization and collaboration, information search on the internet is still mostly anonymous. It does not take the user’s long-term interests or his environment into account. In this diploma thesis, we want to research whether the inclusion of additional information about a user’s social environment can lead to a significant improval in search effectiveness. We propose to model the search domain as an associative network and to evaluate two different techniques for information retrieval in such an enviroment. We will compare these techniques to standard vector space retrieval for evaluation purposes.
On the Effect of Cognitive Behavioural Counseling on Sexual Satisfaction of Mothers with Autistic Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Introduction: Sexual satisfaction is one of the important factors affecting the quality of marital life which seems to be significantly decreasing among parents with autistic children. Goal: the present study aimed to determine the effect of cognitive-behavioral counseling on sexual satisfaction of mothers with children with autism in Qom province in 2016-2017. Methods: It was a randomized, single-blinded clinical trial. Samples of the study included all mothers with autistic children who were referred to the autism center of Qom province, Iran. According to the criteria of entry and exit, 30 mothers were selected and the research was explained to them and they signed written consents. Samples were randomly divided to intervention and control groups (n=15). The samples in both groups completed the Linda Berg and Karst sexual satisfaction questionnaire before the intervention, and answered demographic questionnaire. The intervention took place at the Autistic center in Qom, Iran for 8 sessions of 90 minutes. At the end of the third step of evaluation, the control group received a training program. At the end of counseling sessions, both groups received post tests immediately after finishing the program and four weeks later. Gathered data were analyzed using SPSS 19. Wilcox on test, paired t-test and Mann-Whitney test were also used for further analysis of data. Results: Results from the analysis showed meaningful changes in sexual satisfaction mean scores of mothers with autistic children in the intervention group after receiving cognitive-behavioral counseling sessions compared to the control group. It was suggested that cognitive-behavioral counseling improved samples sexual satisfaction (P<0.001). Conclusion: Results showed that cognitive behavioral counseling increased the sexual satisfaction of women with autistic children. Consequently, paying special attention to these women, especially in the area of sexual satisfaction, could increase their satisfaction of marital relationships, their longevity and their attempts to care for such children.
Composition and implications of diverse lipids in New Zealand Geothermal sinters

Microbial adaptations associated with extreme growth environments, including high temperatures and low pH, are of interest to astrobiologists and origin of life researchers. As part of a survey of microbial lipids present in terrestrial geothermal settings, we examined four silica sinters associated with three different hot spring areas of the Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ), New Zealand. Dominant bacterial lipids include free fatty acids, 1,2‐diacylglycerophospholipids, 1,2‐di‐O‐alkylglycerols, 1‐O‐alkylglycerols, wax esters, alkanols, alkan‐1,2‐diols and various hopanoids, whereas dominant archaeal lipids include both archaeol and glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers. Although many of these compounds occur in other settings, in the TVZ sinters their distributions (with high abundances of β‐OH fatty acids and high‐molecular‐weight (> C18) fatty acyl components) and carbon isotopic compositions (ranging from −40 to +4, with up to 25 variability in a single sample) are unusual. In addition, we have identified a range of unusual compounds, including novel macrocyclic diethers and hopanoids. The distributions of these compounds differ among the study sites, suggesting that, where preserved in ancient sinters, they could serve as an important tool in studying past hydrothermal environments.
The performance of audit committees in Jordanian public listed companies

This study aimed to explore the degree to which audit committees in Jordanian public listed companies possess the necessary characteristics needed to enable them to perform their duties, and the level of their actual performance of these duties. To do so, the study used a questionnaire survey of the views of external auditors with experience in auditing Jordanian public listed companies. The main findings of the study show that audit committees do possess the necessary characteristics needed, but only to a limited extent. In addition, their performance of their duties was also to a limited extent. The study concluded that these findings can be attributed to the family business model dominant in most Jordanian companies, where the demand for effective audit committees is considered low due to limited agency costs involved.
Identification of candidate genes related to aroma in rice by analyzing the microarray data of highly aromatic and nonaromatic recombinant inbred line bulks

Aroma is an important factor affecting the rice quality. However, the breeding strategies for improving aroma, the molecular basis of the aroma formation, and aroma-related genes are yet to be investigated. In this study, microarray analysis was performed followed by gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis for discovering the differentially expressed genes in the bulks of an aromatic and a nonaromatic recombinant inbred line (RIL) derived from a cross between a basmati rice variety, Pusa 1121, and a nonaromatic rice variety, Pusa 1342. GO enrichment analysis categorized a total of 2577 differentially expressed genes into 24 functional groups. The metabolic process was the most highly overrepresented category enriched by the differentially expressed genes. One of the most paramount minor subcategories in the metabolic process category was “cellular aromatic compound metabolic process (GO: 0006725)” with 21 genes that may serve as novel candidates for genes involved in aroma formation. According to the network analysis, six downregulated genes, as well as two upregulated genes, were identified as critical in the PPI network. These results will provide a perspective for unveiling the key components of the mechanisms behind the aroma formation in rice and give the required information on client-oriented breeding.
Cooling a mechanical resonator to the quantum regime by heating it

We consider a mechanical resonator made of diamond, which contains a nitrogen-vacancy center (NV center) locating at the end of the oscillator. A second-order magnetic gradient is applied and induces coupling between mechanical modes and the NV center. By applying a proper external magnetic field, the energy difference between NV center electron spin levels can be tuned to match the energy difference between two mechanical modes $a$ and $b$. A laser is used for continuously initializing the NV center electron spin. The mode $a$ with lower frequency is driven by a thermal bath. We find that the temperature of the mode $b$ is significantly cooled when the heating bath temperature is increased. We discuss the conditions that quantum regime cooling requires and confirm the results by numerical simulation. Finally we give the intuitive physical explanation of this unusual effect.
The Influence of Liraglutide for Heart Failure: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

INTRODUCTION The efficacy of liraglutide to treat heart failure remains controversial. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the influence of liraglutide on heart failure. METHODS We searched PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, EBSCO, and Cochrane library databases through March 2018 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effect of liraglutide on cardiac function of heart failure. Meta-analysis is performed using the random-effect model. RESULTS Four RCTs involving 629 patients are included in the meta-analysis. Overall, compared with the control group for heart failure, liraglutide treatment significantly can reduce NT-proBNP (Std. MD = -3.06; 95% CI = -5.78 to -0.34; P = .03), and improve 6MWT (Std. MD=1.10; 95% CI = 0.75 to 1.44; P < .00001), but has no remarkable influence on LVEF change (Std. MD=1.10; 95% CI = -1.97 to 3.98; P = 0.51), LVEDV change (Std. MD = 6.26; 95% CI = -1.45 to 13.97; P = .11), LVESV change (Std. MD = -13.47; 95% CI = -31.04 to 4.10; P = .13), hospitalization for heart failure (RR = 1.18; 95% CI = 0.88 to 1.58; P = .27), major adverse cardiovascular events (RR = 1.55; 95% CI = -0.24 to 9.89; P = .64), and cardiac death (RR = 1.11; 95% CI = 0.61 to 2.04; P = .72). CONCLUSIONS Liraglutide treatment has an important ability to reduce NT-proBNP and improve 6MWT for heart failure, but shows no important influence on LVEF, LVEDV, LVESV, hospitalization for heart failure, major adverse cardiovascular events, and cardiac death.
MULTIDRUG RESISTANT (MDR) UROPATHOGENS PROFILE IN HIV-POSITIVE INDIVIDUALS WITH ASYMPTOMATIC BACTERIURIA IN PORT-HARCOURT, NIGERIA

Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) refers to the quantitative growth of same species of bacteria in mid-stream urine to the tune of 10 5 CFU/ml or above with no presence of any signs and symptoms of urinary tract infections. Asymptomatic bacteriuria is a common occurrence in healthy individuals with HIV sero-positive individuals at greater risk. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria and the sensitivity patterns of the isolates among HIV-positive individuals assessing medical care in Port-Harcourt. Early morning urine samples were collected from HIV positive persons attending University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) and analyzed using standard procedures. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version 20.0 (USA). Of the four hundred (400) urine samples, asymptomatic bacteriuria was diagnosed in 203 (50.75%). Escherichia coli, 50 (24.63%) were the highest uropathogens isolated followed by Klebsiella species 42 (20.96%), Pseudomonas species 34 (16.75%), Enterobacter species 26 (12.81%), Proteus species 22 (10.84%), Providencia species 16 (7.88%), Staphylococcus aureus 5 (2.46%), Alcaligenes species 2 (0.99%), Enterococcus species 2 (0.99%) and Candida albicans 4 (1.97%) in that order. Antibiotic susceptibility patterns showed 66% and above resistance rates by all the isolates except Staphylococcus aureus which had 49% resistivity to all the 7 classes of antibiotics used. Alcaligenes species and Enterococcus species were 100% resistant to the antibiotics. In this study, Escherichia coli was the most prevalent organism. Multiple antibiotic resistance is high among sero-positive individuals attending UPTH in Port-Harcourt. Regulation of antibiotic use is lacking in Nigeria and Government needs to tackle it.
IN VITRO ASSESSMENT OF PHYSIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF ENTEROCOCCUS STRAINS OF HUMAN ORIGIN FOR POSSIBLE PROBIOTIC USE

Objective: The human vagina and gut are known to harbor a wide range of bacteria. Some useful bacteria maintain the vaginal pH around 3–4.5. This acidity of the vagina helps to inhibit pathogenic organisms that cause urogenital infections. The present study involved screening of previously identified Enterococcus strains of human origin for their probiotic physiological properties. Materials and Methods: The strains were screened for their biofilm, antibiofilm, antagonistic, antibiotic resistance, adherence, aggregating, and hydrogen peroxide production abilities. Results: Enterococcus canintestini S26B, Entamoeba dispar S27A, E. dispar S26A, E. dispar S20B, E. canintestini AB2, Enterococcus villorum SB2, and Enterococcus rivorum S22C displayed in vitro probiotic properties. Conclusions: These strains can be used as probiotic candidates and may prove their potential in human or animal feed only after further clinical studies.
Protein Engineering Approaches to Improve the Therapeutic Potential of Histatin-5 for Candida albicans Infections

Title of Thesis: PROTEIN ENGINEERING APPROACHES TO IMPROVE THE THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF HISTATIN5 FOR CANDIDA ALBICANS INFECTIONS Jesse A Leissa, Master of Science, 2019 Thesis Directed By: Professor Amy J. Karlsson, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering The salivary peptide histatin 5 has been studied as a novel therapeutic to address rising drug resistance and limited therapeutics for treating infections caused by the fungal pathogen Candida albicans. While histatin 5 possesses antifungal activity, degradation from secreted aspartic proteases produced by C. albicans hinders its potential. To develop a strategy that will identify variants of histatin 5 with improved proteolytic stability, the peptide was integrated into a yeast surface display system, and the proteolytic degradation conditions were optimized to improve the resolution between proteolytically stable (K11RK17R) and proteolytically susceptible (K13L) variants. Additionally, histatin 5 and K11RK17R were embedded in polyelectrolyte multilayer films (PEMs) to investigate their ability to prevent biofilm formation on surfaces. Significant biofilm formation was prevented at high concentrations of K11RK17R, while histatin 5 encouraged biofilm formation. My results support the therapeutic potential of histatin 5 and will enable the design of improved peptide-based therapeutic approaches.
Social Disclosure and Cost of Equity in Public Companies in Brazil*

This study aims to analyze the relationship between the level of social disclosure and the cost of equity in public companies in Brazil. The hypothesis is that external social programs promoted or supported by a company increase the organization's reputation, compensate for externalities and bring economic benefits through the negative relationship with the cost of equity. To test this hypothesis, social responsibility reports of 83 companies listed on the São Paulo Stock, Mercantile and Futures Exchanges (Bolsa de Valores, Mercadorias e Futuros de São Paulo BM&FBovespa) from the period 2005-2009 were collected and analyzed. A composite index of 13 indicators was used to evaluate the social disclosure level of the companies analyzed. The cost of equity was risk-adjusted using the capital asset-pricing model (CAPM) and regression tested using panel data with cross-sectional fixed effects. The results show a negative relationship between the cost of equity and level of social disclosure, indicating that the Brazilian stock market has a semi-strong form of market efficiency.