Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Open to a Select Few? Matching Partners and Knowledge Content for Open Innovation Performance

The purpose of the paper is to illuminate the costs and benefits of crossing firm boundaries in inbound open innovation (OI) by determining the relationships among partner types, knowledge content and performance. The empirical part of the study is based on a survey of OI collaborations answered by R&D managers in 415 Italian, Finnish and Swedish firms. The results show that the depth of collaboration with different partners (academic/consultants, value chain partners, competitors and firms in other industries) is positively related to innovation performance, whereas the number of different partners and size have negative effects. The main result is that the knowledge content of the collaboration moderates the performance outcomes and the negative impact of having too many different kinds of partners. This illustrates how successful firms use selective collaboration strategies characterized by linking explorative and exploitative knowledge content to specific partners, to leverage the benefits and limit the costs of knowledge boundary crossing processes.
Ygge and Akkermans : Background

It is a very natural habit of mankind to search for easy answers to hard problems. However, such discoveries are sufficiently rare to be on guard whenever a new one appears, and yet it is all too easy to allow the power of apparent convenience lure a sound mind from careful inspection of the solution. Thus, when Huberman and Clearwater [2, 6] discovered a market-based method for controlling a building environment that considerably outperformed a mainstream controller, few questioned the miraculous improvement and fewer yet wondered precisely which of the techniques used by the two authors effected the improvement. To step back for a moment, it seems a matter of common sense that any centralized approach, given sufficient information and computation time, should produce a result at least as good as any decentralized approach. Thus, the fact that the Huberman and Clearwater’s market-based controller produced a better solution than a centralized controller should have been suspicious. Furthermore, there was little attempt on the part of the authors to explain their results beyond attributing it to the powers of market-based problem solving techniques. Interestingly, despite their use of the techniques from the field of Economics to solve a resource allocation problem, many of the critical details, such as utility and bid formation, were arbitrary enough to preclude any useful analyses using well-known tools from the latter field.
Virtual Environments for Developing Strategies for Interdicting Terrorists Carrying Dirty Bombs

Strategies for detecting terrorists carrying radioactive material can be evaluated in virtual environments more easily than they can be in the real world. Real scenarios expose personnel to radiation and concomitant dangers. The execution of multiple real-world scenarios – such as catching terrorists in factories, houses and open spaces – is expensive. This paper describes virtual environments for interdicting terrorists carrying radioactive material. The virtual environments are constructed by incorporating the physics of radiation into virtual-world platforms. We explore the relative advantages of a gaming engine (Half-Life 2), a 3D online virtual world (Second Life) and a robot simulator platform (Stage/Player) for developing strategies for interdicting dirty bombers. Preliminary results on implementations of these virtual environments are presented.
Dystrophin Deficiency Compromises Force Production of the Extensor Carpi Ulnaris Muscle in the Canine Model of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Loss of muscle force is a salient feature of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a fatal disease caused by dystrophin deficiency. Assessment of force production from a single intact muscle has been considered as the gold standard for studying physiological consequences in murine models of DMD. Unfortunately, equivalent assays have not been established in dystrophic dogs. To fill the gap, we developed a novel in situ protocol to measure force generated by the extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) muscle of a dog. We also determined the muscle length to fiber length ratio and the pennation angle of the ECU muscle. Muscle pathology and contractility were compared between normal and affected dogs. Absence of dystrophin resulted in marked histological damage in the ECU muscle of affected dogs. Central nucleation was significantly increased and myofiber size distribution was altered in the dystrophic ECU muscle. Muscle weight and physiological cross sectional area (PCSA) showed a trend of reduction in affected dogs although the difference did not reach statistical significance. Force measurement revealed a significant decrease of absolute force, and the PCSA or muscle weight normalized specific forces. To further characterize the physiological defect in affected dog muscle, we conducted eccentric contraction. Dystrophin-null dogs showed a significantly greater force loss following eccentric contraction damage. To our knowledge, this is the first convincing demonstration of force deficit in a single intact muscle in the canine DMD model. The method described here will be of great value to study physiological outcomes following innovative gene and/or cell therapies.
Bank-Based or Market-Based Financial Systems: Which is Better?

For over a century, economists and policy makers have debated the relative merits of bank-based versus market-based financial systems. Recent research, however, argues that classifying countries as bank-based or market is not a very fruitful way to distinguish financial systems. This paper represents the first broad, cross-country examination of which view of financial structure is more consistent with the data. The results indicate that although overall financial development is robustly linked with economic growth, there is no support for either the bank-based or market-based view.
Social deprivation and prevalence of chronic kidney disease in the UK: workload implications for primary care.

BACKGROUND The 'inverse care law' suggests that populations with the poorest health outcomes also tend to have poorer access to high-quality care. The new general practitioner (GP) contract in the UK aimed to reduce variations in care between areas by collecting information on processes and outcomes of chronic disease management. This study investigated whether, despite reductions in inequalities, primary care in deprived areas is still at a disadvantage due to the higher prevalence of chronic diseases, using chronic kidney disease (CKD) as an example. METHODS Initially, data from a hospital-based cohort of CKD patients were analysed to investigate the clustering of CKD patients across area-level deprivation using a geographical information system that employed kernel density estimation. Data from the Quality and Outcomes Framework were then analysed to explore the burden of CKD and associated non-communicable chronic diseases (NCD) and assess the potential impact on GPs' workload by area-level deprivation. RESULTS There was a significant clustering of CKD patients referred to the hospital in the most deprived areas. Both the prevalence of CKD and associated conditions and caseload per GP were significantly higher in deprived areas. CONCLUSION In the most deprived areas, there is an increased burden of major chronic disease and a higher caseload for clinicians. These reflect significant differences in workload for practices in deprived areas, which needs to be addressed.
The circadian clock and mood-related behavior

Over many years evidence accumulated that circadian rhythms are related to psychiatric disorders.1-3 However, a mechanistic relationship between the circadian clock and mood related behaviors remained enigmatic. Now, we have reported that monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), a mitochondrial enzyme degrading catecholamines including dopamine, is regulated by components of the circadian clock . 4 Interestingly, this regulation is variable depending on cell type, indicating the presence of cell type specific factors modulating BMAL1/NPAS2 or BMAL1/CLOCK dependent transcription. In the mesolimbic dopaminergic reward circuit, including the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens (NAc) we found a positive influence of Period 2 (PER2) on transcriptional activation of Maoa using mice mutant in the Per2 gene. These animals show less Maoa mRNA expression and MAO activity compared to wild type littermates. This is probably the reason for the observed increase in dopamine levels in the striatum of Per2 mutant mice what leads to alteration in despair-based behavioral tests. These results suggest that clock components can influence dopamine metabolism and mood-related behaviors. Addendum to: Hampp G, Ripperger JA, Houben T, Schmutz I, Blex C, Perreau-Lenz S, Brunk I, Spanagel R, Ahnert-Hilger G, Meijer JH, Albrecht U. Regulation of monoamine oxidase a by circadian-clock components implies clock influence on mood. Curr Biol 2008;18:678-83.
Influence of diazotrophicus Azospirillum on growth , flower yield and N uptake of Chrysanthemum

A field study was conducted to ascertain the effect of Azospirillum OAD-2 (isolated from Gaillardia pulchella) with different nitrogen fertilizer levels viz, 0, 50, 75 and 100 percent recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) on growth, nitrogen uptake and flower yield of Chrysanthemum morifolium. The results revealed that Azospirillum sp. inoculation significantly increased the plant growth, flower yield and nutrient uptake of chrysanthemum when compared to uninoculated control plants. Application of nitrogen in addition to inoculation with Azospirillum further enhanced the plant growth yield parameters and nutrient uptake significantly. The plant receiving 100 percent RDN and Azospirillum inoculation significantly produced the maximum of flower yield (35.25 t h) biomass yield (7.26 g plant at maximum flowering stage) and nitrogen uptake (71.23 kg ha), when compared to all the other treatments. However, least flower (23.12 t ha) and biomass (3.33 g plant at maximum flowering stage) yields and nitrogen uptake (42.33 kg ha) were observed in uninoculated and fertilizers control plants. Inoculation of Azospirillum in combination with application of 75 percent RDN showed (34.26 t ha) statistically same flower yield as that of 100 percent RDN (35.25 t ha) indicating the possibility of reducing input cost on N-fertilizers. Significant increase in available nitrogen content of soil was also noticed due to inoculation of Azospirillum at all growth stages of plant growth. The population of Azospirillum significantly enhanced in all the inoculated rhizospheres, when compared to uninoculated control rhizosphere. The maximum population of Azospirillum harbored in the 100 percent RDN and Azospirillum treated plant (58.5 X 10), which was significantly more then all other treated rhizosphere. Based on the present study it can be concluded that inoculation of Azospirillum to chrysanthemum substitutes the 25 percent of nitrogen application to soil and reduce the input cost and sustain the soil fertility in the soil.
Coding for Distributed Fog Computing

Redundancy is abundant in fog networks (i.e., many computing and storage points) and grows linearly with network size. We demonstrate the transformational role of coding in fog computing for leveraging such redundancy to substantially reduce the bandwidth consumption and latency of computing. In particular, we discuss two recently proposed coding concepts, minimum bandwidth codes and minimum latency codes, and illustrate their impacts on fog computing. We also review a unified coding framework that includes the above two coding techniques as special cases, and enables a trade-off between computation latency and communication load to optimize system performance. At the end, we will discuss several open problems and future research directions.
Undisciplining Knowledge: Interdisciplinarity in the Twentieth Century

universities to be inclusive, people show up in our classes whose backgrounds resemble those of some of these authors. Though they may be ambitious and bright, sometimes we are so caught up in getting our points across that we do not see who they are; or, we do not appreciate their sense of accomplishment. One woman wrote, ‘‘It took me 15 years to complete my Ph.D. I still regularly experience disbelief about the fact that I have a Ph.D.’’ Also, some people working in the elite sector of higher education do not appreciate the importance and dedication of the doctorate-holders who left the Graduate Center to teach at CUNY’s community colleges—how they strive to help others open their world. Finally, these women celebrate their faculty for encouraging them to challenge disciplinary givens, even to abandon what their professors might consider truth in order to explore ideas that make sense of their own experiences and those of their friends and family. One author suggests that, except perhaps for Berkeley, few other graduate schools permit such intellectual freedom. I found that freedom at Brandeis University many decades ago. I hope that this author is wrong about today’s student experience and that young women and men can still muddle and then clear a clean path through meaningful sociological problems.
Attitudes Toward Assisted Suicide and Life-Prolonging Measures in Swiss ALS Patients and Their Caregivers

Objectives: In Switzerland, assisted suicide (AS) is legal, provided that the person seeking assistance has decisional capacity and the person assisting is not motivated by reasons of self-interest. However, in this particular setting nothing is known about patients’ and their caregivers’ attitudes toward AS and life-prolonging measures. Methods: Data was retrieved through validated questionnaires and personal interviews in 33 patients and their caregivers covering the following domains: physical function according to the revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R), demographic data, quality of life, anxiety, depression, social situation, spirituality, burden of disease, life-prolonging, and life-shortening acts. Results: In patients the median time after diagnosis was 9 months (2–90) and the median Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) FRS-R score was 37 (22–48). The majority of patients (94%; n = 31) had no desire to hasten death. Patients’ and caregivers’ attitudes toward Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) and Non-Invasive Ventilation (NIV) differed. Significantly more patients than caregivers (21.2 versus 3.1%) stated that they were against NIV (p = 0.049) and against PEG (27.3 versus 3.1%; p = 0.031). Answers regarding tracheotomy were not significantly different (p = 0.139). Caregivers scored significantly higher levels of “suffering” (p = 0.007), “loneliness” (p = 0.006), and “emotional distress” answering the questionnaires (p < 0.001). Suffering (p < 0.026) and loneliness (p < 0.016) were related to the score of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in patients. Conclusion: A liberal legal setting does not necessarily promote the wish for AS. However, the desire to discuss AS is prevalent in ALS patients. There is a higher level of suffering and loneliness on the caregivers’ side. A longitudinal study is warranted.
Pathophysiology of Motor Dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease as the Rationale for Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation

Cardinal motor features of Parkinson's disease (PD) include bradykinesia, rest tremor, and rigidity, which appear in the early stages of the disease and largely depend on dopaminergic nigrostriatal denervation. Intermediate and advanced PD stages are characterized by motor fluctuations and dyskinesia, which depend on complex mechanisms secondary to severe nigrostriatal loss and to the problems related to oral levodopa absorption, and motor and nonmotor symptoms and signs that are secondary to marked dopaminergic loss and multisystem neurodegeneration with damage to nondopaminergic pathways. Nondopaminergic dysfunction results in motor problems, including posture, balance and gait disturbances, and fatigue, and nonmotor problems, encompassing depression, apathy, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbances, pain, and autonomic dysfunction. There are a number of symptomatic drugs for PD motor signs, but the pharmacological resources for nonmotor signs and symptoms are limited, and rehabilitation may contribute to their treatment. The present review will focus on classical notions and recent insights into the neuropathology, neuropharmacology, and neurophysiology of motor dysfunction of PD. These pieces of information represent the basis for the pharmacological, neurosurgical, and rehabilitative approaches to PD.
Speed of Human Biological Form and Motion Processing

Recent work suggests that biological motion processing can begin within ~110 ms of stimulus onset, as indexed by the P1 component of the event-related potential (ERP). Here, we investigated whether modulation of the P1 component reflects configural processing alone, rather than the processing of both configuration and motion cues. A three-stimulus oddball task was employed to evaluate bottom-up processing of biological motion. Intact point-light walkers (PLWs) or scrambled PLWs served as distractor stimuli, whereas point-light displays of tool motion served as standard and target stimuli. In a second experiment, the same design was used, but the dynamic stimuli were replaced with static point-light displays. The first experiment revealed that dynamic PLWs elicited a larger P1 as compared to scrambled PLWs. A similar P1 increase was also observed for static PLWs in the second experiment, indicating that these stimuli were more salient than static, scrambled PLWs. These findings suggest that the visual system can rapidly extract global form information from static PLWs and that the observed P1 effect for dynamic PLWs is not dependent on the presence of motion cues. Finally, we found that the N1 component was sensitive to dynamic, but not static, PLWs, suggesting that this component reflects the processing of both form and motion information. The sensitivity of P1 to static PLWs has implications for dynamic form models of biological motion processing that posit temporal integration of configural cues present in individual frames of PLW animations.
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-Receptor 1 Inhibition Aggravates Diabetic Nephropathy through eNOS Signaling Pathway in db/db Mice

The manipulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-receptors (VEGFRs) in diabetic nephropathy is as controversial as issue as ever. It is known to be VEGF-A and VEGFR2 that regulate most of the cellular actions of VEGF in experimental diabetic nephropathy. On the other hand, such factors as VEGF-A, -B and placenta growth factor bind to VEGFR1 with high affinity. Such notion instigated us to investigate on whether selective VEGFR1 inhibition with GNQWFI hexamer aggravates the progression of diabetic nephropathy in db/db mice. While diabetes suppressed VEGFR1, it did increase VEGFR2 expressions in the glomerulus. Db/db mice with VEGFR1 inhibition showed more prominent features with respect to, albuminuria, mesangial matrix expansion, inflammatory cell infiltration and greater numbers of apoptotic cells in the glomerulus, and oxidative stress than that of control db/db mice. All these changes were related to the suppression of diabetes-induced increases in PI3K activity and Akt phosphorylation as well as the aggravation of endothelial dysfunction associated with the inactivation of FoxO3a and eNOS-NOx. In cultured human glomerular endothelial cells (HGECs), high-glucose media with VEGFR1 inhibition induced more apoptotic cells and oxidative stress than did high-glucose media alone, which were associated with the suppression of PI3K-Akt phosphorylation, independently of the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase, and inactivation of FoxO3a and eNOS-NOx pathway. In addition, transfection with VEGFR1 siRNA in HGECs also suppressed PI3K-Akt-eNOS signaling. In conclusion, the specific blockade of VEGFR1 with GNQWFI caused severe renal injury related to profound suppression of the PI3K-Akt, FoxO3a and eNOS-NOx pathway, giving rise to the oxidative stress-induced apoptosis of glomerular cells in type 2 diabetic nephropathy.
The health benefits of yoga and exercise: a review of comparison studies.

OBJECTIVES Exercise is considered an acceptable method for improving and maintaining physical and emotional health. A growing body of evidence supports the belief that yoga benefits physical and mental health via down-regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). The purpose of this article is to provide a scholarly review of the literature regarding research studies comparing the effects of yoga and exercise on a variety of health outcomes and health conditions. METHODS Using PubMed((R)) and the key word "yoga," a comprehensive search of the research literature from core scientific and nursing journals yielded 81 studies that met inclusion criteria. These studies subsequently were classified as uncontrolled (n = 30), wait list controlled (n = 16), or comparison (n = 35). The most common comparison intervention (n = 10) involved exercise. These studies were included in this review. RESULTS In the studies reviewed, yoga interventions appeared to be equal or superior to exercise in nearly every outcome measured except those involving physical fitness. CONCLUSIONS The studies comparing the effects of yoga and exercise seem to indicate that, in both healthy and diseased populations, yoga may be as effective as or better than exercise at improving a variety of health-related outcome measures. Future clinical trials are needed to examine the distinctions between exercise and yoga, particularly how the two modalities may differ in their effects on the SNS/HPA axis. Additional studies using rigorous methodologies are needed to examine the health benefits of the various types of yoga.
Optimal load sharing for a divisible job on a bus network

Optimal load allocation for load sharing a divisible job over N processors interconnected in bus-oriented network is considered. The processors are equipped with front-end processox:s. It is analytically proved, for the first time, that a minimal solution time is achieved when the computation by each processor finishes at the same time. Closed form solutions for the minimum finish time and the optimal data allocation for each processor are obtained.
Market Reaction to Patterns of Earnings

Prior literature suggests that markets are not efficient in adjusting stock prices following the release of company earnings. We provide another explanation to this observed market anomaly - investors’ fixation on patterns of earnings. By separating firms with patterns in earnings from those with no such exhibited patterns, we find that inefficient market reaction is attributable to announcements that diverge from the established earnings pattern. We find evidence of more efficient market reaction to announcements of non-patterned earnings. Our findings indicate that in the presence of clear earnings patterns, individual investors fail to incorporate information signals regarding firms’ performance into their valuation of stocks, resulting in market anomalies.