Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The antitumor effect of static and extremely low frequency magnetic fields against nephroblastoma and neuroblastoma

Certain magnetic fields (MF) have potential therapeutic antitumor effect whereas the underlying mechanism remains undefined. In this study, a well‐characterized MF was applied to two common childhood malignancies, nephroblastoma and neuroblastoma. This MF has a time‐averaged total intensity of 5.1 militesla (mT), and was generated as a superimposition of a static and an extremely low frequency (ELF) MF in 50 Hertz (Hz). In nephroblastoma and neuroblastoma cell lines including G401, CHLA255, and N2a, after MF exposure of 2 h per day, the cell viability decreased significantly after 2 days. After 3 days, inhibition rates of 17–22% were achieved in these cell lines. Furthermore, the inhibition rate was positively associated with exposure time. On the other hand, when using static MF only while maintaining the same time‐averaged intensity of 5.1 mT, the inhibition rate was decreased. Thus, both time and combination of ELF field were positively associated with the inhibitory effect of this MF. Exposure to the field decreased cell proliferation and induced apoptosis. Combinational use of MF together with chemotherapeutics cisplatin (DDP) was performed in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. In cell lines, combinational treatment further increased the inhibition rate compared with single use of either DDP or MF. In G401 nephroblastoma tumor model in nude mice, combination of MF and DDP resulted in significant decrease of tumor mass, and the side effect was limited in mild liver injury. MF exposure by itself did not hamper liver or kidney functions. In summary, the antitumor effect of an established MF against neuroblastoma and nephroblastoma is reported, and this field has the potential to be used in combination with DDP to achieve increased efficacy and reduce side effects in these two childhood malignancies. Bioelectromagnetics. 39:375–385, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE ON THE DEPTH OF CORPORATE INFORMATION DISCLOSURE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: THE CASE OF JORDAN

Over the last decade, Jordanian Authorities and Government adopted several far‐reaching measures aimed at improving its investment environment. These measures included the introduction of International Accounting Standards (IASs) in 1990, amendment of the Companies Act in 1997 and amendments to Investment Promotion Law in 1998. This study specifically provides empirical evidence on changes in the depth of corporate disclosure after introducing IASs. In addition, the relationship between the depth of corporate disclosure and company's attributes is investigated. The outcome of the analysis reveals a slight improvement in the depth of disclosure after the introduction the IASs. The depth of disclosure seems to be associated with corporate size, audit firm status, liquidity, gearing, and profitability.
The effectiveness of boundary objects: the case of ecological indicators

Nature conservation policy relies on ecological indicators to assess ecosystem quality and to evaluate the effectiveness of policy and management. Ecological indicators are science-based instruments that classify nature into different (ecosystem) types, each of which is characterised by specific parameters and references. This paper draws on classification and boundary object theory to analyse two case studies about the role of ecological indicators in nature conservation. The cases show that interpretative flexibility is an important factor explaining the effectiveness of ecological indicators as boundary objects. However, rather than a characteristic of the indicator itself, this is a social achievement, which depends on a common culture of shared values and preferences. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for the concept of boundary objects
Collaborations with faith‐based social service coalitions

Based on the first national survey of faith-based social service coalitions in the United States, this article presents data on the degree to which these nonprofit organizations collaborate with other specific organizational types, as well as the range and intensity of these collaborations. In general, faith-based coalitions tend to collaborate most frequently with other faith-based agencies, a pattern especially characteristic of the more religiously expressive ones. However, collaboration with non-faith-based organizations is also quite common. Based on seven organizational characteristics, we are able to predict which faith-based coalitions are most likely to collaborate with different types of organizations: coalitions that have more explicitly religious policies and practices with reference to clients and staffs are less likely to participate in intense collaborations with some types of secular organizations, and consistently less likely to do so with all types of governmental agencies.
Procesy konwergencji/dywergencji w zakresie wydajności pracy w rolnictwie Unii Europejskiej - analiza regionalna

Abstrakt. Głównym celem artykułu jest określenie czy wśród regionów Unii Europejskiej nastąpiły procesy redukowania, czy wzrostu zróżnicowania w wydajności pracy w rolnictwie. Badaniem objęto 212 regionów Wspólnoty na poziomie NUTS 2. Do oszacowania dysproporcji międzyregionalnych wykorzystano współczynnik σ-konwergencji. Jak wykazały wyniki badań, w latach 2000-2008 następował proces niwelowania dysproporcji przestrzennych pomiędzy regionami UE w wydajności pracy wyrażonej wartością dodaną brutto na osobę zatrudnioną w rolnictwie. Mimo zachodzących pozytywnych zmian skutkujących poprawą efektywności pracy w sektorze rolnym w UE-12, nadal jednak są duże różnice między regionami w tych krajach a odpowiednimi w UE-15. Dowodzi to konieczności dalszych przemian struktur agrarnych i wytwórczych. Jest to szczególnie istotne w kontekście konkurencyjności rolnictwa tych państw na rynku międzynarodowym.
Propensity Score-Matching Methods for Nonexperimental Causal Studies

This paper considers causal inference and sample selection bias in nonexperimental settings in which (i) few units in the nonexperimental comparison group are comparable to the treatment units, and (ii) selecting a subset of comparison units similar to the treatment units is difficult because units must be compared across a high-dimensional set of pre-treatment characteristics. We discuss the use of propensity score-matching methods, and implement them using data from the National Supported Work experiment. Following LaLonde (1986), we pair the experimental treated units with nonexperimental comparison units from the CPS and PSID, and compare the estimates of the treatment effect obtained using our methods to the benchmark results from the experiment. For both comparison groups, we show that the methods succeed in focusing attention on the small subset of the comparison units comparable to the treated units and, hence, in alleviating the bias due to systematic differences between the treated and comparison units.
Factors that Influence Perceptions of Greenhouse Gas Assurance Provider Quality

This study investigates the key factors that influence perceptions of greenhouse gas (GHG) assurance provider quality. A survey questionnaire was completed by 53 participants, including all three parties to the GHG assurance relationship (i.e., preparers, users and assurers of GHG emissions reports) who rated the importance of 34 factors to their perception of assurance provider quality. Results indicate that perceptions of assurance provider quality in the GHG setting are primarily influenced by the ethics and integrity of the assurer as well as the assurance, GHG emissions and regulatory knowledge of the assurance team leader and the assurance team. Less importance was placed on the experience and industry-specific knowledge of the assurer and on the degree of communication between the assurer and the client. It is also found that there are significant differences in the factors that influence the perception of GHG assurance provider quality between preparers, users and assurers.
A Comparison of Single Sample and Bootstrap Methods to Assess Mediation in Cluster Randomized Trials

A Monte Carlo study examined the statistical performance of single sample and bootstrap methods that can be used to test and form confidence interval estimates of indirect effects in two cluster randomized experimental designs. The designs were similar in that they featured random assignment of clusters to one of two treatment conditions and included a single intervening variable and outcome, but they differed in whether the mediator was measured at the participant or site level. A bias-corrected bootstrap had the best statistical performance for each design and was closely followed by the empirical-Mtest, either of which is recommended for testing and estimating indirect effects in multilevel designs. In addition, consistent with previous research, the commonly used z test had relatively poor performance.
Analysing and measuring social inclusion in a global context.

The present study is concerned with social inclusion, seen here as the process by which societies combat poverty and social exclusion. In order for policies for social inclusion to be developed and implemented, the factors working against social inclusion, namely, poverty and social exclusion, have to be understood. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the analytical and operational relevance of the measurement of poverty and social exclusion, and to describe how such measures could be put in place. “Social exclusion” is defined here as the involuntary exclusion of individuals and groups from society’s political, economic and societal processes, which prevents their full participation in the society in which they live. “Poverty” is defined as the lack of economic resources, and so defined, is an important cause of social exclusion in as much as the lack of those resources prevents participation. However, there are other important dimensions of social exclusion, which encompasses a broader (complex and multi-dimensional) set of concerns. Combating poverty and social exclusion through a process of social inclusion is intended to create a “society for all”. The achievement of social inclusion requires that both poverty and social exclusinon will be addressed in a balanced way.
Safety and Profits in the Airline Industry

It has been argued that there is a positive relationship between profitability and safety in the transportation industries. This paper analyzes a model of safety provision under uncertainty and tests the model using data from the US airline industry. Theory suggests that the sign of the relationship between profits and safety is indeterminate and depends on risk preferences and the structure of costs and demand. The empirical investigation suggests that safety and profits have no significant relationship. Thus, it does not appear that profit-reducing changes in regulation will lead to less safe airlines.
Incentive Effects, Monitoring Mechanisms and the Market for Corporate Control: An Analysis of the Factors Affecting Public to Private Transactions in the UK

This paper investigates the factors that influence the decision to change the status of a publicly quoted company to that of a private company. We find that firms that go private are more likely to have higher CEO ownership and higher institutional ownership. In relation to their board structures, firms going private tend to have more duality but there is no statistical difference in the proportion of non-executive directors. They do not show signs of having excess free cash flows but there is some evidence of lower growth opportunities. We do not find that firms going private experience a greater threat of hostile acquisition. The results are therefore consistent with incentive and monitoring explanations of going private. Calculation of the probability of going private shows that incentive effects are stronger than the monitoring effects. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2005.
SAR Mode Altimetry Observations of Internal Solitary Waves in the Tropical Ocean Part 1: Case Studies

It is well known that internal waves (IWs) of tidal frequency (i.e., internal tides) are successfully detected in sea surface height (SSH) by satellite altimetry. Shorter period internal solitary waves (ISWs), whose periods (and spatial scales) are an order of magnitude smaller than tidal internal waves, have been generally assumed too small to be detected with conventional altimeters. This is because conventional (pulse-limited) radar altimeter footprints are somewhat larger than or of similar size, at best, as the typical wavelengths of the ISWs. Here we demonstrate that the synthetic aperture radar altimeter (SRAL) on board the Sentinel-3A can detect short-period ISWs. A variety of signatures owing to the surface manifestations of the ISWs are apparent in the SRAL Level-2 products over the ocean. These signatures are identified in several geophysical parameters, such as radar backscatter (sigma0), sea level anomaly (SLA), and significant wave height (SWH). Radar backscatter is the primary parameter in which ISWs can be identified owing to the measurable sea surface roughness perturbations in the along-track sharpened SRAL footprint. The SRAL footprint is sufficiently small to capture radar power fluctuations over successive wave crests and troughs, which produce rough and slick surface patterns arrayed in parallel bands with scales of a few kilometers. The ISW signatures are unambiguously identified in the SRAL because of the exact synergy with OLCI (Ocean Land Colour Imager) images, which in cloud-free conditions allow clear identification of the ISWs in the sunglint OLCI images. We show that both sigma0 and SLA yield realistic estimates for routine observation of ISWs with the SRAL, which is a significant improvement from previous observations recently reported for conventional pulse-limited altimeters (Jason-2). Several case studies of ISW signatures are interpreted in light of our knowledge of radar backscatter in the internal wave field. An analysis is presented for the tropical Atlantic Ocean off the Amazon shelf to infer the frequency of the phenomena, being consistent with previous satellite observations in the study region.
The effectiveness of government-sponsored programmes in supporting the SME sector in Poland

The objective of this article is to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the government assistance programmes to small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in Poland and to assess the effectiveness of these programmes in stimulating development of the SME sector. There are three main conclusions from the study. First, the Polish government support programmes are poorly structured, fragmented and untargeted. Second, the programmes do not meet the actual needs of the sector and, hence, are poorly used. Third, there is strong evidence to confirm the existence of liquidity gaps in financing the SME sector.
E‐commerce in a Web‐based environment: auditing relative advantages in the Australian health sector

The increased use of the Internet has suggested that there may be many advantages to both suppliers and consumers in using e‐commerce in a Web‐based environment. However, numerous concerns and disadvantages have also been expressed, mainly in the academic literature. The importance placed on these disadvantages by suppliers has not yet been studied. This study determines whether or not the advantages and disadvantages of e‐commerce revealed in the literature are deemed to be important by sample firms. This enables conclusions to be drawn about the level of insight these firms have into the technology, and their preparedness for the implementation of e‐commerce functions. This study provides evidence to suggest that there is no significant difference between the advantages of e‐commerce perceived by the responding suppliers and those presented in the literature, but that there is a significant variation with respect to the perceived disadvantages.
Antioxidant responses and DNA damage in primary hepatocytes of Van fish (Alburnus tarichi, Güldenstadt 1814) exposed to nonylphenol or octylphenol

Abstract Alkylphenols, a nonionic surface-active agent group, such as nonylphenol (NP) and octylphenol (OP) are important endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC). In this study, the dose- and time-dependent effects of NP and OP were investigated in the primary hepatocyte culture of Van Fish. In this study, samples were taken at different times and biochemical parameters were studied separately. The effects of the chemicals used on SOD, CAT, GSH-Px, MDA, and 8-OHdG were investigated in hepatocyte culture. The antioxidants SOD and CAT were observed to increase in all groups in the primary hepatocyte cultures at the 24th hour after NP and OP administration, whereas the GSH-Px level was observed to increase with OP at the 24th hour and with NP at the 48th hour. The MDA level was observed to reach its highest value for both chemicals in the 24th hour, and the 8-OHdG level was observed to increase toward the end of the follow-up time, compared to the control group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, different doses of NP and OP were found to induce an increase in the levels of antioxidants and the MDA level in Van Fish primary hepatocyte culture. DNA damage, on the other hand, may be considered to appear after longer-term exposure to NP and OP.
Trichosporon capitatum causing recurrent fungal endocarditis.

Fungal endocarditis is usually seen in patients with prosthetic heart valves or in drug addicts. ' Diagnosis may prove difficult because blood cultures may be negative and serological tests misleading.2 Medical treatment alone is rarely successful in eradicating infection,3 and even when combined with surgery the prognosis remains poor.4 We report a case of Candida endocarditis presenting as a mycotic aneurysm of the right pulmonary artery. At operation the patient was found to have complete destruction of a homograft valve which had been inserted, together with a Dacron conduit, at an earlier operation to correct pulmonary atresia. Despite gross fungal infection a combination of medical and surgical treatment led to recovery. The patient died of pneumonia two years later, with evidence of fungal endocarditis caused by a different organism, Trichosporon capitatum. Wecan find no previous report ofTrichosporon endocarditis.
EVALUATING THE LONG-TERM BENEFIT OF CRM-SYSTEMS: A COST-ORIENTED APPROACH

Since the late 1990s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become a buzzword especially among business practitioners and consultants. Companies have invested or are planning to invest huge amounts to implement CRM strategies, tools and infrastructure in order to win the battle in the increasingly competitive economy. However, many executives are struggling to determine how their enterprises will balance the business value of CRM against its costs to determine CRM return on investment. Our model presented in this paper allows an adequate feasible, theoretically established prospective evaluation for the contribution of a CRM-investment to the value of the firm under cost aspects. The premise for the application of this model is that strategic concepts, a fully developed cost accounting system as well as information on the part of the market are available. However, at the present in companies it is still not common to use such integrated and dynamic models. But an essential barrier of the implementation is the mindset of the management, which is stamped by conventions like e.g. orientation on financial statements or pursuit of partial orientation.
Human Development and Macroeconomic Returns within the Context of Investments in Telecoms: An Exploration of Transition Economies

Previous investigations into macroeconomic impact of investments in information and communications technology (ICT), while primarily focused on developed economies, have yielded some important insights. For example, it was determined that: (1) the investments-to-revenues model works well only if a threshold level of ICT capital infrastructure has been developed, (2) it is not the quantity but the quality of the full-time ICT workforce that plays an important role in converting a stream of investments in ICT into revenues and in achieving a spillover effect of investments that is captured by total factor productivity (TFP). In this study we investigate the impact of human development, as measured by the human development index (HDI), on macroeconomic outcomes and TFP. The subject of the study is a group of transition economies, a set of highly related economies that has the Leaders group that has some of the characteristics of developed economies and the Followers group that has some of the characteristics of less-developed economies. Results of our investigation offer evidence that HDI has a statistically significant impact on GDP (gross domestic product) and TFP only in the case of the Leaders.
Diarrhea and Clostridium difficile infection in Latin American patients with AIDS. Working Group on AIDS in Peru.

Diarrhea and wasting are among the most debilitating and deadly manifestations of AIDS, yet only limited information is available regarding the etiology, clinical consequences, and immunologic effects of infection with diarrheal agents. Peruvian AIDS patients presenting with and without diarrhea were followed prospectively to examine the relations among diarrheal pathogens, clinical presentations, CD4 lymphocyte count, weight loss, and survival. Patients with chronic diarrhea had lower CD4 lymphocyte counts (P = .001) and lost more weight (P < .001). Weight loss and a decreased CD4 lymphocyte count were associated with increased mortality (P = .011 and P = .003, respectively). Mean CD4 lymphocyte count varied significantly by diarrheal agent. Clostridium difficile was the most prevalent pathogen and was associated with significantly increased mortality before and after adjustment for coinfection, length of follow-up, CD4 lymphocyte count, and weight loss (P = .006). C. difficile may be a more important and more prevalent etiologic agent in AIDS than previously recognized and may represent a preventable cause of death in patients with immunosuppression.
Conservation of Amino Acids in Human Rhinovirus 3C Protease Correlates with Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Activity of Rupintrivir, a Novel Human Rhinovirus 3C Protease Inhibitor

ABSTRACT The picornavirus 3C protease is required for the majority of proteolytic cleavages that occur during the viral life cycle. Comparisons of published amino acid sequences from 6 human rhinoviruses (HRV) and 20 human enteroviruses (HEV) show considerable variability in the 3C protease-coding region but strict conservation of the catalytic triad residues. Rupintrivir (formerly AG7088) is an irreversible inhibitor of HRV 3C protease with potent in vitro activity against all HRV serotypes (48 of 48), HEV strains (4 of 4), and untyped HRV field isolates (46 of 46) tested. To better understand the relationship between in vitro antiviral activity and 3C protease-rupintrivir binding interactions, we performed nucleotide sequence analyses on an additional 21 HRV serotypes and 11 HRV clinical isolates. Antiviral activity was also determined for 23 HRV clinical isolates and four additional HEV strains. Sequence comparison of 3C proteases (n = 58) show that 13 and 11 of the 14 amino acids that are involved in side chain interactions with rupintrivir are strictly conserved among HRV and HEV, respectively. These sequence analyses are consistent with the comparable in vitro antiviral potencies of rupintrivir against all HRV serotypes, HRV isolates, and HEV strains tested (50% effective concentration range, 3 to 183 nM; n = 125). In summary, the conservation of critical amino acid residues in 3C protease and the observation of potent, broad-spectrum antipicornavirus activity of rupintrivir highlight the advantages of 3C protease as an antiviral target.