Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Potential and Prospects of Continuous Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Production

Together with other so-called “bio-plastics”, Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are expected to soon replace established polymers on the plastic market. As a prerequisite, optimized process design is needed to make PHAs attractive in terms of costs and quality. Nowadays, large-scale PHA production relies on discontinuous fed-batch cultivation in huge bioreactors. Such processes presuppose numerous shortcomings such as nonproductive time for reactor revamping, irregular product quality, limited possibility for supply of certain carbon substrates, and, most of all, insufficient productivity. Therefore, single- and multistage continuous PHA biosynthesis is increasingly investigated for production of different types of microbial PHAs; this goes for rather crystalline, thermoplastic PHA homopolyesters as well as for highly flexible PHA copolyesters, and even blocky-structured PHAs consisting of alternating soft and hard segments. Apart from enhanced productivity and constant product quality, chemostat processes can be used to elucidate kinetics of cell growth and PHA formation under constant process conditions. Furthermore, continuous enrichment processes constitute a tool to isolate novel powerful PHA-producing microbial strains adapted to special environmental conditions. The article discusses challenges, potential and case studies for continuous PHA production, and shows up new strategies to further enhance such processes economically by developing unsterile open continuous processes combined with the application of inexpensive carbon feedstocks.
La funzione di produttività di Sylos Labini tra mercato e territorio: un'analisi econometrica per le regioni italiane

This study analyzes the labour productivity for the Italian regions estimating the Sylos Labini's function. In this function, in dynamic term, the labour productivity depends positively on market (Smith effect), on unit labour cost (organization's effect), on difference between wages and prices of machine (Ricardo effect) and past investments, while it depends negatively on current investments (disturbance effect). According to the estimates, for the Italian regions, these three effects are significant; moreover the dimension of these effects are conditioned by sector and territorial peculiarities. In particular, the Smith effect could be determined by the phenomenon of labour hoarding for which during recession entrepreneur prefers to reduce utilization of workers that fire them. Finally, the significance of investments could be caused by an important multicollinearity between present and past investments. JEL Codes: O14, R11
Combination of new multifunctional molecules for erythematotelangiectatic rosacea disorder

Background Rosacea, a common chronic skin disorder, is currently managed by patient education, pharmacological drugs, medical devices (laser and light therapies), and use of proper skin cares. Unfortunately, none of these actual treatments used alone or in combination is curative, and so we proposed a dermocosmetic active ingredient to mitigate some aspects of the rosacea and particularly for erythematotelangiectatic rosacea. Methods Dermocosmetic active ingredient is composed of three glucosylated derivatives of natural plants hydroxybenzoic acid and hydroxycinnamic acids (rosmarinic acid, gallic acid, and caffeic acid). Anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenesis, and anti-degranulation studies were done on cellular models (keratinocytes, mast cells, and endothelial cells). Efficiency of the active ingredient in comparison to placebo was assessed clinically on human volunteers having erythematotelangiectatic rosacea. The active and placebo were applied topically twice a day for 28 days. Biometrical analyses were done using a siascope tool. Results We found that the active ingredient decreases inflammation (inhibition of interleukin-8 and tumor necrosis factor release), decreases degranulation of mast cells (inhibition of histamine release), and controls angiogenesis mechanism (inhibition of the production of vascular endothelial growth factor and neovessel formation) on cellular models. Study on human volunteers confirmed macroscopically the efficiency of this active ingredient, as we observed no neovessel formation and less visible vessels. Conclusion Although rosacea is a skin condition disorder that is difficult to heal, the studies have shown that this active ingredient could be a dermocosmetic support, especially for erythematotelangiectatic rosacea armamentarium. The active ingredient was topically applied on the face for 28 days and improved erythematotelangiectatic rosacea symptoms either by decreasing them (vessels are less visible) or by limiting their development (any neovessels). The active ingredient decreases inflammation (inhibition of interleukin-8 and tumor necrosis factor release), decreases degranulation of mast cells (inhibition of histamine release), and limits the angiogenesis process (inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor production and neovessel formation).
Interpolating from AdS D-2 S 2 to AdS D

Interpolating from AdSD−2 × S to AdSD S. Cucu ∗1, H. Lü †2 and J.F. Vázquez-Poritz ‡3 ∗Instituut voor Theoretische Fysica, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D B-3001 Leuven, Belgium †George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics, Texas A& M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA ‡Physique Théorique et Mathématique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus Plaine C.P. 231, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium ABSTRACT
The Effect of Acupressure at GB-21 and SP-6 Acupoints on Anxiety Level and Maternal-Fetal Attachment in Primiparous Women: a Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Background: Delivery is one of the most stressful events in women’s life. Excessive anxiety, in turn, increases delivery and pregnancy complications. Mother’s positive experience of delivery leads to more effective maternal-fetal attachment in the first few hours of birth. Objectives: The present study aimed to compare the effects of acupressure at two different acupoints on anxiety level and maternal-fetal attachment in primiparous women. Materials and Methods: In this study, 150 primiparous women were allocated to acupressure at GB-21 acupoint, acupressure at SP-6 acupoint, and control group. The women in their active phase of delivery were enrolled in the study and pressure was applied to the acupoints for 20 minutes. Mother’s anxiety level was assessed using Spielberger’s questionnaire before and one hour after the intervention. In addition, maternal-fetal attachment behaviors were evaluated using Avant’s questionnaire during the first breastfeeding. Then the data were introduced to the SPSS (v. 13) and were analyzed using t test and one way ANOVA. Results: The results revealed no significant difference among the three groups regarding the anxiety level before the intervention (P > 0.05). One hour after the intervention, this measure was significantly lower in the intervention groups in comparison to the control group (P < 0.001). However, no significant difference was found between the two intervention groups in this regard (P > 0.05). Moreover, maternal-fetal attachment was higher in the intervention groups in comparison with the control group (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Acupressure at both acupoints reduced anxiety level and increased maternal-fetal attachment. This method can be easily used in the delivery room.
Diabetic e-Management System (DEMS)

The purpose of this paper is to describe a recent project in which Internet-ready handheld computers (personal digital assistants, PDAs) and custom software applications were used to help diabetes patients self manage their condition. The project research team is made up of professors and graduate students with backgrounds in information technology, nursing, and sociology who have an interest in using emerging technologies in healthcare applications. The researchers theorized that allowing diabetes patients to easily enter information about their daily activities (e.g. diet, exercise, blood sugar levels, and medications) into a handheld computer, and then immediately use a wireless network connection to upload that information to a central server for review by a medical professional would prove more useful than simply logging this information for the patient's own use. A seed grant was acquired, computer hardware was purchased, and a prototype system was developed. Thirteen individuals tested the prototype system and the users were qualitatively interviewed. The users were also presented with a 10-question survey based on the system usability scale (SUS)
Multicarrier orthogonal CDMA signals for quasi-synchronous communication systems

Proposes a multicarrier orthogonal CDMA signaling scheme for a multiple-access communication system, such as the reverse channel of a cellular network, as an alternative to the multi-user interference cancellation approach. The average variance of cross-correlations between sequences is used as a measure for sequence design. The authors search for sets of sequences that minimize the probability of symbol detection error, given that there is imperfect synchronization among the signals, that is, the signals are quasi-synchronous. Orthogonal sequences based on the Sylvester-type Hadamard matrices (Walsh functions) are shown to provide a significant improvement over the case where a Hadamard (orthogonal) matrix is chosen at random. Computer searches suggest that this set of codes is optimal with respect to the above measure. The issue of chip pulse shaping is investigated. Optimal pulses designed to minimize multiple-access interference in quasi-synchronous systems are obtained for various bandwidths and are shown to provide a large improvement over the raised cosine pulses. A multicarrier signaling scheme is introduced in order to reduce chip level synchronization offsets between the users. >
Dependence Structure and Extreme Comovements in International Equity and Bond Markets

Equity returns are more dependent in bear markets than in bull markets. This phenomenon known as asymmetric dependence is well documented in many previous studies including Erb et al (1994), Longin and Solnik (2001), Ang and Bekaert (2002), Ang and Chen (2002), Das and Uppal (2003), Patton (2004) and references therein. By reformulating the extreme exceedance correlation result of Longin and Solnik (2001) in an equivalent fashion as tail dependence, we show analytically that a multivariate GARCH model or a regime switching (RS) model based on normal innovations cannot reproduce this asymmetric dependence. We propose an alternative model which allows tail dependence for lower returns and keeps tail independence for upper returns. This model is applied to international equity and bond markets from two pairs of countries, the two leading markets in North-America (US and Canada) and two major markets of the Euro zone (France and Germany) to investigate their dependence structure. It includes one normal regime in which dependence is symmetric and a second regime characterized by asymmetric dependence. Empirical results show that the dependence between equities and bonds is low even in the same country, while the dependence between international assets of the same type is large in both regimes. The cross-country dependence is specially large in the asymmetric regime. This phenomenon possibly is due to the nonlinearity in dependence of international returns characterized by the presence of extreme dependence that is absent in the tail of a multivariate normal distribution. Exchange rate volatility seems to be a factor contributing to asymmetric dependence. With the introduction of a fixed exchange rate the dependence between France and Germany becomes less asymmetric and more normal than before. High exchange rate volatility is associated with a high level of asymmetry. Monte Carlo Tests confirm the presence of asymmetric dependence in both pairs of countries.
Social Capital, Labour Markets, and Job-Finding in Urban and Rural Regions: Comparing Paths to Employment in Prosperous Cities and Stressed Rural Communities in Canada1,2

This paper compares paths to employment (job-finding) in prosperous cities and economically-stressed rural communities in Canada. Since the pioneering work of Mark Granovetter (1973; 1974), sociologists have investigated the role of social capital in job-finding (specifically, the use of strong and weak social ties to find out about employment opportunities). To date, however, there have been few direct comparisons of job-finding in urban and rural settings (see Lindsay et al., 2005; Wahba and Zenou, 2005). Using data from two major surveys and a qualitative interview project, we uncover several important differences in urban and rural paths to employment. First, we find that both strong and weak ties are used more frequently by rural residents to find a job, while city-dwellers rely more often on formal or impersonal means. Second, we find much stronger evidence of differentiation within rural regions. Long-time rural residents are much more likely to use strong and weak ties to find employment than are newcomers. However, rural residents who used weak ties as paths to employment have significantly lower incomes. None of these patterns are evident in the cities. Together, these findings lead us to conclude that job-finding in rural settings is strongly affected by constraints – in the labour market and in social capital resources – that are not present in cities.
Academic Research Underlying Industrial Innovations

There has been no systematic study of the characteristics of the universities and academic researchers that seem to have contributed most to industrial innovation. Nor do we know how such academic research has been funded. This paper, based on data obtained from sixty-six firms in seven major manufacturing industries and from over two hundred academic researchers, sheds new light on the sources, characteristics, and financing of academic research underlying industrial innovation. The findings should be of interest to economists concerned with technological change and to policymakers attempting to increase the economic payoff from the nation's academic research. Copyright 1995 by MIT Press.
Functional morphology and biomechanics of the tongue‐bite apparatus in salmonid and osteoglossomorph fishes

The tongue‐bite apparatus and its associated musculoskeletal elements of the pectoral girdle and neurocranium form the structural basis of raking, a unique prey‐processing behaviour in salmonid and osteoglossomorph fishes. Using a quantitative approach, the functional osteology and myology of this system were compared between representatives of each lineage, i.e. the salmonid Salvelinus fontinalis (N = 10) and the osteoglossomorph Chitala ornata (N = 8). Divergence was found in the morphology of the novel cleithrobranchial ligament, which potentially relates to kinematic differences between the raking lineage representatives. Salvelinus had greater anatomical cross‐sectional areas of the epaxial, hypaxial and protractor hyoideus muscles, whereas Chitala had greater sternohyoideus and adductor mandibulae mass. Two osteology‐based biomechanical models (a third‐order lever for neurocranial elevation and a modified four‐bar linkage for hyoid retraction) showed divergent force/velocity priorities in the study taxa. Salvelinus maximizes both force (via powerful cranial muscles) and velocity (through mechanical amplification) during raking. In contrast, Chitala has relatively low muscle force but more efficient force transmission through both mechanisms compared with Salvelinus. It remains unclear if and how behavioural modulation and specializations in the post‐cranial anatomy may affect the force/velocity trade‐offs in Chitala. Further studies of tongue‐bite apparatus morphology and biomechanics in a broader species range may help to clarify the role that osteology and myology play in the evolution of behavioural diversity.
Genetic dissection of vitamin E biosynthesis in tomato

Vegetables are critical for human health as they are a source of multiple vitamins including vitamin E (VTE). In plants, the synthesis of VTE compounds, tocopherol and tocotrienol, derives from precursors of the shikimate and methylerythritol phosphate pathways. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) for α-tocopherol content in ripe fruit have previously been determined in an Solanum pennellii tomato introgression line population. In this work, variations of tocopherol isoforms (α, β, γ, and δ) in ripe fruits of these lines were studied. In parallel all tomato genes structurally associated with VTE biosynthesis were identified and mapped. Previously identified VTE QTL on chromosomes 6 and 9 were confirmed whilst novel ones were identified on chromosomes 7 and 8. Integrated analysis at the metabolic, genetic and genomic levels allowed us to propose 16 candidate loci putatively affecting tocopherol content in tomato. A comparative analysis revealed polymorphisms at nucleotide and amino acid levels between Solanum lycopersicum and S. pennellii candidate alleles. Moreover, evolutionary analyses showed the presence of codons evolving under both neutral and positive selection, which may explain the phenotypic differences between species. These data represent an important step in understanding the genetic determinants of VTE natural variation in tomato fruit and as such in the ability to improve the content of this important nutriceutical.
Is There an Environmental Kuznets Curve for Energy? An Econometric Analysis

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis states that pollution levels are increasing as a country develops, but will begin to decrease as rising incomes pass beyond a turning point. EKC analyses test the relationship between a measure of environmental quality and income (usually expressed in a quadratic equation). Other explanatory variables have been included in these models, but income regularly has had the most significant effect on indicators of environmental quality. One variable consistently omitted in these relationships is energy prices. This paper analyzes previous models to illustrate the importance of prices in these models and then includes prices in an econometric EKC framework testing energy/income and CO2/income relationships. These long-run price/income models find that income is no longer the most relevant indicator of environmental quality or energy demand. Indeed, we find no significant evidence for the existence of an EKC within the range of current incomes for energy in the presence of price and trade variables.
Fast detection of arbitrary planar surfaces from unreliable 3D data

Man-made real-world environments are dominated by planar surfaces many of which constitute behavior-relevant entities. Thus, the ability to perceive planar surfaces is vital for any embodied system operating in such environments, be it human or robotic. In this paper, we present an architecture for detection and estimation of planar surfaces in the scene from calibrated stereo images. They are represented in a behavior-oriented way, focusing on geometrical properties that are relevant for enabling basic interaction between a robot and the planar surfaces it perceives. Ego-motion of the robot is compensated for by transforming the representations into a global coordinate system using the kinematics of the robot. Our architecture is able to detect and estimate arbitrary planar surfaces, regardless of their visual appearance, their geometrical properties other than planarity and their being static or arbitrarily moving. The latter is achieved by processing each frame independently of the others. Stable representations are obtained by establishing spatio-temporal coherence between the single-frame representations of subsequent frames. Based on a RANSAC approach to plane fitting, our method is robust to unreliable 3D data such as obtained by local stereo correlation, for example. In our experiments using the Honda humanoid robot ASIMO, we show that our method is able to provide a robot in real-time with representations of planar surfaces in its environment that are sufficiently accurate for basic interaction.
The Practice of Cranial Neurosurgery and the Malpractice Liability Environment in the United States

Object The potential imbalance between malpractice liability cost and quality of care has been an issue of debate. We investigated the association of malpractice liability with unfavorable outcomes and increased hospitalization charges in cranial neurosurgery. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study involving patients who underwent cranial neurosurgical procedures from 2005-2010, and were registered in the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database. We used data from the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) from 2005 to 2010 to create measures of volume and size of malpractice claim payments. The association of the latter with the state-level mortality, length of stay (LOS), unfavorable discharge, and hospitalization charges for cranial neurosurgery was investigated. Results During the study period, there were 189,103 patients (mean age 46.4 years, with 48.3% females) who underwent cranial neurosurgical procedures, and were registered in NIS. In a multivariable regression, higher number of claims per physician in a state was associated with increased ln-transformed hospitalization charges (beta 0.18; 95% CI, 0.17 to 0.19). On the contrary, there was no association with mortality (OR 1.00; 95% CI, 0.94 to 1.06). We observed a small association with unfavorable discharge (OR 1.09; 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.13), and LOS (beta 0.01; 95% CI, 0.002 to 0.03). The size of the awarded claims demonstrated similar relationships. The average claims payment size (ln-transformed) (Pearson’s rho=0.435, P=0.01) demonstrated a positive correlation with the risk-adjusted hospitalization charges but did not demonstrate a correlation with mortality, unfavorable discharge, or LOS. Conclusions In the present national study, aggressive malpractice environment was not correlated with mortality but was associated with higher hospitalization charges after cranial neurosurgery. In view of the association of malpractice with the economics of healthcare, further research on its impact is necessary.