Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consensus paper of the WFSBP task force on biological markers: Biological markers for alcoholism

Abstract Objectives. This article presents an overview of the current literature on biological markers for alcoholism, including markers associated with the pharmacological effects of alcohol and markers related to the clinical course and treatment of alcohol-related problems. Many of these studies are well known, while other studies cited are new and still being evaluated. Methods. In this paper we first describe known biomarkers of alcohol-related disorders, review their features and the problems involved in their use. We then consider future developments on biomarkers and their possible impact on the field. Results. More recent findings cited include the work on type 7 adenylcyclase (AC) polymorphism and its lower expression levels in female alcoholics. Neuroimaging studies involving biomarkers have also reported brain volume reductions of gray and white matter, including amygdala and subcortical regions in alcoholic patients, while a high association between the copy number variations (CNVs) in 6q14.1/5q13.2 and alcohol dependence has more recently been identified in genetic studies. Conclusions. In addition to their possible importance for diagnosis, biomarkers may have utility for predicting prognosis, progression of the disorder, the development of new treatments, and monitoring treatment effects. Although such findings should be verified in independent studies, the search for new biomarkers is continuing. Several potential candidate biomarkers have been found recently in blood, imaging, and genetic studies with encouraging results.
In Vitro Evaluation of Nonnucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors UC-781 and TMC120-R147681 as Human Immunodeficiency Virus Microbicides

ABSTRACT The nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors UC-781 and TMC120-R147681 (Dapivirine) effectively prevented human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in cocultures of monocyte-derived dendritic cells and T cells, representing primary targets in sexual transmission. Both drugs had a favorable therapeutic index. A 24-h treatment with 1,000 nM UC-781 or 100 nM TMC120-R147681 prevented cell-free HIV infection, whereas 10-fold-higher concentrations blocked cell-associated HIV.
Virtual special issue on theory and research on collective action in the European Journal of Social Psychology

This virtual special issue presents a collection of 23 articles that present theory and research on collective action in the European Journal of Social Psychology. The articles are organized according to four major themes that emerged. In the first section, articles on identification with the disadvantaged group, identification with the superordinate group, and identity content as predictors of collective action are summarized. The second section combines articles examining the role of sociostructural variables (permeability, legitimacy, and stability) for collective action. The third section comprises articles on the psychological implications of sociostructural variables (emotions, efficacy beliefs, threat perceptions) as predictors of collective action. In the final section, articles that highlight the dynamic perspective on collective action are presented. This issue contains articles on collective action conducted by disadvantaged groups, advantaged groups, and opinion-based groups. After the conceptual overview, commonalities and distinctions between the articles are highlighted, and some directions for future research are outlined. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Empirical Investigation of the Factors Affecting Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan: ARDL Approach

2 Abstract: This study investigated the impact of Electricity Production, Industrial Value Addition, GDP and Gross Capital Formation on Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan. For finding the long run and short run relationship between different economic factors and FDI Inflow, ARDL approach to co-integration has been used on the time series data of Pakistan from 1976 to 2010. Findings of the study show, in the long-run, Gross Capital Formation and Electricity Production has significant and positive impact on FDI inflow. Findings also suggest, in short-run, previous year Industrial Value Addition and current year Industrial Value Addition positively affects FDI inflow in Pakistan. Based on these finding study draws the conclusion that there is a need of FDI inflow in Pakistan and if the local investor makes investment in Pakistan then it will encourage foreign investor to come and invest in Pakistan. Moreover, due to shortage of electricity production, the volume of FDI Inflow is decreasing year by year and Government of Pakistan should produce more electricity to attract more FDI inflow. Industrial contribution and value addition also attract FDI inflow in Pakistan. Therefore, Government should take the corrective action for industrial development.
Denoising and Dimensionality Reduction Using Multilinear Tools for Hyperspectral Images

In hyperspectral image (HSI) analysis, classification requires spectral dimensionality reduction (DR). While common DR methods use linear algebra, we propose a multilinear algebra method to jointly achieve denoising reduction and DR. Multilinear tools consider HSI data as a whole by processing jointly spatial and spectral ways. The lower rank-(K<sub>1</sub>, K<sub>2</sub>, K<sub>3</sub>) tensor approximation [LRTA-(K<sub>1</sub>, K<sub>2</sub>, K<sub>3</sub>)] was successfully applied to denoise multiway data such as color images. First, we demonstrate that the LRTA-(K<sub>1</sub>, K<sub>2</sub>, K<sub>3</sub>) performs well as a denoising preprocessing to improve classification results. Then, we propose a novel method, referred to as LRTA<sub>dr</sub>-(K<sub>1</sub>, K<sub>2</sub>, D<sub>3</sub>), which performs both spatial lower rank approximation and spectral DR. The classification algorithm Spectral Angle Mapper is applied to the output of the following three DR and noise reduction methods to compare their efficiency: the proposed LRTA<sub>dr</sub>-(K<sub>1</sub>, K<sub>2</sub>, D<sub>3</sub>), PCA<sub>dr</sub>, and PCA<sub>dr</sub> associated with Wiener filtering or soft shrinkage of wavelet transform coefficients.
Institutional Quality and the Gains from Trade

While theoretical models suggest that trade is likely to increase productivity and income levels, the empirical evidence is rather mixed. For some countries, trade has a strong impact on growth, whereas for other countries there is no or even a negative linkage. We examine one likely prerequisite for a welfare increasing impact of trade, that is, the role of institutional quality. Using several model specifications, including an instrumental variable approach, we identify those aspects of institutional quality that matter most for the positive linkage between trade and growth. We find that, above all, labour market regulation is the key to reducing trade-related adjustment costs. Market entry regulations, the efficiency of the tax system, the rule of law and government effectiveness do play a role too. In essence, the results demonstrate that countries with low-quality institutions are less likely to benefit from trade.
A selective enrichment broth for the isolation of Clostridium difficile.

The cycloserine, cefoxitin, fructose agar medium (CCF agar) devised by George et al' and the modification of it where egg yolk is replaced by horse blood (Oxoid CCF agar), have been widely and successfully used for the isolation of Clostridium diffiwile from faecal specimens. '-4 For epidemiological and environmental work where only small numbers of organisms may be present, it is likely that a more sensitive method of culture is required. Hafiz et al used a broth containing p-cresol in studying vaginal carriage of C diffcile5 whilst Wilson et a16 have reported that the incorporation of sodium taurocholate in CCF agar (in place of egg yolk) enhances the recovery of spore forms of C difficile from solid media. We describe the use of cycloserine cefoxitin fructose broth containing 0 1% sodium taurocholate (CCFT broth) for the isolation of C diffjile from vaginal and faecal specimens. women attending the Department of Genital Medicine (DGM). Groups IVa and IVb were mothers attending the matemity unit. Predelivery high vaginal swabs were taken by the midwife at onset of labour. Post delivery vaginal swabs were taken just prior to discharge. Group V were the babies delivered to mothers in group IV.
Measurement of DNA damage after acute exposure to pulsed‐wave 2450 MHz microwaves in rat brain cells by two alkaline comet assay methods

Purpose: To investigate the effect of 2450 MHz pulsed‐wave microwaves on the induction of DNA damage in brain cells of exposed rats and to discover whether proteinase K is needed to detect DNA damage in the brain cells of rats exposed to 2450 MHz microwaves. Materials and methods: Sprague–Dawley rats were exposed to 2450 MHz pulsed‐wave microwaves and sacrificed 4 h after a 2‐h exposure. Rats irradiated whole‐body with 1 Gy 137Cs were included as positive controls. DNA damage was assayed by two variants of the alkaline comet assay on separate aliquots of the same cell preparation. Results: Significant DNA damage was observed in the rat brain cells of rats exposed to γ‐rays using both versions of the alkaline comet assay independent of the presence or absence of proteinase K. However, neither version of the assay could detect any difference in comet length and/or normalized comet moment between sham‐ and 2450 MHz pulsed‐wave microwave‐exposed rats, regardless of the inclusion or omission of proteinase K in the comet assay. Conclusions: No DNA damage in brain cells was detected following exposure of rats to 2450 MHz microwaves pulsed‐wave at a specific absorption rate of 1.2 W kg−1 regardless of whether or not proteinase K was included in the assay. Thus, the results support the conclusion that low‐level 2450 MHz pulsed‐wave microwave exposures do not induce DNA damage detectable by the alkaline comet assay.
E-HRM: innovation or irritation - explorative empirical study in five large companies on web-based HRM

Technological optimistic voices assume that, from a technical perspective, the IT possibilities for HRM are endless: in principal all HR processes can be supported by IT. E-HRM is the relatively new term for this IT supported HRM, especially through the use of web technology. This paper aims at demystifying e-HRM by answering the following questions: what actually is e-HRM? , what are the goals of starting with e-HRM? , what types can be distinguished? and what are the outcomes of e-HRM? Based upon the literature, an e-HRM research model is developed and, guided by this model, five organizations have been studied that have already been on the ? e-HR road? for a number of years. We conclude that the goals of e-HRM are mainly to improve HR? s administrative efficiency/to achieve cost reduction. Next to this goals, international companies seem to use the introduction of e-HRM to standardize/harmonize HR policies and processes. Further, there is a ? gap? between e-HRM in a technical sense and e-HRM in a practical sense in the five companies involved in our study. Finally, e-HRM hardly helped to improve employee competences, but resulted in cost reduction and a reduction of the administrative burden.
Bioactive Titanate Layers Formed on Titanium and Its Alloys by Simple Chemical and Heat Treatments

To reveal general principles for obtaining bone-bonding bioactive metallic titanium, Ti metal was heat-treated after exposure to a solution with different pH. The material formed an apatite layer at its surface in simulated body fluid when heat-treated after exposure to a strong acid or alkali solution, because it formed a positively charged titanium oxide and negatively charged sodium titanate film on its surface, respectively. Such treated these Ti metals tightly bonded to living bone. Porous Ti metal heat-treated after exposure to an acidic solution exhibited not only osteoconductive, but also osteoinductive behavior. Porous Ti metal exposed to an alkaline solution also exhibits osteoconductivity as well as osteoinductivity, if it was subsequently subjected to acid and heat treatments. These acid and heat treatments were not effective for most Ti-based alloys. However, even those alloys exhibited apatite formation when they were subjected to acid and heat treatment after a NaOH treatment, since the alloying elements were removed from the surface by the latter. The NaOH and heat treatments were also not effective for Ti-Zr-Nb-Ta alloys. These alloys displayed apatite formation when subjected to CaCl2 treatment after NaOH treatment, forming Ca-deficient calcium titanate at their surfaces after subsequent heat and hot water treatments. The bioactive Ti metal subjected to NaOH and heat treatments has been clinically used as an artificial hip joint material in Japan since 2007. A porous Ti metal subjected to NaOH, HCl and heat treatments has successfully undergone clinical trials as a spinal fusion device.
Teaching strategy use for oral communication tasks to ESL learners

This thesis investigates the effects of strategy training on ESL learners' strategy use and performance on oral communication tasks. Research into the teaching and learning of speaking in the ESL context is relatively neglected and strategy training is unheard of in very many L2 oral classrooms. A review of strategy research pertaining to the speaking skill has identified unresolved issues, leaving many unanswered questions. To address these issues, this study has adopted a quasi-experimental design and an interventionist study has been implemented in the junior ESL classroom in Hong Kong. The study has identified two major categories of strategies (i. e. direct and indirect) for learners' use in group discussion tasks. Three intact groups were involved in the intervention: one received training in the use of direct strategies, one in indirect strategies, and one had no strategy instruction. A multi-method approach (i. e. task ratings, questionnaires, observations and stimulated recall interviews) has been used to assess the impact of the intervention on students' strategy use and task performance. The findings show that that it may be useful to teach ESL students in the use of direct and indirect strategies for oral communications tasks. Direct strategy use may be related to language improvement whereas indirect strategy use may be related to task effectiveness and language improvement. It may be desirable to help low-proficiency students to develop strategic competence to compensate for their lack of linguistic competence. Last but not least, it may be desirable to adopt a systematic, eclectic approach to assessing the impact of strategy training and to incorporate the stimulated recall methodology to the teaching and research of the speaking skill as a unique avenue to students' thoughts and learning processes.
Finite length analysis of caching-aided coded multicasting

In this work we study a noiseless broadcast link serving K users whose requests arise from a library of N files. Every user is equipped with a cache of size M files each. It has been shown that by splitting all the files into packets and placing individual packets in a random independent manner across all the caches, it requires at most N/M file transmissions for any set of demands from the library. The achievable delivery scheme involves linearly combining packets of different files following a greedy clique cover solution to the underlying index coding problem. This remarkable multiplicative gain of decentralized random caching has been established in the asymptotic regime when the number of packets per file F, scales to infinity. In this work, we initiate the finite-length analysis of random caching schemes when the number of packets F is a function of the system parameters M, N, K. Specifically, we show that existing random placement and greedy clique cover delivery schemes, while providing large gains in the asymptotic regime, can have at most a multiplicative gain of 2 if the number of packets is sub-exponential. Further, for any clique cover based coded delivery and a large class of random caching schemes, that includes the existing ones, we show that the number of packets required to get a multiplicative gain of 2g is at least O((N/M)g). We exhibit a caching and an efficient clique cover based coded delivery scheme that approximately achieves this lower bound. We also provide tight concentration results that show that the average (over the random caching involved) number of transmissions concentrates very well with only polynomial number of packets in the rest of the parameters.
A Sparsity-Driven Approach for Joint SAR Imaging and Phase Error Correction

Image formation algorithms in a variety of applications have explicit or implicit dependence on a mathematical model of the observation process. Inaccuracies in the observation model may cause various degradations and artifacts in the reconstructed images. The application of interest in this paper is synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging, which particularly suffers from motion-induced model errors. These types of errors result in phase errors in SAR data, which cause defocusing of the reconstructed images. Particularly focusing on imaging of fields that admit a sparse representation, we propose a sparsity-driven method for joint SAR imaging and phase error correction. Phase error correction is performed during the image formation process. The problem is set up as an optimization problem in a nonquadratic regularization-based framework. The method involves an iterative algorithm, where each iteration of which consists of consecutive steps of image formation and model error correction. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the approach for various types of phase errors, as well as the improvements that it provides over existing techniques for model error compensation in SAR.
Cognitive Control: Componential or Emergent?

The past 25 years have witnessed an increasing awareness of the importance of cognitive control in the regulation of complex behavior. It now sits alongside attention, memory, language, and thinking as a distinct domain within cognitive psychology. At the same time it permeates each of these sibling domains. This introduction reviews recent work on cognitive control in an attempt to provide a context for the fundamental question addressed within this topic: Is cognitive control to be understood as resulting from the interaction of multiple distinct control processes, or are the phenomena of cognitive control emergent?
Three-dimensional Simulation of Gamma-Ray Emission from Asymmetric Supernovae and Hypernovae

Hard X- and γ-ray spectra and light curves resulting from radioactive decays are computed for aspherical (jetlike) and energetic supernova models (representing the prototypical hypernova SN 1998bw), using a three-dimensional energy- and time-dependent Monte Carlo scheme. The emission is characterized by (1) early emergence of high-energy emission, (2) large line-to-continuum ratio, and (3) large cutoff energy by photoelectric absorption in hard X-ray energies. These three properties are not sensitively dependent on the direction to the observer. On the other hand, fluxes and line profiles depend sensitively on the direction to the observer, showing larger luminosity and larger degree of blueshift for an observer closer to the polar (z) direction. Strategies to derive the degree of asphericity and the direction to the observer from (future) observations are suggested on the basis of these features, and an estimate of the detectability of the high-energy emission by INTEGRAL and future observatories is presented. Also presented is an examination of the applicability of a gray effective γ-ray opacity for computing the energy deposition rate in the aspherical SN ejecta. Detailed three-dimensional computations show that an effective γ-ray opacity κγ ~ 0.025-0.027 cm2 g-1 reproduces the detailed energy-dependent transport for both spherical and aspherical (jetlike) geometry.
Learning to Probabilistically Identify Authoritative Documents

We describe a model of document citation that learns to identify hubs and authorities in a set of linked documents, such as pages retrieved from the world wide web, or papers retrieved from a research paper archive. Unlike the popular HITS algorithm, which relies on dubious statistical assumptions, our model provides probabilistic estimates that have clear semantics. We also (cid:12)nd that in general, the identi(cid:12)ed authoritative documents correspond better to human intuition.
Prevalence and Significance of Prominent Mucin Pools in the Esophagus Post Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy for Barrett's-Associated Adenocarcinoma

Occasionally, patients with Barrett's-associated adenocarcinoma who received preoperative chemoradiotherapy (chemrad) show prominent mucin pools in their resection specimen, but the prognostic significance of this finding has never been investigated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical and pathologic features, and prognostic significance, of prominent mucin pools in 21 patients identified from a cohort of 192 consecutive cancer patients (prevalence rate, 10.9%) who had an esophagectomy (post-chemrad) for adenocarcinoma. The clinical and pathologic features and follow-up data were evaluated in 21 patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and with prominent mucin pools (male-to-female ratio, 21:0; mean age, 61 years) and compared with a control group of 19 consecutive chemrad-treated and stage-matched esophageal adenocarcinoma patients who had either minimal microscopic (9 cases) or no (10 cases), residual disease present in their resection specimen (male-to-female ratio, 18:1; mean age, 62 years). Of the 21 study patients, 7 (33%) had acellular mucin pools with no residual tumor, 7 (33%) showed rare isolated tumor cells within mucin pools, and 7 (33%) had acellular mucin pools with microscopic foci of residual adenocarcinoma in tissue adjacent to, but not within, mucin pools. In total, 2 cases (9%) showed mucin pools limited to the submucosa, 5 (24%) showed involvement of the muscularis propria, and 14 (67%) showed mucin pools within the muscularis propria and adventitia. Four cases (19%) showed involvement of the radial resection margin with acellular mucin pools. Thirteen study patients (62%) contained acellular mucin pools within regional lymph nodes. A significantly higher proportion of patients with prominent mucin pools had mucinous adenocarcinoma prior to neoadjuvant therapy, compared with control patients without mucin pools (12 of 21 (57%) vs. 1 of 19 (5%), P < 0.001). Upon follow-up (mean, 27 months; range, 5-84 months), none of the study patients with prominent mucin pools died of disease (0%), in comparison to 5 of 19 (26%) control patients (mean follow-up, 27 months; range, 3-64 months) (P = 0.02). None of the patients who had acellular mucin pools involving the radial margin developed recurrence or metastasis or died of disease. Prominent mucin pools in resection specimens from patients with Barrett's esophagus-associated adenocarcinoma who received preoperative chemrad are associated with mucinous tumors and are not associated with poor survival, even when acellular mucin pools involve the radial margin, and, thus, should not be interpreted as evidence of residual viable adenocarcinoma.