Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measuring the Accountability of Advertising Expenses in the Presence of Sales Cost Inefficiency and Marketing Spillovers

This paper develops a tractable theoretical framework for analyzing the substitutability between different advertising media, the extent of marketing spillovers in the market, the allocative efficiency of advertising spending, and the sources of total advertising productivity and sales growth. Maintaining the separability assumption between sales and production technology, the proposed methodology relies on cost-function decomposition of total factor productivity and the duality between input distance and cost functions. Utilizing a flexible Translog advertising distance function, the methodology is applied to the advertising activity of meat processing firms in Greece during the period 1983-1997. Scale economies in advertising expenses turn out to be an important source of total advertising productivity changes in the Greek meat processing sector. Advertising spillovers are significant contributing to total advertising productivity observed. Our analysis also indicates that improvements in (technical and allocative) advertising efficiency are more important means of enhancing firm returns than improvements in advertising techniques.
Durable remission with salvage second autotransplants in patients with multiple myeloma

High‐dose chemotherapy with autologous hematopoietic cell transplant (auto‐HCT) has been shown to improve survival in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. However, the role of salvage auto‐HCT for relapsed patients, particularly in the era of novel therapeutics, is not well defined.
Immunohistochemical analysis of Bax and AIF in colorectal tumors.

BACKGROUND/AIMS This study had three aims. The first was to determine whether Bax (Bcl-2-associated X protein) and AIF (apoptosis-inducing factor) are expressed in tissue sections of colorectal tumors. The second was to ascertain whether there is any difference in Bax and AIF expression between colorectal polyps, adenomas, and carcinomas. The third aim was to determine whether there is any difference between Bax and AIF expression in colorectal tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS Bax and AIF expression were determined in 20 hyperplastic polyps (HPs), 20 adenomatous polyps (APs), 20 samples of colorectal carcinomas, and 20 samples of normal mucosa by immunohistochemical methods. RESULTS The staining level of Bax and AIF in adenomas and carcinomas was significantly higher than in normal tissues (P<0.01). There was also a significant difference between HPs and APs (P<0.01). The level of Bax and AIF in carcinomas was higher than in adenomas, and the difference was of statistical significance (P<0.01). CONCLUSION This study may be of interest in future research to confirm whether the changed expression of Bax and/or AIF between benign and malignant tumors can provide valuable information for the evaluation of colon or other tumors.
Negative Control of Flagellum Synthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Is Modulated by the Alternative Sigma Factor AlgT (AlgU)

ABSTRACT Many respiratory isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosafrom cystic fibrosis patients are mucoid (alginate producing) yet lack flagella. It was hypothesized that an alginate regulator inhibits flagellar gene expression. Mutations in algB,algR, and algT resulted in nonmucoid derivatives, yet algT mutants expressed flagella. AlgT-dependent control of flagellum synthesis occurred through inhibition of fliC but not rpoN transcription.
Serum S100A6 Concentration Predicts Peritoneal Tumor Burden in Mice with Epithelial Ovarian Cancer and Is Associated with Advanced Stage in Patients

Background Ovarian cancer is the 5th leading cause of cancer related deaths in women. Five-year survival rates for early stage disease are greater than 94%, however most women are diagnosed in advanced stage with 5 year survival less than 28%. Improved means for early detection and reliable patient monitoring are needed to increase survival. Methodology and Principal Findings Applying mass spectrometry-based proteomics, we sought to elucidate an unanswered biomarker research question regarding ability to determine tumor burden detectable by an ovarian cancer biomarker protein emanating directly from the tumor cells. Since aggressive serous epithelial ovarian cancers account for most mortality, a xenograft model using human SKOV-3 serous ovarian cancer cells was established to model progression to disseminated carcinomatosis. Using a method for low molecular weight protein enrichment, followed by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis, a human-specific peptide sequence of S100A6 was identified in sera from mice with advanced-stage experimental ovarian carcinoma. S100A6 expression was documented in cancer xenografts as well as from ovarian cancer patient tissues. Longitudinal study revealed that serum S100A6 concentration is directly related to tumor burden predictions from an inverse regression calibration analysis of data obtained from a detergent-supplemented antigen capture immunoassay and whole-animal bioluminescent optical imaging. The result from the animal model was confirmed in human clinical material as S100A6 was found to be significantly elevated in the sera from women with advanced stage ovarian cancer compared to those with early stage disease. Conclusions S100A6 is expressed in ovarian and other cancer tissues, but has not been documented previously in ovarian cancer disease sera. S100A6 is found in serum in concentrations that correlate with experimental tumor burden and with clinical disease stage. The data signify that S100A6 may prove useful in detecting and/or monitoring ovarian cancer, when used in concert with other biomarkers.
Pulse Distortion Caused by Cylinder Diffraction and Its Impact on UWB Communications

One of the characteristics of UWB signals is pulse distortion, inherently determined by its huge bandwidth. Using cylinder model as an example, pulse distortion and its impacts on UWB system performance have been investigated. Although a lot of papers addressed the pulse distortion issue, quantifying the impacts of pulse distortion on the system performance appears to be novel. The simulation result shows that a SNR loss caused by template mismatch could reach as high as 4 dB. It is also found that the range error caused by pulse distortion is much larger than the Cramer Rao lower bound (CRLB) and thus another source of errors fundamentally limiting the accuracies of time of arrivals (TOA) of a received signal. These results have direct applications in timing synchronization and positioning
Robust Distributed Detection with Total Power Constraint in Large Wireless Sensor Networks

In practical problems of signal detection, it is quite common that the underlying noise distribution is not Gaussian and may vary in a wide range from light- to heavy-tailed forms. To design a robust fusion rule for distributed detection in wireless sensor networks, an asymptotic maximin approach is used by introducing weak signals in the canonical parallel fusion model. Explicit formulas for the detection and false alarm probabilities are derived. The analytic results are written out for the classes of nondegenerate, with a bounded variance and contaminated Gaussian noise distributions. Numerical and simulation results are obtained to justify robustness and asymptotic characteristics of the proposed fusion rule.
Evidence of the Most Stretchable Egg Sac Silk Stalk, of the European Spider of the Year Meta menardi

Spider silks display generally strong mechanical properties, even if differences between species and within the same species can be observed. While many different types of silks have been tested, the mechanical properties of stalks of silk taken from the egg sac of the cave spider Meta menardi have not yet been analyzed. Meta menardi has recently been chosen as the “European spider of the year 2012”, from the European Society of Arachnology. Here we report a study where silk stalks were collected directly from several caves in the north-west of Italy. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) images showed that stalks are made up of a large number of threads, each of them with diameter of 6.03±0.58 µm. The stalks were strained at the constant rate of 2 mm/min, using a tensile testing machine. The observed maximum stress, strain and toughness modulus, defined as the area under the stress-strain curve, are 0.64 GPa, 751% and 130.7 MJ/m3, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, such an observed huge elongation has never been reported for egg sac silk stalks and suggests a huge unrolling microscopic mechanism of the macroscopic stalk that, as a continuation of the protective egg sac, is expected to be composed by fibres very densely and randomly packed. The Weibull statistics was used to analyze the results from mechanical testing, and an average value of Weibull modulus (m) is deduced to be in the range of 1.5–1.8 with a Weibull scale parameter (σ 0) in the range of 0.33–0.41 GPa, showing a high coefficient of correlation (R2 = 0.97).
The Impact of Socio-Demographic and Religious Factors upon Sexual Behavior among Ugandan University Students

Introduction More knowledge is needed about structural factors in society that affect risky sexual behaviors. Educational institutions such as universities provide an opportune arena for interventions among young people. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between sociodemographic and religious factors and their impact on sexual behavior among university students in Uganda. Methods In 2005, 980 university students (response rate 80%) were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire. Validated instruments were used to assess socio-demographic and religious factors and sexual behavior. Logistic regression analyses were applied. Results Our findings indicated that 37% of the male and 49% of the female students had not previously had sex. Of those with sexual experience, 46% of the males and 23% of the females had had three or more sexual partners, and 32% of the males and 38% of the females did not consistently use condoms. For those who rated religion as less important in their family, the probability of early sexual activity and having had a high number of lifetime partners increased by a statistically significant amount (OR = 1.7; 95% CI: 1.2–2.4 and OR = 1.6; 95% CI: 1.1–2.3, respectively). However, the role of religion seemed to have no impact on condom use. Being of Protestant faith interacted with gender: among those who had debuted sexually, Protestant female students were more likely to have had three or more lifetime partners; the opposite was true for Protestant male students. Conclusion Religion emerged as an important determinant of sexual behavior among Ugandan university students. Our findings correlate with the increasing number of conservative religious injunctions against premarital sex directed at young people in many countries with a high burden. of HIV/AIDS. Such influence of religion must be taken into account in order to gain a deeper understanding of the forces that shape sexual behavior in Uganda.
Role of muscle insulin-like growth factors in nerve sprouting: suppression of terminal sprouting in paralyzed muscle by IGF-binding protein 4

The protracted absence of muscle activation initiates complex cellular and molecular reactions aimed at restoring functional neuromuscular transmission and preventing degenerative processes. A central aspect of these reactions is the sprouting of intramuscular nerves in the vicinity of inactivated muscle fibers. Sprouts emerging from terminal nerve branches and nodes of Ranvier can reestablish functional contacts with inactive muscle fibers, and this is an essential restorative process in pathological conditions of the neuromuscular system. Due to their rapid upregulation in inactive skeletal muscle fibers and their ability to induce nerve sprouting in adult muscle, insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are candidate signaling molecules to promote restorative reactions in the neuromuscular system. In this study we have exploited the high affinity and specificity of IGF-binding protein 4 (IGF-BP4) and IGF-BP5 for IGF1 and IGF2 to determine whether these growth factors are involved in the nerve sprouting reaction in paralyzed skeletal muscle. In tissue culture experiments with sensory- and motoneurons we demonstrate that the neurite promoting activity of IGF1 is blocked by IGF-BP4, and that a similar IGF-BP-sensitive activity is detected in muscle extracts from paralyzed, but not from control muscle. In in vivo experiments, we show that local delivery of IGF-BP4 to Botulinum toxin A-paralyzed skeletal muscle effectively prevents nerve sprouting in that muscle. Our findings indicate that muscle IGFs play an essential role in intramuscular nerve sprouting. In addition, these findings suggest that IGFs are major signaling factors from inactivated muscle to promote local restorative reactions, including interstitial cell proliferation and nerve sprouting.
Affect and Usage Choices in Simulation Problem-Solving Environments

We investigate the relationship between a student's affect and how he or she chooses to use a simulation problem-solving environment, using quantitative field observations. Within the environment studied, many students were observed gaming the system (cf. Baker et al, 2004), while few students engaged in off-task behavior. We analyze which affective states co-occur with gaming the system, and which affective states precede gaming behavior. Boredom and confusion appear both to precede gaming behavior and to co-occur with gaming behavior; delight and flow are negatively associated with gaming behavior.
2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin Induces Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 2 in Murine B Cells

The B cell, a major component of humoral immunity, is a sensitive target for the immunotoxic effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), possibly by rendering cells less responsive to antigenic or mitogenic stimulation. Potential mechanisms of TCDD action on B cells were examined in murine B cell lymphoma cells (CH12.LX) treated with 3 nM TCDD or dimethyl sulfoxide vehicle using sequence-verified cDNA microarrays. One transcript that was significantly induced by TCDD was suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (Socs2). Changes in Socs2 mRNA levels paralleled that of Cyp1a1 with a maximal 3-fold induction observed at 4 h, as determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Socs2 induction seems B cell-specific, because no induction was observed in TCDD-responsive mouse hepatoma cells or human breast cancer cells. TCDD-mediated induction of Socs2 mRNA was dose-dependent and exhibited the characteristic structure-activity relationships observed for the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) ligands 3,3′,4,4′,5-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB-126), indolo[3,2-b]-carbazole, and β-naphthoflavone. Experiments with cycloheximide and AhR-deficient B cells indicated that Socs2 mRNA induction is a primary effect that is AhR-dependent. Western blot analysis confirmed that Socs2 and Cyp1a1 protein levels were also induced in CH12.LX cells. Promoter analysis revealed the presence of four dioxin-response elements within 1000 base pairs upstream of the Socs2 transcriptional start site, and a reporter gene regulated by the Socs2 promoter was inducible by TCDD. Promoter activity was also dependent on a functional AhR signaling pathway. These results indicate that Socs2 is a primary TCDD-inducible gene that may represent a novel mechanism by which TCDD elicits its immunosuppressive effects.
Pesticide residues in the Canadian Market Basket Survey 1992 to 1996

Market basket food samples from six Canadian cities collected from 1992 to 1996 were analysed for pesticide residues. One hundred and thirty-six composites were prepared for each city, representing 99% of the Canadian diet. Residues were found most frequently in peanut butter and butter. DDE, malathion and captan occurred most frequently, while the fungicides chlorothalonil, dicloran and captan were present in the highest concentrations. Processed commodities contained fewer residues and at lower concentrations than the raw products. No residues were detected in either milk or soy-based infant formula. Of the infant foods sampled, fruit contained both the greatest number and highest concentrations of pesticides.
Involvement of the Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway in the Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Fibrosis in Endometriosis

Background During the development and progression of endometriotic lesions, excess fibrosis may lead to scarring, chronic pain, and altered tissue function. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of fibrosis in endometriosis remain to be clarified. Objectives The objective of the present study was to investigate whether the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was involved in regulating the cellular and molecular mechanisms of fibrosis in endometriosis in vitro and to evaluate whether fibrosis could be prevented by targeting the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in a xenograft model of endometriosis in immunodeficient nude mice. Methods Seventy patients (40 with and 30 without endometriosis) with normal menstrual cycles were recruited. In vitro effects of small-molecule antagonists of the Tcf/β-catenin complex (PKF 115-584 and CGP049090) on fibrotic markers (alpha smooth muscle actin, type I collagen, connective tissue growth factor, fibronectin) and collagen gel contraction were evaluated in endometrial and endometriotic stromal cells from patients with endometriosis. In vitro effects of activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by treatment with recombinant Wnt3a on profibrotic responses were evaluated in endometrial stromal cells of patients without endometriosis. The effects of CGP049090 treatment on the fibrosis of endometriotic implants were evaluated in a xenograft model of endometriosis in immunodeficient nude mice. Results Treatment with PKF 115-584 and CGP049090 significantly decreased the expression of alpha smooth muscle actin, type I collagen, connective tissue growth factor and fibronectin mRNAs in both endometriotic and endometrial stromal cells with or without transforming growth factor-β1 stimulation. Both endometriotic and endometrial stromal cell-mediated contraction of collagen gels was significantly decreased by treatment with PKF 115-584 and CGP049090 as compared to that of untreated cells. The animal experiments showed that CGP049090 prevented the progression of fibrosis and reversed established fibrosis in endometriosis. Conclusion Aberrant activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway may be involved in mediating fibrogenesis in endometriosis.
ConCORD: easily exploiting memory content redundancy through the content-aware service command

We argue that memory content-tracking across the nodes of a parallel machine should be factored into a distinct platform service on top of which application services can be built. ConCORD is a proof-of-concept system that we have developed and evaluated to test this claim. Our core insight is that many application services can be described as a query over memory content. This insight leads to a core concept in ConCORD, the content-aware service command architecture, in which an application service is implemented as a parametrization of a single general query that ConCORD knows how to execute well. ConCORD dynamically adapts the execution of the query to the amount of redundancy available and other factors. We show that a complex application service (collective checkpointing) can be implemented in only hundreds of lines of code within ConCORD, while performing well.
Case-control study of the association between malignant brain tumours diagnosed between 2007 and 2009 and mobile and cordless phone use

Previous studies have shown a consistent association between long-term use of mobile and cordless phones and glioma and acoustic neuroma, but not for meningioma. When used these phones emit radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) and the brain is the main target organ for the hand-held phone. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified in May, 2011 RF-EMF as a group 2B, i.e. a ‘possible’ human carcinogen. The aim of this study was to further explore the relationship between especially long-term (>10 years) use of wireless phones and the development of malignant brain tumours. We conducted a new case-control study of brain tumour cases of both genders aged 18–75 years and diagnosed during 2007–2009. One population-based control matched on gender and age (within 5 years) was used to each case. Here, we report on malignant cases including all available controls. Exposures on e.g. use of mobile phones and cordless phones were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire. Unconditional logistic regression analysis was performed, adjusting for age, gender, year of diagnosis and socio-economic index using the whole control sample. Of the cases with a malignant brain tumour, 87% (n=593) participated, and 85% (n=1,368) of controls in the whole study answered the questionnaire. The odds ratio (OR) for mobile phone use of the analogue type was 1.8, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.04–3.3, increasing with >25 years of latency (time since first exposure) to an OR=3.3, 95% CI=1.6–6.9. Digital 2G mobile phone use rendered an OR=1.6, 95% CI=0.996–2.7, increasing with latency >15–20 years to an OR=2.1, 95% CI=1.2–3.6. The results for cordless phone use were OR=1.7, 95% CI=1.1–2.9, and, for latency of 15–20 years, the OR=2.1, 95% CI=1.2–3.8. Few participants had used a cordless phone for >20–25 years. Digital type of wireless phones (2G and 3G mobile phones, cordless phones) gave increased risk with latency >1–5 years, then a lower risk in the following latency groups, but again increasing risk with latency >15–20 years. Ipsilateral use resulted in a higher risk than contralateral mobile and cordless phone use. Higher ORs were calculated for tumours in the temporal and overlapping lobes. Using the meningioma cases in the same study as reference entity gave somewhat higher ORs indicating that the results were unlikely to be explained by recall or observational bias. This study confirmed previous results of an association between mobile and cordless phone use and malignant brain tumours. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that RF-EMFs play a role both in the initiation and promotion stages of carcinogenesis.