Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consumer-Brand Relationships under the Marketing 3.0 Paradigm: A Literature Review

Consumer-brand relationships encompass several dimensions, most of which have attracted growing research attention during the last years. Building these relationships is especially important in the marketing 3.0 era, where it is suggested that customers will choose those brands that satisfy their deepest needs. With these ideas in mind, this article provides a review of two key concepts implied in such relationships: brand love and customer engagement. Although both conceptions focus on different stages of consumer-brand relationships, they actually cover different perspectives on the same process. Moreover, they come from diverse conceptual paradigms: whilst brand love comes from the psychology discipline, engagement derives from diverse areas of the marketing field (e.g., the service-dominant logic perspective). However, their further empirical developments have taken place in marketing. Besides, both terms appear to be applied to different empirical perspectives: brand love is usually linked to the Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry and customer engagement to services.
La enhances IRES-mediated translation of laminin B1 during malignant epithelial to mesenchymal transition

The majority of transcripts that harbor an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) are involved in cancer development via corresponding proteins. A crucial event in tumor progression referred to as epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) allows carcinoma cells to acquire invasive properties. The translational activation of the extracellular matrix component laminin B1 (LamB1) during EMT has been recently reported suggesting an IRES-mediated mechanism. In this study, the IRES activity of LamB1 was determined by independent bicistronic reporter assays. Strong evidences exclude an impact of cryptic promoter or splice sites on IRES-driven translation of LamB1. Furthermore, no other LamB1 mRNA species arising from alternative transcription start sites or polyadenylation signals were detected that account for its translational control. Mapping of the LamB1 5′-untranslated region (UTR) revealed the minimal LamB1 IRES motif between −293 and −1 upstream of the start codon. Notably, RNA affinity purification showed that the La protein interacts with the LamB1 IRES. This interaction and its regulation during EMT were confirmed by ribonucleoprotein immunoprecipitation. In addition, La was able to positively modulate LamB1 IRES translation. In summary, these data indicate that the LamB1 IRES is activated by binding to La which leads to translational upregulation during hepatocellular EMT.
Chromosome Evolution in Xenarthra: New Insights from an Ancient Group

The Magnaorder Xenarthra is one of the four main supraordinal eutherian clades, together with Afrotheria, Euarchontoglires and Laurasiatheria. Xenarthra is an eminently Central and South American group of special interest in phylogenetic studies due to its possible position at the base of the eutherian tree. The use of modern cytogenetic techniques in some species of Xenarthra has provided important insights into the karyotypic evolution of mammals. Nevertheless, chromosome analyses in the group are still restricted, with only a few individuals of each species studied and karyotype descriptions mostly without banding patterns. In addition, it is likely that still unknown species exist and that the chromosome variability in the group is underestimated. We present a review of the currently available data on Xenarthra chromosomes and genomes and on the impact that their study has had in the understanding of mammalian genome evolution. It is clear that further cytogenetic analyses in Xenarthra, including banding patterns and molecular approaches, are likely to help in the identification of new species, reveal still undetected chromosome variations, provide information to support conservation strategies planning, and greatly contribute to a better understanding of mammalian genome evolution.
SPGrid

We introduce a new method for fluid simulation on high-resolution adaptive grids which rivals the throughput and parallelism potential of methods based on uniform grids. Our enabling contribution is SPGrid, a new data structure for compact storage and efficient stream processing of sparsely populated uniform Cartesian grids. SPGrid leverages the extensive hardware acceleration mechanisms inherent in the x86 Virtual Memory Management system to deliver sequential and stencil access bandwidth comparable to dense uniform grids. Second, we eschew tree-based adaptive data structures in favor of storing simulation variables in a pyramid of sparsely populated uniform grids, thus avoiding the cost of indirect memory access associated with pointer-based representations. We show how the costliest algorithmic kernels of fluid simulation can be implemented as a composition of two kernel types: (a) stencil operations on a single sparse uniform grid, and (b) structured data transfers between adjacent levels of resolution, even when modeling non-graded octrees. Finally, we demonstrate an adaptive multigrid-preconditioned Conjugate Gradient solver that achieves resolution-independent convergence rates while admitting a lightweight implementation with a modest memory footprint. Our method is complemented by a new interpolation scheme that reduces dissipative effects and simplifies dynamic grid adaptation. We demonstrate the efficacy of our method in end-to-end simulations of smoke flow.
It's about time : temporal representations for synthetic characters

Inspired by recent work in ethology and animal training, we integrate representations for time and rate into a behavior-based architecture for autonomous virtual creatures. The resulting computational model of affect and action selection allows these creatures to discover and refine their understanding of apparent temporal causality relationships which may or may not involve self-action. The fundamental action selection choice that a creature must make in order to satisfy its internal needs is whether to explore, react or exploit. In this architecture, that choice is informed by an understanding of apparent temporal causality, the representation for which is integrated into the representation for action. The ability to accommodate changing ideas about causality allows the creature to exist in and adapt to a dynamic world. Not only is such a model suitable for computational systems, but its derivation from biological models suggests that it may also be useful for gaining a new perspective on learning in biological systems. The implementation of a complete character built using this architecture is able to reproduce a variety of conditioning phenomena, as well as learn using a training technique used with live animals. It’s about Time: Temporal Representations for Synthetic Characters by Robert Carrington Burke The following people served as readers for this thesis: Reader: Whitman Richards Professor MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Reader: Charles Ransom Gallistel Professor Center for Cognitive Science Rutgers University
High-grade spondylolisthesis treated using a modified Bohlman technique: results among multiple surgeons.

OBJECT The ideal surgical management of high-grade spondylolisthesis remains unclear. Concerns regarding the original Bohlman transsacral interbody fusion technique with stand-alone autologous fibular strut include late graft fracture and incomplete reduction of lumbosacral kyphosis. The authors' goal was to evaluate the radiographic and surgical outcomes of patients treated for high-grade spondylolisthesis with either transsacral S-1 screws or standard pedicle screw fixation augmenting the Bohlman posterior transsacral interbody fusion technique. METHODS A retrospective review of patients who underwent fusion for high-grade spondylolisthesis in which a Bohlman oblique posterior interbody fusion augmented with either transsacral or standard pedicle screw fixation was performed by 4 spine surgeons was completed. Estimated blood loss, operating time, perioperative complications, and need for revision surgery were evaluated. Upright pre- and postsurgical lumbar spine radiographs were compared for slip percent and slip angle. RESULTS Sixteen patients (12 female and 4 male) with an average age of 29 years (range 9-66 years) were evaluated. The average clinical follow-up was 78 months (range 5-137 months) and the average radiographic follow-up was 48 months (range 5-108 months). Ten L4-S1 and 6 L5-S1 fusions were performed. Five fibular struts and 11 titanium mesh cages were used for interbody fusion. Six patients had isolated transsacral screws placed, with 2 (33%) of the 6 requiring revision surgery for nonunion. No nonunions were observed in patients undergoing spanning pedicle screw fixation augmenting the interbody graft. Six patients experienced perioperative complications including 3 iliac crest site infections, 1 L-5 radiculopathy without motor involvement, 1 deep vein thrombosis, and 1 epidural hematoma requiring irrigation and debridement. The average estimated blood loss and operating times were 763 ml and 360 minutes, respectively. Slip percent improved from an average of 62% to 37% (n = 16; p < 0.01) and slip angle improved from an average of 18° to 8° (n = 16; p < 0.01). No patient experienced L-5 or other motor deficit postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS The modified Bohlman technique for treatment of high-grade spondylolisthesis has reproducible outcomes among multiple surgeons and results in significant improvements in slip percent and slip angle. Fusion rates were high (14 of 16; 88%), especially with spanning instrumentation augmenting the oblique interbody fusion. Rates of L-5 motor deficit were low in comparison with techniques involving reduction of the anterolisthesis.
Impact of bank competition on the interest rate pass-through in the euro area

This article analyses the impact of loan market competition on the interest rates applied by euro area banks to loans during the period 1994–2004, using a novel measure of competition called the Boone indicator. We find evidence that stronger competition implies significantly lower spreads between bank and market interest rates for most loan market products, in line with expectations. This result implies that stronger competition causes both lower bank interest rates and a stronger pass-through of market rate changes into bank rates. Evidence of the latter is also presented by our Error Correction Model (ECM) for bank rates. Further, banks compensate income losses from increased loan market competition by offering lower deposit rates. Our findings with respect to the loan market rates have important monetary policy implications, as they suggest that measures to promote competition in the European banking sector are likely to render the monetary policy transmission mechanism more effective.
Occlusion detectable stereo-occlusion patterns in camera matrix

In stereo algorithms with more than two cameras, the improvement of accuracy is often reported since they are robust against noise. However, another important aspect of the polynocular stereo, that is the ability of occlusion detection, has been paid less attention. We intensively analyzed the occlusion in the camera matrix stereo (SEA) and developed a simple but effective method to detect the presence of occlusion and to eliminate its effect in the correspondence search. By considering several statistics on the occlusion and the accuracy in the SEA, we derived a few base masks which represent occlusion patterns and are effective for the detection of occlusion. Several experiments using typical indoor scenes showed quite good performance to obtain dense and accurate depth maps even at the occluding boundaries of objects.
Do environmental regulations affect the location decisions of multinational gold mining firms

This paper empirically analyzes the location decisions of the world's major gold mining …rms using a data set of political, economic, regulatory, infrastructural and investment risk variables observed for a large number of gold producing countries since 1975. The aim of the study is to de- termine the signi…cance of environmental stringency in forming location decisions while controlling for other potentially important variables that may aect such decisions. Using both a conditional and a mixed logit regression approach, the study …nds consistently strong country location preferences among multinational gold mining …rms. These preferences paint a picture of an industry attracted to countries that are close to their head o¢ ce, provide a business environment characterized by low levels of …nancial risk and high levels of political stability and predictabil- ity in mining operations. While mining …rms also appear to be attracted to countries that have a clean environment is less strong and uniformly robust. This preference for a clean environment may itself be re‡ective of the strong desire to go to countries that are e¢ ciently run, provide clear rules and regulations, and are secure and predictable in their operations. Moreover, while they prefer to go to countries with low levels of corrup- tion, this characteristic seems less important than the desire for security, transparency and stability in government and operations.Taken together, these preferences for a clean, well-run countries may re‡ect the adoption by mining …rms of a deliberate strategy intended to minimize the risks to their hugely expensive and immobile investments.
MobiCent: a Credit-Based Incentive System for Disruption Tolerant Network

When Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN) is used in commercial environments, incentive mechanism should be employed to encourage cooperation among selfish mobile users. Key challenges in the design of an incentive scheme for DTN are that disconnections among nodes are the norm rather than exception and network topology is time varying. Thus, it is difficult to detect selfish actions that can be launched by mobile users or to pre-determine the routing path to be used. In this paper, we propose MobiCent, a credit-based incentive system for DTN. While MobiCent allows the underlying routing protocol to discover the most efficient paths, it is also incentive compatible. Therefore, using MobiCent, rational nodes will not purposely waste transfer opportunity or cheat by creating non-existing contacts to increase their rewards. MobiCent also provides different payment mechanisms to cater to client that wants to minimize either payment or data delivery delay.
Hospicells derived from ovarian cancer stroma inhibit T‐cell immune responses

With metastatic disease at diagnosis for 70% of patients, ovarian cancer represents the most lethal gynecological malignancy. Ovarian carcinomas are aggressive malignancies that can evade immune surveillance and frequently develop into metastases. The tumor microenvironment is decisive for preventing immune attack but, in the case of ovarian carcinoma, the mechanisms are unclear. We recently isolated a novel type of stromal cell from the ascitis of patients with ovarian carcinoma that interacts with epithelial ovarian cancers conferring them chemoresistance. These cells, called Hospicells, have the cell surface markers CD9, CD10, CD29, CD146 and CD166. Here, we investigated whether Hospicells also have immunomodulatory functions that might interfere with immunity to cancer. We report that Hospicells inhibit the proliferation of human CD4+, CD8+ and Vγ9Vδ2 T cells in vitro and the production of cytokines by these immune cells. The immunosuppression of CD4+ T cells is independent of direct contact with the Hospicells and is mainly due to nitric oxide produced by the inducible nitric oxide synthase and to products of the tryptophan degradation by indoleamine 2,3‐dioxygenase. We proposed that Hospicells in the microenvironment of the tumor mediate immunosuppression of T cells and thus allow ovarian cancers to evade immune surveillance. Targeting of Hospicells could be an alternative to strong chemotherapy through the recovery of immune responses against tumor cells.
Src Family Kinases (SFK) Mediate Angiotensin II-Induced Myosin Light Chain Phosphorylation and Hypertension

Angiotensin (Ang) II is the major bioactive peptide of the renin–angiotensin system (RAS); it contributes to the pathogenesis of hypertension by inducing vascular contraction and adverse remodeling, thus elevated peripheral resistance. Ang II also activates Src family kinases (SFK) in the vascular system, which has been implicated in cell proliferation and migration. However, the role of SFK in Ang II-induced hypertension is largely unknown. In this study, we found that administration of a SFK inhibitor SU6656 markedly lowered the level of systemic BP in Ang II-treated mice, which was associated with an attenuated phosphorylation of the smooth-muscle myosin-light-chain (MLC) in the mesenteric resistant arteries. In the cultured human coronary artery smooth muscle cells (SMCs), pretreatment with SU6656 blocked Ang II-induced MLC phosphorylation and contraction. These results for the first time demonstrate that SFK directly regulate vascular contractile machinery to influence BP. Thus our study provides an additional mechanistic link between Ang II and vasoconstriction via SFK-enhanced MLC phosphorylation in SMCs, and suggests that targeted inhibition of Src may provide a new therapeutic opportunity in the treatment of hypertension.
Uncertainty-driven ensemble forecasting of QoS in Software Defined Networks

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is the key technology for combining networking and Cloud solutions to provide novel applications. SDN offers a number of advantages as the existing resources can be virtualized and orchestrated to provide new services to the end users. Such a technology should be accompanied by powerful mechanisms that ensure the end-to-end quality of service at high levels, thus, enabling support for complex applications that satisfy end users needs. In this paper, we propose an intelligent mechanism that agglomerates the benefits of SDNs with real-time “Big Data” forecasting analytics. The proposed mechanism, as part of the SDN controller, supports predictive intelligence by monitoring a set of network performance parameters, forecasting their future values, and deriving indications on potential service quality violations. By treating the performance measurements as time-series, our mechanism employs a novel ensemble forecasting methodology to estimate their future values. Such predictions are fed to a Type-2 Fuzzy Logic system to deliver, in real-time, decisions related to service quality violations. Such decisions proactively assist the SDN controller for providing the best possible orchestration of the virtualized resources. We evaluate the proposed mechanism w.r. t. precision and recall metrics over synthetic data.
Downlink Traffic Scheduling in Green Vehicular Roadside Infrastructure

In this paper we consider the problem of scheduling for energy-efficient roadside infrastructure. In certain scenarios, vehicle locations can be predicted with a high degree of accuracy, and this information can be used to reduce downlink infrastructure-to-vehicle energy communication costs. Offline scheduling results are first presented that provide lower bounds on the energy needed to satisfy arriving vehicular communication requirements. We show that the packet-based scheduling case can be formulated as a generalization of the classical single-machine job scheduling problem with a tardiness penalty, which is referred to as α-Earliness-Tardiness. A proof is given that shows that even under a simple distance-dependent exponential radio path loss assumption, the problem is NP-complete. The remainder of the paper then focuses on timeslot-based scheduling. We formulate this problem as a Mixed-Integer Linear Program (MILP) that is shown to be solvable in polynomial time using a proposed minimum cost flow graph construction. Three energy-efficient online traffic scheduling algorithms are then introduced for common vehicular scenarios where vehicle position is strongly deterministic. The first, i.e., Greedy Minimum Cost Flow (GMCF), is motivated by our minimum cost flow graph formulation. The other two algorithms have reduced complexity compared with GMCF. The Nearest Fastest Set (NFS) scheduler uses vehicle location and velocity inputs to dynamically schedule communication activity. The Static Scheduler (SS) performs the same task using a simple position-based weighting function. Results from a variety of experiments show that the proposed scheduling algorithms perform well when compared with the energy lower bounds in vehicular situations where path loss has a dominant deterministic component so that energy costs can be estimated. Our results also show that near-optimal results are possible but come with increased computation times compared with our heuristic algorithms.
The Spinal Cord Expression of Neuronal and Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthases and Their Contribution in the Maintenance of Neuropathic Pain in Mice

Background Nitric oxide generated by neuronal (NOS1), inducible (NOS2) or endothelial (NOS3) nitric oxide synthases contributes to pain processing, but the exact role of NOS1 and NOS2 in the maintenance of chronic peripheral neuropathic pain as well as the possible compensatory changes in their expression in the spinal cord of wild type (WT) and NOS knockout (KO) mice at 21 days after total sciatic nerve ligation remains unknown. Methodology/Principal Findings The mechanical and thermal allodynia as well as thermal hyperalgesia induced by sciatic nerve injury was evaluated in WT, NOS1-KO and NOS2-KO mice from 1 to 21 days after surgery. The mRNA and protein levels of NOS1, NOS2 and NOS3 in the spinal cord of WT and KO mice, at 21 days after surgery, were also assessed. Sciatic nerve injury led to a neuropathic syndrome in WT mice, in contrast to the abolished mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia as well as the decreased or suppressed thermal allodynia observed in NOS1-KO and NOS2-KO animals, respectively. Sciatic nerve injury also increases the spinal cord expression of NOS1 and NOS2 isoforms, but not of NOS3, in WT and NOS1-KO mice respectively. Moreover, the presence of NOS2 is required to increase the spinal cord expression of NOS1 whereas an increased NOS1 expression might avoid the up-regulation of NOS2 in the spinal cord of nerve injured WT mice. Conclusions/Significance These data suggest that the increased spinal cord expression of NOS1, regulated by NOS2, might be responsible for the maintenance of chronic peripheral neuropathic pain in mice and propose these enzymes as interesting therapeutic targets for their treatment.
Circulating Tumor Cells and Circulating Tumor DNA: Challenges and Opportunities on the Path to Clinical Utility

Recent technological advances have enabled the detection and detailed characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTC) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in blood samples from patients with cancer. Often referred to as a “liquid biopsy,” CTCs and ctDNA are expected to provide real-time monitoring of tumor evolution and therapeutic efficacy, with the potential for improved cancer diagnosis and treatment. In this review, we focus on these opportunities as well as the challenges that should be addressed so that these tools may eventually be implemented into routine clinical care. Clin Cancer Res; 21(21); 4786–800. ©2015 AACR.
Generalized Fuzzy Torus and its Modular Properties

We consider a generalization of the basic fuzzy torus to a fuzzy torus with non-trivial modular parameter, based on a finite matrix algebra. We discuss the modular properties of this fuzzy torus, and compute the matrix Laplacian for a scalar field. In the semi-classical limit, the generalized fuzzy torus can be used to approximate a generic commutative torus represented by two generic vectors in the complex plane, with generic modular parameter . The effective classical geometry and the spectrum of the Laplacian are correctly reproduced in the limit. The spectrum of a matrix Dirac operator is also computed.