Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proinflammatory Activation of Macrophages by Basic Calcium Phosphate Crystals via Protein Kinase C and MAP Kinase Pathways: A Vicious Cycle of Inflammation and Arterial Calcification?

Basic calcium phosphate (BCP) crystal deposition underlies the development of arterial calcification. Inflammatory macrophages colocalize with BCP deposits in developing atherosclerotic lesions and in vitro can promote calcification through the release of TNF alpha. Here we have investigated whether BCP crystals can elicit a proinflammatory response from monocyte-macrophages. BCP microcrystals were internalized into vacuoles of human monocyte-derived macrophages in vitro. This was associated with secretion of proinflammatory cytokines (TNFα, IL-1β and IL-8) capable of activating cultured endothelial cells and promoting capture of flowing leukocytes under shear flow. Critical roles for PKC, ERK1/2, JNK, but not p38 intracellular signaling pathways were identified in the secretion of TNF alpha, with activation of ERK1/2 but not JNK being dependent on upstream activation of PKC. Using confocal microscopy and adenoviral transfection approaches, we determined a specific role for the PKC-alpha isozyme. The response of macrophages to BCP crystals suggests that pathological calcification is not merely a passive consequence of chronic inflammatory disease but may lead to a positive feed-back loop of calcification and inflammation driving disease progression.
Condensation of cloud microdroplets in homogeneous isotropic turbulence

The growth by condensation of small water droplets in a three-dimensional homogeneous isotropic turbulent flow is considered. Within a simple model of advection and condensation, the dynamics and growth of millions of droplets are integrated. A droplet-size spectra broadening is obtained and it is shown to increase with the Reynolds number of turbulence, by means of two series of direct numerical simulations at increasing resolution. This is a key point towards a proper evaluation of the effects of turbulence for condensation in warm clouds, where the Reynolds numbers typically achieve huge values. The obtained droplet-size spectra broadening as a function of the Reynolds number is shown to be consistent with dimensional arguments. A generalization of this expectation to Reynolds numbers not accessible by DNS is proposed, yielding upper and lower bounds to the actual size-spectra broadening. A further DNS matching the large scales of the system suggests consistency of the picture drawn, while additional effort is needed to evaluate the impact of this effect for condensation in more realistic cloud conditions.
The co-occurrence of DSM-IV alcohol abuse in DSM-IV alcohol dependence: results of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions on heterogeneity that differ by population subgroup.

BACKGROUND In DSM-IV, an alcohol abuse diagnosis is preempted by dependence, although the symptoms of each disorder are different. Consequently, little is known about the extent to which dependence occurs with or without abuse. The distinction is important because of potential heterogeneity in dependence as a phenotype in genetic research, as well as potential underestimation of alcohol dependence when surveys cover dependence symptoms only among those who screen positive for alcohol abuse. OBJECTIVE To present the prevalence of DSM-IV alcohol dependence with and without alcohol abuse in national and population subgroups. DESIGN Face-to-face interviews. SETTING The United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia. PARTICIPANTS Household and group-quarters residents, 18 years and older, in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (N = 42 392). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES DSM-IV alcohol dependence with and without DSM-IV alcohol abuse, assessed with the Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule. RESULTS Among respondents with current alcohol dependence, 33.7% did not additionally meet criteria for abuse (29.0% among men and 46.1% among women). Current dependence without abuse was especially common among minority women (48.5% among African Americans, 55.2% among Hispanics). Among respondents with lifetime diagnoses of dependence, 13.9% did not additionally meet criteria for abuse (10.1% among men, 22.1% among women): proportions were highest among minorities, eg, 29.1% among Hispanic women and 19.2% among Hispanic men. CONCLUSIONS Alcohol abuse does not always accompany alcohol dependence in the general population, especially among women and minorities. Dependence with and without abuse may represent heterogeneous phenotypes for genetic research. Use of alcohol abuse as a screening method for alcohol dependence in large epidemiologic studies will differentially underestimate the prevalence of dependence by subgroup, affecting time trend and comorbidity research. Such underestimation may also perpetuate a lack of services for traditionally underserved groups.
A Novel Co-Crystal Structure Affords the Design of Gain-of-Function Lentiviral Integrase Mutants in the Presence of Modified PSIP1/LEDGF/p75

Lens epithelium derived growth factor (LEDGF), also known as PC4 and SFRS1 interacting protein 1 (PSIP1) and transcriptional co-activator p75, is the cellular binding partner of lentiviral integrase (IN) proteins. LEDGF accounts for the characteristic propensity of Lentivirus to integrate within active transcription units and is required for efficient viral replication. We now present a crystal structure containing the N-terminal and catalytic core domains (NTD and CCD) of HIV-2 IN in complex with the IN binding domain (IBD) of LEDGF. The structure extends the known IN–LEDGF interface, elucidating primarily charge–charge interactions between the NTD of IN and the IBD. A constellation of acidic residues on the NTD is characteristic of lentiviral INs, and mutations of the positively charged residues on the IBD severely affect interaction with all lentiviral INs tested. We show that the novel NTD–IBD contacts are critical for stimulation of concerted lentiviral DNA integration by LEDGF in vitro and for its function during the early steps of HIV-1 replication. Furthermore, the new structural details enabled us to engineer a mutant of HIV-1 IN that primarily functions only when presented with a complementary LEDGF mutant. These findings provide structural basis for the high affinity lentiviral IN–LEDGF interaction and pave the way for development of LEDGF-based targeting technologies for gene therapy.
Time-Cost Trade-Offs in Overlapped Product Development

Increasingly shorter product life cycles impel firms to design, develop, and market more products in less time than ever before. Overlapping of design and development stages is commonly regarded as the most promising strategy to reduce product development times. However, overlapping typically requires additional resources and can be costly.Our research addresses the trade-off between product development time and costs and introduces an algorithm to determine an appropriate overlapping strategy under different scenarios. The methodology developed was successfully employed at Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International.
Learning to Be a Man

This is a timely study of the processes by which male children are socialized, against the backdrop of growing concern among educators, social workers and the general public that Caribbean males are becoming increasingly marginalized. The work is based on qualitative research in urban and rural communities in Dominica, Guyana and Jamaica. The people in the research communities who are the subjects of the study are allowed to speak for themselves, and their voices emerge from the pages with poignant clarity. Readers will, in turn, nod their heads in recognition and shake their heads in disbelief as issues of gender identity, male socialization, male-female relations and parenting skills are discussed.
Re-Examining the Earnings Assimilation of Immigrants

Studies on the earnings assimilation of immigrants have traditionally focused exclusively on immigrants in employment. However, given evidence of immigrants' difficulties in entering and remaining in the labor market, restricting the population to those in employment may entail a selection bias. In addition, the primary variable of interest in such studies is often the duration of residence or the years since migration (YSM), which is interpreted as a proxy for potential labor market experience in the host country. The appropriateness of that proxy will, however, also depend on the extent to which immigrants are able to quickly enter and remain in the labor market. This study thus re-examines evidence on the earnings assimilation of immigrants in light of selection into the labor market and with better information on actual labor market experience in the host country. The findings suggest that a major revision of previous conclusions about the earnings assimilation of immigrants in Norway may be in order.
An empirical investigation of 3D-based information systems success for online retailers

Using the theory of information systems (IS) and theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study aims to investigate the three dimensional (3D) based product presentations success for the online retailers. Particularly, this article is implementing the 3D technology in the laptops industry. In order to test our model, we designed a hypothetical retailer website which presents a variety of laptops. The way we have designed our website allows users to see the presented product from different angles, rotate the product and custom design the colours of the laptops. Further, the designed website allows participants to control the content and form of the 3D flashes. Also the 3D site allows participants to get information about the laptops’ attributes and prices. Our results indicate strong support for the research model. We found that 3D information and system quality are significant determinants for satisfaction and trust which in return impact purchase intention.
Experimental validation of a MATLAB based control architecture for multiple robot outdoor navigation

Design, implementation and experimental validation of a MATLAB based autonomous robot control framework is presented, supported by, and integrated into a distributed field robot architecture known as distributed-SFX. The MATLAB based framework is composed of multi sensor fuzzy logic robot controllers that utilize laser, GPS and odometer data, fusing such sensor data and filtering out noise, to improve collision free navigation. Extensive outdoor environment experiments with single and multiple mobile robots are performed to demonstrate waypoint and goal point navigation, and raster scan search patterns in unknown environments with static and dynamic obstacles. Results and videos are provided to justify the proposed approach
Corporate reporting on the Internet: Audit issues and content analysis of practices

The use of the Internet for financial reporting creates unique opportunities and challenges for the auditing profession. This exploratory study identifies the key audit implications of Internet financial reporting through a comprehensive review of the academic and professional literature. Further, the study analyses the contents of all listed company Websites in New Zealand to assess the nature and extent of current audit‐related Web practices. The relatively high degree of similarity between New Zealand's auditing standards and those of other jurisdictions (e.g. International Standards of Auditing and auditing standards in countries such as the UK, Australia and the USA) contributes towards the international generalisability of the content analysis. The literature review highlighted issues relating to the auditor's role and responsibilities, the audit report, and audit procedures. The results of the content analysis of auditor Web‐related practices reveal several significant concerns for the auditing profession in relation to the presentation, context, and content of the audit report in a Web‐based environment.
Examination on the Flow Characteristic of Crude Oil: Evidence from the Risk-Neutral Moments

This paper examines the information content of risk-neutral moments to explain crude oil futures returns. Implied volatility and higher moments are extracted from observed crude oil option prices using a model-free implied volatility framework and the Black–Scholes model. We find a tenuous and time-varying association between returns and implied volatility and its innovations. Specifically, changes in implied volatility are found to be meaningfully associated with crude returns only over the period spanning the recent financial crisis. The results lead us to conclude that crude oil prices are determined primarily in a flow demand/supply environment. Finally, we document that oil risk is priced into the cross-section of stock returns in the oil and transportation sectors.
VET Leadership for the Future: contexts, characteristics and capabilities : research briefing.

This study examines leadership in Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) sector. VET leaders make a vital and growing contribution to learners, industry and society, yet research on their work is limited. This has direct implications for ensuring leadership is most effective, and for framing evidence-based capacity development. To assist the sector, and in particular the people who find themselves running large and complex training organisations, this study paints a picture of what VET leaders do, and of how they can do it best. The study reveals VET leaders view managing change as more important than teaching and learning, which are flagged as the least important facets of their work. VET leaders have the capacity to manage industry and clients, but need skills to deal with new complex contexts that juggle competition with regulation. The recommendations of the report for identifying and developing future leaders include better leadership training focused on concrete change management skills and reshaping the approaches used for leadership selection. Boosting development among emerging leaders is also identified, as well as providing more definition and structure to the profession of VET leadership.
Community-associated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Hospital Nursery and Maternity Units

Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) has rarely been reported in the hospital setting. We report an outbreak of 7 cases of skin and soft tissue infections due to a strain of CA-MRSA. All patients were admitted to the labor and delivery, nursery, or maternity units during a 3-week period. Genetic fingerprinting showed that the outbreak strain was closely related to the USA 400 strain that includes the midwestern strain MW2. All isolates contained the staphylococcal chromosome cassette mec type IV. Genes for Panton-Valentine leukocidin and staphylococcal enterotoxin K were detected in all isolates, and most contained other enterotoxin genes. Testing of nearly 2,000 MRSA isolates collected during citywide surveillance studies from 1999 to 2003 showed that ≈1% were genetically related to MW2. CA-MRSA strain MW2 has been present in this region at least since 1999. This study documents the spread of this strain among healthy newborns at 1 hospital.
Using content analysis as a research methodology for investigating intellectual capital disclosure : a critique

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build on Dumay and Cai’s (2014) prior research to provide a deeper analysis of the problems associated with using content analysis (CA) as a research methodology for investigating intellectual capital disclosure (ICD). Design/methodology/approach – Totally, 110 articles utilising CA as a research methodology for inquiring into ICD are analysed based on Krippendorff’s (2013) conceptual CA research framework and design logic, and tied into issues relating to CA as a research methodology for investigating ICD. Findings – The authors advocate that ICD CA researchers need to go back to the drawing board and ensure that future studies rigorously apply the basic logic of CA design. In its current state, ICD CA research needs to take a few steps back, before it can move forward. If ICD CA researchers can accomplish this, then there is an opportunity to undertake rigorous research to develop reliable and valid outputs that add to new knowledge about IC. Research limitation.
Lyapunov-Based Control of Robotic Systems

Introduction History of Robotics Lyapunov-Based Control Philosophy The Real-Time Computer Revolution Robot Control Introduction Modeling and Control Objective Computed Torque Control Approaches Adaptive Control Design Task-Space Control and Redundancy Vision-Based Systems Introduction Monocular Image-Based Geometry Visual Servo Tracking Continuum Robots Mobile Robot Regulation and Tracking Structure from Motion Path Planning and Control Introduction Velocity Field and Navigation Function Control for Manipulators Velocity Field and Navigation Function Control for WMRs Vision Navigation Optimal Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Human Machine Interaction Introduction Exercise Machine Steer-by-Wire Robot Teleoperation Rehabilitation Robot Appendix A: Mathematical Background Appendix B: Supplementary Lemmas and Expressions Index References appear at the end of each chapter.
Do Temporary Contracts Increase Work Accidents? A Microeconometric Comparison between Italy and Spain

This paper analyses the effect of contract type on the rate of work-related accidents in Italy and Spain, using the 1999 Labour Force Survey 'ad hoc module'. We find that, once personal and job characteristics of workers are controlled for, the differences in the probability of suffering a work accident between open-ended and temporary workers vanish. Furthermore, following a novel decomposition analysis by Yun, we obtain that personal and job characteristics tend to increase the probability of having an accident for temporary workers, but the specific influence of contract type favours the latter, who show a lower probability on this account. Copyright 2006 The Authors; Journal compilation 2006 CEIS, Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Estimating Willingness-to-Pay and Brand Market Power in Auctions: A Hedonic Approach

We model how to measure consumer willingness-to-pay (WTP) from an English or ascending first-price auction based on two general bidding premises: no bidder bids more than her WTP, and no bidder allows a rival bidder to win at a price that she is willing to beat. We thus impose no structural assumptions on rationality of bidders or sellers. The proposed model is general enough to include buy-it-now (BIN) auction mechanism, and to provide controls for competition among bidders including those who do not participate in an auction, and competition among various items up for sale concurrently. We use data of notebook auctions from one of the largest Internet auction sites in Korea. Our simulated second-highest WTP based on estimation results closely approximates the final selling price (the latter is 0.7% higher), pointing to an efficient and rational auction. Most product characteristics matter in the expected ways. Our other primary findings are as follows: (1) The magnitude of the estimate of the number of months the laptop has been used appears consistent with a lack of lemons problem; (2) Compared to neutral seller reputation, positive seller reputations matter more for WTP than to negative seller reputations; (3) More extensive site-surfing and bidding histories lead to lower WTP, implying that search costs and experience matter in bidding; (4) WTP declines as more similar items are concurrently listed with the focal item; there is an additional effect if these similar items also belong to the same brand. As specific substantive benefits, we demonstrate how sellers can calculate changes in WTP, and hence the expected revenue, as the auction setting varies. For items with BIN option, we show that how the probability of the option being exercised and the expected revenue vary with the level of BIN prices and product uniqueness.
The Management of Distance in Remote-Work Environments: A Deleuzian Approach

The rising incidence of remote work practices over the last decades has introduced radical changes in organizational practices for managing people. Such environments indeed often lead to challenges that are difficult for both employees and managers to overcome. These difficulties are mostly linked to the management of distance, particularly prominent in remote work – physical, temporal, or cultural distances especially. Although several organizational theories have been used to suggest solutions to these specific issues, little attention has been paid so far to philosophical literature; in this research, we use the work of French philosopher, Gilles Deleuze, to develop a meaningful framework to analyze the management of distance in remote work contexts. This allows us to reconsider and question traditional theories with regard to remote work and global distributed teams, by stressing out manifestations that are significant of the emergence of these specific environments such as the cultural deterritorialization or the formation of more subtle but powerful modalities of control.