Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
METRICS, Model for Eliciting Team Resources and Improving Competence Structures: a socio-technical treatise on managing customer professionals in software projects for enterprise information systems

It is still not common in research on software quality to delve into non-technical issues. In the particular case of implementing customized information systems software (CISS), the field is also not completely aware of the importance of managing customers with a formal and objective set of measures that account for their responsibility in projects. CISS products – whose source code is ultimately developed according to each customer’s demands on core business processes – ask developers to pay unique attention to issues like competencies, culture, strategy, and resources of the client organization, as well as to the industry’ critical success factors, best practices, and prospects. The present research adds to software engineering and to organizational theory by introducing a conceptual framework (rationale) and a set of seven indicators, 27 metrics and 88 measures for improving the knowledge and the managerial practices regarding the participation of customers in CISS development. The focus is on managing the customer team (CuTe) – professionals from the client organization that contracts CISS projects, who are assigned special business and information technology (IT) roles for interacting with outsourced developers in such projects, since both customer and external (outsourced) developer teams share project authority and responsibility. Research insights and assumptions were developed throughout a six-year professional interaction with companies in a major Brazilian IT cluster; and a three-year case study within a landmark enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation in a Brazilian university, supported by indepth interviews with key CuTe professionals in the project, provided the research with compelling data for the assembly and validation of findings. The resultant framework – formed by the rationale and the measurement instruments – is called Model for Eliciting Team Resources and Improving Competence Structures (METRICS), and it is to be used in the industry by customers and external developers to help plan, control, assess, and make historical records of CuTe design and performance in CISS projects. Academicians also benefit from the incorporation of a new perspective with which to deal with the customersupplier interaction in IT endeavors.
Effector functions of heparin-binding hemagglutinin-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes in latent human tuberculosis.

BACKGROUND Most individuals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis do not develop tuberculosis (TB) and can be regarded as being protected by an appropriate immune response to the infection. The characterization of the immune responses of individuals with latent TB may thus be helpful in the definition of correlates of protection and the development of new vaccine strategies. The highly protective antigen heparin-binding hemagglutinin (HBHA) induces strong interferon (IFN)- gamma responses during latent, but not active, TB. Because of the recently recognized importance of CD8(+) T lymphocytes in anti-TB immunity, we characterized the CD8(+) T lymphocyte responses to HBHA in subjects with latent TB. RESULTS HBHA-specific CD8(+) T lymphocytes expressed memory cell markers and synthesized HBHA-specific IFN- gamma . They also restricted mycobacterial growth and expressed cytotoxicity by a granule-dependent mechanism. This activity was associated with the intracellular expression of HBHA-induced perforin. Surprisingly, the perforin-producing CD8(+) T lymphocytes were distinct from the IFN- gamma -producing CD8(+) T lymphocytes. CONCLUSION During latent TB, the HBHA-specific CD8(+) T lymphocyte population expresses all 3 effector functions associated with CD8(+) T lymphocyte-mediated protective immune mechanisms, which supports the notion that HBHA may be protective in humans and suggests that markers of HBHA-specific CD8(+) T lymphocyte responses may be useful in the monitoring of protection.
Microphthalmia-associated Transcription Factor Regulates RAB27A Gene Expression and Controls Melanosome Transport*

Melanosomes are lysosome-related organelles specialized in melanin synthesis and transport. In this study, we show that microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) silencing induces melanosome gathering around the nucleus and causes the relocalization of Rab27A, Slac2a-Mlph, and Myo5a that control the transport of melanosomes on the actin network. In an attempt to elucidate the mechanism by which MITF controls melanosome distribution, we identify RAB27A as a new MITF target gene. Indeed, MITF silencing leads to a dramatic decrease in Rab27A expression and blocks the stimulation of Rab27A expression evoked by cAMP. Further, forced expression of MITF increases Rab27A expression, indicating that MITF is required and sufficient for Rab27A expression in melanoma cells. MITF binds to two E-boxes in the proximal region of the Rab27A promoter and stimulates its transcriptional activity. Finally, re-expression of Rab27A, in MITF-depleted cells, restores the transport of melanosomes to the cell periphery. These results show that RAB27A is a new direct transcriptional target of MITF and link MITF to melanosome transport, another key parameter of melanocyte differentiation and skin pigmentation. Interestingly, Rab27A is involved in other fundamental physiological functions, such as the transport of lytic granules and insulin secretion. Thus our results, deciphering the mechanism of Rab27A transcriptional regulation, have an interest that goes beyond the skin pigmentation field.
Congenital cytomegalovirus infection in a neonate born to HIV-infected mother: A case report

A near‐term male infant, born to a second gravida, was delivered by emergency lower segment cesarean section. The baby had low birth weight (1.230 kg), was 44 cm in length, and had a head circumference of 28 cm and a chest circumference of 26 cm. According to the New Ballard score, the age of the baby was 34 weeks, and Ponderal index was 1.44. On examination, the baby had acrocyanosis and tachypnea (respiratory rate of 68/min) with mild chest retraction. Examination of the cardiovascular and central nervous system did not show any abnormality; liver and spleen were just palpable. On the 2nd day, the baby developed severe tachypnea, tachycardia, and chest retraction and died due to respiratory failure. An autopsy was performed to know the cause of death. At postmortem examination, the thymus was in normal anatomical position and was small in size. The lungs were firm and showed confluent hemorrhagic areas. The heart, liver, spleen, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, and brain appeared normal. Microscopic examination of the thymus showed changes of precocious involution comprising depletion of lymphocytes and dilated Hassel’s corpuscles. Histology of the lung showed CMV infection and hyaline membrane disease. The liver showed CMV infection in hepatocytes and bile duct epithelium. Microscopic examination of the kidneys showed extensive lymphocytic infiltrate in interstitium; tubular lining cells and vascular endothelium showed CMV infection [Figure 1a and b]. The infected cells were large and had prominent basophilic intra‐ nuclear inclusions surrounded by clear halo along with intra‐cytoplasmic inclusions [Figure 1c and d]. The presence of extensive lymphocytic infiltrate in the kidney indicates active CMV infection. The heart, spleen, gastrointestinal tract, and brain did not show any pathology.
A novel cell irradiation system using backscattering technique

In this paper, we report a novel cell irradiation system at the HVEE Van de Graaff accelerator at National Tsing Hua University. The significant change of system design is use the backscattering technique to replace the 90° magnet which was widely used to derive beam direction from horizontal to vertical. A silicon barrier detector was used to measure the scattered particle energy. Meanwhile, nuclear track detector CR-39 was also applying in this study to assess the particle distribution at beam nozzle. The preliminary experiment performed by using 2 MeV alpha particle to irradiate the HeLa cell. The result showed, this system can provide an efficiently vertical particle beam irradiation and a standard growth condition during the period of irradiation. Furthermore, it's more economical and easier to set up than others.
Miniaturized Diplexer Using Synthesized Microstrip Lines With Series LC Tanks

By utilizing two synthesized microstrip lines, a new miniaturized diplexer is proposed and validated in this letter. The synthesized line, formed by series LC tanks and meander line inductors, behaves like a conventional 50 microstrip line in one frequency band but is equivalent to an open circuit in the other band. This property dramatically improves the electrical performances of the diplexer while still keeping a very compact circuit size. The footprint of the diplexer is merely 0.083 × 0. 049λ02. At the center frequencies, the transmission losses are <; -0.5 dB, while the reflection coefficients are <; -27 dB. The fractional bandwidths are 16% and 34%, respectively, in the two bands.
Neighborhood environment and psychosocial correlates of adults' physical activity.

BACKGROUND There is growing interest in identifying neighborhood environment factors related to physical activity. PURPOSE This study aimed to examine whether objective built (e.g., residential density) and perceived (e.g., aesthetics) environment factors around adults' residence are correlates of their physical activity and reported walking behavior after accounting for known psychosocial (e.g., self-efficacy, barriers to physical activity) and demographic correlates of physical activity. METHODS Objective built environment characteristics were created through network buffers around individual participants (n = 2199) selected from neighborhoods differing on walkability characteristics and household income. Participants wore accelerometers to obtain a more objective measure of overall physical activity and self-reported on leisure and transportation-related walking, perceptions of neighborhood environment, psychosocial factors related to physical activity, and demographic factors. Census-level demographic factors were also considered. RESULTS Retail floor area ratio, a metric combining land use mix and pedestrian design factors, was the environmental factor most related to accelerometry-measured physical activity and self-reported transportation-related walking after accounting for psychosocial and demographic factors. Street connectivity was also related to transportation-related walking, whereas perceived aesthetics was positively related to leisure walking. CONCLUSIONS Environmental factors, particularly the availability of proximal nonresidential destinations designed for pedestrian access, were related to adults' physical activity and walking after accounting for psychosocial and demographic correlates, including reasons for residential selection.
Lineage divergence and speciation in the Web‐toed Salamanders (Plethodontidae: Hydromantes) of the Sierra Nevada, California

Peripatric speciation and the importance of founder effects have long been controversial, and multilocus sequence data and coalescent methods now allow hypotheses of peripatric speciation to be tested in a rigorous manner. Using a multilocus phylogeographical data set for two species of salamanders (genus Hydromantes) from the Sierra Nevada of California, hypotheses of recent divergence by peripatric speciation and older, allopatric divergence were tested. Phylogeographical analysis revealed two divergent lineages within Hydromantes platycephalus, which were estimated to have diverged in the Pliocene. By contrast, a low‐elevation species, Hydromantes brunus, diverged from within the northern lineage of H. platycephalus much more recently (mid‐Pleistocene), during a time of major climatic change in the Sierra Nevada. Multilocus species tree estimation and coalescent estimates of divergence time, migration rate, and growth rate reject a scenario of ancient speciation of H. brunus with subsequent gene flow and introgression from H. platycephalus, instead supporting a more recent divergence with population expansion. Although the small, peripheral distribution of H. brunus suggests the possibility of peripatric speciation, the estimated founding population size of the species was too large to have allowed founder effects to be important in its divergence. These results provide evidence for both recent speciation, most likely tied to the climatic changes of the Pleistocene, and older lineage divergence, possibly due to geological events, and add to evidence that Pleistocene glacial cycles were an important driver of diversification in the Sierra Nevada.
Cutting Carbon from the Shopping Cart: Consumer Perceptions of a Carbon Label on Food Products

There is a lack of transparency in the increasingly complex food system. Consumers tend to use environmental indicators, or eco-labels, to identify sustainable foods; however, many existing eco-labels do not clearly communicate the impact that food has on the environment. A carbon label conveying the amount of carbon emitted throughout a product’s life cycle would be a better measure of the food’s impact on climate change. While such a label does not yet exist in the United States, this research uses an online survey to determine how U.S. consumers would perceive a carbon label like those used throughout Europe. The findings from over 400 respondents suggest that consumers believe a carbon label would make it easier to compare the environmental impact of foods. Additionally, at least 45% of participants rated a carbon label as more important than five other eco-labels that do exist in the United States. Finally, participants reported that the source of the carbon label would not influence whether or not they would purchase labeled foods. Findings from this study support the potential for a carbon label to help consumers make knowledgeable decisions and influence purchasing.
Direct Observation of Reversible Biomolecule Switching Controlled By Electrical Stimulus

Control and reversibility of biomolecular interactions at engineered interfaces presents opportunities to develop highly effi cient substrates and devices for a wide range of biomedical applications. [ 1‐4 ] A major challenge nowadays in the fi eld of stimuli-responsive interfaces is to acquire a molecular understanding of the changes occurring at the biointerface upon external stimulation. Herein, we used in situ Sum-FrequencyGeneration (SFG) spectroscopy to study changes in molecular orientations in electrically switchable biofunctionalized selfassembled monolayers (SAMs). The bioactivity of a mixed SAM on gold consisting of a biotin-terminated positively charged oligopeptide (biotin-KKKKC) and a tri(ethylene glycol)-terminated thiol is shown to be related to a switch between upward exposure and random orientation of the biotin group in response to positive and negative applied potentials, respectively. The fi ndings reported here support the mechanism by which charged biomolecules control biomolecular interactions, for example, protein binding affi nities, and lay the foundation for future studies aiming to explore molecular conformational changes in response to electrical stimuli. Dynamic surfaces are particularly attractive for biomedical applications and are playing an increasingly important part in the development of highly sensitive biosensors, [ 5‐7 ] novel
Resistance to Extinction as a Function of the Interaction between Training and Extinction Delays

Four delay conditions (0, 5, 10, and 20 sec.) were used in the acquisition of a runway response. Performance was a decreasing function of the duration of the delay interval. In extinction, with half of the Ss from each group extinguished under the same goalbox delay which they experienced in acquisition (nonshifted groups) and half extinguished under a different condition (shifted groups), the following results obtained: (1) resistance to extinction was a decreasing function of acquisition delay for the nonshifted groups, (2) there were no differences between the nonshifted groups when the terminal training levels were statistically equated, (3) resistance to extinction was a nonmonotonic function of acquisition delay for the groups shifted to 0-sec. delay, and (4) resistance to extinction was a monotonic increasing function of delay for these groups when the terminal acquisition levels were controlled. It was concluded that in delay studies resistance must be interpreted with respect to both acquisition and extinction conditions.
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES ACTIVITY-BASED VALUATION OF BANK HOLDING COMPANIES

Standard valuation methods do not lend themselves to bank holding companies. Banks create value through the types of assets and liabilities they create (e.g., lending and deposit taking relationships). Bank income streams reflect heterogeneous sources of income which differ in their margins of profitability and persistence. Our approach to valuation permits potential differences in the composition of assets, liabilities, income and expenses, and in the profitability and persistence of different sources of income, to reflect themselves in estimated relationships that relate the composition of the balance sheet and income statement to bank value. Our approach explains substantial cross-sectional variation in observed market-to-book values, and residuals from cross-sectional regressions of market-to-book values are useful for predicting future stock returns. Predictable future variation in returns does not reflect priced risk factors, but is related to trading costs. Charles W. Calomiris Graduate School of Business Columbia University 3022 Broadway Street, Uris Hall New York, NY 10027 and NBER cc374@columbia.edu Doron Nissim Graduate School of Business Columbia University 3022 Broadway New York, NY 10027 dn75@columbia.edu
Reflex effects of vibration in patients with spinal cord lesions

The vibration reflex was studied in 49 patients with traumatic spinal cord lesions. It was elicited in all patients, even after presumably complete division of the cord. The vibration reflex consisted of a short-latency, brief outburst of phasic activity of motor units, followed by rapidly decreasing phasic component and a later slowly declining tonic component. When periods of vibration were repeated at short intervals of 2 to 10 seconds, the responses showed an approximately exponential decline, although the beginning of each subsequent response was always larger than the end of the preceding response. A large part of this decline can be characterized as a habituation of the vibration reflex. In comparison with the vibration reflex in normal subjects, the phasic component was increased and the tonic one reduced. The tonic component was especially susceptible to potentiation and dishabituation by voluntary effort to contract the vibrated muscle, even in some patients with no other evidence that the lesion was incomplete. We suggest that the tonic component of the human vibration reflex depends, at least in part, on segmental interneurons and their descending spinal pathways, while the phasic component depends mainly on the excitability level of spinal motoneurons.
Effect of progestin treatment on estradiol-and growth factor-stimulated breast cancer cell lines.

BACKGROUND Reports about the effects of progestins on cell proliferation are contradictory. We investigated the effect of progesterone, medroxyprogesterone acetate, megestrol acetate, ORG 2058 and the antiprogestin RU 486 on two hormone-dependent cell lines, T47D and MCF-7 (characterized by a different content of PgR). The aim of the study was to understand the eventual ability of progestins to interfere with cell proliferation stimulated by estradiol and various growth factors (TGF-a, IGF-I, IGF-II). MATERIAL AND METHODS MCF-7 and T47D cells were maintained in DMEM/F12 medium supplemented with 2% FCS while experiments were carried out in the same culture medium using DCC-stripped FCS. RESULTS In the absence of estradiol, all tested progestins generally tended to stimulate cell growth in the T47D cell line, but in the MCF-7 cell line only the highest concentrations (10(-6) M and 10(-7) M) were found to be stimulatory. In contrast, in the presence of 10(-8) M estradiol, progestins tended to inhibit cell growth stimulation in MCF-7 and T47D cell lines. The antiprogestin RU 486 exerted a stimulatory effect similar to that promoted by estradiol itself in MCF-7 cells. Instead, in T47D cells, RU 486 did not modify cell growth in the absence of estradiol, but tended to counteract the estradiol-promoted cell proliferation. In MCF-7 cells, medroxyprogesterone acetate and megestrol acetate were also able to effectively counteract the cell growth induced by TGF-alpha. However, none of these progestins was able to abolish cell proliferation promoted by IGF-I or IGF-II. CONCLUSION We therefore concluded that failure to respond to progestin treatment may be due to the very heterogeneous nature of human breast tumors and to the inability of these molecules to interfere with the IGF-R pathway.