Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Value of terminal subcultures for blood cultures monitored by BACTEC 9240

Blood cultures collected in BACTEC Plus Aerobic/F bottles and BACTEC Plus Anaerobic/F bottles were monitored for 5 days by BACTEC 9240 and subsequent terminal subcultures. Of the 13,471 bottles subcultured, 11.0% (1,477 of 13,471) were culture positive. Of these, 94.0% (1,388 of 1,477) were detected by BACTEC 9240; the additional 6.0% (89 of 1,477) were considered to be false negatives by BACTEC 9240 since they were detected by terminal subculture only. The false-negative bottles consisted of 17 BACTEC Plus Aerobic/F and 72 BACTEC Plus Anaerobic/F bottles, accounting for 2.2 (17 of 786) and 10.4% (72 of 691) of the total positive aerobic and anaerobic bottles, respectively. The positive blood culture bottles most frequently not detected by BACTEC 9240 grew Pseudomonas spp. (24), Staphylococcus spp. (21), and yeasts (24). Of the 86 blood cultures represented by the 89 false-negative bottles, 41 would not have been identified as positive since the other bottle in the blood culture set was either a false negative or a true negative. In general, terminal subcultures of false-negative BACTEC bottles had heavy growth, indicating that BACTEC Plus media were able to support the growth of microorganisms, but the BACTEC 9240 instrument was unable to detect this growth.
Diesel Exhaust Particles Suppress In Vivo IFN-γ Production by Inhibiting Cytokine Effects on NK and NKT Cells1

Diesel exhaust particles (DEP) have strong, selective Th2 adjuvant activity when inhaled with conventional Ags. We used a novel technique for measuring in vivo cytokine production to investigate possible mechanisms by which DEP might promote a Th2 response. Injection of DEP i.p. stimulated IL-6 secretion, but failed to increase IL-4, IL-10, or TNF-α secretion, and decreased basal levels of IFN-γ. When injected with or before LPS, DEP had little effect on the LPS-induced TNF-α responses, but partially inhibited the LPS-induced IL-10 response and strongly inhibited the LPS-induced IFN-γ response. DEP also inhibited the IFN-γ responses to IL-12, IL-12 plus IL-18, IL-2, and poly(I · C). DEP treatment had little effect on the percentages of NK and NKT cells in the spleen, but inhibited LPS-induced IFN-γ production by splenic NK and NKT cells. In contrast, DEP failed to inhibit the IFN-γ response by anti-CD3 mAb-activated NKT cells. Taken together, these observations suggest that DEP inhibit Toll-like receptor ligand-induced IFN-γ responses by interfering with cytokine signaling pathways that stimulate NK and NKT cells to produce IFN-γ. Our observations also suggest that DEP may promote a Th2 response by stimulating production of inflammatory cytokines while simultaneously inhibiting production of IFN-γ, and raise the possibility that the same mechanisms contribute to the association between DEP exposure and asthma.
Computerized Dynamic Posturography and Seasickness Susceptibility

Objective/Hypothesis: The neural mismatch theory emphasizes the role of conflicting multimodal sensory interactions in producing both motion sickness and the rearrangement process that finally leads to habituation to the adverse motion conditions. If this theory is, indeed, correct, the patterns of the response to the integrated signal from simultaneous multisensory stimulation, characterized by unusual relationships between the senses responsible for spatial orientation, should differ according to motion sickness susceptibility. Computerized dynamic posturography (CDP) provides the opportunity to simultaneously change the interactions between visual, somatosensory, and vestibular inputs, thus giving an indication of the relative importance of these senses in maintaining balance. The objective was to investigate balance strategies in naval crew members with differing susceptibility to sea conditions using CDP.
The prospects for corporate social reporting (CSR) in Bangladesh

The main objective of this study is to explore the emerging practice of CSR in Bangladesh. As this is the first comprehensive study of CSR in Bangladesh it is primarily exploratory in nature. Using the lens of stakeholder theory the study examines whether the current practice of CSR in Bangladesh is motivated by a desire to discharge accountability to all relevant stakeholders or is mainly driven by the imperative of strategic management of powerful stakeholders only with a view to advancing corporate economic interests. In investigating this question, a qualitative analysis of corporate social disclosures is made in order to examine corporate attitudes towards social, ethical and environmental issues as represented in the texts of annual reports. The sample of reports analysed comprises 79 top listed companies (including six multinationals) as well as eight public sector companies under the control of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC). In addition to this analysis of published reports 34 semi-structured interviews with managers and stakeholder groups have been carried out to critically examine their perceptions towards the phenomenon of CSR in Bangladesh. The results of the study show that Bangladeshi companies make very few social disclosures. The majority of the companies studied do not address the crucial issues of corruption, child labour, equal opportunities and poverty alleviation. Analysis of disclosures indicates that companies attach far more importance to the economically dominant stakeholders such as, shareholders, customers and employees ignoring the rights of social stakeholders such as local community, natural environment and the wider society. The interviews with managers emphasised the paramount importance of strategic management of key economic stakeholders. Interviews with various stakeholder groups suggest that they view the corporate response to social, ethical and environmental issues as essentially cosmetic and part of a public relations campaign. While both the managerial group and the stakeholder groups indicated a belief that CSR would increase in future, inter alia, the driving force behind such increase appears to be strong pressure from `outside' forces such as parent companies of multinationals, international buyers and international agencies. The study concludes that in their pursuit of CSR corporations are basically motivated by their desire to strategically manage their key powerful stakeholders. They achieve this, sadly, often at the expense of economically weak social stakeholders.
Experiments on the use of option policies in reinforcement learning

In many reinforcement learning applications, the use of options based on sequences of low level actions (macro operators) has been reported to produce learning speedup due to a more active exploration of the state space. In this paper we present an evaluation of the use o f two sorts of option policies in a series of contexts: option policies O_{€} (action sequences that depend on the states visited during execution), and option policies O_{S} (fixed sequence of actions, depending exclusively on the state in which the option is initiated). Our goals were a) to analyze O_{S} policies and compare them to O_{€} policies with respect to convergence and learned policy; and b) to study the use of a Termination Improvement technique for O_{S} policies which allows for interruption of option execution if a more promising one is found . Results show that an O_{S} policy can be more effective than an O_{€}policy, unless the latter is designed considering prior domain knowledge. Moreover, Termination Improvement for O_{S} options increases effectiveness of learning due to autonomous adaptation of the size of the action sequence depending on the state where the option is initiated.
A stakeholder model in economic geography: perception and management of environmental stakeholders in German manufacturing companies

influences of company- and product-related factors on environmental salience. In this paper we aim to show that stakeholder theory can enrich analysis in (environmental) economic geography. By applying and modifying the stakeholder salience model from management studies, we analyse which factors influence company managers in their environmental decision-making and which priorities they give to competing stakeholder claims. We test the model on data from 250 German manufacturing firms. Overall, the results strongly support the basic assumptions of stakeholder theory. They indicate that stakeholder attributes such as legitimacy, power and urgency and the stakeholders’ willingness to co-operate are more important for stakeholder salience than company- and product-related characteristics. Moreover, the results confirm the findings of a recent study of Spanish manufacturing firms by Gago and Antolín.
Contribution of the Chemokine (C-C Motif) Ligand 2 (CCL2) to Mechanical Hypersensitivity after Surgical Incision in Rats

Background:Neural glial signaling in the spinal cord may underlie pain and sensitization after peripheral injury. The authors test the role of a glial activator, the chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2), on mechanical hypersensitivity after plantar incision in a rat model of postoperative pain. Methods:Twenty-four hours after hind paw incision, rats were intrathecally administered an anti-CCL2 neutralizing antibody (3 and 10 &mgr;g) or control immunoglobulin G (10 &mgr;g). Mechanical hypersensitivity was assessed acutely and for several days after administration of anti-CCL2 antibody using von Frey filaments. Immunohistochemical analysis was conducted on spinal cord sections to examine the effects of treatment on measures of microglial activation, including levels of ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1 and phosphorylated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase. Results:Neutralization of spinal CCL2 acutely reversed mechanical hypersensitivity within 30 min in a dose-dependent manner. A single administration also produced a sustained decrease in mechanical hypersensitivity 48 and 72 h after incision. Anti-CCL2 antibody reduced microglial activation as measured by the levels of ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1 immunoreactivity and the number of microglia containing phosphorylated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase 48 h after incision but not within 30 min of administration. Conclusions:These results provide evidence that CCL2 contributes to the maintenance of mechanical hypersensitivity after plantar incision and establish a role for neural glial signaling in postoperative pain. The long-term effects of anti-CCL2 treatment correlate with reduced microglial activation. Spinal blockade of CCL2 may serve as a useful therapy for the treatment of certain aspects of postoperative pain.
Multinational Firms, International Diversification, Value, and Governance

This paper presents evidence that subsidiaries of multinational firms have higher valuations than locally matched firms. Using a unique sample of 251 UK multinational firms and 4,676 subsidiaries, the paper finds that multinational firms achieve, on average, an international diversification premium of 19%. Further, the value premium is increasing in the difference between the parent and host country's firm-level corporate governance, consistent with the hypothesis that multinational firms are compensated for exporting good governance. The results are robust to alternative governance mechanisms, and continue to obtain in regressions controlling for endogeneity and self-selection.
The Very Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets: Evidence from Diversified Business Groups in Korea

This paper examines the capital allocation within Korean chaebol firms during the period from 1991 to 2000. We find strong evidence that, during the pre-Asian financial crisis period in the early 1990’s, poorly performing firms with less investment opportunities invest more than wellperforming firms with better growth opportunities. We also find the evidence of crosssubsidization among firms in the same chaebol group during the pre-crisis period. It appears that the existence of the "dark" side of internal capital markets explains most part of this striking phenomenon where “tunneling” practice has been common during the pre-crisis period. However, the inefficient capital allocation seems to disappear after the crisis as banks gain more power and market disciplines inefficient chaebol firms. * Lee is at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Park is at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology; and Shin is at the Yonsei University. E-mail addresses are slee21@uiuc.edu, kpark3@kgsm.kaist. ac.kr, and hanshin@yonsei.ac.kr.
Ownership Structure and Quality of Financial Reporting

This study investigates the relationship between patterns of stock ownership and the quality of a firm's financial reporting, as measured by earnings quality and the level of disclosure. I find that managerial stock ownership is negatively associated with earnings quality and the level of disclosure while a positive relationship is observed for institutional stock holdings. My findings are consistent with large outside investors demanding better information to alleviate agency problems and with managers internalizing the proprietary costs of disclosure as their stock holdings grow in size. These findings shed new light on conflicting results documented in prior research by highlighting the role that competing tensions (monitoring effect vs. information effect) play in determining the quality of financial reporting.
Ubiquitous supervisory system based on social contexts using ontology

As described in this paper, we propose a supervisory system that considers actual situations and social aspects of users in a ubiquitous computing environment. To realize gentle and safe supervision while providing efficient supervisory services, the system must recognize the situations of a watched person, such as the person's physical condition. To achieve this, we have proposed a ubiquitous supervisory system "uEyes", which introduces Social Context Awareness: a distinguishing feature for supervision. Using this feature, the system can combine environmental information acquired from sensors in the real world and common-sense knowledge related to human activities in daily life. As described in this paper, we specifically examine design of Social Context Awareness using ontology technologies. Based on this advanced feature, a live video streaming system is configured autonomously depending on the users' circumstances in runtime. We implemented a uEyes prototype for supervising elderly people and performed some experiments based on several scenarios. Based on those experimental results, we confirmed that the social contexts are handled effectively to support the supervision.
Spending wisely : buying health services for the poor

With a special focus on strategic purchasing and contracting of services from nongovernmental providers, this title reviews ways to make public spending on health care more efficient and equitable in developing countries. It is recommended that: 1) experiments and pilot projects for improving public sector hospitals should focus on mission clarity and organizational simplification; 2) programs for improving the composition of utilization should experiment with payments to consumers and with health labor force composition and training; and 3) initiatives to attract providers to rural areas should use explicit deferred compensation contracts to improve monitoring.
Hatching Prosperity Together: A Dynamic Assessment of Relationships in Business Incubation in New Zealand

The concept of business incubators has attracted much attention in recent years, both as descriptive of an increasingly important phenomenon and as an effective public intervention in the economies of lagging cities, regions, and countries. However, little empirical research has explored this phenomenon. To better understand what type of relationships contribute to the performance of newly hatched business ideas, the following study applies a social capital and proximity lenses to explore relationships in business incubation and how they contribute to start-up performance. Through the use of open-ended questions this study carried out semi-structured interviews with 25 total participants of the New Zealand incubation system. These in-depth interviews allowed participants to express their perspectives on business incubation. This study revealed that there are tensions that exist in the incubator environment which are as much about the relationship between the two central participants - incubator personnel and entrepreneur - and other stakeholders, as between the two central participants themselves. These tensions, if not aligned, restrict incubating entrepreneurs from gaining advantage from business incubators. Additionally, the study reveals that the role of geographical proximity in business incubation is surprisingly of less importance than other forms of proximity.
Identification of a cis‐acting positive regulatory element of glial fibrillary acidic protein gene

Developmental regulation of astrocyte‐specific expression of the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) gene reflects transition of immature glioblasts to mature astrocytes. Described here is the cloning and sequencing of the 5′‐flanking region of the mouse GFAP gene. It contains a glial‐specific positive cis‐acting regulatory element that directs preferential expression of a linked reporter gene when transfected into GFAP‐positive glioblasioma cells. Sequence analysis of this region revealed the presence of a putative AP‐1 binding site, implying a possible role for AP‐1 factors in the astroglial‐specific expression of the GFAP gene.
Immune responses of a wall lizard to whole-body exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation

Abstract Purpose During the last three decades, the number of devices that emit non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation (EMR) at the wireless communication spectrum has rapidly increased and possible effects on living organisms have become a major concern. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of radiofrequency EMR emitted by a widely used wireless communication device, namely the Digital Enhanced Communication Telephony (DECT) base, on the immune responses of the Aegean wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii). Materials and methods Adult male lizards were exposed 24 h/day for 8 weeks to 1880–1900 MHz DECT base radiation at average electric field intensity of 3.2 V/m. Immune reactivity was assessed using the phytohemagglutinin (PHA) skin swelling and mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) tests. Results Our results revealed a noticeable suppression (approximately 45%) of inflammatory responses in EMR-exposed lizards compared to sham-exposed animals. T cell-mediated responses were marginally affected. Conclusion Daily radiofrequency EMR exposure seems to affect, at least partially, the immunocompetence of the Aegean wall lizard.
Weighted-Sum-Rate maximization for bi-directional full-duplex MIMO systems

We consider a full-duplex bi-directional communication system between two nodes that suffer from self-interference, where the nodes are equipped with multiple antennas and instantaneous channel state information (CSI) at the nodes is imperfect. We focus on the effect of the residual self-interference due to channel estimation errors and limited dynamic ranges of the transmitters and receivers. We consider the transmit filter design for Weighted Sum-Rate (WSR) maximization problem subject to total power constraint of the full-duplex system. Based on the relationship between WSR and Weighted Minimum Mean Square Error (WMMSE) problems for bi-directional full-duplex systems, we propose a low complexity alternating algorithm which converges to a local WSR optimum point. This algorithm exploits both spatial and temporal freedoms of the source co-variance matrices of the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) links between the nodes to achieve higher WSR.
Aspects of in vivo growth of the plerocercoid stage of Schistocephalus solidus

1. The in vivo growth of Schistocephalus solidus plerocercoids was investigated by surgical implantation of worms into the body cavity of uninfected, recipient sticklebacks. 2. Burdens of one, two and five worms were used. 3. Results show a reduction in parasite growth with both increasing size and increasing numbers of parasites. 4. Reasons for the decrease in growth rate of multiple burdens are discussed and reference is made to the significance of burden size in completion of the life-cycle under natural conditions.
The Impact of Competences Assessment Systems to Firm Performance - Study on Project Management e-Assessment

Current paper studies the relationship between the use of e-assessment in the field of project management and firms’ performance. For this purpose, a case study was especially designed to explore whether the extensive use of an e-assessment application influences the financial and non-financial indicators of firms’ performance. The participants in the study were the users of the e-assessment application, employees working in Romanian firms, from IT, education and consulting business sector. The main findings of the study were the positive correlation between the considered performance indicators and companies’ growth. The study is presented in the framework of learning at work and highlights the importance of using information systems in enterprise environments, to develop professional competences and, thus, to achieve business excellence.
Protection of newborn organism against effect of oxidative stress.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to investigate influence of oxidative stress on newborn organism, in terms of the dynamics of malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration changes and of the activities of selected antioxidants in asphyxial newborns on the 1st and 5th day of life. METHOD In the group of 62 preterm and term asphyxial newborns, characterized by the presence of asphyxial criteria and admitted within 24 hours of life, the plasma concentration of MDA and level of total antioxidant status (TAS) were followed. RESULTS Dynamic changes of MDA signalized active process of lipoperoxidation (LP) and values of TAS were decreased in comparison with the capacity of adult patients.
Progression of asbestosis predicts lung cancer.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To explore whether the progression of asbestosis correlates with the risk of lung cancer among patients with asbestosis. DESIGN A group of 85 asbestosis patients (78 men and 7 women) were radiographically followed up between 1979 and 1987. Two or three posteroanterior radiographs taken from each patient in 1978 to 1979, 1983 to 1984, and 1986 to 1987 were classified according to the International Labour Office 1980 classification and were used to divide the patients into progressors and nonprogressors. Follow-up for cancer was done automatically through the files of the Finnish Cancer Registry from the time of determination of the progression status to December 31, 1994. Predictors of lung cancer risk were studied with a logistic regression model, and the standardized incidence ratio (SIR) was calculated for lung cancer. RESULTS Of the 24 male patients with progressive small opacity profusion, 11 (46%) developed lung cancer, as opposed to 5 (9%) of the 54 male patients without progression. The SIR for lung cancer was 37 (95% confidence interval, 18 to 66) for the progressors and 4.3 (1.4 to 9.9) for the nonprogressors. In both groups, all the lung cancer cases occurred among smokers or ex-smokers. None of the seven female patients showed progressive small opacity profusion. One of them developed lung cancer. In the logistic regression model including all 85 asbestosis patients, radiographic progression of small opacity profusion (p=0.0009) and current smoking (0.0021) were significant predictors of lung cancer morbidity. CONCLUSIONS Asbestosis patients with radiographic progression of small opacity profusion over a few years are at a higher risk of lung cancer than those with a less aggressive course of the disease. The progression of pulmonary fibrosis may be an independent risk factor that, in addition to smoking history and the intensity of asbestos exposure, could be used to estimate lung cancer risk.