Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quercetin, Quercetin Glycosides and Taxifolin Differ in their Ability to Induce AhR Activation and CYP1A1 Expression in HepG2 Cells

The natural flavonoid quercetin is a low affinity ligand of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a transcription factor regulating the expression of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A enzymes. This study examined the ability of quercetin, isoquercitrin (quercetin‐3‐O‐glucoside), rutin (quercetin‐3‐O‐rutinoside) and taxifolin (dihydroquercetin) to activate AhR and to induce CYP1A1 expression in human hepatoma HepG2 cells. Gene reporter assays showed that quercetin significantly activated AhR and triggered CYP1A1 transcription after 24 h exposure. These effects were, however, much lower than those of 2,3,7,8‐tetrachlorodibenzo‐p‐dioxin, a prototypical AhR ligand. Quercetin also induced a significant increase in CYP1A1 mRNA levels together with a moderate increase in the level of CYP1A1 activity. In contrast, isoquercitrin and rutin had negligible effects on AhR activity and CYP1A1 expression. Taxifolin at the highest concentration tested (50 µm) produced a mild non‐significant increase in AhR activity and CYP1A1 transcription. Taxifolin also significantly increased CYP1A1 mRNA expression, but this effect was approximately 15 times weaker than that of quercetin and was not accompanied by induction of CYP1A1 activity. It is concluded that quercetin, but not its 3‐O‐glycosides isoquercitrin and rutin, induces AhR activation and CYP1A1 expression in HepG2 cells and that the CYP1A1‐inducing activity of taxifolin has a low toxicological potential. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
World Heritage Site—Is It an Effective Brand Name?

Is the designation World Heritage Site (WHS) effective? Does it yield high net brand equity? The five research objectives in the present study seek to explore awareness of the designation/logo, the meanings attached to the designation, the effects of the designation on tourists’ intended future behaviors, the relationship between number of WHSs and a country’s image, and the relationship between perception of a site as part of the world heritage and tourist behaviors. The postpositivistic research began with an exploratory stage followed by structured questionnaires focusing on a Christian heritage site in Israel. The findings indicate only moderate awareness of the designation/logo barely affecting behaviors. However, the cumulative effect of WHS designations is positively related to willingness to revisit a particular country. In addition, the findings highlight the significance of the experientially based approach to the management of heritage sites.
When oppression and liberation are the only choices: The representation of African-Americans within state social studies standards

This study seeks to understand the ways nine states represent African Americans within their standards for U.S. History. Previous research on the effects of high-stakes assessment on social studies educators suggests teachers align their instruction with information found in state standards. Therefore, an understanding of the way African Americans are represented in state standards may lead to a better understanding of how teachers portray African American history in their classrooms. The states included in the study, California, Georgia, Indiana, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Virginia, all annually assess students and teachers though end-of-course assessments. For each set of standards, all references to African Americans were coded and then categorized. Additionally, all references to individual African Americans were noted and analyzed for patterns. The results suggest that the states tend to focus on instances and individuals associated with African American oppression or liberation and largely avoid societal and cultural contributions. Therefore, it is suggested that states reframe their standards to include more explicit references to cultural accomplishments of African Americans.
Inclusive Education for Students with Disabilities in Nigeria: Benefits, Challenges and Policy Implications.

This article analyzes the philosophical, sociological, and legal imperatives of including students with disabilities in ordinary schools. Some important global events that support inclusive education are discussed. The author reflects on Nigeria’s newly revised National Policy on Education with its emphasis on inclusive education (2008), and the Universal Basic Education policy (1999). The article concludes with recommendations to improve the status quo.
REACH: study protocol of a randomised trial of rehabilitation very early in congenital hemiplegia

Objectives Congenital hemiplegia is the most common form of cerebral palsy (CP). Children with unilateral CP show signs of upper limb asymmetry by 8 months corrected age (ca) but are frequently not referred to therapy until after 12 months ca. This study compares the efficacy of infant-friendly modified constraint-induced movement therapy (Baby mCIMT) to infant friendly bimanual therapy (Baby BIM) on upper limb, cognitive and neuroplasticity outcomes in a multisite randomised comparison trial. Methods and analysis 150 infants (75 in each group), aged between 3 and 6 months ca, with asymmetric brain injury and clinical signs of upper extremity asymmetry will be recruited. Children will be randomised centrally to receive equal doses of either Baby mCIMT or Baby BIM. Baby mCIMT comprises restraint of the unimpaired hand using a simple restraint (eg, glove, sock), combined with intensive parent implemented practice focusing on active use of the impaired hand in a play-based context. In contrast, Baby BIM promotes active play requiring both hands in a play-based context. Both interventions will be delivered by parents at home with monthly home visits and interim telecommunication support by study therapists. Assessments will be conducted at study entry; at 6, 12 months ca immediately postintervention (primary outcome) and 24 months ca (retention). The primary outcome will be the Mini-Assisting Hand Assessment. Secondary outcomes include the Bayley Scale for Infant and Toddler Development (cognitive and motor domains) and the Hand Assessment of Infants. A subset of children will undertake MRI scans at 24 months ca to evaluate brain lesion severity and brain (re)organisation after intervention. Ethics and dissemination Full ethical approvals for this study have been obtained from the relevant sites. The findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications. Trial registration number Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12615000180516, Pre results.
The investigation of the market disequilibrium in the stock market

This thesis investigated stock market disequilibrium focusing on two topics: the impact of multiple market makers on the market disequilibrium at the market microstructure level, and the detection of the long-run market disequilibrium in the context of bubbles and the changes in transition probabilities. The multiple market makers increased the resilience of price rather than improving its efficiency when a multiple market maker system (the NASDAQ) was compared with a single market maker system (the NYSE) in terms of lowering non-stationarity and raising predictability. On the other hand, the volatility modelling of intraday data showed that market maker’s under-estimation (higher-than-estimated size of return) increased volatility while over-estimation decreased it. Also, intraday seasonality in mean and volatility was confirmed, but leverage effects were denied in the GJR-GARCH-type models. The evidence of price bubbles in the Indian markets (1987-2008) and positive duration dependence in negative runs in the Korean market (1990-2008) were revealed using the duration dependence tests. The unconditional transition probabilities that a positive or negative run continues or ends were mostly significantly different from 0.5. On the other hand, the structural break based duration dependence test was devised to detect the changes in the transition probabilities between the market (dis)equilibrium. The NASDAQ and the Indian market showed positive duration dependence in positive runs and the Korean market displayed it in negative runs. In other words, the transition probability in those markets increases as a price run between structural breaks lengthened.
Constraints in access to and demand for rural credit: evidence from Uganda.

Like is most developing countries, Uganda’s financi al sector is largely underdeveloped and concentrate d in urban areas, leaving the majority of the agricultural producers in rural population with no access. However, agricu lture forms a significant part of the lives of the rural househol ds, who constitute about 85% of the population. At the macro level, agriculture accounts for about 30 of Gross Domestic Product. This study uses the Uganda household surveys conducted in 1992/93 and 1999/2000 to shed some light on access to, and the characteristics of demand for credit among the rural population. We employ the probit, tobit and multino mial logit model estimations on we analyse demand for credit. We find that Uganda’s credit market is highly segmente d. The rural peasant producers are largely served b y relatives/friends and self-help credit associations and their loan ap plications are less likely to succeed, and of those that do, smaller loans are granted. The educated and the young are more li kely to demand credit while women are less likely t o, and to apply for smaller loans. Therefore, while government’s ag ricultural modernisation policy considers credit as an important input to its success and as the Government plans to roll out its programme of Wealth-For-All, more nee ds to be done to get credit flowing to the sector and to ensure that it can be usefully utilised. Skills and vocational training to enhance production and training in appropriate use of credi t are needed.
Determinants of information systems outsourcing in hotels from the resource‐based view: an empirical study

The objective of this study is to determine the factors affecting outsourcing of information system/information technology (IS/IT) activities in hotels from the resource-based view of the firm. The factors considered are the conditions that the systems area resources must meet for that area to have a competitive value. The reasons, which are both strategic and tactical, are discussed. The former are mainly related to quality, improvement of service and concentration on core activities, whereas the latter are tactical or cost-related reasons justifying the selection of the outsourcing strategy for this activity. The results indicate the factors determining IS/IT activity outsourcing are related to the creation of valuable resources and to market transaction costs, and the IS/IT area performance does not influence the decision to outsource. It is also shown that the reasons justifying outsourcing are strategic; related to the core competencies and quality of service and not to cost reduction. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Key Value Drivers of Startup Companies in the New Media Industry—The Case of Online Games in Korea

The amazing speed of innovations in the new media industry is now forcing major studios and publishers to search for promising startup companies to sustain their competitive edge. However, selection and valuation of startup companies, especially in the new media industry, is difficult to conduct because of the high amount of uncertainty. To understand and find the fair value of startup companies in the new media industry, we needed to investigate the key value drivers. In this study, we focused on the characteristics of uncertainty and the resource-based view of the firm and empirically analyzed the market value of startup companies based on the case of the online games industry in Korea. Results showed that the product development stage, market size, the ease of lock-in, technological competency, and a key talent are the five major key value drivers of startup companies in the Korean online games industry.
A Comparative Study of Training in the Private and Public Sectors: Evidence from the United Kingdom and The United States

type="main" xml:id="coep12120-abs-0001"> Formal training programs are one of the main channels through which workers become more productive and experience wage growth. So far, however, most of the results on the effects of employer-provided training come from studying the training received by private sector workers only. We extend the literature by identifying and comparing the effects of private-employer-provided and public-employer-provided training in the United States and the United Kingdom. We address this question using two independent data sets from the British Household Panels Surveys and the American National Longitudinal Survey of Youth of 1979. (JEL J24, J31, J40)
The ACTN3 R577X polymorphism in Russian endurance athletes

Objective The functional 577R allele of the α-actinin-3 (ACTN3) gene has been reported to be associated with elite power athlete status, while the nonfunctional 577XX genotype (predicts an α-actinin-3 deficient phenotype) has been hypothesised as providing some sort of advantage for endurance athletes. In the present study, the distribution of ACTN3 genotypes and alleles in Russian endurance-oriented athletes were examined and association between ACTN3 genotypes and the competition results of rowers were sought. Methods 456 Russian endurance-oriented athletes of regional or national competitive standard were involved in the study. ACTN3 genotype and allele frequencies were compared with 1211 controls. The data from the Russian Cup Rowing Tournament were used to search for possible association between the ACTN3 genotype and the long-distance (∼6 km) rowing results of 54 athletes. DNA was extracted from mouthwash samples. Genotyping for the R577X variant was performed by PCR and restriction enzyme digestion. Results The frequencies of the ACTN3 577XX genotype (5.7% vs 14.5%; p<0.0001) and 577X allele (33.2% vs 39.0%; p = 0.0025) were significantly lower in endurance-oriented athletes compared with the controls, and none of the highly elite athletes had the 577XX genotype. Furthermore, male rowers with ACTN3 577RR genotype showed better results (1339 (11) s) in long-distance rowing than carriers of 577RX (1386 (12) s) or 577XX (1402 (10) s) genotypes (p = 0.016). Conclusion Our data show that the ACTN3 577X allele is under-represented in Russian endurance athletes and is associated with the rowers’ competition results.
Lack of pharmacokinetic interaction between intravenous 2',3'-dideoxyinosine and 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine in rats

We investigated the pharmacokinetic interaction between 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT) and 2',3'-dideoxyinosine (ddI), given to rats by intravenous injection. For both compounds, the clearances, terminal half-lives, and fractions of the dose excreted unchanged in urine were not altered by the other drug (P greater than 0.05), indicating no pharmacokinetic interaction between the two drugs.
Miniaturized 60-GHz On-Chip Multimode Quasi-Elliptical Bandpass Filter

A 60-GHz on-chip multimode bandpass filter (BPF) is implemented using a sandwich capacitor. The proposed loaded sandwich capacitor shows functions of multimode perturbation and stopband control in the BPF design. An additional magnetic coupling path from the source to the load is introduced to generate two extra zeros. Thus the quasi-elliptical filter response is achieved. The proposed filter implemented with a commercial SiGe BiCMOS process demonstrates a low insertion loss of 4 dB and compact size of only 0.16 mm2.
Generation of apoptosis‐resistant HEK293 cells with CRISPR/Cas mediated quadruple gene knockout for improved protein and virus production

Apoptosis has important functions during pathophysiologic processes. However, from a biopharmaceutical point of view, active apoptosis of host cells is undesirable during viral packaging or protein expression, because it decreases the efficiency of viral or protein production. Here we used the CRISPR/Cas technique to knock out four pro‐apoptotic genes, Caspase3, Caspase6, Caspase7 and AIF1, in HEK293 cells, and successfully produced an apoptosis‐resistant cell line. Furthermore, this cell line showed higher expression levels of pro‐apoptotic proteins and higher packaging efficiency for the virus carrying these proteins than control HEK293 cells. This study not only produced an apoptosis‐resistant cell line that is useful in producing apoptosis‐inducing proteins or viruses expressing these proteins, but also provides a methodology to build other apoptosis‐resistant cell lines.
Assembly of super compact wireless sensor nodes for environmental monitoring applications

This paper presents the integration and the assembly of MEMS sensor with RF-IC and flexible RF-antenna, which is expected for the production of super compact and maintenancefree wireless sensor nodes for applications in `green' sensor networks, e.g. environmental monitoring, electric power consumption controlling. To reduce its size to the lowest possibility, structure and layout of the sensor node was investigated, and then 2 prototypes for humidity and temperature measurement were assembled with the size of a few mm without RF-antenna, and 2×5 cm with flexible RF-antenna. Electric power consumption of the prototype sensor nodes during one cycle of measurement and data transmission was studied. Life-time of the coin battery, which was used as the power source, was calculated and discussed. The practical evaluation results demonstrated that above proposed structure and assemblytechnologies are promising as a platform for super compact and flexible `green' sensor nodes production.
Lower plasma visceral protein concentrations are independently associated with higher mortality in patients on peritoneal dialysis

Protein–energy wasting (PEW) is strongly associated with high mortality in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. However, its clinical assessment has not been well defined. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between combined nutritional indicators and mortality in CAPD patients. In the present retrospective cohort study, a total of 885 incident CAPD patients were enrolled. Nutritional status at the initiation of CAPD was assessed by BMI and biochemical indices (serum albumin, prealbumin, transferrin, creatinine and total cholesterol). The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Principal components factor analysis was used to identify the combined nutritional parameters. Their association with mortality was examined by multivariable-adjusted Cox models. The mean age was 47·4 (sd 14·8) years, 59·2 % (n 524) were male and 24·6 % (n 218) were diabetic. Of the total patients, 130 (14·7 %) had BMI < 18·5 kg/m2, 439 (49·6 %) had albumin < 38 g/l ( < 3·8 g/dl), 303 (34·2 %) had prealbumin < 300 mg/l ( < 30 mg/dl), 404 (45·6 %) had transferrin < 2 g/l ( < 200 mg/dl), 501 (56·6 %) had total cholesterol < 5·2 mmol/l ( < 200 mg/dl) and 466 (52·7 %) had creatinine < 707 μmol/l ( < 8 mg/dl). Overall, three components such as visceral proteins, muscle-mass surrogate and BMI were extracted, which explained 69·95 % of the total variance of the nutritional parameters. After adjusting for demographic variables, co-morbid conditions, Hb, TAG and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, the factor score of visceral proteins including albumin, prealbumin and transferrin was independently associated with mortality (hazard ratio 0·73, 95 % CI 0·60, 0·89; P= 0·002). Lower visceral protein concentrations may be independently associated with higher mortality in incident CAPD patients. Simultaneous measurements of serum albumin, prealbumin and transferrin could be helpful to monitor PEW.
In the Eye of the Beholder: Leader Images in Canada

Abstract The “leader factor” in Canadian voting has received surprisingly little research attention. In this article, the authors employ data from the 1974, 1979, 1980 and 1984 Canadian National Election Studies to examine the organization of respondents' images of the major political party leaders. The central thesis developed here is that respondents' images of the leaders are not typically idiosyncratic to the leader or to the election in question. The images are shaped by a prototypical leader schema that affects the information about leaders that is processed and recalled. The authors test several implications of this thesis. They demonstrate that there is considerable commonality in the content of a citizen's images of leaders in any one election, and that there is evidence of both aggregate and individual-level stability in the structure of images across elections. The authors test an additional hypothesis from schema theory concerning individual differences in image content. In this regard, they demonstrate, contrary to some of the literature, that better-educated respondents are more likely than less-educated respondents to cite task-relevant dispositional attributes of the leaders. Résumé Le phénomène de « leader » dans le vote au Canada n'a pas beaucoup retenu l'attention des chercheurs en la matière. Cet article, en se basant sur les données des études électorates nationales canadiennes de 1974, 1979, 1980 et 1984, examine comment est organisée l'image que se font les répondants des leaders des principaux partis politiques. Le thème central qui est ici développé est que les images que se font les répondants des leaders ou de l'élection en question ne sont pas typiquement idiosyncrasiques. Les images sont faconnées par un schéma prototype de leader qui affecte l'information qui est fabriquée et rappelée au sujet des leaders. Diverses implications de cette thèse sont vérifiées et entre autres qu'il y a une satisfaction commune des citoyens au sujet des images de leaders dans toute élection, et que la stabilité dans la structure des images à travers les diverses élections est evidente à la fois au niveau individuel et de la masse. Une hypothèse additionnelle de la théorie schématique concernant les différences individuelles dans la satisfaction de l'image est aussi verifiée. À cet égard, les auteurs démontrent, contrairement à une certaine littérature, que les répondants mieux éduqués sont plus suceptibles de tenir compte de dispositions relatives aux tâches comme étant plus pertinentes dans leur appréciation des leaders.
Trust in Complex Decision-Making Networks

This article explores some theoretical notions of trust in complex interorganizational networks, especially public-private partnerships. The article begins with a theoretical exploration of the value of trust in complex interorganizational processes. Next, the role of trust in a public-private partnership “Sijtwende” is analyzed. The authors analyze the cooperation process and the organizational arrangements that have been used, as well as the outcomes thus far. They then trace the existence and development of trust in these processes and their influence on the process and outcomes. The authors close with some preliminary conclusions and hypotheses on the manageability of trust.