Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TheMolecular Basis ofWound Healing Processes Induced by Lithospermi Radix : A Proteomics and Biochemical Analysis

Lithospermi Radix (LR) is an effective traditional Chinese herb in various types of wound healing; however, its mechanism of action remains unknown. A biochemical and proteomic platform was generated to explore the biological phenomena associated with LR and its active component shikonin. We found that both LR ethanol extracts and shikonin are able to promote cell proliferation by up to 25%. The results of proteomic analysis revealed that twenty-two differentially expressed proteins could be identified when fibroblast cells were treated with LR or shikonin. The functions of those proteins are associated with antioxidant activity, antiapoptosis activity, the regulation of cell mobility, the secretion of collagen, the removal of abnormal proteins, and the promotion of cell proliferation, indicating that the efficacy of LR in wound healing may be derived from a synergistic effect on a number of factors induced by the herbal medicine. Furthermore, an animal model confirmed that LR is able to accelerate wound healing on the flank back of the SD rats. Together these findings help to pinpoint the molecular basis of wound healing process induced by LR.
Co-Administered Vitamin E Isoforms d-α-tocopherol and d-δ-tocotrienol Rich Fraction Promote Regeneration of Skeletal Muscle in Diabetics

In diabetes the structural and functional recovery of skeletal muscle is impaired due to persistent hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress. Vitamin E is known to be essential antioxidant for maintains the skeletal muscle homeostasis thus preventing oxidative damages. This study is designed to explore the effect of d-α-tocopherol and d-δ-tocotrienol rich fraction (d-δ-TRF) on crushed muscle regeneration in both healthy and diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced through single subcutaneous injection of aqueous alloxan at the dose of 100 mg/kg. Twenty four albino rats were divided into four groups; healthy control, diabetic control, healthy treated and diabetic treated. Treated groups received 100 mg/kg of d-α-tocopherol and d-δ-TRF each, orally, daily for three weeks. Through a horizontal mid-thigh skin incision and splitting of the fascia gluteus maximus was approached and crushed with Kocher’s forceps. Skin wound was closed with an absorbable suture. The crush-induced degenerative and regenerative changes in the muscle were studied by assessing the histological features, histomorphological measurements and biochemical analyses at the end of 3rd weeks. One- way ‘ANOVA’ and Student’s t-test were used for statistical analysis. All results revealed that the vitamin E isoforms have potency to maintain glycemic level, improve the antioxidant capacity and hasten the process of regeneration, revascularization, reinnervation and connective tissue remodeling in skeletal muscle after crush injury. It is therefore, concluded that the vitamin E isoforms are useful nutritional supplements for skeletal muscle functional and structural recovery in both healthy and diabetics.
Contrasting effects of productivity and disturbance on plant functional diversity at local and metacommunity scales

Questions Is trait convergence more intense when soil resource availability and disturbance constrain productivity and limit above-ground competition? Do the effects of productivity and disturbance on functional diversity differ between the local and metacommunity scales? Location Semi-arid grasslands in New Zealand (43°59′ S, 170°27′ E). Methods We measured trait convergence and divergence in grasslands along gradients of primary productivity and disturbance at local (i.e. 1 m × 1 m) and metacommunity (8 m × 50 m) scales, using long-term (27-yr) manipulations of soil resource availability and grazing intensity. We compared trait dispersion metrics to those expected under different null models. Results At the metacommunity scale, we found stronger trait convergence with increasing productivity and grazing intensity, where all short, slow-growing species were excluded from the potential species pool. However, once this broad-scale filter on species pool was taken into account, we found that at the local scale, abundance-weighted functional dispersion of co-occurring species was stronger than expected under our null model, thereby suggesting limiting similarity. Moreover, trait divergence became stronger at higher productivity and lower grazing intensity, where size-asymmetric competition for light is likely to have been more intense. Conclusions At the metacommunity scale, environmental filtering led to species with particular traits being excluded from the species pool. In contrast, at the local community scale where individuals interact, there was evidence of limiting similarity. Our results suggest that environmental filtering and limiting similarity are not mutually exclusive and jointly determine community structure, but can operate at different spatial scales.
Risk-Taking by Russian Banks: Do Location, Ownership and Size Matter?

The Russian banking sector has experienced enormous growth rates during the last 6-7 years. The rapid growth of assets has, however, contributed to a decrease in the capital adequacy ratio, thus influencing the ability of banks to cope with risk. Using quarterly data spanning from 1999 to 2007 on all Russian banks, we investigate the relationship between bank characteristics and risk-taking by Russian banks. The analysis of financial ratios reveals that, on average, the risk levels are still below those observed in Central and Eastern Europe. Combining the group-wise comparisons of financial ratios and the results of insolvency risk analysis based on fixed effects vector decomposition, three main conclusions emerge. First, controlling for bank characteristics, large banks have higher insolvency risk than small ones. Second, foreign-owned banks exhibit higher insolvency risk than domestic banks and large state-controlled banks are, unlike other state-controlled banks, more stable. Third, we find that the regional banks engage in significantly more risk-taking than their counterparts in Moscow.
Developmental stability and the harbour seal epizootic in 1988

Developmental instability of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) that died during the epizootic in 1988 in the Kattegat was compared with that of the population prior to the epizootic to investigate whether animals that died were the developmentally less stable individuals in the population. As an assessment of developmental instability the fractal dimension of the paired maxillo palatinae suture was calculated and the degree of fluctuating asymmetry in teeth, foramina and the paired suture was estimated in a total of 240 skulls. Moreover, prevalences of three pathological changes of the skull were compared. No difference was found in developmental instability or prevalence of skull lesions between animals that died in the epizootic and estimates from the population prior to the epizootic. The lack of difference could be in accordance with the suggestion that organochlorines had an influence on mortality during the epizootic. Levels of organochlorines have decreased in the last decade before the epizootic, and thereby could have equalized differences in levels of developmental stability.
Microstructure of Whey Protein/ Anhydrous Milkfat Emulsions

Research has been undertaken in order to deter­ mine the microstructure of emulsions consisting of whey proteins and anhydrous milk fat. The results revealed that whey protein films were formed at oil/water inter­ faces. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of chemically fixed specimens1 and cryo-SEM analysis of partially etched, fro ze n specimens revealed that the ad ­ sorb ed protein layer (coating the fat droplets) had a granular, aggregated appearance. Emulsions with a high fat load prepared under high homogenization pressure exhibited a bimodal particle-size distribution. Clu! ;ter­ ing of the protein-coated droplets, and sharing phenome­ na at the oil /protein interfaces were evident in these emulsions. The structural analysis indicated that the bi ­ modal distribution could be attributed to clustering of protein-coated fat droplets rather than to coalescence.
Institution building and political accountability

The paper examines the role of policy intervention in catalyzing institutional change. We identify two effects of development policy as a tool for institutional change. By increasing political accountability, it may encourage nascent democratic governments to invest in good institutions. However, it also increases incentives of the rentier elite to tighten their grip on political institutions. Which of these effects dominate determine if development policy will lead to democratic consolidation and economic improvement or to the worsening of existing institutions. If the elite are deeply entrenched, then modernization may require combining development policy with subsidies.
Evaluation of Investor Behavior: Do Investors Respect their Own Limits?

In this quasi-experimental study we evaluated the effect of heuristics on financial decision making in order to detect signs of non-rational behavior. At baseline, the participants (=investors) established an anchor percentage value of satisfactory gains and tolerable losses on investment in stock and defined their self-perceived investor profile, but most investors eventually manifested a more aggressive profile, exceeding their own limits considerably. By applying statistics to our findings (Student? s t test and chi-square), we found that, due to analytical biases, overconfidence or unrealistic optimism, investors did not respect their own limits but rather attempted to obtain gains above the initial anchor values. In addition, experiencing a situation of gain or risk did not make a significant difference in the degree of risk the investors were willing to take subsequently, making them accept losses beyond what they initially considered tolerable. Thus, our findings contradict the assumptions of the expected utility hypothesis and the principle of agent rationality.
Echoes of multiple outbursts of Sagittarius A⋆ revealed by Chandra

Context. The relatively rapid spatial and temporal variability of the X-ray radiation from some molecular clouds near the Galactic center shows that this emission component is due to the reflection of X-rays generated by a source that was luminous in the past, most likely the central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A⋆. Aims. Studying the evolution of the molecular cloud reflection features is therefore a key element in reconstructing Sgr A⋆’s past activity. The aim of the present work is to study this emission on small angular scales in order to characterize the source outburst on short time scales. Methods. We use Chandra high-resolution data collected from 1999 to 2011 to study the most rapid variations detected so far, those of clouds between 5′ and 20′ from Sgr A⋆ toward positive longitudes. Our systematic spectral-imaging analysis of the reflection emission, notably of the Fe Kα line at 6.4 keV and its associated 4–8 keV continuum, allows us to characterize the variations down to a 15′′ angular scale and a 1-year time scale. Results. We reveal for the first time abrupt variations of only a few years and, in particular, a short peaked emission, with a factor of 10 increase followed by a comparable decrease, which propagates along the dense filaments of one cloud. This 2-year peaked feature contrasts with the slower 10-year linear variations we reveal in all the other molecular structures of the region. Based on column density constraints, we argue that these two different behaviors are unlikely to be due to the same illuminating event. Conclusions. The variations likely stem from a highly variable active phase of Sgr A⋆ which occurred sometime within the past few hundred years, and is characterized by at least two luminous outbursts with typical time scales of a few years and during which the Sgr A⋆ luminosity went up to at least 1039 erg s-1.
Public-private re-alignments: the role of structural economic transformations in spurring the joint international engagement of agribusiness and the Brazilian State

The article focuses upon how changes in global agricultural markets and the transformation of the Brazilian economic model from the 1990s have redefined relations between the state and agribusiness, and affected the country´s international strategy. The central objective is to evaluate the causal impact of structural factors at the global and the national level upon the dispositions and preferences of the group of actors examined. Public-private cooperation is analyzed through institutionalist IPE and liberal IR theory, in combination with a neopluralist perspective. The article concludes that changes in global food markets and the economic liberalizations of the 1990s have spurred an export-oriented consensus between the agricultural sector and the state, with strong repercussions within the country´s international engagement.
3D Semi-Supervised Learning with Uncertainty-Aware Multi-View Co-Training

While making a tremendous impact in various fields, deep neural networks usually require large amounts of la-beled data for training which are expensive to collect in many applications, especially in the medical domain. Un-labeled data, on the other hand, is much more abundant. Semi-supervised learning techniques, such as co-training, could provide a powerful tool to leverage unlabeled data. In this paper, we propose a novel framework, uncertainty-aware multi-view co-training (UMCT), to address semi-supervised learning on 3D data, such as volumetric data from medical imaging. In our work, co-training is achieved by exploiting multi-viewpoint consistency of 3D data. We generate different views by rotating or permuting the 3D data and utilize asymmetrical 3D kernels to encourage diversified features in different sub-networks. In addition, we propose an uncertainty-weighted label fusion mechanism to estimate the reliability of each view’s prediction with Bayesian deep learning. As one view requires the supervision from other views in co-training, our self-adaptive approach computes a confidence score for the prediction of each unlabeled sample in order to assign a reliable pseudo label. Thus, our approach can take advantage of unlabeled data during training. We show the effectiveness of our proposed semi-supervised method on several public datasets from medical image segmentation tasks (NIH pancreas & LiTS liver tumor dataset). Meanwhile, a fully-supervised method based on our approach achieved state-of-the-art performances on both the LiTS liver tumor segmentation and the Medical Segmentation Decathlon (MSD) challenge, demonstrating the robustness and value of our framework, even when fully supervised training is feasible.
Corner Fire Growth in a Room With a Combustible Lining

The flammability of interior finish materials for many applications is regulated using the ISO 9705 large-scale room corner fire test. To aid designers in developing new materials, a fire growth model has been developed to predict material performance in the ISO 9705 test using small-scale test data from ASTM E1354 cone calorimeter. The fire growth model includes a flame spread model linked with a two zone compartment fire model, CFAST Version 3.1. 2. At a user selected time interval, the flame spread model uses the gas temperature from CFAST to predict the heat release rate of the fire at that time interval, and then provides CFAST with a new heat release rate to predict conditions during the next time step. The flame spread model is an improved version of the flat wall flame spread model previously developed for the U.S. Navy. The model is capable of predicting flame spread in a variety of configurations including a flat wall, a corner with a ceiling, flat wall with a ceiling, unconfined ceiling, and parallel walls. The fire growth model was used to predict the heat release rate and smoke production rate measured in eight ISO 9705 room corner fire tests on composite materials used in marine applications.
Does Distance Affect the Performance of Foreign Banks? Evidence from Multinational Banking in Developing Countries

This paper examines whether the geographic distance between subsidiaries of multinational banks and their headquarters is an important factor in determining the performance of the subsidiaries. Using various performance indicators of 340 subsidiaries in 54 emerging and developing economies from 69 global banks during the years 1994-2008, we find evidence that first, the distance constraint adversely affects loan growth, profitability and performance of foreign bank subsidiaries, and second, the unfavorable information asymmetry faced by foreign banks, due to the distance constraint, in financing foreign clients cannot be fully overcome by establishing their presence abroad such as setting up their foreign subsidiaries. We further examine if the effect of distance is symmetric across different banks and countries, and find the following various economic, financial and institutional factors to affect the strength of distance constraints in the multinational banking activities: the entry mode of foreign banks, the history of presence in local markets, the existence of credit information institutions, the cultural similarity between the home and host markets, financial depth, financial crisis periods, the stock market development, the banking market structure in host markets, and the hierarchy of the subsidiary in the multinational banking conglomerate.
The Relationships Between Perfectionism, Achievement Goal Orientations, and Goal Setting

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships between multidimensional perfectionism, achievement goal orientations, and distal goal setting. Multidimensional perfectionism is regarded as consisting of both positive and negative dimensions, and it is seen as a significant personality characteristic in individuals in achievement contexts. Achievement goal orientations refer to individuals’ generalized tendencies to favour certain types of goals and outcomes in achievement settings. Distal goal setting refers to individuals’ long-term goals, which, in the present study, are the grade goals that students have set for themselves. The relationship between perfectionism and achievement goals, as well as between perfectionism and aspiration level has been detected in previous studies. However, there has not been any previous studies concerning the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism and achievement goal orientations, which both play an important role in the adoption of goals and the interpretation of achievement contexts. Thus, the assumption in the present study is that perfectionistic characteristics in students have an effect on the adoption of achievement goal orientations, distal goals, and also on the revision of those goals. The participants in the present study were 156 first-year students (aged 16–17 years) from a general upper secondary school in a small southwestern town in Finland. The students completed two questionnaires: the first in the beginning of each course and the second during the courses. By using TwoStep cluster analysis, three distinct perfectionism profiles (i.e., adaptive, maladaptive, and nonperfectionists) were extracted. The between-group differences on the achievement goal orientations, goal setting, and goal revision were examined through a series of univariate analyses of (co)variance based on the perfectionism profile membership. As expected, the adaptive perfectionists were prone to adopt mastery-intrinsic, mastery-extrinsic, and performance-approach achievement goal orientations. In contrast, the maladaptive perfectionists highlighted performance-avoidance and avoidance goal orientations, while the non-perfectionists did not highlight any of the orientations. The adaptive perfectionists had the highest aspiration level and they also lowered their grade goals the least. The findings suggest that students’ perfectionistic characteristics have an influence on their achievement goal orientations, goal setting, and goal revision. The maladaptive and non-perfectionists are at the highest risk of adopting low aspiration levels, maladaptive achievement goal orientations, and have the tendency to revise their goals downwards. It might be useful to take this into consideration at schools and in teaching, and to consider, if counselling needs to be given to those students.
Corruption in India: Bridging Academic Evidence and Policy Options*

Corruption has become an increasingly salient issue in India today, spawning enormous interest from the media as well as a large amount of academic research. Yet, there is a large gap between what has captured the media’s attention, the policy options under discussion, and the actual evidence base drawn from empirical research on corruption. We attempt to bridge this gap by directly addressing the particular challenges that corruption in India poses. Academic evidence supports the popular perception that corruption is widespread and endemic. However, we find that the costs of day-to-day corruption are just as large, if not larger, than those of the “scams” that dominate headlines. Further, we find that there is very little evidence to support the idea that greater transparency, information, and community based efforts have a significant impact on reducing corruption on their own. This is also true for some technological interventions, although those interventions – like direct benefit transfers – that bypass middlemen and corrupt officials have a much greater scope for success, as do interventions that transfer bargaining power to citizens and beneficiaries. We find much to commend in the sensible and wide-ranging legislative agenda to combat corruption, including the Right to Service and Public Procurement bills. However, what is most important for combating corruption is not the law on paper but the implementation of the law; the binding constraint, as always, is the government’s desire and ability to punish corrupt officials and politicians.
Oral Health Related Illness and Associated Factors among Bank Workers and Teachers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Oral health related illness is among serious public-health problems and the fourth most expensive diseases to treat in developing country. According to WHO estimation, in Ethiopia 71% of the population are affected by oral health related illness. Although oral health related illness is affecting the majority of Ethiopian, much is not known about the extents and the factors influencing the occurrence of oral health related illnesses; oral care practices and health care seeking behaviors. Objective: To determine the magnitude of oral health related illness and its associated factors among Bank employees and Teachers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: Data collected for Non-Communicable Diseases Survey among Bank employees and Teacher in Addis Ababa was used for this study. After carefully cleaning for completeness of data, 2144 study participants were considered for the study. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: The magnitude of oral health related illness among study participants was 16.40%. Age (i.e., 55 years and older) (AOR=1.70; 95% CI: 1.01–2.87), work place (Commercial Bank of Ethiopia) (AOR= 1.46; 95% CI: 1.07– 2.01), poor/fair general health condition (AOR=1.31; 95% CI: 1.01–1.67) and Mental Distress (AOR=1.47; 95% CI: 1.03–2.10) were determined as associated factors for Oral health related illness. Conclusion: Magnitude of self-reported oral health related illness among the study participants was 16.40%. And the factors associated with oral health related illness were age, work place, general health condition and Mental Distress. This finding was relatively similar and comparable to another studies conducted in other places and still remained as a public health important issue.