Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aftermath of Typhoon Frank: Perceiving Environmental Causes and Effects towards Environmental Leadership

The study aims to perceive the environmental effects and causes of typhoon Frank leading to environmental leadership in Iloilo City shared by the seafarers and instructors of the maritime university specifically, John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University-Molo (JBLFMU-Molo). It further elucidated the role of maritime instructors and determined the extent of the disaster preparedness of the Iloilo City government with regards to natural calamities like typhoons. This study employed quantitative-qualitative method of collecting data. The residents of Iloilo Province who were slightly or badly hit by the Typhoon Frank were also utilized to generate data on the aftermath of the typhoon. Government officials and other disaster involved personnel were also utilized as respondents who were interviewed in terms of disaster preparedness of the City. The data of this study were gathered through the use of descriptive-quantitative and open-ended questionnaire. The quantitative data were supported by qualitative answers of the key persons to enlighten the individuals concerned regarding causes and effects of Typhoon Frank. Results revealed the views of the seafarers regarding climate change particularly on the aftermath of Typhoon Frank. Keywords - climatology, typhoon, quantitative-qualitative method, environmental effects, Iloilo City, Philippines
Impact of ECMO on neonatal mortality in Michigan (1980-1999).

PURPOSE Although extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a potentially lifesaving intervention, the effect of ECMO on neonatal mortality has never been evaluated. In this study, we examined the relationship between increased ECMO utilization and its effect on the neonatal mortality rate in the state of Michigan. METHODS Neonatal mortality data were obtained from the Michigan State Department of Community Health. Data included total annual live births, total neonatal deaths, and deaths from respiratory causes in neonates > or =35 weeks' gestational age (ie, potential ECMO candidates). Pooled ECMO patient data from Michigan's 3 ECMO centers were obtained from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) Registry. Associations between ECMO volume and neonatal mortality rates were assessed using simple linear regression. A scatterplot of ECMO volume and mortality rates was created, and the resulting fitted regression lines were superimposed on the plots. Statistical significance of the associations (ie, difference in slope of the regression line from zero) were based on a standard 2-sided Wald test for the regression slope parameter. RESULTS From 1980 through 1999, 1,061 neonates were treated with ECMO in Michigan, and 875 (82.5%) survived. When annual neonatal mortality rate (from all causes) and the rate from respiratory causes versus ECMO volume (cases per year) are superimposed with fitted regression lines, both are significantly different from zero (P =.041 and P =.002, respectively). The model predicts that for every 100 neonates treated with ECMO in Michigan, 38 lives are saved. The model also can be used to predict the annual neonatal mortality rate in Michigan if ECMO had not been utilized. CONCLUSIONS A strong association exists between ECMO volume and observed reductions in neonatal mortality seen in Michigan over the last 2 decades. This is the first study to show an association between ECMO and neonatal mortality rate at the population level.
Industry-level stock returns volatility and aggregate economic activity in Australia

Drawing upon rationales from the theories of investment and consumption under uncertainty and the models of sectoral reallocation, we assess the implications of industry-level stock returns volatility for the future state of the Australian economy in terms of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, inflation and unemployment. By explicitly modelling the cyclical pattern of industry-level volatility and relating it to corresponding cyclical behaviour of macroeconomic variables, we show that industry-level volatility is a leading indicator of the movements in output growth and inflation. We find complementary evidence from a Vector Autoregression (VAR) based multi-step Granger causality test and impulse response analysis. However, the forecast error variance decompositions suggest that although the industry-level volatility accounts for a significant fraction of the forecast error of inflation, this explains only a small fraction of output and unemployment uncertainties. Further analysis indicates that industry-level volatility contains better information about the future state of the economy than does aggregate stock market volatility
Ligand-induced activation of human TRPM2 requires the terminal ribose of ADPR and involves Arg1433 and Tyr1349

TRPM2 (transient receptor potential channel, subfamily melastatin, member 2) is a Ca2+-permeable non-selective cation channel activated by the binding of adenosine 5′-diphosphoribose (ADPR) to its cytoplasmic NUDT9H domain (NUDT9 homology domain). Activation of TRPM2 by ADPR downstream of oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many human diseases, rendering TRPM2 an attractive novel target for pharmacological intervention. However, the structural basis underlying this activation is largely unknown. Since ADP (adenosine 5′-diphosphate) alone did not activate or antagonize the channel, we used a chemical biology approach employing synthetic analogues to focus on the role of the ADPR terminal ribose. All novel ADPR derivatives modified in the terminal ribose, including that with the seemingly minor change of methylating the anomeric-OH, abolished agonist activity at TRPM2. Antagonist activity improved as the terminal substituent increasingly resembled the natural ribose, indicating that gating by ADPR might require specific interactions between hydroxyl groups of the terminal ribose and the NUDT9H domain. By mutating amino acid residues of the NUDT9H domain, predicted by modelling and docking to interact with the terminal ribose, we demonstrate that abrogating hydrogen bonding of the amino acids Arg1433 and Tyr1349 interferes with activation of the channel by ADPR. Taken together, using the complementary experimental approaches of chemical modification of the ligand and site-directed mutagenesis of TRPM2, we demonstrate that channel activation critically depends on hydrogen bonding of Arg1433 and Tyr1349 with the terminal ribose. Our findings allow for a more rational design of novel TRPM2 antagonists that may ultimately lead to compounds of therapeutic potential.
Glycosylphosphatidylinositol Anchors of Membrane Glycoproteins Are Binding Determinants for the Channel-forming Toxin Aerolysin*

Cells that are sensitive to the channel-forming toxin aerolysin contain surface glycoproteins that bind the toxin with high affinity. Here we show that a common feature of aerolysin receptors is the presence of a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor, and we present evidence that the anchor itself is an essential part of the toxin binding determinant. The glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored T-lymphocyte protein Thy-1 is an example of a protein that acts as an aerolysin receptor. This protein retained its ability to bind aerolysin when it was expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells, but could not bind the toxin when expressed in Escherichia coli, where the GPI anchor is absent. An unrelated GPI-anchored protein, the variant surface glycoprotein of trypanosomes, was shown to bind aerolysin with similar affinity to Thy-1, and this binding ability was significantly reduced when the anchor was removed chemically. Cathepsin D, a protein with no affinity for aerolysin, was converted to an aerolysin binding form when it was expressed as a GPI-anchored hybrid in COS cells. Not all GPI-anchored proteins bind aerolysin. In some cases this may be due to differences in the structure of the anchor itself. Thus the GPI-anchored proteins procyclin ofTrypanosoma congolense and gp63 of Leishmania major did not bind aerolysin, but when gp63 was expressed with a mammalian GPI anchor in Chinese hamster ovary cells, it bound the toxin.
Impaired gastric response to modified sham feeding in patients with postprandial distress syndrome

Background Impaired vagal function has been reported to be important in some patients with functional dyspepsia (FD). However, the pathophysiologic mechanisms influencing the cephalic phase of vagal activity in FD are incompletely understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the gastric response to modified sham feeding (MSF) on ultrasound and cardiovascular autonomic function in FD patients.
The Effect of Innovation Characteristics on Activity-Based Costing Adoption

This paper contributes to the analysis of the factors influencing the adoption of ABC by assessing the contribution of the characteristics of an innovation on adoption, which has not been carried out in prior research. Specifically, the paper applies innovation diffusion theory to examine the impact of five characteristics of an innovation, and organisation size, industry and location on the decision to adopt activity-based costing (ABC). The data for the study was obtained from a questionnaire survey of management accountants in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The relationships with ABC adopted were tested using logistic regression analysis. The best model specification arises when organisations that have adopted ABC are compared with those that have rejected it. The results reveal that organisations are more likely to adopt ABC when they attach a high level of importance to the relative advantages offered by innovations, are large and located in Australasia.
There are Many Roads to Reindustrialization and Resilience: Place-based Approaches in Three German Urban Regions

Abstract Reindustrialization has become a major political objective in the European Union. This paper provides three urban case studies on reindustrialization pathways and experiences during the global economic crisis to reveal the specificities of place-based approaches on the local level despite common policies on EU, federal and state levels. Moreover, the evolutionary perspective on reindustrialization and economic resilience shows the importance of adaptive capabilities on the local level, although the sources for these capabilities differ according to context- and place-specific structures.
Promoting student engagement through scholarship in a teacher preparation program

A project entitled "Academic Presentations and Publications by Leaders in Education" (Project APPLE) was developed to offer pre-service teachers opportunities to grow professionally outside traditional coursework requirements. Project APPLE seeks to engage students in teacher education programs in two types of scholarly activities: professional conference presentations (Phase A) and publications (Phase B). This article describes the project's goals and evaluates Phase A of the project. Practical suggestions are presented to develop professional development projects in teacher education programs that wish to promote early student engagement in scholarly activities. Project APPLE (Academic Presentations and Publications by Leaders in Education) was developed to support pre-service teachers' professional development outside traditional coursework requirements. The project's main goal is to involve educators—who keep abreast of new developments in their field and seek to develop their skills—in profession-enhancing scholarly activities. Project APPLE has two objectives: First, to encourage student participants to identify and research their own areas of interest. Second, to engage students in two types of scholarly activities: conference presentations (Phase A) and publications (Phase B). In pursuing these objectives, Project APPLE fosters the scholarship of teaching and learning (Isaacson, 2000) in three ways; faculty and student participants (a) expand and reflect on their knowledge and experience as pre-service or in-service teachers, (b) integrate their knowledge through collaborative work, and (c) share their knowledge publicly via presentations and publications. The project also responds to three critical issues in the field: the preparation of highly qualified teachers in grades K-12 (U.S. Department of Education, 2005b); the increasing need for educators able to integrate diversity, multiculturalism, and higher levels of technological literacy into instruction (National Board for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), 2002; Languages Other Than English (LOTE) Center for Educator Development, 2006); and the need for professional development in undergraduate programs (U.S. Department of Education, 2005a; Higher Education Act, 1989, section 201; U.S. Department of Education, 2004). This article describes APPLE's inception, development, and evaluation of Phase A of the project, which focused on pre-service teachers' conference presentations on regional, state, and national levels. In addition, the plan of action for Phase B of the project and practical suggestions for those interested in developing similar professional enhancement projects in teacher education programs are presented.
Molecular description of a 3D in vitro model for the study of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC)

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cell lines are useful tools for the molecular and biological characterization of ovarian cancer. The use of an in vitro multidimensional (3‐D) culture model recapitulates some of the growth conditions encountered by tumor cells in vivo. Here we describe a molecular comparison of spheroid based 3D EOC models versus monolayer cultures and xenografts using cell lines from malignant ovarian tumors (TOV‐21G and TOV‐112D) and ascites (OV‐90) previously established and characterized in our laboratory. Gene expression analyses of the three models were performed using the Affymetrix HG‐U133A high density DNA array. Cluster analysis identified a set of genes that stratified expression profiles from the EOC cell lines grown as spheroids and xenografts from that of monolayer cultures. The gene expression analysis results were validated by Q‐PCR analyses on an independent set of RNAs. Differential expression observed for the S100A6 gene between the monolayer, spheroid cultures and xenografts was confirmed at the protein level by immunohistochemistry. The analysis was extended to various ovarian tumor tissues using an EOC tissue array. This result represents an example of a gene that, if studied in vitro, is more representative of the in vivo disease in a 3D model rather than the monolayer culture. Identification of genes in spheroid models that mimic the in vivo tumor gene expression patterns may allow a better understanding of the community effect observed in human disease that is determined by direct or indirect interactions of cells with their environment or other surrounding cells. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Europeanization and nascent multi‐level governance in Croatia

This contribution considers whether the EU's pre‐accession instruments of cohesion policy are contributing to the development of a more compound polity in Croatia and, specifically, considers the extent to which there is a process of Europeanization characterized by emergent features of multi‐level governance. It argues that while some features of multi‐level governance are emerging in Croatia, the emphasis of EU programmes is at this stage on national implementation and central government has to date proved adept at shaping and steering the partnerships and networks induced at national level. Sub‐nationally, there is greater activity independent of central government, and some evidence of a deeper learning taking place, with EU‐inspired activities and practices being transferred to other spheres.
Do increased resources increase educational attainment during a period of rising expenditure? Evidence from English secondary schools using a dynamic panel analysis

This article estimates the effects of school expenditure on school performance at Key Stage 4 in England, over the period 2003–07 during which real per pupil expenditure increased rapidly. It adds to previous investigations by using dynamic panel analysis to: exploit time series data on individual schools that only recently has become available; adjust for the potential endogeneity not only of expenditure but also of other determinants of performance; and differentiate the short‐run and the (higher) long‐run attainment effects of spending changes. Consistent with other recent work, the article reports a generally significant but small effect of expenditure on school performance, but it also finds that the effect varies between specialist and non‐specialist schools, with the effect on the latter being larger. Further, the article identifies significant dynamics in the school improvement process, quantifies the long‐run effect of expenditure changes, suggests that spending effects increase with socio‐econom.
The comparative retention of National Health Service Corps and other rural physicians. Results of a 9-year follow-up study.

OBJECTIVE To contrast the retention of physicians serving National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Scholarship Program obligations in rural settings to that of non-NHSC physicians working in the same or similar practices, and to identify promising retention-enhancing strategies. DESIGN Cohort study. PARTICIPANTS Four hundred twelve primary care physicians initially identified during an earlier study as working in a national stratified random sample of 178 externally subsidized rural clinics in 1981. Thirty-six percent were serving obligations to the NHSC, nearly all through the NHSC's Scholarship Program. The NHSC and non-NHSC inception cohorts (those first coming to their 1981 [or "index"] practices from May 1979 through December 1981) were created from within the entire group for use in most analyses. INTERVENTION In 1990, physicians were resurveyed to learn of their backgrounds, experiences in their index practices, and their subsequent career moves. RESULTS By 1984 and in each year thereafter, fewer NHSC than non-NHSC physicians of the entire respondent cohort remained (1) in their index practices, (2) in their index communities, and (3) in practice in any rural county (P less than .001). In the inception cohort, fewer NHSC than non-NHSC physicians were retained within all three settings by the third year after their initial dates of employment (P less than or equal to .01). After 8 years of employment, group retention rates for NHSC and non-NHSC inception cohort physicians were 12% vs 39% in the index practice and 29% vs 52% in nonmetropolitan practice. Physicians in both NHSC and non-NHSC groups who left their index practices generally left rural practice altogether. CONCLUSIONS When compared to non-NHSC physicians working in comparable rural settings, the retention of rural NHSC physicians is seen to be poor and only partially explained by fixed physician, practice, or community variables. Long-term retention of NHSC providers is now receiving much needed attention at the federal level.
Accommodating Purdah to the Workplace: Gender Relations in the Office Sector in Pakistan

Based on a qualitative survey of female office workers conducted in Lahore in 1996-97, this article examines the increasing market integration of women, particularly from the lower middle classes, into secretarial and technical occupations in the office sector in urban Pakistan. The study shows that gender images and gender relations inherent in the social order of Pakistani society—particularly the absence of socially sanctioned modes of communication between the sexes, a strong sexualisation of gender relations outside the kinship system, and the incessant harassment of women in the public sphere—surface inside the offices. Female office workers use many strategies, derived from their own life world, to maneuver in the office sector, to appropriate public (male) space, and to accommodate the purdah system to the office environment. By “creating social distance”, “developing socially obligatory relationships”, “integrating male colleagues into a fictive kinship system”, and “creating women’s spaces” they are able to establish themselves in a traditional male field of employment, namely, the office sector.
Conditional Earnings Conservatism and Corporate Refocusing Activities

We extend standard models of conditional earnings conservatism and adaptation value to the context of the corporate refocusing activities of UK listed companies. This analysis is interesting because refocusing activities are: (1) commonly anticipated by significant negative returns in the financial year(s) before the refocusing event; (2) typically associated with large material charges; and (3) likely to be part of a strategic plan with the internal decision preceding the formal public announcement. We complement Burgstahler and Dichev [1997] by showing how their nonlinear relation between share prices and earnings changes around refocusing events as adaptation options are exercised. Because refocusing events also involve large realized losses and major changes to firms’ strategic plans, we expect to see systematic changes in the timing relations between stock returns and reported earnings. To capture this, we show how the coefficients of Basu's [1997] model of conditional conservatism change around refocusing events.
Molecular radiobiology meets clinical radiation oncology

Background: The 2nd Langendorff Congress in Freiburg in Breisgau (Germany) gathered basic and translational scientists as well as clinicians interested in recent developments in molecular and clinical radiobiology. The topics ranged from the most recent insight into the organisation of the DNA damage response and radiotherapeutically relevant cell death mechanisms to biological imaging for treatment planning and advances in the understanding of the molecular biological effects of particle beams. Clinical aspects of stem cell and tumour stem cell biology as well as of angiogenesis and hypoxia, the search for novel molecular radiosensitisers and potential strategies for exploitation of the immune system to further improve tumour radiotherapy were also discussed. Results and conclusion: This report surveys the presentations at the meeting, considering their significance in light of the literature, and documents the increasing importance of molecular radiobiology for clinical radiooncology.
Stress sensitivity of SAW rayleigh waves on lithiumniobate and its application in pressure sensor design

A combination of experimental investigation and FEM simulation was used to obtain the sensitivity of two Rayleigh cuts on lithiumniobate LN YZ with Euler angles of (0°, 90°, 90°) and LN 128 (0°, 38°, 0°) to stress and strain. The obtained stress sensitivity was used in designing, fabricating and testing a delay line based membrane pressure sensor with temperature compensation proposed for medical application.
The Impact of Uncertainty and Strategy on the Perceived Usefulness of Fixed and Flexible Budgets

It has been claimed that the traditional annual budget is a dysfunctional management instrument and that flexible budgets, such as rolling budgets, should be used instead. However, empirical research has produced conflicting results. The results of the present study indicate that environmental uncertainty has a significant negative association with the perceived usefulness of traditional annual budgets, whereas there is no indication of a significant association with flexible budgets. By contrast, there is a significant positive association between accentuation of strategy and appreciation of both types of budget. There is also evidence of a positive association between the perceived usefulness of traditional annual budgets and the perceived usefulness of flexible budgets, supporting prior findings that these budgets are seen more as complements than rivals.