Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Albuterol-induced downregulation of Gsα accounts for pulmonary β2-adrenoceptor desensitization in vivo

The aim of the present study was to develop a chronic in vivo model of pulmonary β2-adrenoceptor desensitization and to elucidate the nature and molecular basis of this state. Subcutaneous infusion of rats with albuterol for 7 days compromised the ability of albuterol, given acutely, to protect against acetylcholine-induced bronchoconstriction. The bronchoprotective effect of prostaglandin E2, but not forskolin, was also impaired, indicating that the desensitization was heterologous and that the primary defect in signaling was upstream of adenylyl cyclase. β2-Adrenoceptor density was reduced in lung membranes harvested from albuterol-treated animals, and this was associated with impaired albuterol-induced cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) accumulation and activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase ex vivo. Gsα expression was reduced in the lung and tracheae of albuterol-treated rats, and cholera toxin–induced cAMP accumulation was blunted. Chronic treatment of rats with albuterol also increased cAMP phosphodiesterase activity and G protein–coupled receptor kinase-2, but the extent to which these events contributed to β2-adrenoceptor desensitization was unclear given that forskolin was active in both groups of animals and that desensitization was heterologous. Collectively, these results indicate that albuterol effects heterologous desensitization of pulmonary Gs-coupled receptors in this model, with downregulation of Gsα representing a primary molecular etiology.
Technological Forecasting & Social Change R & D collaborations : Is diversity enhancing innovation performance ?

Article history: Received 7 February 2017 Accepted 10 February 2017 Available online xxxx We develop a theoretical framework which builds on the existence of a feedback loop relationship between internal innovation efforts and the diversity of types of R&D collaborations. Such a feedback loop allows for decomposing the total effects of both internal and external knowledge sources on innovation performance in direct and indirect effects. We argue that such feedback loop lies in the heart of the interplay between the benefits and costs associated with generating knowledge internally and accessing knowledge from diverse external knowledge sources. In particular we argue that anticipated benefits from accessing knowledge from diverse external knowledge sources may be outweighed by (i) costs associated with accessing increasingly diverse knowledge through collaboration and (ii) a negative network effect on firms' internal innovation efforts. We employ Structural Equation Modelling on a bespoke dataset of Greek R&D active manufacturing firms; empirical results confirm the existence of an idiosyncratic feedback loop relationship and show that internal innovation efforts positively influence firm innovation performance. On the other hand, diversity in external collaborations has a negative impact on internal innovation efforts, elevating the importance of the optimal balance between internal R&D investments and the diversity of R&D collaborations. The same picture emerges when examining the corresponding direct and indirect effects of internal and external knowledge sources on innovation performance. © 2017 Published by Elsevier Inc.
UEML: Towards a unified enterprise modelling language

The paper presents the rationale and principles of a unified language devoted to the area of Enterprise Modelling. The language, named UEML, for Unified Enterprise Modelling Language, is not intended to replace existing languages but is intended to provide a uniform interface to enterprise modelling tools and a neutral format for exchange of enterprise models. It therefore builds on previous languages and provides constructs to cover function/process, information, resource and organization/decision aspects of business entities. It is also aligned with results of ODP, CEN TC 310, ISO TC 184 and IFAC-IFIP GERAM efforts in the area of enterprise modelling and engineering.
Comparison of three techniques used to characterize Newcastle disease virus isolated from chickens treated with aqueous extract of Momordica balsamina

Despite the efforts made by stake holders towards eradication of pathogens from poultry flocks, Newcastle disease virus infection is still of continuing economic concern in Nigeria. Consequently, adapting prompt, sensitive and inexpensive diagnostic techniques will without doubt clamp down on the menace of the disease. Characterization of Newcastle disease virus isolated from laying chickens (layers) receiving aqueous extract of balsam apple ( Momordica balsamina ) was done using the intra-cerebral pathogenicity infectivity (ICPI) test, mean death time of the minimum lethal dose (MDT/MLD) and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques. The presence of Newcastle disease (ND) virus was established using the haemagglutination (HA) and haemaglutination inhibition (HI) test from samples of trachea, lungs, liver, heart, proventriculus and intestines of chicken carcasses necropsied. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) has a higher advantage over other techniques with respect to sensitivity while in terms of cost and availability of materials; the mean death time and intra-cerebral pathogenicity infectivity have higher advantage over PCR. Keywords: Characterization, mesogenic, Momordica balsamina , Newcastle disease.
Competition with Exclusive Contracts and Market-Share Discounts

We study the effects of exclusive contracts and market-share discounts (i.e., discounts conditioned on the share a firm receives of the customer's total purchases) in an adverse selection model where firms supply differentiated products and compete in non-linear prices. We show that exclusive contracts intensify the competition among the firms, increasing consumer surplus, improving efficiency, and reducing profits. Firms would gain if these contracts were prohibited, but are caught in a prisoner's dilemma if they are permitted. In this latter case, allowing firms to offer also market-share discounts unambiguously weakens competition, reducing efficiency and harming consumers. However, starting from a situation where exclusive contracts are prohibited, the effect of market-share discounts (which include exclusive contracts as a limiting case) is ambiguous.
Advances in Computational Fluid Dynamics Applied to the Greenhouse Environment

In order to perform an accurate study of the climate inside a greenhouse, it is necessary to use models based on heat and mass transfer (Rico-Garcia et al., 2008). Mathematical models based on mass and energy balances assume a homogeneous greenhouse environment. These models generate a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations without an analytical solution. However, a more detailed monitoring of the environment inside the greenhouses reflects a two-dimensional and three-dimensional variability of climatic variables. Recently, this problem has been tackled using the fundamental equations of fluid dynamics. The set of numerical methods applied in order to solve those equations are called Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) provides a numerical solution from an energy balance of a controlled volume, which in comparison with other methods and expensive technologies allows an efficient study of the climate inside the greenhouse. CFD techniques consider the values of the independent variables as primary unknowns in a finite number of places inside the domain, and then a set of algebraic equations are derived from the fundamental equations applied to the domain and can be solved by pre-establish algorithms. In spite of, the greenhouse is a very complex bio-system, in which there are several physical, chemical and biological interacting process and phenomena, during the last decade, due to the development of computer simulation tools and the increase in computational processing power, it is possible to develop numerical models for the greenhouse environment such as more accurate models for transport phenomena and energy exchange inside the greenhouse. As a consequence, these studies have led improvements in the design of greenhouses (Norton et al., 2007). According to Boulard et al. (2002), CFD is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems involving fluids flow. Therefore, it is possible with the use of computers to perform millions of calculations to simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with surfaces defined by the boundary conditions. In recent studies the modeling of air flow, CFD has deepened to test their effectiveness in relationships of climatic factors (Bournet and Boulard, 2010). Computational parametric
Traceable Power Measurement of LTE Signals

Cette contribution montre comment effectuer des mesures tracables de l’intensite du rayonnement LTE (Long Term Evolution, ou telephonie mobile de quatrieme generation). Pour pourvoir controler que les valeurs limites sont respectees,, il est important de pouvoir mesurer le champ produit par des antennes de telephonie mobiles. Comme le champ varie suivant le nombre d’utilisateurs connectes, il est important de pouvoir mesurer le “canal de controle” dont la puissance est constante. Si pour GSM cela etait relativement aise, pour LTE qui utilise une modulation plus complexe (OFDMA), il faut d’abord demoduler le signal avant de pouvoir le quantifier. Cette contribution presente une methode qui permet de mesurer de facon tracable les signaux des cellules de reference specifiques (CSR) d’un signal LTE. Les premieres evaluations experimentales de cette methode sont egalement presentees.
Approach and management modalities in Esophageal Perforations

Esophageal perforation leads to increased morbidity and mortality. Treatment of choice is debatable. In adult cases of esophageal perforation, the important causes can be due to trauma, or due to foreign body or due to iatrogenic and sometimes it may be spontaneous. The rate of morbidity and mortality is increased among those who fall prey to delayed diagnosis and delayed treatment. Even after the proper treatment started within one day of diagnosis, the death rate can be 10-25%. And it increases to 40-60% among those who receive treatment after two days. Typical structure and placement of esophagus leads to infection by bacteria easily as well as damage by digestive enzymes can occur which in turn can lead to increased mortality. But fortunately this condition of esophageal perforation is rare. Its presentation is also not typical in all the cases. These two factors combined are responsible for diagnostic delay. In adult cases of esophageal perforation, the important causes can be due ABSTRACT
It may be copyrighted, but it still needs help: Improving research questionnaires by means of intralingual translation

Clear research questionnaires ultimately help to ensure the reliability and comparability of the data that they gather (Fowler 1992; Lenzner 2012; Moroney and Cameron 2016). This paper explores the intersection of best practices in the fields of questionnaire design and intralingual translation as a means to ensure clarity and comprehensibility in research questionnaires. The questionnaire design perspective on comprehensibility (as represented by the 2010, 2011 and 2012 studies by Lenzner and colleagues, and work done by Knauper et al. (1997) and Krosnik (1991)) essentially requires intralingual translation for questionnaires that do not meet the clarity requirement. To illustrate how intralingual translation in the form of plain language practice can operationalise comprehensibility (Nisbeth Jensen 2015), a short case study is presented. It chronicles a case of interlingual translation that has evolved into an intralingual translation endeavour. A client had a copyrighted medical research questionnaire, originally in American English, translated into Afrikaans and isiXhosa. Initially, the language service provider was not allowed any interventions in the source text. Testing of this questionnaire and its translations then revealed that the questionnaires were incomprehensible to their respondents. In this paper, the intralingual interventions required to improve comprehensibility of the questionnaire are classified in terms of the four parameters that Zethsen (2009) has identified in this regard, namely knowledge, time, culture and space. In addition, a fourfold text assessment checklist for ensuring clarity in questionnaires is proposed. This checklist may prove valuable for highlighting areas in questionnaires that need intralingual translation – whether used as motivation for a client or as a starting point for an intralingual intervention itself.
(Bad) Luck or (Lack of) Effort?: Sharing Norms in the US and Europe *

We compare the determinants of individual giving between two countries, Spain and the US, which differ in their redistribution policies and their beliefs over the causes of poverty. By varying the information about the determinants of income, we find that, although overall giving is similar in both countries when subjects know the actual role of luck and effort, Spanish subjects give more than American subjects when they are uninformed. Using elicited beliefs, we find that this is due to the Spanish subjects’ association of poverty with bad luck and American subjects’ association of poverty with a lack of effort.
Predictive Modeling of Protein Folding Thermodynamics, Mutational Effects and Free-Energy Landscapes

Deciphering the folding mechanism of small single-domain proteins has a long and well-chartered history that has been and still is aided by numerous experimental and computational approaches. The computational tools at the disposal of the folding community range from all-atom molecular simulations to structure-based models. In this review, we highlight one such structure-based statistical mechanical model termed the Wako-Saito-Munoz-Eaton (WSME) model. We have, over the past few years, made the model physically more realistic by systematically introducing mean-field terms for solvation and electrostatics apart from conventional packing interactions. The WSME model can simply be calibrated with equilibrium unfolding curves and various features such as heat capacity thermograms, free-energy surfaces or profiles and hence the folding mechanism, changes in stability upon point mutations or certain post-translational modifications, thermodynamic vs. dynamic effects and possible connections with function fallout of the model without additional calibration. The model requires only a small set of tunable thermodynamic parameters (~3-4) allowing for a tremendous scope in further improvement of its energy function. Most importantly, it can be employed as a rapid, physical and ensemble-based tool to directly characterize experimental equilibrium and kinetic rate and amplitude data (in real world units), that is not conventionally possible in other native-centric treatments. We believe that the WSME model is now poised to address numerous questions in the field of protein folding including pathway heterogeneity, structural-energetic relations, quantifying disorder and the effect of point mutations in disease.
A Motivational Perspective on Engagement and Disaffection

This article presents a motivational conceptualization of engagement and disaffection: First, it emphasizes children's constructive, focused, enthusiastic participation in the activities of classroom learning; second, it distinguishes engagement from disaffection, as well as behavioral features from emotional features. Psychometric properties of scores from teacher and student reports of behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, behavioral disaffection, and emotional disaffection were examined using data from 1,018 third through sixth graders. Structural analyses of the four indicators confirm that a multidimensional structure fits the data better than do bipolar or unidimensional models. Validity of scores is supported by findings that teacher reports are correlated with student reports, with in vivo observations in the classroom, and with markers of self-system and social contextual processes. As such, these measures capture important features of engagement and disaffection in the classroom, and any comprehensive assessment should include markers of each. Additional dimensions are identified, pointing the way to future research.
Role of Farnesoid X Receptor and Bile Acids in Hepatic Tumor Development

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, and an association between altered bile acid (BA) metabolism, down‐regulation of farnesoid X receptor (FXR), which is a master regulator of BA metabolism, and hepatocarcinogenesis has been documented. While global FXR deficiency in mice results in spontaneous HCC with aging, the contribution of tissue‐specific FXR deficiency to hepatocarcinogenesis remains unclear. In this study, the prevalence of hepatic tumors, expression of genes related to tumorigenesis, and serum/liver BA levels were compared among male whole‐body Fxr‐null, hepatocyte‐specific Fxr‐null (Fxr∆Hep), and enterocyte‐specific Fxr‐null (Fxr∆IE) mice at the age of 3, 14, and 20 months. More than 90% of 20‐month‐old whole‐body Fxr‐null mice had hepatic tumors with enhanced hepatic expression of myelocytomatosis oncogene (Myc) and cyclin‐dependent kinase 4 (Cdk4) messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and elevated serum taurocholate (TCA) and tauromuricholate (TMCA) and their respective unconjugated derivatives. The incidence of hepatic tumors was significantly lower in Fxr∆Hep and Fxr∆IE mice (20% and 5%, respectively), and the increases in Myc and Cdk4 mRNA or serum BA concentrations were not detected in these mice compared to Fxrfloxed [fl]/fl mice; a similar tendency was observed in 14‐month‐old mice. However, increased hepatic c‐Myc protein expression was found only in Fxr‐null mice at the age of 3, 14, and 20 months. Treatment with TCA induced Myc expression in Fxr‐null cultured primary mouse hepatocytes but not in wild‐type (WT) mouse hepatocytes, demonstrating that the combination of hepatocyte FXR disruption with elevated TCA is required for Myc induction and ensuing age‐dependent hepatocarcinogenesis in Fxr‐null mice. Conclusion: There is a relatively low risk of hepatic tumors by inhibition of FXR in enterocytes, likely due to the lack of increased TCA and Myc induction.
Quality Cost and Failure Risk in the Choice of Single versus Multiple Sourcing

The advantage of multiple sourcing to protect against supplier failures arising from undependable (or even unsafe) products due to latent defects is examined using a quality-cost model of supply base composition. Prior models have focused on supplier failures arising from unreliable supply, such as late/ insufficient/ no delivery, due to random yields. This model focuses on non-linear external failure costs leading to a desire for risk diversification. I derive a closed-form characterization of the optimal production quota allocation, which determines the optimal supply base with two intuitive properties. If a supplier is selected, any supplier of higher quality must also be selected. Moreover, larger production quotas should be assigned to higher-quality suppliers. These properties hold under a mild condition on the differences among suppliers’ production costs. The condition includes the special case of equal costs but also allows unequal costs without any particular order (e.g, higher-quality suppliers may or may not have higher production costs). I also derive a necessary and sufficient condition for determining the exact size of the optimal supply base, provided the mild condition holds. An alternative necessary and sufficient condition is derived to determine whether single or multiple sourcing is optimal, without requiring any precondition.
Natural history of an ant–plant–butterfly interaction in a Neotropical savanna

Non-myrmecophilous lepidopteran larvae using plants bearing ant attractants such as extrafloral nectaries are good models for studying morphological and behavioural mechanisms against ant predation. Udranomia spitzi (Hesperiidae) is a butterfly whose larvae feed on leaves of Ouratea spectabilis (Ochnaceae), a plant with extrafloral nectaries. We described the early stages of U. spitzi, and used field observations and experiments to investigate the defensive strategies of caterpillars against predatory ants. Larvae pass through five instars and pupation occurs inside larval leaf shelters. Ant-exclusion experiments revealed that the presence of ants did not affect significantly caterpillar survival. Predation experiments showed that vulnerability to ant predation decreased with increase in larval size. The present study showed that predatory ants are not as relevant as demonstrated for other systems, and also illustrates how observational data and field experiments can contribute to a better understanding of the biology and ecology of a species of interest.
The dawn of a dynasty : life strategies of Cambrian and Ordovician brachiopods.

Brachiopods are among the first animal phyla to emerge from the Cambrian Explosion, rapidly diversifying to all major palaeocontinental blocks within 20 million years. The group underwent another steep rise in diversity during the Ordovician, and their relative abundance and diversity made them one of the most successful invertebrate groups during the entire Palaeozoic. During this time, brachiopods lived in a range of environments and represented a significant component of marine ecosystems, yet information regarding their modes of life and ecology is somewhat limited. Recent studies, primarily from the Chengjiang and Burgess Shale Lagerstatten, have revealed that by the Middle Cambrian (Series 3, Stage 5) brachiopods from across the phylum had already developed a range of ecological strategies and life modes. Cambrian brachiopods occupied distinct trophic niches on soft and hard substrates and exhibited at least five types of lifestyles: pedicle attachment, pedicle anchoring, cemented, free‐lying and semi‐infaunal. Comparisons with Ordovician benthic assemblages show that despite the explosion of brachiopod taxa witnessed in the Ordovician, with the exception of the appearance of burrowing brachiopods, life strategies of brachiopods remained largely the same. Indicating that the majority of life modes observed in brachiopods had rapidly evolved and was already in place prior to the Great Ordovician Biodiversity Event.
SDSS-IV MaNGA: global stellar population and gradients for about 2000 early-type and spiral galaxies on the mass-size plane

We perform full spectrum fitting stellar population analysis and Jeans Anisotropic modelling (JAM) of the stellar kinematics for about 2000 early-type galaxies (ETGs) and spiral galaxies from the MaNGA DR14 sample. Galaxies with different morphologies are found to be located on a remarkably tight mass plane which is close to the prediction of the virial theorem, extending previous results for ETGs. By examining an inclined projection (‘the mass-size’ plane), we find that spiral and early-type galaxies occupy different regions on the plane, and their stellar population properties (i.e. age, metallicity and stellar mass-to-light ratio) vary systematically along roughly the direction of velocity dispersion, which is a proxy for the bulge fraction. Galaxies with higher velocity dispersions have typically older ages, larger stellar mass-to-light ratios and are more metal rich, which indicates that galaxies increase their bulge fractions as their stellar populations age and become enriched chemically. The age and stellar mass-to-light ratio gradients for low-mass galaxies in our sample tend to be positive ( centre