Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preparation, characterization, and antitumor activity of paclitaxel-loaded folic acid modified and TAT peptide conjugated PEGylated polymeric liposomes

Targeting therapy is a promising strategy for enhancing the therapeutic potential of chemotherapeutic agents. In this study, we report the construction of a multifunctional drug delivery system, termed folic acid modified and TAT peptide conjugated PEGylated polymeric liposomes (FA-TATp-PLs), which is originally derived from octadecyl-quaternized lysine modified chitosan and cholesterol. Our data revealed that FA-TATp-PLs have a particle size of about 60 nm with a zeta potential of about 30 mV, a low burst release effect within the first day, a sustained release for the next 14 days in vitro as well as an instant cellular uptake by folate receptor-overexpressing KB human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. In vitro cytotoxicity of paclitaxel-loaded FA-TATp-PLs in KB cells was superior to that of Taxol®. Furthermore, a comparable antitumor efficacy of paclitaxel-loaded FA-TATp-PLs and Taxol® was observed at the same doses in murine models bearing nasopharyngeal carcinoma. These results demonstrate that the paclitaxel formulation not only exhibits a higher antitumor activity but also significantly reduces the toxicity and improves the bioavailability as compared to that of free paclitaxel for the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Taken together, our findings indicate that paclitaxel-loaded FA-TATp-PLs are a promising nano-sized drug formulation for future cancer therapy.
Compensation Duration and Risk Taking

"Short-termism'' of executives has recently attracted a lot of public attention. This paper develops a novel measure of CEO compensation duration and studies how it affects corporate risk taking. This measure is constructed using grant-level data of CEO compensation and reflects vesting schedules for stock grants and expiration dates for option grants. I use grants awarded many years before the measurement period as an exogenous component of compensation duration. The results show that longer pay duration is associated with higher firm risk, measured by stock return volatility, idiosyncratic stock return volatility, and analyst forecast dispersion. Additional tests show that higher risk is not associated with higher level of investment or with higher financial leverage. At the same time, higher pay duration increases the amount of equity financing and reduces earnings manipulation.
A Library of Logic Models to Explain How Interventions to Reduce Diagnostic Errors Work

Supplemental digital content is available in the text. Objectives We aimed to create a library of logic models for interventions to reduce diagnostic error. This library can be used by those developing, implementing, or evaluating an intervention to improve patient care, to understand what needs to happen, and in what order, if the intervention is to be effective. Methods To create the library, we modified an existing method for generating logic models. The following five ordered activities to include in each model were defined: preintervention; implementation of the intervention; postimplementation, but before the immediate outcome can occur; the immediate outcome (usually behavior change); and postimmediate outcome, but before a reduction in diagnostic errors can occur. We also included reasons for lack of progress through the model. Relevant information was extracted about existing evaluations of interventions to reduce diagnostic error, identified by updating a previous systematic review. Results Data were synthesized to create logic models for four types of intervention, addressing five causes of diagnostic error in seven stages in the diagnostic pathway. In total, 46 interventions from 43 studies were included and 24 different logic models were generated. Conclusions We used a novel approach to create a freely available library of logic models. The models highlight the importance of attending to what needs to occur before and after intervention delivery if the intervention is to be effective. Our work provides a useful starting point for intervention developers, helps evaluators identify intermediate outcomes, and provides a method to enable others to generate libraries for interventions targeting other errors.
Analysis of Factors Influencing the Consumption of Poultry Meat in the Zaria Emirate of Kaduna State, Nigeria

In Nigeria, despite the increase in agricultural production, the increase does not match the country’s population growth rate (Damisa, 2008). While food production increases at the rate of 2.5%, food demand increases at a rate of more than 3.5% (FOS, 1996). In addition to poor food supply, Nigeria’s agriculture failed to supply adequate animal protein in the diets of a large proportion of the populace (RIM, 1992; FMEDR, 2000 and Ojo, 2003). Ikpi and Akinwunmi (1979) described the development of the poultry industry as the fastest means of bridging animal protein deficiency gap prevailing in Nigeria. By 1992, the production of poultry has reached 104.3 million local and about 20 million exotic. It is against this background that this survey study was conducted to analyze the determinants of poultry meat consumption in the country.
Prognostics of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell stack in a particle filtering framework including characterization disturbances and voltage recovery

In the perspective of decreasing polluting emissions and developing alternative energies, fuel cells, and more precisely Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC), represent a promising solution. Even if this technology is close to being competitive, it still suffers from too short life duration. As a consequence, prognostic seems to be a great solution to anticipate PEMFC stacks degradation. However, a PEMFC implies multiphysics and multiscale phenomena making the construction of an aging model only based on physics very complex. One solution consists in using a hybrid approach for prognostics combining the use of models and available data. Among these hybrid approaches, particle filtering methods seem to be really appropriate as they offer the possibility to compute models with time varying parameters and to update them all along the prognostics process. But to be efficient, not only should the prognostics system take into account the aging of the stack but also external events influencing this aging. Indeed, some acquisition techniques introduce disturbances in the fuel cell behavior and a voltage recovery can be observed at the end of the characterization process. This paper proposes to tackle this problem. First, PEMFC fuel cells and their complexities are introduced. Then, the impact of characterization of the fuel cell behavior is described. Empirical models are built and introduced in both learning and prediction phases of the prognostics model by combining three particle filters. The new prognostic framework is used to perform remaining useful life estimates and the whole proposition is illustrated with a long term experiment data set of a PEMFC in constant load solicitation and stable operating conditions. Estimates can be given with an error less than 5% for life durations of more than 1000 hours. Finally, the results are compared to a previous work to show that introducing a disturbance modeling can dramatically reduce the uncertainty coming with the predictions.
Business Strategy and the Management of Firms

Business strategy can be defined as a firm's plan to generate economic profits based on lower cost, better quality, or new products. The analysis of business strategy is thus at the intersection of market competition and a firm's efforts to secure persistently superior performance via investments in better management and organization. We empirically analyze the interaction of firms' business strategies and their managerial practices using a unique, detailed dataset on business strategy, internal firm organization, performance and innovation, which is representative of the entire Canadian economy. Our empirical results show that measures of business strategy are strongly correlated with firm performance, both in the cross-section and over time, and even after controlling for unobserved profit shocks exploiting intermediates utilization. Results are particularly striking for innovation, as firms with some priority in business strategies are significantly more likely to innovate than firms without any strategic priority. Furthermore, our analysis highlights that the relationship between strategy and management is driven by two key organizational trade-offs: employee initiative vs. coordination as well as exploration of novel business opportunities vs. exploitation of existing profit sources.
Increased digestibility of bagasses by pretreatment with alkalis and steam explosion

Alkali treatment and steam explosion of bagasse were investigated in order to develop economical and effective methods of increasing the digestibility of bagasse. The treated bagasse was to be used as a substrate for the production of volatile fatty acids by anaerobic acidogenic bacteria. The alkalis examined were NaOH, NH3 (aqueous), NaOH + NH3, Ca(OH)2, and Ca(OH)2 + Na2CO3, at ambient temperature and in combination with steam explosion at 200°C, 6.9 MPa, and 5 min cooking times. Digestibilities of up to 733 g organic matter (OM)/kg bagasse dry matter (DM) were obtained for bagasse treated with NaOH and Ca(OH)2 + Na2CO3; less than 430 g OM was obtained for bagasse treated with aqueous NH3; and up to 724 g OM was obtained for bagasse treated with Ca(OH)2. This digestibility was only achieved by using high concentrations of Ca(OH)2, i.e., 180–300 g/kg bagasse. Steam explosion increased the digestibility of bagasse up to 740 g OM in the presence of alkali but only to 610 g OM in the absence of alkali. The digestibility of bagasse without pretreatment was 190 g OM/kg bagasse DM. More than one‐half the hemicellulose present was solubilized by pretreatment. The composition of the liquid fraction of steam‐exploded material was examined and contained mainly xylose monomers and oligomers (112 g/kg original bagasse DM) and acetic acid (33 g/kg original DM). The relative costs of the alkalis used were obtained for the United States, Australia, and Europe. Lime [Ca(OH)2] was the least expensive alkali per unit of additional digestible OM obtained. Ammonia was the most expensive alkali to use, except in the United States where the difference in its cost relative to other alkalis was smaller. However, ammonia provides organic nitrogen for microbial growth, and could be recycled. With acidogenic fermentations, alkali is able to double as a neutralizing agent during fermentation. Thus, concentrations of alkali equal to that required for neutralization may be used in pretreatment. Concentrations of Ca(OH)2 as high as 300 g/kg bagasse were needed for neutralization and should, therefore, be considered for pretreatment. Steam explosion of bagasse resulted in digestible, sterilized substrates of small particle size with readily separable liquid and pulp streams.
Structural Joint Factor Analysis for Speaker Recognition

In recent years, adaptation techniques have been given a special focus in speaker recognition tasks. Addressing the separation of speaker and session variation effects, Joint Factor Analysis (JFA) has been consolidated as a powerful adaptation framework and has become ubiquitous in the last NIST Speaker Recognition Evaluations (SRE). However, its global parameter sharing strategy is not necessarily optimal when a small amount of adaptation data is available. In this paper, we address this issue by resorting to a regularization approach such as structural MAP. We introduce two variants of structural JFA (SJFA) that, depending on the amount of data, use coarser or ﬁner parameter approximations in the adaptation process. One of these variants is shown to considerably outperform JFA. We report relative gains over 25% EER on the 2006 NIST SRE data for GMM-SVM systems using SJFA over systems
Reconstructing the lensing mass in the Universe from photometric catalogue data

High precision cosmological distance measurements towards individual objects such as time delay gravitational lenses or Type Ia supernovae are affected by weak lensing perturbations by galaxies and groups along the line of sight. In time delay gravitational lenses, 'external convergence', kappa(ext), can dominate the uncertainty in the inferred distances and hence cosmological parameters. In this paper we attempt to reconstruct kappa(ext), due to line of sight structure, using a simple halo model. We use mock catalogues from the Millennium Simulation, and calibrate and compare our reconstructed P(kappa(ext)) to ray-traced kappa(ext) 'truth' values; taking into account realistic uncertainties on redshift and stellar masses. We find that the reconstruction of kappa(ext) provides an improvement in precision of similar to 50 per cent over galaxy number counts. We find that the lowest kappa(ext) lines of sight have the best constrained P(kappa(ext)). In anticipation of future samples with thousands of lenses, we find that selecting the third of the systems with the highest precision kappa(ext) estimates gives a subsample of unbiased time delay distance measurements with (on average) just 1 per cent uncertainty due to line of sight external convergence effects. Photometric data alone are sufficient to pre-select the best-constrained lines of sight, and can be done before investment in light-curve monitoring. Conversely, we show that selecting lines of sight with high external shear could, with the reconstruction model presented here, induce biases of up to 1 per cent in time delay distance. We find that a major potential source of systematic error is uncertainty in the high-mass end of the stellar mass-halo mass relation; this could introduce similar to 2 per cent biases on the time delay distance if completely ignored. We suggest areas for the improvement of this general analysis framework (including more sophisticated treatment of high-mass structures) that should allow yet more accurate cosmological inferences to be made.
Ultimate information carrying limit of quantum systems.

The possible amount of information transfer between any source and any user via a quantum system is bounded through the quantum entropy function. In contrast to the classical case, this shows that infinite information transfer implies infinite entropy. The entropy bound is also applied to obtain the ultimate quantum information transmission capacity of the free electromagnetic field under a power and a bandwidth constraint.
Discount or Premium? New Evidence on Corporate Diversification of UK Firms

Contrary to previous findings stressing the agency problem of UK conglomerates, we provide evidence that corporate diversification in the UK is beneficial for shareholders. We show that previous results relying on the standard pooled OLS technique are bias caused by the endogenous diversification decision. The empirical results indicate that the diversification status is determined by firm characteristics, changes in mergers and acquisitions activities as well as macroeconomic developments. After controlling for the endogeneity of diversification in its effect on the market value, it turns out to be beneficial to diversify, increasing the firm value with about 30%. Moreover, while US studies with similar positive findings explain the lower market value of conglomerates relative to focused firms by firm-specific characteristics, we find for the UK conglomerates significant macroeconomic effects. In particular, less favorable macroeconomic conditions hinder firm's growth, decrease their market value and affect positively their decision to operate as a diversified firm.
Impact Of Information Disclosure Violation On Firm Value In Chinese Listed Firms

We analyze the association between information disclosure violation (IDV) and firm value, based on a sample of Chinese listed firms that were subject to China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) enforcement actions from 2000 to 2014. Using Tobin’s Q as a proxy for firm value at the end of the enforcement action year, we find that firm value in violating firms is significantly lower than firm value in non-violating firms. Further, we find IDV with the following characteristics can cause serious damage to firm value: IDV related to inflated profit or asset fabrication have a more damaging effect on firm value; the total number of violation types, fines and the total number of admonishment types are negatively associated with firm value; violation frequency and number of years between violations and CSRC enforcement action are negatively related to firm value.
on the clinical validity of the maslach burnout inventory and the burnout measure

Abstract Current knowledge about burnout suffers from a healthy worker bias since only working - and thus relatively healthy - employees have been investigated. The main objective of this study is to examine - for the first time among employees who sought psychological treatment - the validity of the two most widely used burnout instruments; the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Burnout Measure (BM). Two groups were distinguished: a “burned out” group (n = 71) that suffers from work-related neurasthenia (according to ICD-10 criteria), and a “non-burned out” group (n = 68). Results show that: (1) the validity of the three-factor structure of the MBI and the BM is confirmed; (2) burnout can partly be differentiated from other mental syndromes (e.g., anxiety and depression); and (3) two MBI-scales (Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization) and one BM-scale (Exhaustion) are able to discriminate between burned out and non-burned out employees. The practical implications of these results are discussed.
Lack of the Lectin-like Domain of Thrombomodulin Worsens Shiga Toxin-Associated Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome in Mice

Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli is a primary cause of diarrhea-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a disorder of thrombocytopenia, microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, and acute renal failure. The pathophysiology of renal microvascular thrombosis in Stx-HUS is still ill-defined. Based on evidence that abnormalities in thrombomodulin (TM), an anticoagulant endothelial glycoprotein that modulates complement and inflammation, predispose to atypical HUS, we assessed whether impaired TM function may adversely affect evolution of Stx-HUS. Disease was induced by coinjection of Stx2/LPS in wild-type mice (TMwt/wt) and mice that lack the lectin-like domain of TM (TMLeD/LeD), which is critical for its anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective properties. After Stx2/LPS, TMLeD/LeD mice exhibited more severe thrombocytopenia and renal dysfunction than TMwt/wt mice. Lack of lectin-like domain of TM resulted in a stronger inflammatory reaction after Stx2/LPS with more neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages infiltrating the kidney, associated with PECAM-1 and chemokine upregulation. After Stx2/LPS, intraglomerular fibrin(ogen) deposits were detected earlier in TMLeD/LeD than in TMwt/wt mice. More abundant fibrin(ogen) deposits were also found in brain and lungs. Under basal conditions, TMLeD/LeD mice exhibited excess glomerular C3 deposits, indicating impaired complement regulation in the kidney that could lead to local accumulation of proinflammatory products. TMLeD/LeD mice with HUS had a higher mortality rate than TMwt/wt mice. If applicable to humans, these findings raise the possibility that genetic or acquired TM defects might have an impact on the severity of microangiopathic lesions after exposure to Stx-producing E. coli infections and raise the potential for using soluble TM in the treatment of Stx-HUS.
Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Influenza Outbreaks

Background: Annual influenza epidemics occur worldwide, resulting in considerable morbidity, mortality, and economic burden. Despite this regular occurrence, few studies have systematically examined the regional spatiotemporal patterns of influenza outbreaks. Methods: Weekly incidence data for influenza cases in Fukuoka Prefecture (Japan) from 29 August 2005 to 3 June 2007 (n = 113,503) were geocoded at sentinel medical institutions (mainly pediatric hospitals and clinics). Space-time permutation scan statistics were then used to identify weekly temporal and spatial clusters of reported cases of influenza during the 2006–2007 influenza season. Results: In the early phase of the influenza season, clusters were detected in the Fukuoka and Kitakyushu urban areas. The clusters then diffused gradually and spread into the rural areas of Fukuoka Prefecture. After a period of middle- to large-scale epidemic, the outbreak gradually waned. Conclusions: Based on the permutation model, space-time permutation scan statistics can play an important role in detecting influenza outbreaks at an early stage and identifying the spatiotemporal patterns of geographic spread.
Sources of Homogeneity and Heterogeneity across Professional Services

Research on Professional Service Firms (PSFs) has tended to treat them as homogeneous and to assume there are similarities in how they are organized and managed. This assumption has been challenged recently as scholars have drawn attention to organizational differences stemming from sources of heterogeneity. The authors argue that rigorous theorizing about the organization and management of PSFs requires an understanding of sources of both homogeneity and heterogeneity and their specific implications. They synthesize insights from the sociology of professions literature and the economics and organization theory literatures to distil key sources of homogeneity and heterogeneity. They also identify firm-level characteristics that drive heterogeneity within a particular professional service. The authors propose an overarching framework of sources of homogeneity and heterogeneity that helps interpret the generalizability of existing research and has the potential to better inform future empirical research on PSFs.
Use of telemedicine in inflammatory bowel disease: a real monitoring option?

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), is a chronic and relapsing disorder characterized by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. The natural progression includes periods of flares and remission, requiring continuous and personalized follow-up to achieve long remission and minimize short and long term damage. In fact, IBD patients show significantly higher rates of utilization of healthcare resources than patients with other conditions [1]. It is important to emphasize that 30-45% of adults are nonadherents [2], making these patients five times more likely to suffer relapses and consequently increasing health care costs [3]. The high percentage of nonadherence may be due to the difficulty in accessing specialized IBD care and behavioral factors. Furthermore, IBD is associated with high levels of school and work disability [4], interference with social activities and impairment of quality of life [5]. For these reasons, IBD generates a signi.