Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chemical deacetylation natural xanthan (Jungbunzlauer

With the aim of adapting a method for removal of acetyl groups from xanthan, reactions of chemical deacetylation were carried out with natural xanthan (Jungbunzlauer®) with variations on the following parameters: biopolymer and alkali concentration (sodium and potassium hydroxide). The deacetylation reaction was performed at 25 oC for three hours. The proposed methodology was efficient to promote the deacetylation reaction. The viscosity of xanthan increased when the alkali concentration was higher in the deacetylation reaction. Xanthan concentration in the solution used in the deacetylation reaction did not influence the solutions viscosity, as similar results in both tested biopolymer concentrations (0.5 and 1%) were obtained for all experiments in different shear rates. Deacetylation reactions at 25 oC for three hours with sodium and potassium hydroxide in 0.01 mol.L-1 showed a viscosity of 410 and 420 mPa.s at 10 s-1 and acetylation degree 1.3 e 1.4%, respectively.
The Research of Stakeholder Power Impact on Project Implementation

Purpose of the article: The article show summarized information about stakeholders and their role in project implementation based on literature review. The second part of the article is dedicated for the research about stakeholder influence on project implementation. The only condition to participate in the survey was managing projects. Although the respondents are employed in the area of south Poland, they implement projects all over Poland. The research tool was a questionnaire which was sent by e-mail to the respondents. 90 project managers from the area of south Poland were invited to join the project, and 62 people sent back a completed questionnaire. Methodology/methods: The research was done by a questionnaire with twenty two question, which was divided into three parts. The first part was the imprint, which consisted of three questions. The second part consisted of two questions, which concerned the way of defining the word “stakeholder”. The third part concerned the topic of the research and consisted of seventeen questions. Scientific aim: The aim of the article is presenting the results of the research which was done, to show the research results of project stakeholder influence on the project implementation. Findings: The results received from the survey in the process of analysis and interpretation allow to put forward a thesis that stakeholders as a whole group are significant for the implementation of the whole project. Their impact is so important that it is possible to tell that they decide also about the project success or failure. Conclusions: The respondents show that stakeholders affect every area in large extent or very big extent. The fact has been proved in table 1 which shows the most frequently chosen answers by respondents. However, by conducted analysis by the standard deviation it is possible to see a large dispersion of the results.
Do Excess Control Rights Benefit Creditors? Evidence from Dual-Class Firms

Abstract Excess control rights by inside shareholders have been documented to hurt minority shareholders. This paper shows that such governance feature may benefit creditors. Using a sample of U.S. dual-class firms, I show that these firms take less operational and financial risk than similar single-class firms, consistent with insiders’ emphasis on long-term survival to access ongoing private control benefits. Such risk avoidance translates into lower borrowing costs for dual-class firms. Further, lenders are able to use specific covenants to prevent potential expropriations by insiders. The overall relationship between excess control rights and firm value may be less negative than previously thought.
Sperm Subpopulations in Iberian Red Deer Epididymal Sperm and Their Changes Through the Cryopreservation Process1

Abstract We have applied a statistical protocol based on principal component analysis, clustering methods, and discriminant analysis for the identification of sperm subpopulations in computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) data. Samples were obtained from the cauda epididymis of 11 Iberian red deer and cryopreserved following a standard protocol. Motility by CASA was analyzed just after sperm recovery, just before freezing, and after thawing, and eight motility descriptors for each individual spermatozoon were recorded. Sperm viability and acrosomal status were also assessed. Subpopulation analysis was performed in four sequential steps: principal component analysis using the eight motility descriptors; nonhierarchical clustering analysis (k-means) using the first two principal components; hierarchical clustering analysis (UPGMA); and selection of the final number of clusters. Three clusters were obtained for each motility analysis: slow and nonlinear; rapid and linear; and rapid, high ALH, nonlinear. We detected variations in the clusters between treatments (initial, prefreezing and postthawed). Indeed, motility increased and linearity decreased in the prefreezing analysis. A discriminant analysis isolated three descriptors that were used again in the same statistical analysis, giving four clusters that resembled the pattern found in the first classification. We also performed a clustering analysis of the males according to prefreezing/postthawed variation of total motility, viability, and acrosomal status. The proportion of the linear subpopulations in the prefreezing treatment, in both clustering analyses, correlated positively with postthawed viability recovery. Our results show that clustering analysis of CASA data gives useful and practical information that is not obtained by conventional sperm analysis.
The autophagic machinery ensures nonlytic transmission of mycobacteria

Significance Pathogenic mycobacteria can be transmitted by direct ejection from one host cell to another. However, the mechanism of ejection, and how lysing the host cell is prevented are unknown. This study explains how the host cell remains intact and alive while Mycobacterium marinum breaks through its plasma membrane during ejection. We show that a membraneous cup is specifically recruited to the distal pole of ejecting M. marinum. We demonstrate that these membranes are formed by the canonical autophagic pathway, though they do not mature to autophagolysosomes. Disruption of autophagy causes the host cells to become leaky and die during ejection. This dramatically reduces cell-to-cell transmission of the infection, demonstrating an important and unexpected role for autophagy in maintaining plasma membrane integrity during mycobacterial infection. In contrast to mechanisms mediating uptake of intracellular bacterial pathogens, bacterial egress and cell-to-cell transmission are poorly understood. Previously, we showed that the transmission of pathogenic mycobacteria between phagocytic cells also depends on nonlytic ejection through an F-actin based structure, called the ejectosome. How the host cell maintains integrity of its plasma membrane during the ejection process was unknown. Here, we reveal an unexpected function for the autophagic machinery in nonlytic spreading of bacteria. We show that ejecting mycobacteria are escorted by a distinct polar autophagocytic vacuole. If autophagy is impaired, cell-to-cell transmission is inhibited, the host plasma membrane becomes compromised and the host cells die. These findings highlight a previously unidentified, highly ordered interaction between bacteria and the autophagic pathway and might represent the ancient way to ensure nonlytic egress of bacteria.
The low-mass diskless population of Corona Australis

We combine published optical and near-infrared photometry to identify new low-mass candidate members in an area of about 0.64 deg 2 in Corona Australis with the S -parameter method. Five new candidate members of the region are selected. They have estimated ages between 3 and 15 Myr and masses between 0.05 and 0.15 M� . With Spitzer photometry we confirm that these objects are not surrounded by optically thick disks. However, one of them is found to display excess at 24 μm, thus suggesting it harbors a disk
Does Emigration Delay Political Change? Evidence from Italy During the Great Recession

Mobility within the European Union (EU) brings great opportunities and large overall benefits. Economically stagnant areas, however, may be deprived of talent through emigration, which may harm dynamism and delay political, and economic, change. A significant episode of emigration took place between 2010 and 2014 from Italy following the deep economic recession beginning in 2008 that hit most acutely countries in the southern EU. This period coincided with significant political change in Italy. Combining administrative data on Italian citizens who reside abroad and data on characteristics of city councils, city mayors and local vote, we analyze whether emigration reduced political change. The sudden emigration wave interacted with the pre-existing networks of emigration from Italian municipalities allow us to construct a proxy for emigration that is municipality-specific and independent of local political and economic trends. Using this proxy as an instrument, we find that municipalities with larger emigration rates had smaller shares of young, college educated and women among local politicians. They were also more likely to have had municipal councils dismissed due to inefficiency or corruption, a larger share of vote for status-quo-supporting parties and lower political participation. Migration was also associated with lower firm creation.
Study of Sexually Transmitted Disease in Sudanese Women

King and Nicol (1975) reported that the rate of gonorrhoea exceeded 1,000 per 100,000 adults in several countries in the South East Asian, Eastern Mediterranean, and Western Pacific regions. Considerably higher rates were recorded in some countries of Africa and the Americas. The World Health Organization has in past years drawn attention to an almost world-wide rise in the incidence of venereal diseases (WHO 1964 & 1965). The rising problem of sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the Sudan due to changing social attitudes needs to be investigated and documented. Apart from the data appearing in WHO documents, very little could be found in the literature about STD in the Sudan. These reports indicated that the Sudan ranked second in the world after the USA in the magnitude of number of cases of gonococcal infections (102,302 cases). The USA gave a figure of 258,933 cases (WHO 1969). Syphilis was studied in the Sudan by Hewer (1932), No study has been published on this subject since that time. The aim of our work was to screen STD among female patients in the Saggana area which forms one of the most densely populated areas in Khartoum. The study covers social and cultural aspects of women affected by STD. It also provides statistical figures on this subject for future workers particularly in the Sudan.
Stages of Change

The stages of change proposed by Prochaska and DiClemente have been applied to change efforts within and outside of formal treatment and in relation to virtually any problem behavior. This model has gained widespread popularity in health psychology and addictions and is being used to guide interventions and allocate treatment resources in several fields. In this article, the authors review 87 studies on the stages of change across problem behaviors. Research findings suggest that the proposed stages are not mutually exclusive and that there is scant evidence of sequential movement through discrete stages in studies of specific problem behaviors, such as smoking and substance abuse. Although the stage model may have considerable heuristic value, its practical utility is limited by concerns about the validity of stage assessments. The model’s underlying concepts and alternative views of readiness for change are considered, along with directions for future research.
Application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities to Reference and Information Service (RIS) provision in university libraries in North West Zone of Nigeria

This study investigates the pattern of ICT access and use among science teachers in Federal Unity Schools (FUSs) in Nigeria. A total of 464 copies of the questionnaire were administered on science teachers in 25 FGUSs that were systematically selected from the 104 FGUSs in Nigeria out of which only 353 copies were returned with useful responses. The findings of the study revealed a low level of access to laboratory-based ICT facilities (Mean = 2.18). Moreover, the findings of the study revealed specialized classroom/laboratory (Mean = 0.52), library (Mean = 0.52), and science laboratory (Mean = 0.25) as the most preferred location of ICT access by science teachers in FUSs in Nigeria. The study further revealed a low level of ICT use among science teachers while also revealing a low level of ICT use for laboratory-based/experiment-based activities. Also, positive relationships were established between location of access and ICT use (r = 0.186) and degree of accessibility and ICT use (r = 0.438). A positive relationship was also established between location of access and degree of accessibility (r = 0.374). Also, a joint significant relationship was established among location of ICT access, degree of ICT accessibility, and ICT use (F = 61.61, p<0.05) though degree of accessibility was found to contribute more to ICT use among the science teachers than location of ICT access. Location of access and degree of accessibility were found to be responsible for 25.6% of the total variance in ICT use among science teachers in FUSs in Nigeria. Keywords: location of ICT access, degree of ICT access, ICT use, Federal Unity Schools
Boundary effects on spectral properties of interacting electrons in one dimension.

The single electron Green’s function of the one-dimensional Tomonaga-Luttinger model in the presence of open boundaries is calculated with bosonization methods. We show that the critical exponents of the local spectral density and of the momentum distribution change in the presence of a boundary. The well understood universal bulk behavior always crosses over to a boundary dominated regime for small energies or small momenta. We show this crossover explicitly for the large-U Hubbard model in the low-temperature limit. Consequences for photoemission experiments are discussed.
Intracellular Accumulation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Protease Inhibitors

ABSTRACT Intracellular accumulation of the protease inhibitors (PIs) saquinavir (SQV), ritonavir (RTV), and indinavir (IDV) was determined in 50 human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients. Following extraction, PIs were quantified by mass spectrometry. Paired plasma and intracellular samples were collected over a full dosing interval from patients (13 on SQV, 6 on RTV, 8 on IDV, 16 on SQV plus RTV, 7 on IDV plus RTV) with a plasma viral load of <400 copies/ml. Data were expressed as intracellular/plasma drug concentration ratios. A hierarchy of intracellular accumulation was demonstrated by the following medians: 9.45 for SQV > 1.00 for RTV > 0.51 for IDV. Coadministration of RTV did not boost ratios of SQV or IDV within the cell or in plasma, although absolute plasma and intracellular SQV concentrations were increased by RTV. Seven individuals receiving SQV in hard-gel capsule form (median, 32 months) had higher intracellular/plasma drug ratios than all other patients receiving SQV (median, 17.62 versus 4.83; P = 0.04), despite consistently low plasma SQV concentrations. How this occurs may provide insight into the mechanisms that limit adequate drug penetration into sanctuary sites.
Adopting robotics in downstream financial services : a study investigating bank customers' readiness, and potential barriers to adopt robotics technology

The financial sector is experiencing great challenges as the world enters the fourth industrial revolution. Changing customer preferences and new companies venturing into the financial sector are forcing banks to shift their focus from upstream to downstream. Traditional banks need to realize that their locus of competitive advantage lies with their customers, who are now demanding that banking services come to them. The purpose of this paper is to imply whether cognitive robotics could be the solution that allows banks to provide their services anywhere, anytime. The implementation of cognitive robotics in direct customer interaction will initiate an adoption process where customers will ultimately accept or reject the technology. This paper aims to identify the potential barriers that need to be overcome in order to successfully implement robotics, and add value to customers. Furthermore, the study aims to uncover whether these barriers differ across various levels of robot interaction. In an attempt to go beyond traditional constructs in the technology adoption literature, a conceptual model building on basic psychological components to predict adoption intentions will be proposed. The findings in this study give support to the conceptual model, and additionally provides clear evidence of differences in adoption barriers according to the level of robot interaction. Contrary to the majority of research on utilitarian based services, our findings suggest Enjoyment as the critical determinant of adoption intentions. The conclusions drawn from this study have major implications for banks intending to implement cognitive robotics in direct customer interactions. iii _________________________________________________________________________________
Dissociated Crossed Speech Areas in a Tumour Patient

In the past, the eloquent areas could be deliberately localised by the invasive Wada test. The very rare cases of dissociated crossed speech areas were accidentally found based on the clinical symptomatology. Today functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based imaging can be employed to non-invasively localise the eloquent areas in brain tumour patients for therapy planning. A 41-year-old, left-handed man with a low-grade glioma in the left frontal operculum extending to the insular cortex, tension headaches, and anomic aphasia over 5 months underwent a pre-operative speech area localisation fMRI measurement, which revealed the evidence of the transhemispheric disposition, where the dominant Wernicke speech area is located on the left and the Broca’s area is strongly lateralised to the right hemisphere. The outcome of the Wada test and the intraoperative cortico-subcortical stimulation mapping were congruent with this finding. After tumour removal, language area function was fully preserved. Upon the occurrence of brain tumours with a risk of impaired speech function, the rare dissociate crossed speech areas disposition may gain a clinically relevant meaning by allowing for more extended tumour removal. Hence, for its identification, diagnostics which take into account both brain hemispheres, such as fMRI, are recommended.
The STS score is the strongest predictor of long-term survival following transcatheter aortic valve implantation, whereas access route (transapical versus transfemoral) has no predictive value beyond the periprocedural phase.

OBJECTIVES Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) was developed as a promising new therapy for inoperable and surgical high-risk patients as an alternative to traditional aortic valve replacement. After a successful procedure, prognosis may mainly be determined by comorbidities. However, no appropriate risk score to predict long-term outcome following TAVI is currently available. The aim of this study was to identify predictors of adverse short- and long-term outcomes. METHODS This is a two-centre registry study including a total of 426 TAVI procedures (274 transfemoral [TF] and 152 transapical [TA]) performed at the University Hospital and CardioVascular Center of Frankfurt (Germany) between 2005 and 2011. RESULTS Observed 30-day mortality was 4.8% among TF and 12.6% among TA patients (hazard ratio [HR] TF vs TA was 0.38; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.19-0.77). Patients with a higher Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score experienced a 6% elevation in the 30-day mortality per point (HR 1.06; 95% CI 1.03-1.10), whereas the predictive value of the logistic EuroSCORE (HR 1.03; 95% CI 1.01-1.05) and EuroSCORE 2 (HR 1.04; 95% CI 1.01-1.07) was slightly lower. Most interestingly, older age (>80 years) and the access type were predictors of 30-day mortality. However, the only independent predictor of long-term mortality in a 30-day landmark analysis was the STS score (HR 1.05; 95% CI 1.02-1.09). CONCLUSIONS The STS score outperforms the logistic EuroSCORE in predicting adverse outcomes following TAVI. The transapical approach is associated with higher perioperative mortality, but does not exert any influence on long-term prognosis beyond the periprocedural phase.
Private Club GMs’/COOs’ Perceptions in Adopting Social Media: Applying the Technology Acceptance Model

Social media have emerged as an important component of technology-mediated communications and many companies have been supporting the development of social networking sites as a part of brand communities (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). This study was undertaken to understand how private club general managers (GMs) and chief operating officers (COOs) perceive their ease of use, usefulness, and enjoyment of social media. Surveys were completed by attendees at the Club Managers Association of America Business Management Institute III (CMAA BMI III) executive development in Spring 2014 and Fall 2014. As one of a few empirical information technology (IT) studies in the context of the private club industry, the findings of this study are expected to provide baselines to academics and private club GMs/COOs in understanding the processes of social media technology adoption and acceptance in the private club industry.
Examining the Efficacy of a Personalized Normative Feedback Intervention to Reduce College Student Gambling

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a stand-alone personalized normative feedback (PNF) intervention targeting misperceptions of gambling among college students. Participants: Undergraduates (N = 136; 55% male) who reported gambling in the past 30 days were recruited between September 2011 and March 2012. Methods: Using a randomized clinical trial design, participants were assigned to receive either PNF or an attention control task. In addition to self-report, this study used 2 computer-based risk tasks framed as “gambling opportunities” to assess cognitive and behavioral change at 1 week post intervention. Results: After 1 week, participants receiving PNF showed a marked decrease in perception of other students’ gambling, and evinced lower risk-taking performance on 2 analog measures of gambling. Conclusions: Changes in both self-reported perceived norms and analog gambling behavior suggest that a single, stand-alone PNF intervention may modify gambling among college students. Whether it can impact gambling outside of the laboratory remains untested.