Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lipid receptors and islet function: therapeutic implications?

G‐protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are targets of approximately 30% of currently marketed drugs. Over the last few years, a number of GPCRs expressed in pancreatic β‐cells and activated by lipids have been discovered. GPR40 was shown to be activated by medium‐ to long‐chain fatty acids (FAs). It has since been shown that GPR40 contributes to FA amplification of glucose‐induced insulin secretion. Although some controversy still exists as to whether GPR40 agonists or antagonists should be designed as novel type 2 diabetes drugs, data obtained in our laboratory and others strongly suggest that GPR40 agonism might represent a valuable therapeutic approach. GPR119 is expressed in pancreatic β‐cells and enteroendocrine L‐cells, and augments circulating insulin levels both through its direct insulinotropic action on β‐cells and through FA stimulation of glucagon‐like peptide 1 (GLP‐1) secretion. GPR120 is expressed in L‐cells and was also shown to mediate FA‐stimulated GLP‐1 release. Finally, GPR41 and GPR43 are receptors for short‐chain FAs and may indirectly regulate β‐cell function via adipokine secretion. Although the discovery of these various lipid receptors opens new and exciting avenues of research for drug development, a number of questions regarding their mechanisms of action and physiological roles remain to be answered.
Reputation based trust in service-oriented network environments

Trust plays an important role in our daily life, both implicitly and explicitly. Our decisions are based on our estimation of how trustworthy a person is or how reliable a service is. Consequently, there has been a rise in trust systems that model human trust in a virtual or computing environment. These trust systems or trust models help to bridge the gap of human feelings and intuition in an unfamiliar environment. Trust models collect information regarding the participants’ activities and give a trust rating based on observed activities. In a network environment, a plethora of network devices are in constant communication as data packets are transported from source to destination. The autonomous nature of network environments and devices make it difficult to monitor the services and devices from a central point. Security mechanisms, such as IPSec, exist in routing protocols to safeguard network packets travelling in a network, however routing devices that act as service providers are not protected by malicious attacks. For example, an attack aimed at the routing architecture of a network involves a routing device advertising itself as another routing device in order to divert network traffic away from its intended destination. This dissertation investigates trust models in network environments as a possible approach to predict and ultimately eliminate attacks on routing devices. To accomplish this, the role of routing devices as service providers and requesters must be stated explicitly. Activities on a routing device must be collected and used to determine the trust level of the
Distraction osteogenesis for correction of mandibular abnormalities

Introduction: Management of mandibular deformities is challenging. Distraction osteogenesis is a relatively new technique with promising results. Materials and Methods: We selected 12 patients.The osteotomy site decided was proximal to the antegonial notch. Latency time was five to seven days. Consolidation period was eight weeks in eleven cases and six weeks in one case. Results: In all the patients, appreciable lengthening of mandible was achieved. Discussion: The greatest advantage of distraction osteogenesis is growth of soft tissue along with the growth of hard tissue. This increases post operative stability
The Word of Mouth Dynamic: How Positive (and Negative) WOM Drives Purchase Probability

ABSTRACT This study has two main objectives: (a) to examine the relative impacts of positive and negative word of mouth (PWOM and NWOM) on the shift in the receiver's brand purchase probability; and (b) to analyze the effect, direct or indirect, of a number of interpersonal and non-interpersonal factors on the relation between PWOM or NWOM and the shift in the receiver's purchase probability. The data were collected from a sample of 1,035 consumers in four product/service categories. The results suggest that firms should develop a proactive management of WOM communications that takes into account aspects of both the sender and receiver.
The Impact of the Full Circulation Reform on Chinese Security Prices and Valuation

Since the establishment of China stock markets in early 1990s, two thirds of China domestic shares were held by the central government or their representatives and only about one third were issued to the public investors. Government shares were not allowed to be traded publicly while the otherwise identical shares were freely-traded. This unique split share structure can lead to conflicts of interest between tradable and non-tradable shareholders and has been recognized as the source of many corporate governance problems in China. In early 2001, the Government unsuccessfully decided to sell its ownership of the listed enterprises as the market collapsed under severe price pressure. In 2005, China Government launched Full-Circulation Reform to convert the non-tradable government shares into traded shares. The event consisted of a series of sub-events, including announcement of macro policies and subsequent firm-specific decisions. China Full-Circulation Reform was set to protect the interests of minority shareholders by (1) allowing companies to devise their own proposals which took in opinions from both the holders of non-tradable and tradable domestic shares; (2) requiring the owners of non-tradable government shares paying Consideration to the owners of tradable domestic shares to compensate them for any anticipated loss; and (3) imposing some restrictions on the sale of government shares. In this thesis the event-study method is employed to investigate the effect of China Full-Circulation Reform on China stock markets. In particular, whether the scheme was fair to both tradable and non-tradable shareholders and what factors were important in the outcome. The results suggest that the procedure taken by the Government to protect the minority interests in the reform was successful with the tradable shareholders not losing in the reform. And the main objective of maintaining the market stability while floating the non-tradable government shares had been successfully achieved.
Implementasi Shariah Governance serta Implikasinya terhadap Reputasi dan Kepercayaan Bank Syariah

Syariah banking is currently growing rapidly and become part of financial life in the Islamic world. However, there are two important realities to observe in the life of Islamic Banking in Indonesia. First, Islamic banks are faced with a market share that has not met the target by 5 percent. Second, compliance of Islamic banking to Islamic principles was decline. Therefore, it is needed a strategy of development through the implementation of syariah governance. Syariah Governance implementation is expected to have an impact on reputation and customer confidence which in turn can increase the market share of syariah banks. Based on this background, the research problem is how the implementation of syariah governance and its impact on the reputation and confidence in Islamic banks. This research object is Muamalat banks operating in Central Java (Semarang, Solo, Purwokerto). The research sample is 200 respondents using the techniques of analytical judgment. Measurement instrument using 1-5 Likert scale, from strongly disagree (STS) untill Strongly Agree (SS). Firth to know implementation of Shariah governance, it is used a quantitative descriptive analysis using the average (mean). Second, to examine the effect of the implementation of Shariah governance to reputation and customer confidence in Islamic banks, it uses Structur Equation Model (SEM) with program AMOS 4.0 Engineering Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) which consists of two kinds of technical analysis, the goodness of fit and regression weight on the SEM to assess the suitability of the model estimation based on measuring the level of significance of some of the goodness of fit good and bad in a model, so the degree of the model accuracy is determined by the cut-off value.This research concluded that calculations of total assessment on the implementation of Shariah Governance Islamic bank (Bank Muamalat) showed an average score of 3.42 7 in good categories. It shows that shariah compliance is a indicator giving biggest contribution in the implementation of Islamic governance. Compliance to sharia is the main factor to costumer in establishing partnership with syariah banks and deciding to retain syariah banks.
Simultaneous Equations and Weak Instruments under Conditionally Heteroscedastic Disturbances

In this paper we extend the setting analysed in Hahn and Hausman (2002a) by allowing for conditionally heteroscedastic disturbances. We start by considering the type of conditional variance-covariance matrices proposed by Engle and Kroner (1995) and we show that, when we impose a GARCH specification in the structural model, some conditions are needed to have a GARCH process of the same order in the reduced form equations. Later, we propose a modified-2SLS and a modified-3SLS procedures where the conditional heteroscedasticity is taken into account, that are more asymptotically efficient than the traditional 2SLS and 3SLS estimators. We recommend to use these modified-2SLS and 3SLS procedures in practice instead of alternative estimators like LIML/FIML, where the non-existence of moments leads to extreme values (in case we are interested in the structural form). We show theoretically and with simulation that in some occasions 2SLS, 3SLS and our proposed 2SLS and 3SLS procedures can have very severe biases, and we present the bias correction mechanisms to apply in practice
Attention Selects Informative Neural Populations in Human V1

In a neural population driven by a simple grating stimulus, different subpopulations are maximally informative about changes to the grating's orientation and contrast. In theory, observers should attend to the optimal subpopulation when switching between orientation and contrast discrimination tasks. Here we used source-imaged, steady-state visual evoked potentials and visual psychophysics to determine whether this is the case. Observers fixated centrally while static targets were presented bilaterally along with a cue indicating task type (contrast or orientation modulation detection) and task location (left or right). Changes in neuronal activity were measured by quantifying frequency-tagged responses from flickering “reporter” gratings surrounding the targets. To determine the orientation tuning of attentionally modulated neurons, we measured responses for three different probe-reporter angles: 0, 20, and 45°. We estimated frequency-tagged cortical activity using a minimum norm inverse procedure combined with realistic MR-derived head models and retinotopically mapped visual areas. Estimates of neural activity from regions of interest centered on V1 showed that attention to a spatial location clearly increased the amplitude of the neural response in that location. More importantly, the pattern of modulation depended on the task. For orientation discrimination, attentional modulation showed a sharp peak in the population tuned 20° from the target orientation, whereas for contrast discrimination the enhancement was more broadly tuned. Similar tuning functions for orientation and contrast discrimination were obtained from psychophysical adaptation studies. These findings indicate that humans attend selectively to the most informative neural population and that these populations change depending on the nature of the task.
Primary Education and Healthcare Service Delivery by Local Government in Oyo State, Nigeria

The main purpose of creating local governments in Nigeria is to deliver social and welfare services to the people in the local area. This research study is interested in primary education and healthcare service delivery by local governments in Oyo state of Nigeria. There are a lot of hindrances militating against the delivery of these services to the people at the grassroots. amongst which are insufficient funds, corruption, leadership quality, bad governance, managerial accountability, leadership problem, instability in governance, and government policy from other tiers of government. Out of these multifarious problems, this research study focuses on three main factors, namely statutory allocation/fund, managerial accountability, and leadership structure in the local governments. The study wants to evaluate the relationship between service delivery (primary education and healthcare service) and these variables. These variables are treated as independent variables, while service delivery is treated as the dependent variable. Multiple regression analysis is used to predict the unique significant contribution of the three variables to the delivery of primary education and healthcare service by local governments in Oyo state. The findings of the study show that there exist positive relationship between service delivery and the three variables. The correlation coefficient between statutory allocation/fund and service delivery is given as 0.643, while the correlation coefficient between managerial accountability and service delivery is given as 0.254. And the correlation coefficient between leadership structure and service delivery is given as 0.457. Multiple Regression analysis shows that the variables are correlated, and have unique significant role to the delivery of primary education and healthcare service by the local governments. The significant values for the variables are given as statutory allocation/fund (0.000), managerial accountability (0.040), and leadership structure (0.0 13). Similarly, statutory allocation disbursed to local governments in Oyo state for 2007, 2008 and 2009, and approved annual budget for the fiscal year 2008 of four local governments in Oyo state are analyzed to evaluate the expenditure trend for primary education and healthcare service in order to determine the rate at which primary education and healthcare service is delivered. It is established by the study that 10% is being utilized for personnel expenditure as the cost of delivering primary education and healthcare service. This shows that local governments in Oyo state are not delivering optimum primary education and healthcare service to the people in the local area. It is therefore recommended that there is need for proactive measure to improve upon the delivery of primary education and healthcare service by local governments in Oyo state of Nigeria.
Unpacking Dimensions of Foreignness: Firm‐Specific Capabilities and International Dispersion in Regional, Cultural, and Institutional Space

While recent research has pointed to the importance of regional strategy and the ‘interregional liability of foreignness,’ critics have pointed out that this argument obscures important differences within regions as well as the similarities across them. Bridging these diverging viewpoints, our research is designed to unpack this debate into cultural, institutional, and regional components. Using a large data set, we find that firms are significantly more dispersed across cultural and, in particular, institutional boundaries, than they are across geographically defined regional boundaries. Further, our results indicate that certain firm-specific resources influence firms' global dispersion; in particular, we find that a nuanced interplay of proprietary capabilities such as technology, marketing, and partnering capabilities has an impact on the location of firm activities.
Audit committee characteristics, internal auditors' contribution to financial statement audits and audit fees : Malaysian evidence

This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of audit committee characteristics on the extent of internal auditor’s contribution to financial statement audits in an emerging economy. Using a cross-sectional regression model, based on Felix, Gramling and Maletta’s (2001) study, it provides evidence of a positive relationship between internal auditor contribution to financial statement audits and three dimensions of audit committee characteristics: the proportion of independent audit committee members; the extent of audit committee members’ knowledge and experience in auditing, accounting, and finance; and the extent of audit committee review of IA proposal related to program, budget and coordination. A second model examines a relationship between internal audit contribution to financial statement audits and audit fees. However, the results did not yield a significant relationship between the two variables. These results are based on a unique data set comprised of publicly available data matched with survey data from chief internal auditors or financial controllers of 90 firms listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE).
Antiviral drugs for cytomegalovirus in transplant recipients: advantages of preemptive therapy

Currently available, potent antiviral agents have proven highly effective for the prevention of CMV disease during the time that prophylaxis is employed. However, late‐onset CMV disease, occurring in 5–18% of the patients, has emerged as a significant complication in organ transplant recipients receiving prophylaxis. Complete suppression of the virus with long‐term use of a potent antiviral agent may be less conducive to antigen‐induced priming of host responses, which may explain why there is a greater likelihood of late‐onset CMV disease. On the other hand, allowing controlled low‐level viral replication, implicit in the strategy of preemptive therapy, may facilitate CMV‐specific immune reconstitution and have a mitigating effect on the risk of late‐onset CMV disease. Preemptive therapy with valganciclovir appears less likely to be associated with CMV disease, largely due to a lower incidence of late‐onset CMV disease. Emerging data, documenting that CMV disease in the era of prophylaxis with potent antiviral agents is an independent contributor to mortality, particularly infection‐associated mortality, stands to challenge the notion that prophylaxis is more likely to have a beneficial effect on CMV‐related secondary outcomes. Preemptive therapy is a more logical and theoretically more appealing approach for the prevention of CMV disease in transplant recipients. Published in 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Organizational Structure Forming Problems in Modern Industrial Enterprise

Information technologies quickly develop in a knowl-edge society, the speed of the introduction of new knowl-edge also increases, so the modern enterprise seeking for the new management possibilities tries to use all these opportunities. In this process the forming of the human resources is very important in this process such is the development of the education system. Information trans-fer for the individual user is the inseparable part of the communication process inside the organization. For communication to be effective the organization has to dis-tribute the positions, competences, responsibilities and motivation that are determined by the organizational structure. The importance of organizational structures is de-clared by the scientists and practitioners of various coun-tries (Galbrait, 1994; Гвишиани, 2005, Soldatos., Hardy, 2004. Minzberg, 1984; Paliulis., Chlivickas, 1998), but only few of them have modern organizational structures. The organizational structure can be discussed from sev-eral points of view: as the initial base necessary for the formation of the structure and the necessary number of employees (this special aspect is stressed in this paper) and as the system ensuring the change of effective infor-mation. Severe competition requires the creation of mod-ern and present day changes corresponding organiza-tional management structures. Huge, bureaucratic, high hierarchy structures with long and insufficiently moti-vated chains of solution approval actually are unable to work good enough in the situation when quick changes take place in business. With the speed of the changes of global economy in mind it is important to know that the restructuring of organizations in accordance with the situation in the present day business environment can improve the situation only for a short time. The possible outcome can be only the constant adaptation of the or-ganizational structure to the changing internal and ex-ternal conditions.
Expression and Immunohistochemical Localization of Aquaporin‐1 in Male Reproductive Organs of the Mouse

Aquaporin‐1 (AQP‐1), a six‐transmembrane domain protein, is found to be responsible for water transport. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of AQP‐1 mRNA and protein in the testis, epididymis, vas deferens, ventral prostate, and seminal vesicle from mature mice by using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) and Western blotting, and the cellular localization of AQP‐1 by immunohistochemistry. RT‐PCR revealed that AQP‐1 mRNA was expressed in all organs we examined. Western blotting displayed a 29‐kDa band and a 35‐ to 45‐kDa band corresponding to non‐glycosylated and/or glycosylated AQP‐1 in those organs. The immunohistochemical evidence showed that AQP‐1 was mainly located on the plasma membrane of epithelial cells of the rete testis, vas deferens, ventral prostate, seminal vesicle and the non‐ciliated cells of the proximal and distal efferent ducts. However, AQP‐1 was absent from spermatogenic cells lining the seminiferous epithelium and from the spermatozoa in the lumen of the distal efferent duct. These findings provide valuable information on the expression of AQP‐1 in male reproductive organs and suggest that AQP‐1 is involved in water transport to regulate water homeostasis in male reproductive physiology.
What is a Theorem

General acceptance of a mathematical proposition $P$ as a theorem requires convincing evidence that a proof of $P$ exists. But what constitutes "convincing evidence? " I will argue that, given the types of evidence that are currently accepted as convincing, it is inconsistent to deny similar acceptance to the evidence provided for the existence of proofs by certain randomized computations.
Dysfunction in Ribosomal Gene Expression in the Hypothalamus and Hippocampus following Chronic Social Defeat Stress in Male Mice as Revealed by RNA-Seq

Chronic social defeat stress leads to the development of anxiety- and depression-like states in male mice and is accompanied by numerous molecular changes in brain. The influence of 21-day period of social stress on ribosomal gene expression in five brain regions was studied using the RNA-Seq database. Most Rps, Rpl, Mprs, and Mprl genes were upregulated in the hypothalamus and downregulated in the hippocampus, which may indicate ribosomal dysfunction following chronic social defeat stress. There were no differentially expressed ribosomal genes in the ventral tegmental area, midbrain raphe nuclei, or striatum. This approach may be used to identify a pharmacological treatment of ribosome biogenesis abnormalities in the brain of patients with “ribosomopathies. ”
Increased auctioning in the EU ETS and trade in guarantees of origin for renewables: a comparison of the impact on power sector producer rents

The European Commission is currently reviewing two major policy instruments which will pose major economic challenges and opportunities for EU power producers. First, the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is likely to include a high percentage of auctioning. Second, support schemes for electricity from renewable energy sources may involve open private-actor trade of guarantees of origins (GO). This paper provides a first coarse comparison of the impacts of these policy changes on power sector producer rents. The results suggest that the losses in producer rents from increased auctioning in the EU ETS may be offset by additional producer rents from private-actor based GO trade for renewable electricity.