Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring Motivation and Success Among Canadian Women Entrepreneurs

Abstract This paper presents preliminary findings on the reasons why Canadian women start businesses, and the relationship between their motivations and economic success. The analysis draws on The Survey of Self-Employment, a nationally representative survey of 3,840 Canadians conducted in 2000 by Statistics Canada and Human Resources Development Canada. Drawing on existing studies which identify three broad groups of motivation—classic, work-family, and forced—the paper examines how prevalent these motivations are amongst Canadian women, and how motivations are linked to the types of businesses women build and the economic rewards they receive. The findings suggest diversity in the motivations and success of women entrepreneurs.
The weak Pleijel theorem with geometric control

Let $\Omega\subset \mathbb R^d\,, d\geq 2$, be a bounded open set, and denote by $\lambda\_j(\Omega), j\geq 1$, the eigenvalues of the Dirichlet Laplacian arranged in nondecreasing order, with multiplicities. The weak form of Pleijel's theorem states that the number of eigenvalues $\lambda\_j(\Omega)$, for which there exists an associated eigenfunction with precisely $j$ nodal domains (Courant-sharp eigenvalues), is finite. The purpose of this note is to determine an upper bound for Courant-sharp eigenvalues, expressed in terms of simple geometric invariants of $\Omega$. We will see that this is connected with one of the favorite problems considered by Y. Safarov.
Ultrawideband Low Dispersion Slow Light Waveguides

In 2-D photonic crystals (PhCs), we demonstrate two novel line-defects slow light waveguides with little group velocity dispersion (less than 1 ps/nm/mm) in which light can propagate with little distortion in a wide frequency range. The first waveguide is composed of air rings located at the each side of the line-defect and the results indicate that a very flat band corresponding to average group velocity of 0.04 c can be achieved in the bandwidth of 4.9 THz. The second waveguide in which the high-index ridge waveguide is sandwiched between two photonic crystals may yield an average group velocity of 0.01777c over a bandwidth of 2.9 THz. Numerical simulations by finite-difference time domain (FDTD) verify the results of the frequency domain.
Exploring the factors that influence physician technostress from using mobile electronic medical records

ABSTRACT This paper proposes an integrated model for investigating how physicians’ perceived individual and technology characteristics affect their technological stress (technostress) that is derived from using mobile electronic medical records (MEMRs). Individual characteristics comprise constructs of mobile self-efficacy and technology dependence, whereas perceived technology characteristics comprise constructs of perceived usefulness, complexity, and reliability. We employed the survey method to collect 158 valid questionnaires from physicians working at three branch hospitals to determine perceptions regarding MEMRs, yielding a response rate of 33.62%. Partial least squares, a structural equation modeling technique, was used for model examination and hypothesis testing. The results show that physicians have a low perception of MEMR dependence and technostress. Furthermore, physicians’ perceived MEMR technology dependency, mobile self-efficacy, and complexity were proven to significantly affect physician technostress when using MEMRs, whereas perceived usefulness and reliability were not. The explanatory power of the research model reached 67.8%. The results of this study provide valuable insights and significant knowledge for technostress in health care, particularly from academic and practical perspectives.
Influence of Fiber Detargeting on Adenovirus-Mediated Innate and Adaptive Immune Activation

ABSTRACT The major adenovirus (Ad) capsid proteins hexon, penton, and fiber influence the efficiency and tropism of gene transduction by Ad vectors. Fiber is the high-affinity receptor binding protein that serves to mediate cell attachment in vitro when using coxsackie-adenovirus receptor (CAR)-containing cell lines. This contrasts with transduction efficiency in macrophages or dendritic cells that lack high concentrations of CAR. To determine how fiber influences gene transduction and immune activation in a murine model, we have characterized Ad type 5 (Ad5) vectors with two classes of chimeric fiber, CAR binding and non-CAR binding. In a systemic infection, Ad5 fiber contributes to DNA localization and vector transduction in hepatic tissue. However, the majority of vector localization is due to Ad5 fiber-specific functions distinct from CAR binding. CAR-directed transduction occurs but at a modest level. In contrast to CAR binding vectors, the F7 and F7F41S non-CAR-binding vectors demonstrate a 2-log decrease in hepatic transduction, with a 10-fold decrease in the amount of vector DNA localizing to the hepatic tissue. To characterize the innate response to early infection using fiber chimeric vectors, intrahepatic cytokine and chemokine mRNAs were quantified 5 hours postinfection. Tumor necrosis factor alpha mRNA levels resulting from Ad5 fiber infections were elevated compared to viruses expressing serotype 7 or 41 fiber. Levels of chemokine mRNA (gamma interferon-inducible protein 10, T-cell activation gene 3, and macrophage inflammatory protein 1β) were 10- to 20-fold higher with CAR binding vectors (Ad5 and F41T) than with non-CAR-binding vectors (F7 and F7F41S). In spite of quantitative differences in vector localization and innate activation, fiber pseudotyping did not significantly change the outcome of anti-Ad adaptive immunity. All vectors were cleared with the same kinetics as wild-type Ad5 vectors, and each induced neutralizing antibody. Although non-CAR-binding vectors were impaired in transduction by nearly 2 orders of magnitude, the level of antitransgene immunity was the same for each of the vectors. Using primary bone marrow-derived macrophages and dendritic cells, we demonstrate that transduction, induction of cytokine/chemokine, and phenotypic maturation of these antigen-presenting cells are independent of fiber content. Our data support a model where fiber-mediated hepatic localization enhances innate responses to virus infection but minimally impacts on adaptive immunity.
Mobile Phones Usage and Employeesâ Performance: A Perspective from Pakistan

The mobile phone usage by the workers at work place may be considered by some people as a disruption from work which may negatively affect productivity. Some also may be of the view that it will improve communication and as such impact productivity positively. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the employee’s mobile phone dependency and its impact on their performance among the employees of four major industries of Pakistan. A field survey carried out with the help of a structured questionnaire. Data was collected from 200 employees conveniently drawn from four major industries of Pakistan. The collected data then analyzed using SPSS 17. Appropriate percentages and frequencies were computed to assist in analyzing the data. The survey results show that most of the employees from services sector were agreed that the use of cell phone has improved their working efficiency and that the cell phone is necessary for better performance of work and that they do not think their colleagues use cell phone inappropriately in workplace its mean people are responsible enough to handle the use of cell phone. Whereas the employees belongs to manufacturing sector are in point in view that using mobile phones during work is harmful and put impact on their productivity negatively. This study has practical significance for service and manufacturing companies during making policies about mobile phone usage and for understanding the behavioral intentions of their employees and using them for better performance.
A Transposon Site Hybridization Screen Identifies galU and wecBC as Important for Survival of Yersinia pestis in Murine Macrophages

ABSTRACT Yersinia pestis is able to survive and replicate within murine macrophages. However, the mechanism by which Y. pestis promotes its intracellular survival is not well understood. To identify genes that are important for Y. pestis survival in macrophages, a library comprised of ∼31,500 Y. pestis KIM6+ transposon insertion mutants (input pool) was subjected to negative selection in primary murine macrophages. Genes underrepresented in the output pool of surviving bacteria were identified by transposon site hybridization to DNA oligonucleotide microarrays. The screen identified several genes known to be important for survival of Y. pestis in macrophages, including phoPQ and members of the PhoPQ regulon (e.g., pmrF). In addition, genes predicated to encode a glucose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase (galU), a UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase (wecB) and a UDP-N-acetyl-d-mannosamine dehydrogenase (wecC) were identified in the screen. Viable-count assays demonstrated that a KIM6+ galU mutant and a KIM6+ wecBC mutant were defective for survival in murine macrophages. The galU mutant was studied further because of its strong phenotype. The KIM6+ galU mutant exhibited increased susceptibility to the antimicrobial peptides polymyxin B and cathelicidin-related antimicrobial peptide (CRAMP). Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis demonstrated that the lipooligosaccharide (LOS) of the galU mutant migrated faster than the LOS of the parent KIM6+, suggesting the core was truncated. In addition, the analysis of LOS isolated from the galU mutant by mass spectrometry showed that aminoarabinose modification of lipid A is absent. Therefore, addition of aminoarabinose to lipid A and complete LOS core (galU), as well as enterobacterial common antigen (wecB and wecC), is important for survival of Y. pestis in macrophages.
New Global Navigation Satellite System Ambiguity Resolution Method Compared to Existing Approaches

Integer carrier phase ambiguity resolution is the process of resolving unknown cycle ambiguities of doubledifferenced carrier phase data as integers, and it is a prerequisite for rapid and high-precision global navigation satellite system positioning and navigation. Besides integer estimation, integer ambiguity resolution also involves validation of the integer estimates. In this contribution a new ambiguity resolution method is presented, based on the class of integer aperture estimators, which for the first time reveals an overall approach to the combined problem of integer estimation and validation. Furthermore, it is shown how the different discrimination tests that are currently in use in practice can be cast into the framework of the new approach.
Complex Choices: Producers Risk Management Strategies

Producers have a wide variety of risk management instruments available. How do producers make a choice of risk management instruments? Using the recently developed choice bracketing framework, we examine what risk management strategies producers use and identify the factors that drive their risk management decisions. Our results identify that producers use a wide variety of combinations of risk management instruments and that they bracket their choices into sets of alternative risk management instruments. Using multinomial logit models to estimate the choice process provides information about the factors that influence producers' decision making. The results show that broad bracketing producers use different risk management instruments than narrow bracketers. Policy makers and financial institutions can improve the performance of their programs and products when they are able to identify the bracketing level of segments of producers.
Cosmological consequences of a rolling homogeneous scalar field.

The cosmological consequences of a pervasive, rolling, self-interacting, homogeneous scalar field are investigated. A number of models in which the energy density of the scalar field red-shifts in a specific manner are studied. In these models the current epoch is chosen to be scalar-field dominated to agree with dynamical estimates of the density parameter, Qd„„-0.2, and zero spatial curvature. The required scalar-field potential is "nonlinear" and decreases in magnitude as the value of the scalar field increases. A special solution of the field equations which is an attractive, timedependent, fixed point is presented. These models are consistent with the classical tests of gravitation theory. The Eotvos-Dicke measurements strongly constrain the coupling of the scalar field to light (nongravitationalj fields. Nucleosynthesis proceeds as in the standard hot big-bang model. In linear perturbation theory the behavior of baryonic perturbations, in the baryon-dominated epoch, do not differ significantly from the canonical scenario, while the presence of a substantial amount of homogeneous scalar-field energy density at low red-shifts inhibits the growth of perturbations in the baryonic fluid. The energy density in the scalar field is not appreciably perturbed by nonrelativistic gravitational fields, either in the radiation-dominated, matter-dominated, or scalar-field-dominated epochs. On the basis of this effect, we argue that these models could reconcile the low dynamical estimates of the mean mass density with the negligibly small spatial curvature preferred by inflation. One consequence of observational astronomy over the last half-century has been the accumulation of fairly persuasive evidence that a substantial fraction of the gravitationally bound mass associated with observed structure in the Universe is nonluminous. ' Dynamical estimates of the mass density on large (clusters of galaxies, etc. ) scales (which assumes that galaxies trace mass) suggest Qd~„— — 0.2+0. 1 (Ref. 2). [The density parameter Q is the ratio of the mean mass density to the Einstein — de Sitter value, Q(t) =8m.Gp/(3H ), where G is Newton's gravitational constant, H is the Hubble constant, and p the relevant mass density. ] The fact that the baryon mass density Qa needed for nucleosynthesis falls within this range is sometimes taken as evidence that the nonluminous mass is purely baryonic and that the total mass density in all forms, A,o, is appreciably less than the Einstein — de Sitter value. If the equations of general relativity (i.e., Einstein s theory of gravity with baryons and radiation) govern cosmology, this would mean that spatial sections must have appreciable mean curvature. However, this conflicts with the inflation paradigm,
Recipient Cells Form the Intimal Proliferative Lesion in the Rat Aortic Model of Allograft Arteriosclerosis

Chronic rejection is the leading cause of late graft loss following solid organ transplantation and is characterized by a vasculopathy referred to as allograft arteriosclerosis. While the etiology of allograft arteriosclerosis remains unknown, it has been hypothesized that migration of donor medial smooth muscle cells into the intimal compartment is responsible for the formation of the occlusive lesion (neointima). In this study we have used aortic interposition grafts between fully histoincompatible rat strains (Brown Norway and Lewis) to investigate the origin of the neointimal cells. Three transplant paradigms were used: BN to Lew, Lew to BN and BN to Lew with immunosuppression. Neointimal cells were isolated from aortic transplant tissue through an EDTA wash/mechanical stripping technique. We have developed polymerase chain reaction primers to the MHC1 allele that are specific to each rat strains' DNA. Polymerase chain reaction analysis, using the strain‐specific primers and purified neointimal cell DNA from transplanted aortic tissue from all three experimental groups, demonstrated that the neointimal cells are of recipient, and not donor origin.
Localization of FMRF amide‐like peptides in Caenorhabditis elegans

The neuropeptide FMRFamide (Phe‐Met‐Arg‐Phe‐NH2) is a member of a large family of related peptides that have been found throughout the animal kingdom. By using an antiserum specific for the Arg‐Phe‐NH2 moiety, we have found that about 10% of the neurons in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans are immunoreactive. Most of these neurons, which include sensory, motor, and interneurons, were identified on the basis of their number, position, and projection pattern and by analysis of characterized mutants. Neurons that were immunoreactive in hermaphrodite animals were generally also found in males, but each sex had, in addition, sex‐specific immunoreactive cells. Staining of hermaphrodite animals from different larval stages suggests that the onset of FMRFamide‐like expression is differentially regulated among the cells. We have found a possible neuromodulatory role for the related peptide FLRFamide (Phe‐Leu‐Arg‐Phe‐NH2). In an egg‐laying assay, FLRFamide by itself was not active but could potentiate a serotonin effect. The FMRFamide‐like immunoreactivity was also used as a marker to examine the differentiation of cells that normally undergo programmed cell death. Cells that are destined to die in the Pn.a lineages appear to differentiate and adopt the fate of lineally equivalent cells before cell death.
An Empirical Investigation of the Key Factors for Refactoring Success in an Industrial Context

Refactoring is an increasingly practiced method in industrial software development. Stated simply, refactoring is an ongoing software improvement process that simplifies the internal structure of existing software, without changing its external behavior. The purpose is to improve the software and facilitate future maintenance and enhancement. Existing studies on refactoring mainly focus on its technical aspects and thus do not consider the team and human factors that influence its success. To identify the major facilitating factors for the success of refactoring, we interviewed 10 industrial software developers, and combined their responses with a study of the existing literature, formulated a model of refactoring success. The resulting conceptual model comprises both technical and non-technical factors. Technical factors include: level, testing and debugging, and tools, while the non-technical factors include: communication and coordination, support activities, individual capability/skills, and programmer participation. We propose to verify this model empirically through a survey of professional software developers (main body of refactoring practitioners). The survey design is provided.
HD-ZIP III Activity Is Modulated by Competitive Inhibitors via a Feedback Loop in Arabidopsis Shoot Apical Meristem Development[W]

Shoot apical meristem (SAM) development is coordinately regulated by two interdependent signaling events: one maintaining stem cell identity and the other governing the initiation of lateral organs from the flanks of the SAM. The signaling networks involved in this process are interconnected and are regulated by multiple molecular mechanisms. Class III homeodomain-leucine zipper (HD-ZIP III) proteins are the most extensively studied transcription factors involved in this regulation. However, how different signals are integrated to maintain stem cell identity and to pattern lateral organ polarity remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated that a small ZIP protein, ZPR3, and its functionally redundant homolog, ZPR4, negatively regulate the HD-ZIP III activity in SAM development. ZPR3 directly interacts with PHABULOSA (PHB) and other HD-ZIP III proteins via the ZIP motifs and forms nonfunctional heterodimers. Accordingly, a double mutant, zpr3-2 zpr4-2, exhibits an altered SAM activity with abnormal stem cell maintenance. However, the mutant displays normal patterning of leaf polarity. In addition, we show that PHB positively regulates ZPR3 expression. We therefore propose that HD-ZIP III activity in regulating SAM development is modulated by, among other things, a feedback loop involving the competitive inhibitors ZPR3 and ZPR4.
Direct Health Care Costs of 4 Common Skin Ulcers in New Mexico Medicaid Fee-for-Service Patients

OBJECTIVE:To determine health care costs associated with pressure ulcers, ulcers of the lower limbs, other chronic ulcers, and venous leg ulcers from the New Mexico Medicaid fee-for-service program perspective. DESIGN:Retrospective analysis of claims database MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Physician visit, hospital, and prescription costs were determined for New Mexico Medicaid patients with a primary and/or secondary diagnosis of 1 of 4 identified categories of skin ulcers from January 1, 1994, through December 31, 1998. Costs were determined in terms of mean and median annual cost per patient and total costs per year. Zero dollar claims were included within the cost calculations. All costs are expressed in 2000-dollar values. MAIN RESULTS: Mean annual physician visit costs per patient ranged from $71 (standard deviation [SD] = $60) for venous leg ulcers in 1998 to $520 (SD = $1228) for pressure ulcers in 1996. Mean annual hospital costs per patient ranged from $266 (SD = $348) for other chronic ulcers in 1998 to $15,760 (SD = $30,706) for pressure ulcers in 1998. Mean annual prescription costs per patient ranged from $145 (SD = $282) for other chronic ulcers in 1998 to $654 (SD = $1488) for pressure ulcers in 1994. CONCLUSION:The New Mexico Medicaid fee-for-service system incurred a total cost of approximately $11.6 million (in 2000 dollars) from 1994 through 1998 for the treatment of the 4 categories of skin ulcers studied. The data showed that the majority of wounds were coded as pressure ulcers, which had the highest associated costs.
Robust H/spl infin/ Control of an Uncertain System via a Stable Output Feedback Controller

The paper presents a new approach to the robust control of an uncertain system via a stable output feedback controller. The uncertain systems under consideration contain structured uncertainty described by integral quadratic constraints. The controller is designed to achieve absolute stabilization with a specified level of disturbance attenuation. The main result involves solving a state feedback version of the problem by solving an algebraic Riccati equation dependent on a set of scaling parameters. Then two further algebraic Riccati equations are solved which depend on a further set of scaling parameters. The required controller is constructed from the Riccati solutions
On-chip integrated antennas on ultra-thin and on high-impedance Si substrate

On-chip integrated antennas show promising results for emergent applications like wireless chip-to-chip communications, wireless sensors, telemetry, etc. The radiation efficiency of such antennas is restrained by the high dielectric losses at microwave frequencies in the silicone substrate. Two ways to increase integrated antenna efficiency are to use either high-impedance or very thin silicon substrate. This paper presents the prototyping of antennas on ultra-thin substrate and compares the results with high-impedance based prototypes, presented in earlier publications.