Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Financial Systems and Economic Crises: Vulnerabilities, Effects and Dynamics Alt title: Institutional dynamics in EU financial Systems

This paper argues that the traditional dichotomous and static conceptualisations of financial systems fail explain how financial systems have changed as a result of transformative events (the 2007-2008 financial crisis in particular) and trends in recent decades. To shed light on developments in contemporary financial systems in the EU, this paper presents and analyses an index that seeks to capture the extent to which funding structures in non-financial companies subject them to financial pressures. The index reveals that the EU as a whole is distinctly “bank-based”, in the sense of private equity and bank credit matter more for funding of non-financial companies than listed equity or market-based credit. However, the EU and its Member States have become more market-based over the last decade. While this trend generally holds true, there is also increasing divergence between European financial systems. Developments in individual countries appears to be determined by competitive advantage specialization as well as how strong the country was hit by the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The paper thereby contributes to the comparative political economy literature on comparative financial systems, as well as the much neglected questions if, how and why institutional transformation in financial systems occur. It also contributes to the literature on how different national financial systems respond to economic shocks.
Evaluation of Factors Affecting Pregnancy Rate after Cervical Insemination of Dairy Ewes in Greece

The objective of this study was to assess the factors affecting success of cervical Artificial Insemination (AI) with chilled semen in intensively reared dairy ewes in Greece. The study involved 1,785 adult ewes from 20 flocks of Lacaune and Chios sheep. A typical estrous synchronization protocol, including intravaginal placement of progestogen sponge for 14 days and injection of equine chorionic gonadotropin at sponge removal, was applied in ewes during mating period. All ewes were cervically inseminated 53-57 hours after sponge removal with chilled semen (15oC) collected from 10 adult purebred Lacaune rams. Pregnancy Diagnosis (PD) was performed by trans-dermal ultrasonography at 3538 d after AI. The following data were available for each ewe: breed; parity; Body Condition Score (BCS) at sponge placement, at AI and at PD; presence of rams during synchronization and number of previous synchronizations. Recordings during the AI procedure included: onset of synchronization to AI interval; semen collection to AI interval; semen deposition depth; cervical mucus presence; order of ewe; average time required for each animal; ram semen used. The results showed that farm, parity, semen deposition depth, ram, ewe BCS and changes of BCS during the sponge placement-PD period, significantly affected AI success (P<0.05). Overall fertility was 44%. Ewes of 2nd (50.3%) and 3rd lactation (48.1%) had the highest conception rates, that declined as age increased. Ewes in moderate BCS (2.50-3.50) at onset of synchronization (48.4%) and AI (49.4%) had significantly higher fertility than ewes with low (<2.50) or high (>3.50) BCS. Positive energy balance following the onset of synchronization seems to benefit animals with low and moderate BCS, but decrease pregnancy rates of high BCS ewes. In conclusion, selection of appropriate ewes and rams, BCS evaluation prior to synchronization and adjustment of dietary management are key factors dictating pregnancy rates following AI in greek dairy sheep. Priskas S, Termatzidou SA, Gargani S, Arsenos G Laboratory of Animal Husbandry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece *Address for Correspondence Priskas S, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Laboratory of Animal Husbandry, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece; E-mail: stpriskas@vet.auth. gr Submission: 04-November, 2019 Accepted: 09-December-2019 Published: 11-December-2019 Copyright: © 2019 Priskas S, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Research Article Open Access
A2AR Antagonism with DZD2269 Augments Antitumor Efficacy of Irradiation in Murine Model

Accumulated extracellular adenosine suppresses antitumor immunity via adenosine 2A receptor (A2AR). Blockade of A2AR with DZD2269 can inhibit phosphorylation of cAMP response element-binding protein mediated by adenosine analogue in vitro and in vivo. Irradiation can cause the release of adenosine and lead to a rapid increase in free extracellular adenosine in the tumour area. DZD2269, a novel A2AR Antagonism, induces incomplete antitumor responses in multiple syngeneic mouse tumour models. Combining DZD2269 with IR can induce a synergistic anticancer effect. IR increases the infiltration of various subtypes of T cells, including CD4+, CD8+ and Foxp3+ T cells, into the tumour area. Combining IR and DZD2269 improves the tumour immune microenvironment, leading to suppressed infiltration of regulatory T (Treg) cells and enhanced IFN-γ expression by tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes. The results support the use of A2AR antagonism with DZD2269 as a therapeutic strategy for monotherapy or combination therapy with IR.
Focus Factor and Hyper-Productivity of Agile Teams: A Study of 8 Open-Source Projects

: One of the ways to understand and improve the productivity of agile project teams is through the usage of metrics that monitor productivity. Despite the emergence of new methodologies and metrics in recent studies promoting productivity increase in agile teams, the utilization of these metrics should be accompanied by a thorough understanding of the factors that affect them. This thesis analyzed data extracted from JIRA repositories of 8 open-source projects. Two productivity metrics, focus factor, and velocity increase were calculated. The projects’ sprints were classified as hyper-productive and healthy using the values of the calculated metrics. In addition, different project factors such as the team size, the number of new team members, and the sprint length were studied. This thesis aims to describe the differences between the productivity metrics with their corresponding states and the project factors. The results showed that there are only statistically significant differences between the team sizes of hyper-productive and non-hyper-productive sprints, while there are no statistically significant differences between the project factors and the healthy and non-healthy sprints. This thesis also highlights some limitations of these metrics and their corresponding states after applying them to the real open-source projects’ data.
OTT_A_232234 215..224

Department of Clinical Oncology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, 110004, People’s Republic of China Background: B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) is a novel immune checkpoint with an unclear role in non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In contrast, the programmed death-1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) checkpoint is a potentially curative immunotherapy target in NSCLC. Our study investigated BTLA expression and its relationship with PD-1/PD-L1, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and clinicopathological features. Methods: The protein expressions of BTLA, PD-1, and PD-L1 were evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and TIL abundance was scored in paraffin-embedded tissues from surgically resected specimens from 87 patients with stage I–III NSCLC. Results: BTLA was expressed in tumor cells in 35 patients with NSCLC (40.2%). In addition, 42 patients (48.3%) were positive for PD-1 in TILs and 31 (35.6%) were positive for PD-L1 in tumor cells. BTLA was overexpressed in patients with lymphatic invasion (P=0.045) and an advanced tumor stage (P=0.034). High expression of BTLAwas positively correlated with a high level of PD-L1 (P=0.011). Patients with positive BTLA expression had a shorter relapse-free survival (RFS) than those with negative BTLA expression (P=0.029). Moreover, patients negative for both BTLA and PD-L1 had a longer RFS than patients who were positive for BTLA or PD-L1 or for both checkpoints (P=0.012). The same pattern was shown for overall survival (P=0.031). Conclusion: High BTLA expression may predict poor prognosis in patients with NSCLC and may represent a new immunotherapy target.
IMPACT OF ECOLOGICAL INNOVATION, ENTREPRENEURIAL SELF-EFFICACY AND ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The rise in environmental regulation also enforced several limitations on organizations to follow the globally accepted business activities and incentivize firms for implementing eco-friendly business methods. Keeping in mind, the current study seeks to analyze the ecological aspects of them by identifying the relationship of ecological innovation, entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial self-efficacy in affecting a firm’s energy efficiency and environmental performance. The findings of structural equation modelling ensure that all chosen factors have a significant and positive influence on energy efficiency and environmental performance of SMEs in Malaysia. Furthermore, the findings of structural equation modelling recommended that ecological innovation, entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial self-efficacy have a positive and significantly influenced on energy efficiency and environmental performance. Technical speaking, the results confirm that the ecological innovation, entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial self-efficacy are the key contributors to enhance the energy efficiency and environmental performance of SMEs in Malaysia.
Implication of Noise Pollution on Residents’ Wellbeing in Benin City, Nigeria

This paper investigates the effect of noise exposure on resident’s wellbeing in Benin city. Using a cross-sectional survey of urban residents, an ordinal regression analysis was estimated to determine factors that influenced neighbourhood wellbeing. From the results, communication and interference with sleep were found to be the major effect of urban neighbourhood noise pollution.Also, the regression estimates revealed the independent effect of sleep disturbance, stress, communication hindrances and annoyance as outcome of perceived effect of noise.Finding suggests a greater percentage of residents perceived the effect of neighbourhood noise as detrimental to health and might stimulate aggression and other anti-social behaviour.
The pharmaceutical regulation of chronic disease among the U.S. urban poor: an ethnographic study of accountability

Abstract The Massachusetts experience of health care reform before the Affordable Care Act of 2010 reveals a moral economy of care in which expanded access was met by neoliberal demands for accountability and cost control. Publicly subsidized health insurance programs in the U.S. are deeply concerned with managing and regulating low-income residents’ access to and coverage for medications. By focusing our attention on the new forms of social relations invoked by specific techniques of governing, analyses of accountability can help us understand the ways in which subjectivities are shaped through their encounters with overarching social and economic structures. This paper presents qualitative findings from a four-year, prospective study that combined two waves of survey and chart-based data collection with four qualitative methods. Medicaid patients are made accountable to their medication regimens as they must track their supply and obtain refills promptly; regular blood tests carried out by health care providers verify their adherence. Both patients and their physicians are subject to cost savings measures such as changing lists of covered medications. Finally, patients struggle to pay ever-increasing out-of-pocket costs for their medications, expenses which may keep patients from taking their medications as prescribed. The fraught relationship between trust, accountability, and verification finds emphatic expression in the moral economy of health care, where the vulnerability of the sick and their hope for a cure confront policies designed to hold down costs.
Exposure to Dihydroxyacetone in Sunless Tanning Products: Understanding the Risks

ABSTRACT The public has been warned for years about the dangers of ultraviolet exposure from natural sunlight and tanning beds due to the associated risk for skin cancer development. An alternative to obtaining the sun-kissed look without ultraviolet exposure has been self-tanning products, which are applied directly to the skin via lotions, sprays, foams, and wipes. However, recent research has indicated that the chemical dihydroxyacetone (DHA), which is the active agent in most sunless tanning lotions, may cause cell damage via free radical reactions. Changes in pigmented lesion appearance during dermoscopic examinations after use of products containing DHA have been documented, and these findings will be analyzed. This integrative research review will examine evidence-based research regarding the risks of using DHA-containing products. Nola Pender’s health promotion model is recommended to identify strategies that healthcare providers can use when developing anticipatory guidance to address factors leading to barriers in health promoting behaviors. This model is focused on improvement of well-being while preventing diseases.
Exploring the Outcomes of Rehabilitative Care for Veterans and Service Members Treated For A Disorder Of Consciousness In The VHA Emerging Conciousness Program

EXPLORING THE OUTCOMES OF REHABILITATIVE CARE FOR VETERANS & SERVICE MEMBERS TREATED FOR A DISORDER OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE VHA EMERGING CONSCIOUSNESS PROGRAM By: Janette A. Hamilton, M.A., M.S. A dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2016 Major Director: Steven J. Danish Professor Emeritus of Psychology Virginia Commonwealth University Over the past several years, there has been an influx in patients being treated for polytraumatic injuries within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), largely due to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also due to advances in life sustaining medical interventions. The polytrauma population includes veterans who have sustained a severe traumatic or non-traumatic brain injury, and a significant loss in cognitive and physical functioning, referred to as a disorder of consciousness. The purpose of the current study was to explore factors related to successful emergence from a disorder of consciousness, using a sample of veterans who were treated at one of the five VA polytrauma rehabilitation center (PRC) sites in an Emerging Consciousness (EC) Program. Participants (N = 70) included both combat and non-combat active duty military personnel and veterans who sustained either a severe traumatic brain injury or anoxic brain injury, and were considered to have a disorder of consciousness at the time of their admission to the EC program. Patient information was retrospectively collected from electronic medical records, and included demographic data, medical information, and scores on the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), Rappaport Coma Near Coma (CNC) Scale, and the JFK Coma Recovery ScaleRevised (CRS-R). In addition, Receiver Operator Characteristic Models (ROC) were utilized to explore “cut scores” for predicting emergence using the CNC and CRS-R. Results showed that age is a significant factor in changes in FIM scores over time, but it did not predict time to emerge or emergence itself. In addition, for the CNC, scores at intake tended to be a better predictor of emergence, while week three scores on the CRS-R were more accurate in determining whether someone would emerge or not. Exploratory analyses also showed a difference in discharge location after treatment based on a patient’s age. Finally, significant variance in initial scores on the CNC was seen for Caucasians, when compared to other ethnic groups. Limitations are explored, along with implications and recommendations for future research and clinical practice.
The co-evolution of institutions with the build-up of research inside pharmaceutical firms and their role in the current socio-technical industry transition

R&D output in the pharmaceutical industry against expenses involved has dropped dramatically. This study examines whether institutional impact may revive successful pharmaceutical research or will it permanently decline? The research question is: Under what kind of institutional conditions can pharmaceutical and biotechnology research successfully persist? The study contributes to uncovering the institutional enablers of past and future pharmaceutical innovations and constraints which retard or inhibit it.
Recreation Center Utilization Affects Academic Outcomes

This study described the association between students' use of a university recreation center and concomitant achieved cumulative grade point average (GPA). Data were derived retrospectively from undergraduate student records from 12 consecutive months (N = 6,098). Results showed that in general, use of the recreation center on campus was beneficial to a student's academic performance, where female students who visited the facility more often had higher GPAs on average. When GPAs were considered categorically for all students, however, those with the very lowest academic performance were characterized by a very high pattern of use, indicating that there may be a threshold benefit to center utilization.
A Study of the Mechanism for Globular Metal Transfer from Covered Electrodes

In this investigation, arc force, surface tension and the statistical sizes of drops transferred from covered electrodes were measured. By means of x-ray photography and a laser high-speed camera that recorded two images in synchronization with the arc sound and voltage signals, the observation of transfer modes and the measurements of oscillatory parameters of metal drops were carried out. On the basis of these results, mechanical factors affecting transfer were analyzed quantitatively and systematically. Thus, a mechanism of globular metal transfer from covered electrodes is offered.
Minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) grafting

Minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) grafting is the technique to achieve revascularization of the anterior wall of the left ventricle using the left internal mammary artery (LIMA) as the bypass graft to the left anterior descending (LAD) artery. The procedure performed through a left anterior mini thoracotomy has been proposed as a less invasive alternative to full sternotomy revascularization in isolated LAD disease. It is most commonly performed when percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is not advisable (complex proximal lesions), not successful, or not possible (occluded LAD). It is also an option for patients who have previously undergone PCI of the LAD and have recurrence of symptoms due to development of in-stent stenosis. The procedure is limited by a steep learning curve. Despite its technically demanding nature, it is associated with low postoperative mortality and morbidity especially when performed regularly by experienced surgeons in high-volume centres. It is increasingly being offered in the setting of hybrid revascularization. This narrative review provides an overview of the history, indications, contraindications, technical aspects, and outcomes of MIDCAB.
Detection of changes in maps using LiDAR point clouds

: Self-driving cars are one of the most vibrant ﬁelds of Robotics and applied Artiﬁcial Intelligence. At the current level of the industry development, maps are the main source of the vehicle’s knowledge of the surrounding environment. Providing basic knowledge for the motion planning and global navigation, they are an essential part of the self-driving car’s autonomy. Therefore, they should be kept up to date. Locations that have changed need to be visited again and remapped. Change detection can be done by comparing two point clouds obtained at the same spatial location, but at different points of time. For the pairwise comparison of the point clouds, ﬁrst we should select the overlapping road parts, then the alignment is performed and ﬁnally the distance metrics are calculated. The aim of my thesis is to develop a pipeline that detects changes along the route of the autonomous car. The pipeline includes dynamic object ﬁltering, point clouds alignment and evaluation of their difference. The developed pipeline is evaluated on the Oxford RobotCar dataset since it contains different routes through the same places for many month, which can provide a set of signiﬁcant changes on the road. To our knowledge, there were no previous attempts to create an automated pipeline for the map’s change detection with the LiDAR point clouds. The results show that the constructed pipeline can detect signiﬁcant changes with the LiDAR input data. The developed pipeline is the ﬁrst step towards eventually ensuring real-time updates of the map for self-driving vehicles, which will help cars to operate in the city more optimally.
Effect of weed control and proline treatment on wheat productivity and weed nutrient removal under water stress conditions

Field evaluation of the efficiency of four weed-control treatments (Tribenuronmethyl, Thifensulfuron, hand weeding and unweeded check), three proline levels (0, 100 and 200 mg/L) and their interactive effects on wheat yield and determine the macronutrient loss occurred by broadleaved weeds under three water requirements (100, 75 and 50%) trials on wheat were performed in two successive seasons at the agricultural experimental station of the National Research Centre, Nubaria, Egypt. The data show that the reduction in water applied to wheat significantly reduced number and weight of broadleaved weeds. Macronutrient removal by broadleaved weeds was significantly greater for N, P and K when wheat was irrigated with the full recommended water duty than the other water stress treatments. Weed control treatments in wheat significantly reduced number and weight of broadleaved weeds. Macronutrient loss by broadleaved weeds was significantly reduced for N, P and K under weed control treatments. The data show that spraying wheat plants with proline at 100 or 200 mg/L under 50% irrigation requirement could effectively produce similar grain yield to that achieved when the recommended treatment was applied (100%). The results indicate that WUE increased as water stress increased and gradual increases in WUE were reported when water requirement reduced from 100% to 75% and 50%. Moreover, spraying wheat plants with proline at 200 mg/L under 50% water stress treatment doubled the ability of wheat plants to produce grain yield per irrigation water unit consumed.