Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Agent-based modeling: A revolution?

A clear consensus among the papers in this Colloquium is that agent-based modeling is a revolutionary development for social science. However, the reasons to expect this revolution lie more in the potential seen in this tool than through realized results. In order for the anticipated revolution to occur, a series of challenges must be met. This paper surveys the challenges suggested by the papers of this session.
European Competence Standards for the Academic Training of Career Practitioners

The citizens of Europe are facing increasingly complex challenges to their career development nowadays. Over the span of their lifetime, they need to manage their careers, and make numerous decisions concerning education, training and employment – decisions, which seriously impact their futures and their wellbeing. To prepare citizens for these challenges, and to support them in the progress, competent career practitioners are needed. But what kinds of career practitioners are we talking about? And what do they need to be able to do? How can the quality of their training be assured? This handbook introduces common European competence standards for the academic training of career practitioners in Europe, together with some proposals and examples, of how to implement and establish such competence standards in practice. More than 200 experts from all across Europe have contributed to the development of these shared standards of the Network for Innovation in Career Guidance and Counselling in Europe (NICE). The standards are already being used in many countries for the development of degree programmes.
ARE GENDER PERSPECTIVES INCLUDED IN EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND WASTE EDUCATION PROGRAMS? A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Education for sustainable consumption (ESC) has a role in the provision of knowledge, values, and skills to enable individuals and social groups to become actors of change towards more sustainable lifestyles. Also, it must consider the interests, needs, and perspective of critical stakeholders, empower them and enable their full participation in public debates about sustainability. Though unsustainable consumption is substantially shaped by gender-based inequalities, ESC itself tends to be gender-neutral. This study provides a systematic literature review of research on ESC, with a focus on waste education, and an assessment of the inclusion of gender perspectives in those publications. A structured tool Proknown-C was applied and 46 articles were retrieved and analyzed – 28 generally related to ESC and 18 to waste education in particular. The articles were published intermittently between 1990 and 2017, with case studies on 32 countries. From the aggregate number of articles, 22 addressed gender in some form, however, in its majority, it was limited to superficial mentions and to the presentation of the study subjects in a sex-disaggregated manner, with fewer exploring gender and its relationships with ESC and waste education. This study offers a contribution to the scholarly and practical debate on ESC and waste education programs, and the inclusion of gender perspectives, as well as, kindle in-depth research on the subjects. It also aims to provide points for better understanding the role of gender perspectives in promoting sustainable consumption practices and lifestyles.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Value: The Mediating Role of Investor Recognition

ABSTRACT The study is to examine the mediating effect of investor recognition on the relationship between CSR and firm value. Data on companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange between 2010 and 2013 were taken from Taiwan Economic Journal Data Bank (TEJ) and the CSR database developed by Chen and Hung (2013). Using partial least square analysis, we found that (i) significant positive effects between CSR and investor recognition, investor recognition and firm value, and finally CSR and firm value; (ii) when investor recognition is treated as a mediator, there is a mediating effect; and (iii) this mediating effect is a full mediation. The study helps to link CSR to firm value and reveals the crucial role of investor recognition as a mediator, thereby clarifying the indistinct relationship between CSR and firm value in existing literature.
Hyaluronic acid/Chitosan nanoparticles as delivery vehicles for VEGF and PDGF-BB

The development of a vascular network in tissue-engineered constructs is a fundamental bottleneck of bioregenerative medicine, particularly when the size of the implant exceeds a certain limit given by diffusion lengths and/or if the host tissue shows a very active metabolism. One of the approaches to achieve the vascularization of tissue constructs is generating a sustained release of proangiogenic factors from the ischemic site. This work describes the formation and characterization of hyaluronic acid-chitosan (HA/CS) nanoparticles for the delivery of two pro-angiogenic growth factors: vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and platelet derived growth factor (PDGF-BB). These nanoparticles were prepared by an ionic gelification technique, and different formulations were developed by encapsulating the growth factors in association with two stabilizing agents: bovine serum albumin or heparin sodium salt. These carriers were characterized with regard to their physicochemical properties, their stability in biological media, and their cytotoxicity in the C3a hepatoma cell line. The results show that nanoparticles around 200 nm can be prepared by this method. HA/CS nanoparticles were stable when incubated in EMEM cell culture medium or in water at 37°C for 24 h. Cell culture tests confirmed that HA/CS nanoparticles are not cytotoxic within the concentration range used for growth factor delivery. Moreover, HA/CS nanoparticles were able to entrap efficiently both growth factors, reaching association values of 94% and 54% for VEGF and PDGF, respectively. In vitro release studies confirm that PDGF-BB is released from HA/CS nanoparticles in a sustained manner over ∼ 1 week. On the other hand, VEGF is completely released within the first 24 h.
Direct Adaptive Neural Control for a Class of Uncertain Nonaffine Nonlinear Systems Based on Disturbance Observer

In this paper, the direct adaptive neural control is proposed for a class of uncertain nonaffine nonlinear systems with unknown nonsymmetric input saturation. Based on the implicit function theorem and mean value theorem, both state feedback and output feedback direct adaptive controls are developed using neural networks (NNs) and a disturbance observer. A compounded disturbance is defined to take into account of the effect of the unknown external disturbance, the unknown nonsymmetric input saturation, and the approximation error of NN. Then, a disturbance observer is developed to estimate the unknown compounded disturbance, and it is established that the estimate error converges to a compact set if appropriate observer design parameters are chosen. Both state feedback and output feedback direct adaptive controls can guarantee semiglobal uniform boundedness of the closed-loop system signals as rigorously proved by Lyapunov analysis. Numerical simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed direct adaptive neural control techniques.
Identification of Novel Inhibitors of UDP‐Galactopyranose Mutase by Structure‐Based Virtual Screening

UDP‐galactopyranose mutase (UGM) is a flavo‐enzyme involved in the bacterial cell wall biosynthesis. UGM catalyzes the reversible isomerization of UDP‐galactopyranose (UDP‐Galp) to UDP‐galactofuranose (UDP‐Galf). UDP‐Galf is the activated precursor of galactofuranose (Galf) residues that are essential components of the cell wall of certain pathogenic bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumoniae and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Neither UGM nor Galf residues are found in humans, making Galf biosynthesis a potential drug target for developing antibacterial agents. We report the identification of novel inhibitors of UGM by in silico docking of the LeadQuest compound database against UGM from Escherichia coli. The 13 most promising inhibitors were then evaluated against K. pneumonia and M. tuberculosis UGMs by enzyme inhibition studies. Two inhibitors were identified with IC50 values of ∼1 µM and subsequently these compounds were docked into the recently solved X‐ray structure of Deinococcus radiodurans UGM. The structure‐activity relationships of the initial 13 compounds evaluated as inhibitors are discussed.
Device-to-device communication underlaying cellular networks with the leakage rate constraint

In this paper, we propose a novel resource sharing strategy to improve the overall system throughput of a device-to-device (D2D) communication system underlaying a cellular network. Aiming to optimize the overall system throughput, the constraint of the leakage data from the cellular user is illustrated, considering the D2D receiver as a malicious partner sharing the spectrum with it. The optimality is also discussed under the requirement of the quality of service (QoS) of the cellular user (CU). In particular, for a given D2D receiver, we propose an admission region of the D2D transmitter, where the leakage rate to the D2D receiver should be minimized and the QoS of the CU can also be satisfied. It does not allow the resource sharing between the cellular link and the D2D link if the D2D transmitter fails to belong to the admission region. Furthermore, an optimal power control algorithm and the D2D pair selection policy are developed to maximize the overall system throughput. Numerical results are given to show that the proposed scheme can improve the system performance effectively.
Upper endoscopy as a screening and surveillance tool in esophageal adenocarcinoma: a review of the evidence

Esophageal adenocarcinoma is a rare cancer that is increasing rapidly in incidence. Because gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a risk factor for the development of this cancer, endoscopic screening of individuals with GERD symptoms and endoscopic surveillance of those who are found to have Barrett's esophagus (BE), the presumed precursor to adenocarcinoma, have been proposed. Although no direct data support endoscopic screening or surveillance, several lines of indirect evidence are available. We apply a set of criteria for the evaluation of screening programs to endoscopic screening of subjects with reflux and endoscopic surveillance of subjects with BE. A critical examination of the data supporting these practices shows that considerable gaps exist in our knowledge regarding endoscopy as a screening test in GERD, making us unable to support this practice based on current evidence. Although no controlled trials exist to substantiate the effectiveness of surveillance programs for subjects with BE, some stronger indirect evidence does support this practice. However, further studies are necessary to substantiate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of endoscopic surveillance in BE. Based on the currently available data, consideration should be given to expanding the intervals between endoscopic surveillance sessions.
Security analysis of Samsung Knox

A Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) has become popular in the mobile industry. Hardware-based security will be employed by default for every mobile device within a few years. In this paper, we explore several potential security issues of the Samsung Knox platform that is one of the advanced hardware based mobile security platforms for Android devices. We describe several attack scenarios to show how the Knox platform can be compromised. We particularly performed experiments for Man in the Middle Attacks with an untrusted certificate. To mitigate such security risks, we also recommend several countermeasures based on fundamental security principles. For example, security-sensitive resources in Knox should be strictly isolated from processes in an insecure operating system.
Cognitive functioning in healthy aging: the role of reserve and lifestyle factors early in life.

PURPOSE According to the reserve perspective on cognitive aging, individuals are born with or can develop resources that help them resist normal and disease-related cognitive changes that occur in aging. The reserve perspective is becoming more sophisticated, but gaps in knowledge persist. In the present research, we considered three understudied questions about reserve: Is reserve primarily static (unchangeable) throughout the life course or dynamic (changeable, in terms of increases or decreases)? Can reserve be increased at any point in life, or are there optimal time periods--such as early life, midlife, or late life--to increase it? Does participation in different types of leisure and occupational activities in early life and midlife have different effects depending on specific domains of late-life cognitive functioning? Here we link early cognitive and activity data--gathered from archival sources--with cognitive data from older adults to examine these issues. DESIGN AND METHODS 349 participants, all mid-1940s graduates of the same high school, underwent telephone cognitive screening. All participants provided access to adolescent IQ scores; we determined activity levels from yearbooks. We used path analysis to evaluate the complex relationships between early life, midlife, and late-life variables. RESULTS Adolescent IQ had strong direct effects on global cognitive functioning, episodic memory, verbal fluency, and processing speed. Participants' high school mental activities had direct effects on verbal fluency, but physical and social activities did not predict any cognitive measure. Education had direct effects on global cognitive functioning, episodic memory, and, most strongly, processing speed, but other midlife factors (notably, occupational demands) were not significant predictors of late-life cognition. There were weak indirect effects of adolescent IQ on global cognitive functioning, episodic memory, and processing speed, working through high school mental activities and education. Verbal fluency, in contrast, was affected by adolescent IQ through links with high school mental activities, but not education. IMPLICATIONS Our study suggests that reserve is dynamic, but it is most amenable to change in early life. We conclude that an active, engaged lifestyle, emphasizing mental activity and educational pursuits in early life, can have a positive impact on cognitive functioning in late life.
Exploratory innovation, exploitative innovation and employee creativity: The moderation of collectivism in Chinese context

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between exploratory/exploitative innovation and employee creativity in the Chinese context and how these two relationships can be moderated by an important cultural dimension – collectivism. ,A theoretical framework was developed to explore the relationships between exploratory/exploitative innovation, employee creativity and collectivism. Data were collected by sending out surveys to managers and employees in various industries in mainland China. Hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regressions. ,The results show that both exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation are positively related to employee creativity. Furthermore, collectivism negatively moderates the effects of both types of innovation on employee creativity, despite its positive main effect. ,This study explores the relationship between organizational innovation and individual employee creativity in the Chinese context. This paper empirically analyzes the moderating effect of collectivism in the relationship between organizational innovation and employee creativity. It also indicates the factors inherent in Chinese culture that influence innovation and gives explanations from education, subordinate relation, etc.
CD25 Is Expressed by Canine Cutaneous Mast Cell Tumors but not by Cutaneous Connective Tissue Mast Cells

Canine cutaneous mast cell tumors (MCT) of different histological grades have distinct biological behaviors. However, little is known about underlying molecular mechanisms that lead to tumor development and increasing malignancy with higher tumor grade. Recent studies have identified the interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) subunits CD25 and CD2 as markers that distinguish nonneoplastic from neoplastic mast cells in human systemic mastocytosis. In this study, their potential as a marker for canine MCT and their possible impact on MCT carcinogenesis were evaluated. mRNA expression levels of both genes were compared between grade 1 (n = 12) and grade 3 (n = 8) MCT, and protein expression levels of CD25 were compared in 90 MCT of different tumor grades. mRNA expression levels of both CD25 and CD2 were upregulated in grade 3 MCT. In contrast, CD25 protein was expressed by fewer tumor cells and at decreased levels in grade 3 tumors, while most grade 1 MCT had strong CD25 protein expression. Moreover, CD25 was not expressed by nonneoplastic, resting cutaneous mast cells, while few presumably activated mast cells in tissue samples from dogs with allergic dermatitis had weak CD25 expression. Taken together, these findings suggest that CD25 may play a critical role in early MCT development and may be a stimulatory factor in grade 1 MCT, while grade 3 MCT seem to be less dependent on CD25. Because of the low number of CD25-positive tumor cells in high-grade tumors, the usefulness of CD25 as a tumor marker is, however, questionable.
Routing protocols for mesh networks with mobility support

We study traffic routing in wireless mesh networks, where most of the nodes are fixed and few of them are mobile. We assume real-time multimedia stream communications between a fixed server and mobile nodes. In particular, through simulation we investigate the performance of the BATMAN protocol and compare it against that of some of the most representative schemes for routing in ad hoc and mesh networks. We find that BATMAN performs well for uplink traffic transfers (from the mobile to the fixed server), but yields poor results in presence of downlink traffic. We therefore analyze the protocol behavior and solve its shortcomings by proposing a modified version of the scheme named smart window (sw-) BATMAN. Our results show that sw-BATMAN outperforms the other schemes in many scenarios of practical interest, thus emerging as a good candidate for routing in wireless mesh networks with mobility support.
Lazarus ecology: Recovering the distribution and migratory patterns of the extinct Carolina parakeet

Abstract The study of the ecology and natural history of species has traditionally ceased when a species goes extinct, despite the benefit to current and future generations of potential findings. We used the extinct Carolina parakeet as a case study to develop a framework investigating the distributional limits, subspecific variation, and migratory habits of this species as a means to recover important information about recently extinct species. We united historical accounts with museum collections to develop an exhaustive, comprehensive database of every known occurrence of this once iconic species. With these data, we combined species distribution models and ordinal niche comparisons to confront multiple conjectured hypotheses about the parakeet's ecology with empirical data on where and when this species occurred. Our results demonstrate that the Carolina parakeet's range was likely much smaller than previously believed, that the eastern and western subspecies occupied different climatic niches with broad geographical separation, and that the western subspecies was likely a seasonal migrant while the eastern subspecies was not. This study highlights the novelty and importance of collecting occurrence data from published observations on extinct species, providing a starting point for future investigations of the factors that drove the Carolina parakeet to extinction. Moreover, the recovery of lost autecological knowledge could benefit the conservation of other parrot species currently in decline and would be crucial to the success of potential de‐extinction efforts for the Carolina parakeet.
Multilateral Trade Liberalization and Economic Growth

Over the last years, the world has experienced a backlash against trade. It could translate into a strong appeal to trade protectionism, lowering multilateral cooperation and delaying further trade liberalization at both domestic and international level. Against this background, this paper assesses the impact of multilateral trade liberalization on the economic growth rate by using an unbalanced panel dataset comprising 150 countries over the period 1995~2015.Results suggest a strong positive impact of multilateral trade liberalization on economic growth in both entire sample and sub-samples alike.
Evaluation of the in vitro differential protein adsorption patterns of didanosine-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) for potential targeting to the brain

The preferential in vitro adsorption of apolipoprotein E (Apo E) onto the surface of colloidal drug carriers may be used as a strategy to evaluate the in vivo potential for such systems to transport drugs to the brain. The aim of this research was to investigate the in vitro protein adsorption patterns of didanosine-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (DDI-NLCs), using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE), in order to establish the potential for NLCs to deliver DDI to the brain. NLC formulations were manufactured using high-pressure homogenization using a lipid matrix consisting of a mixture of Precirol® ATO 5 and Transcutol® HP. The 2-D PAGE analysis revealed that NLCs in formulations stabilized using Solutol® HS 15 alone or with a ternary surfactant system consisting of Solutol® HS 15, Tween® 80, and Lutrol® F68, preferentially adsorbed proteins, such as Apo E. Particles stabilized with Tween® 80 and Lutrol® F68 did not adsorb Apo E in these studies, which could be related to the relatively large particle size and hence small surface area observed for these NLCs. These findings have revealed that DDI-loaded NLCs may have the potential to deliver DDI to the brain in vivo and, in addition, to Tween® 80, which has already been shown to have the ability to facilitate the targeting of colloidal drug delivery systems to the brain. Solutol® HS 15–stabilized nanoparticles may also achieve a similar purpose.
Silicon Micromachined Canonical  ${\hbox{E}}$-Plane and  ${\hbox{H}}$-Plane Bandpass Filters at the Terahertz Band

In this letter, several bandpass filters operating in the WR-1.5 band (500 to 750 GHz) are presented. The deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) silicon micromachining process is used for the fabrication of the filters. Two canonical filter topologies based on E- and H-plane are implemented. The work presented here has two specific objectives: a) to get important fabrication process parameters, such as tolerances, vertical angles, surface roughness, and repeatability and b) to validate the proper working of the waveguide filters in the terahertz band. These filters do not have any tuning element. Experimental results show better than 10 dB return loss and approximately 1 and 2.5 dB insertion loss (for 6% fractional bandwidth) for the E- and H-plane topology, respectively. The obtained results are in agreement with fabrication tolerances of 2 μm and vertical angles deviations up to 3°.