Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Crocetin from Saffron: An Active Component of an Ancient Spice

The known properties of saffron (Crocus sativus, L.) and its components have been examined. Recently, hormone like effects in green algae and the anti-cancerogenic and anti-toxic effects, have been observed. In particular, the effects of crocetin, a carotenoids (8,8′-diapo-8,8′-carotenoic acid) present in saffron and characterized by a diterpenic and symmetrical structure with seven double bonds and four methyl groups, have been taken into consideration. It has been found that this compound enhances the oxygen diffusivity through liquids, such as plasma. As a consequence of this property, it has been observed that crocetin increases alveolar oxygen transport and enhances pulmonary oxygenation. It improves cerebral oxygenation in hemorrhaged rats and positively acts in the atherosclerosis and arthritis treatment. It inhibits skin tumor promotion in mice (i.e., with benzo(a)pyrene); it has an inhibitory effect on intracellular nucleic acid and protein synthesis in malignant cells, as well as on protein-kinase-C and prorooncogene in INNIH/3T3 cells. This is most likely due to its anti-oxidant activity. Furthermore, crocetin protects against oxidative damage in rat primary hepatocytes. It also suppresses aflatoxin B1-induced hepatotoxic lesions and has a modulatory effect on aflatoxin, B1 cytotoxicity, and DNA adduct formation on C3H10/T1/2 fibroblast cells. It also has a protective effect on the bladder toxicity, induced by cyclophosphamide. The experiments reported in the scientific literature and the interesting results obtained have been carried out in vitro or on laboratory animals, but not yet on man.
A Laboratory Assessment of the Choice of Vessel Size Under Individual Transferable Quota Regimes

type="main" xml:id="ajar12064-abs-0001"> This paper examines the effect of individual transferable quota regimes on technology choice, such as choice of vessel size, by using the laboratory experiment method. We find that even if vessel sizes change over time, the quota price can converge to the fundamental value conditioned on the vessels chosen. We also find that subjects choose their vessel type to maximise their profits based on the quota trading prices in the previous period. This result implies that the efficiency of quota markets in the beginning period is important because any inefficiency in quota markets may affect vessel sizes in ensuing periods. Moreover, we find that the initial allocations may significantly influence vessel sizes through two channels: first, a higher initial allocation to a subject increases the likelihood that the subject invests in a large-sized vessel; second, the quota price may be higher and more unstable under unequal allocation than under equal allocation; thus, whether the allocation is equal influences subjects' choice of vessel type.
The EU Constitution and Positions on Governance

This paper examines whether the left-right cleavage, structuring preferences at the national level, has also been influential regarding the process of Constitution-building at the European Union (EU) Convention (2002-2003). Our approach on constitutionalism presumes that cleavage theory is well equipped to explain differences between parties, but it is not able to explain the process with which parties arrive at a consensus. Our modified cleavage approach of constitutionalism explains these findings by uncertainty about probability distributions, "epistemic consensus" and the characteristics of the European institutional context. Our data analysis confirms the assumption that the left-right cleavage was not dominant in the Constitution-building process, but it illustrates that the division into party families had a strong impact on the process of coalition-formation. At least half of all documents submitted to the Convention were set up together with at least one member of the same party family and/or with a member of a nearby party family. Our analysis also shows that the process of consensus-building was facilitated by the fact that many extremist and new parties, challenging the existing structures, were excluded from the deliberation processes.
A dual approach to IS strategy: two cases illustrating a dynamic, interaction-driven approach to IS strategy

This paper discusses IS strategising and how the combination of the planning and the incremental approaches can enable successful IS strategising. IS strategising is conceptualised as a dual organisational process in which the network and the hierarchy positively coexist through group-learning processes. The findings from two case studies illustrate the theoretical framework. An analysis of 28 interviews reveal the complexity of IS strategising and show that IS strategising is best understood as a dual dynamic-interactive processing which the choice of strategic approach is not a dichotomy but more of a both/and decision. The overall conclusion is that IS strategy, because of increased uncertainty and environmental complexity, must encourage interaction between key stakeholders who implement and use the IS technology. The dual organisation and the experience-based group-learning processes help organise the process of IS strategising so that improvisational and dynamic competencies can emerge.
PhUSE 2011 1 SP 06 Embedding equivalence t-test results in Bland Altman Plots visualising rater reliability

ABSTRACT In determining rater (instrument) reliability many techniques are available. A main discrimination between methods is made by the level of measurement (binary, categorical, continuous). Most techniques, such as the Mean Absolute Difference (MAD) or the Intraclass Correlation Analysis (ICC), apply to continuous data. Two other analysis methods are equivalence t-tests (quantitatively determining significance of equivalence) and Bland Altman Plots (qualitatively judging the scatter in the plot). Here the integration of both methods is proposed and discussed. T-test results, especially the (in)significance of equivalence are visualised in the Bland Altman Plots and can be interpreted clearly, next to the qualitative judgement of the scatter in the Bland Altman Plot. This extends the value and usefulness of the Bland Altman Plotting technique.
Preparation, Characterization and Application of Polysaccharide-Based Metallic Nanoparticles: A Review

Polysaccharides are natural biopolymers that have been recognized to be the most promising hosts for the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) because of their outstanding biocompatible and biodegradable properties. Polysaccharides are diverse in size and molecular chains, making them suitable for the reduction and stabilization of MNPs. Considerable research has been directed toward investigating polysaccharide-based metallic nanoparticles (PMNPs) through host–guest strategy. In this review, approaches of preparation, including top-down and bottom-up approaches, are presented and compared. Different characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, UV-visible spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and small-angle X-ray scattering are discussed in detail. Besides, the applications of PMNPs in the field of wound healing, targeted delivery, biosensing, catalysis and agents with antimicrobial, antiviral and anticancer capabilities are specifically highlighted. The controversial toxicological effects of PMNPs are also discussed. This review can provide significant insights into the utilization of polysaccharides as the hosts to synthesize MPNs and facilitate their further development in synthesis approaches, characterization techniques as well as potential applications.
How to profit from program trading

T he purpose of this paper is to provide em40 r 3 pirical evidence on the frequency and potential returns from program trading. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to provide empirical evidence on the potential return of aggressive program trading. When stock index futures and options were first introduced in the early 1980s, investors downplayed the impact that the trading of index futures and options would have on the underlying cash or stock market. More recently, however, as the stock market has experienced unusually volatile swings in prices especially around the “triple witching hour,” the financial media have often blamed computer-generated program trading, rather than attributing the stock market move to the fundamental factors that influence the market. ’ The most common form of program trading involves taking a position in a stock index futures contract and simultaneously taking an opposite position in a basket of stocks that replicates the underlying index of the futures contract. Speculators watch the spread between the index and its futures contract, with the hope of index arbitrage trading as soon as the spread reveals an arbitrage opportunity. A profit is guaranteed any time the futures prices deviate from the stock prices by more than the “cost of carry” (in its simplest form, the cost of short-term money less dividends received during the holding period). The financial and popular press have reported with increasing frequency on such program trading and its destabilizing influence on the stock market. ’ P
Savings Vehicles and the Taxation of Individual Investors

This article is the first in a series of four, dedicated to the study of the broad issue of asset allocation. It is divided into two distinct sections. First the author introduces the overall study, discusses its general purpose and methodology, and reviews his overall broad conclusions. Second, he presents “Savings Vehicles,” a stand-alone article that focuses specifically on the issue of savings vehicles, asking how one should select a vehicle for the retirement portion of a household's savings. The article first describes features of the five major savings vehicles in the U.S.: a personal or taxable account, a nondeductible pension, and a Roth IRA. It then presents the after-tax ending-wealth model for each vehicle and compares and contrasts the ending-wealth models.
Hierarchical CSI-fingerprints Classification for Passive Multi-person Localization

Indoor human target localization is an important enabling technology for many intelligent applications. The attractive advantage of passive localization algorithm is that it can estimate target location without needs of carrying electronic devices by human target. Due to complex signal radiation in indoor environment, most localization algorithm adopt fingerprints approach for indoor passive localization. Fingerprints can achieve good performance in one person indoor passive localization. However, when there are more than two people in target area, the system performance may degrade due to high complex of the matching task. In this paper, a hierarchical CSI-fingerprints classification system is proposed for passive indoor multi-people localization. In training phase of coarse classification, fingerprints with similar CSI are first grouped into coarse classes. Then, a coarse classifier is trained for coarse fingerprints matching. Fingerprints belonging to the same coarse class are then feed into fine classifier for fine fingerprints matching. Experimental results reveal that the proposed approach can achieve acceptable accuracy in 37 configurations including 0 to 2 people. Furthermore, CSI grouping shows that the similarity of CSI depends on LOS and number of people.
Strategic Tax Planning for State Tax Amnesties

Tax amnesty programs have exploded in popularity among cash-strapped states since the beginning of the Great Recession. Though many scholars have been interested in the long-term tax compliance effects after amnesty programs, this article is the first to consider short-run compliance effects just prior to a known amnesty—a moral hazard effect leading to strategic delinquencies. Evidence of this is detected from year-over-year tax revenue change in quarters just prior to an amnesty program. Regression analysis on pre-amnesty periods for state tax amnesty programs between 1982 and 2011 indicates that states experience higher pre-amnesty revenues when recent delinquents are excluded from amnesty participation. The point estimates from ordinary least squares (OLS) indicated that about 4.3 to 6.4 percent of an average amnesty’s recovery came from strategically delayed payments, whereas IV/2SLS put the range at 12.9 to 16.5 percent.
Novel Architecture for supporting medical decision making of different data types based on Fuzzy Cognitive Map Framework

Medical problems involve different types of variables and data, which have to be processed, analyzed and synthesized in order to reach a decision and/or conclude to a diagnosis. Usually, information and data set are both symbolic and numeric but most of the well-known data analysis methods deal with only one kind of data. Even when fuzzy approaches are considered, which are not depended on the scales of variables, usually only numeric data is considered. The medical decision support methods usually are accessed in only one type of available data. Thus, sophisticated methods have been proposed such as integrated hybrid learning approaches to process symbolic and numeric data for the decision support tasks. Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCM) is an efficient modelling method, which is based on human knowledge and experience and it can handle with uncertainty and it is constructed by extracted knowledge in the form of fuzzy rules. The FCM model can be enhanced if a fuzzy rule base (IF-THEN rules) is available. This rule base could be derived by a number of machine learning and knowledge extraction methods. Here it is introduced a hybrid attempt to handle situations with different types of available medical and /or clinical data and with difficulty to handle them for decision support tasks using soft computing techniques.
PTPmesh: Data Center Network Latency Measurements Using PTP

Many data center applications are latency-sensitive. Monitoring continuously the network latency and reacting to congestion on a network path is important to ensure that the applications performance does not suffer penalties. We show how to use the Precision Time Protocol (PTP) to infer network latency and packet loss in data centers, and we conduct network latency and packet loss measurements in data centers from different cloud providers, using PTPd, an open-source softwareimplementation of PTP.
An Empirical Analysis of Common Stock Delistings

Abstract This paper presents an empirical analysis of firms that are delisted from a major stock exchange. The delisting process is described and stock price movements surrounding delisting are analyzed. For firms with prior announcements, equity values decline by approximately 8.5 percent on announcement day. For firms without prior announcements, a similar adjustment takes place between the last day of trading in the initial market and the close of the first day of trading in the new market. Four hypotheses concerning the decline in firm value are examined. These are the liquidity hypothesis, the management signalling hypothesis, the exchange certification hypothesis, and the downward sloping demand curve hypothesis. Evidence consistent with the liquidity hypothesis is presented in the paper. Unlike evidence on stock exchange listings, returns in the post-delisting period do not appear to be anomalous.
Psychological morbidity in patients with chest pain and normal or near-normal coronary arteries: a long-term follow-up study

Synopsis Forty-six patients with chest pain but normal or near-normal coronary arteries were assessed using standardized interviews and rating scales at the time of angiography, after 1 year, and again 11·4 years later. Psychological morbidity was substantial and enduring: 61% of patients were designated as psychiatric cases at angiography and 49% at 11·4 years. Both at the time of angiography, and 1 year later, levels of morbidity were significantly greater than in a control group of 53 patients with coronary artery disease. Anxiety disorders were common at all three interviews, with panic disorder (15% of patients) the most common current diagnosis at final follow-up. Current somatoform disorders were diagnosed in 9 patients (22%), and 11 (27 %) reported previous episodes of major depression. Psychological morbidity was associated with continuing chest pain, which was reported in 74% of patients, and with ongoing functional incapacity. These findings suggest that, in a sub-group of these patients, psychological factors contribute in part to the development of chest pain and other physical symptoms, and are also important in maintaining the disorder over long periods. Further research is now required to identify more fully the nature of these psychological factors, and how they interact with cardiac and non-cardiac physical pathology. There is also an urgent need to examine the clinical and economic benefits of specific psychological interventions.
In vitro Study of Hemodynamic Treatment Improvement: Hunterian Ligation of a Fenestrated Basilar Artery Aneurysm after Coiling

Hunterian ligation affecting hemodynamics in vessels was proposed to avoid rebleeding in a case of a fenestrated basilar artery aneurysm after incomplete coil occlusion. We studied the hemodynamics in vitro to predict the hemodynamic changes near the aneurysm remnant caused by Hunterian ligation. A transparent model was fabricated based on three-dimensional rotational angiography imaging. Arteries were segmented and reconstructed. Pulsatile flow in the artery segments near the partially occluded (coiled) aneurysm was investigated by means of particle image velocimetry. The hemodynamic situation was investigated before and after Hunterian ligation of either the left or the right vertebral artery (LVA/RVA). Since post-ligation flow rate in the basilar artery was unknown, reduced and retained flow rates were simulated for both ligation options. Flow in the RVA and in the corresponding fenestra vessel is characterized by a vortex at the vertebrobasilar junction, whereas the LVA exhibits undisturbed laminar flow. Both options (RVA or LVA ligation) cause a significant flow reduction near the aneurysm remnant with a retained flow rate. The impact of RVA ligation is, however, significantly higher. This in vitro case study shows that flow reduction near the aneurysm remnant can be achieved by Hunterian ligation and that this effect depends largely on the selection of the ligated vessel. Thus the ability of the proposed in vitro pipe-line to improve hemodynamic impact of the proposed therapy was successfully proved.
National Political Community and the Politics of Income Taxation in Brazil and South Africa in the Twentieth Century

Why was the South African state so much more successful than the Brazilian state in its attempts to collect income taxes during the twentieth century? Nationally distinctive tax policies and patterns of administration can be explained by examining the impact of contrasting definitions of National Political Community, specified in critical constitutions written around the turn of the century. The ways in which racial and spatial cleavages were addressed in the 1891 Brazilian constitution and the 1909 South Africa Act influenced the development of interclass and intraclass relations, which in turn affected the willingness of upper-income groups to accept state demands for income tax payments. Varied patterns of state development were largely predicated on contested notions of “us” and “them. ”
The role of meaning in life: mediating the effects of perceived knowledge of stroke on depression and life satisfaction among stroke survivors

Objective: Meaning-making is a way of coping when facing adverse events. A paucity of literature suggests other possible factors (e.g. delivery of knowledge) can influence how chronic illness survivors (i.e. stroke survivors in rehabilitation) cope with illness. This article explores the importance and significance of meaning in life as a mediator between perceived stroke knowledge and psychological wellbeing among stroke survivors and how such processes can be applied in practice to promote their psychological wellbeing. Methods: A sample of N = 192 elderly aged 60 or above who experienced a recent stroke completed a survey to assess their levels of cognitive ability, physical function, perceived knowledge of stroke, meaning in life, life satisfaction, and depression. Correlation and mediation analyses using the Sobel test were conducted to clarify the role of meaning in life among stroke survivors. Results: Both perceived knowledge of stroke (r = 0.35, P < 0.001) and meaning in life had positive correlations with life satisfaction (r = 0.37, P < 0.001) and a negative correlation with depression. Analyses revealed that meaning in life is a significant mediator between perceived knowledge of stroke and depression (z = −3.71, P < 0.001) and between perceived knowledge of stroke and life satisfaction (z = 3.97, P < 0.001) in two separate models. Conclusion: The role of meaning in life is clear and can affect the dynamics between knowledge of stroke and one’s psychological wellbeing.
Performance measurement and management systems: state of the art, guidelines for design and challenges

Purpose – Recently, performance measurement and management (PMM) has received increasing attention from both the academic and industrial environments. Companies that try to use PMM systems report experiencing implementation problems including goal incongruence. Based on a discussion of the state of the art of PMM, this paper aims to provide research guidelines for building a PMM system through a reference framework, and to identify major design challenges.Design/methodology/approach – At a macro level, the evolution of research is analyzed using citation and co‐citation analysis techniques. Further, the evolution of PMM systems in the last 20 years is traced. The feasibility and applicability of these frameworks/models are analyzed by considering five milestones that a performance measurement system should have. Based on this, an integrated framework is proposed as a basis for designing a cohesive PMM system.Findings – The research on the subject is quite diverse. In fact, the research appears to be quite.
Comorbid pain and migraine chronicity

Objective: To identify patterns of noncephalic pain comorbidity in people with episodic migraine (EM; <15 headache-days per month) and chronic migraine (CM; ≥15 headache-days per month) and to examine whether the presence of noncephalic pain is an indicator for the 3-month onset or persistence of CM. Methods: Data from the Chronic Migraine Epidemiology and Outcomes (CaMEO) Study, a prospective, web-based study with cross-sectional modules embedded in a longitudinal design, were analyzed at baseline and the 3-month follow-up. Relationships between the number of noncephalic pain sites and 3-month onset of CM or persistent CM were assessed. Results: Of 8,908 eligible respondents, 8,139 (91.4%) had EM and 769 (8.6%) had CM at baseline. At 3 months, the incidence of CM among those with baseline EM was 3.4%. When adjusted for demographics and headache-day frequency, the odds of CM onset among those with baseline EM increased by 30% (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21–1.40, p < 0.001) for each additional noncephalic pain site at baseline. Among those with CM at baseline, 50.1% had persistent CM at the 3-month follow-up. After adjustment for demographics, individuals with CM were 15% (95% CI 1.07–1.25, p < 0.001) more likely to have persistent CM for each additional noncephalic pain site at baseline. Conclusions: These results suggest that noncephalic pain may be a marker for headache chronicity that could be used to identify people with EM at risk of the onset of CM and people with CM at risk of persistent CM.