Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bacterial motility and the bacterial flagellar motor.

Bacteria are exposed to a wide range of environments, some hostile, some benign. Because of their small size and simple structure, their ability to modify their environment is quite limited. The dominant strategy that has evolved, therefore, is selective motion toward environments that enhance the prospects for survival. This phenomenon, taxis, involves sensory reception, signal transduction, and modulation of the motor apparatus. There are a number of recent reviews of the overall process of taxis, and especially of chemotaxis (e.g. 12, 29, 54, 64, 67, 84, 107). In this review, the emphasis is on the motor apparatus, its mechanism of action, and its modulation. There are several distinct types of bacterial motility, but by far the most extensively studied is motility generated by external organelles called flagella. We sha1\ concentrate on f1age1\ar motility and discuss the other types briefly. The relationship between bacterial flagella and other mechanoenzymes such as eukaryotic cilia/flagella and muscle is also considered. Bacterial motility and the flagellar apparatus are examined from a variety of points of view: structure and assembly of the flagella (including the underlying genetics); hydrodynamics and mechanics of the external motion; energy conversion within the motor; and motor switching. Neither the review nor the literature citations are intended to be exhaustive. Frequently, more recent papers are cited, and the interested reader can use these to trace earlier contributions; this is especially true of the section on
Sensory attributes and marketing: an exploration of Italian organic producers’ perspective

The article explores experiences and expectations of organic producers regarding consumer-relevant information pertaining to the sensory properties of organic products. Individual interviews of ten prominent Italian organic producers were conducted and analysed, using both a qualitative and quantitative content analysis, and conceptual mapping. Results reveal that organic producers generally perform sensory analyses in a non-systematic and non-standardised way. However, despite high costs and lack of expertise associated with such tests, producers expressed the necessity to increase the use of these analyses on their products and to improve their reliability in order to better identify and meet the needs of consumers. The undesirable variation in sensory features of organic products during the shelf life was highlighted, and the need for training initiatives to improve consumer's sensory knowledge and awareness was also expressed. From these findings, suggestions for further future research are provided.
Single shunt current sensing technique in three-level PWM inverter

This paper describes how to reconstruct the three phase current using the only single shunt in a three-level Neutral-Point-Clamped (NPC) PWM inverter. The area where phase currents are measurable is analyzed and the reconstruction method is proposed in three-level PWM inverter. According to the characteristics of the immeasurable areas in voltage plane, the voltage injection method, which relocates the original voltage reference in the immeasurable area to that in a measurable area in the voltage plane, has been devised. For this relocation, the compensating voltage is added and subtracted to the voltage reference in a switching period. And a control algorithm to inject the compensating voltage is also proposed. The proposed reconstruction of the phase currents in the single shunt sensing inverter has been tested by the computer simulation at various reference voltages, being in or passing in the immeasurable area. The results show the satisfactory measurement of the phase currents in overall operating conditions.
Synchronous versus conjunctive binding: a false dichotomy?

A long-standing issue in connectionist research has concerned the manner in which the human brain contrives to bind values to variables, fillers to roles, and (sensory) features to features. This paper examines the comparative merits of two binding methods whose biological foundations have been empirically confirmed, namely, binding via synchronous firing and binding via conjunctive coding. Within the community of connectionist researchers, it is often asserted that synchronous binding is far more efficient, in terms of the number of neurons required, than conjunctive coding. Moreover, Singer (Neuron, 24, pp. 49–65, 1999) has argued that conjunctive coding is inadequate as a general method of binding, for several cognitively based reasons. This paper argues that the above-cited complaints against conjunctive binding are not decisive. It is further noted that synchronous firing is a surface phenomenon—one that requires an explanation in terms of underlying causes. A model is proposed herein that illustrates one way in which synchronous bindings could be engendered by a substratum that relies, ultimately, upon conjunctive binding nodes. It is demonstrated that such a substratum would require a feasibly small number of conjunctive neurons.
OBSTRUCTION OF THE ABDOMINAL AORTA ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE RENAL ARTERIES.

Obstruction of the abdominal aorta is an almost commonplace diagnosis today. Most of the cases reported in the literature occur in the lower aorta, particularly at the bifurcation (3). There have been many examples of aortic occlusion at the level of the renal arteries, but in most instances these were secondary to a “Leriche“ type of atherosclerotic aortic occlusion (8), or they were due to syphilis (5) or coarctation (7, 9). The occlusion to be reported in this presentation was situated in the abdominal aorta above the renal arteries. A careful review of the literature failed to reveal a counterpart or a radiologic study of any other suprarenal atherosclerotic occlusive lesion. Baylin (2) and Ross and Mc-Kusick (12) described two cases which have certain resemblances to ours, but apparently no radiographs were obtained since the findings were discovered only during the autopsy examination. Case History J. C. , a 45-year-old white male executive, was referred to Strong Memorial Hospital on Dec. 2, 1962, w.
Physical Characteristics of the Menstrual Cycle and Premenstrual Depressive Symptoms

Little is known about the associations between premenstrual depressive symptoms and specific physical symptoms of the menstrual cycle. In a nonclinical sample of 183 female university students, six physical symptoms of the menstrual cycle (headaches, skin changes, gastrointestinal problems, breast changes, and coagulation and heaviness of menstrual bleeding) were tested for their associations with premenstrual depressive symptoms. The physical symptoms explained nearly 30% of the variance in depressive symptoms. Moreover, when the summed score for all six physical symptoms was used as a predictor of depressive symptoms, a strong linear effect and a moderate curvilinear effect were observed. These results could not be explained by response bias or by the presence of a small group of highly depressed individuals. This study emphasizes the need to consider physical symptoms of the menstrual cycle to better understand premenstrual depressive symptoms, and suggests that the contribution of the menstrual cycle to depressive symptoms in the general population is underrecognized.
Economic development after tin mining: an analysis of strategic policy in economic sector development of Bangka Belitung through the dependency theory

This research describes about the strategic policy of Governor of Bangka Belitung Island Province, Erzaldi Rosman in developing economic sector after tin minning with dependencies theoritical analysis. The research also observe and the interpretation of the about how efforts Erzaldi Rosman use its strategic policy this as a purpose to rebuild foundation economic development Bangka Belitung Island without tin, how policy this strategic can be enjoyed directly and equitable for all people, and how policy this strategic can in line with the human resources development and environmental management. This research itself is conducted by using the method the qualitative study is descriptive with discuss strategic policy done by Ezaldi Rosman in an effort to release dependence economic Bangka Belitung of tin. This research result indicates that there are five strategic policy issued by local government, among other policies on the agricultural, tourism, infrastructure, empowerment small and medium enterprises, and the increase in human resources. Fifth strategic policy is in line with the concept of the theory dependencies said that model the development is maximize factors internal.
Shortest paths, single origin-destination network design, and associated polyhedra

We study a specialized version of network design problems that arise in telecommunications, transportation, and other industries. The problem, a generalization of the shortest path problem, is defined on an undirected network consisting of a set of arcs on which we can install (load), at a cost, a choice of up to three types of capacitated facilities. Our objective is to determine the configuration of facilities to load on each arc that will satisfy the demand of a single commodity at the lowest possible cost. Our results (i) demonstrate that the single-facility loading problem and certain “common break-even point” versions of the two-facility and three-facility loading problems are polynomially solvable as a shortest path problem; (ii) show that versions of the two-facility loading problem are strongly NP-hard, but that a shortest path solution provides an asymptotically “good” heuristic; and (iii) characterize the optimal solution (i.e., specify a linear programming formulation with integer solutions) of the common break-even point versions of the two-facility and three-facility loading problems. In this development, we introduce two new families of facets, give geometric interpretations of our results, and demonstrate the usefulness of partitioning the space of the problem parameters to establish polyhedral integrality properties. Generalizations of our results apply to (i) multicommodity applications and (ii) situations with more than three facilities. © 1993 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Implementing circular economy business models: a case study of a large Italian food multinational company

Circular Economy has recently become a hot topic for scholars and practitioners as it represents a new industrial paradigm that aims to overcome the traditional open systems of production and resources consumption. Whereas there is still a lot of attention to the formulation of policies that guide governments and policymakers to show and consolidate the benefits of this approach in the society, we still lack of consolidated managerial guidelines that support companies towards the implementation of this paradigm. Accordingly, within this field of research, several contributions started to analyse the managerial actions companies need to perform to establish a circular economy business model or, in other words, the managerial practices needed to the value network and customer value proposition & interface dimensions of a business model of a company. In particular, existing research started to examine the business model design choices related to these dimensions to shift towards circular economy business models. Starting from this premise, we want to propose in this paper a framework for circular economy business models, which figures out the main areas of intervention in companies’ business model and the managerial actions required in these areas to establish a circular economy business model. Therefore, we will test the framework on a suitable case of a large Italian multinational company operating in the food sector. In doing so, we aim to answer to the still unanswered question of “how” companies implement circular economy through the adoption of managerial practices in the value network and the customer value proposition and interface dimensions of their business model.
The impact of vitamin D supplement intake on vascular endothelial function; a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

ABSTRACT Aim: to systematically review and conduct a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials investigating the impact of vitamin D supplementation on endothelial function. Method: We searched PubMed-Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science and Google Scholar (until June 2016) to detect prospective studies evaluating the impact of vitamin D supplementation on endothelial function indexes. We used random effects models (using DerSimonian-Laird method) and generic inverse variance methods to synthesize quantitative data. We used the leave-one-out method for sensitivity analysis. To quantitatively assess the heterogeneity we used the I2 index. Systematic review registration: CRD42016039329. Results: From a total of 213 entries identified, 12 studies were appropriate for inclusion into the final analysis. The meta-analysis indicated a significant enhancement in flow-mediated dilation (FMD) following D supplementation (vitamin D intervention group versus control group 1.27 %, (95% CI 0.20 to 2.34, N = 11 arms, heterogeneity p = 0.054; I2 51.2 %). These findings were robust in sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: This meta-analysis suggested that vitamin D supplementation may improve endothelial function. Randomized control trials with a longer-term follow-up are warranted to clarify the existing controversies and shed light on the potential underlying mechanisms.
Collective Incentives and Cooperation in Teams with Imperfect Monitoring

We experimentally explore the role of collective incentives in sustaining cooperation in finitely repeated public goods games with imperfect monitoring. In our experiment players only observe noisy signals about individual contributions, while total output is perfectly observed. We consider sanctioning mechanisms that allow agents to commit to collective punishment in case total output fall short of a target. We find that cooperation is higher in the case of collective punishment compared to both the case of no punishment and the case of standard peer-to-peer punishment which conditions on the noisy signals. Further experiments indicate that both the commitment possibility and the collective nature of punishment matter for the positive effect of collective incentives on cooperation.
Measuring similarity of mobile phone user trajectories– a Spatio-temporal Edit Distance method

The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has provided rich data sources for analyzing, modeling, and interpreting human mobility patterns. This paper contributes to this research area by developing the Spatio-temporal Edit Distance measure, an extended algorithm to determine the similarity between user trajectories based on call detailed records (CDRs). We improve the traditional Edit Distance algorithm by incorporating both spatial and temporal information into the cost functions. The extended algorithm can preserve both space and time information from string-formatted CDR data. The novel method is applied to a large data set from Northeast China in order to test its effectiveness. Three types of analyses are presented for scenarios with and without the effect of time: (1) Edit Distance with spatial information; (2) Edit Distance with time as a factor in the cost function; and (3) Edit Distance with time as a constraint in partitioning trajectories. The outcomes of this research contribute to both methodological and empirical perspectives. The extended algorithm performs well for measuring low-resolution tracking information in CDRs, as well as facilitating the interpretation of user mobility patterns in the age of instant access.
Risk assessment of China’s Belt and Road Initiative’s sustainable investing: a data envelopment analysis approach

Abstract China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to promote greater development and connectivity between 64 Eurasian countries. To accomplish this, China must increase its investments in the countries involved as well. The BRI’s investments are expected to positively influence the development and connectivity of countries along the BRI, but a low return of investment cannot reflect investment risks. This study proposes the assessment of the BRI’s investments through the lens of sustainable investing risk. Sustainable investing is an investment discipline that considers environmental, social and governance (ESG) dimensions to generate long-term competitive financial returns and positive societal impact. A data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is used to calculate the composite indicators for each ESG dimension and country, and the average of the three indicators represents the sustainable investing risk score of each country. Results of the DEA reveal that Afghanistan has the lowest environmental rating (i.e. highest risk), Syria has the lowest social and governance ratings, Yemen has the lowest average rating, and Singapore has the highest rating. Moreover, no significant relationship is found between the BRI’s investment efforts and a country’s risk ratings, and an adequate risk ratio reflects the investments of the BRI.
Identification of 1-Adenine DNA Adducts in Workers Occupationally Exposed to Styrene

Styrene is an extensively used industrial chemical that has been classified as a possible human carcinogen. The possible carcinogenicity may be related to the covalent DNA binding properties of styrene 7,8-oxide, a major metabolite of styrene. We have developed a sensitive and a highly specific phosphorus-32–postlabeling method for the determination of 1-styrene 7,8-oxide-adenine DNA adducts. These adducts were analyzed in white blood cells from workers exposed to styrene at mean level of 76.2 mg/m3. Three of nine exposed workers showed adducts above the detection limit; the mean was 0.79 ± 0.14 1-styrene 7,8-oxide-adenine DNA adducts/109 nucleotides. None of the 11 control cells showed adducts above the detection limit, which was 0.4 adducts/109 nucleotides. The results show a potential of 1-adenine DNA adducts for predicting risks in the workers exposed to styrene.
Advances in the biophysical and molecular bases of radiation cytogenetics

Purpose: For more than 70 years radiation cytogenetics has continued to be a topic of major concern in relation to the action of radiation on living cells. To date, diverse cytogenetic findings have developed into orderly, quantitative interpretations and have stimulated numerous biophysical models. However, it is generally agreed that any one of the models used alone is still unable to explain all aspects of the observed chromosomal effects. In this review, a large number of radiation-induced chromosome aberration findings from the literature are reassessed with special attention given to the reaction kinetics and the relevant molecular processes. Conclusion: It is now clear that DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) are an integral component of radiation-induced chromosome aberration. At the nexus of the maintenance of genome integrity, cells are equipped with excellent systems to repair DSB, notably non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and homologous recombination repair (HRR). These repair mechanisms are strictly regulated along with the DNA turnover cycle. NHEJ functions in all phases of the cell cycle, whereas HRR has a supplementary role specifically in S/G2 phase, where homologous DNA sequences are available in close proximity. The repair pathways are further regulated by a complex nuclear dynamism, where DSB are sensed and large numbers of repair proteins are recruited and assembled to form a repair complex involving multiple DSB. Considering such DSB repair dynamism, radiation-induced chromosome aberrations could be well understood as DSB-DSB pairwise interactions associated with the NHEJ pathway in all phases of the cell cycle and misrepair of a single DSB associated with the complementary HRR pathway in late S/G2 phase.
Optimism, pessimism, and change of psychological well-being in cancer patients

Abstract Whereas most previous studies have assessed optimism/pessimism as a unidimensional construct, there is increasing awareness that optimism and pessimism may represent two partially independent dimensions. In this study, the role of optimism and pessimism for the maintenance of psychological well-being was assessed in 161 newly diagnosed cancer patients. Before the start of chemotherapy, more positive affect balance was associated with higher optimism and lower pessimism. Over the course of 9 months following diagnosis, pessimism predicted negative change in affect balance, whereas no effect of optimism appeared. Higher levels of perceived side-effects of chemotherapy were associated with negative change in affect balance. However, an interaction effect of perceived side-effects with pessimism indicated that this was only the case in patients with above-median levels of pessimism. The conclusion is drawn that it may be more important to be less pessimistic than to be optimistic when diagnosed with cancer.
Product Market Competition and Corporate Governance: Substitutes or Complements? Evidence from CEO Duality

This paper shows that firms in highly competitive industries can benefit from good corporate governance. I analyze the stock market reaction to CEO/chairman consolidation announcements, and find that the market reacts positively to these events if the announcing firm has strong governance within an industry of high product market competition. The benefit of CEO duality comes from efficiency gains by management, and is positively related to market competition. Only firms with strong governance can capture this benefit. Market reaction is negligible for firms with weak governance and for firms facing low levels of competition. Overall, my results suggest that product market competition and corporate governance are complements for firms desiring to gain managerial efficiency through granting its CEO additional power. My paper also provide evidence against potential one-size-fits-all policies aiming to mandate the separation of CEO and chairman roles.
Linear Precoding for Distributed Estimation of Correlated Sources in WSN MIMO System

We consider distributed estimation of a random vector signal in a power constraint wireless sensor network (WSN) that follows multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) coherent multiple access channel model. We design linear coding matrices based on linear minimum mean squared error (LMMSE) fusion rule that accommodates correlated sources. We obtain a closed-form solution that follows water-filling strategy. We also derive a lower bound distortion to this model. Simulation results show that when the sources are more correlated, the distortion in terms of mean squared error (MSE) degrades. By taking into account the effects of correlation, observation, and channel matrices, the proposed method performs better than equal power method.
A superpixel-based saliency model for robust autofocus in low contrast images

Due to low brightness, the performance of autofocus will serious decline in low contrast images, making it quite difficult to locate the focus region. To tackle this challenge in computer vision, we perform autofocus by conducting a salient object detection method. Based on the mechanism of human visual system, salient object is detected by calculating global saliencies in superpixels. First, the global differences between two superpixels are computed. Then, the resulting map is optimized by introducing an inter-superpixel similarity approach. The salient object can be well detected in low contrast images. Experiments executed on three public available datasets and a nighttime image dataset prove that our model outperforms the existing state-of-the-art saliency models and has a superior performance in autofocusing application.