Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bidding Wars Over R&D Intensive Firms: Knowledge, Opportunism and the Market for Corporate Control

There are number of competing (and complementary) theories of the firm seeking to explain the scope and boundaries of organizations. Two prominent competitors are the knowledge-based theory of the firm (KBTF) and transaction cost economics (TCE). These differ in that the KBTF seeks to explain the scope and existence of firms independent of opportunism, the driving force behind transaction cost economics (TCE). The KBTF implies that, as knowledge intensity increases, organizational boundary decisions are increasingly driven by knowledge management concerns, rather than by opportunism. For example, there may be a need to co-locate functions to facilitate knowledge transfer or communication. If this is true, then as R&D-intensity increases, the KBTF should gain explanatory power over TCE. In contrast, the results of this study suggest that problems of opportunism may increase with R&D intensity. That is, as R&D intensity went up, managers actively discouraged bidding wars (e.g., by granting lockup agreements). Managers may even be able to buy the firm themselves at a discount since rivals are unlikely to emerge. This is generally thought to run counter to shareholder interests and thus represents a problem of opportunism that is best addressed with a TCE or agency theoretic approach. As such, TCE seems to gain explanatory power as knowledge intensity grows. Implications for further research are suggested.
Real-time beard detection by combining image decolorization and texture detection with applications to facial gender recognition

There are still many challenging problems in facial gender recognition which is mainly due to the complex variances of face appearance. Although there has been tremendous research effort to develop robust gender recognition over the past decade, none has explicitly exploited the domain knowledge about the appearance difference between male and female. Beard/mustache contributes substantially to the facial appearance difference between male and female and could be a good feature to be incorporated into facial gender recognition. Little work on beard segmentation has been reported in the literature. In this paper, a novel real-time beard/mustache detection method is proposed which combines face feature extraction, image decolorization and texture detection. Image decolorization, which converts a color image to grayscale, aims to enhance the color contrast while preserving the grayscale. On the other hand, beard appearance is normally grayscale surrounded by the skin color face tissue. Hence, it is a fast and efficient way to segment the beard by using the decolorization technology. In order to make the algorithm robust to the variances of illumination and head pose, an adaptive decolonization segmentation has been proposed in which both the segmentation threshold selection and the beard region following are guided by some special regions defined by their geometric relationship with the salient facial feature. Furthermore, a texture-based beard classifier is developed to compensate the decolonization-based segmentation which could detect the darker skin or shadow around the mouth caused by the small lines or skin thicker from where he/she smiles as beard. Only the face is verified as the face contains beard/mustache when it satisfies: 1) a larger beard region can be found by applying the decolonization segmentation; 2) the segmented beard region is detected as beard by the texture beard detector. The experimental results on color FERET database have shown that the proposed approach can achieve 89% bearded face detection rate with 0.1% false acceptance rate.
Measurement equivalence in replications of experiments: when and why it matters and guidance on how to determine equivalence

ABSTRACT Replications of experiments are typically conducted to verify initial findings, increase their external validity, or to study the boundary conditions of treatment effects. A crucial and implicitly made assumption is that outcome measures in experiments are sufficiently comparable (i.e., equivalent) across experimental settings. We argue that there are good reasons to believe that this equivalence assumption may not always be met and should therefore be tested empirically. Integrating the literature on experimental replication and survey measurement equivalence, we provide guidance when and how experimental replicators need to determine cross-replication equivalence.
Analysis of factors influencing the overall effect of racecadotril on childhood acute diarrhea. Results from a real-world and post-authorization surveillance study in Venezuela

Drug efficacy might differ from clinical trial results when performed in clinical daily conditions. Therefore, it is mandatory to conduct trials about effectiveness to improve external validity. This post-authorization, open-label, noncontrolled, prospective, multicenter, observational, and naturalistic trial was designed to search for factors influencing the racecadotril overall effect on childhood acute watery diarrhea in a real-world setting of Venezuela. There were 3,873 children with acute watery diarrhea treated with racecadotril, an enkephalin breakdown blocker plus oral rehydration therapy by 97 pediatricians. Evaluations were carried out daily until emission of two consecutive formed stools or absence of watery bowel movements for 24 hours. The primary end-point was time-to-relief, defined as the time from first racecadotril dose to the last watery bowel movement time. Age, gender, nursing type, nursing status during diarrhea, diarrhea severity, and co-medication were considered as factors in the statistical analysis. The primary end-point was evaluated by factors using UNIANOVA, and post-hoc tests were done. A multiple regression analysis was carried out to identify factors affecting drug performance, racecadotril effectiveness and tolerability overall assessment was searched by physicians and patients, and inter-observer agreement was evaluated by kappa statistics. The mean time-to-relief was 18.5 ± 12.5 hours [95% confidence interval 17.9–19.0] and the diarrhea severity was the only variable with significant and independent weight on racecadotril effectiveness explaining 23% of time-to-relief variance, but even in severe diarrhea cases this time was less than 24 hours. High agreement about satisfactory perception on effectiveness and tolerability was reached among physicians and patients. In conclusion, the racecadotril overall effect, evaluated in a real-world setting of Venezuela, was in agreement with results of some earlier controlled trials. It was only influenced by severity of diarrhea episode, as well as being considered an effective and well tolerated treatment by physicians and patients.
Actin filaments and the growth, movement, and spread of the intracellular bacterial parasite, Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes was used as a model intracellular parasite to study stages in the entry, growth, movement, and spread of bacteria in a macrophage cell line. The first step in infection is phagocytosis of the Listeria, followed by the dissolution of the membrane surrounding the phagosome presumably mediated by hemolysin secreted by Listeria as nonhemolytic mutants remain in intact vacuoles. Within 2 h after infection, each now cytoplasmic Listeria becomes encapsulated by actin filaments, identified as such by decoration of the actin filaments with subfragment 1 of myosin. These filaments are very short. The Listeria grow and divide and the actin filaments rearrange to form a long tail (often 5 microns in length) extending from only one end of the bacterium, a "comet's tail," in which the actin filaments appear randomly oriented. The Listeria "comet" moves to the cell surface with its tail oriented towards the cell center and becomes incorporated into a cell extension with the Listeria at the tip of the process and its tail trailing into the cytoplasm behind it. This extension contacts a neighboring macrophage that phagocytoses the extension of the first macrophage. Thus, within the cytoplasm of the second macrophage is a Listeria with its actin tail surrounded by a membrane that in turn is surrounded by the phagosome membrane of the new host. Both these membranes are then solubilized by the Listeria and the cycle is repeated. Thus, once inside a host cell, the infecting Listeria and their progeny can spread from cell to cell by remaining intracellular and thus bypass the humoral immune system of the organism. To establish if actin filaments are essential for the spread of Listeria from cell to cell, we treated infected macrophages with cytochalasin D. The Listeria not only failed to spread, but most were found deep within the cytoplasm, rather than near the periphery of the cell. Thin sections revealed that the net of actin filaments is not formed nor is a "comet" tail produced.
Molecular phylogeny and evolution of the Asian lineage of vole genus Microtus (Rodentia: Arvicolinae) inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence

To examine phylogenetic relationships within the Asian lineage of voles (Microtus) belonging to subgenus Alexandromys, the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (cytb) was sequenced for its representatives, and the results were compared with the cytogenetic, morphological, and paleontological data. In all the trees inferred from maximum likelihood, parsimony, and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses, the Asian clade is subdivided into highly supported Alexandromys s.s. and moderately supported Pallasiinus lineages. Four subclades are recovered within Alexandromys: (1) Microtus maximowiczii and Microtus sachalinensis; (2) Microtus miiddendorffii s.l. , Microtus mongolicus and Microtus gromovi; (3) Microtus fortis; and (4) Microtus limnophilus. Thus, M. limnophilus demonstrates clear affinities to Alexandromys s.s. but not to Microtus oeconomus (subgenus Pallasiinus), which was always regarded as its sibling species. The results obtained indicate M. mongolicus as a member of Alexandromys but not of the Microtus arvalis group, thus being concordant with the cytogenetic data. The mitochondrial data support the species status of M. gromovi; moreover, its placement as a part of a trichotomy with M. miiddendorffii s.l. and M. mongolicus contradicts the traditional affiliation of M. gromovi with M. maximowiczii. The divergence rate of cytb third position transversions in Microtus is estimated at approximately 8% per Myr, which corresponds to approximately 30% per Myr for all substitution types at all codon positions. The maximum likelihood distance based on complete sequence showed a tendency for a progressive underestimation of divergence and time for older splits. According to our molecular clock analysis employing nonlinear estimation methods, the split between Alexandromys and Pallasiinus and basal radiation within Alexandromys date back to approximately 1.2 Mya and 800 Kya, respectively. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 99, 595–613.
Bayesian Occupancy Filtering for Multitarget Tracking: An Automotive Application

Reliable and efficient perception and reasoning in dynamic and densely cluttered environments are still major challenges for driver assistance systems. Most of today’s systems use target tracking algorithms based on object models. They work quite well in simple environments such as freeways, where few potential obstacles have to be considered. However, these approaches usually fail in more complex environments featuring a large variety of potential obstacles, as is usually the case in urban driving situations. In this paper, we propose a new approach for robust perception and risk assessment in highly dynamic environments. This approach is called Bayesian occupancy filtering; it basically combines a four-dimensional occupancy grid representation of the obstacle state space with Bayesian filtering techniques.
BASED ON POLY ( ETHYLENE GLYCOL ) AND POLY ( 4-VINYL PYRIDINE ) VIA ATOM TRANSFER RADICAL POLYMERIZATION

Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) was applied for the preparation of block copolymers based on poly (ethylene glycol) monomethyl ether and poly (4-vinyl pyridine) (MeOPEG-b-P4VP). This was achieved using chloro-terminated PEG as a macroinitiator. Further, the ATRP was performed using 4-VP as a second forming block in the presence of CuCl/ PMDETA as a catalyst system. The successful formation of MeOPEG-b-P4VP block copolymers was proved by 1H NMR with the presence of all characteristic signals arising from PEG and 4-VP units. The GPC results showed the preparation of well-defined block copolymers with low dispersity, which confirms the controlled character of radical polymerization. The thermal properties of thus prepared copolymers were characterized by TGA analysis.
Making SCTP More Robust to Changeover

We present a problem in the current SCTP (RFC2960) specification that results in unnecessary retransmissions and “TCP-unfriendly” growth of the sender’s congestion window during certain changeover conditions. We first illustrate the problem using an example scenario. To gain insight into the ambient conditions under which cwnd overgrowth can be observed, we present an analytical model of this problem. As solutions, we then propose two changeover aware congestion control (CACC) algorithms which incorporate changeover awareness in SCTP’s congestion control mechanism: Conservative CACC (C-CACC), and Split Fast Retransmit CACC (SFR-CACC). Using ns-2 simulations, we validate the model and evaluate the recommended solution. Based on the analysis, we make recommendations for modifications to SCTP.
STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE PLASMA CIRCULATION OF NANOPARTICLES

There is a tremendous interest in developing long-circulating nanocarriers as treatment and imaging modalities. Enhanced plasma circulation of nanoparticles can improve on-target accumulation and help maintain sustained therapeutic drug levels in the plasma. Nanoparticles, however, are rapidly eliminated from systemic circulation by circulating and stationary macrophages. There have been several approaches devised to overcome this rapid elimination of nanoparticles. Reducing particle size has been shown to reduce opsonization and phagocytic uptake. Particle shape has also been shown to strongly affect the biological interactions of nanoparticles. Coating the surface of nanoparticles with hydrophilic polymers has been one of the most widely used strategies to protect against opsonization. Recent development of facile synthetic approaches has allowed researchers to engineer formulations that mimic blood cells. These strategies have also proven to be successful in producing longcirculating nanoparticles. This review provides a brief description of several approaches that have been used successfully to enhance the plasma circulation of nanoparticles.
Specialization patterns

Design patterns offer many advantages for software development, but can introduce inefficiency into the final program. Program specialization can eliminate such overheads, but is most effective when targeted by the user to specific bottlenecks. Consequently, we propose that these concepts are complementary. Program specialization can optimize programs written using design patterns, and design patterns provide information about the program structure that can guide specialization. Concretely, we propose specialization patterns, which describe how to apply program specialization to optimize uses of design patterns. We analyze the specialization opportunities provided by specific uses of design patterns. Based on the analysis of each design pattern, we define the associated specialization pattern. These specialization opportunities can be declared using the specialization classes framework, developed previously. In our experiments, such specialization significantly improves performance.
Postshock turbulence and diffusive shock acceleration in young supernova remnants

Thin X-ray filaments are observed in the vicinity of young supernova remnants (SNR) blast waves. Identifying processes involved in the creation of such filaments would provide a direct insight of particle acceleration occurring within SNR, in particular regarding the cosmic ray yield issue. Aims. The present article investigates magnetic amplification in the upstream medium of SNR blast wave through both resonant and non-resonant regimes of the streaming instability. It aims at a better understanding of the diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) efficiency considering various relaxation processes of the magnetic fluctuations in the downstream medium. Multi-wavelength radiative signatures coming from the SNR shock wave are used in order to put to the test the different downstream turbulence relaxation models. Methods. Analytical and numerical calculations coupling stochastic differential equation schemes with 1D spherical magnetohydrodynamics simulations are used to investigate, in the context of test particles, the issues regarding the turbulence evolution in both the forshock and post-shock regions. Stochastic second order Fermi acceleration induced by resonant modes, magnetic field relaxation and amplification, turbulence compression at the shock front, are considered to model the multi-wavelength filaments produced in SNRs. -ray emission is also considered through the Inverse Compton mechanism. Results. We confirm the result of Parizot et al (2006) that the maximum CR energies should not go well beyond PeV energies in young SNRs where X-ray filaments are observed. In order to match observational data, we derive an upper limit on the magnetic field amplitude insuring that stochastic particle reacceleration remain inefficient. Considering then, various magnetic relaxation processes, we present two necessary conditions to achieve efficient acceleration and X-ray filaments in SNRs: 1/the turbulence must fulfil the inequality 2 − − d 0 where is the turbulence spectral index while d is the relaxation length energy power-law index; 2/the typical relaxation length has to be of the order the X-ray rim size. We identify that Alv'enic/fast magnetosonic mode damping does fulfil all conditions while non-linear Kolmogorov damping does not. Confronting previous relaxation processes to observational data, we deduct that among our SNR sample, the older ones (SN1006 and G347.3-0.5) fail to verify all conditions which means that their X-ray filaments are likely controlled by radiative losses. The younger SNRs, Cassiopeia A, Tycho and Kepler, do pass all tests and we infer that the downstream magnetic field amplitude is lying in the range of 200-300 μ Gauss
Ligustrum lucidum Ait. fruit extract induces apoptosis and cell senescence in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells through upregulation of p21.

Nü-zhen-zi, the fruit of Ligustrum lucidum Ait. , is one of the most frequently used liver Yin tonifying Chinese herbs for the treatment of liver cancer. However, the effect of Ligustrum lucidum fruit on hepatocarcinoma cells remains unknown. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of a Ligustrum lucidum fruit extract (LLFE) on human hepatocellular carcinoma Bel-7402 cells. The results showed that LLFE inhibited the proliferation of the Bel-7402 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. LLFE induced apoptosis in Bel-7402 cells accompanied by activation of caspase-3, -8 and -9. LLFE-induced apoptosis was completely abrogated by a pan caspase inhibitor, Z-VAD-FMK. LLFE treatment also caused a large and flat morphologic cellular change, positive SA-β-gal staining, and G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest in the Bel-7402 cells, accompanied by upregulation of p21 and downregulation of RB phosphorylation. Specific knockdown of p21 expression by RNA interference partially abrogated LLFE-induced apoptosis, and significantly abrogated LLFE-induced cell senescence. These observations suggest that Nü-zhen-zi is a potential anticancer herb and support the traditional use of Nü-zhen-zi for hepatocarcinoma treatment.
Streaming Support for Data Intensive Cloud-Based Sequence Analysis

Cloud computing provides a promising solution to the genomics data deluge problem resulting from the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. Based on the concepts of “resources-on-demand” and “pay-as-you-go”, scientists with no or limited infrastructure can have access to scalable and cost-effective computational resources. However, the large size of NGS data causes a significant data transfer latency from the client's site to the cloud, which presents a bottleneck for using cloud computing services. In this paper, we provide a streaming-based scheme to overcome this problem, where the NGS data is processed while being transferred to the cloud. Our scheme targets the wide class of NGS data analysis tasks, where the NGS sequences can be processed independently from one another. We also provide the elastream package that supports the use of this scheme with individual analysis programs or with workflow systems. Experiments presented in this paper show that our solution mitigates the effect of data transfer latency and saves both time and cost of computation.
Predictors of Employment Following Postsecondary Education for Vocational Rehabilitation Participants With Traumatic Brain Injury

The purpose of this study was to identify vocational rehabilitation (VR) services associated with employment outcomes of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) who received college training and increased their highest level of postsecondary education completed. The participants were 1,221 individuals with TBI who increased their highest level of postsecondary education while receiving VR services. A logistic regression model containing five demographic and six VR service variables correctly classified 75.4% of cases as competitively employed or not competitively employed. The model explained approximately 10.0% of the variance in competitive employment. Significant predictors associated with competitive employment were the demographic characteristics of ethnicity and age at application. VR service variables that were significant predictors of competitive employment were (a) vocational rehabilitation counseling and guidance, (b) job readiness training, (c) job placement assistance, and (d) personal assistance services. While demographic characteristics and VR services explained a relatively small proportion of the variance in employment outcomes, more robust measurements of the variables have the potential to enhance prediction of outcomes. Provision of job readiness training and personal assistance services should be investigated further to determine the extent to which they serve as indicators of the presence of additional barriers to competitive employment.
Consensus and contested citizenship education goals in Western Europe

As schools are increasingly expected to develop their students’ political and social engagement in order to promote good citizenship, they are struggling to define what good citizenship is. In this article, we put forward a way of formulating perspectives on citizenship that specifies the normative aspects of good citizenship in a systematic manner. In doing so, we distinguish between citizenship education goals which are generally shared and citizenship education goals that are often disputed. Subsequently, an exploratory data analysis is conducted to investigate to which degree educational level in current Western European educational systems is associated with outcomes regarding these consensus and contested citizenship education goals. The findings provide support for our hypothesis that educational level is predominantly associated with general democratic citizenship outcomes, rather than with outcomes that are emphasized by more specific, but contested citizenship perspectives.