Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An analysis of TFT-LCD industry success factors by integrating FDAHP and gray sequencing

As Taiwan’s TFT-LCD (thin film transistor liquid crystal display) industry plays a vital global role, discussion of its success factors is importance. Previous studies of the TFT-LCD industry success factors were usually based on personal experience and subjective judgment, and did not provide specifically effective success factors assessing methods. Therefore, it is important to establish a set of TFT-LCD industry success factor evaluation methods. Based on literature review and expert interviews, this study selected and summarized 5 major perspectives, and 18 evaluation indices applicable to the TFT-LCD industry. It also established a qualitative (semantics) and quantitative (real data) integrated evaluation model of TFT-LCD industry success factors and their sequencing, using the FDAHP (fuzzy Delphi analytic hierarchy process) and gray sequencing method, in order to provide reference for the TFT-LCD industry. The result showed the top three key success factors which are innovation and R&D (research and development) capabilities, the industry chain support, and manufacturing equipment upgrades. Finally, the top three success factors are employed in sequence to illustrate managerial implications.
The sources of comparative advantage in tourism

Tourism flows are usually explained through demand-side factors such as income growth in developed economies and changes in the preferences of visitors. While these models are adequate for short-term forecasts, little theoretical justification is provided to explain why certain countries perform better than others. This paper identifies which countries have a comparative advantage in the export of travel services (tourism). Consequently, the paper seeks to identify the sources of this comparative advantage. We include the standard explanatory variables (factors of production, including natural environment) for Ricardian comparative advantage, plus measures of infrastructure, health, safety and security, tourism prioritization, and various dummy variables. We also develop and test new variables, including a neighbourhood variable, which measures the benefits obtained from regional tourism clusters. Our results have important policy implications; it is clear that the natural environment has a large positive and significant impact on a country’s revealed comparative advantage, as do transport endowments (a measure of relative accessibility) and the neighbourhood variable. These findings correspond to the predictions of the neoclassical trade theories (namely Heckscher-Ohlin) and to some extent the new trade theories (Krugman).
Treatment of respiratory syncytial virus: antiviral therapies

Treatmentof respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants with bronchiolitis is complicated because of the multifactorial nature of this infection. The signs and symptoms of RSV result from a combination of direct viral cytopathic effects, host inflammatory responses that lead to airway obstruction and bronchoconstriction. It is logical that therapies targeting just one of these processes might be minimally effective, at best. Thus an important goal is to identify patients at risk and intervene to prevent disease, whenever possible. Once disease has been identified, the clinician must decide whether antiviral therapy is appropriate. Familiarity with typical viral load dynamics during the course of a lower respiratory tract infection can assist in the therapeutic decision process. For example in a patient who has had airway obstruction and other respiratory symptoms for >3 days, viral load has already peaked. Clearly this pattern has important implications for antiviral therapies. Preventive strategies include educating parents and family about hand washing, cleaning environmental surfaces, isolating infants and children with infection and avoiding crowded places such as busy day-care centers. High risk patients, who meet the American Academy of Pediatrics criteria for RSV prophylaxis, may be candidates for passive prophylaxis.
An adaptive routing algorithm based on network partitioning for 3D Network-on-Chip

This paper presents an efficient routing algorithm for 3D meshes without virtual channels. The proposed routing algorithm is extended from 2D east-first routing algorithm and based on network partitioning. It is proven that the proposed method is free from deadlock. In comparison of previous routing algorithms, the average degree of adaptiveness is higher. This feature contributes to higher communication efficiency. Experimental results show that the proposed method can achieve lower communication latency and higher throughput over other traditional methods.
Sustainable income: extending some Tisdell considerations to macroeconomic analyses

The depreciation of environmental capital is internalized within a simple Keynesian framework to permit the determination of sustainable income. The framework is empirically applied to the US economy by integrating standard macroeconomic data with macro‐environmental data which were derived by the adoption of a proxy method of valuation. The analysis includes the simulation of sustainable income paths and the evaluation of wages and technology/ management policies for achieving convergence between full employment and sustainable income. The scope for further conceptual development is demonstrated by the illustration of aggregate supply in the context of environmental depreciation.
Why Workers Are Reluctant Learners: The Case of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry.

Explores worker flexibility, through learning, union strategies, and resistance to learning. Issues of flexibility, learning, and quality are subject of much debate, negotiation, and conflict in the Canadian pulp and paper industry. A key bargaining issue for management has been to harness flexibility among the manual craft workers, to improve labour productivity. Within this context, workplace learning is not neutral or independent of day‐to‐day union‐management relations: it is a contested issue. Learning new skills is viewed as a threat to job control and security and presents a paradox: learning new trade skills enhances individual workers’ flexibility and employability but collectively weakens the union through job losses. Data were collected from pulp mills in British Columbia between 1996 and 1999. Survey and qualitative data provides evidence that workers’ resistance to learning is part of the contested arena of productivity and job control.
The GET System Inserts the Tail-Anchored Protein, SYP72, into Endoplasmic Reticulum Membranes1[OPEN]

The GET protein insertion system inserts the model tail-anchored protein SYP72 into endoplasmic reticulum membranes in Arabidopsis. The Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genome encodes homologs of the Guided Entry of Tail (GET)-anchored protein system for the posttranslational insertion of tail-anchored (TA) proteins into endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes. In yeast, TA proteins are loaded onto the cytosolic targeting factor Get3 and are then delivered to the membrane-associated Get1/2 complex for insertion into ER membranes. The role of the GET system in Arabidopsis was investigated by monitoring the membrane insertion of a tail-anchored protein, SYP72, a syntaxin. SYP72 bound to yeast Get3 in vitro, forming a Get3-SYP72 fusion complex that could be inserted into yeast GET1/2-containing proteoliposomes. The Arabidopsis GET system functioned in vivo to insert TA proteins into ER membranes as demonstrated by the fact that the YFP-tagged SYP72 localized to the ER in wild-type plants but accumulated as cytoplasmic inclusions in get1, get3, or get4 mutants. The GET mutants get1 and get3 were less tolerant of ER stress agents and showed symptoms of ER stress even under unstressed conditions. Hence, the GET system is responsible for the insertion of TA proteins into the ER in Arabidopsis, and mutants with GET dysfunctions are more susceptible to ER stress.
Specification of Driving Costs in Models of Recreation Demand

Existing recreation demand models have paid much attention to the heterogeneous nature of the opportunity cost of time, but generally stipulate constant per mile costs in access price specifications. This study proposes two alternative approaches to introduce user-specific driving costs into recreation demand models. The first approach is based on a refined measurement of driving costs based on engineering considerations. The second strategy estimates perceived per mile cost as a function of vehicle attributes in an empirical framework. We find strong evidence that driving costs are a visitor-specific concept, and that prescribed and perceived costs differ substantially. However, welfare measures generated by these alternative specifications are not statistically different from those produced by the standard model in our application of jet skiing in the Lake Tahoe region. (JEL Q26)
Correlation between trapping parameters and surface insulation strength of solid dielectric under pulse voltage in vacuum

As well known, the surface conditions of solid materials strongly affect the flashover phenomena under high electric field. The artificial doping ingredients could change the energy distribution and the density of electron and hole traps. The trapping parameters in the surface layer have some influences on the surface insulation strength. In order to adjust different trapping parameters, the composite materials of epoxy resin intermingled with aluminum hydroxide are prepared. The trapping parameters of the samples with different filler concentrations are investigated through the method of measuring the surface potential based on the isothermal current theory. The surface insulation performance in vacuum of each sample is tested according to the flashover voltage under pulsed excitation. Based on the experiment, the correlation between the trapping parameters and surface insulation strength is discussed and some novel models are presented
Joint reconstruction of activity and attenuation in dynamic PET

Joint reconstruction of attenuation and emission in positron emission tomography (PET) using the maximum likelihood activity and attenuation estimation (MLAA) algorithm was proposed in the past. However, cross-talk between the activity and attenuation estimation limits the usefulness of MLAA for PET data without time-of-flight (TOF) information. This work introduces dynamic MLAA (dMLAA), an extension of the MLAA algorithm for dynamic data, to jointly reconstruct the activity distributions and a single attenuation map. The hypothesis is that using information from multiple dynamic emission frames may improve the estimated attenuation map compared to using static PET data. Preliminary results using dMLAA algorithm showed that use of multiple dynamic emission frames slightly improves the reconstructed attenuation map (especially in bones, cavities and lesion area) compared to using a single emission frame. However, without TOF, the reconstructed map still suffers from ill-posedness of the problem despite the additional dynamic information. The reconstruction may be improved for tracers that present a higher inter- and intra- dynamic frame contrast and edge variability.
SIK2 regulates CRTCs, HDAC4 and glucose uptake in adipocytes

ABSTRACT Salt-inducible kinase 2 (SIK2) is an AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) related kinase abundantly expressed in adipose tissue. Our aim was to identify molecular targets and functions of SIK2 in adipocytes, and to address the role of PKA-mediated phosphorylation of SIK2 on Ser358. Modulation of SIK2 in adipocytes resulted in altered phosphorylation of CREB-regulated transcription co-activator 2 (CRTC2), CRTC3 and class IIa histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4). Furthermore, CRTC2, CRTC3, HDAC4 and protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) interacted with SIK2, and the binding of CRTCs and PP2A to wild-type but not Ser358Ala SIK2, was reduced by cAMP elevation. Silencing of SIK2 resulted in reduced GLUT4 (also known as SLC2A4) protein levels, whereas cells treated with CRTC2 or HDAC4 siRNA displayed increased levels of GLUT4. Overexpression or pharmacological inhibition of SIK2 resulted in increased and decreased glucose uptake, respectively. We also describe a SIK2–CRTC2–HDAC4 pathway and its regulation in human adipocytes, strengthening the physiological relevance of our findings. Collectively, we demonstrate that SIK2 acts directly on CRTC2, CRTC3 and HDAC4, and that the cAMP–PKA pathway reduces the interaction of SIK2 with CRTCs and PP2A. Downstream, SIK2 increases GLUT4 levels and glucose uptake in adipocytes.
The TGF‐β pseudoreceptor gene Bambi is dispensable for mouse embryonic development and postnatal survival

The Bambi (Bmp and activin membrane‐bound inhibitor) gene encodes a transmembrane protein highly similar in amino acid sequence to transforming growth factor‐beta (TGF‐β receptors, however, the Bambi intracellular domain is short and lacks a serine/threonine‐kinase domain that is essential for transducing TGF β signaling. Previous biochemical assays showed that Bambi interacts directly with BMP receptors and antagonizes BMP signaling. Interestingly, the expression of Bambi largely overlaps, both temporally and spatially, with that of Bmp4 during early embryonic development in Xenopus, zebrafish, and mice, which led to the hypothesis that Bambi may function to regulate BMP signaling during embryogenesis. To directly analyze the roles of Bambi during embryonic development, we generated mice carrying a conditional allele of Bambi, Bambiflox, with loxP sequences flanking the first exon that encodes the N‐terminus and signal peptide region of the Bambi protein. Mice homozygous for this targeted conditional allele appear normal and fertile. We crossed the Bambiflox/+ mice to the EIIa‐Cre transgenic mice and generated mice carrying deletion of the first exon of the Bambi gene. Surprisingly, mice homozygous for the deleted allele were viable, fertile and did not exhibit any discernible developmental defect. Our data exclude an essential role for Bambi in mouse embryonic development and postnatal survival. genesis 45:482–486, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An Application of Self-Organizing Maps to Financial Structure Analysis of Keiretsu versus Non-Keiretsu Firms in Japan

It has been argued that keiretsu in Japan allows its member firms to maintain a financial structure different from that of non-keiretsu member firms. In this paper, we use two different types of financial statement ratio analysis techniques to discover whether Kohonen's self-organizing map (SOM) is able to uncover the differences in financial structures between keiretsu and non-keiretsu firms: ad hoc financial ratios and valuation-based financial ratios. We have found some evidence that SOM enables both financial analysis techniques to recognize different financial structures between the two groups of the firms. Implications of this finding for investment decisions have been discussed.
Low-Wage Employment and the Role of Education and On-the-Job Training

General education and on-the-job training are major forces determining earnings. This contribution analyses the effects of general education and on-the-job training, relative to each other, on workers' relative earnings and on the probability of making an upwards transition in the earnings distribution. The analysis is done for Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain, using the European Community Household Panel (1995–2001). Our results reveal that in all countries on-the-job training and high levels of general education reduce the risk of being in a low-pay situation, whereas they increase the probability of escaping from low-paid jobs to better-paid jobs. However, the relative contributions differ significantly, on-the-job training being relatively more important for upward mobility in Italy and Spain and tertiary education more important for reducing the risk of being in low pay in Denmark and the Netherlands.
A Study of the Key Strategic Drivers of the Use of the World Heritage Site Designation as a Destination Brand

ABSTRACT This article examines the emergence of the World Heritage Site (WHS) designation as a de facto brand. The study applies Balakrishnan’s (2009) strategic framework for destination branding to the demand for World Heritage Sites. A total of 72 countries currently applying for WHS status for national sites are examined. Previous studies in this area have been based mainly on case-study methodologies and/or are limited either to a single country or to a comparison among a small number of countries. The study finds, inter alia, that countries that have a large number of foreign arrivals but are not yet fully integrated into the global economy are particularly disposed to expanding the number of WHS on their national territories.
spoonbill, a new Drosophila female‐sterile mutation, interferes with chromosome organization and dorsal–ventral patterning of the egg

We have identified a new mutation, spoonbill (spoon), which interferes with two developmental processes during Drosophila oogenesis, nurse cell‐nuclei chromatin organization and anterior–dorsal patterning of the eggshell. Here, we describe the localization patterns of key regulators of axis determination and the expression of follicle cell‐specific markers involved in eggshell patterning in egg chambers from spoonbill females. Our molecular characterization of the patterning defects associated with the mutation reveals abnormalities in two major signaling pathways, the grk/Egfr and the Dpp/TGF‐β, that together control the elaborate patterning of the anterior follicular epithelium. The function of spoonbill appears to be required for dpp transcription in a specialized population of follicle cells and for the selective transport of grk mRNA from the nurse cells into the oocyte, as well as for its proper localization and translation. This finding places the spoonbill gene upstream of both pathways. Developmental Dynamics 230:535–545, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Recognition of 3'-processing sites of human mRNA precursors

We have developed a computer program POLYAH and an algorithm for the identification of 3'-processing sites of human mRNA precursors. The algorithm is based on a linear discriminant function (LDF) trained to discriminate real poly(A) signal regions from the other regions of human genes possessing the AATAAA sequence which is most likely non-functional. As the parameters of LDF, various significant contextual characteristics of sequences surrounding AATAAA signals were used. An accuracy of method has been estimated on a set of 131 poly(A) regions and 1466 regions of human genes having the AATAAA sequence. When the threshold was set to predict 86% of poly(A) regions correctly, specificity of 51% and correlation coefficient of 0.62 had been achieved. The precision of this approach is better than for the other methods and has been tested on a larger data set. POLYAH can be used through World Wide Web (at Gene-Finder Home page: URL http:@dot.imgen.bcm.tmc.edu:9331/gene-finder/ gf.html) or by sending files with uncharacterized human sequences to the University of Houston or Weizmann Institute of Science e-mail servers.
Physiology of Membrane Oestrogen Receptor Signalling in Reproduction

The best characterised oestrogen receptors (ERs) that are responsible for membrane‐initiated oestradiol signalling are the classic ERs, ERα and ERβ. When in the nucleus, these proteins are oestradiol activated transcription factors but, when trafficked to the cell membrane, ERα and ERβ rapidly activate protein kinase pathways, alter membrane electrical properties, modulate ion flux and can mediate long‐term effects through gene expression. To initiate cell signalling, membrane ERs transactivate metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) to stimulate Gq signalling through pathways using PKC and calcium. In this review, we discuss the interaction of membrane ERα with metabotropic glutamate receptor 1a (mGluR1a) to initiate rapid oestradiol cell signalling and its critical roles in female reproduction: sexual behaviour and oestrogen positive feedback of the luteinising hormone (LH) surge. Although long considered to be regulated by the long‐term actions of oestradiol on gene transcription, recent results indicate that membrane oestradiol cell signalling is vital for a full display of sexual receptivity. Similarly, the source of pre‐ovulatory progesterone necessary for initiating the LH surge is hypothalamic astrocytes. Oestradiol rapidly amplifies progesterone synthesis through the release of intracellular calcium stores. The ERα‐mGluR1a interaction is necessary for critical calcium flux. These two examples provide support for the hypothesis that membrane ERs are not themselves G‐protein receptors; rather, they use mGluRs to signal.
Long working hours, safety, and health: toward a National Research Agenda.

BACKGROUND A significant and growing number of people work long hours. Research examining impacts is limited, but raises concerns about risks to the worker, the family, the employer, and the community. The purpose of this report, which is authored by the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Long Work Hours Team, is to motivate and guide future research by proposing a framework for studying long work hours and discussing research gaps. METHODS The NORA Long Work Hours Team examined research reports and literature reviews, and gathered input from a conference on long work hours organized by the Team and faculty from University of Maryland. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION A framework is proposed for long work hours, including determinants, outcomes, and moderating factors of long work hours, suggesting that studies need to include more clear and complete descriptions of work schedules, worker characteristics, and the work environment, and need to consider a wider range of possible health, safety, social and economic outcomes for workers, families, employers, and the community. Additional studies are needed on vulnerable employee groups and those critical to public safety. More studies are also needed to develop interventions and test their effectiveness.
Standard versus Tubeless Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy: A Systematic Review

Objective: This article systematically analyses comparative studies to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tubeless percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) versus standard PCNL. Methods: The Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane and DARE databases were searched from 1997 to February 2011. Comparative studies evaluating outcomes from standard versus tubeless PCNL were included. Primary outcome measures were post-operative pain scoring, analgesic requirements, duration of hospitalisation/convalescence, operation time, major/minor complications and stone-free rates. Results: Twenty-four studies were included (11 randomised control trials and 13 retrospective or prospective studies). Levels of pain recorded, analgesic requirements, duration of inpatient stay and convalescence time were all significantly reduced in the tubeless PCNL group. Cost was reduced in two studies. Morbidity was not significantly different between the groups. There was no significant difference between groups regarding stone-free status. Discussion: This systematic review has demonstrated that tubeless PCNL is a viable alternative to tubed PCNL in uncomplicated cases. Benefits are as described above. There is no evidence suggesting that patient safety is compromised by the absence of post-operative nephrostomy. The tubeless method has been reported in challenging cases such as stag-horn stones, horseshoe or ectopic kidneys. Promising outcomes have been demonstrated in elderly patients and when clinical needs demand a supracostal approach. Multi-centre randomised controlled trials are needed to fully establish the effectiveness of the tubeless method.