Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
1H NMR detects different metabolic profiles in glioblastoma stem‐like cells

The metabolic profiles of glioblastoma stem‐like cells (GSCs) growing in neurospheres were examined by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Spectra of two GSC lines, labelled 1 and 83, from tumours close to the subventricular zone of the temporal lobe were studied in detail and compared with those of neural stem/progenitor cells from the adult olfactory bulb (OB‐NPCs) and of the T98G glioblastoma cell line. In both GSCs, signals from myoinositol (Myo‐I), UDP‐hexosamines (UDP‐Hex) and glycine indicated an astrocyte/glioma metabolism. For line 1, the presence of signals from N‐acetyl aspartate, GABA and creatine pointed to a neuronal fingerprint. These metabolites were almost absent from line 83 spectra, whereas lipid signals, absent from normal neural lineages, were intense in line 83 spectra and remained low in those of line 1, irrespective of apoptotic fate. Spectra of OB‐NPC cells displayed strong similarities with those from line 1, with low lipid signals and clearly detectable neuronal signals. In contrast, the spectral profile of line 83 was more similar to that of T98G, displaying high lipids and nearly complete absence of the neuronal markers. A mixed neural–astrocyte metabolic phenotype with a strong neuronal fingerprint was therefore found in line 1, while an astrocytic/glioma‐like metabolism prevailed in line 83. We found a signal assigned to the amide proton of N‐acetyl galactosamine in GSC lines and in OB‐NPC spectra, whereas it was absent from those of T98G cells. This signal may be related to a stem‐cell‐specific protein glycosylation pattern and is therefore suggested as a marker of cell multipotency.
Physician Market Power—Evidence From the Allocation of Malpractice Premiums

Based on evidence from variations in malpractice premiums, physicians have local market power, at least in some dimensions. It is observed that higher-cost physicians pass on a significant portion of idiosyncratic costs to patients as higher prices. I test two hypothesized sources of this market power: barriers to entry from specialization and relatively inelastic firm-level demand for certain services. Examining the relationship of physician-specific malpractice premiums to fees, I find no observable difference in the ability of surgeons and nonsurgeons to pass on these costs; however, both types of physicians pass them on more to surgical than to nonsurgical patients. Copyright 2001 by Oxford University Press.
Influence of Choiceboards on E-Commerce Customers: An Empirical Study of Factors Impacting User Satisfaction

Choiceboard technology is increasingly being offered in e-commerce environments. This technology allows customers to configure their products and services by choosing from a menu of attributes, components, delivery options, and prices. This paper examines, in the context of a choiceboard environment, the impact of system and information quality, and information presentation on information and decision satisfaction. Moreover, we examine the impact of latter two factors on overall user satisfaction and intention to use. The research reveals that increased system quality of choiceboard leads to higher information and decision satisfaction on the part of the users. This in turn leads to higher overall satisfaction and intention to use. The research uses an experiment for data collection and examines these relationships using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach.
Modeling the Asian Fish Sector: Issues, Framework, and Method

The paper presents a detailed approach to modeling supply and demand of the Asian fish sector. It discusses the salient features of the fish sector in Asian countries that need to be incorporated in a comprehensive model of fish supply and demand, as well as the usefulness of supply and demand modeling for disaggregated impact analysis. Empirical implementation through econometric estimation is outlined, based on the normalized quadratic profit function for supply, multi-stage budgeting and the quadratic LA-AIDS for demand, and modified Armington aggregation for foreign trade. The model structure and equations (in general form) for computing equilibrium and generating market projections on supply, demand, price, and foreign trade are stated and explained.
Accelerated Local Anomaly Detection via Resolving Attributed Networks

Attributed networks, in which network connectivity and node attributes are available, have been increasingly used to model real-world information systems, such as social media and e-commerce platforms. While outlier detection has been extensively studied to identify anomalies that deviate from certain chosen background, existing algorithms cannot be directly applied on attributed networks due to the heterogeneous types of information and the scale of real-world data. Meanwhile, it has been observed that local anomalies, which may align with global condition, are hard to be detected by existing algorithms with interpretability. Motivated by the observations, in this paper, we propose to study the problem of effective and efficient local anomaly detection in attributed networks. In particular, we design a collective way for modeling heterogeneous network and attribute information, and develop a novel and efficient distributed optimization algorithm to handle large-scale data. In the experiments, we compare the proposed framework with the state-of-the-art methods on both real and synthetic datasets, and demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency through quantitative evaluation and case studies.
A Certainty-Equivalent Approach to Capital Budgeting

The popular textbook treatment of capital budgeting under uncertainty requires a risk-adjusted discount rate (RADR), which is typically calculated as the expected rate of return for a project under the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) or Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT). The RADR is then used to discount expected flows from the project to compute a market value. This approach has gained popularity in practice, but has some limitations, both practical and theoretical. This paper proposes an alternative approach that overcomes some of these limitations.
SAR images thresholding for oil spill detection

This paper presents a new algorithm for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images segmentation based on thresholding technique for oil spill detection. Generally, segmentation of a SAR image falls into two categories; one based on grey levels and the other based on texture. The present paper deals with SAR images segmentation based on grey levels. We developed a new formula using between class variance method for estimating optimal threshold value based on Gamma distribution. We assume that the data in SAR image is modeled a Gamma distribution; that means histogram of SAR images is assumed a mixture of Gamma distributions. The proposed method is iterative which decreases the number of operation to converge tends to the optimal solution. It is applied on bi-modal and multimodal scenarios. The results obtained are promising.
Are faces of different species perceived categorically by human observers?

What are the species boundaries of face processing? Using a face–feature morphing algorithm, image series intermediate between human, monkey (macaque), and bovine faces were constructed. Forced–choice judgement of these images showed sharply bounded categories for upright face images of each species. These predicted the perceptual discrimination boundaries for upright monkey–cow and cow–human images, but not human–monkey images. Species categories were also well–judged for inverted face images, but these did not give sharpened discrimination (categorical perception) at the category boundaries. While categorical species judgements are made reliably, only the distinction between primate faces and cow faces appears to be categorically perceived, and only in upright faces. One inference is that humans may judge monkey faces in terms of human characteristics, albeit distinctive ones.
Fertility as an Adjustment to Risk

A curious myopia characterizes recent research on the value of children and its relation to fertility levels and trends in rural areas of developing countries. By this I mean that disproportionate theoretical and empirical attention is devoted to the costs and benefits of children to parents while the children are young. The underlying presumption is that positive discount rates pertain (giving greater weight to near-term costs and benefits than to more distant streams). Attention is directed to the time and commodity costs of child care and the labor contributions of young children to their parents' household. Change in these parameters dominates scholarly perceptions of change in the demand for children over the course of economic development. This myopia is evident in the recent National Academy of Sciences report on the determinants of fertility in developing countries. ' Consider, for example, the following passage from the summary chapter on demand for children by Lee and Bulatao:
System design for an experimental cognitive transceiver

The aim of this paper is to show a detailed system design and bring out the challenges for cognitive transceivers in UHF band. An experimental cognitive transceiver is proposed based on commercially available components. The complete system aspects of a filterless implementation are discussed. Along with the intermodulation test for LTE specified by the 3GPP, the intermodulation of Tx leakage with the blocker arising in an FDD scenario is also dealt with. It is shown that even with highly linear RF components, the receiver cannot sustain Tx leakage. The blocker performance and the channel filtering requirements for a SAW-less transceiver are also shown along with an AGC algorithm for a steady SNR. With a brief system analysis, the effect of transmitter noise leaking into the Rx band and its impact on the sensitivity are discussed. The experimental setup has the provision to test the impact of full-FDD, half-FDD and TDD modes on the RF performance in a cognitive environment.
Condition number as a measure of noise performance of diffusion tensor data acquisition schemes with MRI.

Diffusion tensor mapping with MRI can noninvasively track neural connectivity and has great potential for neural scientific research and clinical applications. For each diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data acquisition scheme, the diffusion tensor is related to the measured apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) by a transformation matrix. With theoretical analysis we demonstrate that the noise performance of a DTI scheme is dependent on the condition number of the transformation matrix. To test the theoretical framework, we compared the noise performances of different DTI schemes using Monte-Carlo computer simulations and experimental DTI measurements. Both the simulation and the experimental results confirmed that the noise performances of different DTI schemes are significantly correlated with the condition number of the associated transformation matrices. We therefore applied numerical algorithms to optimize a DTI scheme by minimizing the condition number, hence improving the robustness to experimental noise. In the determination of anisotropic diffusion tensors with different orientations, MRI data acquisitions using a single optimum b value based on the mean diffusivity can produce ADC maps with regional differences in noise level. This will give rise to rotational variances of eigenvalues and anisotropy when diffusion tensor mapping is performed using a DTI scheme with a limited number of diffusion-weighting gradient directions. To reduce this type of artifact, a DTI scheme with not only a small condition number but also a large number of evenly distributed diffusion-weighting gradients in 3D is preferable.
Poly[guanidinium [tri-μ-formato-κ6 O:O′-formato-κ2 O,O′-yttrium(III)]]

In the title coordination polymer, {(CH6N3)[Y(CHO2)4]}n, the yttrium(III) ion is coordinated by one O,O-bidentate formate ion and six μ2 bridging formate ions, generating a square-antiprismatic YO8 coordination polyhedron. The bridging formate ions connect the metal ions into an anionic, three-dimensional network. Charge compensation is provided by guanidinium ions, which interact with the framework by way of N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The guanidine molecules reside in porous channels of 3.612 by 8.189 Å, when considering the van der Waals radii of the nearest atoms (looking down the a-axis).
Effects of Urban Spatial Structure on Individual Behavior

The term spatial structure, although apparently never defined explicitly in the geographical literature, has been implicitly defined in a number of ways by geographers. For some, spatial structure is used as a shorthand description of the geometric concepts of interest in geography, such as pattern, distance, and morphology [2]; while for others, spatial structure is used as a synonym for spatial arrangements or relative location [7]. In all cases, however, spatial structure is viewed as an abstract or generalized description of the distribution of phenomena in geographic space. Although geographers have turned from a predilection for the examination of individual elements of spatial structure to analyses of the spatial, causal, and functional relationships between elements [8], these elements must still be identified before such relationships can be examined. Typical elements included in a "macro" depiction of urban spatial structure include linear features (e.g., transportation networks and commercial "ribbons"), nodes (e.g., shopping centers, individual manufacturing plants, retail and wholesale outlets) and surfaces (e.g., residential population densities in general and densities of population subgroups, rent surfaces). In short, the geographer tends to view an urban area as a geometrically (spatially) organized whole. The modern urban geographer undertakes not only the description of this organized whole-via generalized statements of spatial structure-but also the explanation and prediction of changes in structure over time.
A comprehensive look at the efficacy of technical trading rules applied to cross-rates

Moving average (MA) and channel rules (CH) are applied to ten spot cross-rates - AUD/JPY,GBP/JPY,CAD/JPY,DEM/GBP,DEM/ITL,DEM/JPY,DEM/CHF,CHF/GBP, and CHF/JPY - to examine whether opportunities for profitable trading exist. The results suggest that neither trasding rule is profitable. Overall, the results are consistent with those reported in Lee and Mathur**and in sharp contrast with the evidence from studies on dollar-denominated exchange rates. The costs of direct currency exchange through cross-rates and through indirect dollar-related transactions are also estimated. The savings related to direct cross-rate currency exchanges are estimated to range from 0.004% to 0.22%.
LEARNING FROM JOINT VENTURE -- THE ROVER/HONDA RELATIONSHIP /

The joint venture between Rover and Honda, which effectively lasted from 1980 to 1994, attracted widespread attention. Rover's importance to Britain's industrial heartland and place in a major global business were recognised, and it was hoped that collaboration could invigorate the product design and production management capabilities of an ailing national flagship. Yet both Rover and Honda ultimately failed to achieve their objectives, because of the organisational structures and corporate cultures prevailing within the companies at the time of the joint venture's formation. The origins of these embedded internal constraints are to be found in their particular histories, and, because Rover carried its legacy into the joint venture, it was prevented from boosting its core competencies. A harsh irony became apparent: Rover, entirely contrary to its strategic intentions, had become reliant on its partner.
Quantitative sensory testing cannot differentiate simulated sensory loss from sensory neuropathy

Objective: To differentiate the quantitative sensory testing (QST) results of subjects simulating small and large fiber sensory loss from those of normal subjects and subjects with sensory peripheral neuropathy. Background: QST is used to measure sensory thresholds in clinical, epidemiologic, and research studies. It is not known whether there are objective test results that characterize the subject seeking to deceive the examiner. Methods: The Computer Aided Sensory Examination IV 4, 2, and 1 stepping algorithm was used to determine vibration and cold perception in nine naïve subjects. Subjects were asked to simulate sensory loss (on two occasions) and to respond normally on one occasion. Test results were compared to those of subjects with diabetic sensory neuropathy. Each QST trial was performed three times. Results: Reproducibility, measured by the intraclass correlation coefficient, was similar in all groups for the vibration perception test (simulation 1: 0.68 [95% CI 0.31, 0.91], simulation 2: 0.82 [95% CI 0.54, 0.95], normal response: 0.77 [95% CI 0.47, 0.94], and subjects with peripheral neuropathy: 0.76 [95% CI 0.18, 0.95]) and the cold perception test (simulation 1: 0.53 [95% CI 0.12, 0.85], simulation 2: 0.82 [95% CI 0.55, 0.95], normal subjects: 0.67 [95% CI 0.30, 0.90] and subjects with peripheral neuropathy: 0.88 [95% CI 0.57, 0.97]), all just noticeable difference units. There were no differences between performance characteristics in the two simulation trials. Responses to null stimuli did not differentiate between groups. Conclusion: Test performance characteristics do not permit discrimination among subjects simulating sensory loss, subjects with normal responses, and subjects with peripheral neuropathy.
Proposal of Adaptive Data Rate Algorithm for LoRaWAN-Based Infrastructure

Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) are expected to interconnect a high number of simple and inexpensive devices. The ability to control transmission parameters including modulation scheme and output power, enables reduction of the deployment costs, improvement of the network reliability, in terms of error performance under suboptimal conditions, and could contribute to the reduction of the maintenance complexity with respect to scaling of the network. This paper presents an analysis of the widely accepted adaptive data rate (ADR) algorithm implementation used in current LoRaWAN&#x2122;-based network infrastructures. The authors propose improved variants of the algorithm concerning the design goals listed above and provide an experimental evaluation of their network performance.
On the contribution of public procurement to entrepreneurship and small business policy

Public procurement in industrialized nations accounts for a significant share of gross domestic product; hence it is imperative for local, regional and national economic development to utilize this potential. However, previous discussions of entrepreneurship and small business policy have by and large marginalized public sector procurement. As a contribution to giving greater salience to the linkages between regional development, entrepreneurship and public procurement, this paper presents empirical results of a qualitative study into local government authorities in the United Kingdom. In particular, it draws out a range of enablers and barriers for sourcing from small- and medium-sized enterprises that were perceived by procurement managers. The focus on public sector procurement furthermore leads to a more systematic theoretical elaboration of entrepreneurship policy as being based on legal authority or the market or network effects from geographic proximity.
Na 1K 1-2 Cl 2 Cotransporter in Immature Cortical Neurons : A Role in Intracellular Cl 2 Regulation

Sun, Dandan and Sangita G. Murali.Na-K-2Cl cotransporter in immature cortical neurons: a role in intracellular Cl 2 regulation.J. Neurophysiol.81: 1939–1948, 1999. Na -K-2Cl cotransporter has been suggested to contribute to active intracellular Cl 2 accumulation in neurons at both early developmental and adult stages. In this report, we extensively characterized the Na -K-2Cl cotransporter in primary culture of cortical neurons that were dissected from cerebral cortex of rat fetus at embryonic day 17. The Na -K-2Cl cotransporter was expressed abundantly in soma and dendritic processes of cortical neurons evaluated by immunocytochemical staining. Western blot analysis revealed that an ;145-kDa cotransporter protein was present in cerebral cortex at the early postnatal (P0–P9) and adult stages. There was a time-dependent upregulation of the cotransporter activity in cortical neurons during the early postnatal development. A substantial level of bumetanide-sensitive K 1 influx was detected in neurons cultured for 4–8 days in vitro (DIV 4–8). The cotransporter activity was increased significantly at DIV 12 and maintained at a steady level throughout DIV 12–14. Bumetanide-sensitive K 1 influx was abolished completely in the absence of either extracellular Na 1 or Cl. Opening ofg-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-activated Cl 2 channel or depletion of intracellular Cl 2 significantly stimulated the cotransporter activity. Moreover, the cotransporter activity was elevated significantly by activation ofN-methyl-D-aspartate ionotropic glutamate receptor via a Ca -dependent mechanism. These results imply that the inwardly directed Na -K-2Cl cotransporter is important in active accumulation of intracellular Cl 2 and may be responsible for GABA-mediated excitatory effect in immature cortical neurons.
Adoption of enterprise systems and radio frequency identification among service firms

A promising technology for optimizing supply-chain processes is radio frequency identification (RFID). By adding functionality to previous enterprise systems, the aim is to increase transparency of information throughout the supply chain. In this paper, we present a survey of RFID implementation in Swedish service firms. The findings show that although the great majority of firms are actively working with integrated information systems, only a very small fraction have adopted RFID.
Effects of Health and Chronic Diseases on Labour Force Participation of Older Working-Age Australians

This study examines the effects of general health and chronic diseases on the labour force participation of older working-age Australians. To account for potential endogeneity of health status, a simultaneous equation model is estimated and chronic diseases are used as instrumental variables. The effects of chronic diseases on labour force participation are assessed indirectly using the parameters estimated from the simultaneous equation model. The results show that both health status and chronic diseases have significant effects on labour force participation. It also appears that the effects of chronic diseases are more accurately estimated from the simultaneous equation model than from a single equation labour force participation model.
Co-Branding and Brand Loyalty

Abstract Co-branding can be a win-win strategy to help drive sales, develop brand images, and save marketing or advertising cost in the restaurant industry. Despite the increasing attention in co-branding, the relationship between co-branding, consumer satisfaction, and brand loyalty remains largely unexplored. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effect of co-branding on customer satisfaction, which in turn leads to brand loyalty in restaurants in Korea. The result indicates that some types of co-branding (i.e., price benefits and post-purchase services) can be an effective marketing strategy that allows restaurants to construct customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.