Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intracellular activation of trypsinogen in transgenic mice induces acute but not chronic pancreatitis

Background and aims Premature intra-acinar activation of trypsinogen is widely considered key for both the initiation of acute pancreatitis and the development of chronic pancreatitis. However, the biological consequences of intracellular trypsinogen activation have not been directly examined. To do so, a new mouse model was developed. Methods Mice were engineered to conditionally express an endogenously activated trypsinogen within pancreatic acinar cells (PACE-trypon). Hallmarks of pancreatitis were determined and findings were correlated to the level (zygosity) and extent (temporal and spatial) of conditional PACE-trypon expression. Furthermore, the impact of acinar cell death in PACE-trypon mice was assessed and compared with a model of selective diphtheria toxin (DT)-mediated induction of acinar apoptosis. Results Initiation of acute pancreatitis was observed with high (homozygous), but not low (heterozygous) levels of PACE-trypon expression. Subtotal (maximal-rapid induction) but not limited (gradual-repetitive induction) conditional PACE-trypon expression was associated with systemic complications and mortality. Rapid caspase-3 activation and apoptosis with delayed necrosis was observed, and loss of acinar cells led to replacement with fatty tissue. Chronic inflammation or fibrosis did not develop. Selective depletion of pancreatic acinar cells by apoptosis using DT evoked similar consequences. Conclusions Intra-acinar activation of trypsinogen is sufficient to initiate acute pancreatitis. However, the primary response to intracellular trypsin activity is rapid induction of acinar cell death via apoptosis which facilitates resolution of the acute inflammation rather than causing chronic pancreatitis. This novel model provides a powerful tool to improve our understanding of basic mechanisms occurring during pancreatitis.
Response of retrodirective array in the presence of multiple spatially separated sources

In this paper, we describe a canonical proof based on the use of multiport scattering parameters which shows that in the presence of multiple coupling paths between elements that is not possible to individually control the power returned to each transmitter in a retrodirective array which is responding to stimulation by multiple transmitters. It is proven that it is not possible to maximize retransmission to only one of the transmission elements at the expense of the others if more than one transmitter is broadcasting, nor is it possible to simultaneously equalize the signal sent to all k broadcasting antennas when they each transmit unequal power levels.
Is Correlation Constant after All? (A Study of Multivariate Risk Estimation for International Equities)

Several studies published since the 1987 stock market crash have found evidence of structure and variability in the correlation of international equity market returns. This evidence has undermined the argument for international diversification and has spawned the development of complex multivariate models to explain variance/covariance. In spite of the well-known evidence for structure in volatility, many of these correlation studies fail to adjust for volatility clustering. After rectifying that problem, this study finds that correlation can be assumed constant with some qualifications. After standardising to allow for changing risk, correlations of daily MSCI returns from 1982-1996 are generally stable. In this context, the extreme market movements of 1987 are seen as an aberration. Implications for multivariate risk estimation, asset allocation decisions and international diversification strategies are examined.
Distributed coadaptive control for flocking of swarm in nonlinear environment

In this paper, a distributed coadaptive control algorithm inspired by behaviors of biology is presented for flocking of swarm agents system with dynamic topology in the nonlinear environment. And the nonlinear environment is described by a given potential function which is assumed to have finite bounded slopes. We prove that this controller can enable all the agents to converge to a surperball in finite time, all swarm members converge to a common velocity only by means of the local information, the finish time of flocking can be estimated and the spacing between every two different individuals is around a constant with time changing. Simulation results are proposed to verify the controller.
ISO 9000 Value-Added Auditing

Research has shown that quality assurance with the formal fulfilment of ISO 90001 standard requirements does not help companies to achieve greater competitiveness and business success. The quality system compliance with the standard requirements confirms that the company has achieved such a maturity level that it is capable of defining the processes (although not necessarily efficiently! ) and performing them according to the definitions. This recognition can also be generalized for software companies. This article discusses compliance and management value added auditing, and emphasises ISO 9000 value added auditing in software. The general recognition is that ISO 9000 auditing has long-term economic value added only if a compliance audit is integrated with a management audit.
A new hardware-in-the-loop simulator for CNC machine applications

This study focuses on an integrated software and hardware platform that is capable of performing (real-time/non-real-time) hardware-in-the-loop simulation of dynamic systems, including electrical machinery, CNC machine tools. In this approach, once the dynamics of the plant to be controlled is defined via C++ language, the resulting code is cross-compiled automatically on a PC. Executable files along with the necessary drivers are downloaded onto the composite hardware platform that consists of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) along with a powerful DSP board. The paper elaborates the overall performance of this novel hybrid HILS platform on a CNC machine tool application.
Formation of dispersions using “flow focusing” in microchannels

A flow-focusing geometry is integrated into a microfluidic device and used to study drop formation in liquid–liquid systems. A phase diagram illustrating the drop size as a function of flow rates and flow rate ratios of the two liquids includes one regime where drop size is comparable to orifice width and a second regime where drop size is dictated by the diameter of a thin “focused” thread, so drops much smaller than the orifice are formed. Both monodisperse and polydisperse emulsions can be produced.
Characterization of vertical vibration of electrostatically actuated resonators using atomic force microscope in non-contact mode

Non contact mode atomic force microscope (AFM) direct characterization of out-of-plane fixed-fixed high frequency microelectromechanical resonators is examined while applying the excitation voltage to integrated electrostatic transducers. Non contact mode is rather used than contact mode in order to alleviate the dynamic mechanical coupling between the resonator and the cantilever occurring in the second case. Moreover, with this technique, sub-nanometer scale mechanical vibrations are sensed at operation frequencies in the MHz range. Additionally, this method is suitable in order to estimate the amplitude of vibrations of the resonator according to its excitation level signal and predict the motional resistance of the resonator, key parameter in case it would be integrated as a reference oscillator or a microelectromechanical filter in a more complex radio-frequency transceiver architecture.
Transcriptional Regulation of the Human Pregnane-X Receptor

This review addresses the general structure and function of nuclear receptors and places specific emphasis on their role in xenosensing, resulting in the activation of a battery of genes mediating drug metabolism, conjugation, and transport. The pregnane-X receptor is a nuclear receptor that functions to control a battery of genes predominantly involved in drug metabolism and we place emphasis on how this important cellular mediator is transcriptionally activated. We have identified both positive and negative regulatory elements in the PXR promoter, the balance of which dictates the steady state expression of the PXR gene.
An Empitical Analysis of Political and Informative Trends on Municipalities of an Italian Region

The aim of this paper is to conduct an empirical investigation regarding the presence of political and informative trends in tax setting of local governments as an alternative theoretical explanation to the tax mimick-ing. Both phenomena have been tested on municipalities' cross-sectional data of the Marche region with a spatial econometrics model. Discrimi-nating among several sources of tax mimicking, including public spend-ing spill-over, some evidence was found in favour of the political trend. As regards the informative trend, non significant results were observed testing tax interaction among heterogeneous coalitions. However, some evidence is present on local public spending.
What is localism, and what implications do different models have for managing the local economy?

This article considers what emerging localism might mean for managing local economies. It develops a simple framework to explore localism in the context of roles and relationships between the centre, local government and communities. It develops three models: ‘conditional localism’, ‘representative localism’ and ‘community localism’. It also identifies some basic characteristics that enable comparisons between each model to be made. Finally, it uses this framework to consider what implications the coalition government's localism rhetoric and legislation might have for management of the local economy.
New Integrated Multilevel Converter for Switched Reluctance Motor Drives in Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles With Flexible Energy Conversion

This paper presents an integrated multilevel converter of switched reluctance motors (SRMs) fed by a modular front-end circuit for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) applications. Several operating modes can be achieved by changing the ON–OFF states of the switches in the front-end circuit. In generator driving mode, the battery bank is employed to elevate the phase voltage for fast excitation and demagnetization. In battery driving mode, the converter is reconfigured as a four-level converter, and the capacitor is used as an additional charge capacitor to produce multilevel voltage outputs, which enhances the torque capability. The operating modes of the proposed drive are explained and the phase current and voltage are analyzed in details. The battery charging is naturally achieved by the demagnetization current in motoring mode and by the regenerative current in braking mode. Moreover, the battery can be charged by the external ac source or generator through the proposed converter when the vehicle is in standstill condition. The SRM-based PHEV can operate at different speeds by coordinating the power flow between the generator and battery. Simulation in MATLAB/Simulink and experiments on a three-phase 12/8 SRM confirm the effectiveness of the proposed converter topology.
An always available control channel for cooperative sensing in cognitive radio networks

In the Cognitive Radio (CR) framework, the Opportunistic Spectrum Access (OSA) is a promising solution to increase spectral efficiency. However in an OSA network secondary unlicensed cognitive nodes have to agree on which spectral resources they are allowed to use without compromising performance of primary licensed users. This requires a common control channel for sharing spectrum sensing information. Among the ways to realize it, the utilization of Ultra-wideband (UWB) techniques has been proposed in the literature. In this paper we face the problem of dimensioning an “always on” underlay UWB signalling network for sensing information exchange among secondary CR nodes avoiding harmful interference to primary users. To this aim, we analyse the tradeoff between the connectivity degree of a multi-hop underlay signalling network, related to the bit-rate of the control channel, and its coexistence with primary licensed systems.
The engagement factor: building a high‐commitment organization in a low‐commitment world

Purpose – Attracting and retaining a talented work force is a strategic imperative. Doing so requires organizations to create an overall context through a set of macro‐level organizational practices we refer to as the HR value chain. However, this organizational context must be supplemented at the micro level through leader behavior, job characteristics, and challenging goals. An evidence‐based integrative model of organizational practices is developed that will lead to a high level of employee engagement.Design/methodology/approach – The paper addresses several key questions: Do engaged employees perform better than those that are not engaged? How should companies best organize their HR processes at a firm‐wide level to foster employee engagement? What should companies do at an employee level to foster engagement? What is the role of employee to manager trust in employee engagement? A review and summary of existing empirical literature from the areas of employee engagement, human resources, strategy, and.
Financial Crisis of 2008 And Performance Of Firms (A Case Of Listed Firms On Karachi Stock Exchange)

In this research work it is examined the effect of financial crisis of 2008 on firm performance. Total 98 companies are examined from sugar, cement, motor vehicles, trailers and Auto parts, fuel and energy and coke and refine petroleum products. Data is secondary in nature and is used from balance sheet analysis of listed firms non-financial in nature. Time period is from 2007-2011, the operating, accounting and market performance are used for market performance. For operating performance used sales change and return on assets, accounting performance are calculated by EBIT margin and for market performance are used TBIN’s Q and KSE-100 Index indicator and from result conclude that in era of financial crisis 2008 some firm performance are decline and at same time some firm performance are improved unexpectedly. Firms with decline performances are high risk exposure while improved performance firms have less risk exposure. At the end it is find that the financial crisis impact is not clearly determine to change firm performance negatively.
Joint analysis of demography and selection in population genetics: where do we stand and where could we go?

Teasing apart the effects of selection and demography on genetic polymorphism remains one of the major challenges in the analysis of population genomic data. The traditional approach has been to assume that demography would leave a genome‐wide signature, whereas the effect of selection would be local. In the light of recent genomic surveys of sequence polymorphism, several authors have argued that this approach is questionable based on the evidence of the pervasive role of positive selection and that new approaches are needed. In the first part of this review, we give a few empirical and theoretical examples illustrating the difficulty in teasing apart the effects of selection and demography on genomic polymorphism patterns. In the second part, we review recent efforts to detect recent positive selection. Most available methods still rely on an a priori classification of sites in the genome but there are many promising new approaches. These new methods make use of the latest developments in statistics, explore aspects of the data that had been neglected hitherto or take advantage of the emerging population genomic data. A current and promising approach is based on first estimating demographic and genetic parameters, using, e.g., a likelihood or approximate Bayesian computation framework, focusing on extreme outlier regions, and then using an independent method to confirm these. Finally, especially for species where evidence of natural selection has been limited, more experimental and versatile approaches that contrast populations under varied environmental constraints might be more successful compared with species‐wide genome scans in search of specific signatures.
Evaluation of Family Health Education to Build Social Support for Long-Term Control of High Blood Pressure

Sustaining patient motivation for long-term adherence to drug therapies remains a substantial problem for physicians, other health care providers, the patients themselves, and their families. Other therapeutic requests such as dietary changes and weight control may be even more difficult to maintain than taking pills. As part of a controlled experimental design implemented in an outpatient teaching hospital, an educational program was implemented to improve family member support for medical compliance among hypertensive patients. Family members were interviewed, counseled, and provided with a booklet for the purpose of educating and involving them in the home management of high blood pressure. The booklet identified ways the family member could assist the patient with medication compliance, appointment keeping, as well as diet and weight control. These items were identified and recorded as behavioral objectives in the booklet. Patients were followed for three years to assess long-term outcomes. Results showed a strong statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups, with the experimental group demonstrating higher levels of appointment-keeping behavior, weight control, and BP under control (all p values < .001). Analysis of the main effects of the educational program dem onstrated that the family member support intervention accounted for the greatest decrease in diastolic blood pressure variability, R 2 = . 20, p < . 001.
Gram-Positive Anaerobic Cocci

SUMMARY Gram-positive anaerobic cocci (GPAC) are a heterogeneous group of organisms defined by their morphological appearance and their inability to grow in the presence of oxygen; most clinical isolates are identified to species in the genus Peptostreptococcus. GPAC are part of the normal flora of all mucocutaneous surfaces and are often isolated from infections such as deep organ abscesses, obstetric and gynecological sepsis, and intraoral infections. They have been little studied for several reasons, which include an inadequate classification, difficulties with laboratory identification, and the mixed nature of the infections from which they are usually isolated. Nucleic acid studies indicate that the classification is in need of radical revision at the genus level. Several species of Peptostreptococcus have recently been described, but others still await formal recognition. Identification has been based on carbohydrate fermentation tests, but most GPAC are asaccharolytic and use the products of protein degradation for their metabolism; the introduction of commercially available preformed enzyme kits affords a physiologically more appropriate method of identification, which is simple and relatively rapid and can be used in routine diagnostic laboratories. Recent reports have documented the isolation in pure culture of several species, notably Peptostreptococcus magnus, from serious infections. Studies of P. magnus have elucidated several virulence factors which correlate with the site of infection, and reveal some similarities to Staphylococcus aureus. P. micros is a strongly proteolytic species; it is increasingly recognized as an important pathogen in intraoral infections, particularly periodontitis, and mixed anaerobic deep-organ abscesses. Comparison of antibiotic susceptibility patterns reveals major differences between species. Penicillins are the antibiotics of choice, although some strains of P. anaerobius show broad-spectrum β-lactam resistance.
Organizational assessment frameworks for digital preservation: A literature review and mapping

As the field of digital preservation (DP) matures, there is an increasing need to systematically assess an organization's abilities to achieve its digital preservation goals, and a wide variety of assessment tools have been created for this purpose. This article aims to map the landscape of research in this area, evaluate the current maturity of knowledge on this central question in DP and provide direction for future research. To do so, this paper reviews assessment frameworks in digital preservation through a systematic literature search and categorizes the literature by type of research. The analysis shows that publication output around assessment in digital preservation has increased markedly over time, but most existing work focuses on developing new models rather than rigorous evaluation and validation of existing frameworks. Significant gaps are present in the application of robust conceptual foundations and design methods, and in the level of empirical evidence available to enable the evaluation and validation of assessment models. The analysis and comparison with other fields suggest that the design of assessment models in DP should be studied rigorously in both theory and practice, and that the development of future models will benefit from applying existing methods, processes, and principles for model design.
Understanding the Consequences of Accounting Standards in Europe: The Role of EFRAG

The global financial crisis has accelerated the need for standard-setters to demonstrate that they understand the effects of the accounting standards they are setting. Within a European context, the endorsement process and the ultimate adoption of new and amended International Financial Reporting Standards into European Union law demand that there is evidence to support the assertion that such standards will improve financial reporting. Our analysis is anchored in the ideology theory of regulation which provides a compelling case for effect analysis to underpin the standard-setting process. For that process to work effectively, a number of key actors need to engage in the process. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to analyse the potential role of those actors in the standard-setter's analysis of effects. It is argued that there is a significant role for academic research to play in that process and that intermediaries, such as European Financial Reporting Advisory Group, can serve to bring research to the attention of the standard-setter. However, addressing the current disconnect between standard-setters and accounting researchers is not straightforward and we propose various strategies for how that relationship could be improved. We argue that these changes may lead to an improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of the standard-setting process.
Análise do Contraste da Penalidade e da Recompensa (PRC): identificando oportunidades de melhoria em um serviço

The organizations are inserted in a competitive environment where continuous improvement of their products aids to keep or increase new businesses. In this process, it is relevant to hear the customer because it is him who decides if the product or service will be used or no, being then essential to know the attributes of the product that intensifies the level of customers' satisfaction. This article has as objective to present the PRC - Penalty and Reward Contrast analysis - to identify the relevant attributes that influence consumer's satisfaction. To illustrate the PRC method, the paper evaluated 16 attributes of supermarkets, with a sample of 290 respondents. The result of the research reveals that the PRC identifies the attributes that influence the general satisfaction, but it discards attributes that the consumers don't have experience, among them, the innovations.