Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increasing Competitiveness of a Firm and Supply Chain with Web 2.0 Initiatives

To utilize ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) to increase competitiveness of a firm under the current stringent demands of global market is a basic approach. This paper investigates how the latest ICT platforms, Web 2.0, can help the firm achieving this purpose. Eight functionalities of Web 2.0 are identified from reviews of its actual applications in enterprises. Then contribution of each Web 2.0 function to the key competitiveness factors is checked. The factors include higher speed, higher quality, higher cost-saving, higher innovative capabilities, higher customer satisfaction and trust. Trust is the key success factor (KSF) to virtual teams of supply chain collaboration (SCC), and knowledge sharing in knowledge management (KM) system. SCC and KM are KSFs in competitions. Finally, which Web 2.0 platform should be applied to which segment of the whole supply chain is discussed.
Detection and Quantification of Methyl tert-Butyl Ether-Degrading Strain PM1 by Real-Time TaqMan PCR

ABSTRACT The fuel oxygenate methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), a widely distributed groundwater contaminant, shows potential for treatment by in situ bioremediation. The bacterial strain PM1 rapidly mineralizes and grows on MTBE in laboratory cultures and can degrade the contaminant when inoculated into groundwater or soil microcosms. We applied the TaqMan quantitative PCR method to detect and quantify strain PM1 in laboratory and field samples. Specific primers and probes were designed for the 16S ribosomal DNA region, and specificity of the primers was confirmed with DNA from 15 related bacterial strains. A linear relationship was measured between the threshold fluorescence (CT) value and the quantity of PM1 DNA or PM1 cell density. The detection limit for PM1 TaqMan assay was 2 PM1 cells/ml in pure culture or 180 PM1 cells/ml in a mixture of PM1 withEscherichia coli cells. We could measure PM1 densities in solution culture, groundwater, and sediment samples spiked with PM1 as well as in groundwater collected from an MTBE bioaugmentation field study. In a microcosm biodegradation study, increases in the population density of PM1 corresponded to the rate of removal of MTBE.
Adjuvant immunotherapy with autologous dendritic cells for hepatocellular carcinoma, randomized phase II study

ABSTRACT Our previous phase I/IIA study showed that autologous dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed with tumor-associated antigens are well tolerated in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this randomized, multicenter, open-label, phase II trial, we investigated the efficacy and safety of this DC-based adjuvant immunotherapy with 156 patients, who treated for HCC with no evidence of residual tumor after standard treatment modalities. Patients were randomly assigned to immunotherapy (n = 77; injection of 3 × 107 DC cells, six times over 14 weeks) or control (n = 79; no treatment). The primary end point was recurrence-free survival (RFS), and the secondary endpoints were immune response and safety. The RFS between the immunotherapy and control groups was not significantly different (hazard ratio [HR], 0.97; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.60–1.56; p = 0.90). However, post-hoc subgroup analyses revealed that DC immunotherapy significantly reduced the risk of tumor recurrence of non-radiofrequency ablation (non-RFA) group patients (n = 83, HR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.26–0.94; p = 0.03), whereas unexpectedly increased the risk of recurrence in RFA group (n = 61, p = 0.01). Tumor-specific immune responses were significantly enhanced (both p < 0.01) in the immunotherapy group. Baseline serum interleukin (IL)-15 was statistically correlated with RFS prolongation (HR, 0.16; 95% CI, 0.03–1.58; p = 0.001) within the immunotherapy groups. Overall adverse events were more frequent in the immunotherapy group (p < 0.001) but were mainly mild to moderate in severity. In conclusion, adjuvant immunotherapy with DC vaccine reduces the risk of tumor recurrence in HCC patients who underwent standard treatment modalities other than RFA. Baseline IL-15 might be a candidate biomarker for DC-based HCC immunotherapy.
Whole-Genome Sequence of Starmerella bacillaris PAS13, a Nonconventional Enological Yeast with Antifungal Activity

ABSTRACT Starmerella bacillaris is a fermentative yeast commonly found in vineyards. Here, we present the draft genome sequence of S. bacillaris PAS13, a nonconventional enological yeast with a potential role as a biocontrol agent. This gene sequence will provide insights into the genetic basis of yeast activity against gray mold disease (Botrytis cinerea).
Junction temperature estimation in IGBT power modules based on Kalman filter

Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) were widely used in energy field, its reliability has become the focus of industry. Temperature is the main reason for the failure of power electronic converter, and the accurate estimation temperature of IGBT module is an important basis for its reliability evaluation. Currently the main methods of extracting junction temperature are thermo sensitive electrical parameter method (TSEP) and the thermal impedance model method, due to the TSEP method requires additional auxiliary circuit and it is susceptible to electromagnetic interference, does not necessarily apply to the applications. In this paper, a junction temperature estimation method depends on thermal impedance model is proposed, it fuses Kalman filter and IGBT modules' NTC thermistor reflects indirectly junction temperature. Proposed method estimation procedure does not need to store large amounts of data, does not take up too much memory and accurate estimation of junction temperature, it is also easier to realize the IGBT reliability evaluation.
Energy coupling to nitrite respiration in the sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio gigas

By use of a membrane fraction prepared from Desulfovibrio gigas grown in a lactate-sulfate medium, synthesis of ATP was demonstrated to be coupled to the oxidation of molecular hydrogen and reduction of either nitrite or hydroxylamine. This phosphorylation was uncoupled from electron transport by pentachlorophenol, methyl viologen, and gramicidin, but not by oligomycin. The extrusion of protons from the cells was shown to be coupled to the hydrogen-nitrite respiratory system, and, assuming the localization of nitrite reductase on the outer side of the plasma membrane, H+/2e- values of 2.0 +/- 0.3 were obtained. Energy coupling observed with this system appears to be due to electron transfer-coupled proton translocation rather than vectorial electron transfer associated with hydrogen oxidation.
Open Framework for Combined Pedestrian Detection

Pedestrian detection is a topic in computer vision of great interest for many applications. Due to that, a large amount of pedestrian detection techniques are presented in current literature, each one improving previous techniques. The improvement in accuracy in recent pedestrian detection, is commonly in combination with a higher computational requirement. Although, recently a technique was proposed to combine multiple detection algorithms to improve accuracy instead. Since the evaluation speed of this combination is dependent on the detection algorithm it uses, we provide an open framework that includes multiple pedestrian detection algorithms, and the technique to combine them. We show that our open implementation is superior on speed, accuracy and peak memory-use when compared to other publicly available implementations.
Antiepileptic drugs in Australia: 2002–2007

With the marketing of a number of new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in recent years it seemed possible that the pattern of Australian prescribing for patients with epilepsy may have been changing. We examined the trends in the prescribing of subsidised AEDs in the Australian population from 2002 to 2007.
A Case Study on Achieving Fair Data Age Distribution in Vehicular Communications

In vehicular communication protocol stacks, received messages may not always be decoded successfully due to the complexity of the decoding functions, the uncertainty of the communication load and the limited computation resources. Even worse, an improper implementation of the protocol stack may cause an unfair data age distribution among all the communicating vehicles (the receiving bias problem). In such cases, some vehicles are almost locked out of the vehicular communication, causing potential safety risk in scenarios such as intersection passing. To our knowledge, this problem has not been systematically studied in the fields of vehicular communication and intelligent transport systems (ITS). This paper analyzes the root of the receiving bias problem and proposes architectural solutions to balance data age distribution. Simulation studies based on commercial devices demonstrate the effectiveness of these solutions. In addition, our system has been successfully applied during the Grand Cooperative Driving Challenge, where complicated scenarios involving platooning maneuvering and intersection coordination were conducted.
Analysis of the structure and function relationship of human apolipoprotein E in vivo, using adenovirus‐mediated gene transfer

We have used adenovirus‐mediated gene transfer in apolipoprotein E (apoE)‐deficient mice (E−/−) to dissect the domains of apoE required for cholesterol and triglyceride homeostasis in vivo. A dose of 2 × 109 pfu of apoE2‐ apoE3‐, or apoE4‐expressing adenoviruses failed to decrease the cholesterol levels of E−/− mice and caused severe hypertriglyceridemia, characterized by accumulation of apoE‐rich and triglyceride‐rich very low density lipoprotein (VLDL). In contrast, the truncated forms apoE4–229 and apoE4–259 at doses of 2 × 109 pfu, or 4 × 109 pfu, resulted in a 90% reduction in the cholesterol levels of E−/− mice, without affecting plasma triglyceride levels. The triglyceride secretion of mice infected with apoE4 was increased 2.7‐fold compared with that of mice infected with apoE4–259. The apoE truncations did not influence apoE secretion by cells and association with VLDL. The levels of apoE4 and apoE4–229 and apoE4–259 mRNA in the livers of infected animals were similar. The findings suggest that the amino‐terminal 1–229 region of apoE4 contains the domains required for the association of apoE with lipoproteins and their subsequent clearance via apoE‐recognizing receptors. Furthermore, the carboxy‐terminal 260–299 residues of apoE contribute to the apoE‐induced hypertriglyceridemia. Thus, truncated forms of apoE may find useful future application in gene therapy for correction of high cholesterol profiles without triggering hypertriglyceridemia.
Inter‐oceanic variation in patterns of host‐associated divergence in a seabird ectoparasite

Aim Parasites with global distributions and wide host spectra provide excellent models for exploring the factors that drive parasite diversification. Here, we tested the relative force of host and geography in shaping population structure of a widely distributed and common ectoparasite of colonial seabirds, the tick Ixodes uriae.
Analytical modeling of manufacturing tolerances for surface mounted permanent magnet synchronous machines

No production process of electrical machines is ideal. During the process, various stochastic manufacturing deviations can occur. Common tolerances are for example static or dynamic rotor eccentricities, asymmetric stator teeth if segmented sheets are used or - for electrical machines with permanent magnets (PMs) - a variable magnetic behavior caused by material or due to the magnetization process. Manufacturing tolerances can affect the acoustic emission of an electrical machine significantly. To estimate the influence of tolerances in an early design stage of an electrical machine, an analytical approach based on conformal mapping (CM) is presented here to model manufacturing tolerances for surface mounted permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) and calculate the tolerances' impact on radial force densities in an acceptable computational time.
Microglial Cells in Culture Express a Prominent Glutathione System for the Defense against Reactive Oxygen Species

To obtain information on the glutathione metabolism of microglial cells, the content of glutathione and activities of enzymes involved in the defense against peroxides were determined for microglia-rich cultures from rat brain. These cultures contain approximately 90% microglia cells as determined by immunocytochemical staining for glial markers, by the phagocytosis activity of the cells and by the production of superoxide after stimulation of the cells with phorbolester. For these cultures, a glutathione content of 41.2 ± 11.2 nmol/mg protein and a specific activity of glutathione reductase of 15.2 ± 3.2 nmol/(min × mg protein) were determined. These values are significantly higher than those found for astroglial or neuronal cultures. In addition, with 68.7 ± 23.5 nmol/(min × mg protein), the specific activity of glutathione peroxidase in microglial cultures was 78% higher than in cultured neurons. The specific catalase activity of microglial cultures was less than 40% that of astroglial or neuronal cultures. Microglial cultures contain only marginal amounts of oxidized glutathione. However, on application of oxidative stress by incubation of microglial cultures with hydrogen peroxide or with the superoxide-producing hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase system, cellular glutathione was rapidly oxidized. These results demonstrate that microglial cells have a prominent glutathione system, which is likely to reflect the necessity for self-protection against reactive oxygen species when produced by these or surrounding brain cells.
accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health

Robert M. Douglas, Karen Bowden, Jennifer Pattison, Alexander B. Peterson, Joseph Juliano, Nancy D. Dalton, Yusu Gu, Erika Alvarez, Toshihiro Imamura, Kirk L. Peterson, Joseph L. Witztum,* Gabriel G. Haddad,* and Andrew C. Li* Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, Department of Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, and Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, and Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, California
Genome Sequence of OXA-48 Carbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae KpO3210

ABSTRACT Klebsiella pneumoniae KpO3210 is a OXA-48 carbapenemase-producing isolate obtained from a blood culture in the context of an outbreak in Hospital Universitario La Paz (Madrid, Spain) in 2010. It belongs to the major clone detected during the outbreak and is resistant to all beta-lactams and to several other antibiotics.
Subtypes of substance dependence and abuse: implications for diagnostic classification and empirical research.

AIMS To evaluate the relevance of a form of diagnostic classification called clinical subtyping in relation to possible revisions in the diagnostic criteria for substance abuse and dependence in psychiatric classification systems. METHODS A general rationale for subtyping is presented. To explore the implications for diagnostic classification, recent research on a variety of subtyping schemes is reviewed in terms of the development of new subtypes and the validation of established theories. RESULTS Subtypes of alcoholism and other psychiatric disorders have been proposed since the beginning of modern psychiatry. Recent subtyping research suggests that no consensus has emerged about the nature, much less the number, of subtypes that could be used to characterize the clinical heterogeneity assumed to be present in groups of people with substance use disorders. Although several relatively simple binary typologies have been developed (e.g. Cloninger's type I and type II; Babor et al.'s type A and type B), validation research has produced mixed results in terms of the construct, concurrent and predictive validity of these classifications. CONCLUSIONS The adoption of a subtyping scheme in the major psychiatric classification systems is not recommended until further international research is conducted.
Design of an ultra-compact dual-band bandpass filter with CRLH resonator

An ultra-compact dual-band bandpass filter (BPF) with coupled novel composite-right/left-handed (CRLH) resonators is presented. The proposed CRLH resonator is constructed by a serial interdigital capacitor and a short-ended meander line, which have the advantages of small size and more flexible resonant frequency allocation. The proposed filter has been simulated, fabricated and measured. The dual-band BPF achieves the fractional bandwidth approximately 12.7% at the first center frequency 0.95 GHz and 9.2% at the second center frequency 3.12GHz, the return loss is greater than 10 dB in passband, with an ultra-compact size as small as 0. 11λg×0. 059λg, λg is the guided wavelength at the center frequency of the first passband.
Direct exposure at the air–liquid interface: evaluation of an in vitro approach for simulating inhalation of airborne substances

In toxicology, the strategies for testing the hazardous potential of substances are changing as a result of the ongoing progress in the development of in vitro methods and the demand of the authorities to reduce animal testing. Even in the complex field of inhalation toxicology with its high requirements on the technical implementation and cell culture models, the preconditions for using such methods are fulfilled. We here introduce a sophisticated technique that enables the stable and reproducible exposure of cultivated cells to airborne substances at the air–liquid interface by means of the CULTEX® Radial Flow System (RFS) module. The feasibility and suitability of the experimental setup is demonstrated by dose‐response investigations of mainstream cigarette smoke and particulate matter of four substances in different lung epithelial cell lines. A dose‐dependent cytotoxcity of the test substances was verified by applying different exposure times. The high reproducibility of the results indicate the reliability of the presented method and recommend the integration of such in vitro approaches in the field of inhalation toxicology by advancing their regulatory validation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Zoledronic acid prevents cancer treatment-induced bone loss in premenopausal women receiving adjuvant endocrine therapy for hormone-responsive breast cancer: a report from the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group.

PURPOSE Adjuvant therapy for breast cancer can be associated with decreased bone mineral density (BMD) that may lead to skeletal morbidity. This study examined whether zoledronic acid can prevent bone loss associated with adjuvant endocrine therapy in premenopausal patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS This study is a randomized, open-label, phase III, four-arm trial comparing tamoxifen (20 mg/d orally) and goserelin (3.6 mg every 28 days subcutaneously) +/- zoledronic acid (4 mg intravenously every 6 months) versus anastrozole (1 mg/d orally) and goserelin +/- zoledronic acid for 3 years in premenopausal women with hormone-responsive breast cancer. In a BMD subprotocol at three trial centers, patients underwent serial BMD measurements at 0, 6, 12, 24, and 36 months. RESULTS Four hundred one patients were included in the BMD subprotocol. Endocrine treatment without zoledronic acid led to significant (P < .001) overall bone loss after 3 years of treatment (BMD, -14.4% after 36 months; mean T score reduction, -1.4). Overall bone loss was significantly more severe in patients receiving anastrozole/goserelin (BMD, -17.3%; mean T score reduction, -2.6) compared with patients receiving tamoxifen/goserelin (BMD, -11.6%; mean T score reduction, -1.1). In contrast, BMD remained stable in zoledronic acid-treated patients (P < .0001 compared with endocrine therapy alone). No interactions with age or other risk factors were noted. CONCLUSION Endocrine therapy caused significant bone loss that increased with treatment duration in premenopausal women with breast cancer. Zoledronic acid 4 mg every 6 months effectively inhibited bone loss. Regular BMD measurements and initiation of concomitant bisphosphonate therapy on evidence of bone loss should be considered for patients undergoing endocrine therapy.
Histological Studies Of The Effects Of Oral Administration Of Artesunate On The Lateral Geniculate Body Of Adult Wistar Rats

The histological effect of oral administration of artesunate commonly used for the treatment of Malaria on one of the visual relay centres namely the lateral geniculate body (LGB) of adult Wistar rat was carefully studied. The rats of both sexes (n=24), average weight of 210g were randomly assigned into three treatment (n=18) and control (n=6) groups. The rats in the treatment group ‘A’ received 4mg/kg body weight of artesunate base dissolved in distilled water daily for 3 days, through orogastric tube. The animals in groups ‘B’ and ‘C’ received 4mg/kg body weight of artesunate base dissolved in distilled water for the first day and thereafter received 2mg/kg body weight daily for six and thirteen days through the same route respectively, while that of the control group D, received equal volume of distilled water daily during the period of the experiment. The rats were fed with growers’ mash obtained from Edo Feeds and Flour Mill Ltd, Ewu, Edo State, Nigeria and were given water liberally. The rats were sacrificed on day four, eight and fifteen of the experiment. The lateral geniculate body (LGB) was carefully dissected out and quickly fixed in 10% formal saline for histological studies. The histological findings after H&E method indicated that the treated section of the lateral geniculate body (LGB) showed some varying degree of reduced cellular population based on its sparse distribution, degenerative changes, cellular hypertrophy, and intercellular vacuolations appearing in the stroma. Varying dosage and long administration of artesunate may have some deleterious effects on the neurons of the intracranial visual relay centre and this may probably have some adverse effects on visual sensibilities by its deleterious effects on the cells of the lateral geniculate body (LGB) of adult Wistar rats. It is therefore recommended that further studies aimed at corroborating these observations be carried out. Key words: Artesunate, lateral geniculate body (LGB), decreased cellular population, cellular hypertrophy, vacuolations and Wistar rats.
Linear Submodular Bandits with a Knapsack Constraint

Linear submodular bandits has been proven to be effective in solving the diversification and feature-based exploration problems in retrieval systems. Concurrently, many web-based applications, such as news article recommendation and online ad placement, can be modeled as budget-limited problems. However, the diversification problem under a budget constraint has not been considered. In this paper, we first introduce the budget constraint to linear submodular bandits as a new problem called the linear submodular bandits with a knapsack constraint. We then define an alpha-approximation unit-cost regret considering that submodular function maximization is NP-hard. To solve this problem, we propose two greedy algorithms based on a modified UCB rule. We then prove these two algorithms with different regret bounds and computational costs. We also conduct a number of experiments and the experimental results confirm our theoretical analyses.