Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of vertical coordination in buyer-seller relations: Exploratory findings from a developing economy

This study aims at understanding determinants of vertical coordination for firms in developing economies by conducting exploratory study in Tanzania. The study is centred on business - to business buyer -seller relations. Primary data were collected from buying side of the relationship. The main supplier of each firm was identified and used for answering the questionnaire.Findings suggest contractual flexibility to have higher significant positive effect in determining vertical coordination. The interaction effect between buyer asset specificity and contractual flexibility was also significant, while asset specificity by itself was not found to be significant. These prelimenary findings suggest the strength of vertical coordination relies to extent onwhether parties in relationship agree to be flexible in their contracts.
Prosociality in Palliative Nurses : Psychometric Evaluation of the Prosociality Scale

Aim—The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a prosociality scale within the palliative nursing context, and then examine the impact of prosocial behaviour in relation to job and educational satisfaction among palliative nurses. Methods—An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in 25 Italian palliative care centres, with a total of 107 nurses completing the prosociality scale by Caprara et al (2005). Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses were examined to evaluate a multi-dimensional model of prosociality. Results—A three-factor solution with a second order factor fitted the data well. The three dimensions extracted were labelled as helping, empathy, and sharing. Participants reported high levels of prosociality. In addition, prosociality was positively associated with job and educational satisfaction. Conclusions— The prosociality scale was valid and reliable when tested with palliative nurses. Although prosociality may be embedded in nurses' personalities, this quality should be actively promoted in order to expand and improve the culture and the ethics of nursing.
A design approach for event-driven optimization in complex air conditioning systems

Air conditioning (AC) systems take up the major proportion of total building energy consumption. While online optimal control is regarded as an efficient tool to improve the operating efficiency of AC systems, traditional online optimal control schemes utilize a so-called time-driven optimization (TDO) scheme. Although it works well for simple AC systems, several limitations are encountered when systems become more and more complex. TDO is basically a periodic scheme, which may lead to inefficient actions (e.g. delayed or unnecessary actions) in response to aperiodic or stochastic operational changes. TDO is also not efficient in balancing the optimization performance and computing load. Recently, an event-driven optimization (EDO) scheme has been proposed to solve these limitations. However, as the EDO in the building sector is quite a new topic, the corresponding EDO design methodology remains blank. Thus, this paper presents a feasible design methodology for EDO. The effectiveness of the design methodology is validated by the case study of a commercial AC system. Results show that the EDO (with optimized events) achieves better computational efficiency without sacrificing energy performance compared with the conventional TDO.
A Study of Lipid Profile in Chronic Renal Disease with Special Reference to LP ( a )

Chronic renal disease combined with abnormal lipid profile causes cardiovascular disease on other side Lipoprotein(a) is risk factor for atherosclerosis. The study includes 50 control group and 50 are cases in both the groups blood urea, Serum creatinine, serum triglyceride, serum total cholesterol, High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C) were analyzed, while Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C) was calculated by using Frieldwald formula . Lp (a) is estimated by using Latex DAIICHI kit method. The serum levels of Triacylglycerols, Total Cholesterol and LDL Cholesterol were raised as compared to corresponding values in Control group. The serum level of HDL cholesterol in the present study was significantly as compared to Control group. Therefore as observed in the present study there is dyslipidemia associated with chronic renal failure. This dyslipidemia needs prompt attention and measures for rectification to prevent or delay atherosclerotic complications of chronic renal failure.
Localization of Tampering Created with Facebook Images by Analyzing Block Factor Histogram Voting

Facebook images get distributed within a fraction of a second, which hackers may tamper and redistribute on cyberspace. JPEG fingerprint based tampering detection techniques have major scope in tampering localization within standard JPEG images. The majority of these algorithms fails to detect tampering created using Facebook images. Facebook utilizes down-sampling followed by compression, which makes difficult to locate tampering created with these images. In this paper, the authors have proposed the tampering localization algorithm, which locates tampering created with the images downloaded from Facebook. The algorithm uses Factor Histogram of DCT coefficients at first 15 modes to find primary quantization steps. The image is divided into BXB overlapping blocks and each block is processed individually. Votes cast by these modes for conceivable tampering are collected at every pixel position and the ones above threshold are used to form different regions. High density voted region is proclaimed as tampered region.
Breath-to-breath variability of exhaled CO2 as a marker of lung dysmaturity in infancy.

The concept of diffusional screening implies that breath-to-breath variations in CO2 clearance, when related to the variability of breathing, may contain information on the quality and utilization of the available alveolar surface. We explored the validity of the above hypothesis in a cohort of young infants of comparable postmenstrual age but born at different stages of lung maturity, namely, in term-born infants ( n = 128), preterm-born infants without chronic lung disease of infancy (CLDI; n = 53), and preterm infants with moderate/severe CLDI ( n = 87). Exhaled CO2 volume (VE,CO2) and concentration (FE,CO2) were determined by volumetric capnography, whereas their variance was assessed by linear and nonlinear variability metrics. The relationship between relative breath-to-breath change of VE,CO2 (ΔVE,CO2) and the corresponding change of tidal volume (ΔVT) was also analyzed. Nonlinear FE,CO2 variability was lower in CLDI compared with term and non-CLDI preterm group ( P < 0.001 for both comparisons). In CLDI infants, most of the VE,CO2 variability was attributed to the variability of VT ( r2 = 0.749), whereas in term and healthy preterm infants this relationship was weaker ( r2 = 0.507 and 0.630, respectively). The ΔVE,CO2 - ΔVT slope was less steep in the CLDI group (1.06 ± 0.07) compared with non-CLDI preterm (1.16 ± 0.07; P < 0.001) and term infants (1.20 ± 0.10; P < 0.001), suggesting that the more dysmature the infant lung, the less efficiently it eliminates CO2 under tidal breathing conditions. We conclude that the temporal variation of CO2 clearance may be related to the degree of lung dysmaturity in early infancy. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Young infants exhibit appreciable breath-to-breath CO2 variability that can be quantified by nonlinear variability metrics and may reflect the degree of lung dysmaturity. In infants with moderate/severe chronic lung disease of infancy (CLDI), the variability of the exhaled CO2 is mainly driven by the variability of breathing, whereas in term-born and healthy preterm infants this relationship is less strong. The slope of the relative CO2-to-volume change is less steep in CLDI infants, suggesting that dysmature lungs are less efficient in eliminating CO2 under tidal breathing conditions.
Inhibition of Oxygen Evolution by Cacalol and Its Derivatives

Abstract The inhibition of ATP synthesis, proton uptake and electron transport (basal, phosphory-lating and uncoupled) from water to methylviologen indicates that cacalol and its derivatives act as electron transport inhibitors. Since on one hand photosystem I is not affected and electron transport from DPC to QA is midly affected and on the other hand the electron transport from water to DCIP, and water to silicomolibdate are inhibited, we conclude that the site of inhibition of cacalol is located at the oxygen evolution level. Cacalol derivatives inhibit electron flow between P680 to QA and probably also the QB site.
A Haplotype Associated with Enhanced Mineralocorticoid Receptor Expression Facilitates the Stress-Induced Shift from “Cognitive” to “Habit” Learning

Abstract Stress induces a shift from hippocampus-dependent “cognitive” toward dorsal striatum-dependent “habit” memory. However, not all individuals are susceptible to this shift under stress. Based on pharmacological studies indicating a critical role of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) in the stress-induced bias toward dorsal striatal learning, we hypothesized that MR gene variants contribute to these individual differences. In two experiments, healthy participants were genotyped, exposed to a stressor or control manipulation and performed a learning task that can be solved using hippocampal or dorsal striatal systems, while electroencephalography (EEG; Experiment I) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI; Experiment II) measurements were taken. Stress led to a shift from hippocampal to dorsal striatal learning which was more pronounced in homo- and heterozygous carriers of a six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)-comprising haplotype containing the alleles of two MR SNPs associated with increased MR expression and transactivational activity (MR-2G/C C [rs2070951], MR-I180V A [rs5522]). This stress-induced shift toward habit memory was paralleled by an increased feedback-related negativity (FRN), which may reflect striatal processing, and increased caudate activation. Carriers of the MR haplotype showed a reduced P3a, an event-related potential thought to indicate cognitive processing, and reduced hippocampal activity after stress. Moreover, stress resulted in reduced amygdala-hippocampus connectivity and the decrease in amygdala connectivity to the parahippocampal cortex was particularly pronounced in MR haplotype carriers. Our findings indicate that genetic variants associated with enhanced MR expression facilitate a stress-induced shift from hippocampal toward dorsal striatal learning, most likely via impaired hippocampal processing and reduced amygdala-hippocampus cross talk, allowing the dorsal striatum to guide behavior under stress.
Comparative Performance Evaluation of TCP Variants in WiMAX (and WLANs) Network Configurations

An important application for the IEEE 802.16 technology (also called WiMAX) is to provide high-speed access to the Internet where the transmission control protocol (TCP) is the core transport protocol. In this paper we study through extensive simulation scenarios the performance characteristics of five representative TCP schemes, namely, TCP New Reno, Vegas, Veno, Westwood, and BIC, in WiMAX (and WLANs) networks, under the conditions of correlated wireless errors, asymmetric end-to-end capabilities, and link congestion. The target is to evaluate how the above conditions would affect the TCP congestion control and suggest the best schemes to be employed in WiMAX networks.
Fabrication of a reticular poly(lactide-co-glycolide) cylindrical scaffold for the in vitro development of microvascular networks

Abstract The microvascular network is a simple but critical system that is responsible for a range of important biological mechanisms in the bodies of all animals. The ability to generate a functional microvessel not only makes it possible to engineer vital tissue of considerable size but also serves as a platform for biomedical studies. However, most of the current methods for generating microvessel networks in vitro use rectangular channels which cannot represent real vessels in vivo and have dead zones at their corners, hence hindering the circulation of culture medium. We propose a scaffold-wrapping method which enables fabrication of a customized microvascular network in vitro in a more biomimetic way. By integrating microelectromechanical techniques with thermal reflow, we designed and fabricated a microscale hemi-cylindrical photoresist template. A replica mold of polydimethylsiloxane, produced by casting, was then used to generate cylindrical scaffolds with biodegradable poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA). Human umbilical vein endothelial cells were seeded on both sides of the PLGA scaffold and cultured using a traditional approach. The expression of endothelial cell marker CD31 and intercellular junction vascular endothelial cadherin on the cultured cell demonstrated the potential of generating a microvascular network with a degradable cylindrical scaffold. Our method allows cells to be cultured on a scaffold using a conventional culture approach and monitors cell conditions continuously. We hope our cell-covered scaffold can serve as a framework for building large tissues or can be used as the core of a vascular chip for in vitro circulation studies.
Gender and Nationalism: Acadians, Quebecois, and Irish in New Brunswick Nineteenth-Century Colleges and Convent Schools, 1854-1888

Fides, 1978); Serge Gagnon, “Le Collège-de-Sainte-Anne au temps de l’abbé Francois Pilote: les conflits du personnel enseignant,” Thèse de Diplome d’études superieures, Laval, 1968; Pierre Trépanier, “Une synthèse sur les Collèges Classiques au Canada Française,” Action Nationale, 69, 3 (1979), 21625; Micheline Dumont-Johnson “Les communautés religieuses et la condition feminine,” Recherches sociographique, 1978, 79-93; Marguerite Jean, L’évolution des communautés religieuses de femmes au Canada de 1630 à nos jours (Montréal: Fides, 1979); Marta Danylewycz, “Changing Relationships, Nuns and Feminists in Montreal, 1890-1925,” Histoire sociale/Social History, 14, 28 (Nov. 1981), 413-34, and Taking the Veil: an Alternative to Marriage, Motherhood and Spinsterhood in Quebec, 1840-1920 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1987). Jesse Palsetia, The Parsis of India: Preservation of Identity in Bombay 2
Comparison Between Salivary and GCF Myeloperoxidase in Periodontal Disease Screening Effect

Doosadee Hormdee1,2*, Ponlatham Chaiyarit2,3, Amonrujee Kampichai4 and Patcharee Boonsiri5 1Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand 2Research Group of Chronic Inflammatory Oral Disease and Systemic Disease Associated with Oral Health, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand 3Department of Oral Diagnosis, Faculty of Dentistry, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand 4Department of Dental Clinic, Fang Hospital, Fang District, Chiang Mai, Thailand 5Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Surface modification of polypyrrole/biopolymer composites for controlled protein and cellular adhesion

The ability to control the interaction between proteins and cells with biomaterials is critical for the effective application of materials for a variety of biomedical applications. Herein, the surface modification of the biological dopant dextran sulphate-doped polypyrrole (PPy-DS) with poly(ethylene glycol) to generate a biomaterial interface that is highly resistant to protein and cellular adhesion is described. Thiolated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-thiol) was covalently bound to PPy-DS backbone via a thiol-ene reaction. The surface resistance to an extracellular matrix protein fibronectin increased with increasing molecular weight and concentration of PEG-thiol, and was further optimised via increasing the reaction temperature and the pH of the reactant aqueous solution. Optimised surface modification conditions substantially reduced interfacial protein adsorption, with the complete inhibition of adhesion and colonisation by primary mouse myoblasts. PEG-thiol-modified inherently conducting polymers are highly protein resistant multifunctional materials that are promising compounds for a range of biomedical and aquatic applications.
ORGANIC REQUIREMENTS AND SYNTHETIC MEDIA FOR GROWTH OF THE MYXOMYCETE PHYSARUM POLYCEPHALUM

Daniel, John W. (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Karlee L. Babcock, Alice H. Sievert, and Harold P. Rusch. Organic requirements and synthetic media for growth of the myxomycete Physarum polycephalum. J. Bacteriol. 86:324–331. 1963. —An isolate of Physarum polycephalum was maintained in submersed pure culture in a completely defined medium, giving cell yields approximately 70% of those obtained in a partially defined medium. Optimal concentrations of the absolute organic requirements, identified as d- or l-methionine, biotin, thiamine, and hematin as previously reported, were established. Glycine was highly stimulatory. In a minimal medium, alanine or glutamine, not required in the complete medium, stimulated growth and appeared to function as sources for transamination. Arginine was also required in the minimal medium. The cell yield in a simplified medium containing the absolute requirements plus glycine, alanine, and arginine was approximately the same as that in the complete medium, but the growth rate was about 25% lower.
Pole-restraining observer — A novel observer approach for power-electronic systems

Linear design methods for state-quantity observers are used dominantly for power-electronic systems. The main reasons are the problems related to advanced approaches — namely complexity and the high time effort of the necessary stability prove and the design process. In observer and control design, the special characteristics of power-electronic systems are often neglected. The robustness and the quality — especially of the state estimations of the observer — can be improved by the pole-restraining observer (PRO) approach. In this paper, the novel approach is introduced and the mathematical background is given. The approach is applied to a single-phase converter. Simulation results illustrate the quality of the resulting estimated signals.
Dielectrophoresis-based liposome delivery to a planar lipid membrane for efficient membrane protein reconstitution

This work presents a strategy that realizes efficient incorporation of membrane proteins in liposomes into a planar bilayer lipid membrane by using dielectrophoretic (DEP) force. The device consists of a chamber and a channel separated by a µm-sized aperture that suspends a planar bilayer membrane. Applying an AC electric field across the membrane, the DEP force concentrates at the bilayer area therefore attracts the liposomes. We also observed fusion of liposomes autonomously occurs into the lipid membrane under the DEP effect. This DEP-based fusion method will be highly applicable to membrane protein study.
Comparative effectiveness of sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors for controlling hyperglycaemia in patients with type 2 diabetes: protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis

Introduction As a new class of glucose-lowering drugs, sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are effective for controlling hyperglycaemia, however, the relative effectiveness and safety of 6 recently available SGLT2 inhibitors have rarely been studied. Therefore, we aim to perform pairwise comparisons of the 6 SGLT2 inhibitors. Methods and analysis A systematic review and network meta-analysis will be conducted. Clinical studies that examine effectiveness and safety of either canagliﬂozin, dapagliﬂozin, empagliﬂozin, ipragliflozin, tofogliflozin or luseogliflozin will be included. These studies will be systematically retrieved in MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library, from inception to November 2015. Two reviewers will independently screen for eligible studies and then extract data from the studies as well as assess risk of bias. Discrepancies in screening and data extraction will be arbitrated by a third reviewer. A traditional meta-analysis will be performed to combine the effect sizes calculated from head-to-head comparisons with a random effect model. The effect sizes computed from indirect comparisons will be further combined in a network meta-analysis. Heterogeneity will be tested with the Cochrane's Q statistic, and publication bias will be assessed using a funnel plot and the Egger's test. Ethics and dissemination Relative effectiveness and harms of the 6 SGLT2 inhibitors will be demonstrated through this systematic review and network meta-analysis. The result of the review will be disseminated through a peer-review journal and conference presentations. Patients, clinicians and policymakers will benefit from this review in selecting a SGLT2 inhibitor for glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes. Trial registration number PROSPERO CRD42015025981.
Using NFC-enabled phones for remote data acquisition and digital control

An approach is discussed to connect stand-alone devices to wireless services by adding Near Field Communication (NFC) capability to such devices. Research has shown that simple NFC interfaces can be built for the specific purpose of connecting to existing equipment that require regular monitoring or digital control. This fact can be exploited to enable wireless monitoring and control of both mobile and immobile equipment, using an NFC-enabled phone as a gateway between a back-end terminal and NFC-enabled equipment. Various wireless protocols for the back-end connection are discussed and compared, as well as a brief look at the current state of NFC phones in the industry. The approach discussed in this paper proves to be a viable alternative in terms of the time it saves in comparison with manual methods of data acquisition and digital system control, whilst being a very simple and inexpensive solution. Such an approach is especially advantageous in systems where monitored equipment need to be mobile and where power consumption is an important consideration.
The impact of patients' awareness of disease status on treatment preferences and quality of life among patients with metastatic cancer: a systematic review from 1997-2014.

INTRODUCTION Advances in cancer treatment present challenges to patients with metastatic cancer who have to make treatment decisions in the face of newer and more effective treatments. Patients' awareness of disease status has been an important factor in making treatment choices. We conducted a systematic review of the published literature from 1997-2014 to evaluate the evidence of the impact of patients' awareness of disease status on treatment preferences and quality of life among patients with metastatic cancer. METHODS Nine major electronic databases were searched and 490 articles were retrieved; 15 met inclusion criteria. An established quality assessment tool was used to assess the quality of the included studies. RESULTS The overall quality of the included 15 quantitative studies was adequate. A critical limitation of current literature is the lack of consistent conceptual or operational definitions for the concept of patients' awareness of disease status. The included studies conceptualized patients' awareness of disease status either as being informed or understanding one's disease prognosis. Significantly more patients who were aware of their disease status were less likely to choose life-extending treatment or measures. Mixed findings were shown regarding the impacts of patients' awareness of disease status on quality of life. Absence of qualitative studies limited the review's ability to critically synthesize the concept of awareness of disease status. Well-designed qualitative studies are needed to shed light on the conceptualization and operationalization of the concept to better capture the impact of patients' awareness of disease status on treatment preferences and quality of life.