Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enabling Institutional Investors’ Collective Action

This article analyzes the process of organizing collective action by studying the role of the organizational platform provided by the United Nations–backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) initiative in supporting institutional investors’ collaborative engagement with corporations on environmental, social, and governance issues. The authors combine stakeholder and collective action theory to explain how institutional investors influence corporations through collective engagement. A unique access to data from the PRI secretariat on two cases of collaborative campaigns allows evaluation of our framework. The findings clarify how investors enhance their sources of power, legitimacy, and urgency and attract managers’ attention through collaborative engagement, and show how they manage these attributes to reshape the legitimacy and urgency of their claims in the eyes of managers. Our data suggest that “enabling organizations” such as the PRI initiative facilitate the emergence of collective action by lowering barriers to entry and providing a mobilizing structure, support collaborative efforts by adding their own legitimacy, normative power, and persistence to the collaborative engagement, and create conditions for a lasting dialogue between investors and managers by providing a hybrid organizational space.
Apoptosis in Lung Development and Neonatal Lung Injury

A healthy organism maintains an integrated balance between proliferating, differentiating, and dying cells. Some cells are irreplaceable, some cells complete their functions and are then sacrificed, and some cells live a finite lifetime, to be replaced by another generation. Apoptosis is the last phase of a cell's destiny and a distinct form of programmed cell death. It is characterized by loss of cell function and rapid morphological changes, culminating in cell death without inflammation. Apoptosis has been found to play an important role in the normal regulation of organogenesis and morphogenesis during development. Apoptosis is a fundamental feature in the development of many tissue systems, including the immune and nervous systems, as well as in the development of the kidneys and heart. The significance of apoptosis in lung development has been largely overlooked. Physical forces during development may play a role in directing apoptosis in remodeling the lung. This review summarizes current knowledge regarding apoptosis during lung development, with a particular emphasis on the potential role of mechanpotransduction as a stimulus for apoptosis.
Structural and Functional Analysis of VQ Motif-Containing Proteins in Arabidopsis as Interacting Proteins of WRKY Transcription Factors 1 [ W ] [ OA ]

WRKY transcription factors are encoded by a large gene superfamily with a broad range of roles in plants. Recently, several groups have reported that proteins containing a short VQ (FxxxVQxLTG) motif interact with WRKY proteins. We have recently discovered that two VQ proteins from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), SIGMA FACTOR-INTERACTING PROTEIN1 and SIGMA FACTOR-INTERACTING PROTEIN2, act as coactivators of WRKY33 in plant defense by specifically recognizing the C-terminal WRKY domain and stimulating the DNA-binding activity of WRKY33. In this study, we have analyzed the entire family of 34 structurally divergent VQ proteins from Arabidopsis. Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) two-hybrid assays showed that Arabidopsis VQ proteins interacted specifically with the C-terminal WRKY domains of group I and the sole WRKY domains of group IIc WRKY proteins. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we identified structural features of these two closely related groups of WRKY domains that are critical for interaction with VQ proteins. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction revealed that expression of a majority of Arabidopsis VQ genes was responsive to pathogen infection and salicylic acid treatment. Functional analysis using both knockout mutants and overexpression lines revealed strong phenotypes in growth, development, and susceptibility to pathogen infection. Altered phenotypes were substantially enhanced through cooverexpression of genes encoding interacting VQ and WRKY proteins. These findings indicate that VQ proteins play an important role in plant growth, development, and response to environmental conditions, most likely by acting as cofactors of group I and IIc WRKY transcription factors.
The evolution of generalization? Parasitoid flies and the perils of inferring host range evolution from phylogenies

It is widely assumed that high resource specificity predisposes lineages toward greater likelihood of extinction and lower likelihood of diversification than more generalized lineages. This suggests that host range evolution in parasitic organisms should proceed from generalist to specialist, and specialist lineages should be found at the ‘tips’ of phylogenies. To test these hypotheses, parsimony and maximum likelihood methods were used to reconstruct the evolution of host range on a phylogeny of parasitoid flies in the family Tachinidae. In contrast to predictions, most reconstructions indicated that generalists were repeatedly derived from specialist lineages and tended to occupy terminal branches of the phylogeny. These results are critically examined with respect to hypotheses concerning the evolution of specialization, the inherent difficulties in inferring host ranges, our knowledge of tachinid‐host associations, and the methodological problems associated with ancestral character state reconstruction. Both parsimony and likelihood reconstructions are shown to provide misleading results and it is argued that independent evidence, in addition to phylogenetic trees, is needed to inform models of the evolution of host range and the evolutionary consequences of specialization.
A Novel Quasi-Z-Source Inverter Topology With Special Coupled Inductors for Input Current Ripples Cancellation

This paper proposes an inductors coupling technique to cancel input current ripples of a quasi-Z-source inverter (ZSI) without adding any additional components. The source input filter thus might be suppressed. This remains valid whatever the boost factor value. This cancellation property is made possible by a suitable coupling of the two existing quasi-Z-source inductors according to mathematical condition. The considered system in this paper is an electric drive system composed of a motor fed by the proposed coupled quasi-ZSI. An experimental prototype to validate both the theoretical and simulation analyses has been developed. The results have validated the proposed coupling strategy and show that it does not degrade the global efficiency of the system.
Introduction to the special issue: integrating sustainability in business models

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce this special issue, conceptualized and realized by a group of scholars engaged in the Global Organizational Learning and Development Network (GOLDEN) for Sustainability programme. It aims to adopt the overarching research question of the GOLDEN research programme “How do firms learn to integrate and manage sustainability in their business models, including their organizational purpose, strategy, processes, systems and culture? ” as the guiding principle for case selection.Design/methodology/approach – The paper first presents the key ideas underpinning the previous research question and illustrates the research approach and agenda of GOLDEN for Sustainability. Second, it introduces the eight case studies presented in this special issue.Findings – The cases offer good illustrations of the ongoing transition by both medium‐sized and multinational corporations dealing with learning and change challenges posed by the identification and management of sustainab.
Technologies and Tools for Distributed Teams

Software development today is typically a team effort with team members in different geographical places. You might regret that teamwork isn't what it used to be, but you also might want to look toward technologies and tools that support distributed teamwork. Authors Javier Portillo Rodriguez, Aurora Vizcaino, and I provide an overview of such technologies with many tools examples, starting with technologies such as Jazz and then showing how users can orchestrate individual tools in a distributed context.
The art of benchmarking: Picasso prints and auction house performance

The influence of the auction house on the price of comparable art objects is an issue in the economics of arts literature. The standard approach has been to run hedonic price regressions including the auction house as a dummy variable. The approach in this paper is to apply benchmarking tools developed in the efficiency and productivity literature directly to the auction house as a unit. New performance indices are developed based on a DEA benchmarking technique to analyse auction houses. The new indices discriminate well between auction houses by allowing one to identify both contemporaneous and inter-temporal performances. Additional best performance results are obtained for specific attributes.
Ecological and evolutionary significance of genomic GC content diversity in monocots

Significance Our large-scale survey of genomic nucleotide composition across monocots has enabled the first rigorous testing, to our knowledge, of its biological significance in plants. We show that genomic DNA base composition (GC content) is significantly associated with genome size and holocentric chromosomal structure. GC content may also have deep ecological relevance, because changes in GC content may have played a significant role in the evolution of Earth’s biota, especially the rise of grass-dominated biomes during the mid-Tertiary. The discovery of several groups with very unusual GC contents highlights the need for in-depth analysis to uncover the full extent of genomic diversity. Furthermore, our stratified sampling method of distribution data and quantile regression-like logic of phylogenetic analyses may find wider applications in the analysis of spatially heterogeneous data. Genomic DNA base composition (GC content) is predicted to significantly affect genome functioning and species ecology. Although several hypotheses have been put forward to address the biological impact of GC content variation in microbial and vertebrate organisms, the biological significance of GC content diversity in plants remains unclear because of a lack of sufficiently robust genomic data. Using flow cytometry, we report genomic GC contents for 239 species representing 70 of 78 monocot families and compare them with genomic characters, a suite of life history traits and climatic niche data using phylogeny-based statistics. GC content of monocots varied between 33.6% and 48.9%, with several groups exceeding the GC content known for any other vascular plant group, highlighting their unusual genome architecture and organization. GC content showed a quadratic relationship with genome size, with the decreases in GC content in larger genomes possibly being a consequence of the higher biochemical costs of GC base synthesis. Dramatic decreases in GC content were observed in species with holocentric chromosomes, whereas increased GC content was documented in species able to grow in seasonally cold and/or dry climates, possibly indicating an advantage of GC-rich DNA during cell freezing and desiccation. We also show that genomic adaptations associated with changing GC content might have played a significant role in the evolution of the Earth’s contemporary biota, such as the rise of grass-dominated biomes during the mid-Tertiary. One of the major selective advantages of GC-rich DNA is hypothesized to be facilitating more complex gene regulation.
Adaptive force tracking impedance control of robot for cutting nonhomogeneous workpiece

This paper presents the feasibility study of an adaptive impedance force control application to deburring/milling process. The proposed control regulates desired force on nonhomogeneous workpiece in regardless of unknown location and stiffness of the workpiece. The adaptive technique of minimizing the force error between the desired and the actual force is used to compensate for uncertainties in unknown workpiece. Effect of selecting the impedance damping gain with different workpiece stiffness on force tracking is analytically determined. Analyzing the stability of the proposed adaptive force control yields the bound of the adaptive gain for stability. Simulation studies of deburring/milling process show the excellent force tracking and confirm stability bound for stable force tracking.
Incidence, aetiology and injury characteristics of traumatic spinal cord injury in Stockholm, Sweden: A prospective, population-based update.

OBJECTIVES To update the incidence rate, aetiology and injury characteristics of acutely-injured adults with traumatic spinal cord injury in Stockholm, Sweden, using international standards of reporting. STUDY DESIGN Prospective, (regional) population-based observation. SUBJECTS Forty-nine consecutively enrolled individuals. METHODS A surveillance system of newly-injured adults with traumatic spinal cord injury was implemented for an 18-month period. The International Spinal Cord Injury Core Data Set was used to collect data on those who survived the first 7 days post-injury. RESULTS After an 18-month period, 49 incident cases were registered, of whom 45 were included in this study. The crude incidence rate was 19.0 per million, consisting mainly of men (60%), and the mean age of the cohort was 55 years (median 58). Causes of injury were almost exclusively limited to falls and transport-related events, accounting for 58% and 40% of cases, respectively. The incidence has remained stable when compared with the previous study; however, significant differences exist for injury aetiology (p = 0.004) and impairment level (p = 0.01) in that more fall- and transport-related spinal cord injury occurred, and a larger proportion of persons was left with resultant tetraplegia, in the current study, compared with more sport-related injuries and those left with paraplegia in the previous study. CONCLUSION The incidence rate appeared to remain stable in Stockholm, Sweden. However, significant changes in injury aetiology and impairment-level post injury were found, compared with the previous study. There remains a need for developing fall-related prevention strategies in rehabilitation settings as well as in population-based programmes.
Assessment of physical fitness for occupations encompassing load-carriage tasks.

There is increasing anecdotal evidence that simple occupational tests of aerobic fitness impose a systematic bias against heavier personnel when predicting fitness for load-carrying tasks. This study tested the hypothesis that simple field tests of aerobic fitness are not good predictors of load-carrying performance and that personnel with greater body mass are more able to perform occupationally relevant load-carrying tasks. Twelve healthy male volunteers ran on a level treadmill at 9.5 km/h for 4 min, with (T18) and without (T0) an external backpack load of 18 kg. During each exercise period, steady-state oxygen uptake (VO(2)) was assessed. On a subsequent occasion (at least 7 days later), 11 of the subjects ran to exhaustion at 9.5 km/h whilst carrying the 18 kg external load (ETT18). There was a strong inverse linear relationship between relative VO(2) and body mass (r = -0.87, P < 0.01) and between VO(2) and lean body mass (r = -0.74, P < 0.01) during the T18 trials. Furthermore, there was a moderately strong relationship between exercise time (ETT18) and body mass (r = 0.69, P < 0.05) and between exercise time and lean body mass (r = 0.71, P < 0.05). There was no relationship between exercise tolerance time and VO(2) (r = 0.12). The results show that fitness tests that determine aerobic power in units relative to body mass (e.g. timed distance run) incur a systematic bias against heavier personnel. Such tests are therefore inappropriate when predicting the ability of personnel to work in occupations that encompass load-carrying tasks.
MRI and assessment of treatment in multiple sclerosis.

In an editorial commenting on a recent article on MRI evaluation of the effect of interferon beta-1b on the course of cerebral atrophy in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (Molyneux et al ., 2000), Professor Ebers has made a number of observations (Ebers, 2000). These relate both to the particular study and more generally to the role of MRI in monitoring treatment effects. He reiterates well-known limitations in the relationship between MRI measures and disability and suggests a cautious approach in the application of this tool to measure treatment effect. This is in accord with the majority of investigators with an interest in multiple sclerosis, clinical trials and MRI. Such an approach is emphasized in publications arising from international consensus meetings in recent years (Miller et al ., 1996, 1998). The editorial does, however, raise a number of points which merit further comment. First, the writer is puzzled that more long-term natural history studies have not been undertaken to correlate MRI with clinical …
FATP 1 Is an Insulin-Sensitive Fatty Acid Transporter Involved in Diet-Induced Obesity

FATP1 Is an Insulin-Sensitive Fatty Acid Transporter Involved in Diet-Induced Obesity Qiwei Wu, Angelica M. Ortegon, Bernice Tsang, Holger Doege, Kenneth R. Feingold, and Andreas Stahl* Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute, 795 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, California 94301; Division of GI/Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305; and Department of Veterans Affairs, 4150 Clement St., San Francisco, California 94121
Testing for Asymmetric Information in the Automobile Insurance Market Under Rate Regulation

This article examines whether adverse selection or moral hazard could be induced by rate regulation, which prohibits insurance companies from considering some attributes of drivers in setting premiums. Using an individual data set from a heavily regulated automobile insurance market, we arrived at several conclusions, as follows. First, no evidence of adverse selection or moral hazard is found in general: conditional on all the variables observed by insurer, the null hypothesis of independence between risk and coverage is not rejected at reasonable levels of statistical significance. Second, this result is robust in the sense that it holds under several empirical procedures and different definitions of risk and coverage. Third, we find that unobserved variables do not induce adverse selection: the null hypothesis that consumers in risky regions are more likely to purchase insurance is tested against the alternative and rejected. Our study supports the view that the adverse selection phenomenon exists only to a very limited extent in this market.
Do Chemical Peels Tighten the Skin?

Chemical peeling has been performed for over a century in dermatology and dermatologic surgery asaresurfacingmethodfor the softeningoreliminationof wrinkles, improving skin texture, eliminating precancers, lightening hyperpigmention, and improving depressed acne scarring. In the early 1980s, deep peeling was the first procedure to be marketed as a nonsurgical face-lift. Dermal peeling cannot be used on nonfacial areas in the same way as radio-frequency (RF) or microfocused ultrasound because of the risk of scarring in the areas lackingadnexa for skin reepithelialization.On facial skin, however, there is excellent evidence that blepharopeeling for the upper eyelids produces skin tightening.
Isotopic evidence for omnivory among European cave bears: Late Pleistocene Ursus spelaeus from the Peştera cu Oase, Romania

Previous bone collagen carbon and nitrogen isotopic studies of Late Pleistocene European cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) have shown that these bears frequently had low nitrogen isotope values, similar to those of herbivores and indicating either unusual physiology related to hibernation or a herbivorous diet. Isotopic analysis of animal bone from the Peştera cu Oase (Cave with Bones), Romania, shows that most of its cave bears had higher nitrogen isotope values than the associated herbivores and were, therefore, omnivorous. The Oase bears are securely identified as cave bears by both their morphology and DNA sequences. Although many cave bear populations may have behaved like herbivores, the Oase isotopic data demonstrate that cave bears were capable of altering their diets to become omnivores or even carnivores. These data therefore broaden the dietary profile of U. spelaeus and raise questions about the nature of the carnivore guild in Pleistocene Europe.
Hierarchical Information Fusion for Global Displacement Estimation in Microsensor Motion Capture

This paper presents a novel hierarchical information fusion algorithm to obtain human global displacement for different gait patterns, including walking, running, and hopping based on seven body-worn inertial and magnetic measurement units. In the first-level sensor fusion, the orientation for each segment is achieved by a complementary Kalman filter (CKF) which compensates for the orientation error of the inertial navigation system solution through its error state vector. For each foot segment, the displacement is also estimated by the CKF, and zero velocity update is included for the drift reduction in foot displacement estimation. Based on the segment orientations and left/right foot locations, two global displacement estimates can be acquired from left/right lower limb separately using a linked biomechanical model. In the second-level geometric fusion, another Kalman filter is deployed to compensate for the difference between the two estimates from the sensor fusion and get more accurate overall global displacement estimation. The updated global displacement will be transmitted to left/right foot based on the human lower biomechanical model to restrict the drifts in both feet displacements. The experimental results have shown that our proposed method can accurately estimate human locomotion for the three different gait patterns with regard to the optical motion tracker.
Fast EMG‐data driven skin deformation

Virtual characters are being modeled and animated with increasing accuracy and photorealism in current games and virtual reality simulations. However, the detailed modeling of dynamic skin deformations due to movement of the muscles during articulation is still prohibitively expensive for real‐time simulations. We present in this paper a fast approach for modeling such deformations driven by Electromyography (EMG) data. We demonstrate the method on the muscles of the upper leg during a gait cycle. A muscle map, created from a 3D muscle model, is applied as a deformation map to deform the skin surface as per the underlying muscle geometry. EMG signals recorded from a gait cycle are then used to dynamically vary the weights in the deformation map during animation thus producing the dynamic skin deformations. The whole operation is done on the GPU to make it very fast and suitable forreal‐time simulations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.