Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validating and Reflecting on Market Information Processing in Really New Product Development: When to Use What Outbound Team Strategy

New product development (NPD) teams enhance their change of success when they process rich and diverse market information. However, processing market information in really new NPD is subject to high levels of uncertainty and often conducted under high levels of teamautonomy. Prior research focused on intra-team factors, such as cross-functional integration, affecting market information processing in really new NPD and largely overlooked the role of crossing team boundaries and reaching out to the wider organization in which NPD teams are embedded (i.e. outbound strategies). Since management research shows that teams may differ in their outbound strategies and that these influence team performance, this is surprising, and therefore presents a significant gap in our knowledge on market-oriented NPD. Against this backdrop we present a detailed comparative longitudinal case-study of two new product trajectories, Shield and Anti-resist, in one chemical firm, ChemCo. Based on indepth-interviews and archival data we explore how and when reaching out to other parts of the organization plays a role in market information processing in really new NPD. We find that project members in Anti-resist processed a larger variety of market information when compared to the ones in Shield, especially in the early phases of the project. In due course this led to the Anti-resist team being able to introduce the product into the market while Shield was put on hold. Case findings suggests that lack of market information processing in Shield was rooted in differences in outbound strategies between the two projects and was not due to intra-team factors. Project members in Shield, in comparison to the ones in Anti-resist, were less reflective on their own market information processing by reaching out to other parts of ChemCo, such as a general NPD protocol, senior management, and other marketing/sales groups. While the literature has praised decentralization for enhancing information processing and creativity, we conclude that this comes with the responsibility of individual NPD teams to proactively reflect on their own marketing actions along the way in really new NPD. This implies that managers better recognize team behavior and adapt their control mechanisms to incorporate outbound team strategies.
Matching of Remote Sensing Images with Complex Background Variations via Siamese Convolutional Neural Network

Feature-based matching methods have been widely used in remote sensing image matching given their capability to achieve excellent performance despite image geometric and radiometric distortions. However, most of the feature-based methods are unreliable for complex background variations, because the gradient or other image grayscale information used to construct the feature descriptor is sensitive to image background variations. Recently, deep learning-based methods have been proven suitable for high-level feature representation and comparison in image matching. Inspired by the progresses made in deep learning, a new technical framework for remote sensing image matching based on the Siamese convolutional neural network is presented in this paper. First, a Siamese-type network architecture is designed to simultaneously learn the features and the corresponding similarity metric from labeled training examples of matching and non-matching true-color patch pairs. In the proposed network, two streams of convolutional and pooling layers sharing identical weights are arranged without the manually designed features. The number of convolutional layers is determined based on the factors that affect image matching. The sigmoid function is employed to compute the matching and non-matching probabilities in the output layer. Second, a gridding sub-pixel Harris algorithm is used to obtain the accurate localization of candidate matches. Third, a Gaussian pyramid coupling quadtree is adopted to gradually narrow down the searching space of the candidate matches, and multiscale patches are compared synchronously. Subsequently, a similarity measure based on the output of the sigmoid is adopted to find the initial matches. Finally, the random sample consensus algorithm and the whole-to-local quadratic polynomial constraints are used to remove false matches. In the experiments, different types of satellite datasets, such as ZY3, GF1, IKONOS, and Google Earth images, with complex background variations are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method, which can significantly improve the matching performance of multi-temporal remote sensing images with complex background variations, is better than the state-of-the-art matching methods. In our experiments, the proposed method obtained a large number of evenly distributed matches (at least 10 times more than other methods) and achieved a high accuracy (less than 1 pixel in terms of root mean square error).
The Rab11-binding protein RELCH/KIAA1468 controls intracellular cholesterol distribution

Cholesterol, which is endocytosed to the late endosome (LE)/lysosome, is delivered to other organelles through vesicular and nonvesicular transport mechanisms. In this study, we discuss a novel mechanism of cholesterol transport from recycling endosomes (REs) to the trans-Golgi network (TGN) through RELCH/KIAA1468, which is newly identified in this study as a Rab11-GTP– and OSBP-binding protein. After treating cells with 25-hydroxycholesterol to induce OSBP relocation from the cytoplasm to the TGN, REs accumulated around the TGN area, but this accumulation was diminished in RELCH- or OSBP-depleted cells. Cholesterol content in the TGN was decreased in Rab11-, RELCH-, and OSBP-depleted cells and increased in the LE/lysosome. According to in vitro reconstitution experiments, RELCH tethers Rab11-bound RE-like and OSBP-bound TGN-like liposomes and promotes OSBP-dependent cholesterol transfer from RE-like to TGN-like liposomes. These data suggest that RELCH promotes nonvesicular cholesterol transport from REs to the TGN through membrane tethering.
Fused dimerization increases expression, solubility, and activity of bacterial dehydratase enzymes

FabA and FabZ are the two dehydratase enzymes in Escherichia coli that catalyze the dehydration of acyl intermediates in the biosynthesis of fatty acids. Both enzymes form obligate dimers in which the active site contains key amino acids from both subunits. While FabA is a soluble protein that has been relatively straightforward to express and to purify from cultured E. coli, FabZ has shown to be mostly insoluble and only partially active. In an effort to increase the solubility and activity of both dehydratases, we made constructs consisting of two identical subunits of FabA or FabZ fused with a naturally occurring peptide linker, so as to force their dimerization. The fused dimer of FabZ (FabZ‐FabZ) was expressed as a soluble enzyme with an ninefold higher activity in vitro than the unfused FabZ. This construct exemplifies a strategy for the improvement of enzymes from the fatty acid biosynthesis pathways, many of which function as dimers, catalyzing critical steps for the production of fatty acids.
GoldenBullet in a Nutshell

Internet and Web technology already penetrates many aspects of our daily life and its importance as a medium for business transactions will grow exponentially during the next years. B2B market places provide new kinds of services to their clients. Simple 1-1 connections are being replaced by n-m relationships between customers and vendors. However, this new flexibility in electronic trading also generates serious challenges for the parties that want to realize it. The main problem here is caused by the heterogeneity of information descriptions used by vendors and customers. Intelligent solutions that help to mechanize the process of structuring, classifying, aligning, and personalizing are a key requisite for successfully overcoming the current bottlenecks in B2B electronic commerce. In this paper, we outline a system called GoldenBullet that applies techniques from information retrieval and machine learning to the problem of product data classification. The system helps to mechanize an important and labor-intensive task of content management for B2B Ecommerce.
Addressing the Thermal Issues of STT-MRAM From Compact Modeling to Design Techniques

Spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) possesses many desirable properties such as nonvolatility, fast access speed, unlimited endurance, and good compatibility with CMOS fabrication process. ITRS has highlighted the potential of STT-MRAM as one of the candidates for the next-generation universal memory technology. However, both the behaviors of the Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) and the CMOS access transistor, which are two basic elements of STT-MRAM, are generally temperature dependent, threatening the reliability, and performance of STT-MRAM under thermal fluctuations. To investigate the reliability and performance of STT-MRAM under the temperature variation, we developed a thermal model for the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy MTJ device. With the developed model, thermal behaviors and performance of the hybrid MTJ/CMOS circuits can be characterized and thermal optimization techniques can then be studied. Afterward, a thermal-aware sensing circuit is proposed as a case study to exploit the thermal characteristics for improving STT-MRAM read reliability under the temperature variations. Our simulation results show that the proposed sensing circuit can distinctly reduce the read error rate under thermal fluctuations compared with the state-of-the-art designs.
Do Cerclage Cables Delay the Time to Bone Union in Patients with an Unstable Humeral Shaft Fracture Treated with Intramedullary Nails?

Purpose To evaluate the time to bone union after open reduction and internal fixation with cerclage cables followed by intramedullary nailing (IMN) for unstable humeral shaft fractures. Materials and Methods Patients with a humeral shaft fracture treated by IMN were enrolled. One group of patients was treated via open reduction and internal fixation with cables followed by IMN (cable group; n=32), while the other group was treated with a conventional closed IMN (non-cable group; n=64). The length of time to bone union and functional scores [Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) scores] were measured for all patients. Results No significant differences were found in terms of age, gender, injury type, or smoking history between the two groups, except for the type of fracture. The cable group had significantly more complex types of fracture than the non-cable group (p<0.001). The mean time to bone union was 3.9 months in the cable group, while in the non-cable group, it was 4.4 months (p=0.041). The incidence of postoperative complications, such as non-union, delayed union, and radial nerve palsy, was similar between the two groups (p>0.05). No differences were identified in terms of DASH and UCLA scores (28.8 and 32.1 in the cable group and 26.4 and 32.6 in the non-cable group, respectively; p=0.335 and 0.264). Conclusion In unstable humeral shaft fractures treated by IMN, open reduction and internal fixation with additional cerclage cables do not delay the length of time to bone union or increase the rate of other complications.
Response of Biomass Development, Essential Oil, and Composition of Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng. to Irrigation Frequency and Harvest Time

A greenhouse experiment was conducted to study the effects of four irrigation intervals (4, 8, 12, and 16 days) and six harvests (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 months after transplanting) on biomass, essential oil content, and composition of Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng. Fresh weight and essential oil yield decreased with increasing irrigation interval; whereas, essential oil content was stimulated by water stress and increased as the irrigation interval increased. Fresh weight of Plectranthus amboinicus irrigated every 4 days peaked when harvested at 6 months, but essential oil content peaked when irrigated every 16 days and harvested at 2 months after transplantation. On the other hand, essential oil yield peaked when irrigated every 8 days and harvested at 6 months. Thymol, p‐cymene, γ‐terpinene, and β‐caryophyllene were the major compounds, and they peaked at different irrigation intervals and harvest times. This study showed biomass, essential oil content, and yield as well as the major and minor constituents of Plectranthus amboinicus are influenced by irrigation interval and the timing of harvest.
Clinical validation of automatic local activation time annotation during focal premature ventricular complex ablation procedures

Aims Current navigation systems incorporate algorithms for automatic identification of local activation time (LAT). However, data about their utility and accuracy in premature ventricular complex (PVC) ablation procedures are scarce. This study analyses the accuracy of an algorithmic method based on automatic annotation of the maximal negative slope of the unipolar electrogram within the window demarcated by the bipolar electrogram compared with conventional manual annotation during PVC ablation procedures. Methods and results Forty patients with successful ablation of focal PVC in three centres were included. Electroanatomical activation maps obtained with the automatic system (WF-map) were compared with manual annotation maps (M-map). Correlation and concordance of LAT obtained with both methods were assessed at 3536 points. The distance between the earliest activation site (EAS) and the effective radiofrequency application point (e-RFp) were determined in M-map and WF-map. The distance between WF-EAS and M-EAS was assessed. Successful ablation sites included left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT; 55%), right ventricular outflow tract (40%), and tricuspid annulus (5%). Good correlation was observed between the two annotation approaches (r = 0.655; P < 0.0001). Bland-Altman analysis revealed a systematic delayed detection of LAT by WF-map (bias 33.8 ± 30.9 ms), being higher in LVOT than in the right ventricle (42.6 ± 29.2 vs. 27.2 ± 30.5 ms, respectively; P < 0.0001). No difference in EAS-eRFp distance was observed between M-map and WF-map (1.8 ± 2.8 vs. 1.8 ± 3.4 mm, respectively; P = 0.986). The median (interquartile range) distance between WF-EAS and M-EAS was 2.2(0-6) mm. Conclusion Good correlation was found between M-map and WF-map. Local activation time detection was systematically delayed in WF-map, especially in LVOT. Accurate identification of e-RFp was achieved with both annotation approaches.
Putting the brakes on prejudice rebound effects: An ironic effect of disparagement humor

ABSTRACT When people high in prejudice censor prejudice in one setting, they can experience a prejudice rebound effect—subsequently responding with more prejudice than otherwise. Disparagement humor fosters the release rather than suppression of prejudice. Thus, two experiments tested the hypothesis that exposure to disparagement humor attenuates rebound effects. Participants suppressed prejudice by writing fewer anti-gay thoughts about same-sex adoption (Experiment 1) or by reporting greater support for same-sex civil rights (Experiment 2) when expecting to share their responses with others (non-prejudice norm condition) but not if others first exchanged anti-gay jokes (prejudice norm condition). High-prejudice participants then exhibited prejudice rebound in the non-prejudice norm condition only. They rated a gay man more stereotypically (Experiment 1) and allocated greater budget cuts to a gay student organization (Experiment 2) in the non-prejudice norm condition.
Host specificity in avian blood parasites: a study of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus mitochondrial DNA amplified from birds

A fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of avian malaria (genera Haemoproteus and Plasmodium) was amplified from blood samples of 12 species of passerine birds from the genera Acrocephalus, Phylloscopus and Parus. By sequencing 478 nucleotides of the obtained fragments, we found 17 different mitochondrial haplotypes of Haemoproteus or Plasmodium among the 12 bird species investigated. Only one out of the 17 haplotypes was found in more than one host species, this exception being a haplotype detected in both blue tits (Parus caeruleus) and great tits (Parus major). The phylogenetic tree which was constructed grouped the sequences into two clades, most probably representing Haemoproteus and Plasmodium, respectively. We found two to four different parasite mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes in four bird species. The phylogenetic tree obtained from the mtDNA of the parasites matched the phylogenetic tree of the bird hosts poorly. For example, the two tit species and the willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) carried parasites differing by only 0.6%sequence divergence, suggesting that Haemoproteus shift both between species within the same genus and also between species in different families. Hence, host shifts seem to have occurred repeatedly in this parasite-host system. We discuss this in terms of the possible evolutionary consequences for these bird species.
A Bayesian approach to modelling heterogeneous calcium responses in cell populations

Calcium responses have been observed as spikes of the whole-cell calcium concentration in numerous cell types and are essential for translating extracellular stimuli into cellular responses. While there are several suggestions for how this encoding is achieved, we still lack a comprehensive theory. To achieve this goal it is necessary to reliably predict the temporal evolution of calcium spike sequences for a given stimulus. Here, we propose a modelling framework that allows us to quantitatively describe the timing of calcium spikes. Using a Bayesian approach, we show that Gaussian processes model calcium spike rates with high fidelity and perform better than standard tools such as peri-stimulus time histograms and kernel smoothing. We employ our modelling concept to analyse calcium spike sequences from dynamically-stimulated HEK293T cells. Under these conditions, different cells often experience diverse stimulus time courses, which is a situation likely to occur in vivo. This single cell variability and the concomitant small number of calcium spikes per cell pose a significant modelling challenge, but we demonstrate that Gaussian processes can successfully describe calcium spike rates in these circumstances. Our results therefore pave the way towards a statistical description of heterogeneous calcium oscillations in a dynamic environment.
BELMiner: adapting a rule-based relation extraction system to extract biological expression language statements from bio-medical literature evidence sentences

Extracting meaningful relationships with semantic significance from biomedical literature is often a challenging task. BioCreative V track4 challenge for the first time has organized a comprehensive shared task to test the robustness of the text-mining algorithms in extracting semantically meaningful assertions from the evidence statement in biomedical text. In this work, we tested the ability of a rule-based semantic parser to extract Biological Expression Language (BEL) statements from evidence sentences culled out of biomedical literature as part of BioCreative V Track4 challenge. The system achieved an overall best F-measure of 21.29% in extracting the complete BEL statement. For relation extraction, the system achieved an F-measure of 65.13% on test data set. Our system achieved the best performance in five of the six criteria that was adopted for evaluation by the task organizers. Lack of ability to derive semantic inferences, limitation in the rule sets to map the textual extractions to BEL function were some of the reasons for low performance in extracting the complete BEL statement. Post shared task we also evaluated the impact of differential NER components on the ability to extract BEL statements on the test data sets besides making a single change in the rule sets that translate relation extractions into a BEL statement. There is a marked improvement by over 20% in the overall performance of the BELMiner’s capability to extract BEL statement on the test set. The system is available as a REST-API at http://54.146. 11.205:8484/BELXtractor/finder/ Database URL: http://54.146. 11.205:8484/BELXtractor/finder/
Alteronol induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis via increased reactive oxygen species production in human breast cancer T47D cells

Emerging evidence showed that alteronol has a potential antitumour effect in several tumour cells. However, the antitumour effect of alteronol on breast cancer has not been reported. This study investigated the mechanisms of alteronol‐induced cell proliferation inhibition in human breast cancer T47D cells.
The effects of collagen-rich extracellular matrix on the intracellular delivery of glycol chitosan nanoparticles in human lung fibroblasts

Recent progress in nanomedicine has shown a strong possibility of targeted therapy for obstinate chronic lung diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). IPF is a fatal lung disease characterized by persistent fibrotic fibroblasts in response to type I collagen-rich extracellular matrix. As a pathological microenvironment is important in understanding the biological behavior of nanoparticles, in vitro cellular uptake of glycol chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs) in human lung fibroblasts was comparatively studied in the presence or absence of type I collagen matrix. Primary human lung fibroblasts from non-IPF and IPF patients (n=6/group) showed significantly increased cellular uptake of CNPs (>33.6–78.1 times) when they were cultured on collagen matrix. To elucidate the underlying mechanism of enhanced cellular delivery of CNPs in lung fibroblasts on collagen, cells were pretreated with chlorpromazine, genistein, and amiloride to inhibit clathrin-mediated endocytosis, caveolae-mediated endocytosis, and macropinocytosis, respectively. Amiloride pretreatment remarkably reduced the cellular uptake of CNPs, suggesting that lung fibroblasts mainly utilize the macropinocytosis-dependent mechanism when interacted with collagen. In addition, the internalization of CNPs was predominantly suppressed by a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor in IPF fibroblasts, indicating that enhanced PI3K activity associated with late-stage macropinocytosis can be particularly important for the enhanced cellular delivery of CNPs in IPF fibroblasts. Our study strongly supports the concept that a pathological microenvironment which surrounds lung fibroblasts has a significant impact on the intracellular delivery of nanoparticles. Based on the property of enhanced intracellular delivery of CNPs when fibroblasts are made to interact with a collagen-rich matrix, we suggest that CNPs may have great potential as a drug-carrier system for targeting fibrotic lung fibroblasts.