Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Teriparatide (PTH 1‐34) Treatment Increases Peripheral Hematopoietic Stem Cells in Postmenopausal Women

Cells of the osteoblast lineage play an important role in regulating the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche and early B‐cell development in animal models, perhaps via parathyroid hormone (PTH)‐dependent mechanisms. There are few human clinical studies investigating this phenomenon. We studied the impact of long‐term daily teriparatide (PTH 1‐34) treatment on cells of the hematopoietic lineage in postmenopausal women. Twenty‐three postmenopausal women at high risk of fracture received teriparatide 20 mcg sc daily for 24 months as part of a prospective longitudinal trial. Whole blood measurements were obtained at baseline, 3, 6, 12, and 18 months. Flow cytometry was performed to identify hematopoietic subpopulations, including HSCs (CD34+/CD45(moderate); ISHAGE protocol) and early transitional B cells (CD19+, CD27‐, IgD+, CD24[hi], CD38[hi]). Serial measurements of spine and hip bone mineral density (BMD) as well as serum P1NP, osteocalcin, and CTX were also performed. The average age of study subjects was 64 ± 5 years. We found that teriparatide treatment led to an early increase in circulating HSC number of 40% ± 14% (p = 0.004) by month 3, which persisted to month 18 before returning to near baseline by 24 months. There were no significant changes in transitional B cells or total B cells over the course of the study period. In addition, there were no differences in complete blood count profiles as quantified by standard automated flow cytometry. Interestingly, the peak increase in HSC number was inversely associated with increases in bone markers and spine BMD. Daily teriparatide treatment for osteoporosis increases circulating HSCs by 3 to 6 months in postmenopausal women. This may represent a proliferation of marrow HSCs or increased peripheral HSC mobilization. This clinical study establishes the importance of PTH in the regulation of the HSC niche within humans. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Gender quotas on boards of directors

Arguments for increasing gender diversity on boards of directors range from ensuring equal opportunity to improving firm performance, but the empirical results are mixed and often negative. Current research does not justify gender quotas on grounds of economic efficiency. Furthermore, in most countries the number of women qualified to join boards of directors is limited, and it is not clear from the evidence that quotas lead to a larger pool of qualified female candidates in the medium and long term.
Image Correlation Spectroscopy

Membrane domains, such as caveolae and clathrin-coated pits, regulate cell signaling and protein internalization in the plasma membrane. Fluorescence imaging and microscopy provide an opportunity to determine the receptor protein dynamics of membrane microdomains. The family of image correlation spectroscopy (ICS) techniques provides powerful tools with which to measure the aggregation, clustering, and dynamics of proteins in the plasma membrane. ICS is used to calculate the cluster density and the degree of aggregation of plasma membrane proteins, whereas image cross-correlation spectroscopy (ICCS) measures the fraction of colocalization of two proteins. Dynamic image correlation spectroscopy (DICS) can be used to analyze protein dynamics on the cell surface during live-cell imaging.
Leader–follower game in vendor-managed inventory system with limited production capacity considering wholesale and retail prices

Vendor-managed inventory (VMI) is a widely used co-operative inventory policy in supply chains in which each enterprise has its autonomy in pricing. In this paper, a leader–follower Stackelberg game in a VMI supply chain is discussed where the manufacturer, as a leader, produces a single product with a limited production capacity and delivers it at a wholesale price to multiple different retailers, as the followers, who then sell the product in dispersed and independent markets at retail prices. An algorithm is then developed to determine the equilibrium of the Stackelberg game. Finally, a numerical study is conducted to understand the influence of the Stackelberg equilibrium and market-related parameters on the profits of the manufacturer and its retailers. Through a numerical example, our research demonstrates that: (a) the market-related parameters have significant influence on the manufacturer's and its retailers' profits; (b) a retailer's profit may not necessarily be lowered when it is charged with a higher inventory cost by the manufacturer; and (c) the equilibrium of the Stackelberg equilibrium benefits the manufacturer.
Contributions of engineered surface salt bridges to the stability of T4 lysozyme determined by directed mutagenesis.

Six designed mutants of T4 lysozyme were created in an attempt to create putative salt bridges on the surface of the protein. The first three of the mutants, T115E (Thr 115 to Glu), Q123E, and N144E, were designed to introduce a new charged side chain close to one or more existing charged groups of the opposite sign on the surface of the protein. In each of these cases the putative electrostatic interactions introduced by the mutation include possible salt bridges between residues within consecutive turns of an alpha-helix. Effects of the mutations ranged from no change in stability to a 1.5 degrees C (0.5 kcal/mol) increase in melting temperature. In two cases, secondary (double) mutants were constructed as controls in which the charge partner was removed from the primary mutant structure. These controls proteins indicate that the contributions to stability from each of the engineered salt bridges is very small (about 0.1-0.25 kcal/mol in 0.15 M KCl). The structures of the three primary mutants were determined by X-ray crystallography and shown to be essentially the same as the wild-type structure except at the site of the mutation. Although the introduced charges in the T115E and Q123E structures are within 3-5 A of their intended partner, the introduced side chains and their intended partners were observed to be quite mobile. It has been shown that the salt bridge between His 31 and Asp 70 in T4 lysozyme stabilizes the protein by 3-5 kcal/mol [Anderson, D. E. , Becktel, W. J., & Dahlquist, F. W. (1990) Biochemistry 29, 2403-2408]. To test the effectiveness of His.Asp interactions in general, three additional double mutants, K60H/L13D, K83H/A112D, and S90H/Q122D, were created in order to introduce histidine-aspartate charge pairs on the surface of the protein. Each of these mutants destabilizes the protein by 1-3 kcal/mol in 0.15 M KCl at pH values from 2 to 6.5. The X-ray crystallographic structure of the mutant K83H/A112D has been determined and shows that there are backbone conformational changes of 0.3-0.6 A extending over several residues. The introduction of the histidine and aspartate presumably introduces strain into the folded protein that destabilizes this variant. It is concluded that pairs of oppositely charged residues that are on the surface of a protein and have freedom to adopt different conformations do not tend to come together to form structurally localized salt bridges. Rather, such residues tend to remain mobile, interact weakly if at all, and do not contribute significantly to protein stability. It is argued that the entropic cost of localizing a pair of solvent-exposed charged groups on the surface of a protein largely offsets the interaction energy expected from the formation of a defined salt bridge. There are examples of strong salt bridges in proteins, but such interactions require that the folding of the protein provides the requisite driving energy to hold the interacting partners in the correct rigid alignment.
Electronic Commerce-based Purchasing: A Survey on the Perceptual Differences Between Large and Small Organisations

As the Clinton administration recently released its plan for developing worldwide information superhighways and making electronic communication a national priority, a growing number of small purchasing organisations have taken a hard look at electronic commerce (EC) as a purchasing tool. However, organisation size is believed to influence the EC adoption practices of firms. The common rationale is that small firms are lacking organisational readiness in adopting EC due to their less sophisticated information technology infrastructure, limited financial resources and weak market positions. Yet there is little empirical research to verify such a premise. Based on the findings of an empirical survey of US purchasing organisations, this paper will identify factors that either promote or inhibit the propagation of EC among small purchasing organisations and formulate an EC-based purchasing strategy which is best suited for small purchasing organisations.
On n-normed linear space valued strongly ∇ r-Ces à ro and strongly ∇ r-lacunary summable sequences

In this article we introduce the spaces |σ1|(X,∇r) and Nθ(X,∇r) of Xvalued strongly ∇r-Cesàro summable and strongly ∇r-lacunary summable sequences respectively, where X, a real linear n-normed space and ∇r is a new difference operator, where r is a non-negative integer. This article extends the notion of strongly Cesàro summable and strongly lacunary summable sequences to n-normed linear space valued (n-nls valued) difference sequences. We study these spaces for existence of norm as well as for completeness. Further we investigate the relationship between these spaces.
A Survey of Pseudorandom Functions

We survey three pseudorandom function constructions – specifically the Goldreich-Goldwasser-Micali construction [3], the Naor-Reingold construction from pseudorandom synthesizers [4], and the canonical NaorReingold number-theoretic constructions from the DDH assumption and the assumption that factoring Blum integers is hard [5].
A Preliminary Study to Determine Instrument Responsiveness to Change with a Walking Program: Physical Activity Logs versus Pedometers

Scientific review criteria for evaluating health status instruments, among them measures of physical activity, have been established (Lohr et al., 1996). In addition to reliability and validity, instruments that measure physical activity must be sensitive, or responsive, to longitudinal differences within individuals, as a result of intervention. Specifically,practitioners require measurement tools capable ofcapturing true changes in physical activity behaviors to evaluate their interventions. Few studies exist that examine responsiveness to change among the different approaches to physical activity measurement. Self-report methods (including diaries or logs and surveys or questionnaires) have been the preferred method of quantification to date, likely due to their perceived ease of administration, specifically their ability to collect data from a large number of people at a relatively low cost (Sallis & Saelens, 2000). Shortcomings ofany type ofself-reported data are widely known and include recall and social desirability biases. The accurate assessment of walking or ambulatory activity, regardless of purpose or context, is considered especially problematic (Ainsworth, Leon, Richardson.jacobs, & Paffenbarger, 1993; Kriska et al., 1990; Richardson, Leon.jacobs, Ainsworth, & Serfass, 1994). Ironically, ambulatory activity is also considered the most important activity to assess accurately (Tudor-Locke
Simulating Heterogeneous Crowds with Interactive Behaviors

Over the last decade there has been a large amount of work towards trying to simulate crowds for different applications, such as movies, video games, training, and evacuations. This course focuses on heterogeneous crowd simulation for interactive applications and will describe state of the art methods to simulate large groups of agents exhibiting a variety of behaviors, appearances and animations. We will present different techniques including psychological models and data-driven approaches that attempt to imitate real humans. We also present different systems to speed up both navigation, through multi-domain planners, and rendering, using per-joint impostors on fully animated 3D characters. Finally we provide quantitative and qualitative techniques to evaluate the quality of the simulated crowds, and include an overview of future research directions in the field.
Depth versus Breadth Strategies for Global Brand Image Management

Abstract Developing and maintaining a brand image is vital to any successful marketing and communication campaign. An image that clearly communicates the needs satisfied by the brand contributes to brand equity and helps combat brand parity. The normative model of brand image management suggests that marketers should base their images on a single set of consumer needs (depth strategy), rather than multiple sets of needs (breadth strategy). The extent to which depth strategies outperformed breadth strategies (in terms of annual change in sales volume, profit margin, and market share) was investigated for U.S. consumer goods exported into international markets. These markets varied in terms of level of economic development, cultural context, and competition. While the results indicate that depth strategies do tend to perform best, there are conditions under which breadth strategies perform just as well.
Use and non‐use of export information: Some preliminary insights into antecedents and impact on export performance

Export information use has seldom, in the past, been the focus of empirical study. As a result, very little is known about the construct itself or its influences and outcomes. Among the factors believed to affect export information use, decision‐makers’ awareness of export information sources play a vital role since this awareness tends to reflect the amount of information collected and thus available for use. Another crucial antecedent factor to the export information use construct is the extent to which export decision‐makers experience information overload. Furthermore, the main outcome of export information use is believed to be the latter's effect on export performance. This paper thus seeks to shed some light on the use versus non‐use of export information and its relationship with: (1) awareness of export information sources; (2) export information overload; (3) export information acquisition modes; and (4) export performance.
Postprandial triacylglycerol uptake in the legs is increased during exercise and post‐exercise recovery

Six young, healthy male subjects were each studied in two experiments: (1) during resting conditions before and for 360 min after a meal (54% of energy as carbohydrate, 30% of energy as lipid, and 16% of energy as protein) comprising 25% of their total daily energy intake (M→R); and (2) while exercising on a cycle ergometer for 60 min at 50% of the peak oxygen consumption commencing 60 min after the meal (M→E) and then for another 240 min. Regional metabolism was measured by Fick's Principle in a leg and in the splanchnic tissue. The combination of food intake and exercise led to increased plasma triacylglycerol (TAG) uptake and clearance in the exercising legs immediately and for at least 4 h post‐exercise, while food intake per se did not change leg plasma TAG uptake or clearance for up to 6 h. It is hypothesized that the effect of exercise on leg plasma TAG metabolism is a result of capillary recruitment leading to exposure of the plasma lipoprotein particles to a larger amount of active LPL. In spite of the increased TAG uptake in the exercising legs the arterial plasma TAG concentration had a tendency to increase faster during exercise after a meal than during rest, but it also decreased faster implying that the total lipaemic response was the same whether exercise was performed or not. The amount of lipid taken up in the legs was higher than could be accounted for by whole body lipid oxidation during post‐exercise recovery, indicating accumulation of lipid in skeletal muscle in this period. Neither food intake alone nor the combination of food and exercise affected the splanchnic net balance of TAG. Finally, there is an additive effect of exercise and food intake on splanchnic net glucose balance.
Delivery of Services in Multi-Layer Multi-Domain Optical Network Infrastructures

The diffusion of Internet in society both for simple users and enterprises through the rise of applications and business models has resulted in a vast volume of traffic that needs to be transferred across the globe in a fast, reliable and secure way. Millions of fixed and mobile users produce and consume information, especially due to the recent increase of smart phones and tablets technology on the one hand and the fast growth of services like video, high definition TV and social networking on the other. Speed, reliability and minimal delay have been some of the key requirements for service delivery across the years of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) evolution. Current and future services take these requirements to a new level, not only because of the huge number of users and end-devices, but also due to the special requirements they have. To support these, new types of infrastructures have been developed such as interconnected Data Centers through high speed networks offering cloud-based services. Optical networks through recent technology advancements offer a very promising solution to support not only traditional telecommunications applications but all the new applications emerging in the context of cloud computing, due to the huge bandwidth they offer, the long transmission distances and several other characteristics including flexibility, cost and energy efficiency. Apart from the evolution of network equipment technology offering among others improved physical layer performance across long distances, regeneration capabilities, low energy consumption and fast recovery, significant effort is required on the track of network design and operation. The work presented in this thesis concentrates in optical networking in support of traditional telecommunications and more advanced cloud computing services. More specifically it addresses some key optical network design and provisioning problems and aims at identifying efficient solutions to mitigate them. A core optical network able to efficiently accommodate traffic with special characteristics and requirements is the basis of every problem we address. In this context, physical layer impairments and their consideration in route selection, resilience against link failures, energy efficiency and a special case of service deployment in converged optical networks and Data Center (DC) infrastructures are the four main areas that this work focuses on through the formulation and solution of associated problems. Core optical networks are commonly based on mesh topologies that accommodate
Electron spin resonance studies of mechanisms for chemical protection from ionizing radiation.

Small concentrations of the sulfur-containing chemical protectors, such as cysteine, cysteamine, AET, glutathione, and Na/sub 2/S/sub 2/O/sub 4/, in solid solution in certain proteins are found to alter completely the form of the electron spin resonance produced by ionizing radations in the proteins. For example, solutions of only 1/4 of 1% by weight of cysteine or NA/sub 2/S/sub 2/O/ sub 4/ in zein (or two molecules of solute per protein molecule) produce resonances when gamma -irradiated which are entirely different from that of pure zein when gamma -irradiated. It is believed that these sulfur protectors form complexes with the proteins they protect and thus absorb the ionization or damage that would occur in the unprotected protein. The results indicate that an electron hole or electron spin density can migrate through certain segments of polypeptide chains of proteins. (auth)
Factors Influencing Customers' Intentions to Use Internet Banking: Model Development and Test

Although Internet banking provides many benefits and proves to be advantageous for both banks and their customers, there are still large number of customers in India who refuse to change from traditional banking channels to this technology based channel for various reasons. Many research studies have been conducted to examine the factors that explain bank customers’ intention to use Internet banking, but few have developed a model to statistically explain the interactions among these factors and how they influence customers’ intention to use this technology in India. The purpose of this study is to propose and test a model to explain bank customers’ behavioural intention to use Internet banking services in India. The research model has been empirically tested based on responses of 325 bank customers in Hyderabad city, using structural equation modeling approach. Results of the study revealed a good model fit and most of the hypotheses formulated in this study were supported. This study contributes a comprehensive and robust research model, highlighting the significant predictors of customers’ intentions to adopt Internet banking services. The banks should make their customers feel how Internet banking services will be more useful or easy to use, more trustworthy, and less risky to improve their intention to use Internet banking services in India.
Regulatory pressures affecting the restaurant business's responsible behaviors in Penang, Malaysia

While the impact of hotel operation on the environment has now been well discussed in the literature, there is not much awareness about the environmental responsibility of restaurant operation on its surroundings. It is also not known if the sector is being pressured to ‘green’ its operation. This paper investigates the existence and strength of regulatory pressures in relation to restaurant greening within the context of Penang, Malaysia, because it is widely agreed in the literature that regulatory pressure is an important driver for business to change the way they do business. Using qualitative data based on semi-structured interviews of key informants from the restaurants, and various agencies relevant to the sector, it looks at the existence and strength of such pressure. The findings indicate that the restaurant industry does not receive much attention from the authorities in their role of exacerbating degradation of the environment. The situation is attributed to three factors, i.e. ‘weak enforcement’, ‘unfocused environmental effort’ by the government and ‘poor service attitudes among the government officers’. The paper ends with a discussion on the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings.