Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of immune serum and complement in stimulation of the metabolic burst of human neutrophils by Plasmodium falciparum

Interaction between human neutrophils (polymorphonuclear leukocytes [PMN]) and Plasmodium falciparum in the natural defense of the host remains to be elucidated. In patients with acute malaria, oxygen consumption (QO2) of PMN at rest and after stimulation by zymosan was significantly increased compared with that in the controls. With 10% immune serum, both QO2 and chemiluminescence of normal PMN were significantly increased after stimulation by a P. falciparum erythrocyte culture. This activation was not observed with a nonparasitized erythrocyte culture and was correlated with parasitemia. Immune serum and complement were required to trigger this metabolic activation of normal PMN. With normal serum or heat-inactivated immune serum, a parasitized erythrocyte culture did not significantly stimulate QO2 or chemiluminescence of normal PMN. The classical complement pathway was essential for this stimulation, whereas the alternate pathway was less involved. Hyperimmune sera from subjects residing in endemic areas were more able to trigger the metabolic burst than were immune sera from subjects from other sources. The use of synchronous cultures showed that PMN were more stimulated by cultures rich in merozoites than by the same cultures which contained only intraerythrocytic forms. Giemsa staining showed granules of hemozoin and occasional merozoites or parasitized erythrocytes within PMN. This increase in production of activated oxygen radicals could damage intra-or extraphagocytic parasitic forms. As P. falciparum is sensitive to oxidant stress and PMN is the phagocyte with the most intense metabolic burst, the role of PMN in defense against malaria should be considered.
Histological spectrum of cutaneous reactions to aspirin in chronic idiopathic urticaria

Background: During a clinical trial, we obtained 16 biopsies of skin eruptions induced by aspirin in patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU). In this setting, aspirin triggers skin eruptions through a well‐established non‐immunological mechanism involving the inhibition of cyclooxygenase type I. This presented the rare opportunity to evaluate histological features of a series of skin eruptions induced by a drug acting through a defined mechanism in a controlled experimantal setting.
Have the Major U.S. Air Carriers Finally Turned the Corner? A Financial Condition Assessment

Rare prior to the deregulation of the airline industry, air carrier bankruptcies became rather endemic in the period 1982-2005. Since 1982, over 175 airlines have filed under the bankruptcy codes. This number includes eight of the carriers that were formerly referred to as “trunk carriers,” now known as “Majors. ” Major carriers are defined as those with annual revenues exceeding $1.0 billion. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the recent performance of these carriers using a statistical model specifically designed to predict the likelihood of financial stress for airlines. The paper will also update past research in this important industry to demonstrate the very precarious nature of profitability. The major reasons for the improvement of the industry’s profitability will be briefly discussed. The analysis will show that the current financial condition of the industry has improved significantly due to increased concentration and the market domination of some carriers, very low fuel costs facing the carriers, and the record low interest rates resulting from the Federal Reserve’s easy monetary policy. the industry may still be fragile or vulnerable to changes in these input factors.
Onset and recovery from panic disorder in the Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area follow-up

Background The objective is to estimate parameters of the natural history of panic disorder, including its prodrome, incidence, recovery and recurrence. Method In 1981 the Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study interviewed 3481 individuals probabilistically selected from the household population. During 1993–1996, 1920 of these individuals (73% of survivors) were interviewed again. Baseline and follow-up interviews included the National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule. During the follow-up, a subsample was assessed by psychiatrists using the World Health Organization Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN). Results There were 35 new cases of panic disorder in 24 475 person years of exposure, yielding an annual incidence of 1.43 per 1000 per year. Data from the SCAN assessments suggest the incidence estimate is conservative. Incidence is greater in females and declines with age. About one-third of the new cases arise without agoraphobia, but about half have anxiety of some sort present for many years prior to meeting criteria for diagnosis. People with agoraphobia have less intense onsets but slower recoveries than those without agoraphobia. Conclusions Panic is heterogeneous in its pattern of onset and recovery. Some of the heterogeneity is associated with the presence of other anxiety over a long period of the life.
Impacts of Possible Chinese 25% Tariff on U.S. Soybeans and Other Agricultural Commodities

If China imposes a 25% tariff on U.S. agricultural products, after multi-year adjustments, U.S. exports of soybeans to China will drop 69%, costing the United States and China each $2.5 billion annually. With this tariff, Brazil will export 27% more soybeans to China and annually gain $2.1 billion.
Resistance and Susceptibility to Oral Disease. I. A Study in Gingivitis and Carbohydrate Metabolism

Most clinicians recognize that the same presumably causative factors do not always cause the same degree of disease and, in fact, may yield no pathosis. For example, calculus is regarded as a contributor to periodontal afflictions. Still the same amount of calculus may be associated with less pathologic response in one person than another; it may be present with no periodontal pathosis in a third person. This clinical constellation is generally explained on the basis of more or less resistance or susceptibility.
Factors impacting technology adoption in hospital bed logistics

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to refine and expand technology adoption theory for a healthcare logistics setting by combining the technology–organization–environment framework with a business process management (BPM) perspective. The paper identifies and ranks factors impacting the decision to implement instances of technologies in healthcare logistics processes. Design/methodology/approach A multiple case study is carried out at five Danish hospitals to investigate the bed logistics process. A combined technology adoption and BPM lens is applied to gain an understanding of the reasoning behind technology adoption. Findings A set of 17 factors impacting the adoption of technologies within healthcare logistics was identified. The impact factors perceived as most important to the adoption of technologies in healthcare logistics processes relate to quality, employee work conditions and employee engagement. Research limitations/implications This paper seeks to understand how managers can use knowledge about impact factors to improve processes through technology adoption. The findings of this study provide insights about the factors impacting the adoption of technologies in healthcare logistics processes. Differences in perceived importance of factors enable ranking of impact factors, and prioritization of changes to be implemented. The study is limited to five hospitals, but is expected to be representative of public hospitals in developed countries and applicable to similar processes. Originality/value The study contributes to the empirical research within the field of BPM and technology adoption in healthcare. Furthermore, the findings of this study enable managers to make an informed decision about technology adoption within a healthcare logistics setting.
Gravitational Separation of Gases and Isotopes in Polar Ice Caps

Atmospheric gases trapped in polar ice at the firn to ice transition layer are enriched in heavy isotopes (nitrogen-15 and oxygen-18) and in heavy gases (O2/N2 and Ar/N2 ratios) relative to the free atmosphere. The maximum enrichments observed follow patterns predicted for gravitational equilibrium at the base of the firn layer, as calculated from the depth to the transition layer and the temperature in the firn. Gas ratios exhibit both positive and negative enrichments relative to air: the negative enrichments of heavy gases are consistent with observed artifacts of vacuum stripping of gases from fractured ice and with the relative values of molecular diameters that govern capillary transport. These two models for isotopic and elemental fractionation provide a basis for understanding the initial enrichments of carbon-13 and oxygen-18 in trapped CO2, CH4, and O2 in ice cores, which must be known in order to decipher ancient atmospheric isotopic ratios.
Loss of heterozygosity at the retinoblastoma locus in human pituitary tumors

Background. Recent studies using knockouts of the Retinoblastoma (Rb) gene by homologous recombination in transgenic mice have revealed that a high frequency of heterozygous animals develop pituitary tumors associated with loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at the Rb locus. The authors have determined the frequency of LOH at the Rb locus in 42 benign human pituitary tumors.
Création d'analyseurs de dépendance par combinaison d'analyseurs synthaxiques

L'objectif de cette these est de definir et developper des outils generiques permettant de combiner les resultats de differents analyseurs syntaxiques pour produire une analyse de dependance plus pertinente et plus couvrante que chacune des analyses utilisees. Ces outils sont regroupes dans la plate-forme logicielle DepAn (Dependency Analysis). Apres avoir etudie les analyseurs syntaxiques robustes existants et presente les travaux anterieurs portant sur l'approche par combinaison en analyse syntaxique, nous specifions le formalisme de dependance et les differents outils de combinaison supportes par DepAn. La deuxieme partie de cette these est consacree a la description du processus permettant de creer, pour chaque analyseur disponible, un "normaliseur" des analyses qu'il produit. Un normaliseur decoupe une analyse en un ensemble d'informations linguistiques elementaires et "projette" ces informations dans un ensemble de structures de dependance normalisees. Le processus de creation d'un normaliseur est fonde sur des techniques de compilation et permet un gain de temps lors de l'ajout d'un analyseur a la plate-forme. La derniere partie de cette these presente une nouvelle approche par combinaison, dont l'originalite reside dans l'utilisation de methodes statistiques et de methodes de reconstruction. Toutes les analyses d'une phrase sont combinees au sein d'une unique representation de dependances. Des evaluations effectuees lors d'un pretraitement servent alors a ponderer les informations contenues dans cette representation. Enfin, une ou plusieurs nouvelles structures de dependances sont produites grâce a une des methodes de reconstruction
Comparison of Rowing Performance Improvements Following Various High-Intensity Interval Trainings

Abstract Akca, F and Aras, D. Comparison of rowing performance improvements following various high-intensity interval trainings. J Strength Cond Res 29(8): 2249–2254, 2015—The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of high-intensity interval training (HIT) and supramaximal interval training (SMIT) on indoor rowing performance; 20 male lightweight collegiate rowers (age = 21.77 ± 2.35 years, height = 178.4 ± 6 cm, body mass = 69.6 ± 3.1 kg) participated in this study. Baseline testing involved a 2,000-m time trial and incremental exercise test to determine V[Combining Dot Above]O2peak, peak power output (PPO), and power at 4 mmol·L−1 blood lactate threshold. After the baseline tests, participants were allocated to SMIT or HIT intervention groups, which they performed 8 times over a 4-week period (2 times per week, 2 days apart). The SMIT involved 10 × 30-second intervals at 150% of the PPO with 4-minute rest. The HIT involved 8 × 2.5-minute intervals at 90% of the PPO with 3-minute rest. Of note, 5.7 and 5 seconds of improvements were observed in 2,000-m performance after SMIT and HIT interventions, respectively. Of note, 2,000-m time trial performance, 2,000-m power, PPO, relative, and absolute V[Combining Dot Above]O2peak were significantly improved after both training interventions. However, the differences between the groups were not significant. As a result, 4 weeks of SMIT improves 2,000-m rowing ergometer performance and related physiological variables in a similar fashion with HIT in collegiate rowers.
Electron Pumps and Re-Definition of the SI Unit Ampere

The upcoming 2011 general conference on weights and measures (CGPM) will consider a proposal to re-define the SI unit ampere by assigning a fixed value to the electron charge e, while simultaneously releasing the permeability of free space μ0 to become a measured parameter. This review provides the background to the proposed re-definition and describes research into electron pumps aimed at supporting it. Particular emphasis is given to recent results on semiconductor electron pumps, which are currently the most promising candidates for metrological current standards.
Purple: A Modular System for Developing and Deploying Behavioral Intervention Technologies

The creation, deployment, and evaluation of Web-based and mobile-based applications for health, mental health, and wellness within research settings has tended to be siloed, with each research group developing their own systems and features. This has led to technological features and products that are not sharable across research teams, thereby limiting collaboration, reducing the speed of dissemination, and raising the bar for entry into this area of research. This paper provides an overview of Purple, an extensible, modular, and repurposable system created for the development of Web-based and mobile-based applications for health behavior change. Purple contains features required to construct applications and to manage and evaluate research trials using these applications. Core functionality of Purple includes elements that support user management, content authorship, content delivery, and data management. We discuss the history and development of the Purple system guided by the rationale of producing a system that allows greater collaboration and understanding across research teams interested in investigating similar questions and using similar methods. Purple provides a useful tool to meet the needs of stakeholders involved in the creation, provision, and usage of eHealth and mHealth applications. Housed in a non-profit, academic institution, Purple also offers the potential to facilitate the diffusion of knowledge across the research community and improve our capacity to deliver useful and usable applications that support the behavior change of end users.
J OURNAL OF I NFORMATION T ECHNOLOGY T HEORY AND A PPLICATION

: Proper decision making represent one of an organization’s most important capabilities. To manage decisions and underlying business rules, an increasing number of organizations have begun to use business rules management (BRM). However, given BRM research’s and practice’s nascence, we need to more deeply understand the challenges in implementing BRM capabilities. As such, from collecting and analyzing two three-round focus groups and two three-round Delphi studies, we identified 28 main challenges that five Dutch governmental institutions experienced in eliciting, designing, and specifying business rules. We also discuss directions for future research.
Building factorized TAGs with meta-grammars

Highly compacted TAGs may be built by allowing subtree factorization operators within the elementary trees. While hand-crafting such trees remains possible, a better option arises from a coupling with meta-grammar descriptions. The approach has been validated by the development of FRMG, a wide-coverage French TAG of only 207 trees.
A systematic review of treatments for mild traumatic brain injury

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of interventions for mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) in adults as found in the literature. Research design: Systematic review of the literature. Methods: Six electronic databases and 18 journals within the brain injury field were manually searched between the years 1980–2003. References from articles were scanned for further literature. Studies that met broad inclusion criteria were subjected to a formal test of relevance. Those found to be relevant were qualitatively tested for their methodological soundness. Results: One thousand and fifty-five studies were initially identified and 163 were assessed using the relevance tool, yielding 20 studies for review. Four categories of interventions were identified: Pharmacotherapy, Cognitive Rehabilitation, Patient Education and Other. The majority of studies were weak, however there is evidence to support the effectiveness of patient education interventions. Conclusions: There are few rigorous studies evaluating treatment of MTBI. Limitations of the current literature are presented.
Defining Halal Supply Chain Management

ABSTRACT To develop a rational understanding of Halal from Supply Chain‎ perspective and to cater the imminent research in this area a comprehensive ‎definition of Halal Supply Chain Management (HSCM) is proposed. ‎ This paper identifies, categorises & analyses the definitions of HSCM available in the literature. Seven, well-known definitions of the HSCM from the existing literature were investigated for their preparedness and reviewed against the identified characteristics of Halal and the Supply Chain Management. The analysis exhibits that identified definitions narrowly addresses the characteristics of both Halal and Supply Chain Management. Thus, we have proposed a comprehensive definition of HSCM comprising of all the characteristics of Halal and the Supply Chain Management. The present work suggests that all the activities of Halal Supply Chain needs to be managed to extend Halal & Toyyib till the consumption point with improved performance. This definition is very much required by the researchers of this area in theory building, defining, standardising (or making process oriented) and testing relationships among the component of HSCM. Supply Chain executives also benchmark or standardise the Halal Supply Chain metrics against other competing Supply Chains/industries. This can help the stakeholders involved in advancing the Halal practices in Supply Chain environment.
In vivo quantitative near‐infrared spectroscopy in skeletal muscle during incremental isometric handgrip exercise

The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of in vivo quantitative near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in skeletal muscle at various workloads. NIRS was used for the quantitative measurement of O2 consumption (mV˙O2) in the human flexor digitorum superficialis muscle at rest and during rhythmic isometric handgrip exercise in a broad range of work intensities (10–90% MVC=maximum voluntary contraction force). Six subjects were tested on three separate days. No significant differences were found in mV˙O2 measured over different days with the exception of the highest workload. The within‐subject variability for each workload measured over the three measurements days ranged from 15·7 to 25·6% and did not increase at the high workloads. The mV˙O2 was 0·14 ± 0·01 mlO2 min–1 100 g–1 at rest and increased roughly 19 times to 2·68 ± 0·58 mlO2 min–1 100 g–1 at 72% MVC. These results show that local muscle oxygen consumption at rest as well as during exercise at a broad range of work intensities can be measured reliably by NIRS, applied to a uniform selected subject population. This is of great importance as direct local measurement of mV˙O2 during exercise is not possible with the conventional techniques. The method is robust enough to measure over separate days and at various workloads and can therefore contribute to a better understanding of human physiology in both the normal and pathological state of the muscle.
Do auditors mitigate earnings manageme nt during economic crisis

This paper addresses earnings management from an international perspective. This study particularly analyzes whether external auditing reduces earnings managements and, if so, whether this relationship is affected by the economic crisis. The study employs a cross-country approach. The sample has 3,830 observations from listed firms from the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, France and Spain during the period 2005–2009. Panel data are used to verify the research hypotheses. The findings show that external auditing is an important mechanism to minimize earnings management. In this sense, the Big Four and auditor specialization helped to reduce earnings managements during the economic crisis. Moreover, long audit tenure does not contribute to mitigating discretionary accruals. The study includes implications for academia, practitioners, and policymakers. It provides the literature with complementary evidence on the external auditing and earnings management relationship and how this is influenced by the economic crisis. The article benefits practitioners and policymakers by highlighting the most important characteristics of audit firms related to the mitigation of earnings managements. In addition, this study considers the recent economic crisis as an important economic factor. Given that the crisis affected most countries around the world and caused structural changes within companies, information about the consequences of the crisis and how to deal with them is an important empirical question.
User Preference Modeling by Trust Propagation for Rating Prediction

To alleviate the issue of data sparsity in collaborative filtering (CF), a number of trust-aware recommendation methods have been proposed recently. However, the existing methods that straightforwardly utilize trust relations to model user similarities in ratings or preference features can hardly provide the in-depth understanding of the trust and its relationship to user preference. They also fail to systematically model the mutual influence among users via the truster-user-trustee propagation. In this paper, we propose a novel integrated matrix factorization framework to model user preference, trust relation and the relationship between them in a systematic way. The proposed framework is able to describe how and how much users' preferences change and influence each other with trust propagation over the network. As a result, more effective user preference features can be learned from both rating and trust data. Experimental results on three real-world datasets show that our proposed methods outperform the state-of-theart CF and trust-aware methods.
INFLUENCE OF ATTITUDE ON CONSUMERS’ BEHAVIORAL INTENTION TOWARD HALAL COSMETICS IN MALAYSIA

The cosmetics industry in Malaysia is growing steadily due to great demand from working women and intense urbanization. Even though government efforts began in 2006, however there is still more to do in ensuring the Muslim consumers aware of what they consume and applied to their skin. The study proposed four variables which may contribute to consumers’ awareness of halal cosmetics. Data was collected from 250 respondents who are the users of cosmetic products. Partial least squares analysis reveals that all three antecedents significantly influence the consumers’ attitude on halal concept and their behavioral intention to purchase halal cosmetics. Although all four variables indicated a significant relationship, this may not be transformed into actual buying behavior. Overall the success of the halal cosmetics industry requires coordination and participation of various parties and strategic marketing strategies in addition to other several contributing factors in making “halal” one of the attributes that consumers should consider in purchasing cosmetics products. Keywords : Halal Cosmetic, Attitude, Cosmetic in Malaysia