Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Why do workers leave unions? - group differences in a Spanish Union Federation

This study analyses the characteristics of members leaving a Spanishunion federation – Catalonia branch of Workers’ Commissions(CCOO-Catalonia), together with their reasons for leaving using avariety of data sources. Our findings indicate that higher union attritionamong members in instable employment (i.e. casual employment andlow seniority). In general, union leavers confirm that their job situationis an important reason for leaving the union. We therefore concludethat efforts made by the union to retain members in vulnerable labormarket positions are important in reducing high rates of union attritionin Spain.
The affinity‐selection of a minibody polypeptide inhibitor of human interleukin‐6.

A major challenge in basic and applied biological research is the engineering of small proteins with pre‐determined structures and novel functions. In a limited number of cases, this has been achieved by de novo design. An alternative combinatorial approach is based on the construction of large libraries of random peptides and on methods for the selection of the desired molecules. Here we describe a successful combination of both the rational design and the combinatorial approaches for developing proteins with useful biological functions, in this case the construction of a specific inhibitor of the cytokine human interleukin‐6. In previous work, the ‘minibody’, a 61 residue polypeptide consisting of a beta‐pleated framework and two hypervariable regions, was designed, synthesized and expressed on f1 phage surface. We report the construction of a repertoire of 50 million minibodies displayed on phage in which the hypervariable regions have been randomized. One polypeptide which binds tightly and specifically to human interleukin‐6 was isolated from this collection of minibody mutants. This particular minibody is an effective inhibitor of the cytokine's biological activity. The approach described here could in principle be applied to other molecular targets.
Prognostic role of tumor necrosis in patients undergoing curative resection for gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumor: a multicenter analysis of 740 cases in China

Tumor necrosis is associated with poor clinical outcomes in many malignancies. We aimed to determine whether tumor necrosis was an independent predictor of outcomes in gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). We retrospectively analyzed data from 740 patients undergoing curative resection for gastric GIST at four centers between 2001 and 2015. Disease‐free survival (DFS) was estimated with the Kaplan–Meier method, and associations with prognosis were assessed with Cox regression models. Tumor necrosis was present in 122 cases (16.5%). The prevalence of tumor necrosis increased with higher risk‐stratification, including 0.7%, 7.4%, 17.3%, and 39.3% for very low‐, low‐, intermediate‐ and high‐risk tumors, respectively (P < 0.001). Tumor necrosis was associated with aggressive tumor biology, such as larger tumor size, higher mitotic index, tumor rupture, and presence of nuclear atypia (all P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that tumor necrosis was an independent predictor of unfavorable DFS (HR: 2.641; 95% CI: 1.359–5.131; P = 0.004). When stratified by the modified National Institutes of Health (NIH) classification, tumor necrosis still independently predicted DFS in high‐risk patients (P = 0.001) but not in non‐high‐risk patients (P = 0.349). The 5‐year DFS rate in high‐risk patients with and without tumor necrosis was 56.5% and 82.9%, respectively (P = 0.004). Notably, the prognostic significance of tumor necrosis was maintained when the patients were stratified by age, sex, tumor location, tumor size, and mitotic index (All P < 0.05). Tumor necrosis is a useful predictor of outcomes in gastric GIST, especially in high‐risk patients. Based on these results, we recommend that the current NIH classification should be further improved and expanded to include tumor necrosis as a valuable prognostic indicator.
The Effect of Role Models on Social Competence and Entrepreneurial Attitude

창업의사결정에 있어 역할모델의 중요성을 살펴 본 연구가 많이 이루어져 왔다. 역할모델과의 긴밀한 접촉은 창업과정에 필수적인 창업과 관련된 역량과 지식의 습득뿐만 아니라 귀중한 정보의 획득, 자신감의 고양이라는 측면에서 매우 중요하다. 결과적으로 역할모델은 청년들의 미래 진로에 대한 기대와 기업가에 대한 정체성을 확립시키는데 큰 기여를 할 수 있다. 역동적인.
Developmental changes in chemoreceptive control of gill ventilation in larval bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana). II. Sites of O2-sensitive chemoreceptors

The time course of reflex changes in gill ventilation variables caused by a step-wise change in PO2 of inspired water and by the introduction of NaCN into inspired water was measured in two populations of unanesthetized larval bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) ­ one with intact gill arches and a second with bilateral ablation of the first gill arch. Developmental stages TK V­VII, IX­XI and XVII­XIX were examined. Inspiring hypoxic water or a pulse of NaCN significantly increased gill ventilation within 7 s in control larvae. Ablation of the first gill arches in larval R. catesbeiana eliminated the initial, quick response of gill ventilation to changes in the PO2 of inspired water and to the presence of NaCN in all three developmental groups. These data suggest that O2-sensitive chemoreceptors are located on the first gill arch and are responsible for the initial rapid ventilatory response. However, a slow response (>15 s) to changes in PO2 of inspired water persisted even after removal of the first gill arch. This response is far slower than the minimum blood circulation time (approximately 5­8 s as measured in all three groups), indicating that a second population of receptors is not directly monitoring arterial or venous blood. Instead, this second population of receptors is likely to be located 'behind' a significant diffusion barrier, possibly monitoring cerebrospinal fluid.
The Development of a Rapid Prototyping Prosthetic Socket Coated with a Resin Layer for Transtibial Amputees

This article proposes a type of transtibial socket composed of an inner layer fabricated by a rapid prototyping (RP) machine and an outer layer coated with unsaturated polyester resin. This work integrates contemporary technologies including a handheld scanner and CAD systems, to design a thin primary socket shape and then manufactures the socket using a fused deposition-modeling machine. To prevent breakage caused by the layer-based forming process and to reinforce flexural strength, the current research coats the preliminary RP socket with a layer of unsaturated polyester resin. After shaping the proximal brim of the resin-reinforced RP socket to match the specific stump, this study assembles and aligns a shank and a prosthetic foot to form a prosthesis set. After completing a trial safety walk wearing the prosthesis, which is satisfactory to the amputee and a registered prosthetist, this research measures interface pressures between the stump and the resin-reinforced RP socket. Experiment results demonstrate that the resin-reinforced RP socket is applicable for transtibial amputees. In addition to strengthening the FDM socket and producing consistent socket fit, this study also demonstrates a feasible procedure that employs current technologies to design and manufacture transtibial sockets without plaster moulds.
The Mirror Room Project: A Critical Ethnographic Program Evaluation of a Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Based Youth Development Program

Amongst a host of other benefits, proper physical education has the possibility to create a safe place where responsibility can be transferred from the teacher/facilitator, to the student. This is especially true with an underserved population. This critical program evaluation of the program CHARM was done for the purpose of program improvement. This research was a place for participants to share their experiences of the program. The participants were 5 underserved youth, 5 undergraduate students, 3 teachers and 1 graduate student. Observations, interviews, and document analysis were used to gather data. Data was analyzed using a first level read-through, and two second-level analyses. Summaries were written, and cross-case analyses were completed. The main finding of the research was the development of a Handbook, which is a guide to running the program. Secondary findings include issues of program structure, goal setting, meaningful relationships, roles, SNAP, and an outlier in the data.
Aggregation and linking issues : similarity indexes and criteria for spatial linking - second technical advisory group meeting (February 17-19, 2010)

One of the most difficult problems in economics from both a theoretical and applied point of view is the problem of making international comparisons of prices and quantities (or volumes) between countries. Three broad approaches to this problem have been followed in the literature: use the star system where each country in the comparison group is compared to a star country using normal bilateral price and quantity indexes; use a symmetric multilateral system where every countrys data enters the multilateral formula in a completely symmetric manner; use spatial or geographic linking of similar countries and eventually find a tree that compares all countries using a bilateral index number formula to link each pair of countries. This is the spatial linking method. The third method offers the possibility of making comparisons between countries that have the most similar price and quantity structures.
Bivariate GARCH models for single asset returns

In this paper an alternative approach to modelling and forecasting single asset returns volatility is presented. A new, bivariate, flexible framework, which may be considered as a development of single-equation ARCH-type models, is proposed. This approach focuses on joint distribution of returns and observed volatility, measured by Garman-Klass variance estimator, and it enables to examine simultaneous dependencies between them. Proposed models are compared with benchmark GARCH and range-based GARCH (RGARCH) models in terms of prediction accuracy. All models are estimated with maximum likelihood method, using time series of EUR/PLN spot rate quotations and WIG20 index. Results are very encouraging especially for foreasting Value-at-Risk. Bivariate models achieved lesser rates of VaR exception, as well as lower coverage tests statistics, without being more conservative than its single-equation counterparts, as their forecasts errors measures are rather similar.
Imaging of myocardial receptors : applications in the evaluation of cardiac disease

Several positron labelled radiopharmaceuticals have been used to assess cardiac neurotransmission both at presynaptic and postsynaptic level. Some tracers compete with endogenous noradrenaline for the transport into the presynaptic nerve terminal mainly via the neuronal uptake-1 transport system. Several beta-blocking drugs have been labelled with 11C to act as radioligands for imaging the study of postsynaptic receptors by PET. The most extensively used is 11C-(S)-CGP 12177. This is a non-selective b-adrenoceptorantagonistwith highaffinityandlowlipophilicity. Studies inpatientshave demonstrated diffuse down-regulation of b-adrenoceptor density in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and in congestive heart cardiac failure, two disorders where there is evidence of elevated levels of sympathetic activation. Heart Metab. 2008;41:16‐20.
Dynamic Performance Characteristics of North American HVDC Systems for Transient and Dynamic Stability Evaluations

This paper surveys the important dynamic performance parameters of two-terminal HVdc systems. Specific HVdc systems included are the Pacific HVdc Intertie, the Nelson River Bipoles 1 and 2, the Eel River and Stegall back-to-back ties, the CPA-UPA (CU) and the Square Butte HVdc systems and the Vancouver Island cable system. The parameters tabulated (Table 1) and the dynamic performance features described should be sufficient for dynamic performance evaluations of the corresponding ac/dc systems by means of generally available transient and dynamic stability programs. These characteristics of existing HVdc systems may influence the modeling and design of future HVdc systems for transmission planning studies.
Long-term performance of segmented benthic microbial fuel cells

Benthic microbial fuel cells (BMFCs) are a class of bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) that are an emerging technology under development for applications of persistent ocean monitoring. BMFCs function via anaerobic bacteria metabolizing organic matter in sediment and providing electrons to buried anodes. These anodes are electrically connected via an external circuit to an aerobic cathode positioned in the water column. Previous projects by this same group involved large-scale deployments that demonstrated deployment of BMFC systems via a boat-towed sled. These long carpet like anodes (termed “Magic Carpet”) have been shown to generate power densities of 5-10 mW m-2 in systems ranging from 10-40 m2 systems. A major challenge in the field remains scaling up these systems to generate practical levels of power. This paper evaluates two iterations of segmented 20 m2 Magic Carpet BMFC systems and compares their long-term performance.
Beyond Flux: Total Corneal Oxygen Consumption as an Index of Corneal Oxygenation During Contact Lens Wear

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to compute total corneal oxygen consumption during contact lens wear and consider the concept as an index for describing corneal oxygenation during contact lens wear as opposed to flux, partial pressure, or Dk/t. Method. Estimates of total corneal oxygen consumption were generated using a previously described eight-layer model based on oxygen diffusion equations and using contemporary estimates of tear and corneal layer thicknesses. Relative consumption, expressed as %Q (percentage of normal consumption without contact lens wear), was also calculated for daily wear and continuous wear modes, thereby providing an index of the chronic hypoxic effect of contact lens wear. Results. Corneal oxygen consumption is calculated to converge to the same value of 44.8 nL/cm3/sec above a Dk/t of approximately 20 and 300 × 10 −9 (cm/sec)(mL02/mL/mm Hg) for the open and closed eye scenarios, respectively. Lenses with Dk/t values of 15 and 50 × 10 −9 (cm/sec)(mL02/mL/mm Hg) allow about 96% of normal long-term total oxygen consumption without a contact lens in place for daily wear and continuous wear, respectively. Conclusion. Total corneal oxygen consumption is based on physical parameters, represents a direct index of corneal oxygen metabolism and thus cellular energy (ATP) production, allows direct comparison between two lenses or a lens and nonlens-wearing state, and eliminates the ambiguity of other measures, thereby providing an attractive means of describing corneal oxygenation.
Exploiting linkage information in real-valued optimization with the real-valued gene-pool optimal mixing evolutionary algorithm

The recently introduced Gene-pool Optimal Mixing Evolutionary Algorithm (GOMEA) has been shown to be among the state-of-the-art for solving discrete optimization problems. Key to the success of GOMEA is its ability to efficiently exploit the linkage structure of a problem. Here, we introduce the Real-Valued GOMEA (RV-GOMEA), which incorporates several aspects of the real-valued EDA known as AMaLGaM into GOMEA in order to make GOMEA well-suited for real-valued optimization. The key strength of GOMEA to competently exploit linkage structure is effectively preserved in RV-GOMEA, enabling excellent performance on problems that exhibit a linkage structure that is to some degree decomposable. Moreover, the main variation operator of GOMEA enables substantial improvements in performance if the problem allows for partial evaluations, which may be very well possible in many real-world applications. Comparisons of performance with state-of-the-art algorithms such as CMA-ES and AMaLGaM on a set of well-known benchmark problems show that RV-GOMEA achieves comparable, excellent scalability in case of black-box optimization. Moreover, RV-GOMEA achieves unprecedented scalability on problems that allow for partial evaluations, reaching near-optimal solutions for problems with up to millions of real-valued variables within one hour on a normal desktop computer.
Nerve Growth Factor Activates Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase and p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathways To Stimulate CREB Serine 133 Phosphorylation

ABSTRACT The mechanisms by which growth factor-induced signals are propagated to the nucleus, leading to the activation of the transcription factor CREB, have been characterized. Nerve growth factor (NGF) was found to activate multiple signaling pathways that mediate the phosphorylation of CREB at the critical regulatory site, serine 133 (Ser-133). NGF activates the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), which in turn activate the pp90 ribosomal S6 kinase (RSK) family of Ser/Thr kinases, all three members of which were found to catalyze CREB Ser-133 phosphorylation in vitro and in vivo. In addition to the ERK/RSK pathway, we found that NGF activated the p38 MAPK and its downstream effector, MAPK-activated protein kinase 2 (MAPKAP kinase 2), resulting in phosphorylation of CREB at Ser-133. Inhibition of either the ERK/RSK or the p38/MAPKAP kinase 2 pathway only partially blocked NGF-induced CREB Ser-133 phosphorylation, suggesting that either pathway alone is sufficient for coupling the NGF signal to CREB activation. However, inhibition of both the ERK/RSK and the p38/MAPKAP kinase 2 pathways completely abolished NGF-induced CREB Ser-133 phosphorylation. These findings indicate that NGF activates two distinct MAPK pathways, both of which contribute to the phosphorylation of the transcription factor CREB and the activation of immediate-early genes.
A modified CMOS nano-power resistorless current reference circuit

In this work, all MOS current reference circuit is proposed using a standard 0.18 μm technology and the simulations were performed using the Cadence Spectre simulator. The proposed current reference circuit is based on, the resistorless current reference circuit suggested by Oguey and Aebishcher. The Oguey's circuit is capable of generating the reference current in a nanoampere range, but with the high temperature coefficient (TC). The reason for high TC, that we found, is the lack of control over the gate-source voltage of an active resistor used in the design. This gate-source voltage is one of the controlling parameters responsible to obtain adequate thermal compensation for the reference current. In the proposed work, we modified the architecture to limit the variation of the gate-source voltage with the temperature and hence controls the thermal behaviour of the reference current. The working supply voltage of the proposed circuit ranges from 1.25 V to 2 V. The temperature coefficients of the reference current generated from the proposed and conventional architectures are 39.8 ppm/°C and 545.12 ppm/°C respectively at a supply voltage of 1.25V for the temperature ranging from -60°C to 85°C. The maximum power consumption of proposed and conventional architecture is 624.8nW and 468.59nW at a supply voltage of 2 V with the layout area of 0. 0013μm2 and 0. 001μm2 respectively.
Long-term outcomes of twins based on gestational age at delivery

Abstract Objective: Prematurity is associated with adverse outcomes. However, there are less data regarding long-term outcomes of twins based on gestational age at delivery. Our objective was to identify the association between gestational age at delivery and long-term outcomes in twins. Study design: All patients with a twin pregnancy ≥24 weeks delivered by a single Maternal Fetal Medicine practice from 2005 to 2014 were surveyed regarding pediatric outcomes at or after 2 years of life. We excluded twins with aneuploidy or major fetal anomalies. The survey was mail-based, with phone follow-up for nonresponses or for clarification. Using logistic regression analysis, we compared long-term outcomes between twins born in four gestational age groups: 24 to 27–6/7 weeks, 28 to 31–6/7 weeks, 32 to 35–6/7 weeks, and 36 weeks or later. Results: Six hundred fifty-three twin deliveries met inclusion criteria and 425 (65.1%) mothers responded. Mean age at the time of survey completion was 6.0 ± 2.4 years. Earlier gestational age was significantly associated with neonatal death (14, 2, 0, and 0% in the four groups, respectively, p < .001). Prematurity was associated with a composite of major adverse outcomes (death; cerebral palsy; necrotizing enterocolitis; chronic renal, heart, or lung disease) (14, 7, 4, and 2% in the four groups, p = .036), as well as minor adverse outcomes (learning disability; need for speech, occupational, or physical therapy) (83, 69, 54, and 38%, p < .001). Conclusions: Long-term morbidity in twin pregnancies is inversely related to gestational age at delivery. However, for twins born after 28 weeks, neonatal death and severe long-term morbidity are rare.
Molecular insights into the m-AAA protease–mediated dislocation of transmembrane helices in the mitochondrial inner membrane

Protein complexes involved in respiration, ATP synthesis, and protein import reside in the mitochondrial inner membrane; thus, proper regulation of these proteins is essential for cell viability. The m-AAA protease, a conserved hetero-hexameric AAA (ATPase associated with diverse cellular activities) protease, composed of the Yta10 and Yta12 proteins, regulates mitochondrial proteostasis by mediating protein maturation and degradation. It also recognizes and mediates the dislocation of membrane-embedded substrates, including foreign transmembrane (TM) segments, but the molecular mechanism involved in these processes remains elusive. This study investigated the role of the TM domains in the m-AAA protease by systematic replacement of one TM domain at a time in yeast. Our data indicated that replacement of the Yta10 TM2 domain abolishes membrane dislocation for only a subset of substrates, whereas replacement of the Yta12 TM2 domain impairs membrane dislocation for all tested substrates, suggesting different roles of the TM domains in each m-AAA protease subunit. Furthermore, m-AAA protease–mediated membrane dislocation was impaired in the presence of a large downstream hydrophilic moiety in a membrane substrate. This finding suggested that the m-AAA protease cannot dislocate large hydrophilic domains across the membrane, indicating that the membrane dislocation probably occurs in a lipid environment. In summary, this study highlights previously underappreciated biological roles of TM domains of the m-AAA proteases in mediating the recognition and dislocation of membrane-embedded substrates.