Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Reorganization of the Nursing Labor Process: From Team to Primary Nursing

The author presents a labor process analysis of recent changes in nursing work on hospital wards. In the immediate post–World War II decades, hospital nursing was organized to include stratified nurses—registered and auxiliary nurses (licensed practical nurses and nurses' aides)—in a common labor process called “team nursing. ” Team nursing adapted Taylorist principles to sharply demarcate tasks between registered nurses (RNs) and auxiliaries. In the 1970s and 1980s, team nursing was increasingly replaced by “primary nursing” with a majority of RNs. Auxiliaries were displaced as RNs assumed undivided responsibility for complete nursing care. The transition to primary nursing is partly explained through the convergence of managerial interests with the professionalizing interests of nursing's elite. However, primary nursing was not simply imposed from the top down. Team nursing produced divisiveness between RNs and auxiliaries at the same time that it forced these workers to violate the official differentiation of tasks and held RNs responsible for work performed by auxiliaries. Primary nursing eliminates the problems of team nursing as RNs perform reunified tasks in an unmediated RN–patient relationship. However, primary nursing has produced a new set of contradictions, including an intensified labor process.
Motor imagery classification of upper limb movements based on spectral domain features of EEG patterns

Surface electromyography pattern recognition methods have been widely applied to decode limb movement intentions for prosthesis control. These methods generally require amputees to provide sufficient myoelectric signals from their residual limb muscles. Previous studies have shown that amputees with high level amputation or neuromuscular disorder usually do not have sufficient residual limb muscles to provide enough myoelectric signals for accurate identification of limb movements. Electroencephalography (EEG), another bioelectric signal associated with limb movements has also been proposed and used for decoding the limb motion intents of humans. With an attempt to improve the performance of EEG-based method in identifying multiple classes of upper limb movement intents, four spectral domain features of EEG were proposed in this study. Motor imagery patterns associated with five different classes of imagined upper limb movements were distinctively decoded based on the four features extracted from 64-channel EEG recordings in four transhumeral amputees. Experimental results show that an average accuracy of 97.81% was achieved across all the subjects and limb movement classes. By applying a sequential channel selection method, an accuracy of around 95.00% was realized with about 20-channels of EEG. Thus, the proposed method might be potential for providing accurate control input for neuroprosthesis.
Topotecan inhibits VEGF‐ and bFGF‐induced vascular endothelial cell migration via downregulation of the PI3K‐Akt signaling pathway

Angiogenesis plays a crucial role in tumor growth and metastases. The extent of angiogenesis correlates with the increased invasion and metastasis in a variety of human neoplasms. Vascular endothelial cell proliferation and migration are critical steps in angiogenesis and are regulated by various growth factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). The topoisomerase I inhibitor topotecan (10‐hydroxy‐9‐dimethylaminomethyl‐(S)‐camptothecin) is a water‐soluble camptothecin analogue and possesses an indirect in vivo antitumor effect mediated through the inhibition of angiogenesis. We found that topotecan inhibited VEGF‐ and bFGF‐induced migration of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro. The migration of HUVECs was also inhibited by a phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K) inhibitor, LY294002. Thus, we investigated the possibility that topotecan's antiangiogenic property might be mediated by its inhibitory effect on VEGF‐ and bFGF‐induced activation of the PI3K‐Akt signaling pathway. We found that topotecan treatment decreased the amount of the phosphorylated (activated) form of Akt, but not the amount of Akt protein, in HUVECs. Moreover, transient transfection of constitutive active akt cDNA into HUVECs reversed the topotecan‐mediated decrease in HUVEC migration. These results suggest that the antiangiogenic activity of topotecan is mediated in part by downregulating the PI3K‐Akt signaling pathway. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
In Vivo Biliary Clearance Should Be Predicted by Intrinsic Biliary Clearance in Sandwich-Cultured Hepatocytes

It has been reported that in vivo biliary clearance can be predicted using sandwich-cultured rat and human hepatocytes. The predicted apparent biliary clearance (CLbile, app) from sandwich- cultured rat hepatocytes (SCRH) based on medium concentrations correlates to in vivo CLbile, app based on plasma concentrations of angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins), β-lactam antibiotics, and topotecan. However, the predicted biliary clearance from SCRH was 7- to 300-fold lower than in vivo biliary clearance. We speculated that the process of biliary excretion might not have been evaluated using sandwich-cultured hepatocytes. To evaluate this issue, intrinsic biliary clearance (CLbile, int) based on intracellular compound concentrations was evaluated to investigate the in vitro-in vivo correlation of this process among ARBs, statins, β-lactam antibiotics, and topotecan. Intrinsic biliary clearance in SCRH correlated to in vivo values obtained by constant intravenous infusion of six compounds, but not rosuvastatin and cefmetazole, to rats. Moreover, differences between SCRH and in vivo CLbile, int (0.7–6-fold) were much smaller than those of CLbile, app (7–300-fold). Therefore, in vivo CLbile, int is more accurately reflected using SCRH than CLbile, app. In conclusion, to predict in vivo biliary clearance more accurately, CLbile, int should be evaluated instead of CLbile, app between SCRH and in vivo.
Reliability of Automatic Biometric Iris Recognition after Phacoemulsification or Drug-Induced Pupil Dilation

Purpose To investigate the reliability of a biometric iris recognition system for personal authentication after cataract surgery or iatrogenic pupil dilation. Methods This was a prospective, nonrandomized, single-center, cohort study for evaluating the performance of an iris recognition system 2–24 hours after phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation (group 1) and before and after iatrogenic pupil dilation (group 2). Results Of the 173 eyes that could be enrolled before cataract surgery, 164 (94.8%) were easily recognized postoperatively, whereas in 9 (5.2%) this was not possible. However, these 9 eyes could be reenrolled and afterwards recognized successfully. In group 2, of a total of 184 eyes that were enrolled in miosis, a total of 22 (11.9%) could not be recognized in mydriasis and therefore needed reenrollment. No single case of false-positive acceptance occurred in either group. Conclusions The results of this trial indicate that standard cataract surgery seems not to be a limiting factor for iris recognition in the large majority of cases. Some patients (5.2% in this study) might need “reenrollment” after cataract surgery. Iris recognition was primarily successful in eyes with medically dilated pupils in nearly 9 out of 10 eyes. No single case of false-positive acceptance occurred in either group in this trial. It seems therefore that iris recognition is a valid biometric method in the majority of cases after cataract surgery or after pupil dilation.
Evaluation of fluorescent dyes for measuring intracellular glutathione content in primary cultures of human neurons and neuroblastoma SH‐SY5Y

Reduced glutathione (GSH) protects cells against oxidative injury and maintains a range of vital functions. To study GSH content in human neuronal cell cultures, thiol‐sensitive fluorescent techniques requiring a small number of cells may be of great value, but their GSH specificity has not been established in these cells.
Synthesis and Implementation of LTCC Bandpass Filter With Harmonic Suppression

In this paper, we utilize the coupling matrices to design a compact low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) bandpass filter with wide stopband and high selectivity. One coupling matrix at the fundamental frequency is synthesized to obtain required passband responses. The other one at the third harmonic is manipulated to realize wide stopband. Two transmission zeros are appointed at both sides of the passband to enhance the skirt selectivity. They are generated by multiple cross-coupling paths, which are easy to realize in the multilayer LTCC structure. To reduce the circuit size, two coupled quarter-wavelength resonators are folded vertically and horizontally on different layers. An experimental filter is designed for verification. High skirt selectivity and wide stopband are observed in the measurement. Due to the LTCC techniques, the proposed circuit has a compact size of 2 mm × 1.7 mm × 2 mm or 0. 042λg × 0. 035λg × 0. 042λg. It is suitable for system-in-package applications.
Enzymes and Reactions at the Eukaryotic DNA Replication Fork*

Many recent reviews of eukaryotic DNA replication have emphasized our current understanding of either the initiation and regulation of eukaryotic nuclear DNA replication (1, 2), the DNA polymerases and other proteins involved (3–11), or the entire range of knowledge of the replication process (12–17). Here, we will focus on recent findings concerning specific enzymatic reactions necessary for the growth of the eukaryotic replication fork.
RIAM Regulates the Cytoskeletal Distribution and Activation of PLC-γ1 in T Cells

RIAM, an adaptor protein that regulates integrin signaling, is found to also function in T cell receptor–proximal signaling. Dual Nature of RIAM Activation of T cells involves not only signaling downstream of the T cell receptor (TCR), but also activation of and signaling by integrins. The adaptor protein Rap1–guanosine triphosphate (GTP)–interacting adaptor molecule (RIAM) mediates inside-out activation of integrins in lymphocytes and participates in reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton. RIAM is also recruited to the interface between the T cell and an antigen-presenting cell; therefore, Patsoukis et al. investigated whether RIAM participated in the TCR signaling events that contribute to T cell activation. They found that RIAM bound to phospholipase C–γ1 (PLC-γ1) and, through interactions with the actin cytoskeleton, regulated the localization of PLC-γ1, resulting in the production of inositol trisphophate (IP3) and diacylglycerol. Knockdown of RIAM in T cells resulted in defective activation of PLC-γ1, diminished mobilization of Ca2+, and impaired translocation of the transcription factor NFAT to the nucleus in response to stimulation of the TCR. Thus, RIAM has multiple functions in T cell activation, regulating Ca2+ signaling and gene expression downstream of the TCR, integrin activity, and the actin cytoskeleton. Rap1–guanosine triphosphate (GTP)–interacting adaptor molecule (RIAM) plays a critical role in actin reorganization and inside-out activation of integrins in lymphocytes and platelets. We investigated the role of RIAM in T cell receptor (TCR)–mediated signaling. Although phosphorylation of the kinase ZAP-70 and formation of a signalosome recruited to the adaptor protein LAT were unaffected, elimination of endogenous RIAM by short hairpin RNA impaired generation of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, mobilization of intracellular calcium ions (Ca2+), and translocation of the transcription factor NFAT to the nucleus. The activation of Ras guanine nucleotide–releasing protein 1 was also impaired, which led to the diminished expression of the gene encoding interleukin-2. These events were associated with the impaired translocation of phosphorylated phospholipase C–γ1 (PLC-γ1) to the actin cytoskeleton, which was required to bring PLC-γ1 close to its substrate phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, and were reversed by reconstitution of cells with RIAM. Thus, by regulating the localization of PLC-γ1, RIAM plays a central role in TCR signaling and the transcription of target genes.
Solar-enabled green base stations: Cost versus utility

Solar-enabled cellular base stations are getting significant attention because they avoid greenhouse gas emission as well as easily available. Dimensioning of base station is a very important issue where the photo-voltaic (PV) panel size and storage capacity are determined to operate the system for a long time with minimum energy black out. In this work we look into energy outage aware system cost as well as utility of solar-enabled base stations. Hourly harvested energy and traffic dependent hourly consumed energy are considered for analysis. First, the quantized profile of harvested and consumed energy are obtained. Subsequently, the lower bound on PV panel and storage capacity is determined which provides dimensioning information a priori and at reduced complexity. To calculate the outage probability, a discrete-time Markov chain is formed with different energy levels of the battery as the system states. The state transition probabilities depend on the harvested and consumed energy profile. It is observed that, with more stringent outage constraint, the harvested energy which is neither utilized nor stored increases significantly. To this end, we suggest the system other than cost optimal where the excess energy is sold to the intelligent smart power grid to generate revenue. Harvested and consumed energies of the three cities situated at different geographical locations are considered to verify the results.
A Proline‐Rich Polypeptide Complex (PRP) from Ovine Colostrum. Studies on the Effect of PRP on Nitric Oxide (NO) Production Induced by LPS in THP‐1 Cells

Abstract A proline‐rich polypeptide complex (PRP) isolated from ovine colostrum shows immunoregulatory activity. Similar activity was observed when PRP was replaced with a nonapeptide (NP) isolated from chymotryptic digest of PRP. The polypeptide complex also shows procognitive activity. In the form of orally administered tablets called Colostrinin®, containing 100 µg of PRP, it improves the outcome of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. The mechanism of action of PRP/Colostrinin® in AD is not yet clarified. Microglial cells involvement in AD has been related to amyloid β (Aβ) internalization, the release of inflammatory cytokines, overproduction of nitrogen oxide (NO) and superoxide anion (O2−), and the development of neuritic plaques. It has been previously found in our laboratory that PRP regulates the secretion of an array of cytokines. It also was shown, in preliminary experiments using human blood cells and murine macrophages, that PRP inhibits production of NO and O2− induced by LPS. In the present work, to study the effect of PRP and NP on the release of NO and O2− induced by LPS we applied THP‐1 cells. The human monocyte/macrophage THP‐1 cell line has been widely used as a model of human microglial cells. The results obtained showed that THP‐1 cells release NO when activated with LPS. However, neither PRP nor NP induced production of NO. Although the nonapeptide, at higher concentration (100 µg/mL), showed an inhibitory activity on the release of NO induced by LPS, no inhibition was observed when PRP was used. THP‐1 cells treated with LPS, PRP or NP did not release O2−.
Should Financial Gatekeepers be Publicly Traded?

We investigate how a broker firm’s initial public offering (IPO) affects its analysts’ fiduciary duty of providing independent and objective recommendations. We find that the analysts of newly listed broker firms issue more positively biased recommendations in the first 2 to 3 years after their employers’ IPO than before the IPO. The increase in the recommendation bias is greater among analysts of affiliated brokers and brokers that raise additional capital after their IPO than among other analysts. Newly listed broker firms experience significant increases in revenue and trading commission, and the increases are positively related to recommendation bias, after controlling for many other factors. More importantly, recommendation bias decreases as newly listed broker firms season and as the importance of trading commission declines. This suggests that public exposure through a broker firm’s IPO does not enhance the integrity and professional conduct of its financial analysts. Rather, economic incentives make financial analysts more accepting of unethical behavior. The overall results imply that the public trading of financial gatekeepers compromises the ethical relationship between financial service professionals and society in general.
On Policy Learning in Restricted Policy Spaces

We consider the problem of policy learning in aMarkov Decision Process (MDP) where only a restricted, limited subset of the full policy space can be used. A MDP consists of a state space S, a set of actions A, a transition probability function t(s, a, s′) and a reward function R : S → R. Also there is the discount factor γ. The problem is to find a policy, a mapping from states to actions π : S → A, which gives the highest discounted return IE ∑∞ i=1 γ R(s) (where s represents the state encountered at time step i) for every possible start state. However, we are not interested in any possible policy, only in a restricted, limited subsetΠ of the full policy space. The assumption will be made that there exists a policy π which is best for every state s ∈ S, compared to the other policies in Π. It is not required that the true optimal policy for the MDP belongs to Π. In some settings we can also consider stochastic policies, which map states to a probability distribution over the action set. This greatly increases the size of the policy search space.
Transmission line probe based on a bow‐tie antenna

A high transmission probe for scanning near‐field optical microscopy is discussed that is based on a bow‐tie antenna. The proposed design of the transmission line probe relies on batch‐fabricated hollow pyramidal silicon dioxide tips that are partly coated with aluminium to accomplish the tapered dipole antenna. Theoretical calculations of the field distribution were performed to investigate its optical properties. Results were compared with those of conventional aperture tips based on the same silicon dioxide tip configuration, and revealed unique properties with respect to the transmission efficiency.
Diphtheria immunity in Mali (mothers and their neonates and children under two years of age.

An analysis of diphtheria antibodies (indirect haemagglutination technique) in 85 paired sera of Malian mothers and their newborns (cord blood) showed that all mothers had protective antibody levels (greater than 0.1 I.U./ml). 81 per cent of the neonates demonstrated protective immunity towards diphtheria. Since in Mali respiratory diphtheria is rare, is may be assumed that a silent immunization by skin sores, contaminated with diphtheria germs takes place. This assumption is supported by an analysis of 30 unimmunized 6 to 24 months old babies from whom 10 had protective and 16 low levels of diphtheria antibodies in their sera. By inclusion of 13 further children of the same age group (possibly previously immunized, since they had demonstrable antibodies against tetanus) we found a geometric mean diphtheria antibody titer for all 43 children of 0,08 I.U. /ml.
To Be, or To Unbe – That is the Question: Exploring the Pragmatic Nature of the Un-Verbs

The following contribution is part of an ongoing investigation (Fruttaldo 2017, forthcoming) and will focus on a particular class of verbs, which in the literature has been defined as the class of the un-verbs. Nowadays, this class of verbs is in continuous evolution as more and more verbs can be preceded by the prefix un(Cordisco 2011; Zimmer et al. 2011). Therefore, through a corpus-based analysis (McEnery et al. 2006; McEnery and Hardie 2012), we will try to offer some generalisations on the semantic and pragmatic nature of this class of verbs. In order to achieve this purpose, our investigation focuses on the analysis of a corpus of the main sections of Facebook, Google+ and Myspace’s Help Centres. The corpus has been analysed through the online corpus analysis tool Sketch Engine (Kilgarriff et al. 2004; Kilgarriff et al. 2014), which has allowed us to investigate the specific occurrences of the un-verbs found in our corpus and draw given generalisations on their linguistic behaviour.
Three-Vectors-Based Predictive Direct Power Control of the Doubly Fed Induction Generator for Wind Energy Applications

This paper proposes a simple but very effective method to achieve the predictive direct power control (PDPC) for doubly fed induction generator (DFIG)-based wind energy conversion systems. The novel approach is able to operate at low switching frequency and provides excellent steady-state and dynamic performances, which are useful for high-power wind energy applications. Three vectors are selected and applied during one control period to reduce both active and reactive power ripples. Compared to prior three-vectors-based art using two switching tables, the novel approach only needs one unified switching table to obtain the three vectors. Furthermore, the duration of each vector is obtained in a much simpler and straightforward way. The switching frequency can be significantly reduced by appropriately arranging the switching sequence of the three vectors. The influence of one step delay caused by digital implementation is also investigated. The possibility of operating the proposed PDPC under unbalanced grid voltage is also briefly discussed. The novel PDPC is compared with prior three-vectors-based art and its effectiveness is confirmed by the simulation results from a 2-MW-DFIG system and the experimental results from a scaled-down laboratory setup.
Genetic Diversity and Recombination of Porcine Sapoviruses

ABSTRACT Sapoviruses (SaVs) are emerging enteric pathogens that cause diarrhea in humans and animals. Human SaVs are genetically variable and have been classified into four genogroups (GI, -II, -IV, and -V). To date, only two genetically similar porcine SaV strains have been reported that belong to GIII. To investigate the genetic diversity of porcine SaVs and their genetic relatedness to human strains, we sequenced 286 nucleotides (nt) of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) region of nine porcine SaVs detected from field pig fecal samples collected in U.S. swine farms during the period from 1999 to 2003. One strain (Po/SaV/MI-QW19/2002/US) was most closely related to human GII SaVs. We also sequenced 3 kb of the viral genome, including the partial RdRp (766 to 790 nt), the complete capsid, the ORF2 and the 3′-untranslated region of four strains representative for the positive farms or for the distinct genetic clusters. From the sequence analysis of the complete capsid, we identified a potential new genogroup of porcine SaVs, with Po/SaV/OH-JJ681/00/US as the representative strain. Furthermore, two potential porcine SaV recombinants were identified. To our knowledge this is the first report of a porcine SaV strain more closely related genetically to human SaVs and the occurrence of porcine SaV recombinants. The presence of porcine SaVs more similar to human SaVs is a significant finding because of the potential for zoonotic infections or generation of porcine/human recombinants if intragenogroup human strains exist.