Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inclusive wealth accounting for South Asia: measuring towards sustainability

Inclusive wealth is a key measuring indicator of sustainable development. Long-term development is a process of accumulation and sound management of a portfolio of assets-manufactured capital, natural capital, human and social capital. Existing indicators for measuring economic progress have many limitations such as GDP and HDI and does not focus on sustainability of the nation. Previous indicators are missing true values from the natural resource. The new indicators such as green GDP, index of sustainable and economic welfare, and genuine progress indicators are concern about sustainability. The major objective of this paper is to estimate the inclusive wealth for South Asia from the period of 1990-2010. This study has used wealth accounting methodology and aggregates the value of produced capital, human capital, forest resources and exhaustible resources. Inclusive wealth is an important instrument for human well-being. The main implication of the paper is inclusive wealth make better decisions for achieving sustainable development for South Asia. Accounting for natural capital strength also is useful for educating decision makers and assessing the relative importance of non-market benefits relative to market benefits.
Type I phosphatidylinositol 4‐phosphate 5‐kinase γ is required for neuronal migration in the mouse developing cerebral cortex

Type I phosphatidylinositol 4‐phosphate 5‐kinase (PIP5KI)γ is one of the phosphoinositide kinases that produce phosphatidylinositol 4,5‐bisphosphate, which is a critical regulator of cell adhesion formation, actin dynamics and membrane trafficking. Here, we examined the functional roles of PIP5KIγ in radial neuronal migration during cortical formation. Reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that PIP5KIγ_v2/v6 and PIP5KIγ_v3 were expressed throughout cortical development with distinct expression patterns. In situ hybridisation analysis showed that PIP5KIγ mRNA was expressed throughout the cortical layers. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that PIP5KIγ was localised in a punctate manner in the radial glia and migrating neuroblasts. Knockdown of PIP5KIγ using in utero electroporation disturbed the radial neuronal migration and recruitment of talin and focal adhesion kinase to puncta beneath the plasma membrane. The same inhibitory effect on neuronal migration was observed by overexpression of a catalytically inactive mutant of PIP5KIγ_v2 but not PIP5KIγ_v1 or PIP5KIγ_v3. These findings suggest an essential role of PIP5KIγ, particularly PIP5KIγ_i2, in neuronal migration, possibly through recruitment of adhesion components to the plasma membrane.
Thermoresponsive hydrogels as a new ocular drug delivery platform to the posterior segment of the eye.

PURPOSE To characterize thermoresponsive hydrogels (liquids at room temperature, gels at body temperature) as a novel drug delivery platform to the posterior segment. METHODS Thermoresponsive hydrogels were synthesized using poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm), cross-linked with poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEG-DA). Proteins were then encapsulated into the hydrogels, including bovine serum albumin (BSA), immunoglobulin G (IgG), and, finally, bevacizumab and ranibiumab. By varying the degree of cross-linker density, the rate of protein release could be adjusted. The rate of release was assessed at various time points with Bradford assay, and the bioactivity of the released anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents was studied in an in vitro cell culture assay. RESULTS Cross-linked PNIPAAm hydrogel exhibited a fast and reversible phase change with alteration in temperature. The rate of protein release was examined as a function of cross-link density. Release profiles of the proteins showed that there was an initial burst of release within 48 hours, and then a steady state was reached, which was sustained for approximately 3 weeks. Hydrogels with less cross-linking showed faster release and yielded a more pliable gel for intravitreal injection via small-gauge needles. Examination of the gels after the release experiment revealed significant residual entrapped protein. CONCLUSION Thermoresponsive hydrogels were successfully synthesized and exhibited fast and reversible phase changes. The gel was able to encapsulate and release various proteins. Current formulation of the gel will be modified to extend the release time and to be made fully biodegradable. Thermoresponsive hydrogels appear to be a promising, minimally invasive platform for extended drug delivery to the posterior segment.
Castanospermine, a tetrahydroxylated alkaloid that inhibits beta-glucosidase and beta-glucocerebrosidase.

Castanospermine (1,6,7,8-tetrahydroxyoctahydroindolizine) was tested against a variety of commercially available glycosidases and found to be a potent inhibitor of almond emulsin beta-glucosidase, and also to inhibit fungal beta-xylosidase. This alkaloid was inactive on yeast alpha-glucosidase, alpha- or beta-galactosidase, alpha-mannosidase, beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase, beta-glucuronidase, alpha-L-fucosidase. Fifty-percent inhibition of beta-glucosidase required about 10 micrograms/ml of castanospermine. The amount of inhibition was uniform throughout the time course, and the inhibition with regard to substrate concentration (p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside) appeared to be of the mixed type. Castanospermine was also a potent inhibitor of beta-glucocerebrosidase when assayed with fibroblast extracts using either a fluorimetric or a radioactive assay. Interestingly enough, castanospermine also inhibited the lysosomal alpha-glucosidase, and this inhibition required comparable levels of alkaloid to that required for inhibition of beta-glucocerebrosidase. However, a number of other lysosomal glycosidases were not sensitive to castanospermine (i.e., alpha- or beta-galactosidase, alpha- or beta-mannosidase, alpha- or beta-L-fucosidase, beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase, beta-glucuronidase).
Running with constant energy

The dynamics of Raibert's planar one legged hopper have been studied quite extensively in the particular case of vertical hopping and no translational velocity. These studies have pointed out the possibility of complicated behaviors. The forward motion of the one legged hopper has also been investigated in recent literature, with the restriction of low velocities. It appears from these references that the control of the energy of the hopper is a difficult problem due to the necessity of integrating the hopper's dynamical equations during the stance phases. In this paper, the authors consider the problem of controlling the leg's forward motion under the assumption that the energy of the hopper is constant. The authors unveil results that do not depend on the spring of the leg and analyse a few simple control schemes. <<ETX>>
TRANSCRIPTIONAL INFLUENCE OF TWO POLY PURINE-PYRIMIDINE TRACTS LOCATED IN THE HSD11B2 (11BETA-HYDROXYSTEROID DEHYDROGENASE TYPE 2) GENE

Alternating purine-pyrimidine (APP) sequences which might assume left handed DNA helical structures (Z-DNA) could influence the expression of genes in which they were located. There are two such repeat elements in the HSD11B2 (11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase) gene. First, a CA repeat is located in the first intron. Deletion of this element in a minigene construct leads to a significant decrease (40%) in the expression of the HSD11B2 message in human cortical collecting duct cells. The second APP tract is located approximately 0.9 kb from the last exon or 4.8 kb from the intronic CA repeat element. Deleting this APP tract in a minigene decreases gene expression by 30%. The CA repeat along with its flanking sequences increases luciferase reporter gene expression if placed 5′ of the HSD11B2 promoter but not when placed downstream of the reporter gene. Similarly the second APP tract increases luciferase reporter gene expression when placed 5′ of the HSD11B2 promoter in an antisense orientation but not in a sense orientation. These results suggests that these dinucleotide repeats influence expression of the HSD11B2 gene in a manner dependent on position and orientation.
Carpal tunnel syndrome: Analyzing efficacy and utility of clinical tests and various diagnostic modalities

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common entrapment neuropathy, but not adequately studied in India. Objectives: To study clinical tests, nerve conduction studies (NCS), ultrasonography (USG), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in diagnosing CTS. Materials and Methods: We diagnosed CTS in 54 patients (93 hands) out of 60 screened patients with symptoms compatible with CTS, including 19 control patients (23 hands). We conducted provocative tests and calculated Boston Carpal tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) symptom (S) and function (F) scores. NCS positive patients were classified into mild, mild-to-moderate, moderate, severe, and all-CTS groups. Median nerve anteroposterior, transverse, circumference (CIR), and cross-sectional area (CSA) at inlet (I), middle (M), and outlet (O) each was measured by USG in all patients. MRI was done in 26 patients (39 hands). Results: Phalen, hand elevation and pressure provocation tests had higher sensitivity, Tinel's test had higher specificity and tethered median nerve and tourniquet tests had low sensitivity and moderate specificity. USG had low sensitivity but high specificity, and MRI had moderate sensitivity. USG in patients compared to controls was significantly abnormal in CSA-I, CIR-I, and CSA-O. Significant correlation was found between BCTQ-S and NCS and BCTQ-S and CIR-O. CIR-M, CIR-O, CSA-M, and CSA-I had correlation with NCS. MRI was significant in moderate and in moderate + severe groups combined and associated pathologies were detected in 59% patients. Conclusion: NCS remain gold standard but USG and MRI help increase sensitivity and detect mass lesions amenable to surgery.
A Practical Approach to Public Health Surveillance of Violent Deaths Related to Intimate Partner Relationships

Objectives. Articles describing the epidemiology of intimate partner homicide (IPH) have often been positioned as one-time research projects utilizing a single data source for case identification. However, researchers without access to centralized repositories for data pertinent to IPH can ascertain cases by using multiple extant data sources. The authors describe a surveillance system that can serve as a model for state health departments and others seeking to quantify and characterize violent deaths related to intimate partner relationships on an ongoing basis. Methods. Retrospective surveillance was conducted to identify and characterize deaths related to intimate partnerships by linking the following data sources: death certificates, newspaper articles, law enforcement reports, and medical examiners' records. Results. The authors identified at least 34% more IPHs using multiple data sources than would have been recognized solely using Supplementary Homicide Reports—the most frequently cited data source for IPH case ascertainment—and 22% more cases than newspaper data alone would have allowed for. Conclusions. While it was discovered that at least 181 IPHs—and at least 128 other deaths related to intimate partnerships—occurred in Michigan from 1999–2001, this frequency of occurrences is probably conservative. This limitation is due, in part, to the researchers not having access to information from all possible data source contributors. However, in the absence of statewide data systems, the authors demonstrate the utility of using multiple data sources for violent death surveillance to address incomplete case ascertainment.
Coxsackievirus infection of the pancreas: evaluation of receptor expression, pathogenesis, and immunopathology.

Coxsackievirus type B (CVB) infection of the pancreas induces a massive cellular infiltrate composed of natural killer cells, T cells, and macrophages and leads to the destruction of exocrine tissue. The physiological manifestations of pancreatic CVB infection are correlated with viral tropism; the virus infects acinar cells but spares the islets of Langerhans. Here we evaluate the mechanisms underlying pancreatic inflammation and destruction and identify the determinants of viral tropism. T-cell-mediated immunopathology has been invoked, along with direct virus-mediated cytopathicity, to explain certain aspects of CVB-induced pancreatic disease. However, we show here that in the pancreas, the extent of inflammation and tissue destruction appears unaltered in the absence of the cytolytic protein perforin; these findings exclude any requirement for perforin-mediated lysis by natural killer cells or cytotoxic T cells in CVB3-induced pancreatic damage. Furthermore, perforin-mediated cytotoxic T-cell activity does not contribute to the control of CVB infection in this organ. In addition, we demonstrate that the recently identified coxsackie-adenovirus receptor is expressed at high levels in acinar cells but is barely detectable in islets, which is consistent with its being a major determinant of virus tropism and, therefore, of disease. However, further studies using various cell lines of pancreatic origin reveal secondary determinants of virus tropism.
Building the Foundation for a Health Education Program for Rural Older Adults

We explored rural older adults’ perceptions of health to inform health promotion program development, using social marketing as our framework. Participants in seven focus groups viewed independence and holistic health as indicators of health and identified healthful eating and physical activity as actions to promote health. Barriers to these actions included physical limitations, social factors, financial considerations, motivation issues, and information confusion. Participants desired education that improves knowledge and skills, provides socialization opportunities, and occurs in familiar, affordable locations. Our findings can be useful to others developing health programming for rural-residing older adults. Also, we show that applying social marketing principles during formative assessment can be helpful in tailoring programs to audience interests and concerns.
Towards an understanding of how and why Design Science Research scholars evaluate

Evaluation activities in Design Science Research not only verify utility but also scientific rigour and the truth-like value of prescriptive knowledge contributions. Assuming a lack of guidance, evaluation frameworks like the one of Sonnenberg and vom Brocke have been proposed prior to evaluating their actual utility to scholars. This research now aims at evaluating how scholars actually apply the framework in practice and their reasoning for doing so. The research-in-progress paper at hand presents preliminary results from a citation analysis. While we find an increasing awareness of the relevance of ex-ante evaluations, there is still a lack of comprehensive detail on ex-ante evaluation activities and an emphasis on ex-post evaluations in artificial settings. The call to accumulate incremental prescriptive knowledge has mostly been ignored and artifact changes are rarely disclosed. Therefore, we question the missing guidance as the sole reason that scholars emphasise building rather than evaluation. We propose to conduct a case study that investigates the reasons behind scholars’ evaluation decisions.
Localization, depuration, bioaccumulation and impairment of ion regulation associated with cationic polymer exposure in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

1. Static exposure of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, to three commercial 14C-labelled cationic polymers (EDP, epichlorhydrin-dimethylamine; CYT, polyacrylamide ester; and STK, polyacrylamide amide) resulted in 14C being concentrated only in gill tissue. 2. Depuration studies examining the effect of humic acid (HA) on cationic polymer bound in gill tissue indicate that the binding is reversible with exposure to polymer-free water and polymer-free water with HA for each of the three polymers. 3. Analysis of blood pH, Na+, K+, total NH3 and Cl- after static water exposures to EDP (m.w. 50,000) at 7.5 mg EDP/l revealed a treatment related decrease in blood pH, from 7.1 to 6.6, accompanied by an increase in blood NH3 and evidence of severe impairment of ion regulation. 4. Repeated exposure to the cationic polymers did not result in increases in the 14C concentration in gill tissue suggesting that bioaccumulation of the polymers does not occur. 5. These data suggest that the gill is the site of toxicity for these cationic polymers and that their toxic effects involve gill function and ion regulation rather than systemic actions on internal organs.
Impact of FDI on Economic Growth: Evidence from Pakistan

This study investigates the nexus between foreign direct investment and economic growth for Pakistan for 1980-2016. Using autoregressive distributed lag bounds co-integration and granger causality test. The results of ARDL bounds test shows the existence of co-integration between economic growth, FDI, trade, physical capital and human capital. The results indicate the unidirectional causality from economic growth to FDI, to physical capital and to trade. The findings also express the one-way causality from human capital to labour force and physical capital. The bidirectional causality is found between physical capital and FDI, and between physical capital and human capital. The study suggests to adopt such policies that enhance human skills to attract more FDI for economic growth.
Payments for environmental services to strengthen ecosystem connectivity in an agricultural landscape

Abstract This article investigates the use of payments for environmental services to support a wildlife corridor between two Priority Tiger Conservation Landscapes in central Sumatra, Indonesia. Several hundred smallholders operate within a Protection Forest linking the Tiger Conservation Landscapes. This study explores the willingness of these smallholders to accept a payment requiring them to forgo access to their land for five years. In addition to asking households directly what they would be willing to accept (WTA), we also ask them to infer what their neighbour would accept. The study finds evidence of hypothetical bias in the conventional WTA values, with a statistically significant difference between what people say they would be willing to accept when surveyed, compared to what they say would actually be willing to accept in a ‘real life’ situation. We show how inferred valuation techniques can mitigate against this.
Online versus Face-to-Face: Students' Preferences for College Course Attributes

The objectives of this article were to determine: 1) students' preferences for college course attributes; and 2) how the amount of course attribute information impacts enrollment. Results indicate students had the highest preferences for face-to-face (F2F) courses offered late morning and early afternoon and two to three days per week. Students selected online over F2F courses depending on course makeup; for example, course topic, online course design technology, and when the F2F version was offered. Additionally, students selected online courses more frequently when additional online course attribute information was available during course selection.
Integrated Proteomic Profiling of Cell Line Conditioned Media and Pancreatic Juice for the Identification of Pancreatic Cancer Biomarkers

Pancreatic cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths, for which serological biomarkers are urgently needed. Most discovery-phase studies focus on the use of one biological source for analysis. The present study details the combined mining of pancreatic cancer-related cell line conditioned media and pancreatic juice for identification of putative diagnostic leads. Using strong cation exchange chromatography, followed by LC-MS/MS on an LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer, we extensively characterized the proteomes of conditioned media from six pancreatic cancer cell lines (BxPc3, MIA-PaCa2, PANC1, CAPAN1, CFPAC1, and SU.86.86), the normal human pancreatic ductal epithelial cell line HPDE, and two pools of six pancreatic juice samples from ductal adenocarcinoma patients. All samples were analyzed in triplicate. Between 1261 and 2171 proteins were identified with two or more peptides in each of the cell lines, and an average of 521 proteins were identified in the pancreatic juice pools. In total, 3479 nonredundant proteins were identified with high confidence, of which ∼40% were extracellular or cell membrane-bound based on Genome Ontology classifications. Three strategies were employed for identification of candidate biomarkers: (1) examination of differential protein expression between the cancer and normal cell lines using label-free protein quantification, (2) integrative analysis, focusing on the overlap of proteins among the multiple biological fluids, and (3) tissue specificity analysis through mining of publically available databases. Preliminary verification of anterior gradient homolog 2, syncollin, olfactomedin-4, polymeric immunoglobulin receptor, and collagen alpha-1(VI) chain in plasma samples from pancreatic cancer patients and healthy controls using ELISA, showed a significant increase (p < 0.01) of these proteins in plasma from pancreatic cancer patients. The combination of these five proteins showed an improved area under the receiver operating characteristic curve to CA19.9 alone. Further validation of these proteins is warranted, as is the investigation of the remaining group of candidates.
Hybrid AI Framework for Legal Analysis of the EU Legislation Corrigenda

This paper presents an AI use-case developed in the project “Study on legislation in the era of artificial intelligence and digitization” promoted by the EU Commission Directorate-General for Informatics. We propose a hybrid technical framework where AI techniques, Data Analytics, Semantic Web approaches and LegalXML modelisation produce benefits in legal drafting activity. This paper aims to classify the corrigenda of the EU legislation with the goal to detect some criteria that could prevent errors during the drafting or during the publication process. We use a pipeline of different techniques combining AI, NLP, Data Analytics, Semantic annotation and LegalXML instruments for enriching the non-symbolic AI tools with legal knowledge interpretation to offer to the legal experts.
Commuting Efficiency Gains: Assessing Different Transport Policies with New Indicators

Abstract This paper outlines new indicators for evaluating the probable impacts of introducing different land use/transport policies on the commuting efficiency of a city. It uses Beijing as a case study to describe how smartcard data can be used to derive a large number (n = 216,884, 9% of the population) of bus commuters’ workplace and residential locations. Using existing excess commuting indicators and new commuting efficiency gain indicators established to assess policy options, it exemplifies how to assess impacts of different policies on bus commuting efficiency gains. The case study indicates policies that directly target bus commuters (such as BRT) bring greater commuting efficiency gains when compared to other policies such as car usage restrictions and stringent travel demand management measures in the downtown area.