Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differentiation of mouse induced pluripotent stem cells into corneal epithelial‐like cells

Somatic cells can be reprogrammed into a pluripotent ES‐cell‐like state (termed induced pluripotent stem cells, iPS) by transcription factors, which have enormous therapeutic potential for regenerative medicine. We have investigated whether iPS can directly differentiate into corneal epithelium‐like cells. Mouse iPS cells were co‐cultured with corneal limbal stroma. RT‐PCR, immunohistochemistry and scanning electron microscopy analysis were used to detect differentiated iPS. Undifferentiated iPS cells expressed ES cells related genes. Co‐culture with corneal limbal stroma, in the presence of additional factors bFGF, EGF and NGF, activated keratin expression 12 (K12, a marker of corneal epithelial cells) and downregulated Nanog. These data suggest that mouse iPS cells can differentiate into corneal epithelial‐like cells by replication of a corneal epithelial stem cell niche.
Rapid Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are integrated software systems for administration of all aspects of a business. A major hindrance to firms that wish to convert from existing legacy systems to ERP systems (such as SAP R/3) is that the process can take 12 to 18 months. This is an especially daunting length of time for small to midsize companies. Many ERP software vendors and consulting firms have developed methods for rapid systems integration, which, it is claimed, can cut implementation time to as little as 5 or 6 months. In this article, we explore the experience of 4 small to midsize companies who implemented SAP R/3 using Accelerated SAP (ASAP), SAP's rapid implementation process. ASAP is a reference-process-based approach to implementing R/3. As such, it does not allow for extensive customization of business processes during implementation. Nevertheless, our study showed that R/3 can be implemented quickly and effectively in small- to medium-size firms. ASAP appears to provide the ingredients for a well-structured implementation project. By reducing project scope and complexity, it reduces consulting costs and project risks. By splitting the project into small units with clear short-term goals, it increases the motivation for the project team. Finally, it can form the basis for a continuous improvement effort in which business processes are tuned to the new ERP system.
Comparison of repair and rejoining fidelity between two isogenic human ovarian carcinoma cell lines

Purpose : The difference in radiosensitivity between two isogenic tumour cell lines was evaluated to determine whether factors such as sublethal and potentially damage repair, DNA double-strand break repair and fidelity of repair can be related to differences in radiosensitivity. Materials and methods : The cell lines used were the ovarian carcinoma A2780s and a radiation-resistant derivative A2780cp. Radiation response was measured in terms of cell survival, recovery of sublethal (SLD) and potentially lethal damage (PLD), induction of and recovery of DNA strand breaks, and fidelity of DNA repair using a cell-free plasmid assay. Results : While A2780cp was more resistant to radiation than A2780s, it showed less ability for recovery of SLD and PLD. DNA strand-break induction was the same for both cell lines, while only at very high doses did A2780cp show greater DNA strand-break recovery than A2780s. Fidelity of rejoining DNA was significantly higher in the A2780cp cell line. Conclusion : The difference in radiosensitivity between these two cell lines was not related to recovery of PLD or SLD or to the induction of DNA damage. It appears that fidelity of DNA rejoining, which was significantly higher in the resistant cell line, may be related to the difference in radiosensitivity.
The Effects of Power, Ideology, Interest Groups, and the Government on Tourism Policy Making—A Conceptual Model

This article offers a conceptual model that can be utilized to examine the political and bureaucratic natures of the mechanism of the making of tourism policies in the Chinese context. Following the paradigm of stakeholder theories, the constructs of the model can be categorized into two groups. The first group is the political system, encompassing the constructs of political power, political ideology, and interest groups. The second group of components of the framework is the government as the bureaucratic system, consisting of both the institutions and the institutional arrangements. Meanwhile, existing discussions on the applications of the respective components in tourism studies are also undertaken. The conceptual model as proposed in this article, with methodological issues addressed in the literature review, can serve as a holistic framework based upon which further empirical studies can be carried out to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of tourism policy making, particularly in the contemporary Chinese context, taking cognizance of both the significant influences of government policies on tourism development in China and the unique Chinese political and bureaucratic factors. At the same time, the particular areas where this framework can be applied in Chinese tourism policy studies are also explored. 本文旨在建构概念模型，用以分析制定中国旅游政策机制中的政治和官僚性质。 根据利益相关者理论范式，模型的结构可分为两个部分。 第一个部分是政治体系，当中包括政治权力、政治意识形态和利益团体。 模型框架的第二个组成部分是官僚制度，亦即政府。 这个部分由公共机构和制度安排组成。 本文同时讨论旅游研究中各组成部分的应用。 文献回顾部分解决了建模的问题，而概念模型可作为一个完整的框架，为进行更深入的实证研究提供依据，达到充分理解现代中国制定旅游政策的机制的目的，并认识政府政策对中国旅游发展的重大影响力及中国独特的官僚政治因素。 与此同时，本文探讨中国旅游政策研究中可应用此框架的范畴。
The Determinants of Rural Household Food Security for Landless Households of the Punjab, Pakistan

This paper examines the situation of food security for the landless rural households of the Punjab province in Pakistan. Primary data from 576 landless households were collected from 12 districts of the province. About 27% of the sample households were measured to be food insecure. Household’s monthly income and household head’s education levels of middle and intermediate were positively impacting household food security. On the other hand, household heads’ age and family size were negatively associated with household food security. Rural household food security can be improved by focussing on education, creation of income generating opportunities and family planning programs.
Building organizational trust in a low‐trust societal context

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to explore the interrelations between organizational trust and ethics management tools as well as ethical organizational practices in a post‐socialist context.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual framework of the interrelations among organizational trust, ethics management tools and ethical organizational practices is reasoned and the interrelations among the variables are explored using quantitative methods of data analysis. The method of data gathering is a questionnaire survey that was carried out in Lithuania which is taken as an example of a post‐socialist society where trust is rather low. In total, answers from 519 respondents were collected.Findings – The empirical findings confirm the interdependence of the variables. A significant dependence of organizational trust on ethical organizational practices has been established.Research limitations/implications – The research findings imply that ethics management tools just weakly predict emergence of organiz.
Stress Testing Banks' Credit Risk Using Mixture Vector Autoregressive Models

This paper estimates macroeconomic credit risk of banksi¦ loan portfolio based on a class of mixture vector autoregressive models. Such class of models can differentiate distributions of default rates and macroeconomic conditions for different market situations and can capture their dynamics evolving over time, including the feedback effect from an increase in fragility back to the macroeconomy. These extensions can facilitate the evaluation of credit risks of loan portfolio based on different credit loss distributions.
With Timing Options and Heterogeneous Costs, the Lognormal Diffusion is Hardly an Equilibrium Price Process for Exhaustible Resources

Abstract In a model of a competitive spot market for an exhaustible resource under demand uncertainty, it is shown that the lognormal diffusion (the geometrical Brownian motion) can hardly be an equilibrium price process under the reasonable assumptions that suppliers choose the time to extract, and deposits have different costs. Each supplier will start extraction when price first exceeds a boundary, which depends on that supplier′s costs. But no new extraction will start during periods when the price is lower than the previously recorded high. It is highly unlikely that aggregate demand responds to prices in the same way as supply.
Decrease in case duration required to complete an additional case during regularly scheduled hours in an operating room suite: a computer simulation study.

UNLABELLED We used Monte-Carlo computer simulation to determine whether surgical or anesthetic interventions to achieve small decreases in case duration may create enough new open operating room (OR) time to permit an additional case to be scheduled for completion in an OR suite during regular working hours. We used rules for scheduling of cases assuming that OR personnel are compensated so that the OR suite can profit financially from decreasing case duration to complete an additional case during regularly scheduled hours. The decreases in each case's duration required to create enough new open OR time to reliably (> or =95%) schedule another case were 30-39 min, 79-110 min, and 105-206 min for OR suites with 1-15 ORs and mean case durations of 1, 2, or 3 h, respectively. IMPLICATIONS Computer simulation shows decreasing case duration is unlikely to create sufficient operating room time to reliably permit an additional case to be scheduled for completion during working hours. Additional cases may best be added to the operating room suite schedule by optimizing case scheduling, not by decreasing the duration of all cases in the suite.
Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Induces Cell Death in Bovine Monocyte-Derived Macrophages by Early sipB-Dependent and DelayedsipB-Independent Mechanisms

ABSTRACT It was previously demonstrated that Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium induces cell death with features of apoptosis in murine macrophages. Mice infected withSalmonella serovar Typhimurium develop systemic disease without diarrhea, whereas the infection in cattle and in humans is localized and characterized by diarrhea. Considering these clinical disease expression differences between mice and cattle, we investigated whether serovar Typhimurium is cytotoxic for bovine macrophages. Macrophages infected with serovar Typhimurium grown in the logarithmic phase quickly underwent cell death. Macrophages infected with stationary-phase cultures or with a mutant lacking sipBunderwent no immediate cell death but did develop delayed cytotoxicity, undergoing cell death between 12 and 18 h postinfection. Both pathways were temporarily blocked by the general caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-Fmk and by the caspase 1 inhibitor Z-YVAD-Fmk. Comparisons of macrophages from cattle naturally resistant or susceptible to intracellular pathogens indicated no differences between these two genetic backgrounds in terms of susceptibility to serovar Typhimurium-induced cell death. We conclude thatSalmonella serovar Typhimurium induces cell death in bovine macrophages by two distinct mechanisms, earlysipB-mediated and delayedsipB-independent mechanisms.
[Nutrition today].

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Sexing free‐ranging brown bears Ursus arctos using hairs found in the field

As an aid to the management of the Pyrenean population of the brown bear Ursus arctos, a sexing method based on the amplification of a Y chromosome specific sequence has been developed, and tested using hairs found in the field as a source of DNA. This method involves a two‐step polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which allows the detection of a very small amount of DNA, probably a single SRY gene molecule. The sex can reliably be identified using about 50pg of DNA extract as template. It is possible that this approach could, with adjustments, be used to identify the sex of other species of eutherian mammals.
Subjective versus Objective Yield Distributions as Measures of Production Risk

Subjective probabilities of farmers with nonlinear utility are estimated from distributions elicited by applying a linear scoring rule with monetary payoffs. Estimated subjective distributions are compared to objective estimates of yield distributions in a risky rainfed rice-growing area in the Philippines. The results indicate that farmers are knowledgeable about mean nitrogen response, but seriously underestimate year-to-year variability in yield response to nitrogen. The implication is that accurately estimated objective distributions can be used to estimate upper limits of the effects of risk aversion on allocative decisions.
Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet

This groundbreaking book, by three world-renowned psychologists, reveals how professionals succeed in carrying out work that is both expert and socially responsible in relentlessly market-driven times. What does it mean to carry out "good work"? What strategies allow people to maintain moral and ethical standards at a time when market forces wield unprecedented power and work life is being radically altered by technological innovation? These are the questions at the heart of this important collaboration by three leaders in psychology. Enlivened with stories of real people facing hard decisions, Good Work offers powerful insight into one of the most important issues of our time and, indeed, into the future course of science, technology, and communication.
Modernization and public opinion: Some criminal justice paradoxes

This article is concerned with a paradox about public-sector modernization as it affects the criminal justice system. Whilst the modernization agenda has been shaped with its electoral attractiveness at least partly in mind, little attention is actually paid to the impact achieved by the process on public confidence in the services being "modernized'. The article examines public confidence in the police and in sentencers. It argues that the "modernization' of the police has probably done more harm than good to public confidence in the police, whilst confidence in the criminal process has been very largely ignored by modernizers. Possible reasons for this are discussed.
Measuring the Hidden Economy: Implications for Econometric Modelling

In this paper I support using econometric techniques to measure the size of the hidden (underground) economy, because such information is important for the construction of certain economic models, and for empirical policy analysis. Generally, detailed information on the output of the hidden economy is unavailable. Even where careful measures of the underground economy have been constructed, usually these data are available only periodically. Important exceptions are the classic results of Tanzi (1983) for the United States, and Bhattacharyya's (1990) series for the United Kingdom. In the case of the New Zealand economy, a time-series of data on the hidden economy has been generated recently (Giles, 1997a). This provides the unusual opportunity to undertake econometric modelling in a way which takes account of such activity formally. Moreover, we can examine the policy implications arising from the linkages between hidden output and various measured economic aggregates.
Approach of a Class of Discontinuous Dynamical Systems of fractional Order: existence of solutions

In this paper, we are concerned with the possible approach to the existence of solutions for a class of discontinuous dynamical systems of fractional order. To this purpose, the underlying initial value problem is transformed into a fractional set-valued problem. Next, Cellina's Theorem is applied leading to a single-valued continuous initial value problem of fractional order. The existence of solutions is assured by a Peano-like theorem for ordinary differential equations of fractional order.
Migration and Characteristics of Remittance Senders in South Africa

Since 2000, South Africa has experienced unprecedented migration from Zimbabwe. Surveys have estimated that by the end of 2007, between 1 million and 2 million Zimbabweans had migrated to South Africa as a result of a political and economic crisis that has been bedevilling their country. These migrants are supporting the livelihoods of relatives left at home through remittances. The nature of the remittance flows is not well documented, and the characteristics of the remittance senders and recipients are even less well understood. In this paper, I attempt to fill this research gap by focusing on the remittance behaviour of the senders. Using data from a survey of Zimbabwean migrants living in Johannesburg in South Africa, in this paper I examine the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the remittance senders. Pertinent findings are that remittance behaviour is seen to be positively correlated with age, the number of dependents supported in the home country, income level and the return migration decision. Furthermore, males and married persons make up a larger proportion of the remitters than females and single persons. There are more remitters among migrants with basic education than among those with tertiary education. I have found remittance behaviour to be independent of legal status and length of stay in the host country. The independence with regard to length of stay raises questions about the validity of the remittance decay hypothesis.
Problems in Launching the Mobile Internet: Evidence from a Pricing Experiment

type="main"> Commercialization of innovations frequently stumbles. A prominent recent example are the early (i.e., pre-3G) mobile phone-enabled Internet services, whose European take-up was slower than expected. To determine why, we build a structural model of demand for such services and estimate it using consumer-level panel data from a pricing experiment. The experiment allows a decomposition of the number of wireless connections into the number of needs—instances where a consumer would establish a connection if the price were zero—and the conditional probability of establishing a connection. We find that needs were plenty and potential consumer surplus several magnitudes higher than that attained. We find that pricing reduced usage substantially and explore potential reasons for the high prices.
Improvement of Fiber Bragg Grating Interrogator sensitivity for triaxial accelerometer

This article describes modifications in the usual interrogator techniques for improve sensitivity of Fiber Bragg Grating Interrogator Systems for embedded applications in a triaxial fiber optical accelerometer in development for aerospace applications. Those modifications were made in optical architecture and in electronic compensations of detected signal, being optimized for strain measurements. Observed results shows compensation of thermal variations in strain measures and power source variations, as well as cancellation of spurious cavity feedbacks that cause measurement variations due to light interference.
Interest Rate Risk Management and Valuation of the Surrender Option in Life Insurance Policies

The valuation of the prepayment option embedded in mortgages attracts the attention of practitioners and academics (see Schwartz and Torous, 1989) both because of its direct negative effect on the financial value of a bank balance sheet in case of drop in interest rates and also because of its impact on the design and pricing of mortgage-backed securities. In the same manner, life insurance policyholders may surrender their contracts and take advantage of higher yields available in the financial markets; this is a source of concern for life insurers, especially during periods of highly volatile interest rates such as have prevailed in recent years. We address the surrender option pricing problem as the valuation of a contingent claim for the insurer, where the contingency is closely related to the level of interest rates, and directly price by arbitrage the surrender option embedded in life insurance policies. A closed-form solution is derived in the case of a single-premium policy when the investment portfolio consists of a fixed-term zero-coupon bond, and the dynamics of stochastic interest rates are driven by the Heath-Jarrow-Morton (1992) model. The price of the option is computed in the case of French contracts using both the closed-form expression and Monte Carlo simulations.
Can Panel Data Really Improve the Predictability of the Monetary Exchange Rate Model

A common explanation for the inability of the monetary model to beat the random walk in forecasting future exchange rates is that conventional time series tests may have low power, and that panel data should generate more powerful tests. This paper provides an extensive evaluation of this power argument to the use of panel data in the forecasting context. In particular, by using simulations it is shown that although pooling of the individual prediction tests can lead to substantial power gains, pooling only the parameters of the forecasting equation, as has been suggested in the previous literature, does not seem to generate more powerful tests. The simulation results are illustrated through an empirical application.
Modeling of a power sharing transmission in a wave energy converter

The fluctuating behavior of wave energy is a challenge to reach high efficiencies of implemented power take-off (PTO) systems due to the bidirectional movement and high variable loads. The described PTO based on a power sharing transmission (PST) tackles this by converting the bidirectional rotation into a unidirectional rotation of a generator equipped with a flywheel to reduce fluctuation in the output. The generator can then be operated at or close to its optimum efficiency. An auxiliary machine is in charge of the controls. The PST is modeled and implemented in an existing hydrodynamic model of a heaving buoy. A basic control is realised in the simulation resulting in the confirmation of the conversion to a unidirectional rotation and facilitating assessment of the machine efficiencies.