Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of potential cationic probes for the detection of proline and betaine

Osmoregulants are the substances that help plants to tolerate environmental extremes such as salinity and drought. Proline and betaine are two of the most commonly studied osmoregulants. An indirect UV CE method has been developed for simultaneous determination of these osmoregulants. A variety of reported probes and compounds were examined as potential probes for the indirect detection of proline and betaine. Mobility and UV‐absorption properties highlighted sulfanilamide as a potential probe for indirect analysis of proline and betaine. Using 5 mM sulfanilamide at pH 2.2 with UV detection at 254 nm, proline and betaine were separated in less than 15 min. The LODs for proline and betaine were 11.6 and 28.3 μM, respectively. The developed method was successfully applied to quantification of these two osmoregulants in spinach and beetroot samples.
Intergenerational Association of Alexithymic Characteristics for College Students and Their Mothers

The intergenerational association of alexithymic characteristics of mothers and their children were examined in a sample of 232 pairs of college students and their mothers. Scores on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Parental Bonding Inventory, and the Family Environmental Scale of college students were significantly correlated with their mothers' memories of when they were also 20 years old. College students' scores were significantly correlated with their mothers' scores on each questionnaire. The student-mother pairs were further divided into two family types, nuclear and extended families. Correlations were higher for scores of the nuclear family than for those of the extended family. Such results suggest there may be intergenerational transmission of alexithymia and related factors from mothers to children.
GROUP SIGNATURE : AN EFFICIENT GROUP SIGNATURE FOR NON TRANSFERABLE ANONYMOUS

Large-scale peer-to-peer systems face security threats from faulty or hostile remote computing elements. To resist these threats, many such systems employ redundancy. However, if a single faulty entity can present multiple identities, it can control a substantial fraction of the system, thereby undermining this redundancy. One approach to preventing these “Sybil attacks” is to have a trusted agency certify identities. This paper shows that, without a logically centralized authority, Sybil attacks are always possible except under extreme and unrealistic assumptions of resource parity and coordination among entities. Mobility is often a problem for providing securi ty services in ad hoc networks. In this paper, we show that mobility can be used to enhance security. Specifically, we show that nodes that passively monitor traffic in the network can detect a Sybil attacker that uses a number of network identities simultaneously. We show through simulation that this detection can be done by a single node, or that multiple trusted nodes can join to improve the accuracy of detection. We then show that although the detection mechanism will falsely identify groups of nodes traveling together as a Sybil attacker, we can extend the protocol to monitor collisions at the MAC level to differentiate between a single attacker spoofing many addresses and a group of nodes traveling in close
4D lung tumor segmentation via shape prior and motion cues

Lung tumor segmentation is important for therapy in the radiation treatment of patients with thoracic malignancies. In this paper, we describe a 4D image segmentation method based on graph-cuts optimization, shape prior and optical flow. Due to small size, the location, and low contrast between the tumor and the surrounding tissue, tumor segmentation in 3D+t is challenging. We performed 4D lung tumor segmentation in 5 patients, and in each case compared the results with the expert-delineated lung nodules. In each case, 4D image segmentation took approximately ten minutes on a PC with AMD Phenom II and 32GB of memory for segmenting tumor in five phases of lung CT data.
Substantial skeletal muscle loss occurs during only 5 days of disuse

The impact of disuse on the loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength has been well documented. Given that most studies have investigated muscle atrophy after more than 2 weeks of disuse, few data are available on the impact of shorter periods of disuse. We assessed the impact of 5 and 14 days of disuse on skeletal muscle mass, strength and associated intramuscular molecular signalling responses.
Further Evidence on Wage and Productivity Differentials in Brazil

This paper discusses the relationship between the elasticities of wages and productivity with respect to human capital. The goal is to search if there is a distortion on the expected relationship between these two variables, given market forces and a selfish behavior by agents, as it is found in some Europeans countries. A general equilibrium, overlapping generation model that can capture the relationship between these two elasticities is presented. Two equations that emerge from this model are estimated, using data from RAIS and IBGE Pesquisa Industrial Annual for 2000. The results indicate that local labor market attenuates income inequality, transferring income from more qualified to less qualified workers, similarly to what happens in European labor markets.
On the performance of the DVB-T system in mobile environments

Mobile multimedia services may become an important feature of terrestrial networks for many applications. One possible scenario to offer digital TV services for mobile and portable receivers is to use the DVB-T specifications that may allow high data rate transmission in an 8 MHz UHF channel. Although this specification was designed for fixed reception, some of its robust modes might allow mobile reception of TV-services. By means of theoretical investigations, simulations, laboratory tests and field trials, we analyse the behaviour and limits of the DVB-T standard in mobile environments. It seems that the Doppler shift is not necessarily the limitation. Rather, it is the lack of time interleaving that might pose problems.
ANOMALIES IN THE VALUE OF TRAVEL-TIME CHANGES

Standard practice in econometric estimation of the value of travel-time changes divides travellers into market segments and assumes linear utility functions in each category. Here instead we derive a RUM-model from a second-order approximation to the utility function. The model is estimated by probit on data from a recent SP value-of-travel-time study. The influence of socio-economic variables, trip duration, and so on, on the value of travel-time changes is estimated and tested. Our conclusions differ in several ways from those of a previous study evaluating the same dataset with the conventional method. We find a considerably lower value of travel-time savings and signs of a cognitive threshold; respondents decline travel time savings smaller than 10-15 minutes irrespectively of the bid price. The non-linear approach also provides a convenient means for benefits transfer, that is, to calculate the mean value of time savings for a specific road project, depending on how it will be used, and by whom. The London School of Economics and the University of Bath 2001
Adaptively shortened pull down menus: location knowledge and selection efficiency

Adaptively shortened pull down menus, as introduced by Microsoft with the ‘personalized menus’ in Office 2000™ and assumed to speed up menu selection, are examined. Displacement of items in this adaptively changing menu is argued to conflict with the user's location knowledge, leading to increased selection times and error rates. In a controlled experiment with 31 subjects, a standard menu was compared with a shortened and a gapped menu variant. The gapped menu variant served to distinguish effects from displacement and effects resulting from reduced item number. Selection times and error rates were smaller for the standard menu than for the shortened variant. The gapped menu, whilst it has longer distances, was faster than the shortened menu, but slower than the standard menu. According to our findings, the assumption that adaptively shortened pull down menus facilitate menu selection is weakened.
The Dividend Tax Credit and Canadian Ownership Objectives

This paper discusses the role of the dividend tax credit in determining the Canadian ownership pattern of Canadian industry. The analytic tool used is the capital-asset pricing model extended to include differential taxation of dividen ds and capital-gains income across different countries. The paper finds that changes in the dividend tax credit will have a differential impact on Canadian ownership, depending on sectoral differences in dividend yields and variances of rates of return, and the correlation structure. Empirical simulation of the model suggests that the effects are significant.
Artificial neural network vs linear discriminant analysis in credit ratings forecast: A comparative study of prediction performances

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to perform a comparative study of prediction performances of an artificial neutral network (ANN) model against a linear prediction model like a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) with regards to forecasting corporate credit ratings from financial statement data. Design/methodology/approach – The ANN model used in the study is a fully connected back-propagation model with three layers of neurons. The paper uses a comparative approach whereby two prediction models – one based on ANN and the other based on LDA are developed using identically partitioned data set. Findings – The study found that the ANN model comprehensively outperformed the LDA model in both training and test partitions of the data set. While the LDA model may have been hindered by omitted variables; this actually lends further credence to the ANN model showing that the latter is more robust in dealing with missing data. Research limitations/implications – A possible drawback in the model implementation probably lies in the selection of the various accounting ratios. Perhaps future replications of this study should look more carefully at choosing the ratios after duly addressing the problems of collinearity and duplications more rigorously. Practical implications – The findings of this study imply that since ANN models can better deal with complex data sets and do not require restraining assumptions like linearity and normality, it may be overall a better approach in corporate credit rating forecasts that uses large financial data sets. Originality/value – This study brings out the effectiveness of non-linear pattern learning models as compared to linear ones in forecasts of financial solvency. This goes on to further highlight the practical importance of the new breed of computational tools available to techno-savvy financial analysts and also to the providers of corporate credit.
Capitalization and the Theory of Local Public Finance

The Tiebout literature is incomplete, this paper argues, because it has not fully accounted for the capitalization of local fiscal variables into house values. The paper explains why capitalization arises, why it persists in long-run equilibrium, how it affects both residential location and the outcome of local voting, and why it interferes with the efficiency of a system of local governments. The analysis, which is based on the main Tiebout assumptions plus a property tax, combines a model of household bids in a housing market with a median-voter model of local public service determination.
Culturally Contingent Situated Cognition

Interpersonal influence and interpersonal adjustment play crucial roles in structuring social interactions. However, not much is known about whether their consequences are culturally contingent. We hypothesized that in order to effectively influence others, people need to employ a perceptual style that serves their cultural imperative. Specifically, we predicted that in the United States, interpersonal influence fosters an analytic, context-independent perceptual style that helps people focus on their goal; however, in Japan, where the cultural imperative is to attend to other people and fit into social contexts, this pattern may be absent or reversed. In two studies, we tested this hypothesis by measuring interpersonal interactions (Study 1) and then by manipulating interpersonal interactions (Study 2). Overall, the findings support a culturally contingent situated-cognition approach, which highlights not only interpersonal underpinnings of perceptual styles but also the role that culture plays in ascribing meaning to interpersonal interactions.
Tactical Asset Allocation: Pros and Cons

Numerous consultants, investment advisers and analysts have put forth what appears to be very persuasive evidence that, contrary to the random walk hypothesis, traditional measures of value such as pricelbook ratio, dividend yield and price/earnings ratio can forecast the direction of stock prices. But the evidence grossly overstates the true power of these measures. Common errors in analyzing data and backtesting investment strategies lead analysts to conclude that these measures have more power than they actually do. There is, however, a systematic relationship between stock market returns and these measures of value. In particular, the probability distribution of excess equity returns exhibits positive (negative) skewness when dividend yield or pricelbook ratio indicates an undervalued (overvalued) market. Given this skewness, one must question the efficacy of meanlvariance analysis, which does not look beyond means and standard deviations. While traditional measures of value do convey some information about future returns, this information is not what investors have been led to believe. Investors following tactical asset allocation strategies based on these measures of value should reexamine their strategies in the light of this research.
Cytoprotective effects of the lipoidic‐liquiform pro‐vitamin C tetra‐isopalmitoyl‐ascorbate (VC‐IP) against ultraviolet‐A ray‐induced injuries in human skin cells together with collagen retention, MMP inhibition and p53 gene repression

Irradiation with ultraviolet‐A (UVA) ray at doses of 20–100 J/cm2 diminished the cell viability of human keratinocytes HaCaT and human melanoma cells HMV‐II, both of which were protected by pre‐irradiational administration with the ascorbic acid (Asc) derivative, VC‐IP (2,3,5,6‐O‐tetra‐2′‐hexyldecanoyl‐L‐ascorbic acid; vitamin C‐isopalmityl tetraester), which is the first lipoidic‐liquiform pro‐vitamin C by itself that is materialized by esterization of all four intramolecular hydroxyl groups of an Asc molecule with branched chain fatty groups, resulting in molecular fluidity higher than that of the corresponding straight chains. Irradiation with UVA to HaCaT keratinocytes was shown to cause the formation of 8‐hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8‐OHdG), translocation of phosphatidylserine in the inner layer into the outer layer of cell membrane, and lowering of a mitochondrial membrane potential, all of which were repressed by pre‐irradiational administration with VC‐IP. Expression of p53 gene, another hallmark of UV‐induced DNA damages, was promoted by UVA irradiation to the keratinocytes but also repressed by VC‐IP. Administration with VC‐IP of 10–50 µM to human fibroblasts NHDF achieved the enhancement of collagen synthesis, repression of matrix metalloprotease‐2/9 activity, and increasing of intracellular Asc contents more markedly than that with Asc itself of the same concentrations. Thus UVA‐induced diverse harmful effects could be prevented by VC‐IP, which was suggested to ensue intrinsically from the persistent enrichment of intracellular Asc, through esterolytic conversion of VC‐IP to a free‐form Asc molecule, resulting in relief to UVA‐caused oxidative stress. J. Cell. Biochem. 106: 589–598, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Protection of esophageal multi-lineage progenitors of squamous epithelium (stem cells) from ionizing irradiation by manganese superoxide dismutase-plasmid/liposome (MnSOD-PL) gene therapy.

BACKGROUND Intraesophageal manganese superoxide dismutase plasmid liposome (MnSOD-PL) gene therapy protects against irradiation damage. MATERIALS AND METHODS To determine whether esophageal side population (SP) stem cells were protected, epitope-tagged (hemagglutinin) (HA) MnSOD-PL was administered to C57BL/6J mice 24 hours prior to 30 Gy esophageal irradiation. SP cells were isolated, and apoptosis and multi-lineage vimentin/endothelin/F4/80 (macrophage) colonies in vitro were quantitated. RESULTS The number and percent of SP cells, apoptotic cells, or numbers of multi-lineage vimentin/endothelin/F4/80-positive in vitro colonies isolated from non-irradiated HA-MnSOD-PL-treated or 30 Gy-irradiated esophagus did not differ between groups. Irradiation in vitro significantly increased apoptosis in explanted non-SP cells from control (p = 0.021) compared to MnSOD-PL-treated mice. Irradiation-induced cell division was significantly increased in SP cells from control-irradiated mice (p = 0.001), but not MnSOD-PL-treated mice. Irradiation-induced apoptosis detected in vivo at 5 days was decreased by MnSOD-PL. CONCLUSION MnSOD-PL gene therapy protects esophageal SP cells from irradiation in vitro and in vivo.
Cheer the crowd? Facilitating user participation in idea crowdsourcing

External crowds provide organisations with valuable knowledge and new ideas in a cost–effective way. While existing research has focused on the users and the general characteristics of crowdsourcing, there is still a lack of understanding of how the hosting organisation should organise and govern crowdsourcing initiatives. Building on the literature from the fields of innovation management, knowledge management, marketing and electronic commerce, with real–world illustrations, we develop a framework to facilitate the participation of external crowds in idea crowdsourcing tasks. Our study identifies six management practices related to the different phases of idea crowdsourcing: selecting appropriate communication technologies; defining tasks; evaluating crowd size and its knowledge base; launching tasks and supporting interpretation; giving feedback and encouraging interaction, and allowing user–driven idea evaluations. The study contributes to the literature on innovation management and crowdsourcing, while also offering practical insight into how to better cultivate the wisdom of external crowds.
RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) Extended Report (XR) for RLE of Discarded Packets

The RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) is used in conjunction with the Real- time Transport Protocol (RTP) in order to provide a variety of short- term and long-term reception statistics. The available reporting may include aggregate information across longer periods of time as well as individual packet reporting. This document specifies a per-packet report metric capturing individual packets discarded from the de- jitter buffer after successful reception.
From Knowledge to Firm Performance: An Empirical analysis of Intellectual Capital Impact in Polish and Dutch Listed Firms

Purpose: Empirical results about the direct relation of knowledge leading to fi nancial performance at a fi rm is dispersed. This study aims to examine the impact intellectual capital (IC) has on fi rm performance in Polish and Dutch listed fi rms. Methodology: Quantitative data is collected based on audited annual reports from the top 20 companies listed at the Warsaw Stock Exchange and Amsterdam Stock Exchange between 2007 and 2011. IC is measured using the VAIC methodology with its individual elements of HCE, SCE, and CEE. Direct relations between ICE, HCE, and SCE and fi ve measures of fi rm performance are statistically analysed. Results: The results suggest that there is a direct positive relationship between ICE and fi rm performance of Polish and Dutch listed fi rms, particularly with ROA, ROE, EP, and to a lesser extent with ATO. Firms listed in Poland provide a stronger positive ICE relation to ROA and ROE where fi rms listed in the Netherlands provide a stronger positive ICE relation to EP. Regarding individual elements, HCE relates highly positive to ROA, ROE, and EP where SCE fi nds only partial negative relation with ATO. Implications: Nurturing IC and in particular HC confi rms the importance of fi rm knowledge and employees with right training and other support. Additionally, further clarifi cation regarding SC is required. Originality: This paper presents the fi rst study of the IC relationship with fi rm performance in Poland as well in the Netherlands. Additionally, the comparison between fi rms of both countries establishes a novelty in IC research.
The Service Sector in Soviet Economic Growth: A Comparative Study

The service sector represents a smaller share of the national economy in the Soviet Union than in other countries at similar levels. This gap is found in trade, in private and business services, and, surprisingly, in public administration. Gur Ofer provides a twofold examination of this phenomenon. He uses cross country comparisons to study the normal relationships between the size of the service institutions and economic development. At the same time he investigates specific factors operating in Socialist and Soviet countries, thus uniting the special Soviet case with general development theory. "
Canadian Economic Growth 1870-1980

The Canadian economy has gone through four fairly readily identified stages since 1870. First, the years 1870 to 1896 are characterized by laggard growth with some net emigration. Second, the period 1896 to 1929 is one of boom with very high rates of immigration and development of the wheat economy with much dependence on export markets. Third, the 1930's and 1940's are periods of disturbance with severe depression in the 1930's and war in the 1940's. Finally, the years 1950 to 1980 are years of sustained growth with development of many of the features of a mature economy. The underlying characteristics of these developments are examined in considerable detail.
Black and Official Exchange Rates in Latin America: An Analysis of Their Long-Run Dynamics

This paper analyzes the long-run dynamic relationship between black and official exchange rates for four Latin America namely, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico over the period 1971-1993. We apply Johansen's (1992a, 1995, 1997) recent methodology to the joint hypothesis of cointegration rank and the presence of I(2) and I(1) components along with the estimation of the roots of the companion matrix (Juselius, 1995) and we find evidence of one long-run relationship between the black and official exchange rate, for any country. We also show that the long-run proportionality hypothesis between the two exchange rates could not be rejected, which implies the existence of a constant long-run black-market premium, for all cases. When the premium deviates from its long-run value, the black-market rate adjusts to eliminate the deviation and the speed of adjustment is quite large. Further tests suggest that there is weak-form informational inefficiency in the black markets, which may be due, in part, to the transaction costs and the tight administrative controls over foreign currency applied in these Latin American countries. The results have implications for managing exchange-rate risk and for possible arbitrage opportunities in these markets.