Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Iliac Flap Versus Fibula Flap in Mandibular Reconstruction

Abstract The mandible is one of the important parts of the body in terms of facial appearance and function. Vascularized free bone grafts have become the criterion standard in mandible reconstruction. With flap survival rates not too much distant to 100%, the focus is now on function and aesthetics. With the various free-flap options now available, reconstruction of the mandibular defect has achieved significant improvement in both functional and aesthetic results. However, few studies have compared the results of these options. The fibula is defined as the most popular flap in mandibular reconstruction, and only in few papers iliac flaps are preferred. However, quality of life and effectiveness data are not available to support this choice. Not any previous study prospectively compared these 2 flaps. Short- and long-term results of an outcome-research study were prospectively compared in microvascular mandibular reconstruction with fibular flap and iliac crest flaps. Mean functional and quality-of-life scores were higher following iliac crest reconstructions. Fibular flap was the flap of choice in total/subtotal mandibulectomy, but it does not appear preferable in hemimandibulectomy and/or in cases of segmental mandibulectomy, if compared with the iliac crest.
Management Accounting Practices in the U.S. and Japan: Comparative Survey Findings and Research Implications*

In recent years, the success of Japanese firms in the global market has prompted efforts to understand the sources of their competitive advantage. It has been suggested that one such source is the Japanese firms' management accounting systems, and a number of articles have claimed that important differences do exist between U.S. and Japanese firms in this area. However, these claims have tended to be supported by anecdotal, rather than systematic, evidence. The objective of this article is to contribute further insights into similarities and differences between U.S. and Japanese firms' management accounting practices. Exhaustive searches of published surveys in the U.S. and Japanese literatures (much of which is in Japanese) provided the basis for U.S.-Japan comparisons on six aspects of management accounting practices. In turn, these comparisons were used for deriving implications for future research. Two major limitations of extant research and, thus, directions for future research are identified. First, future research needs to go beyond the simple use or non-use of techniques to investigate more detailed aspects of technique use. Second, since management accounting is only one component of a firm's total management system, attention also needs to be devoted to the organizational context, process, and goals of a firm's management accounting practices.
ONR Graduate Traineeship Award in Ocean Acoustics for Joshua D. Wilson

Abstract : The goal of this research is to test the hypothesis that inexpensive underwater acoustic measurements can be used to determine the wind speed and classify the destructive power of a hurricane with greater accuracy than standard satellite remote sensing techniques. It is proposed to do this by conducting field experiments in cooperation with the Mexican Navy just off the Mexican Isla Socorro which has a well-equipped meteorological station and the highest frequency of tropical cyclone occurrences in the world [6].
Proteomics Exploration Reveals That Actin Is a Signaling Target of the Kinase Akt*

The serine/threonine kinase Akt is a key mediator of cell survival and cell growth that is activated by most growth factors, but its downstream signaling largely remains to be elucidated. To identify signaling partners of Akt, we analyzed proteins co-immunoprecipitated with Akt in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Mass spectrometry analysis (MALDI-TOF and MS-MS) of SDS-PAGE-separated Akt co-immunoprecipitates allowed the identification of 10 proteins: α -actinin, valosin-containing protein, inhibitor κB kinase, mortalin, tubulin β, cytokeratin 8, actin, 14-3-3σ, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, and heat shock protein HSP27. The identification of these putative Akt binding partners were validated with specific antibodies. Interestingly, the major protein band observed in Akt co-immunoprecipitates was found to be the cytoskeleton protein actin for which a 14-fold increase was observed in Akt-activated compared with non-activated conditions. The interaction between Akt and actin was further confirmed by reverse immunoprecipitation, and confocal microscopy demonstrated a co-localization specifically induced under growth factor stimulation. The use of wortmannin indicated a dependence on the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway. Using a phospho-Akt substrate antibody, the phosphorylation of actin on an Akt consensus site was detected upon growth factor stimulation, both in cellulo and in vitro, suggesting that actin is a substrate of Akt kinase activity. Interestingly, cortical remodeling of actin associated with cell migration was reversed by small interfering RNA directed against Akt, indicating the involvement of Akt in the dynamic reorganization of actin cytoskeleton germane to breast cancer cell migration. Together these data identify actin as a new functional target of Akt signaling.
An Application-Oriented Approach for Consideration of Material Degradation Effects Due to Cutting on Iron Losses and Magnetizability

The decrease in magnetic permeability and increase of local hysteresis loss in the vicinity of lamination edges originating from the cutting process need to be accounted for during the design of electrical machines. A flexible method is needed, which is able to account for different degradation profiles due to different cutting techniques. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the impact of material degradation on iron losses and magnetizability due to guillotine shear and CO2 laser cutting for non-oriented electrical steels.
Temporary Agency Work as a Means of Achieving Flexicurity

After decades of debate about flexibility, flexicurity has become a new buzzword in working life. Flexicurity refers to both the employer’s demand for flexibility and the employee’s demand for security. Thus, the idea is to solve the flexibility–security trade-off. There is also a discussion that mentions temporary agency work as one way of creating a flexicurity system. The flexibility potential is not called into question—numerical flexibility is a quite common motive for using temporary agency workers. However, the security dimension has to be scrutinized. The aim of this article is to analyze the temporary work agency industry’s potential for providing the security dimensions of the flexicurity model in a Swedish context. The study is based on a survey of whitecollar temporary agency workers in Sweden (n = 533). Overall, the vast majority do not perceive security. Our most important result is that both the work agency and the user firm have a dual impact on the agency workers’ perception of security.
Controlled stimulant treatment of ADHD and comorbid Tourette's syndrome: effects of stimulant and dose.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of methylphenidate (MPH) and dextroamphetamine (DEX) on tic severity in boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comorbid with Tourette's syndrome. METHOD A 9-week, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover using a wide range of doses was completed by 20 subjects in three cohorts. RESULTS Relatively high doses of MPH and DEX in the first cohort produced significant increases in tic severity which were sustained on higher doses of DEX but which attenuated on MPH. Overall, 14 of 20 subjects continued stimulant treatment for 1 to 3 years, generally in combination with other psychotropics. Stimulant-associated adverse effects, including tic exacerbations, were reversible in all cases. CONCLUSION A substantial minority of comorbid subjects had consistent worsening of tics on stimulants, although the majority experienced improvement in ADHD symptoms with acceptable effects on tics. MPH was better tolerated than DEX.
Androgenic to oestrogenic switch in the human adult prostate gland is regulated by epigenetic silencing of steroid 5α‐reductase 2

Benign prostatic hyperplasia is the most common proliferative abnormality of the prostate. All men experience some prostatic growth as they age, but the rate of growth varies among individuals. Steroid 5α‐reductase 2 (SRD5A2) is a critical enzyme for prostatic development and growth. Previous work indicates that one‐third of adult prostatic samples do not express SRD5A2, secondary to epigenetic modifications. Here we show that the level of oestradiol is dramatically elevated, concomitant with significant upregulation of oestrogen response genes, in prostatic samples with methylation at the SRD5A2 promoter. The phosphorylation of oestrogen receptor‐α in prostatic stroma is upregulated when SRD5A2 expression is absent. We show that tumour necrosis factor (TNF)‐α suppresses SRD5A2 mRNA and protein expression, and simultaneously promotes expression of aromatase, the enzyme responsible for conversion of testosterone to oestradiol. Concomitant suppression of SRD5A2 and treatment with TNF‐α synergistically upregulate the aromatase levels. The data suggest that, in the absence of prostatic SRD5A2, there is an androgenic to oestrogenic switch. These findings have broad implications for choosing appropriate classes of medications for the management of benign and malignant prostatic diseases. Copyright © 2017 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Ismail Beşikçi: Turkish sociologist, critic of Kemalism, and kurdologist

For many years, Ismail Be•ikci was the only non-Kurdish person in Turkey to speak out loud and clearly in defense of the rights of the Kurds. No other writer in Turkish history has had to face such an endless series of trials and prison sentences for almost every public utterance as Be•ikci has. The odyssey of Be•ikci's encounters with Turkey's legal system shows, more eloquently than any abstract political or legal analysis could, what is wrong with the system, and it demonstrates effectively how the officially proclaimed human rights and democratic values become null and void where the Kurdish question is involved.
The Prediction of Repeated Violence Among Individuals With Serious Mental Disorders: Situational Versus Dispositional Factors

The question we attempt to answer in this study is why some individuals with serious mental illness engage in repeated violence, while others do not. There appear to be two perspectives that may explain repeated violence: one that emphasizes situational factors and one that emphasizes dispositional factors. Situational factors are those that are constantly changing within one’s life, whereas dispositional factors are those that remain relatively stable over time. Therefore, dispositional factors would theoretically put individuals with serious mental illness at stable risk for repeated violence because these factors remain relatively stable over time. In fact, perhaps individuals with mental illness repeatedly engage in violence because they have a dispositional trait (like impulsivity, for example) that puts them at stable risk for repeated violence. Conversely, situational factors would theoretically explain why individuals do not engage in repeated violence because they are transient and constantly changing. Therefore, perhaps one desists from violence because some situational factors changed in that individual’s life. Using data from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study (i.e., MacRisk), a longitudinal study of people with serious mental illness, repeated violence was evaluated across waves. A multilevel logistic regression model was employed. Results indicate that both situational and dispositional factors are significantly associated with repeated violence. Specifically, situational factors such as marital status, drug use, perceived stress, and time away from the psychiatric hospital and dispositional factors such as personality traits including agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and extraversion are all significantly associated with repeated violence. These findings have important policy implications regarding criminal justice intervention and clinical practice.
Home Bias in International Stock Return Expectations

Despite the advantages of international portfolio diversification, actual equity portfolio holdings reveal a strong bias towards domestic stocks. One hypothesis is that this bias can be explained by stock return expectations expressed in probability judgments. To test that hypothesis and to analyze the underlying effects that might cause distortions in investors' expectations, we conducted a cross country study in Germany and the U.S. comparing participants' judgments about an identical set of German and U.S. stocks. Results show that both test groups feel more competent about domestic stocks. The asymmetric perception of competence is connected with an asymmetric assessment of probabilities. For both test groups subjective probability distributions of stock returns are significantly less dispersed and more optimistic for stocks associated with high competence levels than for stocks associated with low competence levels.
Smallholder cooperatives and agricultural performance in Rwanda: do organizational differences matter?

Agricultural policies in Rwanda focus on agricultural intensification and increased market orientation of the smallholder farm sector. Cooperatives are seen as key vehicles in this, but little is known about their effectiveness to achieve these goals. In this article, we analyze the impact of cooperative membership on the agricultural performance of rural households in Rwanda. We use cross-sectional survey data, collected in 2012, to analyze the impact of cooperative membership on different agricultural performance indicators, including indicators on agricultural intensification, market orientation, farm revenue, and income. We use several econometric techniques to deal with potential selection bias in estimating the impact of cooperative membership, including a proxy variable method based on a willingness to pay measure and propensity score matching methods. We find that cooperative membership in general has a positive impact on farm performance but these effects are driven by specific types of cooperatives.
Characterization of Polyesters by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization and Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry

Two homopolyesters, poly(neopentyl glycol-alt-isophthalic acid) and poly(hexanediol-alt-azelaic acid), and two copolyesters, poly[dipropoxylated bisphenol-A-alt-(isophthalic acid-co-adipic acid)] and poly[neopentyl glycol-alt-(adipic acid-co-isophthalic acid)] were analyzed by internal-source matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization Fourier transform mass spectrometry (MALDI-FT-MS). The high resolution and high mass accuracy provided by FT-MS greatly facilitate the characterization of the polyester and copolyester samples. Isobaric resolution allows the ion abundances of overlapping isotopic envelopes to be assessed. Repeat units were confirmed and end group functionality assigned. Single-shot mass spectra of the entire polymeric distribution demonstrate that the dynamic range of this internal MALDI source instrument and the analyzer cell exceeds the performance previously reported for higher field instruments. Corrections of space–charge mass shift effects are demonstrated for the analytes using an external calibrant and (subsequent to confirmation of structure) using internal calibration, which removes the ambiguity due to space–charge differences in calibrant and analyte spectra. Capillary gel-permeation chromatography was used to prepare low polydispersity samples from a high polydispersity polyester, improving the measurement of molecular weight distribution two-fold while retaining the benefits of high resolution mass spectrometry for elucidation of oligomer identity.
The Emerging Market for European Corporate Governance: The Relationship between Governance and Capital Expenditures, 1997-2005

We examine European corporate governance with respect to the relationship between shareholder value and capital investment. Based upon Europe's largest listed companies, it is shown that Anglo-American conceptions of shareholder value are increasingly important for European firms whatever their home jurisdictions and inherited traditions. Using annual capital expenditures as a proxy for corporate managers' commitment to shareholder value it is shown contra arguments to the effect that the map of European corporate governance regimes is fixed and virtually immutable, even large firms from paradigmatic stakeholder regimes believed focused upon long-term value increasingly act to maximise short-term shareholder value. We divide Europe into three regions based on ownership concentration, legal systems, board structures, and the presence of corporate governance codes. In this multi-jurisdictional setting, we compare the effects of different elements of corporate governance on capital expenditures in each region. Our analysis shows that the overall effect of investor-sensitive corporate governance on capital expenditures is consistently negative notwithstanding differences in the formal nature and quality of governance standards between regions. We explain this finding by reference to the governance standards of United Kingdom: a market for corporate governance that has come to dominate its continental European neighbours.
A comparison of regular and franchise systems in the real estate brokerage industry in terms of operating efficiency—Application of the data envelopment analysis

This study applied data envelopment analysis (DEA) to analyze the operating efficiency of Taiwan’s real estate brokerage firms and provides a reference for inefficient firms. The empirical results are the following: (1) through an analysis of the relative efficiencies, given their organizational management and distribution of resources, chain stores were found to more easily achieve efficiency than a franchise system; (2) using slack variable analysis, franchise systems were found to have considerable advertising expenses and lease and sales cases of houses, while regular chain stores have considerable rent cost and lease and sales cases of houses; and (3) based on a sensitivity analysis, the real estate brokerage industry has a higher sensitivity to commission revenue and a lower sensitivity to the salaries of non-salespersons. Key words: Real estate brokerage industry, regular system, franchise system, data envelopment analysis, pure technical efficiency, scale efficiency.
High-Rate and Low-Complexity Space-Time Block Codes for $2 \times 2$ MIMO Systems

The main design criteria for space-time block codes (STBCs) are the code rate, diversity order, coding gain, and low decoder complexity. In this letter, we propose a full-rate full-diversity STBC for 2 × 2 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with a substantially lower maximum likelihood (ML) detection complexity than that of existing schemes. This makes the implementation of high-performance full-rate codes feasible for practical systems. Our numerical evaluation shows that the proposed code achieves significantly lower decoding complexity while maintaining a similar performance compared to that of existing rate-2 STBCs.
Formate-Dependent Growth and Homoacetogenic Fermentation by a Bacterium from Human Feces: Description of Bryantella formatexigens gen. nov., sp. nov

ABSTRACT Formate stimulates growth of a new bacterium from human feces. With high formate, it ferments glucose to acetate via the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway. The original isolate fermented vegetable cellulose and carboxymethylcellulose, but it lost this ability after storage at −76°C. 16S rRNA gene sequencing identifies it as a distinct line within the Clostridium coccoides supra-generic rRNA grouping. We propose naming it Bryantella formatexigens gen. nov., sp. nov.
Gait and ADL rehabilitation using a whole body motion support type mobile suit evaluated by cerebral activity

We developed a new whole body motion support type mobile suit. This suit can be used separately for supporting the upper and/or lower limbs, for assisting ADL (Activities of Daily Living). We also developed a mobile lifter system which can bear both the equipped person and the suit. This suit and the lifter can be used by motor palsy patients suffering from stroke, spinal-cord-injury, and central nerve disorders. Using this device, these patients can recover normal gait with no risk of falling. In this paper, the cerebral activity during walking using the suit and normal gait without the suit are compared. According to multiple trials with the suit on a treadmill, the activities of the premotor area sensory motor cortex decreased. Especially, while walking using the suit for supporting lower limbs without swinging arms, the cerebral activities of most of the areas decreased. It means to be ineffective for the patients accustomed to the suit in rehabilitation. However, on the contrary, by walking while swinging bilateral arms (even though these arms were assisted by the suit), the activity in the supplementary motor area increased (this area of the brain is related with memory of motion). Furthermore, the cerebral activities while walking on a treadmill and while walking in a corridor with an outside view were compared. From the results of this experiment, we found it is most effective for gait training to actually walk and not stay fixed in one location. We also found it is important for patients to swing their arms during gait training in rehabilitation. Finally, we compared the differences of the cerebral activity during ADL rehabilitation (flexion, extension, and rotation of the subject's elbow) using our suit operated by a third party or themselves (using opposite hand). From this result, cerebral activity while self operated was higher than the result operated by third party, even though the subjects were assisted with the suit in both experiments. From these trials, we can conclude that this suit is suitable to assist patients in gait and ADL rehabilitation.