Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sexual activities, sexual and life satisfaction, and successful aging in women.

INTRODUCTION Sexuality for women at all ages is a vital aspect of life satisfaction and is based upon continuing growth, development, and adaptation. The successful aging model includes physical, mental/emotional, and social well-being. There is no known published literature on the topic of sexual activities of older women and its implications on life and sexual satisfaction. AIM To investigate the sexual activities of older women in Israel, their levels of sexual satisfaction and life satisfaction, and to examine the relationship between the level of sexual activities, sexual satisfaction, and life satisfaction. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Components of the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory, and the Life Satisfaction Index. METHODS A descriptive, correlational study guided by the theory of "successful aging" by Havighurst (1961) was conducted using a convenience sample of 127 women who attended a menopause clinic for routine and follow up care. RESULTS The research findings described older women as being involved in varied, though limited, sexual activities. There was no significant relationship discovered between the number of sexual activities and age. The level of sexual satisfaction of the studied sample was found to be above the mean score. Most of the women reported good sexual/intimate communication with their partners. Women were not satisfied with the limited variety in their sex life. Women reported a high level of life satisfaction. Ultimately, a positive significant correlation was discovered between sexual satisfaction and level of current sexual activity, and between sexual satisfaction and life satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS Older women are interested in continuing their sexual activities. It is a component of life satisfaction. The desire for sexual variety suggested an important area for patient education. Couple communication was deemed a priority. Health providers should include sexual health issues in their discussions with clients of all ages.
Contour and Centreline Tracking of Vessels from Angiograms using the Classical Image Processing Techniques

This article deals with the problem of vessel edge and centerline detection using classical image processing techniques due to their simpleness and easiness to be implemented. The method is divided into four steps: the vessel enhancement which implies a non-linear filtering proposed by Frangi, the thresholding using Otsu method and the contour detection using the Canny edge detector due to its good performances for the small vessels and the morphological skeletonisation. The algorithms are tested on real data collected from a cardiac catheterism laboratory and it is accurate for images with good spatial resolution (512*512). The output image can be used for further processing in order to find the vessel length or its radius.
Export Credit Agencies, Trade Finance, and South East Asia

This paper looks at the causes of the reduction in trade finance in South East Asian countries post-1997 with a particular focus on the role of export credit agencies. It concludes that while such agencies did not cause or prolong the problem they did not contribute significantly to a solution. The paper also suggests some implications from events in South East Asia for both traditional debt-relief mechanisms and for the architecture of the international financial system.
Ownership And Firm Performance: The Experience Of Saudi Arabias Emerging Economy

This study examines the relationship between firm ownership and corporate performance in Saudi Arabia, using a sample of Listed Private Companies (LPCs) and Listed Government Related Companies (LGRCs). The study compares the operating and market performance of the LPCs and LGRCs during the period 2000-2003 and found that, in general, LGRCs outperform or match the performance of LPCs. More specifically, the study finds that LGRCs tend to mostly outperform LPCs in terms of profitability, as measured by Return on equity (ROE) and Net Profit Margin (NPM), operating efficiently, as measured in terms of Return on assets (ROA), and match them in their stock market risk adjusted performance. The study concludes that these results may have implications for the issue of privatization programs which the government has recently started.
Conditioned pain modulation

Purpose of reviewConditioned pain modulation (CPM) paradigms have been increasingly used over the past few years to assess endogenous analgesia capacity in healthy individuals and pain patients. The current review concentrates on selected recent literature advancing our understanding and practice of CPM. Recent findingsThe main themes covered by the present CPM review include underlying mechanisms, approaches to experimental investigation, practicality in clinical practice, neurophysiological and psychophysiological correlates, and pharmacological solutions to pain modulation dysfunction. SummaryThe reviewed literature refines the methodology used for eliciting CPM responses and characterizing their physiological attributes in healthy individuals and pain patients, and exemplifies the materializing concept of individualized pain medicine through targeting impaired mechanisms of pain modulation by designated drugs for optimal pain alleviation.
Alterations in antioxidant enzyme activities and proline content in pea leaves under long-term drought stress

The effects of long-term drought stress on chlorophyll, proline, protein and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) contents, malondialdehyde (MDA) in terms of lipid peroxidation and on the changes in the activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1), ascorbate peroxidase (APX, EC 1.11.1.11), catalase (CAT, EC 1.11.1.6) and peroxidase (POX; EC 1.11.1.7) in the leaves of pea (Pisum sativum L.) were studied in field conditions. Chlorophyll and protein contents in leaves decreased significantly with increased drought stress. The proline content increased markedly under water deficit. MDA amounts were elevated as a result of water shortage, whereas H2O2 content changed slightly in pea leaves exposed to drought stress. Drought stress markedly enhanced the activities of SOD, CAT and POX but slightly changed the activity of APX. We conclude that in field conditions, long-term water shortage increased the susceptibility to drought in peas.
Connecting strategy‐linked outsourcing approaches and expected performance

Purpose – This study aims to examine the connection between strategy‐linked outsourcing goals and measures of outsourcing performance. The strategies of growth, cost, and differentiation (core competence) are examined in terms of their relationship with goal achievement and cost performance measures.Design/methodology/approach – Regression analysis and ANOVA were applied to survey data collected from 165 purchasing executives.Findings – Findings support a positive relationship between goal intensity for a single strategy and achievement of goals related to that strategy. Findings also suggest that firms with high commitment to growth and cost strategies tend to achieve cost‐related performance at higher levels than firms with a lower commitment to same. Finally, the findings also suggest that firms pursuing a single or dominant strategy achieve lower levels of cost saving performance, as compared with firms pursuing a “balanced” approach that emphasizes two or three different strategies in roughly equal m.
Forecasting new product market potential: Combining multiple methods

Abstract Multiple measurement approaches are often recommended to forecast market potential for new products; however, methodologies to accomplish this have not been fully developed. In this article, Robert Thomas describes an implementation of a multiple methods approach for combining independent forecasts of new product market potential to improve new product planning decisions. The approach involves (1) defining a concept of market potential for the new product, (2) obtaining independent operationalizations and measures of the concept with multiple methods, and (3) using the concept as a basis for reconciling and combining forecasts obtained from the different methods. In the last step, a systematic procedure linked to the conceptual definition of market potential leads to the estimation of judgmental weights for combining the independent forecasts. A case study for a new type of electronic mail service illustrates the approach.
Development of a novel bidirectional electrothermal actuator and its application to RF MEMS switch

This paper presents the design and testing results of an electrothermally driven MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) actuator. Different from conventional uni-directional thermal actuators, this in-plane bi-directional electrothermal actuator is capable of producing displacements in two directions as a single device. The RF MEMS switch driven by this cascaded electrothermal actuator is also proposed. Due to this bidirectional actuator, the proposed switch can not only realize the OFF-state to ON-state shifting but also provide an additional deep OFF-state. At the deep OFF state, the isolation better than -30 dB can be achieved at the whole frequency range of 0 ~ 40 GHz.
The Emergence of a Major Invoicing Currency

This paper proposes a model to explain how the currency of a country evolves in im- portance as an invoicing currency in trade settlement as the relative size of the country grows. The coalescing eect, which induces individual …rms to choose the similar invoicing currency mix as their competitors so as to limit output volatility, not only facilitates the internationalization of a currency, but also accelerates this process by creating a positive feedback between actions of individual …rms and their competitors. We also show that, as the country grows, its currency is more likely to be used by small and close trading partners to invoice trade than its larger and less close counterparts. Moreover, wider use of a currency for invoicing in the issuing country's home market would help spread the use of the currency to other markets. Furthermore, we can explain the "tipping phenomenon"— the non-linear relationship between the international use of a currency and the economic size of the issuing country. The non-linearity arises from an a¢ nity for the established international currency. We confront our hypotheses with trade invoicing data on euro and dollar of 35 countries (1998-2010) and invoicing data on four major international curren- cies for trade between Thailand and 19 countries (2001-2008), and …nd that the results are consistent with our theory.
A Novel Method for Open Relation Extraction from Public Announcements of Chinese Listed Companies

There exists massive information on the Internet, consequently information extraction has attracted more and more attention. Open relation extraction aims to get relational tuples from text without defining relation types in advance. This paper focuses on identifying relation phrases and associated arguments in Chinese arbitrary sentences, and proposes a domain-adaptive method to get entity relations from large amount of related Chinese texts in a supervised way. The experiments show that the proposed method can get both good accuracy and recall rate in the domain of Chinese listed companies.
An Empirical Study of Customer Adoption of E-Commerce: A Customer Trust Model to Support the Adoption of E-Commerce Among Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Sri Lanka

With the end of its 30-year civil war, Sri Lanka is on the path to revitalize its economy. In this endeavor, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role. Like all businesses, SMEs can benefit greatly from new e-commerce technology, a fact that has motivated many of them to establish their presence online through company websites. Sri Lankan users, however, are reluctant to adopt this technology. Little research has been done regarding factors that affect the adoption of e-commerce among Sri Lankan consumers. This study examines factors that affect consumer buying behavior, with a view to helping Sri Lankan SMEs attract and retain customers through online transactions. Based on an extensive literature review, the study formulated six hypotheses and developed a proposed framework for successful adoption of online SMEs from the consumer's perspective. The methodology included a simple random sampling approach for an online survey of 408 Internet users in Sri Lanka. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS. The results indicate that all six hypotheses are supported.
Extraction and Purification of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Lipopolysaccharide Isolated from Wound Infection

Infection is considered one of the dangerous complications of burns. The most infecting organism is likely to be Pseudomonas aeruginosa [1]. During this infection, treatment can be very difficult and the death rates among infected patients can reach up to 40–50% [1,2]. It is an opportunistic pathogen found in the soil and surfaces in aqueous environments and due to its adaptation and antibiotic resistance, it can influence a wide spectrum of other natural and artificial settings, such as surfaces in medical facilities. Severe P. aeruginosa infections are usually nosocomial and all are related to compromised host defenses [3]. Bacterial infection after an injury can be a result of considerable breaches of skin barrier. Burn hospitals often contain multidrugresistant P. aeruginosa which can be an infection source and it has been found to contaminate the floors, bed rails, and nurses’ hands [4]. Bacterial flora can be also transmitted into a hospital by the patient and can infect the same patient following an injury [5]. As opposed to multidrug resistance, Hsueh et al. (1998) reported a single multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa strain through several years, and stated that it was transmitted asymptomatically by some patients during antibiotic treatment course which were used against Pseudomonas and nonPseudomonas infections [6]. Various P. aeruginosa virulence factors participate in the pathogenesis of burn wound infection and some researchers have noted their roles in rodents [7]. ABSTRACT
Zhankuic Acid A Isolated from Taiwanofungus camphoratus Is a Novel Selective TLR4/MD-2 Antagonist with Anti-Inflammatory Properties

TLR4, a membrane receptor that functions in complex with its accessory protein myeloid differentiation factor-2 (MD-2), is a therapeutic target for bacterial infections. Taiwanofungus camphoratus is highly valued as a medicinal mushroom for cancer, hypertension, and inflammation in traditional medicine. Zhankuic acid A (ZAA) is the major pharmacologically active compound of T. camphoratus. The mechanism of action of T. camphoratus or ZAA has not been fully elucidated. We analyzed the structure of human TLR4/MD-2 complex with ZAA by X-score and HotLig modeling approaches. Two Abs against MD-2 were used to verify the MD-2/ZAA interaction. The inflammation and survival of the mice pretreated with ZAA and injected with LPS were monitored. The modeling structure shows that ZAA binds the MD-2 hydrophobic pocket exclusively via specific molecular recognition; the contact interface is dominated by hydrophobic interactions. Binding of ZAA to MD-2 reduced Ab recognition to native MD-2, similar to the effect of LPS binding. Furthermore, ZAA significantly ameliorated LPS-induced endotoxemia and Salmonella-induced diarrhea in mice. Our results suggest that ZAA, which can compete with LPS for binding to MD-2 as a TLR4/MD-2 antagonist, may be a potential therapeutic agent for gram-negative bacterial infections.
Transistor placement strategies for non-series-parallel cells

Regarding optimized logic network generation, recent papers have demonstrated that non-series-parallel topologies can deliver arrangements with fewer transistors when compared to the widely used series-parallel approach. However, due to its topology particularities, this paradigm represents a challenge for physical cell design, especially concerning the transistor placement procedure. In this scenario, we present an analysis of two divergent placement strategies: the first based on a continuous active area approach, aiming to produce cells with minimized diffusion gaps, and the second based on a continuous polysilicon gates paradigm, where the target is to maximize the vertical gates alignment. In order to evaluate both placement policies regarding geometrical and electrical aspects, we performed experiments in a well-known benchmark. The continuous polysilicon gates strategy presented optimizations in the cell area, wirelength, input capacitance, leakage, internal and switching power, while the continuous active area strategy showed better results concerning propagation and transition delay. These results can be used as a guide to an adaptive placement methodology implemented in automatic layout design tools to deal with non-series-parallel arrangements.
Modeling specific phobias and posttraumatic stress disorder in rodents: the challenge to convey both cognitive and emotional features

Abstract Aberrant emotional memory processing is a core, disabling feature of both specific phobias and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), two psychiatric diseases of significant prevalence and morbidity whose cognitive symptoms cannot be adequately treated by current psychopharmacological tools. Elucidating the neurobiological mechanisms involved in the etiology of these diseases is of great interest for the identification of new therapeutics that improve not only the symptomatology but also the full recovery from the pathology. To this aim, several animal models have been proposed based on substantial resemblance between the behavioral alterations seen in animals and the human pathology. The purpose of this review is to describe and comment on the most commonly used rodent models of specific phobias and PTSD. A particular focus will be reserved to the cued version of fear conditioning, as the highly specific stimulus-bound conditioned fear response seems to fit well with clinical descriptions of phobic fear. Moreover, animal models of PTSD will be evaluated by referring to three elements that are considered essential in a valid model of this disease: stressor exposure, memory for the stressor, and anxiety-related behaviors. Finally, current therapeutic directions, with a focus on cannabinoid and glucocorticoid compounds, will be briefly outlined.
Variations in Farm Performance: Evidence from the CEECs and Existing EU Member States

This paper attempts to shed light on the recent performance of farms in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland and to compare the findings from the CEECs with the EU situation. Utilising farm survey data, ratios of agricultural profitability and productivity have been estimated and clusters of farms with similar characteristics have been identified. Analysis indicates that the Hungarian farms have the best prospects amongst the analysed accession countries according to their profitability. The poor profitability and structural problems of Polish agriculture are highlighted. The family farms are less productive than corporate farms in the Czech Republic and Hungary despite the expectations at the outset of the reform that better incentives will boost their productivity.
Jockeying for Position in CEO Letters: Impression Management and Sentiment Analytics

This paper evidences the strategic positioning of positive and negative words within a CEO letter as a subtle form of impression management. We find that managers tend to present information in such an order that the reader of the CEO letter has a more positive perception of the underlying message. We uncover a smile in the frequency of positive words within the letter, and a half smile in the intratextual distribution of negative words, with a prevalence of negative words at the beginning of the letter. We also find a significant positive association between this qualitative impression management and the use of abnormal accruals in earnings management. We propose sentiment analytics that can compensate for the strategic management of narrative structure and find that the proposed position weighted sentiment has more predictive power for the firm performance over the next year.
Software Review: HLM 6

The columnists of my hometown newspaper are pictured every week next to their columns. One columnist, the reviewer of restaurants, is pictured wearing a hat with its large brim turned down so that you cannot see her face. That is how I felt when I made some inquiries with the distributor of the hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) software for multilevel modeling that is the subject of this review (HLM 6 software), knowing that I would be writing this review afterward. One basis for evaluating commercial software is service, so I took note of my encounters with the distributor, Scientific Software International (SSI), when I purchased an upgrade from the previous HLM version. SSI is not Amazon; after Googling “HLM software” to make the purchase, I did not see a way to use a credit card and a secure Web form. But faxing an order form obtained from the SSI Web site seemed OK. When my software package did not turn up in my mailbox, I phoned and reached a human immediately—no interminable hold as you get with local utility companies. The service representative helped me track the order with UPS and such, and his hypothesis was right: The package was kicking around the university. A few weeks later, I thought I had found a bug, so I tried e-mailing the support address with a description. Not only did I receive a response within 24 hours, but the troubleshooter complimented me on the inclusion of screenshots in my description. In reviewer parlance, score four out of four stars for service. The HLM software has evolved a lot over the past decade or more. It started as a DOS program, in which the user input for commands and specifications consisted of lines in a text file, each line stating a parameter followed by its value. As the Windows interface became prominent, SSI created a user interface with now-familiar pull-down menus and information entry screens or windows. Based on these entries, HLM apparently generates lines of text (in the form of parameter:value) that are still the basis of program control (telling, for example, where to find the data and the nature of the data). This approach has pros and cons. While setting up an analysis using the entry screens, it is possible to go back to the main menu and view/edit the controlling lines of text. Sometimes, variations on analyses can be set up more quickly by editing this text, and troubleshooting can be facilitated. One downside is that you must close that text file before doing anything else. This can be confusing because in most other Windows applications, you can click around from window to window, essentially multitasking. Not in HLM; if you do not close that window, when you go back to the main HLM screen, the program just hangs and you think you have encountered a bug (at least I did). This quirk is the kind of thing that is soluble in principle with redesign and reimplementation, sweeping away the DOS legacy (e.g., implementing a text editor that is integral to
2-Furoyl-LIGRLO-amide: A Potent and Selective Proteinase-Activated Receptor 2 Agonist

A peptide corresponding to a proteinase-activated receptor 2 (PAR2)-activating peptide with an N-terminal furoyl group modification, 2-furoyl-LIGRLO-NH2, was assessed for PAR2-dependent and -independent biological activities. 2-Furoyl-LIGRLO-NH2 was equally effective to and 10 to 25 times more potent than SLIGRLNH2 for increasing intracellular calcium in cultured human and rat PAR2-expressing cells, respectively. In bioassays of tissue PAR2 activity, measured as arterial vasodilation and hyperpolarization, 2-furoyl-LIGRLO-NH2 was 10 to 300 times more potent than SLIGRL-NH2. Unlike trans-cinnamoyl-LIGRLO-NH2, 2-furoyl-LI-GRLO-NH2 did not cause a prominent non-PAR2-mediated contraction of murine femoral arteries. In conclusion, 2-furoyl-LI-GRLO-NH2 represents the most potent and selective activator of PAR2 in biological systems described to date.