Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of ROS in prostatic stromal cells under hypoxic environment

Abstract Objective: The objective of this study is to explore the effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS) under hypoxic environment in prostatic stromal cells (PSC). Methods and materials: To detect the expression of ROS in PSC and the tissues of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) by flow cytometry; under hypoxic conditions, to observe the changes of cells growth and ROS in PSC; quantitative PCR was used to detect hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), androgen receptors (AR), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in PSC; After edaravone intervening, to examine the changes of cells growth, ROS, HIF-1α, AR, VEGF, and IL-8 under hypoxic conditions. Results: The expression of ROS in tissues and cells which under hypoxic condition was significantly increased. 3% O2 promoted the proliferation. The HIF-1α, AR, VEGF, and IL-8 were upregulated under 3% O2. After edaravone intervening, ROS significantly decreased, HIF-1α and VEGF were downregulated, and cell proliferation declined. Conclusions: Hypoxia stimulates the generation of ROS, and the ROS may play a key role in BPH.
Benchmarking telecommunication service in India

Purpose – Technological modernization is increasingly viewed as a premeditated necessity in today's era of growth and prosperity for any country. Telecommunications has entered a new age of development with advanced technology and increased competition with established players. The technological advances in the telecommunication sector are associated with an uninterrupted growth of the mobile sector. The prime focus of the service providers is to create a loyal customer base by benchmarking their performances and retaining existing customers in order to benefit from their loyalty. The paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – This paper employs the method of data envelopment analysis (DEA) to compare the relative efficiency of mobile service providers in India. The identification of the strongest and the weakest service providers could be very useful in improving their efficiency and performance. Mathematically, DEA determines the best weights for each input and output for a particu.
Ankyrin-B Regulates Cav2.1 and Cav2.2 Channel Expression and Targeting*

Background: Calcium channels control membrane excitability. The mechanisms underlying Cav2.1/Cav2.2 targeting are not well understood. Results: Ankyrin-B associates with Cav2.1/Cav2.2. Loss of ankyrin-B results in reduced expression of Cav2.1/Cav2.2 in select brain regions. Conclusion: Ankyrin-B plays a role in the expression of Cav2.1/Cav2.2. Significance: Results identify pathway for membrane targeting of calcium channels and regulation of membrane excitability. N-type and P/Q-type calcium channels are documented players in the regulation of synaptic function; however, the mechanisms underlying their expression and cellular targeting are poorly understood. Ankyrin polypeptides are essential for normal integral membrane protein expression in a number of cell types, including neurons, cardiomyocytes, epithelia, secretory cells, and erythrocytes. Ankyrin dysfunction has been linked to defects in integral protein expression, abnormal cellular function, and disease. Here, we demonstrate that ankyrin-B associates with Cav2.1 and Cav2.2 in cortex, cerebellum, and brain stem. Additionally, using in vitro and in vivo techniques, we demonstrate that ankyrin-B, via its membrane-binding domain, associates with a highly conserved motif in the DII/III loop domain of Cav2.1 and Cav2.2. Further, we demonstrate that this domain is necessary for proper targeting of Cav2.1 and Cav2.2 in a heterologous system. Finally, we demonstrate that mutation of a single conserved tyrosine residue in the ankyrin-binding motif of both Cav2.1 (Y797E) and Cav2.2 (Y788E) results in loss of association with ankyrin-B in vitro and in vivo. Collectively, our findings identify an interaction between ankyrin-B and both Cav2.1 and Cav2.2 at the amino acid level that is necessary for proper Cav2.1 and Cav2.2 targeting in vivo.
Hybrid Lyapunov based control of multicellular converters using Port-Hamiltonian modeling

A hybrid Lyapunov control for a flying capacitor multicellular converter is presented. This control law is based on the Port-Hamiltonian (PH) formalism of power converters and allows to enhance load current quality and reduce switching losses. The proposed control is applied to a three-cell multicellular converter. A procedure for selecting the best weighting parameters in the control law according to a performance criterion is presented. The simulation and experimental results indicate the stability of the control for changes in the reference signals. A comparison with a different Lyapunov control technique shows the performance of the proposed solution and the advantage of such a strategy in order to reduce the switching losses.
Enterprise Resources Planning Systems Impacts: A Delphi study of Australian public sector

The business value of Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP systems), and in general large software implementations, has been extensively debated in both popular press and in the academic literature for over two decades. Organisations invest enormous sums of money and resources in Enterprise Resource Planning systems (and related infrastructure), presumably expecting positive impacts to the organisation and its functions. Some studies have reported large productivity improvements and substantial benefits from ERP systems, while others have reported that ERP systems have not had any bottom-line impact. This paper discusses initial findings from a study that focuses on identifying and assessing important ERP impacts in 23 Australian public sector organizations.
Contributing to the Common Pool Resources in Open Source Software. A Comparison between Individuals and Firms

This paper studies the contributions to Open Source projects of software firms. Our goal is to analyse whether they follow the same regularities that characterize the behaviour of individual programmers. An exhaustive empirical analysis is carried out using data on project membership, project coordination and contribution efforts of 146 Italian firms that do business with Open Source software. We follow a meta-analytic approach comparing our findings with the results of the surveys conducted on Free Software programmers. Moreover, the availability of the data gathered by Hertel et al. (2003) on 141 developers of the Linux kernel will allow direct comparisons between the two sets.
Intelligent network intrusion detection system using data mining techniques

With the tremendous growth of usage of internet and development in web applications running on various platforms are becoming the major targets of attack. New threats are create everyday by individuals and organizations that attack network systems. Intrusion is a malicious, externally induced operational fault. Intrusion is used as a key to compromise the integrity, availability and confidentiality of a computer resource. Hence intrusion detection systems (IDS) are becoming a key part of system defence, to detect anomalies and attacks in the network. Data mining based IDS can effectively identify intrusions. Average one dependence estimators (AODE) is one of the recent enhancements of naïve bayes algorithm. AODE solves the problem of independence by averaging all models generated by traditional one dependence estimator and is well suited for incremental learning. In this paper, we propose intelligent network intrusion detection system using AODE algorithm for the detection of different types of attacks. In order to evaluate the performance of our proposed system, we conducted experiments on NSL-KDD data set. Empirical results show that proposed model based on AODE is efficient with low FAR and high DR.
Striatal and Cortical Neurochemical Changes Induced by Chronic Metabolic Compromise in the 3-Nitropropionic Model of Huntington's Disease

In the present study, we aimed to determine the time-course of neurochemical changes occurring following metabolic impairments produced by 3-nitropropionic (3NP) acid in a rat model of Huntington's disease. We found that the occurrence of striatal lesions was accompanied by (1) strong transcriptional alterations within the degenerative lateral striatum, (2) receptor upregulations within the preserved medial striatum, and (3) transcriptional increases within the unaltered cerebral cortex. These phenomena were preceded by transcriptional modifications in striatal subareas prone to degeneration even before the lesion was visible but not in the overlying cortex, known to be spared in this model. Of great interest, the density of A(2A) receptor binding sites, located on striato-pallidal neurons, was (1) downregulated at the time of worsening of symptoms and (2) strongly upregulated within the spared medial striatum after the lesion occurrence. This study therefore highlights the differential neurochemical responses produced by 3NP depending on the fate of the metabolically inhibited area and strongly suggests the involvement of A(2A) receptors in the development of striatal pathology under metabolic compromise.
Effective Utilization of the Incident Command System in a High-Reliability Environment

The incident command system (ICS) is a standardized method of managing emergency incidents caused by fires, accidents, hazardous materials, and other natural or human-caused disasters. ICS is a flexible system that consists of established procedures for managing resources such as personnel, equipment, and communications. This study includes the examination of a suburban volunteer fire departmentâ€™s use of ICS at all incidents. The utilization of interdisciplinary training methods, post-incident assessment techniques, and formation of strategic alliances are identified as the primary components that contribute to the effective management of an incident.
A Fair Pool Sharing Mechanism for Illiquid Catastrophe Risk Markets

For assuming risk in a multi-party risk pool of several insurance companies, a pool sharing mechanism, i.e., a type of pricing mechanism, is needed to determine each participant’s share of the pool’s losses. Based on axiomatic capital allocation principles, a fair and unique pool sharing mechanism is derived that differs from the current pooling solutions. Insights from game theory show that the mechanism is optimal in the sense of the Aumann-Shapley value. For this new application of these two theories, only small adaptations are necessary which are related to the differentiation between expected and unexpected losses. It is discussed why multi-party risk pools with this type of a pool sharing mechanism are particularly suitable for illiquid catastrophe risk markets. Special attention is given to the market for terrorism risk. A case study for portfolios of concentrated group life exposures shows that this type of a multi-party risk pool is feasible and economically beneficial.
Feasibility of both vector control and displacement factor correction by voltage source type AC-AC matrix converter

This paper shows that by transforming both sides of the matrix power converter to the d-q-o frames of their respective frequencies, there is significant simplification in the existence matrix which enables the network of one side to be integrated to the other. Thus, it is possible to design for operation with field vector control on the motor side and unity displacement factor on the supply side. Laboratory experimental and digital simulation results are presented to substantiate the theory. The matrix power converter used in the test is based on three modules of voltage-source SPWM power converters to implement the 9 switches and it has the innovative feature that the SVC voltages (for displacement factor improvement) can be derived from the zero-sequence voltages. <<ETX>>
Poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) nanospheres and microspheres for short‐ and long‐term delivery of bioactive ciliary neurotrophic factor

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) has been shown to be neuroprotective in the central nervous system (CNS). However, systemic administration and bolus injections have shown significant side effects and limited efficacy. Sustained, local delivery may lead to effective neuroprotection and avoid or limit adverse side effects, but sustained CNTF delivery has proven difficult to achieve and control. For controlled, sustained delivery, we investigated several processing variables in making poly(DL‐lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) (PLGA) nano‐ and microspheres to optimize CNTF encapsulation and release. Nano‐ and microspheres were 314.9 ± 24.9 nm and 11.69 ± 8.16 µm in diameter, respectively. CNTF delivery from nanospheres was sustained over 14 days, and delivery from microspheres continued over more than 70 days. To assess protein bioactivity after encapsulation, neural stem cells (NSCs) were treated with CNTF released from nanospheres and compared to those treated with unencapsulated CNTF as a control. NSCs treated with CNTF expressed markers specific to mature cells, notably astrocytes; some increase in oligodendrocytic and neuronal marker expression was also observed. Significantly, cells treated with CNTF released by nanospheres exhibited a similar degree of differentiation when compared to those treated with control CNTF of equivalent concentration, showing that the process of protein encapsulation did not reduce its potency. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2008;100: 1010–1019. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
South Sea Company Subscription Shares and Warrant Values in 1720

The values of the famous Subscription Shares issued by the South Sea Company in 1720 have to be split into two components before they can be understood. One component was a fractional claim upon one original share in the firm. The other component, however, was a bundle of share warrants. The information contained in share warrant values is potentially helpful in understanding the South Sea Bubble. Warrant values might also be especially sensitive to "events" and "news" and could provide new ways of marking the turning points in the South Sea Bubble and testing for efficiency of markets. The level and volatility of subscription share prices are both consistent with the hypothesis that the subscription shares were essentially share warrants.
Regulation of gastric function by endogenous gastrin releasing peptide in humans: studies with a specific gastrin releasing peptide receptor antagonist

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The main goal of our study was to characterise the activity of BIM26226 as a peripheral gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) receptor antagonist in healthy human subjects and to determine if endogenous GRP is a physiological regulator of gastric acid secretion and gastrin release. METHODS Our study consisted of three parts. In part I, subjects received saline or BIM26226 followed by graded doses of intravenous human GRP in a four period crossover design. In part II, subjects received BIM26226 or saline during oral meal ingestion or modified sham feeding. In part III, subjects received an acidified meal in the presence and absence of BIM26226 in a two period crossover design. In addition, gastrin and somatostatin mRNA were measured in biopsy specimens during saline and BIM26226 infusion. RESULTS BIM26226 dose dependently inhibited GRP induced acid output. Acid secretion after oral liquid meal intake and sham feeding was significantly inhibited by BIM26226 (p<0.01) whereas plasma gastrin release remained unchanged. Gastrin and somatostatin mRNAs were not significantly different after saline or BIM26226. CONCLUSIONS BIM26226 is a potent GRP antagonist in humans. Endogenous GRP may be a physiological regulator of gastric acid secretion. Gastrin release does not seem to be under the control of GRP.
Progress of Mimetic Enzymes and Their Applications in Chemical Sensors

ABSTRACT The need to develop innovative and reformative approaches to synthesize chemical sensors has increased in recent years because of demands for selectivity, stability, and reproducibility. Mimetic enzymes provide an efficient and convenient method for chemical sensors. This review summarizes the application of mimetic enzymes in chemical sensors. Mimetic enzymes can be classified into five categories: hydrolases, oxidoreductases, transferases, isomerases, and induced enzymes. Potential and recent applications of mimetic enzymes in chemical sensors are reviewed in detail, and the outlook of profound development has been illustrated.
Evaluation of Pharmacist Impact on Culture Review Process for Patients Discharged from the Emergency Department

Background Accurate and timely review of microbiological test results is a core component of antimicrobial stewardship. There is documented success of these programs in the inpatient setting; however, emergency department (ED) patients are typically not included in these initiatives. Objectives To assess the impact of an emergency medicine pharmacist (EMP)–facilitated review process of positive microbiological test results from patients discharged from the ED as measured by time to positive result review and number of indicated interventions completed. Methods This was a retrospective study that compared EMP-facilitated to ED charge nurse (CN)–facilitated physician review of randomly selected positive microbiological test results. Groups were compared concurrently within the time frame of July 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012. Results One hundred seventy-eight positive microbiological test results were included (EMP, n = 91; CN, n = 87). The median (IQR) time to initial review was 3 (1.0–6.3) hours for the EMP and 2 (0.3–5.5) hours for the CN group (p = .35). Four percent (1/25) of indicated interventions were not completed in the EMP group versus 47% (14/30) in the CN group (p = .0004). Conclusion An EMP was significantly less likely to miss an intervention when indicated with no difference in time to review of positive microbiological results. These findings support the role of the EMP in antimicrobial stewardship in the ED.
Sustainability: An Analysis of Organizational Reporting and Implications for ERP systems

Given the increasing interest in sustainability, many companies are voluntarily producing sustainability reports for the general public. Companies generate these reports as a mechanism to signal environmental and global commitment to the public. Individuals use information from these reports to form thoughts on whether to purchase products or services from companies or whether to invest in the company. There is much variation in what sustainability means in the context of a business; therefore, reporting processes differ between companies. This paper presents the results of a content analysis of 15 sustainability reports which yielded 145 unique activities. These results are assisting us as we develop and validate an instrument of the most important activities in various sustainability dimensions. Using the finalized activities we will make inferences for ERP vendors in designing functionality to capture sustainability measures. Our findings will guide researchers and practitioners in measuring the dimensions of sustainability and using ERP systems to support sustainability reporting.
Mean power during 20 sec all-out test to predict 2000 m rowing ergometer performance in national level young rowers.

AIM The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between mean power during 20 s all-out rowing ergometer test and 2000 m rowing ergometer performance, in 20 young male rowers (mean age 15.2±1.3 years). METHODS Mean power during 20 s all-out test (W20), maximal oxygen uptake during incremental test (VO2max), and anthropometric values, were measured and correlated with the time to perform a 2000 m trial (t2000). RESULTS W20 showed the highest correlation with t2000 (r=-0.947, P<0.0001). Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis showed that W20, VO2max, and fat-free mass, were the variables most correlated with t2000, accounting for 95.1% of the variance, and that 89.7% of the variance in 2000 m rowing ergometer performance time was accounted for by W20. CONCLUSION These results suggest that W20 is an important predictor of 2000 m rowing ergometer performance, and the 20 s all-out test on rowing ergometer may be a useful monitoring tool for young rowers.
Empirical Modelling Of Wastewater Treatment Processes – – An Approach to Model Reduction and Integration

The aim of this project is to create an empirical model of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), which suits the requirements of integrated modelling. Such a model has to be simple enough in order not to increase too much the level of complexity and the computational demand when coupled with other submodels. The empirical model is identified using simulation data obtained from a mechanistic treatment plant model, this way a “model of the model” is obtained. The empirical modelling techniques used are Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Multivariate Polynomial Regression (MPR). As for the mechanistic model, an ASM3 coupled with a layer-based compressive gravity thickener is used.
Automatic detection of skin melanoma from images using natural computing approaches

Medical imaging is an area of great interest in terms of accuracy, speed and capacity of integration. In order to improve results and ease the physicians' task, some feature enhancement and image processing should be done automatically in order to lead to some features that allow an automatic classification of the images. This paper presents an original approach to construct an automatic melanoma detection system, based on employing natural computing methods for image preprocessing, feature extraction and classification. Among these methods we rely on cellular automata, reaction diffusion cellular neural networks, nonlinear time-series analysis.
Governance Matters Ii: Updated Indicators for 2000-01

The authors construct aggregate governance indicators for six dimensions of governance, covering 175 countries in 2000-01. They apply the methodology developed in Kaufmann, Kraay, and Zoido-Lobaton ("Aggregating Governance Indicators", Policy Research Working Paper 2195, and"Governance Matters", Policy Research Working Paper 2196, October 1999) to newly available data at governance indicators comparable with those constructed for 1997-98. The data is presented I the appendix, and accessible through an interactive Web-interface at http://www.worldbank. org/wbi/governance/govdata2001.htm.
Substrate binding closes the cleft between the domains of yeast phosphoglycerate kinase.

Using small angle x-ray scattering from solutions of yeast phosphoglycerate kinase, we have measured the radius of gyration of the enzyme both in the presence and in the abscence of ligands. We find that the radius of gyration decreases by 1.09 +/- 0.34 A upon binding both substrates MgATP and 3-phosphoglycerate to form the ternary complex. Smaller decreases, at the limit of the precision of the measurement, were found for the separate binding of MgATP (0.30 +/- 0.50 A). Using computer modeling, it has been estimated that a substrate-induced cleft closure in phosphoglycerate kinase resulting from one lobe rotating 8-14 degrees relative to the other lobe lobe is consistent with this observed change in radius of gyration. We suggest, therefore, that the conformational change that results in the smaller radius of gyration for the ternary complex is a hinge motion of the two lobes which produces a closing of the cleft between the two lobes. The apparent similarity of the ligand-induced change in phosphoglycerate kinase to the cleft closure in hexokinase suggests that this kind of conformational change may prove to be a rather general kinase phenomenon (Bennett, W.S., and Steitz T.A. (1978) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 75, 4848-4852; Anderson, C.M. , Zucker, F.H. , and Steitz, T.A. (1979) Science 204, 375-380).