Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In situ hybridization for procollagen types I, III and IV mRNA in normal and fibrotic rat liver: Evidence for predominant expression in nonparenchymal liver cells

The expression of α2(I), α1(III) and α1(IV) procollagen mRNA was analyzed in normal and CCl4‐induced fibrotic rat liver by in situ hybridization using RNA probes. In normal liver, moderate amounts of α2(I) and α1(III) procollagen transcripts were found in sinusoidal cells, in stromal cells of the portal tracts and in the vicinity of central veins, whereas a1(IV) procollagen gene expression was below the threshold of detection. After 2 weeks of CCl4 treatment, increased transcription of α2(I) and α1(III) procollagen genes was observed in sinusoidal cells. At this stage, α1(IV) procollagen mRNA was detectable in the same cell types and localization as α2(I) and α1(III) procollagen transcripts, although with a weaker signal. After 4 weeks, newly formed fibrous septa showed many cells intensely labeled by α2(I), α1(III) and α1(IV) procollagen probes. Neither in normal liver nor at any stage of fibrosis was any hybridization signal above background observed in hepatocytes. These patterns suggest that in the liver Type I, Type III and Type IV procollagen expression takes place predominantly in nonparenchymal cells. Therefore, hepatocytes do not appear to be significantly involved in procollagen production in this experimental model of liver fibrosis.
Algorithms for Characterizing Peptides and Glycopeptides with Mass Spectrometry

The emergence of tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) technology has significantly accelerated protein identification and quantification in proteomics. It enables high-throughput analysis of proteins and their quantities in a complex protein mixture. A mass spectrometer can easily and rapidly generate large volumes of mass spectral data for a biological sample. This bulk of data makes manual interpretation impossible and has also brought numerous challenges in automated data analysis. Algorithmic solutions have been proposed and provide indispensable analytical support in current proteomic experiments. However, new algorithms are still needed to either improve result accuracy or provide additional data analysis capabilities for both protein identification and quantification. Accurate identification of proteins in a sample is the preliminary requirement of a proteomic study. In many cases, a mass spectrum cannot provide complete information to identify the peptide without ambiguity because of the inefficiency of the peptide fragmentation technique and the prevalent existence of noise. We propose ADEPTS to this problem using the complementary information provided in different types of mass spectra. Meanwhile, the occurrence of posttranslational modifications (PTMs) on proteins is another major issue that prevents the interpretation of a large portion of spectra. Using current software tools, users have to specify possible PTMs in advance. However, the number of possible PTMs has to be limited since specifying more PTMs to the software leads to a longer running time and lower result accuracy. Thus, we develop DeNovoPTM and PeaksPTM to provide efficient and accurate solutions. Glycosylation is one of the most frequently observed PTMs in proteomics. It plays important roles in many disease processes and thus has attracted growing research interest. However, lack of algorithms that can identify intact glycopeptides has become the major obstacle that hinders glycoprotein studies. We propose a novel algorithm, GlycoMaster DB, to fulfil this urgent requirement. Additional research is presented on protein quantification, which studies the changes of protein quantity by comparing two or more mass spectral datasets. A crucial problem in the quantification is to correct the retention time distortions between different datasets. Heuristic solutions from previous research have been used in practice but none of them has yet claimed a clear optimization goal. To address this issue, we propose a combinatorial model and practical algorithms for this problem.
Assessment of conflict management strategies in public secondary schools in Delta State, Nigeria

The main thrust of this paper is on the assessment of conflict management strategies in public secondary schools in Delta state, Nigeria. Three research questions were raised to guide the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and convenient sampling to select 140 public secondary school heads out of the 159 public secondary schools in Delta north senatorial district. The questionnaire was used as the key data collection tool and analysis of data by simple percentage was done. The study revealed that the major causes of conflict in secondary schools were; principal’s illegal collection of levies, principals delegating duties meant for senior teachers to junior teachers, principals tempering with staff salary, communication without feedback and irregular payment of staff salary. It found that the area most affected by conflict in secondary school administration were financial administration and student personnel. The study also found that the most effective resolution strategies were the confrontational, compromising, setting up committee, free flow of communication between members of staff, proper school record keeping and dialogue. The study recommends that Government should initiate compulsory workshops for principals in order to enhance their knowledge in financial management, conflict resolution strategies for particular conflict situation and authority boundaries. Finally, Government should include conflict management as part of the curriculum of teachers training education.
A novel secreted splice variant of vascular endothelial cell growth inhibitor

Vascular endothelial cell growth inhibitor (VEGI), a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family, is an endothelial cell‐specific inhibitor of angiogenesis. Overexpression by cancer cells of a secretable VEGI fusion protein resulted in abrogation of xenograft tumor progression, but overexpression of full‐length VEGI was completely without effect. This finding indicates that secretion is essential for VEGI action. Here we report the identification of two new VEGI isoforms consisting of 251 and 192 amino acid residues. Both isoforms show endothelial cell‐specific expression and share a C‐terminal 151‐residue segment with the previously described VEGI, which comprises 174 residues. The isoforms are generated from a 17 kb human gene by alternative splicing. Their expression is regulated in parallel by inflammatory cytokines TNF‐α and interferon‐γ. VEGI‐251, the most abundant isoform, contains a putative secretion signal. VEGI protein is detected in conditioned media of endothelial cells and VEGI‐251‐transfected mammalian cells. Overexpression of VEGI‐251 in endothelial cells causes dose‐dependent cell death. VEGI‐251‐transfected cancer cells form xenograft tumors of reduced growth rate and microvessel density compared with tumors of empty vector transfectants. These findings support the view that endothelial cell‐secreted VEGI may function as an autocrine inhibitor of angiogenesis and a naturally existing modulator of vascular homeostasis.
Networking, business process innovativeness and export performance: the case of South Asian low-tech industry

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of business process innovativeness in the networking-export performance relationship in a developing country low-tech industry setting. Most innovation research in international business and entrepreneurship is conducted on high-tech industries in developed countries. Less research has focused on the low-tech industry context. This study bridges this research gap by testing whether international new ventures’ (INVs) networking resources impact their export performance through business process innovativeness. Design/methodology/approach The study tests the link between low-tech INVs’ networking, business process innovativeness and export performance using a sample of 647 export start-up apparel firms in Bangladesh, the second largest apparel exporter in the world. Findings The results recognize that an INV entrepreneur’s personal and inter-firm networking are directly and positively related to business process innovativeness and export performance. The findings also indicate that business process innovativeness acts as a mediator only between an INV’s inter-firm networking and its export performance. Research limitations/implications The study was undertaken in a Bangladeshi low-tech industry setting-the apparel sector; thus, future research may include data collection from a range of industries across countries. Data collected for the purpose of this study used a cross-sectional research design, and this may only have confirmed the relationships in the model and not causality between the constructs. Practical implications The findings highlight that low-tech INVs should focus more on leveraging their personal and inter-firm networking resources, as this should result in improved export performance. The results also provide directives for INVs in regard to improving their business process innovativeness to achieve increased performance. Originality/value The study is not only carried out in the context of low-tech early internationalizing firms (i.e. INVs), but also contributes to theory and practice by testing whether INVs’ networking resources (personal and inter-firm) have an impact on business process innovativeness, which in turn leads to improved performance.
Internal market reform of the British National Health Service.

Prologue: In 1984, Gordon McLachlan, then director of the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust in London, invited Stanford professor Alain Enthoven to spend a month in the United Kingdom reviewing the British National Health Service (NHS). At the end of his visit, Enthoven was to give a talk to the Nuffield board of trustees, offering his views on which direction the NHS should head as the British government contemplated its reform. Enthoven's findings were published in 1985 as Reflections on the Managment of the National Health Service , a document that eventually reached the hands of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her advisers. “Enthoven's notion of an 'internal market 1 in the NHS … looks remarkably like the solution adopted by the government four years later,” Rudolf Klein and Patricia Day have noted. In this article, Enthoven examines the concept of internal market reform, which is designed to address the perverse economic incentives that have existed for years in the NHS. “The NHS is inten.
Mobile dual-arm robot for automated order picking system in warehouse containing various kinds of products

We have prototyped a mobile dual-arm robot and an automated order picking system including the robot for warehouses that contain various kinds of products. By using self-localization, model-based object recognition and arm trajectory planning, the robot can autonomously move to the front of the shelf that has a target product, fetch the product from the shelf and put the product in a carton transported by an automated guided vehicle. Especially for adjusting to various kinds of products and their storage situations, the robot makes two arms collaborate and mounts tables to lift and rotate two arms and four different types of end effectors. In experimental tests, the robot successfully picked out bottles in a case and picked up two different sizes of boxes directly placed on shelves with different heights. In the result, our proposed system can automate whole order picking operations in warehouses where the operations are currently performed by workers.
Understanding Neighbourhood Food Access: Practices and Perspectives of Residents of Scarborough Village, Toronto

Within food access research, little attention has been given to the perspectives and practices of residents in food insecure neighbourhoods. Taking a people-centred approach and using semistructured interviews, this thesis explores food access through the day-to-day practices, strategies, challenges, perspectives, and emotions of residents of Scarborough Village, a lowincome and food insecure urban neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada. The findings of this research are used to argue that including the voices of those commonly marginalised in the decision-making process of neighbourhood food environments is an important and valuable step towards a more just food system. To include these voices, more urban food access research and action needs to shift its approach from simplistic understandings of food security toward more comprehensive understanding of food access based on the concepts of food justice and food sovereignty. Only by doing so will urban food access research realise the often complex, contextspecific needs of those it seeks to assist.
Clonal T cell‐mediated cyclic thrombocytopenia

Summary. Cyclic thrombocytopenia is a rare disorder characterized by periodic platelet count fluctuations of unknown aetiology. We report on a female patient with cyclic changes of platelet counts ranging from 6 × 109/l to 753 × 109/l in 4‐week intervals. Platelet counts were inversely correlated to thrombopoietin levels suggesting production failure. Reticulocyte counts and neutrophil counts showed similar, but less prominent, fluctuations. Clonal T‐cell receptor rearrangement was detected in bone marrow samples as well as in peripheral blood. Cell typing of blood lymphocytes revealed a relative increase in CD3+ T cells. Treatment with cyclosporine A resulted in a substantial improvement of platelet counts. Taken together, we provide evidence for clonal T‐cell mediated bone marrow failure with cyclic impairment of thrombopoiesis responsive to cyclosporine therapy.
A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF REAL-WORLD CRASHES INVOLVING SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES

This study performed a preliminary analysis of the cumulative on-road safety record of selfdriving vehicles for three of the ten companies that are currently approved for such vehicle testing in California (Google, Delphi, and Audi). The analysis compared the safety record of these vehicles with the safety record of all conventional vehicles in the U.S. for 2013 (adjusted for underreporting of crashes that do not involve a fatality). Two important caveats should be considered when interpreting the findings. First, the distance accumulated by self-driving vehicles is still relatively low (about 1.2 million miles, compared with about 3 trillion annual miles in the U.S. by conventional vehicles). Second, selfdriving vehicles were thus far driven only in limited (and generally less demanding) conditions (e.g., avoiding snowy areas). Therefore, their exposure has not yet been representative of the exposure for conventional vehicles. With these caveats in mind, there were four main findings. First, the current best estimate is that self-driving vehicles have a higher crash rate per million miles traveled than conventional vehicles, and similar patterns were evident for injuries per million miles traveled and for injuries per crash. Second, the corresponding 95% confidence intervals overlap. Therefore, we currently cannot rule out, with a reasonable level of confidence, the possibility that the actual rates for selfdriving vehicles are lower than for conventional vehicles. Third, self-driving vehicles were not at fault in any crashes they were involved in. Fourth, the overall severity of crash-related injuries involving self-driving vehicles has been lower than for conventional vehicles.
Melting of (Mg, Fe)SiO3-Perovskite to 625 Kilobars: Indication of a High Melting Temperature in the Lower Mantle

The melting curves of two compositions of (Mg,Fe) SiO3-perovskite, the likely dominant mineral phase in the lower mantle, have been measured in a C02 laser-heated diamond cell with direct temperature measurements and in situ detection of melting. At 625 kilobars, the melting temperature is 5000 � 200 kelvin, independent of composition. Extrapolation to the core-mantle boundary pressure of 1.35 megabar with three different melting relations yields melting temperatures between 7000 and 8500 kelvin. Thus, the temperature at the base of the lower mantle, accepted to lie between 2550 and 2750 kelvin, is only at about one-third of the melting temperature. The large difference between mantle temperature and corresponding melting temperature has several important implications; particularly the temperature sensitivity of the viscosity is reduced thus allowing large lateral temperature variations inferred from seismic tomographic velocity anomalies and systematics found in measured velocity-density functions. Extensive melting of the lower mantle can be ruled out throughout the history of the Earth.
Sequencing of oligosaccharides by collision-induced dissociation matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry.

A study of the collision-induced dissociation post-source decay (PSD) spectra of free oligosaccharides is presented. These spectra, when obtained with helium as collision gas, show (1,5)X fragments containing the reducing end sugar. The presence of these fragments permits Y ions and, consequently, B and C peaks to be identified. This is a common behaviour from which it has been possible to delineate a general method for the easy assignment of the peaks in PSD spectra of underivatized neutral sugars, allowing the sequence of a real unknown to be obtained.
The Information Content in the Offshore Renminbi Foreign-Exchange Option Market: Analytics and Implied USD/CNH Densities

In line with the deepening of the derivative foreign-exchange market in Hong Kong, we recover risk-neutral probability densities for future US dollar/offshore renminbi exchange rates as implied by exchange rate option prices. The risk-neutral densities (RND) approach is shown to be useful in analyzing market sentiment and risk aversion in the renminbi market. We include a forecasting exercise that confirms market participants were able to forecast the shape of the actual densities correctly for short horizons, even if their exact location could not be determined.
Modulation of signal transduction in cancer cells by phytosterols

Phytosterols are biofactors found enriched in plant foods such as seeds, grains, and legumes. Their dietary consumption is associated with numerous health benefits. Epidemiologic and experimental animal studies indicate that phytosterols are cancer chemopreventive agents particularly against cancers of the colon, breast, and prostate. Phytosterols impede oncogenesis and prevent cancer cell proliferation and survival. The molecular mechanisms underlying these beneficial actions involve effects on signal transduction processes which regulate cell growth and apoptosis. Phytosterols increase sphingomyelin turnover, ceramide formation, and liver X receptor activation. In concert, these actions slow cell cycle progression, inhibit cell proliferation, and activate caspase cascades and apoptosis in cancer cells. © 2010 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
On muscle spindles, dystonia and botulinum toxin

Dystonia may produce co‐contractions and constant strain in numerous muscle fibers, including those of the muscle spindles. As proprioceptors, muscle spindles detect dynamic or static changes in muscle length and their afferent projections to the spinal cord play a central role in control of antagonistic muscles. Their parallel arrangement with extrafusal muscle fibers and association with the earlier recruited oxidative motor units allow them to conveniently sample the activity of all motor units and effectively modulate movement. At the same time, fusimotor muscle spindle innervation contracts the striated polar portions of the intrafusal muscle fibers and prevents their slackening during extrafusal muscle contractions. Botulinum toxin remains the most efficient therapy of dystonia. Its muscular mechanism of action is hinged on cholinergic blockade not only of extrafusal, but also of intrafusal muscle fibers. Besides being a targeted muscular therapy, the alteration of the corresponding sensory input following an effect of botulinum toxin on the intrafusal muscle fibers is pivotal in modulating loss of pre‐synaptic inhibition in dystonia, including suppression of the tonic vibration reflex. Whether or not trans‐synaptic botulinum toxin migration occurs, a modification of the central motor programming is bound to happen in dystonia, with botulinum toxin acting either as another ‘sensory trick’ or as a form of ‘short‐term plasticity’. Knowledge of the muscle spindle anatomy and function is key to unify our understanding of abnormal movements and of effects of botulinum toxin therapy. Thus, in dystonia, overactivity of muscles and increased spindle sensitivity are germane to botulinum toxin targets of action.
Resistively compensated and SSF based VDBA offering high GBW and its application as a biquad filter

This paper presents a new CMOS realization of voltage differencing buffered amplifier (VDBA). The input stage of VDBA is resistively compensated and output stage is a super source follower (SSF). The resistive compensation enhances gain bandwidth product (GBW) and buffer stage improves phase margin and linearity of the active element. The performance of the proposed block has been verified by using Mentor Graphics Eldo simulation tool with TSMC CMOS 0.18 µm process parameters. A new biquad filter is also realized using single VDBA. The three standard filter functions like band pass, high pass and low pass can be realized without changing the circuit topology. All applications are verified with their simulation results. The circuit of SSF based VDBA is quite small and compact. The ac simulation results of complete VDBA show that GBW is 950 MHz and power consumption is 0.45 mW.
ALTERNATIVE MARKETING STRATEGY AND MARKETING SURVIVAL: EVIDENCE FROM INSTANT FOODS AND CONVENIENCE FOODS BUSINESSES IN THAILAND

Organizational capabilities are key factors for business survival in a rapidly changing business environment. When the firms apply or adapt new marketing strategy appropriate with business changing, they will have more likely be better in marketing performance. Alternative marketing strategy is a capability of a firm, it is a crucial driver of competitive advantage, and it leads to marketing survival. This research aims to examine the relationship between each dimension of alternative marketing strategy and marketing survival. The data collection uses 162 questionnaires that send to marketing managers on instant foods and convenience foods businesses in Thailand. Regression analysis was employed to test and verify hypotheses. The results concluded that technology-based marketing implementation has positive significance on all marketing outcomes. Besides, superior business competitiveness and outstanding market acceptance have a positive effect on marketing profitability and executive satisfaction. Furthermore, this findings of study provide to contributions and recommendation for future research.