Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
When individual locations affect the choice of multi-location acquisition targets

When examining how geographic location affects acquisitions, existing research has largely overlooked that many acquired firms operate in multiple locations. We examine the role of inter-firm and intra-firm agglomeration effects through the use of acquisitions of multi-location targets in knowledge-intensive industries, focusing on the importance of knowledge transfer. We argue that in such settings, acquirers value specific location characteristics of multi-location firms and not aggregate location characteristics. We hypothesize that in knowledge-intensive industries, an acquirer is more likely to select a multi-location target the higher the knowledge intensity of its most knowledge-intensive location. We also hypothesize that in knowledge-intensive industries, an acquirer is more likely to select a multi-location target the more locations their operations overlap because it facilitates internal knowledge transfer in the combined firm. Using a sample of multi-location acquisitions of US manufacturing firms between 2002 and 2004 and employing a discrete choice methodology, we find support for these predictions. Our results highlight the importance that specific locations play in the choice of multi-location acquisition targets.
Robust stabilization of a class of time-delay nonlinear systems

This paper examines the problem of robust stabilization of a class of triangular structural time-delay nonlinear systems. Based on the constructive use of appropriate Lynapunov-Krasovskii functionals, an iterative procedure of constructing a stabilizing controller is developed. A practical industry process is provided to illustrate the application of the main result.
3 ubiquitin-ligase SEVEN IN ABSENTIA like 7 mono-ubiquitinates lyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 1 isoform in vitro and is equired for its nuclear localization in Arabidopsis thaliana iego

The E3 ubiquitin-protein ligases are associated to various processes such as cell cycle control and diverse developmental pathways. Arabidopsis thaliana SEVEN IN ABSENTIA like 7, which has ubiquitin ligase activity, is located in the nucleus and cytosol and is expressed at several stages in almost all plant tissues suggesting an important role in plant functions. However, the mechanism underlying the regulation of this protein is unknown. Since we found that the SEVEN IN ABSENTIA like 7 gene expression is altered in plants with impaired mitochondria, and in plants deficient in the glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde3-phosphate dehydrogenase 1, we decided to study the possible interactions between both proteins as potential partners in plant signaling functions. We found that SEVEN IN ABSENTIA like 7 is able to interact in vitro with glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and that the Lys231 residue of the last is essential for this function. Following the interaction, a concomitant increase in the glyceraldehyde3-phosphate dehydrogenase catalytic activity was observed. However, when SEVEN IN ABSENTIA like 7 was supplemented with E1 and E2 proteins to form a complete E1–E2–E3 modifier complex, we observed the mono-ubiquitination of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 1 at the Lys76 residue and a dramatic decrease of its catalytic activity. Moreover, we found that localization of glyceraldehyde-3phosphate dehydrogenase 1 in the nucleus is dependent on the expression SEVEN IN ABSENTIA like 7. These observations suggest that the association of both proteins might result in different biological consequences in plants either through affecting the glycolytic flux or via cytoplasm-nucleus relocation. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Prion-associated Increases in Src-family Kinases*

The prion diseases result from the generation and propagation of an abnormal conformer of the prion protein. It is unclear how this molecular event disrupts neuronal function and viability. Current evidence argues it is not due to loss of normal prion protein activity or direct toxic effects of the abnormal conformer. Both the normal and abnormal prion proteins are glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked membrane proteins. Conversion to the abnormal isoform results in the formation and accumulation of prion protein aggregates. Because aggregation of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked proteins activates Src-family kinases, the activation status and levels of the Src-family kinases in prion disease were investigated. Elevations of Src-family kinases were found in a cell culture model and two separate animal models of prion disease. The elevations in Src kinases preceded the onset of symptoms and occurred concurrently with the appearance of detergent-insoluble prion protein. In addition, the total level of kinases phosphorylated at tyrosine residues associated with activation was increased. Similar alterations were not present in brain homogenates from presymptomatic animals early in the disease course, prion protein-ablated animals, or end-stage Tg2576 mice overexpressing mutant amyloid precursor protein. Identification of similar elevations in cell culture and animal model systems suggests the elevations are a specific response to the presence of the disease-associated conformer. Abnormal regulation of these signal transduction cascades may be a key element in the cellular pathology of the prion diseases.
Recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor accelerates engraftment kinetics after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE The use of recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF) has been shown to be well-tolerated and to reduce post-transplantation morbidity in adults undergoing HLA-identical allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). There is however, limited experience in children. DESIGN AND METHODS We performed a prospective, comparative multicenter trial using rhGM-CSF after allogeneic BMT in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The study comprised 24 patients with ALL who received rhGM-CSF and 22 patients with ALL who did not receive rhGM-CSF. There were no statistically significant differences in the demographic characteristics between the rhGM-CSF-treated and untreated groups. rhGM-CSF was given at a dose of 10 micrograms/kg/day infusion over 4 hours from day +1 until +28 or until the absolute neutrophil count (ANC) was > or = 1 x 10(9)/L. All patients received HLA-identical sibling marrow and cyclosporine alone for graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) prophylaxis. The number of cells infused was similar in both groups. A software program (Statview 4.0, Abacus Concept, Inc., Berkeley, CA, USA) was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS The median of days to achieve ANC > or = 0.5 x 10(9)/L was shorter in the rhGM-CSF-treated patients (14 days vs 18.5 days; p < 0.0001). Patients who received rhGM-CSF had a lower incidence of grade III-IV mucositis. The duration of hospital stay was significantly shorter in patients who received rhGM-CSF (31 days vs 45 days; p < 0.005). No differences in GvHD severity, relapse or survival were observed. At the dose and schedule used in the present study, rhGM-CSF was well-tolerated and no side effects were observed. INTERPRETATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS rhGM-CSF at a dose of 10 micrograms/kg/day in children with ALL undergoing allogeneic BMT is well tolerated, accelerates neutrophil and platelet engraftment, reduces the intensity and severity of mucositis and permits a more rapid discharge from hospital.
Expression of vaccinia E3L and K3L genes by a novel recombinant canarypox HIV vaccine vector enhances HIV-1 pseudovirion production and inhibits apoptosis in human cells.

Poxviruses that are attenuated for growth in human cells provide a safe means of HIV antigen expression and are capable of eliciting HIV-specific immune responses, including CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses. HIV-1 antigen expression in human cells by attenuated poxvirus vectors may be limited by interferon-mediated host defense mechanisms. To enhance HIV antigen expression in human cells, the vaccinia virus E3L and K3L genes were inserted into a canarypox vector that expresses HIV-1 Gag, Env, and a Nef/Pol polyepitope string. E3L and K3L markedly reduced the activation of the double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase, PKR, and led to a significant reduction in apoptosis in HeLa cells. Production and release of HIV-1 antigen in the form of pseudovirions was enhanced in both duration and magnitude by this vector modification. The addition of immunomodulatory genes to attenuated poxviruses represents a novel strategy for enhancing antigen production by live vector HIV vaccine candidates.
Foreign exchange market efficiency and cointegration

The analysis of market efficiency in the foreign exchange market adopted a new approach after Granger (Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 48(3), 1986) stated that assets in an efficient market could not be cointegrated. If they were, there would be a market inefficiency since there would be Granger causality running at least in one direction and thus one price could be used to forecast the other. The interpretation that the literature has given to the relationship between cointegration and market efficiency has been that noncointegration is a necessary and sufficient condition for market efficiency. In the authors' opinion, the fact that two spot exchange rates are cointegrated does not necessarily imply that inefficiency exists. In this article, it is argued that when the economy is composed of N exchange rates and the closed system is analysed without dynamics, as it is the case when considering the no-arbitrage condition, the Granger Representation Theorem (GRT) does not tell one anything about efficiency. Further, when a subset J of the N exchange rates is considered, then the GRT becomes irrelevant for efficiency. To illustrate these hypotheses will be the objective of this article along with that of developing a framework to test for efficiency when cointegration is present.
AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF MARKET BARRIERS AND THE POLITICAL ACTIVITIES OF INDIVIDUAL FIRMS

A number of obstacles, many originating from political/government sources, adversely affect individual firms involved in operations outside of their domestic market. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role in which market access, existence of government policies, and market imperfections impact both the importance firms attach to, and the formalization of, political activities designed to reduce or eliminate such threats. The findings indicate, when faced with government/political threats, firms attach high levels of importance to political behaviors and this, in turn, is associated with formalized political activities on the part of the firm.
A G‐1‐to‐A acceptor splice site LDLR mutant allele leads to reduced relative transcript levels in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia

A plethora of different mutations in the gene for the low density receptor (LDLR) are responsible for the autosomal dominant inherited disorder familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). However, only a few splice site mutations have been identified in this gene. We here report a defect presumably affecting the splicing of precursor mRNA, resulting from a novel mutation, a G to A transition at the terminal nucleotide of intron 12, of the LDLR gene detected in three unrelated families with heterozygous FH. This mutation markedly reduced the steady‐state transcript level of the mutant LDLR allele as compared to the corresponding normal LDLR allele in heterozygous FH patients as measured by a fluorescence based, allele‐specific quantitation technique. In the FH families, the acceptor splice site mutation cosegregates with hypercholesterolemia, and it is associated with onset of ischemic heart disease in the fifth and sixth decade of life.
Individual, Family, and Community Risk Markers for Domestic Violence in Peru

This study draws on an ecological framework in testing relationships between individual, family, and community characteristics and the likelihood of women experiencing domestic violence in Peru. The sample of 15,991 women was taken from the 2000 Peru Demographic and Health Survey. Logistic regression models revealed that at the individual level, low educational attainment, early union formation, and a violent family background increase a woman’s likelihood of abuse. Family-level risk markers include cohabitation, large family size, partner alcohol consumption, employment, and a woman’s having higher status than her husband. At the community level, living in a noncoastal area and having an urban residence increase the likelihood of abuse.
Transdermal Versus Oral Estrogen Therapy in Postmenopausal Smokers: Hemodynamic and Endothelial Effects

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that, in postmenopausal smokers, transdermal estrogen would be more effective than oral estrogen in reducing blood pressure (BP) and vascular and norepinephrine responses to stress and in increasing endothelial function and vascular β2-adrenoceptor responsivity. METHODS: By using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design, 82 healthy postmenopausal smokers were tested before and after 6 months of therapy with transdermal estrogen (0.05 mg/d) plus a progestin (2.5 mg/d; n = 31), oral conjugated equine estrogen (0.625 mg/d) plus a progestin (2.5 mg/d; n = 30), or placebo (n = 21). Dependent measures included resting and stress-induced increases in BP, total peripheral resistance, and plasma norepinephrine, as well as endothelial function and β-adrenoceptor responsivity. RESULTS: When compared with placebo, the transdermal estrogen group showed more consistent reductions in total peripheral resistance at rest and in response to mental stress than the oral estrogen group. Only the transdermal group showed treatment-related reductions in behavioral stress norepinephrine, baseline rest, and behavioral stress BP levels, and increases in vascular β2-adrenoceptor responsivity and endothelium-dependent vasodilation. Posttreatment concentrations of serum estradiol and estrone were lower and the serum estradiol/estrone ratio closer to premenopausal values in the group receiving transdermal estrogen compared with oral estrogen. CONCLUSION: Six months of transdermal estrogen therapy is associated with greater reductions in measures reflecting vascular sympathetic tone than oral estrogen therapy in healthy postmenopausal smokers. Thus, transdermal estrogen may be associated with a more favorable risk/benefit ratio in postmenopausal smokers, a group at high risk of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: I
A Model for Identifying Patients Who May Not Need Neurologic Intensive Care Unit Admission

Purpose: Limited resources, neurointensivists, and neurologic intensive care unit (neuro-ICU) beds warrant investigating models for predicting who will benefit from admission to neuro-ICU. This study presents a possible model for identifying patients who might be too well to benefit from admission to a neuro-ICU. Methods: We retrospectively identified all patients admitted to our 16-bed neuro-ICU between November 2009 and February 2013. We used the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) outcomes database to identify patients who on day 1 of neuro-ICU admission received 1 or more of 30 subsequent active life-supporting treatments. We compared 2 groups of patients: low-risk monitor (LRM; patients who did not receive active treatment [AT] on the first day and whose risk of ever receiving AT was ≤10%) and AT (patients who received at least 1 of the 30 ICU treatments on any day of their ICU admission). Results: There were 873 (46%) admissions in the LRM group and 1006 (54%) admissions in the AT group. The ICU length of stay in days was 1.7 (±1.9) for the LRM group versus 4.5 (±5.5) for the AT group. The ICU mortality was 0.8% for the LRM group compared to 14% for the AT group (odds ratio [OR] = 17.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 8.2-37.8, P < .0001). Hospital mortality was 1.9% for the LRM group compared to 19% for the AT group (OR = 9.7; 95% CI, 5.8-16.1, P < .0001). Conclusion: The outcome for LRM patients in our neuro-ICU suggests they may not require admission to neurologic intensive care. This may provide a measure of neuro-ICU resource use. Improved resource use and reduced costs might be achieved by strategies to provide care for these patients on floors or intermediate care units. This model will need to be validated in other neuro-ICUs and prospectively studied before it can be adopted for triaging admissions to neuro-ICUs.
Comparison of the camera calibration between photogrammetry and computer vision

At present, the camera with high resolution has been widely used. However, it is not accurate for the above camera to use the traditional computer vision method for calibration. So, a method for camera calibration in photogrametry is referred to, and the comparison of the coordinate system, parameter definitions and the camera model between in photogrametry and in computer vision is presented. Thus, the calibration result of photogrametry can be transplanted well to computer vision. Finally, 5DmarkII is used as an example, and its calibration result in the photogrametry is verified by OpenCV functions.
Do Gold Market Returns Have Long Memory

This study examines the long memory behavior in gold returns during the post-Bretton Woods period using a new rescaled range technique. Unlike the conventional rescaled range analysis, the new rescaled range analysis is robust to short-term dependence and conditional heteroscedasticity found in the gold data. Statistical results suggest that the long memory behavior in gold returns is rather unstable. When only few observations corresponding to major political events in the Middle East, together with the Hunts event, in late 1979 are omitted, little evidence of long memory can be found. Copyright 1993 by MIT Press.
Financial valuation of start-up businesses with and without venture capital

This paper introduces a three-step model for the financial valuation of business ventures based on the principles of the theory of functional business valuation. It distinguishes between start-up businesses not raising venture capital and those raising venture capital. First of all, the entrepreneur's investment programme has to be optimised ignoring the business venture ('basic programme'). Then, the start-up has to be valued to answer the question, whether it is profitable or not without venture capital ('first valuation programme'). In the third step, the start-up has to be valued once more taking available venture capital into account in order to determine its specific contribution to the value of the new business as a basis for decision making ('second valuation programme').
Turkey's Electricity Consumption Forecasting Using Genetic Programming

Abstract Turkey's energy demand has been increasing rapidly as a result of rapid urbanization and industrialization. The energy investment requirement will be US$130 billion by the year 2020. Electricity energy has a vital importance among the energy sector. In this study the current state of the electricity energy production and consumption of Turkey is investigated and the electricity energy consumption is forecasted by using genetic algorithm. The obtained results are compared with conventional regression analyses techniques, and the estimated values of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. The electricity demand in the year 2020 is estimated to be 315.02 billion kWh compared to the 189.52 billion kWh needed in the year 2007.
Embracing Innovation as Strategy: Corporate Venturing, Competence Building and Corporate Strategy Making

Large diversified companies companies do not have good track records in managing discontinuous change and in turning breakthrough innovations into long-term growth and profit engines. Their existing technological capabilities tend to facilitate cognitive inertia, path dependency and low levels of experimentation. However, some companies seem to find a dynamic balance between exploitation and exploration, between path creation and path dependence. We focus on how these established firms manage that continuous change process, and more specifically we seek to answer how corporate strategy, competence building and new business development interact in rejuvenating a company. Furthermore, we investigate how these concepts are at play on an operational level by looking at corporate practices in large companies that have a track record of successful strategic rejuvenation.
Effectiveness Analysis of Encrypted and Unencrypted Bit Sequence Identification Based on Randomness Test

Encrypted and unencrypted bit sequences identification has great significance of network management. Compared with unencrypted bit sequences, encrypted bit sequences are more random. Randomness tests are used to evaluate the security of cipher algorithms. Whether they could be used to identify the encrypted and unencrypted bit sequences still need to do some further research. We introduced the principle of randomness tests at first. According to the input size limit of each test in the SP800-22 rev1a standard, we selected frequency test, frequency test within a block, runs test, longest run of ones in a block test and cumulative sums test to identify encrypted and unencrypted bit sequences. At the time, we analyzed the preconditions of the selected tests to successfully identify the encrypted and unencrypted bit sequences, then presented the relevant conclusions. Finally, the effectiveness of the selected tests is verified according to the experiments.
Sphingomonas crusticola sp. nov., isolated from biological soil crusts.

A yellow-pigmented, Gram-stain-negative, short-rod-shaped bacterial strain, MIMD3T, was isolated from biological soil crusts collected in Liangcheng, north-western China. Cell growth could be observed at 10-37 °C (optimum 25 °C), at pH 5-8 (optimum 6.6) and in the presence of 1 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum 0 %). The genomic DNA G+C content was 65.0 mol%. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain MIMD3T shared the highest similarity with Sphingomonas vulcanisoli KCTC 42454T (95.1 %), Sphingomonas oligophenolica JCM 12082T (94.8 %), Sphingomonas mali IFO 15500T (94.5 %), Sphingomonas. leidyi ATCC 15260T (94.4 %) and Sphingomonas formosensis CC-Nfb-2T (94.3 %). The strain had Q-10 as the predominant respiratory quinone, and sym-homospermidine as the major polyamine. The major fatty acids of the strain were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c), C19 : 0 cyclo ω8c, C14 : 0 2-OH and C16 : 0. The main polar lipids of strain MIMD3T were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine and sphingoglycolipid. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characteristics, it is concluded that strain MIMD3T represents a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas, for which the name Sphingomonas crusticola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MIMD3T (=KCTC 42801T=MCCC 1K01310T).