Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nanoparticles carrying neurotrophin-3-modified Schwann cells promote repair of sciatic nerve defects

Schwann cells and neurotrophin-3 play an important role in neural regeneration, but the secretion of neurotrophin-3 from Schwann cells is limited, and exogenous neurotrophin-3 is inactived easily in vivo. In this study, we have transfected neurotrophin-3 into Schwann cells cultured in vitro using nanoparticle liposomes. Results showed that neurotrophin-3 was successfully transfected into Schwann cells, where it was expressed effectively and steadily. A composite of Schwann cells transfected with neurotrophin-3 and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) biodegradable conduits was transplanted into rats to repair 10-mm sciatic nerve defects. Transplantation of the composite scaffold could restore the myoelectricity and wave amplitude of the sciatic nerve by electrophysiological examination, promote nerve axonal and myelin regeneration, and delay apoptosis of spinal motor neurons. Experimental findings indicate that neurotrophin-3 transfected Schwann cells combined with bridge grafting can promote neural regeneration and functional recovery after nerve injury.
The relation between fund and performance in UK equity market

This paper empirically investigates the relation between fund size and its performance in UK equity market from 1998 to 2007. The main result is that large funds are found to outperform small funds. There is significant positive size effect for UK Smaller Companies sector and UK Equities Income sector. Macro-market environment tends to play an important role in determining size effect because significant positive size effect occurs in bull market from 2003 to 2007 and insignificant size effect occurs in bear market from 1998 to 2002. But this rule is not applicable to UK Smaller Companies sector, which reports constantly significant positive size effect. Economy of scale appears to be an appropriate explanation for our finding, according to which large funds can fully utilize their scales in bull market and outperform small funds.
[Diagnostic value of Crohn disease activity indices in assessing postoperative recurrence].

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the diagnostic value of Crohn disease activity indices (CDAI) in assessing symptomatic recurrence following ileocolic resection for Crohn disease. METHODS A total of 85 patients who underwent ileocolic resection between March 2003 and March 2010 were included. Clinical and endoscopic evaluation were performed within 12 months after operation. Endoscopic appearance was assessed using Rutgeers score and endoscopic recurrence was defined as endoscopic score ≥i2. Symptomatic recurrence was defined by the composite of symptom severity warranting medical therapy and endoscopic recurrence. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was used to explore the utility of CDAI in determining the presence or absence of symptomatic disease. RESULTS Nineteen patients had symptomatic recurrence within 12 months postoperatively. The mean CDAI of patients with symptomatic recurrence was 205±93, significantly higher than those with sustained remission(97±44, P<0.01). The area under the ROC curve for symptomatic recurrence and CDAI was 0.786. Symptomatic recurrence was best predicted by a CDAI cutoff of 150 and the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy was 73.7%, 81.8% and 80.0% respectively. When a combined endoscopic and CDAI was applied, the specificity and accuracy was markedly improved to 95.5% and 90.6%. In comparison to CDAI alone, the combined use of CDAI and endoscopic evaluation had a higher level of agreement on symptomatic recurrence(Kappa value, 0.718 vs. 0.462). CONCLUSIONS CDAI is effective to predict symptomatic recurrence. A combination of CDAI and endoscopic evaluation can further improve the accuracy of assessing symptomatic recurrence.
Impact of Work Values on Job Involvement and Organizational Commitment of Non- Executive Employees in the Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

Area of the Study This study mainly focuses on discussing the impact of work values on job involvement and organizational commitment of non-executive employees in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. Problem of the Study The research problem addressed under this study is to investigate the relationship between work values, job involvement and organizational commitment of non-executive employees in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. Method of the Study The data were collected from a randomly selected sample of 100 non – executive employees in the apparel industry by using a structured questionnaire, which consisted of 41 questions/statements with a 5 point scale. The data analysis included the univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses. Findings of the Study The results of the study emphasize that there is a positive relationship between work values and job involvement, work values and organizational commitment, job involvement and organizational commitment of non-executive employees in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. In addition, the findings proved that job involvement mediates any relationship between work values and organizational commitment of non-executives. As per the multiple regression analysis, work values and job involvement have 60.5% impact on organizational commitment of non-executive employees jointly. Conclusion of the Study It is concluded that both work values and job involvement are significant predictors of organizational commitment and both can be used to enhance the level of organizational commitment of non-executive employees in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. However, work values a have high impact on organizational commitment with compared to job involvement.
Old Friends in New Places: Exploring the Role of Extraintestinal E. coli in Intestinal Disease and Foodborne Illness

The emergence of new antibiotic‐resistant Escherichia coli pathotypes associated with human disease has led to an investigation in terms of the origins of these pathogens. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, unspecified agents are responsible for 38.4 million of the 48 million (80%) cases of foodborne illnesses each year in the United States. It is hypothesized that environmental E. coli not typically associated with the ability to cause disease in humans could potentially be responsible for some of these cases. In order for an environmental E. coli isolate to have the ability to cause foodborne illness, it must be able to utilize the same attachment and virulence mechanisms utilized by other human pathogenic E. coli. Recent research has shown that many avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) isolated from poultry harbour attachment and virulence genes also currently found in human pathogenic E. coli isolates. Research also suggests that, in addition to the ability to cause gastrointestinal illnesses, APEC may also be an etiological agent of foodborne urinary tract infections (FUTIs). The purpose of this article was to evaluate the evidence pertaining to the ability of APEC to cause disease in humans, their potential for zoonotic transfer along with discussion on the types of illnesses that may be associated with these pathogens.
FlyBase: a Drosophila database.

FlyBase (http://flybase.bio.indiana.edu/) is a comprehensive database of genetic and molecular data concerning Drosophila . FlyBase is maintained as a relational database (in Sybase) and is made available as html documents and flat files. The scope of FlyBase includes: genes, alleles (with phenotypes), aberrations, transposons, pointers to sequence data, gene products, maps, clones, stock lists, Drosophila workers and bibliographic references.
Distributed participatory design

Children who are not co-located with system developers because of geographic location or time zone difference have ideas that are just as important and valid as children who are easily "available". This problem is the motivation for my thesis work. I propose to design, develop, and research a computer-mediated, geographically distributed, asynchronous tool to facilitate intergenerational participatory design.
A Maximum Power Density Design Method for Nine Switches Matrix Converter Using SiC-MOSFET

This paper presents a matrix converter design for achieving maximum power density using a SiC device based on a front-loading design. To design the matrix converter to achieve maximum power density, the conduction loss and the switching loss of the matrix converter are theoretically derived and validated by simulation and experiment. Based on these formulas, the relationship between the efficiency and power density are revealed by using a Pareto-Front curve in order to solve the tradeoff problem between the power density and the efficiency. Moreover, in order to promote the widespread use of the matrix converter instead of a BTB system, it is quantitatively evaluated that the power density in the matrix converter is increased by 4.19 kW/dm3 in comparison to the BTB system. Moreover, the power density of the matrix converter that uses a SiC-MOSFET (ROHM) as the switching device with natural air cooling is 95.0% (2.1 kW/dm3) of the calculated maximum power density. Thus, the power density of the matrix converter is improved by 57.5% by the maximum power density design method. Based on the results, the design method for a high power density ac-ac direct converter is established according to the requisite specifications.
Overexpression of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase supports dichloroacetate as a candidate for cutaneous melanoma therapy

Objective: We aimed to verify if there is evidence to consider dichloroacetate (DCA), which inhibits the pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK) and reverts the metabolic shift of cancer cells from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation, as a promising drug for therapy of cutaneous melanoma (CM) patients. Research design and methods: We assessed the expression profile of PDK 1, 2 and 3 in a series of melanoma samples, to verify if melanoma tumors express the DCA targets, if this expression correlates with the activation of important signaling cascades for melanomagenesis and also with the prognosis of melanoma patients. We also established the sensitivity of melanoma cell lines to DCA treatment, by assessing their metabolic alterations, proliferation and survival. Results: We observed that both PDK 1 and 2 isoforms are overexpressed in CM compared to nevi, this expression being associated with the expression of the mTOR pathway effectors and independent of the BRAF mutational status. Melanoma cell lines treated with DCA showed a shift in metabolism, that is, a decrease in glucose consumption and lactate production, downregulation of proliferation, an increase of apoptosis and a decrease in mTOR pathway activation. Conclusion: Our results suggest that PDK expression may play a role in melanoma development and that DCA can be useful for CM therapy, alone or in combination with mTOR inhibitors.
Edge Preserving Regularization for the Piecewise Smooth Mumford-Shah Model

In this paper, an improved segmentation algorithm for the piecewise smooth Mumford-Shah model is proposed. In which a new strategy for the computation of the diffusion item in the model is introduced that induces edge-preserving regularization thus also facilitate the image segmentation. Different from the previous approaches, at each iteration, the smoothing item in proposed algorithm is computed along an approximate contour that is obtained based on the difference between the two unknown functions u and u" that have been extended to the whole image domain. And a narrowband of the approximate contour also is given to reduce the area of the region to be smoothed. As a result, good edge preserving properties have been achieved. The improved approach not only addresses some drawbacks of the original algorithm such as the effect of the local characteristics of images on the curve evolving path and initial curve's effect on the segmentation results, but save computational cost greatly. The resulting algorithm has been implemented with Visual C++6.0, and several experimental results have been provided and compared with the original method. The result demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Lesbian and bisexual women in small cities--at risk for HIV? HIV Prevention Community Collaborative.

Objectives.Women who have sex with women are a relatively hidden group that has been overlooked in most AIDS research and prevention efforts, primarily because the efficiency of HIV transmission between female partners is believed to be low. Although data are scant, it is commonly assumed that members of this population are not at high risk for HIV infection. However, a recent study of lesbian and bisexual women living in the San Francisco Bay area reported a relatively high seroprevalence rate and has raised additional questions about this group's HIV risk. The present study, the first to focus on lesbian and bisexual women living outside major AIDS epicenters, provides additional evidence. It describes risk factors for HIV transmission among lesbian and bisexual women living in small cities in four geographic regions of the United States.Methods. On three consecutive evenings in 1992, members of the research team distributed anonymous structured written surveys to women patrons as they entered gay bars in each of 16 small cities.Results. Almost 17% of bisexual respondents and 0.5% of lesbians reported having had unprotected vaginal or anal sex with a male during the two months prior to the survey. Almost 10 percent of bisexual women and 8.8% of lesbians in the sample reported a history of injection drug use. Among those women surveyed who said they had been tested, 1.4% reported they were infected with HIV.Conclusions. Self-identified sexual orientation was highly consistent with recent sexual behavior. HIV risk related to sexual behavior was concentrated among self-identified bisexual women. The prevalence of injection drug use was substantial among both bisexual and lesbians. Developers of HIV risk behavior programs should take the prevalence of these risk behaviors into consideration in the design of effective HIV prevention interventions tailored to the needs of this hidden population.
Shaping And Maintenance Of Low-latency Anonymity Systems

SHAPING AND MAINTENANCE OF LOW-LATENCY ANONYMITY SYSTEMS Harsha Doreswamy, M.S. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2012 Supervising Professor: Matthew Wright Surveillance of users on the Internet is growing. This makes it increasingly important to protect users’ identity when they communicate online, especially for users like journalists, whistleblowers, and military officials. Anonymity systems can conceal users’ identities and provide anonymity for their online activities. Low–latency anonymity systems like Tor are designed to provide support for applications like Web browsing, video streaming, and online chat. To make the commutation between source and destination unlinkable, Tor routes all the traffic through three Tor relays, which are spread across the globe. These three relays are usually chosen without considering the delay to get from one to the next. If the relays selected are located too far from each other, it reduces the performance of the system. On the other hand, if we pick the three relays closest to the sender, then it would make it easier for the attacker to identify the sender. In other words, we would lose anonymity. One of biggest challenges in low–latency anonymity systems is maintaining anonymity while improving performance. In this thesis, we try to improve the performance of Tor–like low–latency anonymity systems without sacrificing anonymity. The current version of Tor tries to improve
Internet and Politics: Evidence from U.K. Local Elections and Local Government Policies

We empirically study the effects of broadband internet diffusion on local election outcomes and on local government policies using rich data from the U.K. Our analysis shows that the internet has displaced other media with greater news content (i.e. radio and newspapers), thereby decreasing voter turnout, most notably among less-educated and younger individuals. In turn, we find suggestive evidence that local government expenditures and taxes are lower in areas with greater broadband diffusion, particularly expenditures targeted at less-educated voters. Our findings are consistent with the idea that voters’ information plays a key role in determining electoral participation, government policies, and government size.
Unravelling Hidden Inequities in a Universal Public Long-Term Care System

We investigate whether publicly subsidized long-term care (LTC) is allocated according to needs, independently from income, using administrative data from all applicants for public LTC in Catalonia, from 2011 to 2014. We measure the level of horizontal inequity in subsidies to compensate informal care costs, formal home care, and institutional care using objective detailed information on needs. Our findings suggest that the system is inequitable; cash transfers are distributed among the financially better-off, while the use of nursing homes is concentrated among the worse-off. Additionally, we assess the inequity in the form of provision (voucher versus in- kind) and its implications for the equity in the time to access. Our results show that while in-kind provision is concentrated among the worse-off, the better-off are more likely to receive a voucher to (partly) subsidize LTC expenses. However, this duality does not imply inequity in the time to access a nursing home.
Triple-band circularly polarized antenna on a two-layered high impedance surface with two in-phase reflection bands

This paper presents a novel two-layered dual-band high impedance surface (HIS) and its applications to enhance the performance of a triple-band circularly polarized (TBCP) antenna. The proposed HIS consists of periodically arranged 6×6 nested concentric square patches on the top layer of the substrate to produce two in-phase reflection bands. The bottom layer is printed with periodic square patches to achieve miniaturization. The antenna comprises of a square patch radiator with four T-shaped slits around the edges and a narrow diagonal slot at the center. The antenna element is placed at a height of 0.8 mm over the HIS and two simultaneous operating modes of the metasurface are studied. By using the HIS in its inductive region as a reactive impedance surface (RIS), significant reduction in the resonant frequencies up to 32.86% and 20.27% are observed in the lower and upper operating bands of the antenna, respectively. When used in HIS mode, the front-to-back ratio in the mid-frequency band of the antenna is greater than 20 dB and the broadside gain is 3.96 dBi. The antenna radiates CP waves in all the three bands with stable radiation patterns and the overlapped impedance and axial ratio bandwidths are 7.69% (2.02–2.18 GHz), 3.17% (4.35–4.49 GHz) and 1.2% (8.32–8.42 GHz), respectively. The overall design (TBCP antenna on HIS) maintains a very low profile (0.002λ0).
AIS Electronic

By incorporating a strategic alignment perspective, we investigate how complementary capabilities, i.e., IT flexibility, a firm’s networking capability and absorptive capacity influence firms’ level of innovation. We do so, by empirically validating our main research question and associated research model using PLS-SEM, i.e., causal modeling on a sample of 322 international firms. Our research model draws upon foundational and empirical work and provides guidance on how strategic alignment can drive incremental and radical innovation capabilities. Outcomes of the analyses substantiate that all measurements and indicators are valid and reliable. Moreover, this study also uncovers a significant positive relationship between a firm’s degree of strategic alignment and incremental and radical innovation capabilities. Our study demonstrates the importance of strategic alignment between the three investigated organizational capabilities in the process of facilitating enhanced innovation capabilities. We contend that the inability of firms to innovate is, in part, due to the lack of strategic alignment, i.e., synergetic effect. As such, this work contributes to the current practical and theoretical knowledge base of both strategic alignment and firm innovation literature. This article concludes with a discussion and conclusion, outlines limitations of the current study and present some direction for future research.
Exploration or Exploitation? Hedge Funds in Venture Capital

We study the role of hedge funds in the venture capital market over 1985-2016. Hedge funds invest in companies in later stages when compared to traditional venture capitalists and outperform conditional on stage of entry. Hedge funds also invest in venture companies to exploit their stock selection skills: prior industry focus and stock-selection skill (alpha) in public equity markets predicts which industries hedge funds target in the venture market, and prior alpha predicts a higher probability of IPO for their venture targets. Finally, venture experience is valuable for hedge funds since it predicts greater public equity alpha of 1.7% per annum.