Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Solvent Substitution: An Analysis of Comprehensive Hazard Screening Indices

The air index (ψi air ) of the PARIS II software (Environmental Protection Agency), the Indiana Relative Chemical Hazard Score (IRCHS), and the Final Hazard Score (FHS) used in the P2OASys system (Toxics Use Reduction Institute) are comprehensive hazard screening indices that can be used in solvent substitution. The objective of this study was to evaluate these indices using a list of 67 commonly used or recommended solvents. The indices ψi air , IRCHS and FHS were calculated considering 9, 13, and 33 parameters, respectively, that summarized health and safety hazards, and environmental impacts. Correlation and sensitivity analyses were performed. The vapor hazard ratio (VHR) was used as a reference point. Two good correlations were found: (1) between VHR and ψi air (ρ = 0.84), (2) and between IRCHS and FHS (ρ = 0.81). Values of sensitivity ratios above 0.2 were found with ψi air (4 of 9 parameters) and IRCHS (3 of 13 parameters), but not with FHS. Overall, the three indices exhibited important differences in the way they integrate key substitution factors, such as volatility, occupational exposure limit, skin exposure, flammability, carcinogenicity, photochemical oxidation potential, atmospheric global effects, and environmental terrestrial and aquatic effects. These differences can result in different choices of alternatives between indices, including the VHR. IRCHS and FHS are the most comprehensive indices but are very tedious and complex to use and lack sensitivity to several solvent-specific parameters. The index ψi air is simpler to calculate but does not cover some parameters important to solvents. There is presently no suitably comprehensive tool available for the substitution of solvents. A two-tier approach for the selection of solvents is recommended to avoid errors that could be made using only a global index or the consideration of the simple VHR. As a first tier, one would eliminate solvent candidates having crucial impacts. As a second tier, other parameters would be considered, with emphasis on the VHR.
Anterior Capsular Phimosis Occluding the Capsulorhexis Opening after Cataract Surgery in a Diabetic Patient with High Hemoglobin A1C

ABSTRACT Purpose: To report a case of complete occlusion of the capsulorhexis opening in a DM patient with high hemoglobin A1C level. Methods: A 77-year-old woman with non-insulin-dependent diabetes underwent uncomplicated phacoemulsification in both eyes. One year later, she presented again because of reduced vision (best-corrected visual acuity of 16/20 in the right eye, 6/20 in the left eye). Dilated examination revealed marked anterior capsular contraction in the right eye and anterior capsular phimosis totally occluding the capsulorhexis opening in the left eye. Results: The severity of diabetic retinopathy and her fasting blood sugar (225 mg/dl) and hemoglobin A1C level (8.5%) increased during the previous year. Uncorrected visual acuity of 18/20 (OS) was achieved after a neodymium:YAG (Nd:YAG) radial anterior capsulotomy was performed. Conclusion: Microvascular complications such as diabetic retinopathy or diabetic iritis can occur in patient with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus. The pathophysiology of anterior capsular phimosis in this patient is probably increased vascular permeability chronically associated with diabetes.
Sequent calculi with context restrictions and applications to conditional logic

In this thesis we consider generic tools and techniques for the proof-theoretic investigation of not necessarily normal modal logics based on minimal, intuitionistic or classical propositional logic. The underlying framework is that of ordinary symmetric or asymmetric two-sided sequent calculi without additional structural connectives, and the point of interest are the logical rules in such a system. We introduce the format of a sequent rule with context restrictions and the slightly weaker format of a shallow rule. The format of a rule with context restrictions is expressive enough to capture most normal modal logics in the S5 cube, standard systems for minimal, intuitionistic and classical propositional logic and a wide variety of non-normal modal logics. For systems given by such rules we provide sufficient criteria for cut elimination and decidability together with generic complexity results. We also explore the expressivity of such systems with the cut rule in terms of axioms in a Hilbert-style system by exhibiting a corresponding syntactically defined class of axioms along with automatic translations between axioms and rules. This enables us to show a number of limitative results concerning amongst others the modal logic S5. As a step towards a generic construction of cut free and tractable sequent calculi we then introduce the notion of cut trees as representations of rules constructed by absorbing cuts. With certain limitations this allows the automatic construction of a cut free and tractable sequent system from a finite number of rules. For cases where such a system is to be constructed by hand we introduce a graphical representation of rules with context restrictions which simplifies this process. Finally, we apply the developed tools and techniques and construct new cut free sequent systems for a number of Lewis’ conditional logics extending the logic V. The systems yield purely syntactic decision procedures of optimal complexity and proofs of the Craig interpolation property for the logics at hand.
SHADOW RISKS AND DISASTERS

We explore the relationship between incentives and Shadow Risks— those risks that are not easily captured by common …nancial measures and yet can lead to major adverse events. Theoretically, increased Shadow Risk-taking is non-monotonic in higher-powered executive compensation. However, for those settings where risky failures are high-stakes— e.g., potential environmental disasters and accounting scandals— the relationship is positive. We test these predictions for environmental and …nancial accounting failures of large US …rms and …nd that changing CEO equity compensation from 100% stocks to 100% options can increases the odds of an event by 40–60% and the magnitude of such events by over 100%.
Improving the Expected Improvement Algorithm

The expected improvement (EI) algorithm is a popular strategy for information collection in optimization under uncertainty. The algorithm is widely known to be too greedy, but nevertheless enjoys wide use due to its simplicity and ability to handle uncertainty and noise in a coherent decision theoretic framework. To provide rigorous insight into EI, we study its properties in a simple setting of Bayesian optimization where the domain consists of a finite grid of points. This is the so-called best-arm identification problem, where the goal is to allocate measurement effort wisely to confidently identify the best arm using a small number of measurements. In this framework, one can show formally that EI is far from optimal. To overcome this shortcoming, we introduce a simple modification of the expected improvement algorithm. Surprisingly, this simple change results in an algorithm that is asymptotically optimal for Gaussian best-arm identification problems, and provably outperforms standard EI by an order of magnitude.
Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Links Hepatitis C Virus RNA Replication to Wild-Type PGC-1α/Liver-Specific PGC-1α Upregulation

ABSTRACT Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes not only severe liver problems but also extrahepatic manifestations, such as insulin resistance (IR). Wild-type peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (WT-PGC-1α) is essential in hepatic gluconeogenesis and has recently been demonstrated to link HCV infection to hepatic insulin resistance (IR). A recent study has characterized a novel human liver-specific PGC-1α (L-PGC-1α) transcript, which is proposed to reflect human adaption to more complex pathways. However, the effect of HCV infection on L-PGC-1α expression and the mechanism by which HCV modulates WT-PGC-1α/L-PGC-1α remain unclear. In this study, we showed that HCV infection upregulated both WT-PGC-1α and L-PGC-1α, which further promoted HCV production. The upregulation of both PGC-1α isoforms depended on HCV RNA replication. By using promoter-luciferase reporters, kinase inhibitors, and dominant negative mutants, we further observed that the HCV-induced upregulation of WT-PGC-1α was mediated by the phosphorylation of cyclic AMP (cAMP)-responsive element-binding protein (CREB), whereas that of L-PGC-1α was mediated by CREB phosphorylation and forkhead box O1 dephosphorylation. Moreover, HCV infection induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and pharmacological induction of ER stress upregulated WT-PGC-1α/L-PGC-1α and phosphorylated CREB. In contrast, pharmacological inhibition of HCV-induced ER stress impaired WT-PGC-1α/L-PGC-1α upregulation along with decreased phosphorylated CREB. The correlation of hepatic mPGC-1α with ER stress was further confirmed in mice. Overall, HCV infection upregulates both WT-PGC-1α and L-PGC-1α through an ER stress-mediated, phosphorylated CREB-dependent pathway, and both PGC-1α isoforms promote HCV production in turn. IMPORTANCE HCV causes not only severe liver problems but also extrahepatic manifestations, such as insulin resistance (IR). As a key regulator in energy metabolism, wild-type PGC-1α (WT-PGC-1α), has recently been demonstrated to link HCV infection to hepatic IR. A recent study has characterized a novel human liver-specific PGC-1α (L-PGC-1α), which reflects human adaption to more complex pathways. However, the effect of HCV infection on L-PGC-1α expression and the mechanism by which HCV regulates WT-PGC-1α/L-PGC-1α remain unclear. In this study, we showed that HCV infection upregulated both WT-PGC-1α and L-PGC-1α, which further promoted HCV production. WT-PGC-1α upregulation was mediated by CREB phosphorylation, whereas L-PGC-1α upregulation was mediated by CREB phosphorylation and FoxO1 dephosphorylation. HCV-induced ER stress mediated WT-PGC-1α/L-PGC-1α upregulation and CREB phosphorylation. Overall, this study provides new insights into the mechanism by which HCV upregulates WT-PGC-1α/L-PGC-1α and highlights the novel intervention of HCV-ER stress-PGC-1α signaling for HCV therapy and HCV-induced IR therapy.
eview merica ’ s Obesity Epidemic : Measuring Physical ctivity to Promote an Active Lifestyle

O W p t I a i t t t BSTRACT he incidence of overweight and obesity in the United tates and worldwide has reached epidemic proportions. o effectively intervene, dietetics professionals and other ealth care practitioners need to address both sides of the nergy balance equation when counseling clients and paients. Often, the focus on energy intake supersedes the romotion of a physically active lifestyle. Incorporating ppropriate and sufficient physical activity into one’s life s an essential component of achieving and maintaining a ealthful body weight. This review summarizes backround knowledge on the benefits of physical activity for ealth and provides an overview of available tools for easuring physical activity and energy expenditure. The hysical and mental health benefits of an active lifestyle, urrent physical activity recommendations for the US ublic, the prevalence of inactivity in the United States, nd components of energy expenditure are reviewed. Aditionally, tools for estimating total energy expenditure, esting metabolic rate, and physical activity are evaluted and suitable approaches for applying these tools are rovided. Am Diet Assoc. 2004;104:1398-1409.
Brand-size complementarity in the choice of retail stores

Shopping patterns of consumers vary as the level of size and brand of stores change jointly or separately. Brand and size can be either complementary or substitutable with respect to consumers’ shopping characteristics. They are complementary to spending per visit, or brand magnifies the positive effect of size to spending per visit. Weekend consumers also tend to view size and brand complementary, which is so strong that there exists polarized shopping at either large nationwide brand or small unbranded stores during weekend. Car owners exhibit very similar patterns as weekend consumers. On the other hand, substitutability exists to explain shopping frequency. This effect is so high as to generate the polarized pattern; shopping frequency is high with regard to small nationwide brand and large unbranded stores. Substitution patterns also arise for working women, people older than 50, and high-income consumers.
Comparison and practical implementation of type-reduction algorithms for type-2 fuzzy sets and systems

Type-reduction algorithms are very important for type-2 fuzzy sets and systems. The earliest one, and also the most popular one, is the Karnik-Mendel Algorithm, which is iterative and computationally intensive. In the last a few years researchers have proposed several other more efficient type-reduction algorithms. In this paper we also propose a new algorithm which improves over the latest results. Experiments show that it is the most efficient one to use in practice. Particularly, when the number of elements in type-reduction is smaller than 100, which is true in most practical type-reduction computations, our proposed algorithm can save over 50% computational cost over the Karnik-Mendel Algorithms. We also give the Matlab implementation of our most efficient algorithm in the Appendix. It includes preprocessing steps to eliminate numerical problems, and also improved testing criteria to prevent possible infinite loops. This program will be very helpful in promoting the popularity of type-2 fuzzy sets and systems.
Using the technology acceptance model to evaluate user attitude and intention of use for online games

Most domestic online games are foreign games authorised for distribution in Taiwan. Thus, domestic distributors do not have the right to change the design of games. All that they can do is provide sufficient support and improve service quality, system quality (SQ), and information content to online game players. Many empirical studies have pointed to the technology acceptance model (TAM) to explain whether users accept a new information technology. Therefore, this study adopted TAM to investigate external factors that affect gamer acceptance of online games and used SQ, information quality, and service-provider characteristics (SPCs) as external variables. In the aspect of perceptions, SQ was found to have positive effects on perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. SPCs had positive effects on perceived usefulness and perceived trust. The research finding in the relationship between user perception and attitude and intention was consistent with the TAM suggestion; i.e. perceived ease of use had positive effects on perceived usefulness and user attitude, and perceived usefulness had positive effect on user attitude. Finally, user perceived trust and attitude positively correlated with user intention of use.
Macroeconomic and institutional determinants of current account deficits

This study empirically investigates the effects of institutional and macroeconomic policy variables on current account deficits (CAD). Based on cross-section data for a broad number of countries, the results suggest that better governance increases whilst ‘original sin’ decreases the ability of an economy to sustain CAD. Exchange rate flexibility and openness appear to put a discipline on CAD. Consistent with the equity home bias and Feldstein–Horioka puzzle, CAD decrease with country size. The net impacts of the financial deepening and monetary credibility on CAD are found to be insignificant.
Engineering an Election

This essay considers a hypothetical example of digital gerrymandering: the selective presentation of information by an intermediary to meet its agenda rather than to serve its users. It is possible on any service that personalizes what it presents, particularly when there is an abundance of items to offer up and only a few that can be shown at a time. Whether for search results, top tweets, or Facebook updates, each curating service uses a proprietary recipe to draw from boundless ingredients to prepare our feeds, and each is in a position to gerrymander its users, distinguishing between those it thinks will be supportive of its goals and those who will not. None promises neutrality, whatever that might mean, although some — including Google and Bing — clearly distinguish between results driven by the companies’ own formulas versus those displayed as sponsored advertising.What if part of the secret sauce behind feeds serves the aims of the cook rather than the customer? Perhaps companies could choose whether to become information fiduciaries, the way that businesspeople who make suggestions on buying and selling stocks and bonds can elect between careers as investment advisors or brokers. However agreed, a central responsibility of an information intermediary would be to serve up others’ data in ways not designed to further the political goals of the intermediary.
Draft Genome Sequence of the Nontoxigenic Clostridium difficile Strain CD37

ABSTRACT Here we report the draft genome sequence of Clostridium difficile strain CD37, the first nontoxigenic strain sequenced. Every sequenced strain of Clostridium difficile has been shown to contain multiple different mobile genetic elements. The draft genome sequence of strain CD37 reveals the presence of two putative conjugative transposons.
Message based integration in Cyber-Physical System: firefighters in the field

We present a Cyber-Physical System for distributed monitoring of first response teams. To cope with different setups, different sensors and computing devices, found in the evolution of the VitalResponder project, we adopted a message brokering pattern to isolate the data aggregation logic from the changing hardware and networking configurations. Sensors publish data to local message brokers (body-area level), that, in turn, publish to higher level messages queues (site-wide level). The brokers use adapters to relay messages over alternative transport protocols, currently available as adapters for messaging standards over TCP (AMQP, MQTT), over UDP (CoAP), and basic sockets (TCP and UDP). The abstraction of messages brokering facilitates the portability to different platforms, and the system has been tested in Android, Raspberry Pi and standard Linux devices, to support a distributed sensor network for firefighter’s missions monitoring.
Perceived corporate training investment as a driver of expatriate adjustment

Purpose – Whether expatriate cross-cultural training programs significantly influence expatriate adjustment has been debated for more than two decades. The purpose of this paper is to examine a pivotal variable not yet addressed in the literature: the expatriate's perceptions of the employer's investment in the training (termed “perceived corporate training investment”: PCTI). Design/methodology/approach – Completed surveys were collected from 71 hotel expatriate managers stationed around the globe. Findings – When an expatriate manager perceives that his/her company's investment in expatriate training (PCTI) exceeds industry standards, it leads to enhanced work adjustment. Interestingly, PCTI is also found to significantly influence the expatriate's general adjustment in the foreign culture. A firm's organizational learning climate mediates the relationship between PCTI and both forms of adjustment (work and general). Research limitations/implications – It could prove informative for future research to m.
The Design Space of Temporal Graph Visualisation

This paper presents our work in mapping the design space of techniques for temporal graph visualisation. We identify two independent dimensions upon which the techniques can be classified: graph structural encoding and temporal encoding. Based on these dimensions, we create a matrix into which we organise existing techniques. We identify gaps in this design space which may prove interesting opportunities for the development of novel techniques. We also consider additional dimensions on which further useful classification could be made. In organising the disparate existing approaches from a wide range of domains, our classification will assist those new to the research area, and designers and evaluators developing systems for temporal graph data by raising awareness of the range of possible approaches available, and highlighting possible directions for further research.
Apoptosis-Inducing Factor Is a Target for Ubiquitination through Interaction with XIAP

ABSTRACT X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) is an inhibitor of apoptotic cell death that protects cells by caspase-dependent and independent mechanisms. In a screen for molecules that participate with XIAP in regulating cellular activities, we identified apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) as an XIAP binding protein. Baculoviral IAP repeat 2 of XIAP is sufficient for the XIAP/AIF interaction, which is disrupted by Smac/DIABLO. In healthy cells, mature human AIF lacks only the first 54 amino acids, differing significantly from the apoptotic form, which lacks the first 102 amino-terminal residues. Fluorescence complementation and immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that XIAP interacts with both AIF forms. AIF was found to be a target of XIAP-mediated ubiquitination under both normal and apoptotic conditions, and an E3 ubiquitin ligase-deficient XIAP variant displayed a more robust interaction with AIF. Expression of either XIAP or AIF attenuated both basal and antimycin A-stimulated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and when XIAP and AIF were expressed in combination, a cumulative decrease in ROS was observed. These results identify AIF as a new XIAP binding partner and indicate a role for XIAP in regulating cellular ROS.
The everyday lives of Latina immigrants in North Carolina: a photovoice perspective

The purpose of this research was to allow Latina immigrants living in the southern United States to document and critique their family and community conditions through photographs and stories of their everyday lives. This research informed by feminist and critical science theory, used photovoice, a participatory action research method, with eight participants. Using interpretive inquiry, key themes were identified and illustrated the participants' experiences. "Improvements with sacrifices" was identified as the overarching theme, with additional key themes of "centrality of family," "hopes for children," and "need for community. " This research was empowering for the participants, as it affirmed their community strengths, described their challenges, and provided them with an avenue to share their stories with others.
Jaagsiekte Sheep Retrovirus Envelope Efficiently Pseudotypes Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1-Based Lentiviral Vectors

ABSTRACT Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) infects lung epithelial cells in sheep, and oncoretroviral vectors bearing JSRV Env can mediate transduction of human cells, suggesting that such vectors might be useful for lung-directed gene therapy. Here we show that JSRV Env can also efficiently pseudotype a human immunodeficiency virus type 1-based lentiviral vector, a more suitable vector for transduction of slowly dividing lung epithelial cells. We created several chimeric Env proteins that, unlike the parental Env, do not transform rodent fibroblasts but are still capable of pseudotyping lentiviral and oncoretroviral vectors.
Creative Inputs as the Cause of Baumol's Cost Disease: The Example of Media Services

This article explains that the most important aspect of W. J. Baumol's idea of cost disease is the fundamental intuition that there are some types of labor's contributions that are irreplaceable by new technologies. These contributions are indentified as “creative inputs”: original ideas, concepts, actions, and inductive solutions to ill-defined problems. This article also empirically demonstrates that media content activities are stagnant, whereas activities involved in the distribution and exhibition of media content are progressive.