Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lipid profiling of rat peritoneal surface layers by online normal- and reversed-phase 2D LC QToF-MS[S]

An online, two-dimensional (2D) liquid chromatography (LC) quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (QToF-MS) method was developed for lipid profiling of rat peritoneal surface layers, in which the lipid classes and species could be simultaneously separated in one injection with a significantly increased sensitivity. Different lipid classes were separated on a normal-phase column in the first dimension and lipid molecular species were separated on a reversed-phase column in the second dimension, so that the ion suppression effects were reduced while the detection sensitivity was improved. Identified were 721 endogenous lipid species from 12 lipid classes, in which 415 structures were confirmed using tandem mass spectra, and the other 306 lipid molecular species were identified by accurate masses. The linearity, limit of detection, and repeatability were all satisfactory. The method was applied to the investigation of the lipid changes in rat peritoneal surface layer after peritoneal dialysis, and 32 potential lipid biomarkers were identified, as their concentrations in the dosed group were 2.2–12.5 times of those in the control group. The results revealed that this 2D LC-MS system was a promising tool for lipid profiling of complex biological samples.
MANAJEMEN LABA PADA PERlJSAHAAN BERMASALAH

The objective of this study was to examine earning management practice to companies with persistencely loss. This study employs accruals model especially discretionary accruals from Jones model to measure earnings management. This study employs t-test to test of hypothesis that the troubled companies have more abnormal accruals than non­ troubled companies. Contrary to hypothesis this reseach provide evidence both the troubled companies and nontroubled companies have managed earnings to reported earnings upward. Discretionary accruals mean to troubled companies and nontroubled companies were 0.305 and 0. 190 respectively. Mean d! ffrences of abnormal accruals is not siqnificant to both troubled companies and nontroubled companies.
Costs and Characteristics of Heavy Inpatient Service Users in Outer London

"Heavy users" is a new term often used to describe those who occupy a disproportionate number of psychiatric beds. In this study we identified the heaviest 10% (193) inpatient service users in one London borough over a 61/2 year period and compared these with a control group of 400 ordinary inpatient users. A weighting index was used to combine frequency of admission with duration. Heavy users were diagnostically and demographically similar to ordinary inpatient service users and only differed by their extensive use of services, about 3 times more than ordinary users in terms of health care costs, during the measured year. Their heavy use mainly depended on occupying hospital beds, and their use of outpatient, day patient and community services was relatively light.
The effects of antioxidants on microvascular oxygenation and blood flow in skeletal muscle of young rats

Alterations of skeletal muscle redox state via antioxidant supplementation have the potential to impact contractile function and vascular smooth muscle tone. The effects of antioxidants on the regulation of muscle O2 delivery–O2 utilization ( ) matching (which sets the microvascular partial pressure of O2; ) in young healthy muscle are not known. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to test the effects of acute antioxidant supplementation on rat spinotrapezius muscle force production, blood flow, and (phosphorescence quenching). Anaesthetized male Fischer 344 × Brown Norway rats (6–8 months old) had their right spinotrapezius muscles either exposed for measurement of blood flow and (n= 13) or exteriorized for measurement of muscle force production (n= 6). Electrically stimulated 1 Hz twitch contractions (∼7–9 V) were elicited for 180 s, and measurements were made before and after acute intra‐arterial antioxidant supplementation (76 mg kg−1 ascorbic acid, 52 mg kg−1 tempol) dissolved in saline and infused over 30 min. The principal effects of antioxidants were a ∼25% decrease (P < 0.05) in contracting spinotrapezius muscle force production concurrent with reductions in muscle blood flow and at rest and during contractions (P < 0.05 for both). Antioxidant supplementation reduced the resting baseline (before, 29.9 ± 1.2 mmHg; after, 25.6 ± 1.3 mmHg; P < 0.05), and this magnitude of depression was sustained throughout the rest‐to‐exercise transition (steady‐state value before, 16.4 ± 0.7 mmHg; after, 13.6 ± 0.9 mmHg; P < 0.05). In addition, the time constant of the decrease was reduced after antioxidant supplementation (before, 23.4 ± 4.3 s; after, 15.6 ± 2.7 s; P < 0.05). These results demonstrate that antioxidant supplementation significantly impacts the control of in young rats at rest and during contractions.
Measuring TCP Congestion Control Behaviour in the Internet

The Internet is constantly changing and evolving. In this thesis the behaviour of various aspects of the implementation of TCP underlying the Internet are measured. These include measures of Initial Congestion Window (ICW), type of reaction to loss, Selective Acknowledgment (SACK) support, Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) support. We develop a new method to measure congestion window reduction due to three duplicate ACK inferred loss. In a previous study 94% of classified servers showed window halving, whereas we found that 50% of classified servers exhibited Binary Increase Congestion control (BIC) or Cubic style behaviour, which is a departure from a Request For Comments (RFC) requirement to reduce the congestion window by at least 50%. ECN is predicted to improve Internet performance, but previous studies have revealed a low support for it 0.5%, and ECN connections failed at a high rate due to middlebox interference 9%; in this thesis we show a steady increase over time of ECN being implemented and supported 7.2%-10.3%. ECN testing of webservers with globally routable IPv6 adderesses showed a higher success rate 21.9%. Analysis of congestion control behaviour such as Tahoe, Reno and New Reno showed New Reno dominating more strongly than before, increasing from 35% to 70% of popular webservers.
The Learning Tracker: A Learner Dashboard that Encourages Self-regulation in MOOC Learners

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have the potential to make quality education affordable and available to the masses and reduce the gap between the most privileged and the most disadvantaged learners worldwide. However, this potential is overshadowed by low completion rates, often below 15%. Due to the high level of autonomy that is required when learning with a MOOC, literature identifies limited self-regulated learning skills as one of the causes that lead to early dropouts in MOOCs. Moreover, existing tools designed to aid learners in the online learning environment fail to provide the support needed for the development of such skills. The aim of the present work is to bridge this gap by investigating how self-regulated learning skills can be enhanced by encouraging metacognition and reflection in MOOC learners by means of social comparison. To this end, following an iterative process, we have developed the Learning Tracker, an interactive widget which allows learners to visualise their learning behaviour and compare it to that of previous graduates of the same MOOC. Each iteration was extensively evaluated in live TU Delft MOOCs running on the edX platform while engaging over 20.000 MOOC learners over the whole duration of each MOOC. Our results show that learners that have access to the Learning Tracker are more likely to graduate the MOOC. Moreover, we have observed that the widget has a positive impact on learners' engagement and reduces procrastination. However, we have little evidence that learners improved their self-regulated learning skills by the end of the MOOCs. Based on our results, we argue that the mere fact of receiving feedback on a limited number of learning habits could trigger self-reflection in learners and lead to improved learner performance. This work underlines the powerful effect feedback and self-reflection on one's behaviour has on learning performance. We recommend that future research should investigate learners' feedback literacy and devise effective ways of presenting learners with personalised feedback based on their goals, learning skill level and cultural background.
Searching for peptide ligands with an epitope library.

Tens of millions of short peptides can be easily surveyed for tight binding to an antibody, receptor or other binding protein using an "epitope library. " The library is a vast mixture of filamentous phage clones, each displaying one peptide sequence on the virion surface. The survey is accomplished by using the binding protein to affinity-purify phage that display tight-binding peptides and propagating the purified phage in Escherichia coli. The amino acid sequences of the peptides displayed on the phage are then determined by sequencing the corresponding coding region in the viral DNA's. Potential applications of the epitope library include investigation of the specificity of antibodies and discovery of mimetic drug candidates.
The impact of Software Process Maturity on Software Project Performance: The Contingent Role of Software Development Risk

Despite growing efforts to improve software development processes, recurring concerns about software project performance remain largely present. The rate of software development project failure rate has been routinely documented in information systems (IS) research (Wallace, 2004; El-Masry and Rivard, 2010). The management of software development projects is often marked by inadequate planning, a poor grasp of the overall development process, and no clear management framework, even as the focus in software development shifts from a technology perspective to a more process-centric view (Slaughter, 2006). To address such concerns few CMM-based studies have examined the benefits and direct impact of software process maturity on software project performance but with mixed results. The present paper attempts to systematically examine the contingent role of software development risk on the impact of software process maturity level on software project performance. Guided by risk-based perspective in Software Engineering and CMM-based framework, an exploratory model was developed and tested. The premise of this paper is that software development risk plays a contingent role in the relationship between software process maturity and software project performance. Drawing on a sample of 107 organizations that have undergone official CMM appraisals, the results of partial least squares analysis of the data reveal initial evidence that (1) a positive effect of software process maturity level on software project performance while underscoring the negative effect of software development risk on software project performance, and (2) more importantly, the findings show that software development risk plays a contingent role software process maturity level on software project performance. For researchers, the integration of software development risk can provide a much needed linkage in the three fundamental constructs of CMM. From a managerial perspective, in order to foster a better software project performance, IS project leaders and managers should strongly emphasize devising effective software development risk assessment since a variation of this construct’s level may strengthen or weaken the relationship between software development process maturity and software project performance.
A Potts model with infinitely degenerate ground state

A q-component Potts model with ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions in the two respective directions of a square lattice is considered. An argument is given showing that an order phase can exist in this model, even though the ground state is disordered and infinitely degenerate. The authors use the Migdal-Kadanoff transformation to obtain a closed-form expression for its critical point. They also carry out a Monte Carlo simulation of the model for q=3. The specific heat exhibits a broad maximum which does not sharpen appreciably as the lattice size is increased. This suggests that the phase transition if it exists, is of an unconventional type.
Ambisyllabic Consonant Lengthening in English

Ambisyllabic consonants are thought to be shared between two syllables and form both a coda and an onset while not being notably longer than singleton consonants. This thesis attempts to determine whether these ambisyllabic consonants pattern durationally like onset, codas, or neither through a production experiment using nonce words. This not only provides evidence for how the words are actually syllabified, it also may give insight into why such consonants are perceived as being shared by two syllables by many speakers. A production experiment finds that “ambisyllabic” consonants pattern durationally like onsets. This strongly suggests that they are onsets and speaker intuition is based on something other than the syllabification.
Anatomic Variation of the Optic Strut: Classification Schema, Radiologic Evaluation, and Surgical Relevance

Abstract Objective Anatomic variability of the optic strut in location, orientation, and dimensions is relevant in approaching ophthalmic artery aneurysms and tumors of the anterior cavernous sinus, medial sphenoid wing, and optic canal. Methods In 84 dry human skulls, imaging studies were performed (64-slice computed tomography [CT] scanner, axial view, aligned with the zygomatic arch). Optic strut location related to the prechiasmatic sulcus was classified as presulcal, sulcal, postsulcal, and asymmetric. Morphometric analysis was performed. Results The optic strut was presulcal in 11.9% specimens (posteromedial margin bilaterally anterior to limbus sphenoidale), sulcal in 44% (posteromedial part adjacent to the sulcus's anterior two thirds bilaterally), postsulcal in 29.8% (posteromedial margin posterior to the sulcus's anterior two thirds), and asymmetric (left/right) in 14.3%. Optic strut length, width, and thickness measured 6.54 ± 1.69 mm, 4.23 ± 0.69 mm, and 3.01 ± 0.79 mm, respectively. Optic canal diameter was 5.14 ± 0.47 mm anteriorly and 4.79 ± 0.64 mm posteriorly. Angulation was flat (>45 degrees) in 13% or acute (<45 degrees) in 87% specimens. Conclusions Anatomical variations in the optic strut are significant in planning for anterior clinoidectomy and optic-canal decompression. Our optic strut classification considers these variations relative to the prechiasmatic sulcus on preoperative imaging.
Does It Matter if I Hate Teamwork? What Impacts Student Attitudes toward Teamwork

The ability to work in teams is a skill that is often taught in universities to be applied in the business world. This study of junior and senior college students shows that project grades, perceived workload, time in class for project work, use of peer evaluations, and absence of a “free-rider” problem were significant predictors of attitudes toward teamwork. On the basis of their results, the authors suggest assigning a reasonable workload, allowing class time to work on projects, and using peer evaluations as strategies for improving student teamwork experiences.
Bank Insolvency Risk and the Market for Large Certificates of Deposit

In this paper, the authors employ a new source of bank survey data to determine whe ther the market for large certificates of deposit exacts a price for bank risk taking. They find strong evidence that this is in fact the case. Proxy measures of the likelihood of bank insolvency, the variab ility of bank returns on assets, and bank capitalization are all foun d to influence jumbo CD rates in a manner consistent with this hypoth esis. Area-specific variables are also found to play an important rol e in explaining observed jumbo CD rates. Copyright 1988 by Ohio State University Press.
Under-resourced speech recognition based on the speech manifold

Conventional acoustic modeling involves estimating many parameters to effectively model feature distributions. The sparseness of speech and text data, however, degrades the reliability of the estimation process and makes speech recognition a challenging task. In this paper, we propose to use a nonlinear feature transformation based on the speech manifold called Intrinsic Spectral Analysis (ISA) for under-resourced speech recognition. First, we investigate the usefulness of ISA features in low resource scenarios for both Gaussian mixture and deep neural network (DNN) acoustic modeling. Moreover, due to the connection of ISA features to the articulatory configuration space, this feature space is potentially less language dependent than other typical spectral-based features, and therefore exploiting out-of-language data in this feature space is beneficial. We demonstrate the positive effect of ISA in the frame work of multilingual DNN systems where Flemish and Afrikaans are used as donor and under-resourced target languages respectively. We compare the performance of ISA with conventional features in both multilingual and under-resourced monolingual conditions. Index Terms: Under-resourced speech recognition, intrinsic spectral analysis, multilingual deep neural network
Utility of cardiac catheterization in pediatric cardiac patients on ECMO

Cardiac catheterization has been utilized rarely in children on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). We performed a retrospective review of 15 children with congenital heart disease who had undergone catheterization while on ECMO from December 1990–December 1995. The procedures, including four interventions, were successful in all patients with adequate evaluation of clinical questions. Unexpected diagnostic information of clinical importance was obtained in 40%, and clinical management of patients was significantly altered in 73%. All patients tolerated the procedure and transport well. The only significant complication was a retroperitoneal hemorrhage in one patient after approximately 12 hr. Although no patients died at catheterization, overall survival was poor, with 50% weaning from ECMO, 29% surviving to discharge, and 14% surviving at follow‐up. We conclude that diagnostic and interventional catheterization may be performed in patients on ECMO with acceptable morbidity and mortality; however, long‐term survival in this population is poor. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Intervent. 46:62–67, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Contrast‐enhanced in vivo magnetic resonance microscopy of the mouse brain enabled by noninvasive opening of the blood‐brain barrier with ultrasound

The use of contrast agents for neuroimaging is limited by the blood‐brain barrier (BBB), which restricts entry into the brain. To administer imaging agents to the brain of rats, intracarotid infusions of hypertonic mannitol have been used to open the BBB. However, this technically challenging approach is invasive, opens only a limited region of the BBB, and is difficult to extend to mice. In this work, the BBB was opened in mice, using unfocused ultrasound combined with an injection of microbubbles. This technique has several notable features: it (a) can be performed transcranially in mice; (b) takes only 3 min and uses only commercially available components; (c) opens the BBB throughout the brain; (d) causes no observed histologic damage or changes in behavior (with peak‐negative acoustic pressures of 0.36 MPa); and (e) allows recovery of the BBB within 4 h. Using this technique, Gadopentetate Dimeglumine (Gd‐DTPA) was administered to the mouse brain parenchyma, thereby shortening T1 and enabling the acquisition of high‐resolution (52 × 52 × 100 micrometers3) images in 51 min in vivo. By enabling the administration of both existing anatomic contrast agents and the newer molecular/sensing contrast agents, this technique may be useful for the study of mouse models of neurologic function and pathology with MRI. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Organization of Marketing Activities: A Contingency Theory of Structure and Performance

Previous analysis of marketing organization has focused on the coordination of marketing activities and on organizational forms used to accomplish this, while ignoring the organization of marketing tasks at the work unit level. This article develops a contingency approach to the structure and performance of marketing activities at the work unit level, as well as higher levels within organizations, by blending the theoretical implications of traditional organization theory and transaction cost economics. Four propositions are developed to explain the effectiveness, efficiency, and adaptiveness of various marketing organizational structures. In addition, four basic structures of marketing organization are also explored.
Better transplant outcome with pre-transplant marrow response after hypomethylating treatment in higher-risk MDS with excess blasts

Hypomethylating treatment (HMT) has been suggested as a feasible bridge to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), but controversies exist around influences of HMT response on transplant outcomes. To assess the safety and influences of pre-transplant HMT focusing on debulking effects and transplant outcomes, we retrospectively analyzed consecutive HSCT-eligible patients who received HMT for higher-risk MDS with excess blasts. Of all 98 patients, 11 patients failed to proceed to HSCT and HMT-related mortality occurred in 8 patients. When excluding 9 patients who refused HSCT, 87% of scheduled HSCT (77 of 89) was performed after a median of 3 cycles (range, 1-8) of HMT. The 4-year overall survival after HMT (n = 98) and HSCT (n = 77) was 44.0% and 53.6%, respectively. Transplant outcomes were significantly different by the final response at HSCT; marrow response group (complete remission, marrow complete remission with or without hematologic improvement) showed significantly better 4-year disease-free survival compared to no marrow response group (n = 36, 87.3% vs. n = 41, 10.7%, P < 0.001). This difference between the groups was also evident in overall survival (90.9% vs. 8.6%, P < 0.001) and cumulative incidences of relapse (6.5% vs. 45.4%, P < 0.001) and treatment-related mortality (6.2% vs. 43.9%, P < 0.001). These observations indicate that pre-transplant HMT is a feasible bridging treatment in patients with excess blasts regarding high success rate of proceeding to transplantation and good survival rate. Marrow response at HSCT regardless of concomitant hematological improvement is an independent predictor of better survival, suggesting that immediate HSCT rather than continuing HMT should be performed once marrow response is achieved.