Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular Parallels between Neural and Vascular Development

Anatomical parallels between the nervous and the vascular system are readily apparent in peripheral body tissues, where blood vessels and nerves ramify throughout nearly all domains of the body and are usually aligned. To orchestrate the formation of their highly branched, exquisitely wired networks, nerves and blood vessels have developed shared cellular andmolecular principles. At the cellular level, axons of developing neurons and capillaries use specialized motile structures to ensure their directional guidance. In axons, a growth cone is situated at the axon extremity and ensures axon guidance towards its distant target. In blood vessels, specialized motile endothelial cells (EC) situated at the capillary tips ensure capillary guidance during sprouting angiogenesis. Molecularly, common signaling molecules guide vascular and axonal outgrowth. Axonal growth cones and tip cells express receptors for axon guidance molecules, including Neuropilin receptors (Nrps), Eph family receptor tyrosine kinases, PlexinD1, Robo4 and UNC5B. Loss‐of‐function of the genes encoding these receptors leads to defects in vessel formation and in most cases to embryonic death, indicating a critical function of axon guidance receptors in vascular development. Their guidance properties and vascular expression makes them attractive targets for approaches directed at inhibiting tumor angiogenesis, or conversely for guiding new vessels towards ischemic tissue areas.
Vaginoplasty with Acellular Dermal Matrix after Radical Resection for Carcinoma of the Uterine Cervix

ABSTRACT Various methods are available for vaginoplasty, but many of them have the drawbacks including surgical complexity and postoperative pain at the donor site. We herein evaluated the outcomes of vaginoplasty using tissue-engineered biomaterial graft. This study included 16 early stage cervical cancer patients who received curative surgery in combination with radiotherapy. They underwent vaginoplasty with tissue-engineered biological material, acellular dermal matrix (ADM). After treatment, a vaginal dilator was advised to be used for 6 months to prevent contraction of vagina. The effectiveness of the treatment was evaluated by the anatomic changes of vagina before and after treatment, and the sexual outcomes at 12-month after treatment. The procedure was safe with no intra-operative complications reported. The mean operation time was 1.7 ± 0.3 hours, with 11/16 patients had blood loss < 50 mL during surgery. Generally, epithelialization was observed in 2-week after treatment. At the 1-year follow-up visit, the mean vaginal width was increased significantly from 1.31 ± 0.4 cm before surgery to 4.13 ± 0.43 cm after surgery (p = 0.034). The vaginal length was also increased from 5.97 ± 0.59 cm to 9.25 ± 0.66 cm (p < 0.001). Majority of the patients (12/16) reported satisfactory sexual life. The use of ADM in vaginoplasty was a safe and effective procedure that provided satisfactory sexual function for patients with vaginal abnormalities after cervical cancer treatment.
Utility of the UFOV Test With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Driving skills are socially important, easily disrupted by brain injury, and potentially risky and difficult to evaluate afterward. The Useful Field of View test has seen successful use with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), but its use with mild TBI victims has not been examined. This study shows its ecological insensitivity among persons with mild TBI or no impairment and suggests its use be limited to more severely impaired persons.
Origin of the different phytotoxicity and biotransformation of cerium and lanthanum oxide nanoparticles in cucumber

Abstract To investigate how the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles (NPs) affect their biological and toxicological effects, we evaluated the phytotoxicity of CeO2 and La2O3 NPs to cucumber (Cucumis sativus) plants and tried to clarify the relation between physicochemical properties of NPs and their behaviors. CeO2 NPs had no phytotoxicity to cucumber at all tested concentrations, while La2O3 NPs showed significant inhibition on root elongation ( ≥ 2 mg/L), shoot elongation (at 2000 mg/L), root biomass ( ≥ 2 mg/L), and shoot biomass ( ≥ 20 mg/L), as well as induced more reactive oxygen species and cell death in roots (2000 mg/L). The different distribution and speciation of Ce and La in plants were determined by synchrotron-based micro X-ray fluorescence microscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. In the aerial parts, all of La was combined with phosphate or carboxylic group, while a fraction of Ce was changed to Ce(III)–carboxyl complexes, implying that La2O3 acted as its ionic form, while CeO2 displayed the behavior of particles or particle–ion mixtures. The higher dissolution of La2O3 than CeO2 NPs might be the reason for their significant difference in phytotoxicity and transporting behaviors in cucumbers. To our knowledge, this is the first detailed study of the relation between the level of dissolution of NPs and their behaviors in plant systems.
Multilevel fast multipole method for higher order basis functions implemented in WIPL-D Pro

An overview of the variant of multilevel fast multipole method (MLFMM) applied in WIPL-D Pro 3D EM solver is given in this paper. MLFMM is applied to higher order basis functions (HOBFs), where grouping of basis functions is done in two levels, and far-field approximation is appropriately applied to distant groups. Maximally orthogonalized HOBFs are used because of their property of improving the conditioning of the method of moments (MoM) dense system of linear equations. Numerical results demonstrate the effects of the proposed approach in terms of dramatically reduced memory requirements (up to 100 times) compared to the full MoM simulation of electrically large structures.
Optimal Detection and Identification of Mycobacterium haemophilum in Specimens from Pediatric Patients with Cervical Lymphadenopathy

ABSTRACT Acid-fast bacilli from pediatric patients with lymphadenopathy were detected in the BACTEC radiometric system and in MB Redox broth, but not on Löwenstein Jensen medium. PCR amplification identified the isolates as Mycobacterium haemophilum, which has special nutrition requirements (iron supplements) for growth. Suitable culture medium ensures optimal recovery of this microorganism, avoiding underdiagnosis.
Speeding Up Exact Dynamic Programming for Series Line Optimization

Dynamic programming value iteration can be made more ef cient on speci c networks by characterizing the transient and insensitive states. These methods are demonstrated by nding the optimal policy for a ve-machine series make-to-stock line with machine failures. State space truncations are chosen by checking the recurrent class in previous runs. An approximate model is developed that reduces the number of machine states. Monotone control theory is used to restrict the search for a control switching surface. Numerical optimal policies are compared with the heuristic control point policy and several characteristics of optimal policies are identi ed.
The miR-15 Family Enhances the Radiosensitivity of Breast Cancer Cells by Targeting G2 Checkpoints

Enhancing radiosensitivity is an important area of investigation for improving breast cancer therapy outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the role of the miR-15 family in the radiosensitivity of breast cancer cells. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) encoded by the miR-15 cluster are known to induce G1 arrest and apoptosis by targeting G1 checkpoints and the anti-apoptotic B cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) gene. However, the effect of the miR-15 family on G2/M arrest and radiosensitivity remains poorly understood. In the current study, cells transfected with miR-15a/15b/16 mimic or inhibitor were irradiated and examined by: clonogenic assays, phosphorylated H2AX assay, flow cytometry, 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), real-time PCR and Western blot. Real-time PCR was also used to monitor time-dependent changes of miR-15a/15b/16 expression after irradiation. A putative target site for miR-15a/15b/16 within the Chk1 and Wee1 3′ UTRs was confirmed using luciferase reporter assays. Additionally, siRNA was used to validate the effect of Chk1 and Wee1 on radiosensitivity in breast cancer cells. In our study, we investigated the effects of radiation on the miR-15 family and found a time-dependent change in the expression of miR-15a/15b/16 in breast cancer cells postirradiation, as well as an increase in miR-15 family-mediated sensitization of breast cancer cells to radiation. The increase in radiosensitivity induced by the miR-15 family was associated with persistent unrepaired DNA damage, abrogation of radiation-induced G2 arrest and suppressed cell proliferation, and appear to involve both the checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) and Wee1. In addition, we found that inhibition of the miR-15 family could not induce cell resistance to radiation. These findings suggest that the expression of the miR-15 family contributes to increased radiosensitivity of breast cancer cells by influencing G2/M checkpoint proteins.
Rapid and specific detection of the pap, afa, and sfa adhesin-encoding operons in uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains by polymerase chain reaction

Adhesin-encoding operons (pap, sfa/foc, and afa) have been shown to be prevalent in Escherichia coli strains associated with urinary tract infections. A quick and sensitive assay to identify these operons was developed by using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Three pairs of 25-mer primers were defined from the sequences of the DNA fragments used as probes in hybridization studies to identify each of the three operons, and the six primers were used together in a single reaction of amplification. To validate the PCR approach for detection of adhesin-encoding operons among clinical isolates, we investigated a collection of 97 E. coli isolates with the following characteristics: all isolates originated from the urine of patients with pyelonephritis, and the adhesin responsible for specific binding of the isolates to uroepithelial cells was previously characterized by phenotypic assays, as well as genotypic tests based on hybridization. There was a perfect correlation between the results obtained with the PCR approach and those previously obtained by using DNA probes. These results indicate that the PCR method, which is highly specific and easier to perform than the hybridization method, is a powerful genotypic assay for detection of adhesin-encoding operons. Thus, this assay can be recommended for clinical use to detect virulent urinary E. coli strains, as well as for epidemiological studies.
An Empirical Analysis of Imbalanced Data Classification

SVM has been given top consideration for addressing the challenging problem of data imbalance learning. Here,we conduct an empirical classification analysis of new UCI datasets that have dierent imbalance ratios, sizes andcomplexities. The experimentation consists of comparing the classification results of SVM with two other popularclassifiers, Naive Bayes and decision tree C4.5, to explore their pros and cons. To make the comparative exper-iments more comprehensive and have a better idea about the learning performance of each classifier, we employin total four performance metrics: Sensitive, Specificity, G-means and time-based eciency. For each benchmarkdataset, we perform an empirical search of the learning model through numerous training of the three classifiersunder dierent parameter settings and performance measurements. This paper exposes the most significant resultsi.e. the highest performance achieved by each classifier for each dataset. In summary, SVM outperforms the othertwo classifiers in terms of Sensitive (or Specificity) for all the datasets, and is more accurate in terms of G-meanswhen classifying large datasets.
Beyond traditional word‐of‐mouth: An expanded model of customer‐driven influence

Purpose – Business and academia alike have become aware of the crucial role of customer‐to‐customer interactions. Facilitated by the increasing customer connectedness through online media possibilities, companies need to understand how customers influence each other and how to manage these customer interactions. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize an expanded model of customer‐driven influence (CDI) that presents an overview of the influence process and its determinants. The model covers important issues, such as deliberate versus unintentional sender actions, verbal and non‐verbal communication, and reflective and impulsive receiver reactions.Design/methodology/approach – This article is the result of the first Thought Leadership Conference on Service Marketing, held in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, June 2012.Findings – The model shows the importance of considering goal theory in studying customer‐driven influence. Both sender and receiver can act and react in deliberate and unintentional ways. Th.
Internet Use and Job Search: More Evidence

In this paper, we apply pair-wise Propensity Score matching approach to the question of Internet use and job search. As in Phoenix Center Policy Paper No. 39, Internet use of all types is found to reduce labor market discouragement by about 60%. The effect of dial-up is smaller, but still large, at about 30 to 40%, depending on the definition of discouragement. Overall, the results are highly comparable to those in Policy Paper No. 39.
Factors contributing to rural consumers' inshopping behavior

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how shopping behavior of rural consumers is affected by perceptions of local retailers' social norm‐based activities and task‐oriented actions, and social capital within the community.Design/methodology/approach – A mail survey is distributed using a modification of Dillman's method; 524 usable surveys are collected. Multi‐group analysis in structural equation modeling is employed for the data analysis.Findings – The findings of the paper reveal significant relationships between institutional action and legitimacy, legitimacy and support, and value and support. The moderating effect of social capital on the relationships between institutional action and legitimacy, legitimacy and support, and value and support are significant.Research limitations/implications – This paper extends previous research by including both social environmental factors (social capital), and retailers' social actions in explaining consumer support. Limitations of the research design.
Flexibilisation without hesitation? Temporary contracts and Workers' satisfaction

Fixed-term contracts are often considered a key policy tool for increasing employment. As we show that contract limitation lowers job satisfaction using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel study, we detect a drawback of promoting temporary employment that has not been identified so far. We find that the “honeymoon-hangover” effect of a new job must be taken into account to reveal this result. We examine reasons why employees suffer from temporary contracts and analyse the “Flexicurity” idea of compensating workers with security. Our findings contribute to research on workers’ well-being as well as to the debate on labour market flexibilisation.
Secure Outsourcing of Linear Programming in Cloud Computing Environment : A Review

Cloud computing provides immense computing power with reduced cost. User can outsource their vast computational work to the cloud and use massive computational power, storage, software, network etc. Despite all these benefits there are still few obstacles in cloud computing regarding confidentiality and integrity of data. Outsourcing and computation compromises the security of data being stored on cloud computing. Considering cloud as insecure platform a system must be designed that protects data by encryption and as well as produces correct result without any cheating resilience with the help of result verification. In this paper, we study the secure outsourcing and computation of linear programming by capturing the effects of arguments which are of first order and that provides practical efficiency. To achieve efficiency linear programming conditions are implemented. The LP computation are done explicitly decomposing LP problem that are run on cloud. The parameters of LP are owned by the customer. For validating the obtained output of computation, we use duality theorem of linear programming that derives the required condition that the result must fulfil.
Bone-crack detection by piezoeletric-electromechanical impedance method

There is a growing interest in the application of smart materials such as piezoelectric in the biomedical field. The work presented in this paper is an attempt to demonstrate the feasibility of bone-crack detection by using piezoelectric-electromechanical impedance (EMI) method, which has the advantages of low cost, portable and simplicity in measurement. A piezoelectric transducer known as PZT (lead zirconate titanate) was used for actuating and sensing simultaneously and as a means of coupling the electrical and mechanical impedance. The basis of this novel method is to monitor variation in the mechanical impedance of a structural element via electrical impedance of a piezoelectric transducer attached to the host structure. In this study, a PZT transducer was used to detect artificially induced cracks in a bone. EMI measurements were carried out using AD5933 evaluation board for frequency range between 0.04 kHz to 100 kHz. The results obtained from the experiment were analyzed by quantifying the damage index using root mean square deviation (RMSD) of the impedance signals before and after cracks were induced in the bone. The results from the study show the feasibility of the piezoelectric-EMI method to effectively detect physical changes in the bone due to the artificially induced cracks.
Optimal transmit strategies in MIMO Ricean channels with MMSE receiver

We study a MIMO system with MMSE receiver in a flat-fading environment. We assume that the receiver has perfect CSI and the transmitter knows only the mean channel matrix, either by feedback or channel estimation. First, we derive the properties of the average normalized MSE and its dependence on the singular values of the mean component. Next, we show that the optimal transmit strategy is to transmit in the direction of the eigenvectors of the squared mean component. In addition to this, we characterize the optimal power allocation using the necessary and sufficient optimality conditions. Furthermore, the optimal strategy for small SNR values is to perform beamforming, i.e., to transmit only in direction of the largest mean matrix eigenvalue.
A Compact Model of Drain Current for GaN HEMTs Based on 2-DEG Charge Linearization

A physics-based simple and accurate compact model of drain current for GaN-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) is presented. The model is developed using analytical relations for charges in the 2-D electron gas and barrier layer. For the first time, a simple charge linearization approach has been used for GaN-based HEMTs. The access regions are accurately modeled using transistors. The model is rigorously validated over a wide range of geometries and parameters for AlGaN/GaN and AlInN/GaN HEMTs. The model also passes the DC Gummel symmetry test.
EFFECT OF COD/N RATIO ON TREATMENT OF SWINE WASTEWATER

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effect of the carbon/nitrogen (COD/N) ratio on the implementation of technologies treatment of swine wastewater (SW). The results show that the chemical processes are efficient for N removal (up to 99%) contained in SW when COD/N ratio is higher than 10 g/g. However, these processes are inefficient in COD removal ( 10 g/g) is recommended for anaerobic digestion then COD removal is ranged between 45% to 85%. On the other hand, when anaerobic digestion is implemented at COD/N ratio lower than 5 g/g, advanced process for nitrogen removal is required (i. e. PN- D or anammox, among others).
Female ovarian cycle phase affects the timing of male sexual activity in free‐ranging Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) of Gibraltar

Although all macaques have a multimale multifemale mating system, the degree of promiscuity shown by the Barbary macaque is considered to be extreme in terms of both mating frequency and number of mating partners. How mating activity is distributed throughout the female menstrual cycle and whether or not copulations are concentrated around the fertile phase as in other members of the genus is, however, not known. To examine this, we collected data on rates of copulation throughout 29 ovarian cycles from 13 free‐ranging females of the Gibraltar Barbary macaque population and related them to the time of ovulation and the female fertile phase as determined from fecal hormone analysis. In addition, patterns of male inspection of females and time spent in consortship, both indicators of female attractivity, were also analyzed. The results indicate that both mating behavior and female attractivity vary predictably with ovarian cycle stage. Rates of copulation were found to increase toward the time of ovulation, with a distinct peak of ejaculatory (but not non‐ejaculatory) copulations occurring in the fertile phase. Additionally, we show that frequency of inspection of females by males and time spent in consortship were also highest during the fertile phase and that ejaculatory copulations and male pericopulatory behaviors were significantly correlated with levels of female sex hormones. Our findings indicate that the Barbary macaque shows a mating pattern during the cycle similar to that described for other members of the genus. More importantly, however, our study provides clear evidence that despite an extreme degree of promiscuity Barbary macaque males concentrate their reproductive effort to the fertile phase, implying that they are able to discern this period and that thus timing of ovulation is not concealed from them. Estrogen‐related cues appear to be involved in the process of recognition of female reproductive status by males, but the exact nature of these cues and how male Barbary macaques use them remains to be clarified. Am. J. Primatol. 70:44–53, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Future of NPD/Innovation Research

W ith innovation becoming even more critical in a time of prolonged economic volatility, there are many issues that likely deserve further research to help organizations improve their innovation capabilities. However, this piece will focus on five topics that I believe warrant an in-depth investigation by academics: service innovation, global innovation, gate reviews, social innovation, and open innovation.
A Study on the Comparison between Content-Based and Preference-Based Recommendation Systems

Since business markets have the feature of small number of customers with tremendous amount of sales, it¿s quite cost-effective to offer personalized recommendations to enhance customer responsiveness and relationship marketing.Two current popular recommendation systems both from content- and preference-based approach are conducted to compare their recommendation quality.In sum, ARM performed better than RFM-CF in this case. It implied that it¿ beneficial to segment customers, and then to provide customized services for different customer segments.
Differential expression of type-specific c-abl mRNAs in mouse tissues and cell lines

The mammalian c-abl proto-oncogene produces mRNAs with 5' heterogeneity from two distinct promoters and the alternative splicing of variable 5' exons. By using quantitative RNase protection assays, the relative abundance of two major c-abl mRNAs, type I and type IV, in several mouse tissues and cell lines has been determined. Our results demonstrate that the level of type IV c-abl mRNA is rather constant, whereas that of the type I mRNA varies over a 10-fold range in different tissues and cell types. This finding has interesting implications for the function of the two c-abl proteins.