Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elastase and Gelatinase Activities in Synovial Fluid of Patients with Reactive Arthritis, Osteoarthritis, and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Background. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), reactive arthritis (ReA), and osteoarthritis (OA) are a group of joint dis− eases which differ in pathogenesis, intensity, and rate of progression. They are characterized by different stages of irreversible damage to the extracellular matrix of the cartilage caused by enzymatic degradation. The aim was to compare the activities of elastase and gelatinase in synovial fluid (SF) samples from patients with reactive arthri− tis with those of patients with OA and RA and determine correlations between elastase activity and cartilage matrix degradation. Material and Methods. Elastase activity was determined using the low−molecular−weight synthetic substrate MeOSuc−Ala−Ala−Pro−Val−p−NA and gelatinolytic activity using zymography. The concentrations of collagen and proteoglycan degradation products were measured by spectrophotometric methods. Results. Elastase activity was detectable in 92% of the patients with ReA and RA and in 75% of those with OA. The elastase activity in SF samples from ReA patients, mainly due to metalloenzymatic activity, amounted to about 66% of this activity in RA patients and was 2.3−times higher than in the OA patients. Activation of prometallopro− teases resulted in a 4.5−fold increase in elastinolytic activity in ReA compared with a 3.2−fold increase in OA and a 4−fold increase in RA fluids. In contrast to OA, significant correlations between elastase activity and both gly− cosaminoglycans and type II collagen concentrations were found in SF samples of patients with ReA and RA. Furthermore, the active forms of two gelatinase proenzymes (92 and 72 kDa, respectively) were detected in ReA and RA synovial fluids. Conclusions. These results indicate that in ReA and RA, both elastase and gelatinases can contribute in similar degree to the degradation of major cartilage components (Adv Clin Exp Med 2008, 17, 5, 559–564).
Influence of selenium in drought-stressed wheat plants under greenhouse and field conditions

Effects of selenium (Na 2 SeO 4 ) was studied in two wheat genotypes under well-watered and drought conditions in greenhouse (15 µg Se L -1 ) and field (20-60 60 g ha -1 ) experiments. Application of Se improved dry matter and grain yield under both well-watered and drought conditions. Se increased leaf concentration of pigments and photosynthesis rate under both well-watered and drought conditions. Our results indicated that Se alleviates drought stress via increased photosynthesis rate, protection of leaf photochemical events, accumulation of organic osmolytes and improvement of water use efficiency. Under well-watered condition, Se-mediated growth improvement was associated with higher photosynthesis rate and water use efficiency, greater root length and diameter, and higher leaf water content.
Korovkin-type theorems for almost periodic measures

Some Korovkin-type theorems for spaces containing almost periodic measures are presented. We prove that some sets of almost periodic measures are test sets for some particular nets of positive linear operators on spaces containing almost periodic measures. We consider spaces which contain almost periodic measures defined by densities and measures which can be represented as the convolution between an arbitrary measure with finite support (or an arbitrary bounded measure) and a fixed almost periodic measure. We also give a Korovkin-type result for the space of almost periodic measures; in this case the net of linear operators has a certain contraction property.
Extracting Emotional Polarity of Words using Spin Model

We propose a method for extracting emotional polarities of words: desirable or undesirable. Regarding emotional polarities as spins of electrons, we use the mean field approximation to compute the approximate probability function of the system instead of the intractable actual probability function. Given only two seed words “good” and “bad”, the proposed method extracts 500 emotional polarities with about 75% precision.
The Influence of Women’s Self-Esteem on Mating Decision Making

This research examines the extent to which a woman’s appearance self-esteem influences her mating decisions. Recent research finds that, at peak fertility, women erroneously perceive attractive, genetically fit men as more willing to commit to them and be better fathers to their potential offspring, but not to another woman or her offspring (Durante, Griskevicius, Simpson, Cantu, & Li, 2012). However, vast amounts of research find that attractive, genetically fit men adopt a short-term mating strategy where they seek to mate with many women but provide for none. The present study extends this research by examining the influence of women’s appearance self-esteem on their perceptions of attractive, genetically fit (i.e., short-term) men. Research finds that self-esteem influences women’s perceptions of their relative mate value and their attractiveness to potential mates (Brase & Guy, 2004); therefore, this study proposes that women’s appearance self-esteem may influence the extent to which women perceive short-term mates (i.e., sexy cads) as more highly-invested long-term mates (i.e., good dads) to the self and to another woman. Participants (women who were not on hormonal birth control) completed a measure of appearance selfesteem, and then they were shown a photo of an attractive man (sexy cad) and an average-looking man (good dad) in a randomized order. After viewing each photo, women evaluated the estimated paternal contribution and commitment level of each man to the self and to another woman. Results showed no significant effects of fertility level on mate preference. However, results showed that appearance selfesteem levels are positively associated with estimated paternal contribution and commitment level of an attractive man for both the self and for the other woman, but more so for the self (i.e., at a higher magnitude). Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the guidance and support of my Honors Thesis advisor, Dr. Erin O’Mara, Ph.D., whose contributions enabled the successful completion of my thesis project.
Poly(oleic diacid-co-glycerol): Comparison of Polymer Structure Resulting from Chemical and Lipase Catalysis

This study compares the synthesis and structure of poly(oleic diacid-co-glycerol) that results by using immobilized Candida antarctica Lipase B (Novozym 435, N435) and dibutyl tin oxide (DBTO) as catalysts. By using N435 catalysis and an oleic diacid to glycerol molar ratio of 1.0:1.0, the resulting polyester number-average molecular weights (Mn) were 6000 g/mol at 6 h and 9100 g/mol at 24 h with low branching degree (Den% of glycerol 13%−16%). 13C NMR spectra of these polyesters revealed their chain-ends consist exclusively of monosubstituted glycerol units. Further diversification in polymer structure was achieved by using N435 catalysis and by changing the feed ratio of oleic diacid to glycerol from 1.0:1.0 to 1.5:1.0 in 0.1 increments. Resulting polyesters were not cross-linked (no observed gel fraction), had similar Mn values (generally between 4800 and 6000 g/mol), but differed in dendritic unit content, glycerol unit degree of substitution, and end-group structure (monosubstituted glyercol versus c.
Comparing the Effect of Erythromycin and Ginger Extract on the Gastric Residual Volume in Patients Receiving Enteral Nutrition Order in the Intensive Care Unit

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Gastric residual volume is considered as an important parameter for gastric emptying and feeding tolerance. This volume is measured before each time of feeding and it has direct effect on the volume and time of the next feeding. Ginger is one of the medicinal plants that have effect on gastric emptying rate. This study aims to compare the effect of erythromycin and ginger extract on gastric residual volume in patients receiving enteral nutrition order in the intensive care unit. METHODS: This randomized clinical trial was conducted among 74 patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit. Patients were fed with similar nutrition formula every 3 hours for 24 hours. Before each gavage feeding, the gastric residual volume of patients was aspirated and recorded. The gastric residual volume of 28 patients (more than 200 cc) was allocated to one of the groups of erythromycin (n = 13) and ginger (n = 15). Patients were fed with 2.5 mg/kg erythromycin in 4 divided doses or 2 grams per day ginger extract in 4 divided doses. The gastric residual volume was recorded for 4 consecutive days and the data obtained from the two groups were compared (IRCT: 201505257494N13). FINDINGS: The mean difference of gastric residual volume in erythromycin group was 111.71±7.04 cc before the intervention and 4 days after that, which was not statistically significant. This difference was 108.61±11.47 cc in ginger group. Results demonstrated that mean gastric residual volume in erythromycin and ginger groups were 98.52±27.88 cc and 95.71±18.91 cc, respectively during the first 4 days and there was not a statistically significant difference between these two groups. CONCLUSION: Results of the study demonstrated that the effect of ginger is very similar to erythromycin. Therefore, ginger can be a proper substitute for erythromycin to prevent increased gastric residual volume in patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit.
Cointegration Analysis of the Economic Growth, Military Expenditure, and External Debt: Evidence from Pakistan

This paper attempts to examine the relationship between real military spending (RME), level of economic activity (RGNP), and real external debt (RED) by using a Johansen multivariate cointegration framework. The analysis is carried out using time series data over 1980-2008 The study investigates the long-run effects and short-run dynamics of the effect of rise in RGNP and RME on RED Pakistan. The quantitative evidence shows that external debt is more elastic with respect to military expenditure in the long run, whereas, there has been insignificant effect in the short-run. In the long-run, 1.00% increase in military expenditure leads to an increase in external debt by almost 3.96%. On the other hand, 1.00% increases in economic growth decreases external debt by 2.13%. In the short run, 1.00% increase in economic growth reduces external debt by 2.90%. The results presented in this study reinforce the importance to government, academic, and policy makers.
Towards a Comprehensive Search of Putative Chitinases Sequences in Environmental Metagenomic Databases

Chitinases catalyze the hydrolysis of chitin, a linear homopolymer of β-(1,4)-linked N-acetylglucosamine. The broad range of applications of chitinolytic enzymes makes their identification and study very promising. Metagenomic approaches offer access to functional genes in uncultured representatives of the microbiota and hold great potential in the discovery of novel enzymes, but tools to extensively explore these data are still scarce. In this study, we develop a chitinase mining pipeline to facilitate the comprehensive search of these enzymes in environmental metagenomic databases and also to explore phylogenetic relationships among the retrieved sequences. In order to perform the analyses, UniprotKB fungal and bacterial chitinases sequences belonging to the glycoside hydrolases (GH) family-18, 19 and 20 were used to generate 15 reference datasets, which were then used to generate high quality seed alignments with the MAFFT program. Profile Hidden Markov Models (pHMMs) were built from each seed alignment using the hmmbuild program of HMMER v3.0 package. The best-hit sequences returned by hmmsearch against two environmental metagenomic databases (Community Cyberinfrastructure for Advanced Microbial Ecology Research and Analysis—CAMERA and Integrated Microbial Genomes—IMG/M) were retrieved and further analyzed. The NJ trees generated for each chitinase dataset showed some variability in the catalytic domain region of the metagenomic sequences and revealed common sequence patterns among all the trees. The scanning of the retrieved metagenomic sequences for chitinase conserved domains/signatures using both the InterPro and the RPS-BLAST tools confirmed the efficacy and sensitivity of our pHMM-based approach in detecting putative chitinases sequences. These analyses provide insight into the potential reservoir of novel molecules in metagenomic databases while supporting the chitinase mining pipeline developed in this work. By using our chitinase mining pipeline, a larger number of previously unannotated metagenomic chitinase sequences can be classified, enabling further studies on these enzymes.
Wild food plants and fungi used by Ukrainians in the western part of the Maramureş region in Romania

Wild food and fungi use in the countryside has always been an important part of human-nature relationships. Due to social changes in most rural areas of Europe this part of traditional ecological knowledge is shrinking. The aim of our study was to record the use of wild foods and plants among the Ukrainian (Carpatho-Rusyns) minority in the western part of Romanian Maramures. We carried out 64 interviews in two villages. Voucher specimens were collected and DNA barcoding was used to identify most fungi taxa. We recorded the use of 44 taxa of plants altogether (including 8 taxa used only for herbal teas) and 24 taxa of fungi. On average 7.7 species of plants and 9.7 species of fungi were listed per interview. Edible fungi are thus an important part of local cuisine and they are eagerly gathered by everyone. The use of a few woodland bracket fungi is worth pointing out. No signs of degeneration of this knowledge were observed. Wild fruits are less collected now and wild greens are rarely collected nowadays. This pattern is typical of many places in Central Europe.
Core Firm Based View on the Mechanism of Constructing an Enterprise Innovation Ecosystem: A Case Study of Haier Group

The fierce competitive status of the business world has urged innovation activities to transform from mechanistic to ecological and organic. An innovation ecosystem consists of multilateral organizations and emerges as a favorable mechanism for value co-creation and sustainable growth. Yet the theorizing of an innovation ecosystem is still at an early stage and in-depth studies from emerging economy leaders are insufficient. This study aims to investigate how an innovation ecosystem is constructed and coordinated from a core-firm based view. An exploratory single case study on the Haier Group is adopted. Through analyzing the multi-bedded units (i.e., six innovation projects/technological breakthroughs), we extract and depict Haier’s innovation ecosystem and the ecological niches within it. We highlight an innovation ecosystem that promotes sustainable development and is based on complementarities in technologies and resources, while at the same time integrates non-technological issues such as strategy, culture, institution, and the market. Regarding ecosystem coordination, value appropriability should be ensured to sustain the innovation ecosystem. Moreover, we argue that the ultimate purpose of innovation ecosystem is not to facilitate the realization of one specific project, but rather to improve the overall success rate of innovations within it. This research complements and extends literature on enterprise innovation ecosystems, and provides implications as to the construction, coordination, and sustainability of innovation ecosystems for emerging economy firms.
A Contrastive Study of Persian and English Written Discourse: Ellipsis in Realistic Novels

This study aspires to examine the concept of ellipsis by comparing and contrasting English and Persian written texts. For this purpose, three Persian novels and three English ones were selected. These novels were analyzed carefully; they were compared and contrasted for types and amount of ellipsis used, through a Chi-square analysis. The results of the data analysis revealed that various types of ellipsis were used differently in these two languages. In other words, in the English corpus, nominal ellipsis was used more frequently than verbal ellipsis but in the Persian one, the use of verbal ellipsis was more frequent than nominal. Moreover, the results of this study lend some support to the idea of the universality of ellipsis, in that, all subtypes of ellipsis were used in these two languages although they were used more frequently in English than in Persian. This study might have implications for teachers, material developers, and researchers in the field of teaching English as a foreign language. In other words, teaching ellipsis directly to foreign language learners will improve the quality of their writing. Moreover, the results of the present study have obvious importance in increasing students' awareness of the way native speakers of English organize their writing.
Examining the representation of causal knowledge

Three experiments investigated reasoners' beliefs about causal powers; that is, their beliefs about the capacity of a putative cause to produce a given effect. Covariation-based theories (e.g., Cheng, 1997; Kelley, 1973; Novick & Cheng, 2004) posit that beliefs in causal power are represented in terms of the degree of covariation between the cause and its effect; covariation is defined in terms of the degree to which the effect occurs in the presence of the cause, and fails tooccur in the absence of the cause. To test the degree to which beliefs incausal power are reflected in beliefs about covariation information, participants in three experiments rated their beliefs that putative causes have the capacity to produce a given effect (i.e., possess the causal power to produce an effect) as well as their beliefs regarding the degree to which the putative cause and effectcovary. A strong positive correlation was discovered between participants' beliefs in causal power and their beliefs that the effect occurs in the presence of the cause. However, no direct relationship was found between participants' beliefs in causal power and their belief that the effect will fail tooccur in the absence of the cause. These findings were replicated using bothwithin- (Experiments 1 and 3) and between-subject designs (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, we extended these analyses to measures of familiarity, imageability, and detailedness of the representation. We found that participants' beliefs in causal power were strongly associated with familiarity, and imageability, but not the perceived detailedness of the cause and effect relationship. These data provide support for a multidimensional account of causal knowledge whereby people's representations of causation include, but are not limited to, the covariation, familiarity, and imageability of cause and effect relationships.
Does CSR pay? – The Impact of CSR on Financial Performance. A Comparison between Germany and the US

Based on the Global RepTrak® 100, the biggest study on corporate reputation worldwide, this paper investigates the influence of CSR on financial performance of firms in Germany and the USA. It investigates the different impact of CSR within these two countries and controls for industry. Financial performance is measured using the accounting variable Return on Assets. In conclusion this paper provides empirical evidence that CSR influences firm performance and that the significance differs between Germany and the US.
Data-Gathering and Aggregation Protocol for Networked Carrier Ad Hoc Networks: The Optimal and Heuristic Approach

In this chapter, we address the problem of data-gathering and aggregation (DGA) in navigation carrier ad hoc networks (NC-NET), in order to reduce energy consumption and enhance network scalability and lifetime. Several clustering algorithms have been presented for vehicle ad hoc network (VANET) and other mobile ad hoc network (MANET). However, DGA approach in harsh environments, in terms of long-range transmission, high dynamic topology and three-dimensional monitor region, is still an open issue. In this chapter, we propose a novel clustering-based DGA approach, namely, distributed multiple-weight data-gathering and aggregation (DMDG) protocol, to guarantee quality of service (QoS)-aware DGA for heterogeneous services in above harsh environments. Our approach is explored by the synthesis of three kernel features. First, the network model is addressed according to specific conditions of networked carrier ad hoc networks (NCNET), and several performance indicators are selected. Second, a distributed multipleweight data-gathering and aggregation protocol (DMDG) is proposed, which contains allsided active clustering scheme and realizes long-range real-time communication by tactical data link under a time-division multiple access/carrier sense multiple access (TDMA/ CSMA) channel sharing mechanism. Third, an analytical paradigm facilitating the most appropriate choice of the next relay is proposed. Experimental results have shown that DMDG scheme can balance the energy consumption and extend the network lifetime notably and outperform LEACH, PEACH and DEEC in terms of network lifetime and coverage rate, especially in sparse node density or anisotropic topologies.
The effects of deforestation on white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) home range in the southern Pantanal

Abstract In the neotropics, white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) are important indicators of intact natural landscapes and the status of medium- to large-sized mammals dependent on forest habitats. Recognizing the species’ value as an environmental indicator of landscape and forest conditions in the southern Pantanal, we evaluated the impacts of deforestation and fragmentation on forest mammals by analyzing T. pecari home ranges in a pristine area with intact natural vegetation cover, and a relatively disturbed area where deforestation and conversion to exotic grass pasture is becoming prevalent. In the relatively disturbed region, the home range area was 51% larger than it was in the pristine area, and there were two centers of activity separated by a large unused deforested patch. In the pristine region, there was only one activity center without large unused patches. We relate the differences in the disturbed area to fragmentation of the original T. pecari home range and loss of forest fruit sources. We discuss the implications of ongoing forest fragmentation and predicted climate change for T. pecari and other forest frugivores in the naturally patchy and highly seasonal environment of the Pantanal.
LARGE EDDY SIMULATION OF OPEN-CHANNEL FLOW OVER AND THROUGH TWO LAYERS OF SPHERES

The paper investigates the role of porosity of a pe rmeable wall and the interaction between the interstitial and the outer flow. This situation is, among others, relevant for sediment transport and bed friction in natural channels. The study employs detailed large eddy simulations of a prototype situation, where the wall consists of two layers of spheres with the same diameter and their centers being arranged on a cubic lattice. The domain cover s a total of 432 spheres. The recorded timeand space-resolved data are averaged and compared to re cent measurements at the University of Aberdeen finding good agreement. The high porosity of the bed induces considerable momentum exchange between the outer flow and within the sphe res. This generates additional shear stresses and hence leads to velocity and turbulence intensity di stributions differing considerably from those over solid beds. Coherent flow structures, like sweeps a nd ejections are shown to occur and are suggested to be the driving mechanism of momentum exchange. B low the roughness interface, flow velocities, turbulence intensities and pressure flu ctuations are damped exponentially which is also in line with experimental data.