Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate foresight : the identification of potentially disruptive innovations from startupsA methodological framework to utilize startups as a source of corporate innovations

Corporate foresight is concerned with the observation and interpretation of environmental change factors and the identification of potential innovation in order to lay the foundation for future competitive advantage. Startup firms are recognized as a hotspot for ideas and innova-tions, in particularly for ones of a radical or disruptive nature. However, startups are not yet considered as a source for environmental information and innovations within the corporate foresight literature. The aim of this thesis is to amplify and complement the corporate foresight process and adjacent research streams by extending the environmental scanning and the identification of opportunities and innovations into the startup context. By conducting a com-prehensive literature review the different research perspectives or fields of academic contribu-tion relevant for corporate foresight were outlined and the role or value of startups within each perspective was examined. Furthermore, a methodological framework to identify startups from a startup database utilizing a text mining technique was proposed and applied. The findings show that startups should be considered as a valuable source for environmental information and innovation within corporate foresight. Furthermore, the results imply that the proposed methodological framework is an effective approach for the identification of relevant startups for a particular topic by utilizing a startup database. Firstly, the thesis contributes to the research area of corporate foresight by outlining the academic value of startups. Secondly, it contributes by proposing an approach to discover relevant startups and thus addresses requests from the corporate foresight literature for a structured methodological approach on how environmental information and innovation can be identified.
Implementing patient navigator programmes within a hospital setting in Toronto, Canada: A qualitative interview study

Objectives: This study sought to identify the organisation and system level barriers and facilitators influencing the implementation of patient navigator programmes in one acute care hospital system in Toronto, Canada. Methods: A qualitative descriptive approach informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Data were collected using in-depth interviews and analysed thematically. Results: Thirty-eight individuals participated in interviews (17 community, 21 acute care hospital), including 24 frontline clinicians and 14 programme directors, health care leaders and managers. Implementation of patient navigator programmes was dependent on: (1) a clear consensus on the unique need for patient navigators; (2) champions to promote patient navigation; (3) programme ownership and accountability; (4) external system and organisational landscape and (5) implementation climate. Appropriate mechanisms of communication were found to have impacted each factor as a barrier or facilitator to programme implementation. Conclusion: Strategies for implementing patient navigator programmes into hospital clinical practice should include incorporating evidence to support the programme, considering mechanisms to enable collaborative communication, and the integration of frameworks to facilitate programme integration into the current practices within the organisation.
Analysing the use of music to facilitate social interaction in care home residents with dementia: Narrative synthesis systematic review

Introduction Individuals with dementia residing in care homes can rely heavily on care staff to access activities and meaningful interactions. Previous research suggests that care home interactions can be short, fragmented and task-orientated due to staff workload and residents’ language impairments. However, music has the potential to be an alternative communication form that remains intact in the later stages of dementia. This systematic review aims to explore how care home music interventions can facilitate social interactions. Methods A narrative synthesis was conducted to explore the mechanisms behind how and why care home music intervention facilitate social interactions. The four-element framework guided analysis; (1) Developing a theory, (2) Developing a preliminary synthesis, (3) Exploring relationships, (4) Assessing robustness. Findings The final synthesis included 23 articles. The studies consisted of music therapy sessions, personalised music listening, structured music singing or instrument playing sessions and music therapeutic care. Despite the difference in music interventions, most studies reported an increase in residents’ sociable verbal and non-verbal communication and a decrease in unsociable communication. Music interventions allowed residents to reminisce, express themselves, focus and connect with others. Discussion The studies highlighted music interventions are accessible to all residents with dementia despite their impairments. The adaptability allows individuals to continue to connect and express themselves even when language deteriorates. More research is needed into the enablers and barriers to implementing interventions into practice, as this systematic review has highlighted that some form of music intervention for all residents can be highly beneficial. Care homes use of music could increase social interactions and meaningful activities.
Astrocyte Cell Surface Antigen 2 and Other Potential Cell Surface Markers of Enteric glia in the Mouse Colon

Enteric glia regulate gut functions in health and disease through diverse interactions with neurons and immune cells. Intracellular localization of traditional markers of enteric glia such as GFAP, s100b, and Sox10 makes them incompatible for studies that require antigen localization at the cell surface. Thus, new tools are needed for probing the heterogeneous roles of enteric glia at the protein, cell, and functional levels. Here we selected several cell surface antigens including Astrocyte Cell Surface Marker 2 (ACSA2), Cluster of differentiation 9 (CD9), lysophosphatidic acid receptor 1 (LPAR1), and Proteolipid protein 1 (PLP1) as potential markers of enteric glia. We tested their specificity for enteric glia using published single-cell/-nuclei and glia-specific translating mRNA enriched transcriptome datasets, immunolabeling, and flow cytometry. The data show that ACSA2 is a specific marker of mucosal and myenteric glia while other markers are suitable for identifying all subpopulations of enteric glia (LPAR1), glia and immune cells (CD9), or are not suitable for cell-surface labeling (PLP1). These new tools will be useful for future work focused on understanding specific glial functions in health and disease. Summary Statement This study identifies astrocyte cell surface antigen 2 as a novel marker of myenteric glia in the intestine. This, in combination with other markers identified in this study, could be used for selective targeting of enteric glia.
Outcomes of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation following the 2018 adult heart allocation policy

Background The purpose of the study was to characterize changes in waitlist and post-transplant outcomes of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) patients bridged to heart transplantation under the 2018 adult heart allocation policy. Methods All adult patients listed for isolated heart transplantation from August 2016 to December 2020 were identified using the United Network for Organ Sharing database. Patients were stratified into Eras (Era 1 and Era 2) centered around the policy change on October 18, 2018. Competing risk regression was used to evaluate waitlist death or deterioration across Eras. Cox proportional hazards models were used to determine associations between use of ECMO and 1-year post-transplant mortality within each Era. Results Of 8,902 heart transplants included in analysis, 339 (3.8%) were bridged with ECMO (Era 2: 6.1% vs Era 1: 1.2%, P<0.001). Patients bridged with ECMO in Era 2 were less frequently female (26.0% vs 42.0%, P = 0.02) and experienced shorter waitlist times (5 vs 11 days, P<0.001) along with a lower likelihood of waitlist death or deterioration (subdistribution hazard ratio, 0.45, 95% confidence interval, CI, 0.30–0.68, P<0.001) compared to those in Era 1. Use of ECMO was associated with increased post-transplant mortality at 1-year compared to all other transplants in Era 1 (hazard ratio 3.78, 95% CI 1.88–7.61, P < 0.001) but not Era 2. Conclusions Patients bridged with ECMO in Era 2 experience improved waitlist and post-transplant outcomes compared to Era 1, giving credence to the increased use of ECMO under the new allocation policy.
Conceptualising contexts, mechanisms and outcomes for implementing large-scale, multisite hospital improvement initiatives: a realist synthesis

Design Realist synthesis. Study background Large-scale hospital improvement initiatives can standardise healthcare across multiple sites but results are contingent on the implementation strategies that complement them. The benefits of these implemented interventions are rarely able to be replicated in different contexts. Realist studies explore this phenomenon in depth by identifying underlying context–mechanism–outcome interactions. Objectives To review implementation strategies used in large-scale hospital initiatives and hypothesise initial programme theories for how they worked across different contexts. Methods An iterative, four-step process was applied. Step 1 explored the concepts inherent in large-scale interventions using database searches and snowballing. Step 2 identified strategies used in their implementation. Step 3 identified potential initial programme theories that may explain strategies’ mechanisms. Step 4 focused on one strategy-theory pairing to develop and test context–mechanism–outcome hypotheses. Data was drawn from searches (March–May 2020) of MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed and CINAHL, snowballed from key papers, implementation support websites and the expertise of the research team and experts. Inclusion criteria: reported implementation of a large-scale, multisite hospital intervention. RAMESES reporting standards were followed. Results Concepts were identified from 51 of 381 articles. Large-scale hospital interventions were characterised by a top–down approach, external and internal support and use of evidence-based interventions. We found 302 reports of 28 different implementation strategies from 31 reviews (from a total of 585). Formal theories proposed for the implementation strategies included Diffusion of Innovation, and Organisational Readiness Theory. Twenty-three context–mechanism–outcome statements for implementation strategies associated with planning and assessment activities were proposed. Evidence from the published literature supported the hypothesised programme theories and were consistent with Organisational Readiness Theory’s tenets. Conclusion This paper adds to the literature exploring why large-scale hospital interventions are not always successfully implemented and suggests 24 causative mechanisms and contextual factors that may drive outcomes in the planning and assessment stage.
kmer2vec: A Novel Method for Comparing DNA Sequences by word2vec Embedding

The comparison of DNA sequences is of great significance in genomics analysis. Although the traditional multiple sequence alignment (MSA) method is popularly used for evolutionary analysis, optimally aligning k sequences becomes computationally intractable when k increases due to the intrinsic computational complexity of MSA. Despite numerous k-mer alignment-free methods being proposed, the existing k-mer alignment-free methods may not truly capture the contextual structures of the sequences. In this study, we present a novel k-mer contextual alignment-free method (called kmer2vec), in which the sequence k-mers are semantically embedded to word2vec vectors, an essential technique in natural language processing. Consequently, the method converts each DNA/RNA sequence into a point in the word2vec high-dimensional space and compares DNA sequences in the space. Because the word2vec vectors are trained from the contextual relationship of k-mers in the genomes, the method may extract valuable structural information from the sequences and reflect the relationship among them properly. The proposed method is optimized on the parameters from word2vec training and verified in the phylogenetic analysis of large whole genomes, including coronavirus and bacterial genomes. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the method on phylogenetic tree construction and species clustering. The method running speed is much faster than that of the MSA method, especially the phylogenetic relationships constructed by the kmer2vec method are more accurate than the conventional k-mer alignment-free method. Therefore, this approach can provide new perspectives for phylogeny and evolution and make it possible to analyze large genomes. In addition, we discuss special parameterization in the k-mer word2vec embedding construction. An effective tool for rapid SARS-CoV-2 typing can also be derived when combining kmer2vec with clustering methods.
Cx43‐mediated sorting of miRNAs into extracellular vesicles

Through the exchange of lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, extracellular vesicles (EV) allow for cell–cell communication across distant cells and tissues to regulate a wide range of physiological and pathological processes. Although some molecular mediators have been discovered, the mechanisms underlying the selective sorting of miRNAs into EV remain elusive. Previous studies demonstrated that connexin43 (Cx43) forms functional channels at the EV surface, mediating the communication with recipient cells. Here, we show that Cx43 participates in the selective sorting of miRNAs into EV through a process that can also involve RNA‐binding proteins. We provide evidence that Cx43 can directly bind to specific miRNAs, namely those containing stable secondary structure elements, including miR‐133b. Furthermore, Cx43 facilitates the delivery of EV‐miRNAs into recipient cells. Phenotypically, we show that Cx43‐mediated EV‐miRNAs sorting modulates autophagy. Overall, our study ascribes another biological role to Cx43, that is, the selective incorporation of miRNAs into EV, which potentially modulates multiple biological processes in target cells and may have implications for human health and disease.
Identification of a new species of Ixodes Latreille, 1795 (Acari: Ixodidae), parasite of hog badgers (Carnivora: Mustelidae) in China

Ixodes hunanensis n. sp. (Acari: Ixodidae), is identified based on the morphological characteristics and molecular biological analyses of males and females ex hog badger, Arctonyx collaris Cuvier (Carnivora: Mustelidae) from China. Adults of this new species are similar to those of other species of the subgenus Pholeoixodes Schulze, 1942, from which they can be distinguished by the shape of basis capituli, development of cornua, size of porose areas, shape, and size of spurs on coxae and phylogenetic analyses of the cox1 and 16S rRNA sequences.
Dehydroascorbate induces plant resistance in rice against root‐knot nematode Meloidogyne graminicola

Abstract Ascorbic acid (AsA) is an important antioxidant in plants and regulates various physiological processes. In this study, we show that exogenous treatments with the oxidized form of AsA, that is, dehydroascorbate (DHA), activates induced systemic resistance in rice against the root‐knot nematode Meloidogyne graminicola, and investigate the molecular and biochemical mechanisms underlying this phenotype. Detailed transcriptome analysis on roots of rice plants showed an early and robust transcriptional response on foliar DHA treatment, with induction of several genes related to plant stress responses, immunity, antioxidant activity, and secondary metabolism already at 1 day after treatment. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of H2O2 levels confirmed the appearance of a reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst on DHA treatment, both at the site of treatment and systemically. Experiments using chemical ROS inhibitors or scavengers confirmed that H2O2 accumulation contributes to DHA‐based induced resistance. Furthermore, hormone measurements in DHA‐treated plants showed a significant systemic accumulation of the defence hormone salicylic acid (SA). The role of the SA pathway in DHA‐based induced resistance was confirmed by nematode infection experiments using an SA‐signalling deficient WRKY45‐RNAi line and reverse transcription‐quantitative PCR on SA marker genes. Our results collectively reveal that DHA activates induced systemic resistance in rice against the root‐knot nematode M. graminicola, mediated through the production of ROS and activation of the SA pathway.
Ubiquitin ligase OsRINGzf1 regulates drought resistance by controlling the turnover of OsPIP2;1

Summary Water is crucial for plant growth and survival. The transcellular water movement is facilitated by aquaporins (AQPs) that rapidly and reversibly modify water permeability. The abundance of AQPs is regulated by its synthesis, redistribution and degradation. However, the molecular mechanism of proteasomal degradation of AQPs remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that a novel E3 ligase, OsRINGzf1, mediated the degradation of AQPs in rice. OsRINGzf1 is the candidate gene from a drought‐related quantitative trait locus (QTL) on the long arm of chromosome 4 in rice (Oryza sativa) and encodes a Really Interesting New Gene (RING) zinc finger protein 1. OsRINGzf1 possesses the E3 ligase activity, ubiquitinates and mediates OsPIP2;1 degradation, thus reducing its protein abundance. The content of OsPIP2;1 protein was decreased in OsRINGzf1 overexpression (OE) plants. The degradation of OsPIP2;1 was inhibited by MG132. The OsRINGzf1 OE plants, with higher leaf‐related water content (LRWC) and lower leaf water loss rate (LWLR), exhibited enhanced drought resistance, whereas the RNAi and knockout plants of OsRINGzf1 were more sensitive to drought. Together, our data demonstrate that OsRINGzf1 positively regulates drought resistance through promoting the degradation of OsPIP2;1 to enhance water retention capacity in rice.
An Investigation into the Benefits of Design Science Research for the Development of Wicked Educational Information Systems: A Case Study

ii Acknowledgements . iv List of Tables . x List of Figures . xiii List of Abbreviations . xiv Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 Design science research . 3 Research Statement & Methodology . 5 Contributions of this dissertation . 8 Dissertation Outline . 9 Chapter 2: Literature Review . 12 Design Science Research . 12 Learning Styles and Required Skills . 17 Learning Outcomes . 22 Effective and Innovative Wicked Educational IS . 22 Chapter Summary . 24 Chapter 3: Methods . 25 Research Methodology . 25 Procedures . 35
Design and analysis of control system for VCSEL of atomic interference magnetometer

Magnetic field detection is an important means of deep space environment exploration. Benefit from simple structure and low power consumption, atomic interference magnetometer become one of the most potential detector payloads. Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) is usually used as a light source in atomic interference magnetometer and its frequency stability directly affects the stability and sensitivity of magnetometer. In this paper, closed-loop control strategy of VCSEL was designed and analysis, the controller parameters were selected and the feedback error algorithm was optimized as well. According to the results of experiments that were performed on the hardware-in-the-loop simulation platform, the designed closed-loop control system is reasonable and it is able to effectively improve the laser frequency stability during the actual work of the magnetometer.
Radiocesium-bearing microparticles cause a large variation in 137Cs activity concentration in the aquatic insect Stenopsyche marmorata (Tricoptera: Stenopsychidae) in the Ota River, Fukushima, Japan

After the Tokyo Electric Power Company Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in Japan, freshwater ecosystems near the site remained contaminated by radiocesium (RCs). Clarifying RCs concentrations in aquatic insects is crucial because fishes consume these insects that transfer RCs into freshwater ecosystems. As aquatic insects are usually measured for radioactivity in bulk samples of several tens of insects, variation in RCs concentration among individuals is not captured. In this study, we investigated the variability in 137Cs activity concentration in individual aquatic insects in detritivorous caddisfly (Stenopsyche marmorata) and carnivorous dobsonfly (Protohermes grandis) larvae from the Ota River, Fukushima. Caddisfly larvae showed sporadically higher radioactivity in 4 of the 46 caddisfly larvae, whereas no such outliers were observed in 45 dobsonfly larvae. Autoradiography and scanning electron microscopy analyses confirmed that these caddisfly larvae samples contained radiocesium-bearing microparticles (CsMPs), which are insoluble Cs-bearing silicate glass particles. CsMPs were also found in potential food sources of caddisfly larvae, such as periphyton and drifting particulate organic matter, indicating that larvae may ingest CsMPs along with food particles of similar size. Although CsMP distribution and uptake by organisms in freshwater ecosystems is relatively unknown, our study demonstrates that CsMPs can be taken up by aquatic insects.
Description of the bias dependent overlap capacitance at LDD MOSFETs for circuit applications

An analytical charge description for the bias dependent overlap regions at MOSFETs with LDD(S) configuration for circuit applications is presented. Furthermore an indirect method for the extraction of the LDD(S) parameters is derived. By simulating a fundamental amplifier circuit, it is demonstrated, that an incorrect description of the bias dependent overlap capacitances of LDD MOSFETs can have a profound effect on simulation results. <<ETX>>
Trigger based on the Discrete Cosine Transform for new ground EAS arrays

he trigger based on the Discrete Cosine Transform allows a recognition of ADC traces with a very short rise time and a fast exponential attenuation related to a narrow, flat muon component of very inclined extensive air showers generated by hadrons and starting their development early in the atmosphere. Pattern (shape) recognition approach is proposed for new ground EAS arrays with water Cherenkov detectors as an additional support to the standard threshold detection, where coincidence techniques to reduce the sensitivity to fluctuations cannot be longer used if the surface detectors have only one PMT.
Measuring resistance of textile materials based on Van der Pauw method

A new approach has been made to determine electroconductive properties of a textile product on the basis of the idea of Van der Pauw method. This method is used to determine only two characteristic resistances associated with four electrodes. Surface resistivity of the sample is not determined because this technique requires some special conditions. The influence of the contact diameter of electrodes as well as the electrodes arrangement on the resistance value of textile sample has been studied. The results show that in case of selected range of the electrodes diameters, the contact diameters do not affect resistance when constant force is applied. However, the impact of electrodes arrangement on the resistance measurements is found to be noticeable. Anisotropy of electrical properties of the textile sample is also studied.