Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cytotoxic effect of Prangos Pabularia extract on HELA cell line a medicinal plant

Cancer is regarded as a complex disease which is non-curable. Traditional medicines have been applied for the treatment of cancers in the world. Prangospabularia DC. (Apiaceae) is a perennial herb native to mountain slopes of the central and western Asia countries. Prangos species are widely used in folk medicine. Anticancer activity of Prangospabularia extract against HeLa line was studied using cytotoxicity effect. Many antitumor agents, have been reported to induce apoptotic cell death. This cell death plays a critical role in killing tumor cells in canser therapy(1) . In order to evaluate of cytotoxicity and antioxidant properties of the plant, dried powdered of roots of P.pabularia were Soxhlet extracted successively with n-hexan, dichloromethane (DCM) and methanol. Viability and cytotoxicity of HeLa cell line were measured by MTT assays. The antioxidant potential of the plant extracts was evaluated by DPPH assay. Additionally characteristic of cell death were using H&E morphological staining. The DCM extract showed a significant antioxidant effect with RC50 value of 0.08 mg/ml and our results showed that DCM extract displayed a significant cytotoxic activity against HeLa cell line in culture with a IC50 value of 0.526 mgml-1 in 24h with MTT assay. Additionally characteristic of aponecrotic cell death confirmed using H&E morphological staining. This study reveals biological effects and antitumor activity of Prangospabularia DC. (Apiaceae) extract against HeLa line.
Do Voluntary Reviews of Interim Financial Statements Improve the Quality and Information Content of Quarterly Earnings

Current German security regulations allow listed entities to decide whether they have their quarterly reports reviewed by an external auditor. In light of the trend toward global accounting harmonization, German regulators are considering to require mandatory reviews of interim financial statements. However, there is little empirical evidence on the reasons why some firms voluntarily purchase quarterly reviews and how such reviews affect the quality and information content of quarterly earnings. This study addresses this gap by investigating the economic determinants of the review decision. Management will weigh benefits and costs to decide whether to purchase reviews. We find that the review decision is linked to factors that drive the direct costs of the review and agency costs that impact the demand for additional monitoring. Moreover, after controlling for these fundamental differences and the self-selection issue with propensity score matching we find that reviewed interim financial statements show higher earnings quality and that they yield more decision-useful information for investors compared to un-reviewed reports. These results can be useful for preparers and auditors as well as jurisdictions contemplating changes in review requirements of quarterly reports.
Quantification of factors influencing productivity using AHP: An approach towards productivity improvement.

Improvement in productivity level plays a major role in the organisation success and securing the objectives of the organisation. The aim of this paper is to quantify the factors influencing productivity of power loom industry and suggest suitable improvement techniques for the same. By reviewing the literature based on factors affecting productivity and productivity improvement, factors from different scholars were listed. Later experts were asked to identify and group the factors related to power loom industry. By utilizing the acquired factors from the experts a questionnaire was formed which was used as an input for AHP process. Based on the results of AHP process in the form of weights of different factors, the most important factors were identified and prioritized using the ranking method. The important factors were the human resource factor which influenced 55% to productivity followed by process factor 20%. The lean philosophy is best suited in order to control these factors and improve productivity [9] and [30]. Hence suitable techniques from the lean philosophy which can be applied to power loom industry are identified. The application of these techniques can assure improvement in the productivity of power loom industry. Keywords: Power loom, productivity, critical success factors, AHP.
An Artificial-Neural-Network-based, Constrained CA Model for Simulating Urban Growth

Insufficient research has been done on integrating artificial-neural-network-based cellular automata (CA) models and constrained CA models, even though both types have been studied for several years. In this paper, a constrained CA model based on an artificial neural network (ANN) was developed to simulate and forecast urban growth. Neural networks can learn from available urban land-use geospatial data and thus deal with redundancy, inaccuracy, and noise during the CA parameter calibration. In the ANN-Urban-CA model we used, a two-layer Back-Propagation (BP) neural network has been integrated into a CA model to seek suitable parameter values that match the historical data. Each cell's probability of urban transformation is determined by the neural network during simulation. A macro-scale socio-economic model was run together with the CA model to estimate demand for urban space in each period in the future. The total number of new urban cells generated by the CA model was constrained, taking such exogenous demands as population forecasts into account. Beijing urban growth between 1980 and 2000 was simulated using this model, and long-term (2001–2015) growth was forecast based on multiple socio-economic scenarios. The ANN-Urban-CA model was found capable of simulating and forecasting the complex and non-linear spatial-temporal process of urban growth in a reasonably short time, with less subjective uncertainty.
Analysis of subject behavior in a virtual reality user study

This paper presents the findings of new analysis of data collected from a prior user study comparing a CAVElike environment and a Fish Tank VR setup. In particular, our earlier study focused on subject performance across multiple conditions and this study focuses on demographics and subject behavior during trials. We found some unexpected relationships between subject background and performance, as well as interesting details of the marking process with regard to timing and posture. We present novel ways to analyze the large amounts of data gathered in virtual reality user studies.
Effect of air composition (N 2 , O 2 , Ar, and H 2 O) on CO 2 and CH 4 measurement by wavelength-scanned cavity ring-down spectroscopy: calibration and measurement strategy

Abstract. We examined potential interferences from water vapor and atmospheric background gases (N2, O2, and Ar), and biases by isotopologues of target species, on accurate measurement of atmospheric CO2 and CH4 by means of wavelength-scanned cavity ring-down spectroscopy (WS-CRDS). Changes of the background gas mole fractions in the sample air substantially impacted the CO2 and CH4 measurements: variation of CO2 and CH4 due to relative increase of each background gas increased as Ar
Relationships Between Yolk Androgens and Nest Density, Laying Date, and Laying Order in Western Burrowing Owls ( Athene cunicularia hypugaea )

J.L. Welty, J.R. Belthoff, J. Egbert, and H. Schwabl Abstract: Increases in yolk androgens within and among avian clutches have been correlated with decreased incubation time, increased aggression within a nest, increased begging behaviour, decreased immune response, and decreased life span. Although the mechanisms that lead to variability in yolk androgens within and between clutches are not completely known, yolk androgens can be a function of both social and environmental conditions. We were interested in if and how nesting density, laying date, and laying order influenced yolk androgens in Western Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea (Bonaparte, 1825)) in which nest density varies considerably. In 2006 and 2007, we used radioimmunoassay to quantify the concentrations of testosterone, 5a-dihydrotestosterone, and androstenedione in the egg yolks from one early and one late- laid egg in 47 nests of Burrowing Owls located in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in southern Idaho. Nesting density had no detectable effect on yolk androgens. Yolk androgens varied temporally and peaked in the middle of the laying season while being low before and after this time period. Within nests, late-laid eggs had higher testosterone and dihydrotestosterone than early-laid eggs; adrostendione exhibited a similar pattern in one but not both years of our study. It is possible that the seasonal pattern in yolk androgens that we observed is related to aspects of mate quality for females or declining chances of fledging success for later nesting females, whereas rises in egg androgens between early and late eggs within clutches could reflect a mechanism to assist nestlings from late-laid eggs that hatch one to several days after their siblings to better compete for resources within the nest or promote survival in the presence of larger siblings.
Accents, Race and Discrimination: Evidence from a Trust Game

We investigate discrimination according to accent and race on trust behaviour. Proposers were randomly paired with responders of the same/different race, and asked to play the trust game after looking at a photograph and hearing a 10 second audio clip of the responders reading a standardised script in English. This allows us to check for within and across-group favouritism in both race and accentedness. We find that accentedness is a statistically significant predictor of trust and is strongly non-linear in the race of the paired subjects for males but not for females. In the case of males, offers decrease by 11.3% if the responder has a mother-tongue English accent and does not share the same race as the proposer, but increases by about 6.6% if there is racial similarity. This effect is especially pronounced for Black males who are paired with other Black males: offers are 19.5% higher if responders have a mother-tongue English accent. By contrast, females in general seem less sensitive to the signal package. These large gender differences are not because men behave any more strategically than women.
Formal Venture Capital Acquisition: Can Entrepreneurs Compensate for the Spatial Proximity Benefits of South East England and ‘Star’ Golden-Triangle Universities?

Building on the resource-based view of the firm and signalling theory, we challenge the traditional perspective that spatial proximity benefits can be leveraged by university spin-outs (USOs) located in the South East of England (particularly those drawn from ‘star’ golden-triangle universities with additional reputational benefits), and that USOs located elsewhere will be constrained from obtaining first formal venture capital (VC) required for venture development. With the aid of a longitudinal database of 134 USOs involving unique archival and survey data, event-history analysis identified, counter to the traditional perspective, that USOs located outside the South East of England were significantly more likely to obtain formal VC. Also, counter to the spatial proximity benefits view, star golden-triangle USOs were not significantly more likely to obtain VC. Our evidence supports a spatial mismatch view between investors and investees. Resource-combination signals sent by USOs and favourably received by VC firms were found to differ according to USO location context: USOs located outside the South East of England and star golden-triangle universities that signal the credible presence of habitual founders were more likely to obtain VC. USOs located outside star golden-triangle universities that had previously obtained publicly backed equity finance were also more likely to obtain VC. However, USOs located in the South East of England with reputable management teams were most likely to obtain VC.
Buckling of Nonprismatic Column on Varying Elastic Foundation with Arbitrary Boundary Conditions

Buckling of nonprismatic single columns with arbitrary boundary conditions resting on a nonuniform elastic foundation may be considered as the most generalized treatment of the subject. The buckling differential equation for such columns is extremely difficult to solve analytically. Thus, the authors propose a numerical approach by discretizing the column into a finite number of segments. Each segment has constants (modulus of elasticity), (moment of inertia), and (subgrade stiffness). Next, an exact analytical solution is derived for each prismatic segment resting on uniform elastic foundation. These segments are then assembled in a matrix from which the critical buckling load is obtained. The derived formulation accounts for different end boundary conditions. Validation is performed by benchmarking the present results against analytical solutions found in the literature, showing excellent agreement. After validation, more examples are solved to illustrate the power and flexibility of the proposed method. Overall, the proposed method provides reasonable results, and the examples solved demonstrate the versatility of the developed approach and some of its many possible applications.
New insights on the HCl abundance in the interstellar medium

HCl is supposed to be one of the main chlorine carriers in the interstellar medium (ISM). Then, accurate knowledge of chlorine chemistry requires accurate estimating the HCl abundance in molecularcloudswhichinturnrequiresthecalculationofcollisionalexcitationratecoefficients for the HCl molecule due to collisions with the most abundant collisional partner in the ISM. In this paper, we report theoretical calculations of the HCl–H2 rotationally inelastic rate coefficients. Using a recently developed potential energy surface, we have computed rate coefficients between the first 11 rotational levels of HCl for temperatures ranging from 5 to 300 K. These new HCl–H2 rate coefficients were compared to the available HCl–He rate coefficients currently used for astrophysical modelling. As one would expect, significant differences were found between new HCl–H2 and previous HCl–He rate coefficients. As a first application, we simulate the excitation of HCl in typical star-forming regions and in protostellar shocks. Electron-impact excitation is also included. It is found that the new H2 rate coefficients significantly increase the simulated line intensities. As a consequence, HCl abundance derived from the observations will be significantly reduced by the use of the present rate coefficients, confirming that HCl may not be the main chlorine carrier in the ISM.
THE EFFECTS OF BUSINESS GROUP CONTROL ADVANTAGES AND AFFILIATE LEVEL ADVANTAGES ON AFFILIATE PERFORMANCE

This study views the network of control in a corporate business group as its source of competitive advantages. These control advantages are distributed among the business group affiliates and eventually influence their performance. This paper examines this by providing a reconceptualization of both the nature of business group and affiliate level advantages using the data of the top 20 Philippine corporate groups. The study found out that the group level control advantage affects the affiliate performance more than their individual level advantages. This result confirms the capability of business groups to influence and control their group internal market. This also implies that the business group affiliates have not yet developed significant capabilities which are independent to that of their business group.
DPRed: Making Typical Activation and Weight Values Matter In Deep Learning Computing

We show that selecting a single data type (precision) for all values in Deep Neural Networks, even if that data type is different per layer, amounts to worst case design. Much shorter data types can be used if we target the common case by adjusting the precision at a much finer granularity. We propose Dynamic Precision Reduction (DPRed), where we group weights and activations and encode them using a precision specific to each group. The per group precisions are selected statically for the weights and dynamically by hardware for the activations. We exploit these precisions to reduce: 1) off-chip storage and off- and on-chip communication, and 2) execution time. DPRed compression reduces off-chip traffic to nearly 35% and 33% on average compared to no compression respectively for 16b and 8b models. This makes it possible to sustain higher performance for a given off-chip memory interface while also boosting energy efficiency. We also demonstrate designs where the time required to process each group of activations and/or weights scales proportionally to the precision they use for convolutional and fully-connected layers. This improves execution time and energy efficiency for both dense and sparse networks. We show the techniques work with 8-bit networks, where 1.82x and 2.81x speedups are achieved for two different hardware variants that take advantage of dynamic precision variability.
Failure of LIC13435 Protein of Leptospira interrogans Serovar Copenhageni to Confer Protection in Immunized Hamsters

Leptospirosis is a re-emergent zoonosis characterized by an acute febrile and systemic illness in humans caused by pathogenic spirochetes belonging to the genus Lepstospira. This disease has global distribution, and it is more frequent in tropical and subtropical areas. The complete genomic sequence of Leptospira species offered the possibility to identify potential vaccine candidates for leptospirosis, since environmental control measures are difficult to implement and there is not an ideal vaccine available for human use. Secreted and surface exposed molecules are potential targets for inducing protective immune response in the host. Although we selected six predicted sequences coding for putative outer membrane proteins with unknown function to be analyzed as vaccinal candidates against leptospirosis and for biological characterization, only the lic13435 gene was expressed and purified. The lic13435 gene is specific for pathogenic leptospires suggesting a possible virulence and/or pathogenicity associated function. The recombinant protein was purified and tested as vaccine candidate against leptospirosis. The immunization with the recombinant protein was able to produce a significant immune response in hamsters. Nevertheless, the animals were not protected against leptospirosis.
The role and use of management accouting systems (MAS) in family firms: a case study

Medium and small family firms are a fundamental element for the Italian economic development and wealth. One of the main reasons of failure of this type of firm is the business succession, within the family members. The literature considers the business succession as a natural and progressive phenomenon that is linked to both the long-term survival of the firm and/or an increasing efficiency. Despite the vast literature on the topic, a few studies try to focus further dimensions of the business succession as the role of management accounting systems (MASs) in connection with trust and organizational routines. The aim of the present research is to deepen a process of business succession, with a specific focus on both the inter-generational relationships and their influence on the role played by MASs. A qualitative methodology will be used to conduct a longitudinal case-study, using a deductive-inductive-deductive approach, that is typical of the business administration studies. The expected results of the research concern the identification and definition of the “rational” (tied to the firm “efficiency”) and “familiar” (tied to the trust among family members) discourses and the way in which the MASs are involved in this process. The present study will point out how the inter-generational succession is influenced by both a rational/ deterministic planning and a set of family relationships. Only the whole consideration of those factors would shed light on the functioning of the inter-generational succession and predict its effectiveness
The [Y/Mg] clock works for evolved solar metallicity stars

Previously [Y/Mg] has been proven to be an age indicator for solar twins. Here, we investigate if this relation also holds for helium-core-burning stars of solar metallicity. High resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) spectroscopic data of stars in the helium-core-burning phase have been obtained with the FIES spectrograph on the NOT 2.56m telescope and the HIRES spectrograph on the Keck I 10 m telescope. They have been analyzed to determine the chemical abundances of four open clusters with close to solar metallicity; NGC 6811, NGC 6819, M67 and NGC 188. The abundances are derived from equivalent widths of spectral lines using ATLAS9 model atmospheres with parameters determined from the excitation and ionization balance of Fe lines. Results from asteroseismology and binary studies were used as priors on the atmospheric parameters, where especially the $\log g$ is determined to much higher precision than what is possible with spectroscopy. It is confirmed that the four open clusters are close to solar metallicity and they follow the [Y/Mg] vs. age trend previously found for solar twins. The [Y/Mg] vs. age clock also works for giant stars in the helium-core burning phase, which vastly increases the possibilities to estimate the age of stars not only in the solar neighborhood, but in large parts of the Galaxy, due to the brighter nature of evolved stars compared to dwarfs.
Introduction aux interfaces cerveau-machine

Brain-machine Interfaces (BMI) are systems allowing direct communication between an individual and a machine that do not rely on standard human communication channels, i.e. peripheral nerves and muscles. In a BMI, brain activity is recorded, analyzed and translated into commands sent to the machine. We present several features of brain activity that can be used for communication in a BMI. Then, we describe the main approaches to brain waves processing and classification that have been described in the literature related to BMIs. We conclude this paper with a brief presentation of the research eort on BMIs in France and present a few short-term prospects.
Evaluation of the Performance Attributes of Retailers Using the Scor Model and AHP: A Case Study in the Turkish Clothing Industry

Today global firms in distant places are trying to find ways of controlling larger networks of production and distribution. The competitive nature of the field has increased dramatically in the retail sector in recent years. Today retailers must have some competitive strategies like having more price competitiveness, higher service levels as well as utilising advances in computing capabilities and information technologies to improve their supply chain efficiency. In this paper, a methodology was developed to compare three successful textile retailers. First the Supply Chain Operation Reference (SCOR) model was used to determine the performance criteria and then a case study was conducted involving Turkish clothing manufacturers. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is a multi-criteria decision making technique to solve complex and unstructured problems with multiple attributes, was used to evaluate results. As a result of the study, three successful retailers were compared according to the performance attributes.