Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multicentre, Double-blind, Randomized Study of Mitiglinide Compared with Nateglinide in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients in China

This study investigated the non-inferiority of mitiglinide 10–20 mg versus nateglinide 120 mg, given orally three times daily for 20 weeks, in 291 Chinese type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients in whom adequate blood glucose control had not been achieved by diet and exercise. Mitiglinide was started at 10 mg three times daily for 12 weeks and thereafter could be increased to 20 mg three times daily, depending on symptoms. In the mitiglinide and nateglinide groups the change in glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) from baseline to week 12 was −0.53 ± 1.08% and −0.58 ± 1.04%, respectively, and further decreased by −0.77 ± 1.06% and −0.71 ± 1.12%, respectively, at week 20 compared with baseline. The intergroup difference (95% confidence interval) of HbA1c was 0.05% (−0.19, 0.30) at week 12 and 0.06% (−0.31, 0.19) at week 20. Similar changes in HbA1c were seen in patients whose baseline value was < 8.0% as well as in those aged ≥ 60 years. Comparable reductions in other blood glucose variables were noted in the two groups. Adverse events in the mitiglinide and nateglinide groups were noted in 54.5% and 57.9% of patients, respectively. In conclusion, mitiglinide 10–20 mg three times daily provided similar blood glucose control to nateglinide 120 mg three times daily in type 2 DM patients, including the elderly and patients with mild diabetes mellitus.
CMT-NC: Improving the Concurrent Multipath Transfer Performance Using Network Coding in Wireless Networks

The growing popularity of multihoming mobile terminals has encouraged the use of concurrent multipath transfer (CMT) to provide network diversity and accelerated content distribution in ubiquitous and heterogeneous wireless network environments. However, CMT severely degrades its performance, which is mostly due to both data reordering required as a result of great path dissimilarity and frequent packet loss due to wireless channel unreliability. Most delivery approaches follow the packet sequence numbers and thereby result in strict in-order and packet-specific reception. Passively adapting to the network variations, those approaches are not general enough to address CMT problems. This paper proposes to apply network coding (NC) principles to CMT, to break the strong binding between data packets and their sequence numbers, and then improve its performance. The proposed CMT-NC solution avoids data reordering to mitigate buffer blocking and compensates for the lost packets to reduce the number of retransmissions. Its specific encoding approach reduces the encoding complexity and fully ensures decoding feasibility. Furthermore, the group-based transmission management enhances the robustness and reliability of the data transfer. Simulation results show how CMT-NC is a highly efficient data transport solution outperforming existing state-of-the-art solutions.
T Cells in Atherogenesis: For Better or For Worse?

The idea that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease is no longer controversial. Instead, much of the current research is now focused on understanding what drives this inflammation and how it is regulated. Adaptive immunity, in particular T cells, is highly involved in atherogenesis. It is well known that different subsets of T cells can drive or dampen inflammatory processes, but we still have much to learn about the regulation of this balance in the context of atherosclerosis. This review summarizes our knowledge of T cells in atherogenesis, their potential antigens, their contact-dependent activities, and their secretion of inflammatory and antiinflammatory mediators, aiming to illustrate how T cells can aggravate or attenuate this disease through cross-talk with other cells within or outside the atherosclerotic plaque.
Rural Unemployment 1999-2005: Who Gained, Who Lost?

There is an overall rise in rural unemployment, in terms of both total and partial failure to find work during the reference week, between the 55th (1999-2000) and 61st (2004-05) round employment surveys of the National Sample Survey. This is something of a puzzle given the reported rise in monthly per capita rural expenditure between the two rounds. The decline in unemployment among males with secondary school or higher education, relative to illiterate males, suggests that the rise in rural prosperity closely matches the pattern of access to rural school facilities. Of the four disadvantaged groups tested for, scheduled tribes face the highest incremental unemployment, which remains unchanged into the 61st round. This is an important pointer to the required regional configuration of workfare programs like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and for the spread of rural schools.
Tourism and the Brazilian Economy: an analysis of the input output matrix

Summary: This paper develops the input output matrix – MIP for the tourism sector in Brazil, in the year of 2004, and based on the indicators derived from the MIP it analyzes the main dimensions of the tourism in the Brazilian economy. First, we excluded the part of goods and services of the residents, using a research about the employment on tourism in Brazil, from IPEA (Institute of Applied Economics Research). Second, the relationship between the set of sectors defined as tourism is analyzed, as well as the forward and backward linkages of the tourist production on the other sectors. Finally, the impacts of the development of tourism over income and employment are estimated and discussed.
Low-loss SOI photonic wires and ring resonators fabricated with deep UV lithography

We demonstrate single-mode photonic wires in silicon-on-insulator with propagation loss as low as 2.4 dB/cm, fabricated with deep ultraviolet lithography and dry etching. We have also made compact racetrack and ring resonators functioning as add-drop filters, attaining Q values larger than 3000 and low add-drop crosstalk.
Technology acquisition decision making revisited: lessons learned in an age of environmental uncertainty

High technology medical innovation remains implicated as one of the most significant driving forces behind the high costs of health care in the USA. In addition, health care organisations are faced with an increasingly complex and uncertain environment. How do these factors interrelate to affect decisions made to acquire high cost medical technology? Data was collected from hospitals in three states attempting to assess how environmental variables affect technology acquisition decision making. Among the important criteria are physician recruitment and retention and perceived competitive pressure. An analysis of the data reveals that technology is acquired as one means of reducing environmental uncertainty. Within a growing number of integrated health systems, collaboration acts to both control costs and reduce duplicative technology. In order for collaboration to be successful, a strong bond of trust must exist between decision makers in addition to any economic benefit derived from the union.
The interaction between ELF electric fields and RF survey meters: theory and experiment

An RF survey meter is often used to evaluate the safety of human exposure to RF electromagnetic fields. However, it has been noted that erroneous meter indications occur when the meters are used in strong, extremely low-frequency (ELF) electric fields, such as those found near electric power transmission and distribution facilities. In this paper, coupling between an ELF electromagnetic field and an RF survey meter has been studied theoretically and experimentally. It has been shown that coupling large enough to result in erroneous readings can be caused by unbalanced currents as small as 0.1% of the balanced currents on the transmission line that connects the probe to the readout unit. Unbalanced currents of this magnitude can be caused by capacitive coupling to the probe and readout unit.
Measuring Deep Metastability and Its Effect on Synchronizer Performance

Present measurement techniques do not allow synchronizer reliability to be measured in the region of most interest, that is, beyond the first half cycle of the synchronizer clock. We describe methods of extending the measurement range, in which the number of metastable events generated is increased by four orders of magnitude and events with long metastable times are selected from the large number of more normal events. The relationship found between input times and the resulting output times is dependent on accurate measurement of input time distributions with deviations of less than 10 ps. We show how the distribution of to clock times at the input can be characterized in the presence of noise and how predictions of failure rates for long synchronizer times can be made. Anomalies such as the increased failure rates in a master-slave synchronizer produced by the back edge of the clock are explained and demonstrated.
Mergers and Excess Deposits: Some Evidence for the UK

In this paper we consider an argument, often used in the City and the press, that mergers take place more because of the availability of finance than for strong economic reasons. In particular, we focus on the availability of finance part of this argument and suggest that the financial sector and firms themselves use excess funds to support merger activity. Using data for the UK, we show that there is evidence for such an effect for non-bank financial institutions but results for firms are not significant. Possible interpretations of this result are also discussed.
RNA polymerases react differently at d(ApG) and d(GpG) adducts in DNA modified by cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II).

Two duplexes (20-mers) were constructed containing either a single cis-[Pt(NH3)2[d(GpG)]] or cis-[Pt(NH3)2[d(ApG)]] intrastrand cross-link, the major DNA adducts of the antitumor drug cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II). These synthetic duplexes were multimerized and the resultant polymers used as templates in single-step addition reactions of condensation of a single nucleoside triphosphate substrate to a dinucleotide primer (abortive elongation reaction) catalyzed by prokaryotic or eukaryotic RNA polymerases. Primer-substrate combinations were selected so as to direct trinucleotide product formation within the platinated bases of the templates. Transcription experiments established that cis-DDP-DNA adducts formed at d(ApG) or d(GpG) sites are not an absolute block to formation of a single phosphodiester bond by either Escherichia coli RNA polymerase or wheat germ RNA polymerase II. Furthermore, the kinetic data indicate that single-step addition reactions are much more impeded at the platinated d(GpG) than at the platinated d(ApG) site and that the mechanisms of inhibition of RNA polymerase activity are different at the two platinated sites. In particular, binding affinity between E. coli RNA polymerase and the d(GpG)-containing platinated template is lowered, as the apparent Km of enzyme for the platinated polymer is increased by a factor of 4-5. In contrast, binding affinity between the RNA polymerase and the d(ApG)-containing template is not affected by modification of the d(ApG) site by cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II). Similar experiments were carried out with synthetic templates containing the adducts at the d(GpG) sites, in which one of the two platinated dG residues is paired with a dT residue. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Heritage and Cultural Tourism: The Present and Future of the Past

Heritage and culture have long been recognized as core components of tourism. Whether we are dealing with pilgrimages and visits to sacred sites, visits for cultural interaction with ‘other’ host societies, or elaborating on other forms of spiritual activities, tourism has always been an important platform for such meetings and interactions. This report is a summary of the conference ‘Heritage and Cultural Tourism: The Present and Future of the Past’. The conference was held on 17–19 June 2008, at the Brigham Young University, Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, in Jerusalem, Israel. It brought together 75 tourism researchers from fifteen countries in the Middle East, Europe, North America and the Pacific, and was organized by the Department of Geography at Brigham Young University (Utah, USA) with the assistance and sponsorship of several regional partner institutions. The conference aims were to examine and highlight the magnitude of heritage and culture-based tourism, and stimulate meaningful dialogue. This enables scholars to continue to understand and share their findings regarding how to support principles of social, economic and ecological sustainability by mitigating the negative aspects and enhancing the positive sides of tourism. The conference was designed to be small, to encourage in-depth discussions of critical issues in heritage tourism scholarship. While most attendees were from the Middle East, the subject matter and case materials were broad in their scope, underscoring all aspects of tourism that are found in cultural heritage contexts, with special interest in current practices and policies, and future trends and directions for heritage and cultural tourism. Tom Selwyn, the opening keynote speaker, examined the ideas, concepts, practices and assumptions associated with lessons learnt from experience, in two programmes of work funded by the European Commission in the fields of pilgrimage, tourism and cultural heritage – one in Bosnia-Herzegovina (involving university and other
Information about Three-Dimensional Shape and Direction of Illumination in a Square-Wave Grating

A homogeneous grey picture and a ‘Mondrian’ type of picture were illuminated by a projector with square-wave gratings of thirty different contrast values used as slides. Ten observers reported whether the picture appeared three-dimensional (3-D) (pleated) or flat. 3-D responses in this situation indicate colour constancy ‘at the cost of’ nonveridical depth perception. The frequencies of 3-D responses were significantly higher for the structured picture than for the homogeneous grey one. In reports of the direction from which the apparent 3-D object appeared to be illuminated there was a significant preference for responses “from above” when the grating was horizontally oriented. With vertical orientation there was no preference for “from the left” or “from the right”. The results from the first experiment contradict traditional cue theories of depth perception since the projection of the borders between the fields of the structured picture was invariant and expected to inform about the flatness of the picture. They are, however, in line with a model for perceptual analysis of reflected light into common and relative components proposed earlier by Bergström. The difference in perceived direction of illumination between horizontally and vertically orientated gratings is discussed in connection with human ecology.
The economic burden of fibromyalgia: comparative analysis with rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To quantify and compare direct costs, utilization, and the rate of comorbidities in a sample of patients with fibromyalgia (FM), a poorly understood illness associated with chronic widespread pain that is commonly treated by rheumatologists, to patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a well studied rheumatologic illness associated with inflammatory joint pain. Patients with both illnesses were isolated and reported as a third group. A secondary analysis of work loss was performed for an employed subset of these patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Retrospective cohort analysis of Thomson Reuters MarketScan administrative healthcare claims and employer-collected absence and disability data for adult patients with a diagnosis of FM (ICD-9-CM 729.1) and/or RA (ICD-9-CM 714.0x,-714.3x) on at least one inpatient or two outpatient claims during 2001-2004. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The 12-month healthcare utilization, expenditures, and rates of comorbidities were quantified for all study-eligible patients; absence and short-term disability days and costs were quantified for an employed subset. RESULTS The sample included 14034 FM, 7965 RA, and 331 FM+RA patients. Patients with FM had a higher prevalence of several comorbidities and greater emergency department (ED) utilization than those with RA. Mean annual expenditures for FM patients were $10911 (SD=$16075). RA patient annual expenditures were similar to FM: $10716 (SD= $16860). Annual expenditures were almost double in patients with FM+RA ($19395, SD= $25440). A greater proportion of patients with FM had any short-term disability days than those with RA (20 vs. 15%); and a greater proportion of patients with RA had any absence days (65 vs. 80%). Mean costs for absence from work and short-term disability in the FM and RA groups were substantial and similar. The FM+RA group was of insufficient sample size to report on work loss. LIMITATIONS The availability of newer and more expensive FDA-approved medications since 2004 is not reflected in our findings. This analysis was restricted to commercially insured patients and therefore may not be generalizable to the entire U.S. population. CONCLUSIONS The burden of illness in FM is substantial and comparable to RA. Patients with FM incurred direct costs approximately equal to RA patients. Patients with FM had more ED, physician, and physical therapy visits than RA patients. Patients in both groups had several comorbidities. Patients with FM+RA incurred direct costs almost double those of the patients with either diagnosis alone. FM and RA patients incurred similar overall absence and short-term disability costs.
Fungal phytases: characteristics and amelioration of nutritional quality and growth of non-ruminants.

Fungal phytases are histidine acid phosphatases, a subclass of acid phosphatases, which catalyse the hydrolysis of phytic acid resulting in the release of phosphate moieties and thus mitigate its antinutritional properties. The supplementation of feed with phytases increases the bioavailability of phosphorus and minerals in non-ruminant animals and reduces the phosphorus pollution due to phosphorus excretion in the areas of intensive livestock production. Although phytases are reported in plants, animals and micro-organisms, fungal sources are used extensively for the production of phytases on a commercial scale. Phytases have been produced by fungi in both solid-state fermentation (SSF) and submerged fermentation (SmF). The fungal phytases are high molecular weight proteins ranging from 35 to 500 kDa. They are optimally active within pH and temperature ranges between 4.5 and 6.0, and 45 and 70 °C respectively. Phytate degradation leads to amelioration in the nutritional status of foods and feeds by improving the availability of minerals, phosphorus and proteins in non-ruminant animals and human beings and thus mitigates the environmental phosphorus pollution. Our article focuses on the role of fungal phytases in improving nutritional value of foods and feeds with concomitant increase in growth of non-ruminant animals and mitigating environmental phosphorus pollution.
Gaining insight into innovation culture within the context of R&D centres in Turkey

The aim of this article is to identify the major themes of innovation culture within the context of R%D centres. The research question formulated for this purpose is: What are the aspects of corporate culture that can support building an innovation culture? To address this research question, qualitative exploratory research design was employed and focus group methodology was adopted. The research was conducted on 38 enterprises out of 127 with official R%D centre certification in Turkey. This paper contributes to the existing literature based on eight dimensions (knowledge sharing, learning and development, social networks and cooperation, allocation of free time, tolerance of mistakes, rewarding and incentive system, managing differences and teamwork) that captures the interface between corporate culture and innovativeness. A unique definition of innovation culture was also proposed.
Ti-Ni SMA film actuated Si cantilever beams for MEMS probe card

We present a new MEMS probe card, which is composed of silicon (Si) cantilever beams actuated by titanium-nickel (Ti-Ni) shape memory alloy (SMA) films. Since Ti-Ni film can yield a higher work output per unit volume, the Ti-Ni film-actuated Si cantilever beam has the potential as a MEMS probe card to generate a large contact force between a probe and electrode pad. The cantilever beam produces a contact force by not only cantilever bending in contact but also the shape memory effect (SME) of Ti-Ni film arising from Joule's heating. The SME of the Ti-Ni film containing Ti atom of 50.5% to 53.2% can generate an additional contact force of 200 /spl mu/N on average on applying an electric power of 500 mW to the film. The Ti-Ni film-actuated Si cantilever beam could be a key element for a successful MEMS probe card with larger contact force and smaller size.
La sécurité de l'approvisionnement électrique : Quels enjeux pour la régulation ?

The volatility in electricity markets disrupts price signals for investors and could induce an insufficient level of generating capacity. The risks are all the more significant since the profitability of peak-load capacities is especially sensitive to the level of prices that are realised during the small number of hours in which they produce energy. But, the difficulty to balance between scarcity rents and abuses of market power could induce regulatory interventions as too stringent price-caps. These ones could make worse the spontaneous market under-investment. They restrict the scarcity rents expected by the investors and reinforce the law uncertainty. Our purpose is to analyse the mechanisms which are used to provide an optimal level of generating capacity, as capacity obligations, payments or markets, and to underline the complementarities between decentralised investment decisions and public action. JEL codes: K23, L43, L94.
Movement Quality in Preterm Infants Prior to Term

Quality of spontaneous movement behavior (fluency, spatiotemporal variation and sequencing) was studied from birth to term in high-risk preterm (n = 18), low-risk preterm (n = 18) and term (n = 20) infants. Cranial ultrasonography was performed during the first week of life and the child’s general health was considered. The results were as follows: (1) In their first week of life, preterm infants displayed lower scores on all quality parameters when compared to term infants (p < 0.001). (2) Quality of spatiotemporal variation and sequencing decreased up to term (p < 0.01). These findings could be attributed to maturational differences, too early exposure to an extrauterine environment, and cerebral lesions.
Corporate governance in South Africa: Evaluation of the King II Report (Draft)

Greater market globalisation, ever-increasing competition, greater global interdependences and more pronounced shareholder activism in the USA and elsewhere pose demands for improved corporate governance in today's mature and emerging markets. The aim of such efforts is to deliver, through enhanced governance in the boardroom, a higher shareholder return. This paper evaluates South Africa's efforts to adhere to international best practice on corporate governance through the King II Report (Draft). It is argued that South Africa's unique socio-political context requires careful navigation and balance in order to avoid the civil disorder experienced by its neighbours.