Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mergers and Acquisitions: A Comparative Review of Literature

The paper aims to review scholastic research on the effect of M&As on firm performance and present a comparative analysis of Indian M&As vis-a-vis those occurring in other nations. 108 articles in referred journals published between 2005 and 2015 have been surveyed with a focus on comparing firm performance parameters prior and post the M&A. Firm performance has been inspected via three measures i.e. accounting measures, stock market performance measures and qualitative measures. On the basis of these three measures, literature on mergers in India with those occurring in another 23 countries was compared. The review has shown that irrespective of the nation, M&As may impact the accounting and stock market performance measures of the acquirer and target firms in a positive, negative or mixed manner. M&As in nations other than India have received more academic attention with respect to the effect on qualitative issues like cultural compatibility, downsizing and innovation. Cultural incompatibility and downsizing are problems of M&As in India as well as other nations. Indian domestic M&As have resulted in greater market share whereas majority of the M&As in other nations have lost customer base. Although literature studying the outcomes of M&As on firm performance from a pre-post perspective are multifarious, a comparative assessment of the studies on M&As occurring in India with those carried out in other nations of the world is a novel attempt.
A study of aspect-oriented design approaches

This report carries out a study that is based on literature of the state-of-the-art in Aspect-Oriented Design Approaches. The goal of this work is to position these design approaches within the full life-cycle of a software engineering process that encompasses requirements analysis, architecture design, detailed design, implementation, maintenance, evolution, etc. The study takes on the form of an evaluation that is based on a set of criteria communicating the goals of this report. The report provides a description and classification of these criteria including a discussion on the influence they have on various software quality factors. A conclusion will present a number of interesting observations about the current state-of-the-art.
Simultaneous targeting of multiple opioid receptor types

Purpose of reviewThis article aims to discuss the multitarget concept for opioid receptor ligands framed on early observations that activating MOP (mu:&mgr;) receptor whilst simultaneously blocking DOP (delta:&dgr;) receptors reduces the onset of morphine tolerance. The review period is ostensibly calendar year 2014 but the new work in 2013 is also covered. Recent findingsTwo molecules of interest with MOP agonist/DOP agonist and MOP agonist/DOP antagonist profiles were described: Rv-Jim-C3 and 3-[(2R,6R,11R)-8-hydroxy-6,11-dimethyl-1,4,5,6-tetrahydro-2,6-methano-3-benzazocin-3(2H)-yl]-N-phenylpropanamide (LP1), respectively. Both were effective in neuropathic pain (wherein classical single target opioids have low efficacy) with the latter having a predicted reduced tolerance profile. BU0807 is a buprenorphine derivative with mixed MOP/NOP agonist activity and this was shown to be effective in abdominal pain. SR16435 and GRT6005 (cebranopadol) are mixed MOP/MOP agonists with varying degrees of partial agonism. Both displayed significant antinociceptive activity and reduced tolerance potential in preclinical models. SummaryThere is growing evidence for and interest in the design and evaluation of mixed opioids that extend beyond the MOP/DOP pairing to now include NOP. Indeed, a mixed MOP/NOP ligand is close to the clinic; this will reinvigorate the search for other mixed molecules with reduced side-effect profiles.
Etude des corrélats cérébraux de la mémoire épisodique et de la mémoire de travail chez les patientes souffrant d'un trouble de stress post-traumatique consécutif à des abus sexuels.

Le PTSD s’accompagne classiquement de troubles de la memoire verbale et d’une alteration de certaines regions cerebrales. Cependant, peu d’etudes ont porte sur des populations feminines victimes de traumatismes civils. Au cours de trois etudes utilisant l’imagerie par resonance magnetique (IRM), nous avons evalue l’etat des correlats cerebraux des memoires episodique et de travail chez des patientes victimes d’abus sexuel. Nos travaux ont mis en evidence une forte correspondance entre les regions cerebrales qui sous-tendent un encodage verbal durable et celles qui sont habituellement affectees au cours du PTSD. De plus, nous avons demontre l’absence de reduction volumetrique de ces regions dans un echantillon de patientes. Enfin, nous avons observe chez ces dernieres une modification potentiellement compensatoire du profil d’activation fonctionnelle cerebrale lors du traitement verbal en memoire de travail d’elements lies et non-lies au traumatisme vecu. Ces resultats suggerent une specificite de mecanismes neurocognitifs du PTSD liee au genre et supportent l’interet de l’utilisation de la remediation cognitive dans sa prise en charge.
Reasons for Starting and Continuing to Volunteer for Hospice

The purpose of this study was to find out from hospice volunteers how they first heard of opportunities to volunteer, what motivated them to volunteer when they first began, and why they continue. A total of 351 volunteers from 3 states in the western United States participated in a questionnaire study. Three open-ended questions addressed how they heard of hospice, why they started, and why they continued. Their intentions to continue were also measured on rating scales. Responses to the open-ended questions were coded with acceptable intercoder reliability. Findings were that volunteers heard of opportunities through hospice and health care contacts, personal contacts, print and electronic sources, and other nonhospice organizations. They began volunteering primarily to be of service and because of a personal experience with the death of someone to whom they were close. Most volunteers chose to continue because they found it personally rewarding, helpful to others, or both, but many reported that they continue because of the quality of their own hospice organization and its staff. Demographic influences were noted but were generally small.
Indirect Pancreatic Function Tests in Children

Department of Gastroenterology and Metabolism, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland; 4th Department of Pediatrics, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece; Klinik und Poliklinik für Kinderund Jugendmedizin des Universitätsklinikums Dresden, Germany; University Children’s Clinic, Tübingen, Germany; Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Erasmus MC-Sophia, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Child Health, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Hospital, Swansea, United Kingdom
Dynamic imaging of cannabinoid receptor 1 vesicular trafficking in cultured astrocytes

Astrocytes possess GPCRs (G-protein-coupled receptors) for neuroactive substances and can respond via these receptors to signals originating from neurons as well as astrocytes. Like many transmembrane proteins, GPCRs exist in a dynamic equilibrium between receptors expressed at the plasma membrane and those present within intracellular trafficking compartments. The characteristics of GPCR trafficking within astrocytes have not been investigated. We therefore monitored the trafficking of recombinant fluorescent protein chimeras of the CB1R (cannabinoid receptor 1) that is thought to be expressed natively in astrocytes. CB1R chimeras displayed a marked punctate intracellular localization when expressed in cultured rat visual cortex astrocytes, an expression pattern reminiscent of native CB1R expression in these cells. Based upon trafficking characteristics, we found the existence of two populations of vesicular CB1R puncta: (i) relatively immobile puncta with movement characteristic of diffusion and (ii) mobile puncta with movement characteristic of active transport along cytoskeletal elements. The predominant direction of active transport is oriented radially to/from the nuclear region, which can be abolished by disruption of the microtubule cytoskeleton. CB1R puncta are localized within intracellular acidic organelles, mainly co-localizing with endocytic compartments. Constitutive trafficking of CB1R to and from the plasma membrane is an energetically costly endeavour whose function is at present unclear in astrocytes. However, given that intracellular CB1Rs can engage cell signalling pathways, it is likely that this process plays an important regulatory role.
The Functional Neuroanatomy of Letter-Speech Sound Integration and Its Relation to Brain Abnormalities in Developmental Dyslexia

This mini-review provides a comparison of the brain systems associated with developmental dyslexia and the brain systems associated with letter-speech sound (LSS) integration. First, the findings on the functional neuroanatomy of LSS integration are summarized in order to obtain a comprehensive overview of the brain regions involved in this process. To this end, neurocognitive studies investigating LSS integration in both normal and abnormal reading development are taken into account. The neurobiological basis underlying LSS integration is consequently compared with existing neurocognitive models of functional and structural brain abnormalities in developmental dyslexia—focusing on superior temporal and occipito-temporal (OT) key regions. Ultimately, the commonalities and differences between the brain systems engaged by LSS integration and the brain systems identified with abnormalities in developmental dyslexia are investigated. This comparison will add to our understanding of the relation between LSS integration and normal and abnormal reading development.
The Impact of Response Structure on the McGurk Effect

Understanding speech is a complicated process. Once thought to be a unimodal function, the perception of speech has since been demonstrated to be a multimodal process. The compensatory use of visual information during speech perception is easily evidenced by examining communication in compromised listening situations, like in a noisy restaurant. In such an environment, listeners use visual cues to help understand speech and fill in the missing pieces of auditory information. What is more interesting is that people use visual cues to process speech even when the auditory signal is perfect (McGurk and MacDonald, 1976). The combining of auditory and visual cues during speech perception is termed audio-visual integration. The subjects in McGurk and MacDonald’s study were presented with “discrepant” auditory and visual stimuli and perceptual responses were recorded. The results showed that when a listener was presented, for example, with the audio syllable /ba/ simultaneously with the visual syllable /ga/, the most frequently reported response was /da/, a fusion of the two sounds. This phenomenon has been termed “the McGurk Effect” and has been used to explore audio-visual integration. Although reports in the literature indicate a substantial degree of McGurk-type integration by both normal-hearing and hearing-impaired subjects (e.g., Grant and Seitz, 1998), previous studies in our laboratory have not found such a high incidence of McGurk integration. One possible explanation for this difference is the fact that previous work in our laboratory employed an open-set response task, in which respondents were not given a fixed set of response options, whereas studies such as that of Grant and Seitz employed a closed-set response task.
Memristor crossbar based multicore neuromorphic processors

This paper describes memristor-based neuromorphic circuits for non-linear separable pattern recognition. We initially describe a memristor based neuron circuit and then show how multilayer neural networks can be constructed based on this neuron circuit. By applying neural network learning algorithms to these circuits, we demonstrate the learning of both linearly and non-linearly separable logic functions. The simulations are carried out in SPICE using a detailed memristor model so that the crossbar is simulated as accurately as possible. We also examine the system level performance of multicore memristor crossbar based neuromorphic processors. We consider the impact on on-chip routing, calculate the chip areas, and evaluate the timing of the systems in the study. The results indicate that such architectures can enable over 300,000 times energy efficiencies over traditional high performance computing architectures when processing large neural networks.
Modelling ISO galaxy counts with luminosity and merger rate evolution

We model galaxy evolution in the 6.75- and 15-μm passbands of the ISO satellite, by combining models of galaxy evolution at optical wavelengths (which are consistent with the optical galaxy counts) with observed spectral energy distributions in the infrared. Our model is consistent with the local 12-μm galaxy luminosity function (from IRAS), including the bright end if we place a small fraction (∼3.5 per cent at z=0) of the model's spiral galaxies in interacting pairs with mid-infrared luminosities enhanced by major starbursts. Source counts from deep ISO surveys in the 6.75- and 15-μm passbands significantly exceed non-evolving predictions. We find the number counts, redshift distributions and the wide range of mid-infrared/optical flux ratios of the detected galaxies to be reasonably consistent with our evolving model. Our models suggest that the steep number count of 6.75-μm sources can be explained primarily by the evolving E/S0 galaxies. About one-third of 6.75-μm sources do appear to be E/S0s or early-type spirals, but starburst galaxies at 0.6<z<1.1 are more prominent in this passband than we expected. In the 15-μm passband the main contributors appear to be evolving, star-forming spirals and starbursting galaxy mergers, as in our model. Visibly interacting galaxies form ∼31 per cent of the 15-μm detections to 200 μJy, and have high mid-infrared/optical flux ratios consistent with our models for major starbursts with high dust extinction (up to ∼1.8 mag in the rest-frame blue band). The numbers and high mean redshift (0.68±0.08) of merging/interacting galaxies detected in these ISO surveys are only consistent with the local mid-infrared luminosity function if the merger-triggered starbursts undergo significant luminosity evolution, of ∼(1+z)2 to z∼1, in addition to the ∼(1+z)2 number evolution reflecting the increase with redshift in the fraction of merging/interacting galaxies (as estimated from optical surveys).
Connecting the Dots Using Contextual Information Hidden in Text and Images

Creation of summaries of events of interest from multitude of unstructured data is a challenging task commonly faced by intelligence analysts while seeking increased situational awareness. This paper proposes a framework called Storyboarding that leverages unstructured text and images to explain events as sets of sub-events. The framework first generates a textual context for each human face detected from images and then builds a chain of coherent documents where two consecutive documents of the chain contain a common theme as well as a context. Storyboarding helps analysts quickly narrow down large number of possibilities to a few significant ones for further investigation. Empirical studies on Wikipedia documents, images and news articles show that Storyboarding is able to provide deeper insights on events of interests.
Perception, Cognition, and Decision Training: The Quiet Eye in Action

Chapter 1 Visual System, Motor Control, and the Changing Brain Chapter 2 Measuring What Athletes See Chapter 3 Visual Attention and Gaze Control Chapter 4 Gaze Control Framework Chapter 5 Gaze Control to a Single Fixed Target Chapter 6 Gaze Control in Abstract-Target and Moving-Target Tasks Chapter 7 Gaze Control in Interceptive Timing Tasks Chapter 8 Gaze Control in Tactical Tasks Chapter 9 Decision-Training Model Chapter 10 Designing Practices With a Decision-Training Focus Chapter 11 Providing Feedback With a Decision-Training Focus Chapter 12 Providing Instruction With a Decision-Training Focus.
PPAR/RXR Regulation of Fatty Acid Metabolism and Fatty Acid ω-Hydroxylase (CYP4) Isozymes: Implications for Prevention of Lipotoxicity in Fatty Liver Disease

Fatty liver disease is a common lipid metabolism disorder influenced by the combination of individual genetic makeup, drug exposure, and life-style choices that are frequently associated with metabolic syndrome, which encompasses obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, and insulin resistant diabetes. Common to obesity related dyslipidemia is the excessive storage of hepatic fatty acids (steatosis), due to a decrease in mitochondria β-oxidation with an increase in both peroxisomal β-oxidation, and microsomal ω-oxidation of fatty acids through peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs). How steatosis increases PPARα activated gene expression of fatty acid transport proteins, peroxisomal and mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation and ω-oxidation of fatty acids genes regardless of whether dietary fatty acids are polyunsaturated (PUFA), monounsaturated (MUFA), or saturated (SFA) may be determined by the interplay of PPARs and HNF4α with the fatty acid transport proteins L-FABP and ACBP. In hepatic steatosis and steatohepatitis, the ω-oxidation cytochrome P450 CYP4A gene expression is increased even with reduced hepatic levels of PPARα. Although numerous studies have suggested the role ethanol-inducible CYP2E1 in contributing to increased oxidative stress, Cyp2e1-null mice still develop steatohepatitis with a dramatic increase in CYP4A gene expression. This strongly implies that CYP4A fatty acid ω-hydroxylase P450s may play an important role in the development of steatohepatitis. In this review and tutorial, we briefly describe how fatty acids are partitioned by fatty acid transport proteins to either anabolic or catabolic pathways regulated by PPARs, and we explore how medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) CYP4A and long-chain fatty acid (LCFA) CYP4F ω-hydroxylase genes are regulated in fatty liver. We finally propose a hypothesis that increased CYP4A expression with a decrease in CYP4F genes may promote the progression of steatosis to steatohepatitis.
Pricing and Entry Incentives with Exclusive Contracts: Evidence from Smartphones

I study the implications of exclusive contracts for smartphones. Theory models indicate that lower demand elasticities for handsets relative to wireless networks could lead to exclusive contracts maximizing joint profits of the contracting parties. I estimate smartphone and carrier demand on a detailed monthly market-level dataset of US consumer decisions over 2008-2010. Counterfactual simulations show that AT&T had the highest willingness to pay for exclusivity with Apple only after accounting for equilibrium price effects, and that this exclusivity increased entry incentives for rivals. A bargaining analysis shows that Apple negotiating with competing carriers was essential to the observed market structure.
The Power and Limit of Adding Synchronization Messages for Synchronous Agreement

This paper investigates the use of additional synchronization messages in round-based message-passing synchronous systems. It first presents a synchronous computation model allowing a process to send such messages. The difference with respect to the traditional round-based synchronous model lies in the sending phase, where a process can first send a data message to each other process, and then, without a break, a synchronization message (their sendings can be pipelined). This model is suited to the class of local area networks where communication channels are reliable. (It is not for networks where unreliable communication requires message retransmission.) To illustrate the model, the paper presents a uniform consensus algorithm suited to this model. This algorithm, based on the rotating coordinator paradigm, allows the processes to decide in at most f + 1 rounds where f is the actual number of processes that crash in the corresponding run. (This improves the f + 2 lower bound of the traditional synchronous model.) In addition to its efficiency, the algorithm enjoys another first class property, namely, design simplicity. The paper focuses also on lower bound results, and shows that any uniform consensus algorithm designed for the proposed model, requires at least f + 1 rounds in the worst case. The proposed algorithm is consequently optimal. In that sense the paper has to be seen as an investigation of both the power and the limit of adding synchronization messages to synchronous systems built on top of local networks with reliable communication
Effectiveness of nurse home-visiting for disadvantaged families: results of a natural experiment

Objective To evaluate the effects of a postnatal home-visiting programme delivered by community health nurses to socially disadvantaged mothers in South Australia. Design The intervention group of 428 mothers lived in metropolitan Adelaide and the comparison group of 239 mothers lived in regional towns where the programme was not yet available. All participating mothers met health service eligibility criteria for enrolment in the home-visiting programme. Participants in both groups were assessed at baseline (mean child age=14.4 weeks SD=2.3), prior to programme enrolment, and again when the children were aged 9, 18 and 24 months. Setting State-wide community child health service. Participants 667 socially disadvantaged mothers enrolled consecutively. 487 mothers (73%) completed the 24-month assessment. Intervention Two-year postnatal home-visiting programme based on the Family Partnership Model. Primary outcome measures Parent Stress Index (PSI), Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire. Results Mixed models adjusting for baseline differences were used to compare outcomes in the two groups. The mothers in the home-visiting group reported greater improvement on the PSI subscales assessing a mother's perceptions on the quality of their relationship with their child (1.10, 95% CI 0.06 to 2.14) and satisfaction with their role as parents (0.46, 95% CI −0.15 to 1.07) than mothers in the comparison group. With the exception of childhood sleeping problems, there were no other significant differences in the outcomes across the two groups. Conclusions The findings suggest that home-visiting programmes delivered by community health nurses as part of routine clinical practice have the potential to improve maternal–child relationships and help mothers adjust to their role as parents. Clinical Trial Registration Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12608000275369.