Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GTPase ARFRP1 Is Essential for Normal Hepatic Glycogen Storage and Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Secretion

ABSTRACT The GTPase ADP-ribosylation factor-related protein 1 (ARFRP1) is located at the trans-Golgi compartment and regulates the recruitment of Arf-like 1 (ARL1) and its effector golgin-245 to this compartment. Here, we show that liver-specific knockout of Arfrp1 in the mouse (Arfrp1liv−/−) resulted in early growth retardation, which was associated with reduced hepatic insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) secretion. Accordingly, suppression of Arfrp1 in primary hepatocytes resulted in a significant reduction of IGF1 release. However, the hepatic secretion of IGF-binding protein 2 (IGFBP2) was not affected in the absence of ARFRP1. In addition, Arfrp1liv−/− mice exhibited decreased glucose transport into the liver, leading to a 50% reduction of glycogen stores as well as a marked retardation of glycogen storage after fasting and refeeding. These abnormalities in glucose metabolism were attributable to reduced protein levels and intracellular retention of the glucose transporter GLUT2 in Arfrp1liv−/− livers. As a consequence of impaired glucose uptake into the liver, the expression levels of carbohydrate response element binding protein (ChREBP), a transcription factor regulated by glucose concentration, and its target genes (glucokinase and pyruvate kinase) were markedly reduced. Our data indicate that ARFRP1 in the liver is involved in the regulation of IGF1 secretion and GLUT2 sorting and is thereby essential for normal growth and glycogen storage.
Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths—United States, 2000–2014

The United States is experiencing an epidemic of drug overdose (poisoning) deaths. Since 2000, the rate of deaths from drug overdoses has increased 137%, including a 200% increase in the rate of overdose deaths involving opioids (opioid pain relievers and heroin). CDC analyzed recent multiple cause-of-death mortality data to examine current trends and characteristics of drug overdose deaths, including the types of opioids associated with drug overdose deaths. During 2014, a total of 47 055 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States, representing a 1-year increase of 6.5%, from 13.8 per 100 000 persons in 2013 to 14.7 per 100 000 persons in 2014. The rate of drug overdose deaths increased significantly for both sexes, persons aged 25–44 years and ≥55 years, non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks, and in the Northeastern, Midwestern, and Southern regions of the United States. Rates of opioid overdose deaths also increased significantly, from 7.9 per 100 000 in 2013 to 9.0 per 100 000 in 2014, a 14% increase. Historically, CDC has programmatically characterized all opioid pain reliever deaths (natural and semisynthetic opioids, methadone, and other synthetic opioids) as “prescription” opioid overdoses (1). Between 2013 and 2014, the age-adjusted rate of death involving methadone remained unchanged; however, the ageadjusted rate of death involving natural and semisynthetic opioid pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids, other than methadone (e.g. fentanyl) increased 9%, 26%, and 80%, respectively. The sharp increase in deaths involving synthetic opioids, other than methadone, in 2014 coincided with law enforcement reports of increased availability of illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a synthetic opioid; however, illicitly manufactured fentanyl cannot be distinguished from prescription fentanyl in death certificate data. These findings indicate that the opioid overdose epidemic is worsening. There is a need for continued action to prevent opioid abuse, dependence, and death, improve treatment capacity for opioid use disorders, and reduce the supply of illicit opioids, particularly heroin and illicit fentanyl.
Serotyping and electron microscopy studies of Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates with monoclonal antibodies to capsular polysaccharide types 5 and 8

Monoclonal antibodies to Staphylococcus aureus capsular polysaccharide types 5 and 8 were prepared and used to serotype 821 clinical isolates of S. aureus from four countries. The capsular polysaccharide-binding sites on the bacterial membrane were examined by transmission and scanning electron microscopy.
Eliciting Subjective Expectations in Internet Surveys

Individuals' subjective expectations are important in explaining heterogeneity in individual choices, but their elicitation poses challenges. In this paper, the authors present their findings from testing an innovative visual representation of an Internet survey in the context of individuals' Social Security expectations. Respondents were randomly divided into two groups: Half were administered the standard "percent chance" format; half were asked to allocate a total of 20 balls across seven bins to express what they believe the chances to be that their future Social Security benefits would fall into any one of those bins. The authors found that the main advantage of the visual format is that it generates usable answers for virtually all respondents. This suggests that the visual format is a viable alternative that leads to more complete data.
Hat die Finanzkrise zu einer instabilen Geldnachfrage geführt

A stable money demand relationship is one of the pre-conditions for a successful monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB). In this contribution we examine the stability of money demand in the euro area by taken the period of the financial crisis into account. Our results indicate that the broad monetary aggregate M3 has developed still in line with the macroeconomic fundamentals. From an empirical perspective, the specifications should include house prices, as they play a significant role in explaining money demand. Eine stabile Geldnachfrage ist eine Grundvoraussetzung fur eine erfolgreiche Geldpolitik der Europaischen Zentralbank (EZB). In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, ob die Geldnachfrage im Euroraum auch im Laufe der Finanzkrise die Bedingung der Stabilitat erfullt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Entwicklung der Geldmenge M3 auch wahrend der Finanzkrise in Einklang mit den makrookonomischen Fundamentalvariablen steht. Aus empirischer Sicht sind insbesondere solche Ansatze erfolgreich, die den Immobilienpreisen eine masgebliche Rolle bei der Erklarung der Geldnachfrage zubilligen.
Some misconceptions about lines of code

Source lines of code (SLOC) is perhaps the oldest of software metrics, and still a benchmark for evaluating new ones. Despite the extensive experience with the SLOC metric, there are still a number of misconceptions about it. The paper addresses three of them: (1) that the format of SLOC is relevant to how to properly count it (a simple experiment shows that, in fact, it does not matter), (2) that SLOC is most useful as a predictor of software quality (in fact it is most useful as a covariate of other predictors), and (3) that there is an important inverse relationship between defect density and code size (in fact, this is an arithmetic artifact of plotting bugs-per-SLOC against SLOC).
Kenneth Mather, 22 June 1911 - 20 March 1990

Kenneth Mather was born on 22 June 1911 in the ancient rural town of Nantwich in the southeast of the county of Cheshire, England, a county noted for its flat fertile plains, its agriculture and salt mining. Kenneth’s paternal ancestors had lived for several generations in Prestwich, part of the great industrial area of the city of Manchester, some 40 miles away, until his grandfather, John William, left the area to work in the mainly ecclesiastical town of Beverley in Yorkshire and later in London and finally in Nantwich (since 1890). Kenneth’s father was born in Beverley in 1888 and brought up from the age of two in Nantwich where he lived, worked and married a local girl, Anne Mottram and brought up a family of two, Kenneth the first born and Barbara. Kenneth’s paternal grandmother, Kate Wilson was born in Bridlington on the east coast of Yorkshire where, her father, John Mowbray Wilson, was the organist of the main Church of England church. On the maternal side, the grandparents John Mottram and Ellen Allman were born and lived in the country south of Nantwich and both had an agricultural background. Kenneth’s genes, therefore, came from urban Manchester, rural Cheshire and the Viking-ridden northeast coast of England; not so spaciously isolated as the stocks of the fruitfly (Drosophila), Oregon, USA, and Samarkand, USSR, which were to be used in his selection experiments, but both sufficiently genetically different to produce the exceptional recombinant.
A Critical Review of Forestry Education

Abstract The forestry profession has traditionally believed in the application of technical knowledge to the solution of practical problems. However, growing public interest in the environment and concern for forests has led to demands for public involvement in the decision making process. Foresters are no longer trusted professionals but are expected to negotiate and then implement a workable consensus in a polarized political environment. A growing crisis of confidence in the ability of forestry professionals to do this has led to accusations that higher education is no longer providing career relevant forestry education. The response has been attempts by universities to increase either the breadth or the intellectual rigour of forestry degree courses on the assumption that it is a lack of knowledge that has caused this crisis. But this misses the point that the real failure in forestry education is the continuing dependence on technical knowledge and a failure to promote an ability to solve problems in situations of uncertainty and conflict where theory no longer provides the answers. Forestry may have much to learn from medical education where problem-based learning has provided a means for students to acquire professional skills.
POWER PRODUCTION AMONG DIFFERENT SPORTS WITH SIMILAR MAXIMUM STRENGTH

The purpose of this study was to compare 1 repetition maximum (1RM) strength, maximum power (MP), linear momentum (Mp), and the loads of 1RM responsible for maximum power (MP%) and for linear momentum (Mp%) generated in explosive concentric bench press (CBP) motion among athletes from different sports. A total of 56 athletes (13 sprinters, 16 basketball players, 16 handball players, 5 volleyball players, and 6 bodybuilders) performed CBP in the loads of 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80% of 1RM with 1-minute rest intervals. MP and Mp were assessed during CBP by customized apparatus with 3 separate displacement transducers. There were no significant differences in MP, Mp, MP%, and Mp% among the athletes. The only significant positive correlation was found between overall 1RM and Mp for athletes (r = 0.37). In conclusion, long-term sport-specific training adaptations do not play a major role on speed-strength parameters in athletes with similar strength from different sports backgrounds.
Multivariate Risk Premia with a Stochastic Objective

where u( ) is a utility function; x a vector of decision variables; e a vector of random variables and the maximisation is subject to a linear constraint, with x usually having the interpretation of a quantity vector and p a price vector. Most existing approaches to comparing different probability distributions of e use the ordering of these distributions by Eu(x, e) and often proceed by exploring risk premia defined by vectors 0 which satisfy Eu(x, e) = u(x, E + 0). The argument proceeds by relating the sign of 0 to risk attitudes and, perhaps, characterising choices between distributions by properties of 0. However there are two disadvantages here. First for problems where constrained maximisation is the essence of the problem as in all the examples cited above the interesting choice between distributions is that after maximisation has taken place. In other words one wants simple characteristics of preferences which determine whether the maximum attainable expected utility is greater or less from one distribution than another, given the constraints. There is relatively little interest in the ordering of distributions by Eu(x, e) alone. Secondly as both Epstein and Duncan (1977) vividly show risk premia or certainty equivalents defined in terms of quantities of commodities are not unique: in which good or combination of goods should the risk premium be measured? In a natural sense there is a whole subset of an n dimensional space which are suitable candidates for a certainty equivalent measure. The purpose of the present paper is to argue that, at least for discrete distributions, a much more natural measure of risk premium of a distribution which also provides an ordering of distributions by maximum attainable expected utility is given by minimum cost. Suppose that we are faced with the problem
Taking the 'I' Out of 'Team': Intra-Firm Monitoring and the Content of Fiduciary Duties

This article employs a "team-production" account of the firm to investigate the relationship between organizational structure and fiduciary duties. Although the fiduciaries or "closely-held" firms (such as partnerships and close corporations) have historically been held to stricter standards of comportment than have their counterparts in widely-held firms (such as public corporations), a team-production analysis raises some troubling questions about this traditional distinction. In particular, I shall argue that within closely-held firms, enhanced fiduciary duties can create inefficient monitoring incentives among team members -- a problem that is largely avoided within widely-held organizational structures. Moreover, these strategic costs imply that weaker rather than stricter fiduciary obligations are more appropriate within at least certain closely-held firms. This observation holds a number of practical implications, both for statutory law and for doctrinal development.
The efficiency test under competition law and regulation in the small distant open economy that is New Zealand

This paper considers the application of competition law and price regulation in the very small and isolated economy that is New Zealand. It argues that the total surplus (efficiency) criterion should be applied in tests of practices and actions where the competition threshold is not met or doubtful. Further, it argues that this criterion is admitted, if not required, under New Zealand statutes. The differential treatment of affected parties, including foreign investors, in measuring the surplus is considered.
No panaceas for organizational diseases, but better knowledge and systems thinking

Purpose – This paper aims at contributing to a better knowledge of organizations' nature, physiology and pathologies, in order to improve their fitness for purpose. The mechanistic view of organizations has in fact delayed that. Systems thinking is needed to bring average organizational fitness to the levels needed by a global and closely interconnected world.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a synthesis of the author's experience as manager, consultant and teacher. By thinking back to the last 30 years of history of managing for quality and excellence, failures and successes, the causes of delay and even regression are explored. Borrowing from the systems view of organizations, a parallel is made between history of human beings' and organizations' healthcare.Findings – Knowledge of the factors that make organizations fit for their purpose is still scarce, absolutely unfit for the challenges of an uncertain future. That is particularly true for those large organizations that govern globalization.
Morphologie Mathématique sur le Cercle Unité, avec applications aux teintes et aux textures orientées. (Mathematical morphology on the unit circle, with applications to hues and to oriented textures)

Cette these porte principalement sur le traitement des images numeriques dans lesquelles chaque pixel encode une valeur angulaire (une valeur qui peut etre visualisee comme un point sur le cercle unite). Les deux applications specifiques considerees sont le traitement des champs de directions qui decrivent une texture orientee, et le traitement de la composante de teinte dans les representations des espaces couleur en coordonnees cylindriques. Nous developpons, dans la premiere partie, des operateurs morphologiques adaptes au traitement de valeurs angulaires, operateurs qui prennent en compte la periodicite de ces valeurs. Le niveau d'invariance par rotation de chaque operateur introduit est egalement discute. La premiere application de ces operateurs est dans le cadre des texture orientees, textures qui sont caracterisees par un certain niveau de specificite d'orientation a chaque point pouvant etre decrit par un champ de directions. Le sujet principal traite est la detection de defauts associes a une anomalie dans ce champ de directions. Nous considerons ensuite les espaces couleur qui sont representees par un systeme de coordonnees cylindriques (coordonnees de teinte, clarte et saturation). Pour l'espace RVB, la multitude de representations cylindriques disponibles est d'abord discutee. Nous proposons ensuite une telle representation bien adaptee au traitement d'image, l'avantage principal etant le fait que la coordonnee de saturation est independante de la fonction utilisee pour calculer la clarte. Nous discutons egalement la representation en coordonnees cylindriques de l'espace L*a*b*. Nous terminons la premiere partie en discutant des ordres vectoriels ainsi que de l'application des operateurs morphologiques aux espaces couleur qui contiennent une valeur angulaire de la teinte. Une methode pour ameliorer un ordre de vecteurs couleur selon leurs teintes par une ponderation qui prend en compte la saturation est presentee, ainsi qu'une methode pour ordonner les vecteurs dans l'espace L*a*b* en utilisant la notion d'un potentiel electrostatique. Dans la deuxieme partie, nous presentons les resultats de l'etude d'un probleme industriel concret: l'appariement automatique de planches de bois pour faire des panneaux qui sont visuellement esthetiques. Nous traitons d'abord deux aspects distincts de ce probleme: l'appariement selon la couleur et l'appariement selon la texture. Enfin, un algorithme d'appariement qui prend ces deux aspects en compte simultanement est presente. Quelques idees developpees dans la premiere partie sont egalement appliquees a la solution de ce probleme.
Miniature 2.4-GHz Switched Beamformer Module in IPD and Its Application to Very-Low-Profile 1D and 2D Scanning Antenna Arrays

In this paper, a miniature 2.4-GHz switched beamformer module is proposed. The proposed switched beamformer module is based on the integrated passive device (IPD) technology, and it integrates a 4 × 4 Butler matrix and an absorptive single-pole four-throw (SP4T) beam-selection switch into a compact module size of only 4.9 mm × 5.0 mm × 0.4 mm. The compact module size is achieved by using bridged-T coils to replace transmission line sections in the 4 × 4 Butler matrix and the absorptive SP4T switch. The measured insertion loss of the switched beamformer module is within 9.67±0.88 dB at 2.4 GHz while the measured input/output return losses are all better than 16.9 dB. In addition, the measured phase error is less than 9.3° at 2.4 GHz. The proposed switched beamformer is then utilized to realize very-low-profile 2.4-GHz 4×1 and 4×4 scanning antenna arrays to achieve 1D and 2D beam steering, respectively.
De la gestión de la información a la gestión del conocimiento = From information management to knowledge management: some perspectives on development

Contributing factors to knowledge management in the business community are reviewed, and the functions underlying the process are described. It is suggested that the process is essentially one of information management associated with human resources management in a receptive organisational culture. Functions of information specialists are expected to continue their diversity in such an environment, and their role may become more prominent.
Detection and Identification by PCR of a Highly Virulent Phylogenetic Subgroup among Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli B2 Strains

ABSTRACT Closely related Escherichia coli B2 strains O1:K1, O2:K1, O18:K1, and O45:K1 constitute a major subgroup causing extraintestinal infections. A DNA pathoarray analysis was used to develop a PCR specific for this subgroup that was included in the multiplex phylogenetic-grouping PCR method. Our PCR may serve to identify this virulent subgroup among different ecological niches.
Strain and strain rate generated by shear wave elastography in an ex vivo porcine aorta

In order to generate trackable shear waves in soft tissues, transmitted pulses in shear wave elastography (SWE) are longer than conventional clinical ultrasound pulses. Nevertheless, they typically obey mechanical and thermal regulatory limits. In arterial applications, specific safety concerns may arise, as acoustic radiation (ARF)-induced stresses and strain rates could potentially affect the arterial wall. The aim of this study was to assess ARF-induced strain and strain rates in ex vivo arteries. A porcine aorta (diameters 8.5 mm, wall thickness 1.2 mm) was pressurized by a saline-filled water column at 60 and 120 mmHg. A Verasonics V1 system and a L7-4 transducer were used to generate the ARF in the middle of the anterior wall (F-number = 1, push length = [100, 200, 300] μs) and to perform plane-wave imaging (10 kHz). Cumulative axial displacement was estimated using 2D auto-correlation. The axial strain rate was calculated as the time-derivative of the axial strain, obtained by spatial linear regression of the displacement inside the anterior wall. The ex vivo peak strain and strain rate were compared with peak strain and strain rate values induced by the blood pressure changes in two healthy individuals and two patients with coronary artery disease at rest and measured by a dedicated in house speckle tracking algorithm. ARF-induced ex vivo peak strains were in the range 0.3–1% and strain rates in the range 6–23 s−1. Peak values were more affected by longer push duration than pressurization level. In vivo physiological peak strain was 33% and strain rate was 2 s−1. ARF-induced strain rates in vivo are likely to be lower than those assessed in this ex vivo setup due to ultrasound attenuation and the effect of surrounding tissue. Therefore, the results of the performed study suggest that SWE could be used in a safe manner for arterial applications even though specific effects of high strain rates are to be explored.
Design, fabrication and evaluation of a 5-inch wafer scale neural network LSI composed on 576 digital neurons

A wafer-scale-integration (WSI) neural network has been fabricated and evaluated. 576 digital neurons are integrated and interconnected with each other on a 5-in silicon wafer by using 0.8-μm CMOS. Neural functions are faithfully mapped to binary digital circuits. The 9-bit output and the 8-bit synapse weight of each neuron are variable. A time-sharing digital bus architecture overcomes the disadvantage of digital neuron circuits. This WSI neural network can be connected with a host computer and used for a wide range of artificial neural networks. The 16-city traveling salesman problem could be solved in less than 0.1 s by using this network. This speed was 10 times faster than a Hitachi supercomputer. Larger artificial neural networks can be realized by simply connecting WSIs