Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Angiogenesis and Hemodynamics of Microvasculature of Transplanted Islets of Langerhans

Transplantation of isolated islets of Langerhans is frequently followed by early loss of islet function. Because whether this is caused by insufficient vascularization or graft rejection is unknown, angiogenesis and microvascularization of islet grafts were studied in vivo by means of intravital microscopy. After transplantation of syngeneic islets in hamster dorsal skin-fold chambers, 97% (n = 66) of the islets exhibited the first signs of angiogenesis at days 2–4, characterized by sinusoidal sacculations and capillary sprouts. After 10 days, angiogenesis was completed, consisting of a microvascular network similar to those of islets in situ: arterial supply, afferent and efferent capillary loops, and venular drainage. Functional density of microvessels was 700.1 ± 127.0 cm−1, and erythrocyte velocity was 0.58 ± 0.35 mm/s. Intracellular insulin was demonstrated immunohistochemically. Electronmicroscopic studies revealed normal fine structure of the capillary wall. The model allows in vivo analysis of microvascular phenomena occurring in host-vs.-graft reaction after allogeneic and xenogeneic islet transplantation. Furthermore, it may be used to quantitatively assess immunosuppressive regimens.
Nerve Growth Factor Binding Site on TrkA Mapped to a Single 24-Amino Acid Leucine-rich Motif (*)

The extracellular domains of the TrkA nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor and its homologs harbor a modular mosaic of potential ligand binding motifs, namely two immunoglobulin (Ig)-like modules and an LRM cassette consisting of a tandem array of three leucine-rich motifs (LRMs) flanked by cysteine-rich clusters (Schneider, R., and Schweiger, M. (1991) Oncogene 6, 1807-1811). Identification of a structural motif capable of specifically recognizing the various neurotrophins was achieved by assessing their affinities to isolated recombinant modules of TrkA and TrkB. In both receptors the LRM cassette alone could mediate the respective neurotrophin selectivities and affinities. Further tracking down of this NGF-binding site in TrkA strikingly revealed that a single LRM of 24 amino acids could bind NGF selectively with nanomolar affinity. Since this is the first example of a single LRM with a highly specific, well defined function, it might serve as a valuable tool to elucidate the general structural requirements of substrate recognition and high affinity binding in the large superfamily of LRM-containing proteins.
A PARADOX OF THRIFT IN GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM WITHOUT FORWARD MARKETS

After 2008, the US personal saving rate had its strongest postwar jump, from 2% to 5%, and the investment ratio its sharpest fall from its postwar average of 16% to its lowest level of 12%. The coordination of saving and investment is analyzed here in a theoretical model of general equilibrium with rational expectations and no forward market. Shocks affect preferences for future consumption. A paradox of thrift is proven that formalizes an argument in the General Theory of Keynes but the equilibrium is a constrained Pareto optimum. Textbook fiscal policies are neutral at best, or inefficient.
New control of PV solar farm as STATCOM (PV-STATCOM) for increasing grid power transmission limits during night and day

This paper presents a novel concept of utilizing PV solar farm inverter as STATCOM, termed PV-STATCOM, for improving stable power transfer limits of the interconnected transmission system. The entire inverter rating of PV solar farm which remains dormant in the nighttime is utilized with voltage and damping controls to enhance stable power transmission limits. During daytime, the inverter capacity left after real power production is used to accomplish the above objective. Transient stability studies are conducted on a realistic single machine infinite bus power system having a midpoint located PV-STATCOM using EMTDC/PSCAD simulation software. The PV-STATCOM improves the stable transmission limits substantially in the night and also in the day even while generating large amounts of real power. Power transfer increases are also demonstrated in the same power system for i) two solar farms operating as PV-STATCOMs, and ii) a solar farm as PV-STATCOM and an inverter based wind farm with similar STATCOM controls. This novel utilization of PV solar farm asset can thus improve power transmission limits which would have otherwise required expensive additional equipment such as, series/shunt capacitors, or separate Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) Controllers.
Making Location Quotients More Relevant as a Policy Aid in Regional Spatial Analysis

Location Quotients (LQs) remain an important tool for geographical analysis, particularly in terms of assessing industrial specialisation and clustering. LQs as decision aids are typically understood through the use of arbitrarily set cut-off values. However, LQs are rarely accompanied by an associated level of variance that can be connected with the estimated data used to calculate them. This paper reveals the importance of understanding this variance and shows how confidence intervals can be estimated for employment-based LQs. A systematic process is introduced, through which the arbitrariness of cut-off-value choice can be mitigated and borderline industry cases in terms of their LQ values and the considered cut-off value, identified. A case from a UK region is used to illustrate the issues covered in the paper.
Pre-Crisis Fiscal Pattern in Romania and Its Effects on Crisis Alleviation Measures

The fiscal policy of a country must meet its specific development requirements. In Romania, however, public authorities’ vision was often constrained by the pressing needs specific to transition. Against this particular background, the concern for ensuring public finances sustainability has been, in some cases, overcome by short-term objectives, although entailing longer-term effects. This paper analyzes Romania’s fiscal pattern prior to the crisis, with the aim to highlight the decisions that proved inadequate in terms of their results, thus hindering the efforts of alleviating the effects of the crisis. The study offers a close look at public revenue and expenditure policies and their correlations with the budget balance policy. The general conclusion is that Romanian fiscal policy often proved to be incautious and lacked medium and long-term vision, some contradictory actions being identified: there was no correlation between the number of public sector employees, public sector wages and labor productivity, there was no concern for increasing public revenue collection rate, a positive fiscal impulse was registered on the background of an overheating economy etc. The lack of vision and prudence as well as the instability of public authorities’ fiscal policy prior to the crisis became factors of impact on the amplitude of the crisis, resulting in greater sacrifices to be assumed. Our analysis lead to the conclusion that the erroneous approach to fiscal policy before the crisis forced Romanian authorities to adopt fiscal consolidation measures instead of fiscal stimulus packages during the crisis, which is perhaps the most important lesson revealed.
Engraftment of a Galactose Receptor Footprint onto Adeno-associated Viral Capsids Improves Transduction Efficiency*

Background: Viruses exploit cell surface glycans to infect host cells. Results: Different adeno-associated viral serotypes were engineered to display functional galactose receptor footprints. Conclusion: Chimeric, galactose-binding AAV strains display enhanced transduction efficiency while maintaining endogenous tissue tropism. Significance: Grafting orthogonal glycan binding footprints onto AAV capsids can yield new chimeric strains with improved transduction profiles for therapeutic gene transfer applications. New viral strains can be evolved to recognize different host glycans through mutagenesis and experimental adaptation. However, such mutants generally harbor amino acid changes that affect viral binding to a single class of carbohydrate receptors. We describe the rational design and synthesis of novel, chimeric adeno-associated virus (AAV) strains that exploit an orthogonal glycan receptor for transduction. A dual glycan-binding AAV strain was first engineered as proof of concept by grafting a galactose (Gal)-binding footprint from AAV serotype 9 onto the heparan sulfate-binding AAV serotype 2. The resulting chimera, AAV2G9, continues to bind heparin affinity columns but interchangeably exploits Gal and heparan sulfate receptors for infection, as evidenced by competitive inhibition assays with lectins, glycans, and parental AAV strains. Although remaining hepatotropic like AAV2, the AAV2G9 chimera mediates rapid onset and higher transgene expression in mice. Similarly, engraftment of the Gal footprint onto the laboratory-derived strain AAV2i8 yielded an enhanced AAV2i8G9 chimera. This new strain remains liver-detargeted like AAV2i8 while selectively transducing muscle tissues at high efficiency, comparable with AAV9. The AAV2i8G9 chimera is a promising vector candidate for targeted gene therapy of cardiac and musculoskeletal diseases. In addition to demonstrating the modularity of glycan receptor footprints on viral capsids, our approach provides design strategies to expand the AAV vector toolkit.
The (mis)representation of customer service

The growth of service work has introduced the customer as a third party to the employment relationship. Yet dominant images of customer relations portray docile service workers offering de-personalized care to sometimes aggressive but otherwise not much more agential customers. This paper seeks to bring humanity back into an analysis of customer service, and to reinterpret customer service interaction as a human relationship. Using labour process analysis and data from call-centre workers and their customers, we rerepresent customers as many-faceted, complex and sophisticated social actors and introduce a new conceptual framework of the roles customers play: as mythical sovereigns, functional transactants and moral agents, thereby offering a more accurate representation of customer service and the role of the actors involved in it.
Sex-based differences in early mortality after myocardial infarction. National Registry of Myocardial Infarction 2 Participants.

BACKGROUND There is conflicting information about whether short-term mortality after myocardial infarction is higher among women than among men after adjustment for age and other prognostic factors. We hypothesized that younger, but not older, women have higher mortality rates during hospitalization than their male peers. METHODS We analyzed data on 384,878 patients (155,565 women and 229,313 men) who were 30 to 89 years of age and who had been enrolled in the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction 2 between June 1994 and January 1998. Patients who had been transferred from or to other hospitals were excluded. RESULTS The overall mortality rate during hospitalization was 16.7 percent among the women and 11.5 percent among the men. Sex-based differences in the rates varied according to age. Among patients less than 50 years of age, the mortality rate for the women was more than twice that for the men. The difference in the rates decreased with increasing age and was no longer significant after the age of 74 (P< 0.001 for the interaction between sex and age). Logistic-regression analysis showed that the odds of death were 11.1 percent greater for women than for men with every five-year decrease in age (95 percent confidence interval, 10.1 to 12.1 percent). Differences in medical history, the clinical severity of the infarction, and early management accounted for only about one third of the difference in the risk. After adjustment for these factors, women still had a higher risk of death for every five years of decreasing age (increase in the odds of death, 7.0 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, 5.9 to 8.1 percent). CONCLUSIONS After myocardial infarction, younger women, but not older women, have higher rates of death during hospitalization than men of the same age. The younger the age of the patients, the higher the risk of death among women relative to men. Younger women with myocardial infarction represent a high-risk group deserving of special study.
Corporate Debt Management and the Value of the Firm

Abstract Three alternative characterizations of corporate debt management policy, which have had wide currency in the literature, are examined. They are shown to give rise to substantial differences in their predictions of total-firm value. This study concludes that, of the three, the one that assumes that management periodically rebalances the firm's debt levels in response to evolving new information on expected future operating cash flows is the most logically consistent. On that basis, a reinterpretation of the available empirical evidence on the “tax effect” of debt is indicated.
Initiative Campaigns

Previous research has found that the campaigns of candidates running for office provide information to voters and can increase turnout. Scholarly research has also found that states with initiatives and referendums appearing on the ballot have higher voter turnout, especially in midterm elections. However, actual initiative campaigns are rarely measured. Drawing on national survey data and state contextual factors, we use a multilevel modeling strategy to test whether Americans are more likely to vote in recent midterm and presidential elections when there is increased spending in initiative and candidate campaigns, as well as more frequent use of direct democracy. The research includes a number of methodological advancements from earlier work on turnout and direct democracy (including a control for endogeneity) by restricting the analysis to initiative states only. The analysis suggests initiative campaigns not only increase individual level turnout but also especially benefit the lower educated.
Early Hepatic Artery Thrombosis after Liver Transplantation: A Systematic Review of the Incidence, Outcome and Risk Factors

To clarify inconsistencies in the literature we performed a systematic review to identify the incidence, risk factors and outcome of early hepatic artery thrombosis (eHAT) after liver transplantation. We searched studies identified from databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Science Citation Index) and references of identified studies. Seventy‐one studies out of 999 screened abstracts were eligible for this systematic review. The incidence of eHAT was 4.4% (843/21, 822); in children 8.3% and 2.9% in adults (p < 0.001). Doppler ultrasound screening (DUS) protocols varied from ‘no routine’ to ‘three times a day. ’ The median time to detection was at day seven. The overall retransplantation rate was 53.1% and was higher in children (61.9%) than in adults (50%, p < 0.03). The overall mortality rate of patients with eHAT was 33.3% (range: 0–80%). Mortality in adults (34.3%) was higher than in children (25%, p < 0.03). The reported risk factors for eHAT were, cytomegalovirus mismatch (seropositive donor liver in seronegative recipient), retransplantation, arterial conduits, prolonged operation time, low recipient weight, variant arterial anatomy, and low volume transplantation centers. eHAT is associated with significant graft loss and mortality. Uniform definitions of eHAT and uniform treatment modalities are obligatory to confirm these results and to obtain a better understanding of this disastrous complication.
Addiction molecular genetics: 639,401 SNP whole genome association identifies many “cell adhesion” genes

Addictions are substantially heritable complex disorders. We now report whole genome association studies that identify 89 genes likely to contain variants that contribute to addiction vulnerability, using previously‐ and newly‐validated microarray based pooling assays. Each gene contains clustered single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that display significant allele frequency differences between abusers and controls in each of the two samples studied with 639,401 SNP arrays and confirmatory SNPs from each of two other abuser/control samples. These genes are implicated in interesting functions, including “cell adhesion” processes that help to establish and maintain neuronal connections of special relevance to addiction's memory‐like features. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Visual acuity measurement of prosthetic vision: a virtual-reality simulation study

A virtual-reality simulation tested prosthetic visual acuity for both rectangular and hexagonal phosphene grids. Thirteen normally sighted, untrained subjects were required to identify the Landolt C optotype over ten sessions. Overall performance, performance by filter setting (image analysis), and performance by size and orientation of the Landolt C optotype are reported. The results indicated that the hexagonal grid had a slight (4.1%) but statistically significant (p < 0.0001) performance advantage over the rectangular grid for correct identification of the testing symbol. It was also observed that both the phosphene grids had distinct performance profiles relating to their respective spatial orientation. Over the course of the ten sessions, learning afforded subjects an averaged improved performance of 10%.
The Endogeneity of Academic Science to Local Industrial R&D

This paper explores the impact of local industry R&D upon the rate and direction of academic research in the regional innovation system. I argue that the impact of local industrial R&D upon the research productivity of nearby universities hinges upon university’s boundary-spanning capacity, which facilitate and incentivize the bilateral transaction between industry and academia. I find support for my argument in the setting of agricultural biotechnology industry, showing that after the agricultural incumbent’s entry into plant biotechnology R&D, nearby universities which had stronger boundary spanning capacity experienced a greater boost in the plant-biotechnology related publication output compared to other nearby universities.
Spring‐network‐based model of a red blood cell for simulating mesoscopic blood flow

We developed a mechanical model of a red blood cell (RBC) that is capable of expressing its characteristic behaviors in shear flows. The RBC was modeled as a closed shell membrane consisting of spring networks in the framework of the energy minimum concept. The fluid forces acting on RBCs were modeled from Newton's viscosity law and the conservation of momentum. In a steady shear flow, the RBC model exhibited various behaviors, depending on the shear rate; it tumbled, tank‐treaded, or both. The transition from tumbling to tank‐treading occurred at a shear rate of 20 s − 1. The simulation of an RBC in steady and unsteady parallel shear flows (Couette flows) showed that the deformation parameters of the RBC were consistent with experimental results. The RBC in Poiseuille flow migrated radially towards the central axis of the flow channel. Axial migration became faster with an increase in the viscosity of the media, qualitatively consistent with experimental results. These results demonstrate that the proposed model satisfies the essential conditions for simulating RBC behavior in blood flow. Finally, a large‐scale RBC flow simulation was implemented to show the capability of the proposed model for analyzing the mesoscopic nature of blood flow. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Novel boundary determination algorithm for lane detection

A novel boundary determination algorithm (BDA) for robust lane detection is presented. The algorithm can track a complete lane boundary based on partial lane edge points provided there exist sufficient orientation similarity there between. BDA mainly comprises two parts: (a) utilizing an edge detection method to extract orientations and coordinates of edge points; (b) repeatedly applying two circular masks, i.e., a probing circular mask followed by a tracing circular mask, to collect two separate sets of orientations of edge points and from which to sift out a primary orientation for tracking a curve as perceived by human eyes. The algorithm is characterized in that the probing circular mask acts to probe ahead for the tracing circular mask in order to avoid deviation from the right track.
Corporate Social Responsibility: Whether or How?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not a new idea. However, CSR has never been more prominent on the corporate agenda than it is today. This article examines the pressures for increased corporate attention to CSR and whether this attention is warranted and likely to be sustained. It differentiates between the business case for CSR and the normative case and concludes that often there may be a compelling business case for making a substantial commitment to CSR, but an individual firm must assess the extent to which the general business case for CSR applies to its specific circumstances. For some firms, CSR may be a major influence on corporate strategy. Companies making a substantial commitment to CSR—because of a business or a normative case—are likely to find that this involves major challenges with respect to the formulation and implementation of CSR strategy, not least because of the uncertainties inevitably associated with determining a firm's societal obligations.
Forecasting volumes for trade promotions in CPG industry using market drivers

Promotions are an integral part of the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. Anywhere between 30-40% of the sales volumes are achieved through various promotions. Promotions are instrumental in creating brand visibility and awareness. In this study, we attempt to analyse the impact of promotions with feature advertises, in-store display, temporary price discounts etc. Five different multivariate regression models have been developed to forecast the total sales of a product considering pricing and distribution variables. The performance of these models has been analysed by using syndicated data. Based on the results, it is found that the S-shaped (double-log) model has shown superior performance over the other models considered in this study.
Modulation of Morphogenesis in Candida albicans by Various Small Molecules

ABSTRACT The pathogenic yeast Candida albicans, a member of the mucosal microbiota, is responsible for a large spectrum of infections, ranging from benign thrush and vulvovaginitis in both healthy and immunocompromised individuals to severe, life-threatening infections in immunocompromised patients. A striking feature of C. albicans is its ability to grow as budding yeast and as filamentous forms, including hyphae and pseudohyphae. The yeast-to-hypha transition contributes to the overall virulence of C. albicans and may even constitute a target for the development of antifungal drugs. Indeed, impairing morphogenesis in C. albicans has been shown to be a means to treat candidiasis. Additionally, a large number of small molecules such as farnesol, fatty acids, rapamycin, geldanamycin, histone deacetylase inhibitors, and cell cycle inhibitors have been reported to modulate the yeast-to-hypha transition in C. albicans. In this minireview, we take a look at molecules that modulate morphogenesis in this pathogenic yeast. When possible, we address experimental findings regarding their mechanisms of action and their therapeutic potential. We discuss whether or not modulating morphogenesis constitutes a strategy to treat Candida infections.