Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determination of protection from serum nuclease activity by DNA-polyelectrolyte complexes using an electrophoretic method.

Polyelectrolyte complexes between cationic polymers and DNA have emerged as potential nonviral vectors for DNA delivery. For successful in vivo delivery, methods for analyzing their ability to prevent digestion of the DNA payload by serum nucleases are essential. We report here a simple assay to determine degradation of DNA in these complexes using standard electrophoretic techniques. The assay is based on a high pH buffer which can dissociate the complexes under standard electrophoretic conditions. This assay can be used qualitatively to determine the time taken for degradation to occur. Alternatively, with a standard gel analysis program it can be used quantitatively to investigate rates of DNA degradation from complexes in the presence of serum nucleases. We have shown that it can distinguish between different formulations with the same polymer, and also to distinguish between the time taken to degradation and the rates of degradation of DNA in complexes formed with two structurally related, linear polyamidoamine polymers. The assay could also distinguish between the time to degradation using poly-l-lysine complexes, although these were less well dissociated by the electrophoresis buffer, and could not be analyzed quantitatively. This assay will be of value in investigating and developing polyelectrolyte formulations for parenteral administration.
Merchant households and their networks in eighteenth-century Trondheim

This article deals with merchants in international trade from the seventeenth and into the nineteenth century, most of them of immigrant background. Based on a discussion of the work of the household in gender terms the main point is to show how the merchants were eager to construct working network relations. Family and kinship relations are discussed as a crucial element in the merchants' networks, and throughout their world of household, regional contact networks and international networks run structures of hierarchical and patriarchal authority and at the same time non-hierarchical relations of equality.
Focusing on How Rather Than on Whom: Constructing a Process-Based Framework for Interpreting the Press Clause in the Network-Society Era

The Internet has made it possible for anyone to become a publisher, thus raising questions regarding how the press clause of the First Amendment will be defined in the twenty-first century. This study proposes a process-based framework for understanding the press clause that moves away from the historically problematic questions that arise with approaches that seek to determine who is a journalist. This approach aligns with historical conceptualizations of the press clause and the characteristics of the network society. The proposed framework is drawn from an analysis of recent lower-court cases in which citizen publishers claimed protections that have traditionally been associated with journalism, as well as an examination of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States and of legal scholars’ historical understandings of the clause.
Simple approach to the management of aseptic non-union of the shaft of long bones.

AIM Internal fixation with a plate in the management of non-union for shaft of long bones has been condemned but the review of the literature does not provide such unequivocal evidence. Also there are certain situations where it is either technically not feasible or contraindicated to do closed intramedullary nailing. This study was done to see the outcome of plate-fixation for the treatment of non-union of the shaft of long bones. METHOD The non-union was treated by freshening the fracture ends, opening the medullary canal, re-aligning and stabilizing the fracture with a plate and packing autogenous cancellous bone grafts around the non-union site. There were 25 patients with an average age of 35 years. The non-union involved 7 femurs, 8 humerii and 10 tibiae. The initial treatment was operative in 11 patients, by plaster cast in 5, by traction in 1 and by traditional practitioner in 8. There was no pathological fractures or infected cases. The average delay prior to operation was 14 months and the average follow up was 30 months. RESULTS All non-unions healed on an average in 18 weeks. There was neither incidence of infection nor any complications at the bone graft donor site. Three cases of transient nerve paralysis recovered spontaneously. One femoral plate broke at 12 weeks, which required replating. In another patient the distal screws of the femoral plate pulled out, this was managed successfully with a cast brace. CONCLUSION Plate fixation is useful and effective in the management of non-union, more so in situations where it is technically not feasible to do closed intramedullary nailing. The incidence of infection, success of union and time to union are comparable with other methods.
The effectiveness of a structured education pulmonary rehabilitation programme for improving the health status of people with moderate and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in primary care: the PRINCE cluster randomised trial

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a structured education pulmonary rehabilitation programme on the health status of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Design Two-arm, cluster randomised controlled trial. Setting 32 general practices in the Republic of Ireland. Participants 350 participants with a diagnosis of moderate or severe COPD. Intervention Experimental group received a structured education pulmonary rehabilitation programme, delivered by the practice nurse and physiotherapist. Control group received usual care. Main outcome measure Health status as measured by the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ) at baseline and at 12–14 weeks postcompletion of the programme. Results Participants allocated to the intervention group had statistically significant higher mean change total CRQ scores (adjusted mean difference (MD) 1.11, 95% CI 0.35 to 1.87). However, the CI does not exclude a smaller difference than the one that was prespecified as clinically important. Participants allocated to the intervention group also had statistically significant higher mean CRQ Dyspnoea scores after intervention (adjusted MD 0.49, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.78) and CRQ Physical scores (adjusted MD 0.37, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.60). However, CIs for both the CRQ Dyspnoea and CRQ Physical subscales do not exclude smaller differences as prespecified as clinically important. No other statistically significant differences between groups were seen. Conclusions A primary care based structured education pulmonary rehabilitation programme is feasible and may increase local accessibility to people with moderate and severe COPD. Trial registration ISRCTN52403063.
Congestion Control Strategies on Integrated Routing Protocol for the Opportunistic Network: A Comparative Study and Performance Analysis

This work presents the incorporating of congestion control on the integrated routing protocol of the opportunistic networks. Pre-emptive congestion control strategies were incorporated into the integrated routing protocol. Results showed that the duplication avoidance improved the integrated routing protocol because it reduced the packet loss and improved the delivery probability. Duplication avoidance reduced the packet loss by 58% and improved the delivery probability by 4% at the end of the simulation time when compared with the delivery probability and packet loss of the integrated routing protocol without congestion control. The use of acknowledgement, buffer size advertisement, data centric method reduced the packet loss by 2.5%, 57% and 57% respectively but did not improve on the delivery probability significantly General Terms Opportunistic network, congestion control, ONE simulator
Occupational Mobility in Segmented Labour Markets: The Experience of Immigrant Workers in Melbourne

This paper presents the results of a survey of a sample of Greek, Yugoslav and Vietnamese born persons who have worked in man ufacturing in Melbourne. Despite individual differences in training and experience before arriving in Australia and differences in their time of arrival, almost all the men and women first obtained jobs here as operators, labourers or drivers. There is evidence about the informal processes that channel migrants into such jobs. But once in these jobs, mobility is very low: about one half of the respondents evidenced no occupational mobility at all while for another one third their only career path was to exit the labour force. Some of the reasons for lack of mobility are examined. Thus, the initial allocation of immigrants into low skilled jobs in manufacturing is of long run significance for their careers rather than being a phenomenon of transition.
A multidimensional model of momentum in sports

Abstract The goal of the present paper is to provide a theoretical formulation of momentum in sports that articulates the processes involved in the development of momentum. Momentum is presently defined as: a positive or negative change in cognition, physiology, affect, and behavior caused by a precipitating event or series of events that will result in a shift in performance. The present model proposes a series of changes, termed the “momentum chain”, that result in the development of momentum: (a) precipitating event or events, (b) change in cognition, affect, and physiology, (c) change in behavior, (d) the resulting increase or decrease in performance consistent with the above changes, (e) a contiguous and opposing change in the previous factors on the part of the opponent (for sports with head-to-head competition), and (f) a resultant change in the immediate outcome. A preliminary investigation of the first stage of the model examining the relationship between precipitating events and changes in compe.
ATIVIDADES MARCÁRIAS COMO RECURSOS DE ELABORAÇÃO DA FACE EM COMUNIDADES VIRTUAIS DE MARCA: ANÁLISE DE UMA COMUNIDADE VIRTUAL DE CONSUMIDORES DA COCA - COLA

As relacoes interpessoais sofreram mudancas expressivas apos a insercao da internet na vida social. Deste contexto, podemos destacar as comunidades virtuais e, mais especificamente, comunidades virtuais de marcas. Assumindo que o “eu” seja uma construcao social promovida nas interacoes sociais, este estudo objetiva analisar o comportamento verbal de participantes de comunidades virtuais de marcas em relacao a estas como meio de elaboracao de suas faces (Goffman, 2006). Neste sentido, assumimos a nocao de o que e como dizemos as coisas sao comportamentos sociais (Austin, 1990) e utilizamos o conceito de “atividades marcarias”, desenvolvido por Leao e Mello (2009). Para tal, selecionamos uma comunidade de consumidores da Coca-Cola como terreno investigativo, onde realizamos uma “netnografia da comunicacao”, suportada por uma analise de discurso funcional. Por fim, aspectos teoricos e praticos sao considerados. DOI: 10.5585/remark.v9i2. 2168
The journey back to effective cognitive function after brain injury. A patient perspective

A male consultant physician aged 60 years, myself, suffered a severe brain injury in a road traffic accident in May 2008. I suffered from post-traumatic amnesia for 10 weeks. During this time I was unaware I was having therapy. When I developed insight, I found I became more receptive in therapy sessions. When the brain was not capable of paying full attention it was a considerable obstacle to effective understanding, learning and recall. In my experience, appropriate staff support and my resolve to improve this through personal strategies made a significant difference. My strategy was to see myself as a junior pupil requiring essential education from expert, sympathetic teachers – a ‘being at school’ strategy. I think this enabled me to get the most out of the therapy, nursing and medical services available.
A case study research on software cost estimation using experts' estimates, Wideband Delphi, and Planning Poker technique

This article shows a case study research that is performed to compare effectiveness of the Planning Poker and Wideband Delphi in two case studies. Although, Wide Band Delphi has been proposed many years ago and has enough supports in both industry and academic area but, Planning Poker is somewhat new. The study showed that applying these techniques in two companies which were using expert’s view for software cost estimation, increased the accuracy of cost estimation. Also, the results showed that Planning Poker led to better accuracy comparing to Wideband Delphi. However, this accuracy is not too much than Wideband Delphi, it was important that Planning Poker led to reducing financial risks of the projects comparing to Wideband Delphi. The study also showed that both Wideband Delphi and Planning Poker reduced the underestimates significantly.
No anticorrelation between cyclotron line energy and X-ray flux in 4U 0115+634

We report on an outburst of the high mass X-ray binary 4U 0115+634 with a pulse period of 3.6 s in 2008 March/April as observed with RXTE and INTEGRAL. During the outburst the neutron star’s luminosity varied by a factor of 10 in the 3–50 keV band. In agreement with earlier work we find evidence of five cyclotron resonance scattering features at ∼10.7, 21.8, 35.5, 46.7, and 59.7 keV. Previous work had found an anticorrelation between the fundamental cyclotron line energy and the X-ray flux. We show that this apparent anticorrelation is probably due to the unphysical interplay of parameters of the cyclotron line with the continuum models used previously, e.g., the negative and positive exponent power law (NPEX). For this model, we show that cyclotron line modeling erroneously leads to describing part of the exponential cutoff and the continuum variability, and not the cyclotron lines. When the X-ray continuum is modeled with a simple exponentially cutoff power law modified by a Gaussian emission feature around 10 keV, the correlation between the line energy and the flux vanishes, and the line parameters remain virtually constant over the outburst. We therefore conclude that the previously reported anticorrelation is an artifact of the assumptions adopted in the modeling of the continuum.
A survey on the intentions and attitudes towards oocyte cryopreservation for non-medical reasons among women of reproductive age.

BACKGROUND Although cryopreservation of semen is a routine procedure for preserving male gametes, an efficient method of preserving fertility through oocyte freezing has only recently become available for women. In view of the limited female reproductive lifespan, oocyte freezing can now offer women some protection against the decline in fertility with aging. METHODS A survey was performed in Belgium among 1914 women of reproductive age (21-40 years) to assess public attitudes towards the phenomenon called 'social oocyte freezing'. Women were questioned on their awareness of the age-related fertility decline and their views and intentions towards considering undergoing oocyte cryopreservation. RESULTS The electronic questionnaire was completed by 1049 women, giving a response rate of 55%, and 25 were excluded as they were incomplete/inconsistent. Our results demonstrate that 31.5% of respondents consider themselves as potential social oocyte freezers, of which 3.1% would definitely consider the procedure. Just over half of the women (51.8%) would not consider the procedure while 16.7% indicated they had no opinion. Potential oocyte freezers are characterized by a higher number of desired children and more openness to oocyte donation. The decision to actually embark on such treatment would primarily depend on conditions, such as the procedure not affecting their natural fertility and the health of future children. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that a significant proportion of young women would consider safeguarding their reproductive potential or are at least open to the idea of social oocyte freezing.
Disfunción ejecutiva: sintomatología que acompaña a la lesión o disfunción del lóbulo frontal.

In this I paper we center in the syndrome of the frontal lobule and we analyze thediversity sintomatology that acompany to it, deepening in the system executive's disorder. For this reason, we describe this constructo, we try to remove the diverse dimensions, environments or capacities that it includes the same one, as well as the neurological basis which traditionally has been linked with frontal lobule, since the famous and classic study of Phineas Gage. Finaly, we study some disordes which are relationaed with this construct.
Peripapillary Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness Measurement by 2 Different Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography Machines

Purpose TO determine agreement between peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurements by 2 spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) instruments. Methods This was an observational, cross-sectional study. Both eyes of 89 subjects, 44 healthy subjects (mean age, 47±15 years) and 45 patients with glaucoma (mean age, 55±14 years), were imaged using Cirrus OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc. Dublin, CA, USA) and Topcon OCT (3D-OCT1000, Topcon Corporation, Tokyo, Japan). One eye was randomly selected in each subject and peripapillary RNFL thickness measurements were compared. Bland-Altman plots were used to assess the level of agreement. Results Average peripapillary RNFL thickness measurements were significantly larger with Topcon OCT compared to Cirrus OCT in normal (101±12 vs 91±8 μm, p<0.001) and glaucomatous eyes (89±18 vs 76±16 μm, p<0.001). The limits of agreement for average peripapillary RNFL thickness measurements were poor, (-11 to 32 μm) in normal and (-4 to 30 μm) in glaucomatous eyes. Conclusions Peripapillary RNFL thickness values obtained by Topcon OCT are significantly higher than those measured by Cirrus OCT in both normal and glaucomatous eyes. Clinicians should be aware of this discrepancy especially when monitoring patients imaged by different OCT instruments; measured values cannot be used interchangeably.
2016 Fifth International Conference on Recent Trends in Information Technology Decoding Algorithm for Color Qr Code: a Mobile Scanner Application

—QR codes have revolutionized the industry because of its larger storage capacity and high damage resistance than the traditional barcodes. Color QR code is the future as it provides much higher encoding capacity that the typical B/W QR codes. We propose a color QR code decoding algorithm for mobile applications by considering the color profile of Red, Green and Blue channels respectively. We have developed a prototype by including various image processing techniques and the open source Zxing library. This paper presents an Android based color QR code decoder implementation and performance evaluation. Experimental results show the high success rate of the methodology implemented.
The European Union Decides

The European Union Decides. Edited by Robert Thomson, Frans N. Stokman, Christopher H. Achen and Thomas König. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 394p. $110.00 cloth, $39.99 paper. As a new and rapidly evolving polity, with clear formalized rules and a great deal of publicly available data, the European Union presents a fascinating object of study for political scientists. Until recently, it was often treated as sui generis, the preserve of dedicated Euro-watchers. Most attention was focused on grand events—treaties, judicial cases, and individual cases of specific interest. But increasingly, the general tools of political science are being brought to bear on the EU and its activities, including humdrum ones.
Spatial Control of Rabies on Heterogeneous Landscapes

Rabies control in terrestrial wildlife reservoirs relies heavily on an oral rabies vaccine (ORV). In addition to direct ORV delivery to protect wildlife in natural habitats, vaccine corridors have been constructed to control the spread; these corridors are often developed around natural barriers, such as rivers, to enhance the effectiveness of vaccine deployment. However, the question of how to optimally deploy ORV around a river (or other natural barrier) to best exploit the barrier for rabies control has not been addressed using mathematical models. Given an advancing epidemic wave, should the vaccine be distributed on both sides of barrier, behind the barrier, or in front of it? Here, we introduce a new mathematical model for the dynamics of raccoon rabies on a spatially heterogeneous landscape that is both simple and realistic. We demonstrate that the vaccine should always be deployed behind a barrier to minimize the recurrence of subsequent epidemics. Although the oral rabies vaccine is sufficient to induce herd immunity inside the vaccinated area, it simultaneously creates a demographic refuge. When that refuge is in front of a natural barrier, seasonal dispersal from the vaccine corridor into an endemic region sustains epidemic oscillations of raccoon rabies. When the vaccine barrier creates a refuge behind the river, the low permeability of the barrier to host movement limits dispersal of the host population from the protected populations into the rabies endemic area and limits subsequent rabies epidemics.
State of the Art in the Development and Properties of Protein-Based Films and Coatings and Their Applicability to Cellulose Based Products: An Extensive Review

There is increasing research towards the substitution of petrochemicals by sustainable components. Biopolymers such as proteins, polysaccharides, and lipids derive from a variety of crop sources and most promisingly from waste streams generated during their processing by the agro food industry. Among those, proteins of different types such as whey, casein, gelatin, wheat gluten, soy protein or zein present a potential beyond the food and feed industry for the application in packaging. The general protein hydrophilicity promotes a good compatibility to polar surfaces, such as paper, and a good barrier to apolar gases, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide. The present review deals with the development of protein-based coatings and films. It includes relevant discussion for application in paper or board products, as well as an outlook on its future industrial potential. Proteins with suitable functionalities as food packaging materials are described as well as the different technologies for processing the coatings and the current state of the art about the coating formulations for selectively modulating barrier, mechanical, surface and end of life properties. Some insights onto regulations about packaging use, end of life and perspectives of such natural coating for decreasing the environmental impact of packages are given.
Effect of caffeine and nicotine on avoidance learning in mice: lack of interaction

Abstract— Tested alone, nicotine (0·25 or 0·5 mg kg−1) improved shuttle‐box avoidance learning in mice of the CD‐1 strain. Caffeine had no effect at doses of 2·5 and 5 mg kg−1 and impaired performance at a dose of 10 mg kg−1. Combinations of the two drugs did not increase avoidance responses more than nicotine alone, nor was nicotine able to attenuate performance depression induced by the highest dose of caffeine. Lack of drug interaction in the avoidance test contrasts with the occurrence of interactive effects of the two drugs in a locomotor activity test. When given in combination, caffeine and nicotine increased locomotor activity at doses ineffective by themselves. The results seem to indicate no advantage in combining caffeine and nicotine to improve active avoidance learning.