Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acrylamide‐induced carcinogenicity in mouse lung involves mutagenicity: cII gene mutations in the lung of big blue mice exposed to acrylamide and glycidamide for up to 4 weeks

Potential health risks for humans from exposure to acrylamide (AA) and its epoxide metabolite glycidamide (GA) have garnered much attention lately because substantial amounts of AA are present in a variety of fried and baked starchy foods. AA is tumorigenic in rodents, and a large number of in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that AA is genotoxic. A recent cancer bioassay on AA demonstrated that the lung was one of the target organs for tumor induction in mice; however, the mutagenicity of AA in this tissue is unclear. Therefore, to investigate whether or not gene mutation is involved in the etiology of AA‐ or GA‐induced mouse lung carcinogenicity, we screened for cII mutant frequency (MF) in lungs from male and female Big Blue (BB) mice administered 0, 1.4, and 7.0 mM AA or GA in drinking water for up to 4 weeks (19–111 mg/kg bw/days). Both doses of AA and GA produced significant increases in cII MFs, with the high doses producing responses 2.7–5.6‐fold higher than the corresponding controls (P ≤ 0.05; control MFs = 17.2 ± 2.2 and 15.8 ± 3.5 × 10−6 in males and females, respectively). Molecular analysis of the mutants from high doses indicated that AA and GA produced similar mutation spectra and that these spectra were significantly different from the spectra in control mice (P ≤ 0.01). The predominant types of mutations in the lung cII gene from AA‐ and GA‐treated mice were A:T → T:A, and G:C → C:G transversions, and −1/+1 frameshifts at a homopolymeric run of Gs. The MFs and types of mutations induced by AA and GA in the lung are consistent with AA exerting its genotoxicity via metabolism to GA. These results suggest that AA is a mutagenic carcinogen in mouse lungs and therefore further studies on its potential health risk to humans are warranted. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 56:446–456, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Beyond the Multi-Fibre Agreement: How are Workers in East Asia Faring?

This article provides critical coordinates for considering implications of the termination of the Multi-Fibre Agreement for employment, wages and working conditions in selected East Asian countries. It starts by discussing first the main arguments on greater liberalisation initiatives for developing economies before analysing the evolution of the clothing value chain. The article eventually provides some justification for insertion of the selected countries to anchor the issue’s subsequent articles.
Autonomous control of distributed generation and storage to coordinate P/Q sharing in islanded microgrids - An approach beyond droop control

In this paper, a decentralized control for coordinate both active and reactive powers is proposed for islanded microgrids. Compared with the conventional droop control strategies, the proposed control realizes decentralized power distribution among renewable energy sources (RES) and energy storage systems (ESS) according to the local source conditions. Based on bus-signaling method, the ESS is able to limit charging power by decreasing RES power generation automatically. As well, the reactive power coordinated control makes the RES units able to support reactive power in a decentralized way, which allows ESS providing for more active power availability. Moreover, the reactive power is distributed according to the apparent power capacity of each unit. The control strategy principle is simple and easy to implement without extra communication requirements. Real time hardware-in-the-loop results are presented to show the feasibility of proposed control strategy.
A descriptive inventory study of recent China marketing research

This paper surveys marketing research related to China. It focuses upon marketing journals whose scope covers marketing in Asia and China. One hundred articles selected from seven journals were reviewed and analyzed. The research discovered that academic articles on China marketing published in the last decade or so not only increased in number but also expanded in scope. Although most researchers were Chinese ethnically oriented, non-Chinese scholars and Chinese scholars jointly published a large number of articles (44%). Articles solely written by non-Chinese ethnically oriented scholars were relatively limited. Much research emanated from Hong Kong-based institutions. It is clear that since the role China plays in the world economy has become more important, and since the demand for China marketing research is increasing, current research cannot meet the needs of international business. Therefore, scholars both from China and from all over the world should do more research on China marketing. Key words: China economy, China marketing, International Journal of China Marketing, marketing research.
Real-Time Solution and Implementation of Selective Harmonic Elimination of Seven-Level Multilevel Inverter

This paper proposes a new method to calculate switching angles in selective harmonic elimination technique. It is introduced as a substitute for Newton–Raphson method and similar iteration methods. By utilizing classical control such as the proportional-integral (PI) control, the proposed method can perform a real-time calculation for multilevel inverter’s (MLI) switching angles over a wide range of modulation indexes. Therefore, it is able to respond to system dynamics without the need to store precalculated large lookup tables. The proposed method is applied to seven levels cascaded full H-bridge to eliminate its third- and fifth-harmonic contents from the modulation index 0.1 to 1.04. The same procedure can be extended to the vast majority of MLI topologies. A Simulink model is built to simulate and validate the accuracy, dynamics, and continuity of the solution generated by the proposed method. An experimental prototype is also built and its results are discussed to confirm the theory and simulation of the proposed method.
Returns to spending on agricultural extension: the case of the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) program of Uganda†

The aim of this paper is to assess the direct and indirect impacts of the agricultural extension system of Uganda, the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) program, on household agricultural income. Data from two rounds of surveys of Ugandan rural farm-households conducted in 2004 and 2007, as well as different program evaluation methods and model specifications, are used to estimate impacts and compute a rate of return. The direct and indirect impact of the program is estimated at 37–95% and 27–55% increase in per capita agricultural gross revenue between 2004 and 2007 for households participating directly and indirectly in the program, respectively, compared to nonparticipants. The rate of return on the program's expenditures is estimated at 8–49%. The program has been relatively more effective among male-headed, larger, and asset-poor households, as well as those taking up noncrop high-value enterprises and living further away from financial services, all-weather roads, and markets or located in the Eastern and Northern Regions. Policy implications of the results are drawn.
Insights into the Genetic Basis of the Renal Cell Carcinomas from The Cancer Genome Atlas

The renal cell carcinomas (RCC), clear cell, papillary, and chromophobe, have recently undergone an unmatched genomic characterization by The Cancer Genome Atlas. This analysis has revealed new insights into each of these malignancies and underscores the unique biology of clear cell, papillary, and chromophobe RCC. Themes that have emerged include distinct mechanisms of metabolic dysregulation and common mutations in chromatin modifier genes. Importantly, the papillary RCC classification encompasses a heterogeneous group of diseases, each with highly distinct genetic and molecular features. In conclusion, this review summarizes RCCs that represent a diverse set of malignancies, each with novel biologic programs that define new paradigms for cancer biology. Mol Cancer Res; 14(7); 589–98. ©2016 AACR.
Impact of tensile strength on thermal fatigue properties and failure modes of Sn-Ag-Cu-Ni solder joints

With the requirements of higher board level reliability, researchers gradually turned attention to complex composition solders like Sn-Ag-Cu-Ni-Bi solders. This quinary system solder has lower melting point and higher tensile strength than traditional Sn-Ag-Cu solder, which may good for the reliability. In this research, the effects of tensile strength on thermal fatigue properties of Sn-2Ag-0.5Cu-0.05Ni and Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu-0.05Ni-3Bi solders were studied. After 1000 thermal cycles, SEM observation and nanoindentation test were used to characterize the failure mechanism and mechanical properties. The results demonstrated that Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu-0.05Ni-3Bi solder joints had better thermal fatigue properties than Sn-2Ag-0.5Cu-0.05Ni solder joints. The tensile strength of Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu-0.05Ni-3Bi solder was higher, so it can endure more stress and have less deformation in thermal cycling. And with the diffusion of Cu/Sn couples, the modulus and hardness of Sn-2Ag-0.5Cu-0.05Ni solder near the IMC interface decreased a lot, which promoted the crack formation and finally caused the fracture at the bulk solder. While for Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu-0.05Ni-3Bi solder, it didn't decrease too much due to the Bi concentration effect at the interface, which led to the crack formation in IMC. Hence, solders with higher tensile strength, like Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu-0.05Ni-3Bi solders, may have better thermal fatigue properties.
The Effects of the Auditor's Insurance Role on Reporting Conservatism and Audit Quality

ABSTRACT We examine the effects of the auditor's insurance role on audit quality and reporting conservatism. The investor pays for the auditor's penalty through the audit fees and expects to collect a portion of it—when the investor recovers the entire expected penalty, the insurance role is perfect. When the investment is exogenous, consistent with Watts' (2003a, 2003b) argument, we find that an increase in the auditor's insurance role improves audit quality and conservatism, because conservatism helps to reduce the auditor's legal liability. However, when the investment level is endogenous, we find that the investment level and conservatism decrease with increases in the auditor's insurance role, because conservatism helps to mitigate the deadweight loss of the legal liability cost.
What Do Economists Mean by Globalization? Implications for Inflation and Monetary Policy

What do economists mean by “globalization”? First and foremost: integration through international trade of markets in goods and services, as reflected in a variety of possible measures. These include direct measures of barriers, e.g., tariffs and transport costs; quantity-related measures of the result, i.e., trade volumes; and price-related measures of the result, i.e., the law of one price and other evidence of arbitrage. Next, financial integration through international trade in assets, again as reflected in a variety of possible criteria: direct measures of barriers, e.g., capital controls and transactions costs; quantity-related measures of the result, i.e., gross and net capital flows, portfolio shares, or consumption sharing; and price-related measures of the result, i.e., interest rate parity conditions and other evidence of arbitrage. Further down the list are foreign direct investment, increased trade in intermediate products (especially within multinational corporations), international outsourcing of services, and international movement of persons. Finally, some truly comprehensive definitions of globalization would include the international spread of ideas, from consumer tastes (Coke and the Simpsons, sushi and manga, etc.) to intellectual ideas (technological patents, management principles, democracy, environmental activism, the Washington Consensus, accounting standards, inflation targeting among Central Banks, etc.) We probably want to rule out the sloppy thinking that sometimes seems to identify “globalization” with whatever other big trends are underway, such as technological progress, demographic change, nostalgia for rural village life, etc.
Structure and growth: a model of development for grasping with robot hands

According to recent theories of sensorimotor development in biological systems, the dynamics of physical interaction with the world encodes control knowledge. Control is derived by reinforcing and learning to predict constructive patterns of interaction, and behavior is an artifact of coupled dynamical systems with a number of controllable degrees of freedom. For grasping and manipulation, we propose a closed-loop control process that is parametric in the number and identity of contact resources. In this paper, we show how control decisions can be made by estimating patterns of membership in a family of prototypical dynamic models. A grasp controller can thus be tuned continuously online to optimize performance over a variety of object geometries. This same process can be used to estimate the haptic category in which the object resides. We illustrate how a grasping policy that is incrementally optimal for several objects can be acquired using our Salisbury hand with tactile sensor feedback.
Analysis and Evaluation of Current Graph-Based Text Mining Researches

Traditionally, since text mining has been assumed unformatted text (document), it is necessary to represent text as a simplified model. One of most commonly used model is the vector space model, in which text is represented as a bag of words. Recently, much research tried to apply a graph-based text mod- el for representing semantic relationships between words. In this paper, we sur- vey research trends of graph-based text representation models for text mining. We summarized each model, its features and forecasted further researches.
The politics of economic decline : economic management and political behaviour in Britain since 1964

This book originally published in 1979, deals with popular perceptions and expectations of economic trends, popular preferences among economic policies, and the relationships between these and broader aspects of political behaviour like voting, attachment to the party system, and political and social attitudes. The economy has long been held to be a critical determinant of the ability of governments to gain election. This book provides unique evidence about popular expectations of inflation, evaluation of economic management, and preferences among competing economic goals and policies, without which the connection between economic management and electoral success cannot be understood. At the same time, by dealing extensively with electoral survey data for Britain since 1964, the book provides a contemporary history of electoral and political behaviour in an age of unprecedented economic management.
Mobile Phones and the Cultural Ecology of Fishing in Kerala, India

Studies that go beyond the ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development) framework emphasize the social and cultural dimensions of mobile phones. Nevertheless, the cultural dimension, in literature pertaining to both urban and rural use patterns, typically takes an individualistic orientation. The possibility of actualizing the collectivistic logic in a community's appropriation of new technologies is mostly overlooked. The present article explores how the fishers community in Kerala, India, use mobile phones in culturally enhancing and ecologically oriented ways that improve their working and living conditions. In the case of Kerala fishers, the impulse toward cooperation has long been ingrained in their culture, as often happens among marginalized groups. The availability of mobile technologies has allowed for the amplification of this impulse and enabled new modes of cooperation, especially in sharing of information on promising fishing spots and safety and rescue at sea.
Limitations of follicle-stimulating hormone in assessing menopause status: findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 1999-2000)*

Objective: We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 1999-2000) to: establish new population-based estimates for follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH); identify factors associated with FSH; and assess its efficacy in distinguishing among women in the reproductive, menopause transition, and postmenopausal stages. Design: Nationally representative sample of 576 women aged 35 to 60 years examined during NHANES 1999-2000. Results Levels of FSH and LH increased significantly with reproductive stage. (Geometric mean FSH levels for successive stages: reproductive, 7.0 mIU/mL, SE 0.4; menopause transition, 21.9 mIU/mL, SE 3.7; and postmenopause, 45.7 mIU/mL, SE 4.3). There was considerable overlap, however, among distributions of FSH by stage. Only age and reproductive stage were significantly associated with FSH in multivariable analysis. FSH cutoff points between the reproductive and menopause transition stages [FSH = 13 mIU/mL, sensitivity 67.4% (95% CI 50.0-81.1), specificity 88.1% (95% CI 81.1-92.8)] and between the menopause transition and postmenopause stages [FSH = 45 mIU/mL, sensitivity 73.6% (95% CI 60.1-83.7), specificity 70.6% (95% CI 52.4-84.0)] were neither sensitive nor very specific. Conclusions Age and reproductive stage are the most important determinants of FSH levels in US women; however, FSH by itself has limited utility in distinguishing among women in different reproductive stages.
Surveillance des risques biologiques liés à la consommation de coquillages en France

Les coquillages filtrent des volumes d’eau importants afin de satisfaire leurs exigences nutritionnelles et ingerent ainsi le phytoplancton, mais concentrent egalement les micro-organismes presents dans l’eau naturellement (vibrions, phycotoxines) ou d’origine fecale rejetes en mer par voie hydrique (virus enteriques, enterobacteries, protozoaires). L’analyse des donnees issues des systemes contribuant a la surveillance des toxi-infections liees a la consommation de coquillages et des investigations d’epidemies publiees montre que, en France, les toxi-infections liees a la consommation de coquillages sont principalement d’origine virale, dues majoritairement aux norovirus et secondairement au virus de l’hepatite A (VHA). Le risque lie aux phycotoxines apparait faible et celui lie aux enterobacteries et aux vibrions tres faible. La declaration obligatoire (DO) des Tiac reste le systeme le plus performant pour la surveillance et la detection d’effets sanitaires lies a la consommation de coquillages. Cette DO pourrait etre renforcee dans les zones conchylicoles, d’une part en augmentant son exhaustivite par une sensibilisation des declarants potentiels dans la zone surveillee et, d’autre part, en augmentant le nombre et la qualite des investigations. En termes de prevention, les systemes de surveillance du milieu et des coquillages adaptes aux risques phycotoxiniques et bacteriologiques pourraient etre completes par une approche preventive des contaminations fecales, basee principalement sur la securisation des systemes d’assainissement et le partage entre les partenaires des signaux d’alerte permettant de suspecter ou anticiper une contamination du milieu, afin que des mesures de sauvegarde des coquillages puissent etre mises en oeuvre par les conchyliculteurs.
Application of The els Model: Optimal Tax Rate and Public Good Proportion

The purpose of this research is to apply an innovative economic model dubbed the els model to a fundamental question in public finance: (1)How much should the government take and (2) of this amount, how much should be devoted to provision of a pure public good (the remainder going to income redistribution)? The els model adds to the traditional two primary factors supplied by the household (labor and saving) a third primary factor: capital management effort. Capital management effort is a very general concept embracing any and all active behavior whose purpose it is to augment the rate of return received on the household's capital assets. An illustrative insight gained from the exercise is that regardless of the nature of capital property income (whether it is a return to saving or a return to capital management effort), a higher level of inequality in capital wealth ownership justifies a higher level of progressivity in the tax system.
A Dynamic Model of Household Location, Regional Growth and Endogenous Natural Amenities with Cross-Scale Interactions

We develop a coupled model of regional migration and lake ecology to study the influence of ecological-economic interactions and relative time scales on transient and asymptotic dynamics. Cross-scale interactions fundamentally change system dynamics by eliminating steady states that are present in the decoupled economic model and introduce important time dependence. We find that the relative time scales of interacting variables are a key determinant in system dynamics and resilience and that the system's asymptotic behavior cannot be determined without considering the full dynamics of the system. Other time-dependent effects are found to matter, e.g., when households base their perceptions of environmental amenities on past observation, a path dependence is introduced that can lead to oscillations or decline in transient population. Finally, interactions are found to multiply the costs and benefits of policy by inducing a positive feedback between the ecological and economic components that can reinforce or offset the direct effect of the policy. Such effects imply that the economic and ecological costs of getting the policy wrong can be large. Our findings underscore the critical importance of accounting for multiple time scales and time dependence and suggest that models that ignore such complications can be quite misleading. At best, such models will fail to capture the full dynamics of the system and at worst, could provide a misleading characterization of the basic dynamical structure of these systems.
Financial contracts, risk and performance of Islamic banking

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on various modes of Islamic finance and examines their risk and other characteristics by conducting a selective literature review.Design/methodology/approach – Due to the Islamic prohibition of interest and in compliance with injunctions on permissible trade contracts, the savings and investment contracts offered by Islamic banks have a different risk profile than those of conventional banks. This gives rise to a number of regulatory issues pertaining to capital adequacy and liquidity requirements. Operational issues also arise as Islamic banks are limited in their choice of risk and liquidity management tools such as derivatives, options and bonds. All these issues are theoretically examined and various performance indicators of two Islamic banks are also examined to compare them with traditional banks that practice mark up pricing.Findings – The balance sheets and various performance indicators show that there is evidence that Islamic banks in Pakistan ten.