Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reactive oxygen species as therapeutic targets in pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by a progressive elevation of pulmonary arterial pressure due to alterations of both pulmonary vascular structure and function. This disease is rare but life-threatening, leading to the development of right heart failure. Current PH treatments, designed to target altered pulmonary vascular reactivity, include vasodilating prostanoids, phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors and endothelin-1 receptor antagonists. Although managing to slow the progression of the disease, these molecules still do not cure PH. More effective treatments need to be developed, and novel therapeutic strategies, targeting in particular vascular remodelling, are currently under investigation. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are important physiological messengers in vascular cells. In addition to atherosclerosis and other systemic vascular diseases, emerging evidence also support a role of ROS in PH pathogenesis. ROS production is increased in animal models of PH, associated with NADPH oxidases increased expression, in particular of several Nox enzymes thought to be the major source of ROS in the pulmonary vasculature. These increases have also been observed in vitro and in vivo in humans. Moreover, several studies have shown either the deleterious effect of agents promoting ROS generation on pulmonary vasculature or, conversely, the beneficial effect of antioxidant agents in animal models of PH. In these studies, ROS production has been directly linked to pulmonary vascular remodelling, endothelial dysfunction, altered vasoconstrictive responses, inflammation and modifications of the extracellular matrix, all important features of PH pathophysiology. Altogether, these findings indicate that ROS are interesting therapeutic targets in PH. Blockade of ROS-dependent signalling pathways, or disruption of sources of ROS in the pulmonary vasculature, targeting in particular Nox enzymes, represent promising new therapeutic strategies in this disease.
Research and simulation of double-fed wind power generation rotor side control technology

For the purpose of solving the problem that rotor side power and DC bus voltage frequently changes, present paper describes an experimental platform constructed by an 11kW doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) wind power generation, which uses a back-to-back PWM converter as the excitation power supply for the DFIG wind power generation system of variable speed constant frequency (VSCF). The converter connects the grid with the rotor. In order to control the rotor-side of the converter, stator voltage oriented control strategy is proposed as a vector control scheme. Based on this scheme, the simulation model of the system was built and simulated in Matlab2010a. The simulation results show that the system can realize the active power, reactive power decoupling control and capture the maximum wind energy.
Dynamic Elias-Fano Representation

We show that it is possible to store a dynamic ordered set S of n integers drawn from a bounded universe of size u in space close to the information-theoretic lower bound and preserve, at the same time, the asymptotic time optimality of the operations. Our results leverage on the Elias-Fano representation of monotone integer sequences, which can be shown to be less than half a bit per element away from the information-theoretic minimum. In particular, considering a RAM model with memory word size Theta(log u) bits, when integers are drawn from a polynomial universe of size u = n^gamma for any gamma = Theta(1), we add o(n) bits to the static Elias-Fano representation in order to: 1. support static predecessor/successor queries in O(min{1+log(u/n), loglog n}); 2. make S grow in an append-only fashion by spending O(1) per inserted element; 3. describe a dynamic data structure supporting random access in O(log n / loglog n) worst-case, insertions/deletions in O(log n / loglog n) amortized and predecessor/successor queries in O(min{1+log(u/n), loglog n}) worst-case time. These time bounds are optimal.
The Ecological Impact of Invasive Cane Toads (Bufo Marinus) in Australia

Although invasive species are viewed as major threats to ecosystems worldwide, few such species have been studied in enough detail to identify the pathways, magnitudes, and timescales of their impact on native fauna. One of the most intensively studied invasive taxa in this respect is the cane toad (Bufo marinus), which was introduced to Australia in 1935. A review of these studies suggests that a single pathwaylethal toxic ingestion of toads by frog-eating predatorsis the major mechanism of impact, but that the magnitude of impact varies dramatically among predator taxa, as well as through space and time. Populations of large predators (e.g., varanid and scincid lizards, elapid snakes, freshwater crocodiles, and dasyurid marsupials) may be imperilled by toad invasion, but impacts vary spatially even within the same predator species. Some of the taxa severely impacted by toad invasion recover within a few decades, via aversion learning and longer-term adaptive changes. No native species have gone extinct as a result of toad invasion, and many native taxa widely imagined to be at risk are not affected, largely as a result of their physiological ability to tolerate toad toxins (e.g., as found in many birds and rodents), as well as the reluctance of many native anuran-eating predators to consume toads, either innately or as a learned response. Indirect effects of cane toads as mediated through trophic webs are likely as important as direct effects, but they are more difficult to study. Overall, some Australian native species (mostly large predators) have declined due to cane toads; others, especially species formerly consumed by those predators, have benefited. For yet others, effects have been minor or have been mediated indirectly rather than through direct interactions with the invasive toads. Factors that increase a predator's vulnerability to toad invasion include habitat overlap with toads, anurophagy, large body size, inability to develop rapid behavioral aversion to toads as prey items, and physiological vulnerability to bufotoxins as a result of a lack of coevolutionary history of exposure to other bufonid taxa.
Effective curriculum design for successful transition from being a community learning and development student to practitioner

This paper presents the stakeholders' views of qualifying programs in Community Learning and Development (CLD) in Scotland that use the competences and competencies approach to prepare students for transition to employment. It also gives insights into the competencies and competences debate. The results suggest that most participants felt that the competency approach was appropriate for professional development and as a preparation for transition to work. However, the current array of competences should be refreshed in light of developments to take into account the growing diversity of CLD practice. Also, participants emphasized that it was important to focus on soft skills (competencies) which indicate the process rather than outcome driven hard skills (competences) alone, and that more work needs to be done to make them more explicit in the curriculum.
Arborista, Inc.: An Instructional Resource Case

ABSTRACT: This deceptively simple case is intended for use as early as the first day of an M.B.A. core accounting course or as a focused review for an undergraduate accounting course. It achieves three primary objectives: accelerating student learning about the statement of cash flows, emphasizing the importance of both the cash flow statement and the income statement in valuation and capital markets, and introducing the three primary financial statements as an integrated system. The case also features the use of the direct method of presenting operating cash flows, both as a pedagogical tool and to allow interested instructors to increase their focus on that method. We have found that students benefit from the early integration of the cash flow statement, as well as the ability to clearly understand how operating cash flows are similar to—and different from—net income. Finally, the case provides an optional managerial accounting module for instructors who teach a course that integrates financial and mana.
Refocusing the Eu Budget – An Institutional View

There is little disagreement that the EU budget should be refocused. Redistributive agricultural and structural spending should be reduced in favor of more public good spending as the Boege and Sapir reports demand. But a public choice analysis can show that the current deadlock makes a refocusing of the budget unlikely. Starting with the Treaty of Rome we demonstrate how Member States became net payers and receivers and why the underlying coalitions were fairly stable and will remain so after Lisbon. We propose an additional public good budget within an improved process of enhanced cooperation to overcome the deadlock.
Borrowing Constraints and Aggregate Economic Activity

A model of aggregate economic activity is formulated which enmphasizes the effects of borrowing constraints in the presence of uninsurable risk. An important determinant of current income level is shown to be the cross-sectional distribution of wealth. As this distribution evolves endogenously, the model is capable of producing rich dynamics from a simple specification of exogenous shocks. The model shows that this phenomena can contribute to observed asset price volatility. IT IS COMMONLY THOUGHT that individuals have only limited opportunities to borrow against future labor income and cannot totally insure all types of risk. It has also been suggested that such departures from the presumptive norm of frictionless, complete information capital markets may have implications for aggregate economic activity. AlthLough there has been some work analyzing the implications of borrowing constraints for individual savings behavior (18, 2, 8), there has been no systematic analysis of how such borrowing constraints will affect the time series properties of output, prices, and interest rates. In this paper, we present a completely specified infinitely lived two agent equilibrium model which emphasizes the roles of borrowing constraint and uninsured risk for affecting aggregate outcomes. Specifically we assume that agents are prohibited from ever having negative nonhuman wealth. The model has the central feature that there is no aggregate uncertainty, but each agent's own productive opportunities are stochastic. If there were a full set of Arrow- Debreu contingent claim markets each agent could attain a certain consumption stream and the resulting allocation and (implicit) relative prices would be constant through time. However, we assume that such markets do not exist. Rather, we assume that at each point in time agents may trade only the single durable "asset" for the single perishable consumption good. This asset may be interpreted either as fiat mon ay with a fixed own nominal return of zero, or as claims to productive capital which emits a fixed exogenous flow of the consumption good. We assume also that output may be produced by labor. However, only one of the two agents is productive at any instant in time. The duration of time over which a single agent is productive is assumed to be random, and, for analytical simplicity, is assumed to be generated by a Poisson counting process. The resulting allocation has the property that the agent who is not productive exchanges some of his
Rivastigmine and donepezil treatment in moderate to moderately-severe Alzheimer's disease over a 2-year period

ABSTRACT Objectives: Randomised controlled trials that directly compare cholinesterase inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease have been characterised by significant methodological limitations. As a consequence, they have failed to establish whether there are differences between agents in this class. To help address this question, a double-blind, randomised, controlled, multicentre trial was designed to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of cholinesterase inhibitor treatment in patients with moderate to moderately-severe Alzheimer's disease over a 2-year period. Methods: Patients were randomly assigned to rivastigmine 3–12 mg/day or donepezil 5–10 mg/day. Efficacy measures comprised assessments of cognition, activities of daily living, global functioning and behavioural symptoms. Safety and tolerability assessments included adverse events and measurement of vital signs. Results: In total, 994 patients received cholinesterase inhibitor treatment (rivastigmine, n = 495; donepezil, n = 499), and 57.9% of patients completed the study. The most frequent reason for premature discontinuation in both treatment groups was adverse events, primarily gastrointestinal. Adverse events were more frequent in the rivastigmine group during the titration phase, but similar in the maintenance phase. Serious adverse events were reported by 31.7% of rivastigmine- and 32.5% of donepezil-treated patients, respectively. Rivastigmine and donepezil had similar effects on measures of cognition and behaviour, but rivastigmine showed a statistically significant advantage on measures of activities of daily living and global functioning in the ITT–LOCF population. However, this was not maintained in the non-ITT–LOCF populations. In secondary sub-group analyses, AD patients who had genotypes that encoded for full expression of the butyrylcholinesterase enzyme (BuChE wt/wt; n = 226/340), who were < 75 years of age (n = 362/994) or who had symptoms suggestive of concomitant Lewy body disease (n = 49/994) showed significantly greater benefits from rivastigmine treatment. Conclusions: Cholinesterase inhibitor treatment may offer continued therapeutic benefit for up to 2 years in patients with moderate AD. Although both drugs performed similarly on cognition and behaviour, rivastigmine may provide greater benefit in activities of daily living and global functioning.
A review of quality cost surveys

This paper reviews the surveys of quality costs conducted in various countries. A few researchers conducted an exclusive survey on quality cost but most of the researchers covered quality cost in quality management/control survey under the broad heading of financial measure and evaluation of quality management practices. The first part of the paper discusses issues related to collecting, measuring, reporting and uses of quality cost data and the second part discusses issues related to empirical evidences of relationship between quality cost components. This paper also evaluates the research methodology used by the researchers.
Well-being and economic conditions in Ireland

By European standards Ireland ranks high on many non-economic indicators of well-being. This paper explores how macroeconomic conditions have affected a range of these indicators. Time series data are used to explore the association between unemployment, inflation, and the level and growth rate of real income on the one hand and measures of subjective well-being and markers of mental health on the other. Over the longer term, 1975-2011, there was no upward trend in self-reported life satisfaction despite the secular improvement in living standards. While higher unemployment reduced life satisfaction over the first half of this period, its effect was weaker in later years. The rate of inflation has not had a significant effect on life satisfaction. There is no evidence that admission rates to psychiatric hospitals are affected by changes in economic conditions. However, higher unemployment is linked to higher suicide rates among younger males, although its effect appears to have weakened during the current recession. Finally, the recent rise in unemployment has had a much smaller impact on the birth rate than that due to the recession of the early 1980s. Overall, the impact of the current recession on the well-being indicators studied here has been surprisingly small.
What is innovation?: Insights and perspectives on the term 'innovation'

'Innovation' is a broad term and often mingled with other meanings. The diverse understanding of the term 'innovation' may be due to different research goals, but may also be caused by the nature of the inter disciplinary research field of innovation management. Therefore, literature proves a plethora of definitions concerning the term innovation. In order to build a broad picture of innovation and its antecedents, the term 'innovation' will be integrated into a framework. In the framework definitions are arranged according to an input-output view, where the various perspectives of innovation are highlighted. Furthermore, terms like imitation and invention are delimitated to innovation. In the end the paper suggests an integrative definition of 'innovation'.
A DEDS model for a serial pull system and an analysis of material movements

Most of the literature on just‐in‐time (JIT) production lines has focused on modelling the system into Markov‐chain. However, in practice, demands for products are known in a short planning horizon. Further, there is scarcity in the literature describing the dynamics and timing of material movements in JIT systems. Models a serial line into a discrete event dynamic system (DEDS) by a Max algebra approach incorporating the timing of material movements. Uses perturbation analysis to study the impact of parameter variation on the system performance. Compares the performances of push and pull systems using simulation analysis. The simulation results show that the pull system dominates the push system in lead time, in‐process inventories and stability of the production process.
Collaborative update of a rule-based expert system for HIV-1 genotypic resistance test interpretation

Introduction HIV-1 genotypic resistance test (GRT) interpretation systems (IS) require updates as new studies on HIV-1 drug resistance are published and as treatment guidelines evolve. Methods An expert panel was created to provide recommendations for the update of the Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database (HIVDB) GRT-IS. The panel was polled on the ARVs to be included in a GRT report, and the drug-resistance interpretations associated with 160 drug-resistance mutation (DRM) pattern-ARV combinations. The DRM pattern-ARV combinations included 52 nucleoside RT inhibitor (NRTI) DRM pattern-ARV combinations (13 patterns x 4 NRTIs), 27 nonnucleoside RT inhibitor (NNRTI) DRM pattern-ARV combinations (9 patterns x 3 NNRTIs), 39 protease inhibitor (PI) DRM pattern-ARV combinations (13 patterns x 3 PIs) and 42 integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) DRM pattern-ARV combinations (14 patterns x 3 INSTIs). Results There was universal agreement that a GRT report should include the NRTIs lamivudine, abacavir, zidovudine, emtricitabine, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate; the NNRTIs efavirenz, etravirine, nevirapine, and rilpivirine; the PIs atazanavir/r, darunavir/r, and lopinavir/r (with “/r” indicating pharmacological boosting with ritonavir or cobicistat); and the INSTIs dolutegravir, elvitegravir, and raltegravir. There was a range of opinion as to whether the NRTIs stavudine and didanosine and the PIs nelfinavir, indinavir/r, saquinavir/r, fosamprenavir/r, and tipranavir/r should be included. The expert panel members provided highly concordant DRM pattern-ARV interpretations with only 6% of NRTI, 6% of NNRTI, 5% of PI, and 3% of INSTI individual expert interpretations differing from the expert panel median by more than one resistance level. The expert panel median differed from the HIVDB 7.0 GRT-IS for 20 (12.5%) of the 160 DRM pattern-ARV combinations including 12 NRTI, two NNRTI, and six INSTI pattern-ARV combinations. Eighteen of these differences were updated in HIVDB 8.1 GRT-IS to reflect the expert panel median. Additionally, HIVDB users are now provided with the option to exclude those ARVs not considered to be universally required. Conclusions The HIVDB GRT-IS was updated through a collaborative process to reflect changes in HIV drug resistance knowledge, treatment guidelines, and expert opinion. Such a process broadens consensus among experts and identifies areas requiring further study.
When Legitimacy over Patent Protection - State as a Mediator for MNEs

Recently, production of Tamiflu is a controversial issue. Because of Tamiflu is a patent right owning to Roche. The protection of private property right is a most important principle for capitalism. Why some country want to produce Tamiflu before influenza be pandemic in spite of protection of patent? And latter why Roche granted approval of an additional manufacturing site in another country for increasing production capacity? Because of life-saving is first allocation value of legitimacy over profit of patent protection at present. State has the supreme power to define what is legitimate, when social, economic and political environment change, state will change these value ordering. If MNEs can fit more the values allocation of state, they gain more legitimacy to survive. State is a mediator for MNES to detect changing legitimacy. MNEs could not just conform to other organization, but they must conform to the changing legitimacy to adjust themselves for gaining more resource. This study tries to discuss the reason behind the isomorphism, not just for conformation. If the reason of legitimacy changes, then organization would be change their isomorphic action for adequate response. Keyword: legitimacy, institution theory, patent protection, political system
Multi-objective control of a fed-batch bioreactor using shrinking horizon MPC: A case study

This work focuses on offline and online multi-objective control of a fed-batch bioreactor for the induced foreign protein production by recombinant bacteria. Initially, open loop multi-objective control problem is formulated and solved using a single objective optimization after augmenting the individual objectives. The weighting parameters in the augmented objective function represent their priorities. The lexicographic optimization approach has been utilized for the multi-objective control in the MPC framework. Moreover, unlike the continuous processes, the batch processes operate for a definite batch time. Hence, the shrinking horizon approach along with the economic MPC framework is employed in the fed-batch bioreactor control.
Choosing Referendums on the EU

The last few decades witnessed a dramatic increase of nationwide referendums on issues concerning European integration. Why did national governments, at least in the countries where referendum is not constitutionally required, opt for popular votes? This paper argues that EU referendum is often regarded as a leeway to escape political hurdles at domestic level and as an instrument to increase bargaining power at EU level. Following the logic of two-level games, a three-stage game-theoretic model is proposed to test this argument, and to identify the condition under which referendum becomes an optimal choice for treaty negotiators. In the light of the model, the paper then empirically discusses the interaction between referendum applications, domestic hurdles and EU negotiations.