Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immuno-Spin Trapping-Based Detection of Oxidative Modifications in Cardiomyocytes and Coronary Endothelium in the Progression of Heart Failure in Tgαq*44 Mice

Recent studies suggest both beneficial and detrimental role of increased reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress in heart failure (HF). However, it is not clear at which stage oxidative stress and oxidative modifications occur in the endothelium in relation to cardiomyocytes in non-ischemic HF. Furthermore, most methods used to date to study oxidative stress are either non-specific or require tissue homogenization. In this study, we used immuno-spin trapping (IST) technique with fluorescent microscopy-based detection of DMPO nitrone adducts to localize and quantify oxidative modifications of the hearts from Tgαq*44 mice; a murine model of HF driven by cardiomyocyte-specific overexpression of Gαq* protein. Tgαq*44 mice and age-matched FVB controls at early, transition, and late stages of HF progression were injected with DMPO in vivo and analyzed ex vivo for DMPO nitrone adducts signals. Progressive oxidative modifications in cardiomyocytes, as evidenced by the elevation of DMPO nitrone adducts, were detected in hearts from 10- to 16-month-old, but not in 8-month-old Tgαq*44 mice, as compared with age-matched FVB mice. The DMPO nitrone adducts were detected in left and right ventricle, septum, and papillary muscle. Surprisingly, significant elevation of DMPO nitrone adducts was also present in the coronary endothelium both in large arteries and in microcirculation simultaneously, as in cardiomyocytes, starting from 10-month-old Tgαq*44 mice. On the other hand, superoxide production in heart homogenates was elevated already in 6-month-old Tgαq*44 mice and progressively increased to high levels in 14-month-old Tgαq*44 mice, while the enzymatic activity of catalase, glutathione reductase, and glutathione peroxidase was all elevated as early as in 4-month-old Tgαq*44 mice and stayed at a similar level in 14-month-old Tgαq*44. In summary, this study demonstrates that IST represents a unique method that allows to quantify oxidative modifications in cardiomyocytes and coronary endothelium in the heart. In Tgαq*44 mice with slowly developing HF, driven by cardiomyocyte-specific overexpression of Gαq* protein, an increase in superoxide production, despite compensatory activation of antioxidative mechanisms, results in the development of oxidative modifications not only in cardiomyocytes but also in coronary endothelium, at the transition phase of HF, before the end-stage disease.
Distinct Domains for Anti- and Pro-apoptotic Activities of IEX-1*

IEX-1 (immediate early response gene X-1) is a stress-inducible gene. Its overexpression can suppress or enhance apoptosis dependent on the nature of stress, yet the polypeptide does not possess any of the functional domains that are homologous to those present in well characterized effectors or inhibitors of apoptosis. This study using sequence-targeting mutagenesis reveals a transmembrane-like integrated region of the protein to be critical for both pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic functions. Substitution of the key hydrophobic residues with hydrophilic ones within this region impairs the capacity IEX-1 to positively and negatively regulate apoptosis. Mutations at N-linked glycosylation and phosphorylation sites or truncation of the C terminus of IEX-1 also abrogated its potential to promote cell survival. However, distinguished from the transmembrane-like domain, these mutants preserved pro-apoptotic activity of IEX-1 fully. On the contrary, mutation of nuclear localization sequence, despite its importance in apoptosis, did not impede IEX-1-mediated cell survival. Strikingly, all the mutants that lose their anti-apoptotic ability are unable to prevent acute increases in production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) at the initial onset of apoptosis, whereas those mutants that can sustain anti-death function also control acute ROS production as sufficiently as wild-type IEX-1. These findings suggest a critical role of IEX-1 in regulation of intracellular ROS homeostasis, providing new insight into the mechanism underlying IEX-1-mediated cell survival.
Developing a conceptual model of lead performance measurement and benchmarking

Purpose – Environmental turbulence including rapid changes in technology and markets has resulted in the need for new approaches to performance measurement and benchmarking. There is a need for studies that attempt to measure and benchmark upstream, leading or developmental aspects of organizations. Therefore, the aim of this paper is twofold. The first is to conduct an in‐depth case analysis of lead performance measurement and benchmarking leading to the further development of a conceptual model derived from the extant literature and initial survey data. The second is to outline future research agendas that could further develop the framework and the subject area.Design/methodology/approach – A multiple case analysis involving repeated in‐depth interviews with managers in organisational areas of upstream influence in the case organisations.Findings – It was found that the effect of external drivers for lead performance measurement and benchmarking was mediated by organisational context factors such as le.
Weighted joint sparse representation-based classification method for robust alignment-free face recognition

Abstract. This work proposes a weighted joint sparse representation (WJSR)-based classification method for robust alignment-free face recognition, in which an image is represented by a set of scale-invariant feature transform descriptors. The proposed method considers the correlation and the reliability of the query descriptors. The reliability is measured by the similarity information between the query descriptors and the atoms in the dictionary, which is incorporated into the l0∖l2-norm minimization to seek the optimal WJSR. Compared with the related state-of-art methods, the performance is advanced, as verified by the experiments on the benchmark face databases.
Path Encoding in Segment Routing

Segment Routing (SR) is emerging as an innovative traffic engineering technique compatible with traditional MPLS data plane. SR relies on label stacking, without requiring a signaling protocol. This greatly simplifies network operations in transit nodes. However, it may introduce scalability issues at the ingress node and packet overhead. Therefore, specific algorithms are required to efficiently compute the label stack for a given path. This study proposes two algorithms for SR label stack computation of strict routes that guarantee minimum label stack depth. Then, SR scalability performance is investigated. Results show that, in most of the cases, SR uses label stacks composed of few labels and introduces a limited packet overhead. However, relevant scalability issues may arise in specific cases, e.g., large planar topologies.
Should I stay or should I go? Return migration in times of crises

The current economic downturn has a significant impact on migrants' lives, including their considerations of return. Massive returns have potentially disastrous consequences for migrants' countries of origin, especially those countries that have become dependent on remittances. Yet, return is the least understood part of the migration process. Based on comparative observations of the same group of migrants following the Argentinean crisis in 2001 and the current economic downturn in Spain, this paper sheds light on how migrants decide about returning to their country of origin during times of crises. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Brand Reputation, Efficiency and the Concentration Process: A Case Study

The evidence from the European white goods industry, discussed in this paper, shows that once a brand segmentation of the market turns out to be sufficiently stable that is when brand-quality reputation becomes an important factor in the competitive game. It represents a strong inertial factor in the growth of firms even if market structure is far from being efficient in terms of plant size. The paper shows how the inertial role of brands has strongly affected the route of industrial concentration: it has been an incentive to mergers and takeovers rather than to internal growth, particularly when demand stabilized. Copyright 1991 by Oxford University Press.
Lithium–Sulfur Batteries: Progress and Prospects

Development of advanced energy‐storage systems for portable devices, electric vehicles, and grid storage must fulfill several requirements: low‐cost, long life, acceptable safety, high energy, high power, and environmental benignity. With these requirements, lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries promise great potential to be the next‐generation high‐energy system. However, the practicality of Li–S technology is hindered by technical obstacles, such as short shelf and cycle life and low sulfur content/loading, arising from the shuttling of polysulfide intermediates between the cathode and anode and the poor electronic conductivity of S and the discharge product Li2S. Much progress has been made during the past five years to circumvent these problems by employing sulfur–carbon or sulfur–polymer composite cathodes, novel cell configurations, and lithium‐metal anode stabilization. This Progress Report highlights recent developments with special attention toward innovation in sulfur‐encapsulation techniques, development of novel materials, and cell‐component design. The scientific understanding and engineering concerns are discussed at the end in every developmental stage. The critical research directions needed and the remaining challenges to be addressed are summarized in the Conclusion.
Un análisis espacial de las pautas de crecimiento y concentración de la población a partir de series homogéneas: España (1877-2001)

This work constitutes a contribution to the analysis of long term patterns of population concentration applied to the case of Spain. The proposed methodology is based on the homogenisation of both data and administrative units which takes the municipal structure of the 2001 census as its base reference. This work seeks to show how applying spatial analysis techniques to this type of homogeneous data series allows us to make more detailed studies of population patterns within a given territory. The most important conclusions that we reached was that, in Spain, sustained population growth has followed a spatial pattern that has become increasingly consolidated over time. The tendencies observed have produced an uneven distribution of population within the national territory marked by the existence of a series of well-defined, and often very localised, areas that spread beyond the limits of the official administrative boundaries.
Measuring Tool and Resource Maturity in Developer Ecosystems

Developer ecosystems are a set of software developers functioning as a unit and interacting with a shared market for software artefacts. Organizations that wish to develop their own developer ecosystems need to support developers with a comprehensive set of tools, to lower barriers to entry into the ecosystem and to raise productivity of developers in the ecosystem. In this paper a comprehensive tool framework is provided and used to evaluate eight developer ecosystems. The cases serve as an illustration for organizations that want to further improve the experience and productivity of its developers.
Engaged environmental citizenship

people can successfully govern commons through high levels of co-operation, communication, and information sharing. This co-operative set of social relations allows people to work collectively to achieve long-term optimal outcomes for the resource users. But only once a truly democratic decision-making process is in place can the potential of people to sustain common pool resources over the longer term be realised.
Behavior analysis method for product design support a study on modeling of behavior and functions

Recent industrial globalization has increased the number of unanticipated product failures and troubles caused by using them in unexpected ways or situations. Developing new type of products to meet recent requirements for product innovation may also cause unanticipated troubles due to lack of knowledge. It is important to obviate such troubles in advance in the product design phase. In addition to predicting ways and situations of use as much as possible, it is required to develop a methodology for modeling relations between product functions and ways/situations of use and then analyzing functional phenomena which depend on the ways/situations. The authors proposed a method for realizing it in which product functions, behavior and physical phenomena caused by the ways/situations are modeled by graphs such as function decomposition trees and Petri nets and then interaction among them are analyzed by integrating those models. The integration of the product function model and the behavior model is performed by finding functions which are realized by parts of the behavior. However, there are “static functions”, which are not realized by any behavior. In this paper, the conventional method is enhanced so that it can deal with this type of functions. Investigating static functions indicated that they are realized by keeping the state of the concerned part of the product unchanged. This can be regarded that transition from the state to itself is repeated. Based on this concept, we defined a unit of the Petri net for describing a static function. Incorporating this unit in the conventional behavior model enabled the conventional method to deal with that type of functions.
Patient rating of wrist pain and disability: a reliable and valid measurement tool.

OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to develop a reliable and valid tool for quantifying patient-rated wrist pain and disability. DESIGN Survey, tool development, reliability, and validity study. SETTING Upper extremity unit. PARTICIPANTS One hundred members of the International Wrist Investigators were surveyed by mail to assist in development of the scale. Patients with distal radius (n = 64) or scaphoid (n = 35) fractures were enrolled in a reliability study, and 101 patients with distal radius fractures were enrolled in a validity study. INTERVENTION Information from the expert survey, biomechanical literature, and patient interviews was used as a basis for item generation and definition of structural limitations for a scale that would be practical in the clinic. Patients with distal radius or scaphoid fractures completed the Patient-Rated Wrist Evaluation (PRWE) on two occasions to determine test-retest reliability. Patients with distal radius fractures (n = 101) completed the PRWE and the SF-36 and were tested with traditional impairment measures at baseline and at two, three, and six months after fracture to determine construct and criterion validity. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Reliability coefficients (ICCs) and validity correlations (Pearson product moment correlations). RESULTS Patient opinions on pain and on ability to do activities of daily living and work were thought to be the most important dimensions to include in subjective outcome tools. Brevity and simplicity were seen as essential in the clinic environment. A fifteen-item questionnaire (the PRWE) was designed to measure wrist pain and disability. Test-retest reliability was excellent (ICCs > 0.90). Validity assessment demonstrated that the instrument detected significant differences over time (p < 0.01) and was appropriately correlated with alternate forms of assessing parameters of pain and disability. CONCLUSIONS The PRWE provides a brief, reliable, and valid measure of patient-rated pain and disability.
Deprival value and fair value: a reinterpretation and a reconciliation

Abstract Measurement is an important current issue for financial accounting standard-setters. Current values are increasingly replacing historical cost measures, but an important unresolved issue is the precise form that current value should take. In this paper two alternative measurement bases that have appeared in accounting standards. Deprivai Value (sometimes called Value to the Business) and Fair Value, are explained and compared. They are then reconciled by making the following three adjustments to their conventional definitions. (1) In the case of Deprival Value, situations in which net realisable value exceeds replacement cost imply that there is a profitable redevelopment or redeployment opportunity, so that net realisable value is regarded as the appropriate measure of Deprivai Value. (2) In the case of Fair Value, transactions costs (including installation and removal costs) are added to acquisition values and deducted from disposal values. (3) In the case of Fair Value, it is assumed that net realisable value represents the ‘highest and best use’, except when it is exceeded by both replacement cost and value in use. In the latter case, ‘highest and best use’ (and therefore Fair Value) is inferred by assuming profit-maximising behaviour by the owner. It is suggested that the resulting synthesis represents a method of current valuation which is consistent with the objective of measuring the asset in terms of the economic opportunities that are available to its current owner in the condition and location in which it is currently to be found.
The Formation of Peer Reputation among Physicians and Its Effect on Technology Adoption

This paper studies patient volume and the severity of case mix as they relate to physicians’ human capital accumulation and pace of technology adoption by exploring a quality signaling mechanism through which physicians build peer reputation. We show that volume building leads physicians to actively manage case mix and find that successful surgeries (particularly for difficult cases) raise future volume, whereas failed surgeries (particularly for easy cases) deplete it. Surgeons with a high patient census and a low‐severity case mix adopt the new technology more rapidly. These findings highlight the role of peer reputation for growing practice size and the timing of technology adoption.
The Src Family Kinase Fyn Mediates Signals Induced by TCR Antagonists1

FcR nonbinding anti-CD3ε mAbs elicit partial TCR signaling that leads to T cell unresponsiveness and tolerance in vivo. In this study, the membrane-proximal events that promote T cell inactivation by FcR nonbinding anti-CD3 mAbs were examined. In the context of FcR nonbinding anti-CD3, TCR complexes did not aggregate and failed to translocate into glycolipid-enriched membrane microdomains. Furthermore, FcR nonbinding anti-CD3 mAbs induced tyrosine phosphorylation of the Fyn substrate Cbl, but not the ZAP-70 substrate linker for activation of T cells. Overexpression of Fyn, but not Lck, restored the mitogenicity of FcR nonbinding anti-CD3 in primary T cells. Taken together, these results suggest that Fyn mediates the partial signaling induced by TCR antagonists.
The Role of Mark to Market on the Properties of Accounting Information in Kurdistan International Bank

The general objective of financial reporting is to provide useful information to present potential investors, creditors, and others help them make investment, credit, and other decisions. The title of the paper is one of the subjects that get large concerns in the financial and business world in the present time. I’m examining the role of Mark to Market on the Properties of Accounting Information in Kurdistan International Bank (KIB). The purposes of this research are as follows: knowledge of the implications of the application of fair value accounting standards on the quality of financial reports for the Kurdistan International Bank which can be checked through the following: The impact of the application of international accounting standards oriented fair value and the corresponding Iraqi standards the appropriateness of accounting information in the financial reports of the Kurdistan International Bank (KIB), and the impact of the application of international accounting standards directs toward fair value and the corresponding standards Iraqi on the reliability and dependability of accounting information in the financial reports of the Kurdistan International Bank. I’m argue that through the good results of statistical analysis could benefit from this remark conclusion in the areas of applications international accounting standards directed towards fair value and the corresponding standards Iraqi on the reliability and dependability of accounting information in the financial reports of the Kurdistan. Keywords: Accounting information, qualitative characteristics, Mark to Market Accounting, Kurdistan International Bank (KIB).
Measuring the influence of space and time effects on time on the market

This paper is concerned with spatial effects of time on the market for residential property and time varying relationships using a dataset of properties from the Adelaide metropolitan area, Australia, during the period 2002–2011. The analysis firstly considers the spatial dependence in time on the market and secondly extends the analysis to a space-time model using 2SLS regression. The findings demonstrate the complexity in spatial analysis with results indicating a random distribution of time on the market in 86% of observations a pattern that is consistent over time. Spatial autocorrelation is shown to increase time on the market in the subject property while spatial error decreases time on the market in the subject property suggesting a high level of market transparency and improved liquidity. The compensating or nullifying effects of both types of spatial association is shown to contribute to the random distribution observed in time on the market. A strong explanatory capacity of the business cycle suggests that economic drivers are leading time on the market rather than prices.
Efficient expression of a 100-kilodalton mosquitocidal toxin in protease-deficient recombinant Bacillus sphaericus

The expression of the 100-kDa mosquitocidal toxin (Mtx) during vegetative growth and sporulation in nine different mosquito-larvicidal strains of Bacillus sphaericus has been analyzed. In five out of the nine strains the 100-kDa toxin was found to be expressed predominantly in the vegetative phase of growth, and in all nine strains the level of the toxin in sporulated cells was very low or undetectable. Strains in four out of the six DNA homology groups of B. sphaericus produced intracellular and extracellular proteases, which degraded the 100-kDa toxin, during sporulation. The 100-kDa toxin gene was expressed by using its native promoter on a multicopy number plasmid in B. sphaericus 1693 (protease negative) and B. sphaericus 13052 (protease positive). High levels of the 100-kDa toxin were produced in vegetative cells of both strains as well as in sporulated cells of protease-negative strain 1693, which is in contrast to the low levels of the 100-kDa toxin produced in sporulated cells of protease-positive strain 13052. Thus, the small amount of the 100-kDa toxin in sporulated cells of the nine mosquito-larvicidal strains is probably due to degradation of the 100-kDa toxin synthesized during vegetative growth by a protease(s) produced during sporulation. B. sphaericus 1693 transformed with the 100-kDa toxin gene was as toxic to mosquito larvae during both vegetative growth and sporulation as the natural high-toxicity strains of sporulated B. sphaericus. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)