Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coordinated vs. liberal market HRM: the impact of institutionalization on multinational firms

The impact of institutionalized contexts on the HRM activities of multinational firms has become a focus of increasing attention in recent literature. However, theories of how different types of business systems or market economies may influence HRM, and the impact of context on multinational corporations (MNCs) operating under these different conditions are still not fully tested. In this paper the influence of the extent of institutional embeddedness of different national contexts (based on varieties of capitalism theory) on the HRM activities of MNCs is explored through the use of extensive survey data from four countries: the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. Evidence is found of differences in HRM practices between foreign- and domestic-owned MNCs, as well as between MNCs and domestic organizations. Although less than expected, the restricted amount of leeway within a coordinated economy also appears to have differential effects on the various HRM practices explored in these foreign and domestic organizations.
Dietary polyphenols against metabolic disorders: How far have we progressed in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of action of these compounds?

ABSTRACT The aim of this review was to critically assess the evidence supporting the metabolic and anti-inflammatory effects attributed to polyphenols and the potential mechanisms of action underlying these effects. The metabolic and anti-inflammatory properties of polyphenols and polyphenol-rich products have been shown mostly in rodents. These compounds appear to share multiple mechanisms of action at different body sites (gastrointestinal tract, microbiota, host organs) and the responsible molecules may be the original plant compounds, the microbial metabolites and (or) the host derived conjugates. Polyphenols may modify digestion and absorption of nutrients, microbiota composition and metabolism, and host tissue metabolic pathways but none of these mechanisms have been fully demonstrated in vivo and thus, more and better designed studies are needed. Furthermore, human clinical trials show inconsistent evidence of the metabolic and inflammation regulatory properties of polyphenols. Some of the principal limitations of these studies as well as recommendations to further progress in the understanding of the metabolic effects and mechanisms of action of polyphenols are discussed.
Efficient Breadth-First Implementation of the Wavelet Transform

Cache-efficient breadth-first lifting-based algorithms for the wavelet transform (WT) are considered. Two optimizations for improving the efficiency of the WT computation are proposed. These optimizations are then applied to two different baseline WT algorithms and shown to be highly effective, reducing the execution time by as much as one third. Moreover, the resulting optimized WT algorithms are shown to be quite competitive with another more sophisticated algorithm, in spite of having very substantially reduced memory requirements
Yeast mitochondrial dynamics: Fusion, division, segregation, and shape

Mitochondria are essential organelles found in virtually all eukaryotic cells that play key roles in a variety of cellular processes. Mitochondria show a striking heterogeneity in their number, location, and shape in many different cell types. Although the dynamic nature of mitochondria has been known for decades, the molecules and mechanisms that mediate these processes are largely unknown. Recently, several laboratories have isolated and analyzed mutants in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae defective in mitochondrial fusion and division, in the segregation of mitochondria to daughter cells, and in the establishment and maintenance of mitochondrial shape. These studies have identified several proteins that appear to mediate different aspects of mitochondrial morphogenesis. Although it is clear that many additional components have yet to be identified, some of the newly discovered proteins raise intriguing possibilities for how the processes of mitochondrial division, fusion, and segregation occur. Below we summarize our current understanding of the molecules known to be required for yeast mitochondrial dynamics. Microsc. Res. Tech. 51:573–583, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Tracheal tube biofilm as a source of bacterial colonization of the lung

Biofilm formation in tracheal tubes, its bacterial content, and its interaction with ventilator gas flow were investigated. At least 50 mg (dry weight) of biofilm was found in 30 of 40 tracheal tubes used in intensive care patients for 2 h to 10 days. Electron microscopy showed bacteria in this layer, and quantitative studies showed that bacterial counts could reach up to 10(6)/cm of tube length. Bacteria were cultured from the patient side of 18 of 78 heat and moisture exchanger-microbiological filter units removed from ventilator circuits. Particles were shown to detach from tracheal tube luminal biofilm and were projected up to 45 cm from the tracheal tube tip. Following contamination of the tracheal tube biofilm with a patient's own gastrointestinal flora, entrainment of bacteria in the inspiratory gas flow provides a mechanism for initial and repeated lung colonization.
Gene/environment causes of cleft lip and/or palate

Craniofacial anomalies, and in particular cleft lip and palate, are major human birth defects with a worldwide frequency of 1 in 700 and substantial clinical impact. A wide range of studies in developmental biology has contributed to a better knowledge of how both genes and environmental exposures impact head organogenesis. Specific causes have now been identified for some forms of cleft lip and palate, and we are at the beginning of a time in which the common nonsyndromic forms may also have specific etiologies identified. Mouse models have an especially important role in disclosing cleft etiologies and providing models for environmental cotriggers or interventions. An overview of the gene–environment contributions to nonsyndromic forms of clefting and their implications for developmental biology and clinical counseling is presented.
The CoO‐ELM model: A theoretical framework for the cognitive processes underlying country of origin‐effects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an extended version of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM‐model) to explain and predict which of the four cognitive processes that are distinguished in the literature, with respect to Country of Origin (CoO), can be expected to occur: the halo‐effect, the summary construct‐effect, the product attribute‐effect or the default heuristic‐effect.Design/methodology/approach – Contrary to most of the previous theoretically‐oriented work on cognitive CoO‐effects, the epistemological background of the CoO‐ELM model proposed in this paper is of an inductive nature with theoretical propositions being derived from empirical data already gathered in the existing studies.Findings – The outcome of this paper is a flow chart model leading to a set of theoretical propositions on which cognitive CoO‐effects can be expected to occur under different situational contexts.Research limitations/implications – This paper only focuses on the explanation of cognitive CoO‐effects,.
Effects of creating digital stories on foreign language education pre-service teachers’ TPACK self-confidence

This study aimed to examine the effects of creating digital stories (DSs) on the self-confidence of foreign language education (FLE) pre-service teachers with regard to technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK). A one-group pretest/posttest experimental research design was applied, supported by a qualitative approach. A total of 71 FLE pre-service teachers created DSs on a topic from the national foreign language programme. Data were collected through a self-confidence TPACK scale, demographic questionnaire, open-ended question and observations. Results showed positive significant differences between TPACK self-confidence scores before and after DS creation. Specifically, scores on technological pedagogical knowledge and technological knowledge improved significantly. The mean scores of technological content knowledge also improved, but the change was not significant. Moreover, qualitative data showed that FLE pre-service teachers used TPACK-relevant adjectives to describe their DSs as instructive, consistent with aims, appropriate for target students, thought provoking and creative.
A Novel Distributional Approach to Multilingual Conceptual Metaphor Recognition

We present a novel approach to the problem of multilingual conceptual metaphor recognition. Our approach extends recent work in conceptual metaphor discovery by combining a complex methodology for facet-based concept induction with a distributional vector space model of linguistic and conceptual metaphor. In the evaluation of our system in English, Spanish, Russian, and Farsi, we experiment with several state-of-the-art vector space models and demonstrate a clear benefit to the fine-grained concept representation that forms the basis of our methodology for conceptual metaphor recognition.
An Improved InSAR Image Co-Registration Method for Pairs with Relatively Big Distortions or Large Incoherent Areas

Co-registration is one of the most important steps in interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data processing. The standard offset-measurement method based on cross-correlating uniformly distributed patches takes no account of specific geometric transformation between images or characteristics of ground scatterers. Hence, it is inefficient and difficult to obtain satisfying co-registration results for image pairs with relatively big distortion or large incoherent areas. Given this, an improved co-registration strategy is proposed in this paper which takes both the geometric features and image content into consideration. Firstly, some geometric transformations including scale, flip, rotation, and shear between images were eliminated based on the geometrical information, and the initial co-registration polynomial was obtained. Then the registration points were automatically detected by integrating the signal-to-clutter-ratio (SCR) thresholds and the amplitude information, and a further co-registration process was performed to refine the polynomial. Several comparison experiments were carried out using 2 TerraSAR-X data from the Hong Kong airport and 21 PALSAR data from the Donghai Bridge. Experiment results demonstrate that the proposed method brings accuracy and efficiency improvements for co-registration and processing abilities in the cases of big distortion between images or large incoherent areas in the images. For most co-registrations, the proposed method can enhance the reliability and applicability of co-registration and thus promote the automation to a higher level.
Role of the Dopaminergic System in the Acquisition, Expression and Reinstatement of MDMA-Induced Conditioned Place Preference in Adolescent Mice

Background The rewarding effects of 3,4-methylenedioxy-metamphetamine (MDMA) have been demonstrated in conditioned place preference (CPP) procedures, but the involvement of the dopaminergic system in MDMA-induced CPP and reinstatement is poorly understood. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, the effects of the DA D1 antagonist SCH 23390 (0.125 and 0.250 mg/kg), the DA D2 antagonist Haloperidol (0.1 and 0.2 mg/kg), the D2 antagonist Raclopride (0.3 and 0.6 mg/kg) and the dopamine release inhibitor CGS 10746B (3 and 10 mg/kg) on the acquisition, expression and reinstatement of a CPP induced by 10 mg/kg of MDMA were evaluated in adolescent mice. As expected, MDMA significantly increased the time spent in the drug-paired compartment during the post-conditioning (Post-C) test, and a priming dose of 5 mg/kg reinstated the extinguished preference. The higher doses of Haloperidol, Raclopride and CGS 10746B and both doses of SCH 23390 blocked acquisition of the MDMA-induced CPP. However, only Haloperidol blocked expression of the CPP. Reinstatement of the extinguished preference was not affected by any of the drugs studied. Analysis of brain monoamines revealed that the blockade of CPP acquisition was accompanied by an increase in DA concentration in the striatum, with a concomitant decrease in DOPAC and HVA levels. Administration of haloperidol during the Post-C test produced increases in striatal serotonin, DOPAC and HVA concentrations. In mice treated with the higher doses of haloperidol and CGS an increase in SERT concentration in the striatum was detected during acquisition of the CPP, but no changes in DAT were observed. Conclusions/Significance These results demonstrate that, in adolescent mice, the dopaminergic system is involved in the acquisition and expression of MDMA-induced CPP, but not in its reinstatement.
Throughput analysis of shared-memory crosspoint buffered packet switches

This study presents a theoretical throughput analysis of two buffered-crossbar switches, called shared-memory crosspoint buffered (SMCB) switches, in which crosspoint buffers are shared by two or more inputs. In one of the switches, the shared-crosspoint buffers are dynamically partitioned and assigned to the sharing inputs, and memory is sped up. In the other switch, inputs are arbitrated to determine which of them accesses the shared-crosspoint buffers, and memory speedup is avoided. SMCB switches have been shown to achieve a throughput comparable to that of a combined input-crosspoint buffered (CICB) switch with dedicated crosspoint buffers to each input but, with less memory than a CICB switch. The two analysed SMCB switches use random selection as the arbitration scheme. The authors modelled the states of the shared-crosspoint buffers of the two switches using a Markov-modulated process and prove that the throughput of the proposed switches approaches 100% under independent and identically distributed uniform traffic. In addition, the authors provide numerical evaluations of the derived formulas to show how the throughput approaches asymptotically to 100%.
Fgf3 signaling from the ventral diencephalon is required for early specification and subsequent survival of the zebrafish adenohypophysis

The pituitary gland consists of two major parts: the neurohypophysis, which is of neural origin; and the adenohypophysis, which is of non-neural ectodermal origin. Development of the adenohypophysis is governed by signaling proteins from the infundibulum, a ventral structure of the diencephalon that gives rise to the neurohypophysis. In mouse, the fibroblast growth factors Fgf8, Fgf10 and Fgf18 are thought to affect multiple processes of pituitary development: morphogenesis and patterning of the adenohypophyseal anlage; and survival, proliferation and differential specification of adenohypophyseal progenitor cells. Here, we investigate the role of Fgf3 during pituitary development in the zebrafish, analyzing lia/fgf3 null mutants. We show that Fgf3 signaling from the ventral diencephalon is required in a non-cell autonomous fashion to induce the expression of lim3, pit1 and other pituitary-specific genes in the underlying adenohypophyseal progenitor cells. Despite the absence of such early specification steps, fgf3 mutants continue to form a distinct pituitary anlage of normal size and shape, until adenohypophyseal cells die by apoptosis. We further show that Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) cannot rescue pituitary development, although it is able to induce adenohypophyseal cells in ectopic placodal regions of fgf3 mutants, indicating that Fgf3 does not act via Shh, and that Shh can act independently of Fgf3. In sum, our data suggest that Fgf3 signaling primarily promotes the transcriptional activation of genes regulating early specification steps of adenohypophyseal progenitor cells. This early specification seems to be essential for the subsequent survival of pituitary cells, but not for pituitary morphogenesis or pituitary cell proliferation.
Reduction of postoperative mortality and morbidity with epidural or spinal anaesthesia: results from overview of randomised trials

Abstract Objectives: To obtain reliable estimates of the effects of neuraxial blockade with epidural or spinal anaesthesia on postoperative morbidity and mortality. Design: Systematic review of all trials with randomisation to intraoperative neuraxial blockade or not. Studies: 141 trials including 9559 patients for which data were available before 1 January 1997. Trials were eligible irrespective of their primary aims, concomitant use of general anaesthesia, publication status, or language. Trials were identified by extensive search methods, and substantial amounts of data were obtained or confirmed by correspondence with trialists. Main outcome measures: All cause mortality, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, myocardial infarction, transfusion requirements, pneumonia, other infections, respiratory depression, and renal failure. Results: Overall mortality was reduced by about a third in patients allocated to neuraxial blockade (103 deaths/4871 patients versus 144/4688 patients, odds ratio=0.70, 95% confidence interval 0.54 to 0.90, P=0.006). Neuraxial blockade reduced the odds of deep vein thrombosis by 44%, pulmonary embolism by 55%, transfusion requirements by 50%, pneumonia by 39%, and respiratory depression by 59% (all P<0.001). There were also reductions in myocardial infarction and renal failure. Although there was limited power to assess subgroup effects, the proportional reductions in mortality did not clearly differ by surgical group, type of blockade (epidural or spinal), or in those trials in which neuraxial blockade was combined with general anaesthesia compared with trials in which neuraxial blockade was used alone. Conclusions: Neuraxial blockade reduces postoperative mortality and other serious complications. The size of some of these benefits remains uncertain, and further research is required to determine whether these effects are due solely to benefits of neuraxial blockade or partly to avoidance of general anaesthesia. Nevertheless, these findings support more widespread use of neuraxial blockade.
A Foothold Selection Algorithm for Spider Robot Locomotion in Planar Tunnel Environments

In this paper we present an algorithm, called the partitioned cubes gaiting (PCG) algorithm, for planning the foothold positions of spider-like robots in planar tunnels bounded by piecewise linear walls. The paper focuses on three-limb robots, but the algorithm generalizes to robots with a larger number of limbs. The input to the PCG algorithm is a geometric description of the tunnel, a lower bound on the amount of friction at the contacts, as well as start and target foothold positions. Using efficient convex programming techniques, the algorithm approximates the possible foothold positions as a collection of cubes in contact configuration space (c-space). Each cube represents a contact independent set of feasible three-limb postures. A graph structure induced by the cubes has the property that its edges represent feasible motion between neighboring sets of three-limb postures. This motion is realized by lifting one limb while the other two limbs brace the robot against the tunnel walls. A shortest-path search along the graph yields a three–two–three gait pattern that moves the robot from start to target using a minimum number of foothold exchanges. In practical environments the algorithm runs in time, which is linear in the number of tunnel walls and polynomial in the degree of cube approximation of contact c-space. Simulations as well as experiments demonstrate the PCG algorithm in tunnel environments.
A Phase I study of active immunotherapy with carcinoembryonic antigen peptide (CAP-1)-pulsed, autologous human cultured dendritic cells in patients with metastatic malignancies expressing carcinoembryonic antigen.

Dendritic cells (DCs), antigen-presenting cells capable of priming naive T cells to specific antigens in an HLA-restricted fashion, have been demonstrated to induce protective T cell-mediated immunity in tumor-bearing animals. We performed this study to test the safety, feasibility, and clinical response of immunizations with in vitro-generated DCs, loaded with an HLA-A2-restricted peptide fragment of the tumor antigen carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), for the treatment of patients with advanced CEA-expressing malignancies. Cell preparations enriched for autologous DCs were generated from the patients' plastic adherent peripheral blood mononuclear cells in serum-free media supplemented with granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-4. Within the cell preparation, 66% of the cells expressed the phenotype typical for DCs (CD86high, HLA-DRhigh, and CD14low). The DCs were loaded with the CEA peptide CAP-1 and cryopreserved. Groups of three to six patients received four weekly or biweekly i.v. infusions of the CAP-1-loaded DC in escalating dose levels of 1 x 10(7), 3 x 10(7), and 1 x 10(8) cells/dose. A subset of the patients in the last group also received intradermal injections of 1 x 10(6) DCs. There were no toxicities directly referable to the treatments. One patient had a minor response, and one had stable disease. Skin punch biopsy at DC injection sites demonstrated pleomorphic infiltrates in the three patients evaluated. We conclude that it is feasible and safe to generate and administer large numbers of previously cryopreserved DCs loaded with CAP-1 peptide to patients with advanced malignancies.
Space-Time Spreading MIMO System Using Canonical Precoding Tensor Model

We consider a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna system based on Space-Time Spreading (STS), where multiple data streams are preceded across space and time dimensions using multiple spreading codes. We propose a canonical precoding structure based on a CONstrained FACtor (CONFAC) decomposition of a tensor. The precoder tensor is decomposed as a function of three canonical (constraint) matrices that define the allocation of data streams and spreading codes to transmit antennas. Different STS schemes can be derived with the proposed modeling framework by simply adjusting the canonical precoder structure. The uniqueness property of the CONFAC decomposition allows a blind joint detection/channel estimation with the knowledge or not of the spreading codes.