Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Retaining the visitor, enhancing the experience : identifying attributes of choice in repeat museum visitation

How people make choices in relation to cultural and leisure consumption has been explored from the viewpoint of motivation, lifestyle segmentation, and lifecycle. Little is known about the specific characteristics associated with choices to visit, re-visit, or not to visit a museum. Understanding characteristics of choice, developing incentives, bundled packages, and levels of pricing is an essential element in marketing strategies for museums operating in a competitive leisure marketplace. However, determining what really matters to cultural consumers is complex and methodologies to assist in unraveling such complexities are not easily identified. This study aimed to address ways in which people respond to specific incentives as influences in choosing museum visitation. The study was conducted in two major museums in Australia to determine how useful choice modeling is in identifying features that matter to cultural consumers. The results suggest that choice modeling has much to offer in relation to understanding the benefits people are seeking from a museum experience as well as offering strategic insight into potential collaborative ventures and re-combinations of existing museum products and services. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Signaling pathways required for matrix metalloproteinase‐9 induction by betacellulin in head‐and‐neck squamous carcinoma cells

The mechanisms by which c‐erbB‐dependent signaling contribute to the invasive potential of HNSCC remain to be fully elucidated. We have previously shown that c‐erbB autocrine and/or paracrine stimulation upregulates MMP‐9 but has no effect on the related gelatinase, MMP‐2. BTC, a major c‐erbB ligand, has the ability to efficiently activate all c‐erbB receptors and to bind directly to EGFR and c‐erbB‐4. BTC is commonly expressed in HNSCC cells and exerts the most potent effects in terms of MMP induction relative to other c‐erbB ligands so far tested. In the present study, we explored the contribution of major downstream events triggered by BTC/c‐erbB receptor signaling to the regulation of MMP‐9 and in vitro invasiveness of HNSCC cells. In human HNSCC cell lines, SIHN‐006 and Detroit‐562, BTC treatment resulted in rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of all c‐erbB receptors whereas both endogenous MMP‐9 and BTC‐stimulated MMP‐9 were predominantly mediated via EGFR. BTC induced ERK1/2, JNK/SAPK and Akt phosphorylation with differing kinetics but not p38 kinase. The BTC‐dependent activation of JNK and PI3K/Akt pathways occurred predominantly via EGFR, whereas activation of the MEK‐1/ERK pathway occurred via all 4 c‐erbB receptors, although again predominantly via EGFR. Selective inhibition of ERK/MAPK (by PD98059 or U0126) and PI3K (by LY294002 or wortmannin) led to marked reduction of both basal and BTC‐induced MMP‐9 activity and invasive ability of HNSCC cells. In contrast, inhibition of p38 kinase with SB203580 produced no such effects. A specific inhibitor of NF‐κB, BAY 11‐7085, also blocked the stimulatory effect of BTC. No remarkable inhibition of MMP‐9 and invasion was observed on targeting other cellular activities, such as PKA, PKC and PLC‐γ. Taken together, our data show that BTC induces MMP‐9 production and invasion primarily through activation of EGFR, MAPK and PI3K/Akt in HNSCC cells. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Export performance: success determinants for New Zealand manufacturing exporters

A large and representative sample of New Zealand manufacturing exporters is used to empirically test and validate the model of export performance proposed by Aaby and Slater. A 20‐item additive export performance scale, based on both objective and subjective measures, is formulated and found to be reliable and normally distributed. A set of independent variables proposed by Aaby and Slater is operationalised, along with an additional marketing orientation construct based on a ten item scale. A firm size control measure is also utilised. A factor analysis of the independent variable set identifies an interpretable sub‐set of independent measures. Using a multiple regression model, six of seven independent variables are found to have a significant effect on export performance as the dependent variable, and in the hypothesised direction. Implications of the findings for exporters are discussed.
Strain-Specific Inhibition of nod Gene Induction in Bradyrhizobium japonicum by Flavonoid Compounds

A broad-host-range plasmid, pEA2-21, containing a Bradyrhizobium japonicum nodABC'-'lacZ translational fusion was used to identify strain-specific inhibitors of the genes required for soybean nodulation, the common nod genes. The responses of type strains of B. japonicum serogroups USDA 110, USDA 123, USDA 127, USDA 129, USDA 122, and USDA 138 to nod gene inhibitors were compared. Few compounds inhibited nod gene expression in B. japonicum USDA 110. In contrast, nod gene expression in strains belonging to several other serogroups was inhibited by most of the flavonoids tested. However, the application of two of these strain-specific compounds, chrysin and naringenin, had little effect on the pattern of competition between indigenous and inoculum strains of B. japonicum in greenhouse and field trials. Preliminary studies with radiolabeled chrysin and naringenin suggest that the different responses to nod gene inhibitors may be partly due to the degree to which plant flavonoids can be metabolized by each strain.
Antioxidant Properties of Extracts from Medicinal Plants Popularly Used in Taiwan

We have examined antioxidant activities of twenty-six medicinal herbal extracts that have been popularly used as folk medicines in Taiwan. The results of scavenging DPPH radical activity show that, among the 26 tested medicinal plants, Ludwigia octovalvis, Vitis thunbergii, Rubus parvifolius, Lindernia anagallis, and Zanthoxylum nitidum exhibited strong activities and their IC50 values for DPPH radicals were 4.6, 24, 27, 36, 50 g/mL, respectively. As for the su- peroxide anion scavenging activity (IC50, g/mL), the top five most significant activities were observed in plant extracts of Ludwigia octovalvis (26  g/mL), Vitis thunbergii (58  g/mL), Prunella vulgaris (113  g/mL), Saurauia oldhamii (124  g/mL), and Rubus parvifolius (151  g/mL). The IC50 values for DPPH and superoxide anion of catechin (positive control) were 2.5 and 7.2  g/mL, respectively. It was also observed in the present study that, at 1 mg/mL, Ludwigia octovalvis and Bombax malabaricum exhibited significant protection onψx174 supe r- coiled DNA against strand cleavage induced by UV irradiated H2O2 with a superior or compati- ble effect to that of catechin.
The Effects of Investor Sentiment and the Conditional Volatility in New Zealand Stock Market

Using New Zealand market data, this paper provides additional evidence to support recent studies that investor sentiment moves stock prices and, in turn, influences expected returns. It also adds to a number of previous studies that investor sentiment influences the market volatility, and hence the mean-variance relation. The findings in this study help confirm that investor sentiment is time-varying.
Bulk-viscosity-driven inflationary model.

Bulk viscosity associated with the production of heavy particles during the grand-unified-theory phase transition can lead to exponential or ''generalized'' inflation. The condition of inflation proposed is independent of the details of the phase transition and remains unaltered in the presence of a cosmological constant. Such a mechanism avoids the extreme supercooling and reheating needed in the usual inflationary models. The standard baryogenesis mechanism can be maintained.
ACHIEVEING ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE THROUGH ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE REINFORCEMENT

Today, In order to create motivation and desirable behavior in employees, to obtain organizational goals, to increase human resources productivity and finally to achieve organizational excellence, top managers of organizations apply new and effective strategies. One of these strategies to achieve organizational excellence is creating desirable corporate culture. This research has been conducted to identify the path to reach organizational excellence by creating corporate culture according to the standards and criteria of organizational excellence. The result of the so-called research is this paper in which researchers found twenty models and components of corporate culture and based on the Industry, organizational goals and EFQM model developed a model called "The Eskimo model of Culture-Excellence". The method of the research is survey and field study and the questionnaires were distributed among 116 managers and employees. To assess the reliability of questionnaires, Cronbach alpha was measured to be 95% in the ideal situation and 0/97 in the current situation. Systematic sampling was done and in the pre-test stage 45 questionnaires were distributed. A comparison between the current and the ideal corporate culture based on the views of managers and employees was done and finally it has been concluded that corporate culture is the main factor to facilitate corporate excellence and success in order to achieve organizational effectiveness. The contribution of this paper is that it proposes a localized –applicable model of corporate excellence through reinforcing corporate culture.
Consumer's Shopping Values for e-Satisfaction and e-Loyalty: Moderating Effect of Personality

The current study tries to understand better how consumers’ e-shopping value orientation relates to consumer’s behavior in online environment. Consumers have perceptions of the e-shopping value they acquire during their experiences in navigating Web sites. This consumer's e-shopping value is considered as utilitarian shopping value, hedonic shopping value, and social engagement shopping value. The current paper proposes that value orientation of consumers in Web sites would consequently affect customer loyalty such as revisit intention and intention to Word-of-Mouth. In addition, the research investigates the moderating effect of consumer’s personality between consumer‘s e-shopping value and consumers’ attitude in Web sites. For testing the hypothesized research model, survey and Lisrel analysis are conducted. The findings emphasize that online providers need to focus on the perceived e-shopping values most salient to consumers in order to improve their profitability.
In vitro studies on highly resistant small colony variants of Staphylococcus aureus resistant to methicillin.

Methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus are being recognized with increasing frequency in Europe and North America [1-10]. Although these strains are associated with some serious infections, it is uncertain whether they have the same degree of virulence and a different response to adequate doses of methicillin from those of other multiple antibiotic-resistant, but methicillin-sensitive staphylococci. Clinical information is difficult to interpret on these points, because those patients most likely to be infected fall into the category of the compromised host and therefore tend to do poorly when infected with any bacterial pathogen. Furthermore, there are few documented cases in which adequate courses of methicillin or cephalothin proved to be therapeutically ineffective [4, 10, 11], whereas subsequent treatment with an effective bactericidal chemotherapeutic regimen (e.g., either vancomycin or a combination of methicillin or cephalothin and kanamycin) was successful [12]. It is characteristic of methicillin-resistant strains
Performance evaluation of center search algorithms used for dynamic rendezvous-point relocation

The Protocol Independent Multicast - Sparse Mode (PIM-SM) is a multicast routing protocol that uses one center (which we refer to as the Rendezvous Point “RP”) for all transmitters in a multicast group. It builds source-specific trees to the transmitters whose data rates exceed a defined threshold. Investigations are done to improve and provide an efficient mechanism for switching between the shared-based mode and source-based mode. Another attractive solution investigated in the literature is the dynamic relocation of the RP depending on the transmitters or the members of the multicast group. In this paper, we propose three search algorithms used to find the optimum RP position. To evaluate the performance of these algorithms, two objective functions are used. The Hill-Climbing algorithm and the standard PIM-SM protocol with static RP-selection are used as a reference for comparison. Our dynamic RP-relocation algorithms result in a lower network load compared to the static RP-selection algorithm. However, they need additional control messages.
Bbeta(15-42) protects against acid-induced acute lung injury and secondary pseudomonas pneumonia in vivo.

RATIONALE Acute lung injury (ALI) is a serious condition in critically ill patients that predisposes to secondary bacterial pneumonia. Vascular leak is a hallmark in the pathogenesis of ALI. The fibrin-derived peptide Bbeta(15-42) was shown to preserve endothelial barriers, thereby reducing vascular leak. The potential therapeutic role of Bbeta(15-42) in ALI has not been addressed so far. OBJECTIVES To investigate the therapeutic potential of Bbeta(15-42) in ALI and secondary pneumonia induced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. METHODS The effect of the fibrin-derived peptide Bbeta(15-42) was studied in models of ALI, induced either by pulmonary administration of LPS or hydrochloric acid. Lung inflammation was analyzed by quantifying cell influx, cytokine levels, and oxidized lipids. Vascular leak was determined by Evans Blue extravasations and alveolar protein content. In subsequent two-hit studies, mice were infected with P. aeruginosa 24 hours after induction of aspiration pneumonitis and effects of Bbeta(15-42) on inflammation, bacterial clearance, and survival were evaluated. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS After LPS or acid inhalation, proinflammatory cytokine levels, neutrophil influx, and vascular leak were found diminished in mice treated with Bbeta(15-42). Acid aspiration impaired macrophage functions and rendered mice more susceptible to subsequent P. aeruginosa infection, whereas mice that received Bbeta(15-42) during acid aspiration and were subsequently challenged with bacteria displayed reduced inflammation, enhanced bacterial clearance, and ultimately improved survival. CONCLUSIONS The fibrin-derived peptide Bbeta(15-42) exerted protective effects during ALI, resulting in diminished lung injury and preserved antibacterial properties of macrophages, which improved outcome during subsequent P. aeruginosa pneumonia.
Poster : IoTcube : An Automated Analysis Platform for Finding Security Vulnerabilities

Although the quantity of services and devices regarding the Internet of Things (IoT) is consistently increasing, not many people are aware that software vulnerabilities are also proliferating at an alarming rate along with the spread of IoT. In addition, for people without security backgrounds, defending their devices against these vulnerabilities is also a huge challenge. IoTcube, an automated analysis platform for finding security vulnerabilities in the IoT devices, is developed to be a guidance system for any people with or without security expertise.
DEALING WITH BACKGROUND MORBIDITY IN VARIOUS SUBPOPULATIONS

The influence of occupational, environmental, nutritional, behavioural and genetic factors on health create a complex situation for epidemiologic evaluations of causes of disease. Such determinants of disease may also interact so as to jointly increase or decrease the morbidity, or can operate independently of one another. Strong and moderately widespread determinants can be revealed even by rather crude and simple study designs, e.g. smoking with regard to lungcancer, but the evaluation of weaker effects from more rare as well as from extremely common exposures are more demanding on the epidemiologic technique, both in design and analysis. The intention is here to discuss some design issues with regard to environmental studies, particularly in reference to background morbidity in various subpopulations along with the implications for the choice of comparison groups.
Oligogalacturonate hydrolase with unique substrate preference from the pulp of parsley roots

The main form of pectate hydrolases in the cell wall of parsley roots showed a unique substrate preference of a plant exopolygalacturonase because it clearly preferred the substrates with degree of polymerization about 10. This form was separated from the others, purified and characterized. Enzyme exhibited sharp pH optimum corresponding to pH 4.7, molecular mass 53.5 kDa, and isoelectric point 5.3. It was stable at 50°C in 2-h assay and had optimum of temperature at 60°C (activation energy being 37.0 kJ/mol). The interaction with concanavalin A indicated the glycosylation of enzyme. Substrates were cleaved from the non-reducing end.
Media Clusters: Local Agglomeration in an Industry Developing Networked Virtual Clusters

FOREWORD This working paper explores the development and nature of media clusters. It is part of a coordinated project being undertaken by an international research team organized by the Media Media clusters promote and improve production of content by connecting producers through private and public partnerships and networks. In the past decades nations and regional development authorities and other funders have invested in the creation of media clusters to improve productive capabilities and spur economic development, whereas others have developed more spontaneously through formal and informal networks. MMTC has organized its project to explore the effectiveness of such clusters in the media cluster and has incorporated researchers from economic geography and economics, public development and industrial policy, and entrepreneurship in the project. Researchers are analyzing the organization of clusters, comparing various types of clusters, investigating how intensity and density of cluster activity and participants affect outcomes, exploring public policies affecting clusters and their development, and determining how communication technologies are used to integrate, coordinate, and exchange work among cluster participants. vi 1 ABSTRACT This paper explores the nature and development of media clusters, reviewing the conceptual foundations of clusters and their appearance in media. It identifies three archetypical clusters— spontaneous, planned, and real estate driven—and shows that they are typically operated as managed, cooperative, or unmanaged organizations. A significant difference between traditional industrial clusters and media clusters is observed because of the differing requirements of non-physical production of the underlying media content. This difference, combined with digital production and improved communications systems, has allowed media firms to create networked virtual clusters in addition to more traditional agglomerations.
Determinants of overweight and obesity in patients with bipolar disorder.

OBJECTIVE To examine lifestyle-related determinants of the excess adiposity observed in patients with bipolar disorder. METHOD Eighty-nine male and female patients with DSM-IV bipolar disorder who were attending a specialist bipolar clinic or another psychiatric outpatient clinic (19% with body mass index [BMI] > or = 30) and 445 age- and sex-matched reference subjects (12% with BMI > or = 30) participated in a cross-sectional study of nutrient intake and physical activity. Main outcome measures included macronutrient intakes (assessed with 24-hour recall), percentage of energy derived from various food sources, and physical activity levels (assessed with the Life in New Zealand Questionnaire). RESULTS Mean total energy intake was higher in female patients than in reference subjects: 8468 kJ compared with 6980 kJ (95% confidence interval [CI] = 583 to 2392 kJ). Total daily sucrose and percentage of energy from carbohydrate were higher in patients than in reference subjects; for women, 73 g and 49% (95% CI = 20 to 56 g, 3% to 10) and for men, 89 g and 47% (95% CI = 15 to 59 g, 3% to 9%). Total fluid intake and intake of sweetened drinks were higher in patients than in reference subjects (ratio of geometric means: women, 1.2 and 2.3, respectively [95% CI = 1.1 to 1.4, 1.9 to 2.8]; men, 1.1 and 2.1, respectively [95% CI = 1.0 to 1.23, 1.8 to 2.41). Patients reported fewer episodes of low- to moderate-intensity and high-intensity physical activity as compared with reference subjects (p < or = .05). CONCLUSION This study confirms that drug-induced changes in food preference can lead to an excessive energy intake largely as a result of a high intake of sucrose. Dietary advice regarding the use of energy-rich beverages along with encouragement to increase levels of physical activity may help prevent weight gain in bipolar patients. The findings also have some bearing on dietary advice aimed at avoiding overweight and obesity in the general population.
Tourism Interaction in the Coupled Human-nature System——A Case Study of Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve

Through interviews,field survey,remote-sensing images,environmental monitoring and relevant statistical data,the paper qualitatively and quantitatively discusses tourism interaction effect in the coupled human and nature system from the two dimensions of interaction process and interaction effect.The findings indicate:1.In the past thirty years,the interaction process can be divided into four phases(starting,developing,speeding up and upgrading) in accordance with different perceptions and behaviors of tourism administrators,indigenous people and tourists.The contents and degree of tourism interaction show somewhat differences in each phase.2. Tourism development has significantly enhanced the awareness of environmental protection of local people and protection effects.The vegetation covering in Jiuzhaiguo has been constantly increased and tends to be stable.3. Tourism activities have brought approximately 10 dB noise to Jiuzhaigou,but there is no significant correlation between tourist arrivals and fluctuation of lake area and noise.4. Tourism has obviously improved economic revenue of local community but changed local culture and ways of life greatly.5. Tourism managerial method and technology can effectively regulate interaction process and effect.