Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Appropriateness of Electronic Reverse Auctions - an Explanation from the Incomplete Contract Theory and the Resource Dependence Theory

Despite the growing importance of electronic reversed auctions (ERAs) few empirical studies have explored the appropriateness of ERA usage. Most commonly, transaction cost theory has been used for these ERAstudies, relying on arguments that consider asset specificity as the primary explanation for organizational boundaries. We seek a more thorough explanation for perceived Electronic Reverse auctions (ERA) appropriateness, using multiple theoretical perspectives. This study includes insights and variables from the incomplete contract theory and the resource dependence theory. A conceptual model for ERA appropriateness was developed from the buyer perspective. This model was empirically validated using a survey of 176 purchasing professionals. The findings suggest a positive impact of buyer power on ERA appropriateness, while total interdependence does not appear to affect ERA appropriateness. The results further indicate that asset specificity stimulates ERA usage. ERA-minded purchasers consider ERAs as a tool for exploiting buyer power and for imposing relationship investments on suppliers. At the same time, variables related to collaboration do not appear to be important for ERA appropriateness from the perspective of the buyer. Suppliers are required to make relation-specific investments, but are not valued for their relational efforts. The novelty of this article Scholars have taken several approaches to investigate and to explain company’s sourcing decisions that include ERA use. We address an important gap in the literature by using the incomplete contract theory in combination with the resource dependence theory to provide a better understanding of buyers’ perceived ERA appropriateness.
hERG in vitro interchange factors—development and verification

Literature data analysis shows that the hERG interactions experiments carried out in different conditions with use of different in vitro systems for the same substance can result with different IC50 values. One of the initial components of the proposed drug development supporting system is a set of extrapolation factors enabling the unrestricted choice of some elements of the experimental procedure without resultin significant depreciation. Therefore the main objective of this work was to develop the extrapolation factors allowing inter-system (HEK, CHO, XO) and inter-temperature (room and physiological) IC50 values comparison based on the collected and analyzed hERG IC50 data. The efficiency of the obtained factors was then verified in comparison with the native HEK IC50 values at the physiological temperature. Low values of all the error estimates for the proposed factors evidence their good predictive value which, in turn, ground their application during drug candidates’ cardiotoxic risk evaluation or further in silico modeling. Utilization of the proposed factors during drug development process allows a more flexible choice of experimental model to exploit in the electrophysiological investigations, as well as makes it possible to experiment in ambient temperature, which is more convenient. The factors also facilitate data comparisons and allow one to draw reasonable conclusions for further extrapolation.
Pressure-Induced Geopolymerization in Alkali-Activated Fly Ash

The present study investigated geopolymerization in alkali-activated fly ash under elevated pressure conditions. The fly ash was activated using either sodium hydroxide or a combination of sodium silicate solution and sodium hydroxide, and was cured at 120 °C at a pressure of 0.22 MPa for the first 24 h. The pressure-induced evolution of the binder gel in the alkali-activated fly ash was investigated by employing synchrotron X-ray diffraction and solid-state 29Si and 27Al MAS NMR spectroscopy. The results showed that the reactivity of the raw fly ash and the growth of the zeolite crystals were significantly enhanced in the samples activated with sodium hydroxide. In contrast, the effects of the elevated pressure conditions were found to be less apparent in the samples activated with the sodium silicate solution. These results may have important implications for the binder design of geopolymers, since the crystallization of geopolymers relates highly to its long-term properties and functionality.
Tissue Engineered Bone Repair of Calvarial Defects Using Cultured Periosteal Cells

&NA; Periosteum has been demonstrated to have cell populations, including chondroprogenitor and osteoprogenitor cells, that can form both cartilage and bone under appropriate conditions. In the present study, periosteum was harvested, expanded in cell culture, and used to repair critical size calvarial defects in a rabbit model. Periosteum was isolated from New Zealand White rabbits, grown in cell culture, labeled with the thymidine analog bromodeoxyuridine for later localization, and seeded into resorbable polyglycolic acid scaffold matrices. Thirty adult New Zealand White rabbits were divided into groups, and a single 15‐mm diameter full‐thickness calvarial defect was made in each animal. In group I, defects were repaired using resorbable polyglycolic acid implants seeded with periosteal cells. In group II, defects were repaired using untreated polyglycolic acid implants. In group III, the defects were left unrepaired. Rabbits were killed at 4 and 12 weeks postoperatively. Defect sites were then studied histologically, biochemically, and radiographically. In vitro analysis of the cultured periosteal cells indicated an osteoblastic phenotype, with production of osteocalcin upon 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D3 induction. In vivo results at I weeks showed islands of bone in the defects repaired with polyglycolic acid implants with periosteal cells (group I), whereas the defects repaired with untreated polyglycolic acid implants (group II) were filled with fibrous tissue. Collagen content was significantly increased in group I compared with group II (2.90 ± 0.80 &mgr;g/mg dry weight versus 0.08 ± 0.11 &mgr;g/mg dry weight, p < 0.006), as was the ash weight (0.58 ± 0.11 mg/mg dry weight versus 0.35 ± 0.06 mg/mg dry weight, p < 0.015). At 12 weeks there were large amounts of bone in group I, whereas there were scattered islands of bone in groups II and III. Radiodensitometry demonstrated significantly increased radiodensity of the defect sites in group I, compared with groups II and III (0.740 ± 0.250 OD/mm2 versus 0.404 ± 0.100 OD/mm2 and 0.266 ± 0.150 OD/mm2, respectively, p < 0.05). Bromodeoxyuridine label, as detected by immunofluorescence, was identified in the newly formed bone in group I at both 4 and 12 weeks, confirming the contribution of the cultured periosteal cells to this bone formation. This study thus demonstrates a tissue‐engineering approach to the repair of bone defects, which may have clinical applications in craniofacial and orthopedic surgery.
Lack of interleukin‐4 receptor α chain‐dependent signalling promotes azoxymethane‐induced colorectal aberrant crypt focus formation in Balb/c mice

Interleukin (IL)‐4 receptor (IL‐4R) α chain‐dependent signalling by IL‐4 and IL‐13 promotes tumour growth and metastasis in mouse models of colorectal cancer. However, the role of IL‐4Rα‐dependent signalling during the early, pre‐malignant stages of colorectal carcinogenesis has not been investigated. Therefore, we investigated the effect of deletion of the IL‐4Rα gene on azoxymethane‐induced colorectal aberrant crypt focus (ACF) multiplicity and size in Balb/c mice. IL‐4Rα−/− mice developed significantly more ACFs [median 8, inter‐quartile range (IQR) 4–11.5; n = 9] than wild‐type (WT) animals (median 4, IQR 1–6; n = 9; p = 0.04, Mann–Whitney U‐test). There were significantly higher levels of IL‐4 in serum from azoxymethane‐ and sham‐treated IL‐4Rα−/− mice than WT animals, but no difference in serum IL‐13 levels. In the absence of functional IL‐4Rs, IL‐13 can also signal via the IL‐13Rα2 receptor, leading to induction of transforming growth factor (TGF) β, which has pro‐tumourigenic activity at early stages of intestinal tumourigenesis. We found that mucosal TGFβ mRNA levels and intestinal epithelial cell TGFβ immunoreactivity were significantly higher in IL‐4Rα−/− mice than inWT animals. In summary, IL‐4Rα‐dependent signalling has a protective, anti‐neoplastic role during the post‐initiation phase of azoxymethane‐induced colorectal carcinogenesis in Balb/c mice. Our data should prompt thorough investigation of the role of IL‐4Rα‐dependent signalling during human colorectal carcinogenesis, particularly as antagonism of IL‐4R signalling represents a therapeutic strategy for asthma and other allergic diseases. Copyright © 2008 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Mapping the lipid-exposed regions in the Torpedo californica nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.

To identify regions of the Torpedo nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AchR) interacting with membrane lipid, we have used 1-azidopyrene (1-AP) as a fluorescent, photoactivatable hydrophobic probe. For AchR-rich membranes equilibrated with 1-AP, irradiation at 365 nm resulted in covalent incorporation in all four AchR subunits with each of the subunits incorporating approximately equal amounts of label. To identify the regions of the AchR subunits that incorporated 1-AP, subunits were digested with Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease and trypsin, and the resulting fragments were separated by SDS-PAGE followed by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. N-terminal sequence analysis identified the hydrophobic segments M1, M3, and M4 within each subunit as containing the sites of labeling. The labeling pattern of 1-AP in the alpha-subunit was compared with that of another hydrophobic photoactivatable probe, 3-trifluoromethyl-3-(m-[125I]iodophenyl)diazirine ([125I]TID). The nonspecific component of [125I]TID labeling [White, B. , Howard, S. , Cohen, S. G. , & Cohen, J.B. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 21595-21607] was restricted to the same regions as those labeled by 1-AP. The [125I]TID residues labeled in the hydrophobic segment M4 were identified as Cys-412, Met-415, Cys-418, Thr-422, and Val-425. The periodicity and distribution of labeled residues establish that the M4 region is alpha-helical in nature and indicate that M4 presents a broad face to membrane lipid.
Rod‐signal interneurons in the rabbit retina: 1. Rod bipolar cells

The cellular morphology and topographic distribution of the rod bipolar cells in the rabbit retina have been investigated by selective labelling with protein kinase C‐immunohistochemistry (Negishi et al., Neurosci. Lett. 94:247–252, 1988) and by Lucifer Yellow injection of microscopically identified cells in a superfused retinal preparation. The distribution of the rod bipolar cells parallels that of their input neurons, the rod photoreceptors, in that the rod bipolars reach maximum densities of 5,000–7,000 cells/mm2 on the inferior and superior flanks of the visual streak, dropping to slightly lower densities at the peak visual streak. The centre‐to‐periphery density gradient of the rod bipolars is about 2.5:1, and the density ratio of rods to rod bipolars shows little variation across the retina, ranging from 43:1 in superior retina to 58:1 in inferior retina. The dendritic field area of the rod bipolar cells increases from 600 μm2 on the visual streak to 1,200 μm2 in the far‐superior retina, with each point on the retina overlapped by 2.5–3.5 dendritic fields. The axonal field area of the rod bipolar cells increases from about 100 μm2 at the peak visual streak to about 250 μm2 at the retina edge, and the axonal field coverage ranges from 0.55 in the visual streak to about 0.8 in peripheral retina. Although there appear to be gaps in the local array of rod bipolar somata, these areas are covered by the axonal arbours of neighbouring rod bipolar cell.
Measuring Popularity of Cryptographic Libraries in Internet-Wide Scans

We measure the popularity of cryptographic libraries in large datasets of RSA public keys. We do so by improving a recently proposed method based on biases introduced by alternative implementations of prime selection in different cryptographic libraries. We extend the previous work by applying statistical inference to approximate a share of libraries matching an observed distribution of RSA keys in an inspected dataset (e.g., Internet-wide scan of TLS handshakes). The sensitivity of our method is sufficient to detect transient events such as a periodic insertion of keys from a specific library into Certificate Transparency logs and inconsistencies in archived datasets. We apply the method on keys from multiple Internet-wide scans collected in years 2010 through 2017, on Certificate Transparency logs and on separate datasets for PGP keys and SSH keys. The results quantify a strong dominance of OpenSSL with more than 84% TLS keys for Alexa 1M domains, steadily increasing since the first measurement. OpenSSL is even more popular for GitHub client-side SSH keys, with a share larger than 96%. Surprisingly, new certificates inserted in Certificate Transparency logs on certain days contain more than 20% keys most likely originating from Java libraries, while TLS scans contain less than 5% of such keys. Since the ground truth is not known, we compared our measurements with other estimates and simulated different scenarios to evaluate the accuracy of our method. To our best knowledge, this is the first accurate measurement of the popularity of cryptographic libraries not based on proxy information like web server fingerprinting, but directly on the number of observed unique keys.
Antiepileptic Drug Cellular Mechanisms of Action: Where Does Lamotrigine Fit In?

Current frontline antiepileptic drugs tend to fall into several cellular mechanistic categories, and these categories often correlate with the clinical spectrum of action of the various antiepileptic drugs. Many antiepileptic drugs effective in control of partial and generalized tonic-clonic seizures are use- and voltage-dependent blockers of sodium channels. This mechanism selectively dampens pathologic activation of sodium channels, without interacting with normal sodium channel function. Examples include phenytoin, carbamazepine, valproic acid, and lamotrigine. Many antiepileptic drugs effective in control of generalized absence seizures block low threshold calcium currents. Low threshold calcium channels are present in high densities in thalamic neurons, and these channels trigger regenerative bursts that drive normal and pathologic thalamocortical rhythms, including the spike wave discharges of absence seizures. Examples include ethosuximide, trimethadione, and methsuximide. Several antiepileptic drugs that have varying clinical actions interact with the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic system. Diazepam and clonazepam selectively augment function of a subset of GABA A receptors, and these drugs are broad-spectrum antiepileptic drugs. In contrast, barbiturates augment function of all types of GABAA receptors, and are ineffective in control of generalized absence seizures, but effective in control of many other seizure types. Tiagabine and vigabatrin enhance cerebrospinal levels of GABA by interfering with reuptake and degradation of GABA, respectively. These antiepileptic drugs are effective in partial seizures. Lamotrigine is effective against both partial and generalized seizures, including generalized absence seizures. Its sole documented cellular mechanism of action is sodium channel block, a mechanism shared by phenytoin and carbamazepine. These drugs are ineffective against absence seizures. Consequently, unless there are unique aspects to the sodium channel block by lamotrigine, it seems unlikely that this mechanism alone could explain its broad clinical efficacy. Therefore, lamotrigine may have as yet uncharacterized cellular actions, which could combine with its sodium channel blocking actions, to account for its broad clinical efficacy. (J Child Neurol 1997;12(Suppl 1):S2-S9).
Manipulating the chemokine‐chemokine receptor network to treat cancer

Chemokines are chemoattractant cytokines that regulate the trafficking and activation of leukocytes and other cell types under a variety of inflammatory and noninflammatory conditions. Over the past few years, studies have increasingly shown that chemokines play an important role in several aspects of tumor progression. Tumor cells express functional chemokine receptors, which can sustain proliferation, angiogenesis, and survival and promote organ‐specific localization of distant metastases. Chemokine expression in human malignancies is associated with a leukocyte infiltration favoring the establishment of immune escape mechanisms. A literature review of relevant publications on preclinical testing of cancer therapies based on interference with the cancer chemokine network was performed. The feasibility, potential advantages, and limitations of the clinical translation of the results of such studies in treatment of different tumor types and settings are discussed. The chemokine network is a key player in the establishment of metastases. In the preclinical setting, blocking agents and antibodies directed against CXCR4 prevent metastasis of different cancers. In mouse models, overexpression of selected chemokines causes tumor infiltration by distinct leukocyte subsets, resulting in tumor regression and tumor‐specific immunity generation. Researchers have also successfully used chemokines as carriers and/or adjuvants for cancer vaccines. The cancer chemokine network is a multifaceted therapeutic target. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society.
Reliability of the LIFE-H satisfaction scale and relationship between participation and satisfaction of older adults with disabilities

Purpose. To (1) document the test–retest reliability of the Assessment of Life Habits (LIFE-H 3.1) in measuring the satisfaction of older adults with disabilities regarding their level of participation and (2) explore the relationships between level of participation and satisfaction with the level of participation achieved. Methods. Thirty older adults having functional disabilities were interviewed twice using the LIFE-H. This questionnaire assesses the (1) participation in daily activities and social roles (life domains), and (2) satisfaction with this participation. Results. The test–retest intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of the satisfaction total score and its two subscores revealed high reliability (ICCs ≥ 0.84). Moderate to excellent ICCs were also obtained for the life domains (ICCs = 0.65–0.88). Satisfaction was positively associated with participation for the daily activities subscore and LIFE-H total score (p < 0.05) but not the social roles subscore. Half of the life domains showed significant correlations between participation and satisfaction scores (p < 0.01). Conclusion. The results support the reliability of the LIFE-H satisfaction scale in older adults having functional disabilities. Also, as satisfaction is only partly related to the level of participation, the study emphasizes the relevance of considering both participation and satisfaction of older adults with disabilities when evaluating their needs.
Comparative metabolism of flunarizine in rats, dogs and man: an in vitro study with subcellular liver fractions and isolated hepatocytes.

1. The biotransformation of 3H-flunarizine ((E)-1-[bis(4-fluorophenyl)methyl]-4-(3-phenyl-2-propenyl)piperazine dihydrochloride, FLUN) was studied in subcellular liver fractions (microsomes and 12,000 g fraction) and in suspensions or primary cell cultures of isolated hepatocytes of rats, dogs and man. The major in vitro metabolites were characterized by h.p.l.c. co-chromatography and/or by mass spectrometric analysis. 2. The kinetics of FLUN metabolism was studied in microsomes of dog and man. The metabolism followed linear Michaelis-Menten kinetics over the concentration range 0.1-20 microM FLUN. 3. A striking sex difference was observed for the in vitro metabolism of FLUN in rat. In male rats, oxidative N-dealkylation at one of the piperazine nitrogens, resulting in bis(4-fluorophenyl) methanol, was a major metabolic pathway, whereas aromatic hydroxylation at the phenyl of the cinnamyl moiety, resulting in hydroxy-FLUN, was a major metabolic pathway in female rats. In incubates with hepatocytes, these two metabolites were converted to the corresponding glucuronides. 4. In human subcellular fractions, aromatic hydroxylation to hydroxy-FLUN was the major metabolic pathway. In primary cell cultures of human hepatocytes, oxidative N-dealkylation at the 1- and 4-piperazine nitrogen and glucuronidation of bis(4-fluorophenyl)methanol were observed. The in vitro metabolism of FLUN in humans, resembled more than in female rats and in dogs than that in male rats. 5. The present in vitro results are compared with data of previous in vivo studies in rats and dogs. The use of subcellular fractions and/or isolated hepatocytes for the study of species differences in the biotransformation of xenobiotics is discussed.
Tax Structure and the Political Business Cycle at the Municipal Level

This paper addresses the issue of public policy choice. We analyze the behavior of local elected officials during their terms of office, making a distinction between electoral and non-electoral periods. We examine the conditions of occurrence and properties of the political business cycle at the municipal level. First, we offer an original theoretical framework that sheds light on the link between local tax structures and public policy behavior observed at the municipal level in France. We then use a dynamic panel-data model to conduct a study of all of France’s larger municipalities. As forecast by the theoretical model, our results show that elected officials avail themselves of fiscal instruments in the run-up to elections.
Microfluidic Approaches for Protein Crystal Structure Analysis

This review summarizes two microfluidic-based protein crystallization methods, protein crystallization behavior in the microfluidic devices, and their applications for X-ray crystal structure analysis. Microfluidic devices provide many advantages for protein crystallography; they require small sample volumes, provide high-throughput screening, and allow control of the protein crystallization. A droplet-based protein crystallization method is a useful technique for high-throughput screening and the formation of a single crystal without any complicated device fabrication process. Well-based microfluidic platforms also enable effective protein crystallization. This review also summarizes the protein crystal growth behavior in microfluidic devices as, is known from viewpoints of theoretical and experimental approaches. Finally, we introduce applications of microfluidic devices for on-chip crystal structure analysis.