Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
South African Breast Cancer and HIV Outcomes Study: Methods and Baseline Assessment

Purpose In low- and middle-income, HIV-endemic regions of sub-Saharan Africa, morbidity and mortality from the common epithelial cancers of the developed world are rising. Even among HIV-infected individuals, access to antiretroviral therapy has enhanced life expectancy, shifting the distribution of cancer diagnoses toward non–AIDS-defining malignancies, including breast cancer. Building on our prior research, we recently initiated the South African Breast Cancer and HIV Outcomes study. Methods We will recruit a cohort of 3,000 women newly diagnosed with breast cancer at hospitals in high (average, 20%) HIV prevalence areas, in Johannesburg, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, and Empangeni. At baseline, we will collect information on demographic, behavioral, clinical, and other factors related to access to health care. Every 3 months in year 1 and every 6 months thereafter, we will collect interview and chart data on treatment, symptoms, cancer progression, comorbidities, and other factors. We will compare survival rates of HIV-infected and uninfected women with newly diagnosed breast cancer and their likelihood of receiving suboptimal anticancer therapy. We will identify determinants of suboptimal therapy and context-specific modifiable factors that future interventions can target to improve outcomes. We will explore molecular mechanisms underlying potentially aggressive breast cancer in both HIV-infected and uninfected patients, as well as the roles of pathogens, states of immune activation, and inflammation in disease progression. Conclusion Our goals are to contribute to development of evidence-based guidelines for the management of breast cancer in HIV-positive women and to improve outcomes for all patients with breast cancer in resource-constrained settings.
Voltage security considerations in an open power market

The deregulation of the electric power industry in Europe is the major issue nowadays. The new environment raises questions concerning all sectors of the electric power industry. Nevertheless, the transmission system is the key point in market development since it puts constraints to the market operation due to technical requirements. Especially, in systems having weak connections among areas, congestion problems arise due to line overloading or to voltage security requirements. This paper focuses on topics concerning voltage security in a deregulated power market and related market issues. Results by the application of the proposed methodology in the Greek Electric Power System (EPS) are presented.
An investigation into trust-building mechanisms in B2B e-Marketplaces : a content analysis approach

B 2 B e-Marketplaces are applications of an electronic business platform introduced on the Internet. They establish a set of rules for online business, they serve buyers and sellers with acquiring products and information more effectively and efficiently, and they change stages of business processes. Trust is instrumental for establishing business relationships in B 2 B e-Marketplaces. Following Zucker's trust production theory, this study posits that the use of institution-based trust and process-based trust can induce two dimensions of inter-organizational trust in B 2 B e-commerce: trading partner trust (Marketplace participant trust) and Marketplace trust. To investigate the status quo for trust-building in B 2 B e-Marketplaces, one hundred B 2 B e-Marketplaces were selected randomly from the comprehensive list produced by eMarket Services (www. Emarketservices.com) and examined using content analysis methodology. The results reveal that seven trust-building mechanisms are commonly used for increasing trading partner trust (marketplace participant trust), and thirteen trust-building mechanisms are used for increasing marketplace trust. The findings provide guidelines for B 2 B e-Marketplaces for a trustworthy trading environment establishment.
HARNESSING PLANT BIOMASS FOR BIOFUELS AND BIOMATERIALS Terpenoid biomaterials

Terpenoids (isoprenoids) encompass more than 40 000 structures and form the largest class of all known plant metabolites. Some terpenoids have well-characterized physiological functions that are common to most plant species. In addition, many of the structurally diverse plant terpenoids may function in taxonomically more discrete, specialized interactions with other organisms. Historically, specialized terpenoids, together with alkaloids and many of the phenolics, have been referred to as secondary metabolites. More recently, these compounds have become widely recognized, conceptually and/or empirically, for their essential ecological functions in plant biology. Owing to their diverse biological activities and their diverse physical and chemical properties, terpenoid plant chemicals have been exploited by humans as traditional biomaterials in the form of complex mixtures or in the form of more or less pure compounds since ancient times. Plant terpenoids are widely used as industrially relevant chemicals, including many pharmaceuticals, flavours, fragrances, pesticides and disinfectants, and as large-volume feedstocks for chemical industries. Recently, there has been a renaissance of awareness of plant terpenoids as a valuable biological resource for societies that will have to become less reliant on petrochemicals. Harnessing the powers of plant and microbial systems for production of economically valuable plant terpenoids requires interdisciplinary and often expensive research into their chemistry, biosynthesis and genomics, as well as metabolic and biochemical engineering. This paper provides an overview of the formation of hemi-, mono-, sesquiand diterpenoids in plants, and highlights some well-established examples for these classes of terpenoids in the context of biomaterials and biofuels.
Reliability study of AlTi/TiW, polysilicon and ohmic contacts for piezoresistive pressure sensors applications

This paper presents a study on the thermal drift and long term stability of AlTi (with a TiW diffusion barrier) metal lines, polysilicon gauges and metal on polysilicon contact resistances for piezoresistive pressure sensors operating in harsh environments. Test structures have been exposed at 150/spl deg/C for a cumulated time of almost six months. All metal lines structures show a relative resistance decrease of around 4/spl times/10/sup -3/. On the other hand, polysilicon resistivity variations were not observable except for a few samples that showed a relative increase up to 7/spl times/10/sup -3/. Polysilicon contact resistance showed no particular trend with aging time. The impact of these results on the overall sensor reliability has also been discussed.
Dealing with osmostress through MAP kinase activation

In response to changes in the extracellular environment, cells coordinate intracellular activities to maximize their probability of survival and proliferation. Eukaryotic cells, from yeast to mammals, transduce diverse extracellular stimuli through the cell by multiple mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades. Exposure of cells to increases in extracellular osmolarity results in rapid activation of a highly conserved family of MAPKs, known as stress‐activated MAPKs (SAPKs). Activation of SAPKs is essential for the induction of adaptive responses required for cell survival upon osmostress. Recent studies have begun to shed light on the broad effects of SAPK activation in the modulation of several aspects of cell physiology, ranging from the control of gene expression to the regulation of cell division.
A digital quadrature bridge for impedance measurements

This paper describes a digital alternating current (ac) quadrature bridge for impedance measurements under development at INMETRO. This bridge is primarily intended to allow the comparison of ac resistors with standard capacitors but it could be applied to a myriad of impedance-measurement tasks as the precise determination of dissipation factor of capacitors, of resistor time-constants, as well as an aid in investigations on the nonlinear behavior of passive electronic components. Aimed at attaining measurement uncertainties of around 10 μΩ/Ω at 1 kHz under sinusoidal conditions, it has prospects for further improvements.
What's The Rush? IFRS, The SEC, And The Pressure On Accounting Instructors To Teach Still More Financial Reporting Rules

This paper addresses the problems facing accounting instructors in the U.S. as they struggle with pressure to incorporate IFRS into an already crowded financial accounting curriculum. To help instructors better understand the advantages and disadvantages of financial reporting under IFRS, we provide a critical analysis of arguments that have been made for and against IFRS adoption. This analysis should aid instructors in their design of lectures and assignments related to IFRS. We also show that adoption still faces serious obstacles, including the use of U.S. GAAP in contracts and regulations, the prohibition against the use of LIFO, and the Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for funding of a financial reporting standard-setter. We then provide support for an approach for incorporating IFRS in the financial accounting curriculum that places greater emphasis on teaching concepts than on teaching more rules. We conclude by presenting a model for a concepts course that would be taken by students as they begin the accounting major in their junior year.
Did Capital Requirements and Fair Value Accounting Spark Fire Sales in Distressed Mortgage-Backed Securities?

Much attention has been paid to the large decreases in value of non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) during the financial crisis. Many observers have argued that the fall in prices was partly driven by decreased liquidity and fire sales. We investigate whether capital requirements and accounting rules at financial institutions contributed to the selling of RMBS at fire sale prices. For financial institutions subject to credit-sensitive capital requirements, capital requirements increase as an asset's credit becomes impaired. When accounting rules require such an asset's value to be marked-to-market and the fair value loss to be recognized in earnings, a capital-constrained firm can improve its capital position by selling the credit-impaired asset even if it has to accept a liquidity discount to do so. Using a sample of 5,014 repeat transactions of non-agency RMBS by insurance companies from 2006 to 2009, we show that insurance companies that became more capital-constrained because of operating losses (uncorrelated with RMBS credit quality) and also recognized fair value losses sold comparable RMBS at much lower prices than other insurance companies during the crisis.
Transduction of recombinant human erythropoietin receptor cDNA into daughter progenitors derived from single CD343+ cord blood cells changes the differentiation profile of daughter progenitors

In this study, we tested the capacity to change the differentiation profile of progenitor cells by retroviral‐mediated transduction of EpoR cDNA into one of the paired daughter cells derived from single CD343+ CB cells. Our results show that for the non‐viral‐treated daughter cells, the majority (99.6%) formed the same colony type. However, with cells transduced with viral vectors, 7.1% of the daughter cells transduced with the EpoR cDNA formed either a burst forming unit‐erythroid (BFU‐E) or a colony‐forming unit‐granulocyte, macrophage, erythroid, megakaryocyte (CFU‐GEMM) colony compared to the other daughter cell transduced with viral supernatant lacking EpoR cDNA, which formed either a colony‐forming unit granulocyte‐macrophage (CFU‐GM) or a high proliferative potential‐colony forming cell (HPP‐CFC) colony. Expression of the transduced EpoR cDNA was confirmed in individual colonies by RT‐PCR analysis. These results substantiate in a more rigorous fashion our previous results that it is possible to change the Epo‐responsive differentiation profile of progenitor cells by transduction into these cells of an EpoR cDNA and this change was apparent only in daughter cells derived from single CD343+ kit+ cells transduced with EpoR cDNA. J. Leukoc. Biol. 63: 389–394; 1998.
Realization of an analog model of memristor based on light dependent resistor

In this paper, a memristor analog model based on a light dependent resistor (LDR) is presented. This model can be simplified into two parts: a control circuit and a variable resistor. It can be used to easily verify theoretical presumptions about the properties of memristors. This LDR based memristor model can also be used in both simulations and experiments for future research into memristor applications. Mathematical models that describe the behaviors are derived. Multisim simulations and experimental results are given as well.
The Efficiency and Fidelity of Translesion Synthesis past Cisplatin and Oxaliplatin GpG Adducts by Human DNA Polymerase β*

DNA polymerase β (pol β) is the only mammalian DNA polymerase identified to date that can catalyze extensive bypass of platinum-DNA adducts in vitro. Previous studies suggest that DNA synthesis by pol β is distributive on primed single-stranded DNA and processive on gapped DNA. The data presented in this paper provide an analysis of translesion synthesis past cisplatin- and oxaliplatin-DNA adducts by pol β functioning in both distributive and processive modes using primer extension and steady-state kinetic experiments. Translesion synthesis past Pt-DNA adducts was greater with gapped DNA templates than with single-stranded DNA templates. In the processive mode pol β did not discriminate between cisplatin and oxaliplatin adducts, while in the distributive mode it displayed about 2-fold increased ability for translesion synthesis past oxaliplatin compared with cisplatin adducts. The differentiation between cisplatin and oxaliplatin adducts resulted from a K m -mediated increase in the efficiency of dCTP incorporation across from the 3′-G of oxaliplatin-GG adducts. Rates of misincorporation across platinated guanines determined by the steady-state kinetic assay were higher in reactions with primed single-stranded templates than with gapped DNA and a slight increase in the misincorporation of dTTP across from the 3′-G was found for oxaliplatin compared with cisplatin adducts.
Register-Exchange Based Connection Allocator for Circuit Switching NoCs

Since Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) Circuit Switching (CS) has the advantage of fixed low communication latency by transmitting data over pre-established connection, it has been a popular approach to provide guaranteed service. The challenge of the CS is the fast and dynamic connection allocation particularly for networks with high connection request rates. In this paper, a high performance connection allocator for TDM CS is presented, which enables parallel multiple path search in all directions. To enhance the path search speed, the Register-Exchange technique is adopted that saves the entire survivor path sequences during search. Hence, since the backtrack is omitted, the path search time is reduced by half compared to previous forward-backtrack approaches, which can also contribute to the success rate. Our approach is compared to the state of the art centralized and distributed approaches under uniform random traffic as well as real-application benchmarks. The experiment results showed our approach can provide up to 22% higher success rate and 2X greater allocation speed against centralized approaches, and up to 33% higher success rate and 18X higher allocation speed against distributed approach.
Gene expression and cytopathic effect of vaccinia virus inactivated by psoralen and long-wave UV light

Induction of the cytopathic effect (CPE) in cells infected with poxvirus seems ubiquitous in that it has been associated with all different strains and preparations of poxviruses, regardless of the replicating status of these viruses. The study of the mechanisms by which CPE is induced by nonreplicating poxviruses is hampered by the lack of any noncytopathic mutant strains and preparations. In this paper, we report on the patterns of gene expression and induction of CPE by vaccinia viruses treated by limited cross-linking with psoralen and long-wave UV light (PLWUV). We show that treatment of cell-free virus with PLWUV could inactivate viral replication without abolishing the ability of the virus to infect cells. Viral transcription as indicated by reporter genes was generally enhanced and prolonged under early viral promoters and abolished under late promoters. Furthermore, increasing the levels of cross-linking with PLWUV resulted in a decrease and abolishment of viral expression of a large reporter gene and a concomitant loss of the induction of CPE. Cells infected with such a virus were able to express the reporter genes and proliferate. The generation of nonreplicating and noncytopathic recombinant vaccinia viruses may help in studies of the mechanisms of CPE induction by poxvirus and may facilitate the use of poxviral vectors in broader areas of research and clinical applications.
A Design for Secure Data Sharing in Cloud

Cloud computing, which enables on demand network access to shared pool of resources is the latest trend in today's IT industry. Among different services provided by cloud, cloud storage service allows the data owners to store and share their data through cloud and thus become free from the burden of storage management. But, since the owners lose physical control over their outsourced data, there arise many privacy and security concerns. A number of attribute based encryption schemes are proposed for providing confidentiality and access control to cloud data storage where the standard encryption schemes face difficulties. Among them, Hierarchical Attribute Set Based Encryption (HASBE) provides scalable, flexible and fine grained access control as well as easy user revocation. It is an extended form of Attribute Set Based Encryption (ASBE) with a hierarchical structure of users. Regarding integrity and availability, HASBE is not sufficient to provide the data owner with the ability to perform checking against missing or corruption of their outsourced data. So, this paper extends HASBE with privacy preserving public auditing concept which additionally allows owners to securely ensure the integrity of their data in the cloud. We are using homomorphic linear authenticator technique for
Facilitating Meaningful Engagement on Community Advisory Committees in Patient-Centered Outcome Research

Background: Reflecting on the processes and practices used to engage community stakeholders in patient-centered outcome research strengthens participation at the project level and contributes more broadly to developing knowledge about effective participatory processes and methods. Objectives: We conducted a process evaluation of ongoing activities of a Patient Advisory Committee (PAC) formed around the development of an individualized decision aid for older women with early stage breast cancer. Methods: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with PAC members to obtain their input on the effectiveness of the project’s participatory approach and identify barriers to participation. Results and Lessons Learned: Although there was general support for the aims of the study, patient knowledge gaps and meeting facilitation style limited participation. Members made suggestions on improving collaboration within the group that, when implemented, resulted in increased participation and revitalized interest in the project. Conclusions: Results suggest that engaging committee members in a process of evaluation and collective reflection during a research collaboration can break down barriers to collaboration, build relationships, create opportunities for co-learning and strengthen researchers’ capacity to engage meaningfully with stakeholders.
Methods for determining stability in continuum elastic-rod models of DNA

Elastic–rod models of DNA have offered an alternative method for studying the macroscopic properties of the molecule. An essential component of the modelling effort is to identify the biologically accessible, or stable, solutions. The underlying variational structure of the elastic–rod model can be exploited to derive methods that identify stable equilibrium configurations. We present two methods for determining the stability of the equilibria of elastic–rod models: the conjugate–point method and the distinguished–diagram method. Additionally, we apply these methods to two intrinsically curved DNA molecules: a DNA filament with an A–tract bend and a DNA minicircle with a catabolite gene activator protein binding site. The stable solutions of these models provide visual insight into the three–dimensional structure of the DNA molecules.
The role of operational flexibility in the expansion of international production networks

Volatile factor cost developments urge manufacturing firms to increase production efficiency by building up facilities in multiple countries. Differing from previous work that examines the quality of individual locations for investment, the study evaluates the net present value, the growth option value, and the operational flexibility value of the existing production network to predict the establishment of a new site. The results on a sample of 352 German manufacturing firms suggest that the direction, uncertainty, and diversity of labor cost movements in the extant locations influence the propensity to set up a new production subsidiary. Analyzing the international production network after the expansion shows that the new location increases the value of the network regarding these dimensions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Animal models in infection and inflammation – chance and necessity

In biomedical research, to understand pathogenesis and test innovative therapeutic strategies, animal models of human disease are a bare necessity. We cannot do without them, but could we do better with them? In this issue of the European Journal of Immunology a series of Viewpoints discusses the pros and cons of currently available animal models that address the clinical challenges of immunology in infection and inflammatory diseases.
Overcoming the limits of exporting research using the relational paradigm

Notwithstanding the significant progress of exporting research in recent decades, extensive reliance on the neoclassical microeconomic paradigm has been responsible for its recent stagnation or even decline. This paper advances the viewpoint that one way to circumvent this problem is by augmenting the analysis of exporting phenomena using the relational paradigm. In doing so, it attempts to link extant knowledge on export pre‐engagement, initiation, development, and sustainment, with ideas, concepts, and theories advanced within the sphere of relationship management. The paper concludes that export management is basically a process of managing relationships with foreign customers, as well as other parties operating inside or outside the company's supply chain.