Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification and location of the pigment granules in the retinal pigment epithelium cells using fluorescence technology

Detection of autofluorescence is employed for measuring early dysfunctions of the fundus. Laser scanning confocal ophthalmoscope has greatly facilitated the study of fundus autofluorescence, but the complexity of fundus endogenous fluorophores makes it hard to interpret the results. To better understand the autofluorescence characteristics of fluorophores at fundus, such as spectra, intensity, distribution and lifetime, we take advantage of multiphoton microscope to investigate the autofluorescence of retinal pigment epithelium cells which is abundant in endogenous fluorophores, such as pigment granules (lipofuscin, melanin), structural protein (collagen, elastin), coenzyme (FAD), and so on. In this paper, we use a modified laser scanning confocal microscope coupled with a time-correlated single photon count module to identify and locate the pigment granules in retinal pigment epithelium cells. According to the results of two-photon excited autofluorescence (spectrum peak at ~600 nm) and fluorescence lifetimes (tau1=0.6~0.7 ns, tau2=1.4~2.2 ns), we conclude that there are many fluorophores inside the RPE cell, and the mainly contributing component to autofluorescence is lipofuscin. Both lipofuscin and melanin granules co-locate around cellular membranes and produce higher autofluorescence intensity around the membranes than other areas inside the cells. The coenzyme FAD and oxidized melanin granules contribute to the wide (>100 nm) fluorescence spectrum.
Nonlinear SVD-filtering of digital images in infocommunication systems

Feature of modern info communication systems is expeditious exchange of information that makes a problem of ensuring quality and reliability of the obtained information actual. For elimination or minimization of the destabilizing impact of noise and hindrances in such systems various methods and algorithms of preliminary information processing are widely used, in particular, procedures of digital filtration of signals and images. Procedure of creation of the nonlinear SVD filter with adaptation to local properties of an observed signal is stated. Comparative examples of filtration of hindrances in a problem of processing of images are given, efficiency of the offered method is shown. The lines of further researches are defined.
An Empirical Investigation of Relational Conflicts in Co-Marketing Alliances

Purpose: The focus of the present research is to ascertain reasons for potential conflict between co-marketing alliance partners and means of managing the relationship more effectively. Specifically, the investigation seeks to identify antecedents of conflict in co-marketing alliances from a strategic perspective. Methodology/Approach: To test the study hypotheses, the authors surveyed 178 executives in the credit card industry in South Korea. The Korean market was used because of the extreme popularity of credit card usage in that country. Findings: The empirical findings provide some support for the idea that strategic management of conflict should be of importance to co-marketing alliance partners. Originality/Value/Contribution: As industries experience declines in profitability, co-marketing alliances have become a popular means for firms in efforts to increase sales and profitability in maturing industries. Because these alliances are interdependent and the goals or interests of both partners can differ, conflict is likely to be experienced between the alliance members. Notwithstanding this likelihood, there are still very few studies that provide comprehensive examination regarding which cognitive factors are associated with conflict in co-marketing alliances. This investigation adds to that growing body of knowledge.
Cell Therapy for Age-Related Disorders: Myocardial Infarction and Stroke – A Mini-Review

Background: The leading causes of death and disability in the elderly are from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The biological role of stem cells in the hematopoietic system has been well characterized and has led to the development of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) transplantation for the treatment of numerous malignant and nonmalignant diseases. More recently, stem cells have been found in many other tissues of the body including the heart and brain. As the field of stem cell biology has progressed, cell therapies for the treatment of myocardial infarction and stroke have been tested in early stage clinical trials using a variety of cellular agents. Objective: To review the clinical evidence supporting the role of cell therapies for myocardial infarction and stroke. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify clinical trials using cell therapies for myocardial infarction and stroke. Results: Clinical trials of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor to mobilize HSPC after percutaneous coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction have not shown clinical benefit. Direct delivery of HSPC to coronary arteries supplying the infarcted region using percutaneous coronary intervention does improve hemodynamic endpoints such as left ventricular ejection fraction in many studies. One randomized trial demonstrated improvement in clinically meaningful endpoints such as death, recurrence of myocardial infarction and re-hospitalization for heart failure. Several small trials of cell therapy for stroke have been reported, including cytokine-mobilized HSPC, mesenchymal stromal cells and cell lines transplanted stereotactically into the region affected by stroke. Conclusions: In some prospective randomized trials, cell therapy for myocardial infarction leads to improvement in hemodynamic parameters. Cell therapy for stroke is a relatively new area of translational and clinical research with preliminary studies showing safety and some measurable benefit in small numbers of subjects.
The energy consumption of public transit under rural and suburban conditions.

The aim of paper is to investigate an energy consumption of public transit focused on regular commuting from suburban locations. Surveyed suburban settlements have become a part of ‘urban sprawl’ process in the suburbanized hinterland of Prague’s city. The transport links are strongly influenced by the catchment area of Prague’s city that has a dominant position in surveyed region and the most of the existing transport links are carried out in relation to the Prague’s city on radially oriented roads. The traffic intensities are often on a roads’ full capacity during peak hours or the roads are even congested alongside a ride to the city. The 10 suburban settlements were selected for the purpose of the fuel consumption investigation. Authors have focused on the journeys carried out during the morning peak hours of the ordinary working days when the transport demands are saturated. The fuel consumption investigation has involved the journeys by public transit (commuter bus) and by passenger car. Obtained results have proved possibilities of significant fuel consumption savings under condition that the bus transit preference would be effectively used. The energy efficiency of bus public transit allows to achieve the similar energy consumption per passenger as an ordinary passenger car has at a low occupancy rate of bus.
The relationship between inmates' aggression and their socioeconomic and family characteristic

Na uzorku zatvorenika ispitivane su relacije između komponenti agresivnosti i razlicitih varijabli socioekonomskog i obiteljskog statusa. Nezavisne varijable su pokrivale dva podrucja: obilježja primarne obitelji i obilježja ispitanika. Svako je podrucje bilo sastavljeno od tri skupa varijabli. Obilježja primarne obitelji: socioekonomski status, socijalna patologija i fizicko nasilje; obilježja ispitanika: obrazovanje, socijalna patologija i obitelj. Zavisne varijable su bile: fizicka agresivnost, srdžba i hostilnost. Rezultati pokazuju da varijable primarne obitelji i varijable koje opisuju ispitanika imaju podjednaku prediktivnu vrijednost. Nakon parcijalizacije varijabli primarne obitelji, ostaje jos uvijek znacajan dio zajednicke varijance s komponentama agresivnosti koji se uglavnom može pripisati obrazovanju ispitanika.
Exploring physical and psychological wellbeing among adults with Type 2 diabetes in New Zealand: identifying a need to improve the experiences of Pacific peoples.

AIMS This study explores levels of physical and psychological wellbeing among adults with Type 2 diabetes, and aims to identify the clinical, demographic, and psychological factors that are associated with differences in wellbeing. METHODS Research participants (N=615) were randomly selected from a database of primary care records for people with diabetes (N=4857) in New Zealand. Self-report data were collected through a mailed questionnaire and clinical data from electronic records were obtained with participants' permission. RESULT Mean HbA1c was 7.5% (SD=1.5) although this varied significantly across ethnic groups (p=.001) with metabolic control highest among New Zealand Europeans and lowest among Pacific peoples. Results showed that Pacific groups also experienced the highest levels of distress about diabetes, and concern about prescribed medication. CONCLUSIONS Adults with Type 2 diabetes who are young, overweight, have concerns about prescribed medications, and those of Pacific ethnicity, are most likely to experience adverse health outcomes including poor metabolic control and diabetes-related distress. Among Pacific peoples in particular there is a need to address concerns about medication and emotional distress about diabetes, while maintaining a focus on improving metabolic control.
Strategic Management Accounting and Information Technology Competency on Customer Service Process Performance in Local Government Agencies

The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of the adoption of Strategic Management Accounting (SMA) techniques and Information Technology (IT) competency on customer service process performance of Malaysian Local Government Agencies (LGA). Questionnaires were mailed to top managers of all 146 LGAs. The findings revealed that SMA information use and IT competency contribute directly in improving reliability of service delivery,
Green Marketing: Development of Construct and Its Evolution

Marketing as a discipline has evolved over a period of time where the traditional concept imparts that goods were produced to be sold to the customers and the modern marketing states that goods are produced according to the needs and demand of the customers. The current marketing management emphasises on satisfying the needs of the customers without any environmental degradation. This green concept is building over the last decade because of consumer concern, government regulations, environmental lobbies’ pressure and social responsibilities of the corporates towards environment. Also green marketing is offering a new competitive advantage to the companies who wish to target their green consumers. The current study aims to sketch out the concept of green marketing by discussing and analysing the existing knowledge of the definitions, themes, dimensions and their components so as to frame chronologically development of the same.
Boosting Green GaInN/GaN Light-Emitting Diode Performance by a GaInN Underlying Layer

The light output of 530 nm green GalnN/GaN light-emitting diodes on sapphire has been nearly doubled by the insertion of a 130-nm GalnN underlayer (UL) between the n-GaN electron injection layer and the quantum-well (QW) active region. Under variation of the alloy composition, best results were obtained for an x = 6.3% Ga1-xInxN UL. By low-temperature depth-resolved cathodoluminescence spectroscopy, an interplay of the impurity-related donor-acceptor pair recombination, the UL, and the QW emission has been observed. We propose that the resonance and level alignments between the defect and UL levels reroute excitation toward radiative recombination in the QWs.
Market effects associated with different financial restatements announcement strategies by Canadian firms

Canadian firms generally use one of two different announcement strategies when they detect the possible need to issue financial restatements; namely: single-announcement restatements (directly uploading and disclosing the financial restatements) and multiple-announcement restatements (initially announcing the possibility of accounting problems through press releases or firm reports before the later issue of the final restatements). We find that error-related single-announcement financial restatements are associated with significant negative market impacts in a two day event window [0, +1]. The median idiosyncratic volatility associated with error-related single-announcement restatements increases significantly following the announcements. For multiple-announcement restatements we observe significant market impacts at the intention announcement day and additional market impacts prior to but not on the official restatement dates. In the in-between period after the intention to restate is announced, bid-ask spreads increase and trading volumes, trading values and the idiosyncratic volatilities decrease significantly. After the official restatement is announced, trading volumes, trading values and idiosyncratic volatilities increase significantly. We observe higher total market impacts for multiple versus single announcement financial restatements.
A Study on Auto Patrol Drone Development for Safety Management

In this paper, we developed a drone for the purpose of safety management. A structure is quad copter-based, and we used a radio communication through Telemetry using the Arduino platform-based APM board for flight control and implementing functions. We also installed a Global Positional System (GPS) module and camera interworking with a smartphone application to track a current location and view images in real-time.
Usefulness of bromocriptine in the treatment of amisulpride-induced hyperprolactinemia: a case report.

We investigated the effect of bromocriptine on amisulpride-induced endocrinological disturbances (galactorrhea/amenorrhea) and on psychotic symptoms in an open-labeled study. Five women suffering from chronic psychosis and amisulpride-induced hyperprolactinemia (AIH) with amenorrhea and/or galactorrhea received bromocriptine at a dose of 10-40mg/day. In none of these patients could prolactin levels be reduced to the normal range. They were markedly reduced in three of five patients. Menses recurred in one of four patients with amenorrhea. Lactation decreased in one of three patients with galactorrhea. In two patients with reduced prolactin levels, psychotic symptoms exacerbated but fully remitted after discontinuation of bromocriptine therapy. Thus, bromocriptine seems to annihilate the central effect of amisulpride at a dose that reduces AIH. Therefore, bromocriptine appears not to be suited for the treatment of AIH.
Knowledge Management & Six Sigma: An Empirical Study of Two Emerging Concepts

Six Sigma is organized to change the organization culture through incorporating process control in manufacturing and non-manufacturing businesses.The techniques of Six Sigma are most often associated with manufacturing; the techniques are also being applied comprehensively to transactional and administrative business processes. Like most change initiatives, a Six Sigma business strategy requires unwavering and consistent ownership and leadership by top management. Convergence is keyword for Knowledge management. Information centers, market intelligence, and learning are converging in today's leading organizations to form knowledge management (KM) functions. Many information professionals and market intelligence professionals feel that KM programs arefocused on technology solutions, which is really only the first stage in a four-stage implementation that involves technology, content, process, and people's behavior. This empirical paper attempts an integration of Knowledge Management and Six Sigma.
Importance of CXC Chemokine Receptor 2 in Alveolar Neutrophil and Exudate Macrophage Recruitment in Response to Pneumococcal Lung Infection

ABSTRACT Sustained neutrophilic infiltration is known to contribute to organ damage, such as acute lung injury. CXC chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2) is the major receptor regulating inflammatory neutrophil recruitment in acute and chronic inflamed tissues. Whether or not the abundant neutrophil recruitment observed in severe pneumonia is essential for protective immunity against Streptococcus pneumoniae infections is incompletely defined. Here we show that CXCR2 deficiency severely perturbs the recruitment of both neutrophils and exudate macrophages associated with a massive bacterial outgrowth in distal airspaces after infection with S. pneumoniae, resulting in 100% mortality in knockout (KO) mice within 3 days. Moreover, irradiated wild-type mice reconstituted with increasing amounts of CXCR2 KO bone marrow (10, 25, 50, and 75% KO) have correspondingly decreased numbers of both neutrophils and exudate macrophages, which is associated with a stepwise increase in bacterial burden and a reciprocal stepwise decrease in survival in S. pneumoniae-induced pulmonary infection. Finally, application of the CXCR2 antagonist SB-225002 resulted in decreased alveolar neutrophil and exudate macrophage recruitment in mice along with increased lung bacterial loads after infection with S. pneumoniae. Together, these data show that CXC chemokine receptor 2 serves a previously unrecognized nonredundant role in the regulation of both neutrophil and exudate macrophage recruitment to the lung in response to S. pneumoniae infection. In addition, we demonstrate that a threshold level of 10 to 25% of reduced neutrophil recruitment is sufficient to cause increased mortality in mice infected with S. pneumoniae.
Possible mechanisms for N-acetyl cysteine and taurine in ameliorating acute renal failure induced by cisplatin in rats

Context: Cisplatin (CP), a broadly used anticancer drug, is widely known to induce acute renal failure as a result of renal tubular injury. Objective: In this study, the effect of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) or taurine (TAU) for protection against CP-induced nephrotoxicity was investigated. Materials and methods: A single dose of CP 1 mg/kg b.wt. for 4 days was given IP to the rats, 10 days rest, and then the dose was repeated for other 4 days. After CP administration, NAC or TAU was given IP in a dose of 50 mg/kg b.wt. 3 times weekly for 8 weeks. Results: CP-induced nephrotoxicity is reflected in high values of blood urea and creatinine levels. In addition, the significant increase in the β2-MG and N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase enzymes exhibited a strong correlation with histology scores of overall proximal tubule damage as compared with the normal control values. Treatment with TAU or NAC after CP administration significantly ameliorated CP-induced nephritic oxidation stress markers as compared with CP-treated group. On the other hand, treatment with TAU or NAC after CP administration significantly ameliorated CP-induced nephritic inflammation with possible attenuation of renal injury. Discussion: These data suggest that oxidative stress and inflammation are involved in the pathogenesis of CP-induced acute renal failure. The inhibition in oxidative stress and the elevation of the total antioxidant capacity as well as the inhibition of the inflammatory biomarkers by NAC or TAU after CP administration may play a central role in modulation of nephrotoxicity induced by CP. Conclusion: NAC and TAU have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory against CP-induced nephrotoxicity.
Linking Human Resources Practices to Corporate Entrepreneurship: The Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Support

The purpose of this study was to develop a mediation model in which high-performance human resource practices affect corporate entrepreneurship through perceived organizational support. In accordance with this purpose, firstly, the interrelationships between specific human resources practices (selective staffing, extensive training, internal mobility, employment security, clear job description, result-oriented appraisal, incentive reward, and participation) and corporate entrepreneurship dimensions (new business venturing, innovativeness, self-renewal, proactiveness) were examined. Then, based on social exchange theory, the mediating role of perceived organizational support in the relationship between human resources practices and corporate entrepreneurship was investigated. Data was collected through a survey, in which 258 medium and large scaled firms operating in different industries in Turkey participated. The results provide empirical evidence for the strong impact of human resources practices on corporate entrepreneurship, and this relationship is mediated by perceived organizational support of employees.
Out of Africa: Coping Strategies of African Immigrant Women Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

We explored the coping behaviors of 15 immigrant African survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the United States. Similarities and differences in coping strategies between African and other immigrant women were noted. Results from the qualitative analysis are that African immigrant survivors utilized multiple coping strategies including beliefs in spirituality and divine retribution, a future orientation, and a sense of self-efficacy. Acceptance/ endurance of abuse, which they believe was “normal” in male/ female relationships; minimization of the abuse; and avoidant behaviors and thoughts also were used. Informal and formal support/help seeking, and knowledge of available services empowered women. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed.
Cardiovascular models of simulated moon and mars gravities: head-up tilt vs. lower body unweighting.

INTRODUCTION In this study we compare two models [head-up tilt (HUT) vs. body unweighting using lower body positive pressure (LBPP)] to simulate Moon, Mars, and Earth gravities. A literature search did not reveal any comparisons of this type performed previously. We hypothesized that segmental fluid volume shifts (thorax, abdomen, upper and lower leg), cardiac output, and blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and total peripheral resistance to standing would be similar in the LBPP and HUT models. METHODS There were 21 subjects who were studied while supine (simulation of spaceflight) and standing at 100% (Earth), 40% (Mars), and 20% (Moon) bodyweight produced by LBPP in Alter-G and while supine and tilted at 80 degrees, 20 degrees, and 10 degrees HUT (analogues of Earth, Mars, and Moon gravities, respectively). RESULTS Compared to supine, fluid shifts from the chest to the abdomen, increases in HR, and decreases in stroke volume were greater at 100% bodyweight than at reduced weights in response to both LBPP and HUT. Differences between the two models were found for systolic BP, diastolic BP, mean arterial BP, stroke volume, total peripheral resistance, and thorax and abdomen impedances, while HR, cardiac output, and upper and lower leg impedances were similar. CONCLUSIONS Bodyweight unloading via both LBPP and HUT resulted in cardiovascular changes similar to those anticipated in actual reduced gravity environments. The LBPP model/Alter-G has the advantage of providing an environment that allows dynamic activity at reduced bodyweight; however, the significant increase in blood pressures in the Alter-GC may favor the HUT model.