Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PAMAM dendrimers internalizes quickly in microalgae and cyanobacteria causing toxicity and oxidative stress

Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers are hyper-branched polymeric, nanoscale molecules with exceptional properties that make them attractive for a variety of biomedical and technological applications [1]. Dendrimers are considered “perfect” polymers due to their symmetry, and are classified according to their “generation” “G”, which accounts for the number of “layers” of polymer forming the dendrimer. Each generation doubles molecular weight and surface functional groups. Furthermore they are susceptible of a variety of surface functionalizations. Despite their promising applications, they have been found to be toxic to mammalian cells depending on generation and surface functionalization and their possible adverse effects for aquatic life, and especially for microalgae are largely unknown. In the present work we chose generation G2, G3 and G4 native –NH2 (cationic) and NH-C-(CH2OH)3 (-OH) (anionic) surface functionalized PAMAM dendrimers in order to study the dependency of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer toxicity on generation and surface functionalization. As model organisms we chose a green microalga (Chlamydomonas reindhartii) and a cyanobacterium (Anabaena PCC7120). We have applied a multi-method approach to get insight into the toxic mechanisms of action of PAMAM dendrimers on both C. reindhartii and Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 including physicochemical characterization of PAMAM dendrimers in culture media, and different physiological and cell biology techniques.
Longitudinal study to investigate variation in results of repeated ELISA and culture of fecal samples for Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis in commercial dairy herds.

OBJECTIVE To determine sources and amounts of variation in a kinetics ELISA (KELA) and results of culture of fecal samples for Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis (MAP) in repeated tests of individual cows. ANIMALS 112 cows on 6 commercial dairy farms in New York. PROCEDURE A nonrandom longitudinal study was conducted from January 2001 to March 2002. A KELA was performed monthly, and MAP culture was performed bimonthly. Cow- and herd-level data were collected. The KELA and culture results were analyzed by use of models that corrected for clustering within herds and repeated measures on cows. RESULTS Cows of second or higher lactation had increased KELA values, compared with values for first-lactation cows. Cows had lowest KELA values during the first 15 days in milk; KELA values increased until 60 days in milk and then stabilized. Moderate and heavy shedders had significantly higher KELA values than culture-negative cows, and KELA values of shedders progressively increased over time. On average, the KELA value was significantly increased 132 days after a cow was first detected to be a moderate shedder and 236 days after a cow was first detected to be a low shedder. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Analysis suggests that KELA results vary on a cow-level on the basis of lactation number and stage of lactation. High KELA values indicate heavy fecal shedding, but the KELA is not useful in identifying low and moderate shedders that can require up to 236 days to have a significant increase in KELA value.
Sparse Voxel DAGs

This thesis investigates a memory-efficient representation of highly detailed geometry in 3D voxel grids. The memory consumption of a plain dense grid scales too fast as the resolution increases to be feasible at very high resolutions. In computer graphics, the geometry is often surface geometry, and representing the data in a sparse voxel octree exploits the sparsity, making the memory consumption scale much better than for a dense grid. The size of sparse voxel octrees is still significant at high resolutions, and this thesis consists of four papers addressing the memory consumption by also exploiting coherence in the data. The coherence is detected automatically in voxel data sets and encoded losslessly in a directed acyclic graph as nodes sharing descendants, as opposed to a tree where all descendants are unique. The sparse voxel DAG is used to encode hard shadows and static and time-varying opaque surface geometry, and offers just as fast access as trees, at a fraction of the memory consumption. While 1 bit per leaf node implies a lowest memory consumption of 1 bit per occupied voxel in a tree, the sparse voxel DAG repeatedly achieves much lower memory consumptions, e.g., 0.08 bits per voxel. The sparse voxel DAG is not just a single data layout for a single purpose, but a way of encoding coherence in voxel grids. The thesis shows that the limits of tree representations are not the fundamental, nor the practical, limits of how efficiently voxel grids can be represented and used, and advances the limit of grid resolutions to be considered practical in real-time rendering.
Quality of Services and Influence on Customer's Satisfaction: Study of Cellular Companies in Sahiwal, Pakistan

This study examines the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction in sahiwal, Pakistan. In this study, 7hypothesis are used to examine the relationship of service quality on customer's satisfaction in the area of mobile phone service. The data was collected from 150 respondents who use the mobile phone service. Regression, correlation and Anova tests are performed to gather facts and figure which were discussed further in paper.
Community Involvement And Sustainability Of Tourism: A Discussion Through Local Community Understanding In The Eastern Black Sea Region

Turkey is one of the developing countries which aims to increase its national share of tourism revenue. Therefore the Turkish Republic Ministry of Culture and Tourism published its Turkey Tourism 2023 Strategy Action Plan in order to spotlight regional tourism development schemes. The Eastern Black Sea Region is one of the regions in which sustainable niche tourism activities is highlighted to be implemented. This study aims to understand “How far the local residents in the Eastern Black Sea Region embrace tourism activities taking place in their local environment? ” In order to answer this question explicitly, the theoretical part must be set forth first in order to understand the connections between sustainable development and community involvement. Second, a perception study will be used to realize how the community evaluates tourism development in their region in respect to social, economic and environmental dimensions. Finally, the residents’ attitudes towards tourism development will be linked to their involvement in the tourism development process. A questionnaire was designed in light of the sustainability indicators, including Sustainable Tourism Attitude Scale (SUSTAS) indicators. 100 people were covered in the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, frequencies of statements and correlations between statements were tested. Results show that; residents’ attitudes towards community participation positively associated with negative impacts of tourism development. Exemption of local residents from the tourism planning and decision making process indicates the ignorance of one of the main principles of sustainable tourism development.
Posterior cuts in prefrontal leucotomy; a clinicopathological study.

Clinico-pathological analysis is made of 40 cases of prefrontal leucotomy, with particular reference to the relation of restlessness and certain autonomic disturbances to the posterior orbital region. The results emphasize the potentialities of such studies and the importance of full clinical investigation of cases before and after operation and their eventual correlation with the pathological findings.
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN E-LEARNING

The paper is a position one, discussing the challenges and the opportunities offered to education by the new information technologies through the e-learning paradigm. It starts with different definitions for e-learning and then approaches several learning models, advocating for an e-learning centred on the student, adapted to different learning styles, to different knowledge backgrounds. Web 2.0 implications on e-learning are discussed. A proposed e-Learning system developed by a team of researchers from Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca and Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu is used as an argument. The DANTE project – Socio-Cultural Models implemented through Multi-Agent Architecture for eLearning is based on a global model for the virtual education environment, student centred, that facilitates the learning through collaboration as a form of social interaction.
Reversible Inactivation of Protein-tyrosine Phosphatase 1B in A431 Cells Stimulated with Epidermal Growth Factor*

Stimulation of various cells with growth factors results in a transient increase in the intracellular concentration of H2O2 that is required for growth factor-induced protein tyrosine phosphorylation. The effect of H2O2 produced in response to epidermal growth factor (EGF) on the activity of protein-tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) was investigated in A431 human epidermoid carcinoma cells. H2O2 inactivated recombinant PTP1B in vitro by oxidizing its catalytic site cysteine, most likely to sulfenic acid. The oxidized enzyme was reactivated more effectively by thioredoxin than by glutaredoxin or glutathione at their physiological concentrations. Oxidation by H2O2 prevented modification of the catalytic cysteine of PTP1B by iodoacetic acid, suggesting that it should be possible to monitor the oxidation state of PTP1B in cells by measuring the incorporation of radioactivity into the enzyme after lysis of the cells in the presence of radiolabeled iodoacetic acid. The amount of such radioactivity associated with PTP1B immunoprecipitated from A431 cells that had been stimulated with EGF for 10 min was 27% less than that associated with PTP1B from unstimulated cells. The amount of iodoacetic acid-derived radioactivity associated with PTP1B reached a minimum 10 min after stimulation of cells with EGF and returned to base line values by 40 min, suggesting that the oxidation of PTP1B is reversible in cells. These results indicate that the activation of a receptor tyrosine kinase by binding of the corresponding growth factor may not be sufficient to increase the steady state level of protein tyrosine phosphorylation in cells and that concurrent inhibition of protein-tyrosine phosphatases by H2O2 might also be required.
Defect Interactions of  ${\hbox{H}}_{2}$ in  ${\hbox{SiO}}_{2}$: Implications for ELDRS and Latent Interface Trap Buildup

The energetics of the interactions between molecular hydrogen and common defects in SiO2 that are typically associated with O deficiency have been obtained using atomic-scale quantum mechanical calculations. H2 does not easily crack at neutral vacancies, but it will crack efficiently at O vacancy sites that have captured a hole and relaxed into the puckered configuration of an Eγ' defect, releasing a proton into the oxide. Isolated Si dangling bonds also can play a role in cracking H2, depending on their concentration in the oxides. These results provide significant insight into the underlying causes of latent interface trap buildup in MOS devices and enhanced low-dose-rate sensitivity in linear bipolar devices.
The Control of Hunger in Health and Disease

The Control of hunger in health and disease. By Anton Julius Carlson. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1916. Pp. viii+319. Illus. This volume presents "a summary of the work on the stomach, with special reference to hunger and appetite, carried out in the Hull Physiological Laboratory of the University of Chicago during the last four years," in the light of biological and clinical literature. "The elimination of many biological correctives by the artificialities of modern civilization calls for rational guidance of all phases of human behavior, including the desire for food," observes Mr. Carlson.
“Word-of-Mouth” Advertising in Selling New Products

ADVERTISING and personal selling are by no means the only sources from which consumers receive information regarding products. Powerful "networks of interpersonal relations" existing within the consumer market are also utilized for this purpose. In this article we shall discuss the networks of interpersonal communications which have been found through research, and consider their significance in relation to marketing activities. It must be pointed out that none of the material has a bearing on the promotion of individual brands. The principal sources deal with the introduction of new types of products, all of which are commercially marketed in substantial volume.
The Outbound Mainland China Market to the United States: Uncovering Motivations for Future Travel to Hawaii

ABSTRACT It is essential for U.S. travel industry leaders to learn more about the characteristics and needs of the Mainland Chinese visitor as these travelers have high expectations for the quality of the tourist product and services. This empirical study profiles 351 Mainland Chinese tourists traveling to the United States uncovering their travel habits, preferences, satisfaction levels, motivations, and what will retain the traveler for future visits, as well as identifying why the traveler would not return to the destination. Results suggest that industry leaders focus on ways to reduce or eliminate travel barriers as many new competitive travel opportunities become available to the Mainland Chinese traveler. Marketing implications are detailed and analyzed.
Low Spatial Frequencies Dominate Apparent Motion

Experiments are reported which have been designed to establish what features of a pair of figures can be used as an input for apparent motion. The display consisted of a central figure, A, which appeared briefly and was followed immediately afterwards by two figures, B and C, which appeared on either side of the original location of A. Figure A can thus move towards either B or C. When A was a low-pass filtered square it moved towards C (a low-pass filtered square that was similar to A but ‘rotated’ by 45°) rather than towards B (a high-pass filtered square identical to A in orientation and size). When A was an unfiltered square it moved towards C (a low-pass filtered square of identical orientation) rather than towards B (a high-pass filtered square of identical orientation). Lastly, when A was a ‘solid’ square it moved towards C (a solid circle) rather than towards B (an outline square). All three experiments suggest that the direction of perceived movement is determined exclusively by low spatial frequencies rather than by similarity of oriented edges, especially when speed of alternation is rapid.
A STUDY OF THE ADOPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS IN THE TWO EU COUNTRIES OF DENMARK AND IRELAND AND NEW ZEALAND, A NON EU COUNTRY

The International Accounting Standards Board has as its mission the development of a singlet set of high quality standards to be applied consistently by companies globally. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation process to integrate IFRS in the smaller and developed countries of Denmark, Ireland and New Zealand. The paper examines the enablers for successful IFRS implementation, namely, Legislative changes, Accounting profession, Stock exchanges, Enforcement, Early adopters in 2004, and Adopters in 2005. An examination of the top 30 companies’ annual reports for the three countries was made to test for voluntary compliance of IFRS in 2004 and mandatory compliance in 2005. The results show that Denmark is the only country with early adopters in 2004. All 30 Danish companies complied in 2005, with 24 in Ireland, and 9 in New Zealand.
Grouping Similar Trajectories in Hospital Laboratory Data

Grouping of time series medical data is still a challenging task as it requires comparison of mutidimensional and temporally irregular data. In this paper, we attempt to overcome these problems by using multiscale comparison of directed trajectories. A set of time series containing different types of laboratory tests are mapped into directed trajectories representing the time course of patient states. Then the trajectories for individual patients are compared and grouped into similar cases. Experiments were conducted on the grouping tasks of artificially generated stroke trajectories of digits and ALB-PLT trajectories on chronic hepatitis patients. The results showed that the method could group the similar trajectories successfully.
Adenovirus 12 E4orf6 inhibits ATR activation by promoting TOPBP1 degradation

Activation of the cellular DNA damage response is detrimental to adenovirus (Ad) infection. Ad has therefore evolved a number of strategies to inhibit ATM- and ATR-dependent signaling pathways during infection. Recent work suggests that the Ad5 E4orf3 protein prevents ATR activation through its ability to mislocalize the MRN complex. Here we provide evidence to indicate that Ad12 has evolved a different strategy from Ad5 to inhibit ATR. We show that Ad12 utilizes a CUL2/RBX1/elongin C-containing ubiquitin ligase to promote the proteasomal degradation of the ATR activator protein topoisomerase-IIβ–binding protein 1 (TOPBP1). Ad12 also uses this complex to degrade p53 during infection, in contrast to Ad5, which requires a CUL5-based ubiquitin ligase. Although Ad12-mediated degradation of p53 is dependent upon both E1B-55K and E4orf6, Ad12-mediated degradation of TOPBP1 is solely dependent on E4orf6. We propose that Ad12 E4orf6 has two principal activities: to recruit the CUL2-based ubiquitin ligase and to act as substrate receptor for TOPBP1. In support of the idea that Ad12 E4orf6 specifically prevents ATR activation during infection by targeting TOPBP1 for degradation, we demonstrate that Ad12 E4orf6 can inhibit the ATR-dependent phosphorylation of CHK1 in response to replication stress. Taken together, these data provide insights into how Ad modulates ATR signaling pathways during infection.
Electrowetting-Based Total Internal Reflection Chip for Optical Switch and Display

We present a novel electrowetting-based micro chip for optical switch and display. Electrowetting on dielectric layer (EWOD), using an electrode covered by an insulating film as the substrate for a conducting water drop, enables production of large and reversible contact angle variations, opening a wide field of applications in microphysics. Utilize the total internal reflection (TIR) occurs inside micro droplet, we can control the droplet curve by electrowetting to determinate light pass through or not The key advantage of this novel method is the ability to switch between the highly reflective and intensely colored states
Privacy Rules: Method and System for Conveying Location-Granularity Preferences with Location-Based Service Requests

The results of an online survey support a growing body of evidence that user discomfort increases in proportion to the accuracy with which wireless communication networks determine the physical location of a wireless device. We describe a method for conveying and applying user preferences for location granularity (inaccuracy) with such location-based services. Using this method, a user may limit the location granularity either globally, for particular services, or for particular individuals who might wish to locate the user. Upon detecting a request to use a location service, a wireless device sends to the service provider a message directing how to carry out the requested service. Upon receiving the instructions, the service provider would proceed to determine the location of the device, adjust the granularity as appropriate to the user's preference, then return the adjusted location. We believe that this method will alleviate some of users' concerns related to the privacy and control of location information.
The Impact of Cobranding on Customer Evaluation of Brand Counterextensions

A brand that successfully extends from its parent category into a new extension category often faces a counter-extension by a brand from the extension category back into its own parent category. However, there is little guidance available on how brand extension strategies should be adjusted to mitigate the risk to the parent brand from counterextensions. This research examines the differential impact of cobranded versus solo-branded extensions on customer evaluations of brand counterextensions. It demonstrates that customers evaluate a counterextension less favorably if the preceding extension by the focal brand is cobranded than if it is solo branded. The findings suggest that cobranding not only improves the attribute profile of a brand's own extension but also helps protect the brand against counterextensions.
A novel frequency domain control method for modular multilevel converters under non-sinusoidal supply conditions

This paper presents a novel control method that enables operation of Modular Multilevel Converters under non-sinusoidal AC supply conditions based on frequency domain decomposition of supply voltages. The proposed control method enables to inject or draw near sinusoidal grid currents even during the presence of harmonic distortions in the supply voltages without the use of additional hardware filters. The paper also presents a modified feedback approach for circulating current suppressing controller which minimizes circulating current while maintaining sub-module capacitor voltage dc level to the desired value and also minimizes dc bus current ripples. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control structure under supply harmonic distortions.
Sales Promotions Effects on Consumer-Based Brand Equity

Research has traditionally posited that sales promotions erode brand equity. However, in current management practices, one may observe that companies design promotional programmes to differentiate and modernise their brand image and build brand awareness. This divergence between practice in the industry and the general academic view must inevitably lead to a rethink about the goals assigned to sales promotions. Consequently, the research question that concerns this study is whether sales promotions can contribute to building brand equity. Adopting a consumer-based brand knowledge perspective of brand equity, this study shows that monetary and non-monetary promotions are useful to create brand equity because of their positive effect on brand knowledge structures. The findings derived from a sample of 167 buyers suggest that non-monetary promotions are more appropriate as a brand-building activity and that the product type exerts a moderator effect on the relationship between sales promotions and brand knowledge.
Dietary and lifestyle factors in relation to plasma insulin-like growth factor I in a general population sample

There is evidence that the insulin-like growth factor system (IGF), particularly IGF-I, is important in human carcinogenesis. We studied in a general, though not strictly random population sample of 620 adults, the relationship of IGF-I to demographic, lifestyle and dietary factors, the latter ascertained through an extensive validated questionnaire. Plasma IGF-I levels declined significantly with age and the decline was more evident among women than among men. Tobacco smoking, body mass index and regular physical activity were unrelated to this hormone and a positive association with height was not statistically significant. Neither protein nor carbohydrate intake was related to plasma IGF-I levels but there was inconsistent evidence that ethanol intake may be inversely associated with plasma IGF-I and saturated and polyunsaturated lipids may be positively associated with it. The findings are evaluated in conjunction with evidence indicating that the incidence of cancer is lower among women than among men, height is a risk factor for several forms of cancer, and saturated and polyunsaturated lipids have been more closely linked to human and animal carcinogenesis than monounsaturated lipids.