Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bicuspid Aortic Valve-Associated Ascending Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm: Patient-Specific Finite Element Analysis.

BACKGROUND Elective repair of bicuspid aortic valve (BAV)-associated ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm (aTAA) is recommended at lower size limits than tricuspid aortic valve (TAV)-associated aTAA. Rupture/dissection can occur when wall stress exceeds wall strength. Previously, a validated computational method was developed for determining aTAA wall stress, but to date this method has not applied to a patient-specific BAV aTAA. The study aim was to develop a patient-specific BAV aTAA computational model to determine regional wall stress, using the required zero-pressure geometry, wall thickness, material properties, and residual stress. METHODS A BAV aTAA specimen was excised intact during elective repair, and zero-pressure geometry generated using micro-computed tomography. Residual stress was determined from the aTAA opening angle. aTAA material properties determined using biaxial stretch testing were incorporated into an Ogden hyperelastic model. Finite element analyses (FEAs) were performed in LS-DYNA to determine wall stress distribution and magnitudes at systemic pressure. RESULTS The left aTAA region had the highest stiffness, followed by the right, and then anterior/posterior walls, suggesting regional variability in mechanical properties. During systole, the mean principal wall stresses were 108.8 kPa (circumferential) and 59.9 kPa (longitudinal), while peak wall stresses were 789.4 kPa (circumferential) and 618.8 kPa (longitudinal). Elevated wall stress pockets were seen in anatomic left aTAA regions. CONCLUSIONS To the present authors' knowledge, this was the first patient-specific BAV aTAA model based on surgical specimens to be developed. Surgical specimens serve as the 'gold standard' for determining wall stress to validate models based on in-vivo imaging data alone. Regions of maximal wall stress may indicate sites most prone to rupture, and are crucial for evaluating rupture risk based on the wall stress/strength relationship.
Assessment of the quality of business environment and investment climate in Tanzania

The evaluation of investor’s satisfaction is a primary goal for any country that would like to utilize its business and investment potentials. Keeping investors satisfied and delighted is even more important for the Tanzanian economic development, given that many sectors which are now attractive for investment and resources are not yet well utilized. Developing a measure of business environment and investment quality is an important precursor for attracting and retaining investors and hence ensuring the survival of businesses and investments in the country. BUSiNVQUAL has been proposed a generic measure of business environment and investment climate qualities that may be applicable to measure the level of investors’ satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to find out if the business environment and investment climate in Tanzania have reached the quality of investors’ expectations. A self-completion questionnaire was developed from the BUSiNVQUAL instrument and distributed to 32 investment companies registered under Tanzania investment Centre (TiC). From the gap analysis carried out between perceived business-investment climate and expected business-investment climate, results suggested that the level of quality of business-investment climate in Tanzania has not reached the level of expectations of the investors. it is thus recommended that the Tanzanian government should improve the quality of all dimensions of business environment and improve on the investment climate.
Genetic variation in heat shock protein 70 is associated with septic shock: narrowing the association to a specific haplotype

Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) plays a major role in immune responses. Polymorphisms within the gene have been associated with development of septic shock. This study refines the region of the HSP70 gene associated with development of septic shock and confirms its functionality. Subjects (n = 31) were grouped into one of three haplotypes based on their HSPA1B‐179C>T and HSPA1B1267A>G genotypes. Mononuclear cells from these subjects were stimulated with heat‐killed bacteria (107 colony‐forming units/mL Escherichia coli or Streptococcus pneumoniae) for 8 and 21 h. HSP70 and tumour necrosis factor (TNF) mRNA and protein levels were measured by reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction and ELISA, respectively. The HSPA1B‐179*C:1267*A haplotype was associated with significantly lower levels of HSPA1B mRNA and protein and higher production of TNF mRNA and protein compared to the other haplotypes. Induction of HSP70 was TNF independent. These results suggest that the HSPA1B‐179C>T:1267A>G haplotype is functional and may explain the association of the HSP70 gene with development of septic shock.
Sequential filtering applied to multi-beam echo-sounding

A precise ocean bottom map is often desired for ocean surveying. To meet the demand, the multi-beam echo sounder (MBES) has been developed and commonly used. An MBES usually forms multiple receiving beams across-track first, then determines the bottom echo time for each beam, and finally calculates depth from echo time and direction. In this paper, a sequential filtering approach, exploiting ping to ping data correlation, is proposed, which is capable of realizing fast and accurate estimation and tracking of the seafloor depth. By the employment of this method, when the measurement Signal-Noise-Ratio (SNR) is below 35dB, the root mean square error (RMSE) of depth estimation is much lower than the conventional approach, and nearly reaches the posterior Cramer-Rao lower bound. The results demonstrate that the sequential filtering approach, applied to MBES measurements, could be a promising technique for seafloor topography estimation and tracking.
Sustainable Retail Banking and Asset Management: Lessons from Challenges Faced by Entrepreneurs in African Economies

In today’s global banking marketplace, the pressures challenging traditional business practices are many and varied. Competition is fierce, resulting in new opportunities and new risks for entreprenuers. Customers are becoming increasingly well informed and demanding, and the emergence of new financial service providers is transforming the banking industry. Meanwhile, deregulation and the effective disappearance of national boundaries are opening up greater opportunities and an increased portfolio of products and services. Some banks and asset management companies are rapidly identifying and exploiting opportunities. Such institutions meet the market demand by fast developing a new and inexpensive product.
Zhejiang Province Communication Resource Management System 2nd Stage Technology Solutions

Zhejiang province communication resource management system project preliminary established the telecommunications infrastructure database, realize the Digitization Management Communication Management Bureau of Zhejiang Province on the communication resources in the province, the tower, the base station, chamber, pipe, bar the way five kinds of infrastructure building and sharing of the electronic office. This year with the broadband China strategy, we fully consider the demand management of communication resources for a period of time in the future, the resource management system is also put forward higher requirements, therefore, based on the project of the business and technical architecture of the system on the two stage of capacity expansion scheme, the functional modules of the system and system network structure is improved. Keywords-communication resource management system; expansion; improvement
FDI Spillovers in Emerging Markets: A Literature Review and New Perspectives.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a pivotal role in the development of many emerging markets, and have consequently received due attention by scholarly research in economics and by policy analysts. In contrast, international business scholars have been comparatively uninterested in analyzing this role of MNEs. Yet, they would have important contributions to make to these debates, in particular in two ways: Firstly, the management perspective is essential to understand the interaction between MNEs and their local environment. Secondly, the application of theories and research methodologies developed in management research provide new insights on the dynamics of MNEs in emerging markets. The prime objective of this paper is thus to motivate international business scholars (beyond those working within a traditional economics paradigm) to engage in research on the role of FDI in emerging economy societies. I thus review existing literature, and propose extensions of the research agenda that management scholars may wish to pursue. 1. Multinational Enterprises in a Changing Global Economy Multinational firms play a pivotal role in global economy, linking rich and poor economies, and transmitting capital, knowledge, ideas and value systems across borders. Their interaction with institutions, organizations and individuals is generating positive and negative spillovers for stakeholders in host countries. In consequence they have become focal points in the popular debate on the merits and dangers of globalization, especially when it comes to developing countries. A solid understand of the role of MNEs in host societies is vital for both policy makers and for MNEs themselves. Policy makers are influencing the regulatory regime under which the MNE as well as local business partners operate and is influenced by politics. Policy makers are interested to understand how MNEs influence local firms, and thus economic development and national welfare. They need to understand how policy instruments may induce MNEs to act in ways that benefit the host economy. 1 The policy relevance is underlined by the fact that international organization have sponsored research in the field (Oman 2000 [OECD], Hansen 2002 [UNCTAD]), commissioned very informative reviews of the literature (Altenburg 2000 [UNCTAD], Blomström and Kokko 2002 [OECD], Fan 2002 [ADB]) and publish regular reports, notably the annual World Investment Report [UNCTAD].
Structural Counterparty Risk Valuation for Credit Default Swaps

The valuation of counterparty risk for single-name credit derivatives is often based on reduced models where defaults intensities drive the jump-to-default of the counterparty. Whereas efficient and relatively easy to calibrate to credit default swaps (CDS) spreads and market data, we argue that this approach should be supplemented by the structural approach familiar in multiname credit risk (e.g., in the Gaussian copula models or in many widespread credit portfolios risk assessment tools). We discuss Merton-type structural models for counterparty risk, their advantages, soundness, and potential shortcomings, and address the question of their numerical tractability.We focus then on the derivation of closed formulas for counterparty risk on a (possibly collateralized) CDS--extending the ones familiar in the pricing of multiname barrier options. Most of our results are meaningful more generally for derivatives on two default-prone assets: multiple barrier conditions or equity-to-credit modeling.
A Nonlinear Filtering Approach to Changepoint Detection Problems: Direct and Differential-Geometric Methods

A benchmark change detection problem is considered which involves the detection of a change of unknown size at an unknown time. Both unknown quantities are modeled by stochastic variables, which allows the problem to be formulated within a Bayesian framework. It turns out that the resulting nonlinear filtering problem is much harder than the well-known detection problem for known sizes of the change, and in particular that it can no longer be solved in a recursive manner. An approximating recursive filter is therefore proposed, which is designed using differential-geometric methods in a suitably chosen space of unnormalized probability densities. The new nonlinear filter can be interpreted as an adaptive version of the celebrated Shiryayev--Wonham equation for the detection of a priori known changes, combined with a modified Kalman filter structure to generate estimates of the unknown size of the change. This intuitively appealing interpretation of the nonlinear filter and its excellent performance in simulation studies indicates that it may be of practical use in realistic change detection problems.
Amyloid Fibrils of Mammalian Prion Protein Are Highly Toxic to Cultured Cells and Primary Neurons*

A growing body of evidence indicates that small, soluble oligomeric species generated from a variety of proteins and peptides rather than mature amyloid fibrils are inherently highly cytotoxic. Here, we show for the first time that mature amyloid fibrils produced from full-length recombinant mammalian prion protein (rPrP) were highly toxic to cultured cells and primary hippocampal and cerebella neurons. Fibrils induced apoptotic cell death in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The toxic effect of fibrils was comparable with that exhibited by soluble small β-oligomers generated from the same protein. Fibrils prepared from insulin were not toxic, suggesting that the toxic effect was not solely due to the highly polymeric nature of the fibrillar form. The cell death caused by rPrP fibrils or β-oligomers was substantially reduced when expression of endogenous PrPC was down-regulated by small interfering RNAs. In opposition to the β-oligomer and amyloid fibrils of rPrP, the monomeric α-helical form of rPrP stimulated neurite out-growth and survival of neurons. These studies illustrated that both soluble β-oligomer and amyloid fibrils of the prion protein are intrinsically toxic and confirmed that endogenously expressed PrPC is required for mediating the toxicity of abnormally folded external PrP aggregates.
On the redox potentials of ubiquinone and cytochrome b in the respiratory chain.

The standard redox potential of ubiquinone in submitochondrial particles is measured by equilibration with the succinatelfumarate system to about 65 mV at pH 7, with the redox ratio, n = 2. The pH dependence is -60 mV/ApH. The lower value measured for bound ubiquinone is discussed in comparison with the value found for isolated ubiquinone (104 to 112 mV, pH 7) determined in ethanol-HC1. In parallel experiments the standard redox potential of cytochrome b was measured to 72.5mV at pH 7. The pH dependence is AE/A pH = 0 at pH 6.8. The relative position of ubiquinone and cytochrome b in the respiratory chain has been under controversy. One basis for understanding the position of the respiratory carriers is their redox potential. Until now the redox potential of isolated ubiquinone was measured in ethanol-1N HCl and extrapolated for pH = 7 [l]. The present study attempts to measure a redox potential of ubiquinone in a submitochondrial respiratory chain preparation utilizing equilibration of ubiquinone with an appropriate substrate couple such as succinate/fumarate. For comparison the redox potential of cytochrome 6 has also been followed by equilibration with the couple succinate/fumarate, a procedure which has been applied for this purpose in earlier studies [2,3]. New measurements of cytochrome b in the present context appear to be necessary since the values reported in the literature vary widely. The reason for these variations may not only reside in experimental inconsistencies, but also in the dependence of the redox potential of cytochrome b on the state of respiratory chain preparation. In this connection it is helpful that apparently both ubiquinone and cytochrome b can be equilibrated with succinate/fumarate, since their redox potentials turn out to be rather close. The present studies were performed on sonic particles from beef heart mitochondria, where it can be assumed that succinate dehydrogenase is accessible to succinate and fumarate without a membrane barrier, in contrast to the situation in intact mitochondria.
An unusual variant of granulomatous adnexotropic cutaneous T‐cell lymphoma

SIR, A 40-year-old man reported the slow progressive appearance, during the previous 6 years, of pruritic erythematous lesions on the trunk, buttock, abdomen, axilla, genital area and forearm (Fig. 1a). Lesions consisted of follicular papules, comedones, milia and cysts. Lesional areas were alopecic (Fig. 1b), and diffuse alopecia was also present on the scalp and beard area, along with comedones and cysts. The patient reported severe skin dryness, especially in the involved areas. No impairment of salivary or lacrimary function was noted. Serological and haematological tests were all normal or negative. Because of the diffuse presence of cysts and comedones, a diagnosis of chloracne had been made in another institution; the clinical diagnosis was confirmed histologically by the presence of infundibular cysts and a granulomatous foreign body reaction to keratin scales. A further biopsy was performed: the most striking histological feature was a lymphocytic infiltrate involving eccrine glands and coils along with a characteristic epithelial hyperplasia (Figs 1c,d). This picture fits perfectly with that reported in the literature as being characteristic of syringolymphoid hyperplasia, also known as syringotropic mycosis fungoides or syringotropic cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). The hair follicles were involved by the lymphocytic infiltrate in a manner similar to that of the eccrine glands. Follicles were surrounded by a dense lymphocytic infiltrate, with extensive exocytosis. Occasional Pautrier microabscesses were evident in the follicular sheath. This pattern is that of pilotropic mycosis fungoides, a form of folliculotropic CTCL. Many follicles were entirely trans-
An assessment of harmonious family relationships in small and medium-sized family businesses

Family businesses are fast becoming the dominant form of business enterprise in both developing and developed economies. Family businesses are also being recognised as a potential driver of economic growth and wealth creation in the world. Family businesses in particular, have been making a positive contribution towards the South African economy for the last 300 years. Definitions based on the components of family involvement such as management, ownership, governance, and succession, are easy to operationalise. Unfortunately, they cannot distinguish between two firms with the same level of family involvement when one considers itself a family business and the other does not. Therefore, there is a need to develop a definition that captures the essence of the family business and, as such, may be used to distinguish the family business, in theory, research, and practice. The primary objective of this study was to empirically explore and evaluate the determinants of harmonious family relationships and family businesses in small and medium-sized family businesses. The empirical study was conducted by means of a field study using a structured questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined by calculating the Cronbach alpha coefficient of the constructs. The purpose of the literature review was to align the determinants of family harmony in family businesses according to a structured questionnaire developed by Prof. Elmarie Venter (NMMU), Dr. Shelly Farrington (Van Eeden) (NMMU) and Dr. Stephan van der Merwe (NWU). Data from 109 respondents linked to 27 family businesses were collected and analysed. The results indicate that a significant proportion of the variation in harmonious family relationships was explained by communication and how to manage and avoid conflict, through drawing up family constitutions as well as family forums. A possible total of 54 family businesses were identified and a total of 252 questionnaires (161 active members and 91 inactive members) were handed out to family businesses restricted to Gauteng, Free State and the North West province areas. 1
Toll‐Like Receptor Engagement Enhances the Immunosuppressive Properties of Human Bone Marrow‐Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Inducing Indoleamine‐2,3‐dioxygenase‐1 via Interferon‐β and Protein Kinase R

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) display unique suppressive properties on T‐cell immunity, thus representing an attractive vehicle for the treatment of conditions associated with harmful T‐cell responses such as organ‐specific autoimmunity and graft‐versus‐host disease. Toll‐like receptors (TLR) are primarily expressed on antigen‐presenting cells and recognize conserved pathogen‐derived components. Ligation of TLR activates multiple innate and adaptive immune response pathways to eliminate and protect against invading pathogens. In this work, we show that TLR expressed on human bone marrow‐derived MSC enhanced the immunosuppressive phenotype of MSC. Immunosuppression mediated by TLR was dependent on the production of immunosuppressive kynurenines by the tryptophan‐degrading enzyme indoleamine‐2,3‐dioxygenase‐1 (IDO1). Induction of IDO1 by TLR involved an autocrine interferon (IFN)‐β signaling loop, which was dependent on protein kinase R (PKR), but independent of IFN‐γ. These data define a new role for TLR in MSC immunobiology, which is to augment the immunosuppressive properties of MSC in the absence of IFN‐γ rather than inducing proinflammatory immune response pathways. PKR and IFN‐β play a central, previously unidentified role in orchestrating the production of immunosuppressive kynurenines by MSC. STEM CELLS 2009;27:909–919
Effect of Operating Frequency on Performance of LTE and LTE-Advanced Systems

A vast pool of frequency bands from 450 MHz to 3.6 GHz is available for deployment of LTE and LTEAdvanced networks. But with increase in the operating frequency path loss increases which in turn impacts the coverage area of a base station. Accordingly the number of base stations increases which leads to increase in the cost of deployment. Availability of spectrum in high frequency range is not an issue but it has its own pros and cons. This paper discusses the effects of deploying networks at high frequency versus deployment at low frequencies. The LTE system level simulator by Vienna has been used to study the changes in path loss with changes in operating frequencies of 0.8 GHz to 2 GHz.
Informatics—a computational approach to the complexity of the epilepsies

Berg AT, Berkovic SF, Brodie MJ, Buchhalter J, Cross JH, van Emde Boas W, Engel J, French J, Glauser TA, Mathern GW, Mosh e SL, Nordli D, Plouin P, Scheffer IE. (2010) Revised terminology and concepts for organization of seizures and epilepsies: report of the ILAE Commission on Classification and Terminology, 2005–2009. Epilepsia 51:676–685. Bergin P, Sadleir L, Legros B, Mogal Z, Tripathi M, Dang N, Beretta S, Zanchi C, Burneo J, Borkowski T, Cho YJ, Ossemann M, Striano P, Srivastava K, Tan HJ, Wanigasinghe J, D’Souza W; EpiNet study group. (2012) An International Pilot Study of an Internet-Based Platform to facilitate clinical research in epilepsy; the EpiNet Project. Epilepsia, 53:1829–1835. Sahoo S, Zhang G-Q, Lhatoo S. (2013) Epilepsy informatics and an ontology-driven infrastructure for large database research and patient care in epilepsy. EpilepsiaMay 3 [Epub ahead of print].