Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigation of composite insulators with microvaristor filled silicone rubber components

This paper reports possible applications of microvaristor filled silicone rubber at composite insulators. Different insulator variations fitted with microvaristor filled sheds or shanks have been investigated. The insulators are dimensioned for Um = 170 kV and Um = 420 kV. Different variations of the 420 kV type were tested for their a.c. behaviour under artificial rain. In these tests the insulators with microvaristor filled silicone rubber components showed interesting properties. The suitability of microvaristor filled silicone rubber for application both in the sheds and in the sheath are discussed based on these positive results. The applicability for outdoor applications is investigated by an “inclined plane test” (material test) as well as by a “weather ageing test” under salt fog (material and design test).
Towards a Generic Approach for Bilingual Lexicon Extraction from Comparable Corpora

This paper presents an approach that extends the standard approach used for bilingual lexicon extraction from comparable corpora. We focus on the problem associated to polysemous words found in the seed bilingual lexicon when translating source context vectors. To improve the adequacy of context vectors, the use of a WordNetbased Word Sense Disambiguation process is tested. Experimental results on four specialized French-English comparable corpora show that our method outperforms two state-of-the-art approaches.
Trust in Distributed Information Systems

Trust management is an important issue in the analysis and design of secure information systems. This is especially the case where centrally managed security is not possible. Trust issues arise not only in business functions, but also in technologies used to support these functions. There are a vast number of services and applications that must accommodate appropriate notions of trust. Trust and trust management have become a hot research area. The motivation of this dissertation is to build up a comprehensive trust management approach that covers the analysis/modelling of trust relationships and the development of trust management systems in a consistent manner. A formal model of trust relationship is proposed with a strict mathematical structure that can not only reflect many of the commonly used notions of trust, but also provide a solid basis for a unified taxonomy framework of trust where a range of useful properties of trust relationships can be expressed and compared. A classification of trust relationships is presented. A set of definitions, propositions, and operations are proposed for the properties about scope and diversity of trust relationships, direction and symmetry of trust relationships, and relations of trust relationships. A general methodology for analysis and modelling of trust relationships in
Power and incentives in environmental supply chain management

This paper presents two case studies to illustrate how two very different companies have responded to environmental challenges with supply chain implications. Using these two cases as examples, the paper discusses the organizational implications of the different approaches. It is argued that ESCM involves three distinct tasks: (1) Deciding the objective(s) to be achieved, (2) Motivating relevant actors to ensure that they will cooperate in achieving the determined objective(s), and (3) Devising a system of control. It is also argued that greening in the supply chain can be achieved both through use of power leverage (the threat of sanctions) and incentives.
Expression of Heparan Sulfate d-Glucosaminyl 3-O-Sulfotransferase Isoforms Reveals Novel Substrate Specificities*

The 3-O-sulfation of glucosamine residues is an important modification during the biosynthesis of heparan sulfate (HS). Our previous studies have led us to purify and molecularly clone the heparan sulfate d-glucosaminyl 3-O-sulfotransferase (3-OST-1), which is the key enzyme converting nonanticoagulant heparan sulfate (HSinact) to anticoagulant heparan sulfate (HSact). In this study, we expressed and characterized the full-length cDNAs of 3-OST-1 homologous genes, designated as 3-OST-2, 3-OST-3A, and 3-OST-3B as described in the accompanying paper (Shworak, N. W., Liu, J., Petros, L. M., Zhang, L., Kobayashi, M., Copeland, N. G., Jenkins, N. A., and Rosenberg, R. D. (1999)J. Biol. Chem. 274, 5170–5184). All these cDNAs were successfully expressed in COS-7 cells, and heparan sulfate sulfotransferase activities were found in the cell extracts. We demonstrated that 3-OST-2, 3-OST-3A, and 3-OST-3B are heparan sulfate d-glucosaminyl 3-O-sulfotransferases because the enzymes transfer sulfate from adenosine 3′-phosphophate 5′-phospho-[35S]sulfate ([35S]PAPS) to the 3-OH position of glucosamine. 3-OST-3A and 3-OST-3B sulfate an identical disaccharide. HSact conversion activity in the cell extract transfected by 3-OST-1 was shown to be 300-fold greater than that in the cell extracts transfected by 3-OST-2 and 3-OST-3A, suggesting that 3-OST-2 and 3-OST-3A do not make HSact. The results of the disaccharide analysis of the nitrous acid-degraded [35S]HS suggested that 3-OST-2 transfers sulfate to GlcA2S-GlcNS and IdoA2S-GlcNS; 3-OST-3A transfers sulfate to IdoA2S-GlcNS. Our results demonstrate that the 3-O-sulfation of glucosamine is generated by different isoforms depending on the saccharide structures around the modified glucosamine residue. This discovery has provided evidence for a new cellular mechanism for generating a defined saccharide sequence in structurally complex HS polysaccharide.
The Risks of Off-Balance Sheet Derivatives in U.S. Commercial Banks

This study employs both contingent and non-contingent claim models to test for the existence of market discipline hypothesis for derivative contracts in U.S. banking industry. In addition to the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) measure of systematic risk and standard deviation of a bank’s equity return, we apply Ronn-Verma option pricing model to assess whether market participants incorporate derivatives positions when they price banks’ market risk. The benefit of using the contingent claim model is that the traditional linear models seem to be inadequate in estimating the non-linear relation between derivatives and bank risks. In order to capture the differences in marginal propensity to risk (MPR) across banks, we divide our bank holding company (BHC) sample into three groups: big, medium, and small. The conclusions are as follows. First, among the derivatives contracts, swaps are the major contracts that are incorporated in market risk valuation. They are viewed as risk reducing tools according to the three risk measures (Beta, equity return risk, and implied asset volatilities) for both big and medium BHCs. Second, futures, forwards, and options do not seem to have a major effect in valuation of bank market risk for all the three BHCs groups. However, we find a significant positive relationship between these three types of derivatives and market systematic risk (Beta). Third, generally, market participants view swaps positions as more of potential risk diversification tools. Fourth, small BHCs have the highest MPR while big banks have the lowest MPR. Finally, more capital and regulations on bank derivatives activities are required to minimize the impact of derivatives on banks’ market risk.
Lumisight Table: an interactive view-dependent tabletop display

A novel tabletop display provides different images to different users surrounding the system. It can also capture users' gestures and physical objects on the tabletop. The Lumisight Table approach is based on the optical design of a special screen system composed of a building material called Lumisty and a Fresnel lens. The system combines these films and a lens with four projectors to display four different images, one for each user's view. In addition, we need appropriate input methods for this display media. In the current state of the project, we can control computers by placing physical objects on the display or placing our hands over the display. This screen system also makes it possible to use a camera to capture the appearance of the tabletop from inside of the system. Our other main idea is to develop attractive and specialized applications on the Lumisight Table, including games and applications for computer-supported cooperative-work (CSCW) environments. The projected images can be completely different from each other, or partially identical and partially different. Users can share the identical parts as public information, because all users can see it. This article is available with a short video documentary on CD-ROM.
Design, Automation, and Test for Low-Power and Reliable Flexible Electronics

Flexible electronics are emerging as an alternative to conventional Si electronics for large-area low-cost applications such as smart sensors, disposable RFID tags, and solar cells. By utilizing inexpensive manufacturing methods such as ink-jet printing and roll-to-roll imprinting, flexible electronics can be made on low-cost plastic films just like printing newspapers. However, the key elements of flexible electronics, thin-film transistors TFTs, have slower operating speeds and are less reliable than their Si electronics counterparts. Furthermore, depending on the material property, TFTs are usually mono-type - either p- or n-type - devices. Making air-stable complementary TFT circuits is very challenging or not applicable to most TFT technologies. Existing design methodologies for Si electronics, therefore, cannot be directly applied to flexible electronics. Other inhibiting factors such as high supply voltage, large process variation, and lack of trustworthy device modeling also make designing larger-scale and robust TFT circuits a challenge.The objective of this article is to provide an in-depth overview of flexible electronics from their applications, manufacturing processes, device characteristics, to circuit and system design solutions. We first introduce the low-cost fabrication methods for flexible electronics, including ink-jet printing, screen printing, and gravure printing. The device characteristics and compact modeling of four major types of TFT technologies, including hydrogenated amorphous silicon a-Si:H TFT, polymer organic TFT, self-assembly monolayer SAM organic TFT, and metal oxide TFT, will be illustrated. We will then give an overview of digital and analog circuit design from basic logic gates to a microprocessor, as well as design automation tools and methods, for designing flexible electronics. In order to accurately predict the time-dependent degradation of TFT circuits, we describe a reliability simulation framework that can predict the TFT circuits' performance degradation under bias-stress. This framework has been validated using the amorphous-silicon a-Si TFT scan driver for TFT-LCD displays. Finally, we will give an overview of flexible thin-film photovoltaics using different materials including amorphous silicon, CdTe, CIGS , and organic solar cells.
d4eBP acts downstream of both dTOR and dFoxo to modulate cardiac functional aging in Drosophila

dTOR (target of rapamycin) and dFoxo respond to changes in the nutritional environment to induce a broad range of responses in multiple tissue types. Both dTOR and dFoxo have been demonstrated to control the rate of age‐related decline in cardiac function. Here, we show that the Eif4e‐binding protein (d4eBP) is sufficient to protect long‐term cardiac function against age‐related decline and that up‐regulation of dEif4e is sufficient to recapitulate the effects of high dTOR or insulin signaling. We also provide evidence that d4eBP acts tissue‐autonomously and downstream of dTOR and dFoxo in the myocardium, where it enhances cardiac stress resistance and maintains normal heart rate and myogenic rhythm. Another effector of dTOR and insulin signaling, dS6K, may influence cardiac aging nonautonomously through its activity in the insulin‐producing cells, possibly by regulating dilp2 expression. Thus, elevating d4eBP activity in cardiac tissue represents an effective organ‐specific means for slowing or reversing cardiac functional changes brought about by normal aging.
Implementation of spin‐echo blood oxygen level‐dependent (BOLD) functional MRI in birds

The advent of high‐field MRI systems has allowed the implementation of blood oxygen level‐dependent functional MRI (BOLD fMRI) on small animals. An increased magnetic field improves the signal‐to‐noise ratio and thus allows an improvement in the spatial resolution. However, it also increases susceptibility artefacts in the commonly acquired gradient‐echo images. This problem is particularly prominent in songbird MRI because of the presence of numerous air cavities in the skull of birds. These T2*‐related image artefacts can be circumvented using spin‐echo BOLD fMRI. In this article, we describe the implementation of spin‐echo BOLD fMRI in zebra finches, a small songbird of 15–25 g, extensively studied in the behavioural neurosciences of birdsong. Because the main topics in this research domain are song perception and song learning, the protocol implemented used auditory stimuli. Despite the auditory nature of the stimuli and the weak contrast‐to‐noise ratio of spin‐echo BOLD fMRI compared with gradient‐echo BOLD fMRI, we succeeded in detecting statistically significant differences in BOLD responses triggered by different stimuli. This study shows that spin‐echo BOLD fMRI is a viable approach for the investigation of auditory processing in the whole brain of small songbirds. It can also be applied to study auditory processing in other small animals, as well as other sensory modalities. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
New Line of Drinks Based on Grape Products

: Fruit processing is the appropriative way to augment fruit intake. The present paper shows production technology, which is based on the characteristics of selected raw materials and does not use sugar (saccharose). The objective of the present paper is to produce healthful and disease preventive beverages based on “Saperavi” red wine and bilberries, using grape juice concentrate and stevioside, a natural sweetener, instead of saccharose. The technology is based on the removal of alcohol at a low temperature and low pressure. In these conditions about 50% of moisture is evaporated. The extract is then diluted with 0.25% of stevioside liquid and the ratio is 1:1. The working name is “Saperavi-S”. Bilberry juice is added to this beverage at the ratio of 1:1 in order to enrich it with biologically active substances. The working name of this beverage is “Marnidan”. The products have high contents of phenolic compounds, mainly-anthocyanins. The main idea of technology uses bilberry juice with grape juice concentrate. Bilberries have quite high antioxidant activity, amounting to 55% against 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl. It is the first time we have produced a beverage based on dealcoholized red wine, stevioside and bilberry juice. This beverage is of special importance in terms of its disease-preventive qualities, including prevention of diabetes, one of the most widespread chronic diseases.
Apaf-1 Is a Mediator of E2F-1-induced Apoptosis*

E2F-1 is capable of promoting both cell cycle progression and apoptosis. The latter is important for suppressing untoward expansion of proliferating cells. In this study, we investigated its underlying mechanisms. E2F-1-induced apoptosis was accompanied by caspase-9 activation and inhibited by a specific inhibitor of caspase-9 in K562 sublines overexpressing E2F-1. E2F-1 enhanced the expression of Apaf-1 without the cytosolic accumulation of cytochrome c. Apaf-1-deficient melanoma cell lines were resistant to E2F-1, indicating that Apaf-1 is an essential element of E2F-1-mediated apoptosis. Finally, we isolated the promoter region of the Apaf-1 gene and found a putative binding site for E2F. A chromatin immunoprecipitation assay revealed that E2F-1 bound to Apaf-1 promoter upon E2F-1 overexpression, suggesting that Apaf-1 is under transcriptional regulation of E2F-1. These data demonstrate a novel mechanism of apoptosis in which an increase in Apaf-1 levels results in direct activation of caspase-9 without mitochondrial damage, leading to the initiation of a caspase cascade.
Crystallization of calcite from amorphous calcium carbonate: earthworms show the way

Darwin (1881) was one of the first scientists to formally record that earthworms excrete calcium carbonate granules, with some up to 2 mm in diameter. However, since Darwin’s studies they have received relatively little attention. The function of the granules remains a mystery, but may be related to regulation of Ca, CO2, pH or some other as yet undiscovered metabolic process (Robertson, 1936; Piearce, 1972). There has recently been an increase in research activity focussed on earthworm calcium carbonate granules driven by the work of Canti (Canti, 1998, 2007; Cantian d Piearce, 2003) and largely relating to their potential use in archaeology.
Middleware Technologies for B2B Integration

Several middleware technologies and frameworks have emerged with the aim to support interoperability between distributed systems and therefore facilitating their integration process. Within the context of Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce, this paper reviews the major emerging technologies that support different levels of interoperability that facilitate rapid application development for e-businesses. These technologies are illustrated with a case study in global financial industry with a view to see the efficacy of existing middleware to solve the integration problems between systems within a specific domain.
What Can We Learn About Monetary Policy Transparency from Financial Market Data?

In this paper we investigate the impact of UK macroeconomic news announcements on selected futures contracts and exchange rates. We include a wide set of scheduled public news announcements in our study, including official interest rate decisions. We investigate whether the reaction to these announcements has changed since the Bank of England was granted operational independence in May 1997. Our results indicate that there may well have been changes in the way that financial markets incorporate key economic data into securities prices. In particular, we document an increase in the speed of the reaction to interest rate announcements, but also some evidence of a fall in the size of the full reaction.
Activation and Repression of Cellular Immediate Early Genes by Serum Response Factor Cofactors*

The induction of expression of many cellular immediate early genes (IEG) involves the transcription factor serum response factor (SRF). Two families of SRF coactivators have also been implicated in IEG induction, the ternary complex factors (TCFs), ELK1, Sap1, and Net, and the myocardin-related factors, MKL1 and MKL2. We found that serum induction of some SRF target genes is preferentially regulated by MKL1/2, whereas others are redundantly activated by both TCFs and MKL1/2. Yet ELK1 can also repress transcription. Binding of ELK1 and MKL1 to SRF has been found to be mutually exclusive in vitro, suggesting that ELK1 could repress expression of IEGs by blocking MKL1 binding. We characterized the in vivo binding of MKL1 and ELK1 to target genes and found an inverse relationship of serum-induced MKL1 binding and serum-decreased ELK1 binding. However, experiments with short hairpin RNA-mediated MKL1/2 depletion and expression of a nuclear MKL1 (N100) variant in stably transfected cells failed to alter ELK1 binding, suggesting that ELK1 binding to target genes is regulated independently of MKL1/2. Nevertheless, we found that short interfering RNA-mediated depletion of TCFs increased target gene expression in cells containing the N100 MKL1 activator, most notably in cells under continuous growth conditions. These results indicate that the TCFs can function both as activators and repressors of target gene expression depending upon the cellular growth conditions.
Evaluation of four ecommerce websites for specific website design features.

Many companies involved in the seed industry have launched ecommerce ventures, these include amongst others, Starke Ayres, Johnny's Selected and Opposition 1. Amazon.com is the undisputed leader in ecommerce retailing. There are various website design features that are available that can be used to enhance the users online experience; however the implementation of these features are inconsistent across ecommerce websites. The websites of Starke Ayres, Johnny's Selected, Opposition 1 and Amazon.com were evaluated against a list of website design features (best practices model) that would enhance the user's online experience when interacting with the website. The best practices model was setup considering the user enhancing website features that would satisfy the website functional requirements of Content, Communication, Commerce and Community, as well as user enhancement through the use of navigation features. The cluster analysis was conducted to establish the relatedness of the four websites for the implementation of the website design features identified in the best practices model. It was found that the websites used a varying number of website design features that would enhance the user's on line experience. Also, none of the sites satisfied the best practices model completely, thus there is room for improvement even for Amazon.com. It was recommended that Starke Ayres and Opposition 1 commence the improvement of the website with the implementation of the low cost features which are relatively easy to implement as these would significantly improve the website without the requirement of large amount of capital. Significant investment of capital will however be required to improve the website so that it is at the cutting edge of website design. The website needs to be developed into a cutting edge website in the industry so that the company can develop its ecommerce venture into a strong competitive advantage.
Characterization of the Properties and Trafficking of an Anchorless Form of the Prion Protein*

Conversion of PrPC into PrPSc is the central event in the pathogenesis of transmissible prion diseases. Although the molecular basis of this event and the intracellular compartment where it occurs are not yet understood, the association of PrP with cellular membranes and in particular its presence in detergent-resistant microdomains appears to be of critical importance. In addition it appears that scrapie conversion requires membrane-bound glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-linked PrP. The GPI anchor may affect either the conformation, the intracellular localization, or the association of the prion protein with specific membrane domains. However, how this occurs is not known. To understand the relevance of the GPI anchor for the cellular behavior of PrP, we have studied the biosynthesis and localization of a PrP version which lacks the GPI anchor attachment signal (PrPΔGPI). We found that PrPΔGPI is tethered to cell membranes and associates to membrane detergent-resistant microdomains but does not assume a transmembrane topology. Differently to PrPC, this protein does not localize at the cell surface but is mainly released in the culture media in a fully glycosylated soluble form. The cellular behavior of anchorless PrP explains why PrPΔGPI Tg mice can be infected but do not show the classical signs of the disorder, thus indicating that the plasma membrane localization of PrPC and/or of the converted scrapie form might be necessary for the development of a symptomatic disease.