Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Takeovers after "takeovers"

We review five decades of takeover actively in the UK. We assess the relative characteristics of acquiring and acquired companies and the performance impacts of merger using both accounting and share price based measures. We conclude that the fundamental conclusions reached by Ajit Singh about takeovers and the market for corporate control in his seminal contributions of the 1970s remain true in the light of subsequent work.
Competitive Marketing: A Strategic Approach

Part 1 Marketing and marketing strategy: the nature of marketing corporate strategy and marketing the planning process and strategy formulation. Part 2 Buyers, markets and competition: images of buyers/consumers and what influences them understanding the consumer/buyer markets, segmentation and positioning competitive (rival-oriented) strategies. Part 3 Marketing intelligence: information, marketing research and the marketing manager. Part 4 Marketing mix elements: product management - needs, policies and strategies new product development advertising, sales promotion, publicity and corporate communications - their roles and how they work to persuade developing an advertising strategy sales management pricing - role, objectives, factors involved, pricing strategies distribution strategy and channel management. Part 5 Implementation and organization: strategies for change organization, strategy and marketing.
High occurrence of HIV-positive siblings due to repeated mother-to-child transmission in Brazil

Pregnancies in women without knowledge of their HIV-positive status increase the risk of mother-to-child transmission, and of disease progression. This study aimed to characterize the frequency of multiple pregnancies and of HIV-positive children in the family, during HAART era. We analyzed data of a national multicenter cohort study among Brazilian children with AIDS diagnosed between 1999 and 2002. In total, 945 children and their 928 mothers were included. Five hundred and ninety (64.6%) women had a history of multiple pregnancies, and 49.5% attended prenatal care (mean: 3.5 consultations; SD 3.6). In 483 child cases, HIV status of the sibling was known; 130 (26.9%) of these were infected with HIV. In 38.5% of cases, the child with AIDS included in the cohort study was the first case in the family. Despite the overall positive results of the Brazilian control policy of HIV/AIDS, our study shows that HIV infection in pregnant women was often undetected and that consequently there was a high frequency of repeated HIV-infected children. There is a need to improve comprehensive prenatal and postnatal care of Brazilian women. HIV-affected families are most vulnerable and should be targeted by specific control programs, preventing additional HIV infections in other children.
Silhouette-based feature selection for classification of medical images

Classification is an important task for computer-aided diagnosis systems (CADs). However, many classifiers may not perform well, presenting poor generalization and high computational cost, especially when dealing with high-dimensional datasets. Thus, feature selection can greatly mitigate these problems. In this paper, we propose two filter-based feature selection algorithms that calculate the simplified silhouette statistic as evaluation function: the silhouette-based greedy search (SiGS) and the silhouette-based genetic algorithm search (SiGAS). Silhouette statistic is used to guide the search for features that provide better class separability. Experiments performed on three datasets have shown that the SiGAS algorithm overcomes traditional filter algorithms, such as CFS, FCBF and reliefF. It also outperforms a similar algorithm, kNNGAS, based on genetic algorithm that minimizes the classification error of k-nearest neighbors. Additionally, results have shown that SiGAS produces better accuracy than SiGS.
Dynamic tensile testing of ligaments from the human cervical spine

This study focuses on establishing appropriate experimental methodology to facilitate investigation of the dynamic stress-strain characteristics of soft bio-tissues. Dynamic mechanical tests were conducted on ligaments from the human cervical spine (neck), using a tensile split Hopkinson bar device. The strain rates imposed were of the order of 10~10/s. As ligaments are extremely soft and extensible, specific test protocols relating to Hopkinson bar testing were developed to enable the acquisition of reliable and accurate data. These encompass aspects such as detection of transmitted waves of small magnitudes, a means to perform tests with absolutely zero preloading, and generation of a sufficiently long loading pulse. Comparison with static test results reveals that the initial physiologic (toe) region for dynamic loading is noticeably shorter, while the accompanying stress levels and strength are elevated and able to attain values more than two to three times the static values. However, the elongation capacity of ligaments under dynamic loading is reduced. Simple empirical equations were found to provide suitable fits to the response prior to attainment of the ultimate stress.
Sensitivity analysis of a biofilm model describing a one-stage completely autotrophic nitrogen removal (CANON) process.

A mathematical model for nitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX) processes in a single biofilm reactor (CANON) was developed. This model describes completely autotrophic conversion of ammonium to dinitrogen gas. Aerobic ammonium and nitrite oxidation were modeled together with ANAMMOX. The sensitivity of kinetic constants and biofilm and process parameters to the process performance was evaluated, and the total effluent concentrations were, in general, found to be insensitive to affinity constants. Increasing the amount of biomass by either increasing biofilm thickness and density or decreasing porosity had no significant influence on the total effluent concentrations, provided that a minimum total biomass was present in the reactor. The ANAMMOX process always occurred in the depth of the biofilm provided that the oxygen concentration was limiting. The optimal dissolved oxygen concentration level at which the maximum nitrogen removal occurred is related to a certain ammonium surface load on the biofilm. An ammonium surface load of 2 g N/m2. d, associated with a dissolved oxygen concentration level of 1.3 g O2/m3 in the bulk liquid and with a minimum biofilm depth of 1 mm seems a proper design condition for the one-stage ammonium removal process. Under this condition, the ammonium removal efficiency is 94% (82% for the total nitrogen removal efficiency) (30 degrees C). Better ammonium removal could be achieved with an increase in the dissolved oxygen concentration level, but this would strongly limit the ANAMMOX process and decrease total nitrogen removal. It can be concluded that a one-stage process is probably not optimal if a good nitrogen effluent is required. A two-stage process like the combined SHARON and ANAMMOX process would be advised for complete nitrogen removal.
Retinopathy of prematurity: recent advances in our understanding

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) has been recognised as an important cause of childhood visual impairment and blindness since the 1940s when improved facilities and treatment increased the survival rate of premature infants. Although its incidence and severity have been decreasing in developed countries over the past two decades, both are increasing in developing nations. ROP is consequently targeted as an important but avoidable disease. This review provides an updated summary and discussion of much of the work that has been produced through population, animal, cell culture, and genetic research. The authors examine the prevalence, risk factors, and possible causes of the disease with a particular focus on genetic studies. They conclude that while significant reductions in the disease have occurred in developed countries, further research is required to fully understand and prevent the disease. In the meantime, development and implementation of appropriate screening and treatment strategies will be critical in reducing blindness in developing countries.
Distinct Phosphotyrosine-dependent Functions of the ShcA Adaptor Protein Are Required for Transforming Growth Factor β (TGFβ)-induced Breast Cancer Cell Migration, Invasion, and Metastasis*

Background: ShcA integrates TGFβ and ErbB2 signaling in breast cancer. Results: Distinct motifs within ShcA facilitate TGFβ-induced effects in ErbB2-expressing cells. Conclusion: ShcA transduces distinct signals via Grb2 downstream of Tyr313 and Crk adaptors downstream of Tyr239/Tyr240, and all three residues are required for metastasis. Significance: ShcA is essential for the tumorigenesis and metastasis of ErbB2-expressing breast tumors with active TGFβ signaling. The ErbB2 and TGFβ signaling pathways cooperate to promote the migratory, invasive, and metastatic behavior of breast cancer cells. We previously demonstrated that ShcA is necessary for these synergistic interactions. Through a structure/function approach, we now show that the phosphotyrosine-binding, but not the Src homology 2, domain of ShcA is required for TGFβ-induced migration and invasion of ErbB2-expressing breast cancer cells. We further demonstrate that the tyrosine phosphorylation sites within ShcA (Tyr239/Tyr240 and Tyr313) transduce distinct and non-redundant signals that promote these TGFβ-mediated effects. We demonstrate that Grb2 is required specifically downstream of Tyr313, whereas the Tyr239/Tyr240 phosphorylation sites require the Crk adaptor proteins to augment TGFβ-induced migration and invasion. Furthermore, ShcA Tyr313 phosphorylation enhances tumor cell survival, and ShcA Tyr239/Tyr240 signaling promotes endothelial cell recruitment into ErbB2-expressing breast tumors in vivo, whereas all three ShcA tyrosine residues are required for efficient breast cancer metastasis to the lungs. Our data uncover a novel ShcA-dependent signaling axis downstream of TGFβ and ErbB2 that requires both the Grb2 and Crk adaptor proteins to increase the migratory and invasive properties of breast cancer cells. In addition, signaling downstream of specific ShcA tyrosine residues facilitates the survival, vascularization, and metastatic spread of breast tumors.
Qualitative Reasoning about Reaction Networks with Partial Kinetic Information

We propose a formal modeling language for reaction networks with partial kinetic information. The language has a graphical syntax reminiscent to Petri nets. The kinetics of reactions need to be described only partially, so that the language can be used to model the regulation of metabolic networks. We present a qualitative reasoning method based on abstract interpretation of the steady state semantics of reaction networks modeled in our language. In particular, we can predict changes of inﬂuxes that lead to expected changes of outﬂuxes. x = ma ( i ) ( subs : x 1 ) to x = x 1 , x = ma ( i ) ( subs : x 1 , subs : x 2 ) to x ∈ x 1 · x 2 , x = exp ( i ) () to x = . = , and x = exp
Influence of aspirin on human megakaryocyte prostaglandin synthesis

Abstract: To evaluate whether currently popular aspirin regimens have an effect on the prostaglandin synthesis in human megakaryocytes we measured thromboxane B2 (TXB2) synthesis in response to thrombin stimulation in human megakaryocytes ex vivo. Human megakaryocytes were purified by Counterflow Centrifugal Elutriation from bone marrow punctures, taken from volunteers before and 2 hours after ingestion of one dose of 500 mg (n = 4), 80 mg (n = 4) or 40 mg (n = 2) aspirin. Subsequently, megakaryocytes were purified before and 12 h after ingestion of 80 mg (n = 3) aspirin twice daily for 1 week and 12 h after 500 mg (n = 3) aspirin. On average, 140 ± 102 × 103 (mean ± 1 SD) megakaryocytes were recovered. We found that aspirin inhibits megakaryocyte cyclooxygenase in a dose‐dependent manner. Two hours after 500 mg of aspirin, TXB2 synthesis in megakaryocytes was inhibited by 96.8 ±2%, whereas one dose of 80 and 40 mg aspirin showed an inhibition of 79.4 ± 13.7% and 80 ± 6.2% respectively. However, the inhibition of TXB2 synthesis seems not to be long‐lasting since, 12 h after the ingestion of aspirin, an increase of megakaryocyte TXB2 production could be observed which reached significance after the 500 mg aspirin dosage (p < 0.048). We conclude that human megakaryocyte cyclooxygenase is sensitive to aspirin inhibition and that low doses of aspirin (40 and 80 mg) enter the systemic circulation and are able to inhibit megakaryocyte cyclooxygenase, but this inhibition is incomplete and megakaryocyte cyclooxygenase seems to recover within 12 h after ingestion of aspirin.
Correction for Wang et al., Glucagon receptor antibody completely suppresses type 1 diabetes phenotype without insulin by disrupting a novel diabetogenic pathway

MEDICAL SCIENCES Correction for “Glucagon receptor antibody completely suppresses type 1 diabetes phenotype without insulin by disrupting a novel diabetogenic pathway,” by May-YunWang, Hai Yan, Zhiqing Shi, Matthew R. Evans, Xinxin Yu, Young Lee, Shiuhwei Chen, Annie Williams, Jacques Philippe, Michael G. Roth, and Roger H. Unger, which appeared in issue 8, February 24, 2015, of Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (112:2503–2508; first published February 9, 2015; 10.1073/pnas.1424934112). The authors note that on page 2507, left column, after the second full paragraph, the following paragraph should be added: “Treatment of Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Mice with REMD-477. For the experiments shown in Fig. 2, 8-wk-old male FVB mice were injected IP with 100 mg/kg body weight of alloxan. Diabetic mice with blood glucose >300 mg/dL were then injected subcutaneously with buffer (control, n = 5) or buffer containing 5 mg/kg of REMD477 monoclonal antibody to the glucagon receptor (n = 6), and blood glucose concentration was monitored daily for 8 d. ”
Corporate financing decisions: Evidence from the Asia Pacific region

This thesis analyses the corporate financing decisions of listed non-financial firms operating in the Asia Pacific countries, namely Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, for the period from 1993 to 2001. These four countries have different legal, corporate governance, financial and institutional environments and were affected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis in different ways and to different degrees. Therefore, this thesis aims to shed light on the impact of these differences and the financial crisis on financing policies and practices of firms in this region. The empirical analysis consists of three main parts: (i) the determinants of capital structure (the use of debt versus equity); (іі) the determinants of debt maturity structure (the use of long-term debt versus short-term debt); and (ііі) the tests of the extent to which the main capital structure theory (the pecking order theory) accounts for the financing behaviour of firms in this region. The results suggest that capital structure and debt maturity structure decisions of a firm are not only the product of its own characteristics as identified by the extant literature but also the function of the financial and legal environment in which it operates. The results also show that firms in this region do not behave as strictly as predicted by the pecking order theory. However, they reveal that financial deficit (the key factor in the pecking order theory) challenges the exclusive role of the conventional factors. The financial crisis of 1997 is also found to have had significant but diverse impacts on the firms' financing decisions across the region, especially in Thailand where the crisis originated. In addition, the pecking order behaviour tends to be more pronounced for the post-crisis period.
Pedagogical introduction to equilibrium Green's functions: condensed-matter examples with numerical implementations

The Green's function method has applications in several fields in Physics, from classical differential equations to quantum many-body problems. In the quantum context, Green's functions are correlation functions, from which it is possible to extract information from the system under study, such as the density of states, relaxation times and response functions. Despite its power and versatility, it is known as a laborious and sometimes cumbersome method. Here we introduce the equilibrium Green's functions and the equation-of-motion technique, exemplifying the method in discrete lattices of non-interacting electrons. We start with simple models, such as the two-site molecule, the infinite and semi-infinite one-dimensional chains, and the two-dimensional ladder. Numerical implementations are developed via the recursive Green's function, implemented in Julia, an open-source, efficient and easy-to-learn scientific language. We also present a new variation of the surface recursive Green's function method, which can be of interest when simulating simultaneously the properties of surface and bulk.
Theoretical grounds of internal audit in the system of state financial control in Ukraine

The article considers modern directions of reformation of the system of state financial control connected with introduction of the state internal financial control. It considers economic essence of the state internal financial control in the context of its components. It justifies the place of the internal audit in the system of the state internal financial control in Ukraine. It considers existing definitions of internal audit in legislative acts. It generalises views of scientists on interpretation of the "internal audit" notion. It provides definitions united in approaches. It conducts a critical analysis of generalised approaches. It offers the authors' view on the essence of internal audit in budget institutions, which has certain positive features compared to existing ones.
Characterization and Modeling of an Experimental UWB Pulse-Based Distance Measurement System

This paper presents a distance-measuring system based on the accurate round-trip time-of-flight measurement of single ultrawideband pulses propagating between two transceiver devices. The architectures of two realized devices, which are referred to as the master and the slave, are described. The master device implements the time-interval measuring function by means of a time-to-digital converter (TDC) integrated circuit, whereas the slave acts as a pulse repeater. Both devices are designed for low-cost realization and low-power operations. Furthermore, two pulse-detection modules are described based on signal-threshold and energy detection, respectively. This paper also presents and discusses some experimental results that are obtained from the system prototype. Finally, some numerical simulation results, which provide an explanation for the nonidealities in the observed distance-measuring behavior of the system, are shown.
Rate control in DCT video coding for low-delay communications

An important motivation for the development of the emerging H.263+ and MPEG-4 coding standards is to enhance the quality of highly compressed video for two-way, real-time communications. In these applications, the delay produced by bits accumulated in the encoder buffer must be very small, typically below 100 ms, and the rate control strategy is responsible for encoding the video with high quality and maintaining a low buffer delay. In this work, we present a simple rate control technique that achieves these two objectives by smartly selecting the values of the quantization parameters in typical discrete cosine transform video coders. To do this, we derive models for bit rate and distortion in this type of coders, in terms of the quantization parameters. Using Lagrange optimization, we minimize distortion subject to the target bit constraint, and obtain formulas that indicate how to choose the quantization parameters. We implement our technique in H.263 and MPEG-4 coders, and compare its performance to TMN7 and VM7 rate control when the encoder buffer is small, for a variety of video sequences and bit rates. This new method has been adopted as a rate control tool in the test model TMN8 of H.263+ and (with some modifications) in the verification model VM8 of MPEG-4.
Patterns and Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Newly-Opened Economies: The Case of Argentina

Following dramatic macroeconomic changes in 1991, the whole Argentine economy was deeply transformed at the microeconomic level. Central to this transformation was the inflow of foreign capital, in the form of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, greenfield investments, strategic alliances, and sheer expansion. There has been little systematic attempts to map this important phenomenon, which has changed the way of doing business in Argentina. The main goals of this paper are: (a) to propose a model of the micro-economic transformation of a newly opened economy; (b) to briefly map the private foreign direct investment (PFDI) process in the economy; and (c) to propose a comprehensive explanatory model of the location of a home-country foreign direct investment (FDI) into an emerging economy, highlighting the role of experience in such decision. An empirical survey structure consisting of a cross-sectional, time-series method (panel) is proposed, and preliminary results are discussed. Potential implications for managers and policymakers are explored in the last section; these may be useful to predict corporate multinational behavior in other big emerging markets like Brazil, which are currently undergoing similar macro-micro changes.
In vivo recording of contractile activity of male accessory genital organs in rabbits.

Melin, P. In vivo recording of contractile activity of male accessory genital organs in rabbits. Acta physiol. scand. 1970. 79. 109–113. By means of intraluminal pressure measurements, different characteristics of contractile activity, such as amplitude, frequency and duration, have been studied in various parts of the male genital organs. Significant differences in the observed Characteristics were found between the ductus epididymidis and the proximal and distal parts of the vas deferens, as well 'as between the two regions of the vas deferens. The distal part of the vas deferens showed a significantly lower degree of muscular activtiy, compared with both the proximal part of the organ and with the ductus epididymidis.
Dimmable AC LED Driver Based on Series Drive

In this paper, a dimmable ac LED driving circuit with high power factor and low total harmonic distortion is presented, which takes series driving via the basic unit mainly constructed by the base of the BJT connected with the drain of the MOSFET. By doing so, the problem in floating driving can be removed, i.e., no additional isolated gate drivers are needed, and furthermore, if any one of LED strings opens, then turning on the corresponding switch can still make this LED system work. Finally, a prototype circuit is established and controlled by the field programmable gate array. Via experimental results, the effectiveness of the proposed topology can be demonstrated.