Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How the embryo makes a limb: determination, polarity and identity

The vertebrate limb with its complex anatomy develops from a small bud of undifferentiated mesoderm cells encased in ectoderm. The bud has its own intrinsic polarity and can develop autonomously into a limb without reference to the rest of the embryo. In this review, recent advances are integrated with classical embryology, carried out mainly in chick embryos, to present an overview of how the embryo makes a limb bud. We will focus on how mesoderm cells in precise locations in the embryo become determined to form a limb and express the key transcription factors Tbx4 (leg/hindlimb) or Tbx5 (wing/forelimb). These Tbx transcription factors have equivalent functions in the control of bud formation by initiating a signalling cascade involving Wnts and fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) and by regulating recruitment of mesenchymal cells from the coelomic epithelium into the bud. The mesoderm that will form limb buds and the polarity of the buds is determined with respect to both antero‐posterior and dorso‐ventral axes of the body. The position in which a bud develops along the antero‐posterior axis of the body will also determine its identity – wing/forelimb or leg/hindlimb. Hox gene activity, under the influence of retinoic acid signalling, is directly linked with the initiation of Tbx5 gene expression in the region along the antero‐posterior axis of the body that will form wings/forelimbs and determines antero‐posterior polarity of the buds. In contrast, Tbx4 expression in the regions that will form legs/hindlimbs is regulated by the homeoprotein Pitx1 and there is no evidence that Hox genes determine antero‐posterior polarity of the buds. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signalling determines the region along the dorso‐ventral axis of the body in which both wings/forelimbs and legs/hindlimbs develop and dorso‐ventral polarity of the buds. The polarity of the buds leads to the establishment of signalling regions – the dorsal and ventral ectoderm, producing Wnts and BMPs, respectively, the apical ectodermal ridge producing fibroblast growth factors and the polarizing region, Sonic hedgehog (Shh). These signals are the same in both wings/forelimbs and legs/hindlimbs and control growth and pattern formation by providing the mesoderm cells of the limb bud as it develops with positional information. The precise anatomy of the limb depends on the mesoderm cells in the developing bud interpreting positional information according to their identity – determined by Pitx1 in hindlimbs – and genotype. The competence to form a limb extends along the entire antero‐posterior axis of the trunk – with Hox gene activity inhibiting the formation of forelimbs in the interlimb region – and also along the dorso‐ventral axis.
Towards a model for m-learning in Africa

Mobile learning (m-learning) is a natural extension of e lec tronic learning (elearning) and has the potential to make learning even more widely available and ac c essible than we are used to in exist ing elearning environments. The role that c ommunic ation and interac tion plays in the learning proc ess is a c rit ic al suc c ess fac tor. It is within this c ontext that m-learning c an c ontribute to the quality of educ ation. It offers opportunit ies the optimization of interac tion between lec turers and learners, among learners, and among members of c ommunit ies of prac tic e (COPs). Wire less and mobile tec hnologies also make it possible to provide learning opportunit ies to learners that are e ither without infrastruc ture for ac c ess (example rural learners) or c ontinually on the move (example business professionals). This art ic le shares the latest developments regarding a m-learning projec t in Afric a and proposes a model for the implementation of m-learning in higher educ ation in developing c ountries. Citation Brown, T . H. (2005). Towards a model for m-learning in Afric a. International Journal on E-Learning, 4(3), 299-315. Norfolk, VA: Assoc iat ion for the Advanc ement of Computing in Educ ation (AACE). Retrieved July 23, 2018 from https://www.learntec hlib.org/primary/p/5082/. © 2005 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)
Foreign Oil Dependence

Public transportation provides greater freedom, access, opportunity and choice for Americans from all walks of life and from all across the country. Ridership is up 25.1 percent since 1995, and the millions of Americans who use public transportation each weekday know it saves money and gasoline. This independent analysis looks for the first time at what public transportation saves – both for individual households and for the nation as a whole. In addition, it explores a possible future where many more Americans would have the choice to take public transportation. It was commissioned from ICF International by the American Public Transportation Association. Using conservative assumptions, the study found that current public transportation usage reduces U.S. gasoline consumption by 1.4 billion gallons each year. In concrete terms, that means:  108 million fewer cars filling up – almost 300,000 every day.  34 fewer supertankers leaving the Middle East – one every 11 days.  Over 140,000 fewer tanker truck deliveries to service stations per year.  A savings of 3.9 million gallons of gasoline per day. These savings result from the efficiency of carrying multiple passengers in each vehicle, the reduction in traffic congestion from fewer automobiles on the roads, and the varied sources of energy for public transportation. Public transportation also saves energy by enabling land use patterns that create shorter travel distances, both for transit riders and drivers. We hope to estimate these savings in future research, but were not able to include them in this report. Households who use public transportation save a significant amount of money. A two-adult " public transportation household " saves an average $6,251 every year, compared to an equivalent household with two cars and no access to public transportation service. We define " public transportation household " as a household located within ¾ mile of public transportation, with two adults and one car. To put these household savings in perspective, we compared them to other household expenditures: • The average U.S. household spent $5,781 on food in 2004. • The average U.S. homeowner with a mortgage spent $6,848 on mortgage interest and fees in 2004, and paid off $3,925 in mortgage principal. These savings are attributable to three factors: • Driving less. The average household in which at least one member uses public transportation on a given day drives 16 fewer miles per day compared to a household with similar income, residential …
Importance of calcium for the binding of oviductal fluid proteins to the membranes of bovine spermatozoa

Our laboratory has recently shown that in vitro‐cultured oviductal cells secrete sperm motility maintaining factor(s). Since the binding of oviductal proteins to spermatozoa (SPZ) has been demonstrated in many species, the motility factor was postulated to bind the membranes of SPZ. Therefore, the current study was performed to evaluate which proteins from in vivo oviductal secretions bind to sperm membranes, to characterize binding conditions, and to evaluate the effect of this binding on sperm survival. Bovine oviducts were dissected, and oviductal cells and fluid were collected by pressing the oviductal tube with a glass slide. This mixture was incubated in Tris‐EDTA buffer at 37°C for 30 min, and the cells were washed twice by centrifugation. The supernatant containing oviductal fluid proteins (OFP) was reserved, filtered, frozen (for later motility tests), or lyophilized and labeled with 125|. Frozen‐thawed SPZ were incubated either immediately, following capacitation, ionophore‐induced acrosome reaction, death by heating, or flagellar removal with labeled OFP for 30 min. The resulting pellet after three washes was dissolved in SDS and submitted to 10% SDS‐PAGE. An autoradiogram showed that 72, 66, 39, 38, and 36 kDa proteins bind strongly to the five types of SPZ used, and that this binding is very specific, since unlabeled OFP inhibited binding while serum proteins did not. Furthermore, for 39, 38, and 36 kDa proteins, the presence of calcium in the incubation medium was essential for dose‐dependent binding, whereas magnesium was not. Preincubation of SPZ for 30 min at 37°C with oviductal fluid, followed by one wash and 6 hr of incubation in control media, showed that the percentage of motile SPZ is significantly higher (52 ± 6%) compared with SPZ not preincubated with oviductal fluid (24 ± 6%: P < 0.01). In summary, a limited number of proteins from oviductal secretions bind to the surface of bovine SPZ only in the presence of calcium, and this binding appears to be important for subsequent sperm viability. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Investigation of the Efficiency Boost Due to Spectral Concentration in a Quantum-Dot Based Luminescent Concentrator

Luminescent concentrators may have significant promise for producing low-cost PV energy. Luminescent concentrators convert the solar spectrum and concentrate the sunlight, but the benefit that can be obtained by the spectral conversion is not obvious. This paper presents the results of a theoretical study of the impact of spectral concentration. A well-known set of relationships for PV cell efficiency was modified to include the effect of the variation in internal quantum efficiency for different wavelengths, and then used to examine the impact of spectral concentration for materials with different bandgaps. The results suggest that spectral concentration leads to only a modest increase in PV conversion efficiency
Liquidity, consumption, and the cross-sectional returns

My thesis attempts to examine the determinants of the cross-sectional stock returns. It mainly consists of three topics on the relation between consumption, stock liquidity, financial constraints, and expected returns. The first is "Transaction costs, liquidity risk, and the CCAPM". I examine how the consumption-based capital asset pricing model (CCAPM) performs with transaction costs and liquidity risk adjustments. Using the effective trading costs of Hasbrouck (2009) and the high-low spread estimates of Corwin and Schultz (2012) as proxies for transaction costs, I find that a liquidity risk-adjusted CCAPM explains a larger fraction of the cross-sectional return variations than that of the traditional CCAPM. I show that my liquidity risk-adjusted model gives more plausible risk aversion estimates than the CCAPM. The second is "The Liquidity risk adjusted Epstein-Zin model". In this chapter, I propose a liquidity risk adjustment to the Epstein and Zin (1989, 1991) model and assess the adjusted model's performance against the traditional consumption pricing models. I show that liquidity is a significant risk factor and it adds considerable explanatory power to the model. The liquidity-adjusted model produces both a higher cross-sectional R^2 and a smaller Hansen and Jagannathan (1997) distance than the traditional CCAPM and the original Epstein-Zin model. Overall, I show that liquidity is both a priced factor and a key contributor to the adjusted Epstein-Zin model's goodness-of-fit. The third is "Financial constraints, stock liquidity, and stock returns". I examine the different impacts of stock liquidity on the stock returns across financially constrained and unconstrained firms due to different levels of information asymmetry. My results show that financial constraints are highly correlated with liquidity and liquidity risk. More importantly, stock liquidity is a significant determinant of the cross-sectional stock returns for financially constrained firms, but it is insignificant for unconstrained firms. In addition, stock liquidity is a main driver of the different relations between financial constraints and stock returns. The liquidity premium accounts for the positive constraint premium, but it cannot be subsumed by the constraint premium.
Financial Services Law

Preface Introduction PART I: FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS 1. Financial Services Authority 2. Financial Services and Markets Act PART II: FSA HANDBOOK 3. FSA Handbook and High Level Standards 4. Regulatory Processes - Authorisation, Supervision, Enforcement 5. Financial Redress - Disputes, Compensation and Complaints 6. Market Abuse 7. Insider Dealing, Misleading Statements and Practices and Other Offences 8. Money Laundering and Financial Crime PART III: FINANCIAL SECTORS 9. Financial Regulation - The Integrated Prudential Sourcebook (PRU) 10. Securities Firms - Wholesale Sector 11. Investment Firms - Retail Sector 12. Banks & Banking 13. Mortgage Regulation 14. Insurance Companies and Insurance Sales 15. Collective Investment Schemes PART IV: PUBLIC OFFERS 16. Listing and Public Offers PART V: EUROPEAN AND CROSS-BORDER ISSUES 17. European Financial Services 18. International Agreements and Supranational Bodies in Banking and Financial Services
Managing Creativity for Project Success

Technical risk is one leading threat to the cost and schedule targets of new product development projects. Whether the “product” is a physical product, and information technology system, a service, a new business concept, or a hybrid of these, the technical risks frequently become apparent late in development, when difficulties are encountered with prototypes, with scaling up to production, with developing support services, or in other areas that were difficult to analyze or simulate early in the project.
Structure and function of the egg cortex from oogenesis through fertilization.

Abstract • WHAT IS THE CORTEX? • The Egg Cortex • The Scope of This Review • STORING INFORMATION AND BUILDING THE CORTEX DURING OOGENESIS • Localizing Maternal Determinants in the Cortex • Structuring and Positioning Information in the Cortex • Cortical Polarity and Storage of Information in Other Oocytes • The Cortex during Vitellogenesis • MATURATION PREPARES THE CORTEX FOR FERTILIZATION • Restructuring Cortical Endoplasmic Reticulum and Organelles during Maturation • Restructuring the Cytoskeleton during Maturation • Relocalization of Cortical mRNAs and Domains during Maturation • The Cortex as the Site of Attachment and Fusion of Sperm and Egg • FERTILIZATION TRANSFORMS THE EGG CORTEX • Sperm-Induced Calcium Waves and Membranes • Waves of Exocytosis and Endocytosis at Fertilization • Fertilization-Induced Microfilament Reorganizations • The Fertilized Egg Cortex • WHAT THE CORTEX IS • The Cortex as a Repository for Spatiotemporal Information • The Questions That Remain
Mass privatization in Ukraine

Ukraine has so far been unable to activate ita mass privatization program. However, in early March 1994, a multidonor mission to Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on mass privatization with the government. If this MOU and the 1994 State Privatization Program approved by Parliament in early 1994 are both implemented, the Ukraine mass privatization program could become one of the largest in the world. The author reviews the developments since Ukraine's independence, including the main provisions of the 1994 State Privatization Program and the MOU.
STABILITY OF OSCILLATORY AND PULSATILE PIPE FLOW

Linear flow stability analysis is concerned with the long time-limit behaviour of a fluid-dynamical system, namely the system’s tendency to find a steady state, or make a transition to a turbulent one. It is known that steady laminar flow in pipes (Hagen–Poiseuille flow) is linearly stable to general perturbations at finite Reynolds numbers, and that single-harmonic oscillatory flow is stable to axisymmetric perturbations. We extend the analysis to demonstrate that the pure oscillatory flow is also stable to general perturbations. We explain how this implies that all laminar steady and periodic circular pipe flows of this type are linearly stable. The least stable modes identified in this study are axially invariant.
International Taxation and Takeover Premiums in Cross-Border M&As

Cross-border M&As can trigger a higher international taxation of the target’s income. Non-resident dividend withholding taxes may be imposed by the target country, while additional corporate income taxation can be imposed by the acquiring country. Our evidence suggests that takeover premiums fully reflect non-resident dividend withholding taxes, while there is some evidence that they reflect corporate income taxation by the acquiring country as well. In contrast, acquiring firm stock market returns around the bid announcement do not appear to reflect either type of taxation. These results are consistent with previous findings that the gains of M&As primarily accrue to target shareholders.
A Conceptual Model for ERP Failure Prediction Using Fuzzy Petri-Nets for Small and Medium Enterprises

This paper attempts to identify and evaluate certain critical pitfalls in the planning stage of ERP adoption in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and develop into a model for evaluating the risk of failure. In the planning stage a set of risks have been identified based on past research work and each of these risks have been explained through a set of well-defined risk factors or pitfalls. The evaluation model based on the concept of Fuzzy Petri Nets (FPN) is proposed in this paper. FPN is used because it is simple and efficient and can quantitatively evaluate the risks inherent in the planning stage of ERP adoption by SMEs.
An Exploration of the Drive for Muscularity in Adolescent Boys and Girls

Abstract Much of the existing research on disordered eating has centered on the drive for thinness, which is most commonly observed in girls and women. The male standard of bodily attractiveness, however, is bigger, bulkier, and more muscular. Are boys and men motivated to be big and muscular in the same way that girls and women are motivated to be thin? The authors constructed a 15-item survey and administered it to 197 adolescents. The findings showed that the drive for muscularity measure displayed good reliability; that individuals high in the drive were more likely to be boys who were trying to gain both weight and muscle mass; that the drive was related to poor self-esteem and higher levels of depression among boys, but not among girls; and that the drive for muscularity was relatively unrelated to the drive for thinness.
Cardiogenic Shock

Abstract The syndrome of cardiogenic shock (CS) comprises a constellation of symptoms and signs that define a subset of patients with inadequate tissue perfusion secondary to myocardial dysfunction. Careful attention to and rapid identification of patients at risk for the development of CS and those with impending CS by both hospitalists and subspecialists will help to implement the time-sensitive therapy that it requires. Physicians should gain a familiarity with the underlying pathophysiology of CS and available diagnostic tools as well as the importance of vasopressor therapy, inotropic therapy, rapid reperfusion therapy, and mechanical support.
Communicating anticancer treatment cessation and transition to palliative care: The need for a comprehensive and culturally relevant, person‐centered approach

Communication, with its main objective of creating a good and trustful physician-patient relationship, is the cornerstone of comprehensive person-centered care in all medical settings, especially oncology, in which an immense body of literature has been published over the last 30 years. Several studies have demonstrated that a paternalistic approach, in which physicians know best and decide what should be told to and done for a patient with cancer, has been replaced by the delivery of correct information and a shared decision-making approach. However, in advanced phases of cancer, when pursuing aggressive curative treatment is futile, if not harmful, it is extremely difficult and challenging both to communicate the need for the transition to palliative care and to assess the impact of prognostic information on the patient and their family. Data from some studies are currently available on the experience of patients with advanced cancer when receiving information about their incurable state. Patients’ perceptions of their physicians are mainly based on both physicians’ styles of communication (eg, physicians may be perceived as inexperienced messengers; emotionally burdened, rough-and-ready experts; distanced, benevolent, but tactless experts; or empathic) and the words they use. Recommended steps for facilitating the cessation of curative treatment and the transition to palliative treatment and care have been outlined, including preparing patients for the discussion, identifying the information to be provided, responding to the patient’s emotional reaction and family concerns, and cultural and linguistic diversity. In this issue of Cancer, Umezawa and colleagues explore communication preferences regarding ending anticancer treatment and transitioning to palliative care and the variables associated with these preferences among 100 Japanese patients with cancer. Several items investigating what patients would prefer their physicians to say reached almost total endorsement both in the informative and symptom-management area (eg, “I would like my physician to assure that painful symptoms would be controlled” [endorsed by 97.1%]; “I would like my physician to explain the status of the illness and the physical symptoms that would likely occur in the future” [endorsed by 95.1%]) and in the emotional area (eg, “I would like my physician to listen to distress and concerns” [endorsed by 96%]; “I would like my physician to say they will support me continuously in the future” [endorsed by 90.2%]). The analysis of Umezawa and colleagues’ data highlights several important issues, strongly indicating the need for comprehensive and integrated, person-centered care in oncology.