Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lifetime of SiN Capacitors Determined from Ramped Voltage and Constant Voltage Testing

Understanding SiN capacitor dielectric integrity and reliability is becoming increasingly more important. For wide-bandgap semiconductor MMIC circuits bias voltages continue to increase: up to 40 or 50 volts for GaN HFET or MMIC devices and up to 100 V for SiC. Prior work on SiN dielectrics [1,2] emphasized applications for GaAs pHEMT and HBT devices where the applied voltages are around 5-15V. This paper reports on a study comparing the analysis methods and reliability determined from ramped voltage and constant voltage capacitor testing using both the Linear Field and Reciprocal Field Models in an attempt to characterize capacitor dielectrics.
The Use of L-Carnitine and Oregano As Feed Additives in Alternative Forced Molting Programmes in Laying Hens

This research was carried out in order to determine the effects of forced molting programs induced by feeding the hens an alfalfa based and low Na-Ca induction feed as an alternative to forced molting program with feed withdrawal and the effect of L-carnitine and Oregano plant in powder form as feed additives on the induction period parameters. A total of 1170 birds were divided into 13 groups. The trial was continued for a total of 36 days, with the first 14 days of adaptation and 22 days of force molting. A negative control group (K) which was neither forced molted nor provided with any feed additive substances in their diets Moreover, other three treatment groups (M: Marbel powder, Y: Alfalfa, F: Low Ca-Na diet), were forced molted and one withhold feeding group was used for the study; the forced molted groups were supplied L-carnitine (C) (100 ppm) and dried oregano leaves (O) (5%) as a feed additive in designed individual diets (MC, AC, FC, MO, AO, FO ) alone and in combination (50 ppm; 2.5%) in groups (MCO, ACO, FCO). In the light of this data it could be said that the live weight loss achieved with qualitative alfalfa meal feed restriction exceeds 30% and exceeds the live weight loss ensured by an 11 day feed withdrawal. Based on these parameters it is concluded that supplementing feed additives into alfalfa meal could be an alternative to the feed withdrawal method and alfalfa meal with a combination of L-carnitine and oregano plant has a positive impact on performance.
Experimental approach on measurement of impulsive fluid force using debris flow model

This paper presents an experimental approach on measurement of impulsive fluid force using several materials of debris flow model. First, the hydrodynamic test for only water was performed by using water in stead of debris flow in order to confirm the measurement accuracy of impulsive fluid force as a preliminary test. Second, three kinds of debris flow model, i.e., sediment with water, gravel with sediment including water and beads with water were used as the quasi-debris flow by using channel test with a sharp slope. Third, the pumice stone produced at the Sakurajima volcanic mountain was used as the quasi-debris flow by flowing it naturally. This final test resulted in showing the impulsive load –time relation by presenting the surge in front wave.
International HRM: national business systems, organizational politics and the international division of labour in MNCs

In this paper we address a key issue that dominates international HRM research, namely the global–local question. The question concerns how multinationals can or should balance the pressures to develop globally standardized policies with the pressures to be responsive to the peculiarities of the local context. In our view, three important conceptual weaknesses have restricted research progress in this field: the inadequate conceptualization of national effects, which results in culture being used as an unsatisfactory ‘catch-all’ for national differences; the lack of attention to the influence of internal organizational politics; and the absence of focus on the internal division of labour within MNCs. We discuss the ways in which these weaknesses can be addressed and the implications of these alternative concepts.
miR-21 regulates vascular smooth muscle cell function in arteriosclerosis obliterans of lower extremities through AKT and ERK1/2 pathways

Introduction Arteriosclerosis obliterans (ASO) is a disease that affects the lower extremities. The mechanism of ASO is associated with the proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). miR-21 plays a key role in various biological processes of the cardiovascular system, associated with the proliferation, migration and apoptosis of VSMCs. It is unclear, however, if miR-21 is involved in the regulation of ASO. Material and methods Human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) were transfected with miR-21 mimics and co-treated with protein kinase B (AKT) or a mitogen-activated protein kinase (ERK) inhibitor. Expression levels of p-AKT or p-ERK were measured by western blot. Cell apoptosis was assessed using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay and visualized under a fluorescence microscope. Cell proliferation was monitored by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling; cell migration and invasion were determined by the Transwell assay. Results miR-21 was upregulated in arteries of ASO, the pathogenesis of which involved the activation of p-AKT and p-ERK1/2. Inhibition of the AKT or ERK activity was consistent with the attenuation of the miR-21-induced HASMC migration and proliferation. HASMCs co-treated with miR-21 mimics and AKT or ERK inhibitor showed attenuation of the miR-21-induced high elongation ratio. Conclusions We demonstrated that the expression of miR-21 in HASMCs could find potential application in cardiac therapy. Inhibition of the activity of AKT or ERK could attenuate miR-21-induced cell proliferation and migration as well as altering morphology of HASMCs. The present study aimed to indicate the potential roles of miR-21 in ASO processes, and the results provided a novel therapeutic approach for treating ASO and new targets for preventing ASO in earlier stages.
Relation of Iron Deficiency Anemia and the Level of Glycosylated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) in Non-Diabetic Patients

Introduction: The major form of glycohemoglobin is hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). The Hb A1c fraction is elevated in chronic hyperglycemic diabetic patients and correlates positively with glycemic control. Previous studies suggest that iron deficiency anemia (IDA) affects the level of HbA1c. The aim of the study: To determine the effect of IDA on HbA1c level in non-diabetic patients before and after treatment with iron. Material and methods: The study included 100 females from Al jmail General Hospital at the west of Tripoli, 50 were with IDA and 50 were not anemic (control group). Age ranged from (20-40) years. Fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, complete blood count, serum iron, total iron binding capacity and serum Ferritin were measured in all females before treatment and after treatment. Patients who had glucose tolerance abnormality (impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus), hemoglobinopathy, hemolytic anemia, chronic alcohol ingestion, chronic renal disease, chronic liver disease and rheumatoid arthritis were excluded from study. All patients with IDA were treated with ferrous sulfate as 325mg orally three times a day for 3 months. Results: The mean percentage of the HbA1c in non-anemic patients control group was 5.2%. The mean percentage of HbA1c in patients with mild anemia was (6%), moderate anemia (5.9 %). In patients with severe anemia HbA1c was (3.2%) which is significantly low in comparison to normal females. After treatment with iron, significant increase in HbA1c was observed in patients with severe anemia (5.2%) p < 0.001 and significant decrease in HbA1c in female with mild and moderate anemia 5.2%,5.3% respectively P<0.001. Conclusion: In patient with iron deficiency anemia, hemoglobin A1c in not reliable parameter for follow up of patients with diabetes mellitus.
Genetic variability of Colobanthus quitensis from King George Island (Antarctica)

Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis) is one of the flowering plant species considered native to maritime Antarctica. Although the species was intensively analyzed towards its morphological, anatomical and physiological adaptation to local environment, its genetic variability is still poorly studied. In the presented study, a recently developed retrotransposon−based DNA marker system (inter Primer Binding Site - iPBS) was applied to assess the genetic diversity and differentiation of C. quitensis populations from King George Island (South Shetland Islands, West Antarctic). A total of 143 scoreable bands were detected using 7 iPBS primers among 122 plant specimens representing 8 populations. 55 (38.5%) bands were found polymorphic, with an average of 14.3% polymorphic frag− ments per primer. Nine of all observed fragments were represented as a private bands de− ployed unevenly among populations. Low genetic diversity (on average He = 0.040 and I = 0.061) and moderate population differentiation (FST = 0.164) characterize the analyzed material. Clustering based on PCoA revealed, that the populations located on the edges of the study area diverge from the central populations. The pattern of population differentia− tion corresponds well with their geographic location and the characteristics of the sampling sites. Due to the character of iPBS markers, the observed genetic variability of populations may be explained by the genome rearrangements caused by mobilization of mobile genetic elements in the response to various stress factors. Additionally, this study demonstrates the usefulness of iPBS markers for genetic diversity studies in wild species. Key w ords: A ntarctic, Colobanthus quitensis, genetic diversity, iPBS.
Inhaled nitric oxide effects outside the lungs – experimental and clinical evidence

New evidence indicates that nitric oxide inhalation leads to formation of new compounds which may be carried as thiol groups attached to protein in blood or act indirectly through nitrite and nitrate, metabolites which have been shown to elevate over time during exposure to inhaled NO. Additionally it has been shown that inhaled nitric oxide has no hemodynamic effects on normally perfused tissue, but increases blood flow selectively in ischemic tissue. It has a simple route of administration, safety profile and immediate action. Because of these properties, inhaled nitric oxide may serve as a rescue therapy for ischemic conditions in which collateral blood flow is important or until interventional or spontaneous reperfusion occurs. This review focuses on inhaled nitric oxide effects outside the lungs, and discusses its experimental and clinical applications, with particular attention to potential systemic effects of the gas.
Increasing Teachers' Confidence and Pedagogical Content Knowledge Through a Workshop and Follow-Up Program on Climate Change

ABSTRACT An Earth science professional-development program for in-service middle- and high-school teachers increased participants' content knowledge about weather, climate, and climate change in addition to increasing their confidence in their assessment and teaching skills. The curriculum and funding gave them time, funding, and the help of content and pedagogic experts to build and test new lesson plans on these topics. During the summer workshop, the teachers participated in field trips, hands-on laboratory experiences, and cooperative inquiry projects. They studied weather and mechanisms that determine climate during the first week. The second week focused on geologic time and changes in the Earth system that drive climate changes on long timescales. The major topic for the third week was anthropogenic climate change. During the workshop, the teachers designed lesson plans for multiday units on workshop topics. The teachers took a content pretest at the start of the summer workshop and a post-test at the end. Their average score increased from 38.1% to 75.6%. The follow-up program included three meetings and two classroom visits by a veteran teacher during the subsequent school year. The participants taught their lesson plans and administered pre- and post-tests that they had designed to their own students. Their class scores showed normalized gains ranging from 16% to 88%. Surveys taken at the beginning of the summer workshop and the end of the follow-up program indicated an average increase in their confidence of their ability to teach science and in their willingness to employ hands-on, cooperative, and inquiry learning techniques in their classrooms.
The effects of firm entry and exit on macroeconomic fluctuations and monetary policy

This paper studies how endogenous firm entry affects the responses of the economy to the monetary policy, cost-push and demand shocks. Opposite to the earlier literature we assume also that firm default rate is not constant but subject to exogenous shocks. We show that increased bankruptcies have long-standing negative effect on output and positive effect on inflation. This raises the question how monetary policy should react to the variability in business defaults. Based on our simulations we propose two alternative monetary policy rules, which give lower variance than the traditional Taylor rule which reacts to inflation and consumption. JEL Classification: E32, E52.
EPAs and Export Competitiveness of Africa

[From the introduction]. A first section highlights the trade challenge that ACP countries face and makes the point that preferences in the past have not be effective is preventing the substantial decline in world market share of African countries. A second section describes opportunities that the new wave of globalization is opening up to ACP countries. A third section briefly discusses what this means in terms of a strategy to attain global competitiveness and suggests design features of an EPA that would complement and support competitiveness reform programs.
Video-on-demand over satellite

In countries where cable infrastructure is lacking, satellite communications is often the preferred alternative to reach the mass market. Interactive video-on-demand requires a large amount of bandwidth per subscriber, making it difficult to scale up to many subscribers in a satellite environment. In this article a method and system for interactive video-on-demand over satellite is proposed and evaluated. The Internet, mobile phone and other communication networks allow the modern business to receive feedback on its products and services more timely and interactively than was traditionally possible. This has lead to the personalisation of websites, marketing campaigns and profiling of users through personalisation techniques such as collaborative filtering. It is shown that by incorporating personalisation into the video-on-demand business model, it becomes possible to grow the number of users independent of the available bandwidth.
ALTERNATIVE TRANSCRIPTION WITHIN PROCARYOTIC GENES PREDICTED BY PROMOTER-SEARCH SOFTWARE

Motivation: Mapping of putative promoters within entire genome of Escherichia coli by means of pattern-recognition software PlatProm revealed several thousands of sites having high probability to perform promoter function. Along with the expected promoters located upstream from coding sequences PlatProm identified several hundred of very similar signals within coding sequences. Many of them may initiate transcription from the sense strand thus permitting synthesis of shortened mRNA products, not expected a priory in bacterial cells. Results: Here we discuss possible functional significance of intragenic promoters, estimate predictive capacity of our software in vivo and in vitro and provide experimental evidences that at least one promoter predicted within coding sequences is transcriptionally active. Availability: Coordinates of predicted transcription start points for alternative transcription are available by request (ozoline@icb.psn.ru).
The Influence of Relational Benefits and Bank Brand Image to Customer Loyalty Through Sharia Bank Customer Satisfaction (A Study on PT Bank Syariah Mandiri Kediri Branch)

This study aims to examine the influence of relational benefits and bank brand image on customer loyalty through sharia bank customer satisfaction at PT Bank Syariah Mandiri Kediri Branch. This study uses survey method and questionnaire is used to collect the data. The sample of this study is individu who are customers of PT Bank Syariah Mandiri Kediri Branch and are chosen by using convenience sampling technique. The data analysis uses Partial Least Square (PLS) through SmartPLS version 2.0 software. The findings of this study show that: (1) Relational benefits has no influence to customer satisfaction, (2) Relational benefits has influence to customer loyalty, (3) Relational benefits has influence indirectly to customer loyalty through customer satisfaction, (4) Satisfaction has influence to customer loyalty, (5) Bank brand image has influence to customer satisfaction, (6) Bank brand image has influence to customer loyalty, (7) Bank brand image has no influence indirectly to loyalty through customer satisfaction.
FOKKER – PLANCK DYNAMICS FOR THE RICCI FLOW 637 corresponding entropy generating functional

We consider some elementary aspects of the geometry of the space of probability measures endowed with Wasserstein distance. In such a setting, we discuss the various terms entering Perelman’s shrinker entropy and characterize two new monotonic functionals for the volumenormalized Ricci flow. One is obtained by a rescaling of the curvature term in the shrinker entropy. The second is associated with a gradient flow obtained by adding a curvature-drift to Perelman’s backward heat equation. We show that the resulting Fokker–Planck PDE is the natural diffusion flow for probability measures absolutely continuous with respect to the Ricci-evolved Riemannian measure. We also discuss its exponential trend to equilibrium and its relation with the viscous Hamilton–Jacobi equation. e-print archive: http://lanl.arXiv. org/abs/arXiv:math.DG/0507309
Towards Stochastic Continuum Thermodynamics

Abstract We explore the relation of a line of studies over the last dozen years on mesoscale material response below the Representative Volume Element with the line of studies on mesoscopic continuum physics. The objective is the development of stochastic continuum thermodynamics able to grasp random microstructural features absent in deterministic continuum theories. We first compare two lines of studies–those dealing with the response on a scale smaller than the Representative Volume Element (RVE) vis-à-vis those on mesoscopic continuum physics–and observe the dilemma of choice of the random field approximation. As a common basis for connecting both approaches, we propose a mesoscale Statistical Volume Element (SVE) and consider bounding its response via two admissible loadings. Employing the paradigm of thermal conductivity, we also present the relevant Legendre transformations. The latter are then generalized to the more general situation of fields governed by a quartet of Legendre transformations.
SURGERY. THE GENE PROFILE OF NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER AND THE INVASION OF MEDIASTINAL GANGLIA

Standard cytotoxic chemotherapy is effective for certain type of cancer; however, as far as many other types are concerned, the available treatments only offer a limited survival benefit. Lung cancer represents one of these types of cancer. The development of specific therapies is the greatest promise for the successful treatment of this disease; nevertheless, an oriented approach depends on the understanding of the tumor cells genome. The exon sequencing of a large number of lung cancer samples has provided an initial insight of the somatic mutation profile of these tumors. These studies have confirmed the high frequency of TP53 and KRAS mutations in lung cancer. They have discovered mutational inactivation in some suppressor genes of known tumors that have not been previously associated with lung cancer. In addition, they have identified oncogene mutations of EGFR, which has led to the first targeted therapy in pulmonary adenocarcinoma. There are other oncogene candidates awaiting for functional validation. It is expected for the future sequencing of the entire exome and of the entire genome of lung cancer to reveal a more thorough view of somatic mutations that can be exploited for therapeutical purposes.
Balancing profitability and customer welfare: an application to zone-pricing by a supermarket chain 1

We investigate the impact of price discrimination by a large Chicago supermarket chain. Using a structural econometric approach, we are able to measure the impact on prices, profits and consumer welfare of shifting from a uniform chain-level pricing policy to a regionally-segmented zone-pricing policy. We estimate demand systems for two different product categories using a database containing store-level information on sales, prices, promotions and demographic profiles for each of the stores’ market areas. As wholesale prices are observed in our data, we investigate the ability of our estimated demand system to generate reasonable approximations of the true data on retailer markups with a zone category management model. Using the structurally-derived retailer and consumer valuation metrics, we study the impact of moving from a zone pricing scheme to an individual store-level pricing policy. Further, we propose alternatives to the store pricing policy in order to address some potential practical implementation problems of that policy. Our results seem to provide reasonable estimates of the underlying pricing decisions in the chain. Specifically, the retail rmarkups obtained from the estimated elasticity structure reasonably approximate the markups observed in the data. In assessing the impact of zone-pricing, we find that benefits (to the store) and costs( to the consumer) of price discrimination vary by product category. Thus, certain products are better-suited to zone-pricing than others. Our recommended alternative pricing policies seem to alleviate some of the losses to consumers, due to store-pricing, while still offering notable profit gains to the retailer.
Self-healing CFRP for aerospace applications

The planar nature of a FRP structure results in relatively poor performance under impact loading. Furthermore, significant degradation in material performance can be experienced with minimal visual indication of damage, a scenario termed Barely Visible Impact Damage (BVID). Current damage tolerant design philosophies incorporate large margins to account for reduction in performance due to impact events, resulting in overweight and inefficient structures. An alternative approach to mitigate impact damage sensitivity can be achieved by imparting an ability to undergo self-healing. Self-healing composites would allow lighter, more efficient structures and would also offer a potentially substantive reduction in maintenance and inspection schedules and their associated costs. This paper considers the development of autonomic self-healing within CFRP, and demonstrates the strength recovery possible when a resin filled hollow fibre is distributed at specific interfaces within a laminate, minimizing the reduction in mechanical properties whilst maximizing the efficiency of the healing event.