Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SPATIAL COHERENCE BETWEEN MICROPHONES WITH ARBITRARY FIRST-ORDER DIRECTIVITY IN REVERBERANT ACOUSTIC FIELDS

The theoretical expressions for the spatial correlation and spatial coherence between signals representing the pressure and the components of the particle velocity vector in a reverberant acoustic field are established in the literature and have also been corroborated with measurements [F. Jacobsen, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. , 108(1), 2000]. In the present paper, expressions are derived from theory for the spatial coherence between microphone signals whose directivities can be written as a combination of pressure and particle velocity components. The resulting expressions are a combination of the already established expressions for the coherence functions between pressure and the components of the particle velocity vector. The theory has been verified on the reverberant tails of measured room impulse responses in rooms of various size and acoustic characteristic.
Design of Dual- and Quad-Band E-CRLH-Tls with Arbitrary Phase Characteristics

In this paper, extended composite right/left-handed (E-CRLH) transmission line (TL) metamaterial structures, with two left-handed (backward) and two right-handed (forward) pass bands, are investigated. Also, design procedures in order to design dual- and quad-band E-CRLH-TLs are presented in detail and the parameters of these structures are extracted by clean formulas, while satisfying arbitrary phase shifts at the operating frequencies. Finally, the dispersion and characteristic impedances of these transmission lines are derived and plotted. The results of this paper can be applied to any type of TL-based dual- and quad-band microwave component.
Survival of Patients with Epithelial Ovarian Cancer and the Effect of Lymphadenectomy in Those with Stage 3 Disease

EDITORIAL COMMENT: This paper on ovarian cancer from a single institution should interest readers because it presents a relatively big experience for any series of patients treated in Australia. The authors have shown that there appears to be a significant improvement in overall survival in all grades of ovarian cancer with the more recent management with modern chemotherapy regimens in additional to hysterectomy and oophorectomy with debulking, with or without lymphadenectomy. The authors' results on patients who have had lymphadenectomy would seem to support the performance of this procedure although, as they point out, a randomized trial would be necessary to provide incontrovertible evidence on this point. Such a trial is not easy to perform which is one reason why the information in this paper should be published and heeded. The authors have made the point that where randomization has not been performed it is difficult to say why one group of patients with Stage 3 disease had lymphadenectomy performed and others did not. This paper does not include an analysis of the possible effect of different regimens of chemotherapy because the detailed information was not available although most of the patients both pre‐1987 and subsequently had received some form of chemotherapy. The main takeaway message for readers from this paper is that this experience with ovarian cancer in one of Melbourne's teaching hospitals shows that over a long period of time the survival rate of women with advanced ovarian cancer with modem treatment is worthwhile. Most noteworthy is the fact that in the series as a whole the 5‐year survival rate for patients with Stage 3 disease was approximately 1 in 4, and 1 in 5 for those with Stage 4 disease, which taken alone, in the editor's opinion, justifies the considerable team effort made by oncologists and nursing staff and other health professionals to manage these patients. N.B.
PENGARUH MEKANISME CORPORATE GOVERNANCE TERHADAP PEMILIHAN AUDITOR EKSTERNAL

The purpose of this research was to test empirically the influence of mekanimse corporate governance against the reputable auditors and election to test comparatively regarding corporate governance mechanisms and the selection of the external auditor on the financial industry specialization and non-finance listed in Indonesia stock exchange. A sample of these studies use purposive-sampling on the company listings on BEI. Analysis methods in use are logstik regression test and test different independent t-test. The independent variable in this study is mekanimse corporate governance described the institutional share ownership with a presentation, the presentation of managerial stock ownership, the size of the Board of Commissioners and the audit Committee's effectiveness. The dependent variable used is the selection of the external auditor were described using dummy variables for top ten reputable Auditors. Controling variable used is the size of the enterprise, leverage and the type of industry. Research results that stock ownership variable has no effect on the selection of the auditor ekternal the reputable. While the variable size of the Board of Commissioners and the audit Committee's effectiveness to the reputable auditor election. Test result different tells us that the mechanism of the corporate governance and the election of an auditor for the financial sector better than the non-financial sector. Keywords : corporate governance Mechanism, the selection of auditors and revenue auditor ekternal.
Team effectiveness: beyond skills and cognitive ability.

On the basis of job analysis results, the validity of using measures of general cognitive ability, job-specific skills, and personality traits jointly at both the individual level and the group level to predict the performance of 79 four-person, human resource work teams was evaluated. Team member trait and job skill scores were aggregated with a conjunctive model of task performance. At the individual level of analysis, measures of personality (i.e., Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) predicted peer ratings of team member performance beyond measures of job-specific skills and general cognitive ability. Similarly, at the group level of analysis, both Agreeableness and Conscientiousness predicted supervisor ratings of work team performance, objective measures of work team accuracy, and work completed. At both the individual and group levels, the trait of Agreeableness predicted Interpersonal Skills.
Active RFID location system based on time-difference measurement using a linear FM chirp tag signal

This paper introduces a new method for estimating location of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for application in indoor environments. The proposed positioning scheme employs a time-difference of arrival (TDOA) range estimation algorithm. The time-difference measurement is performed by taking advantage of the de-ramp properties of a linear frequency modulation (LFM) chirp. The paper provides details of the mechanism of this LFM-TDOA scheme from the system point of view. Compared to other popular radio technologies in the indoor positioning field, this new scheme is easy to design and requires only moderate computation ability. According to the experiment results summarized in the paper, the LFM-TDOA system shows good range estimation accuracy and thus has the potential to be used in accurate indoor location application.
Aligned Carbon Nanotube Arrays Formed by Cutting a Polymer Resin—Nanotube Composite

A simple technique is described here that produces aligned arrays of carbon nanotubes. The alignment method is based on cutting thin slices (50 to 200 nanometers) of a nanotube-polymer composite. With this parallel and well-separated configuration of nanotubes it should be possible to measure individual tube properties and to demonstrate applications. The results demonstrate the nature of rheology, on nanometer scales, in composite media and flow-induced anisotropy produced by the cutting process. The fact that nanotubes do not break and are straightened after the cutting process also suggests that they have excellent mechanical properties.
Influence of renal impairment on the pharmacokinetics of oral roflumilast: an open-label, parallel-group, single-center study.

OBJECTIVE Roflumilast is a novel, orally active, selective phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor recently approved in the European Union for the treatment of severe COPD. Roflumilast and its metabolites are mainly (70% of total radioactivity) eliminated via the kidneys as glucuronides. The potential impact of renal impairment on the pharmacokinetics of roflumilast and its active main metabolite roflumilast N-oxide were characterized. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients (n = 12) with severe renal impairment (creatinine clearance CL(CR) < 30 ml/ min/1.73 m²; otherwise healthy) and matched (sex, age, weight, and height) healthy control subjects (n = 12; CL(CR) > 80 ml/min/1.73 m²) were enrolled into an open-label, parallelgroup study. Single dose (500 μg, p.o.) pharmacokinetics and safety/tolerability of roflumilast and roflumilast N-oxide were compared between both groups. RESULTS A minor decrease of exposure (area under the plasma concentration-time curve from time zero to infinity (AUC(0-∞)), maximum plasma concentration (C(max))) and a small increase in elimination half-life (t(1/2)) of roflumilast (-1%; -6%; +19%, respectively) and roflumilast N-oxide (-%; ND; +30%, respectively) were observed in renally impaired patients compared with healthy subjects. No relevant differences in safety and tolerability were observed between groups. CONCLUSIONS The pharmacokinetic changes observed in patients with renal impairment are of small magnitude without clinical importance. A dose adjustment or a change in the administration interval of roflumilast is not necessary in patients with renal impairment.
Streptococcus cristatus attenuates Fusobacterium nucleatum-induced interleukin-8 expression in oral epithelial cells.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Oral epithelial cells may be invaded by a polymicrobial intracellular flora, including pathogens together with commensals. Various oral pathogens can induce the production of interleukin-8, a potent neutrophil chemotractant, in oral epithelial cells. Evidence from the gut suggests that commensal species may modulate inflammatory responses to pathogens. The aim of this study was to examine the interleukin-8 responses of oral epithelial cells to an oral pro-inflammatory species, Fusobacterium nucleatum, in combination with an oral commensal, Streptococcus cristatus. MATERIAL AND METHODS KB, TERT-2, TR146 and SCC15 cells were cocultured with F. nucleatum and S. cristatus, either alone or in combination, at 37 degrees C in 5% CO2 under various conditions. The mRNA expression of interleukin-8 was analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and protein secretion was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS F. nucleatum alone evoked a potent interleukin-8 response, whereas S. cristatus alone did not induce significant interleukin-8 expression in oral epithelial cells. When present together, S. cristatus attenuated the F. nucleatum-induced interleukin-8 production in the four oral epithelial cell lines to varying degrees. The inhibitory effect of S. cristatus was independent of its viability and its co-aggregation with F. nucleatum, was not related to soluble bacterial products and appeared to require bacterial contact with epithelial cells. Similar effects were seen with several other species of oral streptococci. CONCLUSION Our data suggest that S. cristatus may exert immunomodulatory effects on the interleukin-8 response of oral epithelial cells to F. nucleatum challenge.
Beyond Value at Risk: The New Science of Risk Management

A Comprehensive Guide to Value at Risk and Risk Management Risk management and measurement are now, without doubt, the hottest topics in the finance world. Today, quantifying risk management is not only a management tool - but is also used by regulators for banks and finance houses. Beyond Value at Risk provides a comprehensive guide to recent developments and existing approaches to VaR and risk management, going beyond traditional approaches to the subject and offering a new, far-reaching perspective on investment, hedging and portfolio decision-making. The key to this distinctive approach is a new decision rule - the 'Generalised Sharpe Rule', and its practical applications. Beyond Value at Risk provides the answers to key questions, including: How to implement VaR and related systems in the real world How to make vital investment decisions and estimate their effect How to make hedging decisions How to manage a portfolio It offers financial professionals, academics and students comprehensive coverage of VaR both in theory and practice.
Corporate Social Responsibility in the tour operating sector: institutional arrangements and the shaping of agendas.

Title: Corporate Social Responsibility in the tour operating sector: institutional arrangements and the shaping of agendas – A case study of Apollo. Author: Sandra Backlund Supervisor: Maria Jose Zapata Campos Key terms: CSR, tourist sector, tour operators, sustainable tourism, institutional pressure Aim: The aim of this research is to explore how institutional arrangements for socially sustainable tourism influence the shaping of CSR agendas in the tour operating sector. Theory: Neo-institutional theory of organizational change / the Scandinavian branch. Empirical material: The study was carried out as a qualitative in-depth case study, informed by the Swedish tour operating firm Apollo. Interviews and content analysis of policy documents were the main methods employed. The firm was at the center of the analysis and the issue of analysis was how regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive pressure mechanisms impact the shaping of their CSR approach. Conclusions: Apollo’s increasing engagement with actors in their institutional surroundings make them experience pressure from various stakeholders on matters of CSR. All three kinds of institutional forces have had clear impacts on their CSR agenda, but the predominant force is normative pressure from customers and stakeholders in the local area. Internal learningprocesses have been set in motion by institutional alternations which make Apollo employing a proactive CSR approach. They hence contribute to shaping norms on sustainability within the industry. University of Gothenburg IAGG, AG2340 Sandra Backlund
Helicobacter pylori outer inflammatory protein A (OipA) suppresses apoptosis of AGS gastric cells in vitro

Outer inflammatory protein A (OipA) is an important virulence factor associated with gastric cancer and ulcer development; however, the results have not been well established and turned out to be controversial. This study aims to elucidate the role of OipA in Helicobacter pylori infection using clinical strains harbouring oipA “on” and “off” motifs. Proteomics analysis was performed on AGS cell pre‐infection and postinfection with H. pylori oipA “on” and “off” strains, using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. AGS apoptosis and cell cycle assays were performed. Moreover, expression of vacuolating cytotoxin A (VacA) was screened using Western blotting. AGS proteins that have been suggested previously to play a role or associated with gastric disease were down‐regulated postinfection with oipA “off” strains comparing to oipA “on” strains. Furthermore, oipA “off” and ΔoipA cause higher level of AGS cells apoptosis and G0/G1 cell‐cycle arrest than oipA “on” strains. Interestingly, deletion of oipA increased bacterial VacA production. The capability of H. pylori to induce apoptosis and suppress expression of proteins having roles in human disease in the absence of oipA suggests that strains not expressing OipA may be less virulent or may even be protective against carcinogenesis compared those expressing OipA. This potentially explains the higher incidence of gastric cancer in East Asia where oipA “on” strains predominates.
Endocrine and metabolic disorders in young adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) or non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)

Background Treatments of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), involving various combinations of chemotherapy (chemo), cranial irradiation (CI) and/or bone marrow transplantation after total body irradiation (BMT/TBI), are often successful but may have several long‐term harmful effects.
The Protective Role of Vitamin C against Formaldehyde induced- hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity in Male Rats

Formaldehyde was administrated by gavage into male albino rats for 7 day as a single dose (1ml), and the histological changes in liver and kidney were investigated using paraffin method. This compound has caused hepatotoxicity which included degeneration of the hepatocytes, and appearing of inflammatory leucocytes. This compound has also caused nephrotoxicity which included high inflammation degree and degenerative effect on kidney tubule cells. When given to the formalin exposed rats, vitamin C caused recovery of the changes in the liver and kidney, i.e. it has been succeeded in playing a protective role against formalin hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity.
Bone turnover and bone mineral density are independently related to selenium status in healthy euthyroid postmenopausal women.

CONTEXT Selenium status may have direct effects on bone and indirect effects through changes in thyroid hormone sensitivity. OBJECTIVE We hypothesized that variation in selenium status in healthy euthyroid postmenopausal women is associated with differences in bone turnover, bone mineral density (BMD) and fracture susceptibility. DESIGN The Osteoporosis and Ultrasound Study (OPUS) is a 6-yr prospective study of fracture-related factors. SETTING The study was comprised of a population-based cohort from five European cities. PARTICIPANTS A total of 2374 postmenopausal women participated. Subjects with thyroid disease and nonthyroidal illness and those receiving drugs affecting thyroid status or bone metabolism were excluded, leaving a study population of 1144. INTERVENTIONS There were no interventions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES We measured selenium (micrograms per liter); selenoprotein P (milligrams per liter); free T(4) (picomoles per liter); free T(3) (picomoles per liter); TSH (milliunits per liter); bone turnover markers; BMD; and vertebral, hip, and nonvertebral fractures. RESULTS Higher selenium levels were associated with higher hip BMD at study entry (β = 0.072, P = 0.004) and lower levels of bone formation (osteocalcin: β = -0.101, P < 0.001; procollagen type 1 N-terminal propeptide: β = -0.074, P = 0.013) and resorption markers (C-telopeptide of type 1 collagen: β = -0.058, P = 0.050; N-telopeptide of type 1 collagen: β = -0.095, P = 0.002). Higher selenoprotein P was associated with higher hip (β = 0.113, P < 0.001) and lumbar spine BMD (β = 0.088, P = 0.003) at study entry, higher hip BMD after the 6-yr follow-up (β = 0.106, P = 0.001) and lower osteocalcin (β = -0.077, P = 0.009), C-telopeptide of type 1 collagen (β = -0.075, P = 0.012), and N-telopeptide of type 1 collagen (β = -0.110, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Selenium status is inversely related to bone turnover and positively correlated with BMD in healthy euthyroid postmenopausal women independent of thyroid status.
Immune responses to rotavirus infection and vaccination and associated correlates of protection.

Group A rotavirus (RV) strains are a major cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in infants and young children worldwide [1]. RV disease accounts for more than one-third of all diarrhea-related hospitalizations and 500,000–600,000 deaths per year [2–4]; most deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia [3, 4]. Direct medical and indirect annual costs associated with RV disease are estimated to be €400 million in Europe [5–7] and to exceed US$ 1 billion in the United States [8]. RV strains form a genus of the Reoviridae family and possess a genome of 11 segments of double-stranded (ds) RNA, encoding 6 structural viral proteins (VPs) and 6 nonstructural proteins (NSPs). The infectious particle (ie, virion) consists of 3 layers: the inner layer (core) contains the viral genome, the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp, VP1), the capping enzyme (VP3), and the scaffolding protein (VP2); the core is surrounded by a middle layer (VP6), and the outer layer consists of VP7 and VP4 [9]. RV infects mature enterocytes in the small intestine. Viral replication leads to increased intracellular Ca2+ level (effected by NSP4), increased Cl- secretion, and shut-off of host cell protein synthesis (effected by NSP3), resulting in acute osmotic and secretory diarrhea (described in [9]). Various RV genes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of AGE [10]. After RV infection, a viremic stage of, at present, unclear significance has been identified in humans and experimental animals [11–13]. The RV-encoded NSP1 blocks interferon (IFN) production by various pathways [14–17]. RV infection down-regulates the IFN- and pro-inflammatory cytokine–associated pathways in calves [18]. RV strains have a high genomic and antigenic diversity and are classified into at least 7 different groups (A–G), distinguished by different VP6. Most human RV infections are caused by group A RV strains, which are further subdivided into at least 2 subgroups (I, II), 23 G types (determined by VP7, a glycoprotein), and 31 P types (determined by VP4, a protease-sensitive protein) [9, 19–21]. RV strains with different G and P types cocirculate and change in geographical regions over time [22–25]. In temperate climate regions, most cocirculating RV strains are types G1–G4 and G9 (typically G1P1A[8], G2P1B[4], G3P1A[8], G4P1A[8], and G9P1A[8]), but other G types (G5, G8, G10, and G12), in combination with various P types, may be most prevalent in tropical areas [21, 23, 24]. Nonspecific (innate) and acquired virus-specific humoral and cellular immune responses are elicited by RV infection [26, 27] or RV vaccination [28–33]. Although currently licensed vaccines are highly efficacious in protecting children from severe RV AGE, the molecular mechanisms of protection are not fully understood. This article considers the immune responses to natural RV infection and RV vaccination in both experimental animals and humans as potential correlates of protection.
An improved queuing model for packet retransmission policy and variable latency decoders

The convolutional coding is a very popular channel coding technique for the major reason of mitigating the probability of having many retransmissions because of difficult (noisy) communication channels. Sequential decoding is a type of convolutional codes that becomes of interest in wireless communication since it affords a decoding time that can be adaptive to channel state. In this study, the authors propose an improved queuing model, using discrete-time semi-Markov chain, which represents a modified packet retransmission policy over previously proposed queuing model. The authors queuing model mainly describes the behaviour of the buffer, which belongs to intermediate hops, when sequential decoding is implemented and concerns also about packets being transmitted over erroneous channels. The authors aim after conducting queuing analysis to find a real mathematical form for the average buffer occupancy as a network performance metric. Although the improved queuing model when incorporating the new policy for retransmission is very complicated, we are finally able to derive an expression for that performance metric considering practical assumptions. They further illustrate how the modified queuing model has a better impact on the end-to-end delay of messages, being transmitted without any extra buffering requirements needed, than the other relevant proposed queuing model. They conduct a simulation study using computer programming with the same assumptions used for queuing analysis to validate their analytical explanations and results. Furthermore, they validate the correctness of their closed-form expression through comparing its results with those obtained from expression related to a queuing model which discarded employing any retransmission policy.