Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Imputation techniques for the nationality of foreign shareholders in Italian firms

In order to estimate the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) item of the Italian Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, the Bank of Italy realises a direct sample survey for the non-financial and insurance companies; the survey’s methodology and definitions follow the international standards defined in the IMF BPM6 and OECD BD4 and best practices. In the sampling strategy a stratified sample is used, considering among the other stratification variables the presence or absence for the firm of FDI relationships (inward and outward). In general information on FDI inward is available in administrative data: in fact, the Italian enterprises annually report to the Chambers of Commerce the list of theirs shareholders (the so-called "Elenco Soci" in the Infocamere database). While this information is used by the Bank of Italy to identify the list of enterprises with FDI inward, it is in many cases incomplete as the nationality of the shareholders is missing. In order to solve this problem, the present paper proposes an algorithm of imputation when the nationality of foreign firms is unknown and the only relevant information is represented by the name of the corporations. The procedure works as follows: firstly, the name of the different firms is decomposed in its elementary words and the most frequent ones are selected; then, for each selected word, a dummy variable is constructed taking value one when that word is included in the name of the firms and zero otherwise; finally, a statistical model is estimated linking the nationality of the firms to those dummy variables. The out-of-sample analysis reveals that this procedure is able to obtain a high percentage of correct classification, with an almost perfect discrimination between Italian and foreign firms.
Properties of six pesticide degradation plasmids isolated from Alcaligenes paradoxus and Alcaligenes eutrophus

Biophysical and genetic properties of six independently isolated plasmids encoding the degradation of the herbicides 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic acid are described. Four of the plasmids, pJP3, pJP4, pJP5, and pJP7, had molecular masses of 51 megadaltons, belonged to the IncP1 incompatibility group, and transferred freely to strains of Escherichia coli, Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides, Rhizobium sp. , Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. In addition, these four plasmids conferred resistance to merbromin, phenylmercury acetate, and mercuric ions, had almost identical restriction endonuclease cleavage patterns, and encoded degradation of m-chlorobenzoate. The two other plasmids, pJP2 and pJP9, did not belong to the IncP1 incompatibility group, had molecular masses of 37 megadaltons, encoded the degradation of phenoxyacetic acid, and possessed identical restriction endonuclease cleavage patterns.
Cost and cost threshold analyses for 12 innovative US HIV linkage and retention in care programs

ABSTRACT Out of >1,000,000 people living with HIV in the USA, an estimated 60% were not adequately engaged in medical care in 2011. In response, AIDS United spearheaded 12 HIV linkage and retention in care programs. These programs were supported by the Social Innovation Fund, a White House initiative. Each program reflected the needs of its local population living with HIV. Economic analyses of such programs, such as cost and cost threshold analyses, provide important information for policy-makers and others allocating resources or planning programs. Implementation costs were examined from societal and payer perspectives. This paper presents the results of cost threshold analyses, which provide an estimated number of HIV transmissions that would have to be averted for each program to be considered cost-saving and cost-effective. The methods were adapted from the US Panel on Cost-effectiveness in Health and Medicine. Per client program costs ranged from $1109.45 to $7602.54 from a societal perspective. The cost-saving thresholds ranged from 0.32 to 1.19 infections averted, and the cost-effectiveness thresholds ranged from 0.11 to 0.43 infections averted by the programs. These results suggest that such programs are a sound and efficient investment towards supporting goals set by US HIV policy-makers. Cost-utility data are pending.
Naturfaglig evaluering av Frivillig vern-områder

6 Forord . 11 1 Innledning . 12 1.1 Bakgrunn og mål for evalueringen . 12 1.2 Forståelse av evalueringsoppgavene . 13 2 Verneområdene og evalueringen . 16 2.1 Verneområdene som skal evalueres . 16 2.2 Evalueringens angrepsmåte . 18 3 Frivillig vern-områdenes representativitet i forhold til norsk naturvariasjon . 21 3.1 Datagrunnlag og metoder for representativ naturvariasjon . 21 3.2 Frivillig vern-områdenes fordeling på geografiske regioner og høydelag . 22 3.3 Frivillig vern-områdenes fordeling på terrengform og høydelag . 26 3.4 Frivillig vern-områdenes fordeling på klimasoner . 30 3.5 Frivillig vern-områdenes plassering i klimagradienter . 33 3.6 Frivillig vern-områdenes fordeling på arealtyper og geologi . 35 3.6.1 Arealdekke basert på kartserien N50 . 35 3.6.2 Arealdekke ut fra tilpasset arealressurskart . 36 3.6.3 Geologi . 39 3.7 Samlet vurdering av Frivillig vern-områdenes representativitet . 41 4 Frivillig vern-områdenes økologiske funksjon: store områder og økologisk nettverk . 44 4.1 Betydningen av store områder og økologisk nettverk . 44 4.2 Verneområdenes størrelse og form – datagrunnlag og metoder . 45 4.3 Verneområdenes funksjon som store, sammenhengende områder . 45 4.3.1 Verneområdenes størrelsesfordeling og skogareal . 45 4.3.2 Verneområdenes form og utsatthet for kanteffekter . 50 4.4 Verneområdenes funksjon som økologisk nettverk . 52 4.5 Samlet vurdering av områdestørrelse, form og nettverk . 54 5 Frivillig vern-områdenes dekning av viktige naturtyper og leveområder for truete og vernete arter . 56 5.1 Viktige naturtyper, truete og vernete arter – datagrunnlag og metoder . 56 5.2 Viktige naturtyper i Frivillig vernog Statskog-områdene . 58 5.3 Frivillig vern-områdenes sikring av leveområder for rødlistearter . 61 5.4 Samlet vurdering av Frivillig vern-områdenes dekning av viktige naturtyper og rødlistearter . 63 6 Frivillig vern-områdenes naturverdi . 66 6.1 Naturverdi – datagrunnlag og metoder . 66 6.2 Fellestrekk i områdenes naturverdi: ordinasjon . 67 6.3 Naturverdi for Frivillig vernog Statskog-områdene . 69 6.4 Samlet vurdering av Frivillig vern-områdenes naturverdi . 71 7 Samlet vurdering og konklusjon . 72 7.1 Frivillig vern-områdenes dekning av norsk naturvariasjon . 72 7.2 Frivillig vern-områdenes størrelse og form . 74
The CUL1 C-Terminal Sequence and ROC1 Are Required for Efficient Nuclear Accumulation, NEDD8 Modification, and Ubiquitin Ligase Activity of CUL1

ABSTRACT Members of the cullin and RING finger ROC protein families form heterodimeric complexes to constitute a potentially large number of distinct E3 ubiquitin ligases. We report here that the highly conserved C-terminal sequence in CUL1 is dually required, both for nuclear localization and for modification by NEDD8. Disruption of ROC1 binding impaired nuclear accumulation of CUL1 and decreased NEDD8 modification in vivo but had no effect on NEDD8 modification of CUL1 in vitro, suggesting that ROC1 promotes CUL1 nuclear accumulation to facilitate its NEDD8 modification. Disruption of NEDD8 binding had no effect on ROC1 binding, nor did it affect nuclear localization of CUL1, suggesting that nuclear localization and NEDD8 modification of CUL1 are two separable steps, with nuclear import preceding and required for NEDD8 modification. Disrupting NEDD8 modification diminishes the IκBα ubiquitin ligase activity of CUL1. These results identify a pathway for regulation of CUL1 activity—ROC1 and the CUL1 C-terminal sequence collaboratively mediate nuclear accumulation and NEDD8 modification, facilitating assembly of active CUL1 ubiquitin ligase. This pathway may be commonly utilized for the assembly of other cullin ligases.
GoQBot: a caterpillar-inspired soft-bodied rolling robot

Rolling locomotion using an external force such as gravity has evolved many times. However, some caterpillars can curl into a wheel and generate their own rolling momentum as part of an escape repertoire. This change in body conformation occurs well within 100 ms and generates a linear velocity over 0.2 m s−1, making it one of the fastest self-propelled wheeling behaviors in nature. Inspired by this behavior, we construct a soft-bodied robot to explore the dynamics and control issues of ballistic rolling. This robot, called GoQBot, closely mimics caterpillar rolling. Analyzing the whole body kinematics and 2D ground reaction forces at the robot ground anchor reveals about 1G of acceleration and more than 200 rpm of angular velocity. As a novel rolling robot, GoQBot demonstrates how morphing can produce new modes of locomotion. Furthermore, mechanical coupling of the actuators improves body coordination without sensory feedback. Such coupling is intrinsic to soft-bodied animals because there are no joints to isolate muscle-generated movements. Finally, GoQBot provides an estimate of the mechanical power for caterpillar rolling that is comparable to that of a locust jump. How caterpillar musculature produces such power in such a short time is yet to be discovered.
Optical diffraction studies of myofibrillar structure.

We have used the techniques of optical diffraction and optical filtering to study electron micrographs of myofibrils and of paracrystals of myofibrillar proteins. The optical diffraction patterns provide information about periodic structure in the micrographs, and sometimes may reveal periodicities not apparent to the eye. We compare the optical diffraction patterns with the X-ray diffraction patterns obtained from living muscle, and this comparison can assist our interpretation of both the X-ray diffraction patterns and the electron micrographs. The optical diffractometer we have used is essentially similar to those described by Taylor & Lipson (1964), and by Klug & DeRosier (1966). The apparatus incorporates several refinements to facilitate operation. The recombining lens has a focal length, f , of about 1 m, and is placed so that the recombined image is formed at 2 f and has the same size as the subject. The diffraction subjects are not usually the electron micrographs themselves but copies on film. The film is of more uniform optical thickness than the glass electron micrograph, and is less fragile. Moreover, a set of films of varying contrast can be made from one micrograph.
Standardized Tape Stripping: A Practical and Reproducible Protocol to Uniformly Reduce the Stratum Corneum

The basic idea of the strip patch test (SPT), a modification of the conventional patch test (PT), is to increase the bioavailability of a test substance in the deeper epidermal cell layers by defined tape stripping of the test area on the back prior to a PT. In a prospective, investigator-blinded clinical study, we evaluated the variability and the interrater agreement of our proposed SPT protocol. The relative stratum corneum (SC) reduction after tape stripping was measured on 75 subjects for variability and in a subgroup of 18 subjects for interrater agreement, by performing in vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy. We found good reproducibility with an SC reduction of 31%, with 95% of the values lying between 22 and 40%, and good interrater agreement. As a result, our SPT protocol yields a clinically adequate standardization of the SC reduction and the SPT may therefore be recommended for performance in daily clinical routine.
Impact of Brand Recognition on Consumer Attraction: A Study of Telecom Sector

This research presents an empirical investigation on the contexts of brand recognition and consumer brand attraction from the perspective of the telecommunications sector. Not focusing on any specific cultural, social, or national context, a sample of 215 respondents actively using telecommunication services was developed. Questionnaires were distributed across the respondent population. The results of the research develop four essential themes in the telecom context that lead to heightened brand recognition and customer attractiveness towards telecom brands. Recognition is most dominantly affected by brand’s CSR programmes, technology-adherence, and affordability. In concurrence, customer attraction is dominantly affected by technology-adherence, affordability, and reliability.
Depression in complex partial seizures. Electroencephalography and cerebral metabolic correlates.

OBJECTIVE We sought to determine whether the frequency of depressive disorders among patients with complex partial seizures is associated with the laterality of ictal onset or the laterality of interictal cerebral hypometabolism. DESIGN Fifty-three patients with medically intractable complex partial seizures were assessed for history of interictal depressive disorders meeting strict Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition (DSM-III-R), criteria with use of a modification of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. All subjects underwent video-electroencephalographic telemetry and fludeoxyglucose F18 positron emission tomographic scanning. The main outcome measure was the frequency of a history of major depressive episodes (MDEs) in subjects with left-sided vs right-sided ictal onset and in subjects with left-sided vs right-sided temporal lobe hypometabolism. RESULTS Thirty-three subjects (62%) had a history of interictal depressive disorders, 16 (30%) of whom met criteria for one or more MDEs. More of those with left-sided ictal onset had a history of depression. Thirty-six subjects had definite unilateral temporal lobe hypometabolism demonstrated by positron emission tomographic scanning. More of those with left temporal lobe hypometabolism had a history of MDEs, and the combination of left temporal lobe hypometabolism and high-degree hypometabolism was strongly associated with a history of MDEs. Furthermore, among those with right temporal lobe hypometabolism, more of those with high-degree hypometabolism had a history of MDEs. CONCLUSION Laterality of ictal onset and degree of interictal temporal lobe hypometabolism may be interdependent factors that contribute to the risk of depressive disorder in patients with complex partial seizures.
Call for Papers - Information Systems Research Special Issue: Digital Systems and Competition

Focus Digital systems within and across firm boundaries have become fundamental to business operations, spanning multiple activities in value and supply chains. As firms continue to digitize business pro cesses and enhance capabilities via more powerful computing platforms, they are better able to access and process critical knowledge in real time, increas ing awareness of emerging market opportunities, and the ability to respond to those opportunities. Business actions are becoming inseparable from information technology (IT), either IT-enabled or -induced. Conse quently, digital systems and IT are becoming critical to many products and services, and thereby indistin guishable from the rest of the business. There is a pressing need to develop a more expansive view of the relationship between digital systems and compet itive action.
State scarring by "ghosts" of periodic orbits.

In this paper we discover a generic structure in the eigenfunctions of quantum billiards, namely, scarring by families of stable periodic orbits in a nonchaotic system. Our study is conducted on two different triangular billiards, one an ergodic system and the other a ``pseudointegrable'' billiard. Surprisingly, we detect scars in regions which contain no periodic orbits. The periodic orbits responsible for scarring reside in a ``neighboring'' triangle. Such orbits show a more complex phase space structure than the ``bouncing ball'' trajectories of the stadium billiard. While diffuse nodal structure is usually the antithesis of scarring, we show that in some eigenstates it is supported by extensive families of stable periodic orbits.
Value of linsidomin in assessing myocardial viability with thallium-201 SPECT

Myocardial viability can be assessed with rest/24 h redistribution 201Tl myocardial single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The intravenous injection of vasodilators induces an early redistribution of 201Tl and shortens the total examination time. The aim of this study was to compare the images after injection of linsidomin with the 24 h images. We studied 51 consecutive patients (38 males, 13 females), aged 66±11 years, referred for assessment of myocardial viability after acute myocardial infarction. SPECT acquisition at rest (30 projections over 180°, 30 s per projection) was performed 20 min after injection of 201Tl. A second acquisition (same parameters) was performed 2 min after intravenous injection of linsidomin (2 mg). A delayed acquisition was performed on the following day (50 s per step). Myocardial perfusion at rest was normal in 111 of 255 segments. For the 144 other segments, 24 h images were similar to the images acquired after the injection of linsidomin in 94% of cases (136 of 144 segments). The 24 h images showed partial redistribution that was not present after linsidomin in only eight segments (6%). Injection of linsidomin after rest acquisition can provide a reliable and more rapid assessment of myocardial viability. This very simple protocol (rest/linsidomin 201Tl myocardial SPECT) can be performed in less than 1 h.
Liver tumor segmentation in noisy CT images using distance regularized level set evolution based on fuzzy C-means clustering

In this paper, we propose an approach to detection and segmentation of liver tumors in noisy computed topography (CT) images. Image segmentation plays crucial role in medical image processing applications. Noise is quite common in medical images. It occurs while acquisition and transmission of images. The essential goal of this framework is to identify liver cancer by segmenting liver tumors from noisy CT scan images. Liver segmentation is difficult task in medical applications because inter-patient variability in size, shape and disease. In general CT scanning is used to inspect liver cancer. In this research work, the liver tumors are detected by the medical images in three stages, pre-processing stage, processing stage and detection stage. First in pre-processing stage, median filter is used to remove the noise from CT image, and then the denoised image is segmented by fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) algorithm. Finally in the detection stage distance regularized level set evolution (DRLSE) is used to extract tumor boundaries. This algorithm is very much useful for identifying hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer). Experimental results on various noisy CT scan images show that the proposed method is efficient for extracting hepatic tumors from liver.
Piezoelectrically Activated Silicon Resonators

This paper describes the feasibility and performances of two families of AIN/Si resonators: 1 MHz extensional and 20 to 100 kHz flexural resonators. In both components the resonating structure is obtained with SOI silicon suspended beams driven by an AIN piezoelectric layer. The 1MHz resonator exhibits a Q factor larger than 100 000 under vacuum and a coupling coefficient of 0.06%. The 20 to 100kHz resonators exhibit extremely low thermal drift of resonant frequency (alpha close to zero). The thermal compensation has been obtained at device-level by using SiO2 with an appropriate thickness.
Competitive Strategy and Organizational Performance of Telecommunications Industry in Kenya

xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Background of the Study . 1 1.1.1 Concept of Competitive Strategy . 2 1.1.2 Organizational Performance . 4 1.1.3 Telecommunications Industry in Kenya . 5 1.1.4 Telecommunication firms Operating in Kenya . 6 1.2 Research Problem . 8 1.3 Research Objectives . 11 1.4 Value of the Study . 11 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW . 13 2.
On the counterfactual nature of envy: “It could have been me”

We examined whether counterfactual thinking influences the experience of envy. Counterfactual thinking refers to comparing the situation as it is to what it could have been, and these thought processes have been shown to lead to a variety of emotions. We predicted that for envy the counterfactual thought “it could have been me” would be important. In four studies we found a clear link between such counterfactual thoughts and the intensity of envy. Furthermore, Studies 3 and 4 revealed that a manipulation known to affect the extent of counterfactual thinking (the perception of being close to obtaining the desired outcome oneself), had an effect on the intensity of envy via counterfactual thoughts. This relationship between counterfactual thinking and the experience of envy allows for new predictions concerning situations under which envy is likely be more intense.
The pleiotropic effects of Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus

Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV), or human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8), is an essential factor in the pathogenesis of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), multicentric Castleman's disease (MCD), and primary effusion lymphoma (PEL). Case reports suggest an occasional involvement in bone marrow hypoplasia and haemophagocytic syndrome, but other disease associations are unconfirmed or controversial. KSHV‐associated disease is of particular importance in immunosuppressed individuals, in particular in patients with HIV infection and transplant recipients. KSHV establishes a latent infection in the majority of infected cells in KS, MCD, and PEL, but lytic replication occurs in a small fraction of infected cells. Viral proteins expressed during both the latent and the lytic phase of the viral life cycle contribute to the pathogenesis of KSHV‐associated diseases. Copyright © 2006 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Initial experience with a novel coronary rinsing and thrombectomy system: "Rinspiration".

BACKGROUND Intracoronary thrombus is often problematic during percutaneous coronary intervention. Rinspiration is a new thrombectomy catheter system designed to mechanically disrupt and remove intravascular thrombus. METHODS Rinspiration thrombectomy was performed in 15 patients with angiographically visible thrombus in native coronary arteries (10 cases) and in saphenous grafts (5 cases). Indications included acute myocardial infarction in 11 patients and postinfarction ischemia in 4 patients. RESULTS The Rinspiration system appeared relatively simple to use. There were no device-related complications. Thrombectomy resulted in an improvement in thrombus grade from 3.8 +/- 1.6 to 2.5 +/- 1.7 (p = 0.02), and TIMI flow from 1.5 +/- 1.3 to 2.2 +/- 1.0 (p = 0.047). Stenting further improved thrombus grade to 0.8 +/- 1.6 and TIMI flow to 2.6 +/- 0.8. At 30-day follow up all patients remained free of repeat revascularization and reinfarction; 1 patient died from hemorrhagic stroke. CONCLUSIONS The Rinspiration system appears capable of safely removing intracoronary thrombus and warrants further evaluation.
Is the microbe–dementia hypothesis finally ready for a treatment trial?

Could infections really have something to do with disorders that cause dementia? Several chronic diseases, such as peptic ulcer, certain cancers, and autoimmune conditions, have established infectious etiologies, either bacterial or viral, but mainstream cognitive disorder research has not fully considered microbial involvement. Evidence is emerging,1 but the size of the problem—millions of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) worldwide, and increasing—compels searching for clues in the dark, and not only below the streetlight, especially if established and safe treatments are available.