Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Configuration of the 17-Hydroxy Group Variably Influences the Glucuronidation of β-Estradiol and Epiestradiol by Human UDP-Glucuronosyltransferases

The glucuronidation of 17β-estradiol (β-estradiol) and 17α-estradiol (epiestradiol) was studied to elucidate how the orientation of the 17-OH group affects conjugation at the 3-OH or the 17-OH of either diastereomer. Recombinant human UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) UGT1A1, UGT1A3, UGT1A7, UGT1A8, and UGT1A10 conjugated one or both diastereomers, mainly at the 3-OH. The activity of UGT1A4 was low and unique because it was directed merely toward the 17-OH of both aglycones. UGT1A10 exhibited particularly high estradiol glucuronidation activity, the rate and affinity of which were significantly higher in the case of β-estradiol than with epiestradiol. UGT1A9 did not catalyze estradiol glucuronidation, but UGT1A9-catalyzed scopoletin glucuronidation was competitively inhibited by β-estradiol. UGT2B4, UGT2B7, and UGT2B17 exclusively conjugated the estradiols at the 17-OH position in a highly stereoselective fashion. UGT2B4 was specific for epiestradiol; UGT2B7 glucuronidated both diastereomers, with high affinity for epiestradiol, whereas UGT2B17 only glucuronidated β-estradiol. UGT2B15 glucuronidated both estradiols at the 3-OH, with a strong preference for epiestradiol. Human UGT2A1 and UGT2A2 glucuronidated both diastereoisomers at both hydroxyl groups. Microsomal studies revealed that human liver mainly yielded epiestradiol 17-O-glucuronide, and human intestine primarily yielded β-estradiol 3-O-glucuronide, whereas rat liver preferentially formed β-estradiol 17-O-glucuronide. Of the three recombinant rat UGTs that were examined in this study, rUGT2B1 was specific for the 17-OH of β-estradiol, rUGT2B2 did not catalyze estradiol glucuronidation, whereas rUGT2B3 exhibited high activity toward the 17-OH in both diastereoisomers. The results show that although many UGTs can catalyze estradiol glucuronidation, there are marked differences in their kinetics, regioselectivity, and stereoselectivity.
The valorisation of dead stock – there is life in the old dog yet

This study follows reverse logistics thinking in the valorisation of dead stock from perishable by-products. Viable alternatives for the use of dead stock are found and the feasibility of their introduction evaluated through the building and application of a two-step model that links a two-stage production process generating by-products to staff scheduling problems in handling it. Model building is supported by empirical data from a poultry processing plant that had been collected through process maps, observations, and from databases of the case company. The model is also applied and solved for the case before suggesting general conclusions.
SP 800-53 Rev. 3. Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations

The objective of NIST SP 800-53 is to provide a set of security controls that can satisfy the breadth and depth of security requirements levied on information systems and organizations and that is consistent with and complementary to other established information security standards. Revision 3 is the first major update since December 2005 and includes significant improvements to the security control catalog.
Negative and positive effects of social capital on co-located firms’ withholding efforts

Purpose – This study aims to demonstrate that the investments in social capital do not always pay off. Although an important function of social capital is its potential for influencing co‐located companies' opportunistic behavior, social capital also has a negative side. This study seeks to examine the negative and positive effects of the social capital dimensions on a company's profitability and on the perception that co‐located firms free ride and shirk.Design/methodology/approach – By including data from 224 firms in 112 true‐paired dyadic relationships, this study provides a unique and valid basis for empirical study within SEM analysis. The ability to link different information sources in the analysis creates a unique data set that controls for the confounding effects of common method biases in the analysis.Findings – Markets with a low degree of collective activity gain less advantage from cognitive social capital, because its primary effect lies in its transparency and ability to detect opportunist.
Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial of Fluconazole to Prevent Candidal Infections in Critically Ill Surgical Patients

ObjectiveTo evaluate the prophylactic use of enteral fluconazole to prevent invasive candidal infections in critically ill surgical patients. Summary Background DataInvasive fungal infections are increasingly common in the critically ill, especially in surgical patients. Although fungal prophylaxis has been proven effective in certain high-risk patients such as bone marrow transplant patients, few studies have focused on surgical patients and prevention of fungal infection. MethodsThe authors conducted a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in a single-center, tertiary care surgical intensive care unit (ICU). A total of 260 critically ill surgical patients with a length of ICU stay of at least 3 days were randomly assigned to receive either enteral fluconazole 400 mg or placebo per day during their stay in the surgical ICU at Johns Hopkins Hospital. ResultsThe primary end point was the time to occurrence of fungal infection during the surgical ICU stay, with planned secondary analysis of patients “on-therapy” and alternate definitions of fungal infections. In a time-to-event analysis, the risk of candidal infection in patients receiving fluconazole was significantly less than the risk in patients receiving placebo. After adjusting for potentially confounding effects of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) III score, days to first dose, and fungal colonization at enrollment, the risk of fungal infection was reduced by 55% in the fluconazole group. No difference in death rate was observed between patients receiving fluconazole and those receiving placebo. ConclusionsEnteral fluconazole safely and effectively decreased the incidence of fungal infections in high-risk, critically ill surgical patients.
Market Barriers to Implementing Sustainable Building in Malaysia

The construction industry with its high contribution to countries‟ gross domestic product, has undeniable impacts on the economy and is recognized as an important user of natural resources. Sustainable building is a way for the building industry to move towards achieving sustainable development. Although sustainable building provides a wide range of benefits for the society, it suffers from various kinds of market barriers in developing countries such as Malaysia. In order to include sustainable construction development as part of a sound sustainable economic development plan, it is necessary to identify and eliminate obstacles at the beginning. This study aims to explore the barriers for developing sustainable building in Malaysia. Data was collected by literature review and questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed among construction professionals in Malaysia. Data was analysed by SPSS. Based on the results of the study, the main barriers can be listed as: Lack of governmental financial incentives, public awareness, as well as economic barriers.
An Empirical Investigation of Customer Satisfaction after Service Failure and Recovery

Relatively little research has addressed the nature and determinants of customer satisfaction following service failure and recovery. Two studies using scenario-based experiments reveal the impact of failure expectations, recovery expectations, recovery performance, and justice on customers’ postrecovery satisfaction. Customer satisfaction was found to be lower after service failure and recovery (even given high-recovery performance) than in the case of error-free service. The research shows that, in general, companies fare better in the eyes of consumers by avoiding service failure than by responding to failure with superior recovery.
A BIST-based charge analysis for embedded memories

We present a BIST architecture to perform charge based analysis on embedded memories. The architecture includes a charge monitor as well as the input generation and output processing circuitry. The method applies a charge correlation technique, validated experimentally on previous works for submicron SRAMs. The technique requires a short pre-characterization phase during manufacturing testing that guarantees process-variation immunity. The embedded BIST circuitry provides a digital output pass/fail flag that signals the result of the BIST-charge analysis.
Dynamic wireless power transfer by time-modulated arrays

The paper presents a novel method for an agile and precise indoor wireless power transfer (WPT) operation by means of a time-modulated array (TMA). The high level of reconfiguration of these arrays is fully exploited by a two-step procedure: first, according to the radar-monopulse principle, a two-element time-modulated sub-array is used for localization of tagged sensors to be energized; then the entire 16-element TMA provides the power to the detected tags, by deploying the fundamental and first sidebands harmonic radiation. The needed nonlinear/full-wave CAD platform is described and simulation results are shown.
Small Nuclear RNA Genes: a Model System to Study Fundamental Mechanisms of Transcription*

The human small nuclear RNA (snRNA)1 genes, which encode snRNAs that are involved in RNA processing reactions such as mRNA splicing, serve as prototypes for a family of genes whose promoters are characterized by the presence of a proximal sequence element (PSE) and a distal sequence element (DSE). From a transcription point of view, this family of genes is highly interesting because all of its members have very similar promoters, even though some of them are transcribed by RNA polymerase (pol) II and others by pol III. As a result, the snRNA genes have served as a model system to explore how RNA polymerase specificity is determined and, in general, to compare the pol II and III transcription machineries. This has led to the concept that the pol II and III transcription machineries use common factors, the best known of which is the TATA box binding protein (TBP). In addition, the relative simplicity of these promoters has also made them an attractive system to study how transcriptional activators perform their function.
A Drosophila Model of Mitochondrial DNA Replication: Proteins, Genes and Regulation

Mitochondrial biogenesis is a critical process in animal development, cellular homeostasis and aging. Mitochondrial DNA replication is an essential part of this process, and both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA mutations are found to result in mitochondrial dysfunction that leads to developmental defects and delays, aging and disease. Drosophila provides an amenable model system to study mitochondrial biogenesis in normal and disease states. This review provides an overview of current approaches to study the proteins involved in mitochondrial DNA replication, the genes that encode them and their regulation. It also presents a survey of cell and animal models under development to mimic the pathophysiology of human mitochondrial disorders. IUBMB Life, 57: 555‐561, 2005
Survey of metrics for human-robot interaction

This paper examines 29 papers that have proposed or applied metrics for human-robot interaction. The 42 metrics are categorized as to the object being directly measured: the human (7), the robot (6), or the system (29). Systems metrics are further subdivided into productivity, efficiency, reliability, safety, and coactivity. While 42 seems to be a large set, many metrics do not have a functional, or generalizable, mechanism for measuring that feature. In practice, metrics for system interactions are often inferred through observations of the robot or the human, introducing noise and error in analysis. The metrics do not completely capture the impact of autonomy on HRI as they typically focus on the agents, not the capabilities. As a result the current metrics are not helpful for determining what autonomous capabilities and interactions are appropriate for what tasks.
Accidental Kähler moduli inflation

We study a model of accidental inflation in type IIB string theory where inflation occurs near the inflection point of a small Kähler modulus. A racetrack structure helps to alleviate the known concern that string-loop corrections may spoil Kähler Moduli Inflation unless having a significant suppression via the string coupling or a special brane setup. Also, the hierarchy of gauge group ranks required for the separation between moduli stabilization and inflationary dynamics is relaxed. The relaxation becomes more significant when we use the recently proposed D-term generated racetrack model.
Combined economic and stability analysis of a microgrid: A co-optimisation approach

Both economics and stability analysis are critical to operate electricity networks in an efficient and secure manner, especially in the context of microgrids, where more complex stability phenomena may arise. In this vein, we propose a combined economic and stability model implemented through a hierarchical approach, where a master problem determines the economic system dispatch regardless of stability considerations and then a slave subproblem attempts to stabilize the master's solution through the optimization of control gains. If the economic dispatch solution determined by the master problem cannot be stabilized by slave's adjustments of control gains, a feasibility cut is generated and added to the master problem to calculate a new, more stable dispatch solution (master and slave are run iteratively). We demonstrate that control gains can be co-optimized with power outputs of generating units (in real time) to obtain more economically efficient and secure dispatch solutions and therefore that economics and stability analysis can be combined in a single framework by using advanced optimization techniques.
Filament Conduction and Reset Mechanism in NiO-Based Resistive-Switching Memory (RRAM) Devices

The physical understanding of the programming and reliability mechanisms in resistive-switching memory devices requires a detailed characterization of the electrical and thermal conduction properties in the low-resistance state of the memory cell. The aim of this paper is the characterization of the conductive filament (CF), which controls the localized current flow in the low resistive state of the cell. Based on a new technique for evaluating the CF temperature during operation, we perform a statistical characterization of the critical filament temperature for the reset operation, i.e., the transition to the high-resistance state by the thermal dissolution of the CF. The thermal resistance of the CF and the activation energy for the dissolution mechanism are then evaluated, allowing for a physics-based numerical modeling of the reset operation based on CF thermal breakup.
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques On-orbit radiometric calibration of SWIR bands of TANSO-FTS onboard

The Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) was launched on 23 January 2009 to monitor global distributions of carbon dioxide and methane. The Thermal And Near-infrared Sensor for carbon ObservationFourier Transform Spectrometer (TANSO-FTS) onboard GOSAT measures the short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) spectra. Radiometric accuracy directly influences the accuracy of the retrieved greenhouse gas concentrations. From a 2.5-yr retrieval analysis of GOSAT data, we found that the minimum of the mean-squared value of the residuals (the difference between observed and fitted spectra) and the radiance adjustment factor (one of the ancillary parameters to be retrieved with the gas concentrations for adjusting the radiance level between the bands) changed with time, possibly due to inaccurate degradation correction. In this study, the radiometric degradation of TANSO-FTS was evaluated from the on-orbit solar calibration data and modeled as a function of time and wavenumber for each spectral band. The radiometric degradation of TANSO-FTS Band 1 (centered at 0.76 μm) after the launch was found to be about 4 to 6 %, varying with wavenumber, whereas the other two bands (Band 2: 1.6 μm and Band 3: 2.0 μm) showed about 1 % degradation and small wavenumber dependency. When we applied the new degradation model in the retrieval analysis, the above-mentioned issues disappeared.
Differences in Consumer-Generated Media Adoption and Use: A Cross-National Perspective

ABSTRACT Adoption of consumer-generated media (CGM) and social networking applications has been reportedly rapid and impacts on the travel industry are assumed to be tremendous. CGM such as blogs, reviews and podcasts provide great opportunities for travel marketers. In order to be able to respond to CGM developments, travel marketers need to better understand what drives CGM use in different markets. Using secondary data from various sources, this paper outlines national differences in adoption speed and usage patterns for four major origin markets: the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and China. Based on the existing technology adoption literature, the information is summarized and analyzed with respect to forces which could drive these differences, mainly focusing on cultural dimensions, media landscapes, infrastructure development and information needs due to specific travel behavior characteristics. The results reveal interesting differences in these four markets and suggest that many factors stimulate CGM adoption. The findings imply that travel marketers need to adjust their CGM-based marketing strategies to the particular circumstances present in a visitor market.
Signaling or Wealth Transfer: Evidence from the Response of Corporate Bonds to Payout Changes

Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the abnormal returns associated with the corporate stock dividend changes, including information signaling hypothesis and wealth transfer hypothesis. Related securities not subject to the immediate capitalization changes can be useful to shed some light on the issue and will be better able to capture any risk changes in the company. Using corporate bonds, a significant decline in bond yields has been found following dividend increase and a significant increase in bond yields following dividend decrease, supporting signaling hypothesis where not strong wealth transfer effect.
Microvolt T-wave alternans and the selective use of implantable cardioverter defibrillators for primary prevention: A cost-effectiveness study

Objectives: Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) are an effective but expensive treatment for the prevention of sudden cardiac deaths in patients with severe left-ventricular dysfunction. Recent studies suggest that microvolt T-wave alternans (MTWA) predicts mortality and severe arrhythmic events in this population. However, the impact of MTWA on ICD cost-effectiveness is unknown. Methods: A Markov decision-analysis model evaluated three treatment strategies for primary prevention in patients with severe left-ventricular dysfunction: (i) medical therapy for all; (ii) ICD therapy for all; and (iii) selective ICD therapy based on non-negative (positive or indeterminate) MTWA test results. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) were calculated from the perspective of a third party payer using a 10-year time horizon. Sensitivity analyses examined the robustness of the estimates. Results: A treatment strategy involving ICD therapy in all patients was associated with an ICER of $121,800/quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) compared with medical therapy, whereas a treatment strategy involving the selective use of ICDs based on MTWA test results was associated with an ICER of $108,900/QALY compared with medical therapy. Sensitivity analyses suggest that, under most scenarios, the selective use of ICDs based on MTWA results does not decrease the ICER to below $100,000/QALY. Conclusion: MTWA only marginally improves the cost-effectiveness of ICDs for primary prevention in patients with severe left-ventricular dysfunction. There remains a need for improved means to effectively identify which patients will derive the greatest benefit from ICD implantation.
Uses of Innovative Modeling Tools within the Implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

In Europe, and around the world, the approach to management of the marine environment has developed from the management of single issues (e.g. species and/or pressures) towards holistic Ecosystem Based Management that includes aims to maintain biodiversity and protect ecosystem functioning. Within the European Union, this approach is implemented through the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD, 2008/56/EC). Integrated Ecosystem Assessment is required by the Directive in order to assess Good Environmental Status (GES). Ecological modeling has a key role to play within the implementation of the MSFD, as demonstrated here by case studies covering a range of spatial scales and a selection of anthropogenic threats. Modeling studies have a strong role to play in embedding data collected at limited points within a larger spatial and temporal scale, thus enabling assessments of pelagic and seabed habitat. Furthermore, integrative studies using food web and ecosystem models are able to investigate changes in food web functioning and biodiversity in response to changes in the environment and human pressures. Modeling should be used to: support the development and selection of specific indicators; set reference points to assess state and the achievement of GES; inform adaptive monitoring programs and trial management scenarios. The modus operandi proposed shows how ecological modeling could support the decision making process leading to appropriate management measures and inform new policy.
Coordination Strategy for Optimal Scheduling of Multiple Microgrids Based on Hierarchical System

Research on the operation of the multiple microgrid (MMG) has been increasing as the power system is operated through the microgrid. Some of the studies related to MMG have introduced various operation strategies by introducing concepts such as power sharing and power trading for power exchange between microgrids. In this paper, a strategy for obtaining optimal scheduling of MMG systems with power sharing through coordination among microgrids that have no cost function of generation units is proposed. There are microgrid-energy management systems (MG-EMSs) in the lower level that determine individual schedules for each microgrid in a hierarchical system. In the upper level, the microgrid of microgrids center (MoMC) implements the coordination among microgrids. In order to achieve the optimal operation of the entire system, MoMC calculates the amount of power sharing based on a predetermined limit value and allocates the command for coordination to each MG-EMS. MG-EMS changes the individual schedule based on the command. These processes are repeatedly performed, and when the change of the total cost becomes smaller than a specified size, the process is terminated and the schedule is determined. The advantages of the proposed algorithm are as follows. (1) It is a power sharing strategy of multiple microgrids considering multiple feeder structures as well as a single feeder structure for minimizing the operation cost of the entire system; (2) it is a power sharing strategy between microgrids that can be applied in a microgrid where only units that do not have a cost function exist; (3) since it is the optimization of the distributed form, the computation time decreases sharply compared with the one performed at the central center. The verification of the proposed algorithm was performed through MATLAB.