Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification and analysis of enterprise risks associated with the value environment of the Cargill cocoa business

This article seeks to identify and analyze the enterprise risks associated with the value environment of Cargill’s cocoa business. It is a qualitative study using the case study method. To obtain a systemic perspective of the phenomenon, the data was collected by interviewing executives from different areas of the company, submitting their narrative to content analysis. Thus, from the perspective of enterprise risk management, it was identified that the main internal risks arise from cocoa processing, due to the high degree of complexity of the operations, and high added value of the products involved in the system. As for the external risks, the emphasis is on the relations with suppliers, as a result of the dependence of middlemen on the process of buying the raw material. It was also observed that political, legal and social aspects appear as points of attention and important sources of risk in this value system. These results contribute, therefore, to the advancement of the enterprise risk literature in business environments associated with the agribusiness context, while presenting the applicability of scientific models for the identification and classification of these risks. Future studies of a longitudinal nature and contemplating the risks of the chocolate value chain in its completeness are recommended.
Transcription-coupled and DNA damage-dependent ubiquitination of RNA polymerase II in vitro

Transcription-coupled repair (TCR) is essential for the rapid, preferential removal of DNA damage in active genes. The large subunit of RNA polymerase (Pol) II is ubiquitinated in cells after UV-irradiation or cisplatin treatment, which induces DNA damage preferentially repaired by TCR. Several human mutations, such as Cockayne syndrome complementation groups A and B, are defective in TCR and incapable of Pol II ubiquitination upon DNA damage. Here we demonstrate a correlation between ubiquitination of RNA Pol II and arrest of transcription in vitro. Ubiquitination of Pol II is significantly induced by α-amanitin, an amatoxin that blocks Pol II elongation and causes its degradation in cells. Pol II undergoes similar ubiquitination on DNA containing cisplatin adducts that arrest transcription. Stimulation of ubiquitination requires the addition of template DNA and does not occur in the presence of an antibody to the general transcription factor TFIIB, indicating the transcription dependence of the reaction. We propose that components of the reaction recognize elongating Pol II–DNA complexes arrested by α-amanitin or cisplatin lesions, triggering ubiquitination.
Population genetics of human and animal enteric Campylobacter strains

A total of 125 strains of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli from human and animal hosts were analyzed by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis. Ten genetic loci were characterized by the electrophoretic mobilities of their products, and all were found to be polymorphic. The nine loci considered for genetic analysis had an average allele number of 6.9 and a mean genetic diversity of 0.634. The strains were grouped into 64 electrophoretic types (ETs) forming two principal clusters; the first cluster consisted of 50 ETs represented by 104 isolates of C.jejuni, and the second included 14 ETs represented by 21 isolates of C. coli. The genetic distance between the two species was 0.939. The data support the conclusions that (i) campylobacteriosis caused by C. jejuni and C. coli is a zoonosis, (ii) human and animal strains do not constitute subpopulations, and (iii) every animal strain may be considered a potential human pathogen. The frequency of intraspecies gene transfer seems to be moderately high whereas interspecies gene transfer is very rare at best, which suggests the existence of a biological barrier between C. jejuni and C. coli.
Acquiring Predicate Paraphrases from News Tweets

We present a simple method for ever-growing extraction of predicate paraphrases from news headlines in Twitter. Analysis of the output of ten weeks of collection shows that the accuracy of paraphrases with different support levels is estimated between 60-86%. We also demonstrate that our resource is to a large extent complementary to existing resources, providing many novel paraphrases. Our resource is publicly available, continuously expanding based on daily news.
Patients with Nonaffective Psychosis Are at Increased Risk for Heroin Use Disorders

Background/Aim: It is well-established knowledge that persons with nonaffective psychotic disorders often have problematic use of alcohol, cannabis and stimulants, but heroin use is usually not included. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence of heroin use disorders in patients with nonaffective psychosis. Methods: As the combination of heroin use and nonaffective psychosis is infrequent, epidemiological studies have to include large populations. The present study is acase count study using information from all psychiatric and social services in Oslo. Prevalence was calculated for four possible scenarios of minimum and maximum case counts and prevalences of nonaffective psychosis. Odds ratios were calculated for the resulting prevalences compared to the minimum and maximum prevalence of heroin use disorder in the general population. Results: We found between 39 and 56 subjects with nonaffective psychoses and comorbid heroin use disorder. The number of individuals with nonaffective psychosis was estimated to be between 692 and 1,730. This corresponds to a prevalence of heroin use disorder of between 2.3 and 8.1%. The odds ratio compared to the general population will range from 1.83 with a prevalence of heroin use disorder in the general population of 1.2% to 9.43 with a prevalence of 0.9%. Conclusion: Individuals with nonaffective psychosis are at increased risk of heroin use.
Burden of Disease Attributable to Smoking in Korea

Smoking is one of the major health threats and is highly prevalent in Korea. This study quantifies the burden of disease (BOD) resulting from smoking by using the most reliable national statistics of Korea. We followed Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2013 methodology for estimating BOD attributable to smoking. Population attributable fraction was calculated for all diseases and multiplied by disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) to obtain BOD by each disease. Total burden of smoking in Korea was 1 368 072 DALYs (38 per 1000); 68% of the disease burden was in males and 32% in females. The highest percentage of burden was a result of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in both genders. BOD was highest in the 70- to 74-year-old age group. Smoking burden is substantial in Korea, especially among the elderly population. Tailored health plans for each gender and age should be formulated, and smoking-related burden should be continuously monitored to evaluate the extent of hazard and create priority settings.
Design and analysis of an efficient energy harvester using reactance compensation technique for GSM-900

In this paper, impact of diode's nonlinearity on the harvesting circuit performance is studied using LSSP simulation. Based on this study, two reactance compensation techniques are developed for a single band harvesting circuit. These techniques compensate the capacitive reactance of the circuit and thus sustain its resonance for a specific power range (−20dBm to 10dBm). Both circuits have been fabricated and tested. The measured results are compared with simulated results to validate our proposed techniques. A good agreement is obtained. The measured output voltage of the proposed harvesting circuit is found to be 1.5V for an input of −5dBm.
Growth of Bacteria in Inorganic Medium at Different Levels of Airborne Organic Substances

Invasion rates of airborne organic substances into sterile mineral medium were compared by using flasks closed with cotton stoppers, silicone stoppers, and screw caps with Teflon gaskets. The resulting increases of dissolved organic carbon were 0.5, 0.2, and 0 mg/liter per week, respectively. The compounds supported the growth of lake water bacteria and a strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens. Growth rates were correlated to the permeability of the stoppers used. The measured input of organic carbon in the sterile mineral medium is considered to be a minimum value for the actual contribution of organic compounds by the air. Multiplication rates of the bacteria suggest that the organisms prevent the escape of volatile organic substances from the medium by rapid utilization. The steady nutrient supply through the air should be considered in growth experiments with bacteria at low concentrations of nutrients.
Neural Correlates of Activities of Daily Living in Frontotemporal Dementia

Background: Little research to date has investigated neural correlates of functional disability in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Methods: Activities of daily living (ADL) were covaried against gray matter atrophy regions via Voxel-based morphometry in FTD (n = 52) and contrasted against a dementia control Alzheimer disease (AD) group (n = 20) and healthy age-matched controls (n = 18). Results: Both patient groups had similar ADL scores. However, FTD and AD differed on the gray matter atrophy areas associated with ADL scores. The FTD showed involvement of prefrontal and thalamus regions while AD showed widespread temporal, parietal, frontal, and caudate atrophy correlating with ADL dysfunction. Importantly, only the left superior frontal gyrus was implicated in ADL dysfunction for both FTD and AD. Conclusions: Differences in underlying neural correlates of ADL impairment have important clinical implications as these differences should be taken into account when interventions are planned. Dementia subtypes might require specifically tailored interventions for functional disability.
Gender comparisons of diagnostic evaluation for ischemic stroke patients

Background: Sixty-two percent of all stroke deaths in the United States occur in women. We compared diagnostic evaluations by gender in ischemic stroke patients in a biethnic, population-based study. Methods: A random sample of patients with ischemic stroke identified between 2000 and 2002 by BASIC (Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi Project) were selected for this study (n = 381). Gender differences in the use of stroke diagnostic tests were assessed. Separate multivariable logistic regression models predicting diagnostic test use were constructed, adjusted for age, ethnicity, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, history of stroke, coronary artery disease, having a primary care provider, discharge disposition, modified Rankin Scale score at discharge, and insurance status. Results: The study population consisted of 161 men and 220 women. Median age was 74.3 years. The respective proportions of males and females receiving any carotid artery evaluation were 71% and 62%; brain MRI, 43% and 41%; echocardiography, 57% and 48%; and EKG, 90% and 86%. Multivariable logistic models found that women were less likely to undergo echocardiography (odds ratio [OR] 0.64, CI: 0.42 to 0.98) and carotid evaluation (OR 0.57, CI: 0.36 to 0.91). There was no association of ischemic stroke subtype and gender to explain these results (p = 0.76). Conclusions: Despite controlling for explanatory variables, women with stroke were less likely to receive standard diagnostic tests vs men. Intervention is needed to increase access to quality stroke care for women.
Variations in tumor cell growth rates and metabolism with oxygen concentration, glucose concentration, and extracellular pH

Tumors and multicellular tumor spheroids can develop gradients in oxygen concentration, glucose concentration, and extracellular pH as they grow. In order to calculate these gradients and assess their impact on tumor growth, it is necessary to quantify the effect of these variables on tumor cell metabolism and growth. In this work, the oxygen consumption rates, glucose consumption rates, and growth rates of EMT6/Ro mouse mammary tumor cells were measured at a variety of oxygen concentrations, glucose concentrations, and extracellular pH levels. At an extracellular pH of 7.25, the oxygen consumption rate of EMT6/Ro cells increased by nearly a factor of 2 as the glucose concentration was decreased from 5.5 mM to 0.4 mM. This effect of glucose concentration on oxygen consumption rate, however, was slight at an extracellular pH of 6.95 and disappeared completely at an extracellular pH of 6.60. The glucose consumption rate of EMT6/Ro cells increased by roughly 40% when the oxygen concentration was reduced from 0.21 mM to 0.023 mM and decreased by roughly 60% when the extracellular pH was decreased from 7.25 to 6.95. The growth rate of EMT6/Ro cells decreased with decreasing oxygen concentration and extracellular pH; however, severe conditions were required to stop cell growth (0.0082 mM oxygen and an extracellular pH of 6.60). Empirical correlations were developed from these data to express EMT6/Ro cell growth rates, oxygen consumption rates, and glucose consumption rates, as functions of oxygen concentration, glucose concentration, and extracellular pH. These empirical correlations make it possible to mathematically model the gradients in oxygen concentration, glucose concentration, and extracellular pH in EMT6/Ro multicellular spheroids by solution of the diffusion/reaction equations. Computations such as these, along with oxygen and pH microelectrode measurements in EMT6/Ro multicellular spheroids, indicated that nutrient concentration and pH levels in the inner regions of spheroids were low enough to cause significant changes in nutrient consumption rates and cell growth rates. However, pH and oxygen concentrations measured or calculated in EMT6/Ro spheroids where quiescent cells have been observed were not low enough to cause the cessation of cell growth, indicating that the observed quiescence must have been due to factors other than acidic pH, oxygen depletion, or glucose depletion. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Tolerance to hydric stress on cultivars of silicon-fertilized corn crops: absorption and water-use efficiency

: Silicon (Si) plays specific functions in agriculture. Si is a beneficial element, as it accumulates at high amounts in plant tissue. Si accumulation in cell walls reduces water loss by transpiration and may be an adaptation factor to water stress. This study evaluated the efficiency of different corn crops using calcium silicate as a reducer of hydric stress. The experiment was organized in a factorial scheme, completely randomized, with two doses of calcium silicate (0 and 100 % according to soil liming) with two irrigation depths: (30 and 100 % of necessary water reposition in the soil) and two corn cultivars: (cv. BRS-1010) considered sensitive to hydric stress and (cv. DKB-390) tolerant to hydric stress. The study comprised four repetitions. We studied dry matter production on leaves and stem, weight of 1000 seeds and crop yield. We measured efficiency of gas exchange and water use to compare the different treatments. The results for stem and leaves dry matter were better in both cultivars when using calcium silicate, regardless of irrigation depth. Both corn cultivars cv. BRS-1010, sensitive to hydric stress, and cv. DKB-390, tolerant to hydric stress, had greater yield in the presence of calcium silicate, when at the smallest irrigation dose was applied. The treatment with calcium silicate was the most efficient in water use, using 30% of irrigation depth. Cv. DKB 390 was the most productive, with greater tolerance to water stress.
Étude typo-technologique de l’industrie lithique du site de la Garenne (Saint-Hippolyte, Charente-Maritime) du Néolithique récent

Cette etude typo-technologique cherche a caracteriser une industrie lithique du Centre-Ouest de la France. Le mobilier archeologique etudie provient de fouilles anciennes, 1930 et 1960. Ce travail fourni une nouvelle etude de ce materiel.
Investigation of light absorption properties and acceptance angles of nanopatterned GZO/a-Si/p + -Si photodiodes

In this work, n-GZO/a:amorphous-Si(i:intrinsic)/p + -Si photodiodes are fabricated. We employed a nanosphere lithographic technique to obtain nanoscale patterns on either the a-Si(i) or p + -Si surface. As compared with the planar n-GZO/p + -Si diode, the devices with nanopatterned a-Si(i) and nanopatterned p + -Si substrates show a 32% and 36.2% enhancement of photoresponsivity. Furthermore, the acceptance angle measurement reveals that the nanostructured photodiodes have larger acceptance angles than the planar structure. It also shows that the device with the nanocone structure has a higher acceptance angle than that with the nanorod structure.
Use of antisperm antibodies in differential display Western blotting to identify sperm proteins important in fertility.

BACKGROUND Antisperm antibodies (ASA) may be an important cause of infertility but current tests for the detection of ASA have poor prognostic value. The inadequacy of current tests may reflect the inability of these tests to define the antigenic specificity of the sperm proteins with which the ASA react. Identification of the sperm proteins that ASA bind to is a necessary preliminary step to the development of more useful diagnostic tests for ASA. METHODS A sensitive Western blotting technique was used to compare the antigenic specificities of ASA from men who were infertile (n = 6) with those who were fertile following vasectomy reversal (n = 3). Normal fertile men (n = 3) and infertile men with known ASA (n = 4) were also included in the analysis. RESULTS All men, including the normal fertile controls, had ASA detectable in our system. Several sperm proteins were identified that react with ASA from infertile but not fertile men. Quantitative differences in the binding of ASA to some proteins were also demonstrated. Additionally, we demonstrated that normal motile sperm are coated with an antibody that appears to be bound to sperm by a non-antigenic mechanism. CONCLUSION Sera from all men contained ASA, but clearly some of these did not cause infertility. Characterization of the proteins that are antigens for ASA from infertile but not fertile men may allow the development of more accurate tests for infertility-inducing ASA. The significance of immunoglobulin G coated on normal sperm remains to be determined.
An efficient optimal clock network buffer sizing with slew consideration

One of the challenging stages in Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) design is clock network synthesis that plays an important role in the circuit performance. Digital Integrated Circuits (IC) include synchronous components and timing criteria are the most important performance constraints in the VLSI designs. This paper describes an efficient optimal method to solve the clock network buffer sizing non-convex optimization problem. We use a geometric programming format with two competing objectives, power consumption and clock network skew considering slew and technology constraints to find the global optimal solution. The proposed formulation is applied on the latest clock network benchmarks from the 2009 and 2010 ISPD clock network contests and results show up to 86% reduction in power consumption and up to 183 ps skew reduction. We also show our proposed formulation can be solved efficiently in a relatively short runtime compared to other existing algorithms in the literature.
Tyrosine Phosphorylation of the NMDA Receptor Following Cerebral Ischaemia

survival, such as members of the heat shock family of proteins. The first study to examine the effect of transient global ischaemia upon GluN2 subunits found that mRNA of both the GluN2A and GluN2B subunit declined in a progressive manner over 24 h of reperfusion, and that the transcriptional change was reflected in a pronounced loss of the proteins over the same time
Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Cerebral Hemorrhagic Stroke

Despite a traditional perception of reliance on computed tomography and lack of acceptance of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for detecting acute hemorrhage, MRI appears to be used increasingly in hemorrhagic stroke. This review addresses the MRI findings of acute hemorrhagic stroke obtained using relatively new imaging techniques. These new techniques have resulted in more acute stroke patients undergoing MRI examination. New information about the frequency and appearance of hemorrhage is emerging: for example, approximately 15–26% of cases of acute cerebral infarctions appear to be complicated by intracerebral hemorrhage. The MRI appearances of hemorrhagic transformation of ischemic infarction, as well as acute hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage, are discussed based on clinical, biochemical, and technical aspects.
Biotransformation of benzaldehyde by Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Characterization of the fermentation and toxicity effects of substrates and products

Although higher initial rates of phenylacetyl carbinol formation were observed in fermentations containing a high starting benzaldehyde level, a massive reduction in yeast viability was observed resulting in early cessation of production formation. Pulse feeding to maintain lower benzaldehyde concentrations resulted in a lower initial reaction rate, but prolonged yeast viability and the biotransformation. This resulted in higher overall product tilers. As benzaldehyde concentration was increased, yeast growth rate was reduced (0.5 g/L), inhibited (1–2 g/L), or cell viability reduced (3 g/L). Benzaldehyde appeared to alter the cell permeability barrier to substrates and products. Reductions in yeast biomass levels and especially protein and lipid content were observed during the biotransformation. The effects of benzaldehyde and reaction products on yeast pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase stability were determined. Homogenized yeast cells produced similar phenylacetyl carbinol levels to whole yeast only if supplemented with thiamine pyrophosphate and magnesium.
Synchronous wavelength reusing/sharing protocols for nonregenerative WDM dual buses

The dual-bus optical network with nonregenerative stations has become popular. In general, the nonregenerative station implementation is better than the regenerative station implementation in media access control delay, cost, and susceptibility of station failures, etc. In this paper, two novel cycle-based protocols, named as synchronous wavelength sharing protocol (SWSP) and synchronous wavelength reusing/sharing protocol (SWRP), are proposed for nonregenerative wavelength-division-multiplexing dual-bus networks. The simulation results show that the network throughput and delay of SWRP are better than those of SWSP, when the numbers of wavelengths and tunable receivers are both limited, and/or the network traffic load is heavy.
Heartbeat classification for detecting arrhythmia using normalized beat morphology features

We propose a method of arrhythmia detection based on beat morphology, which offers a new set of features for heartbeat classification. This can be performed by nearest-neighbor search, which we applied to heartbeats from the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. Our classifier achieved an overall accuracy of 98.18% on 103,923 heartbeats.
Novel Modulation Techniques and Circuits for Transceivers in Body Sensor Networks

Novel energy-efficient modulation technique and circuits for transceivers operating in body sensor networks (BSNs) are described and investigated. They are obtained as a result of the development of differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK) and named alternating quadratures DBPSK (AQ-DBPSK). While keeping the noise immunity and simplicity of synchronization and realization of DBPSK, AQ-DBPSK increases the efficiency of the transmitter power utilization by dB and radically improves tolerance to frequency offsets between the receivers and corresponding transmitters. The approach used in the development of AQ-DBPSK can also be used for developing novel spreading and despreading techniques and circuits.