Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Untraceable Electronic Cash System Using Fair Blind Signatures

Since the blind signature scheme has the unlinkability property, it can be used for untraceable electronic cash systems. The unlinkability property protects the privacy of users; however, it may be abused by criminals, e.g., to launder money or to safely get a ransom. The techniques of fair blind signature are developed to withstand the misuse of unlinkability property. In this paper, we propose not only a user-efficient but also a signer-efficient fair blind signature scheme for untraceable electronic cash. Only with the help from a judge or government, the signer or the banker can derive the link between a signature and the instance of the signing protocol which produces the signature when the unlinkability property is abused. Comparing with existing fair blind signature schemes, our method greatly reduces the computational load of an on-line judge. Hence, the proposed method with an efficient judge can let the signer provide more efficient services to the signature requesters. It is also suitable for the limited computation capacities of users such as smart cards or mobile units. So, the proposed scheme is very useful for e-commerce transactions
FINANCIAL MARKETS AND DECISIONS I

Journal of Economic Perspectives, symposium on takeovers, 1988, vol. 2, winter pp. 3-82. *Milgrom, and Roberts, Ch. 15. Tirole Ch. 11. *Grossman, S. and O. Hart, (1980), "Takeover Bids, the Free Rider Problem and the Theory of the Corporation", Bell Journal of Economics, 11, 42-64. Jensen, M. (1986) Takeovers: Their Causes and Consequences,American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings (not the main journal) 76, 323-329. Vickers and Yarrow, Privatization, An Economic Analysis, MIT Press, pp 15-24. Shleifer, A. and R.W Vishny, Stock market Driven Acquisitions, Journal of Financial Economics, 70, 295-311. Berk and de Marzo, Ch. 28.
Prescribing Exercise Intensity for Older Women

OBJECTIVE: For the purpose of prescribing exercise intensity, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) provides guidelines for relating the perceived level of exertion and the heart rate (HR) response during exercise, expressed either as a percentage of maximal HR or of HR reserve, to a percentage of maximal aerobic power (VO2max). However, because maximal HR and V̇O2max decline with age, it is possible that these guidelines are not appropriate for an older population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate in 60‐to 72‐year‐old women the relationships among the common methods of prescribing exercise intensity.
Induction of osteoarthritis and metabolic inflammation by a very high-fat diet in mice: effects of short-term exercise.

OBJECTIVE To test the hypotheses that obesity due to a very high-fat diet induces knee osteoarthritis (OA), and that short-term wheel-running exercise protects against obesity-induced knee OA by reducing systemic inflammation and metabolic dysregulation. METHODS Male C57BL/6J mice were fed either a control diet (13.5% kcal from fat) or a very high-fat diet (60% kcal from fat) from age 12 weeks to age 24 weeks. From 20 to 24 weeks of age, half of the mice were housed with running wheels. The severity of knee OA was determined by assessing histopathologic features, and serum cytokines were measured using a multiplex bead immunoassay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Body composition was quantified by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and insulin resistance was assessed by glucose tolerance testing. RESULTS Feeding mice with a very high-fat diet increased knee OA scores and levels of serum leptin, adiponectin, KC (mouse analog of interleukin-8 [IL-8]), monokine induced by interferon-γ (CXCL9), and IL-1 receptor antagonist to an extent in proportion to the gain in body fat (3-fold increase in percent body fat compared to controls). Wheel-running exercise reduced progression of OA in the medial femur of obese mice. In addition, exercise disrupted the clustering of cytokine expression and improved glucose tolerance, without reducing body fat or cytokine levels. CONCLUSION Obesity induced by a very high-fat diet in mice causes OA and systemic inflammation in proportion to body fat. Increased joint loading is not sufficient to explain the increased incidence of knee OA with obesity, as wheel running is protective rather than damaging. Exercise improves glucose tolerance and disrupts the coexpression of proinflammatory cytokines, suggesting that increased aerobic exercise may act independently of weight loss in promoting joint health.
Thickness characterization by capacitance derivative in FDSOI p-i-n gated diodes

The SOI structural characterization is addressed in this paper by using split capacitance measurements on p-i-n gated diodes. The p+ and n+ contacts supply promptly electrons and holes in the body, preventing the diode from the parasitic transient effects that undermine the capacitance measurements in SOI MOSFETs. A novel method to determine the silicon film thickness, based on the capacitance derivative, is presented and validated by experiments and TCAD simulations.
Service quality at the cellar door: implications for Western Australia’s developing wine tourism industry

Wine tourism has emerged as a growing area of special interest tourism in Australia, and is an increasingly significant component of the regional and rural tourism product of Western Australia. The increased significance and growing competitiveness of this sector has led to a heightened concern by producers and consumers for the quality of services being offered, and has forced many within the industry to invest in the delivery of higher levels of service quality as a means to achieving competitive differentiation. An integral part of any organisation’s attempt to deliver on this front is a commitment to a process of continuous quality improvement. This requires a systematic approach to quality measurement. Investigates the conceptualisation and measurement of service quality and its importance to the wine tourism industry and reports the findings from a recently‐conducted survey of cellar door customers at four Western Australian wineries. Demonstrates the relative usefulness of the importance/performance methodology for cellar door operators in highlighting how wineries are performing from a customer point of view, and also what is important in terms of performance from the customers’ point of view.
Space charge characteristics of oil impregnated insulation paper under the power frequency voltage

Space charge characteristics of insulating materials under AC voltage and DC voltage are equally important. There is a huge amount of AC transformers in the power transmission system. However, there is no report about the space charge characteristics of the oil-paper insulation materials under the AC voltage. In this paper, firstly, the space charge characteristics of the oil immersed insulating paper under the positive/negative DC field were investigated using the pulsed electro-acoustic (PEA) method. Secondly, the space charge characteristics of the oil immersed insulating paper under power frequency voltage were studied using the improved PEA system. Results show that the electric field polarity has a decisive impact on the charge distribution. When the DC electrical field is positive polarity, the polarity of the charge accumulated at the paper-paper interface near the aluminum electrode is positive, while it is negative when the DC field strength is negative. The charge polarity of the charge accumulated at the aluminum electrode is negative in the positive half cycle under the power frequency voltage. It is positive in the negative half cycle of the power frequency voltage. The charge polarity of the charges accumulated at the internal interface of the oil-immersed insulation paper are opposite for 90° and 270° phase in the voltage applied process. The charges accumulated within the oil-immersed insulating paper under the power frequency voltage show a significant reduction compared with the results under DC voltage.
Internationalization of Small, Computer Software Firms: Entry Forms and Market Selection

Internationalization has often been described as a gradual development, in terms of involvement and entry forms, in which firms are expected to target gradually more distant markets. This study focuses on the entry forms and market selection of five small Norwegian computer software firms. The findings suggest that the firm's network relationships are determinant with regard to which foreign entry forms they choose and to some extent, which markets they decide to enter. Whereas terms such as agent, distributor, licensee, and foreign subsidiary might have clear distinguishing power when physical products are concerned, the picture is far more complex when it comes to software. The firms in the study generally refer to their international partners as agents or distributors or both. When examined more closely a complex pattern of business solutions are encompassed by these terms. It seems also evident that the firms in the study are not concerned with such a distinction but look for competency, solidity and the ability to generate sales when searching for international partners. There seems to be a limited correlation between the firms’ international experience and their foreign entry form and market selection. The firm may choose one entry form in one market and a different one in another similar market, depending very much upon the options available in terms of their network relationships. Some key challenges for the managers of a software company will be to balance the allocation of resources between expanding the network through the current relationships and to focus on establishing new relationships and customers. This study's results illustrate the increasingly complex relationship between firms across national borders.
Analysis of autophagic flux in response to sulforaphane in metastatic prostate cancer cells.

SCOPE The phytochemical sulforaphane (SF) has been shown to decrease prostate cancer metastases in a genetic mouse model of prostate carcinogenesis, though the mechanism of action is not fully known. SF has been reported to stimulate autophagy, and modulation of autophagy has been proposed to influence SF cytotoxicity; however, no conclusions about autophagy can be drawn without assessing autophagic flux, which has not been characterized in prostate cancer cells following SF treatment. METHODS AND RESULTS We conducted an investigation to assess the impact of SF on autophagic flux in two metastatic prostate cancer cell lines at a concentration shown to decrease metastasis in vivo. Autophagic flux was assessed by multiple autophagy related proteins and substrates. We found that SF can stimulate autophagic flux and cell death only at high concentrations, above what has been observed in vivo. CONCLUSION These results suggest that SF does not directly stimulate autophagy or cell death in metastatic prostate cancer cells under physiologically relevant conditions, but instead supports the involvement of in vivo factors as important effectors of SF-mediated prostate cancer suppression.
The protective effects of insulin-like growth factor-1 on neurochemical phenotypes of dorsal root ganglion neurons with BDE-209-induced neurotoxicity in vitro

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) exist extensively in the environment as contaminants, in which 2,2′,3,3′,4,4′,5,5′,6,6′-decabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-209) is the most abundant PBDE found in human samples. BDE-209 has been shown to cause neurotoxicity of primary sensory neurons with few effective therapeutic options available. Here, cultured dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons were used to determine the therapeutic effects of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) on BDE-209-induced neurotoxicity. The results showed that IGF-1 promoted neurite outgrowth and cell viability of DRG neurons with BDE-209-induced neurotoxicity. IGF-1 inhibited oxidative stress and apoptotic cell death caused by BDE-209 exposure. IGF-1 could reverse the decrease in growth-associated protein-43 (GAP-43) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), but not neurofilament-200 (NF-200), expression resulting from BDE-209 exposure. The effects of IGF-1 could be blocked by the extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK1/2) inhibitor PD98059 and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY294002, either alone or in combination. IGF-1 may play an important role in neuroprotective effects on DRG neurons with BDE-209-induced neurotoxicity through inhibiting oxidative stress and apoptosis and regulating GAP-43 and CGRP expression of DRG neurons. Both ERK1/2 and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways were involved in the effects of IGF-1. Thus, IGF-1 might be one of the therapeutic agents on BDE-209-induced neurotoxicity.
Synthesis and characterization of transferable graphene by CVD method

Synthesis of large-area graphene has been realized on the top of copper substrates by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at ambient pressure with the flow of a mixture of hydrogen and methane gases. The graphene layers were transferred to the oxidized silicon wafers employing a undercutting method. The intense G (1570 cm−1) and 2D (2700 cm−1) bands observed from Raman spectroscopy reveals the presence of graphene on top of oxidized silicon wafer. Reflectance spectroscopy was measured and compared with the theoretical calculation based on Fresnel's approach estimating the thickness of the graphene layer to be 0.32 Å. The optical spectra of graphene layers could be reproduced using the complex refractive index of graphene indicating that the optical properties of graphene is not significantly different from that of in-plane graphite. As part of the device fabrication, graphene layers were tested for oxygen sensitivity in hydrogen as a function of gas composition at different temperatures.
Identifying key factors affecting consumer purchase behavior in an online shopping context

While interactions in the real world shopping are mainly based on face‐to‐face activities between consumers and service personnels, interactions in electronic commerce take place mainly through the retailer’s Web site. This study investigated the relationship between various characteristics of online shopping and consumer purchase behavior. Results of the online survey with 602 Korean customers of online bookstores indicate that information quality, user interface quality, and security perceptions affect information satisfaction and relational benefit, that, in turn, are significantly related to each consumer’s site commitment and actual purchase behavior.
Intent‐to‐treat analysis in the presence of off‐treatment or missing data

Intent‐to‐treat (ITT) analysis is viewed as the analysis of a clinical trial that provides the least bias, but difficult issues can arise. Common analysis methods such as mixed‐effects and proportional hazards models are usually labeled as ITT analysis, but in practice they can often be inconsistent with a strict interpretation of the ITT principle. In trials where effective medications are available to patients withdrawing from treatment, ITT analysis can mask important therapeutic effects of the intervention studied in the trial. Analysis of on‐treatment data may be subject to bias, but can address efficacy objectives when combined with careful review of the pattern of withdrawals across treatments particularly for those patients withdrawing due to lack of efficacy and adverse events. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The influence of heart beat and respiration on functional connectivity networks

We investigate the influence of physiological measures like heart beat and respiration on functional connectivity networks from fMRI. Cardiac and respiratory effects were measured simultaneously during high rate MRI data acquisition and the functional connectivity networks were determined in a data driven manner using graph theory. One of our findings is that removing the physiological effects from the data leads to disappearance of a considerable part of the functional connectivity networks and to the appearance of small, but consistent networks. We found further that high signal variance loss due to physiological effect removal does not coincide with a high correlation loss, on the contrary, a considerable part of the networks appears preferably at locations with high variance loss.
Mast cells in asthma – state of the art

Mast cells (MCs) play a central role in tissue homoeostasis, sensing the local environment through numerous innate cell surface receptors. This enables them to respond rapidly to perceived tissue insults with a view to initiating a co‐ordinated programme of inflammation and repair. However, when the tissue insult is chronic, the ongoing release of multiple pro‐inflammatory mediators, proteases, cytokines and chemokines leads to tissue damage and remodelling. In asthma, there is strong evidence of ongoing MC activation, and their mediators and cell–cell signals are capable of regulating many facets of asthma pathophysiology. This article reviews the evidence behind this.
Life cycle assessment of energy saving techniques for wastewater treatment processes

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a comprehensive and effective tool in environmental management, based on the quantitative analysis of the environmental impacts for products or processes. This paper applied the LCA method to analyze the impacts of a case wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Beijing of China, and the control of impacts by adaption of energy-consumption saving techniques. Suggestions to optimize the process and minimize the environmental impacts were proposed according to the LCA results. The midpoint impact assessment and damage assessment by IMPACT 2002+ methods implied that the WWTP had impacts on ecosystem quality, followed by human health, climate change and resources. After the application of energy saving techniques, the impacts of non-renewable energy and global warming categories are effectively reduced.
Heritage Tourism Website Evaluation Framework

Nowadays, information technology has strong effect on tourism industry hence; heritage tourism which is one of the developing areas is not apart of it. Website evaluation study is one of the interesting areas among all researches have been done on internet usage in tourism industry. Considering the popularity of heritage attractions among tourists, developing a criteria for heritage tourism websites is vital. Due to in-depth interviews and review of related literature, this study tries to propose a website evaluation framework for heritage tourism websites. The four criteria concluded are, Information content, marketing and value added activities, Information design and relationships.
Cloning and characterization of six zebrafish photoreceptor opsin cDNAs and immunolocalization of their corresponding proteins

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) represents an excellent genetic model for vertebrate visual system studies. Because the opsin proteins are ideal markers of specific photoreceptor cell types, we cloned six different zebrafish opsin cDNAs. Based on pairwise alignments and phylogenetic comparisons between the predicted zebrafish opsin amino acid sequences and other vertebrate opsins, the cDNAs encode rhodopsin, two different green opsins (zfgr1 and zfgr2), a red, a blue, and an ultraviolet opsin. Phylogenetic analysis indicates the zfgr1 protein occupies a well-resolved dendrogram branch separate from the other green opsins examined, while zebrafish ultraviolet opsin is closely related to the human blue- and chicken violet-sensitive proteins. Polyclonal antisera were generated against individual bacterial fusion proteins containing either the red, blue, or ultraviolet amino termini or the rod or green opsin carboxyl termini. Immunolocalization on adult zebrafish frozen sections demonstrates the green and red opsins are each expressed in different members of the double cone cell pair, the blue opsin is detected in long single cones, and the ultraviolet opsin protein is expressed in the short single cones. In 120-h postfertilization wholemounts, green, red, blue, and ultraviolet opsin-positive cells are detected in an orderly arrangement throughout the entire retina. The antibodies' photoreceptor-type specificity indicates they will be useful for characterizing both wild-type and mutant zebrafish retinas.
DNA Recognition by the Methyl-CpG Binding Domain of MeCP2*

The methyl-CpG binding domain (MBD) of the transcriptional repressor MeCP2 has been proposed to recognize a single symmetrically methylated CpG base pair via hydrophobic patches on an otherwise positively charged DNA binding surface. We have tested this binding model by analysis of mutant derivatives of the MeCP2 MBD in electrophoretic mobility shift assays complemented by NMR structural analysis. Exposed arginine side chains on the binding face, in particular Arg-111, were found to be critical for binding. Arg-111 was found to interact with the conserved aspartate side chain Asp-121, which is proposed to orientate the arginine side chain to allow specific contacts with the DNA. The conformational flexibility of the disordered B-C loop region, which forms part of the binding face, was also shown to be important. In contrast, mutation of the exposed hydrophobic side chains had a less severe effect on DNA binding. This suggests that the Arg-111 side chain may contribute to sequence-specific recognition of the CpG site rather than simply making nonspecific contacts with the phosphate backbone. The majority of missense mutations within the MBD found in the human genetic disorder Rett syndrome were shown or predicted to affect folding of the domain rather than the DNA recognition event directly.
Low cortisol and a flattening of expected daytime rhythm: Potential indices of risk in human development

Since the work of Hans Selye, stress has been associated with increased activity of the limbic–hypothalamic– pituitary–adrenocortical (LHPA) axis. Recently, a number of studies in adults have shown that this neuroendocrine axis may be hyporesponsive in a number of stress-related states. Termed hypocortisolism, the paradoxical suppression of the LHPA axis under conditions of trauma and prolonged stress presently challenges basic concepts in stress research. Adverse conditions that produce elevated cortisol levels early in life are hypothesized to contribute to the development of hypocortisolism in adulthood. However, as reviewed in this paper, hypocortisolism also may be a common phenomenon early in human childhood. Although preliminary at this point, the ubiquity of these findings is striking. We argue that developmental studies are needed that help explicate the origins of low cortisol and to determine whether the development of hypocortisolism is, in fact, preceded by periods of frequent or chronic activation of the LHPA axis. We also argue that developmental researchers who incorporate measures of salivary cortisol into their studies of at-risk populations need to be aware of the hypocortisolism phenomenon. Lower than expected cortisol values should not necessarily be relegated to the file drawer because they contradict the central dogma that stress must be associated with elevations in cortisol. Lastly, we note that evidence of low cortisol under adverse early life conditions in humans adds to the importance of understanding the implications of hypocortisolism for health and development.