Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structure and retrieval mechanism of a minutes retrieval system

This paper describes structure of a minutes retrieval system, and analysis of person-topic relation using latent semantic indexing. This minutes retrieval system is developed for retrieving parts of minutes, and retrieving persons related to certain topics, which is named MRS (Minutes Retrieval System). This system treats the minutes of IOC (International Olympic Committees). The system handles minutes of 1980's, which describe with respect to Olympic game and related topics. The purposes for developing the system are to provide a flexible minutes retrieval system, to represent minutes in XML, and to obtain the relationships between individual committee members and their interests. To meet these purposes, at first, minutes are represented in XML. Some tags are defined according to the structure or rules of the original minutes. Moreover, in order to access and analyze the minutes, to make clear named entities is required. To understand the minutes precisely it is necessary to handle named entities suitably, because accurate understanding of named entities is required, and the same named entity appears in terms of different representations. Finally, it is meaningful to clarify who are interested in certain topics. To achieve this, speakers and their speech contents are analyzed. Co-occurrence relationships between speakers and contents are analyzed using latent semantic indexing. Their relationships are depicted in a space constructed by this indexing. Certain experiments were done in which topics were given as queries and persons related to these topics were retrieved.
CRISIS FINANCIERA MUNDIAL: IMPACTO EN LA ECONOMÍA MEXICANA

A finales del ano 2008, la economia mexicana empieza a sentir los efectos de la crisis en la economia norteamericana, que se expandio a la mayoria de paises y que ante la falta de regulacion, se extiende rapidamente. Esta falta de regulacion ha iniciado en la actualidad un interesante debate sobre el tema. El ciclo recesivo de Estados Unidos es transmitido de manera mas o menos inmediata a la economia mexicana, a traves de tres vias: exportaciones, remesas familiares, e inversion extranjera directa
Regulation of Aromatic l‐Amino Acid Decarboxylase by Dopamine Receptors in the Rat Brain

Abstract: Decarboxylation of phenylalanine by aromatic l‐amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) is the rate‐limiting step in the synthesis of 2‐phenylethylamine (PE), a putative modulator of dopamine transmission. Because neuroleptics increase the rate of accumulation of striatal PE, these studies were performed to determine whether this effect may be mediated by a change in AADC activity. Administration of the D1 antagonist SCH 23390 at doses of 0.01–1 mg/kg significantly increased rat striatal AADC activity in an in vitro assay (by 16–33%). Pimozide, a D2‐receptor antagonist, when given at doses of 0.01–3 mg/kg, also increased AADC activity in the rat striatum (by 25–41%). In addition, pimozide at doses of 0.3 and 1 mg/kg increased AADC activity in the nucleus accumbens (by 33% and 45%) and at doses of 0.1, 0.3, and 1 mg/kg increased AADC activity in the olfactory tubercles (by 23%, 30%, and 28%, respectively). Analysis of the enzyme kinetics indicated that the Vmax increased with little change in the Km with l‐3,4‐dihydroxyphenylalanine as substrate. The AADC activity in the striatum showed a time‐dependent response after the administration of SCH 23390 and pimozide: the activity was increased within 30 min and the increases lasted 2–4 h. Inhibition of protein synthesis by cycloheximide (10 mg/kg, 0.5 h) had no effect on the striatal AADC activity or on the increases in striatal AADC activity produced by pimozide or SCH 23390. The results indicate that the increases in AADC activity induced by dopamine‐receptor blockers are not due to de novo synthesis of the enzyme. These results show that AADC activity in the striatum is regulated by D1 and D2 receptors and that the activities in the nucleus accumbens and olfactory tubercles are regulated by D2 receptors. The observation that dopamine‐receptor antagonists stimulate the synthesis of PE may be explained by the increase in AADC activity.
TQM and organizational management practices: Are they really complementary?

The objective of this research is to explore if TQM firms execute various organizational management practices significantly different from non-TQM firms in the ASEAN automotive supply chain. Datasets were collected from ASEAN automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and their Tier 1 and 2 suppliers. Then, datasets were tested by using statistical analysis. The results show that seven TQM practices including leadership, strategy and planning, customer focus, information and analysis, people management, process management, and supplier involvement are significantly higher in TQM firms than Non-TQM firms. ASEAN OEM suppliers in the automotive industry can use the results of this study to select and deploy suitable TQM practices to enhance their competitiveness in the first instance in the automotive sector and then to other value-adding sectors. This study also indicates that automotive industry and others need to consider TQM practices, as an organizational innovation or organizational development intervention, along the entire supply chain.
Arithmetical Chaos in Superstring Cosmology

One crucial problem in string theory is the problem of vacuum selection. It is reasonable to believe that this problem can be solved only in the context of cosmology, by studying the time evolution of generic, inhomogeneous (non-SUSY) string vacua. In this vein, it has been recently found [1,2] that the general solution near a spacelike singularity (t → 0) of the massless bosonic sector of all superstring models (D = 10 IIA, IIB, I, HE, HO), as well as that of M -theory (D = 11 SUGRA), exhibits a never ending oscillatory behaviour of the Belinskii-Khalatnikov-Lifshitz (BKL) type [3]. In this letter, we analyze in more detail the asymptotic dynamics (as t → 0) of this oscillatory behaviour. We find that the evolution of the scale factors and the dilaton at each spatial point can be be viewed as a billiard motion in some simplices in hyperbolic space H, which have remarkable connections with hyperbolic Kac-Moody algebras of rank 10. The central idea of the BKL approach is that the various points in space approximately decouple as one approaches a spacelike singularity (t → 0). More precisely, the partial differential equations that control the time evolution of the fields can be replaced by ordinary differential equations with respect to time, with coefficients that are (relatively) slowly varying in space and time. The details of how this is done are explained in [3] for pure gravity, and in [1,2] for the graviton-dilaton-p-form systems relevant to superstring/M -theory. We shall focus in this letter on the dynamical behaviour of the metric and the string dilaton and recall first the relevant equations from [1,2]. To leading order, the metric (in either the Einstein frame or the string frame) reads gμν dx dx = −N2(dx0)2 + ∑d i=1 a 2 i (ω ), where d ≡ D−1 denotes the spatial dimension, and where ω(x) = ej(x) dx j is a d-bein whose time-dependence is neglected compared to that of the local scale factors ai. It is convenient to work with the 10 field variables β, μ = 1, . , 10, with, in the superstring (Einsteinframe) case, β ≡ − ln ai (i = 1, . . . , 9), and β ≡ −φ where φ is the Einstein-frame dilaton. [In M -theory there is no dilaton but μ ≡ i = 1, . , 10. In the string frame, we define β S ≡ − ln( √ gSe −2Φ) and label μ = 0, . , 9. ] We consider the evolution near a past (big-bang) or future (big-crunch) spacelike singularity located at t = 0, where t is the proper time from the singularity. In the gauge N = −√g (where g is the determinant of the Einstein-frame spatial metric), i.e. in terms of the new time variable dτ = −dt/√g, the action (per unit comoving volume) describing the asymptotic dynamics of β as t → 0 or τ → +∞ has the form
Factor H-Binding Protein Is Important for Meningococcal Survival in Human Whole Blood and Serum and in the Presence of the Antimicrobial Peptide LL-37

ABSTRACT Factor H-binding protein (fHBP; GNA1870) is one of the antigens of the recombinant vaccine against serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis, which has been developed using reverse vaccinology and is the basis of a meningococcal B vaccine entering phase III clinical trials. Binding of factor H (fH), an inhibitor of the complement alternative pathway, to fHBP enables N. meningitidis to evade killing by the innate immune system. All fHBP null mutant strains analyzed were sensitive to killing in ex vivo human whole blood and serum models of meningococcal bacteremia with respect to the isogenic wild-type strains. The fHBP mutant strains of MC58 and BZ83 (high fHBP expressors) survived in human blood and serum for less than 60 min (decrease of >2 log10 CFU), while NZ98/254 (intermediate fHBP expressor) and 67/00 (low fHBP expressor) showed decreases of >1 log10 CFU after 60 to 120 min of incubation. In addition, fHBP is important for survival in the presence of the antimicrobial peptide LL-37 (decrease of >3 log10 CFU after 2 h of incubation), most likely due to electrostatic interactions between fHBP and the cationic LL-37 molecule. Hence, the expression of fHBP by N. meningitidis strains is important for survival in human blood and human serum and in the presence of LL-37, even at low levels. The functional significance of fHBP in mediating resistance to the human immune response, in addition to its widespread distribution and its ability to induce bactericidal antibodies, indicates that it is an important component of the serogroup B meningococcal vaccine.
Análisis de los factores que predicen la remisión de la diabetes mellitus tipo 2 en pacientes obesos mórbidos tras bypass gástrico en Y - de - Roux

RESUMEN: Introduccion: La cirugia metabolica ha sido propuesta para el tratamiento de la diabetes mellitus tipo 2 (DM2) mal controlada en pacientes obesos morbidos. Nuestro objetivo es evaluar las tasas de remision de DM2 despues del bypass gastrico en Y-de-Roux (BPGYR) a corto y largo plazo y disenar un metodo que permita predecir la probabilidad de remision de la DM2. Paciente y metodos: Es un estudio retrospectivo. Un total de 109 pacientes con DM2 fueron intervenidos de BPGYR entre Enero de 2004 y Diciembre de 2013. Evaluamos los factores predictores a los 12 meses (n= 109) y a los 5 anos (n= 56) de la cirugia. Realizamos un analisis de regresion logisitca para identificar las variables con un valor predictivo independiente en la remision de la DM2 tras BPGYR. Resultados: 85 (78%) pacientes obtuvieron una remision completa al ano de la cirugia y 35 (62,5%) a los 5 anos. El analisis multivariante confirma que los bajos niveles de glucemia plasmatica basal (GPB), la menor duracion de la DM2 y la menor gravedad de la DM2 son los factores predictores preoperatorios independientes que tienen un efecto significativo en la remision de la DM2. Desarrollamos un algoritmo con estas variables y obtenemos un score que va de 6-18 puntos y esta dividido en 3 grupos que se corresponden con la probabilidad de remision de DM2: ? 10 puntos (97%); 11-14 puntos (43,7%); ? 15 puntos (0%). Conclusion: El BPGYR es una opcion terapeutica de la DM2. Los niveles de GPB, la duracion de la DM2 y la gravedad son los mejores predictores de remision de DM2 despues del BPGYR. El score permite predecir la probabilidad (de 0% a 97%) de remision de DM2 despues del BPGYR.
Pharmacokinetics of Unbound Linezolid in Plasma and Tissue Interstitium of Critically Ill Patients after Multiple Dosing Using Microdialysis

ABSTRACT The antimicrobial agent linezolid is approved for the treatment of severe infections caused by, e.g., methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus strains. In order to evaluate the penetration of linezolid into the interstitial space fluid (ISF) of subcutaneous adipose tissue and skeletal muscle of the target population, a microdialysis study was performed with 12 patients with sepsis or septic shock after multiple intravenous infusions. Unbound linezolid concentrations were determined for plasma and microdialysates by use of a validated high-performance liquid chromatography method. Individual compartmental pharmacokinetic (PK) analysis was performed using WinNonlin. In vivo microdialysis was found to be feasible for the determination of unbound linezolid concentrations at steady state in the ISF of critically ill patients. On average, linezolid showed good distribution into ISF but with high interindividual variability. A two-compartment model was fitted to unbound concentrations in plasma with a geometric mean distribution volume of 62.9 liters and a mean clearance of 9.18 liters/h at steady state. However, disposition characteristics changed intraindividually within the time course. In addition, an integrated model for simultaneous prediction of concentrations in all matrices was developed and revealed similar results. Based on the model-predicted unbound concentrations in ISF, a scheme of more-frequent daily dosing of linezolid for some critically ill patients might be taken into consideration to avoid subinhibitory unbound concentrations in the infected tissue. The developed integrated model will be a valuable basis for further PK data analysis to explore refined dosing guidelines that achieve effective antimicrobial therapy in all patients by use of the population PK approach.
Respiratory symptoms and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among cement factory workers.

OBJECTIVES This study assessed chronic respiratory symptoms and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among workers exposed to cement dust at a Tanzanian cement factory. METHODS A total of 120 exposed workers and 107 controls participated in this cross-sectional investigation. Information on demographics, occupational history, chronic respiratory symptoms, smoking habits, and use of respiratory protection equipment was collected by questionnaire. Ventilatory function testing and measurement of personal total dust exposure were also carried out. COPD was diagnosed for workers with chronic bronchitis who also had spirometric airflow obstruction. Chronic respiratory symptoms and COPD were correlated with cumulative total dust exposure and adjusted for age, pack-years, and education. RESULTS The exposed workers had more chronic cough [odds ratio (OR) 4.5, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.9-10.4], chronic sputum production (OR 10.8, 95% CI 4.4-26.4.), dyspnea (OR 5.3, 95% CI 1.9-15.2), work-related shortness of breath (OR 4.8, 95% CI 1.6-14.2), and chronic bronchitis (OR 5.5, 95% CI 2.0-15.3) than the controls. Chronic cough, chronic sputum production, dyspnea, work-related shortness of breath, and chronic bronchitis were significantly related to cumulative dust exposure of 20.0-99.9 and > or = 100.0 versus <20.0 mg/m3-years. The prevalence of COPD was higher for the exposed group (18.8%) than for the controls (4.8%). The odds ratio for COPD was significantly increased for cumulative dust exposure, > or = 100.0 versus <20.0 mg/m3-years (OR 11.2, 95% CI 2.2-56.0). CONCLUSIONS Cement workers seem to be at high risk of developing chronic respiratory symptoms and COPD, probably caused by cumulative total dust exposure independent of smoking habits.
General availability model for multilayer transport networks

This paper reports the initiative taken within the IST-project NOBEL to define a general availability model and collect general availability numbers for several network equipment types, independent from vendor specific product information. The model includes optical layer equipment as well as IP and SDH equipment, described using a triplet-representation for each of the availability measures with optimistic, nominal and conservative values. The availability model has been applied to different typical transport network scenarios. Several case studies were performed to compare the end-to-end connection availability and the required network capacity for different resilience mechanisms.
Purification and characterisation of the yeast plasma membrane ATP binding cassette transporter Pdr11p

The ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporters Pdr11p and its paralog Aus1p are expressed under anaerobic growth conditions at the plasma membrane of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and are required for sterol uptake. However, the precise mechanism by which these ABC transporters facilitate sterol movement is unknown. In this study, an overexpression and purification procedure was developed with the aim to characterise the Pdr11p transporter. Engineering of Pdr11p variants fused at the C terminus with green fluorescent protein (Pdr11p-GFP) and containing a FLAG tag at the N terminus facilitated expression analysis and one-step purification, respectively. The detergent-solubilised and purified protein displayed a stable ATPase activity with a broad pH optimum near 7.4. Mutagenesis of the conserved lysine to methionine (K788M) in the Walker A motif abolished ATP hydrolysis. Remarkably, and in contrast to Aus1p, ATPase activity of Pdr11p was insensitive to orthovanadate and not specifically stimulated by phosphatidylserine upon reconstitution into liposomes. Our results highlight distinct differences between Pdr11p and Aus1p and create an experimental basis for further biochemical studies of both ABC transporters to elucidate their function.
Effects of Magnesium on Platelet Aggregation and Adhesion

Summary Magnesium deficiency and its association with platelet hyperreactivity has been well recognised in a variety of diseases including myocardial infarction, preeclampsia, and diabetes. In order to investigate potential effects of intravenous Mg2+ supplementation, platelet function was studied by measurements of in vitro bleeding time (BT) and of fibrinogen (Fg)-mediated aggregation of washed platelets. In addition, the effect of Mg2+ on platelet adhesion onto immobilised Fg, on Fg binding to activated platelets, and on surface expression of GMP-140 or GP53 was evaluated. Mg2+(4 mM) prolonged in vitro BT by 30% and inhibited Fg-mediated aggregation significantly, independent of the agonist used to initiate platelet aggregation (ADP, collagen, epinephrine, thrombin, phorbol ester). Adhesion of resting platelets to immobilised Fg was reduced by 50% in the presence of 2 mM Mg2+. Moreover, Mg2+ reduced Fg binding to ADP- or collagen-stimulated platelets as well as surface expression of GMP-140 with an IC50 of approximately 3 mM. Intravenous administration of Mg2+ to healthy volunteers inhibited both ADP-induced platelet aggregation (p <0.05) by 40% and binding of Fg or surface expression of GMP-140 by 30% (p <0.05). Thus, pharmacological concentrations of Mg2+ effectively inhibit platelet function in vitro and ex vivo.
Effect of Light Intensity on the Oviposition Rhythm of the Altitudinal Strains of Drosophila Ananassae

The sensitivity of the circadian photoreceptors mediating entrainment of the eclosion rhythm and phase shifts of oviposition rhythm of the high altitude (HA) strain of Drosophila ananassae originating from Badrinath (5123 m above sea level) in the Himalayas was compared with the low altitude (LA) strain from Firozpur (179 m above sea level). Reduced photic sensitivity of the HA strain is regarded as the result of natural selection, which led to the weakening of the coupling mechanism between the circadian pacemaker and light at the high altitude of origin. The present study was designed to determine whether or not the photic entrainment of the oviposition rhythm of the HA strain of D. ananassae is also altered by the high altitude of its origin, and the results are compared with those of the LA strain. The effects of light intensity on the phase angle difference (Ψ), degree of rhythmicity (R), the percent oviposition in photophase, the threshold light intensity (i.e., the intensity at which stable entrainment occurred), and the saturation light intensity (i.e., the intensity beyond which the values of Ψ or amplitude of rhythm remained unaltered) were determined. Entrainment was studied in light–dark cycles in which the light intensity of 12 h of photophase varied from 1 to 1000 lux, and complete darkness prevailed in all scotophases. The oviposition rhythm of the HA strain was arrhythmic from 1 to 90 lux, weakly rhythmic at 95 lux, but rhythmic at or above 100 lux, while that of the LA strain was weakly rhythmic at 1 lux but rhythmic at or above 2 lux. Oviposition of the HA strain occurred mostly in the photophase, while that of the LA strain occurred in the scotophase; as a result, the oviposition medians of the HA strain were around the subjective forenoons while those of the LA strain were around the subjective evenings. The percent of oviposition in photophase increased from 68 to 98 in the HA strain and from 5 to 33 in the LA strain as light intensity increased from 1 to 1000 lux. In the HA strain, the Ψ values were significantly less and values of R and percent oviposition in photophase were significantly more than those of the LA strain at each level of light intensity. Threshold and saturation intensities for Ψ were 100 and 700 lux, respectively, for the HA strain, but just 2 and 45 lux, respectively, for the LA strain. The saturation intensity for R was 650 and 700 lux for the HA and LA strains, respectively. These results extend the confirmation that the reduced photic sensitivity of the HA strain might have been acquired through natural selection in response to environmental conditions at the high altitude of its origin.
An Algorithm for Fitting Heavy-Tailed Distributions via Generalized Hyperexponentials

In this paper, we propose an algorithm to fit heavy-tailed (HT) distribution functions by generalized hyperexponential (GH) distribution functions. A discussion of the steps, usage, and accuracy of the GH algorithm is given. Several examples in this paper show that the proposed method can be applied to fit HT distributions with a completely monotone probability density function (pdf) very well, like the Pareto distribution and the Weibull distribution with the shape parameter less than one, as well as HT distributions whose pdf is not completely monotone, like the lognormal distribution. In addition, we provide an example that shows that the proposed method can be applied to density estimation of real data presenting a heavy tail.
High‐density lipoprotein binding rate differs greatly between genotypes 1b and 2a/2b of hepatitis C virus

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) virion is associated with lipoproteins and immunoglobulins in the sera of patients with chronic hepatitis C; however, an accurate binding rate of HCV to lipoproteins or immunoglobulins has not yet been elucidated. Therefore, the accurate binding rate of HCV to low‐density lipoproteins (LDL), high‐density lipoproteins (HDL), and immunoglobulins was measured quantitatively by a real‐time PCR assay. The immunoglobulin binding rate of HCV was found to be greater than 97.5% in most patients, as compared with an LDL binding rate of greater than 80% in most patients. In contrast, the HDL binding rate was greater than 98% in the genotype 2a/2b patients, while it varied in the genotype 1b patients. The genotype 2a/2b HCV not only had a higher LDL binding rate but also had a strikingly higher HDL binding rate than that of the genotype 1b HCV. These lipoprotein binding rates correlated neither to any patient's variables, including the serum apolipoprotein levels, nor to the viral load or the hypervariable region 1 (HVR 1) amino acid sequences. Most of the HCV virions in the sera of such patients have been shown to be associated simultaneously with immunoglobulins and LDL and/or HDL, but not exclusively. J. Med. Virol. 70: 42–48, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.