Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toward a software environment for the generation of enterprise change trajectories

The chaotic nature of economical, technological and social environment leads the need of operational approaches and tools helping managers to detect, to evaluate and to plan what are the required changes for their enterprises. This paper presents a software environment permitting to construct and to evaluate enterprise change trajectories allowing enterprise to go from its current state to a target state thanks to strategic objectives i.e. required performance. The first part details the main industrial and scientific issues of the work. The second part presents the generic approach which is adopted. This approach is decomposed into six steps detailed and illustrated. Before concluding, the third part describes the corresponding developed open tools implementing this approach and some results examples.
Student Migration Preferences and Driving Forces: A Study of University Students in Germany and Namibia

The paper aims at exploring determinants of the university students’ intentions to stay within their university region. We presume that students’ career choice motivations are related to their professional intentions, which again, along with demographic characteristics, affect their migration decision. Our analysis is based on a cross-sectional study of 2,353 students from three different higher education institutions, two of them located in Germany and one in Namibia. Results indicate that migration matters in Germany because a considerable proportion of students intend to leave the university region after graduation. We found that the students’ geographical provenance exerts the most significant effect on the intention to stay. Moreover, certain professional intentions were directly – and some career choice motivations indirectly – linked with the intention to remain at the university location. We present several conclusions and implications.
Epitaxial Growth of Sputtered Ultra-Thin NbN Layers and Junctions on Sapphire

High crystalline quality of ultra-thin NbN layers and of NbN-MgO-NbN tri-layers, epitaxially grown by DC-magnetron sputtering in the superconducting B1-cubic phase has been achieved in a reproducible way on three different orientations of sapphire substrates i.e. R-, A- and M-planes. Significant improvements such as higher Tc, higher Jc and lower resistivity have been obtained by growing un-twined (110) oriented NbN layers on M-plane orientation of sapphire. Uniform, low roughness, 3-5 nm thick films with Tc above 12 K and Jc above 5 MA/cm2 at 4.2 K were obtained. Characterizations by TEM, AFM and X-Ray diffraction evidence that growth of un-twined NbN on M-plane lead to a better epitaxy in comparison with twinned films observed on other sapphire orientations. We observe that the reduction of the substrate temperature from 600degC to 300degC during the deposition of NbN or NbN-MgO-NbN layers thicker than 20 nm prevents the nucleation of the competing HCP NbN phase. Moreover, 1.5 nm thick AlN or MgO over-layers sputtered in-situ prevent ultra-thin NbN films degradation through aging. The formation of Nb2NyO5-x ( ~ 2.2 nm) at the unprotected NbN surface and of interfacial NbO ( ~ 0.7 nm) native oxides has been observed by XPS. It is forecasted that such improvements in ultra-thin NbN films deposited uniformly on 3 and 4 inch sapphire wafers is a key in the future development of superconducting single photon detectors, THz HEB mixers and also in low noise quantum analogical and digital Josephson devices.
Targeted glycomics by selected reaction monitoring for highly sensitive glycan compositional analysis

The development of glycomics increasingly requires the detection and quantification of large numbers of glycans, which is only partially achieved by current glycomics approaches. Taking advantage of selected reaction monitoring to enhance both sensitivity and selectivity, we report here a strategy termed targeted glycomics that enables highly sensitive and consistent identification and quantification of diverse glycans across multiple samples at the same time. In this proof‐of‐principle study, we validated the method by analyzing global N‐glycans expressed in different systems: single proteins, cancer cells, and serum samples. A dynamic range of three orders of magnitude was obtained for the detection of all five glycans released from ribonuclease B. The limit of detection of 80 attomole for Man9GlcNAc2 demonstrated the excellent sensitivity of the method. The capability of the strategy to identify diverse glycans was demonstrated by identification and detection of 162 different glycans and isomers from pancreatic cancer cells. The sensitivity of the method was illustrated further by the ability to detect eight glycans from 250 cancer cells and five glycans released from 100 cancer cells. In serum obtained from rabbits fed control diet or diet enriched with 2% cholesterol, differences to 42 glycans were accurately measured and this indicates that this strategy might find use in studies of biomarker discovery and validation.
Current Trends in Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Surgical management of the anterior cruciate ligament-deficient knee has evolved from primary repair to extracapsular augmentation to anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using biologic tissue grafts. The technique of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction has improved over the last few decades with the aid of knowledge gained from basic science and clinical research. The biology and biomechanics of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction were analyzed in the previously published first part of this article. In this second part, current operative concepts of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction as well as clinical correlations are discussed. The latest information regarding anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction is presented with a goal of demonstrating the correlation between the application of basic science knowledge and the improvement of clinical outcomes.
A Comparative Evaluation of Series Power-Flow Controllers Using DC- and AC-Link Converters

This paper presents a comparative evaluation of direct AC-AC converters and multipulse voltage source DC-AC converters for providing series compensation of transmission systems. This paper provides a detailed discussion of power circuit design issues related to various performance considerations for both approaches. A benchmark case study is used to demonstrate the operation and performance of both designs in terms of steady-state and dynamic performance indices. It is shown through detailed computer simulations that both approaches are competitive with respect to each other in terms of their functional performance.
Slow feedback inhibition in the Ca3 area of the rat hippocampus by synergistic synaptic activation of mGluR1 and mGluR5

Interneurons are critical in regulating the excitability of principal cells in neuronal circuits, thereby modulating the output of neuronal networks. We investigated synaptically evoked inhibitory responses in CA3 pyramidal cells mediated by metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) expressed somatodendritically by interneurons. Although pharmacological activation of mGluRs in interneurons has been shown to enhance their excitability, the inability to record mGluR‐mediated synaptic responses has precluded detailed characterization of mGluR function in hippocampal interneurons. We found that a single extracellular pulse in CA3 stratum pyramidale was sufficient to induce disynaptic inhibitory responses mediated by postsynaptic mGluRs of the interneurons in CA3 pyramidal cells of hippocampal slice cultures. The disynaptic inhibitory response followed a short‐latency monosynaptic inhibitory response, and was observed at stimulus intensities evoking half‐maximal monosynaptic IPSCs. Synergistic activation of mGluR1 and mGluR5 was required to induce the full inhibitory response. When recordings were obtained from interneurons in CA3 stratum radiatum or stratum oriens, a single extracellular stimulus induced a slow inward cationic current with a time course corresponding to the slow inhibitory response measured in pyramidal cells. DCG IV, a group II mGluR agonist, which specifically blocks synaptic transmission through mossy fibres, had no effect on mGluR‐mediated synaptic responses in interneurons, suggesting that feed‐forward inhibition via mossy fibres is not involved. Thus, postsynaptic mGluR1 and mGluR5 in hippocampal interneurons cooperatively mediate slow feedback inhibition of CA3 pyramidal cells. This mechanism may allow interneurons to monitor activity levels from populations of neighbouring principal cells to adapt inhibitory tone to the state of the network.
Lanthanum Carbonate Effectively Controls Serum Phosphate Without Affecting Serum Calcium Levels in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis

Abstract: Treating hyperphosphatemia without increasing the calcium load in chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis is important, as conventional treatment frequently results in ectopic calcification. Sevelamer, a monotherapy for hyperphosphatemia is frequently associated with gastrointestinal disorders, often resulting in discontinuation of treatment. Lanthanum carbonate is a novel non‐calcium‐based phosphate binder for the treatment of chronic kidney disease. Here, its clinical efficacy and safety were assessed in Japanese dialysis patients. A placebo‐controlled, randomized, double‐blind, parallel group, multicenter study was performed in Japanese dialysis patients. Patients were treated with various dosages of lanthanum carbonate or a placebo daily for six weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint was the change in serum phosphate level from the baseline. Secondary endpoints included achievement rates to target serum phosphate levels and changes in serum calcium levels. Safety was evaluated by the incidence of drug‐related and treatment‐emergent adverse events. A significant reduction in serum phosphate level was demonstrated for all dosages from Week 1. This dose‐dependent effect was also observed in the changes in serum calcium × phosphate product, yet there was no notable difference in serum calcium or serum intact parathyroid hormone levels. The incidence of drug‐related adverse events was dose‐dependent, with the most common being gastrointestinal symptoms. Lanthanum carbonate effectively controls serum phosphate levels and is generally tolerable to Japanese chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis, as reported for the Caucasian population. The optimal dosage in Japanese patients needs to be confirmed using a flexible‐dose titration schedule.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor inducing angiogenesis through modulation of matrix-degrading proteases.

BACKGROUND Recent studies have proved that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) possesses angiogenic activity in vitro and in vivo. However, the proangiogenic mechanism of BDNF has not yet been provided with enough information. To explore the proangiogenic mechanism of BDNF, we investigated the effects of BDNF on extracellular proteolytic enzymes, including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and serine proteases, particularly the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA)-plasmin system in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) model. METHODS Tube formation assay was performed in vitro to evaluate the effects of BDNF on angiogenesis. The HUVECs were treated with various concentrations of BDNF (25 - 400 ng/ml) for different (6 - 48 hours), reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to assay MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2 mRNA in HUVECs, and the conditioned medium was analyzed for MMP and uPA activity by gelatin zymography and fibrin zymography, respectively. uPA, plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1, and TIMP-2 were quantified by western blotting analysis. RESULTS BDNF elicited robust and elongated angiogeneis in two-dimensional cultures of HUVECs in comparison with control. The stimulation of serum-starved HUVECs with BDNF caused obvious increase in MMP-2 and MMP-9 mRNA expression and induced the pro-MMP-2 and pro-MMP-9 activation without significant differences in proliferation. However, BDNF had no effect on TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 production. BDNF increased uPA and PAI-1 production in a dose-dependent manner. Maximal activation of uPA and PAI-1 expression in HUVECs was induced by 100 ng/ml BDNF, while effects of 200 ng/ml and 400 ng/ml BDNF were slightly reduced in comparison with with those of 100 ng/ml. Protease activity for uPA was also increased by BDNF in a dose-dependent manner. BDNF also stimulated uPA and PAI-1 production beyond that in control cultures in a time-dependent manner from 12 hours to 48 hours after BDNF treatment. CONCLUSIONS BDNF stimulates MMP and uPA/PAI-1 proteolytic network in HUVECs, which may be important to the acquisition of proangiogenic potential.
Preparing Practitioners to Conduct Educational Research and Evaluation: What the Research Says and What Our Experiences Taught Us

The purpose of this article is to share the insights gleaned from the literature and our on-the-ground realities teaching practitioners to conduct educational research and evaluation. We focus on four areas we have found most important for teaching practitioner-scholars: (a) giving careful attention to andragogy versus pedagogy, (b) engaging the potency that team teaching affords, (c) addressing challenges associated with the practitioner-scholar model, and (d) building on the strengths of the cohort model. We share the challenges and possibilities of each strategy and close by offering recommendations for the educational leadership field in moving forward.
trans-Lesion Synthesis Past Bulky Benzo[a]pyrene Diol Epoxide N 2-dG and N 6-dA Lesions Catalyzed by DNA Bypass Polymerases*

The effectiveness of in vitro primer elongation reactions catalyzed by human bypass DNA polymerases κ (hDinB1), pol η (hRad30A), pol ι (hRad30B), and yeast pol ζ (Rev3 and Rev7) in site-specifically modified template oligonucleotide strands were studied in vitro. The templates contained single bulky lesions derived from the trans-addition of the mutagenic (+)- or (−)-enantiomers ofr7,t8-dihydroxy-t9,10-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene (a metabolite of the environmental carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene), to the exocyclic amino groups of guanine or adenine in oligonucleotide templates 33, or more, bases long. In “running start” primer extension reactions, pol κ effectively bypassed both the stereoisomeric (+)- and (−)-trans-guanine adducts but not the analogous adenine adducts. In sharp contrast, pol η, which exhibits considerable sequence homology with pol κ (both belong to the group of Y family polymerases), is partially blocked by the guanine adducts and the (−)-trans-adenine adduct, although the stereoisomeric (+)-trans-adenine adduct is more successfully bypassed. Neither pol ι nor pol ζ, either alone or in combination, were effective in trans-lesion synthesis past the same adducts. In all cases, the fidelity of insertion is dependent on adduct stereochemistry and structure. Generally, error-free nucleotide insertion opposite the lesions tends to depend more on adduct stereochemistry than error-prone insertion. None of the polymerases tested are a universal bypass polymerase for the stereoisomeric bulky polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-DNA adducts derived from anti-BPDE.
Joint Resource Allocation and Content Caching in Virtualized Multi-Cell Wireless Networks

Content caching is an important fifth-generation (5G) technique, which aims to improve the user quality of service and relieve backhaul congestion, by placing popular contents at the network edge. Meanwhile, wireless network virtualization (WNV) provides a novel paradigm shift in 5G system design which enables to better utilize network resources, reduces the operation cost (OPEX), and allows rapid deployment of new services. Efficient deployment of the content caching technology in the virtualized wireless network environment, however, requires a suitable radio resource allocation framework to realize the great benefits of these technologies. In this paper, we study the joint resource allocation and content caching problem which aims to efficiently utilize the radio and content storage resources. This design problem targets at minimizing the maximum content request rejection rate experienced by users of different mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) in different cells, which results in a mixed-integer non-linear program (MINLP). We solve this NP-hard problem by developing a bisection-search based algorithm that iteratively optimizes the resource allocation and content caching solution. Extensive numerical results confirm the efficacy of our proposed framework which significantly reduce the maximum rejection rate compared to other benchmark algorithms.
-Choroidal detachment associated with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment: a risk factor for postoperative PVR?.

PURPOSE To determine whether preoperative choroidal detachment associated with primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment is an independent risk factor for postoperative PVR. MATERIAL AND METHODS One hundred eighty nine primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachments in 187 consecutive patients, initially operated on by the same surgeon, were enrolled in a prospective study. Ten eyes showed preoperative choroidal detachment associated with retinal detachment. Owing to the small number of eyes with preoperative choroidal detachment, we conducted the statistical analysis using the calculation of relative risk. RESULTS The correlation between preoperative choroidal detachment and preoperative PVR grade C-D was statistically significant (RR: 9.03; confidence interval: 2.91-28). Postoperative PVR occurred, or recurred, in one of the 10 eyes with preoperative choroidal detachment (10%), and 10 of the 179 eyes with no choroidal detachment (5.58%). The difference between the two groups is not statistically significant (RR: 1.79; confidence interval: 0.25-12.64). All eyes which developed postoperative PVR showed one or two recognized independent risk factors for postoperative PVR (preoperative PVR grade C-D and/or retinal tears > or = 90 degrees). CONCLUSION With the treatment modalities used in the present series (preoperative and postoperative steroids, and vitreoretinal microsurgery) preoperative choroidal detachment associated with primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment no longer appears to be an independent risk factor for postoperative PVR.
E-Rulemaking and Democracy

E-rulemaking — the use of digital technologies in forming regulations — has democratized the highly technical, highly consequential regulatory process, breathing life into the two core democratic promises of the notice-and-comment process that for decades languished in crowded docket rooms in Washington. First, e-rulemaking has enhanced democracy in the participatory sense. By making rulemaking materials broadly available, e-rulemaking enables public participation on a scale that was unthinkable when notice- and-comment rulemaking was a paper-based process. This in turn allows agencies to use public comments as a gauge of public opinion, a political temperature check, a tool to inform their understanding of “capital-P” Politics — the sort of media-sensitive, partisan political pressure that touches so much of modern governance. Second, e-rulemaking has enhanced democracy in the epistemic sense. Digital technologies allow agencies to harness the dispersed information power of the American people in order to form more substantively sound regulations that are informed by “small-p” politics — the sort of empathetic, objective, and inquisitive set of values that underlie the very purpose of administrative agencies as depoliticized institutions bringing expertise to bear to improve the general welfare of an increasingly complex society.In the summer of 2014, e-rulemaking enabled the FCC to receive and process an unprecedented 3.9 million public comments on its proposed net neutrality rules. In February 2015, the FCC promulgated the final net neutrality rules, which were upheld in total by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in June 2016. The net neutrality rulemaking illustrates how the Internet has enabled the participatory postulate of notice-and-comment rulemaking, long relegated to the realm of democratic potential, to become a democratic reality. Yet the rulemaking also indicates that the less stringent cost–benefit analysis requirements placed on independent agencies like the FCC make them more prone to embrace e-rulemaking’s participatory, as opposed to epistemic, democratic values. For the experiment of e-rulemaking to succeed in not only narrowing the juncture between the public and the regulatory process, but also in capturing the widely held information power of the American people in order to facilitate the kind of depoliticized decisionmaking that leads to better regulations and ultimately enhances social welfare, the epistemic democratic capacity of e-rulemaking must be protected vigilantly. Rigorous empirical requirements like those placed on executive agencies may be the best guarantor of those epistemic democratic values.
Presumptive Taxation in Ukraine Assessment of Previous and Current Systems from the Fiscal Perspective

From the business and individuals perspective taxes are burden. And from the governments perspective taxes are revenues. The constant conflict of interests has dramatic outcomes for every side. The main of them are shadow economy and corruption. These issues are very painful for developing and transition countries. Their tax legislation is deficient. That’s why in these countries taxpayers are vulnerable to different violations of tax administration. The other problem which is caused by deficient tax legislation is lack of understanding and predictability. That in turn is additional reason for decreasing of tax revenues and increasing of shadow economy. My thesis focuses on Ukrainian special tax regime for individual entrepreneurs (sole proprietors) and SMEs. Main objectives of simplified (presumptive) tax system for small taxpayers are: (i) to decrease the tax compliance costs and (ii) to increase the ability of tax authorities to concentrate on working with large and medium size companies. I argue that implementing of simplified (presumptive) tax system (STS) for sole proprietors and SMEs was necessary step for further development of Ukraine economy. My work is based on previous academic researches and on data from official sources. The main finding of my thesis is that both previous and current Ukraine’s STSs failed to achieve two main goals of special regimes for small taxpayers. I make a conclusion that a presumptive tax system is very important fiscal tool for developing countries but in order to be effective it has to be well designed and fully integrated into general tax regime.
Retire on a Long Term Equity Fund (LTF) in Thailand, Is It Worth It?

Retirement requires funds hence it is important to increase one’s financial worth. There are many investments to choose when an individual is selecting for an investment, it is challenging for an individual to evaluate each different type of investment on their own. This study aims to clarify whether Long Term Equity Funds (henceforth LTFs) are worth the investment of those planning for retirement. Beta and Sharpe ratio of the LTFs were calculated and compared to the Thailand stock market’s data. The 5-year returns (2012 2016) were used to compare returns between LTF and the domestic stock market. The results show that the LTF is worth investing for those planning to retire, due to lower risk or beta, higher Sharpe ratio and have higher yield than the stock market. The best LTF from selected LTFs is the LTF managed by Kasikorn Bank (K20SLTF). Compare to the Thailand stock market’s beta of 1, Sharpe ratio of 0.12 and the 5-year quarterly of 0.84%, K20SLTF has lower 5-year beta of 0.65, and higher Sharpe ratio of 0.44 and yields 3.24% quarterly. The contributions of this paper are to encourage individuals who are investing for retirement to invest in LTF and to encourage Thailand’s government to continue their support for LTF.