Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Staying Silent from the Competitors Examining the effects of product substitutability on disclosure redaction

This study examines the effects of product substitutability on disclosure redactions. Two types of product market threat to product substitutability are investigated in our study: dynamic and static. Dynamic threat captures the change of product market threat when rivals enter or exit the product market space. Static threat captures the threat from existing rivals. We find that both types of threats to product substitutability are positively correlated with disclosure redaction in contracts. Furthermore, we use the key task from each contract to identify the type of information redaction. We find that neither type of threat is associated with redaction in Employment/Incentive contracts. Dynamic threat is an important driver of redaction in Credit/Leasing, R&D/Collaboration, Manufacturing/Purchase & Sales of inventory or service, and Investment contracts. Static threat, on the other hand, is an important driver of redaction only in License, R&D/Collaboration, and Investment contracts. Our results highlight that managers’ willingness to disclose depends on both the nature of the product market threat and the specific disclosure under consideration.
Exact Rational Expectations, Cointegration, and Reduced Rank Regression

We interpret the linear relations from exact rational expectations models as restrictions on the parameters of the statistical model called the cointegrated vector autoregressive model for non-stationary variables. We then show how reduced rank regression, Anderson (1951), plays an important role in the calculation of maximum likelihood estimation of the restricted parameters.
Developing Wideband Planar Millimeter-Wave Array Antenna Using Compact Magneto-Electric Dipoles

In this letter, a wideband millimeter-wave array antenna is reported for the emerging Q-LINKPAN application. For the wideband array application, a miniature structure is proposed and investigated for the magneto-electric dipole. A designed prototype is fabricated by using the low-cost printed circuit board technology. Experiments show that the 10-dB impedance bandwidth of the demonstrated 2 × 2 array is 36.6%, i.e., from 36.8 to 53.3 GHz. Stable radiation patterns, high radiation efficiencies, and low cross-polarization levels are found within a wide operation frequency band. In addition, a stable gain of 11.6 ± 0.6 dBi is found as well. The proposed antenna is a good candidate for the millimeter-wave Q-LINKPAN wireless system.
Cross-species infections of cultured cells by hepatitis E virus and discovery of an infectious virus–host recombinant

The RNA virus, hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the most or second-most important cause of acute clinical hepatitis in adults throughout much of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. In these regions it is an important cause of acute liver failure, especially in pregnant women who have a mortality rate of 20–30%. Until recently, hepatitis E was rarely identified in industrialized countries, but Hepatitis E now is reported increasingly throughout Western Europe, some Eastern European countries, and Japan. Most of these cases are caused by genotype 3, which is endemic in swine, and these cases are thought to be zoonotically acquired. However, transmission routes are not well understood. HEV that infect humans are divided into nonzoonotic (types 1, 2) and zoonotic (types 3, 4) genotypes. HEV cell culture is inefficient and limited, and thus far HEV has been cultured only in human cell lines. The HEV strain Kernow-C1 (genotype 3) isolated from a chronically infected patient was used to identify human, pig, and deer cell lines permissive for infection. Cross-species infections by genotypes 1 and 3 were studied with this set of cultures. Adaptation of the Kernow-C1 strain to growth in human hepatoma cells selected for a rare virus recombinant that contained an insertion of 174 ribonucleotides (58 amino acids) of a human ribosomal protein gene.
Nanostructured hydroxyapatite/TiO2 composite coating applied to commercially pure titanium by a co-sputtering technique

We demonstrate an approach for the coating of nanostructured hydroxyapatite(HAP)/TiO2 composite on commercially pure Ti (CP-Ti) by a co-sputtering process. HAP/TiO2 composite film was obtained by controlling the processing pressure. It was observed that decomposition of HAP into CaO was easily induced during sputtering at 0.53 Pa, a typical sputtering condition for film deposition. However, HAP/TiO2 composite film was obtained with the sputtering pressure of 2.67 Pa. The Ca/P ratio was nearly maintained at 1.66 by sputter deposition at 2.67 Pa. We further confirmed by analysis of plasma spectral emission that the variation of the hydroxyl (OH) radical present was due to the Ar pressure during sputtering. It has been shown that HAP coatings are dependent on the processing pressure, which the hydroxyl radical requires in order to create HAP.
AREA REQUIREMENTS OF GRASSLAND BIRDS: A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract Area requirements of grassland birds have not been studied except in tallgrass prairie. We studied the relation between both species-occurrence and density and patch size by conducting 699 fixed-radius point counts of 15 bird species on 303 restored grassland areas in nine counties in four northern Great Plains states. Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus), Sedge Wren (Cistothorus platensis), Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida), Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), Baird's Sparrow (Ammodramus bairdii), Le Conte's Sparrow (Ammodramus leconteii), and Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) were shown to favor larger grassland patches in one or more counties. Evidence of area sensitivity was weak or ambivalent for Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus), Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas), Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis), and Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta). Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) preferred larger patches in some counties, and smaller patches in others. Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura) and Brown- headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) tended to favor smaller grassland patches. Three species showed greater area sensitivity in counties where each species was more common. Five species demonstrated some spatial pattern of area sensitivity, either north to south or east to west. This study demonstrates the importance of replication in space; results from one area may not apply to others because of differences in study design, analytical methods, location relative to range of the species, and surrounding landscapes.
Outcomes of carotid artery stenting in patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis.

OBJECTIVE Carotid endarterectomy is superior to medical therapy in patients with significant extracranial carotid artery stenosis. This modality of treatment has its own complications. The principal objective of this study is to assess efficacy, feasibility and outcomes of carotid artery stenting in both symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis. METHODS Our study is a retrospective analysis of 45 consecutive patients with 56 lesions who underwent carotid angioplasty with stenting from January 2000 to June 2007 for carotid artery stenosis of more than 70%. All patients underwent detailed neurological examination and carotid Doppler evaluation by using Sonos 5500. Computed tomography of brain was done in those patients who were symptomatic in the past. RESULTS The mean age of the study population was 65 +/- 9.2 years. There were 34 (79%) patients with coronary artery disease and out of them 31 (68%) patients had undergone coronary artery bypass grafting. All patients with common carotid artery, 13 (81%) patients with right internal carotid stenosis and 12 (66%) patients with left internal carotid artery stenosis had ostioproximal stenosis. Contralateral lesion was found in 9 patients and 2 patients had total occlusion. There were no post-procedural neurological events. Only one patient died in our study population due to non-cerebral cause. CONCLUSION Carotid artery stenting is a safe procedure. The 30 days' outcomes are similar in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with significant carotid artery stenosis.
Puerarin: A Review of Pharmacological Effects

Puerarin is the major bioactive ingredient isolated from the root of the Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi, which is well known as Gegen (Chinese name) in traditional Chinese medicine. As the most abundant secondary metabolite, puerarin was isolated from Gegen in the late 1950s. Since then, its pharmacological properties have been extensively investigated. It is available in common foods and is used in alternative medicine. It has been widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes and diabetic complications, osteonecrosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, endometriosis, and cancer. The beneficial effects of puerarin on the various medicinal purposes may be due to its wide spectrum of pharmacological properties such as vasodilation, cardioprotection, neuroprotection, antioxidant, anticancer, antiinflammation, alleviating pain, promoting bone formation, inhibiting alcohol intake, and attenuating insulin resistance. However, the direct molecular mechanisms and targets remain unclear. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the pharmacological effects of puerarin. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The RANTES −28 g polymorphism is associated with primary sclerosing cholangitis

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic cholestatic disorder commonly associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The pathogenesis of PSC remains unknown, but bacterial translocation from the gut to the portal circulation, resulting in activation of an immune cascade and subsequent bile duct injury, is believed to be one of the triggering factors. In a previous study,1 we found a significantly lower frequency of the Δ32 deletion in the CC-type chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) gene in patients with PSC compared with patients with IBD and healthy controls (HC), suggesting a protective effect of this mutation on the development of PSC. Given this association in our population, we further investigated the role of RANTES ( Regulated on Activation Normal T Expressed and Secreted , also known as CC-motif chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5)), one of the ligands for the CCR5 receptor. RANTES, localised to …
Cytosolic Ca2+ Changes during In VitroIschemia in Rat Hippocampal Slices: Major Roles for Glutamate and Na+-Dependent Ca2+ Release from Mitochondria

This work determined Ca2+ transport processes that contribute to the rise in cytosolic Ca2+ duringin vitro ischemia (deprivation of oxygen and glucose) in the hippocampus. The CA1 striatum radiatum of rat hippocampal slices was monitored by confocal microscopy of calcium green-1. There was a 50–60% increase in fluorescence during 10 min of ischemia after a 3 min lag period. During the first 5 min of ischemia the major contribution was from Ca2+ entering via NMDA receptors; most of the fluorescence increase was blocked by MK-801. Approximately one-half of the sustained increase in fluorescence during 10 min of ischemia was caused by activation of Ca2+ release from mitochondria via the mitochondrial 2Na+–Ca2+ exchanger. Inhibition of Na+ influx across the plasmalemma using lidocaine, low extracellular Na+, or the AMPA/kainate receptor blocker CNQX reduced the fluorescence increase by 50%. The 2Na+–Ca2+ exchange blocker CGP37157 also blocked the increase, and this effect was not additive with the effects of blocking Na+influx. When added together, CNQX and lidocaine inhibited the fluorescence increase more than CGP37157 did. Thus, during ischemia, Ca2+ entry via NMDA receptors accounts for the earliest rise in cytosolic Ca2+. Approximately 50% of the sustained rise is attributable to Na+ entry and subsequent Ca2+ release from the mitochondria via the 2Na+–Ca2+ exchanger. Sodium entry is also hypothesized to compromise clearance of cytosolic Ca2+ by routes other than mitochondrial uptake, probably by enhancing ATP depletion, accounting for the large inhibition of the Ca2+ increase by the combination of CNQX and lidocaine.
Formal thought disorder in schizophrenia: an executive or a semantic deficit?

Background. It has been hypothesized that the schizophrenic symptom of formal thought disorder is linked to both executive and semantic dysfunction. Method. Intellectually preserved schizophrenic patients with (n=15) and without (n=16) formal thought disorder, plus matched normal controls (n=17) were administered four executive and four semantic tests. Tests of verbal fluency and comprehension of grammar were also given. Results. The patients with formal thought disorder were significantly impaired on all four executive tests compared to the patients without the symptom. They were only impaired compared to non-thought-disordered patients on 1 of 4 semantic tests, which probed semantic associations between concepts. Naming performance did not distinguish the two groups, nor did a previously used measure of semantic fluency controlling for phonological fluency. Conclusions. The results provide support for a dysexecutive hypothesis of formal thought disorder in schizophrenia, and, in line with other studies, suggest that there may be a restricted ‘higher-order’ semantic deficit which spares naming.
Incidence and remission of insomnia among elderly adults in a biracial cohort.

OBJECTIVES To determine the incidence and remission rates of insomnia in older adults according to race and associated risk factors in a three-year longitudinal study. METHODS 2,971 men and women, aged 65 years and older, completed questionnaires administered by trained interviewers at baseline and three years later. Data concerning difficulty falling asleep or early morning arousal (insomnia), along with self-reports of physical disability, respiratory symptoms, depressive symptomatology, perceived health status, and use of prescribed sedative medication, were collected and analyzed. RESULTS Overall, 15% of the participants without symptoms of insomnia at baseline reported chronic difficulty falling asleep or early morning arousal three years later in follow-up interviews. African-American women had a significantly (p < 0.01) higher incidence of insomnia (19%) compared with African-American men (12%) or with white men and women (both 14%). Men were more likely than women to no longer report symptoms at follow-up (64% vs 42%; p < 0.01). For both races, the presence of depressed mood was a risk factor for the incidence of insomnia, and the absence of depressed mood was a predictor of remission. CONCLUSIONS Insomnia occurs more frequently in African-American women than in African-American men or than in white men or women. Regardless of race, women are less likely than men to resolve their insomnia. The high prevalence and incidence of morbidity in elderly African-American women may contribute to their high rate of insomnia.
TraY and Integration Host Factor oriT Binding Sites and F Conjugal Transfer: Sequence Variations, but Not Altered Spacing, Are Tolerated

ABSTRACT Bacterial conjugation is the process by which a single strand of a conjugative plasmid is transferred from donor to recipient. For F plasmid, TraI, a relaxase or nickase, binds a single plasmid DNA strand at its specific origin of transfer (oriT) binding site, sbi, and cleaves at a site called nic. In vitro studies suggest TraI is recruited to sbi by its accessory proteins, TraY and integration host factor (IHF). TraY and IHF bind conserved oriT sites sbyA and ihfA, respectively, and bend DNA. The resulting conformational changes may propagate to nic, generating the single-stranded region that TraI can bind. Previous deletion studies performed by others showed transfer efficiency of a plasmid containing F oriT decreased progressively as increasingly longer segments, ultimately containing both sbyA and ihfA, were deleted. Here we describe our efforts to more precisely define the role of sbyA and ihfA by examining the effects of multiple base substitutions at sbyA and ihfA on binding and plasmid mobilization. While we observed significant decreases in in vitro DNA-binding affinities, we saw little effect on plasmid mobilization even when sbyA and ihfA variants were combined. In contrast, when half or full helical turns were inserted between the relaxosome protein-binding sites, mobilization was dramatically reduced, in some cases below the detectable limit of the assay. These results are consistent with TraY and IHF recognizing sbyA and ihfA with limited sequence specificity and with relaxosome proteins requiring proper spacing and orientation with respect to each other.
A chain of modeling, simulation, inversion and recognition for polarimetric scattering and SAR observations

An overview of the research progress in Fudan University on information retrievals of high resolution (HR) polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (POL-SAR) imagery is reported. It presents our effort to establish a chain of modeling, scattering and imaging simulation, informative parameter inversions, automatic surface classification, and target recognition for POL-SAR imagery technology.
Access and Sharing Contents Through the Social Network: A POMDP Approach

Users interact in the social network by exchanging useful information. The huge amount of traffic generated requires the design of an accurate model for good management. Hence, knowing the consumers' access patterns is of a great interest for content owners. We propose a study of the access and sharing patterns based on the content's popularity. We suppose that popularity is inferred by the observation of the number of views. Our goal is twofold. On the one hand, we aim to help users select the optimal action that allows content owners to decide to change or not the used social network to another to increase their profits and, on the other hand, to assist consumers, according to their area of interest, to decide to access or not a posted content. We establish a threshold structure of the optimal policies based on a trade‐off study between profits (money, access to useful information, etc.) and costs (time spent to edit or consult content, etc.). The experimental results of the proposed analytical model show that both owners and consumers maximize their utility by choosing the best strategies.
Analysis of a T cell receptor gene as a target of the somatic hypermutation mechanism

In an effort to identify cis-acting elements required for targeting of the somatic hypermutation process in mice, we examined whether a T cell receptor (TCR) transgene under the control of the immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy (H) chain intron enhancer would be mutated in antigen-stimulated B cells. Hybridomas were established from splenic B cells of mice carrying two copies of the TCR transgene after hyperimmunization with phosphorylcholine keyhole limpet hemocyanin. Northern analysis revealed that all of the transgene-containing hybridomas expressed the TCR mRNA. Multiple somatic point mutations were found in seven of eight endogenous Ig VH genes examined. In contrast, 29 of 32 TCR genes examined contained no mutations. One potential mutation was seen in each of the three other TCR genes. Our data indicate that although the TCR transgene is expressed in B cells, it is not efficiently targeted by the mutator mechanism. Furthermore, the presence of an Ig H chain enhancer is itself not sufficient for targeting of the somatic hypermutation mechanism.
A bio-inspired load balancing technique for wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) consist of multiple distributed nodes each with limited resources. With their strict resource constraints and application-specific characteristics, WSNs contain many challenging trade-offs. This thesis is concerned with the load balancing of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). We present an approach, inspired by bees’ pheromone propagation mechanism, that allows individual nodes to decide on the execution process locally to solve the trade-off between service availability and energy consumption. We explore the performance consequences of the pheromone-based load balancing approach using a system-level simulator. The effectiveness of the algorithm is evaluated on case studies based on sound sensors with different scenarios of existing approaches on variety of different network topologies. The performance of our approach is dependant on the values chosen for its parameters. As such, we utilise the Simulated Annealing to discover optimal parameter configurations for pheromone-based load balancing technique for any given network schema. Once the parameter values are optimised for the given network topology automatically, we inspect improving the pheromone-based load balancing approach using robotic agents. As cyber-physical systems benefit from the heterogeneity of the hardware components, we introduce the use of pheromone signalling-based robotic guidance that integrates the robotic agents to the existing load balancing approach by guiding the robots into the uncovered area of the sensor field. As such, we maximise the service availability using the robotic agents as well as the sensor nodes.
An Integrative Bioinformatic Approach for Studying Escape Mutations in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 gag in the Pumwani Sex Worker Cohort

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is able to evade the host cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response through a variety of escape avenues. Epitopes that are presented to CTLs are first processed in the presenting cell in several steps, including proteasomal cleavage, transport to the endoplasmic reticulum, binding by the HLA molecule, and finally presentation to the T-cell receptor. An understanding of the potential of the virus to escape CTL responses can aid in designing an effective vaccine. To investigate such a potential, we analyzed HIV-1 gag from 468 HIV-1-positive Kenyan women by using several bioinformatic approaches that allowed the identification of positively selected amino acids in the HIV-1 gag region and study of the effects that these mutations could have on the various stages of antigen processing. Correlations between positively selected residues and mean CD4 counts also allowed study of the effect of mutation on HIV disease progression. A number of mutations that could create or destroy proteasomal cleavage sites or reduce binding affinity of the transport antigen processing protein, effectively hindering epitope presentation, were identified. Many mutations correlated with the presence of specific HLA alleles and with lower or higher CD4 counts. For instance, the mutation V190I in subtype A1-infected individuals is associated with HLA-B*5802 (P = 4.73 × 10−4), a rapid-progression allele according to other studies, and also to a decreased mean CD4 count (P = 0.019). Thus, V190I is a possible HLA escape mutant. This method classifies many positively selected mutations across the entire gag region according to their potential for immune escape and their effect on disease progression.
Reconceptualizing the Role of Fear of Falling and Balance Confidence in Fall Risk

Objective: This article aimed to critically examine preexisting conceptualizations of the relationship among fear of falling, falls efficacy, and falls and to offer a new theoretical model incorporating findings from the recent literature. Method: This is a theoretical article based on a review of preexisting findings pertaining to fear of falling and falls efficacy. Results: Traditional conceptualizations consider avoidance of activity and deconditioning to be mediators in the relationship between fear of falling and falls, but recent findings suggest that this mediational conceptualization may not be accurate. Moreover, the terms falls efficacy and fear of falling are often used interchangeably in the literature, which is conceptually problematic. Discussion: We conclude with the presentation and discussion of an alternative predictive model of fear of falling that incorporates important findings from the recent literature.