Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TanDEM-X mission status: The complete new topography of the Earth

TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurements) is an Earth observation radar mission that consists of a SAR interferometer built by two almost identical satellites flying in close formation [1]-[4]. With a typical separation between the satellites of 120 to 500 m a global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with 2 m relative height accuracy at 12 m posting is being generated. While the main mission phase for DEM data acquisition has been finished in 2014, the processing of the global TanDEM-X DEM will be concluded in autumn 2016. Final DEMs are well within specifications and feature a low percentage of void areas. Following the DEM data acquisition the capabilities of this unique mission for new scientific application have been demonstrated. In the meantime the continuation of the joint TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X mission was approved and will be dedicated to the generation of DEMs with even higher accuracy for selected areas and further scientific experiments.
Exercise as a Stress Coping Mechanism in a Pharmacy Student Population

Objective. To assess the coping mechanisms used by pharmacy students and their relationship to perceived stress. Methods. Data were gathered utilizing the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS10) and Brief COPE with the additional coping mechanisms of exercise and use of prescribed medications. Results. A survey that was sent to 368 students had an 81% response rate. Perceived stress was significantly higher than standard populations, but consistent with other pharmacy student populations. The most frequently reported coping mechanisms were the adaptive strategies of active coping, acceptance and planning. Maladaptive strategies of behavioral disengagement, venting and self-blame were significantly associated with higher perceived stress scores and the new addition of an exercise coping mechanism significantly associated with lower perceived stress scores. Use of prescribed medications was not significantly associated with perceived stress levels. Conclusion. Inclusion of exercise as a coping mechanism may be beneficial in similar populations.
MNC SUBUNITS? ALLIANCE PORTFOLIO AND INNOVATION: DISENTANGLING THE MULTIPLE EFFECT OF CULTURAL DISTANCE

The present study investigates how the composition of a MNC subunit? s portfolio of strategic alliances impacts on its innovative performance, in terms of both scale and quality. Specifically, we claim that, the more the portfolio is composed by exploratory/upstream (rather than exploitative/downstream) alliances, and the more the partners are culturally distant from the MNC subunit, the higher the impact upon the innovative performance. Furthermore, we distinguish the multiple role of cultural distance, by considering differences not only between partners and the focal MNC subunit, but also between partners and the focal MNC subunit? s parent company, and discuss their benefits. However, we state that when the alliance portfolio partners become too distant from both the host and the home country, excessive coordination and integration costs emerge, which may in turn overcome the benefits of diversity and hamper the subunit? s innovative performance. Our empirical analysis relies on 233 alliance portfolios established by 53 MNC biotech subunits from 1981 to 2011. Preliminary econometric estimates confirm our hypotheses, and reveal that MNC subunits? innovativeness benefits from portfolios of strategic alliances that are composed mainly by upstream agreements, and entail partners that are culturally distant from its parent.
Reduction of hepatic reperfusion injury by antithrombin III and aprotinin

Abstract Disturbance in hepatic microcirculation and leucocyte-endothelium interaction after warm ischaemia represents one of the leading mechanisms for postoperative organ dysfunction. Recent studies have shown that pretreatment with antithrombin III (AT III) and aprotinin reduces the leucocyte-endothelium interaction in ischaemic small intestine and during extracorporal circulation in cardiac surgery. Standardized warm hepatic ischaemia and intravital fluorescence videomicroscopy was performed in an experimental study with rats. Animals were pretreated with AT III or aprotinin. Analysis of intravital videomicroscopy showed that the hepatic microcirculation after warm hepatic ischaemia in rats was significantly enhanced by AT III and aprotinin, most likely by reducing the leucocyte-endothelium interaction. We concluded that drug application before the Pringle manoeuvre might reduce the reperfusion damage after liver resection.
Testing the Angiogenic Potential of Cerebrovascular Malformations by Use of a Rat Cornea Model: Usefulness and Novel Assessment of Changes over Time

OBJECTIVE: This experimental study assessed the usefulness of a rat model of corneal angiogenesis for assessing the angiogenic activity of cerebrovascular malformations (CVMs) over time. It is the first investigation to have focused on dynamic quantification of angiogenesis related to CVMs (i.e., assessing changes over time as opposed to one point in time) and the first to have compared different CVMs and other tissues in this way. METHODS: The CVM specimens were from 15 randomly selected arteriovenous malformation (AVM) cases, 15 randomly selected cavernous malformation cases, and 2 venous angioma cases. All the samples came from surgical resections performed in the Marmara University Department of Neurosurgery and the Marmara University Institute of Neurological Sciences between January 1998 and January 2003. Glioblastoma multiforme tissues, normal adult brain tissues, and normal brain artery tissues were used as controls. Tissue from each specimen was implanted in one corneal micropocket in each cornea of a single rat, and the level of angiogenic activity in the cornea was graded (low, moderate, or high) at Days 1 through 9 after tissue implantation. Another set of rats was subjected to the same corneal implantation procedure, and two widely accepted indicators of neovascularization, microvessel counts and vascular endothelial growth factor expression, were assessed at Days 3, 5, 7, and 9 after surgery. The tissue-group results for grade of angiogenic activity, microvessel count, and grade of vascular endothelial growth factor expression were compared. RESULTS: Of the three CVM types, the AVMs showed the highest angiogenic activity, cavernous malformations exhibited some degree of angiogenic activity (less than AVMs but more than normal brain artery tissue), and angiogenesis induction by venous angiomas was comparable to that of normal brain artery tissue. Corneas implanted with the AVM samples showed Grade 1 angiogenesis on Day 2, Grade 2 angiogenesis on Day 4, and Grade 2.5 angiogenesis on Day 8. Cavernous malformation samples caused Grade 1 angiogenesis after Day 5, and grading remained less than 1.5. Venous angioma samples resulted in angiogenesis graded less than 1. CONCLUSION: The results showed that this rat model of corneal angiogenesis is of value for assessing the angiogenic potential of CVMs and for evaluating details of the neovascularization process over time. Further investigation of CVMs with this model might yield information about how angiogenesis can be modulated, and this could lead to development of biological treatments that inhibit this process.
Reliable features for an ECG-based biometric system

Verification of subjects using their unique physiological features has recently attracted much attention to develop secure biometric systems. One of the most reliable physiological features is electrocardiogram (ECG) waveform, which is the electrical reflection of the heart activity, and has a unique characteristic for each individual. In this paper, autoregressive (AR) coefficients along with mean of power spectral density (PSD) were used as reliable ECG features to enhance the performance of an ECG-based biometric system. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed combination, other features including autoregressive (AR) coefficients, Higuchi dimension, Lyapunov exponent, and approximation entropy (ApEn) were exctracted from ECG Multi-layer-perceptron (MLP), probabilistic neural networks, and k-nearest neighbor (KNN) classifiers were used to classify the extracted features. In addition, simple combination of the features was considered for further improvement in verification rate. The achieved results (100% accuracy) showed the effectiveness of the combined features in terms of accuracy and robustness compared to the results produced by the former traditional methods.
A questionnaire study to evaluate the burnout syndrome and stress among dental students from two universities

Background: Stress has been described as an epidemic of the 21 st century and even students are not exempted from this scenario. It is now well‑established that dental students perceive and experience high levels of stress. Although some stress is inherent in dentistry and education and is likely to be beneficial as a learning stimulus, there is a concern that high levels of stress and prolonged stress exposure may precipitate burnout, a term that describes the experience of long‑term work‑related exhaustion and diminished interest. Hence this study was attempted. Aim: To evaluate burnout and stress among students of two dental universities with different curriculum (Karnataka Lingayat Education University, KLEU, and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health sciences (RGUHS). Materials and Methods: Information regarding the level of stress and burnout was assessed based on Maslach Burnout Inventory‑Student Version (MBI‑SS) and Perceived Stress Score (PSS) questionnaire. The responses obtained from 137 participants were analyzed using independent t‑tests and Chi‑square test. Results: Statistically significant increase in stress mean scores (P = 0.002) was found in KLEU dental students when compared to RGUHS. Applying strict rule of burnout syndrome statistically significant increase in burnout syndrome (P = 0.029) with odds ratio 3.97 times more was found in KLEU dental students. No difference in burnout and stress between males and females and the social classes was noted. Conclusion: Burnout and stress was significantly more in dental students of KLEU as compared to RGUHS students.
The descent of human herpesvirus 8.

Analysis of conserved herpesvirus genes shows that human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) belongs to a clade of primate herpesviruses within the gamma2 sublineage. Overall, this clade has developed by cospeciation with host species. Seventeen genes of HHV8 and its nearest relatives lack simple homologues in other herpesviruses, and eight of these have known mammalian homologues, presumed to be the sources of the HHV8 versions. Comparative analyses yield further insights into the source or time of acquisition for several of these genes. All were acquired by the HHV8 lineage in the very distant past. Two unusual processes are manifest in the contemporary evolution of HHV8. First, the K1 gene is uniquely undergoing a process of extensive and positively selected substitution, of unknown significance. Secondly, the K15 gene has been substituted in some lineages by a distant homologue, presumably by recombination with an unknown herpesvirus. While available data are otherwise compatible with a cospeciational relationship between HHV8 and the human species, they do not exclude relatively recent transfer to humans from another primate host.
Wi-sensors: A low power Wi-Fi solution for temperature and humidity measurement

This paper presents a complete solution for temperature and humidity monitoring using low-power wireless devices, called Wi-Sensors. The Wi-Sensors use a RN-131C Wi-Fi chip as the core microcontroller and 4 configurable digital input/output lines to which temperature sensors can be attached. The digital 1-Wire and DHT22 protocols had been implemented in the embedded application running on the device. Therefore, for temperature and humidity measurements, any of the sensors operating with one of these two protocols can be used. The existing Wi-Fi 802.11 infrastructure can be used in order to send measurement data to remote destinations. The proposed solution also incorporates a data viewer and data processing application, which provides functionalities for alarming the users by email or by SMS in case previously configured limits are exceeded.
Temporal Classification and Visualization of Topics in a Twitter Search Interface

Searching within Twitter is a challenging task; the short and cryptic nature of tweets leads to search results sets that may include information on many different topics. While many topic modelling approaches exist to extract the salient topics from the tweets, what is missing is a method for temporally classifying the topics and showing these to a searcher to help them understand the makeup of the search results. In this work, we model the temporal distribution of the tweets that match each extracted topic, and then classify the topic as either emergent, stable, waning, or unclassified. This classification is visualized along side each topic, giving the searcher an easy way of identifying how the topics are changing over time. An example of this approach within an existing mobile Twitter search interface is provided.
Recognition of viruses by innate immunity

Summary: The innate immune system plays critical roles in recognizing viral infections and evoking initial anti‐viral responses. Nucleotides from RNA viruses are recognized by retinoic acid‐inducible gene I (RIG‐I)‐like helicases (RLHs) and Toll‐like receptors (TLRs), and the recognition triggers signaling cascades that induce anti‐viral mediators such as type I interferons (IFNs) and pro‐inflammatory cytokines. The RLH signaling pathways play essential roles in the recognition of RNA viruses in various cells, with the exception of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). However, TLRs are important for the production of type I IFNs in pDCs but not in other cell types. The contributions of RLHs and TLRs to the production of type I IFNs in response to RNA viruses vary depending on the route of infection. Specifically, local infections induce IFNs through RLHs but not TLRs, whereas systemic infections strongly stimulate TLRs in pDCs. In this review, we discuss recent advances toward clarifying the signaling pathways activated by RLHs and TLRs.
uccessive bilateral frontal controlled cortical impact injuries show behavioral avings

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) affect millions of people each year. Research investigating repeated or serial damage in the form of lesions indicates that behavioral deficits are reduced in animals given sequential lesions separated by a sufficient period of recovery. In the lesion literature, this phenomenon is known as the serial lesion effect (SLE). Although the SLE phenomenon is established in the lesion literature, it has not been thoroughly investigated under current models of brain injury. In the current study, a controlled cortical impact of the bilateral frontal cortex was performed in either a single procedure or a serial procedure separated by two weeks. Rats were tested on the Morris water maze, bilateral tactile adhesive BI ecovery of function epeated injury lasticity removal task, rotarod and Barnes maze task to determine behavioral deficits. Histology was performed to determine lesion size and astrocyte and microglial response. A serial lesion effect was demonstrated across a majority of the behavioral tasks. However, histological analyses did not suggest a clear mechanistic link to the behavioral phenomena. This is the first study to demonstrate the SLE in a model of TBI, suggesting that behavioral deficits may actually be reduced in repeated head injuries, given an adequate time window between injuries.
EMPLOYEES’ PERCEPTIONS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ACTIVITIES AND SATISFACTION WITH LIFE

Based on a quantitative research conducted in Pakistan, this paper aims to explore employees’ association with and participation in corporate social responsibility activities. In order to achieve this purpose, the research highlights a structural equation model applied to primary data collected through a survey. The sample consists of 387 employees from the banking sector. The findings provide significant evidence of a relationship between the two dimensions of CSR (employees’ association and participation) and the satisfaction with life. The study also concludes that a higher level of employees’ association with CSR activities leads to a greater participation in these activities. Therefore, organizations can increase employees’ satisfaction with life by implementing socially responsible initiatives.
Clinical inquiries. Is aspirin effective for primary prevention of colon cancer?

Evidence summary A systematic review conducted for the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) addressed the use of aspirin for primary prevention of colorectal carcinomas (CRC) and colorectal adenomas (CRA). Pooled data from 2 randomizedcontrolled trials (RCTs) with a total of 61,947 patients showed no decrease in CRC incidence (relative risk [RR]=1.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.84-1.25) with regular aspirin use (325 mg every other day for 5 years or 100 mg every other day for 10 years). Six cohort studies that followed a total of 231,252 patients did report a decrease in CRC incidence over 4 to 10 years (RR=0.78; 95% CI, 0.63-0.97). In a pooled analysis evaluating 2 primary prevention RCTs (the British Doctors Aspirin Trial and UK-TIA Aspirin Trial, total N=7588), aspirin was found to reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer (hazard ratio [HR]=0.74; 95% CI, 0.56-0.97; P=.02 overall; for aspirin given for 5 years or longer, HR=0.63; 95% CI, 0.47-0.85; P=.002). The effect was significant only at 10 to 14 years of follow-up (0 to 9 years: HR=0.92, 95% CI, 0.56-1.49, P=.73; 5 to 9 years: HR=1.08, 95% CI, 0.55-2.14, P=.83; 10 to 14 years: HR=0.51, 95% CI, 0.29-0.90, P=.02; 15 to 19 years: HR=0.70, 95% CI, 0.43-1.14, P=.15; ≥20 years: HR=0.90, 95% CI, 0.42-1.95, P=.79). Adverse effects, including stroke, are dose-dependent The USPSTF review also summarized the harms associated with aspirin use. When aspirin was given for secondary prevention of stroke, the risk of hemorrhagic stroke was dose-dependent, varying from 0.3% to 1.1% (100 mg/d: 0.3%, 95% CI, 0.2%-0.4%; 100-325 mg/d: 0.3%, 95% CI, 0.2%-0.3%; 325 mg/d: 1.1%, 95% CI, 0.7%-1.5%). Aspirin also was associated with an increased risk of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms (odds ratio [OR]=1.7; 95% CI, 1.5-1.8), GI bleeding (RR=1.6-2.5), and hospitalization for GI bleeding (OR=1.9; 95% CI, 1.1-3.1). The risks of GI bleeding or perforation were dosedependent.
A 150 GHz Amplifier With 8 dB Gain and $+$6 dBm $P_{\rm sat}$ in Digital 65 nm CMOS Using Dummy-Prefilled Microstrip Lines

A 150 GHz amplifier in digital 65 nm CMOS process is presented. Matching loss is reduced and bandwidth extended by simplistic topology: no dc-block capacitor, shunt-only tuning and radial stubs for ac ground. Dummy-prefilled microstrip lines, with explicit yet efficient dummy modeling, are used as a compact, density-rule compliant matching element. Transistor layout with parallel gate feed yields 5.7 dB of MSG at 150 GHz. Measurement shows the amplifier exhibits 8.2 dB of gain, 6.3 dBm of Psat, 1.5 dBm of PidB and 27 GHz of 3 dB bandwidth, while consuming 25.5 mW at 1.1 V. The dummy-prefilled microstrip line exhibits QTL ¿ 12 up to 200 GHz.
Do Online Marketplaces Become More Efficient Over Time

An increasing proportion of transactions in two-sided markets are being mediated by online platforms. Presumably, agents choose to use online platforms because they have a lower transaction cost technology compared to alternatives. I use data from a growing online platform that matches travelers and hosts to study matching and transaction costs on online platforms. I show that the matching probability for guests has increased by 18% over a span of two years on the platform. I then show that the increase in efficiency holds even when controlling for the search intensity of guests, the change in the composition of transactions and aggregate market conditions at the time of search I demonstrate that guests are elastic with respect to the time it takes to make a transaction. I then investigate one potential reason for why guests are more successful over time: a decrease in the transaction costs required to book. I show that the time to book and the amount of communication required to book on the platform are falling over time. I then consider three possible explanation hypotheses for the reduction in required transaction costs: learning, reputation building and platform policy. I show that all three are likely important for explain the increased efficiency over time.
A comparison of ratio and allometric scaling methods for normalizing power and strength in elite rugby union players

Abstract In this study, we compared the effectiveness of ratio and allometric scaling for normalizing power and strength in elite male rugby union players. Rugby union forwards (n = 18) and backs (n = 20) were assessed for squat jump and bench throw peak power, and box squat and bench press one-repetition maximum strength. The performance data for the forwards and backs were compared using ratio (P/BM) and allometric scaling (P/BMb ), where P represents performance, BM is body mass in kilograms, and b is a power exponent. A proposed allometric exponent (0.67) and exponents (±95% confidence intervals) derived for the box squat (0.33 ± 0.31), bench press (0.45 ± 0.30), bench throw (0.46 ± 0.36), and squat jump (0.64 ± 0.31) exercises were used. In general, the absolute expression of power and strength was superior for the heavier forwards, but after ratio scaling these performance measures then favoured the lighter backs. There were no performance differences between the forwards and backs after allometric scaling using either the proposed or the derived exponents. Thus, allometric scaling may provide a more effective method for normalizing power and strength in elite athletes when body size is a confounding variable.
The implementation of socially responsible purchasing in Swedish organisations

Social and ethical issues in the supply chain are gaining importance in all types of organizations. Therefore some public and private organizations have already started to introduce socially responsible purchasing practices. However, current practices are limited and seem unsystematic. There is also a difference between few front-running organizations and the rest. It is therefore useful at this early stage to disseminate the knowledge and experiences based on the best-performing organizations. This paper does that by developing a model of the socially responsible purchasing process that is based on the empirical and secondary data. The model reveals the five elementary steps that are necessary in the implementation of systematic socially responsible purchasing practices: developing internal policies; setting purchasing criteria that regard social issues; applying assurance practices; managing supplier relations; and building internal capacity. The model also points to the different activities in the process and their associated challenges. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. (Less)