Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Daily oral administration of low‐dose methotrexate has greater antirheumatic effects in collagen‐induced arthritis rats

Methotrexate (MTX) is administered once or thrice weekly to patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Even though RA continually progresses, MTX is not administered daily. Therefore, we investigated whether the daily administration of a low dose of MTX inhibits the progression of arthritis in collagen‐induced arthritis (CIA) rats.
The impact of living with HIV: differences in experiences of stigma for heterosexual and homosexual people living with HIV in Australia.

UNLABELLED Background HIV in Australia has been closely aligned with the gay community and continues to disproportionately affect members of this community. Although heterosexual transmission remains low, recently there has been an increase in new HIV diagnoses attributable to heterosexual sex. This highlights the need to address the health and social consequences for heterosexual people living with HIV (PLHIV). This subanalysis of a larger study compared the experiences of stigma, health and wellbeing of a sample of gay and heterosexual PLHIV. METHODS Data were drawn from a study of experiences of stigma among PLHIV in Australia. All 49 participants who reported being heterosexual were included, as were 49 participants randomly selected from the 611 gay participants. The samples were compared on perceived HIV stigma, HIV treatment-related stigma, perceived negative reactions of others, HIV status disclosure, and health and wellbeing measures. RESULTS The findings illustrate that heterosexual PLHIV have more negative experiences in terms of both general HIV stigma and treatment-related stigma than gay PLHIV. The heterosexual PLHIV also perceived greater negative reactions in relation to their HIV status by different people in their social environment and were less likely to access treatment than the gay PLHIV. There were no differences between the two groups in any of the health and wellbeing measures. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that in the Australian context, heterosexual PLHIV may feel more stigmatised than gay PLHIV. In view of lower HIV treatment uptake in heterosexual PLHIV, addressing HIV-related stigma could contribute to increasing access to HIV treatment.
Control program of two-fingered dexterous manipulation with primitive motions

This paper presents a motion planning and control method for the dexterous manipulation with a robotic hand. For a given trajectory of an object, a simulation system calculates the necessary joint displacements and contact forces at the fingertips. These joint displacements and contact forces are the reference inputs to the control loops of the robotic fingers. A task is decomposed into a set of primitive motions, and each primitive motion is executed using the output of the simulation system as the reference. Force sensors and dynamic tactile sensors are used to adapt to uncertainties encountered during manipulation. Several experimental results are presented.
Restructuring the European post-trading industry - A quest for efficient financial markets

One of the main obstacles of establishing a fully efficient European financial market is the posttrading infrastructure, which creates excess costs and increased risks due to its suboptimal efficiency especially in cross-border trading. A restructuring of the whole post-trading industry can be expected to bring many advantages to the European economy. The solution preferred by this thesis is a regulated monopoly. This model allows for the reaping of economies of scale and scope and a significant decrease in indirect costs. In order to gain the full benefits associated with this solution new regulation on risk control and pricing would be needed. Yksi merkittavimmista esteista tehokkaiden eurooppalaisten rahoitusmarkkinoiden luomiselle on selvitystoiminta, joka aiheuttaa ylimaaraisia kuluja ja suurempia riskeja johtuen etenkin rajat ylittavan selvitystoiminnan tehottomuudesta. Koko selvitystoiminnan uudelleenjarjestamisen voidaan olettaa tuovan monia etuja Euroopan kansantaloudelle. Tama tutkielma suosittelee selvitystoiminnan jarjestamista saannellyksi monopoliksi. Taman mallin avulla pystyttaisin hyodyntamaan tehokkaasti skaalaetuja ja vahentamaan merkittavasti epasuoria kuluja. Jotta naihin tuloksiin paastaisiin, tulisi luoda uutta riskinhallintaa ja hinnoittelua koskevaa saantelya.
Amantadine and rimantadine for influenza A in adults.

BACKGROUND Amantadine hydrochloride and rimantadine hydrochloride have antiviral properties, but they are not widely used due to a lack of knowledge of their potential value and concerns about possible adverse effects. OBJECTIVES The objective of this review was to assess the efficacy, effectiveness and safety ("effects") of amantadine and rimantadine in healthy adults. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library Issue 3, 2005), MEDLINE (2003 to August Week 4, 2005), EMBASE (October 2003 to July 2005) and reference lists of articles. SELECTION CRITERIA Randomised and quasi-randomised studies comparing amantadine and/or rimantadine with placebo, control medication or no intervention, or comparing doses or schedules of amantadine and/or rimantadine in healthy adults. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS For prophylaxis (prevention) trials the numbers of participants with clinical influenza (influenza-like-illness or ILI) or with confirmed influenza A and adverse effects were analysed. Analysis for treatment trials was of the mean duration of fever, length of hospital stay and adverse effects. MAIN RESULTS Amantadine prevented 25% of ILI cases (95% confidence interval (CI) 13% to 36%), and 61% of influenza A cases (95% CI 35% to 76%). Amantadine reduced duration of fever by one day (95% CI 0.7 to 1.2). Rimantadine demonstrated comparable effectiveness, but there were fewer trials and the results for prophylaxis were not statistically significant. Both amantadine and rimantadine induced significant gastrointestinal adverse effects. Adverse effects of the central nervous system and study withdrawals were significantly more common with amantadine than rimantadine. Neither drug affected the rate of viral shedding from the nose and the course of asymptomatic influenza. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS Amantadine and rimantadine have comparable efficacy and effectiveness in relieving or treating symptoms of influenza A in healthy adults, although rimantadine induces fewer adverse effects than amantadine. The effectiveness of both drugs in interrupting transmission is probably low. Routine use of both drugs should be discouraged and both drugs should only be used when all other measures fail.
Determinants of Hotel Chains’ Market Presence in a Destination – A Global Study

The paper examines the host country-specific factors as determinants of hotel chains’ market presence in a destination. Three types of hotel chains’ market presence are identified – absolute market presence (number of chain affiliated hotels/rooms), relative market presence (share of affiliated hotels/rooms in the total number of hotels/rooms in a destination) and market presence intensity (number of affiliated hotels/rooms per 1000 people). The impact of the following country-specific factors on hotel chains’ market presence is investigated: size of hotel industry, average capacity of hotels, size of tourism sector, importance of tourism for the economy, population size, economy size, wealth of local population, level of globalisation, destination competitiveness, human development, geographic location, least developed country status and OECD membership. The sample includes 116 countries. We find that the factors of country choice that prior literature has identified as important on micro (company) level, are not necessarily valid on macro (industry) level. Results show that on macro level the hotel chains’ market presence is influenced significantly only by few factors – size of hotel industry, average capacity of hotels and geographic location of a country. Managerial implication, limitations and future research directions are also discussed.
Simulation of arc characteristics in molded case circuit breaker

This paper focuses on the numerical investigation of arc plasma behavior in a certain type molded circuit breaker. A 3-D simulation model based on the magneto-hydrodynamics theory is built and calculated. The basic arc parameters are described by the coupled equations of gas dynamics and electromagnetic field. By adopting a thin layer of nonlinear resistance elements to represent the voltage drop of plasma sheath, the arc splitting process is included. The detailed arc behaviors are presented and preliminarily discussed according to the calculated temperature and arc current distributions. Moreover, experiments are carried out to validate the simulation results. The arc voltage acquired by the numerical and experimental approaches shows good agreement.
Robust stabilization of a class of uncertain nonlinear systems via fuzzy control: quadratic stabilizability, H∞ control theory, and linear matrix inequalities

This paper presents stability analysis for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems and a method for designing robust fuzzy controllers to stabilize the uncertain nonlinear systems, First, a stability condition for Takagi and Sugeno's fuzzy model is given in terms of Lyapunov stability theory. Next, new stability conditions for a generalized class of uncertain systems are derived from robust control techniques such as quadratic stabilization, H/sup /spl infin// control theory, and linear matrix inequalities. The derived stability conditions are used to analyze the stability of Takagi and Sugeno's fuzzy control systems with uncertainty which can be regarded as a generalized class of uncertain nonlinear systems, The design method employs the so-called parallel distributed compensation, important issues for the stability analysis and design are remarked. Finally, three design examples of fuzzy controllers for stabilizing nonlinear systems and uncertain nonlinear systems are presented.
Multiband 4-port MIMO antenna system for LTE700/2300/2500 operation in the laptop computer

A multiband 4-port MIMO antenna system for LTE700/2300/2500 operation in the laptop computer is presented. It mainly consists of a pair of two-antenna structures symmetrically disposed at right and left upper corners of the supporting metal frame of the laptop display respectively. The proposed two-antenna structure comprises two the same compact antenna designs covering LTE700/2300/2500 bands and orthogonally locating at two adjacent edges of the upper right or left corner. By simply designing a grounded short strip resonator embedded in-between the two nearby compact antenna designs as a higher-band wavetrap and an un-grounded long folded line resonator as a mutual coupling cancellation mechanism for the lower operating band of them, good isolation and low correlation coefficient are obtained between antenna ports of the two-antenna structures over the whole LTE700/2300/2500 bands to achieve a 4-port MIMO antenna system successfully.
Optical transmission of OFDM NQAM signals by direct laser modulation

The OFDM modulation method is widely used in several wireless applications because they are robust against multi-path distortions in the radio channel. However OFDM is sensitive to the channel nonllnearities. The OFDM signals are usually transmitted over an optical link to the wireless link. In this method the radio signals are transposed into the optical domain. In low cost systems direct laser modulation is applied. The nonlinearity of this type of modulation can cause distortion and this way limitation on the optical transmission. In this paper we present investigations on the limitations by simulations and experiments with the result of conditions for optimum operation.
Three in a row—how sodium ions cross the channel

Sodium channels are central to a host of fundamental cellular processes, including sensory perception, pain, and muscle contraction. In order to understand any of these processes in detail, it is necessary to know the atomic structure of the channel proteins both with and without bound sodium ions. In this issue, Naylor et al (2016) present the structure of a bacterial sodium channel tetramer. The three bound, partially hydrated sodium ions line up neatly in a row inside the selectivity filter, providing us with the first detailed insights into ion conduction in sodium channels, and the mechanisms by which sodium and potassium ions are discriminated.
Visual perception: stage one of a long-term investigation into cognitive components of achievement.

Summary. — This study comprised the first stage in a long-term investigation of various cognitive components of scholastic achievement. The research was prompted by the dearth of comprehensive perceptual measures for diagnostic usage. A set of 19 visual perceptual tasks was assembled for assessing three levels of perception within four sub-skills, significantly extending the range of diagnostic assessment. These tasks were administered to 122 6- to 8-year-olds and results were item-analysed. After 243 children had been tested on the new set, three visual factors were differentiated according to perceptual and conceptual complexity. Cognitive complexity emerged as a more important differentiation than the verbal/non-verbal and meaningful/non-meaningful distinctions. Finally, the association between these perceptual measures and reading and arithmetic was assessed.
The Influence of Usability Dimensions on Web-Based Transactional Systems Acceptance: A conceptual framework

The Internet and World Wide Web has made the electronic market a competitive place for business organizations around the globe. In order to survive and compete in this globally accessible virtual marketplace, many business firms have developed and launched web-based transactional systems (WTS) to facilitate their customers. Given the importance of WTS, in terms of the degree of their influence on business process and business firm’s functioning, little efforts has been devoted by the research community towards the fundamental issues, such as what specific usability design characteristics influence customers’ purchase decisions or how the acceptance and usage of such systems is influenced by the usability design factors. In order to address these issues, this research extended technology acceptance model by incorporating usability dimension to understand WTS acceptance and usage.
Service capacity measurement by redlining with live production traffic

Accurate capacity measurement of Internet services is critical to ensure high-performing production computing environments. In this work, we present our solution of performing accurate capacity measurement. Referred to as “LiveRedliner”, it uses live traffic in production environments to drive the measurement, hence avoiding many pitfalls that prevent capacity measurement from obtaining accurate values in synthetic lab environment.
Statistical thermodynamics of the cluster solid-liquid transition.

A direct connection between the solid-liquid transition in atomic clusters and the macroscopic phase transition is established through analysis of the size scaling of the latent heat and transition rounding. The transition occurs without phase separation, leading to remarkable consequences in caloric experiments. These features are all quantified through the characteristic shape of the classical state density, computed by a new Monte Carlo method.
Analytical Techniques for Social Forestry Evaluation: a Review

A review of main analytical is presented in the context of social forestry in India. It is argued that goal programming needs to be complemented with social cost benefit analysis in order to achieve a broader holistic approach encapsulating the socio-economic objectives of social forestry policy. Other analytical techniques such as input-output analysis, optimum output model and multiplies analysis were found inadequate for the evaluation of social forestry.
Evidence-based review of probiotics for antibiotic-associated diarrhea and Clostridium difficile infections q

Probiotics are living microbes taken to confer a health benefit on the host. Although probiotics have a long history of use in Europe and Asia and have been on the U.S. market for over 14 years, there is still confusion about how to effectively use them. The use of probiotics for the prevention of antibioticassociated diarrhea (AAD) and the treatment of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) has been tested in randomized controlled clinical trials. This paper will review the evidence supporting probiotic therapy for these two diseases and also review the advantages and disadvantages of probiotics. The advantages of probiotic therapy include multiple mechanisms of action against pathogens, the ability to interact with the host’s natural defense systems, survival to the target organ and a good risk to benefit ratio. Disadvantages of probiotics include lack of standardization for clinical trial designs, variations in regulatory standards, poor quality control for some products and infrequent serious adverse reactions. Overall, probiotics offer a promising strategy for the prevention and treatment for AAD and CDI Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Examining the British PhD viva: Opening new doors or scarring for life?

Abstract The PhD viva – regardless of its format – has the potential to be a significant rite of passage for the student. It is an experience that can resonate for months or years afterwards. Part of the challenge is that for everyone involved – student, supervisory team and examiners – a degree of end-point uncertainty exists. These ambiguities and tensions are perhaps an inherent part of any examination but are particularly characteristic of the examination of the individual and unique body of work that constitutes the doctoral thesis. In recent years, increased attention has been placed on the processes that surround the examination, aiming to increase transparency, consistency and fairness. However, the process of examining a student and their thesis remains challenging and is surrounded by different agendas, ideologies and practices. This paper examines some of the issues surrounding the PhD viva, primarily focusing on the British viva whilst weaving in commentary about the Australian system.
Governance Mechanisms of Logistics Service Integrated Network

The logistics service integrated network is the primary factor in the logistics integrated service. This paper analyzed both the connotation and structure of the logistics service integrated network. It elaborated on the governance logic of the logistics service integrated network in terms of relationship, interaction and collaboration. Since the governance model of a logistics service integrated network is dominated by contractual governance, this paper discussed its macro-governance mechanisms (e.g. trust mechanism, reputation mechanism, culture mechanism and joint sanctions mechanism) and micro-governance mechanism (e.g. entry barriers mechanism, incentive and restrictive mechanism, coordination mechanism and information feedback mechanism) so as to promote a coordinated effect on the logistics service integrated network.
Dual-polarized broadband dipole

A dual-polarized, broadband antenna made up of two single-polarized dipoles is presented. The antenna is mounted on a ground plane to produce a low-profile structure. Two fractal-like elements are used, but a very wide bandwidth is only achieved by making adjustments to the shape to reduce the coupling between the two polarizations. The resulting improved element exhibits an input return loss better than -10 dB over a 1:3.5 band. The isolation is better than about -30 dB, and the radiation characteristics are satisfactory within the bandwidth.
Inhibition of protein synthesis transiently stimulates initiation of minichromosome replication in Escherichia coli

Replication of oriC-dependent minichromosomes was found to be transiently stimulated when protein synthesis was inhibited by the addition of chloramphenicol. Initiation of replication was also induced by amino acid starvation of relA mutant strains and a nutritional upshift. The results are explained on the basis that these treatments rendered RNA polymerase more available for participation in the initiation process. As a consequence, the oriC duplex may be transcriptionally activated to an open form, a necessary prerequisite for DNA polymerization.
Role of Chloride Ion Channels in Human Lens Epithelial Cell Proliferation,Adhesion, and Migration.

The aim of this study was to investigate the proliferation, adhesion, and migration function of chloride ion channels in HLEC B-3, a human lens epithelial cell line, and provide experimental basis for studying the mechanism of human after-cataract as well as the effective methods for controlling and treating it. MTT and Scratch assay methods were applied to detect the proliferation, adhesion, and migration of HLEC B-3 after applying 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 μmol/L of chloride ion channel blockers (NPPB). In the cell proliferation experiment, no apparent difference was found in the first 12 and 24 h after treatment with 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 μmol/L NPPB or 48 h after treatment with 20, 50, 100 and 200 μmol/L NPPB. The cell proliferations were obviously inhibited compared with the control group(without NPPB treatment), and the difference was significant (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Cell adhesion experimental results showed that when the cells were treated with 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 μmol/L NPPB for 12 or 24 h, cell adhesions were obviously inhibited. The difference was very significant (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01) compared with the control group. The activity of chloride ion channels can inhibit the proliferation, adhesion, and migration of LECs; therefore, inhibiting its activity can control the occurrence of human after-cataracts.
Kebijakan Hutang, Kebijakan Dividen, dan Profitabilitas, Serta Dampaknya Terhadap Investment Opportunity Set (IOS)

This research aimed to analyze the impact of the debt policy, dividend policy, and the profitability of each proxied by DER, DPR and ROE thru the investment opportunity set with CAPBVA as the proxy. The population of this research is a trade service company, services and investments which are listed on the Stock Exchange. The sampling method used is purposive sampling, 19 companies are selected as research objects with 76 samples of data involved. Data analysis technique is used multiple linear regression analysis. The analytical tool used to process data is E-Views 8.0. The results of this research showed that the DER and DPR has a significant negative effect on IOS, while ROE has no significant effect on IOS. The influence proportion of the independent variables can explain IOS by 16.38 percent, while 83.62 percent is explained by other variables outside the research model.