Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Neural Basis of Dietary Self-Control

Limitations and Future Direction As an emerging area, current studies on life experience and DNA methylation do have their limitations. One major limitation across most studies is the lack of longitudinal data. A very limited number of studies examined the variation of DNA methylation in a sample population from childhood to adulthood, and the majority of the existing data is collected at only one point of an individual’s life span. This limitation exists because of the recent and on-going development of methylome measurement technologies (Borghol et al., 2011). Methylome refers to the patterns of methylation modifications in the genome an organism. Methods of methylome measurement are relatively new-established, providing a relatively narrow time span for tracking the developmental path of individuals. Longitudinal studies are helpful in terms of revealing the changes of methylation patterns over time. In the future, research should focus on the formation of longitudinal DNA methylation data set, which facilitates a more extensive understanding of changes in methylations over time, and helps to establish a more explicit interaction mechanisms among experiences, DNA methylation and pathological outcomes. Another limitation is the use of various tissue types in DNA methylation investigations. The majority of studies used blood samples or saliva samples, with only one group (McGowan et al. 2009) examining brain samples. The advantage of using blood or saliva samples is that these methods are non-invasive, and because the DNA methylation variability is relatively consist across the tissues of the same individual (Mehta et al., 2013), the DNA methylation pattern detected in peripheral blood or saliva can reflect the changes in the brain to some extents. However, as DNA methylation primarily serves as a mechanism assisting cell differentiation, tissuespecific methylation pattern always exists (Kundakovic et al., 2014), and the extent of how this pattern interacts Moreover, individuals with high or low SES levels in childhood have different methylation patterns in gene promoters associated with functional signalling pathways. Similarly, Tehranifar et al. (2013) examined DNA methylation of three repetitive elements in adult women blood samples with varied childhood and adulthood SES. They found two repetitive elements having elevated methylation level associated with lower SES in childhood, yet only one element had lower methylation level associated with higher SES in adulthood, suggesting a greater association between changes in methylation levels and SES in childhood than SES in adulthood. Taken together, there is a clear association between childhood SES and DNA methylation values.
Trust enforcement in vehicular networks: challenges and opportunities

A major objective of vehicular networking is to improve road safety and travel convenience. The experience of individual vehicles on traffic conditions and travel situations can be shared with other vehicles for improving their route planning and driving decisions. Nevertheless, the frequent occurrence of adversary vehicles in the network is unavoidable. These vehicles may engage in various malicious activities affecting the overall network performance. To control and monitor effectively security threats in vehicular networks, an efficient trust management system should be employed to identify the trustworthiness of individual vehicles and detect malicious drivers. This study provides a review of the research efforts aimed at enabling trust in vehicular environments. The major challenges are highlighted, and an edge-based architecture is proposed as a supportive platform. Furthermore, existing models proposed for trust evaluation, aggregation, propagation and decision making are reviewed. Finally, the current directions to enforce trust in vehicular environments are highlighted.
A Computer Device to Deliver Behavioral Interventions for Insomnia

An automated program for delivering stimulus control and sleep restriction strategies was developed and implemented on a handheld computer and compared to a self-help manual program in 90 chronic primary insomnia participants at 6 and 12 weeks. The computerized program was generally well accepted and utilized. No significant differences between conditions were found on questionnaire and sleep diary measures, but subsequent exploratory analyses revealed greater percentages of participants in the computer condition compared to the self-help condition who were classified as without clinically significant insomnia at 6 weeks based on Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) criteria. Further research is needed on the efficacy of computerized behavioral approaches for insomnia, but the results of this study indicate that computerized delivery of stimulus control and sleep restriction is feasible and sufficiently promising to warrant further study.
A Conceptual Technique for Laparoscopic Right Hepatectomy Based on Facts and Oncologic Principles: The Caudal Approach.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate a new conceptual technique of laparoscopic right hepatectomy. BACKGROUND Despite significant improvements in surgical care in the last decades, morbidity is still high after major hepatectomy. Blood loss and transfusions are known to significantly increase the risk of postoperative complications and cancer recurrence after liver resection. A laparoscopic approach may improve perioperative outcomes in these cases, but data in literature are limited and the surgical technique is not yet standardized. METHODS A new conceptual technique of right hepatectomy was designed using evidence-based facts and oncologic rules: laparoscopy with pneumoperitoneum, low central venous pressure, intermittent pedicle clamping, anterior approach without mobilization, and parenchymal section with ultrasonic dissector. Thirty patients were prospectively enrolled between October 2011 and September 2013. Primary endpoint was intraoperative blood loss. RESULTS Eighty percent of patients underwent surgery for malignant disease and cirrhosis was present in 11 patients. Benign lesions accounted for 13% of indications, whereas living liver donation was performed in 2 cases. Median blood loss was 100 mL (50-700) and transfusion rate was 7%. Five patients (16.6%) required conversion to laparotomy, including 2 using hybrid technique. The median operative time was 360 minutes (210-510). R0 resection rate was 87% (21/24). Postoperative morbidity rate was 23% (7/30) with 8 complications including 6 Clavien III-IV. No respiratory complication occurred. The median hospital stay was 8 days. No patient died. CONCLUSIONS This study showed that several evidence-based facts could be combined to define a new conceptual technique of laparoscopic right hepatectomy allowing for low blood loss and morbidity.
Efficiency Improvement in DTC of Six-Phase Induction Machine by Adaptive Gradient Descent of Flux

In this paper, a flux search controller is proposed to improve the efficiency of direct torque control of a six-phase induction machine. The proposed flux search controller is based on adaptive gradient descent of motor flux value with fast response and easy implementation. A proper loss model of six-phase induction motor in conjunction with the proposed method has been presented. Stator frequency variation with respect to flux reduction is considered as a new aspect of fast flux search control. Reduction of the flux in the search control technique leads to an increase in stator frequency, and an error in core loss calculation occurs if the frequency variation is ignored. The proposed search controller greatly improves efficiency by reducing core loss as well as harmonics loss. The approach not only is easy to implement and adaptive with regard to parameter variations but also requires no additional hardware for practical implementation. The simulation and experimental results presented in this paper verify the effectiveness of the proposed method in improving efficiency of direct torque control of six-phase induction motor drive.
Ataxia Telangiectasia-mutated Gene Product Inhibits DNA Damage-induced Apoptosis via Ceramide Synthase*

DNA double-stranded breaks (dsb) activate surveillance systems that identify DNA damage and either initiate repair or signal cell death. Failure of cells to undergo appropriate death in response to DNA damage leads to misrepair, mutations, and neoplastic transformation. Pathways linking DNA dsb to reproductive or apoptotic death are virtually unknown. Here we report that metabolic incorporation of 125I-labeled 5-iodo-2′deoxyuridine, which produces DNA dsb, signaled de novo ceramide synthesis by post-translational activation of ceramide synthase (CS) and apoptosis. CS activation was obligatory, since fumonisin B1, a fungal pathogen that acts as a specific CS inhibitor, abrogated DNA damage-induced death. X-irradiation yielded similar results. Furthermore, inhibition of apoptosis using the peptide caspase inhibitor benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp fluoromethylketone did not affect CS activation, indicating this event is not a consequence of induction of apoptosis. ATM, the gene mutated in ataxia telangiectasia, is a member of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase family that constitutes the DNA damage surveillance/repair system. Epstein-Barr virus-immortalized B cell lines from six ataxia telangiectasia patients with different mutations exhibited radiation-induced CS activation, ceramide generation, and apoptosis, whereas three lines from normal patients failed to manifest these responses. Stable transfection of wild type ATM cDNA reversed these events, whereas antisense inactivation of ataxia telangiectasia-mutated gene product in normal B cells conferred the ataxia telangiectasia phenotype. We propose that one of the functions of ataxia telangiectasia-mutated gene product is to constrain activation of CS, thereby regulating DNA damage-induced apoptosis.
Ammonium Perfluorooctanoate Production and Occupational Mortality

Background: Perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) is a synthetic chemical widely detectable in blood of nonoccupationally exposed persons. Its human health effects are not well-characterized. Methods: We conducted a mortality study in a cohort of 3993 employees of an ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO) manufacturing facility. APFO rapidly dissociates to PFOA in blood. We estimated standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) compared with the general population, and fit time-dependent Cox regression models to estimate the risks using an internal-cohort referent population. A priori diseases of interest were liver, pancreatic, prostate, and testicular cancer; cirrhosis of the liver; and cerebrovascular disease. Results: APFO exposure was not associated with liver, pancreatic or testicular cancer or with cirrhosis of the liver. SMRs (95% CI) for prostate cancer with no, probable and definite exposure strata were 0.4 (0.1–0.9), 0.9 (0.4–1.8), and 2.1 (0.4–6.1), respectively, and for cerebrovascular disease 0.5 (0.3–0.8), 0.7 (0.4–1.1), and 1.6 (0.5–3.7), respectively. The diabetes SMR for probable exposure was 2.0 (1.0–3.2). Compared with an internal referent population of nonexposed workers, moderate or high exposures to ammonium perfluorooctanoate were positively associated with prostate cancer (HR = 3.0 [0.9–9.7] and 6.6 [1.1–37.7], respectively) and with cerebrovascular disease (1.8 [0.9–3.1] and 4.6 [1.3–17.0], respectively). Diabetes was associated with moderate exposure 3.7 (1.4–10.1); no deaths from diabetes occurred in workers with high exposure. Conclusion: We did not observe ammonium perfluorooctanoate exposure to be associated with liver, pancreatic, and testicular cancer or cirrhosis of the liver. Exposure was associated (albeit inconsistently) with prostate cancer, cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes.
UEP for video transmission in space-time coded OFDM systems

We provide a sub-channel partitioning based unequal error protection (UEP) scheme for a space-time block coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (STBC-OFDM) system. In such a scheme, video data is partitioned into high-priority (HP) and low-priority (LP) layers according to the importance of the data. At the receiver side, OFDM sub-channels are partitioned into high-quality (HQ) and low-quality (LQ) groups according to the estimated channel qualities. Based on the feedback of sub-channel partitioning results, the transmitter assigns HP and LP video data to the corresponding HQ and LQ sub-channels. Through theoretical analysis, we show there is indeed a significant BER difference between the HQ and LQ sub-channels, which can be exploited by UEP. Based on the analysis, we provide a criterion for determining the appropriate transmission power. Through computer simulations, we show that the proposed scheme offers significant performance gain compared to conventional methods. We also demonstrate that the scheme is the least sensitive to channel estimation errors among all compared schemes, and is hardly influenced by the Doppler spread. The feedback overhead can also be reduced with almost no performance penalty by bundling several neighboring sub-channels together and assigning them to the same group.
Recognizing Gravity as a Strong Force in Atmosphere Emissions Markets

Environmental economics has made it possible to estimate prices for air pollution externalities. However, these values are rarely observed in emissions trading markets. Moreover, market outcomes show prices persistently remain below expectations and frequently fall over time. Low allowance prices may appear virtuous, but often reflect poor market design that does not anticipate interaction with other policies, and may undermine confidence in market-based approaches to environmental policy. This paper surveys emissions markets and factors influencing prices, and concludes with a discussion of how market design can anticipate and remedy the strong tendency for low prices.
Evolution of Organization Development (OD) in Indian Organizations - Learnings and Future Direction

This paper, while beginning with the basic characteristic of OD, goes through existing literature to look at the evolutionary phase by documenting the experiences of OD interventions in Indian organizations. It also analyses the facilitating and hindering factors as major learnings from these interventions. Finally it also recommends future directions for pursuing systematic research in OD/OB area in Indian context, especially to reinvent and make it a relevant and pragmatic tool to bring about sustainable and long term change.
Enhancements of the Self-Detection Scheme for Boundary Recognition in Wireless Sensor Networks

We address the problem of boundary recognition in wireless sensor networks and propose a new self-detection algorithm that identifies the boundary of the network and available holes with high degree of accuracy and efficiency. It is a self-detection algorithm in which every node in the network determines its position, whether it resides on the boundary or inside the network. We show that our algorithm works accurately in networks with random and uniform distribution and consumes low energy. We explore sparse sensor networks with lower density, and examine the challenges towards the boundary recognition in sparse networks.
What Do You Mean by ‘Good’? the Search for Exceptional Primary Schools in South Africa's No-Fee School System

This paper describes a rigorous data collection process to find and verify the quality of what could potentially be high-functioning or high-performing schools accessible to the poor in three of South Africa’s nine provinces. A potential sample of outlier schools is selected using system-wide Universal Annual National Assessment data corroborated against school recommendations collected from a variety of system actors expected to be informed about school quality. Unfortunately, literacy testing in 31 purposively selected schools yields no example of high-performing, no-fee schools. However, we identify outlier or resilient students even in under-performing schools. Furthermore, within the no-fee school system there exists a continuum of functionality. Schools exist that while far from reaching good (or even adequate) median levels of English literacy, exhibit relatively higher literacy levels than other sample schools after controlling for student background differences. The presence of these relatively better performing sample schools (and performance variation more generally in the no-fee system) suggests that there is a middle-ground, a rightward movement away from dysfunction that can be reached. However, it is not clear that all system actors are able to detect variations in school quality. Our sample of respondents recommending ’good’ schools are only able to identify slightly better performing no-fee schools. For certain groups, specifically education district officials, enrolment growth appears to be a better indicator of their perceptions of ‘good’ than measures of student performance.
Institutional Experience of Five-day Courses of Irinotecan as Palliative Chemotherapy in Chinese Patients with Refractory Neuroblastoma

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy, safety and quality of life of irinotecan in Chinese refractory neuroblastoma patients in affiliated hospitals of China Medical University. Patients and Methods: Seven patients received irinotecan at 40-50 mg/m/day administered as a 60-minute infusion for 5 consecutive days, every 3 weeks. Tumour response, toxicities and performance status were evaluated. Results: Stable disease was observed in 3 of 7 patients (42.9%). Most common grade 3-4 toxicities were myelosuppressive haematologic toxicities. Grade 1-2 nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, or cramping and diarrhoea were the most common non-haematologic drug-related toxicities observed. Quality of life was improved in almost all patients. Conclusion: Irinotecan as a single agent was well tolerated and was a very safe regimen in Chinese patients. Although this regimen induced no objective response (CR+PR) in refractory neuroblastoma patients, the clinical benefit rate (CR+PR+SD) was 42.9%. This regimen could alleviate pain and to some extent improve the quality of life for heavily pretreated refractory Chinese neuroblastoma patients.
Integration Strategy and Competitive Advantage: Model Constructing and Case Study

Reviewed relevant theories, we proposed an enterprise integration strategy and competitive advantage model. In the context of globalization and transition economy, some industries are characterized by industrial growth stage, so enterprises can implement horizontal and vertical integration strategies to achieve economies of scale and economies of scope, lower transaction costs, and on the basic of the above, enterprises must have a strong resource integration ability, then integrate enterprise resources by using country-specific advantages as to form firm-specific advantages, then it can build competitive advantage. In this paper, we took Baosteel for example, discussed the path of its competitive advantage formation.
A Cyclic Pentapeptide Derived from the Second EGF-Like Domain of Factor VII Is an Inhibitor of Tissue Factor Dependent Coagulation and Thrombus Formation

Summary We have previously reported the finding of a cyclic dodecapeptide representing loop I of the second EGF-like domain of FVII, which inhibited TF-dependent FX activation (Örning et al. 1997). The biological activity was localized to the tripeptide motif, Glu-Gln-Tyr. We have now synthesized a cyclic analog of this motif, Cys-Glu-Gln-Tyr-Cys (PN7051), evaluated its anticoagulant and antithrombotic properties and performed a detailed structural characterization of the peptide. PN7051 is a dose-dependent inhibitor of TF-dependent FX activation and coagulation of plasma with IC50 values of 10 ± 2 µM and 1.3 ± 0.2 mM, respectively. It shows inhibitory efficacy on acute thrombus formation in an ex vivo model of human thrombosis using native blood. Fibrin deposition, platelet-fibrin adhesion, platelet-thrombus formation, and thrombin-antithrombin complex formation were all inhibited by PN7051 at IC50 values between 0.3 and 0.7 mM. The cyclic peptide is a non-competitive inhibitor of FX activation with no significant activesite effects on FXa or FVIIa, indicating it affects FVII/TF/FX complex formation and function. Studies on the structure activity relationship revealed that Gln3-Tyr4, but not Glu2 were of importance for inhibition. In line with biological results, NMR measurements of PN7051 suggested that the Gln and Tyr residues configure a structural feature that contributes to the anticoagulant activity. Modeling of the Glu99Gln100Tyr101 motif in FVII and comparison with the solution structure of PN7051 suggest that the cyclic pentapeptide exerts its antithrombotic effect by interfering with the docking of Tyr101 into a hydrophobic pocket in the catalytic domain thereby disrupting an essential interaction between the second EGF-like and the catalytic domains of FVII.
The Corporate Governance Effect of Large Shareholders’ Equity Balance: Evidence from Private Listed Companies

This paper studies the influence of equity balance on the performance of the company from two aspects of investment efficiency promotion and large shareholders’ hollowing down. On this basis, the paper further studies the impact of the large shareholder holding level and the large shareholder relationship on the effectiveness of equity checks and balance. Using the data of private listed companies in China, this paper constructs an empirical research model based on investment efficiency and tunneling as mediator variables. The results show that equity balance improves corporate investment efficiency and inhibits the tunneling of large shareholders, thereby enhancing the performance of the company. Therefore, from the perspective of the second type of agency cost, the effective balance view of large shareholders has been verified. The controlling rights of several major shareholders play an important role in restricting large shareholders’ looting of the company behavior. Equity balance promotes the efficiency of corporate investment, and other large shareholders can also inhibit the tunneling behavior of large shareholders. However, for large shareholders with strong control, equity balance cannot play a corresponding role in corporate governance. In the plundering of the interests of minority shareholders, large shareholders will not only show equity checks and balance, but also collusion between major shareholders. If there is a large shareholder in the company, the possibility of conspiracy to be emptied by the company is relatively large. When the company has many large shareholders and these large shareholders have a hollowing motive, they may join up to act together to form a conspiracy of large shareholders. The contributions of this article lie in two aspects. First, the research on equity balance in promoting the efficiency of investment and restraining the corporate governance effect of large stockholders, explores the effect path of equity balance on the performance promotion, and the related research results of expanding and perfecting equity balance. Second, by studying that major shareholders may form a joint conspiracy to invade the company’s interests and analyzing the impact of the shareholder relationship on the effectiveness of equity checks and balance, this paper reveals the relationship between relational shareholders and equity checks and balance, which affects the company’s performance and tunneling. The conclusions provide a theoretical basis and policy recommendations for the improvement of the company ownership structure, the corporate governance mechanism and the investor protection.