Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The future of knowledge management: an international delphi study

The field of knowledge management (KM) is highly estimated in research and practice but at the same time relatively diffuse and scattered into diverging concepts, perspectives and disciplines. On that background, it was the aim of this delphi study to give more structure to the field of KM and to get an outlook on worthwhile developments for the next ten years. International experts of KM from natural/technical and social/business sciences as well as practicians of KM with a similar background were asked some basic questions onto the future of KM in two rounds. According to the experts, the future of knowledge management lies in a better integration into the common business processes, a concentration on the human‐organization‐interface and a better match of IT‐aspects to human factors whereas IT‐aspects rank low on this agenda. There are no broadly agreed theoretical approaches though something can be gained from the related organizational learning field; in general much more interdisciplinary and empirical research is needed. There are also almost no broadly agreed practical approaches besides communities of practice.
Hypertonic saline resuscitation after mesenteric ischemia/reperfusion induces ileal apoptosis.

BACKGROUND We have previously demonstrated that hypertonic saline (HS) resuscitation decreased inflammation and mucosal injury after mesenteric ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). In contrast to I/R cell necrosis, apoptosis provides controlled cell death that minimizes inflammation. We therefore hypothesized that HS resuscitation after mesenteric I/R would induce apoptosis and decrease mucosal injury. METHODS Rats underwent 60 minutes of superior mesenteric artery occlusion (SMAO) and then received no resuscitation or resuscitation with 4 mL/kg of HS, 4 mL/kg of lactated Ringer's (LR) solution (equal volume), or 32 mL/kg of LR solution (equal salt load). Rats were killed at 6 hours of reperfusion, and ileum was harvested for analysis. DNA fragmentation (apoptosis) was assessed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end-labeling (TUNEL) and mucosal injury by histology (Chiu score 0-5). Caspase-3 (proapoptotic mediator) and Bcl-xL (antiapoptotic mediator) protein expression were analyzed by Western immunoblot. RESULTS SMAO with no resuscitation, SMAO with 4 mL/kg of LR, and SMAO with 32 mL/kg of LR increased apoptosis (quantitated by TUNEL) and I/R-induced mucosal injury (quantitated by Chiu score). This was associated with an increase to similar levels in both proapoptotic caspase-3 and antiapoptotic Bcl-xL protein expression. Moreover, SMAO with 4 mL/kg of HS further increased apoptosis but decreased mucosal injury. This was associated with a differential expression of proapoptotic caspase-3 over antiapoptotic Bcl-xL. CONCLUSION HS resuscitation after mesenteric I/R significantly increased ileal mucosal apoptosis while decreasing mucosal injury and may represent a novel mechanism by which HS resuscitation after mesenteric I/R reduces inflammation and imparts protection to the gut.
[Improved results in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with the ALL-BFM 90 protocol in the Czech Republic].

BACKGROUND Prognosis of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL)--the most common cancer in childhood, has improved remarkably over the last 40 years. The authors report the treatment outcome in children with ALL cured according to ALL-BFM 90 Study protocol in the Czech Republic during the first half of nineties. METHODS AND RESULTS Children aged 0-18 years were included into the study in 10 centers between 1990 to 1996. Patients were classified into standard-risk (SR), medium-risk (MR) and high-risk (HR) group according to initial leukaemic burden, early treatment response, and genotype of leukaemia. Duration of the chemotherapy was two years. Treatment results were evaluated in 352 children. With a median follow-up of 7.3 years, event-free-survival (EFS) was 71.3% and overall survival 76.4%. EFS was 80.3%, 74% and 28.2% in SR, MR and HR group, respectively. Relapse was diagnosed in 17.8% of the patients. CONCLUSIONS The treatment outcome of children with ALL improved significantly (p = 0.0045) compared to the previous study ALL-BFM 83 (EFS 62%). These results are comparable to those achieved by leading leukaemia study groups in the world.
Microfiber-Wrapped Bi-Conical-Tapered SMF for Curvature Sensing

We propose a microfiber-wrapped-based structure for curvature measurement. The sensor is fabricated by wrapping a microfiber of 8.6 μm around a bi-conically tapered single mode fiber (SMF). The light is launched through the SMF, and in the tapered region, the light radiated out of the SMF gets coupled to the microfiber. As the curvature of the sensor is increased, more light gets radiated out of the tapered SMF, and hence, the intensity of the light collected from the microfiber also increases. We have achieved a maximum curvature sensitivity of 20.98 dB/m-1 for the curvature range 0-0.5 m-1. The sensor is almost insensitive to temperature change. Since only standard SMF is used for sensor fabrication and sensing is based on intensity, the proposed sensor may open a new window for economical curvature sensing.
Protective effect of vitamin E against ethanol-induced hyperhomocysteinemia, DNA damage, and atrophy in the developing male rat brain.

BACKGROUND Chronic alcoholism leads to elevated plasma and brain homocysteine (Hcy) levels, as demonstrated by clinical investigations and animal experiments. It has been posited that elevated levels of Hcy mediate DNA damage, brain atrophy, and excitotoxicity. The current study sought to elucidate the effect of vitamin E on ethanol-induced hyperhomocysteinemia, DNA damage, and atrophy in the developing hippocampus and cerebellum of rats. METHODS Pregnant Wistar rats received ethanol with or without vitamin E from gestation day 7 throughout lactation. Weight changes in the brain, hippocampus and cerebellum, DNA damage, and Hcy levels in the plasma, hippocampus, and cerebellum of male offspring were measured at the end of lactation. RESULTS The results revealed that along with a significant decrease in brain, cerebellum, and hippocampus weights in animals that received alcohol, the levels of DNA damage and Hcy significantly increased. Significant amelioration of brain atrophy and DNA damage as well as restoration of the elevated level of Hcy to that of controls were found in vitamin E-treated rats. CONCLUSIONS These findings strongly support the idea that ethanol intake by dams during pregnancy and lactation induces Hcy-mediated oxidative stress in the developing hippocampus and cerebellum of offspring rats, and that these effects can be alleviated by vitamin E as an antioxidant.
Striving for a thorough understanding of the discipline: A commentary on the first four papers

This commentary looks at the first four articles, those by Hazel Francis, David Hay, Max Scheja and Anna Bonnevier, and Lennart Svensson. Each of these four papers examines the processes by which students come to understand, or fail to understand, ideas within academic disciplines. It concentrates on those ideas introduced in the four papers that contribute most strongly to the main theme of this Special Issue in clarifying the nature of the learning processes through which students strive to reach a thorough understanding. Although the theoretical frameworks used in the analyses are quite different, the conclusions reached nevertheless seem to offer complementary views of how students come to understand. In this commentary, certain aspects from each of the articles are highlighted, leading to a more general discussion to consider how these papers extend the research on student understanding.
An Analytical Approach for the Design of Class-E Resonant DC–DC Converters

We present a new approach to design resonant dc-dc converters, that allows us to achieve both a more accurate implementation and a simpler architecture, by reducing the number of required passive components. The approach is applied to a class-E topology, and it is based on the analytic solution of the system of differential equations regulating the converter evolution. Our technique is also capable of taking into account the most important circuit nonidealities. This represents an important breakthrough with respect to the state of the art, where class-E circuit analysis is based on strong simplifying assumptions, and the final circuit design is achieved by means of numerical simulations after many time-consuming parametric sweeps. The developed methodology is dimensionless, and the achieved design curves can be denormalized to easily get the desired circuit design. Measurements on two different prototypes confirm an extremely high adherence to the developed mathematical approach.
Hemmt die Zinsschranke Investitionen? Ein weiteres Zinsschranken-Paradoxon

Die Zinsschranke beschrankt den Abzug von Zinsaufwendungen bei der steuerlichen Bemessungsgrundlage, was unter anderem eine ubermasige Fremdfinanzierung der Unternehmen verhindern soll.Weil dadurch eine investitionshemmende Wirkung entstunde, wurde die Zinsschranke in der Literatur vielfach kritisiert. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht modelltheoretisch den Einfluss der Zinsschranke auf die Vorteilhaftigkeit einer Investition im Vergleich zu ihrer Unterlassungsalternative und klart, ob und unter welchen Bedingungen die Zinsschranke zu einer Verzerrung der Investitionsentscheidung fuhren kann. Ergebnis ist ein mogliches Zinsschrankenparadoxon, das sowohl in nationalen wie auch internationalen Finanzierungsstrukturen auftreten kann: Unter realistischen Bedingungen kann die Zinsschranke die Vorteilhaftigkeit selbst von vollstandig fremdfinanzierten Investitionen sogar steigern.
Medical Examination of Children Thought to Have Been Sexually Abused

INTRODUCTION Both the medical and legal professions are concerned with the results of the medical examination of a child who it is thought has been sexually abused. This is because the results and findings of such an examination will often form a part of the evidence in a subsequent court case. The court case may involve allegations of a criminal offence or alternatively may be 'civil' in nature and, invariably, involve the question of the child's future welfare and upbringing. Irrespective of the nature of the proceedings there can be no doubt that serious questions are involved and that the findings of the medical examiner are likely to have an important bearing on the decisions reached in court. This article is concerned with civil proceedings; one significant outcome of such proceedings is the removal of the child from his or her parents.
GABAergic circuits sharpen tuning curves and modify response properties in the mustache bat inferior colliculus.

1. The influence of bicuculline on the tuning curves of 65 neurons in the inferior colliculus of the mustache bat was investigated. Single units were recorded with multibarrel electrodes where one barrel contained bicuculline, an antagonist specific for gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA)A receptors. Fifty-nine tuning curves were recorded from units that were sharply tuned to 60 kHz, the dominant frequency of the bat's orientation call, but six tuning curves were also recorded from units tuned to lower frequencies and whose tuning curves were broader than the 60 kHz cells. Tuning curves were constructed from peristimulus time (PST) histograms obtained over a wide range of frequency-intensity combinations. Thus tuning curves, PST histograms evoked by frequencies within the tuning curve, and rate-level functions at the best frequency were obtained before iontophoresis of bicuculline and compared with the tuning curves and response properties obtained during the administration of bicuculline. 2. Three general types of tuning curves were obtained: 1) open tuning curves that broadened on both the high- and low-frequency sides with increasing sound level; 2) level-tolerant tuning curves in which the width of the tuning curve remained uniformly narrow with increasing sound level; and 3) upper-threshold tuning curves, which did not discharge to high-intensity tone bursts at the best frequency, thereby creating closed or folded tuning curves. 3. One major finding is that GABAergic inhibition plays an important role in sharpening frequency tuning properties of many neurons in the mustache bat inferior colliculus. In response to blocking GABAergic inputs with bicuculline, the tuning curves broadened in 42% of the neurons that were sharply tuned to 60 kHz. The degree of change in most units varied with sound level: tuning curves were least affected, or not affected at all, within 10 dB of threshold and showed progressively greater changes at higher sound levels. These effects were seen in units that had open, level-tolerant, and upper-threshold tuning curves. 4. A second key result is that bicuculline affected rate-level functions and/or temporal discharge patterns in many units. Bicuculline transformed the rate-level functions of 13 cells that originally had nonmonotonic rate level functions, from strongly nonmonotonic into weakly nonmonotonic or monotonic functions. It also changed the temporal discharge patterns in 22 cells, and the changes were often frequency specific. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
New insights into the impact of the introduction of futures trading on stock price volatility

We examine whether, and to what extent, the introduction of trading in share futures contracts on individual stocks (i.e., individual share futures, or ISFs) has impacted on the systematic risk and volatility of the underlying shares. The use of ISFs allows a unique experimental design that complements existing work on index futures. Our major findings are as follows. First, we found a general reduction in systematic risk on individual stocks after the listing of futures. Second, we found evidence of a decline in unconditional volatility. Third, we found mixed evidence concerning the impact on conditional volatility. Fourth, the introduction of futures was found to impact on the market dynamics, as reflected by a change in the asymmetric volatility response, although the direction of that change is stock‐specific. In general, the results point to a number of features that are case‐specific and provide new insights into the mixed results that are typical of existing studies. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 21:237–255, 2001
The Context of Collecting Family Health History: Examining Definitions of Family and Family Communication about Health among African American Women

Public health initiatives encourage the public to discuss and record family health history information, which can inform prevention and screening for a variety of conditions. Most research on family health history discussion and collection, however, has predominantly involved White participants and has not considered lay definitions of family or family communication patterns about health. This qualitative study of 32 African American women—16 with a history of cancer—analyzed participants’ definitions of family, family communication about health, and collection of family health history information. Family was defined by biological relatedness, social ties, interactions, and proximity. Several participants noted using different definitions of family for different purposes (e.g., biomedical vs. social). Health discussions took place between and within generations and were influenced by structural relationships (e.g., sister) and characteristics of family members (e.g., trustworthiness). Participants described managing tensions between sharing health information and protecting privacy, especially related to generational differences in sharing information, fear of familial conflict or gossip, and denial (sometimes described as refusal to “own” or “claim” a disease). Few participants reported that anyone in their family kept formal family health history records. Results suggest family health history initiatives should address family tensions and communication patterns that affect discussion and collection of family health history information.
Limitations of the Mass Isotopomer Distribution Analysis of Glucose to Study Gluconeogenesis

Mass isotopomer distribution analysis allows studying the synthesis of polymeric biomolecules from 15N, 13C-, or 2H-labeled monomeric units in the presence of unlabeled polymer. The mass isotopomer distribution of the polymer allows calculation of (i) the enrichment of the monomer and (ii) the dilution of the newly synthesized polymer by unlabeled polymer. We tested the conditions of validity of mass isotopomer distribution analysis of glucose labeled from [U-13C3]lactate, [U-13C3]glycerol, and [2-13C]glycerol to calculate the fraction of glucose production derived from gluconeogenesis. Experiments were conducted in perfused rat livers, live rats, and live monkeys. In all cases, [13C]glycerol yielded labeling patterns of glucose that are incompatible with glucose being formed from a single pool of triose phosphates of constant enrichment. We show evidence that variations in the enrichment of triose phosphates result from (i) the large fractional decrease in physiological glycerol concentration in a single pass through the liver and (ii) the release of unlabeled glycerol by the liver, presumably via lipase activity. This zonation of glycerol metabolism in liver results in the calculation of artifactually low contributions of gluconeogenesis to glucose production when the latter is labeled from [13C]glycerol. In contrast, [U-13C3]lactate appears to be a suitable tracer for mass isotopomer distribution analysis of gluconeogenesis in vivo, but not in the perfused liver. In other perfusion experiments with [2H5]glycerol, we showed that the rat liver releases glycerol molecules containing one to four 2H atoms. This indicates the operation of a substrate cycle between extracellular glycerol and liver triose phosphates, where 2H is lost in the reversible reactions catalyzed by α-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase, triose-phosphate isomerase, and glycolytic enzymes. This substrate cycle presumably involves α-glycerophosphate hydrolysis.
Prognostic Significance of the Preoperative Lymphocyte to Monocyte Ratio in Patients With Stage I Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Undergoing Complete Resection

ABSTRACT In this study, we investigated the correlation between lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) and clinical outcomes in stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. A total of 439 stage I NSCLC patients were enrolled in this study. Multivariate analyses identified LMR as an independent prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival and overall survival (hazard ratio (HR: 0.469, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.325–0.677, and p < 0.001, and HR: 0.478, 95% CI: 0.332–0.688, and p < 0.001; respectively). Compared with the high LMR group, the proportion of patients who developed distant metastasis was significantly higher in the low LMR group.
Benefits analysis of prognostics in systems

Prognostics and health management (PHM) is a methodology that permits the reliability of a system to be evaluated in its actual life cycle conditions in order to predict when and where failures will occur and to mitigate system risks. In this paper we discuss the benefits of prognostics in systems. These benefits relate to system design and development, reliability, safety, maintainability, logistics and life cycle costs. We also discuss challenges that may be met in the application of prognostics from the viewpoint of both PHM system designers and users. These challenges include selecting applicable prognostics methods, addressing inherent uncertainties, assessing prognostic accuracy, and assisting decision making with consideration of cost-benefits.
Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion in type 1 diabetic Saudi children. A comparison with conventional insulin therapy.

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy and effectiveness of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) therapy in type 1 diabetic Saudi children in comparison with conventional insulin (CI) therapy. METHODS Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion was initiated in 14 Saudi children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) through insulin pump therapy between October 2002 and June 2004. All children were followed at the Diabetes Clinic, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The patients were initially on CI therapy, which is usually defined as 2 or fewer insulin injections per day before shifting them to CSII. The patients were trained on carbohydrates counting and started on continuously basal insulin infusion aside from the meal and high blood glucose correction insulin boluses. RESULTS The patients included in the study had T1DM for a mean duration of 6 years. The age of the children ranged from 4-18 years. They were followed on insulin pump therapy for a mean duration of 10 months. There was a significant reduction in hemoglobin A1c, mean blood glucose level, total insulin requirement, frequency of hypoglycemic episodes and frequency of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) events during CSII therapy. CONCLUSION Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion improved the glycemic control in diabetic Saudi children with decreased frequency of hypoglycemic episodes and DKA events. Long follow-up studies are needed to confirm these results.
The relationship between Big-5 personality traits and cognitive ability in older adults – a review

It is well established that fundamental aspects of cognition such as memory and speed of processing tend to decline with age; however, there is substantial between-individual variability in levels of cognitive performance in older adulthood and in rates of change in cognitive abilities over time. Recent years have seen an increasing number of studies concerned with examining personality characteristics as possible predictors of some of this variability in cognitive aging. The purpose of this article is to review the literature, and identify patterns of findings regarding the relationships between personality (focusing on the Big-5) and cognitive ability across nonclinical populations of older adults. Possible mechanisms underlying associations of personality characteristics with cognition are reviewed, and assessed in the context of the current literature. Some relatively consistent relationships are identified, including positive associations between openness and cognitive ability, and associations of conscientiousness with slower rates of cognitive decline. However, the relationships between several personality traits and cognitive abilities in older adults remain unclear. We suggest some approaches to research design and analysis that may help increase our understanding of how personality differences may contribute to cognitive aging.