Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Single Case Study: Neuropsychological Functioning in a Patient Diagnosed with Intermittent Explosive Disorder Pre and Post Neurosurgery

Abstract Intermittent explosive disorder (IED) is characterized by a difficulty to resist the urge to carry out a recognized harmful behavior. The central symptom is aggressiveness, expressed in isolated episodes. Executive function impairments are habitually found in impulse control disorders. Neuropsychology of impulsivity is related to dysfunctions in the orbito-frontal cortex, dorsolateral cortex and anterior-cingulated regions, being consequently involved in cognitive mechanisms of inhibition. Lesions in those areas are common in IED. In the most severe cases of IED, surgical procedures are required for treatment. In this study, we examined JML; a patient suffering from a severe case of IED. He experienced frequent episodes of auto and heteroaggression and multiple psychiatric admissions, and thus stereotactic surgery was the recommended treatment. The procedure consisted of an electrode situated lateral to the lateral ventricle, targeting the projections between frontal and subcortical affected regions. We aimed to study the neuropsychological functioning of JML, before and after electrode implantation. Our results suggested that surgery in IED improves cognitive performance at some levels. JML significantly improved his cognitive flexibility, measured with WCST, and alternate attention assessed with CPT and TMT-B tests, after electrode implantation. Cognitive flexibility deficits may be also related to increased aggressiveness. Therefore, improvements at this level may involve a reduction of impulsivity and aggressive behavior.
Handbook of Management Accounting

The 'New Finance' Function Strategic Financial Management Dynamic Budgetary Control Competitor Analysis Performance Measurement Capital Budgeting Zero-based budgeting Activity-based Budgeting Standard costing Cost system design and profitability analysis Quality costing Product life cycle costing Contract costing Activity-based costing Target costing Cost Management Activity-based cost management IABC in a service-driven business Business process re-engineering Throughput accounting Pricing Transfer Pricing Shareholder value in practice Outsourcing or sub-contracting Value Chain Analysis Supply Chain and Management Accounting New Product Design MA and Human Resource Management Financial Control Management Control Financial Performance Measurement Multi-dimensional Performance Measurement Benchmarking Balanced Performance Measurement
Effects of Glutamate Application on the Rhythm of Low Magnesium‐induced Epileptiform Activity in Hippocampal Slices of Guinea‐pigs

The extracellular concentration of glutamate has previously been reported to increase to more than 10‐fold the basal level during seizure activity. In the present study, we tested whether localized increases in extracellular glutamate concentration influence the rhythm of epileptiform discharges in the low‐magnesium epilepsy model. In hippocampal slices of guinea‐pigs, epileptiform activity was induced by omission of magnesium from the bath fluid. Glutamate and its subreceptor agonists N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) and α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐ isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) were ejected into different strata of the CA3 and CA1 regions using microiontophoretic and micropressure application. Glutamate, NMDA and AMPA applied to the CA3 region, but not to the CA1 region, induced a short‐lasting increase in epileptiform discharge frequency, often followed by a transient reduction. The effect was most pronounced with application into the stratum lacunosum‐moleculare of the CA3 region and could only be evoked in slices exceeding 400 μm in thickness. The effects on the rhythm of epileptiform discharges induced by NMDA and AMPA were blocked by their specific receptor antagonists. They were not influenced by application of GABAA and GABAB receptor antagonists. Changes in somatic membrane potential of CA3 pyramidal neurons did not correlate with changes in the rhythm of epileptiform discharges elicited in this region. The transient suppression of epileptiform discharges that followed the increase in discharge frequency was abolished by an adenosine A1 receptor antagonist. We propose that localized increases in extracellular glutamate concentration modify the rhythm of epileptiform discharges due to changes in neuronal network activity.
Carbon dioxide fluxes over an ancient broadleaved deciduous woodland in southern England

Abstract. We present results from a study of canopy-atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide from 2007 to 2009 above a site in Wytham Woods, an ancient temperate broadleaved deciduous forest in southern England. Gap-filled net ecosystem exchange (NEE) data were partitioned into gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Re) and analysed on daily, monthly and annual timescales. Over the continuous 24 month study period annual GPP was estimated to be 21.1 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 and Re to be 19.8 Mg C ha−1 yr−1; net ecosystem productivity (NEP) was 1.2 Mg C ha−1 yr−1. These estimates were compared with independent bottom-up estimates derived from net primary productivity (NPP) and flux chamber measurements recorded at a plot within the flux footprint in 2008 (GPP = 26.5 ± 6.8 Mg C ha−1 yr−1, Re = 24.8 ± 6.8 Mg C ha−1 yr−1, biomass increment = ~1.7 Mg C ha−1 yr−1). Over the two years the difference in seasonal NEP was predominantly caused by changes in ecosystem respiration, whereas GPP remained similar for equivalent months in different years. Although solar radiation was the largest influence on daily values of CO2 fluxes (R2 = 0.53 for the summer months for a linear regression), variation in Re appeared to be driven by temperature. Our findings suggest that this ancient woodland site is currently a substantial sink for carbon, resulting from continued growth that is probably a legacy of past management practices abandoned over 40 years ago. Our GPP and Re values are generally higher than other broadleaved temperate deciduous woodlands and may represent the influence of the UK's maritime climate, or the particular species composition of this site. The carbon sink value of Wytham Woods supports the protection and management of temperate deciduous woodlands (including those managed for conservation rather than silvicultural objectives) as a strategy to mitigate atmospheric carbon dioxide increases.
Anti-infective antibodies: a novel tool to prevent and treat nosocomial diseases

The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria is a growing challenge for healthcare in the treatment of infectious diseases. In particular, nosocomial infections are getting out of control and reduce the likelihood to recover without, sometimes lethal, complications and long-term damage. Current antibiotics are unable to keep nosocomial infections in check and novel ones move only reluctantly forward and are expected to only delay the problem of multidrug resistance. Progress made in the identification of suitable pathogen targets, a better understanding of host–parasite interactions and the recent inclusion of monoclonal antibodies into the arsenal of novel therapies has provoked the interest to revitalize a historical concept of medicine to treat and prevent bacterial infections with antibodies.
The diagnostic value of fine needle aspiration cytology in thyroid swellings in a university hospital, Yemen.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the correlation between the fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology and the histopathological findings in cases of the thyroid swellings and to assess the accuracy of cytological examination of thyroid nodules. METHODS This study was carried out at Kuwait University Hospital, Sana'a, Yemen. There were 243 thyroid FNAs of which 199 had subsequent excisional histopathological examination in the period 1997 to 2001. All the records of cytology and histology were reviewed. Cases were classified into 6 subsets: benign follicular lesion, thyroiditis, follicular neoplasm, suspicious for papillary carcinoma, malignant, and non-diagnostic aspirate. For statistical analysis, we excluded cases, which had not had subsequent histopathological examination (n=44), and cases with non-diagnostic aspirate (n=3), so only the histology and medical records of 196 cases were reviewed and correlated with the cytology results. RESULTS There were 156 (78.4%) cases of benign aspirate, 31 (15.6%) cases of follicular neoplasm, 4 (2%) cases that were suspicious for papillary carcinoma, 4 (2%) cases of papillary carcinoma, and 3 (1.5%) cases of non-diagnostic aspirates. The 196 cases, which underwent cytological and histopathological examinations, were classified as non-neoplastic and neoplastic (including follicular neoplasm and malignancy) according to postoperative histopathology and correlation which, was carried out with preoperative cytology. There were 115 true negatives, 26 true positives, 42 false negatives, and 13 false positives. This gives a sensitivity of 38%, specificity of 89.9%, positive predictive value of 66.7%, negative predictive value of 73.2%, and accuracy of 72%. CONCLUSION The sensitivity of FNA cytology in this study is very low compared to published studies, which had adversely affected the surgical decision making as well as the outcome. We should realise that negative FNA cytology does not exclude malignancy and we have to seriously evaluate the situation and to rethink on how to raise the scale of sensitivity in FNA cytology in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules, and to improve the level of expertise in cytology.
A Survey on Analysts' Stock Recommendations: Are They Really Useful?

This survey summarizes some of the most recent academic literature about the impact and usefulness of stock recommendation. Most researchers examine the sell-side analyst recommendations since data pertaining to the buy-side and independent analyst recommendations is limited. This is the case because these analysts (buy side and independent) do not make their recommendations public hence limiting investor choices. Generally, the performance of sell side analysts' recommendations is inferior to that of buy side colleagues. However, momentum strategy documented in prior literature can enable investors to earn abnormal returns. This phenomenon contradicts the market efficiency hypothesis.
Do Insiders Contribute to Market Efficiency? Informational Efficiency and Liquidity of Experimental Call Markets with and without Insiders

This paper reports the results of 13 experimental asset markets with 195 subjects that explore the effects of insider behavior on the price formation process and market liquidity. The experimental call markets use a more realistic design than related studies. We introduce infinitely-lived assets instead of periodical liquidation (so-called ? reset? markets) and provide full market transparency to the investors with an open orderbook. Our main findings are that insider trading does not improve informational efficiency at all but depresses market liquidity of the assets significantly. At a first glance, the observed spread widening as an impact of insider behavior leads to the conclusion that our call markets react ? as if? all subjects behave rationally like dealers in a market making environment. At a second glance, a first look into the individual data shows that only a smaller group of investors act as ? endogenous? market makers in the call market regime.
Personalized Image Enhancement

We implement an auto-enhancement framework that can learn user preferences to enhance images in a personalized way. Our method finds a maximally representative training subset (20 images) out of a large dataset, allowing for efficient training. The parameters chosen in the training phase can then be applied accordingly to other images in the dataset, automatically creating an entire library of personally customized images. To test this method, we performed eight user studies, and the results suggest that the personalization of image enhancement parameters is sometimes better than conventional enhancement methods.
GFAP expression in injured astrocytes in rats

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is one of the best markers for the activation of astrocytes (AS) following injury or stress in the central nervous system (CNS). The purpose of this study was to examine the expression of GFAP and 14-3-3ε in rat AS subjected to hypoxia. We established primary cultures of AS from cerebral cortex of neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats as a model of glucose deficiency and hypoxia/ischemia-reperfusion. We analyzed the activated astrocyte markers GFAP and 14-3-3ε by western blot analysis and found that both increased over time, starting at 4 h and reaching the highest level at 72 h, at the end of the experiment. GFAP and 14-3-3ε protein localization by double-labeling immunofluorescence showed elevated expression and co-localization in the cytoplasm of AS. GFAP and 14-3-3ε expression remained elevated in AS 72 h after stress conditions, which is possibly related to the excessive activation and dysfunction of the CNS in chronic injuries.
Reduced Initial Searching Radius for Sphere Decoder

Sphere decoding (SD) has been proposed as an efficient algorithm in digital communications. Its complexity is polynomial for both an infinite and finite lattice which makes the real-time implementation of a maximum-likelihood (ML) decoder feasible. The choice of an initial radius for the SD has a great impact on the trade-off between the performance and complexity. In this paper, we present a new initial radius selection scheme for the SD based on the constellation modulation type and the target bit error rate (BER). The proposed scheme accurately define an initial radius of the SD, which reduces the radius redundancy and ensures that at least one lattice point is inside a sphere. Complexity analysis shows that the proposed scheme has much lower computational complexity than that of the conventional one with zero decoding failure rates meanwhile ensures no performance loss.
SC-CO2 Extraction of guayule biomass (Parthenium argentatum) – yield and selectivity towards valuable co-products, lipids and terpenics

Guayule (Parthenium argentatum) a shrub native to Mexico, is now being acclimated in Europe as a potential crop. The main extractible fractions are polyisoprene (similar to Hevea rubber) for producing tires and allergy-free gloves and resin (GRe). This work deals with valorising this last fraction, after water-based extraction of the latex. To date GRe has not been extensively investigated, in spite of containing useful compounds, and there is a need for a green and selective extraction process, which is the aim of present work. First, resin -a mixture of lipids and terpenics- was analysed with focus on fatty acids and other carboxylic acid containing classes. Then the influence of extraction conditions was investigated, under "soft" conditions with supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2). Investigated parameters act on extraction efficiency (yield, selectivity) towards valuable fractions. Our results do show that SC-CO2 alone cannot extract substantial amounts of resin. As co-solvent, ethanol -a benign one- and acetone, this last being the most common solvent for that purpose, here also used alone as reference, under pressurized extractions conditions (ASE). Under SC-CO2, ethanol allows the highest resin yield (12.1%-dw biomass dry weight) compared to acetone (7.0%-dw) and to the reference ASE-acetone method (5.2%-dw). Found suitable conditions with SC-CO2-ethanol are affordable: flow rate 34 gCO2/min and 3.0mL/min of co-solvent, temperature 45°C, pressure 300 bar. Saponification was used for separating resins components before analysis. Aromatic carboxylic acids (cinnamic, panisic) initially linked to a sesquiterpene, are the major components found in G-Re from the biomass (branches) using the reference ASE method. But these are even more prominent in SC-CO2-ethanol extracts from bagasse (68.7%), compared to SC-CO2-acetone (51.1%) which allows a lower selectivity. The unsaponifiable fraction shows a low dependency on extraction temperature with SC-CO2-ethanol, playing in favor of preserving extract value, guayulins (sesquiterpenes) and argentatins (triperpenes) being known anti-insect and fungistatic agents for wood preservation. Minor resin components are fatty acids containing lipids C18:2, C18:3, C16:0. SC-CO2 and ethanol, which can be easily recycled, are highly suitable for extracting high-value natural compounds, given their low environmental impact. This work provides the first detailed insight for selecting appropriate parameters and their variation range, in view of further optimizing a "green" process for extracting above compounds. (Resume d'auteur)
FACTOR INFLUENCING THE ADOPTION AND USAGE OF ONLINE SHOPPING

At the advent of information technology, E commerce has grown in the field of B2B services and that would help to develop the economy of the nation. It has provided the goods and services to the people all over the globe. Now a day’s online shopping has got a paradigm shift towards traditional shopping. Advances in electronic commerce technology have created great opportunities as well as threats to organizations in various business and services sectors. As such businesses, either willingly or reluctantly, are increasingly embracing the Internet as distribution channel in order to remain competitive or gain market share. With particular reference to e-commerce, absence of accurate information on factors that have influenced users' behaviour to adopt or use to shop online could mislead an organization into adopting unhelpful solutions as it strives to accelerate the implementation of e- shopping and e-services. This study, based on the diffusion of innovations (DOI) theory leveraged into the online environment, investigates factors that influence adoption of online shopping, especially, in select companies in chennai city, Tamilnadu. Factors were empirically tested against data collected from 266 participants using survey questionnaires. Perceived Complexity was found to be the most significantly related factor affecting online shopping in chennai, followed in turn by Privacy and Compatibility. Quality of the Internet and its relative advantage also had a notable affect on online shopping usage and adoption in Chennai. Key Words: Online shopping, Privacy, Quality, e-services
Synthesis and DFT Calculations of Novel Vanillin-Chalcones and Their 3-Aryl-5-(4-(2-(dimethylamino)-ethoxy)-3-methoxyphenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazole-1-carbaldehyde Derivatives as Antifungal Agents

Novel (E)-1-(aryl)-3-(4-(2-(dimethylamino)ethoxy)-3-methoxyphenyl) prop-2-en-1-ones 4 were synthesized by a Claisen-Schmidt reaction of 4-(2-(dimethylamino)ethoxy)-3-methoxy-benzaldehyde (2) with several acetophenone derivatives 3. Subsequently, cyclocondensation reactions of chalcones 4 with hydrazine hydrate afforded the new racemic 3-aryl-5-(4-(2-(dimethylamino)ethoxy)-3-methoxyphenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazole-1-carbaldehydes 5 when the reaction was carried out in formic acid. The antifungal activity of both series of compounds against eight fungal species was determined. In general, chalcone derivatives 4 showed better activities than pyrazolines 5 against all tested fungi. None of the compounds 4a–g and 5a–g showed activity against the three Aspergillus spp. In contrast, most of the compounds 4 showed moderate to high activities against three dermatophytes (MICs 31.25–62.5 µg/mL), being 4a followed by 4c the most active structures. Interestingly, 4a and 4c possess fungicidal rather than fungistatic activities, with MFC values between 31.25 and 62.5 μg/mL. The comparison of the percentages of inhibition of C. neoformans by the most active compounds 4, allowed us to know the role played by the different substituents of the chalcones’ A-ring. Also the most anti-cryptococcal compounds 4a–c and 4g, were tested in a second panel of five clinical C. neoformans strains in order to have an overview of their inhibition capacity not only of standardized but also of clinical C. neoformans strains. DFT calculations showed that the electrophilicity is the main electronic property to explain the differences in antifungal activities for the synthesized chalcones and pyrazolines compounds. Furthermore, a quantitative reactivity analysis showed that electron-withdrawing substituted chalcones presented the higher electrophilic character and hence, the greater antifungal activities among compounds of series 4.
Discovery and Optimization of Inhibitors of DNA Methyltransferase as Novel Drugs for Cancer Therapy

The genome contains genetic and epigenetic information. While the genome provides the blueprint for the manufacture of all the proteins required to create a living thing, the epigenetic information provides instruction on how, where, and when the genetic information should be used (Robertson, 2001). The major form of epigenetic information in mammalian cells is DNA methylation that is the covalent addition of a methyl group to the 5-position of cytosine, mostly within the CpG dinucleotide (Robertson, 2001). DNA methylation is involved in the control of gene expression, regulation of parental imprinting and stabilization of X chromosome inactivation as well as maintenance of the genome integrity. It is also implicated in the development of the immune system, cellular reprogramming and brain function and behaviour (Jurkowska et al., 2011). DNA methylation is mediated by a family of DNA methyltransferase enzymes (DNMTs). In mammals, three DNMTs have been identified so far in the human genome, including the two de novo methyltransferases (DNMT3A and DNMT3B) and the maintenance methyltransferase (DNMT1), which is generally the most abundant and active of the three (Goll and Bestor, 2005; Robertson, 2001; Yokochi and Robertson, 2002). DNMT3L is a related protein that has high sequence similarity with DNMT3A, but it lacks any catalytic activity owing to the absence of conserved catalytic residues. However, DNMT3L is required for the catalytic activity of DNMT3A and 3B (Cheng and Blumenthal, 2008). The protein DNMT2 can also be found in mammalian cells. Despite the fact that the structure of DNMT2 is very similar to other DNMTs, its role is comparably less understood (Schaefer and Lyko, 2010). It has been reported that DNMT2 does not methylate DNA but instead methylates aspartic acid transfer RNA (tRNAAsp) (Goll et al., 2006). Recent evidence suggests that DNMT2 activity is not limited to tRNAAsp and that DNMT2 represents a noncanonical enzyme of the DNMT family (Schaefer and Lyko, 2010). DNMT1 is responsible for duplicating patterns of DNA methylation during replication and is essential for mammalian development and cancer cell growth (Chen et al., 2007). These enzymes are key regulators of gene transcription, and their roles in carcinogenesis have been the subject of considerable interest over the last decade (Jones and Baylin, 2007; Robertson, 2001). Therefore, specific inhibition of DNA methylation is an attractive and novel approach for cancer therapy (Kelly et al., 2010; Lyko and Brown, 2005; Portela and