Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate entrepreneurship environment and organizational performance in technology manufacturing sector

This study attempts to investigate the relationship between the corporate entrepreneurship environment and organizational performance from a middle managers' perspective in the Taiwan technology manufacturing sector. Researchers assessed key internal organizational factors that influence middle managers in the corporate entrepreneurship environment, such as management support, work discretion, rewards, time availability, and organizational boundaries. In addition, corporate entrepreneurship is named as encompassing three related components: product innovation, proactiveness, and risk taking. In this paper, organizational performance was measured as: innovation performance, market performance and financial performance. Utilizing information provided by middle managers from our 500 validated questionnaires and taking into account suggestions from entrepreneurial researchers the five internal organizational factors were identified and investigated, plus the three related components for corporate entrepreneurship were also identified. The crux of the study is the analysis of the five organizational factors in relationship to the three related corporate entrepreneurship components and their total effect on organizational performance. Corporate entrepreneurs with proactiveness are positively associated with innovation performance, market performance and financial performance, resulting as the most important relationship in the study. In general, four of the five internal organizational factors (management support, work discretion, rewards, time availability, and organizational boundaries) clearly highlighted that they positively influence organizational performance. Among these four, rewards and organizational boundaries were the most significant. Only time availability is negatively associated with organizational performance, with the implication that if firms add work, time constraints, standard operating procedures and documented working processes, then middle managers would have a more limited time frame to improve or design new strategies for their firms.
Gene therapy of inherited immunodeficiencies

Background: Primary immunodeficiencies (PID) are a group of inherited diseases that affect the development or activity of the immune system. In severe cases allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation has proved to be a successful curative modality but it is limited by toxicity and reduced efficacy in mismatched donor settings. Objective: Gene therapy for PID has been developed as an alternative strategy and has entered the clinical arena. In this review we discuss the outcomes of recent gene therapy trials and some of the problems that remain to be tackled. Methods: Results from clinical trials for X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1), adenosine deaminase deficient SCID (ADA-SCID), and X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (X-CGD) are discussed. In addition, other conditions are highlighted such as the Wiskott Aldrich Syndrome (WAS) for which gene therapy has shown considerable promise in preclinical studies, and are currently being translated into novel clinical approaches. Results/conclusion: Whilst these encouraging results demonstrate that gene therapy can be used successfully to treat monogenic PID, the occurrence of vector-related side effects has highlighted the need for accurate assessment of the associated risks and a requirement for improvements in vector design.
The significance of hyperventilative and orthostatic T-wave changes on the electrocardiogram.

A group of 305 patients were studied to evaluate the significance of orthostatic and hyperventilative T-wave changes, orthostatic blood pressure changes, and the relationship of ischemic heart disease, as determined by treadmill stress testing, to these observed changes. The results indicate that orthostatic and hyperventilative T-wave changes are not at all an unusual finding in the younger age group and are not related to ischemic heart disease. In patients having ischemic heart disease, a stationary or decreased systolic blood pressure when changing from a sitting to a standing position was seen in the majority studied. The presence of orthostatic and hyperventilative T-wave changes did not confuse the interpretation of the treadmill stress test electrocardiogram when evaluated by our criteria for ischemic abnormality.
Determinants Affecting Physical Activity Levels In Animal Models1

Weight control is dependent on energy balance. Reduced energy expenditure (EE) associated with decreased physical activity is suggested to be a major underlying cause in the increasing prevalence of weight gain and obesity. Therefore, a better understanding of the biological determinants involved in the regulation of physical activity is essential. To facilitate interpretation in humans, it is helpful to consider the evidence from animal studies. This review focuses on animal studies examining the biological determinants influencing activity and potential implications to human. It appears that physical activity is influenced by a number of parameters. However, regardless of the parameter involved, body weight appears to play an underlying role in the regulation of activity. Furthermore, the regulation of activity associated with body weight appears to occur only after the animal achieves a critical weight. This suggests that activity levels are a consequence rather than a contributor to weight control. However, the existence of an inverse weight-activity relationship remains inconclusive. Confounding the results are the multifactorial nature of physical activity and the lack of appropriate measuring devices. Furthermore, many determinants of body weight are closely interlocked, making it difficult to determine whether a single, combination, or interaction of factors is important for the regulation of activity. For example, diet-induced obesity, aging, lesions to the ventral medial hypothalamus, and genetics all produce hypoactivity. Providing a better understanding of the biological determinants involved in the regulation of activity has important implications for the development of strategies for the prevention of weight gain leading to obesity and subsequent morbidity and mortality in the human population.
Isolation and Characterization of Pas2p, a Peroxisomal Membrane Protein Essential for Peroxisome Biogenesis in the Methylotrophic Yeast Pichia pastoris*

The pas2 mutant of the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris is characterized by a deficiency in peroxisome biogenesis. We have cloned the PpPAS2 gene by functional complementation and show that it encodes a protein of 455 amino acids with a molecular mass of 52 kDa. In a Pppas2 null mutant, import of both peroxisomal targeting signal 1 (PTS1)- and PTS2-containing proteins is impaired as shown by biochemical fractionation and fluorescence microscopy. No morphologically distinguishable peroxisomal structures could be detected by electron microscopy in Pppas2 null cells induced on methanol and oleate, suggesting that PpPas2p is involved in the early stages of peroxisome biogenesis. PpPas2p is a peroxisomal membrane protein (PMP) and is resistant to extraction by 1 M NaCl or alkaline sodium carbonate, suggesting that it is a peroxisomal integral membrane protein. Two hydrophobic domains can be distinguished which may be involved in anchoring PpPas2p to the peroxisomal membrane. PpPas2p is homologous to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Pas3p. The first 40 amino acids of PpPas2p, devoid of the hydrophobic domains, are sufficient to target a soluble fluorescent reporter protein to the peroxisomal membrane, with which it associates tightly. A comparison with the membrane peroxisomal targeting signal of PMP47 of Candida boidinii revealed a stretch of positively charged amino acids common to both sequences. The role of peroxisomal membrane targeting signals and transmembrane domains in anchoring PMPs to the peroxisomal membrane is discussed.
Genomic and Biochemical Insights into the Specificity of ETS Transcription Factors

In eukaryotic cells, the spatial segregation of replication and transcription in the nucleus and translation in the cytoplasm imposes the requirement of transporting thousands of macromolecules between these two compartments. Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are the sole gateways that facilitate this macromolecular exchange across the nuclear envelope with the help of soluble transport receptors. Whereas the mobile transport machinery is reasonably well understood at the atomic level, a commensurate structural characterization of the NPC has only begun in the past few years. Here, we describe the recent progress toward the elucidation of the atomic structure of the NPC, highlight emerging concepts of its underlying architecture, and discuss key outstanding questions and challenges. The applied structure determination as well as the described design principles of the NPC may serve as paradigms for other macromolecular assemblies. 613 A nn u. R ev . B io ch em . 2 01 1. 80 :6 13 -6 43 . D ow nl oa de d fr om w w w . a nn ua lr ev ie w s. or g by M ar sh al l U ni ve rs ity o n 11 /2 8/ 11 . F or p er so na l u se o nl y. BI80CH26-Hoelz ARI 16 May 2011 12:36 NPC: nuclear pore complex EM: electron microscopy
Improved Broadband Matching Bound

In radio frequency systems where a load is driven by a source through a passive impedance matching circuit, the bandwidth over which match can be attained is limited. The Bode–Fano upper bound is often invoked to find this limit. We show that the bound is loose for some loads and, hence, cannot be attained by any network. We present a simple method to improve the bound and give conditions under which the improved bound is tight. The improved bound requires no additional assumptions or conditions beyond what is used for the Bode–Fano bound. Applications to analytical and numerical load models are demonstrated.
RiceWrist Robotic Device for Upper Limb Training: Feasibility Study and Case Report of Two Tetraplegic Persons with Spinal Cord Injury

Regaining upper extremity function is the primary concern of persons with tetraplegia caused by spinal cord injury (SCI). Robotic rehabilitation has been inadequately tested and underutilized in rehabilitation of the upper extremity in the SCI population. Given the acceptance of robotic train ing in stroke rehabilitation and SCI gait training, coupled with recent evidence that the spinal cord, like the brain, demonstrates plasticity that can be enhanced by repetitive movement training such as that available with robotic devices, it is probable that robotic upper ext remity train ing of persons with SCI could be clin ically beneficial. The primary goal of th is pilot study was to test the feasibility of using a novel robotic device -the RiceWrist Exoskeleton- for rehabilitation of the upper limbs (UL) of t wo tetraplegic persons with inco mplete SCI. Two pilot experiments were conducted. Experiment 1was the first novel attempt to admin ister treatment with the RiceWrist. The left UL of a tetraplegic subject was treated during seven therapy sessions. The subject's feedback and the investigator's obser- vations were used to enhance the robotic device and the corresponding graphical-interface. In Experiment 2, a second tetra- plegic subject underwent 10 three-hour train ing sessions admin istered by a physical therapist. Smoothness factor (FS) -a new measure developed in Experiment 1- was used as the primary outcome to test the subject's performance before and after the training. The RiceWrist was modified accord ing to the feedback obtained in Experiment 1. Thereafter, the device was suc- cessfully administered for upper limb training of the tetraplegic individual. Noticeable improvements in FS were observed for the stronger arm of the subject who co mpleted 10 sessions of train ing. Improvements were also observed in the subject's hand according to the Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test. Results fro m this study suggest a potential application of the RiceWrist for rehabilitation of SCI individuals and offer valuable in formation regard ing development of UL robotic devices for this population.
Harmonic Source Location at the Point of Common Coupling Based on the Nonlinearity Index of Load

Harmonic source quantitative location can not simply be achieved by the severity of load harmonic distortion at the point of common coupling (PCC) because the tested harmonic at PCC contains the background harmonic and the harmonic of given customer emission. Harmonics in distribution system are caused mainly by nonlinear loads. In view of this, a harmonic location method based on the nonlinearity index (NLI) of loads is proposed. In this method, the real parameters of loads are calculated by using the time domain model, and the linear parameters of loads are obtained by removing residual error. The nonlinearity index is calculated to evaluate the harmonic emission level. The simulation and the practical engineering results indicate that the proposed method is valid and feasible.
1H and 13C NMR assignments and molecular modelling of a minor groove DNA-binding peptide from the HMG-I protein.

The HMG-I subfamily of high mobility group (HMG) chromatin proteins consists of DNA-binding proteins that preferentially bind to stretches of A.T-rich sequence both in vitro and in vivo. Recently, members of the HMG-I family have been suggested to bind in vitro to the narrow minor groove of A.T-DNA by means of an 11 amino acid peptide binding domain (BD) which, because of its predicted structure, is called the 'A.T-hook motif' [Reeves, R. & Nissen, M. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 8573-8582], and would appear to be crescent-shaped. A BD peptide with 13 amino-acid residues was synthesized and examined by proton and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The peptide contains four proline residues, and on the basis of NOEs and 13C chemical shifts was found to exist in an all-trans conformation. Molecular modelling based on this result provides evidence for a dynamic equilibrium between turn-like conformations in solution, the most populated of which is likely to be an S-shaped conformer, on the basis of amide exchange data.
A uterine fluid-mediated sperm-inhibitory system.

The report suggests that uterine fluid under certain conditions exerts a sperm inhibitory effect. The addition of rat uterine fluid iodide and hydrogen peroxide to washed spermatozoa suspended in a calcium ion-free Krebs-Ringer phosphate fructose medium pH 6.5 resulted in an inhibition of motility which was complete in 10 min. When the spermatozoa were incubated in medium alone they remained fully motile for 2 hr. Deletion of hydrogen peroxide from the system abolished the sperm-inhibitory effect. Some inhibition of motility was evident on prolonged incubation when either uterine fluid or iodide was deleted. Thiocyanate could substitute for iodide and glucose and glucose oxidase could substitute for hydrogen peroxide giving 94% and 95% inhibition respectively. The uterine fluid could be replaced by a preparation of LPO (lactoperoxidase) or less effectively by MPO (myeoperoxidase). This suggests that its sperm inhibitory effect is due to its perioxidase content. The uterine fluid-iodide-hydrogen peroxide system suspended spermatozoa resulted in a decrease in pyruvate oxidation. Unwashed spermatozoa were unaffected by the system suggesting inhibitors in seminal plasma. This was born out by tests which showed the system was inhibited by catalase and by such low-molecular-weight compounds as azide reduced glutathione cysterine ergothioneine and ascorbic acid. Heat-stable low-molecular-weight inhibitors are found in seminal plasma and to a lesser degree in uterine fluid.
Modulational instabilities in discrete lattices.

We study analytically and numerically modulational instabilities in discrete nonlinear chains, taking the discrete Klein-Gordon model as an example. We show that discreteness can drastically change the conditions for modulational instability; e.g., at small wave numbers a nonlinear carrier wave is unstable to all possible modulations of its amplitude if the wave amplitude exceeds a certain threshold value. Numerical simulations show the validity of the analytical approach for the initial stage of the time evolution, provided that the harmonics generated by the nonlinear terms are considered. The long-term evolution exhibits chaoticlike states.
Path following control of planar snake robots using a cascaded approach

This paper considers path following control of snake robots along straight paths. The proposed controller propels the snake robot forward according to the motion pattern lateral undulation while simultaneously adjusting the heading of the robot according to a line-of-sight guidance law that steers the robot towards and subsequently along the desired path. Under the assumption that the forward velocity of the snake robot is nonzero and positive, we prove that the proposed path following controller K-exponentially stabilizes a snake robot to any desired straight path. The paper presents simulation results that illustrate the effectiveness of the path following controller.
Effects of experimental occlusal interferences in individuals reporting different levels of wake-time parafunctions.

AIMS To test the hypothesis that the effects of an experimental occlusal interference differ between individuals reporting a high or low frequency of wake-time oral parafunctions. METHODS Study participants reporting very high (HFP group; n = 10) or very low (LFP group; n = 10) levels of oral parafunctions were selected by means of a questionnaire administered to 200 medical students. The selected participants wore an experimental occlusal interference in a single-blind longitudinal study, which comprised different occlusal conditions: interference free (IFC) and active occlusal interference (AIC). Assessments included clinical examination, measurements of nonfunctional tooth contacts, state and trait anxiety, and visual analog scale scores for occlusal discomfort, masticatory muscle pain, and headache. Data were analyzed by repeated measures twoway analysis of variance on ranked data, followed by calculation of within- and between-group differences using Friedman tests and Mann-Whitney tests, respectively. RESULTS During AIC, the frequency of nonfunctional tooth contacts significantly decreased in both groups (median [interquartile range, IQR]: in HFP from 55.3% [60.0%] to 31.1% [33.5%], P = .03; in LFP from 31.8% [32.4%] to 14.0% [22.8%], P < .01), the decrease being more pronounced in LFP than in HFP (P < .01). Trait anxiety was significantly higher (P = .01) in the HFP group (median, IQR = 22.5, 9.0) than in the LFP group (median, IQR = 19.0, 3.0). The interference caused more occlusal discomfort in the HFP group than in the LFP group (P = .02) and was associated with a significant increase of masticatory muscle pain (P = .05) and headache (P = .04) only in the HFP group. CONCLUSION The application of an experimental occlusal interference has a different effect in individuals reporting a high or low frequency of oral parafunctions.
A measurement interlab for investigating the hand effect on head SAR

The results presented in this paper contribute to the investigations on the impact of the user's hand on the SAR in the head. Six laboratories have assessed the peak spatial-averaged SAR at 1950 MHz for 33 commercial phones with varied form factors, either held in one of 3 different hand phantoms or without a hand. This study confirms conclusions from previously published analyses that, in some cases, the head SAR can be enhanced by the presence of the hand.
ModelCC - A Pragmatic Parser Generator

Syntax-directed translation tools require the specification of a language by means of a formal grammar. This grammar must also conform to the specific requirements of the parser generator to be used. Software engineers then annotate the resulting grammar with semantic actions for the resulting system to perform its desired functionality. Whenever the input text format is modified, the grammar has to be updated and the subsequent changes propagate throughout the entire language processing tool chain. Moreover, if several applications use the same language, multiple copies of the same language specification have to be maintained in sync, since language specification (i.e. the grammar) is tightly coupled to language processing (i.e. the semantic actions that annotate that grammar). In this paper, we introduce ModelCC, a model-based parser generator that decouples language specification from language processing, hence avoiding the aforementioned problems that are caused by grammar-driven parser generators. ModelCC receives a conceptual model as input, along with constraints that annotate it. It is then able to create a parser for a given textual representation format, so that the generated parser fully automates the instantiation of the desired conceptual model. ModelCC is also a powerful tool for the design of domain-specific languages.
Natural scenes enhancement by adaptive color correction

An innovative solution for automatic color rendition of natural digital images is presented. 11 is based on an adaptive color correction. driven by a natural scene classifier de.sigiied over a wide datubuse of digilal images used as rcfiwnce. The perceived qaali@ of the processed images is globally closer to the e.rpected color renditimfor a great part of observers, without evident artifacts. A viszial comparison with two wide diffused automatic and semi-automatic color enhancement tools i s also presented. Index Terms Natural scene classifier, adaptive color correction.
Directional Uncertainty in Visually Guided Pointing

Studies of the relationship between stimulus-response uncertainty and reaction times indicate three qualitatively different functions: Hick's law, simple-choice step function, or flat curve (no effect at all). The extent of stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility appears to interact with the effects of uncertainty on response times. One possible hypothesis regarding these various S-R uncertainty functions is that uncertainty will have an effect whenever the stimuli and their associated responses are not within the same egocentric spatial coordinates. We tested this hypothesis in 5 undergraduate participants (2 men, M age 18.7 yr., range 18–20) by investigating the time-course of pointing to peripherally located visual targets under four different levels of uncertainty (1, 2, 4, or 8 possible locations). Surprisingly, the resulting response function does not match any of those previously reported. Visually guided pointing produced a quadratic reaction time function as S-R uncertainty increases in log2 steps from 1 to 8.