Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A fast dynamic Bayesian network algorithm for structure learning using a time-lagged partial correlation matrix

We propose a novel dynamic Bayesian network algorithm for structure learning using Gaussian Bayesian network analysis and a time-lagged version of the partial correlation matrix. The proposed algorithm overcomes common issues in standard structure learning such as the finding of cycles, time consumption, and computational load. The proposed algorithm is composed of four rules where an initial structure is found using time-lagged partial correlation, followed by a series of steps that evaluate network patterns using the Bayesian information criterion score. We test the accuracy of our method by a simulated multivariate autoregressive network, and also by analysing Saccharomyces Cerevisiae gene expression data.
A QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF THE INSURANCE UNDERWRITING CYCLE ON UNITED STATES INSURANCE COMPANY IMPAIRMENT

The underwriting cycle in the property and casualty insurance industry is a well-known phenomenon; this research paper attempts to quantify the correlation of softening or hardening markets in the United States and insurance companies’ subsequent impairments. Through statistical analysis, the research consists of a multi-decade, multivariate regression analysis investigating the historical levels of insurance company impairment (dependent variable) during a number of insurance cycle soft markets (independent variable). It was found that following soft markets there were significant relationships to the annual number of property and casualty insurance carrier impairments for the entire universe of companies during a recent period.
Elastic liposomes-in-vehicle formulations destined for skin therapy: the synergy between type of liposomes and vehicle

Abstract Objective: The present study is focused on optimization of elastic liposomes-in-vehicle formulations in respect to drug release and formulation properties. By combining penetration potential of elastic liposomes containing high ratio of entrapped drug and physicochemical properties of vehicles, both affecting the release and texture properties, optimal formulation could be achieved. Materials and methods: Deformable, propylene glycol-containing or conventional liposomes with hydrophilic model drug (diclofenac sodium) were incorporated into the following vehicles appropriate for skin application: a hydrogel, a cream base and derma membrane structure base cream (DMS base). Each formulation was assessed for in vitro drug release and mechanical properties. Results and discussion: The composition and type of both liposomes and the vehicle affected the rate and amount of the released drug. The cream base exhibited the slowest release, followed by the hydrogel and DMS base. Similar release profiles were achieved with both types of elastic vesicles (deformable and propylene glycol liposomes); the slowest release was observed for conventional liposomes, regardless of the vehicle used. The drug release profiles from different liposomes-in-vehicle formulations were in agreement with the physicochemical properties of the formulations. All of the liposomes were found to be compatible with the hydrogel preserving its original textures, whereas a significant decrease in all texture parameters was observed for liposomes-in-DMS base, regardless of liposome type. Conclusion: Propylene glycol liposomes-in-hydrogel is considered as the optimal formulation for improving skin delivery of hydrophilic drug. Further investigations involving in vivo animal studies are necessary to confirm its applicability in skin therapy.
Antioxidant activity of winter melon (Benincasa Hispida) seeds using conventional soxhlet extraction technique

In this study, the effect of different solvent including ethanol, n-hexane and ethyl acetate on antioxidant activity and total phenolic content (TPC) of winter melon (Benincasa hispida) seeds extract was investigated using conventional Soxhlet extraction (CSE). DPPH and ABTS scavenging activity and TPC results indicated that the seed extracts obtained using ethanol possessed the highest antioxidant activity and followed by ethyl acetate and n-hexane. By considering obtained results, it was clear that there was a high positive correlation between TPC and antioxidant activity. Linoleic acid forms a significant percentage of unsaturated fatty acids of the seed extract (60.6%). It is well known that essential fatty acids including linoleic acid and linolenic acid which are detected in extracts play important roles in preventing many disease and abnormal differentiation problems. B. hispida seeds are potential source of natural antioxidant compounds to replace synthetic antioxidants.
Evolution of the class III HD‐Zip gene family in land plants

SUMMARY Arabidopsis class III homeodomain‐leucine zipper (HD‐Zip III) proteins play overlapping, distinct, and antagonistic roles in key aspects of development that have evolved during land plant evolution. To better understand this gene family's role in plant evolution and development as well as to address broader questions of how duplicated genes functionally diversify, we investigated the evolutionary history of this gene family. Phylogenetic analyses including homologs from diverse land plants indicate that a gene duplication event before the angiosperm‐‐gymnosperm split gave rise to two gene lineages that diversified during angiosperm plant radiation. Heterologous expression of an HD‐Zip III gene from the nonvascular plant moss within the Arabidopsis HD‐zip III revoluta mutant modified but did not complement the phenotype. Comparison of the expression domains of flowering and nonflowering plant homologs indicate an ancestral role in vascular development and organ initiation but not in specifying organ polarity, a prominent role for angiosperm homologs.
Management of membranous nephropathy: when and what for treatment.

Idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMGN) remains the most common form of the nephrotic syndrome in adults. Its incidence rate has remained constant over the past three decades in contrast to the increasing numbers in the other common progressive variants of primary glomerulonephritis, such as IgA
Experimental dissociation of the effects of diet, age and breeding experience on primary reproductive effort in zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata

Reproductive performance varies with age in a wide range of organisms, and increasingly such patterns are interpreted in terms of state-dependent models. We sought to characterise ‘state’ with regards to age-related variation in clutch size, egg mass and timing of breeding in captive zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata, focusing on the roles of diet quality, age and breeding experience. Females on a high-quality diet laid larger clutches of larger eggs than did females on a low-quality diet. The effect of age on reproductive performance was examined by comparing females breeding (i.e. paired) for the first time at either 3- and/or 6-months of age. Clutch size increased with age but on the low-quality diet only, not on the high-quality diet. Furthermore, clutch size decreased between 3- and 6-months of age in birds bred first on the high-quality diet and then on the low-quality diet. Age did not affect egg mass but older birds had shorter laying intervals. Reproductive performance did not differ between females breeding at 6-months of age for the first or second time: the effects of age were not due to ‘training’ effects or experience specific to breeding (e.g. undergoing the physiological process of egg formation). In conclusion, nutritional condition (diet) emerged as a central component of state that could strongly influence, and even reverse, any age-dependent increase in primary reproductive performance.
What Drives B-To-B Marketers in Emerging Countries to Use Social Media Sites?

ABSTRACT Purpose: B-to-B marketers in emerging countries still lag behind compared to peers in developed countries in terms of the use of social media sites. Recent literature calls for a further understand the factors influencing social media sites’ use by B-to-B firms in emerging countries. This paper builds on this literature to map and investigate the factors influencing B-to-B marketers’ intention to use social media sites in an emerging country. Methodology/Approach: The designed model was tested by implementing a survey. Snowball sampling method was used to select B-to-B marketers from 158 firms in Jordan. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using PLS was implemented to investigate the various influences and relationships. A discussion of the results compared with those of existing research conducted mainly in Western countries, with very few conducted in emerging countries, is provided. Findings: The results highlight similarities in the factors affecting the intention to use social media sites in emerging countries: perceived usefulness and perceived utility were found to significantly influence the intention to use social media sites in Jordan and also in China and South Korea. However, the perceived usability of social media sites did not have any influence on Jordanian B-to-B marketers’ intention to use those sites. In addition, result demonstrability, of less importance in developed countries, was found to significantly influence Jordanian B-to-B marketers’ intention to use social media sites. Image and subjective norms were found to influence perceived usefulness. Efficiency has no significant influence on perceived usability, whereas error, satisfaction, learnability, and memorability were found to significantly influence Jordanian B-to-B marketers’ perceived usability of social media sites. Research Implications: This research contributes to the technology acceptance research field and particularly the area of B-to-B firms’ use of social media sites. It combined (i) the extended technology acceptance model and (ii) the attributes of system acceptability model, to further the understanding of the factors that influence on the use of social media sites by B-to-B firms in emerging countries. For practitioners, this research provides guidance on how to increase social media use by B-to-B marketers in emergent countries through enhancing the factors that stimulate the use of social media sites in this particular context. Originality/Value/Contribution of the paper: Very few studies conducted in emerging countries highlights differences in the factors influencing the use of social media sites compared to those identified in studies conducted in developed countries. This research adds value to the growing research area on B2B firms’ use of social media sites as well as to the technology acceptance research field, by identifying and discussing the most important factors influencing B-to-B marketers’ intention to use social media in emergent countries contexts.
Planning the development of the company with the business motivation model on the example of the BKF

W artykule zostal zaprezentowany pogląd, ze wykorzystywanie sformalizowanych standardow do tworzenia planow rozwoju, nawet dla malych i średnich firm, moze byc efektywnym sposobem na ujecie wszystkich aspektow poprawnego planu. Model motywacji biznesowej moze tez byc pierwszym krokiem wdrazania standardu wspomagającego rozwoj firmy oraz podstawą do stosowania w przyszlości bardziej kompleksowych narzedzi takich jak Siatka Zachmana lub TOGAF. W celu potwierdzenia tego stanowiska przeanalizowano przypadek wykorzystania modelu motywacji biznesowej w tworzeniu planu rozwoju spolki BKF.
Study on Reliable and Secure Multi-receiver Data Delivery for Internet of Things

In the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) technology, the sensors take an essential role for sensing and monitoring. To make IoT applications more responsive and solve some constraints of IoT devices, the sensed data are stored, processed, and analyzed at the edge of the network. For example, in healthcare applications, the body sensor data of a patient may be analyzed on the smartphone of a caregiver instead of cloud to give point-of care efficiently. To deliver the sensed data, reliable and secure sensor data stream delivery is required for IoT applications. As the common sensed data are useful for multiple receivers in many cases, the sensor data stream delivery takes the form of one to many communications. For example, the body sensor data of a patient are delivered to doctor, nurse, and other patients. To reduce the communication overheads caused by the unicast communication for multi-receiver data delivery, IoT technology commonly uses multicast. In multi-receiver data delivery, the receivers encounter data loss for the reasons of unstable communications, insufficient processing powers, and so on. In addition, many IoT applications use sensing data related to personal and sensitive data such as heartbeat data and location data. There have been many studies to tackle problems of data loss recoveries and sensitive data protections. For reliable data processing on IoT applications, the sender needs to generate new recovery streams and deliver them to the loss-encountered receivers. In this way, recovery stream generation causes the processing and communication loads on the sender. In IoT applications, most of the receivers are devices with limited network bandwidth or storage and existing stream merging schemes are not suitable. Regarding sensitive data protections, even though there exist multi-receivers encryption schemes, they do not consider some security properties such as source authentication and replay attack prevention. In addition, multi-receiver encryption schemes must introduce lightweight computational cost, which is important for resource-constrained devices. This thesis proposes a synchronized recovery stream merging scheme and a lightweight multi-receiver encryption scheme to achieve reliable and secure multireceiver data delivery for IoT. We propose a new recovery stream merging scheme and evaluate its performance. This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 explains the research background, research issues, objectives and the content of this research.
Complement Factor H Variant Y402H is Not a Risk Factor for Preeclampsia in the Finnish Population

Objective: Variations in complement factor H, which down-regulates the activity of the alternative complement pathway, have been associated with different vascular disorders. Here we examine whether factor H variation is involved in the etiology of preeclampsia. Methods: We studied 110 women with preeclampsia and 99 controls for complement factor H variations by sequencing. Results: No significant differences in the genotype or allele frequencies of the Y402H variant were detected between the two groups. No sequence variations were detected in the short consensus repeat domain 20 of the gene. Conclusions: Neither the Y402H variant, nor mutations in the short consensus repeat domain 20 of the gene is associated with preeclampsia. For examination of possible links to other polymorphisms or detection of small genotypic effects, studies in larger sample sets are warranted.
The advantages of social capital for businesses on Facebook

Purpose The purpose of this research is to study how social capital from Facebook can create advantages for businesses. Methodology This paper uses a quantitative method consisting an empirical survey with 200 Facebook users’ participating and with a theoretical framework based on previous research. Limitations – The limits with the research are the number of participant that answered, since Facebook have an enormous number of users. Findings – Companies can use social capital in many different aspects that works in favor to the company. By having a greater social capital bring many opportunities to a company. Social media and Facebook is a good way to reach customers and other persons that can benefit the company. Conclusion – Profile owners use Facebook friends to other reasons than only being friends. Social capital brings knowledge through communication which can be used in all parts of a person’s everyday life.
Protection against rotavirus-induced gastroenteritis in a murine model by passively acquired gastrointestinal but not circulating antibodies

Newborn mice suckled on dams immunized either orally or parenterally with primate rotavirus SA-11 were protected against diarrhea induced by SA-11 virus challenge. Experimental oral administration of milk from orally immunized dams protected suckling mice against challenge; protective activity was detected both in the anti-rotavirus immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG fractions, but IgA was more potent in vivo than IgG. Oral administration of milk from parentally immunized dams also protected suckling mice against challenge; in this case, protective activity was detected in the anti-rotavirus IgG fraction. In newborn mice foster-nursed by seronegative dams, circulating rotavirus-specific antibodies in high titer did not protect mice against oral SA-11 virus challenge. It appears that the most effective rotavirus vaccine will be that which induces an efficient production of antibodies active at the intestinal cell surface.
The Effect of e-Commerce Web Site Security on Purchase Intention

This study investigates the effect of website security, as a key dimension of e-service quality, on purchase intention, perceived value and brand loyalty in business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce context. Hypotheses were developed based on previous literature. Afterwards, an empirical research was conducted with the data collected from 464 e-commerce customer to verify the hypotheses. Structured equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Having analyzed the results, it is found out that website security in e-commerce affects customer purchase intention directly. Furthermore, website security indirectly affects purchase intention through brand loyalty and perceived value. The study has important managerial implications stressing the importance of customer perception regarding security level of B2C e-commerce web sites.
Comparison of E.Coli, Enterococci, and Fecal Coliform as Indicators for Brackish Water Quality Assessment

Escherichia coli(E.coli), enterococci, and fecal coliform data were collected and comparedas potential indicators for swimmablility assessment of a brackish waterbody (Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana). These indicators were measured during lake background conditions, in stormwater runoff (before dilution with lake water), and in the outfall plume within the lake following storm events. Microbial indicator titers associated with suspended particles and lake‐bottom sediments were also investigated. Overall reduction rate constants for fecal coliform, E.coli, and enterococci in lake water and sediment were measured and reported. Attachment of microbial indicators to suspended matter and subsequent sedimentation appeared to be a significant fate mechanism. A slower reduction rate of indicator organisms in sediment further suggested that bottom sediment may act as a reservoir for prolonging indicator organism survival and added concern of recontamination of overlaying waters due to potential solids resuspension. Results indicated that enterococci might be a more stable indicator than E.coli and fecal coliform and, consequently, a more conservative indicator under brackish water conditions.
The Institutional of Environment Management on Textile Industry : A Case study on the textile industry in Bandung regency, West Java-Indonesia

The textile industry is often associated with environmental pollution problems. The purpose of this study was to describe the institutions of environmental management in the textile industry in Bandung Regency, Indonesia. This study used a qualitative approach and the inductive method. Data collection was conducted by interview, observation, and documentation. The results showed that the institutions of environmental management on textile industry in Bandung Regency is characterized by the occurrence of transactional law in the implementation of environmental management between the company and apparatus. This condition is caused by the costs of implementing the rule more than the cost to transact violation so that institutional governance tends to lead to unethical business practices. This study concludes that the institutions of environmental management in the textile industry in Bandung regency plagued by opportunistic behavior that causes appear various cost components that are categorized as transaction costs. KEYWORDS: Behavior opportunistic, business ethics, transaction costs
Cloning of the porcine interferon‐γ receptor and its foeto‐endometrial expression in early pregnancy

In early gestation, trophoblastic cells of porcine preimplanting conceptuses transiently and massively secrete two distinct interferons (IFNs), one of which is IFN‐γ. In order to localize possible cellular target(s) for this IFN‐γ, the expression of the porcine IFN‐γ receptor and its developmental regulation have been investigated on the maternal endometrium and on the embryonic tissues. A cDNA encoding the porcine IFN‐γ binding‐chain (pIFNGR1) was isolated. When expressed in COS‐7 cells, it displayed a specific binding to radiolabelled pIFN‐γ and was shown to be a glycosylated membrane protein with an apparent molecular mass of 92 kDa. Porcine IFNGR1 mRNA was detected by RT‐PCR not only in uterine epithelial cells but also in embryonic tissues from at least as early as day 10 of gestation. Moreover, membrane expression of the pIFN‐γ receptor quantified by binding and crosslinking of 32P‐pIFN‐γ was demonstrated in uterine epithelium and in the trophoblast. In the trophoblast, expression of the receptor was found to be developmentally regulated: although expression was weak on days 12 and 15 of gestation, it reached a level similar to that found on some IFN‐γ–sensitive cells on day 16. This study shows that maternal endometrium is not the only possible target for trophoblastic IFN‐γ: the induction of pIFN‐γ receptor expression in the trophoblast around day 16 of gestation could suggest the appearance of responsiveness to pIFN‐γ in this implanted tissue and therefore a possible delayed autocrine effect of trophoblastic pIFN‐γ. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 51:225–234, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Trabecular cells of the eye express messenger RNA for transforming growth factor-beta 1 and secrete this cytokine.

PURPOSE To determine whether trabecular tissue in vivo and cultured trabecular cells have the messenger RNA transcript for transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1), and to examine whether these cells synthesize and secrete TGF-beta 1 in vitro. METHODS Total RNA was isolated from the trabecular meshwork, iris, and ciliary body freshly excised from porcine eyes as well as from cultured trabecular cells, and the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and Southern hybridization were used for detection of TGF-beta 1 messenger RNA. The amount of TGF-beta 1 secreted by trabecular cells in culture was determined by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS Excised whole trabecular tissue, iris, and ciliary body, as well as cultured trabecular cells expressed messenger RNA transcripts for TGF-beta 1. On the ethidium bromide-stained agarose gel, two PCR-amplified products (161 and 400 base pairs) were found in the total RNA isolated from cultured trabecular cells. The oligonucleotide probe specific for TGF-beta 1 detected only one band with the expected length of 161 base pairs. The secretion of TGF-beta 1 into conditioned medium was at the level of 16.7-20 pg/ml per 2 million trabecular cells during a 24-hr period. CONCLUSIONS These investigations show that the trabecular meshwork, iris, and ciliary body in vivo express the messenger RNA transcript for TGF-beta 1, and that trabecular cells in vitro synthesize and secrete this cytokine. The TGF-beta 1 present in normal aqueous humor may be derived locally, at least in part, from the cells of the trabecular meshwork, iris, and ciliary body. Abnormal synthesis, secretion, activation, and clearance of TGF-beta 1 may contribute to the pathogenesis of many ocular disorders, including primary open-angle glaucoma.