Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tissue regeneration mesh reinforcement during abdominoplasty for severe myoaponeurotic laxity after pregnancy

A 28-year-old woman who was 6 months postpartum following her second pregnancy presented with a history of painful protrusion and weakness of her abdominal wall musculature. Despite having had physiotherapy there was no improvement in muscle strength. MRI scan of her abdominal wall was performed which showed significant diastasis of the recti but no herniae were seen. The effect of this on the patient's quality of life was marked, and therefore abdominoplasty with mesh reinforcement was planned. In order to limit the consequences of infection, a Strattice mesh (a tissue regeneration mesh) was selected. Standard panniculectomy and plication of the rectus sheath using non-absorbable sutures was performed, and the mesh sutured to the anterior abdominal wall using an on-lay technique. The patient recovered well from the procedure, with a significant return of functionality to her abdominal wall, enabling her to return to work some3 months later.
Developing appropriate incentives for improving water quality in the Burdekin River catchment

Achieving a reduction in the discharge of diffuse agricultural water pollutants from the Burdekin River catchment to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon has become a high priority for government. Such an achievement requires an increase in the voluntary adoption of best management practices by landholders. Past policies and programs to encourage adoption do not appear to have achieved significant improvements in water quality. It is thought that a more tailored suite of incentive measures would be more effective in encouraging landholders to adopt management practices. This paper presents preliminary results from a catchment wide landholder survey on how landholders perceived the effectiveness of different incentive instruments. Results indicated that there was a suite of preferred incentives from different categories including financial incentives (specifically income tax incentives); education and extension programs (specifically on-farm demonstration sites) and increased security of property rights. Government regulation was the least preferred option. These results suggest a ‘tool-box’ of incentives will be required to encourage the range of landholders and their different situations to adopt management practices. Regional NRM bodies such as the Burdekin Dry Tropics NRM will have many roles to play in the design, support and delivery of such incentive mechanisms.
Aktivitas Komite Audit, Kepemilikan Institusional dan Biaya Audit

This study investigates the influence of the audit committee activities and institutional ownership to the audit fees in Indonesia public companies. The research samples are manufacturing companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period 2010 – 2013. There are 124 observations that meet the sample criteria, data are analyzed using Eviews 6.0. The results show that the audit committee activities which measured by the number of audit committee meetings have significant positive effect on the audit fees. Meanwhile, institutional ownership, diffused and blockholders institutional ownership do not significantly affect to the audit fees. However some of the control variables such as the number of wholly-owned subsidiaries, subsidiaries abroad, and audit quality have significant positive effect on audit fees, whereas leverage, loss and audit opinion have no significant effect on the audit fee.
Open Government and (Linked) (Open) (Government) (Data)

This article explores the opening and the free usage of stored public sector data, supplied by state. In the age of Open Government and Open Data it’s not enough just to put data online. It should be rather weighed out whether, how and which supplied public sector data can be published. Open Data are defined as stored data which could be made accessible in a public interest without any restrictions for usage and distribution. These Open Data can possibly be statistics, geo data, maps, plans, environmental data and weather data in addition to materials of the parliaments, ministries and authorities. The preparation and the free access to existing data permit varied approaches to the reuse of data, discussed in the article. In addition, impulses can be given for Open Government – the opening of state and administration, to more transparency, participation and collaboration as well as to innovation and business development. The Open Data movement tries to get to the bottom of current publication processes in the public sector which could be formed even more friendly to citizens and enterprises.
Institutional Investors as Stewards of the Corporation: Exploring the Challenges to the Monitoring Hypothesis

The study explores the challenges UK-based institutional investors face when trying to monitor investee companies and influence their social, environmental and governance practices. Consistent with previous research, I find that misalignment of interests within the investment chain and dispersed ownership are factors which inhibit investor activism. However, other underexplored challenges include lack of investee company transparency and investor experience in activism, as well as low client demand for engagement and internal conflicts of interest. The results contribute to the literature on institutional investor activism by using direct empirical evidence to systematically discuss the challenges to stewardship. Given the intensification of media and regulatory attention on shareholders in the post-global financial crisis era, coupled with investors’ growing awareness and practice of stewardship, the research opens new avenues for enquiry which go beyond the on-going debate about the monitoring versus short-termism roles of institutional investors.
Distributed Reputation Management for Secure and Efficient Vehicular Edge Computing and Networks

Vehicular edge computing (VEC) is introduced to extend computing capacity to vehicular network edge recently. With the advent of VEC, service providers directly host services in close proximity of mobile vehicles for great improvements. As a result, a new networking paradigm, vehicular edge networks is emerged along with the development of VEC. However, it is necessary to address security issues for facilitating VEC well. In this paper, we focus on reputation management to ensure security protection and improve network efficiency in the implementation of VEC. A distributed reputation management system (DREAMS) is proposed, wherein VEC servers are adopted to execute local reputation management tasks for vehicles. This system has remarkable features for improving overall performance: 1) distributed reputation maintenance; 2) trusted reputation manifestation; 3) accurate reputation update; and 4) available reputation usage. In particular, we utilize multi-weighted subjective logic for accurate reputation update in DREAMS. To enrich reputation usage in DREAMS, service providers optimize resource allocation in computation offloading by considering reputation of vehicles. Numerical results indicate that DREAMS has great advantages in optimizing misbehavior detection and improving the recognition rate of misbehaving vehicles. Meanwhile, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our reputation-based resource allocation algorithm.
Growing Stock Market in Bangladesh - Key Indicators Based Evaluation

This paper focuses on the growth of Bangladesh stock market over time. The market trends in terms of market capitalization, market liquidity, market concentration, number of listings, volatility in the market index and foreign portfolio investment were considered. The study finds that key indicators are significantly correlated. Stock market growth index is constructed considering market capitalization ratio; turnover ratio, value traded to GDP ratio and volatility in market index. The findings of the study suggest that although Bangladesh stock market is growing over time, the growth has not yet assumed any stable and obvious trend. It conclude that Bangladesh stock market is still at an early stage of its growth path with a small market size relative to GDP and is characterized by poor liquidity and high market concentration.
Acquisition Announcements and Stock Market Valuations of Acquiring Firms’ Rivals: A Test of the Growth Probability Hypothesis in China

To examine the impact of acquisition announcements on the stock market returns of rivals of the acquiring firms, we propose a growth probability hypothesis: When an acquisition is announced, it signals the potential for future growth in the acquirer’s industry to the market, resulting in positive stock market reactions to rivals of the acquiring firms. We test the growth probability hypothesis with a longitudinal sample of Chinese domestic and cross-border acquisitions during 1993-2008. The results provide robust support for this hypothesis as a means to explain market reactions to rivals of acquiring firms. We also empirically test and negate alternative theoretical explanations advanced in prior literature to explain positive market reactions to rivals of the target firms.
Low-dose oral methotrexate and cyclophosphamide in metastatic breast cancer: antitumor activity and correlation with vascular endothelial growth factor levels.

BACKGROUND Anticancer chemotherapy is thought to be effective by means of direct cytotoxicity on tumor cells. Alternative mechanisms of efficacy have been ascribed to several common anticancer agents, including cyclophosphamide (CTX), methotrexate (MTX), anthracyclines and taxanes, postulating an antiangiogenic activity. PATIENTS AND METHODS We evaluated the clinical efficacy and impact on serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels of low-dose oral MTX and CTX in patients with metastatic breast cancer. MTX was administered 2.5 mg bd on days 1 and 2 each week and CTX 50 mg/day administered continuously. RESULTS Sixty-four patients were enrolled, 63 were evaluable: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-1, > or =2 sites of metastatic disease (n = 50 patients), progressive disease at study entry (n = 51), 1 regimen for metastatic disease (n = 32) and > or =2 regimens (n = 20). Among the 63 evaluable patients, there were two complete remissions (CR), 10 partial remissions (PR) for an overall response rate of 19.0% (95% CI 10.2% to 30.9%) and an overall clinical benefit (CR+ PR+ stable disease >24 weeks) of 31.7% (95% CI 20.6% to 44.7%). Grade > or =2 leucopenia was registered in only 13 patients. The median serum VEGF level for the subgroup of patients on treatment for at least 2 months decreased with treatment from 315 pg/ml (95% CI 245 to 435) at baseline to 248 pg/ml (95% CI 205 to 311) at 2 months (P <0.001). Both responders and non-responders showed similar reductions in serum VEGF (P = 0.78). After 6 months patients still on treatment had a median VEGF level of 195 pg/ml (95% CI 96 to 355), which was significantly lower than the median baseline values (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Continuously low-dose CTX and MTX is minimally toxic and effective in heavily pretreated breast cancer patients. A drop in VEGF was associated with the treatment and so alternative hypotheses, other than that of direct toxicity on tumor cells, must be favored when trying to explain the anticancer effect.
Role of obesity in GORD-related disorders

Obesity satisfies several criteria for a causal association with GORD and its complications including generally consistent association and some dose–response relationship. Abdominal obesity seems to explain a considerable part of this association operating mostly by increasing intragastric pressure, gastroesophageal gradient, TLOSR, and oesophageal acid exposure. Additional humoral mechanisms may be important in Barrett’s oesophagus and oesophageal adenocarcinoma but this remains poorly examined. Maintaining normal weight may reduce the likelihood of developing GORD and its potential complications.
Collaboration and Partnership in Tourism: the Experience of Botswana

This study explores the use of management activities (tourism planning and marketing) in explaining collaboration and partnership in a tourism destination. Analysis of findings was based on seven management activities, evaluation of partnerships with tourism-related organizations, and 23 statements measuring the extent of interaction and collaboration between destination players. Data was collected from three tourism areas in Botswana. Factor analysis, reliability analysis and a series of independent t-tests were used to analyse the data. Study results indicate that tourism marketing has more influence than tourism planning in explaining and evaluating tourism collaboration and partnerships. The study found statistically significant differences between organizations which have tourism marketing activities and those which do not. Destination management organizations need to encourage tourism organizations to design and implement tourism marketing plans with a view to enhancing collaboration and partnerships in a destination.
Xanthine oxidoreductase mediates membrane docking of milk‐fat droplets but is not essential for apocrine lipid secretion

Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) modulates milk lipid secretion and lactation initiation. XOR is required for butyrophilin1a1 clustering in the membrane during milk lipid secretion. XOR mediates apical membrane reorganization during milk lipid secretion. Loss of XOR delays milk fat globule secretion. XOR loss alters the proteome of milk fat globules.
Does welfare reduce poverty ?

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 made fundamental changes in the federal system of public assistance in the United States, and specifically limited the eligibility of immigrant households to receive many types of aid. Many states chose to protect their immigrant populations from the presumed adverse effects of welfare reform by offering state-funded assistance to these groups. I exploit these changes in eligibility rules to examine the link between welfare and poverty rates in the immigrant population. My empirical analysis documents that the welfare cutbacks did not increase poverty rates. The immigrant families most affected by welfare reform responded by substantially increasing their labor supply, thereby raising their family income and slightly lowering their poverty rate. In the targeted immigrant population, therefore, welfare does not reduce poverty; it may actually increase it. & 2015 University of Venice. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A ug 2 01 5 Phase coexistences and particle non-conservation in a closed asymmetric exclusion process with inhomogeneities

We construct a one-dimensional totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) on a ring with two segments having unequal hopping rates, coupled to particle non-conserving Langmuir kinetics (LK) characterized by equal attachment and detachment rates. In the steady state, in the limit of competing LK and TASEP, the model is always found in states of phase coexistence. We uncover a nonequilibrium phase transition between a three-phase and a two-phase coexistence in the faster segment, controlled by the underlying inhomogeneity configurations and LK. The model is always found to be half-filled on average in the steady state, regardless of the hopping rates and the attachment/detachment rate.
Structure and functional expression of a new member of the tetrodotoxin‐sensitive voltage‐activated sodium channel family from human neuroendocrine cells.

A member of a new subclass of the voltage‐activated sodium channel genes has been cloned from the human medullary thyroid carcinoma (hMTC) cell line. The cDNA of hNE‐Na (human neuroendocrine sodium channel) encodes a 1977 amino acid protein which phylogenetically represents a link between sodium channels isolated from skeletal muscle and brain. The hNE‐Na alpha subunit was transiently expressed in human embryonic kidney cells either alone or in combination with the human sodium channel beta 1 subunit. The channel exhibited rapid activation and inactivation kinetics, and was blocked by tetrodotoxin and cadmium with IC50 values of 24.5 nM and 1.1 mM, respectively. Action potentials were generated in cells expressing high levels of hNE‐Na. Northern blot and reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) analyses demonstrated its expression in hMTC cells, in a C‐cell carcinoma, and in thyroid and adrenal gland. Transcripts were not identified in pituitary gland, brain, heart, liver or kidney, indicating that the hNE‐Na is a sodium channel solely expressed in neuroendocrine cells.
Norfloxacin modulates the inflammatory response and directly affects neutrophils in patients with decompensated cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Patients with cirrhosis undergoing selective intestinal decontamination with norfloxacin show a reduction in serum cytokine levels, probably because of a combined effect of norfloxacin on bowel flora and neutrophils. METHODS Thirty-one patients with cirrhosis receiving norfloxacin (400 mg/day) were included. Blood samples were collected at 0.5-4 hours (peak samples group, n = 47) and at 22-24 hours (trough samples group, n = 84) after dose. Fifty-nine ascitic fluid samples were obtained. Single doses of norfloxacin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole were administered to 13 and 5 patients, respectively, (temporal profile group) and samples were collected at 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 4, and 24 hours. Norfloxacin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, cytokines, nitric oxide, expression levels of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB and inhibitor of NF-kappaB (IkB-alpha), neutrophil oxidative burst, and rate of apoptotic events were determined. RESULTS All samples were bacterial DNA negative and had no significant levels of lipopolysaccharide. Serum and ascitic levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interferon-gamma, interleukin-12, and nitric oxide were significantly lower in peak than in trough samples. A correlation was present between serum norfloxacins concentrations and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (r = -0.68; P < .001), interferon-gamma (r = -0.66; P < .001), interleukin-12 (r = -0.66; P < .001), and nitric oxide (r = -0.68; P < .001). Serum norfloxacin's highest concentrations (1 +/- 0.5 microg/mL) were achieved at 1-2 hours and concurred in time with the lower levels of cytokines and nitric oxide. Intracellular norfloxacin's highest levels (2 +/- 1 microg/mL/10(7) cells) were observed at 2 hours and concurred with a lower NF-kappaB expression, a reduced anion superoxide generation, and apoptotic rate in response to phorbol myristate acetate. Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole did not significantly modulate cytokine expression. CONCLUSIONS Norfloxacin but not trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole modulates inflammatory response and directly affects neutrophils in patients with cirrhosis.
Crystallization of Amorphous Water Ice in the Solar System

Electron diffraction studies of vapor-deposited water ice have characterized the dynamical structural changes during crystallization that affect volatile retention in cometary materials. Crystallization is found to occur by nucleation of small domains, while leaving a significant part of the amorphous material in a slightly more relaxed amorphous state that coexists metastably with cubic crystalline ice. The onset of the amorphous relaxation is prior to crystallization and coincides with the glass transition. Above the glass transition temperature, the crystallization kinetics are consistent with the amorphous solid becoming a “strong” viscous liquid. The amorphous component can effectively retain volatiles during crystallization if the volatile concentration is ~ 10% or less. For higher initial impurity concentrations, a significant amount of impurities is released during crystallization, probably because the impurities are trapped on the surfaces of micropores. A model for crystallization over long timescales is described that can be applied to a wide range of impure water ices under typical astrophysical conditions if the fragility factor D, which describes the viscosity behavior, can be estimated.The hope is that if we do understand the ice crystal we shall ultimately understand the glacier. — R. P. Feynman (1965)
Strategy and Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management and Business Performance - PART I: CONNECTING STRATEGY AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - Strategy and the Process of Strategic Management - Strategic HRM: 'best fit' or 'best practice'? - Strategic HRM and the Resource-Based View of the Firm - PART II: MANAGING PEOPLE: SEARCHING FOR GENERAL PRINCIPLES - Work Systems and the Changing Priorities of Production - Linking Work Systems and Models of Employment - Managing Individual Performance and Development - Managing Employee Voice in Unionised and Non-Unionised Firms - PART III: MANAGING PEOPLE IN DYNAMIC AND COMPLEX BUSINESS CONTEXTS - Human Resource Strategy and the Dynamics of Industry-based Competition - Corporate Human Resource Strategy in the Global Economy - Conclusion: Implications for the Strategic Management Process - Bibliography - Author index - Subject index
Finite elements/Taguchi method based procedure for the identification of the geometrical parameters significantly affecting the biomechanical behavior of a lumbar disc

Abstract The aim of this work is to show a quick and simple procedure able to identify the geometrical parameters of the intervertebral disc that strongly affect the behavior of the FEM model. First, we allocated a selection criterion for the minimum number of geometrical parameters that describe, with a good degree of approximation, a healthy human vertebra. Next, we carried out a sensitivity analysis using the ‘Taguchi orthogonal array’ to arrive at a quick identification of the parameters that strongly affect the behavior of the Fem model.
A wearable fabric-based RFID skin temperature monitoring patch

This work presents a novel design of wearable radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor patch make of conductive fabric and integrated on clothes. The wearable RFID with similar design is also implemented on a Polyimide (PI) substrate to show the effectiveness of the system. We also demonstrate the wearable and washable RFID patch by using conductive fabric coil antenna as well as non-conductive fabric substrate. The conductive fabric offers great flexibility and comfortability as it can be sewed into clothes and connect the components of the patch. As a proof of concept, we developed the conductive fabric based RFID for temperature sensing and demonstrate its use by measuring variations in the skin temperature. We observed that the proposed antenna is strain independent during bending. Further, it has the advantage of simplicity and is relatively free from issues such as degradation of performance.
The Maintenance of Weight Loss After Behavioral Treatment

This article reviews the recent empirical literature on the behavioral treatment of obesity in an attempt to delineate those variables that are most closely related to the posttreatment maintenance of weight loss. Such variables were found to fall into three general categories: adherence to treatment and use of behavioral skills, posttreatment vigilance regarding both weight fluctuation and the skills learned in therapy, and intraindividual physical and emotional factors. An attempt is made to develop a rational understanding of these findings, which appear to be consistent with Kanfer's self-regulation model of self-control. Implications for treatment and future research are discussed.