Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Economic Contributions and Challenges of Immigrant Entrepreneurs to Their Host Country – Case of African Immigrants in Auckland, New Zealand

Entrepreneurship is an important concept in both developing and developed societies today. Although there is no consensus on the definition of entrepreneurship, it is believed to be a process of creating value by bringing together a unique package of resources to exploit entrepreneurship opportunities ( Morris, 2002 ). This study aims to discover the economic contributions and challenges of immigrant entrepreneurs to their host country, and focuses on African small business owners in Auckland, New Zealand. Literature on immigrant entrepreneurship was reviewed, resulting in a discussion of the economic contributions of immigrant entrepreneurship as well as its challenges. Data was collected using face-to-face, semi-structured interviews, observation and field notes as the sources of inquiry. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 17 participants. All participants were African immigrant small business owners running businesses in Auckland. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data collected ( Braun & Clarke, 2006 ).
Biliary fibrosis in microsurgical extrahepatic cholestasis in the rat

A new model of extrahepatic cholestasis, using a microsurgical technique, is performed as an alternative to the traditional model of the bile duct ligated‐rat, in order to study the stage of fibrosis in the long‐term. Male Wistar rats were divided into two groups: I (Sham‐operated, n = 9) and II [Microsurgical Cholestasis (MC), n = 10]. After 4 weeks, portal pressure, types of portosystemic collateral circulation, mesenteric venous vasculopathy, hepatic function test, and liver histopathology were studied by using the Knodell index and fibrosis was determined by reticulin and Sirius red stains. The animals with MC presented portal hypertension with extrahepatic portosistemic collateral circulation, associated with mesenteric venous vasculopathy and increased plasma levels of bilirubin (6.30 ± 1.80 vs. 0.22 ± 0.37 mg/dL; P = 0.0001), alkaline phosphatase (293.00 ± 82.40 vs. 126.30 ± 33.42 U/L; P = 0.001), AST (380.00 ± 78.50 vs. 68.33 ± 11.74 IU/L; P = 0.0001), ALT (87.60 ± 22.32 vs. 42.22 ± 7.89 IU/L; P = 0.0001), and LDH (697.76 ± 75.13 vs. 384.80 ± 100.03 IU/L; P = 0.0001). On the contrary, plasma levels of albumin decreased (2.72 ± 0.12 mg/dl vs. 2.99 ± 0.10; P = 0.001). The microsurgical resection of the extrahepatic biliary tract in the rat produces an experimental model of hepatic inflammation, characterized by a high Knodell hepatic activity index (4), bile proliferation, and fibrosis. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. Microsurgery, 2008.
Tiotropium for the treatment of asthma in adolescents

ABSTRACT Introduction: Asthma is a prevalent disease affecting millions of individuals. Despite receiving guideline therapy with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) with or without a long-acting β2-agonist (LABA), a proportion of patients remain symptomatic or have suboptimal lung function. There is therefore an unmet need for additional therapies to improve asthma control. The long-acting anticholinergic tiotropium, delivered via the Respimat inhaler, is approved for the treatment of asthma in the EU, the USA, and other countries. Phase III investigation in adults has demonstrated that tiotropium improves lung function and asthma control, with a safety profile comparable with that of placebo. Areas covered: Clinical trials in adolescent patients (aged 12–17 years) with moderate or severe symptomatic asthma have shown that tiotropium Respimat as add-on to ICS, with or without other maintenance therapies, is a well-tolerated and efficacious bronchodilator showing trends toward improved asthma control, similar to data in adult patients. Expert opinion: Tiotropium Respimat may be of benefit as add-on maintenance therapy to medium- or high-dose ICS with or without LABA; however, further data are needed to directly compare the efficacy of ICS plus tiotropium versus ICS plus LABA in adolescents with symptomatic asthma, and to establish the long-term effects on airway modeling.
Detection of Neutralizing Antibodies against Human Papillomaviruses (HPV) by Inhibition of Gene Transfer Mediated by HPV Pseudovirions

ABSTRACT The goal of this study was to develop a human papillomavirus (HPV) neutralization assay using HPV pseudovirions generated in vitro. For this purpose, gene transfer efficiency of HPV virus-like particles (VLPs) was improved by using direct interaction between a reporter plasmid and the VLPs. Electron microscopic observation of the interaction between DNA molecules and VLPs revealed that VLPs always interact with a single DNA molecule and that VLPs bind to the end of linearized DNA molecules. An 100-fold improvement in the gene transfer was obtained by simple interaction between a linearized DNA molecule and VLPs. Moreover, direct interaction methods offer the possibility of transferring plasmids a size higher than that of the papillomavirus genome. The approach that we developed to generate HPV-16 and HPV-31 pseudovirions proved to be suitable for testing neutralizing antibodies in human sera both after immunization and after natural infection.
Expression of the receptor‐linked protein tyrosine phosphatase LAR: proteolytic cleavage and shedding of the CAM‐like extracellular region.

The human transmembrane molecule LAR is a protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase) with a cell adhesion molecule‐like extracellular receptor region. The structure of LAR hinted at its involvement in the regulation of tyrosine phosphorylation through cell‐cell or cell‐matrix interactions. We show here that LAR is expressed on the cell surface as a complex of two non‐covalently associated subunits derived from a proprotein. The LAR E‐subunit contains the cell adhesion molecule‐like receptor region, while the LAR P‐subunit contains a short segment of the extracellular region, the transmembrane peptide and the cytoplasmic PTPase domains. Proprotein processing occurs intracellularly. Analysis of LAR mutants suggested that cleavage occurs in the LAR extracellular region at a paired basic amino acid site by a subtilisin‐like endoprotease. A single amino acid substitution at this site blocked LAR proprotein cleavage. The LAR E‐subunit is shed during cell growth, suggesting that LAR receptor shedding may be a mechanism for regulating PTPase function. The use of immunohistochemistry techniques on human tissues demonstrated the expression of LAR by various cell lineages, including epithelial cells, smooth muscle cells and cardiac myocytes. The LAR gene is mapped to chromosome 1, region p32–33, which contains candidate tumor suppressor genes.
Competition Policy Theory And Practice

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Automatic Detection and Reconstruction of 2-D/3-D Building Shapes From Spaceborne TomoSAR Point Clouds

Modern spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors, such as TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X and COSMO-SkyMed, can deliver very high resolution (VHR) data beyond the inherent spatial scales of buildings. Processing these VHR data with advanced interferometric techniques, such as SAR tomography (TomoSAR), allows for the generation of four-dimensional point clouds, containing not only the 3-D positions of the scatterer location but also the estimates of seasonal/temporal deformation on the scale of centimeters or even millimeters, making them very attractive for generating dynamic city models from space. Motivated by these chances, the authors have earlier proposed approaches that demonstrated first attempts toward reconstruction of building facades from this class of data. The approaches work well when high density of facade points exists, and the full shape of the building could be reconstructed if data are available from multiple views, e.g., from both ascending and descending orbits. However, there are cases when no or only few facade points are available. This usually happens for lower height buildings and renders the detection of facade points/regions very challenging. Moreover, problems related to the visibility of facades mainly facing toward the azimuth direction (i.e., facades orthogonally oriented to the flight direction) can also cause difficulties in deriving the complete structure of individual buildings. These problems motivated us to reconstruct full 2-D/3-D shapes of buildings via exploitation of roof points. In this paper, we present a novel and complete data-driven framework for the automatic (parametric) reconstruction of 2-D/3-D building shapes (or footprints) using unstructured TomoSAR point clouds particularly generated from one viewing angle only. The proposed approach is illustrated and validated by examples using TomoSAR point clouds generated using TerraSAR-X high-resolution spotlight data stacks acquired from ascending orbit covering two different test areas, with one containing simple moderate-sized buildings in Las Vegas, USA and the other containing relatively complex building structures in Berlin, Germany.
Radical Left in Albania and Kosovo: Differences and Similarities

Abstract The main research question for this paper is: Are there radical left wing movements in Albania and Kosovo and what are their main traits? Through answering this question, we will explore the development (or lack thereof) of radical left wing movements. With radical left we intend movements that reject the underlying socio-economic structure of contemporary capitalism and its values and practices without opposing democracy. Through a thorough desk research and several interviews with experts and activists both in Albania and Kosovo, we look at the two case Political Opportunity Structures to study the emergence, the strategies, success or failures of the radical left. In Albania the radical left has been in decline since 1992, with only a recent revival from 2009 on. In Kosovo, the Lëvizja Vetëvendojse! (Self-Determination Movement), a civil movement transformed in a party, has succeeded in imposing its left agenda. Both cases employ a new rhetoric unrelated to the past communist regimes thus changing the perspective of political debate in both countries.
Cryptococcus neoformans Gene Expression during Experimental Cryptococcal Meningitis

ABSTRACT Cryptococcus neoformans, an encapsulated basidiomycete fungus of medical importance, is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier and causing meningitis in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised individuals. To gain insight into the adaptation of the fungus to the host central nervous system (CNS), serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) was used to characterize the gene expression profile of C. neoformans cells recovered from the CNS of infected rabbits. A SAGE library was constructed, and 49,048 tags were sequenced; 16,207 of these tags were found to represent unique sequences or tag families. Of the 304 most-abundant tags, 164 were assigned to a putative gene for subsequent functional grouping. The results (as determined according to the number of tags that identified genes encoding proteins required for these functions) indicated that the C. neoformans cells were actively engaged in protein synthesis, protein degradation, stress response, small-molecule transport, and signaling. In addition, a high level of energy requirement of the fungal cells was suggested by a large number of tags that matched putative genes for energy production. Taken together, these findings provide the first insight into the transcriptional adaptation of C. neoformans to the host environment and identify the set of fungal genes most highly expressed during cerebrospinal fluid infection.
Outage Probability of Decode-and-Forward Cooperative Relaying Systems with Co-Channel Interference

This paper analyzes the outage probability of multi-branch dual-hop decode-and-forward (DF) cooperative relaying systems over non-identical Nakagami/Nakagami fading channels. The paper derives an exact closed-form expression for the outage probability with maximum ratio combining considering both the effect of co-channel interference (CCI) and addictive white Gaussian noise. The results of this paper show that a DF cooperative relaying system is more vulnerable to noise than interference for low and moderate SINR, whereas it is more susceptible to interference than noise for high SINR and high diversity order. Moreover, this paper shows that the robustness of the destination against CCI is more important than that of the relay. The results of this paper are verified by Monte Carlo simulations.
Ventral Pallidum Output Pathways in Context-Induced Reinstatement of Alcohol Seeking

Ventral pallidum (VP) is a well-established locus for the reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse and reinstatement of drug seeking. However, VP neurons are at the origin of multiple output pathways, with strong projections to ventral tegmental area (VTA), subthalamic nucleus (STN), lateral hypothalamus, among others, and the roles of these VP output pathways in reinstatement of drug seeking remain poorly understood. Here we addressed these issues using a combination of neuroanatomical tracing and chemogenetic approaches. First, using dual-retrograde tracing, we show that VP neurons projecting to either VTA or STN are recruited during context-induced reinstatement of extinguished alcohol seeking in rats. Then, using chemogenetics, we show modulation of context-induced reinstatement and reacquisition of alcohol seeking via designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs excitation or inhibition of the VP. To determine the causal roles of VP → VTA and VP → STN pathways in context-induced reinstatement and reacquisition we used a chemogenetic disconnection approach and show that silencing either the VP → VTA or VP → STN pathways is sufficient to reduce both reinstatement and reacquisition of alcohol seeking. Moreover, these disconnections also each reduced responding and motivation during a progressive ratio test but had no effect on locomotor activity. Together, these results show that multiple ventral pallidal output pathways contribute to relapse to alcohol seeking. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Ventral pallidum (VP) serves important roles in reward and motivation and is a critical node in the neural circuitry for reinstatement of drug seeking. Despite being a common locus for different forms of reinstatement, fundamental aspects of neural circuitry for these VP contributions to reinstatement of drug seeking remain unknown. Here we used a combination of neuroanatomical tracing and chemogenetic approaches to map the VP output pathways for context-induced reinstatement and reacquisition of alcohol seeking. We show that VP output pathways to the subthalamic nucleus and also to the ventral tegmental area are necessary for these forms of reinstatement.
Functional significance of metabolic responses to thermal acclimation in fish muscle.

Compensatory increases of the aerobic capacity of fish swimming muscle are frequently observed in response to cold acclimation. Such thermal compensation occurs both in fish that remain active in the cold and in fish that become dormant at cold temperatures. For cold-active fish, positive thermal compensation is best explained by conservation of the capacity for aerobic metabolic flux at low temperatures. The compensatory responses of cold-active species can be used to suggest the temperature range over which the activities of glycolytic and tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes in a muscle, i.e., the muscle's "metabolic profile," can suffice. Analysis of the available data suggests that a 16 degrees C range of temperatures cannot be covered by one metabolic profile, even when the preferred temperatures are centered between the acclimation temperatures. For cold-inactive species that remain normoxic during winter dormancy, the compensatory metabolic modifications may facilitate lipid catabolism. Alternately, an increased aerobic capacity may be adaptive during the relatively cold periods that precede and follow winter dormancy. For goldfish and carp that encounter hypoxia and anoxia during winter dormancy, increased mitochondrial abundance could facilitate ethanol production during anoxia and the diffusion of oxygen to mitochondria during hypoxia. Finally, metabolic modifications during natural acclimatization indicate both thermal compensation and direct thermal effects and suggest that thermal compensation may be masked by reproductive and feeding activities.
Diffusion of laparoscopic appendectomies in Italy: A national audit

Abstract A national audit focused on laparoscopic appendectomy was promoted by the Italian Association of Hospital Surgeons (ACOI). Four-hundred and sixty surgical practices received an e-mail questionnaire. Data concerning epidemiology, timetable, surgeon's age, selection of patients, laparotomic conversion, behaviour in the case of a normal appendix, and technical aspects were investigated. The response rate was 51.7%. The median number of appendectomies performed is 50–100 each year in a surgery ward. Laparoscopic operations are very common (93%), but mostly performed in less than 50% of the observed cases. There is no significant difference between the number of operations during the day vs. at night, and they are performed by a limited (<30%) group of surgeons, equally composed of physicians aged above and below 40. The majority of surgeons adopt an “all comers” policy regarding laparoscopic appendectomy, including selected older patients (>70 years old). There are no standard indications for conversion, while the behaviour in the presence of a normal appendix is generally removal. Even if laparoscopic appendectomy is not yet considered a gold standard, it is widely diffused in Italy, and the audit's data show different behaviours between subgroups.
Heterogeneity influences spatial patterns and demographics in forest stands

1 The spatial pattern of tree species retains signatures of factors and processes such as dispersal, available resource patches for establishment, competition and demographics. Comparison of the spatial pattern of different size classes can thus help to reveal the importance and characteristics of the underlying processes. However, tree dynamics may be masked by large‐scale heterogeneous site conditions, e.g. when the restricting size of regeneration sites superimposes emergent patterns. 2 Here we ask how environmental heterogeneity may influence the spatial dynamics of plant communities. We compared the spatial patterns and demographics of western hemlock in a homogeneous and a heterogeneous site of old‐growth Douglas‐fir forests on Vancouver Island using recent techniques of point pattern analysis. We used homogeneous and inhomogeneous K‐ and pair‐correlation functions, and case‐control studies to quantify the change in spatial distribution for different size classes of western hemlock. 3 Our comparative analyses show that biological processes interacted with spatial heterogeneity, leading to qualitatively different population dynamics at the two sites. Population structure, survival and size structure of western hemlock were different in the heterogeneous stand in such a way that, compared to the homogeneous stand, seedlings were more clustered, seedling densities higher, seedling mortality lower, adult growth faster and adult mortality higher. Under homogeneous site conditions, seedling survival was mainly abiotically determined by random arrival in small gaps with limiting light. At the heterogeneous site, seedling densities and initial survival were much higher, leading to strong density‐dependent mortality and selection for faster growing individuals in larger size classes. We hypothesise that the dynamics of the heterogeneous stand were faster due to asymmetric competition with disproportionate benefit to taller plants. 4 Synthesis. Our study supports the hypothesis that successional dynamics are intensified in heterogeneous forest stands with strong spatial structures and outlines the importance of spatial heterogeneity as a determinant of plant population dynamics and pattern formation.
Analysis of Energy Literacy and Misconceptions of Junior High Students in Taiwan

Decision-making regarding energy determines carbon emissions and the severity of climate change. Energy literacy plays a crucial role because well-informed citizens can support the design and implementation of smart and forward-looking policies. Research has shown that people hold misconceptions about energy, and for young students these may persist into adulthood. Thus, this study is to understand the energy literacy of junior high school students in Taiwan and what their misconceptions are as well as why and how they hold these. Energy literacy scales (ELS) were developed and served as the basis for a survey of 1652 students in five regions of Taiwan, in which most indicators for knowledge were designed corresponding to common misconceptions in the scientific and social context of energy issues. Through analyzing the survey questions and survey results, interview questions were designed and 10 students were interviewed to identify their misconceptions. A “conceptual logic map” model was developed for demonstrating the sources and patterns of misconceptions and their linkages. Potential educational strategies were then proposed, showing the applicability of the model. The combination of concept-oriented energy literacy surveys, interviews, and the conceptual logic map was proven to be an effective design for misconception identification and treatment.
Forecasting prices of electricity on HUPX

The development of new simulation techniques by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an improved tool to better forecast energy prices. This paper demonstrates building and validating a short term model for Hungarian day ahead power market — HUPX electricity price forecasting. This models takes into account multiple sources of information; the data set used is a table of historical hourly loads, electricity prices and other regional information's. Paper is discussing the application of intelligent systems to short term electricity prices forecasting and outlining proposed research direction.
HybridNET management and sensor data acquisition system

In this work, we present the HybridNET management and data acquisition system, which we created for the control and monitoring of large air-conditioning installations in industrial buildings and shopping malls. The system uses an 868 MHz internal network communication based on LORA and it is equipped with a GPRS gateway that connects to a control center on the Internet. It has been successfully tested in two Bulgarian shopping centers and up to this point it performs its functions very well.