Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adult Neurogenesis Requires Smad4-Mediated Bone Morphogenic Protein Signaling in Stem Cells

In the mammalian brain, neurogenesis continues only in few regions of the forebrain. The molecular signals governing neurogenesis in these unique neurogenic niches, however, are still ill defined. Here, we show that bone morphogenic protein (BMP)-mediated signaling is active in adult neural stem cells and is crucial to initiate the neurogenic lineage in the adult mouse subependymal zone. Conditional deletion of Smad4 in adult neural stem cells severely impairs neurogenesis, and this is phenocopied by infusion of Noggin, an extracellular antagonist of BMP. Smad4 deletion in stem, but not progenitor cells, as well as Noggin infusion lead to an increased number of Olig2-expressing progeny that migrate to the corpus callosum and differentiate into oligodendrocytes. Transplantation experiments further verified the cell-autonomous nature of this phenotype. Thus, BMP-mediated signaling via Smad4 is required to initiate neurogenesis from adult neural stem cells and suppress the alternative fate of oligodendrogliogenesis.
Intraspecific variation in seed dispersal of a Neotropical tree and its relationship to fruit and tree traits

Abstract The distribution of wind‐dispersed seeds around a parent tree depends on diaspore and tree traits, as well as wind conditions and surrounding vegetation. This study of a neotropical canopy tree, Platypodium elegans, explored the extent to which parental variation in diaspore and tree traits explained (1) rate of diaspore descent in still air, (2) distributions of diaspores dispersed from a 40‐m tower in the forest, and (3) natural diaspore distributions around the parent tree. The geometric mean rate of descent in still air among 20 parents was highly correlated with geometric mean wing loading1/2 (r = 0.84). However, diaspore traits and rate of descent predicted less variation in dispersal distance from the tower, although descent rate−1 consistently correlated with dispersal distance. Measured seed shadows, particularly their distribution edges, differed significantly among six parents (DBH range 62–181 cm) and were best fit by six separate anisotropic dispersal kernels and surveyed fecundities. Measured rate of descent and tree traits, combined in a mechanistic seed dispersal model, did not significantly explain variation among parents in natural seed dispersal distances, perhaps due to the limited power to detect effects with only six trees. Seedling and sapling distributions were at a greater mean distance from the parents than seed distributions; saplings were heavily concentrated at far distances. Variation among parents in the distribution tails so critical for recruitment could not be explained by measured diaspore or tree traits with this sample size, and may be determined more by wind patterns and the timing of abscission in relation to wind conditions. Studies of wind dispersal need to devote greater field efforts at recording the “rare” dispersal events that contribute to far dispersal distances, following their consequences, and in understanding the mechanisms that generate them.
Kill the Messenger: The War on Standardized Testing

In response to public demand, federal legislation now requires testing of most students in the United States in reading and mathematics in grades three through eight. Many educators, parents, and policymakers who have paid little attention to testing policy issues in the past need to have better information on the topic than has generally been available. Kill the Messenger, now in paperback, fills this gap.
Lightweight and Serverless RFID Authentication and Search Protocol

We propose a new serverless RFID protocol for authentication. Our scheme not only retains the original security agreement but also reduce the operations and increase the efficiency of the implementation. We also propose a RFID tag search protocol which is a new concept that we believe this tag search will be the future trend. This protocol has a better execution efficiency in comparison with other protocols.
On the Competitive Eects of Restructuring Electricity when Demand is Uncertain

We employ a stylized model of the electricity industry to examine the effects of restructuring on capacity investments, retail prices and welfare, allowing for uncertain demand. We consider the following market configurations: (i) integrated monopoly, (ii) integrated duopoly with wholesale trade, and (iii) separated duopoly with wholesale trade. We find that generators install sufficient capacity to serve retail demand (thus avoiding blackouts) in all configurations. Aggregate capacity levels and retail prices are such that the separated (integrated) duopoly with wholesale trade performs best (worst) in terms of welfare.
Propriété étrangère et efficience technique des banques dans les pays en transition

Face a la domination croissante de l’actionnariat etranger dans les secteurs bancaires des pays en transition, notre objectif est de comparer l’efficience technique des banques a la propriete domestique et des banques a la propriete etrangere en Pologne et en Republique tcheque. L’estimation des scores d’efficience est effectuee au moyen de l’analyse d’enveloppement des donnees (dea). Nous montrons alors que les banques a la propriete etrangere disposent d’une meilleure efficience technique que les banques a la propriete domestique. Nous observons de plus que cet avantage d’efficience ne depend pas des differences en termes de taille ou de structure d’activites entre les deux categories de banques.
Efficacy Of Some Lambda-Cyhalothrin-Based Insecticides In Control Of Major Field Pests Of Cowpea (Vigna Unguiculata L.)

A major constraint to the increased and sustainable production of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walpers) in the savanna ecology of Ghana is damage caused by field insect pests. Field studies were conducted during the 2012 cropping season at the Experimental Farms of the University for Development Studies, Nyankpala, Ghana, to evaluate the efficacy of six Lambda-cyhalothrin formulations namely; Clear, Controller-super, CW-Lambda, Kombat, Lambda-super and Zap on flower thrips, pod-borers, and pod-sucking bugs, and their effects on the grain yield and grain quality of cowpea. The randomized complete block design with three replications was used to obtain data on the abundance and incidence of the pests. The results showed that infestations of of all the target pests were significantly lower in the insecticide-treated plots than the control. Although significant differences were not observed in all the parameters evaluated among the insecticide treatments, cowpea plants treated with Lambda-super or CW-Lambda recorded the lowest infestation of flower thrips, pod-borers and pod-sucking bugs. Cowpea grain yield and grain quality from the Lambda-super treatment were statistically similar to that of CW-Lambda treatment but different from that of the other insecticides. Farmers can use Lambda-super or CW-Lambda for effective control of the major pests of cowpea for maximum grain yield and quality in the savanna ecology of Ghana.
Household welfare and income shocks : the case of Russia

The thesis investigates the impact of changes in household income on household welfare in Russia during 1994 to 1998. Part I introduces the main estimation techniques (Instrumental Variables, Difference-In-Differences and Matching), the data sources and the context of the Russian arrears crisis. Part II contains the empirical analysis. Chapter 5 simulates the effect of government cash transfers on poverty with Instrumental Variables estimation, taking into account consumption smoothing of households. Changes in cash transfer policy led unambiguously to a rise in poverty between 1994 and 1998. Chapter 6 explores the welfare effects of non-payments of pensions in 1996 using a Difference-In-Differences model. The loss of pension income doubled poverty rates and worsened nutrition among affected pensioners. Elderly men suffered from a decline in health and were more likely to die in the two years following the crisis. Households responded in ways that mitigated the impact of the crisis, replacing one-fifth of lost pension income through increased labour supply and asset sales. Chapter 7 analyses the impact of wage arrears on the elderly who were either working themselves or living together with workers. Matching techniques establish that wage arrears had a detrimental impact on old age welfare, including current and future health, over a wide range of control variables and sample restrictions. In line with the findings on pension arrears, the effect was larger on men than on women. Arrears households compensated about 10 to 14 percent of the wage loss from other income sources. Chapter 8 studies the link between wage arrears and child health. Wage arrears resulted in a decline of economic well-being, nutrition and growth status of affected children. Arrears households replaced up to one fifth of the wage reduction with other receipts. The final chapter summarizes the main findings.
Indian Long-term Non-Progressors Show Broad ADCC Responses with Preferential Recognition of V3 Region of Envelope and a Region from Tat Protein

HIV-specific antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC) is likely to be important in governing protection from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and slowing disease progression. Little is known about the ADCC responses to HIV-1 subtype C. We characterized ADCC responses in HIV-1 subtype C-infected Indian subjects with slow disease progression and identified the dominant antigenic regions recognized by these antibodies. ADCC responses were measured in plasma from 34 long-term non-progressors (LTNPs), who were asymptomatic and maintained CD4 count above 500 cells/mm3 for the last 7 years in the absence of antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 58 ART naïve progressors with CD4 count <500 cells/mm3 against overlapping HIV-1 peptides using a flow cytometry-based antibody-dependent natural killer (NK) cell activation assay. The assay measured CD107a expression on NK cells as a marker of antibody-dependent NK cell activation and IFN-γ secretion by NK cells upon activation. The ADCC epitopes were mapped using the matrix of overlapping peptides. Indian LTNPs showed higher and broader ADCC responses compared to the progressors. The Env-C and Tat-specific ADCC responses were associated with lower plasma viral load, whereas the Env-C responses were also associated with higher CD4 counts. Five of 10 LTNP responders targeted epitopes in the V3 region (amino acids 288–330) of Env-C. Additionally, three Tat regions were targeted by ADCC antibodies from LTNPs. ADCC responses were associated with slow HIV progression in Indian subtype C-infected cohort. The frequently recognized peptides from the V3 loop of Env and the novel epitopes from Tat by the LTNPs warrants further study to understand the role of ADCC responses to these regions in control and prevention of HIV-1 infection.
Cartography of complex networks: modules and universal roles

Integrative approaches to the study of complex systems demand that one knows the manner in which the parts comprising the system are connected. The structure of the complex network defining the interactions provides insight into the function and evolution of the components of the system. Unfortunately, the large size and intricacy of these networks implies that such insight is usually difficult to extract. Here, we propose a method that allows one to systematically extract and display information contained in complex networks. Specifically, we demonstrate that one can (i) find modules in complex networks and (ii) classify nodes into universal roles according to their pattern of within- and between-module connections. The method thus yields a ‘cartographic representation’ of complex networks.
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1  Abstract—The theoretical limit for small antenna performance that was derived decades ago by Wheeler and Chu governs design tradeoffs for size, bandwidth, and efficiency. Theoretical guidelines have also been derived for other details of small antenna design such as permittivity, aspect ratio, and even the nature of the internal structure of the antenna. In this paper, we extract and analyze experimental performance data from a large body of published designs to establish several facts that have not previously been demonstrated: (1) The theoretical performance limit for size, bandwidth, and efficiency are validated by all available experimental evidence. (2) Although derived for electrically small antennas, the same theoretical limit is also generally a good design rule for antennas that are not electrically small. (3) The theoretical predictions for the performance due to design factors such as permittivity, aspect ratio, and the internal structure of the antenna are also supported by the experimental evidence. The designs that have the highest performance are those that involve the lowest permittivity, have an aspect ratio close to unity, and for which the fields fill the minimum size enclosing sphere with the greatest uniformity. This work thus validates the established theoretical design guidelines.
DEVELOPMENT OF EVALUATION SYSTEMS - EVALUATION CAPACITY BUILDING IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE NEW CHALLENGES OF EU STRUCTURAL POLICY

The paper presents the changing role of evaluation for public policies and the increasing importance of comprehensive evaluation systems for more effective and learning public institutions. In this context, evaluation systems are becoming an essential element of governance and democratic processes. Within the framework of the current EU Structural Policy and its new challenges (enlargement, new priorities, regional policy paradigm), the creation and the development of evaluation capacities and comprehensive evaluation systems becomes increasingly an instrument for organizational learning and policy improvement. In this context, the development of evaluation systems is not only fundamental for the new member states, but also for countries with a poor evaluation culture or a fragmented evaluation system. However, evaluation still lacks the necessary resources and infrastructure to become an accepted and integrated governance tool, despite the growth of the European Evaluation Community and the take-off of several National Evaluation Societies in the past years. Unexploited potentials exist on the supply side (evaluators, skills, training, dialogue), but also on the demand side (commissioning, data monitoring, use of evaluations) of the evaluation system. Evaluation Capacity Building (ECB), as an approach for the development of evaluation systems, is the integrated and planned development of skills, resources and infrastructures and the intentional shift towards an evaluation culture in an organization, department or government. Nonetheless, getting to grips with the institutionalisation of the discipline of evaluation and the building of an ongoing evaluation capacity turns out to be extremely difficult: Which are concrete measures of ECB? Who is responsible for the measures, for the implementation? What are the target groups? When has the ECB been successful? are only some of the questions that come up.
IZA DP No . 150 Unions and the Labor Market for Managers

Unions and the Labor Market for Managers We examine the relationship between the employment and compensation of managers and CEOs and the presence of a unionized workforce. We develop a simple efficiency wage model, with a tradeoff between higher wages for workers and more monitoring, which requires more managers. The model also assumes rent sharing between workers, managers and the owners of the firm. Unions, by redistributing rents towards the workers, lead to lower employment and lower pay for managers. Using a variety of data sets, we examine the implications of the model for the relationship between the employment and wages of managers and unionization. We find several results generally consistent with our model. (1) Both a higher fraction of unionization in an industry and region and a higher union wage differential are associated with fewer managers. (2) Managers wages are about 5 to 7 percent lower in unionized firms. (3) For CEOs the effects are larger: a 10 percent increase in unionization reduces the pay of CEOs by 2.5 percent or more. JEL Classification: J31, J44, J51
Mood-misattribution effect on energy markets: a biorhythm approach

This paper investigates the relationship between emotion and European energy forward prices of oil, gas, coal and electricity during normal times and periods of extreme price movements relying on the biorhythm approach. To this end, we use the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) variable to study the impact of emotion on energy market dynamics. Estimating OLS and quantile regressions, we find that seasonal patterns have a significant impact during extreme volatility periods only. Further investigations reveal that the SAD affect is significant during periods of price decrease, but insignificant during priceincrease. The out-of-sample predictive ability properties are also investigated and show that our "SAD model" outperforms significantly the pure "macroeconomic one".
Polymorphism, Expression of Natural Resistance-associated Macrophage Protein 1 Encoding Gene (NRAMP1) and Its Association with Immune Traits in Pigs

Natural resistance-associated macrophage protein 1 encoding gene (NRAMP1) plays an important role in immune response against intracellular pathogens. To evaluate the effects of NRAMP1 gene on immune capacity in pigs, tissue expression of NRAMP1 mRNA was observed by real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the results revealed NRAMP1 expressed widely in nine tissues. One single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (ENSSSCG00000025058: g.130 C>T) in exon1 and one SNP (ENSSSCG00000025058: g.657 A>G) in intron1 region of porcine NRAMP1 gene were demonstrated by DNA sequencing and PCR-RFLP analysis. A further analysis of SNP genotypes associated with immune traits including contain of white blood cell (WBC), granulocyte, lymphocyte, monocyte (MO), rate of cytotoxin in monocyte (MC) and CD4/CD8 T lymphocyte subpopulations in blood was carried out in four pig populations including Large White and three Chinese indigenous breeds (Wannan Black, Huai pig and Wei pig). The results showed that the SNP (ENSSSCG00000025058: g.130 C>T) was significantly associated with level of WBC % (p = 0.031), MO% (p = 0.024), MC% (p = 0.013) and CD4−CD8+ T lymphocyte (p = 0.023). The other SNP (ENSSSCG00000025058: g.657 A>G) was significantly associated with the level of MO% (p = 0.012), MC% (p = 0.019) and CD4−CD8+ T lymphocyte (p = 0.037). These results indicate that the NRAMP1 gene can be regarded as a molecular marker for genetic selection of disease susceptibility in pig breeding.
Do Wikipedians follow domain experts?: a domain-specific study on Wikipedia knowledge building

Wikipedia is one of the most successful online knowledge bases, attracting millions of visits daily. Not surprisingly, its huge success has in turn led to immense research interest for a better understanding of the collaborative knowledge building process. In this paper, we performed a (terrorism) domain-specific case study, comparing and contrasting the knowledge evolution in Wikipedia with a knowledge base created by domain experts. Specifically, we used the Terrorism Knowledge Base (TKB) developed by experts at MIPT. We identified 409 Wikipedia articles matching TKB records, and went ahead to study them from three aspects: creation, revision, and link evolution. We found that the knowledge building in Wikipedia had largely been independent, and did not follow TKB - despite the open and online availability of the latter, as well as awareness of at least some of the Wikipedia contributors about the TKB source. In an attempt to identify possible reasons, we conducted a detailed analysis of contribution behavior demonstrated by Wikipedians. It was found that most Wikipedians contribute to a relatively small set of articles each. Their contribution was biased towards one or very few article(s). At the same time, each article's contributions are often championed by very few active contributors including the article's creator. We finally arrive at a conjecture that the contributions in Wikipedia are more to cover knowledge at the article level rather than at the domain level.
The Changing Rationale for European University Research Funding: Are There Negative Unintended Consequences?

In recent years there has been wide-ranging debate on the advantages and drawbacks of the rationale for resource allocation to university research. The post-World War II rationale for public support of science has been challenged by a more contractual-oriented vision of how to support research. The academic debate has provided a diverse set of descriptions and explanations with some views strongly supporting the contractual-oriented rationale and others critical of it.1 The debate transcends the academic circle, as illustrated by the large number of national government reports: for example, Commission Jacques Attali (1998) for France, House Committee on Science (1998) for the United States, and National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (1997) for the United Kingdom.2 This article examines how changes in the rationale for science funding might influence the behavior of universities in European Union (EU) countries and the USA.3 The article begins by describing the changes in university research funding for a selected group of EU countries during the period 1981-1996 and goes on to analyze the contractual-oriented vision of university research funding and its consequences. The primary focus is on the negative unintended consequences of the new rationale. It is shown that the short-term efficiency gains resulting from the quasi-market incentive
Expression of Ribonucleotide Reductase Subunit-2 and Thymidylate Synthase Correlates with Poor Prognosis in Patients with Resected Stages I–III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Biomarkers can help to identify patients with early-stages or locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have high risk of relapse and poor prognosis. To correlate the expression of seven biomarkers involved in DNA synthesis and repair and in cell division with clinical outcome, we consecutively collected 82 tumour tissues from radically resected NSCLC patients. The following biomarkers were investigated using IHC and qRT-PCR: excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1), breast cancer 1 (BRCA1), ribonucleotide reductase subunits M1 and M2 (RRM1 and RRM2), subunit p53R2, thymidylate synthase (TS), and class III beta-tubulin (TUBB3). Gene expression levels were also validated in an available NSCLC microarray dataset. Multivariate analysis identified the protein overexpression of RRM2 and TS as independent prognostic factors of shorter overall survival (OS). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a trend in shorter OS for patients with RRM2, TS, and ERCC1, BRCA1 overexpressed tumours. For all of the biomarkers except TUBB3, the OS trends relative to the gene expression levels were in agreement with those relative to the protein expression levels. The NSCLC microarray dataset showed RRM2 and TS as biomarkers significantly associated with OS. This study suggests that high expression levels of RRM2 and TS might be negative prognostic factors for resected NSCLC patients.