Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endostatin gene therapy delivered by Salmonella choleraesuis in murine tumor models

Some anaerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacteria have been used experimentally as anticancer agents because of their selective growth in tumors. In this study, we exploited attenuated Salmonella choleraesuis as a tumoricidal agent and a vector to deliver the endostatin gene for tumor‐targeted gene therapy.
The informational content of oil and natural gas prices in energy fund performance

This paper explores whether the informational content of oil and gas prices has an impact on energy mutual fund returns. We first re-visit the relationship between oil and gas prices and energy index returns; our findings confirm that better energy index performance is associated with oil and gas price increases. Using the Fama and MacBeth (1973) two-stage regressions, we find that the information contained in oil and gas prices also plays a significant role in explaining energy mutual fund returns, making these an alternative investment to direct energy stock investments.
Opportunistic Relay Selection With Limited Feedback

Relay selection is a simple technique that achieves spatial diversity in cooperative relay networks. Generally, relay selection algorithms require channel state information (CSI) feedback from all cooperating relays to make a selection decision. This requirement poses two important challenges, which are often neglected in the literature. Firstly, the fed back channel information is usually corrupted by additive noise. Secondly, CSI feedback generates a great deal of feedback overhead (air-time) that could result in significant performance hits. In this paper, we propose a compressive sensing (CS) based relay selection algorithm that reduces the feedback overhead of relay networks under the assumption of noisy feedback channels. The proposed algorithm exploits CS to first obtain the identity of a set of relays with favorable channel conditions. Following that, the CSI of the identified relays is estimated using least squares estimation without any additional feedback. Both single and multiple relay selection cases are considered. After deriving closed-form expressions for the asymptotic end-to-end SNR at the destination and the feedback load for different relaying protocols, we show that CS-based selection drastically reduces the feedback load and achieves a rate close to that obtained by selection algorithms with dedicated error-free feedback.
Compensating for Public Harms: Why Public Goods Are Preferred to Money

This paper provides evidence that public goods represent a more acceptable response to public harms than monetary compensation. We demonstrate a preference for public goods over monetary compensation, in part because receipt of public goods may limit the sense of guilt or bribery from accepting compensation for the injury. More surprising, this preference for public goods over money in the presence of a harm remains in a free-market choice where guilt is not an issue. It appears that public goods psychologically mitigate or balance public harms in a way that makes them more valuable in the presence of public harms. (JEL Q2)
WULoRa: An energy efficient IoT end-node for energy harvesting and heterogeneous communication

Intelligent connected objects, which build the IoT, are electronic devices usually supplied by batteries that significantly limit their life-time. These devices are expected to be deployed in very large numbers, and manual replacement of their batteries will severely restrict their large-scale or wide-area deployments. Therefore energy efficiency is of the utmost importance in the design of these devices. The wireless communication between the distributed sensor devices and the host stations can consume significant energy, even more when data needs to reach several kilometers of distance. In this paper, we present an energy-efficient multi-sensing platform that exploits energy harvesting, long-range communication and ultra-low-power short-range wake-up radio to achieve self sustainability in a kilometer range network. The proposed platform is designed with power efficiency in mind and exploits the always-on wake-up radio as both receiver and a power management unit to significantly reduce the quiescent current even continuously listening the wireless channel. Moreover the platform allows the building of an heterogeneous long-short range network architecture to reduce the latency and reduce the power consumption in listening phase at only 4.6 μW. Experimental results and simulations demonstrate the benefits of the proposed platform and heterogeneous network.
Rigidity for infinitely renormalizable area-preserving maps

The period-doubling Cantor sets of strongly dissipative Henon-like maps with different average Jacobian are not smoothly conjugated, as was shown previously. The Jacobian rigidity conjecture says that the period-doubling Cantor sets of two-dimensional Henon-like maps with the same average Jacobian are smoothly conjugated. This conjecture is true for average Jacobian zero, for example, the one-dimensional case. The other extreme case is when the maps preserve area, for example, when the average Jacobian is one. Indeed, the main result presented here is that the period-doubling Cantor sets of area-preserving maps in the universality class of the Eckmann-Koch-Wittwer renormalization fixed point are smoothly conjugated.
Design and development of X-band FMCW based lab model of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for applications in engineering education

Hands-on experience and instructions are required in the fields of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Radars for fully understanding and developing complex radar systems. Unfortunately, Engineering institutions especially in developing countries cannot afford expensive Radar trainers required for imparting necessary skills to students. In this work a low cost X-band FMCW based lab model of SAR is developed using COTS hardware. This lab model can be utilized by students for understanding working of SAR and can also be used as part of their research activities.
An Improved Estimation Method and Empirical Properties of the Probability of Informed Trading

We report evidence that boundary solutions can cause a bias in the estimate of the probability of informed trading (PIN). We develop an algorithm to overcome this bias and use it to estimate PIN for nearly 80,000 stock-quarters between 1993 and 2004. We obtain two sets of PIN estimates by using the factorized likelihood functions in both Easley, Hvidkjaer, and O’Hara (EHO, 2010) and Lin and Ke (LK, 2011), respectively. We find that the estimate based on the EHO factorization is systematically smaller than the estimate based on the LK factorization, meaning that there is a downward bias associated with the EHO factorization. In addition, we find that boundary solutions appear with a very high frequency when the LK factorization is used. Thus it is necessary to use the LK factorization together with the algorithm in this paper. At last, we document several interesting empirical properties of PIN.
Frequent promoter methylation of CDH1 in non-neoplastic mucosa of sporadic diffuse gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM To identify promoter methylation as a major silencing mechanism in potential precursor lesions of sporadic diffuse gastric cancer (DGC), we investigated promoter methylation of CDH1 (E-Cadherin gene) in a series of DGCs and matched normal mucosa. MATERIALS AND METHODS The extent of CDH1 gene promoter methylation was explored using methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) and pyrosequencing (PS) in 72 DGCs with a matched pair of normal mucosa. RESULTS MSP and PS revealed CDH1 promoter methylation in 73.6% (53/72) and 77.8% (56/72) of DGC samples, respectively. PS detected CDH1 methylation in 70.8% (51/72) and 72.2% (52/72) of matched normal mucosa from adjacent and remote foci, respectively. In comparison, CDH1 promoter methylation was detected in 12/24 normal gastric mucosa samples without DGC, and this difference was statistically significant (p=0.016). CONCLUSION The current study showed that the majority of DGC cases demonstrated concurrent CDH1 promoter methylation in tumor tissues and in non-neoplastic mucosa.
Incentives and Social Capital: Are Homeowners Better Citizens?

Individuals invest in their local environments by volunteering, getting involved in local government, becoming informed about their political leaders, joining non-professional organizations and even gardening. Homeownership may encourage these investments because homeownership gives individuals an incentive to improve their community and because homeownership creates barriers to mobility. Using the U.S. General Social Survey document that homeowners are more likely to invest in social capital, and a simple instrumental variables strategy suggests that the relationship may be causal. While our results are not conclusive, we find evidence that a large portion of the effect of homeownership on these investments may come from lower mobility rates for homeowners. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel homeownership and citizenship controlling for individual fixed effects. Finally, across cities and counties, areas with more homeowners have lower government spending, but spend a larger share of their government budget on education and highways.
Rapid Assessment of Cataract Surgical Services in Birnin-Kebbi Local Government Area of Kebbi State, Nigeria

Purpose: To provide baseline data for cataract surgical services in Birnin-Kebbi Local Government Area (LGA) of Kebbi state, Nigeria for effective planning of services in the LGA and the state. Methods: People aged 50 years and above were enrolled in the study using stratified cluster sampling with probability proportional to size procedures. Subjects were assessed based on the WHO (World Health Organization) RACSS (Rapid Assessment of Cataract Surgical Services) methodology. Results: Out of the 2,589 enumerated subjects, 2,424 (93.6%) were examined 51.7% of whom were male. The overall prevalence of bilateral blindness was 4.5% (confidence interval (CI) 95% 3.7%–5.3%). The prevalence of bilateral cataract blindness was 2.1% (CI 95% 1.5%–2.7%). The prevalence of operable cataract in the study was 9.5% (CI95% 8.3%–10.7%). The cataract surgical coverage was 28.9%, but couching coverage was 32.9%. The presenting vision was poor in 100% of non-intraocular lens (IOL) operated eyes, 90.6% of couched eyes and only 6.9% of pseudophakic eyes. The major barriers to services were ‘old age and no need for surgery’ (29.6%), ‘cannot afford operation’ (16.9%), ‘waiting for cataract surgery’ (12.7%). Conclusion: Despite the recently introduced free cataract surgical services the prevalence of operable cataract is high. Accessibility of existing services needs to be improved and other barriers should be overcome by appropriate health education on cataract services.
The Effects of Insider Trading on Liquidity

This study examines the impacts of directors' dealings on firm liquidity. Consistent with the information asymmetry hypothesis, spread widens and depth falls on insider trading days as compared to non-insider trading days. This result suggests that increased share trading by insiders impairs liquidity. In addition, the spread (depth) measures are positively (negatively) related to how heavily the shares are transacted by informed traders; that is, the greater the number of shares traded by the directors, the wider (narrower) the spread (depth).
From sustainable management to sustainable development: a longitudinal analysis of a leading New Zealand environmental reporter

This paper reports the results of an interpretive textual analysis of New Zealand's most consistent and arguably leading reporter on environmental and social impacts. Since 1995, Watercare Services Ltd, an Auckland-based water utility, has been an award winning environmental reporter. The paper works with all of the organization's reports since 1993 through 2003 identifying and analysing the emergence and development of a sustainable development discourse. Focusing on the language and images used to construct meanings, and the context in which the reports emerged, the paper traces the organization's reporting developments. The paper illustrates how, in evolving from environmental reports to sustainable development reports, the organization has (re)constructed itself from one that sustainably manages resources to one that practises sustainable development. The implications of these developments are explored in terms of the literature on ‘capture’ and organizational change. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Simplicitly: foundations and applications of implicit function types

Understanding a program entails understanding its context; dependencies, configurations and even implementations are all forms of contexts. Modern programming languages and theorem provers offer an array of constructs to define contexts, implicitly. Scala offers implicit parameters which are used pervasively, but which cannot be abstracted over. This paper describes a generalization of implicit parameters to implicit function types, a powerful way to abstract over the context in which some piece of code is run. We provide a formalization based on bidirectional type-checking that closely follows the semantics implemented by the Scala compiler. To demonstrate their range of abstraction capabilities, we present several applications that make use of implicit function types. We show how to encode the builder pattern, tagless interpreters, reader and free monads and we assess the performance of the monadic structures presented.
From development to development cooperation: foreign aid, country ownership, and the developmental state in South Korea

Abstract As an emerging donor of Official Development Assistance (ODA), the South Korean government has announced that it will provide a ‘South Korean Model of Development Cooperation’. This paper explores how the South Korean development experience from the twentieth century can be transformed into an alternative for development cooperation in the twenty-first century. The early aid management system in South Korea contributed to the bureaucratic capacity-building that was necessary for the installation of the developmental state. In its quest for industrialization, the authoritarian developmental state in South Korea maintained autonomy vis-à-vis foreign donors, foretelling the ‘country ownership’ principle in today's global norms of ODA. However instructive the South Korean experience may be, it will not work as a ‘one size fits all’ model for the twenty-first century development due to such fundamental changes in the global political economy as the WTO regime and democracy promotion. In this regard, South Korea's own double transition of economic liberalization and democratization offers another important lesson. Therefore, we suggest a South Korean ‘alternative’ that respects both the global norms for development cooperation and the national democratic aspirations. It would be a democratic developmental state whose autonomy is more deeply embedded in civil society and whose capacity further expands human capabilities.
The rates and relative risks of workplace bullying in Ireland, a country of high economic growth

A National Survey of the work force in Ireland was carried out in July 1999. 6.2%; of respondents (N=1057) had been exposed to frequent bullying over the previous 12 months. Events involving significant change in their workplace environment coincided with the onset of bullying suggesting that change in workplace practice is a major factor in the onset of bullying. Growth rates for 22 occupational categories were calculated showing a wide range of increase and decline in the numbers (/100,000) of individuals working within these various groups. Normalised rates (/100,000) of bullying within these occupational groups illustrated a wide variation. Significant correlation (p<0.05) between the rates of change in occupation and the rate of bullying within these occupations was found. Gender specific relative risks of bullying were also calculated for each occupational group and showed large variations in the risk of bullying for men and women.
CNN for very fast ground segmentation in velodyne LiDAR data

This paper presents a novel method for ground segmentation in Velodyne point clouds. We propose an encoding of sparse 3D data from the Velodyne sensor suitable for training a convolutional neural network (CNN). This general purpose approach is used for segmentation of the sparse point cloud into ground and non-ground points. The LiDAR data are represented as a multi-channel 2D signal where the horizontal axis corresponds to the rotation angle and the vertical axis represents channels — laser beams. Multiple topologies of relatively shallow CNNs (i.e. 3–5 convolutional layers) are trained and evaluated, using a manually annotated dataset we prepared. The results show significant improvement of performance over the state-of-the-art method by Zhang et al. in terms of speed and also minor improvements in terms of accuracy.
CpG Immunostimulatory Oligodeoxynucleotide 1826 Enhances Antitumor Effect of Interleukin 12 Gene-Modified Tumor Vaccine in a Melanoma Model in Mice

Purpose: The effectiveness of interleukin (IL)-12-secreting tumor vaccines in the treatment of mouse tumors could be enhanced by concurrent application of cytokines and costimulatory molecules. We investigated the therapeutic potential of IL-12 gene-transduced melanoma vaccine in combination with CpG immunostimulatory oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) 1826, an adjuvant known to favor development of Th1-biased immune response, in a B78-H1 (B78) melanoma model in mice. Experimental Design: Mice injected with B78 melanoma cells were treated with irradiated IL-12 gene-transduced B78 cells [B78/IL-12(X)] and/or ODN 1826. Mechanisms responsible for the antitumor effects of the treatment were investigated using fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis, a standard 51Cr releasing assay, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, and ELISA. Results: Single injection of B78/IL-12(X) cells had no effect on tumor growth, whereas seven consecutive daily injections of ODN 1826 markedly inhibited tumor progression with occasional curative effects. When used in combination, B78/IL-12(X) cells and ODN 1826 caused additional tumor growth reduction and eradication of tumors in 62% of treated mice. The combined treatment activated local inflammatory response against tumor but also induced systemic antitumor immunity. In vitro studies have shown that when used together, B78/IL-12(X) cells and ODN 1826 induced a potent Th1 response and suggested the role of IFN-γ in activation of the host immune response. The antitumor effects in double-treated mice were accompanied by the development of cytotoxic effectors in the spleen and activation of macrophages. Conclusions: The results provided the evidence that the combination of IL-12 gene-modified melanoma vaccine and ODN 1826 induces synergistically systemic and local antitumor immunity.
A note on cultural vocabulary in the Moluccan Islands

In recent years M. A. Chlenov has played a unique and important role in Austronesian linguistics. In his writings (1973,1976) he has made available some of the results and data of his extensive field work in East Indonesia. His stimulating article (1980) represents still an other contribution reflecting a familiarity with a number of diverse languages as well as a deep humanistic concern with extracting relevant conclusions from such a diversity. It is certainly not the intention of this brief note to discourage these efforts or to disparage such a wide knowledge. On the contrary, Dr. Chlenov's work remains of permanent importance in Moluccan linguistic studies. Nonetheless, it is appro priate to comment on the procedure and some of the examples in his most recent article. Consideration of this procedure may benefit our attempts at reconstructing proto-languages and discovering the outlines of ancient cultures. There is an implicit methodology employed by Chlenov in sepa rating Austronesian from non Austronesian vocabulary. Confronted by a large amount of data, apparently his first step was to group seemingly related words together. There followed a search for possible cognates in other languages and in reconstructed proto-languages. Thus, all the entries which are provided with a Proto-Austronesian "pedigree" are considered inherited reflexes when there is no evident borrowing. Other words are either reflexes of a more recent Austronesian proto language (Proto-Oceanic, etc.) or "pre-Austronesian" ? again when they are not apparent loanwords. Based on this categorization, cal culations comparing the proportion of Austronesian and non Austronesian vocabulary items are possible. Chlenov's lexicostatistical orientation is obvious in this approach, if we assume that lexicostatistics involves "procedures of applying statistics to the genetic comparison of the lexicon . " (Dyen 1975: 137). Preliminary, prima facie allocations of a large number of data precede a comparison with other languages, in this case including the proto-languages. Cognates are sorted from non-cognates and cal culations begin. Certainly such a procedure is of value when ap proaching a great deal of still disorganized information. Working hypotheses can be arrived at so that the process of theorizing and testing can continue. It is important, however, to apply such a poten tially powerful procedure with great rigor. Each step must be carefully controlled. Setting aside the problems which are inherent in initial allocations and groupings of data, such as the possibility of intimate borrowing, we are confronted with the serious problem of searching out Proto
The Relationship Between Knowledge Transfer, Top Management Team Composition, and Performance: The Case of Science–Based Entrepreneurial Firms

The increased pressure put on public research institutes to commercialize their research results has given rise to an increased academic interest in technology transfer. We assess under which conditions tacit knowledge transfer contributes to the performance of academic spin–offs. Using an inductive case study approach, our evidence suggests that tacit knowledge is most effectively transferred when a substantial part of the original research team joins the new venture as founders. Commercial expertise and mindset are also required in the team on the condition that the cognitive distance between the scientific researchers and the person responsible for commercialization is not too large.