Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Key Elements for Judging the Quality of a Risk Assessment

Background: Many reports have been published that contain recommendations for improving the quality, transparency, and usefulness of decision making for risk assessments prepared by agencies of the U.S. federal government. A substantial measure of consensus has emerged regarding the characteristics that high-quality assessments should possess. Objective: The goal was to summarize the key characteristics of a high-quality assessment as identified in the consensus-building process and to integrate them into a guide for use by decision makers, risk assessors, peer reviewers and other interested stakeholders to determine if an assessment meets the criteria for high quality. Discussion: Most of the features cited in the guide are applicable to any type of assessment, whether it encompasses one, two, or all four phases of the risk-assessment paradigm; whether it is qualitative or quantitative; and whether it is screening level or highly sophisticated and complex. Other features are tailored to specific elements of an assessment. Just as agencies at all levels of government are responsible for determining the effectiveness of their programs, so too should they determine the effectiveness of their assessments used in support of their regulatory decisions. Furthermore, if a nongovernmental entity wishes to have its assessments considered in the governmental regulatory decision-making process, then these assessments should be judged in the same rigorous manner and be held to similar standards. Conclusions: The key characteristics of a high-quality assessment can be summarized and integrated into a guide for judging whether an assessment possesses the desired features of high quality, transparency, and usefulness. Citation: Fenner-Crisp PA, Dellarco VL. 2016. Key elements for judging the quality of a risk assessment. Environ Health Perspect 124:1127–1135; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/ehp.1510483
The impact of military spending and income inequality on economic growth in Turkey

An extensive literature on the effect of military expenditures on economic growth yields conflicting results. However, a crucial issue that has not been investigated in this context is the possible effect of inequality. The impact of military expenditures on economic growth in Turkey has also received substantial attention. Yet, the majority of these studies are not constructed based on a structural model, but rather examine the causality between the variables in question. Considering these two shortcomings in the literature and the lack of consistent results, this study attempts to provide further evidence for the relationship between military expenditures and economic growth for the case of Turkey by considering income inequality within an augmented Solow growth model. Our findings for the 1963–2008 period show that while income inequality has a positive impact on economic growth, military expenditures have no significant effect.
Price Competition and Turnover: The Chilean Pension Fund Industry ∗

We study price competition in a model with differentiated products and switching costs. In this model firms charge a price above marginal costs. This positive mark-up give firms incentives to steal consumers from their rivals. For this purpose, firms hire sales agents that contact customers personally to switch them from one firm to another; they even offer rewards to the switchers. These rewards can be interpreted as price cuts to rival’s customers, which is a way of price discriminating in this model. This model is applied to the Chilean Pension Funds Industry. In this case, we observe a strong correlation between the number of sales agents hired and turnover. In 1995 there were more than one sales agent per two hundred customers with a turnover between Pension Fund Administrators of more than 50 percent. This model can also be used to understand the long distance telephone service industry where telemarket and direct mail is used to attract rivals’ customers.
An Adenosine Kinase Exists in Xanthomonas campestris Pathovar campestris and Is Involved in Extracellular Polysaccharide Production, Cell Motility, and Virulence

ABSTRACT Adenosine kinase (ADK) is a purine salvage enzyme and a typical housekeeping enzyme in eukaryotes which catalyzes the phosphorylation of adenosine to form AMP. Since prokaryotes synthesize purines de novo and no endogenous ADK activity is detectable in Escherichia coli, ADK has long been considered to be rare in bacteria. To date, only two prokaryotes, both of which are gram-positive bacteria, have been reported to contain ADK. Here we report that the gram-negative bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pathovar campestris, the causal agent of black rot of crucifers, possesses a gene (designated adk Xcc) encoding an ADK (named ADKXcc), and we demonstrate genetically that the ADKXcc is involved in extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) production, cell motility, and pathogenicity of X. campestris pv. campestris. adk Xcc was overexpressed as a His6-tagged protein in E. coli, and the purified His6-tagged protein exhibited ADK activity. Mutation of adk Xcc did not affect bacterial growth in rich and minimal media but led to an accumulation of intracellular adenosine and diminutions of intracellular ADK activity and ATP level, as well as EPS. The adk Xcc mutant displayed significant reductions in bacterial growth and virulence in the host plant.
Mitochondrial Function in Human Neuroblastoma Cells Is Up-Regulated and Protected by NQO1, a Plasma Membrane Redox Enzyme

Background Recent findings suggest that NADH-dependent enzymes of the plasma membrane redox system (PMRS) play roles in the maintenance of cell bioenergetics and oxidative state. Neurons and tumor cells exhibit differential vulnerability to oxidative and metabolic stress, with important implications for the development of therapeutic interventions that promote either cell survival (neurons) or death (cancer cells). Methods and Findings Here we used human neuroblastoma cells with low or high levels of the PMRS enzyme NADH-quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) to investigate how the PMRS modulates mitochondrial functions and cell survival. Cells with elevated NQO1 levels exhibited higher levels of oxygen consumption and ATP production, and lower production of reactive oxygen species. Cells overexpressing NQO1 were more resistant to being damaged by the mitochondrial toxins rotenone and antimycin A, and exhibited less oxidative/nitrative damage and less apoptotic cell death. Cells with basal levels of NQO1 resulted in increased oxidative damage to proteins and cellular vulnerability to mitochondrial toxins. Thus, mitochondrial functions are enhanced and oxidative stress is reduced as a result of elevated PMRS activity, enabling cells to maintain redox homeostasis under conditions of metabolic and energetic stress. Conclusion These findings suggest that NQO1 is a potential target for the development of therapeutic agents for either preventing neuronal degeneration or promoting the death of neural tumor cells.
Synaptic amplification by axo-shaft synapses in a pyramidal neuron model

Both the type and location of synaptic contacts can have profound functional consequences for cortical pyramidal neurons. Axo-spinous synapses integrate evoked potentials in a linear fashion and axo-shaft ones summate responses sublinearly. Using modeling and simulation, we accurately replicate such type-dependent synaptic integration and examine one of the possible underlying mechanisms. Moreover, the integrative properties of distal spines in pyramidal neurons have a distinct impact on the neuronal output. Our results demonstrate that distal axo-shaft synapses can gate nonlinear dendritic computing with higher threshold and drive somatic potential with higher gain. The implications these results have for the computational capacity of pyramidal neurons are discussed.
Collaborative evaluation of a method for the detection of Norwalk virus in shellfish tissues by PCR

A multicenter, collaborative trial was performed to evaluate the reliability and reproducibility of a previously described method for the detection of Norwalk virus in shellfish tissues with the PCR (R.L. Atmar, F. H. Neill, J. L. Romalde, F. Le Guyader, C. M. Woodley, T. G. Metcalf, and M. K. Estes, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 61:3014-3018, 1995). Virus was added to the stomachs and hepatopancreatic tissues of oysters or hard-shell clams in the control laboratory, the samples were shipped to the participating laboratories, and viral nucleic acids were extracted and then detected by reverse transcription-PCR. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay were 85 and 91%, respectively, when results were determined by visual inspection of ethidium bromide-stained agarose gels; the test sensitivity and specificity improved to 87 and 100%, respectively, after confirmation by hybridization with a digoxigenin-labeled, virus-specific probe. We have demonstrated that this method can be implemented successfully by several laboratories to detect Norwalk virus in shellfish tissues.
The Valuation Impact of Dual-Listing on International Exchanges: The Case of Emerging Markets? Stocks

This paper examines the effects on stock returns of dual-listing on an international exchange. My sample consists of 70 firms from 10 emerging markets that dual-listed on the NYSE, NASDAQ and SEAQ-I over the period 1991-1995. The theoretical motivation for this paper lies in the context of the segmentation of international capital markets. When a firm dual-lists, it makes its shares available to a broader investor base resulting in better risk sharing. In the particular case of emerging markets, where barriers to investment are more severe in the sense that international investment is, in the limit, precluded by regulatory and ownership barriers, we expect those effects to be more pronounced. Previous literature has looked at the effects of foreign listings and has found support for investor? s awareness and liquidity arguments but is inconclusive regarding the capital markets segmentation explanation. In this paper, I re-examine that issue: I evaluate whether an international dual-listing has any significant effect on returns and I proceed to investigate whether there is evidence to support an International Asset Pricing based explanation. In addition I compare the impact of US and London SEAQ-I listings. My results show that firms experience significant positive abnormal returns before listing and a significant decline in returns following listing and this effect is more pronounced for emerging markets? firms. Moreover, for these firms, the valuation impact is similar across exchanges.
Preparation and study of properties of a few alkali antimonide photocathodes

A new processing technique for a few alkali antimonide photocathodes is described. This technique does not require an initial antimony layer as in the conventional techniques. Electron microscopic examination of the antimony film shows that the antimony film is affected by ambient gases, and the improvement of senistivity which results in this technique is thought to be due to the absence of it. The band gaps of the photocathodes are determined by photoconductivity measurements. The threshold energy and, hence, the electron affinity is calculated from the threshold region photoemission of these photocathodes. The activation energy of the defect levels is determined by the measurement of the electrical conductivity at a low temperature in a specially designed cryostat. Finally, the role of cesium in a multialkali photocathode is discussed, and a model of band bending which assumes a K2CsSb layer at the top is proposed. This gives the threshold energy value observed experimentally.
Increased serum concentrations of advanced glycation end products: a marker of coronary artery disease activity in type 2 diabetic patients

OBJECTIVE To assess whether the concentrations of serum advanced glycation end products (AGE) in diabetic patients with obstructive coronary artery disease differ from those in type 2 diabetic patients without obstructive coronary artery disease. DESIGN Serum AGE concentrations were measured in type 2 diabetic patients and in non-diabetic patients, both with and without obstructive coronary artery disease, and the relation between these values and coronary disease severity was evaluated. RESULTS Mean (SD) serum AGE concentrations were higher (p < 0.0125) in type 2 diabetic patients with obstructive coronary artery disease (5.5 (2.5) mU/ml, n = 30) than in patients without obstructive coronary artery disease (2.8 (0.5) mU/ml, n = 12), and higher than in non-diabetic patients with (3.4 (1.0) mU/ml, n = 28) and without (3.2 (0.4) mU/ml, n = 13) obstructive coronary artery disease. Serum AGE was associated with the degree of coronary arteriosclerosis in type 2 diabetic patients with obstructive coronary artery disease (single vessel: n = 13, 3.4 (0.9) mU/m; two vessel: n = 6, 5.7 (1.6) mU/m; three vessel: n = 11, 7.2 (2.5) mU/ml). Serum AGE was positively correlated with serum mean four year HbA1C(r = 0.46, p < 0.01), but not with recent serum HbA1C (r = 0.24). The four groups did not differ in the other coronary risk factors. CONCLUSIONS Serum AGE concentrations may be associated with long term poor glycaemic control and reflect the severity of coronary arteriosclerosis in type 2 diabetic patients.
Best Action Selection in a Stochastic Environment

We study the problem of selecting the best action from multiple candidates in a stochastic environment. In such a stochastic setting, when taking an action, a player receives a random reward and affords a random cost, which are drawn from two unknown distributions. We target at selecting the best action, the one with the maximum ratio of the expected reward to the expected cost, after exploring the actions for n rounds. In particular, we study three mechanisms: (i) the uniform exploration mechanism ΜU; (ii) the successive elimination mechanism ΜSE and (iii) the ratio confidence bound exploration mechanism ΜRCB. We prove that for all the three mechanisms, the probabilities that the best action is not selected (i.e., the error probabilities) can be upper bounded by O(exp{-cn}), where c is a constant related to the mechanisms and coefficients about the actions. We then give an asymptotic lower bound of the error probabilities of the consistent mechanisms for Bernoulli setting, and discuss its relationship with the upper bounds in different aspects. Our proposed mechanisms can be degenerated to cover the cases where only the reward/costs are random. We also test the proposed mechanisms through numerical experiments.
Impacts of Labor Taxation with Perfectly and Imperfectly Competitive Domestic Labor Markets Under Flexible Outsourcing

What are the impacts of labor tax reform on wage setting and employment to keep the relative tax burden per low-skilled and high-skilled workers constant in the case of heterogenous domestic labor markets, i.e. imperfect competition in low-skilled labor and perfect competition in high-skilled labor in the presence of outsourcing? A higher degree of tax progression by raising the wage tax and the tax exemption for the low-skilled workers will decrease the wage rate and increase labour demand of low-skilled workers, whereas it will decrease (increase) employment of high-skilled workers in CES utility function when the elasticity of substitution between consumption and leisure is higher (lower) than one. A higher degree of wage tax progression for the high-skilled worker will have no effect on the high-skilled wage in the presence of CES and C-D utility function so this will have no total employment effects.
Early Death in Two Patients with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Presenting the bcr3 Isoform, FLT3-ITD Mutation, and Elevated WT1 Level

Despite major advances in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), the problem of early death (ED) remains unsolved. Alongside the currently known clinical and hematological risk factors, prognostic significance has been attributed to internal tandem duplication mutations of the fms-like tyrosine kinase-3 (FLT3-ITD), hypogranular variant morphology, and the bcr-3 isoform of PML-RARα. We describe premature death of two patients with the hypogranular variant of APL who presented remarkably high expression levels of Wilms' tumor gene (WT1). Our results point to WT1 as an important prognostic factor of ED that needs to be promptly evaluated in all newly diagnosed cases of APL.
Morphological analysis of disabled‐1‐immunoreactive amacrine cells in the guinea pig retina

Disabled‐1 (Dab1) is an adapter molecule in a signaling pathway, stimulated by reelin, that controls cell positioning in the developing brain. It localizes to selected neurons in the nervous system, including the retina, and Dab1‐like immunoreactivity is present in AII amacrine cells in the mouse retina. This study was conducted to characterize Dab1‐labeled cells in the guinea pig retina in detail using immunocytochemistry, quantitative analysis, and electron microscopy. Dab1 immunoreactivity is present in a class of amacrine cell bodies located in the inner nuclear layer adjacent to the inner plexiform layer (IPL). These cells give rise to processes that ramify the entire depth of the IPL. Double‐labeling experiments demonstrated that these amacrine cells make contacts with the axon terminals of rod bipolar cells and that their processes make contacts with each other via connexin 36 in sublamina b of the IPL. In addition, all Dab1‐labeled amacrine cells showed glycine transporter 1 immunoreactivity, indicating that they are glycinergic. The density of Dab1‐labeled AII amacrine cells decreased from about 3,750 cells/mm2 in the central retina to 1,725 cells/mm2 in the peripheral retina. Dab1‐labeled amacrine cells receive synaptic inputs from the axon terminals of rod bipolar cells in stratum 5 of the IPL. From these morphological features, Dab1‐labeled cells of the guinea pig retina resemble the AII amacrine cells described in other mammalian species. Thus, the rod pathway of the guinea pig retina follows the general mammalian scheme and Dab1 antisera can be used to identify AII amacrine cells in the mammalian retina. J. Comp. Neurol. 466:240–250, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
On the Nature of the Unique Hα-emitting T Dwarf 2MASS J12373919+6526148

We explore and discount the hypothesis that the strong, continual Hα-emitting T dwarf 2MASS J12373919+6526148 can be explained as a young, low-gravity, very low mass brown dwarf. The source is already known to have a marginally fainter absolute magnitude than similar T dwarfs with trigonometric parallax measurements and has a tangential velocity consistent with old disk kinematics. Applying the technique of Burgasser et al. on new near-infrared spectroscopy for this source, estimates of its Teff, log g, and metallicity ([M/H]) are obtained. 2M 1237+6526 has a Teff ≈ 800-850 K. If [M/H] is solar, log g is as high as ~5.5 (cgs) and this source is older than 10 Gyr. We find a more plausible scenario to be a modestly subsolar metallicity ([M/H] = -0.2) and moderate log g ~ 5.0, implying an age older than 2 Gyr and a mass greater than 0.035 M☉. The alternative explanation of the unique emission of this source, involving an interacting, close, double degenerate system, should be investigated further. Indeed, there is some evidence of a Teff < 500 K companion to 2M 1237+6526 on the basis of a possible Spitzer IRAC [3.6]-[4.5] color excess. This excess may, however, be caused by a subsolar metallicity.
Gathering and Giving Information With Families

The exchange of information between family members and service providers is a central feature of early intervention services and is integral to the development of an individual family service plan. Early intervention professionals pressured by timelines and documentation requirements either may resort to a directive style of communication that is not matched to the interaction or learning style of the family members or may ask general interview questions that do not provide sufficient information for effective intervention planning. Neither approach offers the family members a clear depiction of their role on the team. A framework and 5 strategies that support a reciprocal process for providing and receiving information while promoting family members' understanding of intervention in their everyday routines and activities are described. These strategies, developed and tested in the field within 5 federally funded research, demonstration, and outreach training projects, offer tools for service providers to gather and give information cognizant of different adult learning preferences.
Local Tax Policy: A Federalist Perspective

Local governments across the United States are struggling to raise revenue to pay for public services. Increased demands by citizens for more and better services; the ever-rising costs of providing services; and a plethora of legal and political restrictions on raising tax revenue have left many American local governments in dire fiscal straits. The problem is that the fiscal autonomy of local governments has been declining for several decades. By ceding financial control to the states, localities cede political control over their affairs. Paralleling this loss of financial and political control, local governments are losing control over the property tax, their most stable and reliable source of revenue. In Local Tax Policy, David Brunori examines America? s local tax system; its theory, operation, and politics. He explores the roots of the current fiscal crisis, and evaluates various relief proposals. Finally, Brunori champions the property tax, offering a blueprint for strengthening this oft-maligned instrument and returning the tax autonomy that has been vital to the success of the American political and economic systems.