Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Endothelial Microparticles on Coagulation, Inflammation, and Angiogenesis in Age-Related Vascular Diseases

Endothelial microparticles (EMPs) are complex vesicular structures that originate from plasma membranes of activated or apoptotic endothelial cells. EMPs play a significant role in vascular function by altering the processes of inflammation, coagulation, and angiogenesis, and they are key players in the pathogenesis of several vascular diseases. Circulating EMPs are increased in many age-related vascular diseases such as coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, cerebral ischemia, and congestive heart failure. Their elevation in plasma has been considered as both a biomarker and bioactive effector of vascular damage and a target for vascular diseases. This review focuses on the pleiotropic roles of EMPs and the mechanisms that trigger their formation, particularly the involvement of decreased estrogen levels, thrombin, and PAI-1 as major factors that induce EMPs in age-related vascular diseases.
Essays on international trade and development

This dissertation consists of three essays. Using firm-level data from Korea, the first and second chapter examine Korean firms’ offshoring strategies and the impact of these offshoring activities on firm-level employment in Korea. In the third chapter, the recent pattern of wage inequality is decomposed using an individual-level Korean labor income survey. This dissertation finds the role of industry capital intensity and firm productivity in the differential choices of global sourcing such as vertical FDI and foreign outsourcing. Also, this dissertation finds that input substitutability and firm exports can affect the impact of offshoring on firms’ domestic labor demand. Finally, this dissertation finds various workers’ characteristics that have affected wage inequality across various quartiles. ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT Jae Yoon Lee B.A./M.A. Konkuk University, 2008 M.S. University of Wisconsin Madison, 2009 Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics Syracuse University May 2015 c © Jae Yoon Lee 2015 All Rights Reserved
Electoral engineering in Papua New Guinea: lessons from Fiji and elsewhere

The South Pacific’s two largest independent island states embraced bold institutional reform packages at the turn of the millennium. Both Papua New Guinea and Fiji shifted away from first-past-the-post (or plurality) systems and adopted instead variants of the Australian-style ‘alternative vote’ system1. Both introduced new legislation designed to limit parliamentarians’ ability to cross the floor in the hope of strengthening the role of political parties. Both countries also saw their prime ministers, who were the key architects of these reforms, badly defeated at the first elections held under the new systems they had introduced. Fiji’s reforms were introduced as part of a new constitution in 1997, and two elections since (1999 and 2001) have provided some opportunity to assess and analyse the impact of the new legislation. Papua New Guinea’s electoral reforms, introduced in 2001–2002, remain largely untested, although legislation governing party and government formation came into force before the 2002 polls and the new electoral laws apply to by-elections thereafter, and to the forthcoming general elections scheduled for 2007. This paper seeks to explore lessons that the Fiji experience may provide for Papua New Guinea.
The shaping of credit union development: The identification of a typology of factors that have contributed towards credit union growth in the United States of America, the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain

A credit union is a financial co-operative that is owned and controlled by its members for the benefit of the local community. There are a number of factors that have contributed towards the development of credit unions – economic hardship, the co-operative movement, the influence of several credit union pioneers and a credit union legislative framework. This article offers a detailed consideration of the major factors that have propelled particular credit union industries, discusses the historical development of the credit union movement and identifies a typology of factors that have contributed towards the evolution of credit unions.
A unified approach to VP-ellipsis and VP-anaphora

It is known that VP-ellipsis and VP-anaphora are typologically different phenomena. English has VP-ellipses whereas Korean has VP-anaphora. The goals of this paper are (i) to develop a unified algorithm which can analyze these two different phenomena and (ii) to explain them using the developed resolution algorithm. In order to analyze these phenomena, this paper incorporates Jager's anaphora resolution mechanism (2010) into the typed feature structure formalism of Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). In this paper, VP-ellipsis and VP-anaphora are analyzed as follows. First, English do and Korean kuleha-ta are introduced with the Geach value, and this value is changed with a slash-elimination rule. Then, one constituent combines with another by ordinary syntactic rules, while the information on the target predicate is percolated up. When a potential source appears, a slash-introduction rule is applied. Then, the source predicate activates the VP-resolution rule, and the target predicate is connected with the source in the semantic representations.
Islamist militancy in Bangladesh : a complex web

Introduction 1. The Political Landscape of Bangladesh 2. Islamist Politics and the Militants: A Taxonomy 3. The Missing State and the Homegrown Militants 4. A "Friendly" Neighborhood and the Proxy-Wars 5. The Long Shadow of the Distant World 6. Future Trajectories of Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh. Appendix 1: Constitutional Provisions of the Caretaker Government. Appendix 2: Bomb Attacks in Bangladesh 1999-2005. Appendix 3: Militant Islamist Organizations in Bangladesh. Appendix 4: Profiles of Islamist Militant Leaders. Appendix 5: The JMB Leaflet Calls for Islamic Rule. The Original Text of the JMB Leaflet
Sericin Accelerates the Production of Hyaluronan and Decreases the Incidence of Polyspermy Fertilization in Bovine Oocytes During In Vitro Maturation

Fetal bovine serum (FBS) has been widely used as a supplement in the maturation medium of bovine oocytes in vitro. However, serum contains many undefined factors and is potentially infectious to humans and animals. As a serum replacement, we evaluated the feasibility of using the silk protein, sericin, derived from the cocoons of silkworm. To examine the rates of oocyte maturation and fertilization, cumulus-oocyte complexes were cultured in TCM-199 supplemented with 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.1% or 0.15% sericin or 5% FBS. The sizes of the perivitelline space that might relate to polyspermy, the expressions of Has2 and CD44 mRNA, the amount of hyaluronan (hyaluronic acid: HA) contained in the oocytes and the rates of blastocyst formation following insemination were then compared between the oocytes cultured with 0.05% sericin and 5% FBS, because the polyspermy rates in oocytes cultured with 0.05% sericin were significantly lower than in those cultured with 5% FBS. After in vitro maturation (IVM), the mean size of the perivitelline space was significantly greater in oocytes cultured with sericin than in those cultured with FBS, although the rates of nuclear maturation, fertilization and blastocyst formation of oocytes under both IVM conditions were not significantly different. The expression of HAS2 and CD44 mRNA and the amount of HA in the denuded oocytes cultured with 0.05% sericin were significantly greater than in those cultured with FBS. These results indicate the feasibility of sericin as an alternative protein supplement for IVM in bovine oocytes.
Changing Use of Business Structures: Have University Business Law Teachers Failed to Reflect This in Their Teaching?

The use of business structures has changed over the last 20-years in Australia, with growing use of discretionary trusts and self-managed superannuation funds. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the business law curriculum within undergraduate Accounting degrees does not reflect this changing use. This article reports the results of a survey of business law teachers at Australian universities about the coverage of the law of the various business structures in undergraduate commerce degrees. Questions will be raised as to how adequately prepared accounting graduates are to deal with the different business structures they will confront in practice.
The Accidental Entrepreneur: The Emergent and Collective Process of User Entrepreneurship

We develop a process model of how users, an understudied source of entrepreneurship, create, evaluate, share, and commercialize their ideas. We compare and contrast our model to the classic model of the entrepreneurial process, highlighting the emergent and collective nature of the user’s entrepreneurial process. Users are often “accidental” entrepreneurs who happen upon an idea through their own use and then share it with others; more specifically, the development of an idea and subsequent experimentation, adaptation, and preliminary adoption often occur before that idea is formally evaluated as the basis of a commercial venture. Users also tend to engage in collective creative activity prior to firm formation — often within the social context provided by user communities — that results in the improvement of ideas. Finally, we provide detailed data on the prevalence of user entrepreneurship in the juvenile products industry.
Students’ Evaluation for Market Orientation: Evidence from Egyptian Business Schools

This paper aimed at revisiting the market orientation philosophy, through examining the impact of organizational culture on market orientation within Egyptian business schools. Data were gathered from 46 informants in three business schools in Egypt. The informal and implicit nature of the marketing phenomena under investigation and the need to gain scientific insight into them called for using Grounded theory methodology. Grounded theory analysis helped to identify three distinct models in higher education in Egypt. The models show distinct ways in which organizational culture affect market orientation mechanism, which capitalizes on students' evaluation to fulfill the strategic agenda of business schools within their operating marketing environment.
Seasonal Variation in the Time to Pregnancy: Avoiding Bias by Using the Date of Onset

To study seasonality in human fecundability, measured indirectly by time to the first pregnancy, we used data from 18,970 French-Canadian women who married for the first time during the 17th or 18th century. The time to pregnancy was approximated by the interval between marriage and first birth minus 38 weeks. We used the week of marriage and the week of conception as references to study seasonality. We found a minor seasonal pattern in time to pregnancy when using the week of marriage as a reference. The proportions of women with a short time to pregnancy were highest during December-January and June-July, indicating that these may be the most fecund periods. In contrast, we found an obvious seasonal pattern when using the date of conception as a reference. This pattern can be largely explained by a strong seasonal pattern in pregnancy planning (in this case, in marriages). When studying seasonal variation in the time to pregnancy, the date of onset of the time to pregnancy should be used as reference, not the date of conception. Otherwise, results will be biased owing to seasonality in pregnancy planning. The same is true for studies on seasonally bound exposures in relation to time to pregnancy.
Commercial Banks Efficiency in Tanzania

Efficient banking system reflects a sound intermediation process and hence the banks' due contribution to economic growth. If commercial banks are functioning efficiently, monetary policies are likely to be effective. This study is motivated by the fact that, though banking sector is the largest part of the financial system in Tanzania, little is known about its efficiency status. Secondary time series data are used in empirical analysis of banks' efficiency. Non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model is utilised in estimation of technical and scale efficiency, while x-inefficiency is estimated using multi-product translog cost function. Though banks were not full efficient in all respects, they performed fairly well during the 1998-2004 period. Nevertheless, the major conclusions show that banks still have the reasons to improve their performance.
Why Does the Private Sector React Like the Public to Law 133? A Microeconometric Analysis of Sickness Absence in Italy

The problem of absenteeism has taken the centre of the stage of public attention when Renato Brunetta, the Public Employment Secretary, launched a reform of the public sector which started with a law on absenteeism. After the law was passed, the first evidence collected showed an average drop of 47% in sickness absence. This result was received with scepticism, but now we have enough evidence and research to draw some firm conclusions. This paper plans to investigate the effects of the Law 133/2008 and the shocks occurred after the changes in the law itself. We will study how employees characteristics in the private and public sector are related to absentee behaviour. The relationship between individual characteristics, such as wage, gender, age, tenure, education and the labor-leisure decision made by workers will be estimated in a micro-data model. The data come from a panel of individuals working in a large private company, operating all over Italy in the security sector, and one public sector institution,(AE) the tax collection Agency. The results indicate a remarkable direct and indirect reaction to the law in the public and also private sectors.
Organizational issues for integration of high-technology in new product development: framework proposal and case studies in Brazilian companies

Transference of new technological solutions requires integration between different functions and specialists involved in new product development (NPD). This paper examines management practices for integration between research and development (R&D) with others involved in NPD and proposes a framework based on organizational variables. An organizational framework (ONPD) is constructed based on an analysis of the literature and evidence of case studies in Brazilian high-tech companies. It was observed that apart from the traditional use of cross-functional teams, these companies adopted integration practices including the use of employees from marketing with experience previously gained from R&D, knowledge of the technology roadmap, and the project office structure. According to the interviewee perceptions, these initiatives may generate positive impacts on functional and organizational performance.
Predictable Dynamics in Higher Order Risk-Neutral Moments: Evidence from the S&P 500 Options

We investigate whether there are predictable patterns in the dynamics of higher order risk-neutral moments extracted from the market prices of S&P 500 index options. To this end, we conduct a horse race among alternative forecasting models within an out-of-sample context over various forecasting horizons. We consider both a statistical and an economic setting. We find that higher risk-neutral moments can be statistically forecasted. However, only the one-day-ahead skewness forecasts can be economically exploited. This economic significance vanishes once we incorporate transaction costs. The results have implications for the dynamics of implied volatility surfaces.
Methamphetamine induces Shati/Nat8L expression in the mouse nucleus accumbens via CREB- and dopamine D1 receptor-dependent mechanism

Shati/Nat8L significantly increased in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) of mice after repeated methamphetamine (METH) treatment. We reported that Shati/Nat8L overexpression in mouse NAc attenuated METH-induced hyperlocomotion, locomotor sensitization, and conditioned place preference. We recently found that Shati/Nat8L overexpression in NAc regulates the dopaminergic neuronal system via the activation of group II mGluRs by elevated N-acetylaspartylglutamate following N-acetylaspartate increase due to the overexpression. These findings suggest that Shati/Nat8L suppresses METH-induced responses. However, the mechanism by which METH increases the Shati/Nat8L mRNA expression in NAc is unclear. To investigate the regulatory mechanism of Shati/Nat8L mRNA expression, we performed a mouse Shati/Nat8L luciferase assay using PC12 cells. Next, we investigated the response of METH to Shati/Nat8L expression and CREB activity using mouse brain slices of NAc, METH administration to mice, and western blotting for CREB activity of specific dopamine receptor signals in vivo and ex vivo. We found that METH activates CREB binding to the Shati/Nat8L promoter to induce the Shati/Nat8L mRNA expression. Furthermore, the dopamine D1 receptor antagonist SCH23390, but not the dopamine D2 receptor antagonist sulpiride, inhibited the upregulation of Shati/Nat8L and CREB activities in the mouse NAc slices. Thus, the administration of the dopamine D1 receptor agonist SKF38393 increased the Shati/Nat8L mRNA expression in mouse NAc. These results showed that the Shati/Nat8L mRNA was increased by METH-induced CREB pathway via dopamine D1 receptor signaling in mouse NAc. These findings may contribute to development of a clinical tool for METH addiction.
Functions of Protosilencers in the Formation and Maintenance of Heterochromatin in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, transcriptionally silent heterochromatin at HML and HMR loci is established by silencers that recruit SIR complex and promote its propagation along chromatin. Silencers consist of various combinations of two or three binding sites for origin recognition complex (ORC), Abf1 and Rap1. A single ORC, Abf1 or Rap1 site cannot promote silencing, but can enhance silencing by a distant silencer, and is called a protosilencer. The mechanism of protosilencer function is not known. We examine the functions of ORC, Abf1 and Rap1 sites as components of the HMR-E silencer, and as protosilencers. We find that the Rap1 site makes a larger and unique contribution to HMR-E function compared to ORC and Abf1 sites. On the other hand, Rap1 site does not act as a protosilencer to assist HML-E silencer in forming heterochromatin, whereas ORC and Abf1 sites do. Therefore, different mechanisms may be involved in the roles of Rap1 site as a component of HMR-E and as a protosilencer. Heterochromatin formed by ORC or Abf1 site in collaboration with HML-E is not as stable as that formed by HMR-E and HML-E, but increasing the copy number of Abf1 site enhances heterochromatin stability. ORC and Abf1 sites acting as protosilencers do not modulate chromatin structure in the absence of SIR complex, which argues against the hypothesis that protosilencers serve to create a chromatin structure favorable for SIR complex propagation. We also investigate the function of ARS1 containing an ORC site and an Abf1 site as a protosilencer. We find that ARS1 inserted at HML enhances heterochromatin stability, and promotes de novo formation of a chromatin structure that partially resembles heterochromatin in an S phase dependent manner. Taken together, our results indicate that protosilencers aid in the formation and maintenance of heterochromatin structure.
Similiarities and differences between participants and nonparticipants of nursing continuing education

Continuing education (CE) in nursing is a critical element in assuring quality health care for the public. Rapid changes in technology and increasing emphasis on utilizing current research findings in practice increases the importance of participation in CE. Many nurses, however, do not attend CE sessions. As provincial professional associations are looking at ways to ensure competency in practice, the issue of who participates in CE and who does not is becoming more relevant to employers and educators. A review of the literature found that while many studies looked at factors that increase participation in CE, few examined deterrents or barriers to CE participation in nursing. Few studies were found comparing CE participants with nonparticipants. This comparative descriptive study examined the similarities and differences between participants and nonparticipants of CE. Questionnaires, including the 40-item Deterrents to Participation Scale as well as some demographic and recent CE participation information, were distributed to a sample of acute care nurses in three different-sized hospitals in Saskatchewan. To maximize response rates, Dillman’s Total Design Method for surveys was used where possible. Means of the interval data was compared between the participants and nonparticipants. Crosstabulations were used to explore relationships among non-interval data. This study provided valuable insights into participation and nonparticipation in CE, and will thereby help employers and educators develop a deeper understanding of possible strategies that could increase participation in CE.
Disruption of Gap Junctional Communication by the Platelet-derived Growth Factor Is Mediated via Multiple Signaling Pathways*

The platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) mediates its cellular functions via activation of its receptor tyrosine kinase followed by the recruitment and activation of several signaling molecules. These signaling molecules then initiate specific signaling cascades, finally resulting in distinct physiological effects. To delineate the PDGF signaling pathway responsible for the disruption of gap junctional communication (GJC), wild-type PDGF receptor β (PDGFRβ) and a series of PDGFRβ mutants were expressed in T51B rat liver epithelial cells. In cells expressing wild-type PDGFRβ, PDGF induced disruption of GJC and phosphorylation of a gap junctional protein, connexin-43 (Cx43), which required activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase, although involvement of additional factors was also evident. In the F5 mutant lacking binding sites for phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, GTPase-activating protein, SHP-2, and phospholipase Cγ1 (PLCγ1), PDGF induced mitogen-activated protein kinase, but failed to affect GJC or Cx43, indicating involvement of additional signals presumably initiated by one or more of the mutated binding sites. Examination of the single-site mutants revealed that PDGF effects were not mediated via a single signaling component. This was confirmed by the “add-back” mutants, which showed that restoration of either SHP-2 or PLCγ1 binding was sufficient to propagate the GJC inhibitory actions of PDGF. Further analysis showed that activation of PLCγ1 is involved in Cx43 phosphorylation, which surprisingly failed to correlate with GJC blockade. The results of our study demonstrate that PDGF-induced disruption of GJC can be mediated by multiple signaling pathways and requires participation of multiple components.
A Little Fairness May Induce a Lot of Redistribution in Democracy

We use a model of self-centered inequality aversion suggested by Fehr and Schmidt (1999) to study voting on redistribution. We theoretically identify two classes of conditions when an empirically plausible amount of fairness preferences induces redistribution through referenda. We test the predictions of the adapted inequality aversion model in a simple redistribution experiment, and find that it predicts voting outcomes far better than the standard model of voting assuming rationality and strict self-interest.