Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low temperature and dust favour in vitro survival of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae: time to revisit indirect transmission in pig housing

Porcine enzootic pneumonia (EP) caused by Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae adversely affects pig welfare and is associated with major economic losses in the pig industry worldwide. Transmission is predominantly by direct contact, but the role of indirect transmission remains poorly understood. This study examined survival of six M. hyopneumoniae isolates dried onto five different surfaces encountered in pig units and exposed to temperatures of 4, 25 and 37°C for up to 12 days. Survival of the organisms was determined by recovering the organism from the surface material and culturing in Friis broth. Data were analysed by logistic regression to identify factors influencing survival of M. hyopneumoniae. Maximum survival was 8 days for all isolates on at least one surface (except stainless steel) at 4°C and was limited to 2 days at 25 and 37°C. Overall, dust and polypropylene copolymer supported M. hyopneumoniae survival the longest when compared with other surface materials. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that M. hyopneumoniae can survive outside the host for at least 8 days.
Confidence at the group level of analysis: A longitudinal investigation of the relationship between potency and team effectiveness

Our longitudinal field study investigated the relationship between team potency and team effectiveness. The sample for this study was drawn from 71 change management teams from an automotive firm in the USA. Team potency ratings were obtained from team members. Team effectiveness ratings were obtained from team members, team leaders and external raters. Results indicated that team effectiveness and team potency are reciprocally and longitudinally related (p< .01).
The Global Reserve Army of Labor and the New Imperialism

In the last few decades there has been an enormous shift in the capitalist economy in the direction of the globalization of production. Much of the increase in manufacturing and even services production that would have formerly taken place in the global North—as well as a portion of the North’s preexisting production—is now being offshored to the global South, where it is feeding the rapid industrialization of a handful of emerging economies. It is customary to see this shift as arising from the economic crisis of 1974–75 and the rise of neoliberalism—or as erupting in the 1980s and after, with the huge increase in the global capitalist labor force resulting from the integration of Eastern Europe and China into the world economy. Yet, the foundations of production on a global scale, we will argue, were laid in the 1950s and 1960s, and were already depicted in the work of Stephen Hymer, the foremost theorist of the multinational corporation, who died in 1974.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.
Isolation and Characterization of a Monobody with a Fibronectin Domain III Scaffold That Specifically Binds EphA2

Monobodies are binding scaffold proteins originating from a human fibronectin domain III (Fn3) scaffold that can be easily engineered with specificity and affinity. Human EphA2 (hEphA2) is an early detection marker protein for various tumors including lung, breast, and colon cancer. In this study, we isolated two hEphA2-specific monobodies (E1 and E10) by screening a yeast surface display library. They showed the same amino acid sequence except in the DE loop and had high affinity (~2 nM Kd) against hEphA2. E1 bound only hEphA2 and mEphA2, although it bound hEphA2 with an affinity 2-fold higher than that of mEphA2. However, E10 also bound the mEphA6 and mEphA8 homologs as well as hEphA2 and mEphA2. Thus, E1 but not E10 was highly specific for hEphA2. E1 specifically bound human cells and xenograft tumor tissues expressing hEphA on the cell surface. In vivo optical imaging showed strong targeting of Cy5.5-labeled E1 to mouse tumor tissue induced by PC3 cells, a human prostate cancer cell line that expresses a high level of hEphA2. In conclusion, the highly specific monobody E1 is useful as a hEphA2 probe candidate for in vivo diagnosis and therapy.
Ultra-compact silicon nanophotonic modulator with broadband response

Abstract Electro-optic modulators have been identified as the key drivers for optical communication and signal processing. With an ongoing miniaturization of photonic circuitries, an outstanding aim is to demonstrate an on-chip, ultra-compact, electro-optic modulator without sacrificing bandwidth and modulation strength. While silicon-based electro-optic modulators have been demonstrated, they require large device footprints of the order of millimeters as a result of weak non-linear electro-optical properties. The modulation strength can be increased by deploying a high-Q resonator, however with the trade-off of significantly sacrificing bandwidth. Furthermore, design challenges and temperature tuning limit the deployment of such resonance-based modulators. Recently, novel materials like graphene have been investigated for electro-optic modulation applications with a 0.1 dB per micrometer modulation strength, while showing an improvement over pure silicon devices, this design still requires device lengths of tens of micrometers due to the inefficient overlap between the thin graphene layer, and the optical mode of the silicon waveguide. Here we experimentally demonstrate an ultra-compact, silicon-based, electro-optic modulator with a record-high 1 dB per micrometer extinction ratio over a wide bandwidth range of 1 μm in ambient conditions. The device is based on a plasmonic metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) waveguide, which efficiently concentrates the optical modes’ electric field into a nanometer thin region comprised of an absorption coefficient-tuneable indium-tin-oxide (ITO) layer. The modulation mechanism originates from electrically changing the free carrier concentration of the ITO layer which dramatically increases the loss of this MOS mode. The seamless integration of such a strong optical beam modulation into an existing silicon-on-insulator platform bears significant potential towards broadband, compact and efficient communication links and circuits.
Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory

Academic conventions divide the seamless web of the real social world into separate spheres, each with its own theorizing; this is a necessary and practical way of gaining understanding. Contemplation of undivided totality may lead to profound abstractions or mystical revelations, but practical knowledge (that which can be put to work through action) is always partial or fragmentary in origin. Whether the parts remain as limited, separated objects of knowledge, or become the basis for constructing a structured and dynamic view of larger wholes, is a major question of method and purpose. Either way, the starting point is some initial subdivision of reality, usually dictated by convention. It is wise to bear in mind that such a conventional cutting up of reality is at best just a convenience of the mind. These segments, however, derive indirectly from reality insofar as they are the result of practices, that is to say, the responses of consciousness to the pressures of reality. Subdivisions of social knowledge thus may roughly correspond to the ways in which human affairs are organized in particular times and places. They may, accordingly, appear to be increasingly arbitrary when practices change. International relations is a case in point. It is an area of study concerned with the interrelationships among states in an epoch in which states, and most commonly nation-states, are the principal aggregations of political power.
Behavioral Expressions and Biosocial Bases of Sensation Seeking

1. Theory through 1979 2. Test development 3. Sensation seeking in relation to other dimensions of personality 4. Demographic data 5. Risk taking 6. Sports and vocations 7. Social, sexual, and marital relationships 8. Vicarious experience: art, media, music, fantasy, and humour 9. Smoking, drinking, drugs, and eating 10. Psychopathology and stress 11. Biological bases 12. Psychophysiology 13. Information processing, cognitive styles, intelligence and creativity 14. New theoretical models References.
Models of parenting : implications for adolescent well-being within different types of family contexts

Abstract The paper sets out to consider models of parenting and parent-child relationships in early to middle adolescence. The principal concern is to examine the implications of various approaches to parenting for adolescent functioning, including school integration and psychological well-being. Particular emphasis is given to locating parenting styles and their impact on young people within a wider social context, including the composition and the socio-economic circumstances of the family. The analysis is based on data drawn from a longitudinal study of adolescent socialization (the Young People's Leisure and Lifestyles project), and replicates, with a U.K. sample, studies in the U.S. by Lamborn et al. (1991) and Maccoby and Martin (1983). The results identify four distinct types of parenting style characterized by different degrees of acceptance and control of young people's behaviour. Permissive parenting styles predominate in the sample. However, the most effective style (judged against measures of school integration and mental well-being) is an authoritative one which is characterized by raised levels of both acceptance and control. Within a minority of families there are significant problems with adolescent—parent relations. These parent-child interactions are associated with low levels of acceptance and control, with school disaffection and with poor psychological outcomes for the young people involved.
Moral Language and Pedagogical Experience.

As educators are challenged to develop a moral vocabulary of teaching, such a language needs to be sensitive to the way that pedagogical relations are lived and experienced. This exploration into the meanings of care offers a phenomenological puzzle. It concerns the relation between, on the one hand, commonly accepted and professionally received meanings of the ethical concept of care as we find it in the parental, philosophical, and curriculum literature and, on the other hand, the lived experience of caring. The language of care in the field of commerce and in the helping professions tends to pass over these subtle and deeply-felt sensibilities. It seems that for many parents and teachers caring commonly means worrying. Caring is experienced as worrying responsibility. But this worry ('sorgen' in German) is often neglected for happier or more acceptable understandings of care. This should make us wonder about what happens when language turns professional and theoretical, when it becomes charged with mea.
EXAMINATION OF THE MODERATING AND MEDIATING EFFECT OF ROLE BREADTH SELF-EFFICACY IN EXPLAINING DEVIANCE.

Unlike the majority of literature, this paper conceptualizes deviance as both destructive and constructive. While workplace deviance can be harmful to the organization, employees who engage in discrepant behaviors may also contribute to the overall well being of the organization. This study empirically examines the moderating and mediating effect of role breadth self-efficacy in explaining the relationship between job autonomy and workplace deviance in Canada and Mexico. The results suggest that destructive deviance is positively related to constructive deviance. Partial support was found for both the mediating and moderating role of constructive deviance. Practical implications and future research directions are discussed.
Francisella Targets Cholesterol-Rich Host Cell Membrane Domains for Entry into Macrophages1

Francisella tularensis is a pathogen optimally adapted to efficiently invade its respective host cell and to proliferate intracellularly. We investigated the role of host cell membrane microdomains in the entry of F. tularensis subspecies holarctica vaccine strain (F. tularensis live vaccine strain) into murine macrophages. F. tularensis live vaccine strain recruits cholesterol-rich lipid domains (“lipid rafts”) with caveolin-1 for successful entry into macrophages. Interference with lipid rafts through the depletion of plasma membrane cholesterol, through induction of raft internalization with choleratoxin, or through removal of raft-associated GPI-anchored proteins by treatment with phosphatidylinositol phospholipase C significantly inhibited entry of Francisella and its intracellular proliferation. Lipid raft-associated components such as cholesterol and caveolin-1 were incorporated into Francisella-containing vesicles during entry and the initial phase of intracellular trafficking inside the host cell. These findings demonstrate that Francisella requires cholesterol-rich membrane domains for entry into and proliferation inside macrophages.
Expression of Mucin Genes in the Human Testis and Its Relationship to Spermatogenesis

In this study we investigate the expression pattern of mucin genes in the human testis and evaluate the relationship between the expression of mucin genes and impaired spermatogenesis in the human testis. Thirty human testis tissues were collected from patients undergoing diagnostic testicular biopsy to investigate the cause of infertility. One part of the tissue underwent histological observation, and the other part of the tissue was subjected to semiquantitative RT-PCR of mucin genes, that is, mucin1, 2, 3, 4, and 9. The relative amount of mucin mRNAs was calculated by densitometry using glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) as an internal control. The samples were histologically diagnosed as either obstructive azoospermia with normal spermatogenesis (n = 13) or non-obstructive azoospermia with impaired spermatogenesis (n = 17). In the human testis with normal spermatogenesis, mRNA expression of mucin1, 9, 13 and GAPDH were found, but RT-PCR products of mucin 2, 3 and 4 were not detected. In the testis with impaired spermatogenesis, however, RT-PCR product of mucin1 was not found. There was no difference in the other mucin mRNA expression patterns between the testis with either normal or impaired spermatogenesis. To our knowledge, this study is the first that has detected the mRNA of mucin9 and 13 in human testis. This study also shows that mucin1 expression might be closely related to spermatogenesis. Our findings should be substantiated by more direct evidence, such as mucin protein expression and localization.
Association between extra- and intracranial calcifications of the internal carotid artery: a CBCT imaging study.

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to evaluate the association between the extracranial and intracranial calcification depiction of the internal carotid artery (ICA), incidentally found in CBCT examinations in adults, and to discuss the conspicuous clinical implications. METHODS Out of a series of 1085 CBCT examinations, 705 CBCT scans were selected according to pre-defined criteria. The extra- and intracranial calcifications depicted along the course of the ICA were documented according to a comprehensive set of descriptive criteria. RESULTS In total, 799 findings were detected, 60.1% (n = 480) were intracranially and 39.9% (n = 319) were extracranially allocated. The χ(2) test showed associations between all variables (p < 0.001). Also, most of the combinations of variables showed statistically significant results in the McNemar's test (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS We found that a significant correlation exists between extra- and intracranial calcifications of the ICA. It is clear that in cases of the presence of a calcification in the ICA extracranially, the artery's intracranial portion has an increased risk of showing the same findings. CBCT imaging is widely used as a diagnostic tool, thus, our results contribute to the identification of a subgroup of patients who should undergo further medical evaluation of the atherosclerosis of the ICAs.
Spectroscopic study of the Moses Lake dune field , WA : Determination of compositional distributions and source lithologies

Source lithologies and transport histories of materials within the Ephrata Fan are investigated. Data were collected using a variety of remote sensing, laboratory spectroscopic, and field observations and techniques. Laboratory thermal emission spectra were collected of bedrock within the Grand Coulee, dune samples, and clast deposits. Factor analysis, target transformation, and endmember recovery techniques were applied to the set of dune samples as well as a set of grain size fractions. The dune sample spectra are composed of three components that represent basalt, granodiorite, and clay compositions. The basalt and granodiorite components are similar to spectra of clast and bedrock samples from the Grand Coulee and the Ephrata fan. The clay component is similar to weathering surfaces located within the dune field. The same components were recovered from the set of grain size fractions from a single dune sample demonstrating a relatively higher basalt concentration with grain sizes >~250μm. Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) data display significant intra-dune compositional variation and no discernable inter-dune compositional variation, indicating that the basalt and granodiorite components were likely deposited simultaneously and subsequently separated by wind based on grain size. Basalt and granodiorite bedrock units within the Channeled Scablands are source materials for the deposits within the Ephrata Fan and Moses Lake dune field. The Columbia River, located 20 km west of the dune field, is not a likely source of material.
Outcomes of a curriculum‐based anti‐bullying intervention program on students' attitudes and behavior

The aim of this paper was to examine the short‐term and long‐term effects of a curriculum‐based anti‐bullying intervention program on students' attitudes towards bullying, intentions to intervene in bully–victim problems, perceived efficacy of intervening and actual intervening behavior. The intervention program was applied in primary schools and was implemented by trained teachers within the classroom context. The sample consisted of 454 pupils drawn from fourth to sixth grade classrooms of 10 primary schools in central Greece. A quasi‐experimental pre‐test/post‐test design was used. The findings indicate positive short‐term program outcomes concerning students' attitudes towards bullies and victims, perceived efficacy of intervening in bully–victim incidents and actual rates of intervening behavior. However, the magnitude of the program effects was quite small, since the positive short‐term outcomes were not sustained in the long‐term (post‐test two measures). The results of the study also indicated clear time effects for attitudes towards bullies and victims, self‐efficacy of intervening and intention, as well as actual intervening behavior. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for anti‐bullying interventions.
Psychosocial Climate and Student Outcomes in Elementary Mathematics Classrooms: A Multilevel Analysis

Abstract Associations between perceived psychosocial climate and student outcomes among a sample of 1,512 students in Grade 5 mathematics classes in Singapore were investigated. Two methods of analysis were used: multiple linear regression and hierarchical linear modeling. A comparison of findings from the two approaches suggests (a) the existence of associations between outcomes and environment and (b) the usefulness of incorporating both data analysis methods in learning-environment research.
Bioassay-guided Isolation and Quantification of the α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Compound, Glycyrrhisoflavone, from Glycyrrhiza uralensis

The EtOAc extract of the roots of Glycyrrhiza uralensis exhibited α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Bioassay-guided fractionation resulted in the isolation of an active prenylflavonoid, glycyrrhisoflavone. Its structure was elucidated by NMR and MS analyses. A simple method to prepare glycyrrhisoflavone from the 95% EtOH extract of the roots of G. uralensis was developed by combination of Diaion HP-20 column chromatography (CC), silica gel CC, and preparative HPLC. An HPLC-PDA method was developed for quantitative determination of glycyrrhisoflavone in the roots of G. uralensis. The sample was extracted with MeOH and analyzed using a reversed-phase column with isocratic elution with CH3CN-H2O (0.06% trifluoroacetic acid) (42:58) at a flow rate of 1.2 mL/min, a column temperature of 40°C, and a detection wavelength of 260 nm. The method allowed the determination of glycyrrhisoflavone in the concentration range of 5-500 μg/mL. The relative standard deviation values of the precision and repeatability were 0.3% and 2.0%, respectively. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.5 μg/mL and 5 μg/mL, respectively. The relative recovery rate was 100.2 ± 1.8%. Based on the validation results, the HPLC determination method was found to be precise, accurate, and time conservative. This method was applied successfully to nine different root samples of G. uralensis. The amounts of glycyrrhisoflavone in these samples were 15-93 mg/100 g of dried powdered plant material.
Theory X and Theory Y Type Leadership Behavior and its Impact on Organizational Performance: Small Business Owners in the Şishane Lighting and Chandelier District

Leadership style and organizational performance have been researched extensively. However, the literature has a limited number of studies concerning organizational performance of small and medium businesses, even less research on the impact on organizational performance of Theory X and Theory Y type leadership styles. In addition, minimal access to data on financials for small and medium businesses presents a challenge for this line of research. Regardless, research does show that small and medium business owners/managers are quite accurate when asked about their financials and growth. In this study, we focused on three related questions: 1) Do owners/managers who report increases in turnover for the last five-year period more likely to exhibit Theory Y tendencies? 2) Are owners/managers who report increases in innovations more likely to exhibit Theory Y tendencies? 3) Are owners/managers who report decreases in overall costs more likely to exhibit Theory Y tendencies? The research was conducted in the Şishane region of Istanbul, Turkey. This region, in particular, houses hundreds of chandelier makers and lighting firms, some of which even date back to the Ottoman Empire. Data was collected via a survey instrument distributed to 200 chandelier makers and lighting firms in the area. Data was analyzed through the SPSS statistical packet program and proposed relations in the model were tested through logistic regression analyses.
Basic Gate Implementation of Speed-Independendent Circuits

Existing methods for synthesis of speedindependent circuits under unbounded delay model have difficulties in combining the generality of formal approach with the practicality of the implementation architectures used at the logic level. This paper presents a characteristic property of the state graph specification, called Monotonous Cover requirement, implying its hazard-free implementation within the standard structure of a two-level SOP logic and a row of latches. The overall synthesis procedure ensures satisfiability of this condition by applying the generalised state assignment approach.