Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ocular Delivery of Compacted DNA-Nanoparticles Does Not Elicit Toxicity in the Mouse Retina

Subretinal delivery of polyethylene glycol-substituted lysine peptide (CK30PEG)-compacted DNA nanoparticles results in efficient gene expression in retinal cells. This work evaluates the ocular safety of compacted DNA nanoparticles. CK30PEG-compacted nanoparticles containing an EGFP expression plasmid were subretinally injected in adult mice (1 µl at 0.3, 1.0 and 3.0 µg/µl). Retinas were examined for signs of inflammation at 1, 2, 4 and 7 days post-injection. Neither infiltration of polymorphonuclear neutrophils or lymphocytes was detected in retinas. In addition, elevation of macrophage marker F4/80 or myeloid marker myeloperoxidase was not detected in the injected eyes. The chemokine KC mRNA increased 3–4 fold in eyes injected with either nanoparticles or saline at 1 day post-injection, but returned to control levels at 2 days post-injection. No elevation of KC protein was observed in these mice. The monocyte chemotactic protein-1, increased 3–4 fold at 1 day post-injection for both nanoparticle and saline injected eyes, but also returned to control levels at 2 days. No elevations of tumor necrosis factor alpha mRNA or protein were detected. These investigations show no signs of local inflammatory responses associated with subretinal injection of compacted DNA nanoparticles, indicating that the retina may be a suitable target for clinical nanoparticle-based interventions.
studies the effect of managerial ownership on performance and the determinants of managerial ownership for small and medium-sized private companies

This paper studies the effect of managerial ownership on performance and the determinants of managerial ownership for small and medium-sized private companies. We use a panel of around 1300 firms in the German business-related service sector for the years 1997-2000. Managerial ownership up to around 80 per cent has a positive impact on firm performance (incentive effect); for higher shares the effect becomes negative (entrenchment effect). Moreover, risk-aversion of managers and signalling of firm quality leads to a nonlinear relationship between managerial ownership and the risk exposure of a firm. The determinants of performance and ownership are estimated simultaneously. JEL Classification: G32; C23
Asylum Seekers and the State: The Politics of Protection in a Security-Conscious World

Contents: Introduction: ambivalence and the outsider. Theoretical Concepts: Locating the obligation to protect Non-government organizations and the state - partners and adversaries. Historical and Cultural Developments in Immigration and Protection - The Case Studies: The search for protection in Germany Selection and control in Australia - from old habits to new techniques. The Politics of Exclusion: Paths of resistance and NGO experience in Germany Detention and state sanctioned violence in Australia Conclusion: communication and the politics of asylum Appendix: interviews Bibliography Index.
Adipose Tissue and Adrenal Glands: Novel Pathophysiological Mechanisms and Clinical Applications

Hormones produced by the adrenal glands and adipose tissues have important roles in normal physiology and are altered in many disease states. Obesity is associated with changes in adrenal function, including increase in adrenal medullary catecholamine output, alterations of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, elevations in circulating aldosterone together with changes in adipose tissue glucocorticoid metabolism, and enhanced adipocyte mineralocorticoid receptor activity. It is unknown whether these changes in adrenal endocrine function are in part responsible for the pathogenesis of obesity and related comorbidities or represent an adaptive response. In turn, adipose tissue hormones or “adipokines” have direct effects on the adrenal glands and interact with adrenal hormones at several levels. Here we review the emerging evidence supporting the existence of “cross talk” between the adrenal gland and adipose tissue, focusing on the relevance and roles of their respective hormones in health and disease states including obesity, metabolic syndrome, and primary disorders of the adrenals.
Image Enhancement Using Elastic Manifolds

Image denoising and enhancement problems have many physical analogues that highlight new approaches to novel solutions. One such solution, based on viewing the image as elastic sheet, is presented. A processing scheme for grayscale images is outlined and further considered in the context of color images. Preliminary analysis and simulations on noisy images indicate that multidimensional manifold representation of combined space-color information incorporates the advantages of separate color channel representations. Experimental analysis reveals elastic sheet method to be a powerful and robust denoising tool, which preserves most meaningful details.
Unraveling The Genetic Mechanisms Involved In The Evolution And Development Of The Thoracic Appendages In Insects

7 Introduction. 8 Results . 9 Discussion . 10 Material and Methods . 14 Chapter 3 Genetic mechanisms underlying the origin and diversification of insect wings and thoracic plates. 17 Abstract. 17 Introduction. 18 Results. 22 Discussion. 33
Is Reward System and Leadership Important in Knowledge Sharing Among Academics

Problem statement: The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of two key factors (intrinsic reward and leadership style) of knowledge sharing behavior among academician in Iran. Approach: Primary data are collected via a questionnaire, which was adapted from previous literature. Data, which were collected from lecturers in the 10 of the best university from Tehran, Shiraz, Mashahd and Esfehan. Results: The results showed that an R2 value of 0.191 indicating about 19. % of the variation in behavior to share can be explained by Leadership style and Reward system. The model is significant (F = 8.796, p< 0.01). Leadership style mentor was positively related to knowledge sharing behavior (β = 0.326, p< 0.01) and leadership style facilitator was not related to knowledge sharing behavior and so was Intrinsic Reward (β = 0.283, p< 0.01). The results of the study show that reward system, leadership style (mentor) are the two key factors which influencing the knowledge sharing behavior in the university. Discussion: This study is limited to Iranian academician. Hence, impact of culture should be considered in future studies. It is advised that future research should be designed for different countries in order to conduct a comparative study. Conclusion: These results provide some information that is useful to policy makers in developing countries in general, and particularly in Iran context by setting appropriate policies and strategies for promoting the knowledge sharing based on two key factors as leadership style and reward system.
Novel lymphocyte-independent mechanisms to initiate inflammatory arthritis via bone marrow-derived cells of Ali18 mutant mice.

OBJECTIVE In a large-scale ENU (N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea) mouse mutagenesis programme, we previously have identified and characterized a novel mutation Ali18 that causes inflammatory arthritis like lesions in peripheral joints. In this study, we analysed the immune system of Ali18 mice to understand mechanisms underlying the spontaneous inflammation. METHODS Humoral and cellular components of the immune system were phenotyped by ELISA and flow cytometry. The contribution of the immune system for phenotype expression was analysed in disease transfer experiments. The involvement of the adaptive immune system was investigated in Ali18;Rag1 double mutants and the influence of environmental factors was analysed in Ali18 mice reared under germ-free conditions. RESULTS Bone marrow cells from Ali18 mice were able to transfer the disease phenotype to naïve wild-type recipients suggesting that cellular components of the reconstituted immune system were sufficient to induce arthritis. Ali18 mice revealed abnormal leucocyte populations including lymphocytes and granulocytes, as well as increased plasma IL-5 and IgE levels. Ali18;Rag1 double homozygous mutants, which lack mature lymphocytes, still developed arthritis, suggesting that the phenotype is independent of the adaptive immune system. In addition, the arthritis phenotype appeared to be independent from environmental conditions as demonstrated in mice reared under germ-free conditions. CONCLUSIONS The Ali18 mutation induces inflammatory arthritis through bone marrow-derived cells. However, non-pro-inflammatory cytokine cascades and mature lymphocyte independent-mechanisms are crucial for initiation and progression of the phenotype. Ali18 mice may thus represent a model to study mechanisms involved in seronegative arthritis induced by cells of the innate immune system.
Climate impacts of a large‐scale biofuels expansion

A global biofuels program will potentially lead to intense pressures on land supply and cause widespread transformations in land use. These transformations can alter the Earth climate system by increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land use changes and by changing the reflective and energy exchange characteristics of land ecosystems. Using an integrated assessment model that links an economic model with climate, terrestrial biogeochemistry, and biogeophysics models, we examined the biogeochemical and biogeophysical effects of possible land use changes from an expanded global second‐generation bioenergy program on surface temperatures over the first half of the 21st century. Our integrated assessment model shows that land clearing, especially forest clearing, has two concurrent effects—increased GHG emissions, resulting in surface air warming; and large changes in the land's reflective and energy exchange characteristics, resulting in surface air warming in the tropics but cooling in temperate and polar regions. Overall, these biogeochemical and biogeophysical effects will only have a small impact on global mean surface temperature. However, the model projects regional patterns of enhanced surface air warming in the Amazon Basin and the eastern part of the Congo Basin. Therefore, global land use strategies that protect tropical forests could dramatically reduce air warming projected in these regions.
How Does the Market Value Organizational Management Practices of Japanese Firms? Using interview survey data

This paper examines the extent to which a firm's management practices are valued in the marketplace using the interview survey data which are comparable with that in Bloom and Van Reenen (2007). Kawakami and Asaba (2013) use the same interview data and find that among various management practices, human resources management has a significantly positive impact on Tobin's q, while some of the organizational management variables have a significantly negative impact. The latter result is contrary to Bloom and Van Reenen (2007; 2010; 2012). This paper tries to examine the relationship in more detail between organizational management practice and Tobin's q. We use the raw answers for calculating the organizational management score instead of the organizational management score itself. The detailed analysis suggests three characteristics of management practices: (i) Information sharing and coordination within a unit or a team increases the firm value, while disclosure of information and coordination across units decreases the value; (ii) The impact of quick decision making on a firm's market value varies depending upon the contexts; (iii) Speedy decision making increases the value in the case of new business development, while consultation with the people concerned increases a firm's market value in the case of closing an existing business.
What can we really learn from positron flux ‘anomalies’?

We present a critical analysis of the observational constraints on, and of the theoretical modeling of, aspects of cosmic ray (CR) generation and propagation in the Galaxy, which are relevant for the interpretation of recent positron and anti-proton measurements. We give simple, analytic, model independent expressions for the secondaryflux, and an upper limit for the secondary e + flux, obtained by neglecting e + radiative losses, e + /(e + +e − ) < 0.2±0.1 up to ∼ 300 GeV. These expressions are completely determined by the rigidity dependent grammage, which is measured from stable CR secondaries up to ∼ 150 GeV/nuc, and by nuclear cross sections measured in the laboratory. ¯ p and e + measurements, available up to ∼ 100 GeV, are consistent with these estimates, implying that there is no need for new, non-secondary, ¯ p or e + sources. The radiative loss suppression factor fs,e+ of the e + flux depends on the e + propagation in the Galaxy, which is not understood theoretically. A rough, model independent estimate of fs,e+ ∼ 1/3 can be obtained at a single energy, " ∼ 20 GeV, from unstable secondary decay and is found to be consistent with e + measurements, including the positron fraction measured by PAMELA. We show that specific detailed models, that agree with compositional CR data, agree with our simple expressions for the e + and ¯ p flux, and that the claims that the positron fraction measured by PAMELA requires new primary e + sources are based on assumptions, that are not supported by observations. If PAMELA results are correct, they suggest that fs,e+(") is slightly increasing with energy, which provides an interesting constraint on CR propagation models. We argue that measurements of the e + to ¯ p ratio are more useful for challenging secondary production models than the e + /(e + + e − ) fraction.
Dependence of finFET RF performance on fin width

This work analyzes the radio frequency (RF) performance of 60-nm gate length finFETs, for which the DC behavior exhibits reduced SCE. The RF analysis is carried out as a function of the gate length as well as the fin width (Wfin). Cut off frequencies (ft, f max) on the order of 100 GHz are reported for the first time. It is shown that Wfin has a large impact on those frequencies, due mainly to its effect on the access resistances. Nevertheless, it is also demonstrated that using optimized layout geometry, fmax values close to 170 GHz are to be expected
Intelligent tutoring systems and learning outcomes: A meta-analysis

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) are computer programs that model learners’ psychological states to provide individualized instruction. They have been developed for diverse subject areas (e.g., algebra, medicine, law, reading) to help learners acquire domain-specific, cognitive and metacognitive knowledge. A meta-analysis was conducted on research that compared the outcomes from students learning from ITS to those learning from non-ITS learning environments. The meta-analysis examined how effect sizes varied with type of ITS, type of comparison treatment received by learners, type of learning outcome, whether knowledge to be learned was procedural or declarative, and other factors. After a search of major bibliographic databases, 107 effect sizes involving 14,321 participants were extracted and analyzed. The use of ITS was associated with greater achievement in comparison with teacher-led, large-group instruction (g .42), non-ITS computer-based instruction (g .57), and textbooks or workbooks (g .35). There was no significant difference between learning from ITS and learning from individualized human tutoring (g –.11) or small-group instruction (g .05). Significant, positive mean effect sizes were found regardless of whether the ITS was used as the principal means of instruction, a supplement to teacher-led instruction, an integral component of teacher-led instruction, or an aid to homework. Significant, positive effect sizes were found at all levels of education, in almost all subject domains evaluated, and whether or not the ITS provided feedback or modeled student misconceptions. The claim that ITS are relatively effective tools for learning is consistent with our analysis of potential publication bias.
An Efficient Smart card based Remote User Authentication Scheme using hash function

Remote user Authentication is a way to restrict access to only those users that are legitimate for remote access. The authentication mechanism is cryptography technique to protect unauthorized access of a network system. Recently, more efficient ID-based and password authentication schemes are proposed by, H.T. Liaw, Wang and Xu R. Song, however, Liaw's and Wang's scheme are vulnerable to offline password attack and server masquerade attack parallel session attack. Xu's scheme is vulnerable to an impersonation attack and R. Song's Scheme is vulnerable to insider attack, lack of perfect forward security for session keys and denial-of-service attack. In 2010 S.K. Sood proposed an improvement of Liao et al's scheme. However, this scheme did not provided mutual authentication and maintaining database for verification of the legitimate user. In this paper, we analyze few attacks and finally propose an Efficient Smart card based Remote User Authentication Scheme. The proposed scheme resists most of the current possible attack and provides the essential security requirements.
Child Support Assurance: Design Issues, Expected Impacts, and Political Barriers as Seen from Wisconsin

The University of Wisconsin's Institute for Research on Poverty has broken new ground in the welfare reform process by working with the state of Wisconsin to design and implement a new child support assurance system (CSAS) and estimating its costs and benefits. The objective of CSAS is to hold noncustodial parents to their child support obligations while at the same time guaranteeing a minimum benefit to single-parent families. Included in this volume are the major research products of that effort, plus several specially commissioned chapters.
The Value Premium and Methodological Biases: Evidence from the UK Equity Market

We look for the existence of a value premium in the UK equity market for the period 1987-2002. Previous studies are subject to four methodological biases: (1) survivorship bias, (2) look-ahead bias, (3) a downward bias in post-formation growth stock returns caused by excluding recently listed growth stocks from the data, and (4) an upward bias in post-formation value stock returns caused by computing long-term returns by cumulating monthly returns (Conrad and Kaul (1993)). We eliminate the first three biases by using a new survivorship bias and look-ahead bias free dataset, which contains a complete history of all UK stocks that were fully listed at any time during 1987-2002. We eliminate the fourth bias by computing post-formation holding period returns, as recommended in Conrad and Kaul (1993). Our results indicate that the value effect is far smaller than is reported in previous studies, and is neither economically nor statistically significant.
Calcium Intake Patterns in Association with Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors in US Population 2-69 Years of Age: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Calcium is important to various aspects of health and is necessary for life. Inadequate calcium intake has serious consequence on health, such as osteoporosis, impaired muscle and nerve functions and obesity. Similarly, excessive intake is associated with cardiovascular risks and urinary tract stone formation. Therefore a balanced calcium intake is of utmost importance especially knowing that maximum calcium storage potential in bones is reached roughly in late 20s of age and starts gradually declining thereafter. Objective: The objective of this study is to explore calcium intake patterns in the United States population in association with a number of selected demographic and Socio Economic Status-associated factors. Methods: The 2009–2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data, obtained from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), was used for this investigation. This study is a crosssectional study using a sample of 8,675 respondents (N= 8,675) within the age range of 2-69 years. A number of demographic and SES-related factors were analyzed on three consecutive stages by Univariate and Multivariate Linear Regressions on the estimated daily calcium intake of respondents. Results: Calcium intake was demonstrated to be associated with a number of the variables included in this study. Of these, the statistically significant associations (P-Value <0.01) included Gender, Age, Race/ Ethnicity and Education. In addition, for some of the respondents within this study coverage by Medicaid or by Private Health Insurance also had some association with calcium intake levels. Conclusions: The estimated daily calcium intake levels were higher among white, older females in the study population and were lower among the youngest age groups and respondents with the lowest levels of education among the oldest population. They were also lower among Non-White population in general. Coverage by Medicaid is associated with lower calcium intake levels among young children (4-8 years of age). Conversely, coverage by private health insurance was associated with higher levels of calcium intake among female respondents. Further studies are needed to assess the reasons for these patterns and to identify public health measures that can be taken to improve calcium intake levels in the Non-white population (especially those at the extremes of age range), the younger population, and people with lower levels of education.
Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Giant Arcs: High-Resolution Imaging of Distant Field Galaxies

We present HST imaging of eight spectroscopically-confirmed giant arcs, pairs and arclets. These objects have all been extensively studied from the ground and we demonstrate the unique advantages of HST imaging in the study of such features by a critical comparison of our data with the previous observations. In particular we present new estimates of the core radii of two clusters (Cl0024+16, A370) determined from lensed features which are identifiable in our HST images. Although our HST observations include both pre- and post-refurbishment images, the depth of the exposures guarantees that the majority of the arcs are detected with diffraction-limited resolution. A number of the objects in our sample are multiply-imaged and we illustrate the ease of identification of such features when working at high resolution. We discuss the morphological and scale information on these distant field galaxies in the light of HST studies of lower redshift samples. We conclude that the dominant population of star-forming galaxies at z=1 is a factor of 1.5-2 times smaller than the similar group in the local field. This implies either a considerable evolution in the sizes of star-forming galaxies within the last $\sim$10 Gyrs or a shift in the relative space densities of massive and dwarf star-forming systems over the same timescale.
MRI‐PET Registration with Automated Algorithm

Objective We have previously reported an automated method for within-modality (e.g., PET-to-PET) image alignment. We now describe modifications to this method that allow for cross-modality registration of MRI and PET brain images obtained from a single subject. Methods This method does not require fiducial markers and the user is not required to identify common structures on the two image sets. To align the images, the algorithm seeks to minimize the standard deviation of the PET pixel values that correspond to each MRI pixel value. The MR images must be edited to exclude nonbrain regions prior to using the algorithm. Results and Conclusion The method has been validated quantitatively using data from patients with stereotaxic fiducial markers rigidly fixed in the skull. Maximal three-dimensional errors of <3 mm and mean three-dimensional errors of <2 mm were measured. Computation time on a SPARCstation IPX varies from 3 to 9 min to align MR image sets with [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose PET images. The MR alignment with noisy H215O PET images typically requires 20–30 min.