Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Syria under Bashar al-Asad: Modernisation and the Limits of Change

INTRODUCTION Syria in a Period of Change 1. Managing Modernisation: Domestic Politics and the Limits of Change Changing generations Reforming the system or modernising authoritarianism 2. Economic Challenges and Policy Responses Major challenges New approaches, old constraints Conflicting views, practical obstacles The pace of reform The economic importance of regional politics 3. Coping with external challenges Patterns, interests and capabilities European opportunities Neighbourhood matters Iraq and the American threat The 'Strategic Option' on hold: Syria and the peace process CONCLUSION Domestic Demands and Regional Risks Regime stability Domestic development and external conflict NOTES
Identification of an RNA Silencing Suppressor from a Plant Double-Stranded RNA Virus

ABSTRACT RNA silencing is a mechanism which higher plants and animals have evolved to defend against viral infection in addition to regulation of gene expression for growth and development. As a counterdefense, many plant and some animal viruses studied to date encode RNA silencing suppressors (RSS) that interfere with various steps of the silencing pathway. In this study, we report the first identification of an RSS from a plant double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) virus. Pns10, encoded by S10 of Rice dwarf phytoreovirus (RDV), exhibited RSS activity in coinfiltration assays with the reporter green fluorescent protein (GFP) in transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana line 16c carrying GFP. The other gene segments of the RDV genome did not have such a function. Pns10 suppressed local and systemic silencing induced by sense RNA but did not interfere with local and systemic silencing induced by dsRNA. Expression of Pns10 also increased the expression of β-glucuronidase in transient assays and enhanced Potato virus X pathogenicity in N. benthamiana. Collectively, our results establish Pns10 as an RSS encoded by a plant dsRNA virus and further suggest that Pns10 targets an upstream step of dsRNA formation in the RNA silencing pathway.
EMERGENCE OF SINGLE PARENTHOOD IN NIGERIA AND ITS IMPLICATION TO CHILD REARING

In Nigeria the existence of single parents is formerly unknown and where they existed, they are ignored as exceptional cases. However, nowadays, they are fast growing family pattern both inside and outside Nigeria. The paper explored the issue of single parenthood and its implication to child rearing and health education. Different types of single parent families have been named, factors that differentiate them advanced. The paper also mentioned various causes of single parenthood as well as problems associated with the situation. It examined various opinions on the outcome of single parenthood on the children and such families generally. Recommendation offered and directed toward the children in such families as well as their parents. It was also recommended that health education should be tailored towards the different type and causes of single parenthood.
Large scale image understanding with non-convex multi-task learning

Large scale image understanding is drawing more and more attention from the researchers and industry. Inspired by the game theory and machine learning algorithm, this paper proposes a semantic dictionary to solve the key problem of visual polysemia and concept polymorphism in the large scale image understanding. The semantic dictionary characterizes the probability distribution between visual appearances and semantic concepts, and the learning of semantic dictionary is formulated into a minimization problem of the payoffs, where the players adjudge their strategies (i.e. the probability distribution) at each iteration. Non-convex multi-task learning is introduced to solve the above optimization problem. Finally, the wide applications of semantic dictionary are validated in our experiments, including the large scale semantic image search and image annotation.
Economic Determinants of the Optimal Retirement Age: An Empirical Investigation

In this paper we examine how the structures of earnings, Social Security, and pension benefits affect retirement behavior. We use an intertemporal model of labor supply, paying special attention to the institutional features of private pensions and Social Security benefits. This theoretical formulation produces comparative dynamic predictions and guides empirical modeling. Data from a new survey of workers and their income opportunities are used to implement the empirical model. On the basis of empirical retirement estimates, we conclude that (1) people with higher base wealth retire earlier, and (2) those who expect to gain more by postponing retirement retire later.
Higher Education in India: The Need for Change

The paper relates the growth of higher education in India to the changing funding pattern and suggests ways to ensure that higher education remains both affordable and accessible to all. The author emphasizes the need for greater adaptability in the higher education system so that it continues to provide the needed skills and trained workforce to the economy as it integrates with the world economy. Policy measures required to promote, sustain, and enhance world-class research are also included. Considering the weaknesses in the prevailing regulatory and quality assurance environment, the paper provides a roadmap for reforms towards improved accountability of the system. [ICRIER Working Paper 180, June 2006. ]
Negative and positive urgency may both be risk factors for compulsive buying

Background and aims: Descriptions of compulsive buying often emphasize the roles of negative moods and trait impulsivity in the development of problematic buying habits. Trait impulsivity is sometimes treated as a unidimensional trait in compulsive buying research, but recent factor analyses suggest that impulsivity consists of multiple components that are probably best treated as independent predictors of problem behavior. In order to draw greater attention to the role of positive moods in compulsive buying, in this study we tested whether negative urgency (the tendency to act rashly while in negative moods) and positive urgency (the tendency to act rashly while in positive moods) account for similar amounts of variance in compulsive buying. Methods: North American adults (N = 514) completed an online survey containing the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale (Ridgway, Kukar-Kinney & Monroe, 2008), established measures of positive and negative urgency (Cyders et al., 2007), ad hoc measures of buying-specific positive and negative urgency, measures of extraversion and neuroticism obtained from the International Personality Item Pool (http://ipip.ori.org/), and demographic questions. Results: In several multiple regression analyses, when demographic variables, neuroticism, and extraversion were controlled, positive urgency and negative urgency both emerged as significant predictors of compulsive buying. Whether the two urgency variables were domain-general or buying-specific, they accounted for similar amounts of variance in compulsive buying. Conclusions: Preventing and reducing compulsive buying may require attention not only to the purchasing decisions people make while in negative states, but also to the purchasing decisions they make while in positive states.
What Explains Agency Heads’ Length of Tenure? Testing Managerial Background, Performance, and Political Environment Effects for Different Forms of Exit

Influences on agency heads’ length of tenure depend on the way in which tenure ends, distinguished by moving to elsewhere in the public sector; the private sector; or retiring. We estimate survival models of agency heads’ tenure using panel data on British central government executive agencies from 1989-2012. Our findings suggest that chief executives of poorly performing agencies are encouraged to retire sooner. We find no evidence of change in political control increasing risk of any form of exit, suggesting that political pressure to leave is not substantial for this type of official. Outsiders (agency heads recruited from outside central government) are relatively difficult to retain for a longer time, such that potential shortfalls in suitable managers caused by retirements in an aging workforce may be difficult to make up by appointing from this source.
Somatostatin Receptor 2 Is Activated in Cortical Neurons and Contributes to Neurodegeneration after Focal Ischemia

Somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2) mediates neuromodulatory signals of somatostatin and cortistatin in the cerebral cortex. Recently, SSTR2 has been shown to enhance conserved death ligand- and mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathways in non-neuronal cells. Whether somatostatin receptors are activated in cerebrocortical neurons and contribute to neurodegeneration after experimental focal ischemia was unknown until now. Here we examined internalization of SSTR2 in a rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) by confocal microscopy. At 3 and 6 hr after MCAO, SSTR2 was internalized excessively in cerebrocortical neurons adjacent to the infarct, which was prevented by intracerebroventricular application of the SSTR2-selective antagonist BIM-23627. SSTR2 internalization was associated with a transient depletion of somatostatin from axonal terminals and increased expression of SSTR2 mRNA. The initial loss of somatostatin was followed by an increase in somatostatin mRNA levels, whereas cortistatin mRNA expression was decreased. In SSTR2-deficient mice with lacZ under the control of the SSTR2 promoter, MCAO-induced upregulation of SSTR2 gene expression was less pronounced than in wild types. SSTR2-deficient mice exhibited a 40% reduction of infarct size after permanent distal MCAO and a 63% reduction after transient proximal MCAO. In summary, we provide direct evidence for activation of SSTR2 by an endogenous ligand after focal ischemia. Activation of functional SSTR2 receptors contributes to increased SSTR2 gene expression and postischemic neurodegeneration.
Patterns of connections and movements in dual‐map overlays: A new method of publication portfolio analysis

Portfolio analysis of the publication profile of a unit of interest, ranging from individuals and organizations to a scientific field or interdisciplinary programs, aims to inform analysts and decision makers about the position of the unit, where it has been, and where it may go in a complex adaptive environment. A portfolio analysis may aim to identify the gap between the current position of an organization and a goal that it intends to achieve or identify competencies of multiple institutions. We introduce a new visual analytic method for analyzing, comparing, and contrasting characteristics of publication portfolios. The new method introduces a novel design of dual‐map thematic overlays on global maps of science. Each publication portfolio can be added as one layer of dual‐map overlays over 2 related, but distinct, global maps of science: one for citing journals and the other for cited journals. We demonstrate how the new design facilitates a portfolio analysis in terms of patterns emerging from the distributions of citation threads and the dynamics of trajectories as a function of space and time. We first demonstrate the analysis of portfolios defined on a single source article. Then we contrast publication portfolios of multiple comparable units of interest; namely, colleges in universities and corporate research organizations. We also include examples of overlays of scientific fields. We expect that our method will provide new insights to portfolio analysis.
Repurposing the anti-malarial drug, quinacrine: new anti-colitis properties

Background Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer in 8-10 years after disease onset. Current colitis treatment strategies do not offer a cure for the disease, but only treat the symptoms with limited success and dangerous side-effects. Also, there is no preventive treatment for either UC or colorectal cancer. Quinacrine is an anti-malarial drug with versatile use in the treatment of diseases involving inflammatory response such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus erythematosus. It also has putative anti-cancer effect. Quinacrine's anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant properties, and anti-tumorigenic properties make it a potential small molecule preventive agent for both UC and associated colorectal cancer. Results There were obvious changes in the CDI, histology, and inflammatory load in quinacrine-treated groups in a dose and time dependent manner in both models of UC, induced by chemical or haptenating agent. Methods We tested quinacrine at two different doses as a colitis treatment agent in two mouse models of UC - the dextran sulfate sodium and oxazolone. The clinical disease index (CDI), histological changes of the colon, levels of inflammatory markers (Cox-2, iNOS, p53) and overall health vitals were evaluated. Conclusions We demonstrate that quinacrine successfully suppresses colitis without any indication of toxicity or side-effects in two mouse models of UC.
Attenuated emotional suppression of the Attentional Blink in Autism Spectrum Disorder : Another non-social abnormality ?

Twenty-five individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and 25 typically developed individuals participated in an Attentional Blink (AB) paradigm to determine whether emotional words would capture attention similarly in the two groups. Whilst the emotionality of words facilitated attention in typical comparison participants, this effect was attenuated in the ASD group. The magnitude of the emotional modulation of attention in ASD also correlated significantly with participants’ VIQ, which was not observed for the comparison group. Together these observations replicate and extend the findings of Corden, Chilvers and Skuse (2008) and implicate abnormalities in emotional processes outside the broader context of social cognition in ASD. We discuss our findings in relation to possible abnormalities in amygdala function that may underlie the disorder.
Size effect on diagonal shear failure of beams without stirrups

The paper presents the results of recent tests on diagonal shear failure of reinforced concrete beams without stirrups. The results indicate a significant size effect and show a good agreement with Bazant's law for size effect. Scatter of the test results is much lower than that previously found by studying extensive test data from the literature, which have not been obtained on geometrically similar beams. The tests also show that preventing bond slip of the longituudinal bars causes an increase of the brittleness number of the beam. It is concluded that the current design approach, which is intended to provide safety against the diagonal crack initiation load, should be replaced or supplemented by a design approach based on the ultimate load, in which a size effect of the fracture mechanics type, due to release of stored energy must be taken into account.
Investment in Children ’ s Human Capital : Implications of PROGRESA †

This paper investigates the effects of an educational subsidy program in Mexico, the PROGRESA, on investment in children’s human capital. I develop a dynamic behavioral model that determines household’s investment in children’s human capital and presents factors that may reduce education levels. The model implies that when parents use children’s earnings as a source of household income, presence of credit constraints causes parents’ investment in children’s human capital to be sub-optimal where the returns to schooling exceeds the returns to capital. Educational subsidies such as the PROGRESA may increase human capital investment by relieving credit constraints. I calibrate the model and quantify the effects of the subsidies by household size and ability of children. I find that the subsidies increase children’s years of schooling and enrollment rate, which increase human capital accumulation by 12%. Findings suggest that the effects of subsidies are greater for children from larger families who might be more borrowing constrained. Furthermore, educational subsidies conditional on schooling are more effective than alternative policy methods such as monetary transfer without conditioning or a low interest loan. JEL Classification: J24, I21, H52.
Two distant brown dwarfs in the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey Deep Extragalactic Survey Data Release 2

We present the discovery of two brown dwarfs in the UK infrared Telescope (UKIRT) Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) Deep Extragalactic Survey (DXS) Data Release 2 (DR2). Both objects were selected photometrically from 6 deg 2 in DXS for their blue J − K colour and the lack of optical counterparts in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Stripe 82. Additional optical photometry provided by the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) corroborated the possible substellarity of these candidates. Subsequent methane imaging of UDXS J221611.51+003308.1 and UDXS J221903.10+002418.2 has confirmed them as T7 ± 1 and T6 ± 1 dwarfs at photometric distances of 81 (52–118 pc) and 60 (44–87 pc; 2σ confidence level). A similar search in the DR2 of the Ultra-Deep Survey over a smaller area (0.77 deg 2 ) and shallower depth did not return any late-T dwarf candidate. The numbers of late-T dwarfs in our study are broadly in line with a declining mass function when considering the current area and depth of the DXS and UDS. These brown dwarfs are the first discovered in the Visible Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph (VIMOS) 4 field and among the few T dwarfs found in pencil-beam surveys. They are valuable to investigate the scaleheight of T dwarfs.
Preliminary Aircraft Design Optimization Using Genetic Algorithms

Aircraft design is a highly nonlinear problem and inherently multidisciplinary activity that involves a large number of design variables and different models and tools for various aspects of design. A spreadsheet based genetic algorithm (GA) approach is presented to optimize the preliminary design of an aircraft. A domain independent general purpose genetic algorithm is proposed to implement the optimization routine. Breguet range equation is used as the objective function for the design evaluation. A total of sixteen design variables are considered in the optimization process. It has also been demonstrated that the proposed approach can be adapted to any objective function without changing the optimization routine. The model is applicable to commercial airliner as well as a multirole jet fighter. The proposed model has been validated against known configurations of various aircraft. Keyword: Genetic Algorithm (GA), Aircraft Design, Breguet Range equation, Spreadsheet
Transthyretin Amyloidosis: Chaperone Concentration Changes and Increased Proteolysis in the Pathway to Disease

Transthyretin amyloidosis is a conformational pathology characterized by the extracellular formation of amyloid deposits and the progressive impairment of the peripheral nervous system. Point mutations in this tetrameric plasma protein decrease its stability and are linked to disease onset and progression. Since non-mutated transthyretin also forms amyloid in systemic senile amyloidosis and some mutation bearers are asymptomatic throughout their lives, non-genetic factors must also be involved in transthyretin amyloidosis. We discovered, using a differential proteomics approach, that extracellular chaperones such as fibrinogen, clusterin, haptoglobin, alpha-1-anti-trypsin and 2-macroglobulin are overrepresented in transthyretin amyloidosis. Our data shows that a complex network of extracellular chaperones are over represented in human plasma and we speculate that they act synergistically to cope with amyloid prone proteins. Proteostasis may thus be as important as point mutations in transthyretin amyloidosis.
Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) expression correlates with prognosis in solid cancers: a meta-analysis

Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) is the key enzyme in the Warburg effect and plays a central role in cancer cell metabolic reprogramming. Recently, quite a few studies have investigated the correlation between PKM2 expression and prognosis in multiple cancer patients, but results were inconsistent. We therefore performed a meta-analysis to explore the prognostic value of PKM2 expression in patients with solid cancer. Here twenty-seven individual studies from 25 publications with a total of 4796 cases were included to explore the association between PKM2 and overall survival (OS) or disease-free survival (DFS)/ progression-free survival (PFS)/ recurrent-free survival (RFS) in subjects with solid cancer. Pooled analysis showed that high levels of PKM2 was significantly associated with a poorer overall survival (HR = 1.73; 95%CI = 1.48-2.03) and DFS/ PFS/ RFS (HR = 1.90; 95%CI = 1.39-2.59) irrespective of cancer types. Different analysis models (univariate or multivariate models), sample-sizes (≤100 or >100), and methods for data collection (direct extraction or indirect extraction) had no impact on the negative prognostic effect of PKM2 over-expression. Nevertheless, stratified by cancer type, high-expression of PKM2 was associated with an unfavorable OS in breast cancer, esophageal squamous carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma and gallbladder cancer; whereas was not correlated with a worse OS in pancreatic cancer and gastric cancer. In conclusion, over-expression of PKM2 is associated with poor prognosis in most solid cancers and it might be a potentially useful biomarker for predicting cancer prognosis in future clinical applications.
How far does overall service quality of a destination affect customers' post-purchase behaviours?

In tourism management literature, there are numerous research papers focusing on the determinants of the customers' destination evaluations and how they affect each other. The chief variables to be examined in the literature have been customer satisfaction, perceived value, behavioural intention and service quality. In this study, the authors were inspired by the ‘indirect model’ by Cronin et al. (2000) and generated a conceptual model to determine the overall service quality of a destination and its effect on perceived value, customer satisfaction and behavioural intention by structural equation modelling technique. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Randomised controlled trial of community based speech and language therapy in preschool children

Abstract Objective: To compare routine speech and language therapy in preschool children with delayed speech and language against 12 months of “watchful waiting. ” Design: Pragmatic randomised controlled trial. Setting: 16 community clinics in Bristol. Participants: 159 preschool children with appreciable speech or language difficulties who fulfilled criteria for admission to speech and language therapy. Main outcome measures: Four quantitative measures of speech and language, assessed at 6 and 12 months; a binary variable indicating improvement, by 12 months, on the trial entry criterion. Results: Improvement in auditory comprehension was significant in favour of therapy (adjusted difference in means 4.1, 95% confidence interval 0.5 to 7.6; P=0.025). No significant differences were observed for expressive language (1.4, −2.1 to 4.8; P=0.44); phonology error rate (−4.4, −12.0 to 3.3; P=0.26); language development (0.1, −0.4 to 0.6; P=0.73); or improvement on entry criterion (odds ratio 1.3, 0.67 to 2.4; P=0.46). At the end of the trial, 70% of all children still had substantial speech and language deficits. Conclusions: This study provides little evidence for the effectiveness of speech and language therapy compared with watchful waiting over 12 months. Providers of speech and language therapy should reconsider the appropriateness, timing, nature, and intensity of such therapy in preschool children. Continued research into more specific provision to subgroups of children is also needed to identify better treatment methods. The lack of resolution of difficulties for most of the children suggests that further research is needed to identify effective ways of helping this population of children.