Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“The Environment is Everything That Isn't Me”: Molecular Mechanisms and Evolutionary Dynamics of Insect Clocks in Variable Surroundings

Circadian rhythms are oscillations in behavior, metabolism and physiology that have a period close to 24 h. These rhythms are controlled by an internal pacemaker that evolved under strong selective pressures imposed by environmental cyclical changes, mainly of light and temperature. The molecular nature of the circadian pacemaker was extensively studied in a number of organisms under controlled laboratory conditions. But although these studies were fundamental to our understanding of the circadian clock, most of the environmental conditions used resembled rather crudely the relatively constant situation at lower latitudes. At higher latitudes light-dark and temperature cycles vary considerably across different seasons, with summers having long and hot days and winters short and cold ones. Considering these differences and other external cues, such as moonlight, recent studies in more natural and semi-natural situations revealed unexpected features at both molecular and behavioral levels, highlighting the dramatic influence of multiple environmental variables in the molecular clockwork. This emphasizes the importance of studying the circadian clock in the wild, where seasonal environmental changes fine-tune the underlying circadian mechanism, affecting population dynamics and impacting the geographical variation in clock genes. Indeed, latitudinal clines in clock gene frequencies suggest that natural selection and demography shape the circadian clock over wide geographical ranges. In this review we will discuss the recent advances in understanding the molecular underpinnings of the circadian clock, how it resonates with the surrounding variables (both in the laboratory and in semi-natural conditions) and its impact on population dynamics and evolution. In addition, we will elaborate on how next-generation sequencing technologies will complement classical reductionist approaches by identifying causal variants in natural populations that will link genetic variation to circadian phenotypes, illuminating how the circadian clock functions in the real world.
Determinanten von Banken-Spreads während der Finanzmarktkrise

Welche Einflussfaktoren bestimmen die Spreadentwicklung im Kapitalmarktsegment der Banken im Verlauf der Finanzkrise? Unter Verwendung der Regressionsanalyse werden die Determinanten von Asset-Swap- (ASW) und Credit-Default-Swap- (CDS) Spreads ausgewahlter europaischer Banken im Zeitraum April 2007-Marz 2009 untersucht. Eine Vielzahl von Variablen, denen in theoretischen Modellen ein Spread bestimmender Einfluss zugesprochen wird, besitzen in unserer empirischen Analyse nur eine begrenzte Erklarungskraft. Dagegen bestimmen Variablen, aus denen sich die Entwicklung des Unternehmenswertes ableiten lasst, die Entwicklung von ASW- und CDS-Spreads europaischer Finanzinstitute. Zudem analysieren wir die CDS-Bond-Basis, fur welche wahrend des Untersuchungszeitraums von null verschiedene Werte uber langere Zeitraume hinweg bobachtbar waren. Unsere Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die Diskrepanzen zwischen den zwei Spreads zum Teil durch Liquiditatsfaktoren zu erklaren sind. Ein Grosteil der Veranderungen der CDS-Bond-Basis bleibt jedoch unerklart.
On becoming a strategic partner: The role of human resources in gaining competitive advantage

Although managers cite human resources as a firm's most important asset, many organizational decisions do not reflect this belief. This article uses the value, rareness, imitability, and organization (VRIO) framework to examine the role that the human resource (HR) function plays in developing a sustainable competitive advantage. Why some popularly cited sources of sustainable competitive advantage are not, and what aspects of a firm's human resources can provide a source of sustainable competitive advantage are discussed. The role of the HR executive as a strategic partner in developing and maintaining competitive advantage within the firm is also examined. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Top Down Approach to Multiple Plane Detection

Detecting multiple planes in images is a challenging problem, but one with many applications. Recent work such as J-Linkage and Ordered Residual Kernels have focussed on developing a domain independent approach to detect multiple structures. These multiple structure detection methods are then used for estimating multiple homographies given feature matches between two images. Features participating in the multiple homographies detected, provide us the multiple scene planes. We show that these methods provide locally optimal results and fail to merge detected planar patches to the true scene planes. These methods use only residues obtained on applying homography of one plane to another as cue for merging. In this paper, we develop additional cues such as local consistency of planes, local normals, texture etc. to perform better classification and merging . We formulate the classification as an MRF problem and use TRWS message passing algorithm to solve non metric energy terms and complex sparse graph structure. We show results on challenging dataset common in robotics navigation scenarios where our method shows accuracy of more than 85 percent on average while being close or same as the actual number of scene planes.
Diagnosis of human herpes virus 1 and 2 (HHV-1 and HHV-2): use of a synthetic standard curve for absolute quantification by real time polymerase chain reaction

The use of quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for herpesvirus detection has improved the sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis, as it is able to detect shedding episodes in the absence of clinical lesions and diagnose clinical specimens that have low viral loads. With an aim to improve the detection and quantification of herpesvirus by qPCR, synthetic standard curves for human herpesvirus 1 and 2 (HHV-1 and HHV-2) targeting regions gD and gG, respectively, were designed and evaluated. The results show that synthetic curves can replace DNA standard curves in diagnostic herpes qPCR.
The improved CGS method for large and sparse linear systems on bulk synchronous parallel architectures

We propose an improved version of the conjugate gradient squared (CGS) method for the solutions of large and sparse linear systems of equations with unsymmetric coefficient matrices. The proposed method combines elements of numerical stability and parallel algorithm design without increasing computational costs. The algorithm is derived such that all matrix-vector multiplication, inner products and vector updates of a single iteration step are independent and the communication time required for inner product can be overlapped efficiently with the computation time of vector updates. Therefore, the cost of global communication which represents the bottleneck of the performance can be significantly reduced. In this paper, the bulk synchronous parallel model is used to design a fully efficient, scalable and portable parallel proposed algorithm and to provide accurate performance prediction of the algorithm for a wide range of architectures including the Cray T3D, the Parsytec, and a cluster of workstations connected by an Ethernet. This performance model uses only a few system dependent parameters based on a simple and accurate cost modelling to provide useful insight in the time complexity of the method. The theoretical performance prediction are compared with some preliminary measured timing results of a numerical application from the ocean flow simulation.
PTEN promoter methylation and activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in pediatric gliomas and influence on clinical outcome.

The signaling pathways that underlie the pathogenesis of pediatric gliomas are poorly understood. We characterized the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in pediatric gliomas of all grades. Using immunohistochemistry, we assessed activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway by evaluating the downstream signaling molecules phospho(p)-S6, phospho(p)-4BP1, and phospho(p)-PRAS40; PTEN; and PTEN promoter methylation, as well as the MIB labeling index. We correlated these findings with the clinical outcomes of 48 children with gliomas. Eighty percent of high-grade gliomas (12/15) showed activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway based on p-S6 and p-4EBP1 expression. The majority of high-grade gliomas were negative for PTEN expression (10/15), and 50% had PTEN promoter methylation (grade III: 2/4; grade IV: 3/6). Low-grade gliomas demonstrated PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway activation in 14/32 (43.8%) by p-S6 and 16/32 (50%) by p-4EBP1. Over 50% of grade I (6/11) and almost all grade II tumors (6/7) showed PTEN promoter methylation. Tumor grade correlated negatively with PTEN expression and positively with expression of p-S6 and p-4EBP1 (PTEN: P = .0025; pS6: P = .0075; p-4EBP1: P = .0066). There was a trend toward inverse correlation of methylation of the PTEN promoter with expression of PTEN protein (P= .0990) and direct correlation of expression of p-S6 and p-4EBP1 with poorer clinical outcome, as measured by progression-free survival (p-S6: P= .0874; p-4EBP1: P= .0475). Tumors with no PTEN expression had a higher MIB labeling index (P= .007). The majority of pediatric gliomas show activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, with methylation of the PTEN promoter occurring commonly in these tumors.
Competitive Benchmarking Adoption Issues in the Hotel Sector in Petra, Jordan

The study’s aim was to understand the level of benchmarking adoption, its objectives and limitation among the hotel sector in Petra, Jordan. Through twelve semi-structured interviews with the hotel owners and managers, the study concluded that the hotel sector in Petra adopts the benchmarking concepts moderately. The study also revealed that competitiveness is the most important reason behind the adoption of benchmarking. Hotels benefit from benchmarking in market trends and being competitive. One important result is that the regional political conditions in the Middle East and the consequences of the Arab spring are the most important obstacles that prevent the adoption of benchmarking in the hotel sector in Petra. To the authors’ best knowledge, this study unprecedentedly integrates benchmarking using qualitative methods in researching the hotel sector in Petra.
c-Jun is a negative regulator of myelination

Schwann cell myelination depends on Krox-20/Egr2 and other promyelin transcription factors that are activated by axonal signals and control the generation of myelin-forming cells. Myelin-forming cells remain remarkably plastic and can revert to the immature phenotype, a process which is seen in injured nerves and demyelinating neuropathies. We report that c-Jun is an important regulator of this plasticity. At physiological levels, c-Jun inhibits myelin gene activation by Krox-20 or cyclic adenosine monophosphate. c-Jun also drives myelinating cells back to the immature state in transected nerves in vivo. Enforced c-Jun expression inhibits myelination in cocultures. Furthermore, c-Jun and Krox-20 show a cross-antagonistic functional relationship. c-Jun therefore negatively regulates the myelinating Schwann cell phenotype, representing a signal that functionally stands in opposition to the promyelin transcription factors. Negative regulation of myelination is likely to have significant implications for three areas of Schwann cell biology: the molecular analysis of plasticity, demyelinating pathologies, and the response of peripheral nerves to injury.
Large Sample Evidence on the Relation between Stock Option Compensation and Risk Taking

A distinctive feature of stock options is that they create incentives for managers to take risks. For a sample of 6,439 CEO-year observations over 1992-1999, we find that risk-taking incentives offered by CEO's stock options (the sensitivity of ESO values to stock return volatility) are statistically associated with greater risk-taking behavior as proxied by one-year ahead stock return volatility. However, the economic magnitude of such option-induced risk taking on the CEO's wealth is relatively modest. Our tests of the performance consequences of option-induced risk taking incentives are specification-dependent and do not exhibit consistent results. Hence, we cannot unambiguously conclude that the increased risk taking results in improved future operating performance.
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in MCP-1 and Its Receptor Are Associated with the Risk of Age Related Macular Degeneration

Background Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly population. We have shown previously that mice deficient in monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP1/CCL2) or its receptor (CCR2) develop the features of AMD in senescent mice, however, the human genetic evidence so far is contradictory. We hypothesized that any dysfunction in the CCL2 and its receptor result could be the contributing factor in pathogenesis of AMD. Methods and Findings 133 AMD patients and 80 healthy controls were enrolled for this study. Single neucleotid Polymorphism for CCL2 and CCR2 was analyzed by real time PCR. CCL2 levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) after normalization to total serum protein and percentage (%) of CCR2 expressing peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was evaluated using Flow Cytometry. The genotype and allele frequency for both CCL2 and CCR2 was found to be significantly different between AMD and normal controls. The CCL2 ELISA levels were significantly higher in AMD patients and flow Cytometry analysis revealed significantly reduced CCR2 expressing PBMCs in AMD patients as compared to normal controls. Conclusions We analyzed the association between single neucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CCL2 (rs4586) and CCR2 (rs1799865) with their respective protein levels. Our results revealed that individuals possessing both SNPs are at a higher risk of development of AMD.
Powerful and Adaptive Testing for Multi-trait and Multi-SNP Associations with GWAS and Sequencing Data

Testing for genetic association with multiple traits has become increasingly important, not only because of its potential to boost statistical power, but also for its direct relevance to applications. For example, there is accumulating evidence showing that some complex neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases like Alzheimer’s disease are due to disrupted brain networks, for which it would be natural to identify genetic variants associated with a disrupted brain network, represented as a set of multiple traits, one for each of multiple brain regions of interest. In spite of its promise, testing for multivariate trait associations is challenging: if not appropriately used, its power can be much lower than testing on each univariate trait separately (with a proper control for multiple testing). Furthermore, differing from most existing methods for single-SNP–multiple-trait associations, we consider SNP set-based association testing to decipher complicated joint effects of multiple SNPs on multiple traits. Because the power of a test critically depends on several unknown factors such as the proportions of associated SNPs and of traits, we propose a highly adaptive test at both the SNP and trait levels, giving higher weights to those likely associated SNPs and traits, to yield high power across a wide spectrum of situations. We illuminate relationships among the proposed and some existing tests, showing that the proposed test covers several existing tests as special cases. We compare the performance of the new test with that of several existing tests, using both simulated and real data. The methods were applied to structural magnetic resonance imaging data drawn from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative to identify genes associated with gray matter atrophy in the human brain default mode network (DMN). For genome-wide association studies (GWAS), genes AMOTL1 on chromosome 11 and APOE on chromosome 19 were discovered by the new test to be significantly associated with the DMN. Notably, gene AMOTL1 was not detected by single SNP-based analyses. To our knowledge, AMOTL1 has not been highlighted in other Alzheimer’s disease studies before, although it was indicated to be related to cognitive impairment. The proposed method is also applicable to rare variants in sequencing data and can be extended to pathway analysis.
Local Electrical Response in Alkaline-Doped Electrodeposited CuInSe2/Cu Films

The local electrical response in alkaline-doped CuInSe2 films prepared by single-step electrodeposition onto Cu substrates was studied by current-sensing atomic force microscopy. The CuInSe2 (CIS) films were prepared from single baths containing the dopant ions (Li, Na, K or Cs) and were studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and photocurrent response. Increased crystallinity and surface texturing as the ion size increased were observed, as well as an enhanced photocurrent response in Cs-doped CIS. Li- and Na-doped films had larger conductivity than the undoped film while the K- and Cs-doped samples displayed shorter currents and the current images indicated strong charge accumulation in the K- and Cs-doped films, forming surface capacitors. Corrected current-sensing AFM IV curves were adjusted with the Shockley equation.
Simulation of the CERN-SPS Crystal Extraction Experiment

Simulation of the CERN crystal-extraction experiments at the SPS [1], including the real crystal geometry and SPS parameters, as well as multiple turns and passes, has been performed. Two crystals with different geometry have been tried. We argue that in both cases the extraction experiment suffered from the crystal edge imperfection. For the experimental conditions reproduced, the efficiency of the first (”twisted”) crystal was found to be 12–18% (peak) in the angular range of 140–260 � rad (FWHM), depending on the vertical beam position at the crystal location. For the second (”U–shaped”) crystal the peak efficiency was much the same, ∼19 %, while the angular scan FWHM reduced to 70 � rad. These results, as well as the beam profiles, are in agreement with measurements. Finally we suggest some ways to advance this experiment.
Neuropilins 1 and 2 mediate neointimal hyperplasia and re-endothelialization following arterial injury

Aims Neuropilins 1 and 2 (NRP1 and NRP2) play crucial roles in endothelial cell migration contributing to angiogenesis and vascular development. Both NRPs are also expressed by cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and are implicated in VSMC migration stimulated by PDGF-BB, but it is unknown whether NRPs are relevant for VSMC function in vivo. We investigated the role of NRPs in the rat carotid balloon injury model, in which endothelial denudation and arterial stretch induce neointimal hyperplasia involving VSMC migration and proliferation. Methods and results NRP1 and NRP2 mRNAs and proteins increased significantly following arterial injury, and immunofluorescent staining revealed neointimal NRP expression. Down-regulation of NRP1 and NRP2 using shRNA significantly reduced neointimal hyperplasia following injury. Furthermore, inhibition of NRP1 by adenovirally overexpressing a loss-of-function NRP1 mutant lacking the cytoplasmic domain (ΔC) reduced neointimal hyperplasia, whereas wild-type (WT) NRP1 had no effect. NRP-targeted shRNAs impaired, while overexpression of NRP1 WT and NRP1 ΔC enhanced, arterial re-endothelialization 14 days after injury. Knockdown of either NRP1 or NRP2 inhibited PDGF-BB-induced rat VSMC migration, whereas knockdown of NRP2, but not NRP1, reduced proliferation of cultured rat VSMC and neointimal VSMC in vivo. NRP knockdown also reduced the phosphorylation of PDGFα and PDGFβ receptors in rat VSMC, which mediate VSMC migration and proliferation. Conclusion NRP1 and NRP2 play important roles in the regulation of neointimal hyperplasia in vivo by modulating VSMC migration (via NRP1 and NRP2) and proliferation (via NRP2), independently of the role of NRPs in re-endothelialization.
A randomized phase III trial comparing S-1 versus UFT as adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II/III rectal cancer (JFMC35-C1: ACTS-RC)

This phase III study is the first study to demonstrate the superiority of new oral fluoropyrimidine S-1 over tegafur–uracil as adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II/III rectal cancer patients with no preoperative treatment in terms of relapse-free survival. S-1 can be considered an important option, especially for patients who have not received preoperative treatment.
Are the People Listening to Government's Good Advice: Source Credibility in Government Attributed Social Marketing Messages

During 2008, the New Zealand government conducted over 53 separate social marketing programmes aimed at improving the lifestyle and behaviours of the New Zealand people. This situation has provided a niche environment to study the impact of high-volume government-attributed social marketing advertising on the source credibility of the government (where the government is the main source and sponsor of social marketing). The research data was collected through fourteen semi-structured in-depth interviews with four social marketers and ten members of the public. This study further sought to identify alternative sources of social marketing messages considered more effective than government, and as a logical part of this study, the repetition effect of various similar messages from one source, the New Zealand Government, in a social marketing context was examined. This research has showed that the high-volume of social marketing messages has homogenised the source thoughts of the interviewed members of the public. It has led them to assume all social marketing is from government. Further, the high-volume has caused the target audience to abbreviate the cognitive response process illustrated by the Model of Cognitive Response compiled by Belch & Belch (2007). Where their attitude towards the messages was favourable or it conformed to their beliefs, the target audience placed less priority on the importance of the source's credibility. This research compares and contrasts the social marketing data to well-accepted commercial marketing theory and principles, and attempts to provide a social marketing context to these theories.
The World's Bank and the Bank's World

Abstract Who or what shapes and drives the policy and operational behavior of the World Bank? The objective of this essay is to lay the conceptual and empirical framework for this special issue. I begin by constructing a synthetic theoretical model—drawing from principal-agent models and sociological institutionalism—to delineate the set of external and internal factors shaping Bank behavior. I then lay the empirical groundwork by exploring the most salient characteristics of the “world's Bank,” taking special note of the Bank's relationship with the United States, borrowing states, and nongovernmental organizations. In the second half, I focus on the “Bank's world,” investigating the internal bureaucratic politics and culture of the Bank. Specifically, I examine the sources and nature of the Bank's “intellectual culture” (characterized by its economistic, apolitical, and technical rationality), its “operational culture” (portrayed as driven by approval and disbursement imperatives), and the dynamics of b.