Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Radex Structure of Political Conflict: Argentina's Impossible Game (1955-1966)

In this article, we examine a two-dimensional, circular model of political conflict. We consider O'Donnell (1973)'s canonical interpretation of regime instability in Argentina between 1955 and 1966, the impossible game, and evaluate such characterization empirically through the analysis of roll call votes. Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) analysis supports a two-dimensional radex representation composed of two intercorrelated facets: (1) ideological outlook (its elements being "liberal" versus "nationalistic"), and (2) attitudes toward peronism. The radex structure, resembling a dart board, derives from the combination of a one-dimensional simplex (with radial lines capturing stands on peronism) and a one-dimensional circumplex (with concentric circles corresponding to ideological outlook). These ndings indicate that, because of the circular -- and thus multidimensional -- nature of political conflict during the 1955-1966 period, stable political outcomes failed to exist.
Distinct SNP Combinations Confer Susceptibility to Urinary Bladder Cancer in Smokers and Non-Smokers

Recently, genome-wide association studies have identified and validated genetic variations associated with urinary bladder cancer (UBC). However, it is still unknown whether the high-risk alleles of several SNPs interact with one another, leading to an even higher disease risk. Additionally, there is no information available on how the UBC risk due to these SNPs compare to the risk of cigarette smoking and to occupational exposure to urinary bladder carcinogens, and whether the same or different SNP combinations are relevant in smokers and non-smokers. To address these questions, we analyzed the genotypes of six SNPs, previously found to be associated with UBC, together with the GSTM1 deletion, in 1,595 UBC cases and 1,760 controls, stratified for smoking habits. We identified the strongest interactions of different orders and tested the stability of their effect by bootstrapping. We found that different SNP combinations were relevant in smokers and non-smokers. In smokers, polymorphisms involved in detoxification of cigarette smoke carcinogens were most relevant (GSTM1, rs11892031), in contrast to those in non-smokers with MYC and APOBEC3A near polymorphisms (rs9642880, rs1014971) being the most influential. Stable combinations of up to three high-risk alleles resulted in higher odds ratios (OR) than the individual SNPs, although the interaction effect was less than additive. The highest stable combination effects resulted in an OR of about 2.0, which is still lower than the ORs of cigarette smoking (here, current smokers' OR: 3.28) and comparable to occupational carcinogen exposure risks which, depending on the workplace, show mostly ORs up to 2.0.
Social capital, institutional structures, and democratic performance: A comparative study of German local governments

The argument presented is that political culture and institutional structures independently shape government performance. This is consistent with Putnam et al's (1983) initial argument that ‘endogenous’ and ‘exogenous’ factors are independently at work in shaping institutional performance. It is hypothesized that: (I) social capital within a community positively contributes to government performance, and (2) governmental institutional forms that minimize the number of veto players in the decision making process generate performance superior to those where the number of veto players is large. An analysis of cross-sectional data (mainly drawn from surveys of citizens and elites) on 30 small- to medium-size municipalities in East and West Germany from the year 1995 is undertaken to evaluate these hypotheses. The results from this analysis lead to the following conclusions. Higher social capital within the elite political culture of a community leads to greater citizen satisfaction with local government performance. Local government structures where power is centralized (and thus the number of veto players minimized) generate greater citizen satisfaction with government performance than do those where the distribution of power is more diffuse.
Annual burning of a tallgrass prairie inhibits C and N cycling in soil, increasing recalcitrant pyrogenic organic matter storage while reducing N availability

Grassland ecosystems store an estimated 30% of the world's total soil C and are frequently disturbed by wildfires or fire management. Aboveground litter decomposition is one of the main processes that form soil organic matter (SOM). However, during a fire biomass is removed or partially combusted and litter inputs to the soil are substituted with inputs of pyrogenic organic matter (py‐OM). Py‐OM accounts for a more recalcitrant plant input to SOM than fresh litter, and the historical frequency of burning may alter C and N retention of both fresh litter and py‐OM inputs to the soil. We compared the fate of these two forms of plant material by incubating 13C‐ and 15N‐labeled Andropogon gerardii litter and py‐OM at both an annually burned and an infrequently burned tallgrass prairie site for 11 months. We traced litter and py‐OM C and N into uncomplexed and organo‐mineral SOM fractions and CO2 fluxes and determined how fire history affects the fate of these two forms of aboveground biomass. Evidence from CO2 fluxes and SOM C:N ratios indicates that the litter was microbially transformed during decomposition while, besides an initial labile fraction, py‐OM added to SOM largely untransformed by soil microbes. Additionally, at the N‐limited annually burned site, litter N was tightly conserved. Together, these results demonstrate how, although py‐OM may contribute to C and N sequestration in the soil due to its resistance to microbial degradation, a long history of annual removal of fresh litter and input of py‐OM infers N limitation due to the inhibition of microbial decomposition of aboveground plant inputs to the soil. These results provide new insight into how fire may impact plant inputs to the soil, and the effects of py‐OM on SOM formation and ecosystem C and N cycling.
Home treatment for acute psychiatric illness.

OBJECTIVE--To determine the factors influencing the successful outcome of community treatment for severe acute psychiatric illnesses that are traditionally treated in hospital. DESIGN--All patients from a single electoral ward who were either admitted to hospital or treated at home over a two year period (1 October 1987 to 30 September 1989) were included in the study and their case notes audited. The second year of the study is reported. SETTING--Electoral ward of Sparkbrook, Birmingham. SUBJECTS--99 Patients aged 16-65 with severe acute psychiatric illness. RESULTS--65 Patients were managed by home treatment alone; 34 required admission to hospital. The location of treatment was significantly (all p less than 0.05) influenced by social characteristics of the patients (marital state, age (in men), ethnicity, and living alone) and by characteristics of the referral (occurring out of hours; assessment taking place at hospital or police station). DSM-III-R diagnosis was more weakly associated with outcome. Violence during the episode was significantly related to admission, although deliberate self harm was not. CONCLUSIONS--Home treatment is feasible for most patients with acute psychiatric illness. A 24 hour on call assessment service increases the likelihood of success because admission is determined more strongly by social characteristics of the patient and the referral than by illness factors. Admission will still be required for some patients. A locally based mental health resource centre, a 24 hour on call service, an open referral system, and an active follow up policy increase the effectiveness of a home treatment service.
Variable Frequency of Plastid RNA Editing among Ferns and Repeated Loss of Uridine-to-Cytidine Editing from Vascular Plants

The distinct distribution and abundance of C-to-U and U-to-C RNA editing among land plants suggest that these two processes originated and evolve independently, but the paucity of information from several key lineages limits our understanding of their evolution. To examine the evolutionary diversity of RNA editing among ferns, we sequenced the plastid transcriptomes from two early diverging species, Ophioglossum californicum and Psilotum nudum. Using a relaxed automated approach to minimize false negatives combined with manual inspection to eliminate false positives, we identified 297 C-to-U and three U-to-C edit sites in the O. californicum plastid transcriptome but only 27 C-to-U and no U-to-C edit sites in the P. nudum plastid transcriptome. A broader comparison of editing content with the leptosporangiate fern Adiantum capillus-veneris and the hornwort Anthoceros formosae uncovered large variance in the abundance of plastid editing, indicating that the frequency and type of RNA editing is highly labile in ferns. Edit sites that increase protein conservation among species are more abundant and more efficiently edited than silent and non-conservative sites, suggesting that selection maintains functionally important editing. The absence of U-to-C editing from P. nudum plastid transcripts and other vascular plants demonstrates that U-to-C editing loss is a recurrent phenomenon in vascular plant evolution.
Online Learning via Global Feedback for Phrase Recognition

This work presents an architecture based on perceptrons to recognize phrase structures, and an online learning algorithm to train the perceptrons together and dependently. The recognition strategy applies learning in two layers: a filtering layer, which reduces the search space by identifying plausible phrase candidates, and a ranking layer, which recursively builds the optimal phrase structure. We provide a recognition-based feedback rule which reflects to each local function its committed errors from a global point of view, and allows to train them together online as perceptrons. Experimentation on a syntactic parsing problem, the recognition of clause hierarchies, improves state-of-the-art results and evinces the advantages of our global training method over optimizing each function locally and independently.
High-Frequency VLBI Imaging of the Jet Base of M87

VLBA and Global VLBI observations of M87 at 43 GHz, some new and some previously published, are used to study the structural evolution of the jet with a spatial resolution of under 100 Schwarzschild radii. The images, taken between 1999 and 2004, have an angular resolution of 0.00043′′ × 0.00021′′. An edge-brightened jet structure and an indication of a large opening angle at the jet base are seen in all five epochs. In addition, a probable counterjet is seen in the latter three epochs. A 22 GHz VLBA image also confirms many of the structures seen at the higher frequency, including the counterjet. A comparison of the counterjet flux density at 22 and 43 GHz reveals that it is not free-free absorbed at these frequencies. Attempts to obtain speeds from the proper motions of jet and counterjet components indicate that these observations are undersampled. The closest pair of images gives apparent speeds of (0.25-0.40)c for the jet and 0.17c for the counterjet. These speeds should be treated as lower limits because of possible errors in associating components between epochs. If they are real, they indicate that the jet is oriented 30°-45° from the line of sight and that the component speeds along the jet are (0.3-0.5)c. Using the jet orientation derived from proper motions, the spectral index of the counterjet, and a jet-to-counterjet brightness ratio of 14.4, the inferred bulk flow is (0.6-0.7)c, which, given the considerable uncertainties in how to measure the brightness ratio, is not significantly larger than the component speed.
Assessing student performance : exploring the purpose and limits of testing

What is assessment and how does testing differ from it? Why will a move to performance tests, by itself, not provide us with an adequate system of student assessment? How might we better "test our tests" beyond the technical standards that now apply? And why won't increased national testing offer us the accountability of schools we so sorely need? In this book, Grant P. Wiggins clarifies the limits of testing in an assessment system. Beginning with the premise that student assessment should improve performance, not just audit it, Wiggins analyzes some time-honored but morally and intellectually problematic practices in test design, such as the use of secrecy, distracters, scoring on a curve, and formats that allow for no explanation by students of their answers. He explains how many test-design standards serve technical experts and their needs rather than students and their interests. And he discusses how useful and timely feedback is an absolute requirement of any authentic test. By showing us that assessment is more than testing and intellectual performance is more than right answers, Wiggins points the way toward new systems of assessment that more closely examine students' habits of mind and provide teachers and policy makers with more useful and credible feedback.
Cocaine and amphetamine attenuate the discriminative stimulus effects of naltrexone in opioid-dependent rhesus monkeys.

This study tested the hypothesis that stimulants (indirect dopamine agonists) attenuate the discriminative stimulus of naltrexone in monkeys chronically treated with L-alpha-acetylmethadol (LAAM). Four rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) received LAAM (1.0 mg/kg s.c.) twice daily and discriminated a withdrawal-precipitating dose of naltrexone (0.0178 mg/kg s.c.) from saline. Cocaine (0.1-1.78 mg/kg), amphetamine (0.32-1.78 mg/kg), haloperidol (0.01-0.1 mg/kg), sulpiride (1.0-10.0 mg/kg), propranolol (0.32-3.2 mg/kg), clonidine (0.001-0.1 mg/kg), desipramine (0.32-3.2 mg/kg), and imipramine (1.0-10.0 mg/kg) were given s.c. before cumulative doses of naltrexone. Cocaine and amphetamine antagonized the discriminative stimulus effects of naltrexone, each shifting the naltrexone dose-effect curve significantly (e.g., 100-fold) rightward or downward. In contrast, the dopamine antagonist haloperidol shifted the naltrexone dose-effect curve 5-fold leftward. Sulpiride, desipramine, clonidine, and propranolol had comparatively less effect on the naltrexone discriminative stimulus, whereas some doses of imipramine attenuated the naltrexone stimulus in a manner similar to that of cocaine and amphetamine. These results support the notion that multiple neurotransmitter systems are involved in the discriminative stimulus effects of opioid withdrawal. Furthermore, these data are consistent with reports that dopamine levels decrease during opioid withdrawal and provide evidence that enhancing dopamine or other monoamine levels may attenuate subjective effects of opioid withdrawal.
Transferrin receptors recycle to cis and middle as well as trans Golgi cisternae in Ig-secreting myeloma cells

The recycling itinerary of plasma membrane transferrin receptors (TFR) was charted in IgG-secreting mouse myeloma cells (RPC 5.4) by tagging surface receptors with either bound anti-transferrin receptor antibodies (anti-TFR) or Fab fragments thereof and determining the intracellular destinations of the tagged receptors by immunocytochemistry. By immunofluorescence, TFR tagged with either probe were seen to be rapidly internalized and translocated from the cell surface to the juxtanuclear (Golgi) region. When localized by immunoperoxidase procedures at the electron microscopic level, the anti- TFR-labeled receptors were detected in all cisternae (cis, middle, and trans) of the Golgi stacks as well as in endosomes and trans Golgi reticular elements. There was no difference in the routing of TFR tagged with monovalent Fab and those tagged with divalent IgG. Tagged receptors were detected in Golgi stacks of approximately 50% of the cells analyzed. The position of the labeled cisternae within a given stack was found to be quite variable with cis and middle cisternae more often labeled at 5 min and trans cisternae at 30 min of antibody uptake. The finding that recycling plasmalemmal TFR can visit all or most Golgi subcompartments raises the likely possibility that any Golgi- associated posttranslational modification can occur during recycling as well as during the initial biosynthesis of plasmalemma receptors and other membrane proteins.
VISIR's usage as an educational resource: a review of the empirical research

Laboratory experiments are one of the backbones of engineering teaching, as they help students learning in an unique way, providing better understanding of scientific theories, clarifying concepts and principles as well as improving their technical skills. Nevertheless, with the Bologna Process reforms and the economic constraints most Higher Education Institutions face nowadays, caused a significant decline in the amount of time devoted to hands-on lab. Researchers are seeking complementary ways to teach these practical skills and recently, with the explosive popularity of computer-based learning, remote labs are being used as an option. This review paper presents a first attempt to compile empirical studies that directly report the use of the remote laboratory VISIR (Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality). These practices of engineering classes/courses, used VISIR individually or as a complement to traditional hands on laboratory. Concerning these different approaches of how VISIR is used, the authors draw several conclusions - findings suggest that VISIR is a useful learning instrument, having been used, so far, by more than 4400 students. It contributes to improve students' competences and knowledge, their confidence in lab and their enthusiasm and motivation. Some factors, such as teacher's supervision and attention to the VISIR component play a crucial role in students' engagement. Finally, the results achieved through this review raise several important and still non studied issues to be addressed by future research.
Stiffening of the Extrapulmonary Arteries From Rats in Chronic Hypoxic Pulmonary Hypertension

Changes in the compliance properties of large blood vessels are critical determinants of ventricular afterload and ultimately dysfunction. Little is known of the mechanical properties of large vessels exhibiting pulmonary hypertension, particularly the trunk and right main artery. We initiated a study to investigate the influence of chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension on the mechanical properties of the extrapulmonary arteries of rats. One group of animals was housed at the equivalent of 5000 m elevation for three weeks and the other held at ambient conditions of ~1600 m. The two groups were matched in age and gender. The animals exposed to hypobaric hypoxia exhibited signs of pulmonary hypertension, as evidenced by an increase in the RV/(LV+S) heart weight ratio. The extrapulmonary arteries of the hypoxic animals were also thicker than those of the control population. Histological examination revealed increased thickness of the media and additional deposits of collagen in the adventitia. The mechanical properties of the trunk, and the right and left main pulmonary arteries were assessed; at a representative pressure (7 kPa), the two populations exhibited different quantities of stretch for each section. At higher pressures we noted less deformation among the arteries from hypoxic animals as compared with controls. A four-parameter constitutive model was employed to fit and analyze the data. We conclude that chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension is associated with a stiffening of all the extrapulmonary arteries.
London Radiation Symposium

Cell Proliferation is a journal devoted to studies into all aspects of cell proliferation and differentiation in normal and abnormal states; control systems and mechanisms operating at interand intracellular, molecular and genetic levels; modification by and interactions with chemical and physical agents; mathematical modeling; and the development of new techniques. In addition to original research papers Cell Proliferation publishes invited review articles, book reviews and letters commenting on previously published papers and/or topics of general interest.
Shadow volume BSP trees for computation of shadows in dynamic scenes

This paper presents an algorithm for shadow calculation in dynamic polyhedral scenes illuminated by point light sources. It is based on a modification of Shadow Volume Binary Space Partition trees, to allow these to be constructed from the original scene polygons in arbitrary order and to support for fast reconstruction after a change in scene geometry. Timings using sample scenes are presented that indicate substantial savings both in terms of computation time and shadows produced.
Unified Characterization of Symmetric Dependencies with Lattices

Symmetric dependencies, or MultiValued Dependencies-like, are those dependencies that follow the deduction rules of MultiValued Dependencies (MVD’s). These are MVD-clauses, Degenerate MultiValued Dependencies (DMVD’s), and MVD’s, being the latter ones relevant to the 4th normal form in the relational database model. Previous results have explained how to characterize these dependencies with lattices. However, these characterizations were ad-hoc, and no unified characterization has been provided yet. The purpose of this paper is to present such a common characterization for all these kind of dependencies providing the same framework for all of them, and to extend this generalization to the construction of Armstrong relations.
Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in China and India

Resource misallocation can lower aggregate total factor productivity (TFP). We use micro data on manufacturing establishments to quantify the potential extent of misallocation in China and India compared to the U.S. Compared to the U.S., we measure sizable gaps in marginal products of labor and capital across plants within narrowly-defined industries in China and India. When capital and labor are hypothetically reallocated to equalize marginal products to the extent observed in the U.S., we calculate manufacturing TFP gains of 30-50% in China and 40-60% in India.
Tissue distribution and pulmonary targeting studies of cefpiramide sodium-loaded liposomes

The aim of this study was to evaluate the pharmacokinetics (PK), tissue distribution, and the specific drug targeting of cefpiramide sodium-loaded liposomes (CPMS-Lips) compared with cefpiramide sodium solution (CPMS-Sol) in mice. CPMS-Lips were prepared by reverse phase evaporation method. In the PK and biodistribution study, mice received a single intravenous (i.v.) injection of 152 mg/kg of either CPMS-Lips or CPMS-Sol. Plasma and tissues were treated using liquid–liquid extraction and determined using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The results showed that the CPMS-Lips prepared in this study had an average diameter of 7.146 ± 0.29 μm. In the plasma, the bioavailability (F) and the mean residence times (MRT) of the CPMS-Lips were 2.8- and 4.5-fold larger, respectively, than those of CPMS-Sol. CPMS-Lips also showed a significant difference in the tissue distribution profile in mice when compared with the conventional. The value of the intake rate (re) for the lung was 2.97, which was the highest among the tested tissues. Meanwhile, the ratio of targeting efficiency (Teliposome/Teinjection) of lung to that of other tissues for CPMS-Lips elevated significantly. These showed that CPMS-Lips can improve the bioavailability and biodistribution of CPMS in the lung. In conclusion, the liposome was a promising sustained-release and drug-targeting system for antibiotic drugs.