Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clustering in the biotechnology industry

This study uses Poisson regression techniques to analyse the location of biotechnology companies throughout the USA. Three hypotheses are considered: that firms locate in population centres in order to attract workers, that they locate near colleges and universities where potential workers are likely to be better educated, and that they locate in close proximity to research-orientated universities and institutes because high-technology firms frequently spin-off from these research centres. We find that clusters do tend to be located near population centres and colleges and universities, but the influence of research-based universities is particularly striking. This highlights a powerful policy instrument for regions hoping to promote high-tech industrial clusters: the creation and maintenance of a first-rate research-orientated university. Although these ideas have been suggested in the past, our approach to defining, measuring, and analysing these variables provides new insights into their significance, .
Examining Implementation of Tobacco Control Policy at the District Level: A Case Study Analysis from a High Burden State in India

Introduction. While extensive scientific evidence exists on the tobacco epidemic, a lack of understanding of both policies and their appropriate way of implementation continues to hinder effective tobacco control. This is especially so in the developing countries such as India. The present study aims to understand current implementation practices and the challenges faced in mainstreaming tobacco control policy and program. Methods. We chose a qualitative study design to conduct the case analysis. A total of 42 in-depth interviews were undertaken with seven district officials in six districts of Andhra Pradesh. A conceptual framework was developed by applying grounded theory for analysis. Analysis was undertaken using case analysis approach. Results and Discussion. Our study revealed that most program managers were unfamiliar with the comprehensive tobacco control policy. Respondents have an ambiguous opinion regarding integration of tobacco control program into existing health and development programs. Respondents perceive lack of resources, low prioritization of tobacco control, and lack of monitoring and evaluation of smoke-free laws as limiting factors affecting implementation of tobacco control policy. Conclusion. The findings of this study highlighted the need for a systematic, organized action plan for effective implementation of tobacco control policy and program.
A Single HIV-1 Cluster and a Skewed Immune Homeostasis Drive the Early Spread of HIV among Resting CD4+ Cell Subsets within One Month Post-Infection

Optimizing therapeutic strategies for an HIV cure requires better understanding the characteristics of early HIV-1 spread among resting CD4+ cells within the first month of primary HIV-1 infection (PHI). We studied the immune distribution, diversity, and inducibility of total HIV-DNA among the following cell subsets: monocytes, peripheral blood activated and resting CD4 T cells, long-lived (naive [TN] and central-memory [TCM]) and short-lived (transitional-memory [TTM] and effector-memory cells [TEM]) resting CD4+T cells from 12 acutely-infected individuals recruited at a median 36 days from infection. Cells were sorted for total HIV-DNA quantification, phylogenetic analysis and inducibility, all studied in relation to activation status and cell signaling. One month post-infection, a single CCR5-restricted viral cluster was massively distributed in all resting CD4+ subsets from 88% subjects, while one subject showed a slight diversity. High levels of total HIV-DNA were measured among TN (median 3.4 log copies/million cells), although 10-fold less (p = 0.0005) than in equally infected TCM (4.5), TTM (4.7) and TEM (4.6) cells. CD3−CD4+ monocytes harbored a low viral burden (median 2.3 log copies/million cells), unlike equally infected resting and activated CD4+ T cells (4.5 log copies/million cells). The skewed repartition of resting CD4 subsets influenced their contribution to the pool of resting infected CD4+T cells, two thirds of which consisted of short-lived TTM and TEM subsets, whereas long-lived TN and TCM subsets contributed the balance. Each resting CD4 subset produced HIV in vitro after stimulation with anti-CD3/anti-CD28+IL-2 with kinetics and magnitude varying according to subset differentiation, while IL-7 preferentially induced virus production from long-lived resting TN cells. In conclusion, within a month of infection, a clonal HIV-1 cluster is massively distributed among resting CD4 T-cell subsets with a flexible inducibility, suggesting that subset activation and skewed immune homeostasis determine the conditions of viral dissemination and early establishment of the HIV reservoir.
The Two Sides of Sensory–Cognitive Interactions: Effects of Age, Hearing Acuity, and Working Memory Span on Sentence Comprehension

Reduced hearing acuity is among the most prevalent of chronic medical conditions among older adults. An experiment is reported in which comprehension of spoken sentences was tested for older adults with good hearing acuity or with a mild-to-moderate hearing loss, and young adults with age-normal hearing. Comprehension was measured by participants’ ability to determine the agent of an action in sentences that expressed this relation with a syntactically less complex subject-relative construction or a syntactically more complex object-relative construction. Agency determination was further challenged by inserting a prepositional phrase into sentences between the person performing an action and the action being performed. As a control, prepositional phrases of equivalent length were also inserted into sentences in a non-disruptive position. Effects on sentence comprehension of age, hearing acuity, prepositional phrase placement and sound level of stimulus presentations appeared only for comprehension of sentences with the more syntactically complex object-relative structures. Working memory as tested by reading span scores accounted for a significant amount of the variance in comprehension accuracy. Once working memory capacity and hearing acuity were taken into account, chronological age among the older adults contributed no further variance to comprehension accuracy. Results are discussed in terms of the positive and negative effects of sensory–cognitive interactions in comprehension of spoken sentences and lend support to a framework in which domain-general executive resources, notably verbal working memory, play a role in both linguistic and perceptual processing.
Business Sample Survey Measurement on Statistical Thinking and Methods Adoption: the Case of Croatian Small Enterprises

The objective of this research is to investigate attitudes of management in Croatian small enterprises that use statistical methods towards statistical thinking in order to gain an insight into related issues. The research was conducted in 2013 using a web survey with a random sample of 631 Croatian small enterprises, but this paper focuses only on those enterprises that use statistical methods. In order to get detailed information, a complex stratified sample survey design was used. In the analysis, chi-square tests of independence were used. In the statistical tests of proportion, the nonresponse adjustment factors as weights and weighted proportions were used. It has been shown that the vast majority of Croatian small enterprises (65,93 %) do not even use statistical methods in their business. On the other hand, the enterprises which use statistical methods have recognized the value and capabilities of statistical methods use. The research has shown that the vast majority of enterprises do not use statistical methods due to administrative reasons. In spite of using statistical methods as a supporting tool in the decision-making process in very important and key business cases, Croatian small enterprises admitted the lack of statistical methods use in their business. Also, investments into the statistical methods use are very scarce. This has led to employees' low statistical methods use knowledge level. The statistical methods use led to better business results in more than 90 % of small enterprises. It has been shown that statistical methods use effects on business results have on average a 6-12 months lag. This research leads to the conclusion that more efforts should be put into development of statistical thinking in these enterprises and familiarizing them with statistical methods use, with the aim of increasing their use and improving business results.
Theoretical Analysis of Mutation-Adaptive Evolutionary Algorithms

Adaptive evolutionary algorithms require a more sophisticated modeling than their static-parameter counterparts. Taking into account the current population is not enough when implementing parameter-adaptation rules based on success rates (evolution strategies) or on premature convergence (genetic algorithms). Instead of Markov chains, we use random systems with complete connections - accounting for a complete, rather than recent, history of the algorithm's evolution. Under the new paradigm, we analyze the convergence of several mutation-adaptive algorithms: a binary genetic algorithm, the 1/5 success rule evolution strategy, a continuous, respectively a dynamic (1+1) evolutionary algorithm.
A Quadruple Knockout of lasIR and rhlIR of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 That Retains Wild-Type Twitching Motility Has Equivalent Infectivity and Persistence to PAO1 in a Mouse Model of Lung Infection

It has been widely reported that quorum-sensing incapable strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa are less virulent than wild type strains. However, quorum sensing mutants of P. aeruginosa have been shown to develop other spontaneous mutations under prolonged culture conditions, and one of the phenotypes of P. aeruginosa that is frequently affected by this phenomenon is type IV pili-dependent motility, referred to as twitching motility. As twitching motility has been reported to be important for adhesion and colonisation, we aimed to generate a quorum-sensing knockout for which the heritage was recorded and the virulence factor production in areas unrelated to quorum sensing was known to be intact. We created a lasIRrhlIR quadruple knockout in PAO1 using a published technique that allows for the deletion of antibiotic resistance cartridges following mutagenesis, to create an unmarked QS knockout of PAO1, thereby avoiding the need for use of antibiotics in culturing, which can have subtle effects on bacterial phenotype. We phenotyped this mutant demonstrating that it produced reduced levels of protease and elastase, barely detectable levels of pyoverdin and undetectable levels of the quorum sensing signal molecules N-3-oxododecanoly-L-homoserine lactone and N-butyryl homoserine lactone, but retained full twitching motility. We then used a mouse model of acute lung infection with P. aeruginosa to demonstrate that the lasIRrhlIR knockout strain showed equal persistence to wild type parental PAO1, induced equal or greater neutrophil infiltration to the lungs, and induced similar levels of expression of inflammatory cytokines in the lungs and similar antibody responses, both in terms of magnitude and isotype. Our results suggest, in contrast to previous reports, that lack of quorum sensing alone does not significantly affect the immunogenicity, infectiveness and persistence of P. aeruginosa in a mouse model of acute lung infection.
Different Behavior toward Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Infection of Bovine Prion Protein Transgenic Mice with One Extra Repeat Octapeptide Insert Mutation

In humans, insert mutations within the repetitive octapeptide region of the prion protein gene (Prnp) are often associated with familial spongiform encephalopathies. In this study, transgenic mice expressing bovine PrP (boTg mice) bearing an additional octapeptide insertion to the wild type (seven octapeptide repeats instead of six) showed an altered course of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) infection, reflected as reduced incubation times when compared with boTg mice expressing similar levels of the wild-type six-octapeptide protein. In both boTg mouse lines (bo6ORTg and bo7ORTg), incubation times were affected drastically depending on transgene expression levels and the inoculum used. In accordance with the lack of an interspecies barrier to BSE infection, we detected the typical signs of CNS spongiform degeneration by histopathological analysis and the presence of the bovine prion PrPres by Western blot or immunohistochemical analyses. When 7OR-PrPres was propagated in bo7ORTg mice, a similar earlier onset of clinical signs was observed compared with bo6ORTg mice. Proteins PrPC and PrPres containing seven octapeptides (7OR-PrPC and 7OR-PrPres) showed similar protease sensitivity and insolubility in nondenaturing detergents to homologous 6OR-PrPC and 6OR-PrPres. In addition, bo7ORTg mice showed a higher sensitivity than bo6ORTg mice for detecting prion infection in specimens previously diagnosed as negative by conventional biochemical techniques. In the absence of clinical signs of disease, 7OR-PrPres could be detected as early as 120 d after inoculation by immunohistochemical and Western blot analyses. These findings may help us improve the current mouse bioassays and understand the role of the octapeptide repeat region in susceptibility to disease.
The Effect of Gabapentin on Intensity and Duration of Hot Flashes in Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Menopause is the stage of time in which the menstruation stops following the loss of ovarian activity. The purpose of this study was to find out the effectiveness of gabapentin on hot flashes in postmenopausal women. Materials and Methods: A randomized controlled trial from Feb 2010 to 2011 was conducted. Sixty postmenopausal women who were referred to obstetrics and gynecology ward of two educational hospitals were recruited and divided into two groups (intervention and control). Intervention group received 300 mg gabapentin three times a day for three months, while control group received placebo. The Intensity and duration of hot flashes in women scored and recorded using visual analog scale. Independent, Paired t-test and chi-square test were used for analyzing data. Results: Intensity of hot flashes in the beginning of research in the intervention group was significantly different with the first, second and third follow-up visit (P<0.05). Also at the end of intervention a significant difference between intervention and control groups were observed regarding the intensity, frequency and duration of hot flashes (P<0.05 and P=0.01 respectively). Conclusion: According to the findings of this study; it appears that the use of gabapentin could decrease the intensity, duration and frequency of hot flashes in postmenopausal women. For postmenopausal women who hormone therapy is contraindicated, gabapentine could be an acceptable alternative.
Overview of IEC 61850 and benefits

Legacy substation automation protocols and architectures typically provided basic functionality for power system automation and were designed to accommodate the technical limitations of the networking technology available for implementation. There has recently been a vast improvement in networking technology that has changed dramatically what is now feasible for power system automation in the substation. Technologies such as switched Ethernet, TCP/IP, high-speed wide area networks, and high-performance low-cost computers are providing capabilities that could barely be imagined when most legacy substation automation protocols were designed. IEC61850 is an important new international standard for substation automation that will have a very significant impact on how electric power systems are designed and built for many years to come. IEC61850 is a part of the International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) Technical Committee 57 (TC57) architecture for electric power systems. The model-driven approach of the TC57 standards, including IEC61850, is an innovative approach that requires a new way of thinking about substation automation that will result in very significant improvements in both costs and performance of electric power systems. This half-day IEC61850 tutorial takes a practical approach to helping utility engineers understand how IEC61850 can be used to benefit their organization. The tutorial begins by explaining why these standards are important, how they differ from legacy technology, and how these differences benefit users. The student is then guided through the IEC61850 standard itself to illustrate how IEC68150 delivers these benefits via standardized device, object, and service models. Definitions and overviews of the most important concepts are presented with detailed examples that relate to actual power systems
The Effect of Perceptual Learning on Neuronal Responses in Monkey Visual Area V4

Previous studies have shown that perceptual learning can substantially alter the response properties of neurons in the primary somatosensory and auditory cortices. Although psychophysical studies suggest that perceptual learning induces similar changes in primary visual cortex (V1), studies that have measured the response properties of individual neurons have failed to find effects of the size described for the other sensory systems. We have examined the effect of learning on neuronal response properties in a visual area that lies at a later stage of cortical processing, area V4. Adult macaque monkeys were trained extensively on orientation discrimination at a specific retinal location using a narrow range of orientations. During the course of training, the subjects achieved substantial improvement in orientation discrimination that was primarily restricted to the trained location. After training, neurons in V4 with receptive fields overlapping the trained location had stronger responses and narrower orientation tuning curves than neurons with receptive fields in the opposite, untrained hemifield. The changes were most prominent for neurons that preferred orientations close to the trained range of orientations. These results provide the first demonstration of perceptual learning modifying basic neuronal response properties at an intermediate level of visual cortex and give insights into the distribution of plasticity across adult visual cortex.
Uncertain deductive reasoning

Probabilistic models have started to replace classical logic as the standard reference paradigm in human deductive reasoning. Mental probability logic emphasizes general principles where human reasoning deviates from classical logic, but agrees with a probabilistic approach (like nonmonotonicity or the conditional event interpretation of conditionals). This contribution consists of two parts. In the ﬁrst part we discuss general features of reasoning systems including consequence relations, how uncertainty may enter argument forms, probability intervals, and probabilistic informativeness. These concepts are of central importance for the psychological task analysis. In the second part we report new experimental data on the paradoxes of the material conditional, the probabilistic modus ponens, the complement task, and data on the probabilistic truth table task. The results of the experiments provide evidence for the hypothesis that people represent indicative conditionals by conditional probability assertions.
A comparison of the effects of single-base and triple-base changes in the integrase arm-type binding sites on the site-specific recombination of bacteriophage lambda

Triple-base changes were made in each of the five Integrase (Int) arm-type binding sites of bacteriophage lambda. These triple changes, called ten mutants, were compared with single-base changes (hen mutants) for their effects on integrative and excisive recombination. The presence of ten or hen mutations in the P1, P'2, or P'3 sites inhibited integration, but the ten P'3 mutant was 10-fold more defective than the analogous hen mutant. The results with these mutants suggest that the P1, P'2, P'3, and possibly the P'1 sites are required for integration. In wild-type E. coli, the ten P'1 mutant reduced the frequency of excision 5-fold, whereas the hen P'1 mutant had no effect. The presence of ten mutations in the P2, P'1, or P'2 sites inhibited lambda excision in an E. coli strain deficient in the production of FIS, while hen mutations in the P2 and P'2 sites had little or no effect. The results with the ten mutants suggest that the P2, P'1, and P'2 sites are required for excision. The differences in the severity of the effects between the ten and hen mutations may be due to the inability of cooperative interactions among Int, IHF, Xis, and FIS to overcome the disruption of Int binding to sites with triple-base changes compared to sites with single-base changes.
Isogenic Serotypes of Borrelia turicataeShow Different Localization in the Brain and Skin of Mice

ABSTRACT Mice with severe combined immunodeficiency (scid mice) and infected with the relapsing fever agent Borrelia turicatae develop manifestations that resemble those of disseminated Lyme disease. We have characterized two isogenic serotypes, A and B, which differ in their variable small proteins (Vsps) and disease manifestations. Serotype A but not serotype B was cultured from the brain during early infection, and serotype B caused more severe arthritis, myocarditis, and vestibular dysfunction than serotype A. Here we compared the localization and number of spirochetes and the severity of inflammation in scid mice, using immunostained and hematoxylin-and-eosin-stained coronal sections of decalcified heads. Spirochetes in the brain localized predominantly to the leptomeninges, and those in peripheral tissues localized mainly to the extracellular matrix. There were significantly more serotype A than B spirochetes in the leptomeninges and more serotype B than A spirochetes in the skin. The first tissue where spirochetes were observed outside the vasculature was the dura mater. Inflammation was more severe in the skin than in the brain. VspA, VspB, and the periplasmic flagellin protein were expressed in all tissues examined. These findings indicate that isogenic but antigenically distinctBorrelia serotypes can have marked differences in their localization in tissues.
Entire solutions of the nonlinear eigenvalue logistic problem with sign-changing potential and absorption

We are concerned with positive solutions decaying to zero at infinity for the logistic equation $-\Delta u=\lambda ( V(x)u-f(u))$ in $\mathbb R^N$, where $V(x)$ is a variable potential that may change sign, $\lambda$ is a real parameter, and $f$ is an absorbtion term such that the mapping $f(t)/t$ is increasing in $(0,\infty)$. We prove that there exists a bifurcation non-negative number $\Lambda$ such that the above problem has exactly one solution if $\lambda >\Lambda$, but no such a solution exists provided $\lambda\leq\Lambda$.
A framework for selective query expansion

Query expansion is a well-known technique that has been shown to improve <i>average</i> retrieval performance. This technique has not been used in many operational systems because of the fact that it can greatly degrade the performance of some individual queries. We show how comparison between language models of the unexpanded and expanded retrieval results can be used to predict when the expanded retrieval has strayed from the original sense of the query. In these cases, the unexpanded results are used while the expanded results are used in the remaining cases (where such straying is not detected). We evaluate this method on a wide variety of TREC collections.