Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dysfunctional Light-Evoked Regulation of cAMP in Photoreceptors and Abnormal Retinal Adaptation in Mice Lacking Dopamine D4 Receptors

Dopamine is a retinal neuromodulator that has been implicated in many aspects of retinal physiology. Photoreceptor cells express dopamine D4 receptors that regulate cAMP metabolism. To assess the effects of dopamine on photoreceptor physiology, we examined the morphology, electrophysiology, and regulation of cAMP metabolism in mice with targeted disruption of the dopamine D4 receptor gene. Photoreceptor morphology and outer segment disc shedding after light onset were normal in D4 knock-out (D4KO) mice. Quinpirole, a dopamine D2/D3/D4 receptor agonist, decreased cAMP synthesis in retinas of wild-type (WT) mice but not in retinas of D4KO mice. In WT retinas, the photoreceptors of which were functionally isolated by incubation in the presence of exogenous glutamate, light also suppressed cAMP synthesis. Despite the similar inhibition of cAMP synthesis, the effect of light is directly on the photoreceptors and independent of dopamine modulation, because it was unaffected by application of the D4 receptor antagonist l-745,870. Nevertheless, compared with WT retinas, basal cAMP formation was reduced in the photoreceptors of D4KO retinas, and light had no additional inhibitory effect. The results suggest that dopamine, via D4 receptors, normally modulates the cascade that couples light responses to adenylyl cyclase activity in photoreceptor cells, and the absence of this modulation results in dysfunction of the cascade. Dark-adapted electroretinogram (ERG) responses were normal in D4KO mice. However, ERG b-wave responses were greatly suppressed during both light adaptation and early stages of dark adaptation. Thus, the absence of D4 receptors affects adaptation, altering transmission of light responses from photoreceptors to inner retinal neurons. These findings indicate that dopamine D4 receptors normally play a major role in regulating photoreceptor cAMP metabolism and adaptive retinal responses to changing environmental illumination.
Field Performance of Three Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Cultivars in Various Seed Sizes

4 Abstract: In order to evaluate the effect of seed size on emergence, yield and components yield of three bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars, an experiment was conducted at Seed and Plant Certification and Registration Research Institute (SPCRI), Karaj, Iran. The experimental factors included five seed sizes (2-2.2, 2.2-2.5, 2.5-2.8, 2.8-3 and >3 mm) and three wheat cultivars (Mahdavi, Pishtaz and Bahar). The experiment was carried out in a 3×5 factorial design (three cultivars, five different seed sizes) based on randomized complete blocks with three replicates. Seedling emergence percentage, green weight of 100 plants, dry weight of 100 plants, the number of spikes per area, number of seeds per spike, 1000- seeds weight and grain yield were measured. Seed size had a significant impact on all of measured traits with the exception of 1000- seeds weight. Results indicated that number of seeds per spike significantly decreased by increasing seed size. The other traits showed significant increase by increasing seed size. Cultivar had significant effect on 1000- seeds weight and number of spikes per area but other traits were similar among cultivars. This study suggested that large seed sizes were superior compared to the other seed size and wheat cultivars had similar performance regarding to the variation in seed sizes. No significant interaction was observed for all traits studied in this experiment.
Stimulating agricultural growth and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa

Economic growth in sub - Saharan Africa depends on reducing the regions deterioration in agricultural performance. But efforts to restore agricultural growth are hampered by the ecology of the region, undermined by policies that jeopardize agricultural and rural development, and complicated by sluggish global economic growth as well as agricultural policies in industrial countries. Given the region's necessary transition from a land-extensive to a land-intensive farming system, attempts to improve agricultural production and to lay the groundwork for sustained rural development will depend on the correct choice of policies. Equally crucial to Africa's agricultural development will be parallel efforts to remove policy barriers that have undercut agricultural production or hurt agricultural productivity. In addition to policy reform, long-term improvement in African agriculture will require developing and extending new production technologies. It will also require creating institutional structures to strengthen national research capabilities, and designing policies and investment strategies to improve the links between the farm and non-farm sectors in rural areas.
Why Should I Do It Myself? Hedonic and Utilitarian Motivations of Customers' Intention to Use Self-service Technologies

Customer self-service technologies (SST) have been gaining increasing economic importance given their proliferation in the customer service industry. Self-service kiosks have gradually been replacing traditional service employees and their progress is expected to continue. The growing relevance of SST results in the need for companies to understand why customers are willing to use SST and which motivations drive SST adoption. Two central constructs determine a customer’s willingness to use SST, namely utilitarian and hedonic value. Thus, the aim of this paper is twofold: first, we explore the multidimensional nature of utilitarian and especially hedonic value. Second, we examine their relative importance in determining repeat use intention, depending on a customer’s prior experience with SST. We develop a research model based on means-end chain (MEC) theory. The results underline that both values positively influence repeat use intention of SST. While hedonic value is prevalent for customers with little experience, utilitarian value weights stronger for customers with more experience.
The role of rice in poverty dynamics in rural Vietnam: 2002–2008

Using the Vietnamese Household Living Standards Surveys of 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008, this paper investigates the role of rice in poverty dynamics in the recent context of Vietnam. We find that sizeable changes in rice prices in the 2000s, which were driven largely by the country's integration into the world markets, have not helped rural households escape poverty, even for households with large-scale rice production. Our results also document that changes in rice output and productivity did not help mitigate poverty either. The paper provides evidence to explain why a substantial exogenous increase in the rice prices between 2006 and 2008 did not help rural households to move out of poverty, while similar changes did help in the 1990s.
Cantilever snap assemblies failure detection using SVMs and the RCBHT

Failure detection plays an increasingly important role in industrial processes and robots that serve in unstructured environments. This work studies failure detection on cantilever snap assemblies, which are critical to industrial use and growing in importance for personal use. Our aim is to study whether an SVM can use a small set of features abstracted as behavior representations from the assembly force signature to accurately detect failure at different stages of the task. In this work, a linear SVM was embedded with abstracted behavioral features to classify failure detection in cantilever snap assembly problems. The approach was useful in detecting failure offline during early and late stages of the task. For early stages, low-abstraction behaviors sets performed better due to their granularity and local temporal nature. For late stage analysis, high-abstraction behaviors performed better due to their coarse and global representations.
Syntrophic interactions improve power production in formic acid fed MFCs operated with set anode potentials or fixed resistances

Formic acid is a highly energetic electron donor but it has previously resulted in low power densities in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Three different set anode potentials (−0.30, −0.15, and +0.15 V; vs. a standard hydrogen electrode, SHE) were used to evaluate syntrophic interactions in bacterial communities for formic acid degradation relative to a non‐controlled, high resistance system (1,000 Ω external resistance). No current was generated at −0.30 V, suggesting a lack of direct formic acid oxidation (standard reduction potential: −0.40 V). More positive potentials that allowed for acetic acid utilization all produced current, with the best performance at −0.15 V. The anode community in the −0.15 V reactor, based on 16S rDNA clone libraries, was 58% Geobacter sulfurreducens and 17% Acetobacterium, with lower proportions of these genera found in the other two MFCs. Acetic acid was detected in all MFCs suggesting that current generation by G. sulfurreducens was dependent on acetic acid production by Acetobacterium. When all MFCs were subsequently operated at an external resistance for maximum power production (100 Ω for MFCs originally set at −0.15 and +0.15 V; 150 Ω for the control), they produced similar power densities and exhibited the same midpoint potential of −0.15 V in first derivative cyclic voltammetry scans. All of the mixed communities converged to similar proportions of the two predominant genera (ca. 52% G. sulfurreducens and 22% Acetobacterium). These results show that syntrophic interactions can be enhanced through setting certain anode potentials, and that long‐term performance produces stable and convergent communities. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2012; 109:405–414. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Leadership in the hospitality industry: Boadecia vs. Attila - bring it on!

The need for high-quality leaders in the hospitality industry has been readily recognised and is seen as critical to the long-term well-being of the industry. In recent years, the industry has undergone something of a sea change in its gender composition, with increasing numbers of females graduating from hospitality and tourism management courses. This suggests that the gender composition of managerial ranks is likely to change in the medium term, with concurrent changes in the typical leadership style valued in the industry. This article seeks to explore and quantify the differences in gender-based perceptions of leadership styles and outcomes in the hospitality industry. Using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ; Bass & Avelio, 1995), a well-established self-administered instrument, the researchers used a "snowballing" technique to recruit a self-selected sample of 264 hospitality employees. These employees work in a variety of sectors in the hospitality industry, including large international-style hotels, small franchised motels, food and beverage operations and contract catering, and at levels ranging from junior staff to senior property and site managers. The data indicated that despite their similarities, there were a number of subtle but significant differences between males and females in terms of the behaviours used and the extent to which various behaviours contributed to successful leadership outcomes, One potentially confounding result was the high emphasis placed upon the "contingent reward leadership style" by females and may be explained by the female's desire for clear, open and transparent communication. More generally, the differences between males and females were manifested in the form of the males placing greater emphasis on "confronting" and "sporting" leadership styles while the females placed greater emphasis on leadership styles which are built upon clear and concise communication and a greater focus on personal consideration for the team members. However, these subtle differences warrant further investigation--possibly using a more holistic approach-such as a 360 degree assessment or semi-structured interviews.
The SDSS-GALEX viewpoint of the truncated red sequence in field environments at z 0

We combine GALEX near-UV photometry with a volume-limited sample of local (0.005 2u This contamination is greatest at faint magnitudes (Mr> 19) and in field regions where as many as three-quarters of red sequence galaxies are star-forming, and as such has important consequences for following the build-up of the red sequence. We find that the NUV r colour instead allows a much more robust separation of passively-evolving and star-forming galaxies, which allows the build-up of the UV-selected red sequence with redshift and environment to be directly interpreted in terms of the assembly of stellar mass in passively-evolving galaxies. We find that in isolated field regions the number density of UV-optical red sequence galaxies declines rapidly at magnitudes fainter than Mr� 19 and appears completely truncated at Mr� 18. This confirms the findings of Haines et al. (2007) that no passively-evolving dwarf galaxies are found more than two virial radii from a massive halo, whether that be a group, cluster or massive galaxy. These results support the downsizing paradigm whereby the red sequence is assembled from the top down, being already largely in place at the bright end by z�1, and the faint end filled in at later epochs in clusters and groups through environment-related processes such as ram-pressure stripping or galaxy harassment.
Influence of age on intestinal bile acid transport in C57BL/6 mice

Intestinal and hepatic bile acid transporters are important for enterohepatic bile acid circulation and pharmacokinetics. Based on previous literature, we hypothesized that the expression of bile acid transporters and intestinal bile acid absorption are lower in older individuals. Here, we measured active taurocholate absorption across the ileum of male C57BL/6 mice in two different age cohorts – young (age range of 89–224 days) and old (age range of 613–953 days). Also examined in these mice were mRNA expression of the major bile acid transporters – Asbt and Ostα/β in the ileum, and Ntcp, Oatp1b2 and Bsep in the liver. Mean intestinal taurocholate absorption was significantly lower (~50%) in mice in the older cohort compared to those in the younger cohort. In the ileum, the expression of Asbt was significantly lower in the older cohort, but expression of Ostα/β was not affected by age. The lower capacity for intestinal bile acid absorption in the older animals is consistent with their lower expression level of Asbt. Of the hepatic bile acid transporters examined, expression of Ntcp and Oatp1b2 were significantly lower in the older mice. This is the first study to directly measure intestinal bile acid absorption as a function of age. The data suggest a lower capacity for intestinal bile acid absorption in older animals. Also, lower expression of Asbt, Ntcp, and Oatp1b2 in older individuals could influence pharmacokinetics of drug substrates.
Birthmarks: Transracial Adoption in Contemporary America

Can White parents teach their Black children African American culture and history? Can they impart to them the survival skills necessary to survive in the racially stratified United States? Concerns over racial identity have been at the center of controversies over transracial adoption since the 1970s, as questions continually arise about whether White parents are capable of instilling a positive sense of African American identity in their Black children. "[An] empathetic study of meanings of cross-racial adoption to adoptees" --Law and Politics Book Review, Vol. 11, No. 11, Nov. 2001 Through in-depth interviews with adult transracial adoptees, as well as with social workers in adoption agencies, Sandra Patton, herself an adoptee, explores the social construction of race, identity, gender, and family and the ways in which these interact with public policy about adoption. Patton offers a compelling overview of the issues at stake in transracial adoption. She discusses recent changes in adoption and social welfare policy which prohibit consideration of race in the placement of children, as well as public policy definitions of "bad mothers" which can foster coerced aspects of adoption, to show how the lives of transracial adoptees have been shaped by the policies of the U.S. child welfare system. Neither an argument for nor against the practice of transracial adoption, BirthMarks seeks to counter the dominant public view of this practice as a panacea to the so-called "epidemic" of illegitimacy and the misfortune of infertility among the middle class with a more nuanced view that gives voice to those directly involved, shedding light on the ways in which Black and multiracial adoptees articulate their own identity experiences.
The Choice between Rights Offerings and Private Equity Placements

We develop and test a nested logit model to examine how firms choose between a rights offering and a private equity placement. We find that family-controlled firms avoid issue methods that dilute control benefits or subject them to more monitoring, in particular when the family’s control margin is small and the wedge between votes and capital is large. Control considerations also affect security design in equity issues. We also find that firms use private placements to reduce contracting and ex post holdup costs in new product market relationships. Finally, we find that firms with higher asymmetric information about firm value are more likely to involve underwriter certification in a rights offering, and to choose a private placement when information asymmetries are extreme.
On the states' behavior with equalization grants

This paper discusses how state government’s behaviour is affected when the so-called Representative Tax System (RTS) equalization scheme is implemented. In particular, we study the changes in the marginal cost of public funds (MCPF), and in the first order conditions for the optimal provision of public inputs. Following Smart (1998), those equalization transfers might create a price effect that induces the subnational governments to raise taxes. However, this result has to be qualified under certain assumptions. Also we find that there is an ambiguous relationship between the degree of fiscal equalization and the marginal cost of providing the public input and the level of taxation. In a sense, it is not clear that more redistribution necessarily leads to more inefficiency caused by higher taxes.
Application of satellite observations for identifying regions of dominant sources of nitrogen oxides over the Indian Subcontinent

We used SCIAMACHY (10:00 LT) and OMI (13:30 LT) tropospheric NO2 columns to study diurnal and seasonal patterns in NO2 concentrations over India. Using characteristics of seasonal variability in tropospheric NO2 columns, we present a simple methodology to identify the dominant NOx source category for specific regions in India. Regions where the dominant source category is classified as biomass burning are found generally to agree with the ATSR fire count distribution. Relating OMI NO2 columns to surface NOx emission, we find that biomass burning emission account for an average flux of 1.55 × 1011 molecules cm−2 s−1 during the peak burning period. Furthermore, extrapolating this estimated flux to the total burned area for the year 2005, biomass burning is estimated to account for 72 Gg of N emissions. Additional analysis of fire events in Northeast India shows a marked increase in TES retrieved O3 concentrations, suggesting significant photochemical ozone formation during the peak biomass burning period. Regions where the dominant source type was categorized as anthropogenic are in good agreement with the distribution of major industrial regions and urban centers in India. Tropospheric NO2 columns over these anthropogenic source regions increased by 3.8% per year between 2003 and 2011, which is consistent with the growth in oil and coal consumption in India. The OMI‐derived surface NO2 mixing ratios are indirectly validated with the surface in situ measurements (correlation r = 0.85, n = 88) obtained from the air quality monitoring network in Delhi during August 2010 to January 2011. Most of the OMI‐derived surface NO2 values agree with surface‐based measurements, supporting the direct utility of OMI observation for emission estimates. Finally, we use OMI NO2 columns to estimate NOx emissions for selected large cites and major thermal power plants in India and compare these estimates with the INTEX‐B and EDGAR emission inventory. We find that, for a few locations, OMI‐derived emission show fair agreement; however, for many locations, NOx emissions differ from INTEX‐B and EDGAR inventories.
Neuroimaging of working memory dysfunction and the dilemma with brain reorganization hypotheses

There is a growing literature examining working memory deficits using functional imaging and there has been great convergence in the findings, to date, but interpretations have varied. Investigators consistently observed recruitment of neural resources in clinical samples, with some examiners attributing these findings to neural inefficiency and others attributing differences to neural compensation and/or brain reorganization. It is the goal of this paper to address the current interpretation of altered brain activation in clinical imaging studies of working memory dysfunction with specific emphasis on findings in prefrontal cortex (PFC). Throughout this review, the methods used to examine brain reorganization associated with working memory dysfunction are critiqued with the goal of understanding how study design has influenced data interpretation. It is proposed that much of what has been considered “aberrant” neural activity is not indicative of neural compensation, as it has been typically defined, and does not represent brain reorganization. Instead, recruitment of neural resources in PFC can be explained by a natural, and largely overlooked, role of cognitive control in accommodating neural dysfunction secondary to brain injury and disease. This paper provides predictions based on this proposition and a critique of the current methods available for testing these predictions. (JINS, 2008, 14, 526–534.)
An objective approach to dry eye disease severity.

PURPOSE A prospective, multisite clinical study (10 sites in the European Union and the United States) evaluated the clinical utility of commonly used tests and tear osmolarity for assessing dry eye disease severity. METHODS Three hundred fourteen consecutive subjects between the ages of 18 and 82 years were recruited from the general patient population, 299 of which qualified with complete datasets. Osmolarity testing, Schirmer test without anesthesia, tear film breakup time (TBUT), corneal staining, meibomian dysfunction assessment, and conjunctival staining were performed bilaterally. A symptom questionnaire, the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), was also administered to each patient. Distributions of clinical signs and symptoms against a continuous composite severity index were evaluated. RESULTS Osmolarity was found to have the highest correlation coefficient to disease severity (r(2) = 0.55), followed by conjunctival staining (r(2) = 0.47), corneal staining (r(2) = 0.43), OSDI (r(2) = 0.41), meibomian score (r(2) = 0.37), TBUT (r(2) = 0.30), and Schirmer result (r(2) = 0.17). A comparison of standard threshold-based classification with the composite severity index revealed significant overlap between the disease severities of prospectively defined normal and dry eye groups. Fully 63% of the subjects were found to be poorly classified by combinations of clinical thresholds. CONCLUSIONS Tear film osmolarity was found to be the single best marker of disease severity across normal, mild/moderate, and severe categories. Other tests were found to be informative in the more severe forms of disease; thus, clinical judgment remains an important element in the clinical assessment of dry eye severity. The results also indicate that the initiation and progression of dry eye is multifactorial and supports the rationale for redefining severity on the basis of a continuum of clinical signs. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00848198.).