Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optical spectroscopy of Arp220: the star formation history of the closest ULIRG

We present long-slit, optical spectra of the merging system Arp220, obtained using the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma. These data were taken as a part of a large study of ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) with the aim of investigating the evolution and star formation histories of such objects. Spectral synthesis modelling has been used to estimate the ages of the stellar populations found in the diffuse light sampled by the spectra. As the closest ULIRG, it proved possible to perform a detailed study of the stellar populations over the entire body of the object. The data show a remarkable uniformity in the stellar populations across the full 65 arcsec covered by our slit positions, sampling the measurable extent of the galaxy. The results are consistent with a dominant intermediate-age stellar population (ISP) with age 0.5 ≤tISP≤ 0.9 Gyr that is present at all locations, with varying contributions from a young (≤0.1 Gyr) stellar population (YSP) component. However, it is notable that while the flux contribution of the YSP component in the extended regions is relatively small (≤40 per cent), adequate fits in the nuclear region are only found for combinations with a significant contribution of a YSP component (22–63 per cent). Moreover, while a low intrinsic reddening (E(B−V) ≲ 0.3) is found for the ISPs in the extended regions, intrinsic reddening values as high as E(B−V) ∼ 1.0 are required in the galactic centre. This clearly reflects the presence of a reddening gradient, with higher concentrations of gas and dust towards the nuclear regions, coinciding with dust lanes in the Hubble Space Telescope images. Overall, our results are consistent with models that predict an epoch of enhanced star formation coinciding with the first pass of the merging nuclei (represented by the ISP), with a further episode of star formation occurring as the nuclei finally merge together (represented by the YSP and ULIRG).
Dissemination and Persistence of Pseudomonas spp. in Small-Scale Dairy Farms

This study was aimed at collecting data on presence, dissemination and persistence of Pseudomonas in small-scale dairy farms. Six farms (located in Piedmont) were visited three times over 2014: 116 waters (wells and different faucets/pipes) and 117 environmental samples (milking equipments and drains) were collected. Enumeration of Pseudomonadaceae was performed, 3-5 colonies/samples were selected for identification via 16SrDNA/oprI polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and typed by enterobacterial-repetitive-intergenic-consensus (ERIC)-PCR. Pseudomonadaceae were detected in 77% of samples. No statistical differences were found among proportions of positives across farms, sample typologies and seasons. Most isolates were Pseudomonas fluorescens (45%), and ERIC-PCR showed 32 persistent types diffused across farms. All in all, Pseudomonas spp. represents a challenge, considering its presence over time in water as well as in teat cups, indicating a continuous source of contamination. Moreover, persistency of strains may indicate biofilm-formation and/or sanitisers resistance, therefore emphasising the role of primary production for preventing milk contamination by Pseudomonas spp.
Communications in Education.

The paper aims to provide evidence of the role of communications in education. The term communications is used in three interrelated ways: it refers to the interactions and engagements which take place between different actors in the education sector; it looks at the transmission of information, knowledge or data between two or more points; and it refers to the processes and means though which these interactions take place. The report identifies where communications in the education sector has been successful and some of its weaknesses. The paper focuses on spaces for communications in education, the processes of communications and the direct and indirect impacts of communications initiatives. It gives examples of a range of communication initiatives and provides evidence of impact, where available.
Maps on Ultrametric Spaces, Hensel's Lemma, and Differential Equations Over Valued Fields

We give a criterion for maps on ultrametric spaces to be surjective and to preserve spherical completeness. We show how Hensel's Lemma and the multidimensional Hensel's Lemma follow from our result. We give an easy proof that the latter holds in every henselian field. We also prove a basic infinite-dimensional Implicit Function Theorem. Further, we apply the criterion to deduce various versions of Hensel's Lemma for polynomials in several additive operators, and to give a criterion for the existence of integration and solutions of certain differential equations on spherically complete valued differential fields, for both valued D-fields in the sense of Scanlon, and differentially valued fields in the sense of Rosenlicht. We modify the approach so that it also covers logarithmic-exponential power series fields. Finally, we give a criterion for a sum of spherically complete subgroups of a valued abelian group to be spherically complete. This in turn can be used to determine elementary properties of power series fields in positive characteristic.
Teachers' Quality as Correlates of Students Academic Performance in Biology in Senior Secondary Schools of Ondo State, Nigeria

The study investigated teachers’ quality as correlates of students’ academic performance in Biology in senior secondary schools in Ondo State. To guide the study, four research questions were raised. The multi-stage sampling technique was used to collect data from two hundred teachers (200) as respondents. A validated questionnaire titled: Teacher Quality as Correlates of Student Academic Performance with the used of simple frequency counts and percentage for analysis. From the data analysis it was revealed that: the role of professionally qualified/trained teachers is an important teacher quality which enhances students’ academic achievement in biology, teaching methods adopted by the teachers significantly influence achievement of the behavior objectives. Several schools in the population of the study lacked modern instructional materials without which effective teaching and learning cannot be utilized and teachers’ experience significantly influence students academic performance; capacity building forms a major aspect of teachers’ experience that is yet to be given adequate attention. Its importance cannot be over emphasized in view of senior secondary school student’s poor performance in both internal and external examinations. Based on these findings, appropriate recommendations were made.
Values in Leadership: Approaches of Victorian Local Government Managers

Since the 1980s the public sector in Australia, including local government, has been imbued with the language of business management. In part, this has occurred because other levels of government have brought changes to the operation of local government and also because public sector managers have accepted the conventional wisdom that the private sector provides the better model for managing large organisations. But how useful is this way of operating in the public sector? This thesis argues that local government management continues to be 'captured' by the dominant ideology of neoliberalism. This ideology has shaped the politically conservative policies of many western countries and is based on economic theories of public choice and agency, which essentially argue that the market is the key sphere of influence that, if it is left to regulate itself without undue government intervention, inevitably brings order and prosperity. The neoliberal theory of the market - economic rationalism - still appears to dominate language and thinking within local government, and this may not be in the best interests of either local government organisations or the communities they serve. Management theories arising from the private sector, in the main, do not take account of the direct engagement of local government with local communities, the ethic of service, the breadth of services provided and the political environment of local government. Nor do they fully address issues such as the impact on the practice of management of CEO values, worldviews and unconscious motivations. This research aims to take account of the rich unspoken, unconscious meanings in human dialogue and interaction. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the breadth of experience in being a local government CEO, the researcher conducted face-to-face semistructured interviews with 18 (23per cent) of Victorian local government CEOs. Then the researcher observed one local government CEO at her workplace, over a period of six months. The thesis draws on socio-analytic theory to look beyond currently popular management theories, with their emphases on rationality and instrumentality, to examine the beliefs and motives local government CEOs bring to their work. It concludes that local government is not a non-profit variant of private enterprise and that the importation of business language and tools has damaged local government's service role. It argues for a renewal of commitment to the values of service and to leadership that encompasses both rational and non-rational aspects of managing people. The real work of the leader is to participate in a relationship with staff that acknowledges that projections, splitting and denial do occur and to be patient with their effects. The more able a leader is to contain the projected fantasy material of those around her, the better leader she will be.
Knowledge and competence management at Ericsson: decentralization and organizational fit

The present paper is a cross‐sectional case study of knowledge management (KM) initiatives at Ericsson. The general aim of the study was to investigate how a large Swedish telecom corporation developed and integrated KM tools with existing organizational structure, needs and tasks, and to pinpoint opportunities and pitfalls in this regard. In order to do this the authors mapped and categorized the KM initiatives developed in the company. The method used was a series of semi‐structured interviews which focused on, among other things, getting respondents to identify the organizational needs that arise as a result of context and task. The results are presented in a two‐by‐two matrix categorizing KM initiatives as to content and mode of implementation. The paper concludes with a number of hypotheses and propositions that may be used for further investigation into how firms may go about optimally organizing their knowledge management strategies.
Modeling the Effects of Fire on the Long‐Term Dynamics and Restoration of Yellow Pine and Oak Forests in the Southern Appalachian Mountains

We used LANDIS, a model of forest disturbance and succession, to simulate successional dynamics of forests in the southern Appalachian Mountains. The simulated environments are based on the Great Smoky Mountains landscapes studied by Whittaker. We focused on the consequences of two contrasting disturbance regimes—fire exclusion versus frequent burning—for the Yellow pine (Pinus L., subgenus Diploxylon Koehne) and oak (Quercus L.) forests that occupy dry mountain slopes and ridgetops. These ecosystems are a conservation priority, and declines in their abundance have stimulated considerable interest in the use of fire for ecosystem restoration. Under fire exclusion, the abundance of Yellow pines is projected to decrease, even on the driest sites (ridgetops, south‐ and west‐facing slopes). Hardwoods and White pine (P. strobus L.) replace the Yellow pines. In contrast, frequent burning promotes high levels of Table Mountain pine (P. pungens Lamb.) and Pitch pine (P. rigida Mill.) on the driest sites and reduces the abundance of less fire‐tolerant species. Our simulations also imply that fire maintains open woodland conditions, rather than closed‐canopy forest. For oaks, fire exclusion is beneficial on the driest sites because it permits oaks to replace the pines. On moister sites (north‐ and east‐facing slopes), however, fire exclusion leads to a diverse mix of oaks and other species, whereas frequent burning favors Chestnut oak (Q. montana Willd.) and White oak (Q. alba L.) dominance. Our results suggest that reintroducing fire may help restore decadent pine and oak stands in the southern Appalachian Mountains.
In Vitro Serial Passage of Staphylococcus aureus: Changes in Physiology, Virulence Factor Production, and agr Nucleotide Sequence

ABSTRACT Recently, we observed that Staphylococcus aureus strains newly isolated from patients had twofold-higher aconitase activity than a strain passaged extensively in vitro, leading us to hypothesize that aconitase specific activity decreases over time during in vitro passage. To test this hypothesis, a strain recovered from a patient with toxic shock syndrome was serially passaged for 6 weeks, and the aconitase activity was measured. Aconitase specific activity decreased 38% (P < 0.001) by the sixth week in culture. During serial passage, S. aureus existed as a heterogeneous population with two colony types that had pronounced (wild type) or negligible zones of beta-hemolytic activity. The cell density-sensing accessory gene regulatory (agr) system regulates beta-hemolytic activity. Surprisingly, the percentage of colonies with a wild-type beta-hemolytic phenotype correlated strongly with aconitase specific activity (ρ = 0.96), suggesting a common cause of the decreased aconitase specific activity and the variation in percentage of beta-hemolytic colonies. The loss of the beta-hemolytic phenotype also coincided with the occurrence of mutations in the agrC coding region or the intergenic region between agrC and agrA in the derivative strains. Our results demonstrate that in vitro growth is sufficient to result in mutations within the agr operon. Additionally, our results demonstrate that S. aureus undergoes significant phenotypic and genotypic changes during serial passage and suggest that vigilance should be used when extrapolating data obtained from the study of high-passage strains.
Retargeting NK-92 cells by means of CD19- and CD20-specific chimeric antigen receptors compares favorably with antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity

Multiple natural killer (NK) cell-based anticancer therapies are currently under development. Here, we compare the efficiency of genetically modified NK-92 cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) at killing NK cell-resistant B-lymphoid leukemia cells to the antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) of NK-92 cells expressing a high affinity variant of the IgG Fc receptor (FcγRIII). First, we compared in vitro the abilities of NK-92 cells expressing CD20-targeting CARs to kill primary chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells derived from 9 patients with active, untreated disease to the cytotoxicity of NK-92 cells expressing FcγRIII combined with either of the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) rituximab or ofatumumab. We found that CAR-expressing NK-92 cells effectively kill NK cell-resistant primary CLL cells and that such a cytotoxic response is significantly stronger than that resulting from ADCC. For studying CAR-expressing NK cell-based immunotherapy in vivo, we established xenograft mouse models of residual leukemia using the human BCR-ABL1+ cell lines SUP-B15 (CD19+CD20−) and TMD-5 (CD19+CD20+), two acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) lines that are resistant to parental NK-92 cells. Intravenous injection of NK-92 cells expressing CD19-targeting CARs eliminated SUP-B15 cells, whereas they had no such effect on TMD-5 cells. However, the intrafemoral injection of NK-92 cells expressing CD19-targeting CAR resulted in the depletion of TMD-5 cells from the bone marrow environment. Comparative studies in which NK-92 cells expressing either CD19- or CD20-targeting CARs were directly injected into subcutaneous CD19+CD20+ Daudi lymphoma xenografts revealed that CD20-targeting CAR is superior to its CD19-specific counterpart in controlling local tumor growth. In summary, we show here that CAR-expressing NK-92 cells can be functionally superior to ADCC (as mediated by anti-CD20 mAbs) in the elimination of primary CLL cells. Moreover, we provide data demonstrating that the systemic administration of CAR-expressing NK-92 cells can control lymphoblastic leukemia in immunocompromised mice. Our results also suggest that the direct injection of CAR-expressing NK-92 cells to neoplastic lesions could be an effective treatment modality against lymphoma.
Title of Dissertation : ESSAYS IN INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS

This dissertation consists of two essays. The first essay investigates the impact of capital account convertibility on the volatility of economic growth. Previous work has concentrated on the impact of convertibility on mean growth and has found contradictory results. Existing theoretical work suggests that impact of convertibility on volatility could differ across economies depending on their level of financial development. I test this hypothesis using a system of equations that allow for simultaneous determination of three endogenous variables: volatility, mean growth and financial development. I also allow for spillover effects in economic growth and its volatility. I find that financially developed economies are better able to handle capital account convertibility in the sense that convertibility does not lead to excess fluctuations in those economies. However less financially developed economies suffer a higher level of fluctuations with an open capital account. These results are robust to alternative measures of financial development and to removal of the top and bottom 10% of my sample. I also find significant spillovers from growth of trade partners on the mean growth of the domestic economy. The second essay builds on Romer's (1994) idea that when there are fixed costs of entry into export markets, even low trade barriers can lead to the complete disappearance of some products and impose costs that are much larger than the conventional costs of protection. I incorporate Romer's insight into a fully specified general equilibrium model. In a two-country, differentiated goods model, assuming that firms are heterogeneous with respect to the costs of entry into the export market, I show that firms are divided into those that sell exclusively at home and those that also sell abroad. Larger firms export more and are also characterized by higher average productivity. The cost of protection is significantly higher when I allow products to disappear as a result of the tariff. My work is closely related to Melitz (2003) and Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple (2002) but differs in the mechanism underlying the results. Data from the Indian trade liberalization of the 1990s appears be in line with the results of the model.
Immunomodulatory effects of the intake of fermented milk with Lactobacillus casei DN114001 in lactating mothers and their children

The healthy action of probiotics is not only due to their nutritional properties and their influence on the gastrointestinal environment, but also to their action on the immune system. The aim of the present study was to determine if 6 weeks of probiotic intake would be able to modulate the immune system in women who had recently delivered and were breast-feeding. The design consisted of a randomised, controlled and double-blind nutritional intervention study with parallel groups with a sample size of 104 women. The main variable is the T helper type 1/T helper type 2 (Th1/Th2) profile determined by measuring interferon-γ (Th1) and IL-4 (Th2) values in peripheral blood by flow cytometry. The modifications of cytokines were evaluated in maternal milk by cytometric bead array in a flow cytometer and ELISA at three stages of breast-feeding: colostrum, early milk (10 d) and mature milk (45 d). Additionally, the anthropometry and infectious and allergic episodes in the newborn were followed up throughout the first 6 months of life. After the consumption of milk fermented with Lactobacillus casei during the puerperium, we observed a non-significant increase in T and B lymphocytes and a significant increase in natural killer cells. A decrease in the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α in maternal milk and fewer gastrointestinal disturbances were also observed in the breast-fed child of the mothers who consumed L. casei. The intake of milk fermented with L. casei during the lactation period modestly contributes to the modulation of the mother's immunological response after delivery and decreases the incidence of gastrointestinal episodes in the breast-fed child.
Osteopetrosis and Its Relevance for the Discovery of New Functions Associated with the Skeleton

Osteopetrosis is a rare genetic disorder characterized by an increase of bone mass due to defective osteoclast function. Patients typically displayed spontaneous fractures, anemia, and in the most severe forms hepatosplenomegaly and compression of cranial facial nerves leading to deafness and blindness. Osteopetrosis comprises a heterogeneous group of diseases as several forms are known with different models of inheritance and severity from asymptomatic to lethal. This review summarizes the genetic and clinical features of osteopetrosis, emphasizing how recent studies of this disease have contributed to understanding the central role of the skeleton in the whole body physiology. In particular, the interplay of bone with the stomach, insulin metabolism, male fertility, the immune system, bone marrow, and fat is described.
API usability peer reviews: a method for evaluating the usability of application programming interfaces

We describe a usability inspection method to evaluate Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). We found the method useful as it identified usability defects in Microsoft's . NET Framework, of which 59% were new and 21% were fixed. Based on a comparison of usability defects identified between API usability peer reviews and API usability tests, API usability tests were found to expose design issues related to actually using an API whereas API usability peer reviews were found to expose the design rationale of an API. We reflect on the efficiency and productivity of each method: each API usability test is equivalent to 16 API usability peer reviews with the former having a 2.5x productivity advantage. We discuss how API usability peer reviews can be used in conjunction with API usability tests to increase usability coverage on APIs.
CpG Distribution and Methylation Pattern in Porcine Parvovirus

Based on GC content and the observed/expected CpG ratio (oCpGr), we found three major groups among the members of subfamily Parvovirinae: Group I parvoviruses with low GC content and low oCpGr values, Group II with low GC content and high oCpGr values and Group III with high GC content and high oCpGr values. Porcine parvovirus belongs to Group I and it features an ascendant CpG distribution by position in its coding regions similarly to the majority of the parvoviruses. The entire PPV genome remains hypomethylated during the viral lifecycle independently from the tissue of origin. In vitro CpG methylation of the genome has a modest inhibitory effect on PPV replication. The in vitro hypermethylation disappears from the replicating PPV genome suggesting that beside the maintenance DNMT1 the de novo DNMT3a and DNMT3b DNA methyltransferases can’t methylate replicating PPV DNA effectively either, despite that the PPV infection does not seem to influence the expression, translation or localization of the DNA methylases. SNP analysis revealed high mutability of the CpG sites in the PPV genome, while introduction of 29 extra CpG sites into the genome has no significant biological effects on PPV replication in vitro. These experiments raise the possibility that beyond natural selection mutational pressure may also significantly contribute to the low level of the CpG sites in the PPV genome.