Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suppression of tumorigenicity of human prostate carcinoma cells by replacing a mutated RB gene.

Introduction of a normal retinoblastoma gene (RB) into retinoblastoma cells was previously shown to suppress several aspects of their neoplastic phenotype, including tumorigenicity in nude mice, thereby directly demonstrating a cancer suppression function of RB. To explore the possibility of a similar activity in a common adult tumor, RB expression was examined in three human prostate carcinoma cell lines. One of these, DU145, contained an abnormally small protein translated from an RB messenger RNA transcript that lacked 105 nucleotides encoded by exon 21. To assess the functional consequences of this mutation, normal RB expression was restored in DU145 cells by retrovirus-mediated gene transfer. Cells that maintained stable exogenous RB expression lost their ability to form tumors in nude mice, although their growth rate in culture was apparently unaltered. These results suggest that RB inactivation can play a significant role in the genesis of a common adult neoplasm and that restoration of normal RB-encoded protein in tumors could have clinical utility.
Serum malondialdehyde level in patients infected with Ascaris lumbricoides.

AIM The aim of the study was to investigate the changes of serum malondialdehyde level, i.e; the oxidative stress hypothesis in patients infected with Ascaris lumbricoides. METHODS Serum malondialdehyde activity was measured in 43 patients who were positive for intestinal parasite of Ascaris lumbricoides. Scores were obtained for the positives and their age-and sex-matched 60 Ascaris lumbricoides negative healthy controls. RESULTS The difference between malondialdehyde levels of patients infected with Ascaris lumbricoides and control group was statistically significant both for females (P<0.05) and for males (P<0.05). In the patient and control groups, no correlation was found between age and malondialdehyde levels (P>0.05) both in females and in males. In addition, no significant correlation could be found between malondialdehyde levels of both females and males for patients and control groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION Malondialdehyde levels clearly increase in patients infected with Ascaris lumbricoides.
USING INFINIBAND IPOIB VIRTUALIZATION AND LIVE MIGRATION

Original scientific paper Over recent years we have seen a constant evolution of High-Performance Computing moving into commodity servers cluster types of systems. At the same time we have seen Cloud Computing being a proven, stable and reliable IT paradigm, utilising virtualized clusters of commodity servers as key components. This paper presents a face-to-face native-to-virtual HPC MPI application performance analysis on a range of general-use HPC applications by virtualizing InfiniBand via IPoIB at the guest virtual machine level on VMware ESXi as well as KVM hypervisor with production ready live migration support. Applications running on various small and medium HPC clusters are targeted to address users, considering full IT infrastructure virtualization by merging general purpose with HPC IT infrastructure. Live migration is a key component within a virtualized environment as it enables dynamic virtual IT infrastructure, therefore live migration performance impact is evaluated through a pluggable multi-platform architecture on a proactive fault-tolerance use case.
Identification of Surface Antigens of Moraxella catarrhalis as Targets of Human Serum Antibody Responses in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

ABSTRACT Moraxella catarrhalis is an important respiratory tract pathogen, causing otitis media in children and lower respiratory tract infections in adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Adults with COPD make antibody responses to M. catarrhalis following infection, but little is known about the identity of the antigens to which these antibodies are directed. In this study, 12 serum samples obtained from adults with COPD who had cleared M. catarrhalis from the respiratory tract following infection and who had developed new serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) to their infecting strain were subjected to a series of assays to identify the antigens to which potentially protective antibodies were directed. Sera were adsorbed with intact bacterial cells, and antibodies were eluted from the surfaces of the bacteria. Analysis by flow cytometry established that adsorption and elution effectively detected antibodies specifically directed to surface-exposed epitopes. Immunoblot assays of adsorbed and eluted serum fractions were performed with purified outer membranes and purified lipooligosaccharide of homologous infecting strains and with a series of mutants deficient in expression of individual outer membrane proteins (OMPs). While heterogeneity in antibody responses among individuals was observed, five major OMPs, UspA1, UspA2, Hag, TbpB, and OMP CD, were identified as targets of antibodies to surface epitopes in the majority of adults with COPD who cleared the organism. These results have important implications in understanding human immune responses to M. catarrhalis and in elucidating the elements of a protective immune response.
Temporary agency workers in the French car industry: working under a new variant of 'despotism' in the labour process

This thesis is an exploration of how the use of temporary agency work in French car plants modifies the experience and mechanisms of labour control in the labour process. Over the last decade, car manufacturers in France have made extensive use of this form of employment, despite regulations which restrict the use of agency labour to exceptional circumstances. Legal challenges aimed at reclassifying temporary agency contracts into permanent employment contracts have revealed that some agency workers have accumulated many years of employment as an agency worker with user-company. The presence of significant proportions of agency workers on assembly lines for long periods of time has implications for the labourcapital relation on the shopfloor. Precarious working conditions for low-skilled workers are assumed to affect the capacity of workers to negotiate relations on the shop-floor. The thesis employs a conceptual framework based upon Burawoy’s (1985) theory of production politics to examine the specific way in which the triadic relationship between the temporary agency worker, temporary employment agency and user-organisation modifies the factory regime within which temporary agency workers labour. Starting from an analysis of the macro- and meso-level development of the post-war French state and of the key economic sectors that constitute the “politics of production”, the thesis focuses on the PSA Peugeot-Citroen plant in Aulnay-sous-Bois as a case study, and combines interview data with other qualitative (textual) data. The research finds that temporary agency workers in the car sector respond to their employment situation in a more complex way than studies of coercion and consent in the labour process suggest. Employment insecurity and the “duality of control” which flows from the triadic relationship upon which the temporary agency contract rests gives rise to a factory regime more conducive to compliance/coercion than consent. However, the “traces of consent” identified by the research illustrate the complex nature of hegemony and despotism in the labour process. Drawing on the findings of the empirical data in the context of France, the thesis develops the concept of hegemonic despotism by examining how hegemonic despotism is expressed across a variety of employment contexts. The thesis identifies a tension between adverse conditions of employment and hegemonic practices, such as the formal adhesion to “soft” models of HRM, alongside the recasting of norms of employment to fit the requirements of contemporary capital accumulation.
Linking perceived service quality dimensions, customer satisfaction and perceived value with behavioural intentions in Indian retail banking: an SEM study

This research paper empirically tests the effect of perceived service quality dimensions on behavioural outcomes of customers of retail banking services in India. The dimensions of perceived service quality are extracted by exploratory and validated through confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS ver 4.0. The attributes with significant loading on dimension one are privacy of automated teller machine transactions, terms and conditions being flexible and well explained and for dimension two are well-designed and clean bank environment and staff being well dressed. The interactive and causal effects of the service encounter variables were empirically tested using structural equation modelling with retail banking customers in the National Capital Region of Delhi, India. The results provided empirical support for a modified model wherein service quality, customer satisfaction and value perceptions are antecedents of future intentions of customers and the need for a comprehensive approach to service quality in retail banking services that includes the direct and indirect effects of perceived service quality, value perceptions and overall customer satisfaction on customer future intentions of repurchase and positive recommendations.
Growth Effects of Fiscal Decentralization: Empirical Evidence from China's Provinces

In this paper, we revisit the fiscal decentralization-economic growth nexus in the case of China's provinces using autoregressive distributed lag bounds tests and pooled mean group estimators with time series data from the period 1979-2009. Using principal component analysis, we build a novel composite fiscal decentralization indicator consisting of five different fiscal decentralization measures and use it in the models in addition to conventional fiscal decentralization variables. The results suggest that there is a strong, positive, and statistically significant relationship between fiscal decentralization and economic growth in most provinces in China in both the short run and the long run.
International Relocation of Production: Where Do Firms Go?

The flexible relocation of capacity across countries by multinational enterprises has become an important source of concern. Using a unique sample of relocating firms in Belgium, we find that wages and market potential of host regions are important determinants for the location choice. Considering firm characteristics, we show that large firms have a higher propensity to relocate to remote countries. Public aid only plays a decisive role in the investment decision for relocations to adjacent countries, suggesting a potential harmful role in distorting competition. More proactive policies in line with changing comparative location advantages should be implemented to accommodate relocations.
Robust position-based routing in wireless ad hoc networks with irregular transmission ranges

Several papers considered the problem of routing in ad hoc wireless networks using the positions of the mobile hosts. Perimeter routing1, 2 gives an algorithm that guarantees delivery of messages in such networks without the use of flooding of control packets. However, this protocol is likely to fail if the transmission ranges of the mobile hosts vary because of natural or man-made obstacles. It may fail because either some connections are not considered, which effectively results in a disconnection of the network, or because some crossing connections are used, which could misdirect the message. In this paper, we describe a robust routing protocol, a variant of perimeter routing, which tolerates up to 40% of variation in the transmission ranges of the mobile hosts. More precisely, our protocol guarantees message delivery in a connected ad hoc wireless network without the use of message flooding whenever the ratio of the maximum transmission range to the minimum transmission range is at most √2. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Framing of the 2008 presidential election in print news

This study examines newspaper coverage of the Democratic and Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2008 U.S. election. Since the composition of candidates involved in this election is so unprecedented, this study seeks to uncover the ways in which they are portrayed through the lens of framing theory. The study focused on three major frames: experience, race and viability. A total of 225 newspaper articles randomly collected from The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and USA Today were content analyzed. The following questions were asked: What is the most dominant frame used in the coverage of the 2008 election? Is there a relationship between the dominant frame used and candidate focus? Is there a difference in the way news articles and non-news articles (feature stories, editorial/op ed.) frame candidates? Which received the greater amount of media attention in the 2008 election, image or issue-focused stories? What aspects of image are most frequently used in describing the candidates? How frequently is age used to describe the candidates in the 2008 election? How frequently is gender mentioned to describe the candidates? The results show that consistent with previous research, the media continue to place a greater importance on candidate image and viability than on policy issues. The media paid little attention to the subject of age, but discussed race, gender and experience more thoroughly. The discussion of gender and the one female candidate was stereotypical and used harsher and more negative language than that used for the male candidates, especially when found in editorial/op ed. articles. This suggests that contrary to what many believe were improving conditions for female political candidates, the media still put a much greater emphasis on their gender than for their male counterparts.
Enhanced Oral Bioavailability of Griseofulvin via Niosomes

The aim of the present report was to develop nonionic surfactant vesicles (niosomes) to improve poor and variable oral bioavailability of griseofulvin. Niosomes were prepared by using different nonionic surfactants span 20, span 40, and span 60. The lipid mixture consisted of surfactant, cholesterol, and dicetyl phosphate in the molar ratio of 125:25:1.5, 100:50:1.5, and 75:75:1.5, respectively. The niosomal formulations were prepared by thin film method and ether injection method. The influence of different formulation variables such as surfactant type, surfactant concentration, and cholesterol concentration was optimized for size distribution and entrapment efficiency for both methods. Result indicated that the niosomes prepared by thin film method with span 60 provided higher entrapment efficiency. The niosomal formulation exhibited significantly retarded in vitro release as compared with free drug. The in vivo study revealed that the niosomal dispersion significantly improved the oral bioavailability of griseofulvin in albino rats after a single oral dose. The maximum concentration (Cmax) achieved in case of niosomal formulation was approximately double (2.98 μg/ml) as compared to free drug (1.54 μg/ml). Plasma drug profile also suggested that the developed niosomal system also has the potential of maintaining therapeutic level of griseofulvin for a longer period of time as compared to free griseofulvin. The niosomal formulation showed significant increase in area under the curve0-24 (AUC; 41.56 μg/ml h) as compared to free griseofulvin (22.36 μg/ml h) reflecting sustained release characteristics. In conclusion, the niosomal formulation could be one of the promising delivery system for griseofulvin with improved oral bioavailability and prolonged drug release profiles.
The Effects of R&D, Foreign Technology Purchase, and Domestic and International Spillovers on Productivity in Indian Firms

Using panel data on Indian firms from 1974-75 to 1981-82, the authors provide estimates of the impact on output of Indian firms' R&D expenditures, their technology purchases, and international and domestic R&D spillovers. The private returns to technology purchases are estimated to be high and statistically significant, while the private returns to firms' own R&D expenditures are somewhat lower and are often insignificant. There is evidence of both international and domestic R&D spillovers. The estimates permit estimation of total factor productivity growth in the period preceding India's industrial liberalization policies. Copyright 1996 by MIT Press.
Non-Choice Evaluations Predict Behavioral Responses to Changes in Economic Conditions

A central task in microeconomics is to predict choices in as-yet-unobserved situations (e.g., after some policy intervention). Standard approaches can prove problematic when sufficiently similar changes have not been observed or do not have observable exogenous causes. We explore an alternative approach that generates predictions based on relationships across decision problems between actual choice frequencies and non-choice subjective evaluations of the available options. In a laboratory experiment, we find that this method yields accurate estimates of price sensitivities for a collection of products under conditions that render standard methods either inapplicable or highly inaccurate.
International franchising decision-making: An application of stakeholder theory

Stakeholder theory is used to provide a frame of reference to examine the decision-making process involved in international franchising agreements. An international hotel group was selected as a case. Previous studies focus on investigations of the franchising process after the decision to engage has been taken and contracts duly exchanged. The analysis presented here focuses on the pre-contracting level: on selection and recruitment. The findings emphasise the importance of managing business cultural incompatibility between potential partners and the franchisor and within the franchising company itself.
Understanding Tourists' In Situ Behavior: A Cognitive Chrono-Ethnography Study of Visitors to a Hot Spring Resort

Hot spring resorts are popular tourist attractions in Japan. However, little is known about why these resorts are popular destinations. This paper introduces a methodology, Cognitive Chrono-Ethnography, which is an ethnographical field study that is designed through the consideration of cognitive constraints. The method serves as an application to understand tourists' behavioral selections in terms of their chronological development. This study applies the method at a hot spring resort, Kinosaki-Onsen, located in the western part of Japan. Forty-three groups of study monitors with different visiting styles participated in the study. Each group arrived at and were asked to tour Kinosaki-Onsen. They were instructed to carry a GPS and a digital camera for recording their activities, as well as to write brief notes concerning their activities. We conducted interviews the next day with the recorded data. By analyzing the results of the interviews, we identified six types of tourist activities including: bathing, staying, eating, exploring, touring, and shopping. Each activity had its own characteristic behavioral pattern. Therefore, the typology derived is useful for designing services that match individual activity patterns.
Learning-by-exporting and innovation strategies

We examine the combined effect of exports, innovation and external knowledge on total factor productivity growth among manufacturing firms. This paper distinguishes between frequent and temporary exporters as well as between frequent and temporary innovators. Applying a dynamic approach on an unbalanced panel consisting of 8516 Swedish firms observed over a 12-year period, the results show that among firms with permanent presence in export markets, persistent innovators have 0.5% point higher annual productivity growth than non-innovative exporters and 0.4% higher growth compared to firms that switch between being innovative or not. A similar pattern is found for the group of companies that alternates between exporting and non-exporting; however, the differences in growth rates are not statistically significant. We also show that only persistently innovative exporters and exporters with a large fraction of exports in their sales benefit from their presence in the local milieu with high knowledge intensity.
Expression patterns of S100 proteins in melanocytes and melanocytic lesions

S100 proteins are differentially expressed in tumours of epithelial origin. Little is known about their expression in melanocyte-derived tumours of neuroectodermal origin. We have analysed the expression of some S100 proteins in this line of lesions using SAGE Genie informatics, cell culture and human tumour tissue. The pattern of expression of six S100 proteins was investigated at both the mRNA and protein levels, using quantitative real-time PCR, western blotting and immunohistochemical analysis. No differential expression was observed with respect to S100A4, S100A7, S100A8, S100A9 and S100A11. In contrast, S100A10 was downregulated in three melanoma cell lines compared with normal melanocytes. Using SAGE informatics, two-dimensional displays of microarray expression data from the NCI60_Novartis cell lines displayed a positive correlation between the expression of S100A10 and the expression of the proliferation marker, Ki67. Our data suggest that S100A10, like its binding partners S100A7 and annexin A2, is an oxidant-sensitive protein. In addition, higher expression of S100A10 was detected in melanocyte cell lines with long projections compared with melanoma cell lines with small ripples. In a panel of 47 melanocyte-derived lesions comprising melanocytic naevi and melanomas, S100A10 was expressed to varying degrees in the melanocytic lesions. The antigen was primarily expressed in regions with a strong proliferating or differentiating capacity, especially in regions in or near the epidermis. We suggest that S100A10 may play a role in the regulation of the proliferation or early maturation sequence of melanocytic lesions, and that it merits further study as a potential biomarker of activity.
Protein profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells as a candidate biomarker for Behçet's disease.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the pathophysiology of Behçet's disease (BD) and find biomarkers for the disease, we analysed protein profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). METHODS Proteins, extracted from PBMCs, were comprehensively analysed in 16 patients with BD, 16 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 12 patients with Crohn's disease (CD), and 16 healthy control subjects (HC) by 2-dimensional differential gel electrophoResis (2D-DIGE). Differently expressed proteins were identified by mass spectrometry. RESULTS 563 protein spots were detected. We completely discriminated between the BD and HC groups, between the BD and RA groups, and between the BD and CD groups by multivariate analysis of intensity of 23, 35, and 1 spots, respectively. The spots contributing to the differences included proteins related to cytoskeleton, transcription/translation, T cell activation, bone turnover, regulating apoptosis, and microbial infection. Intensity of 3 spots (tyrosine-protein phosphatase non-receptor type 4, threonine synthase-like 2, and β-actin) provided area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) of 0.889 for discrimination between the BD group and the non-BD groups. Informatively, intensity of the above 1 spot completely discriminated the CD group from the other groups (AUROC 1.000). This spot, identified as β-actin, had different pI from the above β-actin-spot probably due to different post-translational modification. CONCLUSIONS PBMC protein profiles, especially the profile of the 3 spots, would be candidate biomarkers for BD. The latter β-actin subtype would be useful for discriminating inflammatory bowel diseases from BD and other diseases. The identified proteins may play important roles in the pathophysiology of BD.