Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Denationalisation of money - the argument refined : an analysis of the theory and practice of concurrent currencies

In this groundbreaking work, first published in 1976, Friedrich von Hayek argues that the government monopoly of money must be abolished to stop recurring bouts of inflation and deflation. Abolition is also the cure for the more deep-seated disease of the recurring waves of depression and unemployment attributed to 'capitalism'.
A Hubble Space Telescope Archival Survey of Feathers in Spiral Galaxies

We present a survey of spiral arm extinction substructures referred to as feathers in 223 spiral galaxies using Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 images. The sample includes all galaxies in the RC3 catalog with cz < 5000 km s-1, BT < 15, i < 60°, and types Sa-Sd with well-exposed broadband WFPC2 images. The detection frequency of delineated, periodic feathers in this sample is 20% (45 of 223). This work is consistent with Lynds, who concluded that feathers are common in prototypical Sc galaxies; we find that feathers are equally common in Sb galaxies. Sb-Sc galaxies without clear evidence for feathers either had poorer quality images, or flocculent or complex structure. We did not find clearly defined feathers in any Scd-Sd galaxy. The probability of detecting feathers was highest (83%) for spiral galaxies with well-defined primary dust lanes (the lanes that line the inner edge of an arm); well-defined primary dust lanes were only noted in Sab-Sc galaxies. Consistent with earlier work, we find that neighboring feathers tend to have similar shapes and pitch angles. OB associations are often found lining feathers, and many feathers transition to the stellar substructures known as spurs (Elmegreen). We find that feathers are coincident with interarm filaments strikingly revealed in Spitzer 8 μm images. Comparison with CO (1-0) maps of NGC 0628 and NGC 5194 from BIMA SONG shows that feathers originate at the primary dust lane coincident with gas surface density peaks. Contrary to the appearance at 8 μm, the CO maps show that gas surface density in feathers decreases rapidly with distance from the primary dust lane. We also find that the spacing between feathers decreases with increasing gas surface density, consistent with formation via a gravitational instability.
Genetic variation within the Pachycladon (Brassicaceae) complex based on fluorescent AFLP data

Abstract Species within the Pachycladon complex (Cheesemania fastigiata, C. sp., C. stellata, C. wallii, C. latisiliqua, Pachycladon novae‐zelandiae, Ischnocarpus novae‐zelandiae, and I. exilis) have limited dispersal ability, exist in small isolated and sparsely distributed populations, and have a predominantly selfing breeding system with low pollen‐ovule ratios. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was used to characterise genetic diversity within the complex. A binary matrix of 749 AFLP characters was generated for analyses, of which 739 (98.66%) were polymorphic. Within‐population genetic diversity was assessed based on Shannon's index (I) (average 0.1400) and percent polymorphic loci (P) (average 27.84), which were moderate to high for selfing species. Percent polymorphic loci at the species level for C.fastigiata and P. novae‐zelandiae (40 and 42%, respectively) were similar to selfing species with regional distribution or mixed mating species with endemic distribution based on comparison with other studies. However, the % polymorphic loci for I. novae‐zelandiae (79%) was much higher than expected. The proportion of genetic diversity found among populations (GST) for C. fastigiata (0.6698), and I. novae‐zelandiae (0.7998), was higher than in other studies of selfing species, suggesting that gene flow has been limited. Although sample size was small in this study, strategies are suggested for the genetic conservation and management of species within this complex. Cluster analysis and principal coordinates analysis of the AFLP data revealed two main groups of taxa: (i) Pachycladon and Cheesemania and (ii) Ischnocarpus. It is concluded that the circumscription of these three genera needs to be re‐examined. It was inferred from population genetic data that a population of Cheesemania from the Chalk Range, Marlborough, is as distinct as any of the named species and warrants further taxonomic investigation.
Toward an Empirical Theory of Pulsar Emission. VIII. Subbeam Circulation and the Polarization-Modal Structure of Conal Beams

The average polarization properties of conal single and double profiles directly reflect the polarization-modal structure of the emission beams that produce them. Conal component pairs exhibit large fractional linear polarization on their inside edges and virtually complete depolarization on their outside edges, whereas profiles resulting from sight-line encounters with the outside conal edge are usually very depolarized. The polarization-modal character of subbeam circulation produces conditions whereby both angular and temporal averaging contributes to this polarization and depolarization. These circumstances combine to require that the circulating subbeam systems that produce conal beams entail paired PPM and SPM emission elements that are offset from each other in both magnetic azimuth and magnetic colatitude. Or, as rotating subbeam systems produce (on average) conal beams, one modal subcone has a little larger (or smaller) radius than the other. However, these PPM and SPM "beamlets" cannot be in azimuthal phase because both sometimes dominate the emission on the extreme outside edges of the conal beam. While this configuration can be deduced from the observations, simulation of this rotating, modal subbeam system reiterates these conclusions. These circumstances are also probably responsible, along with the usual wavelength dependence of emission height, for the observed spectral decline in aggregate polarization. A clear delineation of the modal polarization topology of the conal beam promises to address fundamental questions about the nature and origin of this modal emission, and the modal parity at the outside beam edges is a fact of considerable significance. The different angular dependences of the modal beamlets suggest that the polarization modes are generated via propagation effects. This argument may prove much stronger if the modal emission is fundamentally only partially polarized. Several theories now promise quantitative comparison with the observations.
Birth Order and the Intrahousehold Allocation of Time and Education

A potential determinant of intrahousehold distribution is the birth order of children. While a number of studies have analysed birth order effects in developed countries there are still only a few dealing with developing countries. This paper develops a model of intrahousehold allocation with endogenous fertility, which captures the relation between birth order and investment in children and shows that a birth order effect in intrahousehold allocation can arise even without assumptions about parental preferences for specific birth order children or genetic endowments varying by birth order. The important contribution is that fertility is treated as endogenous, something which other models of intrahousehold allocation have ignored despite the large literature on determinants of fertility. The implications of the model are that children with higher birth orders have an advantage over siblings with lower birth orders and that parents who are inequality averse will not have more than one child. The model furthermore shows that not taking account of the endogeneity of fertility when analysing intrahousehold allocation may seriously bias the results. The effects of a child’s birth order on its human capital accumulation are analysed using a longitudinal data set from the Philippines. Contrary to most longitudinal data sets this data set covers a very long period. We are, therefore, able to examine the effects of birth order on both number of hours in school during education and completed education. The results for both are consistent with the predictions of the model. JEL Classification Numbers: D1, I2, J2, O12.
Sensory Input Regulates Spatial and Subtype-Specific Patterns of Neuronal Turnover in the Adult Olfactory Bulb

Throughout life, new neurons are added and old ones eliminated in the adult mouse olfactory bulb. Previous studies suggested that olfactory experience controls the process by which new neurons are integrated into mature circuits. Here we report novel olfactory-experience-dependent mechanisms of neuronal turnover. Using two-photon laser-scanning microscopy and sensory manipulations in adult live mice, we found that the neuronal turnover was dynamically controlled by olfactory input in a neuronal subtype-specific manner. Olfactory input enhanced this turnover, which was characterized by the reiterated use of the same positions in the glomeruli by new neurons. Our results suggest that olfactory-experience-dependent modification of neuronal turnover confers structural plasticity and stability on the olfactory bulb.
Lack of Influence of Vitamin D Receptor BsmI (rs1544410) Polymorphism on the Rate of Bone Loss in a Cohort of Postmenopausal Spanish Women Affected by Osteoporosis and Followed for Five Years

A longitudinal study was conducted to investigate the relation between a polymorphism in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene and changes in bone mineral density (BMD) and quantitative ultrasound of the phalanges (QUS) over a five-year period. The subjects were 456 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis undergoing treatment, aged 59.95±7.97 years (mean±standard deviation [SD]) at baseline. BMD was measured at the hips and lumbar spine by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and QUS was measured by means of amplitude-dependent speed of sound (Ad-SoS) at the phalanges. Lifestyle information was obtained via a questionnaire. The genotype frequencies of the BsmI (rs1544410) gene polymorphism were 29.4%, 47.1%, and 23.5% for bb, Bb, and BB, respectively. After five years, BMD (annual change in %/year) at the femoral neck (FN) showed a significant modification based on the rs1544410 genotype (BB vs Bb); there was an overall decrease in bone mass (-0.70±2.79%/year; P = 0.025). An analysis of covariance with adjustments for age, weight, height, percentage of weight change per year, baseline BMD and calcium intake showed that the observed associations were no longer significant (P = 0.429). No significant associations were found between the QUS measurements and the rs1544410 genotype after the five-year period. Our study limitations includes lack of information about type and length of duration of the osteoporosis treatment. Our results indicate that rs1544410 polymorphisms do not account significantly for the changes in bone mass in Spanish women with osteoporosis undergoing treatment.
The More Kids, the Less Mom's Divvy: Impact of Childbirth on Intrahousehold Resource Allocation

We investigate how childbirth affects intrahousehold resource allocation for married Japanese couples. We develop reduced-form and structural-form specifications from a unified theoretical framework. Under a weak set of assumptions, we can focus on private goods to track the changes in intrahousehold resource allocation. Our estimation results show that the allocation of resources within household tend to move to the disadvantage of women after childbirth. One additional child is associated with at least 2.6 percentage points decrease in womens private expenditure share. Our estimation results reject the income-pooling hypothesis, and show that women are more risk averse than men.
Removing out-of-focus blur from similar image pairs

This paper presents a new deblurring method to remove the out-of-focus blur from similar image pairs. The method is motivated by an observation that a blurred structure appearing in one image can often have its corresponding clear one in the similar clear images. Our method first extracts the patch pairs from input images by SIFT matching. Then the constraints on the patch pairs are used to estimate the blur kernel via the RANSAC algorithm. Finally, the non-blind deconvolution is adopted to restore the blurred image. The main advantage is that we can improve the deblurring results with the help of additional similar clear images in many practical applications. Our method is validated on synthetic and real images by comparing with state-of-the-art methods.
Nerve growth factor receptor negates the tumor suppressor p53 as a feedback regulator

Cancer develops and progresses often by inactivating p53. Here, we unveil nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR, p75NTR or CD271) as a novel p53 inactivator. p53 activates NGFR transcription, whereas NGFR inactivates p53 by promoting its MDM2-mediated ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis and by directly binding to its central DNA binding domain and preventing its DNA-binding activity. Inversely, NGFR ablation activates p53, consequently inducing apoptosis, attenuating survival, and reducing clonogenic capability of cancer cells, as well as sensitizing human cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents that induce p53 and suppressing mouse xenograft tumor growth. NGFR is highly expressed in human glioblastomas, and its gene is often amplified in breast cancers with wild type p53. Altogether, our results demonstrate that cancers hijack NGFR as an oncogenic inhibitor of p53. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.15099. 001
Adventitial Delivery of Lentivirus-shRNA-ADAMTS-1 Reduces Venous Stenosis Formation in Arteriovenous Fistula

Hemodialysis vascular access can develop venous neointimal hyperplasia (VNH) causing stenosis. Recent clinical and experimental data has demonstrated that there is increased expression of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase thrombospondin motifs-1 (ADAMTS-1) at site of VNH. The experiments outlined in the present paper were designed to test the hypothesis that targeting of the adventitia of the outflow vein of murine arteriovenous fistula (AVF) using a small hairpin RNA that inhibits ADAMTS-1 expression (LV-shRNA-ADAMTS-1) at the time of fistula creation will decrease VNH. At early time points, ADAMTS-1 expression was significantly decreased associated with a reduction in vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) (LV-shRNA-ADAMTS-1 transduced vessels vs. controls). These changes in gene and protein expression resulted in favorable vascular remodeling with a significant increase in mean lumen vessel area, decrease in media/adventitia area, with a significant increase in TUNEL staining accompanied with a decrease in cellular proliferation accompanied with a reduction in CD68 staining. Collectively, these results demonstrate that ADAMTS-1 transduced vessels of the outflow vein of AVF have positive vascular remodeling.
The Rare Codon AGA Is Involved in Regulation of Pyoluteorin Biosynthesis in Pseudomonas protegens Pf-5

The soil bacterium Pseudomonas protegens Pf-5 can colonize root and seed surfaces of many plants, protecting them from infection by plant pathogenic fungi and oomycetes. The capacity to suppress disease is attributed to Pf-5's production of a large spectrum of antibiotics, which is controlled by complex regulatory circuits operating at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. In this study, we analyzed the genomic sequence of Pf-5 for codon usage patterns and observed that the six rarest codons in the genome are present in all seven known antibiotic biosynthesis gene clusters. In particular, there is an abundance of rare codons in pltR, which encodes a member of the LysR transcriptional regulator family that controls the expression of pyoluteorin biosynthetic genes. To test the hypothesis that rare codons in pltR influence pyoluteorin production, we generated a derivative of Pf-5 in which 23 types of rare codons in pltR were substituted with synonymous preferred codons. The resultant mutant produced pyoluteorin at levels 15 times higher than that of the wild-type Pf-5. Accordingly, the promoter activity of the pyoluteorin biosynthetic gene pltL was 20 times higher in the codon-modified stain than in the wild-type. pltR has six AGA codons, which is the rarest codon in the Pf-5 genome. Substitution of all six AGA codons with preferred Arg codons resulted in a variant of pltR that conferred increased pyoluteorin production and pltL promoter activity. Furthermore, overexpression of tRNAUCUArg, the cognate tRNA for the AGA codon, significantly increased pyoluteorin production by Pf-5. A bias in codon usage has been linked to the regulation of many phenotypes in eukaryotes and prokaryotes but, to our knowledge, this is the first example of the role of a rare codon in the regulation of antibiotic production by a Gram-negative bacterium.
Curcumin induces cell death without oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation in quiescent and proliferating human CD8+ cells.

UNLABELLED Cytotoxic CD8+ cells play an important role in determining host response to tumor, thus chemotherapy is potentially dangerous as it may lead to T cells depletion. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the propensity of quiescent and proliferating human CD8+ cells to undergo cell death upon treatment with curcumin, a natural dye in Phase I of clinical trials as a prospective chemopreventive agent. METHODS We treated human quiescent or proliferating CD8+ cells with 50 microM curcumin or irradiated them with UVC. Cell death symptoms such as decreased cell viability, chromatin condensation, activation of caspase-3 and specific DFF40/CAD endonuclease and oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation were analyzed using MTT test, microscopic observation, Western blotting and flow cytometry. RESULTS Curcumin decreased cell viability, activated caspase-3 and decreased the level of DFF45/ICAD, the inhibitor of the DFF40/CAD endonuclease. However, this did not lead to oligonucleosomal DNA degradation. In contrast, UVC-irradiated proliferating, but not quiescent CD8+ cells revealed molecular and morphological changes characteristic for apoptosis, including oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation. Curcumin can induce cell death in normal human lymphocytes both quiescent and proliferating, without oligonucleosomal DNA degradation which is considered as a main hallmark of apoptotic cell death. Taking into account the role of CD8+ cells in tumor response, their depletion during chemotherapy could be particularly undesirable.
Modeling employees' deviant behavior and employers' reactions: an interdisciplinary approach using principal-agent and prospect theories

In this paper we introduce mathematical models to address deviant behavior theory and practice. We examine only employee behaviors and employer reactions, but this framework is innovative and parsimonious, in that it models employer responses to employeeâ€™s behavioral deviance based on the dual application of principal-agent theory and prospect theory. After explaining the model, we examine boundary conditions and limitations and propose a series of applications to illustrate the potential usefulness of the model.
Nonparametric testing for anomaly effects in empirical asset pricing models

In this paper, we propose a class of nonparametric tests for anomaly effects in empirical asset pricing models in the framework of nonparametric panel data models with interactive fixed effects. Our approach has two prominent features: one is the adoption of nonparametric functional form to capture the anomaly effects of some asset-specific characteristics and the other is the flexible treatment of both observed/constructed and unobserved common factors. By estimating the unknown factors, betas, and nonparametric function simultaneously, our setup is robust to misspecification of functional form and common factors and avoids the well-known “error-in-variable” problem associated with the commonly used two-pass procedure. We apply our method to a publicly available data set and divide the full sample into three subsamples. Our empirical results show that size and book-to-market ratio affect the excess returns of portfolios significantly for the full sample and two of the three subsamples in all five factor pricing models under investigation. In particular, nonparametric component is significantly different from zero, meaning that the constructed common factors (e.g., small minus big and high minus low) cannot capture all the size and book-to-market ratio effects. We also find strong evidence of nonlinearity of the anomaly effects in the Fama–French 3-factor model and the augmented 4-factor and 5-factor models in the full sample and two of the three subsamples.
An ethnographic study: Becoming a physics expert in a biophysics research group

In this chapter I explore how the global trends of the larger biophysics research community influence a cultural shift in a local biophysics research group research techniques and individual member’s expertise. Using a practice-focused analysis of a biophysics research group interacting with a chemistry research group for a period of four weeks, I describe the ways in which knowledge is shared across community boundaries. Community boundaries are defined within Wenger’s theory of Communities of Practices and guide my understanding of the shared boundary objects, boundary encounters, and brokering experienced between the two research groups. I also examine how the boundary interactions between the biophysics and chemistry group shift individual graduate student research projects and expertise as a result of trends in the larger biophysics community. Analysis of different forms of brokering practiced by the research group’s mentor show to facilitate and expedite the flow of knowledge between the chemistry and biophysics group. The evaluation of the influence of global community research trends on graduate student expertise development informs the literature of a factors in the graduate student experience that encourage graduate students to persist in their physics careers.
Adipose Tissue Expression and Genetic Variants of the Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptor 1A Gene (BMPR1A) Are Associated With Human Obesity

OBJECTIVE Members of the family of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are important regulators of adipogenesis. We examined the role of the BMP receptor 1A gene (BMPR1A) in the pathophysiology of human obesity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We measured BMPR1A mRNA expression in paired samples of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue from 297 subjects and sequenced the BMPR1A in 48 nonrelated white subjects. Twenty-one representative variants including HapMap tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were then genotyped for association studies in German whites (n = 1,907). For replication analyses, we used a population of Sorbs from Germany (n = 900) and German childhood cohorts (n = 1,029 schoolchildren and 270 obese children). RESULTS mRNA expression of the BMPR1A was significantly increased in both visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue of overweight and obese subjects compared with lean subjects (P < 0.05). In a case-control study, four SNPs (rs7095025, rs11202222, rs10788528, and rs7922846) were nominally associated with obesity (adjusted P < 0.05). For three SNPs (rs7095025, rs11202222, and rs10788528), the association with obesity was confirmed in the independent cohort of Sorbs (adjusted P < 0.005). Consistent with this, BMPR1A SNPs were nominally associated with obesity-related quantitative traits in nondiabetic subjects in both adult cohorts. Furthermore, homozygous carriers of the obesity risk alleles had higher BMPR1A mRNA expression in fat than noncarriers. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that genetic variation in the BMPR1A may play a role in the pathophysiology of human obesity, possibly mediated through effects on mRNA expression.