Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influenza Virus Vaccination Induces Interleukin-12/23 Receptor β1 (IL-12/23Rβ1)-Independent Production of Gamma Interferon (IFN-γ) and Humoral Immunity in Patients with Genetic Deficiencies in IL-12/23Rβ1 or IFN-γ Receptor I

ABSTRACT To investigate whether protective immune responses can be induced in the absence of normal interleukin-12/23/gamma interferon (IL-12/23/IFN-γ) axis signaling, we vaccinated with the seasonal influenza virus subunit vaccine two patients with complete IL-12/23 receptor β1 (IL-12/23Rβ1) deficiencies, two patients with partial IFN-γ receptor I (pIFN-γRI) deficiencies, and five healthy controls. Blood samples were analyzed before, 7 days after, and 28 days after vaccination. In most cases, antibody titers reached protective levels. Moreover, although T-cell responses in patients were lower than those observed in controls, significant influenza virus-specific T-cell proliferation, IFN-γ production, and numbers of IFN-γ-producing cells were found in all patients 7 days after the vaccination. Interestingly, influenza virus-specific IFN-γ responses were IL-12/23 independent, in striking contrast to mycobacterium-induced IFN-γ production. In conclusion, influenza virus vaccination induces IL-12/23-independent IFN-γ production by T cells and can result in sufficient humoral protection in both IL-12/23Rβ1- and pIFN-γRI-deficient individuals.
The Influence of RET’s on Elementary and Secondary Grade Teachers’ Views of Scientific Inquiry

This study explores in-service elementary and secondary science teachers’ conceptions of the Nature of Scientific Inquiry and the influence of participation in two different Research Experience for Teacher (RET) programs had on these conceptions. Participant teachers attended one of two six week RET programs in which they worked with scientists to engage in scientific inquiry. Before and after the RETs, teachers completed the Views of Scientific Inquiry (VOSI) questionnaire. Teachers’ answers were analyzed to determine the degree of sophistication of their understanding of five facets of scientific inquiry. Both elementary and secondary teacher participants showed improvement in their understanding of nature of scientific inquiry as a result of program participation, and both programs were successful in supporting the development of inquiry conceptions, although secondary science teachers started and finished the RET’s with a more sophisticated understandings of scientific inquiry. Areas of improvement for elementary teachers included the role of questions in science and the role subjectivity and creativity play in the processes of science, and for secondary teachers growth was seen in the role of questions, the relationship of data and evidence, the distinction of experiments and other means of investigations, and the varied methods of science. Implications of these results are discussed.
A comparison of frequency-division systems to code-division systems in overloaded channels

In this paper, a frequency-division counterpart of joint power control and sequence design problem for code- division multiple-access (CDMA) systems is solved. Total transmit and receive power minimizations are considered for frequency- division multiplexing (FDM) and frequency-division multiple- access (FDMA) communications over overloaded channels. After the definition of channel overloading for CDMA systems is extended to the frequency-division systems, the user admissibility is characterized by a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of the optimal solution under unequal signal-to- interference-plus-noise ratio constraints at the output of linear receivers and asymmetric data transmission rate constraints among users. The optimal signal power, bandwidth, transmit waveform, and receive waveform are derived for each user as the decision parameters of the optimization problem. It is shown that, if this solution is applied for the uplink users to minimize the total receive power, the optimal FDMA system performs the same as the optimal CDMA system. It is also shown that, if this solution is applied for the downlink users to minimize the total transmit power, the optimal FDM system always outperforms the code-division system that minimizes the extended total squared correlation. Numerical results suggest that the optimal FDM system and the optimal downlink code-division system achieve the same performance when the total transmit power is minimized.
Understanding Economic Biases in Representation

This article explores the extent, and possible causes, of income-based biases in representation of citizens by members of the 110th Congress. The author finds that the preferences of wealthier citizens are modestly but significantly better reflected in the choices of their congressional representatives than are the preferences of poorer citizens. More importantly, the author shows that education, political sophistication, political engagement, ethnicity, and other sociodemographic factors can explain only a small part of this representation gap. Biases in representation across income lines appear to be driven by income alone, or at least not by politically relevant factors correlated with income.
On the Capital-Structure Implications of Bankruptcy Codes

We develop a theoretical model of capital structure choice in which a central role is played by the bankruptcy code under which a company operates. We show that capital structure choices are substantially influenced by asset-specificity: firms with high assetspecificity will use a higher degree of leverage under a debt-friendly bankruptcy code than under an equity-friendly code, but the reverse is true for firms with low asset-specificity. Moreover, the dierence between the optimal debt levels under the two codes is itself an increasing function of the degree of asset-specificity. We test our model’s implications by comparing leverage ratios at the industry level in the US to those in the UK during the period 1990 to 2002. We find that our theoretical predictions are strongly confirmed by the data. Our results clarify and extend previous crosscountry empirical studies (notably Rajan and Zingales, 1995) that found mixed evidence on the relationship between the bankruptcy code and capital structure when data was aggregated over all industries.
Introduction of a rapid dipstick assay for the detection of Leptospira-specific immunoglobulin m antibodies in the laboratory diagnosis of leptospirosis in a hospital in Makassar, Indonesia.

An easy, rapid and robust dipstick assay for detection of leptospira-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies was evaluated on 403 patients admitted for hospitalization because of fever. The clinical symptoms and signs of 35 patients were consistent with leptospirosis. The final diagnosis for the remaining patients was as follows: 136 with typhoid fever, 82 with hepatitis, 74 with malaria, 48 with infections of the respiratory tract, and 20 with fever of unknown origin. The clinical diagnosis of leptospirosis was confirmed for 24 (68.6%) patients by the combined results of the microscopic agglutination test (MAT), the reference test for leptospirosis, and of IgM ELISA, a standard laboratory test for the serodiagnosis of leptospirosis. In addition, serum specimens from 8 (2.2%) patients with a final clinical diagnosis other than leptospirosis were found to be positive in MAT and/or IgM ELISA. Compared with the results of MAT and IgM ELISA a sensitivity of 91.6% and specificity of 93.6% was calculated for the dipstick assay. Most of the serum samples from the laboratory confirmed patients gave a moderate to strong staining intensity of the antigen band of the dipstick and were easy to read. The results demonstrate that the dipstick assay is convenient to use and allows the rapid and accurate confirmation of patients with clinical suspicion of leptospirosis in areas where the disease is endemic.
How to win friends and (possibly) influence mainstream economists

In the paper "Conversation or Monologue: On Advising Heterodox Economists," we are taken to task by Matías Vernengo on a number of issues made in Colander, Holt, and Rosser (2004b; 2007-8). In this paper, we respond to two central arguments made by Vernengo, and stand by our earlier arguments that (1) heterodox economists hurt themselves by self-labeling themselves as heterodox because mainstream economics no longer is limited to a neoclassical orthodoxy, and that (2) heterodox economists would be well served to spend less time writing about methodology and more time writing about policy issues.
Identification of Mn(II)-Oxidizing Bacteria from a Low-pH Contaminated Former Uranium Mine

ABSTRACT Biological Mn oxidation is responsible for producing highly reactive and abundant Mn oxide phases in the environment that can mitigate metal contamination. However, little is known about Mn oxidation in low-pH environments, where metal contamination often is a problem as the result of mining activities. We isolated two Mn(II)-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) at pH 5.5 (Duganella isolate AB_14 and Albidiferax isolate TB-2) and nine strains at pH 7 from a former uranium mining site. Isolate TB-2 may contribute to Mn oxidation in the acidic Mn-rich subsoil, as a closely related clone represented 16% of the total community. All isolates oxidized Mn over a small pH range, and isolates from low-pH samples only oxidized Mn below pH 6. Two strains with different pH optima differed in their Fe requirements for Mn oxidation, suggesting that Mn oxidation by the strain found at neutral pH was linked to Fe oxidation. Isolates tolerated Ni, Cu, and Cd and produced Mn oxides with similarities to todorokite and birnessite, with the latter being present in subsurface layers where metal enrichment was associated with Mn oxides. This demonstrates that MOB can be involved in the formation of biogenic Mn oxides in both moderately acidic and neutral pH environments.
Correlation in Corporate Defaults: Contagion or Conditional Independence?

We revisit a method used by Das et al. (2007) (DDKS) who jointly test and reject a specification of firm default intensities and the doubly stochastic assumption in intensity models of default. The method relies on a time change result for counting processes. With an almost identical set of default histories recorded by Moody's in the period from 1982 to 2006, but using a different specification of the default intensity, we cannot reject the tests based on time change used in DDKS. We then note that the method proposed by DDKS is mainly a misspecification test in that it has very limited power in detecting violations of the doubly stochastic assumption. For example, it will not detect contagion which spreads through the explanatory variables "covariates" that determine the default intensities of individual firms. Therefore, we perform a different test using a Hawkes process alternative to see if firm-specific variables are affected by occurrences of defaults, but find no evidence of default contagion.
A Panel Data Analysis of Electricity Demand in Pakistan

This paper looks at the economy-wide demand and the firm level demand for electricity in Pakistan. The economy wide estimation of electricity demand uses panel data from 63 countries from 1998-2008, and finds that the elasticity of demand for electricity with respect to per capita income is approximately 0.69, which implies that a 1% increase in per capita income will lead to a 0.69% increase in the demand for electricity. The firm level analysis uses firm level data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey for Pakistan and finds that the price elasticity of demand for electricity across all firms is approximately -0.57, which implies that a 1% increase in electricity prices will lead to a 0.57% decrease in electricity demand across firms. Across sectors, the textile sector has the highest price elasticity of demand (-0.81) while the price elasticity of demand for firms in the electricity and electronics sector is the smallest (-0.31). Finally, firm level data is also used to estimate production functions in order to estimate the impact of electricity shortages on manufacturing output.
Ripples and ripples: from sandy deserts to ion-sputtered surfaces

We study the morphological evolution of surfaces during ion sputtering and we compare their dynamical corrugation with aeolian ripple formation in sandy deserts. We show that, although the two phenomena are physically different, they must obey similar geometrical constraints and therefore they can be described within the same theoretical framework. The present theory distinguishes between atoms that stay bounded in the bulk and others that are mobile on the surface. We describe the excavation mechanisms, the adsorption and the surface mobility by means of a continuous equation derived from the study of dune formation on sand. We explore the spontaneous development of ordered nanostructures and explain the different dynamical behaviours experimentally observed in metals or in semiconductors or in amorphous systems. We also show that this novel approach can describe the occurrence of rotation in the ripple direction and the formation of other kinds of self-organized patterns induced by changes in the sputtering incidence angle.
Comparison of maximal bronchoconstriction in vivo and airway smooth muscle responses in vitro in nonasthmatic humans.

We tested the hypothesis that maximal bronchoconstriction in humans in vivo is limited by the maximal contractility of airway smooth muscle by comparison of complete in vivo and in vitro dose-response curves to methacholine in 10 nonasthmatic subjects who were scheduled for thoracotomy because of malignancies. The provocative dose of methacholine that produced a 10 and 20% decrease of baseline FEV1 (PD10,20 FEV1) and the maximal fall in FEV1 (MFEV1) at the response plateau to inhaled methacholine were determined prior to surgery. Small airway smooth muscle preparations, obtained from the 10 resected lung tissue specimens, were examined in vitro to determine the sensitivity (-log EC50) and maximal isotonic shortening (Smax) to methacholine. In addition, the relaxation responses to the beta-agonist I-isoproterenol were measured. The degree of small airways disease (SAD) was examined histologically. Nine subjects showed a maximal response plateau to inhaled methacholine in vivo. The maximal fall in FEV1 at the plateau was 26 +/- 3%. All airway smooth muscle preparations (n = 30) contracted to methacholine (-log EC50, 5.94 +/- 0.09; Smax, 1320 +/- 219 micron) and relaxed to I-isoproterenol (-log EC50, 7.60 +/- 0.11; maximal relaxation [Rmax], 87 +/- 3%). No significant correlations were found between Smax or Rmax of the airway smooth muscle in vitro and the MFEV1 in vivo, and between -log EC50 for methacholine or I-isoproterenol in vitro and PD10 or PD20 FEV1 for methacholine in vivo. The severity of SAD was significantly correlated with the degree of baseline airflow limitation (p less than 0.05), but not with in vivo or in vitro responses to methacholine. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Building Social Capital in the Digital Age of Civic Engagement

The use of digital technologies to enhance traditional public participation processes and to build a new form of a social capital— digital social capital—is being embraced in a range of planning practices. This article presents a discussion of how the digital age is influencing public participation and its implications for building social capital. The article highlights critical concerns to consider when embracing Internet tools for civic engagement and when evaluating such practices. The authors conclude with a call for scholarly research to assess the constraints and opportunities presented by this emergent trend and comparative studies to traditional modes of public participation.
Stability Analysis of Cooperation between Owners and Contractors in the Construction Market

Abstract In a price-driven, low-bid system a cooperative contract may be helpful in reducing problems that arise from competitive bidding. In this article, the authors examine the stability of cooperation between owners and contractors through a repeated game model with provident partners. Firstly, the profits of defecting and cooperating partners are compared to determine whether there is motivation to defect. This comparison is achieved by using a dynamic model to calculate the loss and recovery of trust. Secondly, the authors examine the relationship between stability and its influential factors under the condition of partner changing. The authors' examination reveals that stability of cooperation correlates negatively with both the recovery velocity of trust and the probability of undiscovered defection, but has a positive correlation with the number of consecutive defections. Furthermore, the possibility of extra profit is the key motivation for unilateral defections under the condition of fixed partners. The authors conclude by proposing methods for maintaining the stability of cooperation.
Do Monetary Policy Announcements Affect Stock Prices in Emerging Market Countries? The Case of Thailand

We examine the effect of monetary policy announcements in Thailand, which is one of emerging market countries in Asia, on stock prices at the firm level. We find that the expected change, rather than the unexpected change, in interest rates affects stock prices. The stock price response to the interest rate announcement is asymmetric. For instance, the relation between interest rate surprises and stock prices is conditional on the direction of the interest rate change. In general, macroeconomic conditions and firm characteristics cannot explain the stock price reaction to the announcement. In addition, stock prices of firms in different industries appear to react heterogeneously to the interest rate announcement.
An Analysis of Secondary Schools' Crisis Management Preparedness: National Implications.

The purpose of this study is to analyze crisis management plans of schools that have experienced crisis situations in the past. The plans used by these schools to manage these crisis situations will be evaluated for their effectiveness or ineffectiveness in re-establishing stability to their organization. With such information, other schools may more effectively create plans, which enhance their own ability to effectively manage crisis situations. The elements proving most effective may be used to replicate effectiveness, and the elements of the plan that were least effective will be reconsidered to increase successful management of crisis situations in the future.
The Evolution of the World's Technology Frontier, 1973-2002

While economists generally agree that technology differences must figure prominently in any successful account of the cross-country income variation, much less is known on where such technology differences come from. In this paper, they are explained in terms of domestic technical change and international technology diffusion. We are studying the recent importance of factor accumulation, R&D investments, and technological spillovers for cross-country output differences in the major industrialized countries. The empirical analysis encompasses seventeen countries in four continents over three decades, at a level disaggregated enough to identify innovations in important high- tech sectors. Technology diffusion is related to trade, foreign direct investment, and other mechanisms. Preliminary results show that technology spillovers are crucial in accounting for cross-country output differences. Imports are shown to be a channel of technology diffusion, with important differences across industries and countries. Technology diffusion through inward foreign direct investment appears to be of major importance, and a more powerful conduit of technology diffusion than trade.
Relationships of quality-of-life measures to long-term lifestyle and drug treatment in the Treatment of Mild Hypertension Study.

OBJECTIVES To compare 5 antihypertensive drugs and placebo for changes in quality of life (QL). To assess the relationship of lifestyle factors and change in lifestyle factors to QL in participants with stage I diastolic hypertension. METHODS The Treatment of Mild Hypertension Study (TOMHS) was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial with minimum participant follow-up of 4 years. It was conducted at 4 hypertension screening and treatment academic centers in the United States. The cohort consisted of 902 men and women with hypertension, aged 45 to 69 years, with diastolic blood pressures less than 100 mm Hg. Informed consent was obtained from each participant after the nature of the procedures had been fully explained. Sustained nutritional-hygienic intervention was administered to all participants to reduce weight, to reduce dietary sodium and alcohol intake, and to increase physical activity. Participants were randomized to take (1) acebutolol (n = 132); (2) amlodipine maleate (n = 131); (3) chlorthalidone (n = 126); (4) doxazosin mesylate (n = 134); (5) enalapril maleate (n = 135); or placebo (n = 234). Changes in 7 QL indexes were assessed based on a 35-item questionnaire: (1) general health; (2) energy or fatigue; (3) mental health; (4) general functioning; (5) satisfaction with physical abilities; (6) social functioning; and (7) social contacts. RESULTS At baseline, higher QL was associated with older age, more physical activity, lower obesity level, male gender, non-African American race, and higher educational level. Improvements in QL were observed in all randomized groups, including the placebo group during follow-up; greater improvements were observed in the acebutolol and chlorthalidone groups and were evident throughout follow-up. The amount of weight loss, increase in physical activity, and level of attained blood pressure control during follow-up were related to greater improvements in QL. CONCLUSIONS In patients with stage I hypertension, antihypertensive treatment with any of 5 agents used in TOMHS does not impair QL. The diuretic chlorthali-done and the cardioselective beta-blocker acebutolol appear to improve QL the most. Success with lifestyle changes affecting weight loss and increase in physical activity relate to greater improvements in QL and show that these interventions, in addition to contributing to blood pressure control, have positive effects on the general well-being of the individual.