Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Private Sector Development in Poor Countries: Seeking Better Policy Recipes?

Private business activity, by creating and using “ideas”, drives economic growth in both rich and poor countries. Creating an enabling business environment is necessary but not sufficient for fostering the private sector in poor countries. Open dialogue, transparency, accountability and evaluation make private sector development policies more effective. * This Policy Insights introduces the Business for Development: Fostering the Private Sector report.
Variation in the Immuno‐pathological Responses of Lambs after Experimental Infection with Different Strains of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis

Ruminant infection by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) causes a granulomatous inflammatory response in the intestine and associated lymph nodes. Differences either in the affected organs or in the inflammatory infiltrate were observed between species and individuals. Such differences are usually attributed to variations in host immune responses or to inconsistent effects among different MAP strains. To evaluate if different MAP strains induce different immuno‐pathological responses in lambs, 28 one‐month‐old individuals were divided into six groups and inoculated with different MAP strains. Groups 1 and 2 were inoculated with two bovine strains isolated in Argentina that showed different genetic patterns after BstEII‐IS900‐RFLP (hereafter strains E and A respectively). Group 3 was inoculated with a bovine strain isolated in Spain obtained after a previous step of culture (patterns C1). Group 4 was inoculated with a homogenate of intestinal mucosa of a clinical case affected by the same bovine strain as that of group 3. Group 5 was inoculated with an ovine strain that was directly purified from the intestinal mucosa of a clinical case, and group 6 was kept as control (i.e. no inoculation). Peripheral immune responses were assessed until 150 days post‐infection (dpi), when lambs were humanely killed. Pathological studies were performed in tissues from the intestine and lymph nodes. Lesion types and inflammatory infiltrates were examined as indicators of pathogenicity. All the lambs infected with bovine MAP strains showed a common lesion pattern regardless of the strain type. Such pattern was characterized by focal lesions mainly in the mesenteric lymph nodes, the presence of fibrous tissue, and, occasionally, necrosis in the granulomas as well as the presence of numerous giant cells. Differences in lesion severity were observed among groups: lambs from groups 1 and 2 had the highest number of granulomas and the largest lymph node area affected. Lesions in animals from group 5 (infected with an ovine strain) were more severe and occurred mostly in the intestinal lymphoid tissue; necrosis, fibrosis or giant cells were never detected in this group. These results indicate that the MAP strain type induces different pathological responses in lambs.
Local Pruning of Dendrites and Spines by Caspase-3-Dependent and Proteasome-Limited Mechanisms

Synapse loss occurs normally during development and pathologically during neurodegenerative disease. Long-term depression, a proposed physiological correlate of synapse elimination, requires caspase-3 and the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. Here, we show that caspase-3 activity is essential—and can act locally within neurons—for regulation of spine density and dendrite morphology. By photostimulation of Mito-KillerRed, we induced caspase-3 activity in defined dendritic regions of cultured neurons. Within the photostimulated region, local elimination of dendritic spines and dendrite retraction occurred in a caspase-3-dependent manner without inducing cell death. However, pharmacological inhibition of inhibitor of apoptosis proteins or proteasome function led to neuronal death, suggesting that caspase activation is spatially restricted by these “molecular brakes” on apoptosis. Caspase-3 knock-out mice have increased spine density and altered miniature EPSCs, confirming a physiological involvement of caspase-3 in the regulation of spines in vivo.
Reward and Punishment Mechanism for Research Data Sharing

Many funding agencies require grantees to deposit their data into an archive after they finish their research projects. The archive processes and disseminates the data for public use. These deposited data sets are public goods that benefit users and society. However, under voluntary contribution, public goods tend to be under-provided. For normal public goods, the contributors benefit from their own contributions as much as free-riders. Contributors are not harmed by their contributions. In the data sharing case, data producers make efforts to prepare the data for deposit, but the benefit of the data preparation largely goes to secondary users. In addition, data producers are at risk of being harmed by the misuse and misinterpretation of data by unqualified users, or by being charged with misconduct. That makes freeriding even more attractive. To motivate data producers to prepare and share data, there must be some incentive mechanisms. In this paper, I built a simple mathematic model to analyze the effects of punishment and reward. Hopefully it will help policy makers decide on incentive mechanisms for data sharing.
Motives for Innovation Co-Operation - Evidence from the Canadian Survey of Innovation

In this paper we analyse the decision of firms in the Canadian manufacturing sector to co-operate on innovation projects. Our focus is on the motives behind this decision and the firm characteristics, both general and with respect to innovation activities, which influence the motives for innovation co-operation. Using data from the Canadian Survey of Innovation 2005 we find that the factors influencing the decision to co-operate in order to access external knowledge are very similar to those influencing cost-sharing motives. We also show that public funding leads firms to cooperate in order to access external knowledge and R&D.
Exploring behavioral data in online social media with focus on user connectivity and mobility

With the booming development of online social media in recent years, massive and variety of behavioral data, such as social interactions data and user’s E-travel sharing data, are generated by the users throughout the world everyday. Exploring and analyzing such data helps to understand users’ preferences, unearth the contained tremendous knowledge, and identify new problems and business opportunities, etc. In this thesis, we are specifically interested in the user connectivity/interaction behaviors, e.g., friendship creation, and the mobility behaviors, e.g., check-in sequence at Point-ofInterest (POIs), that involve rich semantic information on nodes and edges of the social networks, and study three practical problems in different applications. We first analyze users’ social connectivity behaviors from a new angle and study a problem of mining non-homophily social ties, aiming at discovering interesting but unexpected group-level social ties that do not follow the homophily phenomenon. We propose a novel ranking metric to identify such social ties and develop an efficient mining algorithm specifically for the new metric. In our second work, we explore users’ check-in sequences or travel routes, and study a problem of personalized trip recommendation meets real-world constraints, by considering personalized rating on POIs and multiple constraints such as the time budget, the time window for the POI availability, the uncertainty of traveling time between POIs. We develop two efficient optimal solutions and two heuristic solutions for finding “good trips” with a significantly better runtime. Finally, in consideration of the sparsity of users’ historical rating data and people’s dynamically changed mind over time, we further study an on-demand route search problem with personalized diversity requirement on POIs, where users can specify their preferred features for the route and a personalized quantity (number of POIs) and variety (the coverage of the specified features) tradeoffs. We propose to model users’ personalized route diversity requirement by submodular functions that support the diminishing marginal utility property. We design generic and elegant optimal algorithm as well as heuristic algorithms. Comprehensive empirical evaluations on real life data sets demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our methods.
S-Thiolation of HSP27 Regulates Its Multimeric Aggregate Size Independently of Phosphorylation*

HSP27 exists as large aggregates that breakdown after phosphorylation. We show rat cardiac HSP27 isS-thiolated during oxidant stress, and this modification,without phosphorylation, disaggregates multimeric HSP27. Biotinylated cysteine acts as a probe for thiolated proteins, which are detected using non-reducing Western blots probed with streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase. Controls show a low level of S-thiolation, which is increased 3.6-fold during post-ischemic reperfusion. S-Thiolated proteins were purified using streptavidin-agarose, and Western immunoblotting showed HSP27 was present. We increased protein S-thiolation 10-fold with 10 μm H2O2 with or without a kinase inhibitor mixture (staurosporine, genistein, bisindolylmaleimide, SB203580, and PD98059). H2O2 alone induced the phosphorylation of HSP27 Ser-86 and Ser-45/Ser-59 of its homologue αB crystallin. However, kinase inhibition reduced phosphorylation of these sites below basal. Despite effective kinase inhibition, H2O2 still disaggregated HSP27, but not αB crystallin. This is consistent with the lack of an S-thiolation site on αB crystallin. Thus, we have demonstrated a novel mechanism of HSP27 multimeric size regulation. S-Thiolation must occur at Cys-141, the only cysteine in rat HSP27.
Evidence for a combined genetic effect of the 5-HT1A receptor and serotonin transporter genes in the clinical outcome of major depressive patients treated with citalopram

In the context of a long-term follow-up study, we analysed the possible implication of the 5-HT1A receptor gene (HTR1A) -1018C/G polymorphism in the clinical outcome of major depressive patients treated with citalopram. We had previously reported an association between variation on the SERT gene (SLC6A4) and clinical remission after citalopram treatment. In the present 12-week follow-up study, the combined effect of HTR1A and SLC6A4 genes in clinical outcome and response to citalopram was also evaluated. The sample consisted of 130 patients, all of Spanish origin, who were diagnosed as having a current major depressive episode according to DSM-IV criteria. A 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale was used to assess severity of symptoms at the beginning and during the follow-up to determine the outcome and remission status at week 12. Patients were genotyped for HTR1A gene and, in addition, for two polymorphisms at the CYP2C19 gene, which together account for the 87% of the Caucasian poor metabolizer phenotype. Data were analysed adjusting for the effect of poor metabolizers in clinical response. No independent effect was found for the 5-HT1A receptor gene in relation to clinical outcome or remission after citalopram treatment. However, a combined genetic effect of HTR1A and SLC6A4 genes was found to influence the clinical outcome of patients [F(4,102) = 2.89, p= 0.02]. When considering the remission status, an increase of patients carrying the risk genotype combination (S/S-G/G) was found among those subjects who did not reach remission (Fisher’s exact test = 0.009). Our results suggest that the combined effect of the serotonin transporter and the 5-HT1A receptor genes could be related to the clinical outcome of depressive patients treated with citalopram.
Where do ethnolects stop?

The paper discusses the complex role of ethnicity in the construction of a peer-based social order in preadolescence, and argues that the indexical value of “ethnic” variables is constructed among, rather than simply within, ethnic groups, and hence incorporates concerns that span ethnic boundaries. In Northern California, white Anglo speech is showing a split in /ae/ as it raises before nasals and backs elsewhere, while Chicano speakers commonly back both classes of /ae/. Based on ethnography in two Northern California elementary schools, this paper shows that the Chicano pattern does not simply index ethnicity, but indexes place in the peer-based social order as well, and as such is available to speakers regardless of ethnicity.
Financial Statement Analysis to Predict Stock Returns of Listed Consumer Goods Firms in Nigeria

This study examines whether the application of an accounting fundamental strategy to select stocks of a portfolio can systematically yield significant and positive excess market buy-and-hold returns after one year of portfolio formation. Using financial statement information and the “direct approach”, multiple logit models were developed to predict the year-ahead returns. The coefficient estimates of these models were used to generate Pr measures which were used to formulate investment strategies. Specifically, the investment strategy involved buying stocks with high Pr values and selling stocks with low Pr values was examined. The study found that eleven accounting ratios predict stock returns accurately in 76.6% of the cases. This robust ability to accurately predict stock returns is evidence that conducting fundamental analysis and taking investment positions on the basis of Pr values can be a fruitful strategy for investors in Nigeria. Thus, the study recommends that investors evaluate their investments in equity for 12 months before making a buy or sell decision using a Pr strategy to avoid loses or missing opportunities.
Corporate social responsibility and firm performance in Thailand

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between corporate social responsibility disclosure and firm performance in publicly-listed firms in Thailand using a stakeholder theory, proposed by R. Edward Freeman (1984). The theory identifies stakeholders in six groups: shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers, the local community and the natural environment. Data were collected based on the content analysis from annual reports published by the 394 companies in the Stock Exchange of Thailand 2014. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify the relationship between CSR and firm performance. The study found that all six group dimensions of CSR disclosure are positively related to return on assets (ROA), particularly disclosure in dimensions such as investors and customers. This study furthers understanding of CSR disclosure and its consequences. Corresponding author: Chutimant Boonnual Email address for corresponding author: chutimant_b@mail.rmutt. ac.th First submission received: 23rd March 2017 Revised submission received: 25th May 2017 Accepted: 28th June 2017
Identification of a Non-covalent Ternary Complex Formed by PIAS1, SUMO1, and UBC9 Proteins Involved in Transcriptional Regulation*

Background: Covalent coupling of SUMO by the E2 and E3 enzymes confers repression activity to transcriptional regulators. Results: Identification of a non-covalent E2·SUMO·E3 complex that can also function in transcriptional repression. Conclusion: SUMO participates in repression as both a covalent modification and through non-covalent interactions with E2 and E3 enzymes. Significance: Similar interaction interfaces in other ubiquitin-like proteins and their cognate enzymes suggest they form analogous ternary complexes. Post-translational modifications with ubiquitin-like proteins require three sequentially acting enzymes (E1, E2, and E3) that must unambiguously recognize each other in a coordinated fashion to achieve their functions. Although a single E2 (UBC9) and few RING-type E3s (PIAS) operate in the SUMOylation system, the molecular determinants regulating the interactions between UBC9 and the RING-type E3 enzymes are still not well defined. In this study we use biochemical and functional experiments to characterize the interactions between PIAS1 and UBC9. Our results reveal that UBC9 and PIAS1 are engaged both in a canonical E2·E3 interaction as well as assembled into a previously unidentified non-covalent ternary complex with SUMO as evidenced by bioluminescence resonance energy transfer, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and isothermal titration calorimetry studies. In this ternary complex, SUMO functions as a bridge by forming non-overlapping interfaces with UBC9 and PIAS1. Moreover, our data suggest that phosphorylation of serine residues adjacent to the PIAS1 SUMO-interacting motif favors formation of the non covalent PIAS1·SUMO·UBC9 ternary complex. Finally, our results also indicate that the non-covalent ternary complex is required for the known transcriptional repression activities mediated by UBC9 and SUMO1. Taken together, the data enhance our knowledge concerning the mode of interaction of enzymes of the SUMOylation machinery as well as their role in transcriptional regulation and establishes a framework for investigations of other ubiquitin-like protein systems.
Technology and its role in respiratory care.

INTRODUCTION Telemonitoring, telemedicine, clinical and medical informatics or telecare, are terms used to describe the use of technology along with local clinical protocols to monitor remotely a patient's medical condition in their own home. In respiratory medicine, where large numbers of people have long term conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the role of such monitoring technology in the management of patients is of great interest. AIM This review seeks to explore what evidence exists to support the deployment of technology to improve the care of people with respiratory conditions. METHOD Narrative review. RESULT A wide variety of technologies have been involved in asthma and COPD care, from management systems to self monitoring devices. Many studies report that staff and patients 'liked' the technology. The service, care and financial benefits to both patients and the health care system were less obvious. Many studies suffered from poor methodology and lacked clear endpoints. CONCLUSION There is an enormous potential for telemonitoring to assist in the provision of better care for those with long term lung diseases. However, evidence of benefit is unclear and there remains a need for robust studies and answers to clear research questions for specific patient populations before such technologies can be recommended for widespread implementation.
Model Specification for Bank Failure: A Retrospective Look at Banks in Missouri during the Great Depression

This paper examines banks in Missouri during the Great Depression in order to find the correct model specification for bank failure during economic downturns. The data set controls for a bank’s balance sheet, correspondent network, charters and memberships, county characteristics, and market share, and includes both Federal Reserve member and non-member banks. Using a probit model, it is concluded that the contractionary monetary policy employed by the St. Louis Federal Reserve did not help bank survival, as being a member of the Federal Reserve had no significant effect on a bank’s probability of survival. Additionally, while an increased network led to higher rates of bank survival, connections to Chicago show evidence of contagion risk. Finally, the paper concludes that for future model specification it is important to capture balance sheet, network, and environment characteristics, as leaving out certain information can lead to omitted variable bias.
Motor cortical activity during drawing movements: single-unit activity during sinusoid tracing.

1. This study examines the neuronal activity of motor cortical cells associated with the production of arm trajectories during drawing movements. Three monkeys were trained to perform two tasks. The first task ("center----out" task) required the animal to move its arm in different directions from a center start position to one of eight targets spaced at equal angular intervals and equal distances from the origin. Movements to each target were in a constant direction, and the average rate of neuronal discharge with movements to different targets varied in a characteristic pattern. A cosine tuning function was used to map each cell's discharge rate to the direction of arm movement. This function spanned all movement directions, with a peak firing rate in the cell's preferred direction. 2. The second task ("tracing" task) required the animal to trace curved figures consisting of sine waves of different spatial frequencies and amplitudes. Both the speed and direction changed continuously throughout these movements. The cosine tuning function derived from the center----out task was used to model the activity of the cell during the tracing of sinusoids in the second task. Sinusoidal data were divided into 20-ms bins; instantaneous direction, speed, and discharge rate were analyzed bin by bin. This provided a way to compare directly the tuning parameters during a task with constant direction to a task where the direction varied continuously. 3. Movement direction as it changed during the tracing task was an important factor in the discharge pattern of cells that had discharge patterns that could be represented by the cosine tuning function. 4. The modulation of discharge rate during figure tracing depended on both the cell's preferred direction and the orientation of the figure. The activity of cells with preferred directions perpendicular to the axis of the sinusoidal figure was most modulated, whereas the activity of those cells with preferred directions aligned to the figure's axis was least modulated. 5. The cells with modulated activity tended to have firing rates that differed from the predicted cosine tuning function during the sinusoidal movements for those portions of the trajectory where the movement direction was in the cell's preferred direction. 6. Finger speed during figure tracing varied inversely with path curvature with the same relation that has been found during human drawing. To assess the relation of instantaneous speed to discharge rate, the component of the discharge pattern related to direction was subtracted from the total discharge. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)