Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of a Gene, Desiccate, Contributing to Desiccation Resistance in Drosophila melanogaster*

Suitable alterations in gene expression are believed to allow animals to survive drastic changes in environmental conditions. Drosophila melanogaster larvae cease eating and exit moist food to search for dry pupation sites after the foraging stage in what is known as the wandering stage. Although the behavioral change from foraging to wandering causes desiccation stress, the mechanism by which Drosophila larvae protect themselves from desiccation remains obscure. Here, we identified a gene, CG14686 (designated as Desiccate (Desi)), whose expression was elevated during the wandering stage. The Desi expression level was reversibly decreased by transferring wandering larvae to wet conditions and increased again by transferring them to dry conditions. Elevation of Desi expression was also observed in foraging larvae when they were placed in dry conditions. Desi encoded a 261-amino acid single-pass transmembrane protein with notable motifs, such as SH2 and PDZ domain-binding motifs and a cAMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation motif, in the cytoplasmic region, and its expression was observed mainly in the epidermal cells of the larval integuments. Overexpression of Desi slightly increased the larval resistance to desiccation stress during the second instar. Furthermore, Desi RNAi larvae lost more weight under dry conditions, and subsequently, their mortalities significantly increased compared with control larvae. Under dry conditions, consumption of carbohydrate was much higher in Desi RNAi larvae than control larvae. Based on these results, it is reasonable to conclude that Desi contributes to the resistance of Drosophila larvae to desiccation stress.
Trends in the Suburbanization of Racial/Ethnic Groups in U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 1970 to 2000

This research examines recent trends in suburbanization for non-Latino Whites, Blacks, and Asians, and Latinos of all races. The authors find some association between group-level acculturation and socioeconomic status and 2000 suburbanization rates; however, these associations are largely attenuated by controls for suburban housing supply and do not explain much of the variation in changes in suburbanization rates from 1970 to 2000. Suburban housing supply is strongly associated with 2000 levels of suburbanization, yet these effects are largely attenuated by controlling for the suburban share of employment and affordable housing. Finally, the authors find large effects of change in suburban housing supply on change in group suburbanization rates; however, these effects are much weaker for Blacks relative to the other groups.
Gender-specific association of the VEGF -2578C > A polymorphism in Korean patients with colon cancer.

BACKGROUND Angiogenesis is involved in the development of cancer, promoting tumor growth, invasiveness and metastasis. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent angiogenic factor. The present case control study was carried out, to determine whether there is an association between the VEGF -2578C > A polymorphism and colon cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS DNA samples taken from 246 patients with colon cancer and 203 healthy controls were amplified by polymerase chain reaction for VEGF -2578C > A polymorphism. RESULTS Genotype frequencies of the VEGF -2578C > A polymorphism were not significantly different between patient and control groups. However, when the data were stratified by gender, the frequency of the -2578CA + AA (A allele-bearing) genotype was marginally significant different with protective effect for colon cancer in women (odds ratio, OR, 0.60; 95% confidence interval, CI, 0.36-0.99; p = 0.056). The -2578CA + AA genotype was also associated with reduced risk in patients with proximal colon cancer (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.31-0.97; p = 0.049). This association also remained in women with proximal colon cancer. CONCLUSION Although the VEGF -2578C > A polymorphism had no influence on susceptibility to colon cancer, some genotypes showed a significant difference between the case and control groups when the data were stratified by gender and the original location of tumor, suggesting that the VEGF -2578C > A polymorphism, at least in Koreans, is a genetic determinant of colon cancer risk.
Did H1N1 influenza prevention messages reach the vulnerable population along the Mississippi Gulf Coast?

OBJECTIVE To identify the primary sources of information utilized by a vulnerable population during the 2009 influenza pandemic and examine disease prevention behaviors related to reports of local H1N1 influenza transmission. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Between May 2009 and December 2009, face-to-face interviews were conducted in towns located in 3 Mississippi counties along the Gulf Coast. PARTICIPANTS Two hundred sixteen residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast were interviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Analysis of the interview results described awareness of the influenza outbreak/pandemic and sources of information about the situation. Chi-square tests were used to examine differences in reported disease-preventive behaviors taken by Mississippi Gulf Coast residents before and after H1N1 influenza transmission was confirmed locally. RESULTS Most subjects were aware of H1N1 influenza at the time of interview (n = 212; 98%). Television (n = 145; 69%), newspaper (n = 40; 19%), and the Internet (n = 19; 9%) were the most common sources of information regarding H1N1 influenza. Hand hygiene (n = 85; 41%) was the most reported preventive measure adopted by study subjects and increased following the confirmation of the first H1N1 influenza cases in Harrison County (χ= 4.46, p= 0.04). CONCLUSIONS The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's emphasis on providing health information about H1N1 primarily through the Internet may not have been effective in reaching the public. Provision of health messages through various mediums, especially television, may better inform the public of disease-related prevention messages during a developing influenza pandemic.
High-Volume Return Premium And Volume-Liquidity Premium

This study investigates the interaction of volume-liquidity premium and high-volume return premium by simultaneously considering two factors that significantly impact future stock returns: trading volume norms and trading volume extremes. The study finds that high-volume return premium does exist. However, the high-volume return premium behaves differently for liquid and illiquid stocks. The high-volume return premium disappears very quickly for illiquid stocks, while it persists much longer for highly liquid stocks. The study also shows evidence that supports volume-liquidity premium. But the volume-liquidity premium behaves differently after stocks experience an extremely high/low volume shock. The volume-liquidity premium only exists for small size stocks after an extremely low volume shock, but this volume-liquidity premium totally disappears for stocks experiencing an extremely high volume shock.
Rational Combination Therapy in Refractory Migraine

Refractory migraine (RM) headaches pose important treatment challenges to the patients who live with them and the clinicians who try to treat them. Defined based on the lack of response to acute, preventive, and nonpharmacologic treatment, RM is often treated with a combination of treatments. Although combination therapy for RM has not been systematically studied in randomized trials, clinical experience suggests that a rational approach to RM treatment, utilizing a combination of treatments, may be effective where monotherapy has failed. In this article we briefly identify patient populations appropriate for more aggressive migraine prevention with combination therapy. We then discuss modifiable risk factors and comorbidities in migraine and then focus on the use of rational combination therapy, as well as the duration migraine preventatives should be considered for use. Future research is needed to evaluate the full potential of rational combination treatment as a strategy for treating and ultimately preventing RM.
Partnership practices and their impact on value creation – reflections from lean management

The trend of outsourcing operational property management services by the property owners has had a prominent role in the Finnish real estate sector. At the same time, value creation has been scattered across many players such as the owner, the property manager and several service providers. This paper aims to analyse the value creation practices and mechanisms between two partners, a real estate owner and its property management company, in order to assess the current value creation. The assessment is based on a lean partnering framework presented by Lamming (1993). The customers are office tenants in the Helsinki business district. The case findings showed that the expected customer value was challenging to deliver, because waste activities disrupted the value creation. The partners had also adapted some of the value creation practices differently, which caused turbulence in value creation. In addition, the partners had missed the power of doing improvements jointly, but prefer to use bidding to establish value creation. However, through lean thinking the organisations found a much-needed new approach to develop their partnership. The principles of lean management made the problem clearer and enabled the organisations to start dealing with the relevant challenges.
Measuring, Forecasting and Explaining Time Varying Liquidity in the Stock Market

The paper proposes a new measure, VNET, of market liquidity which directly measures the depth of the market. The measure is constructed from the excess volume of buys or sells during a market event defined by a price movement. As this measure varies over time, it can be forecast and explained. Using TORQ data, it is found that market depth varies positively but less than proportionally with past volume and negatively with the number of transactions. Both findings suggest that over time high volumes are associated with an influx of informed traders and reduce market liquidity. High expected volatility as measured by the ACD model of Engle and Russell (1995) and wide spreads both reduce expected depth. If the asymmetric trades are transacted in shorter than expected times, the costs will be greater giving an estimate of the value of patience.
Evaluation of colilert-marine water for detection of total coliforms and Escherichia coli in the marine environment

A test that allows for early detection of fecally contaminated coastal water would enhance public health protection. Colilert-Marine Water (Colilert-MW; Environetics, Branford, Conn.) is a rapid 24-h test that has recently been developed to detect total coliforms and Escherichia coli in coastal water. We performed a premarketing evaluation of the Colilert-MW product, testing it in parallel with the multiple tube fermentation (MTF) method for 86 coastal water samples in southern California. Statistical analysis was performed by using paired t tests and linear regression. Bacterial isolates were evaluated by biochemical and genetic analysis. The results of this study showed a strong correlation between the traditional MTF and the Colilert-MW method for detection of total coliforms (r = 0.95) and E. coli (r = 0.89) in ocean water samples. Paired t-test results indicated that the Colilert-MW and MTF were equivalent in detecting E. coli and that the Colilert-MW may be more sensitive in the detection of total coliforms. We conclude that Colilert-MW would be a useful tool with which to monitor coastal beach water.
Firm Size and Turn-of-the-Year Effects in the OTC/NASDAQ Market

This paper examines the turn-of-the-year effect, the firm size effect, and the relation between these two effects for a sample of over-the-counter stocks traded via the NASDAQ reporting system over the period 1973-85. The authors find results similar to those based solely on listed stocks. The importance of these findings stems from the existence of nontrivial differences between the characteristics of the over-the-counter/NASDAQ sample and the samples of listed firms examined previously in the literature. They also find that NASDAQ quoted bid-ask spreads are highly negatively correlated with firm size, are not highly seasonal, and are large enough to preclude trading profits based upon a knowledge of the seasonality of small firms' returns. Copyright 1989 by American Finance Association.
Mutual Fund Directors: Governance Changes Proposed for Independent Directors in the U.S.

Mutual fund assets have climbed to over $6 billion in the US passing up Bank Deposits. While banks have over 14,000 regulators mutual funds have less than 500. The most effective and efficient way to improve Mutual Fund Governance is to strengthen the Independent Directors on mutual fund boards. The author proposes an independent CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) with no ties to other board members be put on each board to monitor fees, performance and risk. We cannot afford to wait for the next market downfall to make changes in the way mutual funds are governed.
Protecting Estuaries and Coastal Wetlands through State Coastal Zone Management Programs

This article, one part of the National Coastal Zone Management Effectiveness Study, evaluates the effectiveness of state coastal management programs in protecting estuaries and coastal wetlands. State programs were evaluated in a four-step, indicatorbased process to estimate (1) the relative importance of the issue; (2) the potential effectiveness of programs based on the policies, processes, and tools used; (3) outcome effectiveness based on on-the-ground indicators; and (4) overall performance, where outcome effectiveness was compared to issue importance and potential effectiveness. State evaluations were synthesized to provide a national perspective on CZM contributions and effectiveness in estuary and wetland protection. Although on-the-ground outcome data were sparse, they were sufficient to determine at least probable levels of effectiveness for about one-third of the states. Of these states, 80% were performing at expected or higher levels, considering how important the issue was in their state, an.
Equality or Growth: A 20th Century Argentine Dilemma

ABSTRACT Argentina's long term economic performance between 1880 and 2000 (convergence with the rich followed by divergence) can be understood in terms of the economic and political consequences of its peculiar factor endowments. Skewed endowments meant huge gains from trade during the First Globalization boom; but, conversely, disintegration of world commerce in the Depression was a heavier blow for such a naturally specialized economy. The extreme protectionism, characteristic of the post-war period, was related to the country's peculiar economic structure: comparative advantages in food production and disadvantages in (labor-intensive) manufacturing implied that closing the economy was a political winner, though it eventually hampered growth. The road to openness followed in the last quarter of the 20th century would have meant, correspondingly, an increase in inequality. Attempts to moderate it through debt accumulation and exchange rate appreciation destabilized the economy and contributed further to Argentina's comparative decline. RESUMEN La experiencia económica de la Argentina entre 1880 y 2000, caracterizada por una sucesión de convergencia y divergencia con los países ricos, puede entenderse a partir de las consecuencias económicas y políticas de su dotación de factores de producción. Una sesgada disponibilidad de factores implicó grandes beneficios para la Argentina en la primera globalización; pero la desintegración comercial durante la depresión representó un impacto aciago. El extremo proteccionismo de la Argentina en la posguerra tuvo que ver con su peculiar dotación factorial: las ventajas comparativas en alimentos y desventajas en producción industrial trabajo-intensiva hacían políticamente atractivo el cierre de la economía, aunque a la larga desalentara el crecimiento. El camino de la apertura seguido en el último cuarto de siglo xx implicaría, al contrario, un aumento de la desigualdad. Los intentos por moderarlo con apreciación cambiaria y endeudamiento desestabilizaron la economía y contribuyeron, al cabo, al retraso argentino.
Ideas, Institutions, and Interests: Explaining Policy Divergence in Fostering ‘System Innovations’ towards Sustainability

Over the last few years a fast-growing literature has developed around the notion of sociotechnical transitions and the possibilities for governing ‘system innovations’ towards sustainability. Government policies are assumed to play an important role in such processes. However, an important critique has suggested not to see these transition processes as politically neutral but to pay more attention to the politics of these processes. With this paper I make a contribution towards this debate by analysing the underlying political processes and their institutional contexts which led to two quite different approaches aimed at promoting system innovations in the UK and the Netherlands. The main question I answer is why the two governments engage with the same challenge in such different ways. Building on a discursive – institutionalist perspective based on the work of Hajer and Schmidt, I highlight the interplay of discourses, institutional contexts, and interests in shaping policy initiatives to promote system innovations. I conclude by suggesting a typology of possible relationships between these variables and expected policy outputs which helps to explain the two case studies and is believed to be applicable more widely.
Organisational restructuring and emerging service value chains: implications for work and employment

This article examines companies’ and public sector organisations’ external restructuring processes, with consideration of emerging or lengthening value chains and network relationships in the service sector. Focusing on two business functions — software development in the IT industry and IT services for public sector organisations — the article describes the types of inter-organisational relations that emerge and analyses the impact of restructuring on employment conditions and work organisation. The business functions clearly differ according to the form that restructuring takes and with regard to the impact of restructuring on work and employment. Common trends include increased insecurity, growing flexibility demands and higher levels of standardisation and formalisation of work.
Global Production Networks and the Extractive Sector: Governing Resource-Based Development

This article explores the opportunities a GPN approach provides for understanding the network configurations and regional development impacts associated with extractive industries. The article elaborates two core claims: (i) that the application of the GPN analytical framework provides a way to make progress in a stalled policy debate regarding the linkages between resource extraction and socio-economic development (popularly known as the resource curse thesis ); and (ii) that the encounter between GPN and a natural resource-based sector introduces distinctive issues associated with the materiality and territoriality of extractive commodities that, to date, GPN has not considered fully. The article examines the global production network for oil as an empirical case of how extractive industries can provide (limited) opportunities for socio-economic development.
Back Rooms or Ballot Boxes?

How political parties select their candidates for public office profoundly affects the types of people who are elected as well as how these people behave in office. This selection process also provides important insights on how parties function internally and on where political power is located within a country. Only a few comparative studies of nomination procedures exist, and none explain why some parties at some points in time select candidates via direct primaries and others do not. The authors analyze an original data set of 610 district-level nomination processes for the biennial Argentine Chamber of Deputies elections held between 1983 and 2001. They conclude that several specific institutional and partisan features have a prominent effect on the probability that a political party will choose its candidates at the ballot box (direct primary) rather than in a smoke-filled back room (elite arrangement).
Finance, Monetary Policy and the Institutional Foundations of the Phillips Curve

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of financial commitments on the short-run Phillips curve, under different institutional structures of the labour and product market, degrees of euphoria and ratios of firms' to workers' outstanding debt. We develop a Post-Keynesian conflicting-claims model that explicitly incorporates the impact of workers' and firms' financial commitments on distribution conflict and inflation. We propose different versions of the short-run Phillips curve for a debt-financed economy. We explore the impact of monetary policy on the shape and the position of the Phillips curve. We show that the inflation effects of monetary policy cannot be identified without prior knowledge about the institutional and financial structures of the economy, as well as about borrowers' desired margins of safety.
Optimization of a Phage Amplification Assay To Permit Accurate Enumeration of Viable Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis Cells

ABSTRACT A commercially available phage amplification assay, FASTPlaqueTB (Biotec Laboratories, Ipswich, United Kingdom), when used according to the manufacturer's instructions, does not permit accurate enumeration of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis. The aim of this study was to optimize the phage amplification assay conditions to permit accurate quantification of viable M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis cells. The burst time for M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis was initially determined to inform decisions about optimal incubation time before plating, and then other test parameters were altered to evaluate how the correlation between plaque and colony counts was affected. The D29 mycobacteriophage replicates more slowly in M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis than in Mycobacterium smegmatis (used to optimize the commercial test originally), and the mean burst time for four M. avium subsp. paratuberulosis strains was 210 ± 36.8 min at 37°C compared to 63 ± 17.5 min for M. smegmatis mc2 155. To achieve 100% correlation between plaque and colony counts, the optimized phage assay includes the following: (i) resuspension of the samples to be tested in Middlebrook 7H9 broth containing 10% oleic acid-albumin-dextrose-catalase and 2 mM calcium chloride, followed by overnight incubation at 37°C before performance of the phage assay; (ii) a 2-h incubation of the sample with D29 mycobacteriophage before viricide treatment; and (iii) a further 90-min incubation after viricide treatment and neutralization up to the burst time (total incubation time, 210 min) before plating with M. smegmatis mc2 155 in 7H9 agar. The optimized phage amplification assay was able to detect 1 to 10 CFU/ml of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis in spiked milk or broth within 48 h, as demonstrated by the results of several blind trials.
Accelerated analysis of resonators by a combined domain decomposition - model order reduction approach

The paper presents an approach to accelerate the analysis of resonators by means of decomposition of computational domain into smaller subspaces combined with the Model Order Reduction. Maxwell's equations are discretized in each subspace separately and the number of variables in each subdomain is reduced using a Model Order Reduction algorithm. Reduced equations are then combined to form a new global operator of small size, which can be solved much faster than original problem. The algorithm was tested using numerical examples showing an excellent performance in computation times.