Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Al-Qathama, A, Gibbons, S and Prieto, JM Differential modulation of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and onset of caspase-3/7 activation induced by derivatives of Justicidin B in human melanoma cells

Diphyllin and its derivatives are well known cytotoxic natural products structurally related to the anti-cancer drug podophyllotoxin. We here study their structure-activity relationship upon human melanoma cells for first time. To this end, human melanoma A375 cells were incubated with Justicidin B and its 4-methoxylated or 4-glycosylated derivatives to evaluate their selective cytotoxicity and study their effects on cell cycle distribution, caspase activation, apoptosis induction using Annexin V-FITC/PI staining, cell morphology and western blot analysis. Diphyllin methyl ether (GI50 = 3.66 μM) and Justicidin B (GI50 = 1.70 μM) caused an elevation of both early and late apoptosis populations whereas Diphyllin apioside (GI50 = 0.84 μM) and its acetate (GI50= 0.39 μM) enhanced late apoptosis population only (Annexin V-positive/PIpositive). All induced cell cycle arrest at S phase and classic morphological indicators of apoptosis (blebbing, apoptotic bodies, and nuclear fragmentation) accompanied with an elevation of cells with low DNA content (sub-G1). All compounds increased the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio by enhancing Bax expression which evidences the involvement of the mitochondria (intrinsic pathway) in the apoptotic process. These caspase-3/7 results evidence that 4-methoxylation or 4-O-glycosylation of Justicidin B -a caspase independent mitochondrial apoptosis-inducertriggers caspase-3/7 activation at different times (24h vs. 48h, respectively). Interestingly, the methoxylation causes attenuation of Bcl-2 protein expression contrarily to Diphyllin methyl ether or the O-glycosylated derivatives. Finally, the compounds exhibited significantly less toxicity when tested in adult human dermal fibroblasts and their GI50 in melanoma Sk-Mel-5 cells was not influenced by MDR1/Pgp inhibitors. This study may inform the synthesis of future Diphyllin derivatives with different apoptosis mechanism of action towards human melanoma cells.
Botrytis cinerea in raspberry in Serbia II: Growth rate and virulence of isolates

Growth rate and virulence of 130 isolates of Botrytis cinerea, derived from raspberry fruit originating from six commercial fields in a raspberry growing region of Serbia and classified in two morphological and four genetic groups were studied. The results showed significant differences in mycelial growth rate among the isolates. The highest and lowest recorded growth rates were 24.5 mm/day and 8.4 mm/day, respectively, while the growth rate of most isolates ranged from 15.8 to 21.8 mm/day. The growth rate of isolates that belong to different morphological and genetic subgroups varied similarly. Furthermore, growth rate intervals of all subgroups overlapped, suggesting that the groups cannot be distinguished based on growth rates of the isolates contained. The studied B. cinerea isolates exibited different levels of virulence towards vine, sunflower and raspberry leaves, while an analysis of variance revealed that both the isolates and the inoculated host species were significant sources of variation (P<0.01). Sunflower and raspberry leaves were significantly more sensitive than vine leaves. However, correlation between isolate virulence and different hosts was not found. [[Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. III46008]
Robust Semiparametric Estimation in Panel Multinomial Choice Models

This paper proposes a robust method for semiparametric identification and estimation in panel multinomial choice models, where we allow for infinite-dimensional fixed effects that enter into consumer utilities in an additively nonseparable way, thus incorporating rich forms of unobserved heterogeneity. Our identification strategy exploits multivariate monotonicity in parametric indexes, and uses the logical contraposition of an intertemporal inequality on choice probabilities to obtain identifying restrictions. We provide a consistent estimation procedure, and demonstrate the practical advantages of our method with simulations and an empirical illustration with the Nielsen data.
Electrostatic Solitary Waves in the Solar Wind: Evidence for Instability at Solar Wind Current Sheets

A strong spatial association between bipolar electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) and magnetic current sheets (CSs) in the solar wind is reported here for the first time. This association requires that the plasma instabilities (e.g., Buneman, electron two stream) which generate ESWs are preferentially localized to solar wind CSs. Distributions of CS properties (including shear angle, thickness, solar wind speed, and vector magnetic field change) are examined for differences between CSs associated with ESWs and randomly chosen CSs. Possible mechanisms for producing ESW‐generating instabilities at solar wind CSs are considered, including magnetic reconnection.
High resolution x-ray tomography as a tool for analysis of internal textures in meteorites

A comparison of internal textures of the NWA-5929, Ghubara and Pułtusk chondrites has been carried out using high resolution X-ray tomography. This is a powerful, non-destructive technique that allows one to determine textural and compositional differences that occur between ordinary chondrites of various groups by means of grey-level scale histograms, first-order statistics, and 3D imaging. Deformational structures in the Pułtusk meteorite such as cataclastic zones, impact melt clasts, melt veins, and melt pockets are observed and studied. Measurements of metal particle size are achieved, giving even deeper insight into textural features of meteorite. My approach shows that as shock deformation occurred, numerous small metal grains became progressively dispersed within the volume of the deformed Pułtusk meteorite rock. Simultaneously, metal was mobilized via frictional or direct impact melting to form scarce large metal nodules or grains arranged along the margins of relict chondritic clasts or as components of irregular injection veining. The possibility of tracing of these impact related processes by using tomography micrograms (without breaking the sample) is very useful for distinguishing which parts of each meteorite were deformed in different ways in order to make first-order observations regarding the deformational history of these meteorites.
Critical Period for Weed Control in Leek (Allium porrum L.)

Field studies were conducted in Mersin, Turkey, in 2002 and 2003 to determine the critical period for weed control in leek and to investigate the effects of weed interference on weed biomass. The critical period for weed control in leek based on a 5% acceptable yield loss level was calculated by fitting logistic and Gompertz equations to relative yield data. Total fresh biomass of weeds increased as the duration of weed infestation increased. The beginning of the critical period for weed control was 7 days after transplantingin2002and13daysafter transplantingin2003. Theendofthe critical period for weed control was 85 days after transplanting in 2002 and 60 days after transplanting in 2003. Results of this study suggest that leek should be kept weed free between 7 days after transplanting and 85 days after transplanting to avoid yield losses in excess of 5%.
Wilderness Conservation and the Reach of the State: Evidence from National Borders in the Amazon

Preserving wilderness ecosystems in developing countries is challenging because their remote location places them far from state control. We investigate this using 30x30 meter satellite data to determine how Amazonian deforestation changes discretely at the Brazilian international border. In 2000, Brazilian pixels were 30 percent more likely to be deforested, and between 2001 and 2005 annual Brazilian deforestation was more than 3 times the rate observed across the border. In 2006, just after Brazil introduces policies to reduce illegal deforestation, these differences disappear. These results demonstrate the power of the state to affect whether wilderness ecosystems are conserved or exploited.
Relational Capital and Appropriate Incentives: A Recipe for Human Resource Sustainability? 1

This paper attempts to give some hints for human resources management that are founded on a motivation-based economic analysis of incentives and the idea of relational capital. It is argued that cross-fertilization between traditional economic literature on incentives, experimental economics and research in cognitive psychology can provide useful insights on how best to design incentives schemes in firms. This analysis promotes a diffused style of leadership which could render human resources development more sustainable while the traditional hierarchical one is losing grasp with reality.
Power Consumption Analysis of a Wi-Fi-based IoT Device

The Internet of Things is a dynamic global network infrastructure consisting of interconnected smart devices with identification, sensing, data processing, and communication capabilities. It provides an intelligent ecosystem for the information society by enabling advanced services, standards, and platforms. Due to the growing market for smart devices with IP connectivity, several companies introduced low power Wi-Fi products optimized for IoT applications. Because Wi-Fi has established itself as one of the most popular wireless network technologies offering connectivity, has brought many advantages for IP enabled IoT devices (e.g., high data rate, mobility, built-in IP-network compatibility, easy integration with existing infrastructure), and has generated momentum in the IoT industry. However, since Wi-Fi was originally developed for high bandwidth applications targeting the consumer electronics market, it was not considered as a feasible technology for IoT applications. Wi-Fi-based IoT devices are typically battery-operated. Their wireless communication modules consume a relatively high amount of energy in case data needs to be sent a long distance, thus battery lifetime requirement for these devices remains a primary concern. Such small devices should transmit at high efficiency to conserve battery power, and they are required to sustain reliable operation for years on batteries even in the presence of heavy interference. Considering the limitations of battery power and long operational lifetime, the development of energy-efficient systems for these devices is an important issue. In this study, we analyzed the power consumption of a Wi-Fi IoT device deployed in field settings, where power infrastructure is inaccessible. We investigated how the device’s Wi-Fi module influences the power consumption in the IoT environment. In our experimental results, we observed that Wi-Fi-based IoT devices are still power-hungry and can operate well with low power consumption by using energy-optimized power modes.
ALMA photometry of extragalactic radio sources

The study acknowledges partial financial support by the Italian Ministero dell’Istruzione, Universita e Ricerca through the grant ‘Progetti Premiali 2012 – iALMA’ (CUP C52I13000140001). MB, MM, and GDZ acknowledge support from INAF under PRIN SKA/CTA FORECaST. GDZ acknowledges support from ASI/INAF agreement no. 2014-024-R.1 for the Planck LFI Activity of Phase E2 and from the ASI/Physics Department of the university of Roma–Tor Vergata agreement no. 2016-24-H.0 for study activities of the Italian cosmology community. MN acknowledges support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 707601. DH thanks the Spanish MINECO for partial financial support under project AYA2015-64508-P and funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (COMPET-05-2015) under grant agreement no. 687312 (RADIOFOREGROUNDS). LB and JGN acknowledge financial support from the I+D 2015 project AYA2015-65887-P (MINECO/FEDER). JGN also acknowledges financial support from the Spanish MINECO for a ‘Ramon y Cajal’ fellowship (RYC2013-13256). This paper makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA#2011.0. 00001.CAL. ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), MOST and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO, and NAOJ.
Imperfect Information and Rural Credit Markets-Puzzles and Policy Perspectives

Rural credit markets have been at the center of policy intervention in developing countries over the past forty years. Many governments, supported by multilateral and bilateral aid agencies, have devoted considerable resources to supplying cheap credit to farmers in a myriad of institutional settings. The results of many of these interventions have been disappointing, and one explanation for this must be that they were based on an inadequate understanding of the workings of rural credit markets. The articles in this symposium issue are devoted to empirical and theoretical investigations of rural credit markets, in the framework of the imperfect information paradigm. The authors show how this framework is useful not only in explaining puzzling features of these markets, but also in providing a policy perspective to assess the successes and failures of specific interventions.
Prevalence of NAFLD and Its Association with Insulin Resistance in First Degree Relatives of Type 2 Diabetes

Original Research Article Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the major risk factors in hepatic insulin resistance (IR). Though the association of NAFLD with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is well studied, the prevalence of NAFLD and its association with IR in non-diabetic, first degree relatives (FDR) of T2DM is not explored. Therefore, the present study is aimed to estimate the prevalence of NAFLD and its association with IR in FDR of T2DM individuals. It is a cross-sectional study involving 165 FDR subjects who are non-diabetic were screened for NAFLD using abdominal ultrasound scanning, clinical assessment and biochemical parameters. The study found 22% prevalence of NAFLD and 43% prevalence of IR in the study population. Further, comparison was made between NAFLD and non NAFLD subgroups. The prevalence of IR, obesity, central obesity and hypertension were significantly high (P<0.01) in NAFLD subjects when compared to that of non NAFLD. Prevalence of elevated SGPT, cholesterol and triglyceride were also significantly high among NAFLD subjects. The results showed strong association of NAFLD with IR with odds ratio >13 in FDR individuals. Overall, the study indicated high prevalence of NAFLD and its association with insulin resistance among first degree relatives of diabetics even in normoglycemic status.
Please Mind The Gap: Winners and Losers of Neoliberalism in India

India’s 7% GDP annual growth has been noted to be the best indicator of its prosperity (Makeinindia.com, 2016), having claimed supporters of globalisation that the integration into the global market has been greatly beneficial in reducing poverty in the country (Girdner and Siddiqui, 2008). However, India has also been reported to be one of the states with the highest income inequality in the world, as well as persisting poverty for the majority of its population (World Bank, 2009), trends that have been associated by many with the implementation of the neoliberal New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1991. This, alongside other neoliberal experiences, has exacerbated the debate on neoliberalism and its effects on development and its link with inequality, particularly in developing countries. Whereas advocates have argued that neoliberal policies are the best way of increasing everyone’s well-being, many critics have highlighted how these scholars have failed to see that neoliberalism, being a class project, only benefits elites.
Molecular detection of enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus in ready to eat beef products

Ready to eat (RTE) meat products are considered a rapid way to animal protein intake which may be preferred by consumers due to its palatability and quality; unfortunately, cooked meat products may be loaded by many foodborne pathogens especially Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) due to post cooking cross-contamination through mishandling andor getting in touch with raw materials; so, this study aimed to investigate the incidence of S. aureus in some RTE meat products followed by molecular detection of enterotoxigenic S. aureus isolates and its enterotoxin genes in 120 RTE meat products represented by luncheon, burger, shawerma and kofta (30 of each) which were collected from different restaurants and street vendors in Benha city, Qalubiya governorate, Egypt. Results revealed that kofta samples were the most contaminated samples with mean values 3.42x103, and 5.2x10 CFUg for total staphylococci and S. aureus counts, respectively; followed by burger, shawerma and luncheon samples. Multiplex PCR detection of S. aureus enterotoxins (SE) genes revealed detection of different isolates carrying staphylococcal enterotoxin type A, type B, mixed strain carrying both staphylococcal enterotoxins type A and type D was detected. So, RTE meat products of low hygienic measures may be risky to consumer’s health.
Investigation of the correlation between odd oxygen and secondary organic aerosol in Mexico City and Houston

Abstract. Many recent models underpredict secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particulate matter (PM) concentrations in polluted regions, indicating serious deficiencies in the models' chemical mechanisms and/or missing SOA precursors. Since tropospheric photochemical ozone production is much better understood, we investigate the correlation of odd-oxygen ([Ox]≡[O3]+[NO2]) and the oxygenated component of organic aerosol (OOA), which is interpreted as a surrogate for SOA. OOA and Ox measured in Mexico City in 2006 and Houston in 2000 were well correlated in air masses where both species were formed on similar timescales (less than 8 h) and not well correlated when their formation timescales or location differed greatly. When correlated, the ratio of these two species ranged from 30 μg m−3/ppm (STP) in Houston during time periods affected by large petrochemical plant emissions to as high as 160 μg m−3/ppm in Mexico City, where typical values were near 120 μg m−3/ppm. On several days in Mexico City, the [OOA]/[Ox] ratio decreased by a factor of ~2 between 08:00 and 13:00 local time. This decrease is only partially attributable to evaporation of the least oxidized and most volatile components of OOA; differences in the diurnal emission trends and timescales for photochemical processing of SOA precursors compared to ozone precursors also likely contribute to the observed decrease. The extent of OOA oxidation increased with photochemical aging. Calculations of the ratio of the SOA formation rate to the Ox production rate using ambient VOC measurements and traditional laboratory SOA yields are lower than the observed [OOA]/[Ox] ratios by factors of 5 to 15, consistent with several other models' underestimates of SOA. Calculations of this ratio using emission factors for organic compounds from gasoline and diesel exhaust do not reproduce the observed ratio. Although not succesful in reproducing the atmospheric observations presented, modeling P(SOA)/P(Ox) can serve as a useful test of photochemical models using improved formulation mechanisms for SOA.
Debowska, Agata and Boduszek, Daniel and Jones, Adele D and Willmott, Dominic and Sherretts, Nicole (2017)Gender-Based Violence-Supportive Cognitions in Adolescent Girls and Boys: The Function of Violence Expo-

Violence against women and girls is widespread in the Caribbean, which may be due to heightened acceptance of such acts in this specific social context. In spite of this, studies investigating attitudes towards violence and their correlates among participants drawn from the region are missing. In order to address this void in the literature, we examined associations between violence exposure and victimisation and two gender-based violence-related cognitions (attitudes towards male physical domestic violence and social norms regarding physical violence against girls) as well as general beliefs about violence, using structural equation modelling. Participants were a sample of adolescent girls (n = 661; M age = 13.15) and boys (n = 639; M age = 13.22) from two Eastern Caribbean countries, Barbados and Grenada, recruited from 10 primary schools, nine secondary schools, and two youth offender centres. In considering that girls and boys were previously demonstrated to differ in their experiences as well as tolerance of violence, structural models were specified and tested separately for the two sexes. Results indicated that violence victimisation was positively strongly associated with attitudes towards male physical domestic violence and social norms regarding physical violence against girls among boys. Increased violence victimisation among girls, in turn, correlated with increased acceptance of social norms regarding physical violence against girls, but this relationship was weak. Violence exposure did not have any significant associations with any of the attitudinal variables included in the study. We discuss the importance of these findings for the development of appropriate gender-based violence prevention strategies for youths from the Eastern Caribbean.
Ambiguity and the Centipede Game: Strategic Uncertainty in Multi-Stage Games

We propose a solution concept for a class of extensive form games with ambiguity. Specifically we consider multi-stage games. Players have CEU preferences. The associated ambiguous beliefs are revised by Generalized Bayesian Updating. We assume individuals take account of possible changes in their preferences by using consistent planning. We show that if there is ambiguity in the centipede game it is possible to sustain 'cooperation' for many periods as part of a consistent-planning equilibrium under ambiguity. In a non-cooperative bargaining game we show that ambiguity may be a cause of delay in bargaining.
Long-Term Bank Lending and the Transfer of Aggregate Risk

Long-term debt contracts transfer aggregate risk from borrowing firms to lending banks. When aggregate shocks increase the future default probability of firms, banks are not compensated for the default risk of existing contracts. If banks are highly leveraged, this can lead to financial instability with severe repercussions in the real economy. To study this mechanism quantitatively, we build a macroeconomic model of financial intermediation with long-term defaultable loan contracts and calibrate it to match aggregate firm and bank exposure to business cycle risks. Our model exhibits banking crises that closely resemble observed crisis episodes. We find that such crises do not arise in an economy with short-term debt. Our results on the role of long-term debt completely reverse if financial regulation is implemented to increase banks' risk bearing capacity. The financial sector is then well equipped to take on the aggregate risk, such that long-term lending stabilizes the business cycle by providing insurance to the corporate sector.
SYNTHESIS AND REACTIVITY IN INORGANIC AND METAL-ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Some mixed-ligand copper(II) complexes of benzoylacetone (Ph-acacH) and acetylacetone (acac-H) with 2,2’-bipyridyl (bipy) and 1,10phenanthroline (phen), [Cu(Ph-acac)(N-N)(X)]; X = Cl, NO3, N-N = bipy or phen and [Cu(acac)(N-N)NO3], have been synthesised and characterised using elemental analyses, magnetic susceptibility measurements, *Correspondence: O. A. Odunola, Department of Chemistry, University of the North, Private Bag X1106, Sovenga 0727, South Africa; E-mail: odunola@yahoo.com.