Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AGAMOUS Terminates Floral Stem Cell Maintenance in Arabidopsis by Directly Repressing WUSCHEL through Recruitment of Polycomb Group Proteins[W]

This work examines termination of floral stem cell maintenance, finding mechanisms that regulate when stem cells cease to function as stem cells, and finding that AGAMOUS directly represses WUSCHEL (WUS) expression by binding to the WUS locus and recruiting Polycomb Group factors that methylate histone H3 Lys-27 to repress transcription. Floral stem cells produce a defined number of floral organs before ceasing to be maintained as stem cells. Therefore, floral stem cells offer an ideal model to study the temporal control of stem cell maintenance within a developmental context. AGAMOUS (AG), a MADS domain transcription factor essential for the termination of floral stem cell fate, has long been thought to repress the stem cell maintenance gene WUSCHEL (WUS) indirectly. Here, we uncover a role of Polycomb Group (PcG) genes in the temporally precise repression of WUS expression and termination of floral stem cell fate. We show that AG directly represses WUS expression by binding to the WUS locus and recruiting, directly or indirectly, PcG that methylates histone H3 Lys-27 at WUS. We also show that PcG acts downstream of AG and probably in parallel with the known AG target KNUCKLES to terminate floral stem cell fate. Our studies identify core components of the network governing the temporal program of floral stem cells.
Effect of coronary artery bypass graft surgery on left ventricular systolic function.

BACKGROUND Changes in left ventricular (LV) systolic function in response to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) have not been fully assessed. METHODS Between January 2001 and December 2014, 2,838 consecutive patients underwent isolated CABG at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Of these, 375 had echocardiographic assessment of LV function before (within 6 months) and after (3 to 24 months) CABG and were included in this analysis. RESULTS While the mean LV ejection fraction (LVEF) did not change following CABG [(49±13)% vs. (49±12)%, P=0.51], LVEF decreased in the subgroup with normal (≥50%) pre-operative LVEF [from (59±5)% to (56±9)%, P<0.001] and improved in those with decreased (<50%) pre-operative LVEF [from (36±9)% to (41±12)%, P<0.001]. There was a significant reduction in LV internal diameter during end-diastole (LVIDd) (5.4±0.8 vs. 5.3±0.9, P=0.002) and an increase in left atrial diameter (LAD) (4.4±0.7 vs. 4.6±0.7, P<0.001). There were no perioperative changes in LV internal diameter during end-systole, LV mass, posterior wall thickness, or septal wall thickness. LVEF improved by >5% in 24% of the study population, did not change (+/- 5%) in 55%, and worsened by >5% in 21%. Patients with improved EF were less often diabetic and had lower pre-operative LVEF, and greater LV dimensions at baseline. CONCLUSIONS After CABG, there was a decrease in LVIDd and an increase in LAD. Also, a decrease in LV systolic function with CABG was observed in patients with normal pre-operative LVEF and an improvement in LV systolic function was observed in patients with decreased pre-operative LVEF.
Labor Markets and Economic Incorporation among Recent Immigrants in Europe

The questions asked in the paper are whether and to what extent the employment situation among recent third-country immigrants differs across European Union countries and how it is related to these countries' labor market characteristics. The European Labor Force Survey data for the 1990s are used to disentangle the roles that the individual characteristics of immigrants, on the one hand, and the structural features of the receiving societies, on the other, play in the process of immigrants' labor market integration. The results of multilevel regression analyses confirm that in receiving countries with stronger demand for low-skilled labor, unprivileged immigrants are less disadvantaged at employment entry. Among men immigrants' employment disadvantages are found to be lower in liberal welfare states marked by their flexible labor markets.
Dynamic liquidation under market impact

The optimal liquidation problem with transaction costs, which includes a positive fixed cost, and market impact costs, is studied in this paper as a constrained stochastic optimal control problem. We assume that trading is instantaneous and the dynamics of the stock to be liquidated follows a geometric Brownian motion. The solution to the impulse control problem is computed at each time step by solving a linear partial differential equation and a maximization problem. In contrast to results obtained from the static formulation of Almgren and Chriss [J. Risk, 2000, 3, 5–39], when risk is not considered, the optimal liquidation strategy from our stochastic control formulation depends on temporary market impact cost and permanent market impact cost parameters. In addition, our computational results indicate the following properties of the optimal execution strategy from the stochastic control formulation. Due to the existence of a no-transaction region, it may not be optimal for some individuals to sell their assets on some trading dates. As the value of the permanent market impact parameter increases, the expected optimal amount liquidated at the terminal time increases. As the value of the quadratic temporary impact cost parameter increases, the expected optimal amount liquidated at trading times tends to be uniform, and the no-transaction region shrinks. In the presence of quadratic temporary market impact costs, in contrast to optimal strategies that result from fixed and/or proportional transaction costs alone, portfolios in the selling region are neither re-balanced into the no-transaction region nor into the sell and no-transaction interface.
Redistribution and Inequality in a Heterogeneous Society

This paper analyses how income redistribution affects inequality in a society in which individuals differ in their earning abilities and their preferences for consumption and leisure. After discussing the shortcomings of various standard approaches, I measure inequality in such a heterogeneous society by the inequality in individuals' so-called equivalent wages. This approach suggests that redistribution tends to reduce inequality by transferring income from high-ability to low-ability individuals, but to increase inequality by transferring income from consumption-loving to leisure-loving individuals. These countervailing effects lead in all my simulations to a U-shaped relationship between redistribution and inequality.
Positive Illusions: Positively Correlated with Subjective Well-Being, Negatively Correlated with a Measure of Personal Growth

Psychologists have long debated the benefits and costs of self-deceptive enhancement or positive illusions. Accurate perception of reality is central to the definitions of mental health proposed by many personality and clinical psychologists, but Taylor and Brown have suggested that having positive illusions is associated with increased happiness and satisfaction with life. One explanation for the conflicting assertions is that mental health, broadly defined, includes both subjective well-being and personal growth, distinguishable factors which are differentially related to positive illusions. For this study, 81 college students completed measures of positive illusions (Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding Self-deceptive Positivity and How I See Myself Questionnaire), subjective well-being (Satisfaction With Life Scale and Existential Anxiety Scale), and moral reasoning (Defining Issues Test) as an index of personal growth. As predicted, positive illusion composite scores were positively correlated with scores on the subjective well-being composite (r = .40) but negatively correlated with Defining Issues Test scores (r = −.25). The quadratic relationship between these measures of positive illusion and subjective well-being composites was not significant, indicating no support for an “optimal margin of illusion. ”
WebVaccine: A Client-Side Realtime Prevention System against Obfuscated Malicious Web Pages

As a solution for malicious web page attacks, we need a client-side prevention system with deobfuscation mechanism. In this paper we introduce WebVaccine, that is a client-side real-time prevention system against obfuscated malicious web pages. For secure web surfing, before the navigation to be completed, WebVaccine inserts a deobfuscation function call routine prior to the vulnerable script functions in malicious web pages, and makes the inserted function to extract the deobfuscated script string so that the string can be analyzed by a signature based detection subsystem or third party detection tools. We rest assured that the WebVaccine framework does not affect the execution of dynamic script interpretation while running web browsers and is likely to be of success.
Everolimus plus early tacrolimus minimization: a phase III, randomized, open‐label, multicentre trial in renal transplantation

There is increasing interest in tacrolimus‐minimization regimens. ASSET was an open‐label, randomized, 12‐month study of everolimus plus tacrolimus in de‐novo renal‐transplant recipients. Everolimus trough targets were 3–8 ng/ml throughout the study. Tacrolimus trough targets were 4–7 ng/ml during the first 3 months and 1.5–3 ng/ml (n = 107) or 4–7 ng/ml (n = 117) from Month 4. All patients received basiliximab induction and corticosteroids. The primary objective was to demonstrate superior estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR; MDRD‐4) at Month 12 in the tacrolimus 1.5–3 ng/ml versus the 4–7 ng/ml group. Secondary endpoints included incidence of biopsy‐proven acute rejection (BPAR; Months 4–12) and serious adverse events (SAEs; Months 0–12). Statistical significance was not achieved for the primary endpoint (mean eGFR: 57.1 vs. 51.7 ml/min/1.73 m2), potentially due to overlapping of achieved tacrolimus exposure levels (Month 12 mean ± SD, tacrolimus 1.5–3 ng/ml: 3.4 ± 1.4; tacrolimus 4–7 ng/ml: 5.5 ± 2.0 ng/ml). BPAR (months 4–12) and SAE rates were comparable between groups (2.7% vs. 1.1% and 58.7% vs. 51.3%; respectively). Everolimus‐facilitated tacrolimus minimization, to levels lower than previously investigated, achieved good renal function, low BPAR and graft‐loss rates, and an acceptable safety profile in renal transplantation over 12 months although statistically superior renal function of the 1.5–3 ng/ml tacrolimus group was not achieved. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00369161) is registered at http://www.clinicaltrials. gov.
What motivates R&D professionals? Evidence from decentralized laboratories in Greece

The challenge for research and development (R&D) professionals management is to meet the corporate objectives for effectiveness, productivity and profitability with the needs of technical employees for motivation, reward and satisfaction. Despite the continuous upgrading of the strategic importance of knowledge and technology, human resource management paid little attention to the distinctive characteristics of those highly educated knowledge workers, especially in an international perspective. Based on a large-scale survey of multinational enterprises' (MNEs') decentralized R&D laboratories in Greece, this paper offers insights on the perceived impact of intrinsic and extrinsic compensation on performance. Focused on three distinctive types of research implemented by MNEs, results record the existence of a multifaceted context of researchers' needs and satisfaction determinants, which is differentiated among the different roles of R&D laboratories. Our findings witness that in an EU peripheral economy, R&D professionals are motivated by extrinsic rewards and mainly by economic compensation.
FROM CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS TO CREATIVE CAPITAL: VALUE CREATION AND APPROPRIATION STRATEGIES OF CREATIVE KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE BUSINESS SERVICES

In the increasingly knowledge-based economy, the role of the service sector, and in particular, of Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS), is widely acknowledged. KIBS are considered 'bridges of innovation'. Furthermore, in addition to this pivotal role in supporting the competitiveness and development of other firms, KIBS sectors are, per se, increasingly relevant in terms of economic dimensions and employment. Creative KIBS span architecture, advertising, multimedia and internet applications, branding, design agencies, etc and leverage creative processes and creative individuals. The importance of these firms is directly related to the increasingly acknowledged role of creativity and innovation for competitiveness. In fact, while some KIBS have grown to significant sizes in the creative sector (e.g., IDEO and Continuum Innovation), normally, these firms fail to grow and consist of only the founding professionals and a limited number of close collaborators. As argued by Florida and Goodnight (2005), the company's most important asset is its creative capital and this is not just a collection of individuals' ideas, but a product of interaction. This paper relies on a sample of eight Italian creative KIBS to analyse the value creation and appropriation strategies adopted by companies that were able to transform their creative capabilities from an individual asset to a company one (creative capital). On the basis of a theoretical framework that is derived from the literature and based on three pillars (Unique Assets Development, Unique Assets, and Unique Assets Value Appropriation), we identify several peculiar assets and strategies that are adopted by creative KIBS. Furthermore, we highlight the importance of Unique Asset Embodiment strategies, i.e., the importance of strategies for formalizing and codifying the unique assets in specific technologies, archives, processes, and even products. We show that these strategies allow (i) to extract more value from the already adopted value appropriation strategies and (ii) to adopt specific strategies of value appropriation.
Evaluating farmers' preferences for wastewater: quantity and quality aspects

This paper employs the Contingent Valuation (CV) method to investigate farmers' willingness to adopt a new water resource, namely treated wastewater, and to estimate their Willingness To Pay (WTP) for varying quantities and qualities of treated wastewater for irrigation. A pilot CV study is undertaken with 97 farmers located around Cyprus' Akrotiri aquifer, a common-pool water resource with rapidly deteriorating water quantity and quality. The results reveal that farmers are willing to adopt this new water resource, and they derive the highest economic values from a treated wastewater use programme, which provides high quality treated wastewater, and high water quantity in the aquifer.
Institutional destabilisation and the new public management: the case of tax incremental financing

With the goal of extending the New Public Management perspective by focusing on the play of vested interests and power, our study examines the active agency of a single company contracting with local and state governments to implement a Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) programme. Extending beyond the traditional focus of institutional theory on organisational conformity to institutionalised expectations, our analysis expands upon an emerging strand of research which argues that regulated organisations may manipulate the laws which govern them to serve their own ends. We find that even though the TIF programme was constructed in a relatively concrete manner with very little uncertainty as to its provisions, it was manipulated through strategic action on the part of the company regulated. What proved more interesting, however, was the social process by which stakeholders interpreted, negotiated and grudgingly came to agree on the meaning of this regulation.
CYP2A6 Genotype, Phenotype, and the Use of Nicotine Metabolites as Biomarkers during Ad libitum Smoking

CYP2A6 inactivates nicotine to cotinine and cotinine to 3-hydroxycotinine. We investigated which of plasma nicotine and metabolites were most related to CYP2A6 genotype and smoking levels. We assessed demographic and smoking histories in 152 Caucasian ad libitum smokers, measured breath carbon monoxide (CO) levels, and determined plasma nicotine, cotinine, and 3-hydroxycotinine by high-performance liquid chromatography and CYP2A6 genotypes by PCR. Cigarettes per day was most closely related to CO (r = 0.60, P < 0.001) followed by plasma cotinine (r = 0.53, P < 0.001), whereas plasma cotinine was most strongly correlated with CO levels (r = 0.74, P < 0.001), confirming that cotinine is a good indicator of smoking levels; this was not limited by CYP2A6 variants. 3-Hydroxycotinine/cotinine is reported to be a good marker of CYP2A6 activity, and we found that the 3-hydroxycotinine/(cotinine + nicotine) ratio was most correlated with CYP2A6 genotype (r = 0.38, P < 0.001). Inclusion of the CYP2A6*12A allele strengthened the correlation (r = 0.46, P < 0.001), suggesting that the identification of novel alleles will continue to improve this relationship. Nicotine metabolism is slower in smokers, and we have shown that CYP2A6 is reduced by nicotine treatment in monkeys. Here, we found that plasma nicotine levels were inversely correlated with CYP2A6 activity (3-hydroxycotinine/cotinine, r = −0.41, P < 0.001) among those without CYP2A6 variants, suggesting a reduction in metabolism with higher nicotine levels. Together, these findings (a) confirm the use of plasma cotinine and CO as indicators of Caucasians' smoking levels, and that this is not limited by CYP2A6 genetic variation; (b) indicate that 3-hydroxycotinine/cotinine and 3-hydroxycotinine/(cotinine + nicotine) are moderately good indicators of the CYP2A6 genotype; and (c) support that nicotine exposure may reduce its own metabolism. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(10):1812–9)
The Behaviour of the Real Exchange Rate: Evidence from an Alternative Price Index

Although the long-run purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis is expected to hold across tradable goods, all price indices available to researchers for testing the validity of PPP contain some proportion of non-tradable goods prices, which may generate substantial persistence in the real exchange rate. We construct time series for quarterly price indices that minimize the presence of non-tradable goods for six major economies. Applying recently developed nonlinear econometric techniques to the resulting five US dollar real exchange rate series for the recent floating exchange rate regime, we provide evidence that the nonlinear mean reverting properties of these real exchange rate series are stronger than the mean reverting properties of real exchange rate time series constructed using the consumer price index (CPI). In turn, these results have a natural economic interpretation. Copyright Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, 2003
Forecasting agricultural exports and imports in South Africa

The implementation of wide-ranging policy reforms, including trade and exchange rate policies, is improving the efficiency of the South African economy and its reintegration into the global economy with rapid export expansion. Agricultural exports in the Southern African Customs Union increased from R8.14 billion in 1995 to R23.0 billion in 2003, whilst agricultural imports rose from R6.83 billion to R13.84 billion during the same period. This article uses alternative approaches to forecasting agricultural exports and imports in South Africa. The models used include: exponential smoothing, autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), vector autoregression (VAR), Engle–Granger (EG) single-equation and vector error-correction models (VECM). We found that the ARIMA and EG methods outperform the VAR and VECM according to Theil's U-statistic. The VAR outperforms the VECM in forecasting agricultural exports in South Africa. The combined forecasts have a lower variance compared to individual forecasts, thereby, reducing the risks of making wrong decisions based on the forecasts. The article provides empirical evidence that is beneficial to policymakers and business leaders in South Africa as they strive to reduce poverty and inequality and increase economic growth.
Influence of gallium‐doped zinc‐oxide thickness on polymer light‐emitting diode luminescence efficiency

Conducting atomic force microscopy and scanning surface potential microscopy were used to study the local electrical properties of gallium‐doped zinc oxide (GZO) films prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on a polyimide (PI) substrate. For a PLD deposition process time of 8 min, the root‐mean‐square roughness, coverage percentage of the conducting regions, and mean work function on the GZO surface were 2.33 nm, 96.6%, and 4.82 eV, respectively. When the GZO/PI substrate was used for a polymer light‐emitting diode (PLED), the electroluminescence intensity increased by nearly 20% compared to a standard PLED, which was based on a commercial‐ITO/glass substrate. Microsc. Res. Tech. 76:783–787, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The solid–liquid interface free-energy of Pb: comparison of theory and experiments

The solid–liquid interface free-energy γsl is a key parameter controlling nucleation and growth during solidification and other phenomena. Different experimental techniques are available for its evaluation but results are often widely scattered and strongly depend on the technique used. One of the best examples in this sense is the case of elemental Pb, with values for γsl differing by as much as 150% between nucleation rate experiments and contact angle data. Even using simple many-body potentials, theoretical calculations of γsl can exceed this level of accuracy and thus be employed to assess the present experimental data. To this purpose, atomistic calculations are performed in conjunction with two different many-body potentials for Pb. These show good agreement with nucleation rate and depression of melting point experiments and support the case for a reassessment of the measurements reported from contact angle data. Possible sources of errors that might have affected these experiments are critically discussed, showing how the magnitude of the anisotropy in the interfacial free energies can be important in closing the gap between the different sets of experimental data.
Enhancing employee performance through ethical leadership, transformational leadership and organizational culture in development sector of Pakistan

The scale of work of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Pakistan has drastically increased in the last few years due to man-made and natural disasters. These disasters have brought huge funding into Pakistan for implementation of emergency, relief and rehabilitation projects implemented by Government, United Nations, Population Welfare Department, International and Local NGOs. Effective Implementation of these projects was not possible without transformational leaders that could promote ethical values within organizations and contribute for increasing employee performance through their supportive role. Researchers have focused on linkage of transformational leadership with ethical leadership. This study focused on how leadership qualities and organizational culture support employee performance. This study also analyzes how ethical leadership plays a mediating role between organizational culture and despotic leadership. In order to test the research hypotheses, this study used structural equation model (SEM) technique. Stratified random sampling was used and data were collected from 377 management staff of local and International NGOs working in Pakistan. The study has found positive and significant relationship among transformational leadership, organizational culture, ethical leadership and employee performance. The study further found negative relationship between ethical leadership and despotic leadership. The study findings are important for NGOs in promoting ethical values in organizations contributing to employee performance. Key words: Transformational leadership, organizational culture, ethical leadership, employee performance and despotic leadership.