Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antigenic Variants of Influenza B Virus

From 1967 to 1971 little antigenic variation was detected in the prevalent influenza B viruses but in December 1972 a new antigenic variant of influenza B was isolated in Hong Kong from sporadic cases of influenza. The new variant, B/Hong Kong/5/72, possessed a haemagglutinin antigen which showed considerable antigenic differences from that of former influenza B strains while its neuraminidase antigen was closely related to that of the earlier, 1967-71, isolates. The B/Hong Kong/5/72 variant became the predominant influenza B strain in the United Kingdom by early summer 1973, and in both the United Kingdom and Japan this strain was associated with outbreaks of influenza. Strains antigenically intermediate between the 1967-71 isolates and B/Hong Kong/5/72 were isolated in a number of countries, often concurrently with B/Hong Kong/5/72-like strains. Serological studies indicated that antibody to B/Hong Kong/5/72 was infrequent in the populations in the United Kingdom and the U.S.A. , suggesting the possibility of future epidemic activity associated with the new variant. In addition, conventional inactivated influenza vaccines containing the older influenza B isolates given to volunteers stimulated poor antibody responses to B/Hong Kong/5/72 virus. These studies indicate the desirability of immunizing high risk patients against B/Hong Kong/5/72-like viruses before the coming influenza season. Vaccine containing the new variant influenza B strain are currently available in the United Kingdom.
Regional environmental planning: Progress and possibilities in Western Europe

Abstract The challenge of environmental thinking is putting extreme stresses on the imagination and techniques of planners, at least in those European countries where ecological issues are being taken seriously. Generally, city or regional planners, and academics as well, are only at the beginning of a necessarily rapid learning curve. It is argued here that a spatial planning approach to guiding environmental change could usefully complement other sectoral or financial instruments, particularly if focused at regional levels. Important dimensions of different approaches are analyzed, including the political economic model, the degree of development and wealth (north‐south variation) and the institutional framework in each country. The progress made so far is examined in case studies of the Netherlands, England and Catalonia. It is suggested that some aspects of the Dutch approach could form a useful basis, if suitably adapted, for regional planning elsewhere. But, above all, much more fundamental thinking.
Routing Attacks and Solutions in Mobile Ad hoc Networks

On the basis of introducing the basic conception of mobile ad hoc network, this paper discusses some types of possible security threats to its routing protocols. A security routing mechanism based on common neighbor listening is proposed. In this mechanism, the trustvalue and trustthreshold are defined to evaluate a node's credit standing and judge whether a node is a malicious node or not. The common neighbor which holds the biggest trustvalue is chosen to listen to the network. The mechanism can react quickly and effectively protect the network from kinds of attacks when some malicious nodes occur in the ad hoc network. Once the route is destroyed by malicious node, common neighbor will search another route to the destination during a route discovery phase. The mechanism can reinforce the security of on-demand protocols such as AODV (ad hoc on-demand distance vector) and DSR (dynamic source routing). The performance of common neighbor listening mechanism in AODV is justified by computer simulation.
Near-optimal distributed power control for ARQ based multihop links with decoding costs

In this paper, we consider automatic repeat request based multihop communication between a source and a destination. We present the design of near-optimal power control policies which minimize the packet drop probability (PDP), when the energy cost to receive and decode a packet is non-negligible. The design problem is a nonconvex mixed integer nonlinear program, which, in general, is NP-hard to solve. We transform the problem into a complementary geometric program (CGP), and solve the CGP using a series of GP approximations. Simulations show that for slow (fast) fading channels, the obtained policy offers approximately one (two) orders of magnitude better performance compared to a conventional equal power policy. In addition, the results quantify the relative impact of the available power at the nodes and the effect of decoding cost on the PDP.
Does the source of financing matter? Financial markets, financial intermediaries and investment in India

This paper extends the literature on finance and investment by examining the source of finance constraints on the firm's investment decisions. Using a panel of 714 Indian manufacturing firms for the period 1993-98, we find that the degree of 'finance constraint' differs significantly across external suppliers of funds with investments being most sensitive to borrowings from development finance institutions (DFIs) and considerably less sensitive to funds from capital markets and commercial banks. Capital markets and commercial banks seem to use outward orientation as a signal of the firm's ability to succeed whereas DFIs do not seem to have adopted such a criterion. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Value Systems, Strategies and the Performance of Small and Medium-Sized Firms

Ingolf Bamber is Professor of Management and Director of the Department "Strategie & Structures" of the Institut de Gestion de Rennes, University of Rennes, France. He is the initiator and co-ordinator of an international research project on "the value systems of small and medium-sized firms' managers and their impact on the strategic behaviour and the performance of their firms". Research teams from 7 European countries are participating in the empirical investigation whose pretest is in progress. The article describes the theoretical and methodological bases of the project. It treats, especially, the possibilities and the problems of measurement of values, objectives and strategies, gives an overview on empirical studies in the field of SME and describes the research design, the methodology chosen as well as the fundamental hypotheses of the project.
Technical and cost efficiency of rural household apple production

Purpose – At the center of apple production province in China, how to increase apple per unit yield and to improve apple production efficiency in Shaanxi become big issues. The objectives of this paper are to investigate the technical efficiency (TE) and cost efficiency (CE) of apple orchard and to analyse determinants which affect apple production efficiency. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This paper conducts a two-stage DEA to achieve the objectives. In the first-stage, a cost minimization model is applied to measure apple production efficiency. Then, a Tobit model is provided to estimate regression coefficients which are used to adjust the efficiency scores in the first-stage. Findings – The results indicate that TE and CE are rather low in Shaanxi. The research also explores that the inefficient production of apple farmers is caused mainly by two aspects. One is the inefficient apple orchards operation of farmers. The other is the disadvantageous environmental conditions which heavily affect apple growth and fruit bearing situation. Originality/value – Most of the research are based on national statistical data, and only measure the TE. This paper primarily focuses on the estimation of efficiency scores with the data involved in both quantity and price information of traditional inputs and outputs based on 255 apple farmers in Shaanxi. Specifically, This paper also consider farmer's opportunity cost to which little literature refers. The results not only reveal the efficient determinants of apple production, but also provide suggestions for agricultural policy makers.
Combining work and family life: the pension penalty of caring

This paper uses work and caring history information from the British Family and Working Lives Survey (1994/5) to examine the provision of family care and its impact upon the employment and the subsequent state and private pension entitlement among mid-life men and women. Combining paid employment with care-giving was not an option for a significant minority of women with caring responsibilities in mid-life. One-in-five mid-life women who have ever had caring responsibilities reported that, upon starting caring, they stopped work altogether, and another one-in-five reported that they worked fewer hours, earned less money or could only work restricted hours. Fewer men and women who stopped work as a result of caring were members of an occupational pension scheme than other groups; and they had accumulated fewer years of contributions than their counterparts who continued working, with direct implications for their level of pension income in later life. The extension of employers' schemes to help workers balance paid work and family responsibilities would facilitate more carers remaining in the labour market, as would an explicit carers' dimension within the new ‘Working Tax Credit’. Consideration should also be given to extending credits for second tier pensions to working carers who provide care for over 16 hours a week and who earn below the lower earnings limit. This will ensure that carers who juggle low paid work and care are not penalised for working, and that their unpaid contribution to society is recognised.
Cloning and Expression of the Gene for the Na+-Coupled Serine Transporter from Escherichia coli and Characteristics of the Transporter

ABSTRACT We cloned a gene (sstT) for the Na+/serine symporter from the chromosome of Escherichia coli by using a low-copy-number vector and sequenced it. According to the deduced amino acid sequence, the transporter (SstT) consists of 414 amino acid residues. Hydropathy analysis suggested that the SstT protein possesses 9, instead of 12, hydrophobic domains.
Global Energy and C02 to the Year 2050

One of the important by-products of the combustion of fossil fuels is carbon dioxide (C02), a nontoxic, colorless gas with a faintly pungent odor and acid taste. Carbon dioxide is not commonly thought of as a pollutant. Rather, COs plays an important role in the determination of the global climate. The presence of C02 in the atmosphere produces a "greenhouse effect," allowing incoming sunlight to penetrate but trapping heat radiated back from earth. Man's ability to significantly affect COs levels through use of fossil fuel gives rise to the possibility of climate change at unprecedented rates.
An evaluation of ISOCLS and CLASSY clustering algorithms for forest classification in northern Idaho. [Elk River quadrange of the Clearwater National Forest]

Both the iterative self-organizing clustering system (ISOCLS) and the CLASSY algorithms were applied to forest and nonforest classes for one 1:24,000 quadrangle map of northern Idaho and the classification and mapping accuracies were evaluated with 1:30,000 color infrared aerial photography. Confusion matrices for the two clustering algorithms were generated and studied to determine which is most applicable to forest and rangeland inventories in future projects. In an unsupervised mode, ISOCLS requires many trial-and-error runs to find the proper parameters to separate desired information classes. CLASSY tells more in a single run concerning the classes that can be separated, shows more promise for forest stratification than ISOCLS, and shows more promise for consistency. One major drawback to CLASSY is that important forest and range classes that are smaller than a minimum cluster size will be combined with other classes. The algorithm requires so much computer storage that only data sets as small as a quadrangle can be used at one time.
Carafe: an inductive fault analysis tool for CMOS VLSI circuits

Traditional fault models for testing CMOS VLSI circuits do not take into account the actual mechanisms that precipitate faults in CMOS circuits. As a result, tests based on traditional fault models may not detect all the faults that occur in the circuit. This paper discusses the Carafe software package which determines which faults are likely to occur in a circuit based on the circuit's physical design, defect parameters, and fabrication technology. <<ETX>>
The Effects of Public Service Motivation on Collaborative Behavior: Evidence from Three Experimental Games

ABSTRACT Although research on the antecedents of collaboration is vast, no study has examined the effects of public service motivation (PSM). The current study relates PSM to decisions on whether or not to collaborate, while controlling for the Big Six personality traits. Empirical evidence is gathered by means of an experimental design based on three different prisoner's dilemma games. Results indicate that PSM affects collaboration when the individual decides to collaborate or not as a first mover, before knowing what the counterpart decides, and as a second player provided that the counterpart has decided not to collaborate.
Estradiol regulates effects of hindbrain activator 5‐aminoimidazole‐4‐carboxamide‐riboside administration on hypothalamic adenosine 5′‐monophosphate‐activated protein kinase activity and metabolic neurotransmitter mRNA and protein expression

Hindbrain adenosine 5′‐monophosphate‐activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation alters hypothalamic neuronal genomic activity in an estradiol (E)‐dependent manner. This study examines the premise that E regulates metabolic effector neuron reactivity to hindbrain AMPK. Paraventricular (PVH), arcuate (ARH), and ventromedial (VMH) nuclei were micropunched from brains of E‐ or oil (O)‐implanted ovariectomized female rats that had been injected, into the fourth ventricle, with the AMPK activator 5‐aminoimidazole‐4‐carboxamide‐riboside (AICAR; A) or saline (S) and analyzed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting for neurotransmitter mRNA and protein expression. PVH corticotrophin‐releasing hormone gene and protein profiles were decreased in O/A and E/A animals. ARH pro‐opiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA and protein were both elevated in O/A but were diminished or unchanged, respectively, in E/A animals; ARH neuropeptide Y (NPY) transcription was inhibited in O/A and E/A animals, but neuropeptide content was augmented in E/A only. VMH SF‐1 mRNA and protein were reduced in O and E animals. AICAR did not alter AMPK protein in any structure but elevated PVH (↑E), did not alter ARH, and decreased VMH (↓O,↓E) pAMPK. Results demonstrate hypothalamic metabolic neurotransmitter and AMPK reactivity to hindbrain AMPK activation, including E‐dependent adjustments in POMC and NPY transcription and protein expression. Dissimilar POMC (↑O vs. ↔E) and NPY (↓O vs. ↑E) neuropeptide responses to caudal fourth ventricle AICAR indicate E regulation of hindbrain AMPK signaling and/or target receptivity, implying that ARH‐controlled metabolic responses may differ in the presence vs. absence of E. Evidence for variable changes in hypothalamic AMPK activity resulting from hindbrain sensor manipulation suggests that individual (or region‐based groups of) AMPK‐expressing neuron populations are uniquely impacted by hindbrain AMPK. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Use of a real-time PCR to explore the intensity of Plasmodium spp. infections in native, endemic and introduced New Zealand birds

SUMMARY Avian malaria, caused by Plasmodium spp. , is an emerging disease in New Zealand (NZ). To detect Plasmodium spp. infection and quantify parasite load in NZ birds, a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (qPCR) protocol was used and compared with a nested PCR (nPCR) assay. A total of 202 blood samples from 14 bird species with known nPCR results were tested. The qPCR prevalences for introduced, native and endemic species groups were 70, 11 and 21%, respectively, with a sensitivity and specificity of 96·7 and 98%, respectively, for the qPCR, while a sensitivity and specificity of 80·9 and 85·4% were determined for the nPCR. The qPCR appeared to be more sensitive in detecting lower levels of parasitaemia. The mean parasite load was significantly higher in introduced bird species (2245 parasites per 10 000 erythrocytes) compared with endemic species (31·5 parasites per 10 000 erythrocytes). In NZ robins (Petroica longipes), a significantly lower packed cell volume was found in birds that were positive for Plasmodium spp. compared with birds that were negative. Our data suggest that introduced bird species, such as blackbirds (Turdus merula), have a higher tolerance for circulating parasite stages of Plasmodium spp. , indicating that introduced species are an important reservoir of avian malaria due to a high infection prevalence and parasite load.
Governance Alternatives and Pricing in the U.S. Electric Power Industry

Alternative governance mechanisms can be expected to result in differences in enterprise performance. This research analyzes the prices charged by U.S. electric utilities using a comprehensive pricing model and a large and detailed dataset that controls for enterprise costs and subsidies. It finds that public ownership is associated with significantly lower prices than with privately owned utilities, most likely because the latter are subject to regulation. Also associated with lower prices are elected commissioners (rather than those appointed by state governors), commissions with fewer members, and utilities whose governing bodies hold open meetings--all characteristics that imply more direct consumer influence on the price-determination process. Among customer groups, residential users are the biggest beneficiaries of public ownership, while industrial users appear to have more influence with elected state regulatory commissions. These findings are reconciled with theory and help explain the sometimes ambiguous results of previous studies. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.
Polymorphism of major histocompatibility complex class I alpha cDNA and resistance against streptococcosis of six strains of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus Linnaeus).

The partial cDNA encoding major histocompatibility complex class I alpha (MHC class Iα) gene was obtained from a cDNA library of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) spleen. 5′ RACE was then conducted to get the full-length of MHC class Iα cDNA. Sequence analysis revealed that this cDNA consisted of 2,131 bp including a 1,071 bp open reading frame with 5′ untranslated and 3′ untranslated regions (UTR) of 128 bp and 932 bp respectively. The highly polymorphic characteristic of the MHC class Iα gene in six different strains of Nile tilapia (ST1-ST6) was evident. At least 15 different alleles were observed when the specific primers were used to amplify nucleotide sequences of the α1 and α2 domains. Additionally, resistance against streptococcosis of these strains was compared by intraperitoneal injection with viable Streptococcus agalactiae. The results revealed that the ST1 strain showed a significantly higher survival rate than the other five strains (ST2-ST6) with 100±0.0% survival after seven days of injection (P<0.05), while the others had 86.67±5.77, 73.33±5.77, 70.00±0.00, 60.00±0.00 and 43.43±5.77% survival, respectively. Some hematological and immunological parameters were also compared. The findings provide useful information for further investigation to select diseaseresistant strains of Nile tilapia using MHC class Iα as the molecular marker.
Ethical networks or networking ethics: a qualitative case study

In recent years there has been a discernible increase in the use of principles centred on corporate social responsibility and/or ethics in the business market. However, there exists some confusion regarding why this is carried out and the actual value of proclaiming the sustainability of a company. I anticipate that firms strategically position themselves in the marketplace and among their stakeholders by the official writing down and marketing of such principles in a code. The use of ethics codes within an industrial Finnish business network is investigated.
Background values in European soils and sewage sludges

This report summarises the conclusions of two independent, JRC coordinated studies concerning background values of relevant organic micro-pollutants in sewage sludges as well as background values of some trace elements and organic matter in (uncontaminated) soils, in view of a revision of the Sewage Sludge Directive /278/EEC. The first study, which was conducted by DIN e.V. (R. Leschber) and the second study, which was conducted by BGR (J. Utermann, O. Duwel, I. Nagel), were presented and discussed during two JRC workshop sessions 15-16 April 2004. ), done in close collaboration with DG ENV. Attendees of these events were invited via the official channels involving the Environmental Departments and Authorities of the Member States. Numerous additional comments were received and the draft versions of the aforementioned reports were adopted accordingly. In the following, the conclusions of the JRC concerning the main findings of the two studies as well as recommendations and observations are presented. It has to be stressed that these recommendations and observations are not necessarily those of the authors of the respective studies. The mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national. LB – N C – 2265– EN C
An Easily Testable Routing Architecture and Prototype Chip

Generally, a programmable LSI such as an FPGA is difficult to test compared to an ASIC. There are two major reasons for this. The first is that an automatic test pattern generator (ATPG) cannot be used because of the programmability of the FPGA. The other reason is that the FPGA architecture is very complex. In this paper, we propose a new FPGA architecture that will simplify the testing of the device. The base of our architecture is general island-style FPGA architecture, but it consists of a few types of circuit blocks and orderly wire connections. This paper also presents efficient test configurations for our proposed architecture. We evaluated our architecture and test configurations using a prototype chip. As a result, the chip was fully tested using our configurations in a short test time. Moreover, our architecture can provide comparable performance to a conventional FPGA architecture.