Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Distance on Tourism in Hong Kong: A Comparison of Short Haul and Long Haul Visitors

This study reports on a pilot project examining the effect of distance on the profile and trip characteristics of vacation visitors to Hong Kong. Secondary data are used. The study reveals a clear long haul/short haul dichotomy in visitor profile and resultant behaviors in Hong Kong. Long haul tourists tend to be older, more affluent and view Hong Kong as a stop-over destination, whereas short haul visitors are younger, less affluent and see it as their main and only destination. The resultant socio-demographic and destination role differences translate into substantially different in-destination behavior patterns. The authors argue that these differences are, at least in part, a function of the discriminating effect that distance has on the ability of some people to travel to long haul destinations.
Generation of a constitutively active fragment of PKN in microglia/macrophages after middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats

PKN is a fatty acid‐ and Rho‐activated serine/threonine kinase, which has a catalytic domain highly homologous to that of protein kinase C (PKC). Recent studies have demonstrated that PKN is proteolytically cleaved after apoptotic stimulation and then a constitutively active 55‐kDa fragment is generated. However, the role of the 55‐kDa fragment are poorly understood. Adult Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats underwent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), and the temporal and spatial changes in the fragmentation of PKN and of PKC δ were examined by immunoblotting. No proteolytic fragment of PKC δ (about 40 kDa) was detected. The 55‐kDa fragment of PKN appeared transiently from 3 days after MCAO at the ipsilateral normal cortex. At the boundary zone of infarction, the 55‐kDa fragment was markedly induced from day 5 then peaked on day 21 and persisted until day 28. Analysis of anti‐phosphoserine immunoprecipitates with an anti‐PKN antibody revealed phosphorylation of the 55‐kDa band. Double staining for PKN and Ox42 was used to examine the source of the 55‐kDa fragment. PKN immunoreactivity was significantly increased in Ox42‐positive cells (microglia/hematogenous macrophages). No DNA laddering and only a few terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated dUTP nick end‐labeling (TUNEL)‐positive cells were observed on day 14 in despite of the high level appearance of the 55‐kDa band. These results suggest that the constitutively active 55‐kDa fragment of PKN does not contribute to apoptosis, but may contribute to a function of microglia/macrophages.
Promoting Innovation and the Deployment of Advanced Telecommunications Services to Businesses

"This paper examines the concomitant effects that competition, regulation, market characteristics, and corporate ownership have on the deployment of advanced telecommunications services (ATS) to business customers through the econometric analysis of a rich data set that identifies the competitive, regulatory, and economic climate for each incumbent's wire center in the United States. The authors conclude that local competition, inter-LATA (local access and transport area) approval by the Federal Communications Commission, and high unbundled network element price to embedded cost ratios have positive impacts on the deployment of ATS, while voluntary federal price cap regulation and location in a rural area have negative impacts. "("JEL "L51, O32, M21) Copyright (c) 2007 Western Economic Association International.
Option replication in discrete time with the cost of illiquidity

Abstract. We introduce a model of liquidity risk through a stochastic supply curve for price taking traders. The supply curve gives the actual execution cost investors face in trading assets. We use the solutions to the modified Black–Scholes type PDE and obtain the delta-hedging strategies. We then show the replicating portfolio including liquidity costs converges to the payoff of the option. We demonstrate the replication error of discrete-time trading strategy decreases with inhomogeneous rebalancing times, and investigate an optimal positioning of them.
The Light-Harvesting Chlorophyll a/b Binding Proteins Lhcb1 and Lhcb2 Play Complementary Roles during State Transitions in Arabidopsis[C][W][OPEN]

Arabidopsis lines lacking either light-harvesting complex (LHC) protein Lhcb1 or Lhcb2 were produced, revealing that Lhcb1 and Lhcb2 play different roles during state transitions and that both are necessary but neither is sufficient. Plant lacking Lhcb1 lacked most LHCII trimers but plants lacking Lhcb2 contained LHCII similar to the wild type but could not perform state transitions. Photosynthetic light harvesting in plants is regulated by phosphorylation-driven state transitions: functional redistributions of the major trimeric light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) to balance the relative excitation of photosystem I and photosystem II. State transitions are driven by reversible LHCII phosphorylation by the STN7 kinase and PPH1/TAP38 phosphatase. LHCII trimers are composed of Lhcb1, Lhcb2, and Lhcb3 proteins in various trimeric configurations. Here, we show that despite their nearly identical amino acid composition, the functional roles of Lhcb1 and Lhcb2 are different but complementary. Arabidopsis thaliana plants lacking only Lhcb2 contain thylakoid protein complexes similar to wild-type plants, where Lhcb2 has been replaced by Lhcb1. However, these do not perform state transitions, so phosphorylation of Lhcb2 seems to be a critical step. In contrast, plants lacking Lhcb1 had a more profound antenna remodeling due to a decrease in the amount of LHCII trimers influencing thylakoid membrane structure and, more indirectly, state transitions. Although state transitions are also found in green algae, the detailed architecture of the extant seed plant light-harvesting antenna can now be dated back to a time after the divergence of the bryophyte and spermatophyte lineages, but before the split of the angiosperm and gymnosperm lineages more than 300 million years ago.
The archaebacterial origin of eukaryotes

The origin of the eukaryotic genetic apparatus is thought to be central to understanding the evolution of the eukaryotic cell. Disagreement about the source of the relevant genes has spawned competing hypotheses for the origins of the eukaryote nuclear lineage. The iconic rooted 3-domains tree of life shows eukaryotes and archaebacteria as separate groups that share a common ancestor to the exclusion of eubacteria. By contrast, the eocyte hypothesis has eukaryotes originating within the archaebacteria and sharing a common ancestor with a particular group called the Crenarchaeota or eocytes. Here, we have investigated the relative support for each hypothesis from analysis of 53 genes spanning the 3 domains, including essential components of the eukaryotic nucleic acid replication, transcription, and translation apparatus. As an important component of our analysis, we investigated the fit between model and data with respect to composition. Compositional heterogeneity is a pervasive problem for reconstruction of ancient relationships, which, if ignored, can produce an incorrect tree with strong support. To mitigate its effects, we used phylogenetic models that allow for changing nucleotide or amino acid compositions over the tree and data. Our analyses favor a topology that supports the eocyte hypothesis rather than archaebacterial monophyly and the 3-domains tree of life.
The developmental origins of the mammalian ovarian reserve

The adult mammalian ovary is devoid of definitive germline stem cells. As such, female reproductive senescence largely results from the depletion of a finite ovarian follicle pool that is produced during embryonic development. Remarkably, the crucial nature and regulation of follicle assembly and survival during embryogenesis is just coming into focus. This developmental pathway involves the coordination of meiotic progression and the breakdown of germ cell cysts into individual oocytes housed within primordial follicles. Recent evidence also indicates that genetic and environmental factors can specifically perturb primordial follicle assembly. Here, we review the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which the mammalian ovarian reserve is established, highlighting the presence of a crucial checkpoint that allows survival of only the highest-quality oocytes. Summary: This Review discusses the importance of the formation and survival of the primordial follicle pool during fetal and neonatal periods for the long-term reproductive capacity of female mammals.
Surface-confined Ullmann coupling of thiophene substituted porphyrins

The covalent coupling of (5,10,15,20-tetrabromothien-2-ylporphyrinato)zinc(II) (TBrThP) molecules on the Ag(111) surface has been investigated under ultra-high-vacuum conditions, using scanning tunnelling microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The findings provide atomic-level insight into surface-confined Ullmann coupling of thiophene substituted porphyrins, analyzing the progression of organometallic intermediate to final coupled state. Adsorption of the TBrThP molecules on the Ag(111) surface at room temperature is found to result in the reductive dehalogenation of the bromothienyl substituents and the subsequent formation of single strand and crosslinked coordination networks. The coordinated substrate atoms bridge the proximal thienyl groups of the organometallic intermediate, while the cleaved bromine atoms are bound on the adjacent Ag(111) surface. The intermediate complex displays a thermal lability at ∼423 K that results in the dissociation of the proximal thienyl groups with the concomitant loss of the surface bound bromine. At the thermally induced dissociation of the intermediate complex the resultant thienylporphyrin derivatives covalently couple, leading to the formation of a polymeric network of thiophene linked and meso–meso fused porphyrins.
A Laboratory of Citizenship: Shifting Conceptions of Citizenship in Yugoslavia and its Successor States

This paper focuses on shifting conceptions of citizenship in Yugoslavia, from its establishment in 1918 to its disintegration in 1991, and in its successor states from early 1990s to the present. It analysis the history of Yugoslavia and its successor states as an instructive and rare example of how citizenship can be used for different and even opposing goals: as a tool of national integration in the first Yugoslavia (1918-1941), as a tool of socialist re-unification after the failure of the previous national integration and the ensuing inter-ethnic conflicts (1945 to the mid-1960s), as a tool of cooperation among nations and their republics in a socialist multinational (con)federation (beginning in the late 1960s and continuing until 1990), as a tool of fragmentation and dissolution (1990-1991) and, finally, of ethnic engineering in Yugoslavia’s successor state. It also shows that during the last decade citizenship was used both as a tool of reconciliation and of new divisions. It remains to be seen if the introduction of European citizenship, following the eventual EU integration of all of Yugoslavia’s successor states, will be yet another experiment in a century-old Balkan laboratory of citizenship.
Gender Differences in the Urban to Rural Wage Gap and the Prevalence of the Male Migrant

Using data from Kenya this paper estimates the rural to urban earnings gap separately for male and female migrants and then explores the influence of the gaps on the migration decision of each gender from rural to urban areas. A non-trivial finding suggests that despite relatively higher positive returns to urban earnings the urban to rural earnings gap appears to have no significant influence on female migration. The gap, however, seems to have a positive and significant influence on male migration, suggesting cultural values may frown upon females taking full advantage of relatively higher paying job opportunities in urban areas.
Ratio analysis of actual business performance of open investment funds in Serbia

The subject of this paper is to analyze the performance of open investment funds in Serbia in the period of 2007 to 2013. By applying Jensen's alpha, Sharper and Sortino ratio it was found that the performances of domestic investment funds are unsatisfactory. Review of investment funds operations is based on the returns they bring and the risks they accept in the business. In Serbia, the equity funds, as the most risky funds, started to operate in 2007, while cash funds (as the least risky funds) were introduced in later phase after 3 years. At the moment there are 16 open investment funds (on 02/28/13), where value growth and value maintenance funds dominate. A total net asset of open investment funds is 2,324 million Dinars i.e. 20 million Euros (at the end of 2012).
Technological Advances in the Hemostasis Laboratory

Abstract Automation is conventionally defined as the use of machines, control systems, and information technologies to optimize productivity. Although automation is now commonplace in several areas of diagnostic testing, especially in clinical chemistry and immunochemistry, the concept of extending this process to hemostasis testing has only recently been advanced. The leading drawbacks are still represented by the almost unique biological matrix because citrated plasma can only be used for clotting assays and few other notable exceptions, and by the highly specific pretreatment of samples, which is particularly distinct to other test systems. Despite these important limitations, a certain degree of automation is also now embracing hemostasis testing. The more relevant developments include the growing integration of routine hemostasis analyzers with track line systems and workcells, the development of specific instrumentation tools to enhance reliability of testing (i.e., signal detection with different technologies to increase test panels, plasma indices for preanalytical check of interfering substances, failure patterns sensors for identifying insufficient volume, clots or bubbles, cap-piercing for enhancing operator safety, automatic reflex testing, automatic redilution of samples, and laser barcode readers), preanalytical features (e.g., positive identification, automatic systems for tube(s) labeling, transillumination devices), and postphlebotomy tools (pneumatic tube systems for reducing turnaround time, sample transport boxes for ensuring stability of specimens, monitoring systems for identifying unsuitable conditions of transport). Regardless of these important innovations, coagulation/hemostasis testing still requires specific technical and clinical expertise, not only in terms of measurement procedures but also for interpreting and then appropriately utilizing the derived information. Thus, additional and special caution has to be used when designing projects of automation that include coagulation/hemostasis testing because peculiar and particular requirements must be taken into account.
The True Impact of Scientific Research on Industrial Technology? A Reassessment of IT Patent Citations

Economic research based on surveys, interviews, and case studies indicates that the linkage between science and industry is significant and growing in importance over time. Statistical analysis of patent-to-paper citations also strongly supports the notion of a growing science-technology linkage. However, this approach seems to suggest that the linkage is highly concentrated in the biotechnology, biomedical, and pharmaceutical domains, and comparatively weak everywhere else. This finding is not only inconsistent with previous research results, it is also difficult to reconcile with the widely held notion that the IT revolution, arguably the most significant development of our time, has grown, in no small part, thanks to important advances in IT-related scientific disciplines. This paper aims to address this apparent inconsistency. We argue that patent citations to papers in the IT industry are created in the context of a special structure of relationships between academic science and industrial R&D that gives rise to a chaining pattern in citations, which, in turn, obscures the true effect of science on technology. Our approach is inspired by a long-known phenomenon in the science bibliometrics literature called “Obliteration by Incorporation”, which explains how scientific contributions become embedded in the pool of accepted knowledge of a field, while their sources gradually become forgotten by the community. We verify our claim using patent citation data for a sizable portion of US patents granted between 1983-1999. The results provide a new outlook on the effect of scientific research on industrial technology. Based on this outlook, we can create a ranking of scientific research organizations in terms of the impact of their research on industrial R&D Acknowledgment: The author would like to thank Lee Branstetter, David Greenstreet, David Hounshell, Peter Messeri, Alfred Blumstein, Martin Gaynor, Rui Babptista, Francisco Lima, Serguey Braguinsky, Francisco Veloso, David Krackhardt, Guangwei Lee, Cristobal Cheyre, and many others for their helpful comments and continuing support throughout the process of preparing this draft.
Site-specific excision from RNA by RNase H and mixed-phosphate-backbone oligodeoxynucleotides.

Oligodeoxynucleotides containing phosphodiester or modified internucleoside linkages were investigated with respect to their ability to be acted on by ribonuclease H activities present in a HeLa cell nuclear extract after hybridization with complementary sequences in RNA. Oligodeoxynucleotides complementary to nucleotides 2-14 of human U1 small nuclear RNA were investigated. Extensive cleavage of U1 RNA was observed with the unmodified oligodeoxynucleotide and with the phosphorothioate analogue but not with U1-complementary oligodeoxynucleotides containing methylphosphonate, phosphoro-N-morpholidate, or phosphoro-N-butylamidate internucleoside linkages. Additional experiments using a 514-nucleotide-long RNA substrate demonstrated the capacity of complementary phosphodiester- and phosphorothioate-linked oligodeoxynucleotides (but not ones containing methylphosphonate, phosphoro-N-morpholidate, or phosphoro-N-butylamidate linkages) to serve as RNase H targets when hybridized to an internal RNA site. Detailed comparisons revealed phosphodiester-linked oligodeoxynucleotides to be more efficient than the comparable phosphorothioate-linked oligomers with respect to RNase H action. Various pentadecamer oligodeoxynucleotides complementary to the 514-nucleotide-long test RNA and containing 2-6 consecutive phosphodiester- or phosphorothioate-linked nucleotides flanked by RNase H-resistant methylphosphonate linkages afforded precise "site-directed" RNase H excision within the DNA.RNA hybrid. These results serve to assort modified oligodeoxynucleotide-containing hybrids into RNase H-sensitive and -resistant classes and also provide clues as to how RNase H makes contact with the DNA strand in a DNA.RNA hybrid.
Regulation of type I adenylyl cyclase by calmodulin kinase IV in vivo

Type I adenylyl cyclase is a neurospecific enzyme that is stimulated by Ca2+ and calmodulin (CaM). This enzyme couples the Ca2+ and cyclic AMP (cAMP) regulatory systems in neurons, and it may play an important role for some forms of synaptic plasticity. Mutant mice lacking type I adenylyl cyclase show deficiencies in spatial memory and altered long-term potentiation (Z. Wu, S. A. Thomas, Z. Xia, E. C. Villacres, R. D. Palmiter, and D. R. Storm, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92:220-224, 1995). Although type I adenylyl cyclase is synergistically stimulated by Ca2+ and G-protein-coupled receptors in vivo, very little is known about mechanisms for inhibition of the enzyme. Here, we report that type I adenylyl cyclase is inhibited by CaM kinase IV in vivo. Expression of constitutively active or wild-type CaM kinase IV inhibited Ca2+ stimulation of adenylyl cyclase activity without affecting basal or forskolin-stimulated activity. Type I adenylyl cyclase has two CaM kinase IV consensus phosphorylation sequences near its CaM binding domain at Ser-545 and Ser-552. Conversion of either serine to alanine by mutagenesis abolished CaM kinase IV inhibition of adenylyl cyclase. This suggests that the activity of this enzyme may be directly inhibited by CaM kinase IV phosphorylation. Type VIII adenylyl cyclase, another enzyme stimulated by CaM, was not inhibited by CaM kinase II or IV. We propose that CaM kinase IV may function as a negative feedback regulator of type I adenylyl cyclase and that CaM kinases may regulate cAMP levels in some cells.
Recurrent lupus nephritis after kidney transplantation: a surveillance biopsy study

Objectives To determine the incidence of recurrent lupus nephritis (LN) in renal transplant recipients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods All patients with SLE that had undergone transplant with a functioning graft were asked in 2008 to participate in a cross-sectional study. The study included a standardised clinical examination, laboratory tests and a biopsy of the transplanted kidney. Results A total of 41 (93%) of a cohort of 44 patients with SLE with renal transplants participated. Of the biopsies, 3 were indication biopsies and 38 were surveillance biopsies. In all, 22 patients (54%) had biopsy-proven recurrence of LN. The majority of the cases were subclinical and characterised as class I/class II LN. Proteinuria (mg protein/mmol creatinine) was significantly increased in patients with recurrence, 70.6 (104.9) mg/mmol versus 11.9 (6.7) mg/mmol in patients without recurrence (p=0.038). Lupus anticoagulant was found more frequently in the patients with recurrence, nine versus two patients (p=0.033). Recurrence of LN was associated with receiving a kidney from a living donor (p=0.049). In all, 83% (34 of 41) had chronic allograft nephropathy in the transplanted kidneys with no difference between patients with recurrence or without. Conclusions Subclinical recurrence of LN is common in patients with renal transplants with SLE. The majority of the patients have chronic allograft nephropathy.
Stochastic Production Frontier: Framework and Development

This paper explores the framework and development of stochastic frontier Approach (SFA). The original idea of the SFA and its theoretical framework is discussed to provide a basic foundation of the approach. The development of SFA with more flexible distribution assumptions follows the pioneering model. Experts also develop the time-variant technical efficiency models, in order to allow variation between times for a production unit. The most recent development is the panel data SFA, which includes the two-stage and the one-stage procedures.
Patterns of party switching in the Italian Chamber of Deputies 2008-2011

Party switching has been defined as an «umbrella label for any recorded change in party affiliation on the part of a politician holding [. ] elective office» (Heller and Mershon 2009, 10). Although party switching is not a widespread phenomenon in legislatures, it has recently become the object of an expanding literature within political science. The literature has emphasized «normative, theoretical and substantial implications» of party switching (Heller and Mershon 2009, 4) insofar as party switching (a) deals with accountability, responsibility and representation, (b) provides new and powerful leverage on party discipline and on the dynamics of party systems, (c) matters because, at least potentially, it alters policy bargaining in the legislature and even government composition. Data show that in the last two decades party switching occurred both in new democracies or weakly institutionalized party systems such as Brazil, Russia, Poland and Ukraine and in established democracies facing institutional changes and electoral realignment such as Italy and Japan1.