Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gelatin microspheres crosslinked with genipin for local delivery of growth factors

A main challenge in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine is achieving local and efficient growth factor release to guide cell function. Gelatin is a denatured form of collagen that cells can bind to and degrade through enzymatic action. In this study, gelatin microspheres were used to release bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2). Spherical microparticles with diameters in the range of 2–6 µm were created by an emulsification process and were stabilized by crosslinking with the small molecule genipin. The degree of crosslinking was varied by controlling the incubation time in genipin solution. Loading rate studies, using soy bean trypsin inhibitor as a model protein, showed rapid protein uptake over the first 24 h, followed by a levelling off and then a further increase after approximately 3 days, as the microspheres swelled. Growth factor release studies using microspheres crosslinked to 20%, 50% and 80% of saturation and then loaded with BMP2 showed that higher degrees of crosslinking resulted in higher loading efficiency and slower protein release. After 24 h, the concentration profiles produced by all microsphere formulations were steady and approximately equal. Microspheres incubated with adult human mesenchymal stem cells accumulated preferentially on the cell surface, and degraded over time in culture. BMP2‐loaded microspheres caused a three‐ to eight‐fold increase in expression of the bone sialoprotein gene after 14 days in culture, with more crosslinked beads producing a greater effect. These results demonstrate that genipin‐crosslinked gelatin microspheres can be used to deliver growth factors locally to cells in order to direct their function. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Threshold Effect of Budget Deficits on Economic Growth in Ghana: An Empirical Analysis

Fiscal policies in Ghana have consistently resulted in high deficits accompanied by low and uneven economic growth path for a long period of time. In this study, the author examines the threshold effect of budget deficit on economic growth in the Ghanaian case, using quarterly data from 2000–2012. The study found an inverse long run relationship between budget deficit and economic growth, especially as the deficits have often been used to finance recurrent expenditures, suggesting that high budget deficit, driven by recurrent expenditures, slows down economic growth. In the short run, however, the author found the budget deficit to promote economic growth, but a deficit beyond the threshold level of 4% of GDP was found to be detrimental to economic growth. This result was robust and supports the West African Monetary Zone’s (WAMZ) primary fiscal convergence criterion. The study therefore noted that fiscal restraint to the level below the threshold would both stimulate a sustainable economic growth and overall stability in Ghana.
Treatment of Patients with Microangiopathic Haemolytic Anaemia with Heparin

The response of three children and four adult women with microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia to treatment with heparin is described. The one child and three adults treated within 10 days of the onset of the illness recovered rapidly and completely from their anaemia, thrombocytopenia and uraemia. The two children and one adult treated between 18 and 31 days after the onset of the illness responded less well. The two children who were given small doses of heparin died from complications of the renal microangiopathy despite improvement in the haemolysis and thrombocytopenia. The adult woman made a slow and partial recovery; the haemolysis and thrombocytopenia improved, but renal function did not return to normal.
The Perception of Pathologically-disordered Phonation by Gujarati, English, and Spanish Listeners

This study investigates the influence of linguistic experience on the perception of pathologically-disordered voices using 18 listeners of American English, which has allophonic breathiness, 12 listeners of Gujarati, which contrasts breathy and modal vowels, and 18 listeners of Spanish, which has neither allophonic nor phonemic breathiness. Listeners rated the similarity of pairs of pathologically-disordered voices. Multidimensional scaling was used to determine the properties that were most correlated with perception for each listener group. Results showed that Gujaratis’ perception was correlated with the difference between the amplitude of the first (H1*) and second (H2*) harmonic (H1*-H2*), which is associated with the production of phonation in Gujarati. English listeners’ judgments were correlated with the measure H1*-H2* and cepstral peak prominence, and Spanish listeners’ judgments were correlated with H1*-H2 and H1*-A1* (the amplitude of the principal harmonic near the first formant). When compared to Esposito (2006), which asked the same listeners to rate the similarity of breathy and modal vowels from Mazatec, results showed that Gujarati listeners classified the pathologically-disordered stimuli in the same way that they classified the Mazatec stimuli, while English and Spanish listeners perceived the pathologically-disordered stimuli and the Mazatec stimuli in slightly different ways.
A real-time updating algorithm of RTS-CTS threshold to enhance EDCA MAC performance in IEEE 802.11e wireless LANs

In this paper, considering the dynamic use of the RTS and CTS frame exchange, a real-time algorithm updating the RTS-CTS threshold dynamically according to the number of transmission attempts and the number of STAs in the BSS is proposed to give the maximum MAC throughput of IEEE 802.11e wireless LANs supporting the EDCA MAC protocol. Numerical examples are presented to show that the proposed algorithm enhances the EDCA MAC throughput of IEEE 802.11e wireless LANs when the length of data frames is variable, based on the experimental statistics.
Immunostimulatory RNA Blocks Suppression by Regulatory T Cells

The role of immune suppression by regulatory T (Treg) cells in the maintenance of immune homeostasis is well established. However, little is known about how Treg cell function is inhibited on viral infection to allow the development of a protective immune response. As viral RNA is a crucial mediator for activation of antiviral immunity, we examined the effects of immunostimulatory RNA and infection with RNA viruses on Treg cell function. We show that synthetic RNA oligonucleotides potently inhibit Treg cell-induced suppression in a sequence-dependent manner. This effect is entirely dependent on TLR7 activation of APCs and subsequent IL-6 production. In addition, stimulation with the RNA viruses encephalomyocarditis virus and Sendai virus that specifically activate the RNA-sensing helicases melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 (MDA-5) and retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) also blocks Treg cell function. Interestingly, this effect is seen even in the absence of APCs. Consistent with this, both Treg and T effector cells express RIG-I and MDA-5. Using MDA-5–deficient mice, we demonstrate that the loss of Treg cell function on infection with encephalomyocarditis virus is strictly dependent on MDA-5 expression by Treg cells. Thus, we show in this study for the first time that activation of a RIG-I–like helicase on Treg cells blocks their suppressive function.
In vivo endoscopic tissue diagnostics based on spectroscopic absorption, scattering, and phase function properties.

A fast spectroscopic system for superficial and local determination of the absorption and scattering properties of tissue (480 to 950 nm) is described. The probe can be used in the working channel of an endoscope. The scattering properties include the reduced scattering coefficient and a parameter of the phase function called gamma, which depends on its first two moments. The inverse problem algorithm is based on the fit of absolute reflectance measurements to cubic B-spline functions derived from the interpolation of a set of Monte Carlo simulations. The algorithm's robustness was tested with simulations altered with various amounts of noise. The method was also assessed on tissue phantoms of known optical properties. Finally, clinical measurements performed endoscopically in vivo in the stomach of human subjects are presented. The absorption and scattering properties were found to be significantly different in the antrum and in the fundus and are correlated with histopathologic observations. The method and the instrument show promise for noninvasive tissue diagnostics of various epithelia.
Multipurpose Color Image Watermarking

A novel approach for color image watermarking is proposed in this communication. The aim of the work is to combine robust and fragile watermarking in order to construct a multipurpose watermarking scheme. Watermarking methods are com- plementing each other such that under any circumstance at least one of them may survive and prove the identity of the owner or the authenticity of the image content. A robust watermark is embedded into the frequency domain; the watermark is made adaptive to the cover image. A semi-fragile watermark is embedded into the spatial domain of the color image. Authentication is achieved by means of embedding an approximation of the image into itself. Specifically, the luminance of the image is inserted into the three color channels, using a mapping function. For image copyright protection, higher robustness can be achieved whereas for image authentication tampered regions can be detected and reconstructed. Both of the goals are accomplished in an oblivious manner. Experimental verifications indicate that the proposed unified image watermarking is an appropriate choice.
Social Security, Unanticipated Benefit Increases, and the Timing of Retirement

Between 1969 and 1972, real U.S. social security retirement benefits rose by 20%. The rise was unanticipated and followed over 15 years of relatively constant real benefits. This paper proposes a model of retirement behaviour in which workers respond differently, although in a theoretically consistent manner, to the anticipated and unanticipated components of the social security benefit they can receive upon retirement. The retirement age decision in the presence of unanticipated benefit changes is shown to be a special case of utility maximization under a nonlinear budget constraint. The model is estimated using the Longitudinal Retirement History Survey.
Poverty and Proximity to Food Assistance Programs are Inversely Related to Community Food Security in an Appalachian Ohio Region

This study was conducted to explore indicators of community food security of the largest areas of census in the south east Appalachian counties of Ohio. A survey of 80 cities, towns, and townships in the south east Appalachian counties of Ohio (1 metropolitan and 7 rural counties) for 38 indicators of community food security (general community characteristics, community food resources, community resource accessibility, community food production) was conducted. Each area of census was ranked using principal components factor analysis to determine overall community food security status. Spearman's rank correlation was used to determine the relationship of each indicator with the final community food security ranking. Community food security was significantly related to poverty rate and other factors related to available resources, including income and transportation, and proximity of food and nutrition assistance programs. This study enhances our understanding of community food security in Appalachian Ohio, including barriers to increased community food security, and can be used to enhance existing and implement new policies and programs related to improving community food security. This study provides a model for the evaluation of community food security in regions across the United States.
EDUCATION EXPANSION AND THE PRIVATE RETURNS ON A UNIVERSITY DEGREE

At the time of this article dramatic changes had occurred in the full time full year workforce in Australia during the two to three decades prior. Many of these changes were charted and showed that relative to population growth there had been a drop in full time employment between the mid 1960s and the beginning of the 1990s. However, whilst full time employment opportunities for females more or less kept pace with the increase in the population, those for males fell by 25 per cent. There were also dramatic compositional changes in full time employment with university graduates taking the lion's share of the expansion of employment over this period. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact these changes have had upon the private rates of return on university degrees.
An iron-antagonized fungistatic agent that is not required for iron assimilation from a fluorescent rhizosphere pseudomonad

Fluorescent rhizosphere Pseudomonas sp. strain NZ130 promotes plant growth, and may do so in part because of its production of a growth inhibitory factor that is active against phytopathogenic fungi. Analysis of the inhibitory factor that is active against the phytopathogen Pythium ultimum showed that its activity is antagonized at iron concentrations above 10 microM. The iron-antagonized inhibitor was separated from the fluorescent siderophore of this pseudomonad by gel filtration. Mutants that lacked either the iron-antagonized inhibitor or the fluorescent siderophore were isolated. Results of complementation analysis of these mutants by use of a cosmid library indicated that distinct DNA sequences are required for the production of each factor. Analysis of isogenic mutant strains showed that the genetic requirements for the production of the iron-antagonized inhibitor and the fluorescent siderophore are different, and that only the fluorescent siderophore is required for iron assimilation. Fusions of these same sequences to a beta-galactosidase gene were used to show that the regions required for the production of both the fluorescent siderophore and the iron-antagonized inhibitor were iron-regulated.
The position of the AUG start codon in MFG‐based γ‐retroviral vectors has a dramatic effect on translation‐dependent protein expression

In the past three decades, much advancement has been made in γ‐retroviral vector mediated gene transfer. One widely used vector design is based on the MFG vector, which uses the Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV) transcriptional unit with extended packaging signals and insertion of the native MoMLV envelope splice acceptor region immediate 5′ to the gene of interest inserted at an NcoI restriction site, which contains a translation start codon. Little is known about the impact of variations in start codon location within MFG‐based vectors on protein expression.
Land use patterns and related carbon losses following deforestation in South America

Land use change in South America, mainly deforestation, is a large source of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Identifying and addressing the causes or drivers of anthropogenic forest change is considered crucial for global climate change mitigation. Few countries however, monitor deforestation drivers in a systematic manner. National-level quantitative spatially explicit information on drivers is often lacking. This study quantifies proximate drivers of deforestation and related carbon losses in South America based on remote sensing time series in a systematic, spatially explicit manner. Deforestation areas were derived from the 2010 global remote sensing survey of the Food and Agricultural Organisation Forest Resource Assessment. To assess proximate drivers, land use following deforestation was assigned by visual interpretation of high-resolution satellite imagery. To estimate gross carbon losses from deforestation, default Tier 1 biomass levels per country and eco-zone were used. Pasture was the dominant driver of forest area (71.2%) and related carbon loss (71.6%) in South America, followed by commercial cropland (14% and 12.1% respectively). Hotspots of deforestation due to pasture occurred in Northern Argentina, Western Paraguay, and along the arc of deforestation in Brazil where they gradually moved into higher biomass forests causing additional carbon losses. Deforestation driven by commercial cropland increased in time, with hotspots occurring in Brazil (Mato Grosso State), Northern Argentina, Eastern Paraguay and Central Bolivia. Infrastructure, such as urban expansion and roads, contributed little as proximate drivers of forest area loss (1.7%). Our findings contribute to the understanding of drivers of deforestation and related carbon losses in South America, and are comparable at the national, regional and continental level. In addition, they support the development of national REDD+ interventions and forest monitoring systems, and provide valuable input for statistical analysis and modelling of underlying drivers of deforestation.
Computer-mediated communication and social networking tools at work

Purpose – Advances in information technology (IT) have resulted in the development of various computer‐mediated communication (CMC) and social networking tools. However, quantifying the benefits of utilizing these tools in the organizational context remains a challenge. In this study, the authors aim to investigate the effects of three specific tools, viz. instant messenger, email and knowledge forum, on facilitating the communication and social network at work, and their subsequent influence on individuals’ work performance. Together with a social network diagram, the proposed model is validated by a survey of 59 employees of a company which embeds these three CMC and social networking tools in the work process. The key findings, implications and future research are discussed. Design/methodology/approach – The authors verify the research model with data from the Hong Kong office of an international bank headquartered in London, UK. They also collected the data on the social networks of 59 employees to draw a network diagram of the respondents using the social network analysis software UCINET. Findings – The research model is fully supported by the survey data. Meanwhile, the social networks analysis also suggests the linkage of using IM at work and the high level of degree and high level of closeness. Originality/value – This study provided an empirical verification of media performance theories, evidenced by interactive tools such as IM and email. This research also directly linked the elements of social network, viz. degree, closeness and betweenness, with the CMC and social network tools, the communication, interactivity, relationship, and work performance.
Property Crime and Immigration in England and Wales Evidence from the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey

This paper studies the relationship between immigration and the individual supply of property crime in England and Wales. For this purpose, the Offending, Crime, and Justice Survey of 2003 is used, a representative national survey of self-reported crime. Models that account for under-reporting are used, as this is the major concern in self-reports. Although we find evidence that under-reporting is covariate-dependent (and considerably large), immigrants' reporting behavior does not differ from natives' one. The estimation results show that after controlling for under-reporting and for basic demographic characteristics, the likelihood for an immigrant to commit a property crime is slightly lower than natives', but this difference is statistically insignificant. This finding is robust across binary choice and count data models. Furthermore, studying the relationship between immigration and crime against the person we reach at the same conclusion, that immigrants are slightly less involved in crime
Modified HWMP for Wireless Mesh Networks with Smart Antennas

In this paper we present a routing protocol (Modified HWMP, MHWMP) for IEEE 802.11s WLAN mesh networks with smart antennas that incorporates the optimum selection of the PHY-layer transmission/reception mode (multiplexing, beamforming and diversity). MHWMP adaptively selects between spatial multiplexing and beamforming for data transmission according to the wireless channel conditions. We also modified the traditional RTS/CTS mechanism to take into account the different behaviors of both transmission modes at MAC layer: the advantages of diversity are harvested by sending RTS/CTS frames with space time block coding in case of beamforming while standard RTS/CTS frames are used in case of spatial multiplexing. Simulation results illustrate that MHWMP leads to significant better throughput and delay performance in certain situations. Moreover, it enables a high degree of robustness wrt. wireless link failures for stationary mesh networks.
The effects of societal culture attributes on regional disparity

Purpose - The main goal of this paper is to analyze the effects of societal culture attributes on regional disparity. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses cross-country data to identify the variables that determine the regional disparity and the gap between the richest and poorest regions in the economy. Findings - The most interesting result of this study is that there exists a significant role played by societal cultural differences in the explanation of the regional disparity and the gap between rich and poor regions. Originality/value - As far as we know, this paper makes the first attempt to explain inter-regional disparity according to culture attributes. We estimate that cultural variables add about 5 percent to the explanation of the variation of the indices of inequality between regions.
CD4(+) T cell count decreases by ethnicity among untreated patients with HIV infection in South Africa and Switzerland.

BACKGROUND Estimates of the decrease in CD4(+) cell counts in untreated patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are important for patient care and public health. We analyzed CD4(+) cell count decreases in the Cape Town AIDS Cohort and the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. METHODS We used mixed-effects models and joint models that allowed for the correlation between CD4(+) cell count decreases and survival and stratified analyses by the initial cell count (50-199, 200-349, 350-499, and 500-750 cells/microL). Results are presented as the mean decrease in CD4(+) cell count with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) during the first year after the initial CD4(+) cell count. RESULTS A total of 784 South African (629 nonwhite) and 2030 Swiss (218 nonwhite) patients with HIV infection contributed 13,388 CD4(+) cell counts. Decreases in CD4(+) cell count were steeper in white patients, patients with higher initial CD4(+) cell counts, and older patients. Decreases ranged from a mean of 38 cells/microL (95% CI, 24-54 cells/microL) in nonwhite patients from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study 15-39 years of age with an initial CD4(+) cell count of 200-349 cells/microL to a mean of 210 cells/microL (95% CI, 143-268 cells/microL) in white patients in the Cape Town AIDS Cohort > or =40 years of age with an initial CD4(+) cell count of 500-750 cells/microL. CONCLUSIONS Among both patients from Switzerland and patients from South Africa, CD4(+) cell count decreases were greater in white patients with HIV infection than they were in nonwhite patients with HIV infection.
Governance Choice in Global Sourcing of Services: The Impact on Service Quality and Cost Saving Performance

This article deals with the performance implications of the governance mode (captive offshoring versus outsourcing) selected when companies offshore service activities, which is still quite controversial in the literature. After accounting for endogeneity issues, we investigate the relationship between governance and performances (both in terms of cost saving and service quality) on a sample of 132 initiatives from the 2009 Offshoring Research Network survey. Our results show that the alignment of the governance choice with an extended transaction cost economics approach leads to better performances. However, the impact of a possible misalignment: (1) is asymmetric, as only the failure to undertake a captive mode negatively affects performance; and (2) negatively affects service quality more than cost saving.