Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a complementing cell line and a system for construction of adenovirus vectors with E1 and E2a deleted

Although adenovirus vectors offer many advantages, it would be desirable to develop vectors with improved expression and decreased toxicity. Toward this objective, an adenovirus vector system with deletion of both the El and E2a regions was developed. A 5.9-kb fragment of the adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) genome containing the E2a gene and its early and late promoters was transfected into 293 cells. A complementing cell line, designated 293-C2, expressed the E2a mRNA and protein and was found to complement the defect in Ad5 viruses with temperature-sensitive or deletion mutations in E2a. A deletion of 1.3 kb removing codons 40 to 471 of the 529 amino acids of E2a was introduced into plasmids for preparation of viruses and vectors. An Ad5 virus with disruption of the El gene and deletion of E2a grew on 293-C2 cells but not on 293 cells. Vectors with E1 and E2a deleted expressing Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase or human alpha1-antitrypsin were prepared and expressed the reporter genes after intravenous injection into mice. This vector system retains sequences in common between the complementing cell line and the vectors, including 3.4 kb upstream and 1.1 kb downstream of the deletion. These vectors have potential advantages of increased capacity for insertion of transgene sequences, elimination of expression of E2a, and possibly reduction in expression of other viral proteins. Although the titers of the vectors with deleted are about 10- to 30-fold below those of vectors with E2a wild-type regions, the former vectors are suitable for detailed studies with animals to evaluate the effects on host immune responses, on duration of expression, and on safety.
Design and testing of a pair of current leads using bismuth compound superconductor

The thermal behavior of current leads using an oxide superconductor for the low-temperature portion has been studied. Numerical calculations predict a reduction of the necessary coolant flow rate and refrigerator input power. A pair of current leads has been manufactured where the low-temperature portion consists of six sintered Bi compound cylindrical bars and the high-temperature portion consists of a Cu wire bundle. The lead, cooled by gaseous helium along its entire length, is 0.9 m long and designed to carry 1 kA. The leads have been tested in the same arrangement as practical applications. The helium flow rate necessary to hold thermal equilibrium was about 80% of that for conventional copper leads. The calculation shows that power consumption of the refrigerator needed to cool high-temperature superconductor current leads with an optimum cooling scheme will be about one-third of that for conventional current leads. <<ETX>>
Escaping poverty: behind the numbers

Head counts of poverty are the most commonly used indicator of poverty level. While not ideal, the analysis of poverty head counts informs conclusions about whether households move in or out of poverty over time. Longitudinal data from repeated surveys show that, at the country level, some countries have lifted their populations out of poverty, while the populations of other countries have either remained poor or become poorer. How these scenarios come to be is the key question that challenges the development community. What mix of country characteristics, policies, structural features and external influences conspire to either improve or deteriorate well-being and to affect overall poverty levels? Unfortunately, changes in poverty levels might sometimes be the result of changes in poverty measurement methodology, with no real change in the well-being of the population. For this reason, poverty assessment should begin with an analysis of the measurement methodology – particularly given the increased global enthusiasm for poverty reduction. This article examines panel data from Mongolia and the Philippines to show how seemingly slight variations in survey methodology can have a rather significant impact on poverty results. In order to make a robust comparison of poverty head counts from different surveys, the basic building blocks of the poverty measures must be identical. This is not always the case. Given the difficulties identified with money-metric head counts, this study concludes by arguing for a move beyond economic statistics, toward multidisciplinary approaches to poverty assessment. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Economies of Scale and Scope in Postal Outlets Under Consideration of Unobserved Heterogeneity

We analyze economies of scale and scope in Swiss Post's post offices and franchised postal agencies under consideration of different underlying production technologies and unobserved factors using a latent class model. The results confirm the existence of unobserved heterogeneity and of increasing economies of scale and scope in the Swiss Post's outlet network.
Characterizing combined effects of antiestrogenic chemicals on vitellogenin production in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hepatocytes

ABSTRACT Fish are exposed to a complex mixture of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC), some of which display antiestrogenic activity leading to suppression of estrogen receptor (ER)- mediated reproductive processes. Although the main mode of action (MoA) of these antiestrogens is to directly interfere with natural ligand binding of the ER, several other MoA have been proposed. The aim of the present study was to characterize single and combined antiestrogenic effects of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)-agonist β-naphthoflavone (BNF) and ER-antagonist 4-hydroxytamoxifen (OHT) on vitellogenin (Vtg) protein using primary rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hepatocytes. Supporting transcriptional analysis of ER-responsive genes (estrogen receptor-α (er-α), vitellogenin-1 (vtg-1), eggshell zona radiata protein (zrp)) and AhR-mediated genes (aryl hydrocarbon receptor-2β, cytochrome p450-1a (cyp1a)) was performed by qPCR to characterize the antiestrogenic influence on ER- and AhR-mediated responses. Data demonstrated that both BNF and OHT significantly reduced 17β-estradiol (E2)-induced Vtg protein expression in a concentration responsive manner, whereas exposure to a mixture of these produced an additive antiestrogenic effect. The results observed at the protein level were further supported by transcriptional analysis of ER-responsive genes (er-α, vtg-1, zrp), where only E2-induced vtg-1 gene expression was significantly decreased by OHT and the mixture of OHT and BNF. E2-induced er-α and zrp gene expression was not markedly altered. The significant reduction of E2-induced vtg-1 gene expression by OHT suggested that the antiestrogenic effect of this compound may be associated with ER signaling pathway. Specific genes involved in putative AhR-ER cross-talk were also investigated, however none were directly associated with the compound anti-estrogenic MoA. Although the MoA of the single compounds and mixture were not completely characterized, the present study enhanced our knowledge of the combined toxicity mediated by antiestrogens acting through different MoA.
Analysis of remnant field detected by hall sensors above superconductor tape

This paper describes various approaches to the analysis of the remnant field arising from the current distribution in superconductor tape. This is of use as a quality control technique when it is important that the superconducting tape has a homogenous current distribution across its width. Superconducting tape is exposed to a magnetic field perpendicular to its surface, inducing currents within the tape. The magnetic field produced by these induced currents can then be measured to assess the distribution of the currents. This paper discusses three techniques to analyze the remnant field in superconducting tape viz. (i) analytic inversion of the Biot-Savart law (ii) computation of the local perpendicular field gradient across the tape and (iii) a least squares fit of the measured magnetic field data to a critical state model. Defects are detected as disruptions to the current distribution calculated for a uniform superconductor. Gradient computation offers a quick way to compare the quality of the samples.
Within-occupation sources of variance in Incumbent Perception of Job Complexity

This study shows that, when occupational complexity is controlled for, intelligence has a significant positive effect on Incumbent Perception of Job Complexity (IPJC), in contrast to the negative effect it has on job satisfaction. This result is interpreted to imply that a significant portion of the within-occupation variance in IPJC reflects true variance in job complexity. Implications for the measurement of job complexity and for rive processes that determine job complexity are discussed.
Release characteristics of freeze-dried eugenol encapsulated with β-cyclodextrin by molecular inclusion method

The study investigated the thermo-physical properties of eugenol encapsulated with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) by molecular inclusion and eugenol release characteristics at various relative humidities and storage temperatures. Particle size, Zeta-potential, thermal transition and morphology of β-CD-Eugenol complex after freeze-drying measured using Nanosizer®, differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. The particle size, Zeta-potential and inclusion efficiency of encapsulated eugenol presented ∼340 nm, −34.5 mV and 91.7% after freeze-drying, respectively. The relationship between retention rate of eugenol and time during release was described by a mathematical model of Avrami equation. In these events, the parameter of release mechanism and the release rate constant were rapidly elevated with increasing relative humidity and storage temperature. Furthermore, the Arrhenius activation energy for the release of eugenol decreases with increasing relative humidity and storage temperature.
Taurus : A Parallel Transaction Recovery Method Based on Fine-Granularity Dependency Tracking

Logging is crucial to performance in modern multicore main-memory database management systems (DBMSs). Traditional data logging (ARIES) and command logging algorithms enforce a sequential order among log records using a global log sequence number (LSN). Log flushing and recovery after a crash are both performed in the LSN order. This serialization of transaction logging and recovery can limit the system performance at high core count. In this paper, we propose Taurus to break the LSN abstraction and enable parallel logging and recovery by tracking fine-grained dependencies among transactions. The dependency tracking lends Taurus three salient features. (1) Taurus decouples the transaction logging order with commit order and allows transactions to be flushed to persistent storage in parallel independently. Transactions that are persistent before commit can be discovered and ignored by the recovery algorithm using the logged dependency information. (2) Taurus can leverage multiple persistent devices for logging. (3) Taurus can leverage multiple devices and multiple worker threads for parallel recovery. Taurus improves logging and recovery parallelism for both data and command logging. Our evaluation on a 32-core machine with four persistent devices shows that Taurus can improve the data (command) logging performance by up to 3.8× (2.67×) and reduce recovery time by 4.9× (9.8×) compared to baseline algorithms.
Nationalism and National Integration

Acknowledgements List of tables PART ONE: THEORY AND PRACTICE Concepts and problems The origins and nature of nationalist theory Nationalism and its critics National integration The question of minority rights Minority nationalist movements and the question of secession PART TWO: PRACTICE AND EXPERIENCE National integration in the United Kingdom National integration in Canada National integration in Australia Conclusion Bibliography Index
Economics and Elections: The Major Western Democracies

Does a government's fate at the ballot box hinge on the state of the economy? Is it inflation, unemployment, or income that makes the difference? What triggers economic voting for or against the incumbent - do voters look at their pocketbooks, or at the national accounts? Do economic voters "punish" rulers for bad times, but fail to "reward" them for the good times? Are voter's judgments based on past economic performance or future policy promises? These are some of the questions considered by Michael Lewis-Beck in this major cross-national study of the effect of economic conditions on voting behavior in the Western European democracies and the United States.
The natural history of acute upper respiratory tract infections in children

Aim To describe the natural history of acute upper respiratory tract infections (AURIs) in primary-school children, by recording their daily symptoms. Background AURIs in children are one of the most common reasons for people seeking advice from general practitioners (GPs); however, little is known about the natural history of AURIs in terms of the length and severity of symptoms, because the majority of illnesses are contracted at home. Method After an initial pilot study to test the feasibility of parents recording symptoms in a diary based on the Canadian Acute Respiratory Illness and Flu Scale (CARIFS), a random selection of primary schools operating in the region was carried out in order to minimise selection bias. Meetings were arranged at the 20 schools to obtain written consent from parents and to give out diaries with a stamped addressed envelope. The diaries recorded daily symptom severity for one episode of AURI, and the data were analysed using SPSS programmes. Findings Diaries were returned from 223 children, of whom 146 had had an AURI. The average age was eight years, and there were almost equal numbers of boys and girls. The most frequent symptoms were runny nose, cough, feeling unwell and sore throat. There was a biphasic distribution with systemic symptoms in the first three days characterised by fever, poor sleep, irritability, not playing and headache. By day four, symptoms localising the infection to the upper respiratory tract appeared with runny nose, cough, sore throat and poor appetite; these continued into the second and occasionally third week. Most symptoms lasted for 5–11 days, with a median length for all symptoms of seven days. Symptoms defined by parents tended to be scored less for severity than symptoms defined by children.
Defective co‐activator recruitment in osteoclasts from microphthalmia‐oak ridge mutant mice

The three basic DNA‐binding domain mutations of the microphthalmia‐associated transcription factor (Mitf), Mitfmi/mi, Mitfor/or, and Mitfwh/wh affect osteoclast differentiation with variable penetrance while completely impairing melanocyte development. Mitfor/or mice exhibit osteopetrosis that improves with age and their osteoclasts form functional multinuclear osteoclasts, raising the question as to why the Mitfor/or mutation results in osteopetrosis. Here we show that Mitfor/or osteoclasts express normal levels of acid phosphatase 5 (Acp5) mRNA and significantly lower levels of Cathepsin K (Ctsk) mRNA during receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) ligand (RANKL)‐mediated differentiation. Studies using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis indicate that low levels of Mitfor/or protein are recruited to the Ctsk promoter. However, enrichment of Mitf‐transcriptional co‐activators PU.1 and Brahma‐related gene 1 (Brg1) are severely impaired at the Ctsk promoter of Mitfor/or osteoclast precursors, indicating that defective recruitment of co‐activators by the mutant Mitfor/or results in impaired Ctsk expression in osteoclasts. Cathepsin K may thus represent a unique class of Mitf‐regulated osteoclast‐specific genes that are important for osteoclast function. J. Cell. Physiol. 220: 230–237, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The 1+1 Trial: A Prospective Trial of a Dual- Versus a Single-Chamber Implantable Defibrillator in Patients With Slow Ventricular Tachycardias

Background—The tachycardia detection interval (TDI) in implantable cardioverter/defibrillators (ICDs) is conventionally programmed according to the slowest documented ventricular tachycardia (VT), with a safety margin of 30 to 60 ms. With this margin, VTs above the TDI may occur. However, longer TDIs are associated with an increased risk of inappropriate therapy. We hypothesized that patients with slow VTs (<200 bpm) may benefit from a long TDI and a dual-chamber detection algorithm compared with a conventionally programmed single-chamber ICD. Methods and Results—Patients with VTs <200 bpm were implanted with a dual-chamber ICD that was randomly programmed to a dual-chamber algorithm and a TDI of ≥469 ms or to a single-chamber algorithm with a TDI 30 to 60 ms above the slowest documented VT cycle length and the enhancement criteria of cycle length variation and acceleration. The primary combined end point was the number of all inappropriate therapies, VTs above the TDI, and VTs with significant therapy delay (>2 minutes). After 6 months, a crossover analysis was performed. Total follow-up was 1 year. One hundred two patients were included in the study. The programmed TDI was 500±36 ms during the dual-chamber phase and 424±63 ms during the single-chamber phase. For the primary end point (inappropriate therapies, VTs above the TDI, or VTs with detection delay), a moderate superiority of the dual-chamber mode was found: Mann-Whitney estimator=0.6661; 95% CI, 0.5565 to 0.7758; P=0.0040. Conclusions—Dual-chamber detection with a longer TDI improves VT detection and does not increase the rate of inappropriate therapies despite a considerable increase in tachycardia burden.
Growth and Change in the Service Sector of the U.S.: A Spatial Perspective

Although there is growing recognition that services play a major role in developed economies, knowledge concerning the service sector, including its spatial characteristics, is quite limited. This study examines the spatial structure of the U.S. service sector and change in that structure from 1958 to 1977. It is based on an analysis of service employment and employment change for a sample of U.S. SMSAs and nonmetropolitan areas. Most of the change in service structure that took place during the study period was focused in business and professional services and in finance, insurance, and real estate. Many individual industries in these groupings exhibited both downfiltering from larger to smaller places and very strong growth in the South. As a result, the South reversed its relative deficiency in many specialized services. A relationship between total employment growth and both the concentration in and relative growth of business, professional, and financial services was observed. Study results suggest that regional development policies that foster service growth could benefit not only large SMSAs but many smaller places as well.
Production and characterization of monoclonal antibodies against major allergens of American cockroach

From several fusion experiments between spleen cells obtained from BALB/c mice immunized with partially purified Cr‐PI of American cockroach and NS‐1 cells, growth was observed in many wells. Seven stable subclones secreting monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against Cr‐PI, as determined by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with high absorbance values and immunoblot analysis, were obtained. All seven mAbs were characterized as IgGl subclass by immunodiffusion, and reacted strongly with 72 kilodaltons (kD) of Cr‐PI which have been identified as a major allergen of American cockroach. Six mAbs were found to have similar epitope specificities against Cr‐PI by ELISA. The remaining mAb was found to have different epitope specificities with others. Interestingly, all mAbs did not react with any components of crude extracts of Oriental and German cockroaches as determined by immunoblot analysis and ELISA. A mAb‐based double‐antibody sandwich ELISA was developed, and the ELISA was dose‐dependent and capable of detecting as little as 140 ng of Cr‐PI allergen.
Mitigation of beam blocking in mmWave indoor WPAN using dynamic control delegation based approach

The mmWave band of frequencies suffer from very poor diffraction capabilities which results in their high susceptibility towards beam blocking. Thus, the devices connected on a mmWave based communication network can communicate only through their line-of-sight (LoS) neighbors which makes it difficult for their deployment in indoor environments (e.g. residential households, offices etc). Additionally, the presence of non-stationery member nodes can create further difficulties in maintaining stable LoS links. In this paper, we discuss a novel approach involving dynamic control delegation (DCD) by a piconet controller to mitigate the problem of beam blocking. We propose some delegation based techniques which can be used by a piconet controller to address the problems of beam blocking and link instability to a significant extent. Finally, we validate our claim by evaluating the performance of the proposed techniques over different network scenarios.
Weighted Youden index and its two-independent-sample comparison based on weighted sensitivity and specificity.

BACKGROUND Most indices for evaluating a diagnostic test can be expressed as functions of sensitivity (SEN) and specificity (SPE). Practically, all existing methods suffer from the inability to weight sensitivity and specificity relative to their importance. In this paper, we developed a novel index, the weighted Youden index, that allows Youden index to be a combination of sensitivity and specificity with user-defined weights. METHODS The weighted Youden index Jw is defined as Jw = 2(w×SEN + (1-w)SPE)-1 (0 ≤ w ≤ 1). It has three properties: (1) the sum of the weights which are attached to sensitivity and specificity should be equal to 1; (2) the range of Jw should be within [-1, 1], which is the range of the Youden index J; (3) Jw should be equal to J when sensitivity and specificity have equal weights. According to the central limit theorem, we obtain the standard error of Jw, and propose a statistical inference method to compare two weighted Youden indices. The monotonicity of the test statistic was discussed. RESULTS An example of comparing two diagnostic tests for pheochromocytoma was used to demonstrate the weighted Youden index method. Weighted Youden index, the confidence interval for each test and the hypothesis test of comparing two independent diagnostic tests were presented. Assigning the weights is essential to the weighted Youden index approach. CONCLUSION The weighted Youden index can broaden its applications in diagnostic test development and motivate further research in weighting sensitivity and specificity explicitly.