Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bringing back 'Japan'? : Prime Minister Abe's political rhetoric in critical perspective

The thesis provides a detailed analysis of prime minister of Japan, Shinzō Abe’s, political rhetoric. Adopting a critical realist approach to the analysis of political discourse, the thesis aims to identify how Abe sought to legitimate the substantial changes to the state, its international conduct, and relationship with its citizens, including the reinterpretation of Article 9 of the constitution, Japan’s so-called ‘Peace Clause’. Abe returned to office in December 2012 promising to ‘bring back’ Japan, but under this aegis, the Abe administration has enacted wholesale changes to Japan’s social security, national economy and security agenda. While many of these changes are examined throughout, the thesis adopts depoliticization theory as an analytical tool and explanatory factor to discuss the changes in Japanese politics by parsing depoliticization into governmental, societal, and discursive forms. The analysis demonstrates how Abe relied on discursive depoliticization to legitimate changes by implementing a mixed-methods approach to discourse analysis using text-mining software to identify salient areas of speech, frame analysis to further characterize them, and critical discourse analysis for the micro-analysis of text. The thesis argues that Abe effectively depoliticized politically divisive issues by relying on the neoliberal account of globalization to justify substantial changes to Japan’s security agenda, economy and social infrastructure. In order to reveal the process of depoliticization, the discursive analysis is supplemented with an analysis of two major foreign policy initiatives of the Abe administration, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and ‘Positive Pacifism’. These case studies enable us to conclude that, although Abe’s rhetoric is largely consistent with neoliberal doctrines, his administration’s actions reflect a neonationalist ideology and political realism aimed at expanding military and economic power to encircle China and increase Japan’s regional and international influence, while relying on depoliticizing tactics to legitimate the process of change underway.
Regulatory Pathways of Monoamine Oxidase A during Social Stress

Social stress has a high impact on many biological systems in the brain, including serotonergic (5-HT) system—a major drug target in the current treatment for depression. Hyperactivity of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) are well-known stress responses, which are involved in the central 5-HT system. Although, many MAO-A inhibitors have been developed and used in the therapeutics of depression, effective management of depression by modulating the activity of MAO-A has not been achieved. Identifying the molecular pathways that regulate the activity of MAO-A in the brain is crucial for developing new drug targets for precise control of MAO-A activity. Over the last few decades, several regulatory pathways of MAO-A consisting of Kruppel like factor 11 (KLF11), Sirtuin1, Ring finger protein in neural stem cells (RINES), and Cell division cycle associated 7-like protein (R1) have been identified, and the influence of social stress on these regulatory factors evaluated. This review explores various aspects of these pathways to expand our understanding of the roles of the HPA axis and MAO-A regulatory pathways during social stress. The first part of this review introduces some components of the HPA axis, explains how stress affects them and how they interact with the 5-HT system in the brain. The second part summarizes the novel regulatory pathways of MAO-A, which have high potential as novel therapeutic targets for depression.
Exopolysaccharide Colanic Acid and Its Occurrence in the Enterobacteriaceae

A study of strains from the genera Salmonella, Escherichia, and Aerobacter has shown that under appropriate conditions many strains produce an exopolysaccharide slime of identical composition, which has been identified as colanic acid on the basis of its chemical composition and its sensitivity to certain bacteriophage-induced depolymerase enzymes. Chemical analysis shows that the polysaccharide contains O-acetyl groups in addition to the sugars glucose, galactose, fucose, and glucuronic acid. Mild acid hydrolysis has led to the isolation of a β-glucosylfucose in addition to glucuronic acid containing oligosaccharides. Many strains were found to synthesize colanic acid under normal conditions of growth or under conditions favoring polysaccharide synthesis, whereas others only synthesized colanic acid when the control mechanism was derepressed by p-fluorophenylalanine.
Range of motion and complications after postburn heterotopic bone excision about the elbow.

OBJECTIVE To review the results of surgical management of heterotopic ossification about the elbow in burned patients. DESIGN Retrospective analysis with long-term patient follow-up. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eleven patients with 16 elbows requiring surgery were admitted between January 1, 1982 and December 31, 1993. A posterior approach to the elbow with release of the encased ulnar nerve +/- anterior transposition and transolecranon osteotomy to access extensive bone formation in the olecranon fossa was employed. Eight patients (11 elbows) were available for long-term follow-up conducted at mean 50 +/- 13 months after surgery. Long-term follow-up consisted of measurement of range of elbow motion, as well as clinical assessment of ulnar nerve function. MAIN RESULTS For the 11 elbows examined postoperatively, the mean range of motion preoperatively in flexion-extension was 11 degrees +/- 5 degrees compared to 89 degrees +/- 12 degrees postoperatively (p < 0.001). Three patients with poor long-term results had ankylosis of the joint preoperatively. Of four patients with ulnar nerve paresis preoperatively, none had ulnar nerve dysfunction at follow-up. Of 16 elbows operated on, four (25%) had postoperative complications. Two suffered soft-tissue breakdown with hardware exposure requiring abdominal flap closure, one early failure of olecranon fixation, and one late infected hardware. CONCLUSIONS Surgery for both limited range of motion as well as ulnar nerve compression is effective in cases of heterotopic ossification about the elbows of burned patients. Early operative intervention is indicated in progressive disease, particularly ulnar nerve palsy, if soft-tissue quality is adequate. Complications with 25% of elbows suggest that use of olecranon osteotomy for joint access may warrant review.
Rapid Trafficking of Membrane Type 1-Matrix Metalloproteinase to the Cell Surface Regulates Progelatinase A Activation

Pericellular matrix degradation during cancer invasion and inflammation is dependent on activation of progelatinase A by membrane type 1-matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP); a stoichiometric concentration of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) is required. Activation of progelatinase A has generally been considered to be a slow process occurring as a result of enhanced expression of MT1-MMP. We herein report that ConA treatment of HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells is followed by MT1-MMP–induced activation of progelatinase A on the cell surface within 1 hour. Cell surface biotinylation, immunohistochemistry, and 125I-labeled TIMP-2 binding to cell surface MT1-MMP were used to characterize the appearance and function of MT1-MMP on the plasma membrane. Treatment of HT1080 cells with ConA resulted in increased specific binding of 125I-labeled TIMP-2 to cell surface receptors within 5 minutes. TIMP-2 binds almost exclusively to activated MT1-MMP on the surface of HT1080 cells. MT1-MMP function at the cell surface was also accelerated by treatment of cells with cytochalasin D, an inhibitor of actin filaments, PMA, a stimulator of protein kinase C, and bafilomycin A1, an inhibitor of lysosome/endosome function. A functional pool of intracellular MT1-MMP available for trafficking to the cell surface was demonstrated by repetitive ConA stimulation. ConA-induced expression of MT1-MMP mRNA (Northern blot analysis) in HT1080 cells was a delayed event (>6 hours). These data suggest that presynthesized MT1-MMP is sorted to a transient storage compartment (trans-Golgi network/endosomes), where it is available for rapid trafficking to the plasma membrane and cell surface proteolytic activity.
Head Circumference and Brain and Hippocampal Volume after Severe Traumatic Brain Injury in Childhood

Vulnerability of the hippocampus to traumatic brain injury (TBI) in adults is related to severity of injury and white matter atrophy. The objectives of this study were to determine features of anthropometry and cerebral morphometry late after TBI in childhood and to assess whether hippocampal volume is related to severity of initial ictus and changes in white matter at follow-up. Thirty-three patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging 4.9 y after severe TBI that necessitated intensive care; 23 had mechanical ventilation and intracranial pressure monitoring longer than 3 d. Magnetic resonance imaging analyses included volume of brain, hemisphere, ventricles, and hippocampal and perihippocampal regions; spatial distribution of voxel-based morphometry differences in white matter; and eigenvalues of diffusion tensor imaging diffusivity. Patients with longer intensive care ictus had smaller-than-expected occipitofrontal head circumference. Eight of these, identified by voxel-based morphometry, had periventricular white matter loss and smaller-than-expected brain volume for OFC, suggesting “atrophy”; the remainder had expected volume for a smaller OFC, suggesting “growth disturbance. ” Ninety-three percent of the variation in right hippocampal volume was accounted for by factors related to severity of injury and white matter atrophy. It is concluded that anthropometry and cerebral morphometric measurements late after severe TBI in childhood provides useful outcome data and indicate that, despite adequate growth in stature, effects of TBI on brain growth and hippocampal volume may extend into adulthood.
In vitro fermentation characteristics of diets with different forage/concentrate ratios: comparison of rumen and faecal inocula.

BACKGROUND The aim of this trial was to evaluate the replacement of rumen fluid with faeces as inoculum in studying the in vitro fermentation characteristics of diets for ruminants using the in vitro gas production technique. Six iso-protein diets with different forage/concentrate ratios were incubated with rumen fluid (RI) or faeces (FI) collected from sheep. RESULTS Most of the fermentation parameters were influenced by diet and inoculum (P < 0.01). With both inocula, organic matter degradability (dOM), cumulative gas production (OMCV) and maximum fermentation rate (R(max) ) increased as the amount of concentrate in the diet increased. R(max) was lower with FI vs RI (P < 0.01); dOM was higher with FI vs RI and the diet × inoculum interaction was significant. As expected, with both inocula, R(max) increased as the neutral detergent fibre content of the diet decreased. Significant correlations were obtained using both inocula between OMCV/dOM and gas/volatile fatty acid (VFA), while the correlation VFA/dOM was significant only with FI. The microbial biomass yield calculated by stoichiometric analysis for all diets was higher with FI vs RI. With FI the organic matter used for microbial growth showed an overall decreasing trend as the amount of concentrate in the diet increased. CONCLUSION The results indicate that both faeces and rumen fluid from sheep have the potential to be used as inoculum for the in vitro gas production technique.
On-chip input and ground ringing suppression in high-frequency buck converters

Conventional techniques for on-chip input and ground ringing suppression in high-frequency buck converters include slowing-down the gate-drive signals of the power switches, employing a RC snubber circuit, or introducing on-chip decoupling capacitors to ensure the resonance frequency of the impedance network at the input is much lower than switching frequency of the converter. The first two techniques significantly degrade efficiency, while the third consumes large silicon area. This paper proposes employing an on-chip decoupling capacitor that moves the resonance frequency of the impedance network at the input to between the switching frequency of the converter and its first harmonic, thereby achieving ringing suppression without degrading efficiency and with a much smaller on-chip capacitor than conventional methods. A 40-MHz buck converter design in 0.18-μm CMOS technology is used to test the proposed technique. The converter operates from 1.8-V input and produces an output ranging from 0.6-1.2 V with maximum load current of 1 A. The peak efficiency is 91.1%, and the input and ground ringing overshoot is suppressed to less than 0.3 V, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed technique.
Metastasis suppressed, but tumorigenicity and local invasiveness unaffected, in the human melanoma cell line MelJuSo after introduction of human chromosomes 1 or 6

Progression of human melanoma toward increasingly malignant behavior is associated with several nonrandom chromosomal aberrations, most commonly involving chromosomes 1, 6, 7, 9, and 10. We previously showed that introduction of human chromosome 6 into the highly metastatic human malignant melanoma cell line C8161 completely suppressed metastasis without altering tumorigenicity (Welch DR, Chen P, Miele ME, et al., Oncogene 9:255–262, 1994). Alterations of chromosome 1 are the most frequent chromosome abnormality observed in melanomas, and they frequently arise late in tumor progression. The purpose of the study presented here was to compare the effects of chromosomes 1 and 6 on malignant melanoma metastasis. By using microcell‐mediated chromosome transfer, single copies of neo‐tagged human chromosomes 1 or 6 were introduced into the human melanoma cell line MelJuSo. The presence of the added chromosome was verified by G banding of karyotypes, fluorescence in situ hybridization, and screening for polymorphic markers on each chromosome. The incidence and number of metastases per lung after intravenous or intradermal injection of parental MelJuSo cells was significantly (P < 0.01) greater than those of hybrids containing either chromosome 1 or chromosome 6, although chromosome 1 was a less potent inhibitor of metastasis than chromosome 6. Cultures established from primary tumors and metastases remained neomycin resistant, suggesting that portions of the added chromosomes were retained. These results strengthen the evidence for the presence of a melanoma metastasis suppressor gene on chromosome 6. neo6/MelJuSo hybrids expressed 2.4‐ to 3.4‐fold more of the melanoma differentiation‐associated gene mda‐6 (previously shown to be identical to WAF1/CIP1/Sdi1/CAP20) than parental metastatic cells. mda‐6/WAF1 is among the candidate genes on chromosome 6. These results also demonstrate, for the first time, the existence of metastasis suppressor genes on human chromosome 1, although these genes appear to be less potent than the one encoded on chromosome 6. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Governing tourism-led local economic development planning: An interactive tourism governance perspective on the Elmina 2015 Strategy in Ghana

Tourism is expanding in many developing countries, in contexts where states struggle to effectively manage local economic development processes. This thesis aims to bridge a gap between the literature on the tourism-poverty nexus and scholarship pertaining to the politics and governance of local development planning, by examining how governing interactions shape the planning and use of tourism for local economic development and poverty reduction. A key contribution of this thesis is the development of an interactive tourism governance framework built on the three key concepts of stakeholder governance capacity, institutional thickness and political cycles. The research is framed as an embedded case study of the Elmina 2015 Strategy in Ghana. A mainly qualitative research approach was adopted involving interviews, observations and documentary analysis. The Elmina 2015 Strategy sought to leverage tourism as a catalyst for local economic development and poverty reduction through an integrated planning approach led by the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipal Assembly (KEEA). The thesis identified that the Elmina 2015 Strategy was insufficiently embedded within existing institutional structures. Through a process-tracing analysis, it was found that cycles of national elections and local government politics resulted in the loss of institutional memory and knowledge at the KEEA. This constrained the governing capacity of the KEEA in steering project implementation. This thesis shows that the state and the internal power dynamics between key players within it remain crucial in setting and implementing policy agendas. The thesis therefore seeks to make a contribution towards debates on the significance of the state in tourism governance and argues that the state ought to be brought back into any conceptualisation of tourism governance, especially as it relates to the governing of tourism-led local economic development. As local governments take a more active role in tourism development planning, the issue of their capacity needs to be addressed.
Herbert Hoover and the construction of modernity

Herbert Hoover occupied two important roles prior to his presidency. At the Food Administration during World War I, Hoover learned the importance of eliminating waste, and establishing efficient delivery systems across firms and industries. As Secretary of Commerce he applied those principles in an attempt to improve living standards through the standardization of living. He charged the Bureau of Standards with creating (1) uniform specifications for purchases, (2) simplification to eliminate ‘unnecessary’ variation and (3) standards of quality for thousands of industrial products. He saw this as a moral endeavor in which engineers would create a third way between capital and labor. What Hoover failed to notice was that newly created standards promoted dominance by large corporations. Indeed, it helped to pave the way for the audit society in which we currently live and – despite its innovativeness as an approach – limited innovations to those proposed by management.JEL Codes: N00, N12
Middle Ear Pressure After Septoplasty

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to determine the level of middle ear pressure and alterations in middle ear pressure levels after septoplasty among the individuals having advanced degree isolated nasal septal deviation. MethodsA prospective randomized study was conducted. The study included 72 adult patients who had severely deviated septum. The middle ear pressure values at both sides of nasal obstruction and opposite side were determined using tympanometry before the surgery and at postoperative week 3. The middle ear pressure values were divided into 2 groups, side of nasal obstruction (group 1) and opposite nonaffected side (group 2). The middle ear pressure values obtained before and after septoplasty were compared. ResultsBefore the septoplasty, the median middle ear pressure value was −54 dPa at the side of nasal obstruction, and −46 dPa at the opposite side. Three weeks after the septoplasty, it was −38 dPa at the side of nasal obstruction, and −40 dPa at the opposite side. The middle ear pressure improved by approximately 30% at the side of nasal obstruction and by 11% at the nonaffected side; a statistically significant decrease was found at the side of nasal obstruction (P < 0.05). ConclusionsIn adult patients with isolated nasal septum deviation, the middle ear pressure is lower at the side of nasal obstruction, but it remains within reference ranges. An approximately 30% improvement occurs in the middle ear pressure after septoplasty.
Persistent hypertension following inhibition of nitric oxide formation in the young Wistar rat: role of renin and vascular hypertrophy

Objective: To determine whether induction of arterial hypertension in young normotensive Wistar rats by chronic inhibition of nitric oxide production with NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) produced a form of self-sustained hypertension, and to investigate the role of the renin—angiotensin system and vascular hypertrophy in the hypertensive process. Methods: Three-week-old Wistar rats were given 100 or 40mg/kg per day L-NAME or 40mg/kg per day L-NAME plus 100mg/kg per day captopril in their drinking water for between 4 and 7 weeks. Systolic blood pressure was measured by tail-cuff plethysmography both during treatment and after the treatment had been stopped. The effect of treatment on plasma renin was measured and the effect of treatment on mesenteric resistance artery structure was determined using a small-vessel myograph. Results: L-NAME produced a progressive and marked increase in blood pressure during the period of treatment. Hypertension was sustained for 14 weeks after stopping treatment. L-NAME resulted in a fourfold increase in plasma renin which remained elevated after treatment was stopped. Blood pressure was correlated with plasma renin levels. Treatment with L-NAME plus captopril markedly attenuated the rise in blood pressure and captopril also produced a marked fall in blood pressure in rats that developed persistent hypertension. Rats with self-sustained hypertension exhibited both cardiac and mesenteric resistance vessel hypertrophy. The induction of vascular hypertrophy with low-dose L-NAME did not result in the development of self-sustained hypertension. Conclusions: Chronic L-NAME treatment in young rats can produce a form of persistent hypertension which is renin-dependent and which does not seem to involve a vascular amplifier mechanism.
Conceptualizing and operationalizing social rights: Towards higher convergent validity in SCIP and CWED

There is widespread consensus in the comparative welfare state literature that the welfare state can be best conceptualized in terms of social rights of citizenship. The Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP) and the Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset (CWED), which rely on operational definitions of quantified legislated social rights, constitute centrepieces of this thriving research. As leading state-of-the-art tools for capturing welfare stateness, these two datasets are being widely used. Scholars in general have also been treating them as interchangeable measurement tools. Upon closer inspection, however, we discover that the two datasets point to contrasting images of welfare state change for certain countries and time periods. This article aims to contribute to the scholarly exchange on the validity problem in measuring welfare state generosity. The exchange has hitherto been confined to problems of dataset choice with respect to only replacement rates, a set of key indicators included in both datasets. However, there are 11 key non-replacement rate indicators SCIP and CWED have in common, whose convergent validity has yet to be questioned. We thus explore the convergent validity of these non-replacement rate indicators across the two datasets. We then replicate the two leading composite indexes (Decommodification Index (DI) and Benefit Generosity Index (BGI)) constructed on the basis of these indicators. We identify problems of invalidity manifested in discrepancies in non-replacement rate indicator scores and index values for DI and BGI. We show how these discrepancies could lead to contrasting assessments of welfare state change. We then identify a set of potential sources for these discrepancies, most of which are related to different operationalizations of similar concepts. We conclude by calling for more dialogue among developers of SCIP and CWED to further clarify their conceptual and operational points of departure.