Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A single intramuscular injection with an adenovirus-expressing IL-12 protects BALB/c mice against Leishmania major infection, while treatment with an IL-4-expressing vector increases disease susceptibility in B10.D2 mice.

Experimental infection of the susceptible BALB/c (H-2d) mouse with the intracellular parasite Leishmania major induces a predominant Th2-type T cell response that eventually leads to death. In contrast, the resistant B10.D2 (H-2d) strain develops Th1 cells that control parasite replication and disease. In this study, we tested the ability of a recombinant adenovirus vector-expressing IL-12 to skew the immune response in a Th1 direction and prevent leishmaniasis in susceptible mice. We report that BALB/c mice treated with the Ad5IL-12 vector on the same day as parasitic challenge are significantly protected against leishmaniasis and acquired long-lasting immunity, because upon rechallenge with L. major parasites they were resistant to disease. The vector-derived IL-12 expression was transient and highly localized to the tissue after i.m. injection; it caused an increase in the number of Ag-specific IFN-gamma-secreting lymphocytes and enhanced NK cell activity in the draining popliteal node. In contrast, resistant B10.D2 mice given i.m. injections with a recombinant adenovirus-expressing IL-4 displayed greater susceptibility to disease, and severe lesions were produced in some of the infected animals. These results suggest the potential use of recombinant adenoviruses expressing cytokines as potent immunomodulatory agents for the generation of protective immune responses against intracellular pathogens.
International news on the internet: Why more is less

This study examines the intersection of news agency political economy and cyberspace information exchange between 2001 and 2006 in an effort to determine if online news has corrected ‐ or replicated ‐ the inequities and limitations of the international journalism provided by ‘traditional media’. Through comparisons of content at major online news sites and the output of major news wholesalers, this research is the first to demonstrate that the international news most online users consult is that of just two news agencies. This research finds an online news environment with little real information diversity ‐ a situation at odds with a decade and a half of fervour for the democratizing potential of new media.
Testing for linear cointegration against nonlinear cointegration : Theory and application to Purchasing power parity

In this thesis, we study a smooth-transition type of nonlinear cointegration among a dynamic system. Base on the Logistic Smooth Transition Autoregressive (LSTAR) models, the definition of cointegration which is extended form Engle and Granger (1987)’s definition of linear cointegration is introduced. Then statistical test for linear cointegration against nonlinear cointegration is derived. The statistical properties of this test are investigated and the asymptotic distribution of statistics is obtained by Monte Carlo simulation. We apply this testing theory into an empirical example which concern dollar/lira real exchange rate. We find that there is nonlinearly cointegrating relation in this purchasing power parity (PPP) dynamic system and the PPP puzzle in Hamilton (1994) can be explained by nonlinear cointegration defined in this essay.
The three M’s: melanoma, microphthalmia‐associated transcription factor and microRNA

Studies examining intratumor heterogeneity have indicated that several cancer types, including melanoma, can display phenotypic plasticity, corresponding to their capacity to undergo transient reversible cellular changes. Conceptual models constructed to explain the process of cancer propagation differ in their treatment of intratumor heterogeneity. Recent observations of reversible phenotypic heterogeneity in melanoma have led to the proposal of a novel ‘phenotypic plasticity’ model of cancer propagation. Microphthalmia‐associated transcription factor (MITF), the melanocyte ‘lineage‐specific’ transcription factor, has emerged as one of the central players in melanoma phenotypic plasticity. Here we discuss the conceptual models suggested to explain the relations between MITF and melanoma plasticity, in addition to the complex regulatory roles that MITF plays in melanocytes and melanoma development. Finally, we provide an in‐depth literature survey of microRNAs (miRNAs) involved in MITF activity, melanoma propagation and metastasis, in addition to their potential use as agents of personalized therapy.
CONVERSION IN STRAINS OF HISTOPLASMA CAPSULATUM

Pine, Leo (Duke University, Durham, N. C.) and Robert E. Webster. Conversion in strains of Histoplasma capsulatum. J. Bacteriol. 83:149–157. 1962—Photographs of mycelial elements taken at various time intervals from a single strain of Histoplasma capsulatum have shown the direct conversion of microconidia to yeast cells by polar and nonpolar budding, the formation of yeast cells by budding of hyphal cells, and the probable conversion of hyphal cells to yeast phase by monilial chain formation. In addition, studies of fixed-slide preparations of a second strain have indicated the formation of stalked yeast cells arising in a manner similar to that observed for microconidia formation but, apparently, by-passing the microconidial stage. These observations are discussed briefly in regard to temperature-induced changes in cell-wall synthesis during conversion.
Time-Frequency Resource Allocation for Min-Rate Guaranteed Services in OFDM Distributed Antenna Systems

A novel resource allocation problem for min-rate guaranteed services is studied in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) distributed antenna systems (DAS) by this paper. In addition to multiuser diversity as well as conventional space diversity (such as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) -OFDM), distributed multiantenna diversity and time diversity are also exploited by the proposed algorithm. The proposed allocation algorithm iteratively assigns subcarriers to users to maximize rate-sum capacity subject to min-rate constraints. Simulated results show the proposed algorithm can fully utilize all degrees of freedom including antenna, user, time, and frequency to ensure users' min-rate transmission. Consequently, OFDM DAS outperforms OFDM co-located antenna systems (CAS) in terms of rate-sum capacity due to distributed antenna deployment.
The Impacts of the Tax-Deferred Exchange Provision on Farm Real Estate Values

This study examines the effects of the Section 1031 tax-deferred exchange provision on agricultural land values. The provision allows taxpayers to defer taxation for relinquished productive assets if a like-kind asset is acquired within the allotted time of 180 days. The analysis examines a set of 3,580 farm real estate transaction from 55 agricultural counties in Indiana over the period 2003–2006. Hedonic price analysis suggests that properties acquired under a like-kind exchange are associated with a 1.32% price premium. (JEL H23, Q15)
A Formyltransferase Required for Polymyxin Resistance in Escherichia coli and the Modification of Lipid A with 4-Amino-4-deoxy-l-arabinose

Modification of the phosphate groups of lipid A with 4-amino-4-deoxy-l-arabinose (l-Ara4N) is required for resistance to polymyxin and cationic antimicrobial peptides in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. We previously demonstrated that the enzyme ArnA catalyzes the NAD+-dependent oxidative decarboxylation of UDP-glucuronic acid to yield the UDP-4″-ketopentose, uridine 5″-diphospho-β-(l-threo-pentapyranosyl-4″-ulose), which is converted by ArnB to UDP-β-(l-Ara4N). E. coli ArnA is a bi-functional enzyme with a molecular mass of ∼ 74 kDa. The oxidative decarboxylation of UDP-glucuronic acid is catalyzed by the 345-residue C-terminal domain of ArnA. The latter shows sequence similarity to enzymes that oxidize the C-4″ position of sugar nucleotides, like UDP-galactose epimerase, dTDP-glucose-4,6-dehydratase, and UDP-xylose synthase. We now show that the 304-residue N-terminal domain catalyzes the N-10-formyltetrahydrofolate-dependent formylation of the 4″-amine of UDP-l-Ara4N, generating the novel sugar nucleotide, uridine 5″-diphospho-β-(4-deoxy-4-formamido-l-arabinose). The N-terminal domain is highly homologous to \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(\mathrm{methionyl-tRNA}_{\mathrm{f}}^{\mathrm{Met}}\) \end{document} formyltransferase. The structure of the formylated sugar nucleotide generated in vitro by ArnA was validated by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The two domains of ArnA were expressed independently as active proteins in E. coli. Both were required for maintenance of polymyxin resistance and l-Ara4N modification of lipid A. We conclude that N-formylation of UDP-l-Ara4N is an obligatory step in the biosynthesis of l-Ara4N-modified lipid A in polymyxin-resistant mutants. We further demonstrate that only the formylated sugar nucleotide is converted in vitro to an undecaprenyl phosphate-linked form by the enzyme ArnC. Because the l-Ara4N unit attached to lipid A is not derivatized with a formyl group, we postulate the existence of a deformylase, acting later in the pathway.
Measuring HRM and organisational performance: concepts, issues, and framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the HRM and organisational performance (OP) nexus by drawing attention to the complex interplay of internal and external factors affecting OP, and to further provide an integrated framework for the testing of this nexus.Design/methodology/approach – Relevant literature is reviewed and assessed critically. A theoretical framework is provided with the objective to measure the HRM‐OP nexus.Findings – Whilst the majority of the extant literature on HRM has focused mainly on internal factors, the authors suggest that the domain of the internal factors considered thus far needs to be widened and external factors need to be acknowledged explicitly. They provide a schematic model portraying the intricate nature of internal and external factors. They subsequently provide an integrated framework of factors in order to measure HRM practices' effects on OP.Research limitations/implications – The suggested framework is theoretical pending emp.
Canine Coronavirus Infection in Turkish Dog Population

Summary Canine coronavirus (CCoV) is one of the most important viral agents affecting the gastrointestinal system of dogs. In this study virological and serological investigations were performed to demonstrate the existence and prevalence of CCoV infection in a Turkish dog population. A total of 269 animals were subjected to the study. Of 179 dogs tested for CCoV antibodies, 112 (62.5%) were found to be positive by serum neutralization test, while 133 (74.3%) were positive by ELISA. The highest prevalence (94.2%) was detected in kennel dogs. Detection of CCoV genome in faeces was performed in samples from 90 diarrhoeic puppies by reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction. Fourteen (15.5%) faeces were positive for CCoV RNA, five of which were characterized as CCoV type I. The widespread CCoV infection in the Turkish dog population may be attributed as an important cause of viral diarrhoea in dogs.
A low complexity limited feedback scheme in MIMO broadcast channels

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technologies have the advantage of improving system throughput and error performance by exploiting the spatial diversity, owing to the multiple independent transmit-receive paths. A lot of efforts have been put into MIMO broadcast channels research and it is expected to be a core technology for 3G and 4G wireless systems. Generally, channel state information (CSI) is required at the transmitter, to fully exploit the diversity. In the case that channel reciprocity does not apply, limited feedback is one effective solution to get CSI at the transmitter but it increases system complexity and degrades the performance. In this paper, we propose a low complexity limited feedback scheme for MIMO broadcast channels. Non-cooperative receivers without full CSI and a feedback link with a limited rate are considered. The proposed scheme is based on a novel Grassmannian-based two-layer codebook, each layer having a small dimension, and a vector selection algorithm, to maximize the effective channel gain. A simulation is presented for the proposed scheme, showing that the performance is very close to the best known conventional high dimensional codebook, while the search complexity and memory requirement are reduced by several orders of magnitude.
Team Incentives and Reference‐Dependent Preferences

This paper examines a multi-agent moral hazard model in which agents have expectation-based reference-dependent preferences `a la K˝oszegi and Rabin (2006, 2007). The agents’ utilities depend not only on their realized outcomes but also on the comparisons of their realized outcomes with their reference outcomes. Due to loss aversion, the agents have a first-order aversion to wage uncertainty. Thus, reducing their expected losses by partially compensating for their failure may be beneficial for the principal. When the agent is loss averse and the project is hard to achieve, the optimal contract is based on team incentives which exhibit either joint performance evaluation or relative performance evaluation. Our results provide a new insight: team incentives serve as a loss-sharing device among agents. This model can explain the empirical puzzle of why firms often pay a bonus to low-performance employees as well as high-performance employees.
Mass Belief Systems Revisited: Political Change and Attitude Structure

* This paper owes a great debt to my students in the National Opinion Research Center Training program, who did much to rekindle my interest in ideology. I would also like to thank Sidney Verba and Kenneth Prewitt for their intellectual contributions at various stages. The first draft of the paper was written while I was a research Fulbright Fellow at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. I would like to express my appreciation to the Fulbright Foundation for support during this period and to the University of Leiden for supporting the research. Additional support for myself and for the research was provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant GS 3155 and the Twentieth Century Fund. The data reported in this article come from seven separate surveys and the organization and presentation was a mammoth job in data management. This task could not have been accomplished without the efforts of Carol Ann Lugtigheid, Eric Lugtigheid, John R. Petrocik, Jaap Rozema, and Jaap van Poelgeest.
Authoritarian Institutions and the Survival of Autocrats

Why do some autocrats survive for decades, and others fall soon after taking power? The authors argue that when authoritarian rulers need to solicit the cooperation of outsiders or deter the threat of rebellion, they rely on political institutions. Partisan legislatures incorporate potential opposition forces, giving them a stake in the ruler's survival. By broadening the basis of support for autocrats, these institutions lengthen their tenures. An analysis of all authoritarian rulers in power during the 1946-1996 period provides evidence of the effect of nominally democratic institutions on their political survival.
Ensemble Diffusion for Retrieval

As a postprocessing procedure, diffusion process has demonstrated its ability of substantially improving the performance of various visual retrieval systems. Whereas, great efforts are also devoted to similarity (or metric) fusion, seeing that only one individual type of similarity cannot fully reveal the intrinsic relationship between objects. This stimulates a great research interest of considering similarity fusion in the framework of diffusion process (i.e., fusion with diffusion) for robust retrieval. ,,In this paper, we firstly revisit representative methods about fusion with diffusion, and provide new insights which are ignored by previous researchers. Then, observing that existing algorithms are susceptible to noisy similarities, the proposed Regularized Ensemble Diffusion (RED) is bundled with an automatic weight learning paradigm, so that the negative impacts of noisy similarities are suppressed. At last, we integrate several recently-proposed similarities with the proposed framework. The experimental results suggest that we can achieve new state-of-the-art performances on various retrieval tasks, including 3D shape retrieval on ModelNet dataset, and image retrieval on Holidays and Ukbench dataset.
Wild-Type Measles Virus with the Hemagglutinin Protein of the Edmonston Vaccine Strain Retains Wild-Type Tropism in Macaques

ABSTRACT A major difference between vaccine and wild-type strains of measles virus (MV) in vitro is the wider cell specificity of vaccine strains, resulting from the receptor usage of the hemagglutinin (H) protein. Wild-type H proteins recognize the signaling lymphocyte activation molecule (SLAM) (CD150), which is expressed on certain cells of the immune system, whereas vaccine H proteins recognize CD46, which is ubiquitously expressed on all nucleated human and monkey cells, in addition to SLAM. To examine the effect of the H protein on the tropism and attenuation of MV, we generated enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-expressing recombinant wild-type MV strains bearing the Edmonston vaccine H protein (MV-EdH) and compared them to EGFP-expressing wild-type MV strains. In vitro, MV-EdH replicated in SLAM+ as well as CD46+ cells, including primary cell cultures from cynomolgus monkey tissues, whereas the wild-type MV replicated only in SLAM+ cells. However, in macaques, both wild-type MV and MV-EdH strains infected lymphoid and respiratory organs, and widespread infection of MV-EdH was not observed. Flow cytometric analysis indicated that SLAM+ lymphocyte cells were infected preferentially with both strains. Interestingly, EGFP expression of MV-EdH in tissues and lymphocytes was significantly weaker than that of the wild-type MV. Taken together, these results indicate that the CD46-binding activity of the vaccine H protein is important for determining the cell specificity of MV in vitro but not the tropism in vivo. They also suggest that the vaccine H protein attenuates MV growth in vivo.
Runtime verification method for self-adaptive software using reachability of transition system model

Self-adaptive software can change its own behavior in order to achieve an intended objective in a changing environment. Consequently, self-adaptive software requires practical runtime verification and validation. We propose an approach for runtime verification of self-adaptive software by using a designed transition system model. The proposed approach consists of two phases: pre-computing phase and runtime phase. In the precomputing phase, we assume that the self-adaptive software is designed as a transition system. In this phase, the proposed approach translates the designed transition system into equations for runtime verification. For translation, we suggest an algorithm based on state elimination and reachability. After the pre-computing phase, the results of the translated equations are verified in the runtime phase. In order to demonstrate the suitability of our proposed approach, we performed experiments to evaluate the performance of the pre-processing phase and the runtime phase. In comparison with other model-checking tools, our approach achieved excellent results.
Women in the Boardroom: Evidence from Large UK Companies

A considerable amount of attention has recently been given to the lack of equality for women in the economic arena. Women are systematically disadvantaged in many ways in terms of pay for the same job, promotion prospects and access to the most important top jobs in the United Kingdom. In this paper we present new evidence on women participation rates in UK boardrooms. In particular, our objectives are to (i) examine the proportion of executive and non-executive directors who are women (ii) to document the degree to which women are deployed to key boardroom committees.
Infection control in home-based care for people living with HIV/AIDS/TB in South Africa: An exploratory study

The majority of HIV and AIDS patients in sub-Saharan African countries receive health care services at home. Yet research on infection control in home-based care settings is virtually non-existent. This study explored infection control practices in home-based care in a South African province with a high HIV/TB prevalence. We conducted interviews with 10 managers of home-based care organizations and 10 focus group discussions with 80 volunteer caregivers working in high HIV/TB prevalent communities in South Africa. Findings show that volunteers had insufficient training on infection control. Materials necessary for the maintenance of hygiene and protective equipment were in short supply and the protective equipment supplied was of poor quality. Home-based care patients lived in crowded and poor conditions, and family members were negatively disposed to the use of protective devices. Together, these factors put volunteers and family caregivers at risk of infection with HIV and TB. Health policy should address the training of volunteer caregivers and the regular supply of good quality materials to ensure effective infection control. It is also important to educate families on infection control. Finally, there is a need to integrate HIV and TB control at the community level.
E-Mail Marketing by International Hotel Chains

E-mail's utility as a marketing medium is being limited by unprecedented growth in spam—unsolicited commercial bulk e-mail messages. Given the access that hotels have to their customers' personal data and the potential for using this resource for marketing and promotional purposes, this study sets out to establish whether international hotel chains conform to the legislative guidelines found in the U.S. Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003 with regard to use of personal data for e-mail marketing purposes. By monitoring multiple e-mail accounts over a one-year period, the study found that not only is hotel companies' behavior highly ethical with regard to their use of customers' personal data, but in fact it may serve as an example of best practice for other businesses.
Income, Value, and Returns in Socially Responsible Office Properties

This paper compares alternative methods for taking spatial dependence into account in house price prediction. We select hedonic methods that have been reported in the literature to perform relatively well in terms of ex-sample prediction accuracy. Because differences in performance may be due to differences in data, we compare the methods using a single data set. The estimation methods include simple OLS, a two-stage process incorporating nearest neighborsâ€™ residuals in the second stage, geostatistical, and trend surface models. These models take into account submarkets by adding dummy variables or by estimating separate equations for each submarket. Based on data for approximately 13,000 transactions from Louisville, Kentucky, we conclude that a geostatistical model with disaggregated submarket variables performs best.
The development of multi-functional autonomous amphibious vehicle

This paper addresses multi-purpose autonomous amphibious vehicle. It could operate 3 terrains; land-sea-air, a 3-in 1 amphibious vehicle. Usually the vehicle runs as AUV in underwater. It has tracks to run on-land and seabed and works as AGV, ACV. On the pressure hull, there is a waterproof cargo with self-sealing hatch. This enables agent vehicle's launch such as UAV, on seabed. This study focuses on the feasibility the proposed vehicle. Experiments were carried out to demonstrate the feasibility.