Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gram stain modified to improve colour contrast.

One of the disadvantages of Gram stain is that the final Gram counterstain colours not only the Gram-negative material but also all the other background material in the preparation. A modified technique has been developed to improve colour separation and to eliminate much of the unwanted background Gram-negative stain. The basis of the modification to be described is Preston and Morrell's (1962) Gram staining method. The procedure is as follows: Take the section to water. Take 4 g crystal violet, 40 ml methylated spirit (64 OP), and 160 ml of 1 % ammonium oxalate in water, for 30 to 60 seconds for the ammonium oxalate-crystal violet solution. Rinse briefly in water. Apply Lugol's iodine to the section for 30 to 60 seconds. Pour off the iodine solution and wash the section for 30 seconds in iodineacetone (7 ml liquor iodi fortis and 193 ml acetone) to decolorize. Then counterstain with dilute carbol fuchsin for three minutes. Pour off the excess carbol fuchsin and wash the section in picric acid-cellosolve reagent, from a dropper bottle, for 15 seconds to two minutes to differentiate and counterstain. The picric acid-cellosolve solution, which should be made up freshly at least once a week, is 3 ml 0-6% picric acid to 7 ml csllosolve (2-ethoxy ethanol). After counterstaining blot dry, but do not wash, clear in cedarwood oil (for 10 min), take to xylene in ascending grades of cedarwood oilxylene, and mount in DPX. Although this modification of Gram's method was developed specifically to stain infected tooth tissue it is not limited to this one application. The technique described is in one step and is a rapid extension to the standard Gram stain used in many laboratories. Its use can make the microscopic diagnosis of the presence of Gram-negative forms in smears and tissue sections much easier. In such sections the cell nuclei are stained pink and the cytoplasm a pale orange yellow against a colourless or pale yellow background so that Gram-negative bacteria are easily demonstrated.
Locational representation in imagery: a moving spot task.

Subjects with eyes closed imagined a spot moving from cell to cell in a matrix in response to spoken instructions: Up, Down, Left, and Right. After 12 such moves from a given starting point, the subject indicated the final position of the spot. Accuracy was studied as a function of matrix order, which varied from 3 X 3 to 8 X 8. (Visual angles of the displayed matrices were also varied, from 4.6 degrees/cell in one experiment to 1 degree/cell in another, but with little or no effect on results.) The greatest decrement in accuracy occurred between 3 X 3 and 4 X 4 cells. Moreover, showing the subjects a systematic way of structuring matrices (i.e., of dividing them into parts that could be visualized more or less individually) improved performance markedly on all but the 3 X 3 matrix. These results, which agree fairly well with the verbal reports of the subjects, indicate that some capacity limitation of the image system is exceeded in going from a 3 X 3 to a 4 X 4 grid. Implications concerning the nature of imagery are discussed.
Interrater agreement on a simple neurological score in rats.

To the Editor: Strong and reliable outcome measures are required in laboratory studies that aim to appraise the extent of the damage in animals subjected to various forms of cerebral ischemia. In this regard, the assessment of histological changes, such as the volume of infarcted tissue or the number of necrotic cells, is considered the gold standard. However, the assessment of functional outcome can also be useful in animal studies that evaluate the effect of new therapeutic agents, since the clinical examination is effortless and not time demanding; moreover, physical testing of the animals can be repeated over time and thus provide data on the evolution of the neurological deficit. A simple neurological score to evaluate sensorimotor performance in rats has recently been developed by Garcia et al.1 It explores six different functions and attributes to each a 3- or 4-point score. The total score, which correlates closely with the severity of the histological injury (in particular with the number of necrotic neurons) in a model of middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion in the Wistar rat,1 has been used as one of the outcome measures in studies that estimate the effect of new drugs.2 3 Because of its simplicity and strong correlation with histological damage, this score might be used in other laboratories employing experimental procedures to cause cerebral ischemia. In this regard, evaluation of its reproducibility could be extremely useful, because it is known that the validity of scales evaluating neurological deficit can be affected by interobserver variability.4 5 We have conducted a study to evaluate the impact of personal judgment in the …
An Industry Analysis of Foreign Direct Investment in Spanish Manufacturing, 1986-1992

This paper tries to analyse the main features associated with foreign direct investment (FDI) directed to Spanish manufacturing, both across industries and through time. To this end, we will make use of a data set on 20 manufacturing industries for the years 1986-1992, in which Spanish manufacturing industry experienced a sustained period of growth. Then, a relative FDI measure will be related to several industry indicators, as well as to some macroeconomic variables, which will allow us to obtain a general characterization of FDI in Spanish manufacturing over that period.
Mutations in ccf, a novel Drosophila gene encoding a chromosomal factor, affect progression through mitosis and interact with Pc‐G mutations

We report herein the isolation of ccf, a new gene located in region 82E and essential for Drosophila development. This gene, expressed throughout development, encodes a novel product of 68 kDa which is found in the nucleus during interphase and labels, in a novel pattern, centrosomes and chromosome arms during mitosis. Mutations in ccf give rise to late larvae with small imaginal discs and to adults showing appendages of reduced size, consistent with CCF involvement in cell proliferation. Neuroblast squash analyses show that CCF is required for proper condensation of mitotic chromosomes and, therefore, for progression through mitosis. Furthermore, we observe that adult ccf mutants as well as animals overexpressing CCF during larval stages exhibit homeotic transformations. We also find that mutations in the Pc‐G genes Polycomb, polyhomeotic and Enhancer of zeste are enhanced by ccf mutations. Finally, we show that the CCF protein binds to specific sites on polytene chromosomes, many of which are shared with the Posterior sex combs Pc‐G protein. Together, these results suggest a role for the CCF protein in the maintenance of chromosome structure during mitosis and interphase.
International portfolio diversification: Do industry factors dominate country factors?

Despite recent reports to the contrary, we find that even recently—the 1991-2000 period—the country factor still dominates industry influences. This conclusion is robust to different test formats although the relative magnitude of the two sources of variation changes widely. One factor affecting the degree of country-factor dominance is the presence or absence of smallcap stocks in the sample: small-caps have an above average variability (after controlling for industry and country effects) and are also less sensitive to their global industry index than large-caps. Another factor that matters is the country coverage (especially the presence of emerging markets) and the level of industry aggregation (NACE 3 versus 4, for example). Methodology matters too. Heston and Rouwenhorst (1994) rank the world, country, and industry factors on the basis of their own variance, but this ranking may miss the ranking on the basis of stock-return variance explained if exposures are dissimilarly distributed across factors. Finding that the assumption of similar exposures is, in general, not realistic, we incorporate the distributions of the exposures into the assessment of the relative importance of country v industry factors, taking care to purge out the variability due to estimation error. By this metric, the dominance of the country factor becomes unassailable.
Determinants of Swedish Bank Selection Choices by International students

Aim: This study aims to explore bank selection criteria employed by international students in Gavle, Sweden.Methodology: Data was collected through semi-open structure questionnaire. The researchers do sampling a total of 101 students in the University of Gavle. After data collection through questionnaire, data was analyzed through SPSS19 software. A non-probabilistic convenience sampling was employed and data was analyzed to be refined and reduced in a manageable way.Conclusion: There are four factors which are the main reasons in influencing international students choosing banks in Sweden. This study reveals that “Good service provision”, “assurance”, “value added service”, “convenience and security” have significant influence on the bank selection decision of international students. There is no difference between ethnicity in influencing factors. Besides, different genders have same influencing factors as the four factors in this research. Implications and value of this research: This research steps further in the investigation about customer bank selection behavior. It is the research that focuses on individual customers of banks especially in Sweden. Furthermore, the results of this research can be beneficial for banks to identify appropriate strategies to attract and retain international students.Suggestion for future studies: The international students are banks’ potential customers in the long run. Because the results of this study are only based on customer’s perceptions, it could be an interesting research area for future researchers to investigate the correspondence between and service providers’ and consumers’ perceptions. In addition, because one of our study limitations was that the research only conducted in one city: Gavle, it would be interesting to investigate other Swedish universities international students for the same topic.
Modeling extinction and reignition in turbulent nonpremixed combustion using a doubly-conditional moment closure approach

The scalar dissipation rate is introduced as a second conditioning variable into the first-moment, singly conditional moment closure model to describe extinction and reignition effects in turbulent, nonpremixed combustion. A priori testing of the combustion model using direct numerical simulation experiments exhibiting local extinction/reignition events is described. The singly conditional moment closure model is either unable to describe the extinction seen in the numerical experiments or predicts global extinction when it does not occur. The new doubly conditional moment closure approach is able to describe the extinction seen on average, but predicts the onset of reignition too early.
Comparing forced and unforced choices in a choice experiment: the role of reference dependent preferences

In the discrete choice experiment literature, it has been argued that the choice sets from which respondents choose should include an unforced choice because this is more realistic and accounts for status quo bias. However, we propose a much stronger set of arguments for preferring to use unforced choices where relevant. These relate to the concepts of loss aversion and reference dependent preferences from prospect theory. The introduction of a third alternative representing the respondent’s current situation changes the reference point, which may be different for each respondent. This, in turn, changes the size of any losses or gains when comparing Job A or Job B with their current situation, and since losses are valued more than gains, affects the marginal utility of each attribute. The aim of this paper is to test this using two separate discrete choice experiments, one examining choices for nursing jobs, and one examining choices for GP jobs. Each experiment includes both a forced choice (which job do you prefer, A or B) followed by an unforced choice (which job would you choose, A or B or current job) for each choice set. The levels for the current job are constructed from responses to other questions in the survey. This enables us to directly compare the results of the forced and unforced choices for the same individual. We use a generalised multinomial logit model to account for the effects of scale. On average, the introduction of the status quo option led to respondents more likely experiencing losses than gains, due to status quo bias. This corresponded to the marginal utilities being generally higher in the unforced choice model, confirming the well-known finding that losses are valued more than gains. Including an unforced choice in DCEs is necessary (when appropriate) not only for the purposes of ‘realism’, but also because they produce different marginal utilities due to loss aversion.
Corporate Governance and Stock Returns in China - A Long Horizon Event Study

This study investigates the relationship between the adoption of ‘good’ corporate governance practices and the subsequent stock performance of China’s publicly listed firms. Using the Shanghai Stock Exchange Corporate Governance Index (SSE CGI) that was launched in January 2008, a portfolio of CGI firms is benchmarked against a portfolio of matched conventional firms, their sector indices and market index for the four-year period following the launch. The results indicate that CGI firms were able to significantly outperform their respective sector indices as well as the Shanghai Composite Index, but were unable to significantly outperform their control firms matched on size and market-to-book ratios. Additionally, wealth relative cross-sectional regressions compliment these results, showing no significant support for the hypothesis that the acquisition of CG status is linked to subsequent superior performance. These results provide evidence that Chinese investors are not yet willing to pay a premium for CGI stocks.
Induction of cyclooxygenase-2 in thick ascending limb cells by adrenalectomy.

Adrenalectomized (ADX) and sham-operated rats received either dexamethasone (DEX) or vehicle. Renal tissue was used for morphologic analysis, assessment of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) protein expression and mRNA accumulation, and quantitation of COX-2 activity. In untreated or shamoperated rats, COX-2 protein was observed in a subset of tubular epithelial cells (<2%), which were located mainly in the cortex. All COX-2-positive cells also expressed Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein, a highly selective marker for thick ascending limb (TAL) cells. After ADX, >30% of TAL cells expressed COX-2 in a manner consistent with recruitment of COX-2-positive TAL cells toward the medulla. Treatment of ADX rats with DEX reduced the number of COX-2-positive cells to that observed in sham-operated or intact rats. COX-2 mRNA accumulation was increased by ADX and partially attenuated by treatment with DEX. Western blot analysis of cortical microsomes revealed a substantial increase in COX-2 expression in ADX rats, compared with ADX/DEX-treated, sham-operated, or intact rats. The increase in COX-2 protein expression was associated with a twofold increase in prostaglandin E(2) formation by cortical microsomes obtained from ADX rats, compared with sham-operated rats. It is concluded that ADX induces expression of enzymatically active COX-2, such that expression occurs in the cortical TAL and proceeds in a defined pattern toward the outer medullary TAL. It is suggested that ADX induces expression of TAL cells that, in the basal state, do not express COX-2 protein.
Differential clustering of sperm subpopulations in infertile males with clinical varicocele and carriers of rearranged genomes.

Some methods for determining sperm DNA fragmentation, such as the sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) and the sperm chromatin dispersion test (SCD), provide additional information about particular subgroups of spermatozoa with specific irregularities. Thus, SCSA recognizes a specific sperm subpopulation, the high-DNA stainability sperm subpopulation (HDS), and SCD recognizes the so-called DNA-degraded sperm (DDS) subpopulation. Although some studies associate the presence of these subpopulations with specific aspects related to infertility, the relationship between both sperm subpopulations and their preponderance in specific clinical groups of infertile males has not been extensively investigated. In this study, HDS and DDS subpopulations were determined in a total of 37 human males: 8 males with proven fertility, 9 infertile males with asthenoteratozoospermia, 10 carriers of chromosomal reorganizations, and 10 infertile males with clinical varicocele. Results showed a significant increase of the DDS subpopulation (P < .001) in both the varicocele patient (16.85 ± 7.24) and carrier of rearranged genome (11.6 ± 5.23) groups, but not in patients with asthenoteratozoospermia (3.88 ± 1.55) or fertile donors (2.62 ± 1.68). No statistical differences were detected for the HDS subpopulation (P = .542), but the highest values were found in the varicocele and rearranged-genome groups. However, no correlation between the HDS and DDS subpopulations were found (r = 0.196; P = .244), suggesting that both represent a different class of sperm subpopulation in the ejaculate. A significant increase in HDS, and especially DDS, can be associated with the presence of varicocele or the rearrangement of chromosomes. Specific diagnostic tests to confirm the diagnosis must be performed in patients with increased DDS and HDS values.
β2-adrenergic antagonists suppress pancreatic cancer cell invasion by inhibiting CREB, NF-κB and AP-1

Smoking and chronic stress are well-documented risk factors that are associated with β-adrenoceptors in the development of pancreatic cancer. Stimulation of β-adrenoceptors can activate cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)/ protein kinase A (PKA) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways in pancreatic cancer cells. Many recent studies have focused on the function of β-adrenoceptors in cancer invasion. Thus, we hypothesized that β-adrenoceptors may play a role in pancreatic cancer invasion, and β-blockers may suppress the pancreatic cancer invasion and proliferation. MIA PaCa-2 and BxPC-3 cell lines express mRNA and protein of both β1 and β2-adrenoceptors. β2-adrenergic antagonist ICI118,551 and β1/2-adrenergic antagonist propranolol significantly suppressed cell invasion and proliferation in comparison to β1-adrenergic antagonist metoprolol and control in a Matrigel invasion assay and subrenal capsular assay. Treatment with β2-adrenoceptor antagonists inhibited activation of transcription factors nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), activator protein 1 (AP-1) and cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) as demonstrated by electrophoretic mobility shift assays and Western blotting. β2-adrenoceptor antagonists also significantly altered vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9 expression. The β2-adrenergic antagonists suppressed invasion and proliferation by inhibiting both cAMP/PKA and Ras, which regulate activation of the MAPK pathway and transcription factors, such as NF-κB, AP-1 and CREB, as well as expression of its target genes, MMP-9, MMP-2 and VEGF. However, β1-adrenergic antagonists suppressed invasion by inhibiting only the cAMP/PKA pathway, suggesting that they may be useful as novel preventive and therapeutic strategies for pancreatic cancer.
Comparison Between Tests of Fatigue and Force for Trunk Flexion

Study Design. A quasi-experimental study was conducted. Objective. To compare intraindividual differences between trunk flexion isometric force, fatigue during isometric contraction (isometric fatigue), and fatigue during sit-ups (dynamic fatigue). Summary of Background Data. Trunk flexion force and trunk flexion fatigue commonly are used to assess trunk flexion fitness. The use of one test is appropriate only if the tests are highly correlated. Methods. This study measured force and either isometric fatigue (time to task failure, n = 79) or dynamic fatigue (number of sit-ups in 2 minutes, n = 73) in self-selected, healthy secondary school (I-III) subjects. In 15 subjects, both isometric and dynamic fatigue were measured. Results. After control was used for upper body mass, the R2adj was 0.34 between isometric force and isometric fatigue, 0.31 between isometric force and dynamic fatigue was, and 0.27 between dynamic fatigue and isometric fatigue. Including gender in the model did not affect the results. Conclusions. The lack of a high correlation between trunk flexion isometric fatigue, dynamic fatigue, and isometric force suggests that health care professionals should be careful to select the test that answers their particular needs or question.
Planning of Optimal Collision Avoidance Trajectories with Timed Elastic Bands

Abstract This paper is concerned with the planning of optimal trajectories for vehicle collision avoidance with a Timed Elastic Band (TEB) framework. The avoidance trajectory is represented by a TEB which is optimized with respect to multiple partially conflicting objectives. The resulting trajectory constitutes the optimal compromise between a mere braking and a lane change maneuver that avoids the collision with the smoothest feasible path. The approach is applicable to general critical traffic situations as the TEB considers the constraints imposed by the vehicle dynamics, road boundaries, static obstacles and moving vehicles.
Bedhaya Rimbe Dance in Keraton Kanoman Cirebon West Java, Indonesia

Bedhaya Rimbe dance was composed by Sultan Kanoman VIII of Sultan Raja Adipati (PRA) Dzoelkarnaen in 1960 and experienced revitalization in 1994 by Handoyo, an artist from among the people outside the palace environment. Considering that Bedhaya Rimbe dance has grown and developed for a long time and experienced a revitalization of its creation, this study aims to reveal the periodization and its creation as well as the classical cultural heritage of the Cirebon Kanoman Palace. This study uses method ethnochoreology theory combined with the theory of History. This research is an interdisciplinary study with a descriptive analysis method. The results obtained from this study are the History of Bedaya Dance, Kanoman Palace,
The bank lending channel of monetary policy transmission: evidence from an emerging market, India

In this paper, we analyses bank lending channel (BLC) of monetary policy transmission in India. We test for loan supply shifts, emanating as a direct effect of changes in the prime policy rate used by the Reserve Bank of India. Using yearly bank balance sheet data from 1996 to 2007, the paper provides evidence of an operational bank lending channel (BLC) in India. Further, segregating banks by asset size and liquidity, we find that small, illiquid banks are more affected by policy changes, and the effect is more pronounced in areas of non-priority sector lending. Finally, the domestically owned banks are more sensitive to policy rate changes vis-a-vis foreign banks.
Survival and Profitability: The Roles of Experience and Intangible Assets in Foreign Subsidiary Performance

This study integrates research on the financial performance of multinational firms with research on foreign subsidiary survival. We examined the influences a firm's intangible assets and its experience have on foreign subsidiary survival and profitability using a sample of 3,080 subsidiaries of 641 Japanese firms. The results show survival and profitability have different antecedents. Host country experience has a direct effect on survival but a contingent relationship with profitability. The entry mode moderated the nature of these relationships.