Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Geraniol dehydrogenase, the key enzyme in biosynthesis of the alarm pheromone, from the astigmatid mite Carpoglyphus lactis (Acari: Carpoglyphidae)

Geraniol dehydrogenase (GeDH), which plays an important role in the biosynthesis of neral, an alarm pheromone, was purified from the astigmatid mite Carpoglyphus lactis. The enzyme was obtained in an apparently homogeneous and active form after 1879‐fold purification through seven steps of chromatography. Car. lactis GeDH was determined to be a monomer in its active form with a relative molecular mass of 42 800, which is a unique subunit structure in comparison with already established alcohol dehydrogenases. Car. lactis GeDH oxidized geraniol into geranial in the presence of NAD+. NADP+ was ineffective as a cofactor, suggesting that Car. lactis GeDH is an NAD+‐dependent alcohol dehydrogenase. The optimal pH and temperature for geraniol oxidation were determined to be pH 9.0 and 25 °C, respectively. The Km values for geraniol and NAD+ were 51.0 μm and 59.5 μm, respectively. Car. lactis GeDH was shown to selectively oxidize geraniol, whereas its geometrical isomer, nerol, was inert as a substrate. The high specificity for geraniol suggests that Car. lactis GeDH specializes in the alarm pheromone biosynthesis of Car. lactis. Car. lactis GeDH is composed of 378 amino acids. Structurally, Car. lactis GeDH showed homology with zinc‐dependent alcohol dehydrogenases found in mammals and a mosquito (36.6–37.6% identical), and the enzyme was considered to be a member of the medium‐chain dehydrogenase/reductase family, in view of the highly conserved sequences of zinc‐binding and NAD+‐binding sites. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that Car. lactis GeDH could be categorized as a new class, different from other established alcohol dehydrogenases.
Hybrid Energy Storage With Multimode Fuzzy Power Allocator for PV Systems

The ineluctable variations of the solar radiation, ambient temperature, and partial shading affect the performance of the photovoltaic (PV) arrays, and hence incur supply-demand mismatches in the PV-based system. This paper proposes a hybrid energy storage (HES) composed of lithium-ion batteries and ultracapacitors that can be incorporated in the PV-based system to complement the supply-demand mismatches by using a multimode fuzzy-logic power allocator. The battery used in the HES was modeled based on the experimental data and can accurately reflect the battery dynamics under varying conditions. The power allocator optimally adjusts the power contributions of the batteries and ultracapacitors and exchanges energy between them, thus compensating the supply-demand mismatches without accidentally depleting or saturating the two components. The proposed HES was evaluated in both short- and long-term scenarios. A good ac-side performance in the short-term scenario is observed due to the instant response of the ultracapacitors to the high-frequency requests. In the long-term scenario, the power allocator restrains the frequency fluctuations caused by the supply-demand mismatches within ±0.2 Hz, while maintaining the batteries and ultracapacitors in a safe working region. Additionally, the participation of ultracapacitors in supplying high-frequency power is beneficial for relaxing the stress on batteries, and the simulation results show that the lifetime of batteries in the HES can be extended.
Adverse effects of antiretroviral treatment.

BACKGROUND The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has led to significant reduction in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related morbidity and mortality. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to antiretroviral treatment (ART) are however, major obstacles in its success. AIMS We sought to study the adverse effects of ART in a resource-restricted setting in India. METHODS Hundred patients on ART were studied prospectively over a period of two years. All patients were asked to visit the clinic if they developed any symptoms or on a monthly basis. They were screened clinically and investigated suitably for any ADRs. RESULT Out of the 100 patients, ten patients did not come for follow-up; only 90 cases were available for evaluation. ADRs were observed in 64 cases (71.1%) - the maximal frequency of ADRs was seen with zidovudine (AZT) (50%) followed by stavudine (d4T) (47.9%), efavirenz (EFV) (45.4%) and finally, Nevirapine (NVP) (18.4%). Most common ADRs were cutaneous (44.4%) followed by hematological (32.2%), neurological (31.1%), metabolic (22.2%) and gastrointestinal (20%). Most common cutaneous ADRs observed were nail hyperpigmentation (14.4%) and rash (13.3%). Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) was observed as a paradoxical reaction to ART in 20 (22.2%) cases. CONCLUSION To optimize adherence and thus, efficacy of ART, clinicians must focus on preventing adverse effects whenever possible, and distinguish those that are self-limited from those that are potentially serious.
Comparing Central City Finances Using Fiscally Standardized Cities

Abstract Because fiscal institutions and arrangements differ widely across US cities, it has until now been very difficult to conduct comparative analysis of spending, revenues, and debt in US cities. This paper describes a new city fiscal dataset, called fiscally standardized cities (FiSCs), that directly addresses the varying roles of municipal governments, counties, school districts, and special districts in the financing of central cities. By taking systematic account of fiscal data for all the major units of government in large cities over a long time period (1977–2012), the FiSC data permit investigation of a wide range of important comparative policy issues for cities. The article describes the methodology used to construct FiSCs, and gives a number of examples to illustrate the potential uses of the FiSC data. For example, it shows how spending comparisons between cities can be fundamentally misleading unless account is taken of the varying roles of overlapping governmental units. It also demonstrates how the FiSC data can be used to benchmark fiscal data for one city against comparable cities.
Foreign Direct Investment, Technological Change, and Economic Growth within Europe

The extent of multinational activity and the share of world trade accounted for by multinational enterprises has risen steadily over the past two decades. This has led to renewed interest within Europe in the impact of multinational enterprises on employment, investment and trade, and the structure of economic growth. In this paper the authors discuss the factors behind the continued growth of foreign direct investment and its wider consequences on home and host economies. They report evidence on the impact of production relocation on the export performance of a number of OECD economies, and investigate the extent to which technology transfer from foreign-owned firms has affected the rate of technical progress within the German and UK economies. The acquisition of firm-specific knowledge-based assets is found to be an important factor behind the growth of FD, suggesting that such investments are likely to be an important channel for the diffusion of ideas and technologies. Copyright 1997 by Royal Economic Society.
Recent Developments in Acromegaly: A Review1

Clinical aspects Untreated acromegaly is associated with considerable morbidity, and results in progressive disfigurement, disability and early death (Wright et al. 1970, Alexander et al. 1980). Cardiac hypertrophy has been found to be common (Hearne et al. 1975, Smallridge et al. 1979) and often occurs in patients without clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease or without correlation with the presence or severity of hypertension (Mather et al. 1979, Savage et al. 1979), suggesting that the echocardiographic changes represent a cardiomegaly peculiar to acromegaly. Abnormal ECG changes are also common (Jonas et al. 1975). Fifty percent of acromegalies have small airway narrowing (Harrison et al. 1978), and pulmonary function tests show that most acromegalies have some degree of hypoxaemia and a few evince pneumomegaly (Luboshitzky & Barzilai 1980). Klein et al. (1982) have found increased frequency of colonic polyps and suspect that these patients are at risk of developing canc.er of the colon. The usual several years' delay in establishing the diagnosis may contribute to the development of these complications. In addition to the high prevalence of diabetes melIitus 27% in our experience (Jadresic et al. 1982) and other metabolic abnormalities due to excessive growth hormone (GH) secretion, pituitary adenomas may cause neurological problems and endocrine deficiencies owing to damage to pituitary tissue or to suprasellar structures.
Putting the Pieces Together: The Moldovan Exchange Rate Policy Puzzle

This paper explores the Moldovan exchange rate policy puzzle: why the country has pursued a soft peg to the US dollar, despite the virtual absence of direct trade with the United States, increasing “euroisation” of the economy, and an inflation-targeting monetary policy regime. In an attempt to assess Moldovan exchange rate policy, the paper finds that while changes in both the US dollar exchange rate and the import-weighted exchange rate affect import prices, consumer prices are determined primarily by changes in the dollar exchange rate. It also finds that the Moldovan monetary authorities use the US dollar exchange rate as an instrument for responding to domestic price developments. Thus, the sensitivity of consumer prices to the dollar exchange rate, and systematic use of the dollar exchange rate as an instrument of monetary policy, constitute an important setting against which the dollar peg policy has been maintained.
Consumption smoothing and vulnerability in Russia

Applying bootstrapped quantile regression to the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) data, we examine the channels through which individuals experience and seek to cope with changes in consumption. We find that married individuals living in small households, with educated heads in urban areas are better equipped to smooth consumption. Investigating the impact of idiosyncratic shocks, we find that the labour market is an important transmission mechanism allowing households to smooth their consumption but also exposing them to risk, mainly through job loss. Outside of pension payments, the formal social safety net does not facilitate consumption smoothing, thus heightening the importance of informal coping institutions. It transpires that both support from relatives/friends and home production act as important insurance mechanisms for the most vulnerable. In contrast with previous findings, it would seem that regardless of its historical, political and social roots, the garden plots and dachas, often romanticized in Russian literature, do provide a means by which ‘urban’ Russians are able to cope with economic fluctuations. We finish by stressing the important policy lessons for Russia's developing market economy.
The Expected Penalty for Committing a Crime: An Analysis of Minimum Wage Violations

Several papers have noted and sought to explain the paradox of minimum wage law compliance. Compliance rates are high even though the penalty for violating the law is allegedly less than the underpayment to workers. By comparison, we show that the actual penalty exceeds the underpayment. We combine our estimates of the costs of violating the law with estimates of the probability of apprehension to arrive at the expected cost of violating the law. In contrast with previous work, we find that the expected costs are sufficiently high to make compliance rational.
Selective Search for Obtaining Object Candidates

We propose a new method for obtaining object candidates in 3D space. Our method requires no learning, has no limitation of object properties such as compactness or symmetry, and therefore produces object candidates using a completely general approach. This method is a simple combination of Selective Search, which is a non-learning-based objectness detector working in 2D images, and a supervoxel segmentation method, which works with 3D point clouds. We made a small but non-trivial modification to supervoxel segmentation; it brings better “seeding” for supervoxels, which produces more proper object candidates as a result. Our experiments using a couple of publicly available RGB-D datasets demonstrated that our method outperformed state-of-the-art methods of generating object proposals in 2D images.
Ethical leadership and ethical climate in the container shipping industry

This study examined ethical leadership and ethical climate in the container shipping context. Using data collected from 147 container shipping firms in Taiwan, exploratory factor analysis identified four dimensions underlying ethical climate attributes: rules, independent thinking, law and ethical code, and caring. Subsequent analysis indicated that respondent perceived the law and ethical code dimension to be performed higher than the rules, caring, and independent thinking dimensions in their employing organisations. A structural equation model was employed to examine the relationship between ethical leadership and ethical climate, and indicated that ethical leadership has a positive influence on ethical climate. Areas suggested for future research are presented in the final section of the paper.
American Idol: Evidence on Same-Race Preferences

Abstract This paper examines whether viewers of the popular television show, American Idol, exhibit racial preferences. We find evidence on same-race preferences among black viewers only: when there are more black contestants in the show, more black viewers are tuned in to watch it. The result is robust after we account for the endogeneity problem regarding the contestants' racial composition, which arises due to the voting mechanism. Our point estimates tell that a 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of black contestants increases viewership ratings for black households by about 1.3 percentage points.
Is the Extended Family Altruistically Linked? Direct Tests Using Micro Data

What is the basic economic decision-making unit? Is it the household or the extended family? This question is fundamental to economic analysis and policy design. The answer given by the Life Cycle and Keynesian models is that the economic unit is the household. According to these models, members of particular households act selfishly and do not fully share resources with extended family members in other households. Hence, altering the distribution of resources across households within the extended family will alter the consumption and labor supply of those households who acquire or lose resources. In contrast to the Life Cycle and Keynesian models, the altruism model implies that the extended family is the basic economic decision-making unit. According to this model the extended family is linked through altruism and, as a result, acts as if it fully shares resources. In the altruism model nondistortionary changes in the distribution of resources across households within the extended family will have no effect on the consumption or labor supply of any of its members. Despite its importance, the boundaries of economic decision-making units have not, to our knowledge, been examined directly with micro data. Stated differently, the altruism model has not been tested against the Life Cycle and Keynesian alternatives with such data. This paper uses matched data on parents and their adult children, contained in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, to perform such a test. In essence our test asks whether the distribution of consumption and labor supply across households within the extended family depends on the distribution of resources across households within the extended family. Our findings provide quite strong evidence against the altruism model. The distribution of resources across households within the extended family is a highly significant (statistically and economically) determinant of the distribution of onsumption within the extended family. This finding holds for the entire sample as well as the subsample consisting of rich parents and poor children. In addition to showing that the distribution of extended family resources matters for extended family consumption, we test the life cycle model by asking whether only own resources matter, i.e., whether the resources of extended family members have no affect on a household's consumption. Our results indicate that extended family member resources have, at most, a modest effect on household consumption after one has controlled for the fact that extended family resources help predict a household's own permanent income.
Bit-Interleaved Coded Transmission with Multilevel Modulation for MIMO-OFDM Systems

This paper proposes a bit-interleaved coded transmission with multilevel modulation for multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) systems. In the proposed system, multiple layers are encoded and interleaved together, using one encoder and one interleaver, and then mapped by hierarchical symbol mapping. A corresponding receiver structure is presented, where multiple layers can be decoupled by iterative MIMO detection and equalization with ordered successive interference cancellation (SIC) and full log-likelihood ratio (LLR). Full LLR provides reliable estimates of transmit signals, and significantly improves the performance of proposed multilevel modulation. Simulation results show that the proposed system has better performance than conventional modulation schemes such as bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) and multilevel BICM (MLBICM).
Capital Intensity and the Firm's Cost of Capital

Recent reports of negative capital intensity coefficients in struct ure-performance equations support allegations of gross measurement error in accounting-based measures of economic profitability. This paper explores whether specification errors, rather than measurement errors alone, may explain this anomalous empirical result. Within a simultaneous equations model of capital intensity, cost of capital, and price-cost margins, the author employs Hausman specification tests to demonstrate a negative bias on capital intensity and a positive bias on concentration when one omits firm-specific cost of capital from price-cost margin equations. The roles of cost of capital and capital intensity are derived from formal structure-performance theory. Copyright 1988 by MIT Press.
The Boundaries of Multinational Enterprises and the Theory of International Trade

This paper begins with a review of empirical evidence on multinational firms. Conceptual underpinnings of a theory are developed, relying in particular on the notion of knowledge capital as a mobile, joint input into geographically separated production facilities. This idea is embedded in a simple two-country general equilibrium model that supports multinational production in equilibrium under conditions consistent with the empirical evidence. The final section examines internalization and shows why certain properties of knowledge capital also imply a preference for transferring technologies internally within the firm, rather than through arm's-length markets.
How Certain are you Measuring Environmental Dynamism and Complexity? A Multitrait-Multimethod Approach

The study considers the measurement of environmental dynamism and environmental complexity. Previous hospitality strategy research utilizing main environmental constructs (uncertainty, dynamism, complexity, and munificence) is examined. The measurement of these constructs used in the general strategy literature is contrasted with the hospitality strategy literature. Using a multimethod-multitrait approach, convergent and discriminant validity is assessed between these constructs using archival and self-reported measures. The findings indicate that knowledgeable managers’ perceptions match archival measures of dynamism and complexity when the same domain is ensured. Common self-reported measures of dynamism and complexity assess a broader domain than commonly used archival measures. Dynamism and complexity are shown to be separate and distinct constructs. It is suggested that these latent variables are important independent and control variables for strategy research. Further clarification in the measurement and impact of these variables should provide a clearer understanding of the relationship between the industry task environment, strategies, structure, and performance.
Capsid assembly and DNA packaging in herpes simplex virus

The genome of HSV‐1 contains 80–85 open reading frames. Genetic and biochemical evidence suggests that at least 39 of these genes encode proteins that are components of the HSV‐1 virion. The architecture of the HSV‐1 virion consists of a trilaminar lipid envelope, an amorphous layer known as the tegument, a capsid shell, and a DNA‐containing core. The capsid is an icosahedral shell whose major morphological features are 162 capsomers. It is composed of a major capsid protein called VP5 and three less abundant proteins, VP19C, VP23 and VP26. VP5 is the structural subunit of all 162 capsomers while VP19C and VP23 are located in the space between the capsomers. In addition to the structural proteins, capsid assembly involves participation of the HSV‐1‐encoded protease and the scaffolding protein, preVP22a. DNA packaging involves participation of DNA, empty capsids, and at least seven additional HSV‐1‐encoded proteins. Considerable advances have been made in understanding the structure of the capsid shell, largely as the result of applying cryoelectron microscopy techniques. Use of recombinant baculoviruses has allowed for a detailed analysis of the proteins required for capsid assembly. More recently, an in vitro system has been developed which has aided in defining the assembly pathway by identifying intermediates in the assembly of intact capsids. The in vitro system has identified a fragile roundish procapsid which matures into the polyhedral capsid in a transition similar to that undergone by bacteriophage proheads. This review is a summary of our present knowledge with respect to the structure and assembly of the HSV‐1 capsid and what is known about the seven genes involved in DNA packaging. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Persistent Activation of Stat3 Signaling Induces Survivin Gene Expression and Confers Resistance to Apoptosis in Human Breast Cancer Cells

Purpose: Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) protein is persistently activated in breast cancer and promotes tumor cell survival. To gain a better understanding of the role of constitutive Stat3 signaling in breast cancer progression, we evaluated the expression profile of potential Stat3-regulated genes that may confer resistance to apoptosis. Experimental Design: Stat3 signaling was blocked with antisense oligonucleotides in human MDA-MB-435s breast cancer cells and Affymetrix GeneChip microarray analysis was done. The candidate Stat3 target gene Survivin was further evaluated in molecular assays using cultured breast cancer cells and immunohistochemistry of breast tumor specimens. Results: Survivin, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein family, was identified as a potential Stat3-regulated gene by microarray analysis. This was confirmed in Survivin gene promoter studies and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays showing that Stat3 directly binds to and regulates the Survivin promoter. Furthermore, direct inhibition of Stat3 signaling blocked the expression of Survivin protein and induced apoptosis in breast cancer cells. Direct inhibition of Survivin expression also induced apoptosis. Increased Survivin protein expression correlates significantly (P = 0.001) with elevated Stat3 activity in primary breast tumor specimens from high-risk patients who were resistant to chemotherapy treatment. Conclusions: We identify Survivin as a direct downstream target gene of Stat3 in human breast cancer cells that is critical for their survival in culture. Our findings suggest that activated Stat3 signaling contributes to breast cancer progression and resistance to chemotherapy by, at least in part, inducing expression of the antiapoptotic protein, Survivin.