Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
State Export Promotion and Firm-level Employment

Most US states have export promotion programs, but it is unknown if these programs create long-term employment, which is often the policy’s stated goal. We merge administrative export promotion and employment data from Washington State to test the effect of firm-level export promotion on firm-level employment using the differences-in-differences estimator. We believe we are the first to have US state data at this level of detail. We find firm participation in an export assistance program increases firm-level employment fleetingly, but not in subsequent periods. Thus, we do not find a statistically significant impact to long-term employment from program participation.
A computer program to aid the sequencing of peptides in collision- activated decomposition experiments

A computer program named MSEQ, based on graph theory has been implemented to aid the sequencing of peptides from collision-activated decomposition (CAD) spectra. Input data required by this program are: the molecular weight of the peptide, the list of the masses of the daughter ions and the masses of the N- and C-terminal groups. The output comprises a list of the most likely sequences with their respective scores and the assignments of the daughter ions. A set of probabilities for each fragment ion was computed from hundreds of CAD spectra obtained from our mass spectrometer. To date many peptides have been sequenced in our laboratory with the help of this program, and in most of them the real sequence ranks among the five top sequences. The program is able to differentiate isobaric amino acids such as leucine and isoleucine when the side-chain fragmentation appears in the spectrum. A criterion is used to discard those sequences that match the spectrum poorly from the earliest steps. The program is fast and consumes no memory.
Urinary calcium excretion in the monitoring of bone metastases from prostatic carcinoma

One of the greatest problems in treating advanced prostate carcinoma is monitoring the therapeutic response of bone metastases. As these metastases are mainly osteosclerotic and lead to a markedly increased bone calcium requirement that may give rise to an imbalance in calcium homeostasis, the authors investigated whether changes in calcium balance may be useful for evaluating the response of bone metastases to treatment.
Evaluation of a technique for color correction in restoring anterior teeth

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the ability of the proposed technique in producing restorations that exhibit mimesis with tooth structure and to define a restorative clinical protocol. MATERIALS AND METHODS For this study a typodont was used. The right upper central incisor with Class IV lesion was restored with the layering technique (reference tooth, RT). For the left upper central incisor with Class IV lesion, six teeth were restored monochromatically (test teeth, TT), using DA3.5 (n = 3) and DA4 (n = 3) composite resins-resulting in six unsatisfactory color restorations. TT were divided into six groups depending on the color of unsatisfactory restoration and preparation depth. First, a preparation was realized on the labial surface with 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm or 1.0 mm of depth. A second preparation was then performed to reproduce the dentinal mamelons. Next, adhesive procedures were performed and the teeth restored. Opaque halo, opalescent halo and vestibular enamel were then reproduced by the addition of different composite resins. The RT and TT were photographed side by side in typodont to obtain six photographic prints. The photographs of the groups were subjected to visual evaluation by 120 volunteers via a questionnaire. Data were analyzed by the prevalence of answers, and Chi-square test was used to investigate the association between variables at . 05 significance. Furthermore, ΔE of groups was evaluated in comparison RT. RESULTS The results demonstrated that the moderate intensity restorations (DA3.5) with depths of 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm had the highest prevalence of acceptance. For severe intensity restorations (DA4), the preparation depth of 1.0 mm obtained better acceptance. CONCLUSIONS The technique was able to modify the final color of Class IV restorations, producing satisfactory color restorations. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE This technique can be used for color correction in cases of Class IV restorations, in situations where there is no time for immediate layered restoration, and as a restorative technique.
Impact of Globalization on Income Inequality in Selected Asian Countries

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between globalization and income inequality in selected Asian economies i.e. Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. The specific objectives of this study are to analyze the relationship between trade globalization, financial globalization and technological globalization on income inequality. For attaining these objectives this study used panel data for selected Asian countries from 1980 to 2014 for trade and technological globalization model and from 1990 to 2014 for financial globalization model. The study used pooled OLS and instrumental variable least square technique for estimation. Results show that trade and technological globalization in the selected Asian economies significantly contributes to reduce income inequality while financial globalization increase income inequality. Education has inverse impact on income inequality while foreign direct investment has positive relationship with income inequality. Therefore, the study suggest that government should promote education, invest in research and development activities, establish efficient financial system, reduce trade restrictions and provide subsidies that help to increase the volume of trade.
The BAMSE Project: presentation of a prospective longitudinal birth cohort study

The aims of this prospective and longitudinal project are to establish crucial risk factors for asthma and other allergic diseases in childhood, and to study factors of importance for prognosis at already established allergic disease. Socio‐economic factors, such as inequality in health, are also to be addressed. The project started in February 1994. To reach sufficient power, 4,000 children had to be included. In November 1996, this number was reached (4,093). Inclusion in the study was made at 3–4 months of age. At that time, and before induction of allergic disease/asthma of the child, a questionnaire focused on exposure, genetics and socio‐economic factors was answered. Settled dust was sampled for later analysis of furred animal and mite allergens. When the children were aged both 1 and 2 years, their parents were asked to fill in new questionnaires focusing on respiratory and allergic (skin, gastrointestinal) symptoms, but also key variables of exposure. Cases with asthma are identified and, for every case, two matched controls drawn. During the following winter, the homes of cases and controls were investigated and the temperature, indoor humidity, air change rate and NO2 measured. Two hundred cases (5%) were expected to be identified during the first 2 years of the children's lives. Some 479 homes have now been investigated and 97.7% of the original 4,093 children still remain in the cohort. The 2‐year symptom follow‐up ended in November 1998. The 4‐year follow‐up started on 1 September 1998 and was planned to be finished in June 2000. Questionnaires (allergic and respiratory symptoms, key variables of exposure at home and day care) are sent out to all 4,093 families. All children are invited for examination, lung function tests (PEF, flow‐volume, MVV and oxygen clearance) and physical performance. Blood is taken from all children (20 ml). Allergy screening is performed and specific IgE examined. Blood cells will be frozen to allow for later DNA extraction. In subsets (children with any allergic and/or respiratory manifestation and controls), markers of inflammation in blood and urine will be examined, as well as eosinophils in nasal smear. Interviews are carried out to assess the severity of asthma, type/periodicity of health care given, asthma medication and parental sick leave when appropriate. As a separate project, financed by the EU, outdoor pollution as risk factors for asthma and allergies are to be studied within the BAMSE cohort. A follow‐up of 8–9 years is underway.
Who Adopts Biogas in Rural India? Evidence from a Nationwide Survey

Biogas is a viable alternative for supplying clean and sustainable energy. Despite all manner of policy measures introduced by the Government of India, biogas is not widely used in India. This article tries to identify factors that influence the decision to adopt biogas at household level. We examine a conceptual framework empirically in which a household wants to maximize utility from biogas by using the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) I, which is a nationally representative, multi-topic survey. By applying both maximum likelihood and penalized likelihood methods (Firthlogit) of logistic regression on a sample size of almost 10,384 households, it has been found that wealthy people are more likely to adopt biogas compared to the marginalized section of the society. We recommend more inclusive policy measures for the weaker section of the society to create an enabling environment to make it a self-promoting technology.
Solid-state ISFET flow meter fabricated with a planar packaging process for integrating microfluidic channel with CMOS IC chip

This study presents a solid-state ISFET flow meter fabricated with an innovative planar packaging process. It is challenge to integrate a CMOS chip with the microfluidic channel since the physical dimension of the CMOS chip may cause the leakage during packaging the IC chip with microfluidic channels. This study develops a planar packaging process which uses PDMS as the adhesive to embed the IC chip in a cavity over the PCB. Result shows that the interfacial step between the IC chip and the surrounding PDMS substrate is less than 5 μm such that microfluidic channel can be sealed free of leakage with the developed planar package process. The sealed ISFET chip is used for measuring the flow rate of non-ionic solutions including acetone, ethanol and glycerol of slow flow rate. Results show that the flow rate measurement exhibited good reproducibility in the flow rate ranging from 66 to 1700 μm/s. Moreover, the whole packaging process can be achieved in 40 min The developed method provides a simple yet efficient method to integrate CMOS IC chip with microfluidic systems.
The use of spray-drying to enhance celecoxib solubility

The present research investigates the enhancement of the dissolution rate of celecoxib by using spray-drying to prepare a solid dispersion with various polymers, namely Kollicoat IR® (Kollicoat), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) 22000, or polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG). The investigated drug-to-polymer mass ratios were 1:1, 1:2, and 1:4 by weight. Hydroalcoholic or methylene chloride solvent systems were used. The obtained yields ranged from 65% to 78%, whereas the entrapment efficiencies were between 68% and 82%. The results revealed an increase in the dissolution rate of the prepared particles up to 200% within 20 min. The prepared particles were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The increased dissolution rate was attributed to hydrogen bond formation between celecoxib and each polymer together with the reduced size of the formed particles offering a greater overall surface area. It was concluded that spray-drying may be considered a successful one-step technique to improve the dissolution rate of celecoxib when using Kollicoat, PVA, or PEG as the carrier polymer.
Probiotics Affect Virulence-Related Gene Expression in Escherichia coli O157:H7

ABSTRACT The attachment of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EHEC O157) to host intestinal epithelial cells is essential for the development of hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic-uremic syndrome in humans. Genes involved in attachment are carried within a pathogenicity island named the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), known to be directly activated by quorum sensing (QS). In the present study, we investigated autoinducer-2 (AI-2) production and the expression of several virulence-related genes in EHEC O157 grown in the absence and presence of a Lactobacillus acidophilus-secreted molecule(s). Transcription of important EHEC O157 virulence-related genes was studied by constructing promoter-reporter fusions and reverse transcriptase PCR. Shiga toxin (Stx) production was assayed by an enzyme immunoassay. When EHEC O157 was grown in the presence of chromatographically selected fractions of L. acidophilus La-5 cell-free spent medium, we observed a significant reduction of both extracellular AI-2 concentration and the expression of important virulence-related genes, although no significant difference in Stx production was observed. We show here that L. acidophilus La-5 secretes a molecule(s) that either acts as a QS signal inhibitor or directly interacts with bacterial transcriptional regulators, controlling the transcription of EHEC O157 genes involved in colonization.
Full-zone spin splitting for electrons and holes in bulk GaAs and GaSb.

The spin-orbit interaction-a fundamental electroweak force-is equivalent to an effective magnetic field intrinsic to crystals, leading to band spin splitting for certain k points in sufficiently low-symmetry structures. This (Dresselhaus) splitting has usually been calculated at restricted regions in the Brillouin zone via small wave vector approximations (e.g., k.p), potentially missing the "big picture. " We provide a full-zone description of the Dresselhaus splitting in zinc blende semiconductors by using pseudopotentials, empirically corrected to rectify local density approximation errors by fitting GW results. In contrast to what was previous thought, we find that the largest spin splitting in the lowest conduction band and upper valence band (VB1) occurs surprisingly along the (210) direction, not the (110) direction, and that the splitting of the VB1 is comparable to that of the next two valence bands VB2 and VB3.
Use of Adventure Experiences in Traditional Counseling Interventions

Use of adventure as an intervention in traditional counseling was explored with 84 adolescent clients from two community-based counseling agencies and residents from two boys' homes. The adolescents were assigned to conditions of counseling plus adventure experiences, counseling only, adventure only, or a control. Analysis indicated limited support for increasing self-esteem and social skills by adding adventure experiences to on-going counseling.
Sentiment analysis in the Ukrainian and Russian news

In this article, we explore the task of sentiment analysis for Ukrainian and Russian news, analyze different approaches and linguistics resources for sentiment analysis. We developed a corpus of Ukrainian and Russian news and annotated each text with three categories: positive, negative and neutral. Each text was marked by at least three independent annotators via the web interface and the texts marked by all three annotators with the same category were used in the further experiments. We experimented on automate classification of these texts with Naïve Bayes, DMNBtext, NB Multinomial, SVM machine learning methods. Feature selection methods were used for the best feature set detection in each case. Our experimental results show average F1-score of 0.82 for news in Ukrainian and Russian languages.
Discrimination of species in the genus Listeria by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and canonical variate analysis

Infrared spectra of type cultures of the six recognized species of the genus Listeria and of Listeria grayi subsp. murrayi were recorded. By use of a library of 59 spectra, comprising at least six replicates of each type, discrimination by canonical variate analysis of the spectral amplitudes allowed all of the spectra to be correctly classified.
Does fludrocortisone influence autobiographical memory retrieval? A study in patients with major depression, patients with borderline personality disorder and healthy controls

Abstract There is evidence that stimulation of mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) enhances memory in healthy subjects and in patients with major depression (MDD). In contrast, in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), this effect seems to be task dependent. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of MR stimulation on autobiographical memory retrieval in healthy individuals, patients with MDD, and patients with BPD. We conducted a placebo-controlled study in an intra-individual cross-over design. Twenty-four patients with MDD, 37 patients with BPD, and 67 healthy participants completed an autobiographical memory test after receiving 0.4 mg fludrocortisone, a mineralocorticoid receptor preferring agonist, or placebo in a randomized order. Healthy subjects, patients with MDD, and patients with BPD did not differ in their autobiographical memory retrieval. Furthermore, the administration of fludrocortisone had no effect on autobiographical memory. In conclusion, the stimulation of MR does not influence autobiographical memory retrieval in healthy subjects, patients with MDD, and patients with BPD. Our results do not support a role of MR in autobiographical memory.
The Arabidopsis SWI2/SNF2 Chromatin Remodeler BRAHMA Regulates Polycomb Function during Vegetative Development and Directly Activates the Flowering Repressor Gene SVP

The chromatin remodeler BRAHMA (BRM) is a Trithorax Group (TrxG) protein that antagonizes the functions of Polycomb Group (PcG) proteins in fly and mammals. Recent studies also implicate such a role for Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) BRM but the molecular mechanisms underlying the antagonism are unclear. To understand the interplay between BRM and PcG during plant development, we performed a genome-wide analysis of trimethylated histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27me3) in brm mutant seedlings by chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by next generation sequencing (ChIP-seq). Increased H3K27me3 deposition at several hundred genes was observed in brm mutants and this increase was partially supressed by removal of the H3K27 methyltransferase CURLY LEAF (CLF) or SWINGER (SWN). ChIP experiments demonstrated that BRM directly binds to a subset of the genes and prevents the inappropriate association and/or activity of PcG proteins at these loci. Together, these results indicate a crucial role of BRM in restricting the inappropriate activity of PcG during plant development. The key flowering repressor gene SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) is such a BRM target. In brm mutants, elevated PcG occupancy at SVP accompanies a dramatic increase in H3K27me3 levels at this locus and a concomitant reduction of SVP expression. Further, our gain- and loss-of-function genetic evidence establishes that BRM controls flowering time by directly activating SVP expression. This work reveals a genome-wide functional interplay between BRM and PcG and provides new insights into the impacts of these proteins in plant growth and development.
Manipulating Highly Deformable Materials Using a Visual Feedback Dictionary

The complex physical properties of highly deformable materials such as clothes pose significant challenges for autonomous robotic manipulation systems. We present a novel visual feedback dictionary-based method for manipulating deformable objects towards a desired configuration. Our approach is based on visual servoing and we use an efficient technique to extract key features from the RGB sensor stream in the form of a histogram of deformable model features. These histogram features serve as high-level representations of the state of the deformable material. Next, we collect manipulation data and use a visual feedback dictionary that maps the velocity in the high-dimensional feature space to the velocity of the robotic end-effectors for manipulation. We have evaluated our approach on a set of complex manipulation tasks and human-robot manipulation tasks on different cloth pieces with varying material characteristics.
Akt1 protects against inflammatory microglial activation through maintenance of membrane asymmetry and modulation of cysteine protease activity

In several cell systems, protein kinase B (Akt1) can promote cell growth and development, but the “antiapoptotic” pathways of this kinase that may offer protection against cellular inflammatory demise have not been defined. Given that early cellular membrane phosphatidylserine exposure is a critical component of apoptosis, we investigated the role of Akt1 during neuronal apoptotic injury. By employing differentiated SH‐SY5Y neuronal cells that overexpress a constitutively active form of Akt1 (myristoylated Akt1), free radical‐induced cell injury was assessed through trypan blue dye exclusion, DNA fragmentation, membrane phosphatidylserine exposure, protein kinase B phosphorylation, cysteine protease activity, and mitochondrial membrane potential. Membrane phosphatidylserine exposure was both necessary and sufficient for microglial activation, insofar as cotreatment with an antiphosphatidylserine receptor‐neutralizing antibody could prevent microglial activity following neuronal loss of membrane asymmetry. Furthermore, expression of myristoylated Akt1 not only prevented cell injury through the prevention of membrane phosphatidylserine exposure and genomic DNA fragmentation but also inhibited microglial activation and proliferation that required the inhibition of caspase 9‐, caspase 3‐, and caspase 1‐like activities linked to cytochrome c release. Interestingly, Akt1 modulation of membrane phosphatidylserine exposure was primarily through caspase 1 activity. Removal of Akt1 activity abolished neuronal protection, suggesting that Akt1 functions as a critical pathway for the maintenance of cellular integrity and the prevention of phagocytic cellular removal during neurodegenerative insults. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Commercial Agrochemical Applications in Vineyards Do Not Influence Ant Communities

Abstract Ants have been widely used as bioindicators for various terrestrial monitoring and assessment programs but are seldom considered in evaluation of nontarget pesticide effect. Much chemical assessment has been biased toward laboratory and bioassay testing for control of specific pest ant species. Several field studies that did explore the nontarget impacts of pesticides on ants have reported contradictory findings. To address the impact of chemical applications on ants, we tested the response of epigeal ant assemblages and community structure to three pesticide gradients (cumulative International Organization for Biological and Integrated Control toxicity rating, chlorpyrifos use rate, and sulfur use rate) in 19 vineyards. Ordination analyses using nonmetric multidimensional scaling detected community structures at species and genus levels, but the structures were not explained by any pesticide variables. There was no consistent pattern in species and genus percentage complementarities and ant assemblages along pesticide gradients. In contrast, ant community structure was influenced by the presence of shelterbelts near the sampling area. Reasons for the resilience of ants to pesticides are given and assessment at the colony level instead of workers abundance is suggested. The presence of Linepithema humile (Mayr) is emphasized.