Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structural insights into species-specific features of the ribosome from the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Abstract Ribosomes from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) possess species-specific ribosomal RNA (rRNA) expansion segments and ribosomal proteins (rProtein). Here, we present the near-atomic structures of the Mtb 50S ribosomal subunit and the complete Mtb 70S ribosome, solved by cryo-electron microscopy. Upon joining of the large and small ribosomal subunits, a 100-nt long expansion segment of the Mtb 23S rRNA, named H54a or the ‘handle’, switches interactions from with rRNA helix H68 and rProtein uL2 to with rProtein bS6, forming a new intersubunit bridge ‘B9’. In Mtb 70S, bridge B9 is mostly maintained, leading to correlated motions among the handle, the L1 stalk and the small subunit in the rotated and non-rotated states. Two new protein densities were discovered near the decoding center and the peptidyl transferase center, respectively. These results provide a structural basis for studying translation in Mtb as well as developing new tuberculosis drugs.
Oligosaccharide Chains of Avian RNA Tumor Virus Glycoproteins Contain Heterogeneous Oligomannosyl Cores

Chicken embryo fibroblasts (C/E phenotype) infected with subgroups B and C of the Prague strain of Rous sarcoma virus were radiolabeled with either [6-3H]-glucosamine or [2-3H]mannose, and virus was purified from the growth medium. The large envelope glycoprotein, gp85, was the only major radiolabeled component of purified virus. Pronase-digested glycopeptides from purified virus were analyzed by a combination of (i) gel filtration with columns of Sephadex G15/G50 and Bio-Gel P4 and (ii) enzymatic digestion of the oligosaccharide chains with specific exoglycosidases and endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidases. The rather broad molecular weight distribution (approximately 2,000 to 4,000) for glycopeptides in these studies and previous studies in other laboratories was shown to represent actual heterogeneity in the carbohydrate moieties: (i) the glycopeptides contained both mannose-rich, neutral chains and complex, acidic chains with terminal sialic acid; and (ii) both classes of asparagine-linked carbohydrate structures exhibited heterogeneity in the size of the oligomannosyl core (a mixture of approximately 5 to 9 mannose units for the neutral structures, and 3 or 5 mannose units for the acidic structures). With the [2-3H]mannose-labeled glycopeptides from Rous sarcoma virus, Prague strain subgroup C, most of the oligosaccharide chains were high-molecular-weight, acidic structures, with similar numbers of 3-mannose and 5-mannose core structures.
A Non-Spatial Analysis of the Role of Residential Real Estate Investment in the Economic Development of the Northeast Region of the United States

Spatial dependence is an important factor in regional economic growth analysis, especially in terms of population, employment, and per capita income. This paper employs spatial econometric techniques and U.S. Census Bureau county-level data for the period of 1980-2010 to identify and estimate the impacts of residential real estate investment on the economic development of the Northeast region. A spatial panel method is used to analyze the spillover effect of county level economic development on neighboring counties
The Role of Factors Affecting the Adoption of Environmentally Friendly Farming Practices: Can Geographical Context and Time Explain the Differences Emerging from Literature?

Environmentally Friendly Farming Practices (EFFPs) are tools aimed at providing ecosystem services or mitigating the environmental impacts of intensive agriculture. A large literature has explored the factors affecting the adoption of EFFPs by farmers. However, opposite effects of several factors on uptake have often emerged. We carried out a qualitative meta-analysis of the literature seeking to identify some geographical and temporal trends that can provide a rationale to explain these opposite results. To reach this goal, we analysed the literature and classified the following factors affecting farmers’ behaviour according to the theory of reasoned action and planned behaviour: farm, farmer, informational, and social factors. Our perspective in exploring the existing literature shows that the geographical context and the temporal period under analysis, considered as different adopters’ cohorts, can explain most of the opposite effects. For example, while the different effects of farm structural factors show specific geographical patterns, those of the management and economic factors follow temporal trends. The impact of some farmers’ socio-demographical characteristics and some social factors can be explained in terms of both geographical context and time. The broad trends we found cast light on the importance of further research adopting the same methodological approach in different geographical contexts and under a temporal perspective.
Nominal Exchange Rate Dynamics and Monetary Policy: Uncovered Interest Rate Parity and Purchasing Power Parity Revisited

The increasing globalization of trade in goods and services and the deepening of financial markets have reduced frictions that may impede the operation of the PPP and UIP relationships in the short run. In this paper, we estimate the short term relative PPP and UIP relationships. Using data from Israel, which has a deep market for inflation expectations for 12 months, we show that relative PPP and UIP cannot be rejected. Deviations from equilibrium last less than a year. Data from Israel's capital account of the balance of payments shows that the deviations are not destabilizing. Our findings suggest that greater globalization and financial deepening contribute to the effectiveness of monetary policy.
A Comparative Analysis of State Funds on Student Achievement of Economically Disadvantaged Elementary Schools in Independent School Districts and Charter Schools in the State of Texas

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the instructional outcomes in the independent school districts and charter schools in relation to the expenditure of public funds for instruction and total operating expenditures from the general fund. The study considered Texas elementary charter schools and independent school districts, whose school populations were identified as having greater than or equal to 50% of economically disadvantaged students, according to the Texas Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS). The study made use of multiple regression and was an ex post facto cross-sectional analysis utilizing production function theory. The study’s outcomes reported the difference in student achievement between elementary schools in independent public school districts and charter schools were small to negligible for math and reading achievement. The study also reported, there is no statistically significant difference in per pupil expenditure of public funds between elementary schools in independent public school districts and charter schools. Furthermore, there is no statistically significant relationship between student achievement and per pupil expenditure of public funds on elementary schools in independent public school districts and charter schools.
Fostering societal impact and job satisfaction: the role of performance management and leader–member exchange

ABSTRACT Performance management (PM) can alienate employees from experiencing societal impact. This is problematic since societal impact influences employees’ job satisfaction. To avoid such unintended effects, we investigate two conditions under which PM could instead benefit the societal impact and job satisfaction of employees: consistency and leader-member exchange. Results show consistent PM fosters job satisfaction, mediated by societal impact and moderated by leader–member exchange. Public organizations should streamline expectations communicated through PM and constructive leader relationships could reinforce this process. By examining the conditions under which PM can avoid unintended effects on employees, we add to the debate on PM effectiveness.
Parameter identification for interior permanent-magnet synchronous motor

To realize the high performance drive for vector controlled interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSMs), the exact motor parameters are required. However, motor parameters vary with driving conditions. In this paper, parameter variation effect is quantitatively presented for maximum efficiency control and flux-weakening control. Then, an on-line parameter identification method is presented. This method can identify all electrical parameters for IPMSMs. The maximum efficiency control and flux-weakening control systems using identified motor parameters are designed, and computer simulations verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Is the Lending Decision-Making Process Affected by Behavioral Biases? —Evidence from Southern Italy

The objective of this article was to verify whether, in the decision-making process concerning bank loans issuance, managers have been influenced or not by how they perceive some personal characteristics of the applicant, even if these characteristics have nothing to do with the financial aspects typically analyzed to determine creditworthiness. In particular, we analyzed the impact of gender, age, beauty, race and education of the borrower on the probability to be funded. The study was conducted submitting face-to-face questionnaires to 212 officers working in the credit chain of 25 banks and data have been analyzed using the logistic regression model. The chosen setting was the south of Italy and in particular of the Campania region. The results show that there has been some influence of bias regarding gender, age and beauty, while no significant relationship has been found with reference to the racial discrimination or to the cultural level of the applicant. These results, which confirm the evidence already found in other settings by previous empirical analyses, would lead to highlight that there is an adverse selection mechanism in the provision of banks' credit capital.
Various Ways to Implement Energy Efficient WiseMAC Protocol for Wireless Sensor Network

Recent few years are proved very progressive in terms of energy efficient protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks, but energy efficiency is still a point of focus in sensor networks. Among various MAC layer protocols, Wise MAC is known as one of the most energy efficient protocols. Non-Persistent Carrier Sense Multiple Access (NP-CSMA) and the preamble sampling are the main techniques used in basic Wise MAC protocol. Basically they are used to reduce the power consumption when energy is wasted in listening to idle medium. This paper investigates the Wise MAC protocol with different important schemes that are used in implementation of Wise MAC in sensor networks. These schemes basically emphasize on energy saving methods in Wise MAC. Various modifications are done to the original Wise MAC to make it more energy efficient, with the same motive of increasing energy efficiency, adaptive Wise MAC protocol with dynamic duty cycle and the adaptive Contention Window is proposed.
2000 CDC Growth Charts for the United States: methods and development.

OBJECTIVES This report provides detailed information on how the 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth charts for the United States were developed, expanding upon the report that accompanied the initial release of the charts in 2000. METHODS The growth charts were developed with data from five national health examination surveys and limited supplemental data. Smoothed percentile curves were developed in two stages. In the first stage, selected empirical percentiles were smoothed with a variety of parametric and nonparametric procedures. In the second stage, parameters were created to obtain the final curves, additional percentiles and z-scores. The revised charts were evaluated using statistical and graphical measures. RESULTS The 1977 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth charts were revised for infants (birth to 36 months) and older children (2 to 20 years). New body mass index-for-age (BMI-for-age) charts were created. Use of national data improved the transition from the infant charts to those for older children. The evaluation of the charts found no large or systematic differences between the smoothed percentiles and the empirical data. CONCLUSION The 2000 CDC growth charts were developed with improved data and statistical procedures. Health care providers now have an instrument for growth screening that better represents the racial-ethnic diversity and combination of breast- and formula-feeding in the United States. It is recommended that these charts replace the 1977 NCHS charts when assessing the size and growth patterns of infants, children, and adolescents.
Quality circles to improve prescribing patterns in primary medical care: what is their actual impact?

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Quality circles comprise small group sessions of doctors and written feedback on their individual practice patterns. Although 50% of German primary care doctors participate in quality circles, their effectiveness has hardly been evaluated in Germany. This study determined the impact of a large-scale programme of quality circles on quality and costs of prescribing. METHOD A controlled before-after study was performed, in which primary care doctors were allocated to a quality circles group or a control group. Subjects were 100,000 patients in 1996 and in 1998, who had visited one of 177 doctors in the 3 month registration periods in one region in Germany. The intervention comprised a quality circles programme, comprising 11 sessions and repeated feedback on prescribing. Main outcome measures were proportion of patients who received a prescription, mean prescription costs per patient and proportion of generic prescriptions. RESULTS The absolute numbers of prescriptions decreased in both groups, but the mean prescription costs per patient increased. The quality circles reduced the proportion of patients who received a prescription (OR = 0.86) and the mean prescription costs per patient (B = -3.99 euro), while it increased the proportion of generic drugs (OR = 1.10). The intervention had intended effects on four of the 15 secondary indicators. CONCLUSIONS Large-scale application of quality circles had intended effects on prescribing decisions in primary care in Germany. The effects found in this study may reflect better what improvements can be achieved than randomized trials of similar interventions.
Hearing impairment and self-masking: Listening during vocalization

Abstract Objectives: To describe the masking effect of a vocalized [a:] on noise bands and speech in persons with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment (HI). Design: The masked threshold of noise bands (250–8000 Hz), continuous discourse, and the amount of masking produced were determined. The maximal vocalization level was determined, that still allowed the subject to just follow the continuous discourse. Study sample: Twenty persons with sensory-neural HI, twelve with a high-frequency (HF) loss and eight with low-, mid-frequency or flat (LMF) loss. Results: The [a:] gave a significantly higher masked threshold at 70 and 80 dBA vocalization for subjects with HF loss than for normal-hearing (NH) subjects, and somewhat higher thresholds than for those with LMF loss. The amount of masking produced was significantly smaller for subjects with HI than NH. Conclusions: It is important to consider masking effects of self-produced sounds in auditory rehabilitation, and in the future design of hearing aids.
Neuropsychological prediction of dementia in Parkinson’s disease

OBJECTIVE To identify neuropsychological characteristics predictive of later dementia in Parkinson’s disease. METHODS A comprehensive neuropsychological test battery was administered to a cohort of 89 initially non-demented patients with Parkinson’s disease consecutively enrolled at a specialised Parkinson’s disease clinic. They were reassessed after a mean of 3.5 years for the diagnosis of dementia. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify baseline characteristics predictive of dementia. RESULTS Only four of the baseline clinical characteristics of Parkinson’s disease and neuropsychological variables remained independently linked to subsequent development of dementia: the age of onset of Parkinson’s disease (>60 years; relative risk (RR) 4.1, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.8–24.0, p<0.03), the picture completion subtest of the Wechsler adult intelligence scale (score<10; RR 4.9, 95% CI 1.0–24.1, p<0.02), the interference section of the Stroop test (score<21; RR 3.8, p=0.08), and a verbal fluency task (score<9; RR 2.7, 95% CI 0.8–9.1, p=0.09). Depressive symptoms and the severity of motor impairment were not predictive of dementia. CONCLUSION These features are different from the neuropsychological characteristics predictive of Alzheimer’s dementia in healthy elderly people (mainly memory and language performance). They are in keeping with the well known specificity of the impairments in Parkinson’s disease for visuospatial abilities and difficulties in inhibiting irrelevant stimuli. It is postulated that the composite nature of the picture completion subtest, involving several cognitive abilities impaired in Parkinson’s disease, explains its sensitivity.
Suppressing Intermittent Subsynchronous Oscillation via Subsynchronous Modulation of Reactive Current

Recently, a new oscillation phenomenon-intermittent subsynchronous oscillation (ISSO)-has been observed in a large interconnected power grid. Rather than leading to oscillatory instability, ISSO causes cumulative fatigue damage and reduces the shaft life of the generator. The existing phase-compensation-based damping technologies are found to be limited in mitigating these types of oscillations. To mitigate ISSO, a subsynchronous modulation of reactive current (SMRC) approach is established and implemented in the voltage-source converters (VSCs) at the generator terminals. The contribution of SMRC to system damping has been analyzed in order to select control parameters for the VSC. The SMRC controller has been prototyped and extensively tested on a real-time closed-loop simulation platform equipped with a newly developed speed sensor module for precisely interfacing the real-time digital simulator with the rotating speed-acquisition board. Extensive experiments on the input and output characteristics of the VSC have been carried out to test and validate the damping current generating module. The effective damping areas are obtained from test observations to fine tune the parameters of the VSC controller for adapting to various system operating conditions, resulting in the common optimal damping region. Real-time simulations, onsite commissioning, and statistics have demonstrated the ability of the SMRC to mitigate ISSO and subsynchronous oscillation in power plants.
Community-Generated Recommendations Regarding the Urban Nutrition and Tobacco Environments: A Photo-Elicitation Study in Philadelphia

Introduction Overweight, obesity, and tobacco use are major preventable causes of disability, disease, and death. In 2010, 25% of Philadelphia adults smoked, and 66% were overweight or obese. To address these health threats, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health launched Get Healthy Philly, an initiative to improve the city’s nutrition, physical activity, and tobacco environments. The objective of this assessment was to identify residents’ perspectives on threats to health and opportunities for change in the local food and tobacco environments. Methods Participants (N = 48) took photographs to document their concerns regarding Philadelphia’s food and tobacco environments and participated in photo-elicitation interviews. We coded photographs and interview transcripts and identified key themes. Results Participants proposed interventions for nutrition 4 times more often than for tobacco. Participants spontaneously articulated the need for multilevel change consistent with the ecological model of health behavior, including changes to policies (food assistance program provisions to encourage healthful purchases), local and school environments (more healthful corner store inventories and school meals), and individual knowledge and behavior (healthier food purchases). Participants often required interviewer prompting to discuss tobacco, and they suggested interventions including changes in advertising (a local environmental concern) and cigarette taxes (a policy concern). Conclusion Participants were well versed in the relevance to health of nutrition and physical activity and the need for multilevel interventions. Their responses suggested community readiness for change. In contrast, participants’ more limited comments regarding tobacco suggested that prevention and control of tobacco use were perceived as less salient public health concerns.
An 80-Amino Acid Deletion in the Third Intracellular Loop of a Naturally Occurring Human Histamine H3 Isoform Confers Pharmacological Differences and Constitutive Activity

In this article, we pharmacologically characterized two naturally occurring human histamine H3 receptor (hH3R) isoforms, hH3R(445) and hH3R(365). These abundantly expressed splice variants differ by a deletion of 80 amino acids in the intracellular loop 3. In this report, we show that the hH3R(365) is differentially expressed compared with the hH3R(445) and has a higher affinity and potency for H3R agonists and conversely a lower potency and affinity for H3R inverse agonists. Furthermore, we show a higher constitutive signaling of the hH3R(365) compared with the hH3R(445) in both guanosine-5′-O-(3-[35S]thio) triphosphate binding and cAMP assays, likely explaining the observed differences in hH3R pharmacology of the two isoforms. Because H3R ligands are beneficial in animal models of obesity, epilepsy, and cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and currently entered clinical trails, these differences in H3R pharmacology of these two isoforms are of great importance for a detailed understanding of the action of H3R ligands.
Enlivening a Community of Authentic Scholarship

Background: Critical and engaged qualitative scholarship depends on high-quality graduate training. The need to reexamine graduate student mentorship has become particularly pressing, given the high level of mental health distress experienced by students. It is unclear whether mentorship emerging within the student–advisor relationship is sufficient to ensure comprehensive mentorship. Innovative, experiential pedagogical approaches that integrate emotional and intellectual aspects are limited but may play a vital role in mentorship. There is a critical need to develop and study creative mentorship initiatives for emerging qualitative scholars. Methods: This study used interpretive description methodology and a community of practice theoretical framework to describe a faculty-mentored experience for graduate nursing students at the 2016 Qualitative Health Research Conference (FM-QHR) hosted by the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology. Participants completed written journals elucidating their experiences throughout FM-QHR. The textual data were analyzed using a constant comparative group analysis process, leading to the development of salient and interconnected themes. Results: Six graduate students and four faculty mentors submitted journals. Three interrelated themes articulate how this FM-QHR initiative enlivened a community of authentic scholarship: Questioning the Academic Self: Unvoiced Experiences of Angst, Uncertainty, and Fear; Cocreating Authentic Community through Shared Vulnerability; and Generative and Emergent Empowerment. Conclusion: These findings provide compelling insights into the importance of assisting students to navigate the emotional experiences that are a part of qualitative graduate training. Relational, mentorship initiatives hold potential to not only alleviate emotional distress but also support student empowerment, socialization, and entrance into a community of international qualitative researchers.