Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk Preferences and Misconduct: Evidence from Politicians

When seeking new leaders, business and government organizations alike often need individuals that are less risk averse, or even risk-seeking, in order to improve performance. However, individuals amenable to increased risk-taking may be more likely to engage in misconduct. To study this issue, we explore US political scandals and the implicated politicians’ portfolio choices. We find that a politician allocating all of her portfolio to risky investments has double the odds of being involved in a political sandal compared to a politician allocating all of her portfolio to safe investments. This suggests that those who are more willing to take risks in their personal finances are also more likely to engage in misconduct. We validate portfolio choice as a measure of risk preferences by correlating actual high-stakes investment choices (average $700,000 US) to conventional laboratory lottery choices (average $51 US) of wealthy investors.
Relieving suffering or intentionally hastening death: Where do you draw the line?*

Objective:End-of-life practices vary worldwide. The objective was to demonstrate that there is no clear-cut distinction between treatments administered to relieve pain and suffering and those intended to shorten the dying process. Design:Secondary analysis of a prospective, observational study. Setting:Thirty-seven intensive care units in 17 European countries. Patients:Consecutive patients dying or with any limitation of therapy. Interventions:Evaluation of the type of end-of-life category; dates and times of intensive care unit admission, death, or discharge; and decisions to limit therapy, medication, and doses used for active shortening of the dying process and the intent of the doctors prescribing the medication. Measurements and Main Results:Limitation of life-sustaining therapy occurred in 3,086 (72.6%) of 4,248 patients, and 94 (2.2%) underwent active shortening of the dying process. Medication for active shortening of the dying process included administration of opiates (morphine to 71 patients) or benzodiazepines (diazepam to 54 patients) alone or in combination. The median dosage for morphine was 25.0 mg/hr and for diazepam 20.8 mg/hr. Doses of opiates and benzodiazepines were no higher than mean doses used with withdrawal in previous studies in 20 of 66 patients and were within the ranges of doses used in all but one patient. Doctors considered that medications for active shortening of the dying process definitely led to the patient's death in 72 patients (77%), probably led to the patient's death in 11 (12%), and were unlikely to have led to death in 11 (12%) patients. Conclusions:There is a gray area in end-of-life care between treatments administered to relieve pain and suffering and those intended to shorten the dying process.
Purification and properties of a malolactic enzyme from Leuconostoc oenos ATCC 23278

The malolactic enzyme of Leuconostoc ocnos ATCC 23278 was purified 136fold. The molecular weight was estimated at 132,000 when determined by gel filtration. The enzyme contained two identical subunits (Mw = 66,000 using sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis). The malolactic enzyme catalyzes the NAD+‐ and Mn+‐dependent reaction L‐malate → L‐lactate + CO2. The apparent Km values for malic acid, NAD+, and Mn2+ were 17 mM, 0.044 mM, and 0.017 mM, respectively. The optimal pH and the optimal temperature for activity were 5.0, and 37 °C, respectively and the isoelectric point was pH 4.30. L‐lactate and ethanol were non‐competitive inhibitors, whereas succinate, citrate, and D‐tartrate showed competitive type inhibitions.
Scalar metasurface antennas with tilted beam

The paper deals with the design of scalar metasurface antennas pointing to a predefined tilted direction. The equivalent electric current over the metasurface is used to derive design equations for the generation of a desired far field pattern based on the scalar impedance condition associated to the metasurface. In particular, it is shown that scalar metasurfaces can be used to generate linear and circular polarizations for a fixed pointing direction by properly changing locally the scalar impedance boundary condition. Two solutions are presented at 20 GHz, one for each polarization. Full-wave results validate the proposed approach.
Perception-based authentication watermarking for digital audio data

Current systems and protocols based on cryptographic methods for integrity and authenticity verification of media data do not distinguish between legitimate signal transformation and malicious tampering that manipulates the content. Furthermore, they usually provide no localization or assessment of the relevance of such manipulations with respect to human perception or semantics. We present an algorithm for a authentication audio watermarking that uses a perception-based robust hash function in combination with robust watermarking to verify the integrity of audio recordings. Experimental results show that the proposed system provides both a high level of distinction between perceptually different audio data and a high robustness against signal transformations that do not change the perceived information.
Reconfigurable planar directional antennas printed on ferrimagnetic substrates

This paper presents two different printed directional antenna designs that use a ferrimagnetic compound (YIG) as part of their substrates. It investigates the influence of this material on the antenna radiation characteristics under the application of an external magnetic field. It was found that the proper application of the magnetic field in each design changes the antenna resonance and the radiation pattern. Especially in the second proposed design the polarization characteristics are also changed and the antenna is reconfigured from linearly to circularly polarized.
Changes in immunoferritin labeling of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi after serial cultivation in 60Co-irradiated BHK cells

The immunolabeling characteristics of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi (Gilliam strain) were examined by using a purified immunoglobulin G fraction of antibody to R. tsutsugamushi raised in rabbits. Formalin-fixed rickettsiae were reacted with this antibody and then with ferritin-conjugated goat anti-rabbit Fc antibody. R. tsutsugamushi cultivated in yolk sacs was used to raise antibody for this study. When rickettsiae in BHK-21 cells infected from yolk sac seed material were immunoferritin labeled, the binding of ferritin was found to be dense and uniform on the outer surface of the rickettsiae in disrupted host cells. Immunolabeling of purified suspensions of extracellular rickettsiae resulted in the uniform ferritin labeling of the microorganism. Aggregation of these rickettsiae by antibody appeared to depend upon the purity of the pellets. Immunoferritin labeling examined at high magnification revealed ferritin very close to the outer dense leaflet of the outer membrane. On some rickettsiae or on focal sites of others, the labelin; was several ferritin particles thick, suggesting the presence of a thick coating. The immunoferritin labeling of R. tsutsugamushi during successive serial passages in BHK-21 cells revealed decreased labeling with each passage, and by the 10th passage there was no detectable labeling. However, these rickettsiae inoculated back into yolk sacs regained their immunoferritin labeling. R. tsutsugamushi passed back into yolk sacs after four serial propagations in BHK-21 cells regained their labeling on the first passage in yolk sacs. However, rickettsiae from the 20th serial passage in BHK-21 cells required five passages in yolk sacs to reestablish their previous labeling affinity. Rickettsiae which did not label after 20 passages in BHK cells regained some of their labeling characteristics when sonicated. Antibody against rickettsiae cultivated in BHK-21 cells continued labeling rickettsiae even after 9 serial passages in BHK-21 cells.
The US Macroeconomic News Announcements and the Within-Month Effects on the Bucharest Stock Exchange

Within-month anomalies and influence of macroeconomic news announcements are important characteristics of a stock market. In this paper we investigate their presence on Bucharest Stock Exchange. We find significant within-month effects and a considerable impact of some US macroeconomic news announcements. It results also that within-month effects are in fact caused by macroeconomic news announcements.
Interaction of Bacillus thuringiensis Vegetative Insecticidal Protein with Ribosomal S2 Protein Triggers Larvicidal Activity in Spodoptera frugiperda

ABSTRACT Vegetative insecticidal protein (Vip3A) is synthesized as an extracellular insecticidal toxin by certain strains of Bacillus thuringiensis. Vip3A is active against several lepidopteran pests of crops. Polyphagous pest, Spodoptera frugiperda, and its cell line Sf21 are sensitive for lyses to Vip3A. Screening of cDNA library prepared from Sf21 cells through yeast two-hybrid system with Vip3A as bait identified ribosomal protein S2 as a toxicity-mediating interacting partner protein. The Vip3A-ribosomal-S2 protein interaction was validated by in vitro pulldown assays and by RNA interference-induced knockdown experiments. Knockdown of expression of S2 protein in Sf21 cells resulted in reduced toxicity of the Vip3A protein. These observations were further extended to adult fifth-instar larvae of Spodoptera litura. Knockdown of S2 expression by injecting corresponding double-stranded RNA resulted in reduced mortality of larvae to Vip3A toxin. Intracellular visualization of S2 protein and Vip3A through confocal microscopy revealed their interaction and localization in cytoplasm and surface of Sf21 cells.
Variable Delay Time Method in the Phase-Shifted Full-Bridge Converter for Reduced Power Consumption Under Light Load Conditions

This paper proposes a new control method in the phase-shifted full-bridge converter for the server power supply, which is variable delay time of lagging-leg switches under the light load conditions. By widening the delay time, the switching occurs at the lower drain–source voltage and then switching loss can be reduced under the light load conditions. The voltage stress of synchronous rectifier switches is also reduced. Without additional power devices and side effects at heavy load condition, the higher efficiency under the light load conditions can be obtained. The analysis and experimental results are presented in this paper to confirm the validity of this study.
Microvascular obstruction after primary angioplasty: beyond the epicardial artery

Poor tissue perfusion despite removal of the epicardial obstruction remains a problem after primary reperfusion therapies for acute myocardial infarction. It is related to microvascular vessel damage and is associated with poor myocardial recovery and adverse ventricular remodeling. The process is multifactorial and potentially amenable to a variety of treatments that can be administered at the time of reperfusion. Cardiac magnetic resonance has emerged as a safe and highly accurate means of demarking the region of infarction and identifying areas of microvascular obstruction within. This is useful, not only to help determine the patient’s prognosis, but also to test the efficacy of treatments to reduce microvascular damage and improve left ventricular recovery. Heart Metab. 2008;40:26–29.
Secondary use of personal data for health and health services research: why identifiable data are essential

Databases provide a powerful and essential resource for health and health services research. There are seven reasons why the identification of individuals may be needed: linkage within a database; linkage between databases; ensuring comparisons are meaningful; ensuring completeness of recruitment; investigation of social factors; analysis of trends over time; and assessing the applicability of primary research findings. Examples of recent British research studies for which identifiable data were essential are described to illustrate six research applications: to understand the natural history and development of disease; to identify causes of disease; to evaluate health care interventions; to assess equity of care; to describe trends in health care utilisation; and to ensure the methodological rigour of research. Given the benefits to the public of such research activities, methods need to be found to ensure the continuation of such research while meeting legitimate concerns about individual privacy and confidentiality.
Special Anesthetic Considerations in the Orthopaedic Patient

In this chapter I will discuss the special anesthetic considerations in the orthopaedic patient by dividing the material into four major sections: elective surgery, multiple-trauma patients, spinal injury, and head injury. Some of the problems and considerations are certainly pertinent to two or more of these categories but will be presented in the section in which they are most significant. Many problems can be solved in various ways, all of which will be listed, but the major emphasis will be on the methods I use and my reasons for doing so. Table 8-1 presents a comprehensive listing of pharmacologic agents used in anesthetic procedures.
The cadmium tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae depends on inorganic polyphosphate

The sensitivity to cadmium (Cd(II)), an important environmental pollutant, was studied in the cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains with genetically altered polyphosphate metabolism. The strains overproducing polyphosphatases PPX1 or PPN1 were more sensitive to Cd(II) than the parent strain. The half maximal inhibitory concentrations were 0.02 and 0.05 mM for the transformants and the parent strain, respectively. Transformant strains cultivated in the presence of Cd(II) show a decrease in the content of short‐chained cytosolic acid soluble polyphosphate. The role of this polyphosphate fraction in detoxification of heavy metal ions is discussed.
Effects of running exercise with increasing loads on tibialis anterior muscle fibres in mice

Cross‐sectional areas and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activities of type identified fibres in the deep, middle and superficial regions of the tibialis anterior muscle in mice were examined after 4 weeks of voluntary running exercise with increasing loads. Nineteen‐week‐old male mice were assigned randomly to either a control or exercise group. The mean cross‐sectional areas of all types (IIa, IIx and IIb) of fibres in the superficial region of the muscle were greater in the exercise group than in the control group. The mean SDH activities of type IIx and type IIb fibres in the middle region and of all types (IIa, IIx and IIb) of fibres in the superficial region of the muscle were greater in the exercise group than in the control group. These results suggest that voluntary running exercise with increasing loads causes hypertrophy and/or an increase in the SDH activity of fibres in the specific muscle region where fibres with a high threshold and a low‐oxidative enzyme activity are distributed, and these fibres are recruited to adapt to changes in exercise conditions.
Psychological follow-up study of 5-year-old ICSI children.

BACKGROUND The developmental outcomes of children born after ICSI are still a matter of concern. The purpose of the present study was to investigate psychological outcomes for 5-year-old children born after ICSI and compare these with outcomes for children born after spontaneous conception (SC). METHODS Three hundred singleton children born after ICSI in Belgium, Sweden and the USA were matched by maternal age, child age and gender. Outcome measures included the Wechsler Preschool and Primary scales of intelligence (WPPSI-R), Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, Parenting Stress Index and Child Behaviour Checklist. RESULTS Regarding cognitive development, no significant differences were found on WPPSI-R verbal and performance scales between ICSI and SC children. However, some differences were noted on subtests of the Performance Scale. ICSI children more often obtained a score below 1 SD of the mean on the subtests: Object Assembly, Block Design and Mazes (all P<0.05). Significant differences by site (i.e. Belgium, Sweden and New York) were found on subtests related to parenting stress, child behaviour problems and motor development (all P<0.05). These findings can probably be explained by variables other than conception mode, such as cultural differences and selection bias. CONCLUSIONS Although the finding that a higher proportion of ICSI children obtained scores below the cut-off on some of the visual-spatial subscales of the WPPSI-R warrants further investigation, ICSI does not appear to affect the psychological well-being or cognitive development at age 5.
Confinement and string breaking for QED$_2$ in the Hamiltonian picture

The formalism of matrix product states is used to perform a numerical study of 1+1 dimensional QED -- also known as the (massive) Schwinger model -- in the presence of an external static `quark' and `antiquark'. We obtain a detailed picture of the transition from the confining state at short interquark distances to the broken-string `hadronized' state at large distances and this for a wide range of couplings, recovering the predicted behavior both in the weak and strong coupling limit of the continuum theory. In addition to the relevant local observables like charge and electric field, we compute the (bipartite) entanglement entropy and show that subtraction of its vacuum value results in a UV-finite quantity. We find that both string formation and string breaking leave a clear imprint on the resulting entropy profile. Finally, we also study the case of fractional probe charges, simulating for the first time the phenomenon of partial string breaking.
Dual-Mode High-Dynamic Range Class E HBT Power Amplifier for WCDMA EER Transmitter

This letter demonstrates a high-dynamic range GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor Class E power amplifier (PA) for a WCDMA envelope elimination and restoration transmitter using a dual-mode amplification. An impedance optimization can operate the lossless high-power Class E mode and lossless low-power Class AB mode. This PA has a high dynamic range of -50 dBm to 27 dBm and obtains a remarkably improved efficiency of 9% and 27% power-added efficiency (PAE) at output powers of 0 dBm and 10 dBm, respectively, for low-power mode, and 40% and 48% PAE at 20 and 27 dBm, respectively, for high-power mode.
A New Perspective on Glucocorticoid Feedback: Relation to Stress, Carbohydrate Feeding and Feeling Better

Input to and regulation of activity in the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axis is diverse and complex. Glucocorticoid feedback is a major component that determines activity in this classic neuroendocrine axis and, while feedback occurs through the brain, the pathways that mediate glucocorticoid feedback remain unknown. In this review, I discuss findings that have led us to view glucocorticoid feedback in the HPA axis in a new light. Much of what has precipitated this view comes from a very surprising finding in our laboratory; sucrose ingestion normalizes feeding, energy balance and central corticotropin releasing factor expression in adrenalectomized (ADX) rats. Since this discovery, a diverse set of literature that supports this view of glucocorticoid feedback has been found. Taken together, recent findings of the well‐known importance of glucocorticoids to feeding and energy balance, and the modulatory actions of carbohydrate ingestion on both basal and stress‐induced activity in the HPA axis, strongly suggest that many metabolic (e.g. obesity) and psychological (e.g. depression) pathologies, which often present together and have been associated with stress and HPA dysregulation, might, in part, be understood in light of our new view of glucocorticoid feedback.
Improving detection performance of compressed sensing by orthogonal projection

Many real-world signals have a sparse expansion in terms of a particular basis or frame. A distinguishable representation of this small number of coefficients can be achieved by low-dimension vectors instead of vectors resulting from Nyquist sampling. This is the basic idea of Compressed Sensing. A quantification about the related representative matrix is the restricted isometry property (RIP). However, if the signal and the corresponding reference matrix fail to obey the RIP, which would happen by strong sub-sampling, successful signal recovery seems to be impossible. In this paper, we introduce a new method, called Orthogonal projection, to improve recovery when the RIP condition was not held.
EncephalomyelitisDevelopment of Autoimmune Mice Lead to Marginally Enhanced Responses in EBV-Induced Gene 3-Deficient Increased Th17 and Regulatory T Cell

EBV-induced gene 3 (EBI3)-encoded protein can form heterodimers with IL-27P28 and IL-12P35 to form IL-27 and IL-35. IL-27 and IL-35 may inﬂuence autoimmunity by inhibiting Th17 differentiation and facilitating the inhibitory roles of Foxp3 + regulatory T (Treg) cells, respectively. In this study, we have evaluated the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in EBI3-deﬁcient mice that lack both IL-27 and IL-35. We found that myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide immunization resulted in marginally enhanced EAE development in EBI3-deﬁcient C57BL6 and 2D2 TCR-transgenic mice. EBI3 deﬁciency resulted in signiﬁcantly increased Th17 and Th1 responses in the CNS and increased T cell production of IL-2 and IL-17 in the peripheral lymphoid organs. EBI3-deﬁcient and -sufﬁcient 2D2 T cells had equal ability in inducing EAE in Rag1 2 / 2 mice; however, more severe disease was induced in EBI3 2 / 2 Rag1 2 / 2 mice than in Rag1 2 / 2 mice by 2D2 T cells. EBI3-deﬁcient mice had increased numbers of CD4 + Foxp3 + Treg cells in peripheral lymphoid organs. More strikingly, EBI3-deﬁcient Treg cells had more potent suppressive functions in vitro and in vivo. Thus, our data support an inhibitory role for EBI3 in Th17, Th1,
Population Distribution, Surface Models, and Spatial Restructuring in Transitional Cities: A Study of Nanjing, China

Abstract Studying urban population and spatial structure using aggregate census data suffers from problems of spatial aggregation and temporal comparability, particularly for the rapidly changing cities of China. The recent development in GIS has potential to represent population distribution in a continuous field with grid cells using surface model techniques, which is a more accurate representation of population distribution. This paper attempts to better model and analyze population distribution in Chinese cities, using Nanjing as a case. With the aids of the detailed urban land use and building distribution data, we develop an alternative method to generate population surface, and uncover spatial variations of population distribution in Nanjing. We found that despite suburbanization, Nanjing remains a compact city, and population density declines quickly with the increase of the distance to the CBD. We also use exploratory spatial data analysis to investigate spatial associations between non-residential land uses and population density, and have found significant influence of commercial activities on population distribution. Industrial suburbanization, however, does not have significant effects on population suburbanization.
Adversarial Risk Analysis for Urban Security Resource Allocation

Adversarial risk analysis (ARA) provides a framework to deal with risks originating from intentional actions of adversaries. We show how ARA may be used to allocate security resources in the protection of urban spaces. We take into account the spatial structure and consider both proactive and reactive measures, in that we aim at both trying to reduce criminality as well as recovering as best as possible from it, should it happen. We deal with the problem by deploying an ARA model over each spatial unit, coordinating the models through resource constraints, value aggregation, and proximity. We illustrate our approach with an example that uncovers several relevant policy issues.