Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The tryptophan-specific permease gene, mtr, is differentially regulated by the tryptophan and tyrosine repressors in Escherichia coli K-12

The regulation of transcription of the gene for the tryptophan-specific permease, mtr, was evaluated in several genetically marked Escherichia coli strains through the use of a single-copy lacZ reporter system. The expression of mtr was repressed 97-fold by tryptophan via the Trp repressor and induced 10-fold by phenylalanine or tyrosine via the Tyr repressor. By primer extension analysis two distinct mtr transcripts and their corresponding promoters were identified. One transcript was induced by the Tyr repressor. The tryptophan-dependent interaction of Trp repressor with an operator target within the mtr promoter was demonstrated by means of a restriction endonuclease protection assay.
Rural electrification using overhead HVDC transmission lines

The provision of electricity greatly enhances the quality of life in developing countries in Southern Africa. It helps promote people's expectations and motivations, thus assisting in education. Most importantly, it helps in retarding the migration of people from rural areas to cities and increases the opportunities for income generation and employment in those countries. Electricity also assists in environmental preservation of forests and trees, which are currently being cut down for fuel, to compensate for the lack of electricity and other energy sources [8]. Provision of electricity supplies is essential for developing countries in their effort to overcome poverty, which is the main challenge to mankind in this century. Orthodox methods for the provision of electricity supplies, such as a central power station with a transmission and distribution network, may not be the most economical means of providing electricity supplies in developing countries, particularly in rural areas where the demand per customer is only a small fraction of a kW [8]. Mobilising of capital and developing of new technologies is necessary in supplying power to these rural areas. In the Southern African context, there are large amounts of hydro power in Central Africa, in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, whereas the major load centres are in the Southern African region. Therefore, high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission is likely to be the most economical means to transmit these large quantities of energy to the Southern African region. HVDC transmission does offer technical and economical advantages over HVAC (high voltage alternating current) transmission for long distances. However, HVDC transmission does suffer a significant disadvantage compared to high voltage alternating current (HVAC) transmission, with regard to tapping off power from transmission lines. It has not been proven to be economically and technically feasible to tap off small amounts of power from HVDC transmission lines. This is a substantial drawback considering that most HVDC transmission lines pass over many rural
The Effect of Employment Sub-centres on Population Density in Barcelona

The polycentric models of the new urban economics (NUE) predict that population density decreases while increasing the distance to employment centres. In contrast with this, some studies have calculated non-significant gradients or even positive ones, which appear to threaten seriously the usefulness of these theoretical models. Does this mean that this theoretical framework should be given up in order to understand the decision-making processes of the actors in a polycentric city and their cumulative effects on urban structure? Or, rather, is it a matter of overcoming problems with the appropriate estimating techniques? This study has tested the effect of decentralised and integrated sub-centres in the Barcelona metropolitan region on population density in 1991 and 2001. From the preliminary results, it is clear that population density increases with distance in a considerable number of the sub-centres that have sprung up as employment has decentralised. It has been detected that this result is due not so much to the higher value of more distant residential land compared with that nearer the employment sub-centres, but to deficiencies in the econometric model used. The problem is that the sub-centres belonging to this group are very close together. Once this is resolved, it is demonstrated that, although distance has less effect on decentralised sub-centres than integrated ones, in both cases the effect is negative; that is, when distance increases, population density is reduced. Therefore, the results obtained are not clearly contrary to the predictions of the theoretical models.
The multiubiquitin-chain-binding protein Mcb1 is a component of the 26S proteasome in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and plays a nonessential, substrate-specific role in protein turnover

The 26S proteasome is an essential proteolytic complex that is responsible for degrading proteins conjugated with ubiquitin. It has been proposed that the recognition of substrates by the 26S proteasome is mediated by a multiubiquitin-chain-binding protein that has previously been characterized in both plants and animals. In this study, we identified a Saccharomyces cerevisiae homolog of this protein, designated Mcb1. Mcb1 copurified with the 26S proteasome in both conventional and nickel chelate chromatography. In addition, a significant fraction of Mcb1 in cell extracts was present in a low-molecular-mass form free of the 26S complex. Recombinant Mcb1 protein bound multiubiquitin chains in vitro and, like its plant and animal counterparts, exhibited a binding preference for longer chains. Surprisingly, (delta)mcb1 deletion mutants were viable, grew at near-wild-type rates, degraded the bulk of short-lived proteins normally, and were not sensitive to UV radiation or heat stress. These data indicate that Mcb1 is not an essential component of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway in S.cerevisiae. However, the (delta)mcb1 mutant exhibited a modest sensitivity to amino acid analogs and had increased steady-state levels of ubiquitin-protein conjugates. Whereas the N-end rule substrate, Arg-beta-galactosidase, was degraded at the wild-type rate in the (delta)mcb1 strain, the ubiquitin fusion degradation pathway substrate, ubiquitin-Pro-beta-galactosidase, was markedly stabilized. Collectively, these data suggest that Mcb1 is not the sole factor involved in ubiquitin recognition by the 26S proteasome and that Mcb1 may interact with only a subset of ubiquitinated substrates.
Studying the impact of environmental, organizational and technological factors on adoption of e-commerce in Kerman Maftul Cheshmeh Company

With respect to increasing importance of development of information and communication technology and application of e-commerce as a way of doing business by companies around the world, the current study is done to identify effective environmental, organizational and technological factors on adoption of e-commerce in Kerman Maftul Cheshmeh Company. In this study, electronic commerce (EC) model is used to analyze effective factors on adoption of e-commerce in the company. The study is done using a questionnaire and seven factors including government facilities, technological infrastructures, management support, cultural factors, human resources, financial resources and market elements. In addition, technology acceptance model (TAM) is used to analyze the approach and social perceptions of managers and experts toward e-commerce. This model is used in the form of a second questionnaire with two important factors including perception from benefits and ease of application of technology. The two questionnaires were distributed among 30 managers and experts of Kerman Maftul Cheshmeh Company. Results of the gap analysis between current and ideal states showed that, from cultural factors and management support dimensions, the company is in good condition but should devote more budgets for technological infrastructures and train human resources. Government support should be increased and via adoption of e-commerce, the company must improve its competitive advantage. Using Spearman coefficient of correlation and TAM model, a significant relationship was found between government facilities and market factors. The research hypotheses were approved by Wilcoxon test. Using Friedman test, the factors were ranked based on their importance as follows: technological infrastructures; management support; government facilities; human resources; financial resources; cultural factors; and market factors. On the other hand, based on the current conditions, the factors were ranked as follows: management support; cultural factors; financial resources; technological infrastructures; market factors; human resources; and government facilities. Key words: E-commerce, information technology, electronic data interchange.
Two-Stage Patent Races and Patent Policy

I analyze the optimal degree of forward patent protection in a two-stage patent race framework. I compare three patent regimes, as the second innovation may be unpatentable and infringing (UI), patentable and infringing (PI), or patentable and not infringing (PN). Forward protection is highest in regime UI and lowest in regime PN. I identify a fundamental inefficiency affecting regime UI, namely that it always leads to underinvestment in the second innovation, and I note various determinants of the welfare ranking of the regimes. Specifically, strong forward protection becomes less attractive as the relative profitability of the first innovation increases and the relative difficulty of obtaining it decreases.
Liquidity Costs and Block Trading

Throughout the decade of the 1960's the securities markets experienced many profound changes. Witness for example, the growth of the third market, introduction of the conglomerate form, the trend towards "performance" investing, the bankruptcy of many broker/dealers, increased institutional activity, etc. One of the more significant changes in the nature and structure of the markets during this period has been the growth in block trading by financial institutions. ' In the last quarter of 1964 the dollar value of block trades as a percent of total NYSE dollar volume was 2.1 per cent. By the third quarter of 1970, block trading had grown to 14.8 per cent of total NYSE dollar volume. The growth in block trading appears to be a result of two overriding factors: (i) increased activity by the institutions in the common stock markets and (ii) an increased use of the block trade relative to other means of accumulating or laying off a position. While the percentage of total market value of all common stocks owned by institutions has remained rather constant over the past decade (about 30 per cent), their proportion of the average daily public trading volume has increased substantially (from 40 per cent in 1960 to 60 per cent in 1969). This increased activity can be traced to more rapid portfolio turnover policies. Regarding the second point, it has been estimated that perhaps eight per cent of all institutional trad-
Parliamentary behaviour with two principals: preferences, parties, and voting in the European parliament

The European Parliament has be? come one of the most powerful insti? tutions in the European Union. Mem? bers of the European Parliament (MEPs) can now enact legislation, amend the European Union budget, veto the nominee for the European Union Commission President, and censure the Commission. But, we know little about what determines MEPs' voting behavior. Do they vote according to their personal policy preferences? Do the EP parties force MEPs to toe the party line? And, when national party and EP party preferences conflict, which way do MEPs respond? to the principals who control their election (the national parties) or the principals who control their influence in the EP (the EP par? ties)? The results reported here show that national party policies are the strongest predictors of voting behav? ior in the EP.
Grand challenges for the UK: upskilling teachers to teach computer science within the secondary curriculum

Recent changes in UK education policy with respect to ICT and Computer Science (CS) have meant that more teachers need the skills and knowledge to teach CS in schools. This paper reports on work in progress in the UK researching models of continuing professional development (CPD) for such teachers. We work with many teachers who either do not have an appropriate academic background to teach Computer Science, or who do and have not utilised it in the classroom due to the curriculum in place for the last fifteen years. In this paper we outline how educational policy changes are affecting teachers in the area of ICT and Computer Science; we describe a range of models of CPD and discuss the role that local and national initiatives can play in developing a hybrid model of transformational CPD, briefly reporting on our initial findings to date.
Investigation on a Novel Dual-Grating Macro-Micro Driven High Speed Precision Positioning System for NEMS

Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) is naturally continuing its downsizing into nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS), but at the same time it is indispensable in the package equipment used for nano-devices packaging in NEMS manufacture. A novel dual-grating macro-micro driven high speed precision XY-stage positioning system is presented in this paper. Combining macro with micro actuator, a system of large workspace and high speed with high resolution of motion is developed. Two linear voice coil motors (VCM) are used into the macro motion, and two piezoelectric (PZT) driven micro stages of high frequency are mounted on each motor to compensate the position error. A novel elastic decoupling mechanism is used in the stage to avoid the moving gap. The coarse micron grating and the fine nanometer grating are integrated into the closed-loop feedback, which is used to measure the position of the output end of macro stage and micro stage. Adopting a complex method of the position of coarse/fine gratings, the nano-positioning with high speed of XY-stage is achieved. By using the mechanical dynamic simulation and finite element analysis (FEA) method, the decoupling mechanism and the micro mechanism are optimized, and the dynamic characteristics of the stage are investigated, which is based on the rigid-flexible dynamic analysis of mechanical system. The simulation results show that this new configuration allows a workspace of 25mmtimes25mm and an acceleration exceeding 100m/s2 with a resolution of motion better than 10nm
A Performance Comparison of Position-Based Routing Approaches for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

In this work we present a performance comparison study between SIFT (Simple Forwarding over Trajectory), an innovative and scalable trajectory-based approach, and DREAM (Distance Routing Effect Algorithm for Mobility), a stable, largely tested position-based scheme. In the literature, the latest studies indicate that control overhead is the most important drawback that routing protocols must face. Classical ad hoc routing schemes do not perform well in MANETS (Mobile Ad hoc Networks) because they were not designed to handle efficiently mobility handicaps. Position-based forwarding techniques perform better in highly dynamic scenarios, reducing control overhead consequences, but there may be some highly dynamic scenarios where they do not perform efficiently. Trajectory-based forwarding protocols solve the overhead problem and, thus, they perform efficiently in MANETS. Our study demonstrates that SIFT performs better than DREAM concerning delivery ratio, control overhead and route length in terms of number of hops. Its main handicap could be, a priori, the delivery delay. However, even if delay may be high in SIFT, control overhead may also causes even higher delivery delay in DREAM.
Moderate Exercise Allows for shorter Recovery Time in Critical Limb Ischemia

Whether and how moderate exercise might allow for accelerated limb recovery in chronic critical limb ischemia (CLI) remains to be determined. Chronic CLI was surgically induced in mice, and the effect of moderate exercise (training five times per week over a 3-week period) was investigated. Tissue damages and functional scores were assessed on the 4th, 6th, 10th, 20th, and 30th day after surgery. Mice were sacrificed 48 h after the last exercise session in order to assess muscle structure, mitochondrial respiration, calcium retention capacity, oxidative stress and transcript levels of genes encoding proteins controlling mitochondrial functions (PGC1α, PGC1β, NRF1) and anti-oxidant defenses markers (SOD1, SOD2, catalase). CLI resulted in tissue damages and impaired functional scores. Mitochondrial respiration and calcium retention capacity were decreased in the ischemic limb of the non-exercised group (Vmax = 7.11 ± 1.14 vs. 9.86 ± 0.86 mmol 02/min/g dw, p < 0.001; CRC = 7.01 ± 0.97 vs. 11.96 ± 0.92 microM/mg dw, p < 0.001, respectively). Moderate exercise reduced tissue damages, improved functional scores, and restored mitochondrial respiration and calcium retention capacity in the ischemic limb (Vmax = 9.75 ± 1.00 vs. 9.82 ± 0.68 mmol 02/min/g dw; CRC = 11.36 ± 1.33 vs. 12.01 ± 1.24 microM/mg dw, respectively). Exercise also enhanced the transcript levels of PGC1α, PGC1β, NRF1, as well as SOD1, SOD2, and catalase. Moderate exercise restores mitochondrial respiration and calcium retention capacity, and it has beneficial functional effects in chronic CLI, likely by stimulating reactive oxygen species-induced biogenesis and anti-oxidant defenses. These data support further development of exercise therapy even in advanced peripheral arterial disease.
Consumer Sovereignty versus Consumer Protection in Transition Countries

Conventional economics assumes the existence of important limits to the operation of markets. Even economists who generally prefer the market system to solve economic problems point to the significance of market failure - for example asymmetric information. Then these economists demand government policies suspending or modifying the operation of the market, e.g. consumer protection (Kirzner, 1994, p. 101). Our thesis in this paper is that there exists no market failure because a failure can only be defined in relation to the “nirvana-approach” of static Pareto-optimum (Demsetz, 1969, p. 1). In contrast competition on markets must be seen as discovery procedure, which helps to find better solutions (Hayek, 1969, p. 249–265). A static optimum never and nowhere exists - only in the neo-classical theory. Therefore economically justified government interventions into the market process will be called into question by the following argumentation. Only policies, which are supporting market operation, will be advocated. Contrary, we will show that there exists a danger in state interventions to protect consumers. A growing state activity may lead to destruction of producer freedom and consumers' sovereignty and at last of the market economy itself. As example we will analyse consumer protection policy in Estonia.
First Year Teachers Technology Use: Perceptions of Factors Affecting Technology Integration.

i DEDICATION iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF TABLES x TABLE x B1-a: Group Question/Responses Table 105 x B1-b: Group Raw Score Totals 106 x B1-c: Group Raw Score to Percentile Conversion Table 106 x B1-d: Group Percentile Scores 108 x LIST OF FIGURES xi FIGURE xi B1. Group Stages of Concern 50 xi LIST OF APPENDICES xii A: Additional Tables, Charts and Individual Interview Questions 101 xii CHAPTER ONE RESEARCH PROBLEM
Parity reversion persistence in real exchange rates: middle income country case

This article investigates purchasing power parity (PPP) in the specific context of middle income countries. To circumvent the low power of traditional stationarity tests (Augmented Dickey-Fuller and Phillips-Perron tests), it performs variance ratio and fractional integration tests in addition to Perron's test that accounts for potential structural changes in real exchange rate processes. Beyond estimating half-life shocks to PPP, this article attempts to explain these estimates using a set of country specific variables as suggested by economic theory. The evidence suggests that reversion to parity tends to be faster in high inflation countries and that productivity improvement leads to a higher level of persistence. Openness to trade tends to reduce the extent of deviations from parity but this result does not appear to be statistically robust. Evidence shows also that deviations are less persistent under a fixed exchange rate regime and under unrestricted capital mobility.
Isolation and characterization of nontuberculous mycobacteria from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in Ghana

Objective/Background: Nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) species are assuming public health importance in pulmonary diseases; they are increasingly being isolated, and importantly, most NTMs do not respond to routine tuberculosis (TB) drugs. This study aimed to identify NTMs isolated from pulmonary TB cases and also determine their susceptibility to streptomycin (STR), isoniazid (INH), and rifampicin (RIF). Methods: A total of 1755 mycobacterial isolates, obtained between August 2012 and July 2014, from 2036 smear-positive pulmonary cases were identified using polymerase chain reaction amplification of IS6110, and hsp65 gene sequencing analysis. Drug susceptibility testing (DST) was then performed for the identified NTMs against STR, INH, and RIF using microplate Alamar blue assay. The results were analyzed against patients' biodata for statistical associations. Results: Of the 1755 analyzed isolates, we identified 43 (2.5%) NTMs, which included 18 (41.9%) Mycobacterium intracellulare, 13 (30.2%) Mycobacterium avium subs. paratuberculosis, 5 (11.3%) Mycobacterium abscessus, 3 (7.0%) each of Mycobacterium mucogenicum and Mycobacterium colombiense, and 1 (2.3%) Mycobacterium simiae. Patients infected with NTMs (52.0%) were more likely to be human immunodeficiency virus-positive (P = 0.001, odds ratio = 6.6, 95% confidence interval = 2.7–16.2) than those infected with M. tuberculosis complex (5.8%). All the 43 (100%) NTMs were resistant to INH, whereas 32 (74%) and 19 (44%) were resistant to RIF and STR, respectively. Furthermore, 16 (37.2%) NTMs were resistant to all three drugs, 20 were resistant to INH and RIF, and 3 were resistant to STR and INH. All the M. abscessus isolates were resistant to all the three drugs, whereas all the M. avium isolates were resistant to INH and RIF, but only three were resistant to STR. Among the M. intracellulare isolates, 8, 18, and 15 isolates were resistant to STR, INH, and RIF, respectively. Conclusion: The observed high-resistance level to INH and RIF supports the need for rapid species identification and DST of nonresponding TB cases before retreatment.