Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antigen co‐encapsulated with adjuvants efficiently drive protective T cell immunity

Compared to "live" vaccines, the immunogenicity of "subunit" vaccines based on recombinant antigen (Ag) is poor, presumably because exogenous Ag fails to effectively access the endosomal Ag‐processing pathways of Ag‐presenting cells (APC). To overcome this limitation, we exploited biodegradable poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic) microspheres (MP) co‐entrapping Ag and Toll‐like receptor (TLR) 9 or 7 ligands as an endosomal delivery device. In vitro, microspheres were rapidly phagocytosed by APC and translocated into phago‐endosomal compartments, followed by degradation of the Ag and concurrent activation of endosomal TLR. As a consequence, full maturation of and cytokine secretion by APC as well as Ag‐cross‐presentation ensued. In vivo, "loaded" microspheres triggered clonal expansion of primary and secondary Ag‐specific CD4 and CD8 T cells. The efficacy of CD8 T cell cross‐priming was comparable to that of live vectors. The potency of T cell vaccination was demonstrated by protective and therapeutic interventions using infection‐ and tumor‐model systems. These preclinical "subunit" vaccination data thus recommend MP as a generally applicable and powerful endosomal delivery device of exogenous Ag plus TLR‐based adjuvants to vaccinate for protective and therapeutic CD4 and CD8 T cell immunity.
Automatic Parallelisation and Execution of Applications on Clusters

Parallel execution is a very efficient means of processing vast amounts of data in a small amount of time. Creating parallel applications has never been easy, and requires much knowledge of the task and the execution environment used to execute parallel processes. The process of creating parallel applications can be made easier through using a compiler that automatically parallelises a supplied application. Executing the parallel application is also simplified when a well designed execution environment is used. Such an execution environment provides very powerful operations to the programmer transparently. Combining both a parallelising compiler and execution environment and providing a fully automated parallelisation and execution tool is the aim of this research. The advantage of using such a fully automated tool is that the user does not need to provide any additional input to gain the benefits of parallel execution. This report shows the tool and how it transparently supports the programmer creating parallel applications and supports their execution.
On the Global Stability of the Two Sector Endogenous Growth Model with Educational Investment Adjustment Costs

Based on Mino (1996) and Bond, Wong and Yip (1996)’s two sector endogenous growth model, the existence and global stability of the two sector endogenous growth model are discussed in the presence of educational investment adjustment costs. Employing the equivalence of the social planner’s optimum and the competitive equilibrium, the uniqueness of the stationary state and the (not local but) global stability of the social planer’s optimum are obtained for both types of educational investment adjustment costs.
Field-of-Study Choice in Higher Education: Does Distance Matter?

Abstract When field-of-study options vary across higher education institutions, geographical distances may create barriers to students’ study choices. Based on this hypothesis, the present study empirically examines field-of-study decisions in Finland's university system, focusing on the effect of distance. The results of the conditional logit models suggest that a 100-kilometre increase in the shortest distance to enrol in a field is, on average, associated with an approximately 15% reduction in the likelihood of selecting that field. However, the effect of distance varies, to some extent, across the choice alternatives and is insignificant when choosing education, arts or medicine, while large and significant in most other cases.
Market liberalization and crop planting decision: a case of China

Purpose - The paper aims to measure the effects of market liberalization on Chinese farmers' crop planting decisions. Design/methodology/approach - The effects are measured using a censored, two-stage, least-square regression. Findings - The results show that the effects of market liberalization on planting decisions are more significant in the case of crops with minimum support price (rice, wheat, and corn) than in the case of crops where planting decision is determined by market prices (cotton and soybean). The effects appear to be different across regions and time zones and more significant in 1993 than in 2005. Originality/value - The result suggests that market liberalization along the past ten years achieved significant effects in Chinese farmers planting decision. This outcome should be taken into consideration when evaluating and implementing future Chinese agricultural policy income-based interventions as a means to meet domestic food security goals and increase farmers' income level.
Civil Society Making Political Claims: Outcries, Interest Advocacy, and Deliberative Claims

Increased citizen participation is proposed to remedy democratic deficits. However, it is unclear whether such participation improves reason-based discussions or whether it serves mainly as a safety valve for discontented citizens. To what extent does citizen-initiated participation involve reason-based arguments? This study examines citizens’ reason giving based on unique data on citizens’ contacts with local authorities in Sweden. It provides support for proponents of deliberative participation, as an unexpected amount of contacts provided reasons for clearly stated positions and invitations to a constructive dialogue with authorities. There is variation across issues. More conflictual issues involve fewer intentions to participate in a reasoned exchange of arguments. The study shows that citizens deliver more reason-based input to democratic decision making when they prepare their position in groups than when they participate as individuals. Findings are preliminary but clearly illustrate the fruitfulness of widening the research agenda on civic engagement in politics and public administration.
The WTO and the developing countries: A review of issues

In this paper, we look at the GATT/WTO framework and examine the extent to which it has served the interests of the developing countries. The scope of WTO is much broader than that of the GATT. The WTO covers a number of areas which were outside the purview of the GATT. Our survey indicates that reforms are badly needed so that the interests of the developing countries can be served better.
Effect of polymerization under pressure on indirect tensile mechanical properties of light-polymerized composites.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Flaws developed during polymerization of restorative materials cause a decrease in mechanical properties. PURPOSE The aim of this study was to determine the effect of polymerization under pressure on the indirect tensile mechanical properties (stiffness and diametral tensile strength) of several light-polymerized composites. MATERIAL AND METHODS Five light-polymerized composites were tested: Brilliant, Z100, TPH Spectrum, Prodigy, and Pertac Hybrid. A total of 80 cylindrical disk specimens (6 mm x 2 mm) were prepared for each material in a special mold that enabled polymerization under pressure (PUP). An equal number of specimens were polymerized under surface pressures of 0,. 35,. 71 and 1.06 MPa (n = 20). Stiffness (N/mm) and diametral tensile strength (DTS) (MPa) were analyzed while loading the specimen to failure with a loading machine. Two-way analysis of variance and Weibull analyses were applied (alpha=5%). RESULTS Material type had a statistically significant influence on both DTS and stiffness (P<.0001). Differences up to 33% in DTS and up to 70% in stiffness values were found among the tested materials. Loading (PUP) had a significant influence on stiffness (P<.03) and DTS (P<.0001). PUP caused an increase in DTS values for Brilliant, Z100, and Prodigy of about 20% (P<.001) and increased stiffness only for Brilliant (15%). However, the amount of pressure needed for the improvement was different between materials (interaction between materials and loadings) (P<.0005). Weibull statistics showed that PUP improved the chances for reducing flaws in a material. CONCLUSION Polymerizing material under pressure can improve its DTS and stiffness. However, the pressure needed for the procedure is material dependent.
Health-impaired employees' job satisfaction: new evidence from Athens, Greece

This study by utilizing the 2008 Athens Area Study (AAS) data set investigates four aspects of job satisfaction – total pay, promotion prospects, respect received from one's supervisor and total job satisfaction – between healthy and heath-impaired employees. Health-impaired employees are found to be less satisfied according to all job satisfaction measures even when a large number of productivity features and job characteristics are controlled for. The outcomes also suggest that women are more satisfied with their jobs than men are, regardless of health status. Moreover, the estimations show that health-impaired employees' job satisfaction is affected more than healthy employees' job satisfaction by adverse mental health symptoms (life dissatisfaction). Finally, health-impaired employees are found to become more satisfied with their jobs with time after disability onset. This study concludes that health-impaired employees may have higher expectations about what they will obtain from their work, as well as they may have job satisfaction adjustments.
Impacts of Zr Composition in $\hbox{Hf}_{1-x} \hbox{Zr}_{x}\hbox{O}_{y}$ Gate Dielectrics on Their Crystallization Behavior and Bias-Temperature-Instability Characteristics

The effects of Zr composition on the crystallization behaviors and reliability characteristics of atomic-layer-deposited Hf<sub>1-x</sub> Zr<sub>x</sub>O<sub>y</sub> (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) gate-dielectric films are examined. n-Channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (nMOSFET) devices with ZrO<sub>2</sub> gate dielectrics showed a much smaller V<sub>th</sub> shift under the positive bias stress compared with the same device with HfO<sub>2</sub> gate dielectrics. The impact of Zr composition on the crystallization temperature, crystalline phases, and surface morphology of Hf<sub>1-x</sub> Zr<sub>x</sub>O<sub>y</sub> films is studied. As the Zr composition in the Hf<sub>1-x</sub> Zr<sub>x</sub>O<sub>y</sub> films increased, the reduction of crystallization temperature and the transformation from a monoclinic to a tetragonal phase were observed. The grain size of the crystallized ZrO<sub>2</sub> film is much smaller than that of crystallized HfO<sub>2</sub>. The Hatband voltage (V<sub>fb</sub>) shift under positive gate-bias stress in p-channel MOS capacitor (pMOSCAP) devices show a similar trend to the Vth shift in nMOSFET devices. In addition, the annealed ZrO<sub>2</sub> films show a large reduction in the V<sub>fb</sub>, shift under the positive bias stress compared with as-deposited ZrO<sub>2</sub> in pMOSCAP devices. The improved bias-temperature-instability characteristics of ZrO<sub>2</sub> compared with that of HfO<sub>2</sub> is related to the smaller grain size of crystallized ZrO<sub>2</sub>.
Digital Mock-up and Rapid Prototyping in Automotive Product Development

The automobile industry is facing challenges which result in demands to optimize their product development processes. For this purpose, methods and tools to verify development results which can be used early in the product development process are needed. In this paper, Digital Mock-Ups and Rapid Prototyping techniques are presented as means for the verification of the development results. Prerequisites, potential benefits and hurdles are discussed and examples from the implementation of these techniques in the automobile industry are presented. Finally, an optimized product development process based on the use of these techniques is defined which aims at the fulfillment of the overall goals of time and cost reduction, and quality improvement.
Long Agricultural Futures Prices: Arch, Long Memory, or Chaos Processes

Price series that are 21.5 years long for six agricultural futures markets, corn, soybeans, wheat, hogs, coffee and sugar, possess characteristics consistent with nonlinear dynamics. Three nonlinear models, ARCH, long memory and chaos, are able to produce these symptoms. Using daily, weekly and monthly data for the six markets, each of these models is tested against the martingale difference null, one-by-one. Standard ARCH tests suggest that all series might contain ARCH effects, but further diagnostics show that the series are not ARCH processes, failing to reject the null. A long-memory technique, the AFIMA model, fails to find long-memory structures in the data, except for sugar. This allows chaos analysis to be applied directly to the raw data. Carefully specifying phase space, and utilizing correlation dimension and Lyapunov exponent together, the remaining five price series are found to be chaotic processes.
Patterns of Retail Price Variation

We examine retail price variation across a range of goods and regions of the United States. We find that the typical grocery product has a regular price and stays at that price at least 50% of the time, and that most deviations from that regular price are downward. Temporary discounts or sales, while infrequent, account for 20% to 50% of the annual variation in retail prices for most product categories. Although existing models of retail sales yield predictions consistent with some aspects of the retail pricing distributions, all of these models fail to explain other important aspects of retail pricing identified here.
Purchasing Power Parity of Papua New Guinea: evidence from the floating exchange rate regime

This study examines the validity of the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) hypothesis to a developing country such as Papua New Guinea during the floating exchange rate regime. The empirical analysis was performed using recently developed Ng-Perron (2001) unit root tests which are more powerful than widely-used Dickey-Fuller-type unit roots. Ng-Perron test results indicate that the four real exchange rates (Australian dollar, Japanese yen, UK pound and US dollar) are non-stationary. Further, a comparison of exchange rates that should prevail under the PPP with actual exchange rates provides evidence that the kina was undervalued during the sample period. These results are inconsistent with the PPP and have implications for policy makers and participants of the foreign exchange market of Papua New Guinea.
Ethnicity Effects on the Family Business Entrepreneurial Process

This commentary adopts a cross-disciplinary framework to discuss possible influences of both family and ethnicity on business performance in the marketplace. Both family and ethnicity are viewed as “upstream factors” that may help a business gain a favorable identity with potential stakeholders. Family businesses that have an ethnic background in common with customers, employees, and suppliers may receive preferential treatment. Communities may patronize a business simply because of an associated group identity. Thus, ethnic collectivism may alter some assumptions about family businesses and how they compete.
Use of Length Heterogeneity PCR and Fatty Acid Methyl Ester Profiles To Characterize Microbial Communities in Soil

ABSTRACT In length heterogeneity PCR (LH-PCR) a fluorescently labeled primer is used to determine the relative amounts of amplified sequences originating from different microorganisms. Labeled fragments are separated by gel electrophoresis and detected by laser-induced fluorescence with an automated gene sequencer. We used LH-PCR to evaluate the composition of the soil microbial community. Four soils, which differed in terms of soil type and/or crop management practice, were studied. Previous data for microbial biomass, nitrogen and carbon contents, and nitrogen mineralization rates suggested that the microbial characteristics of these soils were different. One site received two different treatments: no-till and conventional till perennial ryegrass. The other sites were no-till continuous grass plots at separate locations with different soil types. Community composition was characterized by assessing the natural length heterogeneity in eubacterial sequences amplified from the 5′ domain of the 16S rRNA gene and by determining fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles. We found that LH-PCR results were reproducible. Both methods distinguished the three sites. The most abundant bacterial community members, based on cloned LH-PCR products, were members of the β subclass of the classProteobacteria, theCytophaga-Flexibacter-Bacteriodes group, and the high-G+C-content gram-positive bacterial group. Strong correlations were found between LH-PCR results and FAME results. We found that the LH-PCR method is an efficient, reliable, and highly reproducible method that should be a useful tool in future assessments of microbial community composition.
Learning How to Smile: Can Rational Learning Explain the Predictable Dynamics in the Implied Volatility Surface?

We develop a general equilibrium asset pricing model under incomplete information and rational learning to explain the yet unexplained predictability of option prices. In our model, the fundamental dividend growth rate is unknown and subject to breaks, with time periods between breaks that follow a memory-less stochastic process. Immediately after a break there is insufficient information to price option contracts accurately. However, as new information arrives a representative Bayesian agent recursively learns about the parameters of the process followed by fundamentals. We show that learning makes beliefs time-varying in ways that induce large and dynamic risk premia in option prices and their implied volatilities. In addition, we find that learning generates different effects across option contracts with different strike prices and maturities. This induces realistic movements in the volatility surface implicit in option prices.
A robust random forest-based tri-training algorithm for early in-trouble student prediction

Educational data mining has received much attention worldwide due to its significance in the education domain. Among a large number of the educational data mining tasks, early in-trouble student prediction is a popular one. This task focuses on identifying the students who are at risk in their study as soon as possible before the end of the permitted period of study time. For early detection, data shortage is a challenge for the task at both instance and set levels. Indeed, at the instance level, incomplete data could be gathered for each student at his/her early study period and also at the set level, many labeled data could not be collected for their final study status. Therefore, a solution to the task in such a context is required. In this paper, we propose a robust random forest-based Tri-training algorithm that can overcome that data shortage challenge. In particular, based on the semi-supervised learning process of the original Tri-training algorithm, an incomplete data handling method is integrated into its iterative mechanism so that the Tri-training algorithm can be more robust. In addition, a new combination of the Tri-training algorithm and a random forest model is examined so that each classifier of the Tri-training model can be enhanced for more accurate predictions. As a result, the proposed algorithm is an effective solution to the early in-trouble student prediction task. Its effectiveness has been confirmed with the better experimental results on real data sets in comparison with the existing methods using the preprocessing approach.
Hypoxia Post-translationally Activates Iron-regulatory Protein 2*

Iron-regulatory proteins 1 and 2 (IRP1 and IRP2) are RNA-binding proteins that post-transcriptionally regulate the expression of mRNAs that code for proteins involved in the maintenance of iron and energy homeostasis. Here we show that hypoxia differentially regulates the RNA binding activities of IRP1 and IRP2 in human 293 and in mouse Hepa-1 cells. In contrast to IRP1, where hypoxic exposure decreases IRP1 RNA binding activity, hypoxia increases IRP2 RNA binding activity. The hypoxic increase in IRP2 RNA binding activity results from increased IRP2 protein levels. Cobalt, which mimics hypoxia by activation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1), also increases IRP2 protein levels; however, cobalt-induced IRP2 lacks RNA binding activity. Addition of a reductant to cobalt-treated extracts restored IRP2 RNA binding activity. Hypoxic activation of IRP2 is not because of an increase in transcriptional activation by HIF-1, because IRP2 accumulates in Hepa-1 cells lacking a functional HIF-1β subunit, nor is it because of an increase in IRP2 mRNA stability. Rather, our data indicate that hypoxia increases IRP2 levels by a post-translational mechanism involving protein stability. Differential regulation of IRP1 and IRP2 during hypoxia may regulate specific IRP target mRNAs whose expression is required for hypoxic adaptation. Furthermore, these data imply mechanistic parallels between the hypoxia-induced post-transcriptional regulation of IRP2 and HIF-1α.
Flexicurity Meets State Traditions

This article presents a theoretical and empirical discussion of the effects of the Europeanization of employment policies, arguing that the interaction with state traditions in industrial relations is a complex one, which may mediate or even distort European Union (EU) policies. State traditions do not imply strong path dependence nor coherence and immutability of national 'models', as theorized by dominant institutionalist approaches, but, as described by Crouch in 1993, influence the interactions between actors, who then mediate internationalization pressures. The European Employment Strategy (EES) confirms this. A quantitative analysis of employment policy indicators does not reveal significant distinctive convergence effects, and a qualitative analysis of the EU countries that have implemented the most far-reaching labour market changes ( Germany, Italy, and the new Member States) confirms the precedence of national over European politics, which tend to be characterized by the use of rhetorical tools for national actors.
Pricing of single stock futures and dividend risk

ABSTRACT In this paper we consider the fair pricing of single stock futures (SSFs) and the effect of dividend risk on the dividend compensation component in the pricing formulas. SSF valuation is subject to the pricing of discrete cash dividends (not percentages or dividend yields) in the underlying stock. Discrete cash dividends present modelling challenges which are not present when dividends are in the form of yields or percentages. Problems are created for market-makers and investors when the actual cash dividend is different from that predicted by analysts and used for pricing. We propose a new model for the fair price of a single stock futures contract which addresses dividend uncertainty.
Identification and characterization of highly expressed proteins in sperm cells of the marine mussel Mytilus edulis

Proteomic analysis on sperm has been restricted to only a few model organisms. We present here a 2DE PAGE proteome map of sperm cells from a nonmodel organism, the marine mussel Mytilus edulis, a free‐spawning marine invertebrate with external fertilization. Ninety‐six protein spots showing high expression were selected and of these 77 were successfully identified by nESI–MS analysis. Many of the identifications are relevant to sperm cell physiology and mtDNA functioning. The results and proteomics approach used are discussed in relation to their potential for advancing understanding of the unusual system of mtDNA inheritance described in Mytilus spp. , and for the testing of evolutionary hypotheses pertaining to the role of fertilization in the speciation process.