Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Energy Price Transmission and Retail Milk Prices

This paper estimates the pass-through between diesel fuel and retail milk prices at the product brand level, based on a random coefficient logit demand model along with a market channel marginal cost function in order to estimate energy price pass-through rates to the consumer. It takes into account the partial and net impact of energy prices through the multi-market effects on other inputs. It also exploits a natural experiment of energy hyperinflation and the great recession in 2008. Empirical results show that energy prices (e.g., diesel price) significantly impact the retail prices of milk products and are, therefore, an important determinant of food price inflation. Pass-through rates are estimated to be in the range from 0.15 to approximately 0.50 before March 2008 and from 0.09 to 0.19 after March 2009, with an average of 0.26. This indicates that a $1.00 per gallon increase in diesel prices would on average result in a 26¢ per gallon increase in the retail price of milk. Statistical test indicates pass-through rates before March 2008 are significantly higher than that after March 2008. Interestingly, private label brands have the lowest energy (diesel) pass-through rates, implying that compared to manufacturer brands, private label prices are more insulated from energy price shocks.
The value of an explicit pronunciation syllabus in ESOL teaching

This article reports on an action research project which investigated the value of systematically and explicitly incorporating a pronunciation sub-syllabus within the overall syllabus of a full-time post-intermediate level ESOL course. This pronunciation syllabus involved raising each individual learner’s awareness of their difficulties with pronunciation and of the main features of spoken English in general. It then attempted to systematically and explicitly instruct learners in these features, at both the segmental and suprasegmental levels, and to encourage learners to practise and monitor their pronunciation. The effectiveness of the syllabus was examined through pre- and post-course tests of pronunciation and through a survey of students’ reactions to the syllabus and their beliefs regarding the teaching and learning of pronunciation. The results showed that clear gains were made, and that learners believed both that teachers should teach pronunciation, and that the particular approach taken here had been of value. Rationale and literature review This project was prompted by two factors. The first was that pronunciation was still a significant impediment to communication for many students studying on a full-time post-intermediate level course with a study focus at a university in Auckland. The second factor emerged from a recently completed tracer study of former students, which investigated their needs in hindsight (Couper 2002) and indicated that, even though the students had had a focus on further study, they expressed a great need in the area of informal spoken language and pronunciation. While pronunciation had not been ignored on their course, it had often been treated implicitly, and there had been no attempt to explicitly or systematically cover all of the main features of the phonology of English. It had generally been treated incidentally as an integrated part of the syllabus. The approach adopted in this project was therefore to explicitly instruct and raise learners’ consciousness of the pronunciation of English, rather than assuming that it would be improved implicitly through exposure to the target language. The focus on explicit instruction taken in this project follows from
Hydrogen sulfide attenuates myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury by preservation of mitochondrial function

The recent discovery that hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an endogenously produced gaseous second messenger capable of modulating many physiological processes, much like nitric oxide, prompted us to investigate the potential of H2S as a cardioprotective agent. In the current study, we demonstrate that the delivery of H2S at the time of reperfusion limits infarct size and preserves left ventricular (LV) function in an in vivo model of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (MI-R). This observed cytoprotection is associated with an inhibition of myocardial inflammation and a preservation of both mitochondrial structure and function after I-R injury. Additionally, we show that modulation of endogenously produced H2S by cardiac-specific overexpression of cystathionine γ-lyase (α-MHC-CGL-Tg mouse) significantly limits the extent of injury. These findings demonstrate that H2S may be of value in cytoprotection during the evolution of myocardial infarction and that either administration of H2S or the modulation of endogenous production may be of clinical benefit in ischemic disorders.
Phase I trial of two schedules of vincristine, oral irinotecan, and temozolomide (VOIT) for children with relapsed or refractory solid tumors: A Children's Oncology Group phase I consortium study

In preclinical models, temozolomide, and vincristine are additive or synergistic with irinotecan. We examined this three‐drug combination in children with relapsed solid tumors. Patients received orally administered irinotecan together with temozolomide and vincristine on two different schedules, using cefixime to reduce irinotecan‐associated diarrhea.
Voluntary Disclosure of Information

This paper considers a "persuasion game", in which a better informed agent (seller) strategically reveals his private information in an attempt to influence a decision maker (buyer). For this class of games, Grossman (1981) and Milgrom (1981) independently showed that in equilibrium the seller fully reveals his private information. A caution is provided in interpreting their results. It might be very easy to verify disclosed information but it is often difficult to detect the possession and hence the withholding of information. By simply introducing the possibility that the seller has no information, we conclude that only private information favorable to the seller is revealed to the buyer. Given the result, effects of disclosure rules are studied. Disclosure rules always benefit the buyer by enlarging his choice set, as well as transfer uncertainty from the buyer to the seller.
Heart rate deflection point as an alternative to determining the anaerobic threshold in dyslipidaemic patients

– Aim: The aim of the present study was to verify the agreement between the ventilatory method (VT) and the alternative method of heart rate deflection point (HRDP) in determining the anaerobic threshold (AT) during incremental treadmill test in dyslipidaemic patients. Methods: Twenty-seven dyslipidaemic patients (61.50 ± 10.46 years) performed an incremental treadmill test, in which the AT was determined using both methods. Bland-Altman statistics was adopted in order to verify the agreement between the methods. Results: Agreement in AT determination between the VT and HRDP methods was observed (p < 0.05) for heart rate (138.00 ± 23.80 and 136.26 ± 22.18 bpm, respectively), oxygen uptake (31.00 ± 10.33 and 31.00 ± 11.17 ml.kg−1.min−1), and treadmill velocity (7.67 ± 1.71 km.h-1and 8.00 ± 1.75 km.h-1). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the HRDP method can be adopted for the determination of the AT in dyslipidaemic patients, showing agreement with the VT method.
Defining a problem to fit the solution: A neo-institutional explanation for legitimising the bid for the 2016 Lillehammer winter Youth Olympic Games

ABSTRACT This article discusses the successful bid for the 2016 Lillehammer winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) and its incorporation within the broader youth sport strategy within organised sport in Norway. Although it is widely accepted that the argument that major sports events are a solution to problems of low levels of involvement in sport is not generally supported by evidence Norwegian sport organisations used this argument as a primary justification for hosting the YOG. The aim of the research is to investigate: a) why NIF used this argument even though there was so little evidence to support its validity; and b) how and why this seemingly contradictory argument was successfully ‘sold’ to the public. The research was guided by the methodological approach of discourse analysis and the theoretical framework of the neo-institutionalist concept of legitimacy. Based on this analysis I show how the institutionalised rhetoric of the Norwegian youth sport policy (YSP) adopted by the Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF) became the main argument for the YOG bid. Further findings show that rather than responding to the youth sport participation problem, NIF used the development of youth sport as a convenient rationale to bid for the YOG in order to secure legitimacy from two of its main stakeholders – the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Norwegian government. Rather than hosting the YOG as solution to a youth sport participation problem, NIF used the institutionalised rhetoric of the YSP, defining a problem to fit the solution.
EFEKTIVITAS SISTEM NILAI TUKAR MENGAMBANG BEBAS DALAM INFLATION TARGETING FRAMEWORK DI INDONESIA

Since the economic crisis hit most of the East Asian country in 1997/1998, Indonesian government has changed its exchange rate system from managed floating system to free floating system. This has led the exchange rate of Indonesian rupiah to became more fluctuatif against other currency. Central bank needs to secure rupiah against other currency by doing intervention for the exchange rate, as we know Indonesian foreign exchange market gets unstable condition because of the crisis. This method known as fear of floating. As the application of Inflation Targeting Framework (ITF), this study using VAR model and reveals how the interest rate affect the inflation and whether inflation targeting or fear of floating method is applied within Indonesian monetary system after free floating system. Keywords : exchange rate, inflation targeting, fear of floating, VAR
Planificador de paquetes del enlace de bajada de lte basado en evolución diferencial

This paper presents a LTE Downlink Packet Scheduler, which aims to intelligently allocate radio resources to mobile stations in an access network, supported by an evolutionary algorithm. The proposed scheduler was compared with four reference algorithms, the results show that the scheduler based in differential evolution, allocates the radio resources effectively reaching suitable values of fairness index and throughput
Nucleotide sequence and functional analysis of the genes encoding 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid oxygenase in Pseudomonas cepacia AC1100

Pseudomonas cepacia AC1100 is able to use the chlorinated aromatic compound 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) as the sole source of carbon and energy. One of the early steps in this pathway is the conversion of 2,4,5-T to 2,4,5-trichlorophenol (2,4,5-TCP). 2,4,5-TCP accumulates in the culture medium when AC1100 is grown in the presence of 2,4,5-T. A DNA region from the AC1100 genome has been subcloned as a 2.7-kb SstI-XbaI DNA fragment, which on transfer to Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 allows the conversion of 2,4,5-T to 2,4,5-TCP. We have determined the directions of transcription of these genes as well as the complete nucleotide sequences of the genes and the number and sizes of the polypeptides synthesized by pulse-labeling experiments. This 2.7-kb DNA fragment encodes two polypeptides with calculated molecular masses of 51 and 18 kDa. Proteins of similar sizes were seen in the T7 pulse-labeling experiment in Escherichia coli. We have designated the genes for these proteins tftA1 (which encodes the 51-kDa protein) and tftA2 (which encodes the 18-kDa protein). TftA1 and TftA2 have strong amino acid sequence homology to BenA and BenB from the benzoate 1,2-dioxygenase system of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, as well as to XylX and XylY from the toluate 1,2-dioxygenase system of Pseudomonas putida. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 strain containing the 2.7-kb SstI-XbaI fragment was able to convert not only 2,4,5-T to 2,4,5-TCP but also 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid to 2,4-dichlorophenol and phenoxyacetate to phenol.
A Non-Blocking Atomic-Multicast Service for Scalable In-memory Transaction Systems

Atomic Multicasting is central to managing replication. Our focus is on its deployment for enhancing scalability and performance of in-memory transactional systems where data replication is essential. When it is deployed as an external service, enhancement is demonstrably accomplished when no node within the service crashes. Since known atomic-multicast protocols block whenever a node is crashed or appears so, using them for service implementation risks the transaction system making no progress when blocking prevails. To eliminate this risk, our service simultaneously runs two protocols with distinct properties. The first one is the fastest when crashes are absent, but blocks until a crashed node is isolated. The second, newly-designed one never blocks but can fail to deliver messages with a probability that can be made vanishingly small in return for slower performance. The service uses slow protocol when the fast one is blocked and the switch-over is instantaneous. Extensive performance study confirms best crash-free performance, crashuninterrupted service and no delivery failure in practical settings. © 2014 Newcastle University. Printed and published by Newcastle University, Computing Science, Claremont Tower, Claremont Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, England. Bibliographical details EMERSON, R. , EZHILCHELVAN, P. A Non-Blocking Atomic-Multicast Service for Scalable In-memory Transaction Systems [By] R. Emerson and P. Ezhilchelvan Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University: Computing Science, 2014. (Newcastle University, Computing Science, Technical Report Series, No. CS-TR-1435)
Market Orientation Plus: Antecedents and Consequences of Market Orientation and Corporate Social Responsibility in Mexico

ABSTRACT The evolution of the market orientation (MO) concept toward stakeholder-based corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been recognized recently. Nevertheless, the two variables remain conceptually and operationally different, and very little is known about the relationship between MO and CSR. The current study addresses this question empirically by embedding measures of MO and CSR into a framework of antecedents and consequences in the context of an emerging economy (Mexico). The results show that companies with high levels of MO also attain high levels of CSR. Further, CSR partially mediates the relationship between MO and corporate reputation and fully mediates the relationship between MO and employee commitment. Informal organization has a positive influence on MO and fully mediates the relationship between innovation and MO. The findings may encourage companies in emerging economies to implement CSR initiatives without fearing that their focus on customer and competitor orientation will be negatively affected.
Robust Ambiguous Clutter Suppression for the Near-Shore Water Areas With Spaceborne Multichannel SAR Systems

In practice, the ambiguous image of the strong ground clutter may dominate in the adjacent water areas in the case of high-azimuth ambiguity level for the spaceborne synthetic aperture radar. In this letter, a robust ambiguous clutter suppression method is proposed for the ground moving target indication. The subspace projection approach is used to suppress the ambiguous clutter, and the notch broadening technique is used to widen the ambiguous clutter notches for the robustness. The width of the notch is determined by the probability density function of the interferogram's phase. The validity and robustness of the proposed method are verified by the simulation results.
Gene expression of Hsp70, Hsp90 and Hsp110 families in normal palate and cleft palate during mouse embryogenesis

Most previous studies focused on a small number of heat shock proteins (Hsps) and their relationships with embryogenesis, and the actual roles of these Hsps in normal and abnormal embryonic development remain unclear. It was found in the present systemic study that except for Grp170, whose expression was not detectable at GD18, all 19 Hsps of Hsp70, Hsp90 and Hsp110 families were expressed in the normal development of embryonic palate tissue in mice, but their expression patterns varied with different Hsps, presenting as a correlation with the developmental phases. In the treatment group by all-trans retinoic acid (atRA), the messenger RNA (mRNA) abundance of HspA1A, HspA1L, HspA8, HspA9, HspA12A, HspA12B, HspA13, HspA14, Hsp90AA1, Hsp90AB1, Grp94, Trap1, Hsp105, Hsp110 and Grp170 was higher in the palates at GD11 (the beginning of palate development), the mRNA abundance of HspA1A, HspA12A and HspA12B was higher at GD18 (before birth) and an mRNA expression peak of HspA1L, HspA8, HspA9, Hsp90AA1, Grp94, Hsp110 and Grp170 was observed at GD17. The mRNA abundance of most genes in atRA-induced cleft palates of the treatment group was different from that of the control group. Grp78, HspA14 and Hsp105 were closely associated with the normal palate development and cleft palate in mouse embryo, possibly as palate development-related genes. Except Grp170, the other genes may be closely associated with the development of mouse palates through participating in the stress response process and/or the antiapoptosis process.
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms of the Bovine VEGF-B Gene and Their Associations with Growth Traits in the Nanyang Cattle Breed

PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing methods were applied to reveal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the bovine VEGF-B gene in 675 samples belonging to three native Chinese cattle breeds. We found 3 SNPs and a duplication NC_007330. 5: g. [782 A>G p. (Gly112 =) (;) 1000-1001dup CT (;) 1079 C>T (;) 2129 G>A p. (Arg184Gln)]. We also observed a statistically significant association of the polymorphism (1000-1001dup CT) in intron 3 of the VEGF-B gene with the body weight of the Nanyang cattle (p < 0.05). This polymorphisms of VEGF-B gene need to be verified among a larger cattle population before it can be identified as a marker for bovine body weight.
Suspended carbon nanotube double quantum dots

We present fabrication of and the first measurements on partially suspended double quantum dots in a carbon nanotube. Our objective is to enhance the energy resolution for spectroscopy of the vibronic modes of a suspended nanotube. When fabricating our devices, nanotubes grown on‐chip are localized by AFM scanning, and subsequently contacted and gated with customized electrode geometries. First low‐temperature transport measurement results are discussed, where the double quantum dot characteristics are clearly recognizable in the measured current. In addition, we address current technological challenges and future plans. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Characterizing the in vivo role of trehalose in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using the AGT1 transporter

Significance Trehalose is an important molecule for industrial and medical applications. These applications include use as a food additive to increase sweetness and promote freeze-dry preservation. Trehalose is also included in antibody preparations for stabilization during freezing or desiccation. Further, trehalose biosynthesis is required for virulence of fungal pathogens, and, because animal cells do not synthesize trehalose, trehalose biosynthesis is an attractive antifungal target. Despite all of its uses, the direct physiological roles of trehalose remain unclear. Here, we describe the development and characterization of a system in the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to directly assess the physiological roles of trehalose. We find that many of the roles traditionally ascribed to trehalose are not the result of trehalose accumulation per se. Trehalose is a highly stable, nonreducing disaccharide of glucose. A large body of research exists implicating trehalose in a variety of cellular phenomena, notably response to stresses of various kinds. However, in very few cases has the role of trehalose been examined directly in vivo. Here, we describe the development and characterization of a system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that allows us to manipulate intracellular trehalose concentrations independently of the biosynthetic enzymes and independently of any applied stress. We found that many physiological roles heretofore ascribed to intracellular trehalose, including heat resistance, are not due to the presence of trehalose per se. We also found that many of the metabolic and growth defects associated with mutations in the trehalose biosynthesis pathway are not abolished by providing abundant intracellular trehalose. Instead, we made the observation that intracellular accumulation of trehalose or maltose (another disaccharide of glucose) is growth-inhibitory in a carbon source-specific manner. We conclude that the physiological role of the trehalose pathway is fundamentally metabolic: i.e., more complex than simply the consequence of increased concentrations of the sugar and its attendant physical properties (with the exception of the companion paper where Tapia et al. [Tapia H, et al. (2015) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 10.1073/pnas.1506415112] demonstrate a direct role for trehalose in protecting cells against desiccation).
Waiting for elective general surgery: physical, psychological and social consequences

Background: Long surgical waiting lists are common and receive serious consideration. To evaluate the positive and negative effects of waiting lists, insight into the consequences of waiting is needed. The present study aims to assess what insight the current literature provides into the effects of delayed surgery for varicose veins, inguinal hernia in adults, gallstones, and breast cancer in terms of physical, psychological and social aspects.
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO PRODUCE PROTEIN DIVERSITY: DUPLICATION AND LIMITED ALTERNATIVE SPLICING OF AN ADHESION MOLECULE GENE IN BASAL ARTHROPODS

Exon duplication and alternative splicing evolved multiple times in metazoa and are of overall importance in shaping genomes and allowing organisms to produce many fold more proteins than there are genes in the genome. No other example is as striking as the one of the Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam) of insects and crustaceans (pancrustaceans) involved in the nervous system differentiation and in the immune system. To elucidate the evolutionary history of this extraordinary gene, we investigated Dscam homologs in two basal arthropods, the myriapod Strigamia maritima and the chelicerate Ixodes scapularis. In both, Dscam diversified extensively by whole gene duplications resulting in multigene expansions. Within some of the S. maritima genes, exons coding for one of the immunoglobulin domains (Ig7) duplicated and are mutually exclusively alternatively spliced. Our results suggest that Dscam diversification was selected independently in chelicerates, myriapods, and pancrustaceans and that the usage of Dscam diversity by immune cells evolved for the first time in basal arthropods. We propose an evolutionary scenario for the appearance of the highly variable Dscam gene of pancrustaceans, adding to the understanding of how alternative splicing, exon, and gene duplication contribute to create molecular diversity associated with potentially new cellular functions.