Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Construction of an infectious plasmid clone of Muscovy duck parvovirus by TA cloning and creation of a partially attenuated strain

Muscovy duck parvovirus (MDPV) infection is a highly contagious and fatal disease of Muscovy ducklings. The infectious clone methodology is a valuable tool to study the pathogenic mechanisms of viruses, but no infectious clone of MDPV is yet available. In this study, a plasmid clone containing the full-length genome of MDPV was constructed using the TA cloning methodology. This MDPV clone was found to be infectious after transfection of primary Muscovy duck embryo fibroblast cells and passage in embryonated Muscovy duck eggs. Site-directed mutagenesis showed that the K75N mutation in the VP1 protein of MDPV resulted in the partial attenuation of the virus. The availability of an MDPV infectious clone can facilitate investigation of the pathogenic mechanisms of MDPV and development of vaccines against diseases caused by MDPV.
Debriefing After Psychological Experiments

After reviewing the distinction between the "dehoaxing" and "desensitizing" aspects of de- briefing, the problem and the process oj postexperimen t desensitizing are discussed. The research on the effectiveness of desensitizing is then re-viewed. The limited but very consistent results indicate that desensi- tization is an effective means of eliminating the arousal and concerns that subjects develop as a consequence of their behavior in experiments and the personal in- sights that behavior might generate. Finally, qualifica- tions and warnings concerning the use of deceptions and stress are discussed. In the previous article (Holmes, 1976a, this issue), a distinction is made between the two aspects of debriefing, dehoaxing and desensitization. The term dehoaxing was used to refer to the process of convincing subjects who had just been deceived that the information they had been given was in fact fraudulent. On the other hand, the term desensi- tization was used to refer to the process of helping the subjects deal with new information about them- selves acquired as a consequence of the behaviors they exhibited during the experiment (e.g., in an obedience-type experiment, inflicting possibly lethal shocks on another person simply because he was instructed to do so by an experimenter) . The re- view of the research dealing with dehoaxing re- vealed, in general, that when done properly, de- hoaxing is a very viable technique for eliminating misinformation that subjects acquire as a conse- quence of a deception. That is, with proper de- hoaxing the experimenter can meet the ethical requirement that the experimenter "remove any misconceptions that may have arisen" (APA, 1973, p. 77) during the experiment. In the present article, attention is turned to the issues and data associated with the desensitization component of
Dimensioning Large Call Centers

textabstractWe develop a framework for asymptotic optimization of a queueing system. The motivation is the staffing problem of call centers with 100's of agents (or more). Such a call center is modeled as an M/M/N queue, where the number of agents~$N$ is large. Within our framework, we determine the asymptotically optimal staffing level~$N^*$ that trades off agents' costs with service quality: the higher the latter, the more expensive is the former. As an alternative to this optimization, we also develop a constraint satisfaction approach where one chooses the least~$N^*$ that adheres to a given constraint on waiting cost. Either way, the analysis gives rise to three regimes of operation: quality-driven, where the focus is on service quality; efficiency-driven, which emphasizes agents' costs; and a rationalized regime that balances, and in fact unifies, the other two. Numerical experiments reveal remarkable accuracy of our asymptotic approximations: over a wide range of parameters, from the very small to the extremely large, $N^*$ is {em exactly/ optimal, or it is accurate to within a single agent. We demonstrate the utility of our approach by revisiting the square-root safety staffing principle, which is a long-existing rule-of-thumb for staffing the M/M/N queue. In its simplest form, our rule is as follows: if $c$ is the hourly cost of an agent, and $a$ is the hourly cost of customers' delay, then $N^* = R + y^*({a over c) sqrt R$, where $R$ is the offered load, and $y^*(cdot)$ is a function that is easily computable.
Personality traits, learning stratigies, and performance

The objective of this research is to analyse the relationships between personality traits, learning strategies, and performance. Two multivariate studies (N=139 and N=92) were conducted. In both studies factor analyses of the learning strategies yielded two factors. One factor, labelled, ‘learning discipline’, correlated highly with the Conscientiousness scale and the other factor, labelled, ‘elaboration’, correlated with the Openness of Experience scale. In Study 1, about 17 per cent of the variance in college grades was accounted for by personality scales and learning strategies. In Study 2, learning strategies accounted for about 31 per cent of the variance in college grades. Path analyses showed that the relations between basic personality traits and grades were mediated by the learning strategies.
What Do We Know about the Motivation of African American Students? Challenging the "Anti-Intellectual" Myth.

In this article, Kevin Cokley challenges conventional wisdom about African American college students and the factors underlying their academic underachievement. In this quantitative study of students attending three historically Black colleges and universities and one predominantly White university, Cokley reviews and integrates existing research on the academic motivation and academic self-concept of African American students. He then introduces self-determination theory as an additional motivational framework to understand African American students' motivation. While Cokley finds that African American students are intrinsically highly motivated, this motivation is not related to how they perform academically or to their academic self-concept.
The LEAFY target LMI1 is a meristem identity regulator and acts together with LEAFY to regulate expression of CAULIFLOWER

The timing of the switch from vegetative to reproductive development is crucial for species survival. The plant-specific transcription factor and meristem identity regulator LEAFY (LFY) controls this switch in Arabidopsis, in part via the direct activation of two other meristem identity genes, APETALA1 (AP1) and CAULIFLOWER (CAL). We recently identified five new direct LFY targets as candidates for the missing meristem identity regulators that act downstream of LFY. Here, we demonstrate that one of these, the class I homeodomain leucine-zipper transcription factor LMI1, is a meristem identity regulator. LMI1 acts together with LFY to activate CAL expression. The interaction between LFY, LMI1 and CAL resembles a feed-forward loop transcriptional network motif. LMI1 has additional LFY-independent roles in the formation of simple serrated leaves and in the suppression of bract formation. The temporal and spatial expression of LMI1 supports a role in meristem identity and leaf/bract morphogenesis.
PERCEPTION OF RELIGIOS SANCTION AND RELIGIOUS CODE BY IRANIAN WOMEN- AN EMPRICAL STUDY

The present study reports the perceptual analysis about religious sanctions and religious attitude among Iranian women. A total of 880 Iranian women randomly selected from Esfahan city for the present study. They were administered 2 sets of questions on religious sanctions and attitude. The data was collected in one session by contacting individually each respondent in Esfahan city. The data were subjected to chi-square test analysis and following results were observed. as far the religious sanction is considered, it was found that women were allowed to be the head of the family (92.7%), head of the office (97%), wear uniform other than veil (95.7%), work outside the family (96.9%), going for higher studies (98%), and so on. It was found that religious sanctions were not rigorous as in other fundamental countries. Iranian women were significantly positive in their perceptions on religious sanctions, where majority of them had optimistic view to a greater extent, and to a smaller extent on participation in political and social affairs. As far as the religious codes are considered, Iranian women had quite restricted perception in wearing veil and performing prayers and worships. On the whole we could see a see a liberal view of Iranian women on religious sanctions and attitude. These aspects have been critically discussed.
An Integrated Approach of Sensing Tobacco-Oriented Activities in Online Participatory Media

With the embracing of mobile Internet of Things, participatory media is becoming a new battlefield for tobacco wars. However, how to automatically collect and analyze the large-scale user-generated data that are relevant to tobacco in participatory media is still unexplored. In this paper, we propose an integrated approach of sensing collective activities in tobacco-related participatory media. Meanwhile, we compare the temporal patterns, topological patterns, and collective emotion patterns among protobacco, antitobacco, and quit-tobacco groups. Based on the proposed framework, a prototype was implemented to collect large-scale tobacco-related data sets from Facebook. This demonstrates that the proposed framework is feasible and reasonable. Our preliminary findings reveal that, first, tobacco-related content grows exponentially. In particular, the growth of the protobacco group follows the exponential law, whereas there is linear growth for the tobacco control group. Second, the connection between the tobacco control community and the tobacco cessation community is tight, whereas the nodes in the protobacco community are connected sparsely. Finally, the collective emotion in tobacco communities is negative.
Phylogeography of the Vosges mountains populations of Gonioctena pallida (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae): a nested clade analysis of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes

The pattern of genetic variation in the leaf beetle Gonioctena pallida was investigated inside the Vosges mountains using a highly variable 363 bp DNA fragment of the mitochondrial control region. Sequencing of 242 individuals, sampled in a geographical area of 100 × 40 km, identified 61 haplotypes whose genealogy was inferred. The resulting haplotype network exhibits four star‐like phylogenies, two of which may be indicative of a population having recently expanded in size from a small number of founders. Nested clade analysis suggested multiple past expansion events, but also isolation by distance and possibly past fragmentation events, as the causes of the detected geographical associations of haplotypes. These results indicate the existence of effective barriers to gene flow inside the investigated area. Because the oldest demographic events inferred in the nested clade analysis were identified as expansion events, we hypothesize that a small population of founders have expanded not only in size, but also in geographical range from the south towards the north and east of the Vosges.
The Pattern of Polymorphism in Arabidopsis thaliana

We resequenced 876 short fragments in a sample of 96 individuals of Arabidopsis thaliana that included stock center accessions as well as a hierarchical sample from natural populations. Although A. thaliana is a selfing weed, the pattern of polymorphism in general agrees with what is expected for a widely distributed, sexually reproducing species. Linkage disequilibrium decays rapidly, within 50 kb. Variation is shared worldwide, although population structure and isolation by distance are evident. The data fail to fit standard neutral models in several ways. There is a genome-wide excess of rare alleles, at least partially due to selection. There is too much variation between genomic regions in the level of polymorphism. The local level of polymorphism is negatively correlated with gene density and positively correlated with segmental duplications. Because the data do not fit theoretical null distributions, attempts to infer natural selection from polymorphism data will require genome-wide surveys of polymorphism in order to identify anomalous regions. Despite this, our data support the utility of A. thaliana as a model for evolutionary functional genomics.
Mutual interference evaluation in cognitive radio networks with log-normal shadowing

The always increasing need of wireless access networks has risen up a question about the spectrum usage efficiency. It has been demonstrated that the traditional assignment schemes, do not work well in terms of spectral efficiency. The cognitive radio paradigm could solve the problem by allocating licensed spectrum portions to unlicensed users (secondary users) under particular restrictions. In this case, the mutual interference between primary and secondary users represents a critical aspect, which needs to be investigated. This paper describes a simple but effective model for evaluating the mutual interference problem, in a complex scenario with more than one primary transmitter, a multi-hop secondary network and a channel model affected by lognormal shadowing. Moreover this work presents how these information could be used in order to define a reliable routing metric for the secondary multi-hop network.
Frequency reconfigurable box shaped narrow band monopole antenna

A novel design of small frequency reconfigurable monopole antenna has been proposed. The antenna was entirely made of copper and reconfigurability was achieved by changing positions of ground connections. Three antenna configurations that resonate at 2.2, 2.7 and 3.4GHz were presented. The prototype measurements show good agreement with the simulation results.
Endogenous altered peptide ligands can affect peripheral T cell responses

T cells potentially encounter a large number of endogenous self- peptide/MHC ligands in the thymus and the periphery. These endogenous ligands are critical to both positive and negative selection in the thymus; however, their effect on peripheral T cells has not been directly ascertained. Using the murine allelic Hbd (64-76)/I-Ek self- antigen model, we have previously identified altered peptide ligands (APLs) which are able to stimulate some but not all TCR-mediated effector functions. To determine directly the effect of endogenously synthesized APL/MHC complexes on peripheral T cells, we used a TCR transgenic mouse which had reversed our normal antigen system, with Ser69 peptide now being the agonist and Hbd(64-76) being the APL. In this report, we show that the constitutive level of endogenous Hbd(64- 76)/I-Ek complexes presented by APCs in vivo is too low to affect the response of Ser69 reactive T cells. However, by increasing the number of Hbd(64-76)/I-Ek complexes expressed by the APCs, TCR antagonism is observed for both primary T cells and T cell hybridomas. In addition, the level of the CD4 coreceptor expressed on T cells and T cell hybridomas. In addition, the level of the CD4 coreceptor expressed on T cells changes the response pattern to endogenously presented Hbd(64- 76)/I-Ek ligand. These findings demonstrate that T cells are selected to ignore the constitutive levels of endogenous complexes they encounter in the periphery. T cell responses can be affected by endogenous APLs in the periphery under limited but attainable circumstances which change the efficacy of the TCR/ligand interaction. Thus, endogenous APLs play a role in both the selection of T cells in the thymus and the responses of peripheral T cells.
A Short Note on Scaling GCM Climate Response Patterns

While the results of GCM simulations probably capture a large part of the uncertainty ranges in (4) and (5), they certainly do not encapsulate the range of uncertainties in (1), (2) and (3). Due to constraints of time and resources, only a limited number of GCM experiments can be conducted. However, if we are truly to assess the risk of climate change being dangerous, impact and adaptation studies need scenarios that span a very substantial part of the possible range of future climates (Pittock, 1993; Parry et al., 1996; Risbey, 1998; Jones, 1999; Hulme and Carter, 2000).
L'émergence du projet entrepreneurial : apprentissages, improvisations et irréversibilités

Cet article synthetise une recherche doctorale longitudinale destinee a apprehender le processus d’emergence d’un projet entrepreneurial viable au sein de l’entreprise recemment creee. L’originalite de ce travail tient a la combinaison de plusieurs facteurs : une problematique centree sur la dynamique d’apprentissage organisationnel ; une interaction de quatre annees avec TELIX, une entreprise recemment creee dans le domaine des telecommunications ; un essai d’articulation d’une theorie formelle de l’emergence du projet entrepreneurial. Cette recherche revele la difficulte de gerer la dimension collective du projet entrepreneurial et suggere de renouveler les dispositifs d’accompagnement de l’equipe entrepreneuriale dans ses diverses explorations et experimentations.
Partial purification and some spectral properties of hepatic microsomal cytochrome P-450.

The history of cytochrome P-450 started in 1958 when Klingenberg (I) and Garfinkel (2) reported the presence of a new pigment in mammalian liver microsomes which, in its reduced form, showed an unusual difference spectrum having a peak at 450 nm upon addition of carbon monoxide. During 1961 to 1964, Omura and Sato (3 6) established its hemoprotein nature and gave it a provisional name of “P-450” (pigment 450). Since then, hemoproteins having similar spectral properties have been widely detected in both the animal and microbial kingdoms,’ and they are now collectively called “cytochrome P450. ” Most of the proteins of this family occur in a membrane-bound state, as in the cases of microsomes from liver, kidney (7, 8), adrenal cortex (9), and intestinal mucosa (10), mitochondnia from several endocrine glands (Il, 12), and particulate fractions of yeast (13, 14). However, soluble forms of cytochrome P-450 have also been found in several microbial sources such as camphor-grown Pseudomonas putida (15) and bacteroids of Rhizobiumfaponicum (16). During the past decade interest in this category of hemoproteins has grown explosively, primarily as a result of the pioneering observations made from 1963 to 1965 which established their functions in steroid 21-hydroxylation by adrenal cortex microsomes (9) and in drug hydroxylations by liver microsomes(17-19). It is now well known that cytochrome P-450’s from many sources act as the terminal oxidase of mono-oxygenase systems responsible for oxidative transformations of a wide variety of compounds such as drugs, carcinogens, steroids, and fatty acids. Apart from their metabolic importance, these
Interference aware adaptive MAC protocol for MC-CDMA ad hoc wireless LANs

Multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) is recently considered as a key technology for future wireless systems. Its high capacity and collision avoidance capability can fulfill the increasing demand for high throughput and quality of service (QoS). The application of MC-CDMA divides the frequency channel in many parallel channels, separated from each other in code domain. We refer to these parallel channels as code channels (cchs). In order to exploit the advantages of this spread spectrum technique, the medium access control (MAC) protocol has to be aware of the multichannel structure of the MC-CDMA network. Mobile stations (MSs) should be equally distributed among the cchs for better utilization of the resources and collision avoidance. Additionally, the assignment of a link to a cch should be done under consideration of the interference situation in the network. This is very important for the prompt operation of the link as the different cchs loose their orthogonality in asynchronous systems. In this paper we present an adaptive, interference aware MAC protocol for MC-CDMA adhoc wireless local area networks (WLANs), which adapts the allocation of resources to both interference and utilization degree of the different cchs, in order to achieve high capacity
Safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of factor VIIa formulated with PEGylated liposomes in haemophilia A patients with inhibitors to factor VIII – an open label, exploratory, cross‐over, phase I/II study

Summary. Recombinant activated factor VIIa (FVIIa) is a bypassing agent used to treat bleeding episodes in haemophilia patients with inhibitors to factor VIII (FVIII) and factor IX. The pharmacological effect of FVIIa is short‐lived and therefore with the recommended dose of 90 μg kg−1, a bleeding episode is treated with multiple injections. A long‐acting form of FVIIa that can ensure adequate haemostasis with a single infusion, without increasing the thrombotic risk, would therefore be beneficial. PEGylated liposomes (PEGLip) have been shown to bind FVIIa and to improve haemostatic efficacy in preclinical experiments. In the present phase I/II clinical trial, we assessed the safety and efficacy of PEGLip‐formulated FVIIa in severe haemophilia A patients (FVIII ≤ 1%) with inhibitors to FVIII. Each patient received one prophylactic infusion of standard FVIIa and one prophylactic infusion of PEGLip‐formulated FVIIa. The order of the infusions was randomized and the two infusions were separated by a ten‐day washout period. Efficacy assessed by thromboelastography revealed that PEGLip‐FVIIa induced significantly shorter clotting times and produced higher clot firmnesses than standard FVIIa. Thrombin generation assays showed that PEGLip‐FVIIa induced faster thrombin generation and higher peak levels of thrombin than standard FVIIa. These effects lasted up to 5 h postinfusion. Measurements of D‐dimer, prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 and fibrinogen showed no significant differences between the PEGLip‐FVIIa and standard FVIIa treatments. PEGLip‐FVIIa therefore showed improved haemostatic efficacy without increased risk of thrombosis and may be further developed for the treatment for bleeding episodes in haemophilia patients with inhibitors.
A One-sided Highly Relativistic Jet from Cygnus X-3

Very Long Baseline Array images of the X-ray binary Cygnus X-3 were obtained 2, 4, and 7 days after the peak of a 10 Jy flare on 1997 February 4. The first two images show a curved one-sided jet, and the third shows a scatter-broadened disk, presumably at the position of the core. The jet curvature changes from the first to the second epoch, which strongly suggests a precessing jet. The ratio of the flux density in the approaching jet to that in the (undetected) receding jet is ≳330; if this asymmetry is due to Doppler boosting, the implied jet speed is ≳0.81c. Precessing-jet model fits, together with the assumption that the jet is intrinsically symmetric and was ejected during or after the major flare, yield the following constraints: the jet inclination to the line of sight must be ≲14°, the cone opening angle must be ≲12°, and the precession period must be ≳60 days.