Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE USE OF PLASTICS IN THE DESIGN OF ISOLATOR SYSTEMS

With few exceptions, apparatus now used for the rearing and study of the higher animals, germfree, is based upon that of Kuster. ’ A sterile chamber with sight ports, attached gloves, and a sterile air supply maintains the necessary environmental conditions. Sterile objects can be removed or introduced into the chamber through a liquid germicide trap, and sterilizable objects can be moved through an attached double-doored lock or vestibule using steam under pressure. Movement of the operator is limited by the attached gloves. Such a chamber or isolator cannot accomodate large numbers of animals, the larger domestic animals, or bulky apparatus. ’ A large chamber or sterile room may be operated mechanically or by means of an attendant in a sterile garment. Mechanical means can be used to feed and water the animals and to move cages or lead animals into a glove-equipped chamber for examination and transfer. This requires the design of a complicated, single-purpose machine in which mechanical failure will be added to other possible hazards in this field. A sterile room serviced by attendants in garments vented to the outside requires less change of conventional practice and is a more versatile approach, since the same set-up has many uses. This course appears to be more promising a t this time because a number of protective garments designed for use with chemicals, rocket fuel, radioactive contaminants, and other adverse environmental agents are available and can be modified for sterile operation. The feasibility of the sterile room-sterile suit apparatus was determined by constructing a steam-sterilizable room2 (8 feet in diameter by 15 feet long) called a “colony tank,” in which to test entry methods and protective garments. Our experience with steam-sterilized apparatus was used in locating the source of contaminations so as to evaluate the performance of the suit. Two hundred and fifty successful entries were made with more than 1000 days of sterile operation. Twelve runs were made, all of which wcre eventually contaminated. Of the 12 contaminations, one was caused by a pinhole in the garment, another was a personnel error, and the rest were due to causes connected with steel apparatus and facilities . The feasibility of working within a sterile area was demonstrated, as were the limitations of the prototype model. Further work was discontinued because of the high contamination rate and the number of man-hours required for operation and maintenance. This result was not unexpected, since new processes usually require considerable developmental work. The successful cold sterilization of a surface as complex as that of the suit is a significant accomplishment in the development of sterile systems. The largest single cause of contamination was glove punctures in the end tank. Gloves attached to the walls of a sterile chamber or isolator ordinarily The longest of these ran for 251 days.
Can guanxi be a source of sustained competitive advantage for doing business in China

Executive Overview Guanxi means good connections. Although guanxi is often said to be the source of sustained competitive advantage for foreign companies doing business in China, there is little theoretical basis for this view. What is known is that guanxi has to be valuable, rare, and imperfectly imitable before it can lead to a sustained advantage. Even if a certain advantage is gained, it can be difficult to sustain, because guanxi can be disrupted by something as simple as staff mobility. By suggesting ways for companies to protect their guanxi, it is hoped that this important aspect of Chinese management may be made more understandable to westerners and its use by western managers enhanced and encouraged.
Testing Weak-Form Efficiency of the Russian Stock Market

The existence of weak-form efficiency in the Russian stock market is examined for the period 1st September 1995 to 1st May 2001 using daily, weekly and monthly Russian Trading System index time series. Several different approaches are used to assess the predictability of the RTS index time series. Unit root, autocorrelation and variance ratio tests are conducted for the null hypothesis of a random walk model. The results support the null hypothesis for the monthly data only. Further analysis is performed for the daily and weekly data. Linear and non-linear modelling of the serial dependence is conducted using ARIMA and GARCH models estimated on the in-sample period 1st September 1995 to 1st January 2001. Forecasts based on the best fitting models are performed for the out-of-sample period 2nd January 2001 to 1st May 2001. Comparisons of the forecasts reveal that none of the models outperforms the others, and the most accurate forecasts are obtained for just the first out-of-sample observation. Whilst our research results provide some limited evidence of short-term market predictability on the RTS, there is insufficient evidence to suggest that it would lead to a profitable trading rule, once transaction costs and risk are taken into account.
Leader values for constructive controversy and team effectiveness in India

Leading teams effectively is a challenge for organizations in many countries. This study proposes that leaders who value people, productivity, and participation help teams work effectively and productively by encouraging team members to discuss their diverse views open-mindedly. Working in diverse organizations in India, team leaders indicated their participation, people, and productivity values and team members rated their constructive controversy and their effectiveness and performance. Structural equation analysis suggested that productivity values affect constructive controversy and team effectiveness and productivity. However, contrary to expectations based on the idea that India is a collectivist society, people values were not predictive. The study's findings and previous research were interpreted as suggesting that leader productivity values coupled with constructive controversy provide a foundation for effective teamwork in India.
Bacterial lipopolysaccharide increases interleukin-6 and prostaglandin release in rat cortical type I astrocytes by different mechanisms: role of anti-inflammatory agents.

LPS stimulated IL-6 release in a concentration-dependent manner from rat cortical type I astrocytes. This stimulatory action was completely abolished by Dexamethasone (DEX), but was not affected by indomethacin (IND), a 5-cyclooxigenase inhibitor. LPS-induced IL-6 release was partially inhibited by BW 4AC, a 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor. LPS concentration-dependently increased the release of PGE2 from type I astrocytes, an effect completely inhibited by IND. To rule out the possibility that DEX was inhibiting LPS-induced IL-6 release by blocking IL-6 gene expression, we tested the effect of DEX on interleukin 1beta(IL-1)-induced IL-6 release. DEX slightly inhibited IL-1-induced IL-6 release, while IL-1 releasing action on IL-6 was significantly reduced by IND. The involvement of nitric oxide (NO) generation on LPS-induced IL-6 release was also studied. We found that L-NO-arginine, an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, concentration-dependently reduced LPS-induced IL-6 release in astrocytes. In conclusion, we provide evidence that LPS action on IL-6 and PGE2 release can be ascribed to the activation of different transduction mechanisms, which can be pharmacologically dissected with the aid of anti-inflammatory drugs.
Several Roads Lead to International Norms, but Few Via International Socialization: A Case Study of the European Commission

Can an international organization socialize those who work within it? The European Commission of the European Union is a crucial case because it is an autonomous international organization with a vocation to defend supranational norms. If this body cannot socialize its members, which international organization can? I develop theoretical expectations about how time, organizational structure, alternative processes of preference formation, and national socialization affect international socialization. To test these expectations for the European Commission, I use two surveys of top permanent Commission officials, conducted in 1996 and 2002. The analysis shows that support for supranational norms is relatively high, but that this is more because of national socialization than socialization in the Commission. National norms, originating in prior experiences in national ministries, loyalty to national political parties, or experience with one's country's organization of authority, decisively shape top officials' views on supranational norms. There are, then, several roads to international norms.For comments and advice, I am grateful to Jeffrey Checkel, Gary Marks, Donald Searing, and the editors and two anonymous reviewers for International Organization. An earlier draft was presented at the Center for European Studies of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This project received funding from the Center for European Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and from two grants by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (1996–99, 1999–2002). Gina Cosentino, Erica Edwards, Michael Harvey, and Moira Nelson provided research assistance.
Optimal Degree of Union Centralization

By viewing trade unions as economic units analogous to firms, which can be studied by applying the standard tools of microeconomic analysis, this article aims to derive the optimal degree of union centralization in a multi-unions simple general equilibrium model. Differently from previous literature, we show that if the degree of centralization among the labour unions is considered as the outcome of a voting process, full centralization always emerges as equilibrium and standard policy neutrality implications hold. Moreover, the equilibrium represents a Pareto improvement.
Safety of aztreonam in patients with cystic fibrosis and allergy to beta-lactam antibiotics.

In an open clinical trial, aztreonam was administered repeatedly to 15 cystic fibrosis patients who were chronically infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and had previously had severe hypersensitivity reactions to other beta-lactam antibiotics, including anaphylactic shock, generalized urticaria, and drug-associated fever. After negative results in a skin-prick test and a lack of reaction to an intravenous test dose of aztreonam, the patients were treated with aztreonam (150 mg/[kg.d]) in combination with tobramycin (10-20 mg/[kg.d]) for 14-day periods at 3- to 4-month intervals. To date, a total of 56 course of aztreonam have been administered to these patients (three to six courses per patient), and no type 1 hypersensitivity reactions have occurred. However, as a result of drug-associated fever, the administration of aztreonam had to be discontinued in two of 15 cases. The remaining 13 patients have tolerated treatment well.
Economic Insecurity, Prejudicial Stereotypes, and Public Opinion on Immigration Policy

An infamous yet fictional American once said that in the United States we are all free to live in our own separate sections. Archie Bunker, the mouthpiece for this observation, expressed prejudicial attitudes not only toward blacks, but out-groups in general. If the popular television series, All in the Family, had lasted, the character Carroll O'Connor made famous would today be leveling his caustic aim at immigrant groups and calling for Pat Buchanan's great wall. Many supporters of immigration restriction could indeed be characterized as Archie Bunker types. But more respectable restrictionists never argue for reducing immigration on blatantly racist or nativist grounds. From the content of elite discourse and from the rich academic debate on the costs and benefits of immigration, observers would likely conclude that the main rationale for restricting immigration was an economic one.1 But what lies
Microarray Analysis at Single-Molecule Resolution

Bioanalytical chip-based assays have been enormously improved in sensitivity in the recent years; detection of trace amounts of substances down to the level of individual fluorescent molecules has become state-of-the-art technology. The impact of such detection methods, however, has yet not fully been exploited, mainly due to a lack of appropriate mathematical tools for robust data analysis. One particular example relates to the analysis of microarray data. While classical microarray analysis works at resolutions of 2-20 ¿m and quantifies the abundance of target molecules by determining average pixel intensities, a novel high-resolution approach directly visualizes individual bound molecules as diffraction-limited peaks. The now possible quantification via counting is less susceptible to labeling artifacts and background noise. We have developed an approach for the analysis of high-resolution microarray images. First, it consists of a single-molecule detection step, based on undecimated wavelet transforms, and second, a spot identification step via spatial statistics approach (corresponding to the segmentation step in the classical microarray analysis). The detection method was tested on simulated images with a concentration range of 0.001 to 0.5 molecules per square micrometer and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) between 0.9 and 31.6. For SNR above 15, the false negatives relative error was below 15%. Separation of foreground/background is proved reliable, in case foreground density exceeds background by a factor of 2. The method has also been applied to real data from high-resolution microarray measurements.
Association of the SEL1L protein transmembrane domain with HRD1 ubiquitin ligase regulates ERAD‐L

Misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are transported to the cytoplasm for degradation by the ubiquitin–proteasome system, a process otherwise known as ER‐associated degradation (ERAD). Mammalian HRD1, an integral membrane ubiquitin ligase that ubiquitinates ERAD substrates, forms a large assembly in the ER membrane including SEL1L, a single‐pass membrane protein, and additional components. The mechanism by which these molecules export misfolded proteins through the ER membrane remains unclear. Unlike Hrd3p, the homologue in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, human SEL1L is an unstable protein, which is restored by the association with HRD1. Here we report that the inherently unstable nature of the human SEL1L protein lies in its transmembrane domain, and that association of HRD1 with the SEL1L transmembrane domain restored its stability. On the other hand, we found that the SEL1L luminal domain escaped degradation, and inhibited the degradation of misfolded α1‐antitrypsin variant null Hong Kong by retaining the misfolded cargo in the ER. Overexpression of HRD1 inhibited the degradation of unfolded secretory cargo, which was restored by the interaction of HRD1 with the SEL1L transmembrane domain. Hence, we propose that SEL1L critically regulates HRD1‐mediated disposal of misfolded cargo through its short membrane spanning stretch.
The Socioeconomic Determinants of Ill‐Gotten Gains: Within‐Person Changes in Drug Use and Illegal Earnings1

Generalizing from the sociology of earnings attainment, we develop a conceptual model of social embeddedness in conventional and criminal activities to explain illegal earnings among criminal offenders. To isolate the effects of time‐varying factors such as legal earnings, drug use, and criminal opportunities, we use data from the National Supported Work Demonstration Project to estimate fixed‐effects models predicting month‐to‐month changes in illegal earnings. We find that criminal earnings are sensitive to embeddedness in conforming work and family relationships, criminal experience, and the perceived risks and rewards of crime. Moreover, heroin and cocaine use creates a strong earnings imperative that is difficult to satisfy in the low‐wage labor market, and offenders earn far more money illegally when they are using these drugs than during periods of abstinence.
Improving Database Security in Web-based Environments

In web applications, databases are generally used as data repositories, where a server-side program interacts with a Database Management System (DBMS), retrieves content, and dynamically generates web pages. This is known as a three-layer architecture, that is widely exposed to database threats. The attacks are usually performed through the injection of SQL code in the forms of the web applications, exploiting the dynamic construction of SQL statements. So, the database security relies on the quality of the code and the controls done by the web developer in the application level. In this paper, we present a solution for the improvement of security of databases accessed by web applications. The security is based on a user modelling approach that completely relies on the authorization mechanism of DBMSs.
Replacement of streptomycin by ethambutol in the intensive phase of tuberculosis treatment: no effect on compliance.

SETTING Seven tuberculosis clinics in the National Tuberculosis Programme of Madagascar. OBJECTIVE To compare the treatment efficacy and tolerance of regimens including either streptomycin or ethambutol for patient compliance during initial treatment of smear-positive tuberculosis. DESIGN The 1023 patients included in the study were randomly divided into two treatment groups-one to receive streptomycin (S), isoniazid (H), rifampicin (R) and pyrazinamide (Z) (SHRZ), and the other to receive EHRZ, where streptomycin was replaced by ethambutol (E). During the 2-month intensive phase, drug delivery was completely supervised. The same 6-month continuation regimen was then given in both groups. Follow-up consisted of a clinical and bacteriological examination at the end of the second, fifth and eighth months. RESULTS There was no significant difference between the two regimens as regards compliance with treatment, the number of patients lost or who died, or for bacteriological response during the intensive phase. EHRZ was better tolerated. During the continuation phase, the results of the two groups remained comparable, but treatment failures occurred earlier in the patients who had received streptomycin. CONCLUSION Patient compliance was not better with streptomycin. The ethambutol-containing regimen was as efficient as the other, and better tolerated. There is no argument for preferring streptomycin in the intensive phase of treatment of smear-positive tuberculosis.
Remote Experiments as an Asset for Learning Programming in Python

The online experimentation is in expansion in Higher Education Institutions, with a dynamic extension to all scientific areas. The integration of online labs in higher educational courses constitutes a significant financial saving way for the institutions with multiple benefits for student's learning. Without access and usage time restrictions, these labs provide a wide range of experiments, performed individually or in groups, repeated as often as needed, without any space or time restrictions, just imposing the Internet access is available and in good conditions. This paper describes a use case application of a web platform that integrates, monitors and controls different technologies, such as Wireless Sensor Networks, Virtual Sensor Networks and Data Acquisition Boards, through an Internet accessible RESTful API, using low-cost devices such as the Raspberry Pi. In this context, a remote laboratory is developed for students programming in Python, based on such platform to improve their programming skills, overcome their difficulties in CS1 and CS2 courses, and give the ability to interact to physical world through practical examples.
Collision target detection using a single antenna for automotive radar

The goal of most modern automotive safety driver assistance functions is to avoid possible collisions. Pedestrian protection, predictive emergency braking or turn and crossing assist functions are usually based on two steps. First, the radar provides detailed information on the environment, and then a detection procedure is driven. Because of the complicated environment near the vehicle, this second step is a difficult task to achieve in order to give reliable information to the driver. In this paper, we propose to fuse the environment estimation and the detection step into a simple and direct collision target detector. Indeed, this procedure allows detecting possible collision targets, based on their typical Doppler signature, while rejecting all fixed and non-dangerous targets (clutter). Moreover, this detector only exploits a single antenna, and the necessary target speed vector information is obtained by a second order phase expansion using a long integration time, making the use of an antenna array unnecessary.
Power-mix optimization for a hybrid ultracapacitor/battery pack in an electric vehicle using real-time GPS data

The objective of this work is to investigate the effect of an ultracapacitor/battery based hybrid energy storage system (HESS) in an electric vehicle (EV) prototype having a 200 km range. Global positioning system (GPS) data is used to enhance the HESS power-mix optimization in real-time, based on the relative position of stop signs and traffic signals. It is shown that the GPS information, which is already available in the car, is beneficial in managing the u-cap voltage and reducing the dynamic currents on the battery. Simulations comparing various power sharing algorithms show the superior performance of the GPS enhanced HESS control scheme, based on the experimental drive-cycle. It is shown that utilizing the GPS data in the power optimizer can reduce the battery's peak charge current by 38% compared to a standard HESS.
Concise Review: Cancer/Testis Antigens, Stem Cells, and Cancer

In the multistep process of cancer development, the concept that cancer stem cells are derived from normal stem cells that have gradually accumulated various genetic and epigenetic defects is gaining strong evidence. A number of investigations have identified molecular markers that, under normal conditions, are responsible for stem cell homeostasis but are also expressed in tumor “stem cell‐like” subpopulations. In this regard, it was recently reported that a group of tumor‐specific antigens known as cancer/testis antigens (CTAs) are expressed in human MSCs. It has long been stated that in normal tissue these antigens are exclusively expressed in germ cell precursors; however, based on these results, we suggest that CTAs are expressed at earlier stages during embryogenesis. The tumor‐restricted expression of CTAs has led to several immunotherapeutic trials targeting some of these proteins. The clinical implications that these trials may have on the normal stem cell pools, as well as the immunologic properties of these cells, is to date poorly studied and should be considered.
The role of the market in transforming training and knowledge to superior performance: evidence from the Australian manufacturing sector

Training and development of employees increases the value and breadth of employee capabilities and knowledge, although this improvement, we suggest, cannot drive improved competitive performance in the absence of effective commercialisation of these capabilities. We propose and test a model of training and organisational performance, mediated by effective market engagement and transformation by firms. We find, as we anticipate, no direct link between training and performance, although there is a significant and positive path between training and performance when mediated through effective and contemporaneous market engagement.