Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES TRADE ADJUSTMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY IN LARGE CRISES

We thank participants at various seminars for their comments and George Alessandria, Ariel Burstein, Stefania Garetto, Robert Johnson, Benjamin Mandel, Virgiliu Midrigan, and Mark Roberts for very helpful discussions. We also thank Susanto Basu, Ariel Coremberg, Arnaud Costinot, Chang-Tai Hsieh, Tim Kehoe, Sam Kortum, Marc Melitz, Roberto Rigobon, and Ivan Werning for extremely helpful comments. Varun Bansal, Wenxin Du, Vania Stavrakeva, and Jenny Tang provided excellent research assistance. This research was funded in part by the Initiative on Global Markets, the Neubauer Family Foundation, and the Charles E. Merrill Faculty Research Fund at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Evaluation of pretreatments of biomass for enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose. [Organosolv process, wet oxidation, and steam explosion of wood chips]

One principal barrier to economic utilization of lignocellulosic feedstocks in enzymatic systems for the production of alcohol fuels is a cost-effective pretreatment. The objective of a pretreatment is to render the cellulose susceptible to enzymatic hydrolysis. The lignin and hemicellulose fractions need to be partially or totally removed to enhance the hydrolysis. This report presents a detailed discussion of the physicochemical characteristics of lignocellulosics that must be considered in the development of a successful pretreatment. Engineering and economic assessments are presented for key pretreatments based on organic solvent extraction (organosolv), explosive decompression (steam explosion), and wet oxidation. These assessments include process flowsheets, capital and operating cost summaries, and parametric analyses comparing the effects of various raw material and utility costs. Based on the cost of cellulose pulp produced, these pretreatments are competitive with pulping processes currently used in the paper industry. The pretreatment and feedstock costs contribute a significant amount - over 50% in most cases - of the cost of ethanol production. Recommendations are presented for a program of process-specific and integrated pretreatment-hydrolysis research. 39 refs.
The role of kinesin and other soluble factors in organelle movement along microtubules

Kinesin is a force-generating ATPase that drives the sliding movement of microtubules on glass coverslips and the movement of plastic beads along microtubules. Although kinesin is suspected to participate in microtubule-based organelle transport, the exact role it plays in this process is unclear. To address this question, we have developed a quantitative assay that allows us to determine the ability of soluble factors to promote organelle movement. Salt-washed organelles from squid axoplasm exhibited a nearly undetectable level of movement on purified microtubules. Their frequency of movement could be increased greater than 20-fold by the addition of a high speed axoplasmic supernatant. Immunoadsorption of kinesin from this supernatant decreased the frequency of organelle movement by more than 70%; organelle movements in both directions were markedly reduced. Surprisingly, antibody purified kinesin did not promote organelle movement either by itself or when it was added back to the kinesin- depleted supernatant. This result suggested that other soluble factors necessary for organelle movement were removed along with kinesin during immunoadsorption of the supernatant. A high level of organelle motor activity was recovered in a high salt eluate of the immunoadsorbent that contained only little kinesin. On the basis of these results we propose that organelle movement on microtubules involves other soluble axoplasmic factors in addition to kinesin.
Expression and Prognostic Value of miR-486-5p in Patients with Gastric Adenocarcinoma

MicroRNA (miR)-486-5p expression is often reduced in human cancers. However, its expression in gastric carcinoma and its relation to clinicopathological features and prognosis are unclear. Tissue microarrays were constructed from 84 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma (GC) who were undergoing radical resection. miR-486-5p expression was detected by miRNA-locked nucleic acid in situ hybridization, and its correlations with clinicopathological features and overall survival were analyzed. Bioinformatic studies predict that fibroblast growth factor 9 (FGF9) is a potential target gene of miR-486-5p. miR-486-5p was mainly located in the cytoplasm of GC cells and neighboring normal tissues. Compared with paracancerous normal tissue, miR-486-5p expression was decreased in 63.1% (53/84) of the GC samples, increased in 32.1% (27/84) and unchanged in 4.8% (4/84). FGF9 expression was decreased in 69.0% (58/84) of GC samples and increased in 31.0% (26/84) compared with normal paracancerous tissues using immunohistochemical analysis. Low or unchanged miR-486-5p expression (P = 0.002), tumor stage (P = 0.001), tumor status (P = 0.001), node status (P = 0.001), tumor size (P = 0.004), and depth of tumor invasion (P = 0.013) were significant negative prognostic predictors for overall survival in patients with GC. After stratification according to American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage, low/unchanged miR-486-5p expression remained a significant predictor of poor survival in stage II (P = 0.024) and stage III (P = 0.003). Cox regression analysis identified the following predictors of poor prognosis: tumor status (hazard ratio [HR], 7.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.75–29.6; P = 0.006), stage (HR, 2.62; 95%CI, 1.50–4.59; P = 0.001), lymph node metastasis (HR, 2.52; 95% CI, 1.27–4.99; P = 0.008), low/unchanged miR-486-5p (HR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.35–4.52; P = 0.003), high level of FGF9 (HR, 2.41; 95% CI, 1.42–4.09; P = 0.001) and tumor size (HR, 2.50; 95% CI, 1.30–4.82; P = 0.006). Low or unchanged expression of miR-486-5p compared with neighboring normal tissues was associated with a poor prognosis, while high expression was associated with a good prognosis in GC. miR-486-5p may thus be useful for evaluating prognosis and may provide a novel target treatment in patients with GC.
Adenovirus E1A proteins inhibit activation of transcription by p53

p53 stimulates the transcription of a number of genes, such as MDM2, Waf1, and GADD45. We and others have shown previously that this activity of p53 can be inhibited by adenovirus type 2 or 12 large E1B proteins. Here we show that the adenovirus E1A proteins also can repress the stimulation of transcription by p53, both in transient transfections and in stably transfected cell lines. The inhibition by E1A occurs without a significant effect on the DNA-binding capacity of p53. Furthermore, the activity of a fusion protein containing the N-terminal part of p53 linked to the GAL4 DNA-binding domain can be suppressed by E1A. This indicates that E1A affects the transcription activation domain of p53, although tryptic phosphopeptide mapping revealed that the level of phosphorylation of this domain does not change significantly in E1A-expressing cell lines. Gel filtration studies, however, showed p53 to be present in complexes of increased molecular weight as a result of E1A expression. Apparently, E1A can cause increased homo- or hetero-oligomerization of p53, which might result in the inactivation of the transcription activation domain of p53. Additionally, we found that transfectants stably expressing E1A have lost the ability to arrest in G1 after DNA damage, indicating that E1A can abolish the normal biological function of p53.
A cDNA Clone for Taxadiene Synthase, the Diterpene Cyclase That Catalyzes the Committed Step of Taxol Biosynthesis

The committed step of taxol (paclitaxel) biosynthesis is catalyzed by taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene synthase, a diterpene cyclase responsible for transforming the ubiquitous isoprenoid intermediate geranylgeranyl diphosphate to the parent olefin with a taxane skeleton. To obtain the corresponding cDNA clone, a set of degenerate primers was constructed based on consensus sequences of related monoterpene, sesquiterpene, and diterpene cyclases. Two of these primers amplified a 83-base pair fragment that was cyclase-like in sequence and that was employed as a hybridization probe to screen a cDNA library constructed from poly(A) RNA extracted from Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia) stems. Twelve independent clones with insert size in excess of 2 kilobase pairs were isolated and partially sequenced. One of these cDNA isolates was functionally expressed in Escherichia coli, yielding a protein that was catalytically active in converting geranylgeranyl diphosphate to a diterpene olefin that was confirmed to be taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene by combined capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The sequence specifies an open reading frame of 2586 nucleotides, and the complete deduced polypeptide, including a long presumptive plastidial targeting peptide, contains 862 amino acid residues and has a molecular weight of 98,303, compared with about 79,000 previously determined for the mature native enzyme. Sequence comparisons with monoterpene, sesquiterpene, and diterpene cyclases of plant origin indicate a significant degree of similarity between these enzymes; the taxadiene synthase most closely resembles (46% identity, 67% similarity) abietadiene synthase, a diterpene cyclase from grand fir.
Transient Receptor Potential Channels Contribute to Pathological Structural and Functional Remodeling After Myocardial Infarction

Rationale: The cellular and molecular basis for post–myocardial infarction (MI) structural and functional remodeling is not well understood. Objective: Our aim was to determine if Ca2+ influx through transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC) channels contributes to post-MI structural and functional remodeling. Methods and Results: TRPC1/3/4/6 channel mRNA increased after MI in mice and was associated with TRPC-mediated Ca2+ entry. Cardiac myocyte–specific expression of a dominant-negative (loss-of-function) TRPC4 channel increased basal myocyte contractility and reduced hypertrophy and cardiac structural and functional remodeling after MI while increasing survival in mice. We used adenovirus-mediated expression of TRPC3/4/6 channels in cultured adult feline myocytes to define mechanistic aspects of these TRPC-related effects. TRPC3/4/6 overexpression in adult feline myocytes induced calcineurin (Cn)-nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT)–mediated hypertrophic signaling, which was reliant on caveolae targeting of TRPCs. TRPC3/4/6 expression in adult feline myocytes increased rested state contractions and increased spontaneous sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ sparks mediated by enhanced phosphorylation of the ryanodine receptor. TRPC3/4/6 expression was associated with reduced contractility and response to catecholamines during steady-state pacing, likely because of enhanced sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ leak. Conclusions: Ca2+ influx through TRPC channels expressed after MI activates pathological cardiac hypertrophy and reduces contractility reserve. Blocking post-MI TRPC activity improved post-MI cardiac structure and function.
Improving the Reliability of Music Genre Classification using Rejection and Verification

This paper presents a novel approach for post-processing the music genre hypotheses generated by a baseline classifier. Given a music piece, the baseline classifier produces a ranked list of the N best hypotheses consisting of music genre labels and recognition scores. A rejection strategy is then applied to either reject or accept the output of the baseline classifier. Some of the rejected instances are handled by a verification stage which extracts visual features from the spectrogram of the music signal and employs binary support vector machine classifiers to disambiguate between confusing classes. The rejection and verification approach has improved the reliability in classifying music genres. Our approach is described in detail and the experimental results on a benchmark dataset are presented.
Framework for Missing Value Imputation Ms

Missing values may occur due to several reasons. In this paper, data is imputed by comparing the two most popular techniques. Mean Substitution the traditional method replaces mean value in K-means Clustering and in groups of kNN classifier. When compared in terms of accuracy of imputing missing data, the proposed kNN classifier is evaluated to demonstrate that the approach is better than the existing K-means clustering. Keywords— K-Means Clustering, kNN Classifier, Missing Value, Mean Substitution, Imputation
The Role of Indentation Depth on the Measured Hardness of Materials

Ultra micro-indentation tests on Ni and Cu samples showed increasing hardness with decreasing penetration depth over a range from 200 to 2000 nm. The results suggest increased strain hardening with decreased indentation depth. To establish that this is a real material effect, a series of tests were conducted on amorphous materials, for which strain hardening is not expected. The hardness of Metglas ® was found to be independent of depth. A simple model of the dislocation densities produced under the indenter tip describes the data well. The model is based on the fact that the high density of dislocations expected under a shallow indentation would cause an increase in measured hardness. At large depths, the density of geometrically necessary dislocations is sufficiently small to have little effect on hardness, and the measured hardness approaches the intrinsic hardness of the material.
Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Response Rates and Diagnostic Yield of Screening for Type 2 Diabetes and Those at High Risk of Diabetes

Background Screening for type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and individuals at risk of diabetes has been advocated, yet information on the response rate and diagnostic yield of different screening strategies are lacking. Methods Studies (from 1998 to March/2015) were identified through Medline, Embase and the Cochrane library and included if they used oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and WHO-1998 diagnostic criteria for screening in a community setting. Studies were one-step strategy if participants were invited directly for OGTT and two, three/four step if participants were screened at one or more levels prior to invitation to OGTT. The response rate and diagnostic yield were pooled using Bayesian random-effect meta-analyses. Findings 47 studies (422754 participants); 29 one-step, 11 two-step and seven three/four-step were identified. Pooled response rate (95% Credible Interval) for invitation to OGTT was 65.5% (53.7, 75.6), 63.1% (44.0, 76.8), and 85.4% (76.4, 93.3) in one, two and three/four-step studies respectively. T2DM yield was 6.6% (5.3, 7.8), 13.1% (4.3, 30.9) and 27.9% (8.6, 66.3) for one, two and three/four-step strategies respectively. The number needed to invite to the OGTT to detect one case of T2DM was 15, 7.6 and 3.6 in one, two, and three/four-step strategies. In two step strategies, there was no difference between the response or yield rates whether the first step was blood test or risk-score. There was evidence of substantial heterogeneity in rates across study populations but this was not explained by the method of invitation, study location (rural versus urban) and developmental index of the country in which the study was performed. Conclusions Irrespective of the invitation method, developmental status of the countries and or rural/urban location, using a multi-step strategy increases the initial response rate to the invitation to screening for diabetes and reduces the number needed to have the final diagnostic test (OGTT in this study) for a definite diagnosis.
Research on Heat Transfer Characteristics of Nano-Porous Silica Aerogel Material and its Application on Mars Surface Mission

Based on the nanoporous network structure features of silica aerogel, the gas-solid coupled heat transfer model of silica aerogel is analyzed, and the calculation formulas of the gas-solid coupled, the gas thermal conductivity and the heat radiation within the aerogel are derived. The thermal conductivity of pure silica aerogel is calculated according to the derived heat transfer model and is also experimentally measured. Moreover, measurements on the thermal conductivities of silica aerogel composites with different densities at ambient conditions are performed. And finally, a novel design of silica aerogel based integrated structure and thermal insulation used for withstanding the harsh thermal environment on the Martin surface is presented.
Broadcast reception rates and effects of priority access in 802.11-based vehicular ad-hoc networks

One key usage of VANET is to support vehicle safety applications. This use case is characterized by the prominence of broadcasts in scaled settings. In this context, we try to answer the following questions: i) what is the probability of reception of a broadcast message by another car depending on its distance to the sender, ii) how to give priority access and an improved reception rate for important warnings, e.g., sent out in an emergency situation, and iii) how are the above two results affected by signal strength fluctuations caused by radio channel fading? We quantify via simulation the probability of reception for the two-ray-ground propagation model as well as for the Nakagami distribution in saturated environments. By making use of some IEEE 802.11e EDCA mechanisms for priority access, we do not only quantify how channel access times can be reduced but also demonstrate how improved reception rates can be achieved. Our results show that the mechanisms for priority access are successful under the two-way-ground model. However, with a non-deterministic radio propagation model like Nakagami's distribution the benefit is still obvious but the general level of probability of reception is much smaller compared to two-ray-ground model. The results indicate that -- particularly for safety-critical and sensor network type of applications -- the proper design of repetition or multi-hop retransmission strategies represents an important aspect of future work for robustness and network stability of vehicular ad hoc networks.
Attention driven face recognition: A combination of spatial variant fixations and glance

This paper proposes a novel face recognition algorithm inspired by the selective attention of Human Visual System (HVS). We record four observers' eye movements when they are viewing 100 FRGC [1] frontal view face images and find that the observers are highly consistent in the regions fixated. Inspired by the fact that fovea of HVS has a much higher spatial acuity than the periphery, a face recognition algorithm based on spatial variant sampling is proposed to simulate such foveated imaging phenomenon, where more information is reserved for the fixated regions. Moreover, information extracted from glance which adopts the low spatial frequency components of the image is integrated into the face recognition system to elicit a percept that occurs before any fixations. The experimental results on FERET database [2] demonstrate that the proposed method not only reduces the computational cost, but also achieves comparable performance, which shows that the characteristics of the HVS provide valuable insights into face recognition.
Special vitamin D diagnosis in infants : meaning of the C 3-epimers

October 2014 Spinco Biotech T clinical picture of rickets in children has been known since the mid-17th century. Caused by vitamin D deficiency it leads to bone deformities and growth retardation due to a lack of mineralisation. Recent studies indicate that vitamin D and its active metabolites fulfil a number of additional important functions in the human organism. These include the promotion of epithelial cell differentiation in the skin, the influence on the activity of the immune system, the regulation of insulin secretion and the protection against cardiovascular diseases[1]. Beyond that, vitamin D deficiency is linked to many diseases such as breast and colon cancer, multiple sclerosis, dementia, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, Parkinson‘s and Alzheimer‘s disease, even though evidence for a direct connection is often lacking.
Factors predicting sensory and motor recovery after the repair of upper limb peripheral nerve injuries

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the factors associated with sensory and motor recovery after the repair of upper limb peripheral nerve injuries. DATA SOURCES: The online PubMed database was searched for English articles describing outcomes after the repair of median, ulnar, radial, and digital nerve injuries in humans with a publication date between 1 January 1990 and 16 February 2011. STUDY SELECTION: The following types of article were selected: (1) clinical trials describing the repair of median, ulnar, radial, and digital nerve injuries published in English; and (2) studies that reported sufficient patient information, including age, mechanism of injury, nerve injured, injury location, defect length, repair time, repair method, and repair materials. SPSS 13.0 software was used to perform univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses and to investigate the patient and intervention factors associated with outcomes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sensory function was assessed using the Mackinnon-Dellon scale and motor function was assessed using the manual muscle test. Satisfactory motor recovery was defined as grade M4 or M5, and satisfactory sensory recovery was defined as grade S3+ or S4. RESULTS: Seventy-one articles were included in this study. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that repair time, repair materials, and nerve injured were independent predictors of outcome after the repair of nerve injuries (P < 0.05), and that the nerve injured was the main factor affecting the rate of good to excellent recovery. CONCLUSION: Predictors of outcome after the repair of peripheral nerve injuries include age, gender, repair time, repair materials, nerve injured, defect length, and duration of follow-up.