Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Whodunnit? Voters and Responsibility in Canadian Federalism

Abstract. Government accountability in Canada depends on Canadian voters' attributing responsibility to multiple levels of government for policy outcomes. This study presents the first comprehensive account of these responsibility judgments. The data are from panel surveys of voters in Ontario and Saskatchewan as they faced provincial elections in the fall of 2003 and then the federal election of 2004. Voters were asked about conditions in a number of policy areas and then asked to separately attribute responsibility to the two senior levels of government. Voters do not strongly differentiate the governments' roles and there is little variation across issues. Attentiveness to politics only very slightly improves the quality of responsibility attributions, and only on issues where responsibility is objectively clearer. The results suggest that federalism is a major challenge for Canadian voters wishing to reward or punish their governments for policy outcomes. Résumé. La responsabilisation gouvernementale au Canada dépend de la capacité du citoyen à différencier clairement les sphères d'activité des divers paliers de gouvernement. Cette étude offre, pour la première fois, un portrait exhaustif des mécanismes d'attribution de la responsabilité dans le système fédéral canadien. Les données sont tirées de deux enquêtes en panel réalisées durant les campagnes électorales provinciales de l'Ontario et de la Saskatchewan à l'automne 2003, puis durant la campagne fédérale de 2004. Deux aspects principaux de ces enquêtes ont été retenus pour cette étude. Tout d'abord, les répondants ont été interrogés sur leur perception de l'état des choses quant à une série d'enjeux de politique publique (économie, système de santé, et ainsi de suite). Ils ont ensuite dû attribuer la responsabilité de ces politiques aux deux paliers supérieurs de gouvernement au Canada. Il s'avère que les électeurs ne différencient que faiblement le rôle de chaque palier de gouvernement et ce, quel que soit l'enjeu. La capacité d'attribution de la responsabilité n'est que légèrement affectée par le niveau d'attention à la politique de l'électeur. Les résultats de l'analyse suggèrent que la nature fédérale du système politique canadien demeure un défi important à surmonter pour l'électeur qui désire récompenser ou punir ses gouvernements pour une politique publique donnée.
Reactive Oxygen Species and p38 Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Mediate Tumor Necrosis Factor α-Converting Enzyme (TACE/ADAM-17) Activation in Primary Human Monocytes*

Background: The mechanisms responsible for up-regulation of TNFα-converting enzyme (TACE) catalytic activity in primary human monocytes have not been elucidated. Results: TACE activation by lipopolysaccharide was dependent on reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the p38 MAPK pathway. Conclusion: ROS mediate TACE catalytic activation indirectly through the p38 pathway. Significance: This redefines the mechanisms of TACE activation in primary cells with a physiological stimulus. Tumor necrosis factor α-converting enzyme (TACE) is responsible for the shedding of cell surface TNF. Studies suggest that reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediate up-regulation of TACE activity by direct oxidization or modification of the protein. However, these investigations have been largely based upon nonphysiological stimulation of promonocytic cell lines which may respond and process TACE differently from primary cells. Furthermore, investigators have relied upon TACE substrate shedding as a surrogate for activity quantification. We addressed these concerns, employing a direct, cell-based fluorometric assay to investigate the regulation of TACE catalytic activity on freshly isolated primary human monocytes during LPS stimulation. We hypothesized that ROS mediate up-regulation of TACE activity indirectly, by activation of intracellular signaling pathways. LPS up-regulated TACE activity rapidly (within 30 min) without changing cell surface TACE expression. Scavenging of ROS or inhibiting their production by flavoprotein oxidoreductases significantly attenuated LPS-induced TACE activity up-regulation. Exogenous ROS (H2O2) also up-regulated TACE activity with similar kinetics and magnitude as LPS. H2O2- and LPS-induced TACE activity up-regulation were effectively abolished by a variety of selective p38 MAPK inhibitors. Activation of p38 was redox-sensitive as H2O2 caused p38 phosphorylation, and ROS scavenging significantly reduced LPS-induced phospho-p38 expression. Inhibition of the p38 substrate, MAPK-activated protein kinase 2, completely attenuated TACE activity up-regulation, whereas inhibition of ERK had little effect. Lastly, inhibition of cell surface oxidoreductases prevented TACE activity up-regulation distal to p38 activation. In conclusion, our data indicate that in primary human monocytes, ROS mediate LPS-induced up-regulation of TACE activity indirectly through activation of the p38 signaling pathway.
The Financial Structure and the Demand for Money in Thailand

This paper uses recently developed econometric techniques to investigate the demand for money in Thailand. Initial estimates show the absence of any long-term, unique relationship among a monetary aggregate (M1 or M2), an income and a price variable. However, the introduction of an exchange rate in the above relationship shows the presence of a cointegrating relationship. This provides some support to McKinnon's hypothesis of currency substitution. It also raises some concern about the closed-economy focus of earlier studies on money demand in Thailand. Addition of a foreign interest variable to the above models provide some support to the capital mobility hypothesis. The long-run elasticity estimates for the M1 equation raise some doubts about the desirability of using this monetary aggregate as an intermediate target by the Bank of Thailand. The null hypothesis of a unit income elasticity and zero foreign interest elasticity are not rejected, but the hypothesis of price homogeneity is rejected. Moreover, the short-term forecasts of M1 are biased. On the other hand, the long-run elasticities for the M2 equation are within the expected range while the equation itself exhibits structural stability during the sample period and provides unbiased forecasts.
Links Between Past Abuse, Suicide Ideation, and Sexual Orientation Among San Diego College Students

Abstract The authors explored relationships among childhood abuse, suicidal ideation, and sexual orientation of 18- to 30-year-old students enrolled in 2 San Diego area colleges, using responses from anonymous questionnaires. Sixty percent of the 138 eligible respondents were women, and 22% were self-identified gay/bisexual individuals. Women were more likely than men to report at least 1 form of emotional abuse (odds ratio [OR] = 2.3; p = .02) and unwanted sexual touching (OR = 4.3; p = .0004). Lesbian/bisexual women were significantly more likely to report past suicidal ideation than were heterosexual women (OR = 3.7, p = .03). Gay/bisexual men were more likely to report unwanted sexual touching than were heterosexual men (OR = 5.1, p = .04), but the men did not report significantly higher rates of past suicide ideation or suicide attempts. Sexual orientation and a past history of child sexual, physical, and emotional abuse could be compounding risk factors for suicidal ideation among college students.
Practical Security Testing of Telecommunications Software--A Case Study

In order to obtain evidence about the security strength in products we need automated information security analysis, validation, evaluation and testing approaches. Unfortunately, no widely accepted practical approaches are available. Information security testing of software-intensive and telecommunications systems typically relies heavily on the experience of the security professionals. In this study, we argue that security requirements are within the focus of the information security testing process. Information security requirements can be based on iterative risk, threat and vulnerability analyses, and technical and architectural information. We discuss security testing process, security objectives and security requirements from the basis of the experiences of a security testing case study project.
The effect of body position on inspiratory airflow in divers.

UNLABELLED The purpose of this study was to examine the possibility that body position influences inspiratory airflow of submerged subjects. Our previous studies have suggested that for a given (negative) inspired gas pressure, exercising divers experience more dyspnea in the prone than in the upright position. METHODS Six subjects performed maximal inspiratory efforts recorded as esophageal pressure (balloon catheter); simultaneously inspiratory flow and lung volumes were recorded. To standardize static lung load, the subjects' chest pressure centroids (representing the average water pressure on the chest) were held at a constant depth (0.33m) throughout the experiments. RESULTS Recordings of peak inspiratory flow (PIF) showed a decrease of 25.56 +/- 4.14% (mean +/- SD, P = 0.01) from the submerged upright position mean flow of 6.19 +/- 1.48 (l/s) to the submerged prone mean flow of 4.37 +/- 0.69 (l/s). Nadiral esophageal pressure exhibited no significant differences: 5.40 +/- 4.32% (mean +/- SD, P = 0.512), from the upright mean pressure of (-) 51.70 +/- 24.09 (cm H2O) to the prone mean pressure of (-) 48.53 +/- 25.86 (cm H2O). CONCLUSIONS The significant decrease in PIF when changing from the upright to the prone position, suggests a difference in the patency of the extra-thoracic airways. The higher water pressure exerted on the neck in the prone position may explain this difference. The similarity of pleural pressures in the two positions indicates that the differences in PIF were not due to differences in inspiratory effort.
Risk factors for mortality in patients with Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infection with genotypic species identification.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Acinetobacter baumannii is an increasingly common nosocomial infection with a high mortality rate. Identification of predictor factors of mortality from A. baumannii infection is important for the implementation of therapeutic management for patients with higher risk. However, many studies have reported data for Acinetobacter calcoaceticus-A. baumannii complex, which might lead to an uncertainty of results. In this study, we aimed to identify the predictive factors for mortality of patients infected with true A. baumannii that had been precisely identified by genotypic methodology. METHODS Sixty seven patients with documented A. baumannii bacteremia were identified from a medical center in northern Taiwan during the period between February 1998 and February 2001. The patients' medical records were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS The risk factors associated with mortality in patients with A. baumannii bacteremia were underlying disease with malignancy, end-stage renal disease, and inappropriate antibiotic therapy. Laboratory variables, such as creatinine level, were also associated with poor prognosis by multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS Increased serum creatinine level, malignancy and inappropriate therapy within 3 days were related to increased mortality in patients with A. baumannii bloodstream infection. Physicians should be aware of patients with poor prognostic factors and initiate prompt strategies, including appropriate antimicrobial therapy, in order to reduce mortality.
Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor (CSF) and Macrophage CSF-Dependent Macrophage Phenotypes Display Differences in Cytokine Profiles and Transcription Factor Activities: Implications for CSF Blockade in Inflammation1

GM-CSF and M-CSF (CSF-1) can enhance macrophage lineage numbers as well as modulate their differentiation and function. Of recent potential significance for the therapy of inflammatory/autoimmune diseases, their blockade in relevant animal models leads to a reduction in disease activity. What the critical actions are of these CSFs on macrophages during inflammatory reactions are unknown. To address this issue, adherent macrophages (GM-BMM and BMM) were first derived from murine bone marrow precursors by GM-CSF and M-CSF, respectively, and stimulated in vitro with LPS to measure secreted cytokine production, as well as NF-κB and AP-1 activities. GM-BMM preferentially produced TNF-α, IL-6, IL-12p70, and IL-23 whereas, conversely, BMM generated more IL-10 and CCL2; strikingly the latter population could not produce detectable IL-12p70 and IL-23. Following LPS stimulation, GM-BMM displayed rapid IκBα degradation, RelA nuclear translocation, and NF-κB DNA binding relative to BMM, as well as a faster and enhanced AP-1 activation. Each macrophage population was also pretreated with the other CSF before LPS stimulation and found to adopt the phenotype of the other population to some extent as judged by cytokine production and NF-κB activity. Thus, GM-CSF and M-CSF demonstrate, at the level of macrophage cytokine production, different and even competing responses with implications for their respective roles in inflammation, including a possible dampening or suppressive role for M-CSF in certain circumstances.
Macroeconomics of Agricultural Trade Liberalization

Abstract In this article a macroeconomic model is built to examine interactions between the agricultural sector and the industrial sector in an emerging market economy. This article examines how monetary shock and real shocks produce agricultural price fluctuations and change in employment through multiple cross effects. Monetary shocks result in overshooting of primary commodity price while real shock in terms of rise in the production of primary commodity mitigates the volatility of primary price.
Stabilization of uncertain networked control system with quantized feedback

This paper studies the quantized feedback stabilization problem of uncertain networked control system. The uncertain controlled plant and its minimized system as a model plant are connected by the model-based method through network. Quantization value can be adequately measured by designing an effective quantization algorism. This paper obtains a sufficient condition for a globally exponential stabilization under some certain conditions. A simulation example is presented to illustrate the results.
Renewal of Central European Higher Education: Issues and Challenges.

This article, serving as an introduction to four other papers on current problems of higher education in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia, could have several alternative (and perhaps more appropriate) subtitles: 'How to return to Europe? ', 'The impossible task', 'Can it succeed? ', 'Coping with a paralysing heritage', and the like. They would all express more or less adequately what might be called the common denominator of current or desirable (and indispensable) renewal or reform of higher education in Central and Eastern Europe. The terms 'issues and challenges' are undoubtedly less expressive and more neutral, hence their utilisation here. The present article, it should be stressed, is not based on an extensive research effort, nor on a thorough survey of the literature. The sources are essentially the other papers published in this issue, several visits to the four countries covered by these papers, including discussions with numerous individuals there, drawn from the academic world and ministries, as well as a few 'brainstorming' meetings with Western and Central European specialists in higher education. Analysis of developments in higher education in Central Europe [1] is virgin territory, which does not imply that excellent specialists in this area do not exist, in both the West and in Central Europe. They are not numerous, and their work (especially that of the ones living in the region) is not widely known in the West. A completely new situation has, however, arisen since 1989 [2]: data to which hardly anyone had had access suddenly became available; opinions can be expressed and confronted freely in public meetings and seminars; highly critical assessments can be published. Obviously most of the serious scholars on both sides have not had sufficient time nor the necessary resources to cope with this situation. Hopefully the gaps will start to be filled in the near future. In the meantime, the present article and this whole issue of the European Journal of Education are principally intended to contribute to the beginning of a more systematic process of analysis of higher education development in Central Europe.
ECONOMICS OF SPACE ALLOCATION FOR GROWER-FINISHER HOGS: A SIMULATION APPROACH

The economics of animal space allocation for grower-finisher hogs in a confinement facility with partial slats was examined using a simulation model. Additional crowding over that previously recommended may be warranted based on results from the model. The pig performance penalty is more than offset by spreading the fixed costs over greater output.
Application of electronic signatures in business and their influence on electronic commerce implementation

The internet has changed how participants around the world view telecommunications, buying, selling and transactions. Electronic Commerce (EC) and Electronic Signatures (ES) make it possible for enterprises to expand their business activities locally and globally. Quayle (2002) suggested that implementing ES leads to enhanced opportunities to increase competitiveness, to reach new partners, suppliers and markets, and to develop seller/buyer relationships. This paper will outline the nature of an electronic contract to explain that electronic signatures are built on digital signatures that are meant to guarantee authentication, integrity, privacy and nonrepudiation.
Disaffected Young People and the Work-related Curriculum at Key Stage 4: Issues of social capital development and learning as a form of cultural practice

Government concern with underachievement in certain school environments and the relatively poor staying-on rates into post-compulsory education and training in particular urban contexts has led to the development of work-related/work-based alternative curricula as a way of re-motivating and re-engaging those young people classified as being 'at risk' or disaffected. This article examines one such programme and other research conducted by the Post 16 Studies unit on disaffected/disenfranchised young people. The article suggests the need for a much more detailed analysis of wider socio-cultural factors that impact on young people and hence on their agency. By appreciating more fully how various networks of influence affect young people, particularly in relation to social and cultural forms of learning and the opportunities for enhancing social capital, we may be in a better position to understand both how and why particular work-related programmes impact differently on similarly categorised 'at risk' young people in school and hence in general terms, understand more fully those factors which schools and curriculum planners may need to be aware of in designing such programmes.
Genetic diversity of populations of Old World screwworm fly, Chrysomya bezziana, causing traumatic myiasis of livestock in the Gulf region and implications for control by sterile insect technique

Abstract Fly larvae were collected from 181 cases of traumatic myiasis in livestock in 10 regions of four countries in the Middle East Gulf region: Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Oman. The predominant fly species responsible for cases was the Old World screwworm (OWS) fly, Chrysomya bezziana Villeneuve (Diptera: Calliphoridae). In cases from Iran and Oman, which included non‐OWS fly species, OWS fly was found solely responsible for 67.6% of cases and jointly with other fly species for a further 12.7% of cases. The major hosts were sheep and goats, together comprising 84.6% of the total, which reflects their predominance among the livestock of these Gulf countries. The major site of wounding on sheep and goats was the tail (40.3%), followed by female genitalia (14.0%). The 3′ terminal 715 nucleotides of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene were sequenced for 178 larvae of OWS. Five haplotypes were identified: three had been recorded previously in the region (two were common throughout and one was unique to Oman), and two were newly identified, one from southern Iraq and the other from Saudi Arabia, both in regions sampled for the first time. The haplotypes varied from one another only at one or two nucleotide sites, equivalent to an intraspecific difference of 0.14–0.28% across the entire 715‐bp fragment. There was a single statistically significant association between host species and haplotype in Saudi Arabia, a first such record for OWS fly. The small degree of genetic diversity between geographical populations of OWS fly within the Gulf region suggests that a single Gulf colony could be used to implement the sterile insect technique within an integrated control programme.
Persistent Ehrlichia chaffeensis Infection Occurs in the Absence of Functional Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II Genes

ABSTRACT Human monocytic ehrlichiosis is an emerging tick-borne disease caused by the rickettsia Ehrlichia chaffeensis. We investigated the impact of two genes that control macrophage and T-cell function on murine resistance to E. chaffeensis. Congenic pairs of wild-type and toll-like receptor 4 (tlr4)- or major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II)-deficient mice were used for these studies. Wild-type mice cleared the infection within 2 weeks, and the response included macrophage activation and the synthesis of E. chaffeensis-specific Th1-type immunoglobulin G response. The absence of a functional tlr4 gene depressed nitric oxide and interleukin 6 secretion by macrophages and resulted in short-term persistent infections for ≥30 days. In the absence of MHC-II alleles, E. chaffeensis infections persisted throughout the entire 3-month evaluation period. Together, these data suggest that macrophage activation and cell-mediated immunity, orchestrated by CD4+ T cells, are critical for conferring resistance to E. chaffeensis.
Tol-Dependent Macromolecule Import through the Escherichia coli Cell Envelope Requires the Presence of an Exposed TolA Binding Motif

ABSTRACT The Tol-Pal proteins of the cell envelope of Escherichia coli are required for maintaining outer membrane integrity. This system forms protein complexes in which TolA plays a central role by providing a bridge between the inner and outer membranes via its interaction with the Pal lipoprotein. The Tol proteins are parasitized by filamentous bacteriophages and group A colicins. The N-terminal domain of the Ff phage g3p protein and the translocation domains of colicins interact directly with TolA during the processes of import through the cell envelope. Recently, a four-amino-acid sequence in Pal has been shown to be involved in Pal's interaction with TolA. A similar motif is also present in the sequence of two TolA partners, g3p and colicin A. Here, a mutational study was conducted to define the function of these motifs in the binding activity and import process of TolA. The various domains were produced and exported to the bacterial periplasm, and their cellular effects were analyzed. Cells producing the g3p domain were tolerant to colicins and filamentous phages and had destabilized outer membranes, while g3p deleted of three residues in the motif was affected in TolA binding and had no effect on cell integrity or colicin or phage import. A conserved Tyr residue in the colicin A translocation domain was involved in TolA binding and colicin A import. Furthermore, in vivo and in vitro coprecipitation analyses demonstrated that colicin A and g3p N-terminal domains compete for binding to TolA.