Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biochemical and Molecular Characterization of a Mutation That Confers a Decreased Raffinosaccharide and Phytic Acid Phenotype on Soybean Seeds

A single, recessive mutation in soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.), which confers a seed phenotype of increased inorganic phosphate, decreased phytic acid, and a decrease in total raffinosaccharides, has been previously disclosed (S.A. Sebastian, P.S. Kerr, R.W. Pearlstein, W.D. Hitz [2000] Soy in Animal Nutrition, pp 56–74). The genetic lesion causing the multiple changes in seed phenotype is a single base change in the third base of the codon for what is amino acid residue 396 of the mature peptide encoding a seed-expressed myo-inositol 1-phospate synthase gene. The base change causes residue 396 to change from lysine to asparagine. That amino acid change decreases the specific activity of the seed-expressed myo-inositol 1-phosphate synthase by about 90%. Radio tracer experiments indicate that the supply ofmyo-inositol to the reaction, which converts UDP-galactose and myo-inositol to galactinol is a controlling factor in the conversion of total carbohydrate into the raffinosaccharides in both wild-type and mutant lines. That same decrease in myo-inositol 1-phosphate synthetic capacity leads to a decreased capacity for the synthesis ofmyo-inositol hexaphosphate (phytic acid) and a concomitant increase in inorganic phosphate.
Predicción del fracaso empresarial en los sectores de construcción e inmobiliario: Modelos generales versus específicos

Este trabajo investiga si la estimacion de modelos especificos sectoriales permite predecir mejor el fracaso que la estimacion de un modelo general. Los resultados confirman que la rentabilidad, la rotacion de las existencias, el endeudamiento, la liquidez, el crecimiento, la edad y las condiciones economicas generales afectan a la probabilidad de insolvencia, pero hay diferencias sectoriales. Por otro lado, aunque para las empresas constructoras tiene similar capacidad predictiva un modelo especifico sectorial que un modelo general, no sucede lo mismo en el sector inmobiliario.
The Cervical Sympathetic Nerves in Surgery of the Neck

The otolaryngologist–head and neck surgeon is aware that the cervical sympathetic nerves lie behind the carotid artery and should be avoided during neck surgery. To render this sketchy dictum more tangible, relevant anatomy and physiology of the autonomic supply to the head and neck is reviewed, as are aspects of site-of-lesion testing, with respect to Horner's syndrome. Examples of neck operations during which the cervical sympathetic chain—from the base of skull to the root of the neck—may be injured are illustrated.
Appliance of Electron Beam Technology for Disinfection of Sewage Water to Minimize Public Health Risks

First time in India, a study was aimed to establish a base- line data for electron beamradiation dose level needed to disinfect and also improve the water quality of sewage waterfor possible reuse in irrigation, industries as well as a few domestic purposes. Raw andsecondary treated sewage water samples, which were rich with microorganisms from NaviMumbai municipal sewage plant were irradiated with electron beam accelerator at doses of0.45, 0.75, 1.5, 3.0, 4.5, 6.0, 7.5, 9.0 and 10.5 kGy. Electron Beam irradiation treatment ofthe wastewater was found to be very effective in reducing the pathogenic load. ElectronBeam (EB) dose of 1.5 kGy was sufficient for complete elimination of total coli formswhereas Cryptococcus laurentii, Aspergillus fumigatus and Absidia sp. were killedby10.0 kGy and no larvae of helminthes (Ascaris lumbricoides) were recovered at thedose ≥ 1.5 kGy. The experimental findings obtained highlighted the potential of thistechnology for disinfection of wastewater.
The Socioeconomic Impact of Schooling in a Developing Country

tional attainments suggests the usefulness of special training programs for unskilled immigrants. Further, the persistence of racial differentials underscores the importance of the enforcement of anti-bias employment regulations to protect non-white immigrants. Recent changes in immigration law under the Refugee Act of 1980 will increase uncertainty regarding the composition of future immigration waves. It is likely, however, that the proportion of immigrants for whom specialized training and anti-bias regulation enforcement can hasten the traditional catch-up process which has historically characterized the immigrant economic experience will continually increase. Additional research using more recent data will allow both the efficacy of the recommendations advanced and the persistence of the observed patterns to be tested.
Globalisation and Contextual Factors in Accounting: The Case of Germany

This research monograph critically examines convergence of financial reporting in Germany by taking into account the influence of political, social and economic factors on accounting. This study makes an original and significant contribution by examining issues and biases in the convergence process that may challenge the assumption of superiority, global comparability and universal applicability of International Financial Reporting Standards. Specifically, this monograph critically evaluates convergence by taking into account German accounting development and examines issues concerning the application of professional judgment, which has increasingly been recognized as an important and controversial topic in international accounting. By applying a holistic approach with an emphasis on multiple perspectives, this study shows that accounting research will be enhanced by a critical examination of contextual environments of countries rather than a focus on measurement, quantification, simplification and categorisation.
Cross Talk between Cyclic AMP and the Polyphosphoinositide Signaling Cascade in Iris Sphincter and Other Nonvascular Smooth Muscle

Abstract Nonvascular smooth muscle, such as the iris sphincter, receives double reciprocal innervation: stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system (cholinergic muscarinic), which functions through the polyphosphoinositide (PPI) signaling pathway, contracts it, while activation of the sympathetic nervous system (β-adrenergic), which functions through the cAMP system, relaxes it. Interactions between the two second messenger systems are important in regulation of smooth muscle tone and represent an important focal point for pharmacological manipulation. Here, I have summarized the experimental evidence in support of the hypothesis that the cross talk between cAMP and the PPI cascade could constitute a biochemical correlate for this functional antagonism. Recent studies suggest that cAMP inhibition is on Ca2+ mobilization rather than myosin light chain phosphorylation. Thus, cAMP-elevating agents, which inhibit agonist-induced PPI hydrolysis, are effective relaxants. Furthermore, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) appears to be involved in both Ca2+ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum and in Ca2+ influx through the plasma membrane, and since a reduction in intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]1) is the underlying mechanism for cAMP-mediated relaxation, an important target for cAMP inhibition would be either to inhibit IP3 production or to stimulate IP3 inactivation. In the iris sphincter and other nonvascular smooth muscle there is reasonable experimental evidence that shows that cAMP inhibits phospholipase C activation and stimulates IP3 3-kinase activity, both of which can result in: (i) reduction in IP3 concentrations and (ii) reduction in IP3-dependent Ca2+ mobilization, which may lead to muscle relaxation. In addition to IP3-induced Ca2+ mobilization, changes in [Ca2+]1 are the result of the interplay of many processes which may also serve as potential sites for cAMP inhibition. A great deal of progress has been made on the cross talk between cAMP and the PPI signaling cascade in the past decade, and there will be more made on the regulation of the second messenger systems and their involvement in smooth muscle tone in the coming years.
Compression and its Effect on the Speech Signal

&NA; Compression systems are often used in hearing aids to increase the wearing comfort. A patient has to readjust frequently the gain of a linear hearing aid because of the limited dynamic hearing range and the changing acoustical conditions. A great deal of attention has been given to the static parameters but very little to the dynamic parameters. We present a general method to describe the dynamic behavior of a compression system by comparing modulations at the output with modulations at the input. The use of this method resulted in a single parameter describing the temporal characteristics of a compressor, the cut‐off modulation frequency. In this paper its value is compared with known properties of running speech. A limitation of this method is the use of only small modulation depths, and the consequence of this limitation is tested. The use of this method is described for an experimental digital compressor developed by the authors, and the effects of some temporal parameters such as attack and release time are studied. This method shows the rather large effects of some of the parameters on the effectiveness of a compressor on speech. This method is also used to analyze two generally accepted compression systems in hearing aids. The theoretical method is next compared to the effects of compression on the distribution of the amplitude envelope of running speech, and it could be shown that single‐channel compression systems do not reduce the distribution width of speech filtered in frequency bands. This finding questions the use of compression systems for fitting the speech banana in the dynamic hearing range of impaired listeners.
Pricing of moving‐average‐type options with applications

Moving‐average‐type options are complex path‐dependent derivatives whose payoff depends on the moving average of stock prices. This article concentrates on two such options traded in practice: the moving‐average‐lookback option and the moving‐average‐reset option. Both options were issued in Taiwan in 1999, for example. The moving‐average‐lookback option is an option struck at the minimum moving average of the underlying asset's prices. This article presents efficient algorithms for pricing geometric and arithmetic moving‐average‐lookback options. Monte Carlo simulation confirmed that our algorithms converge quickly to the option value. The price difference between geometric averaging and arithmetic averaging is small. Because it takes much less time to price the geometric‐moving‐average version, it serves as a practical approximation to the arithmetic moving‐average version. When applied to the moving‐average‐lookback options traded on Taiwan's stock exchange, our algorithm gave almost the exact issue prices. The numerical delta and gamma of the options revealed subtle behavior and had implications for hedging. The moving‐average‐reset option was struck at a series of decreasing contract‐specified prices on the basis of moving averages. Similar results were obtained for such options with the same methodology. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 23:415–440, 2003
Corruption and Political Development: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

“Private Vices by the dextrous Management of a skillful Politician may be turned into Publick Benefits. ” —Bernard Mandeville, 1714 Corruption, some say, is endemic in all governments. Yet it has received remarkably little attention from students of government. Not only is the study of corruption prone to moralism, but it involves one of those aspects of government in which the interests of the politician and the political scientist are likely to conflict. It would probably be rather difficult to obtain (by honest means) a visa to a developing country which is to be the subject of a corruption study. One of the first charges levelled at the previous regime by the leaders of the coup in the less developed country is “corruption. ” And generally the charge is accurate. One type of reaction to this among observers is highly moralistic and tends to see corruption as evil. “Throughout the fabric of public life in newly independent States,” we are told in a recent work on the subject, “runs the scarlet thread of bribery and corruption …” which is like a weed suffocating better plants. Another description of new states informs us that “corruption and nepotism rot good intentions and retard progressive policies. ” Others have reacted against this moralistic approach and warn us that we must beware of basing our beliefs about the cause of coups on post-coup rationalizations, and also of judging the social consequences of an act from the motives of the individuals performing it. Under some circumstances Mandeville is right that private vice can cause public benefit.
An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Economic Activity of India

FDI in India has - in a lot of ways - enabled India to achieve a certain degree of financial stability, growth and development. This money has allowed India to focus on the areas that may have needed economic attention, and address the various problems that continue to challenge the country. India launched a series of progressive economic liberalization policies to overcome the structural defects that has caused the economic crisis in 1991. With these policy changes, foreign direct investment (FDI) into India has increased rapidly since 1992. Foreign direct investment to India increased from a mere $97 million in 1990-91 to $5,526 million in 2004-05 because of institutional restructuring. The study indicates the co-movement and converging behaviour between the two the movement of FDI and GDP. FDI is not closely following the GDP in the initial period but after the year of 1992 it closely converges with movement in the FDI. The FDI inflows attained its peak in the mid of 2007 and the GDP also responded quickly to it and attained its all time hike. The results shows that FDI did not Granger cause GDP but interestingly GDP has Granger cause on FDI. This result shows the inter-relationship between these two variables. An increased domestic economic activity will attract foreign investors to invest in India. Because of the huge population, increased domestic production in various industries, infrastructural facilities, large domestic market would attract foreign investors.
Pensions at a glance : Latin America and the Caribbean

Pensions at a Glance in Latin America and the Caribbean provides for the first time an ample range of indicators for comparing pension system design of 26 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The indicators are comparable with those of OECD countries and selected G20 members, published by the OECD. The biggest pension policy challenge faced by most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) today is low coverage of formal pension systems, both in terms of the proportion of workers participating in pension schemes and the proportion of the elderly receiving some kind of pension income. Efforts to close the coverage gap, for example, through non-contributory pensions, are therefore at the heart of the pension policy debate in the region. However, these policies might pose significant fiscal challenges in the next decades as the population ages. Chapter 2 presents three main indicators describing the demographic conditions relevant for pension policy, namely fertility rates, life expectancy and old-age support ratios. This is followed by a systematic comparison, in Chapter 3, of system designs across countries using the standard OECD Pensions at a Glance typology and presenting several key indicators of adequacy, including gender-specific gross and net replacement rates and pension wealth at different income levels. Finally, Chapter 4 provides the profiles of each pension system in Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of their architecture, rules and parameters.
Expanding Capabilities in a Mature Manufacturing Firm: Absorptive Capacity and the TCS

The term `absorptive capacity' (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990), which describes the ability to assimilate new knowledge and skills, has been widely adopted in the study of collaborative links between is used to examine the process by which participation in a Teaching Company Scheme (now know as TCS) helped develop managerial capabilities in a small manufacturing cnmopany over a two-year period. RSL is a family-owned business which has been in existence for forty years, has approximately 70 employees, and manufactures office supply equipment. It is concluded that improving absorptive capacity requires the introduction of new organisational routines which help codify tacit knowledge. Within RSL, such changes helped increase turnover by almost 25% during the two years the TCS programme was in operation.
The Frontoparietal Attention Network of the Human Brain

The dorsal convexity of the human frontal and parietal lobes forms a network that is crucially involved in the selection of sensory contents by attention. This network comprehends cortex along the intraparietal sulcus, the inferior parietal lobe, and dorsal premotor cortex, including the frontal eye field. These regions are richly interconnected with recurrent fibers passing through the superior longitudinal fasciculus. The posterior parietal cortex has several functional characteristics—such as feature-independent coding, enhancement of activity by attention, representation of task-related signals, and access to multiple reference frames—that point to a central role of this region in the computation of a feature- and modality-independent priority map of the environment. The priority map integrates feature information elaborated in sensory cortex and top-down representations of behavioral goals and expectations originating in the dorsolateral prefrontal and premotor cortex. This review presents converging evidence from single-unit studies of the primate brain, functional neuroimaging, and investigations of neuropsychological disorders such as Bálint syndrome and spatial neglect for a decisive role of the frontoparietal attention network in the selection of relevant environmental information.
Unrestricted Utilization of Sirolimus-Eluting Stents Compared With Conventional Bare Stent Implantation in the “Real World”: The R apamycin-E luting S tent E valuated A t R otterdam C ardiology H ospital (RESEARCH) Registry

Background—The effectiveness of sirolimus-eluting stents in unselected patients treated in the daily practice is currently unknown. Methods and Results—Sirolimus-eluting stent implantation has been used as the default strategy for all percutaneous procedures in our hospital as part of the R apamycin-E luting S tent E valuated A t R otterdam C ardiology H ospital (RESEARCH) registry. Consecutive patients with de novo lesions (n=508) treated exclusively with sirolimus-eluting stents (SES group) were compared with 450 patients who received bare stents in the period just before (pre-SES group). Patients in the SES group more frequently had multivessel disease, more type C lesions, received more stents, and had more bifurcation stenting. At 1 year, the cumulative rate of major adverse cardiac events (death, myocardial infarction, or target vessel revascularization) was 9.7% in the SES group and 14.8% in the pre-SES group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.62 [95% CI, 0.44 to 0.89]; P =0.008). The 1-year risk of clinically driven target vessel revascularization in the SES group and in the pre-SES group was 3.7% versus 10.9%, respectively (HR, 0.35 [95% CI, 0.21 to 0.57]; P <0.001). Conclusions—Unrestricted utilization of sirolimus-eluting stents in the “real world” is safe and effective in reducing both repeat revascularization and major adverse cardiac events at 1 year compared with bare stent implantation.
Engaging Alienated Youths

ngaging alienated youths in E physical education classes can be a difficult task for teachers. Halas (2002) reported on a case study of a physical education program that was designed for troubled youths attending an adolescent treatment center. This program was selected for study because it was an alternative program that succeeded in helping students feel comfortable participating in a physical education class.
Comparative in vitro activities of ten antimicrobial agents against bacterial enteropathogens

The in vitro susceptibilities of 50 strains of Salmonella spp. , 80 strains of Shigella spp. , and 50 enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, 14 Yersinia enterocolitica, 6 Aeromonas hydrophila, 4 Plesiomonas shigelloides, 9 Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and 30 Campylobacter jejuni strains that were recently isolated from worldwide sources were determined for 10 antimicrobial agents. The antimicrobial agents tested included ampicillin, bicozamycin, doxycycline, enoxacin (CI-919), erythromycin, furazolidone, amdinocillin, norfloxacin, trimethoprim, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Ampicillin resistance occurred frequently in strains of Salmonella and Shigella spp. and enterotoxigenic E. coli strains. The most active agents against all of the bacteria tested were enoxacin and norfloxacin. Furazolidone and amdinocillin were also highly active against the majority of strains. Trimethoprim and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole were inhibitory at low concentrations against all test except C. jejuni isolates. The in vitro results of this study confirm the high prevalence of bacterial resistance to ampicillin. However, this work also identifies four antimicrobial agents, enoxacin, furazolidone, norfloxacin, and amdinocillin, that would be appropriate for further testing in clinical trials.
Is Congo Red an Amyloid-specific Dye?*

Congo red (CR) binding, monitored by characteristic yellow-green birefringence under crossed polarization has been used as a diagnostic test for the presence of amyloid in tissue sections for several decades. This assay is also widely used for the characterization of in vitro amyloid fibrils. In order to probe the structural specificity of Congo red binding to amyloid fibrils we have used an induced circular dichroism (CD) assay. Amyloid fibrils from insulin and the variable domain of Ig light chain demonstrate induced CD spectra upon binding to Congo red. Surprisingly, the native conformations of insulin and Ig light chain also induced Congo red circular dichroism, but with different spectral shapes than those from fibrils. In fact, a wide variety of native proteins exhibited induced CR circular dichroism indicating that CR bound to representative proteins from different classes of secondary structure such as α (citrate synthase), α + β (lysozyme), β (concavalin A), and parallel β-helical proteins (pectate lyase). Partially folded intermediates of apomyoglobin induced different Congo red CD bands than the corresponding native conformation, however, no induced CD bands were observed with unfolded protein. Congo red was also found to induce oligomerization of native proteins, as demonstrated by covalent cross-linking and small angle x-ray scattering. Our data suggest that Congo red is sandwiched between two protein molecules causing protein oligomerization. The fact that Congo red binds to native, partially folded conformations and amyloid fibrils of several proteins shows that it must be used with caution as a diagnostic test for the presence of amyloid fibrils in vitro.