Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of the Premiddle and Middle Phases of Expression of the NDT80 Gene during Sporulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

ABSTRACT The NDT80 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which encodes a global activator of transcription of middle sporulation-specific genes, is first expressed after the activation of early meiotic genes but prior to activation of middle sporulation-specific genes. Both upstream repression sequence 1 (URS1) and mid-sporulation element (MSE) sites are present in the promoter region of the NDT80 gene; these elements have been shown previously to contribute to the regulation of expression of early and middle sporulation-specific genes, respectively, by mediating repression in growing cells and activation at specific times during sporulation. In this study, we have shown that the overlapping windows of URS1- and MSE-mediated repression and activation are responsible for the distinctive premiddle expression pattern of the NDT80 gene. Our data suggest that a Sum1-associated repression complex bound at the NDT80 MSE sites prevents Ime1 tethered at the NDT80 URS1 sites from activating transcription of the NDT80 gene at the time that Ime1-dependent activation of early URS1-regulated meiotic genes is occurring. We propose that a decrease in the efficiency of Sum1-mediated repression as cells progress through the early events of the sporulation program allows the previously inactive Ime1 tethered at the URS1NDT80 sites to promote a low level of expression of the NDT80 gene. This initial phase of URS1-dependent NDT80 expression is followed by Ndt80-dependent upregulation of its own expression, which requires the MSE NDT80 sites and occurs concomitantly with Ndt80-dependent activation of a set of middle MSE-regulated sporulation-specific genes. Mutation of IME2 prevents expression of NDT80 in sporulating cells. We show in this study that NDT80 is expressed and that middle genes are activated in cells of an Δime2/Δime2 Δsum1/Δsum1 strain in sporulation medium. This suggests that Ime2 activates expression of NDT80 by eliminating Sum1-mediated repression.
Long-Term Retention of Graduates from a Program to Increase the Supply of Rural Family Physicians

Purpose To determine the long-term retention of rural family physicians graduating from the Physician Shortage Area Program (PSAP) of Jefferson Medical College. Method Of the 1,937 Jefferson graduates from the classes of 1978–1986, the authors identified those practicing rural family medicine when their practice location was first determined. The number and percent of PSAP and non-PSAP graduates practicing family medicine in the same rural area in 2002 were then identified, and compared to the number of those graduates practicing rural family medicine when they were first located in practice 11–16 years earlier. Results After 11–16 years, 68% (26/38) of the PSAP graduates were still practicing family medicine in the same rural area, compared with 46% (25/54) of their non-PSAP peers (p= .03). Survival analysis showed that PSAP graduates practice family medicine in the same rural locality longer than non-PSAP graduates (p = .04). Conclusions These results are the first to show long-term rural primary care retention that is longer than the median duration. This outcome combined with previously published outcomes show that the PSAP represents the only program that has resulted in multifold increases in both recruitment (eight-fold) and long-term retention (at least 11–16 years). In light of recent national recommendations to increase the total enrollment in medical schools, allocating some of this growth to developing and expanding programs similar to the PSAP would make a substantial and long lasting impact on the rural physician workforce.
Unravelling financial policy linkages and corporate governance

The main purpose of this study is to explore the casual relationships among investment, financing and dividend policies for listed electronic companies in Taiwan. We further examine whether the causal relationships would vary with different corporate governance structures. We find that the firms' investment expenditures positively affect their leveraged financings. The results also show that there is a positive interaction between the investment expenditures and the dividend payments. In addition, a negative relationship is found between leveraged financings and dividend payments. Moreover, the causal relationships among the three financial policies remain unchanged under different corporate governance structures.
Use and Participation in Virtual Social Networks: A Theoretical Model

Managers are increasingly interested in the social web, as it provides numerous opportunities for strengthening and expanding relationships with customers, but the network processes that lead to these user-based assets are poorly understood. In this paper, the authors explore factors influencing use and participation in virtual social networks. They also discuss unusual drivers and inhibitors present with virtual social networksA¢â‚¬â€ highlighted by the presence of positive network externalities and fears that the content will be misused. The authors offer hypotheses stemming from a model of how these factors work together, test the model with a dataset collected from two different virtual social networks, and discuss the implications of this work. The findings offer managers insights on how to nurture Web 2.0 processes.
Does Subsidizing Fertilizer Increase Yields? Evidence from Malawi

Despite their strain on government and donor budgets, fertilizer subsidies have once again become popular policy tools in several Sub-Saharan Africa countries as a potential way to increase yields in staple crops like maize. Policy makers often assume that farmers who receive the subsidy will achieve yield responses that are similar to those obtained by farmers who pay commercial prices for the input. This notion has not been verified empirically. Our study uses panel data from Malawi, a country that recently implemented a fertilizer subsidy program, to compare maize yield response to fertilizer from farmers who received subsidized fertilizer with yield responses from those who paid commercial prices for the input. Descriptive results indicate that maize plots using commercial fertilizer obtain higher yields per kilogram of fertilizer than maize plots that used subsidized fertilizer. Conversely, the results obtained using a fixed-effects estimator indicate that when other factors are controlled for, maize plots that use subsidized fertilizer obtain a higher yield response than other plots. The results seems to be influenced by a group of farmers who used no fertilizer before the subsidy program began, but used subsidized fertilizer after the program was implemented. This group of farmers obtained significantly higher yields in the year when they receive the subsidy than did the rest of the farmers in the sample during that year. These findings indicate that in order to be effective, government officials should specifically target fertilizer subsidies to farmers who lack access to commercial markets or would not otherwise find it profitable to purchase the input.
Requirements Elicitation in Startup Companies

Much has been written about Requirements Elicitation within small and large organisations. Surprisingly, the organisation type played a small role in the software engineering literature and therefore startups, a special type of Research & Development environment, did not receive the attention they reserve in research. Startups are a major factor of the economy’s growth and researchers in economic sciences have realised, that existing processes cannot simply be applied to startups. In this paper, a research project on Requirements Elicitation in startup companies is presented. A definition of startups and their distinction from traditional companies is given, Requirements Engineering and Elicitation, as well as their role in Software Engineering and Software Development investigated. A literature review is looking at existing work concentrating on Software Engineering in startups and is showing a lack of empirical research and the need for proper guidance on the handling of requirements in startups. An evaluation-based research approach is introduced that consists of a survey and multiple-case study. Its goal is to understand Requirements Engineering in startups, to provide empirical evidence of the usefulness of identified methodologies and propose guidelines for startups to adopt software methodologies that support Requirements Elicitation. Guidance for software startups will be beneficial, due to their lack of time and money for designing their own development processes. Furthermore, the outcomes of this study could be applied to other organisational forms that intend to foster agility, and to establish an innovative model to study implications of innovation, creativity, immaturity and speed-to-market through concentrated research. General Terms Management, Measurement, Documentation, Design, Economics, Human Factors, Verification.
Preemptive transplantation for patients with diabetes-related kidney disease.

BACKGROUND Preemptive kidney transplantation (PreKT) before initiation of chronic dialysis has been examined recently with favorable results as the most effective treatment for kidney failure. Given that few of these studies are disease specific, the present analyses investigated the outcomes of PreKT by transplantation option and diabetes type. METHODS The impact of PreKT on posttransplantation mortality and graft failure was examined in 23 238 adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), receiving either living or deceased donor kidneys or undergoing simultaneous pancreas-kidney (SPK) transplantation between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 2002. RESULTS The PreKTs were provided to 14.4% of patients with type 1 DM and 6.7% of patients with type 2 DM. Cox regression models were used to estimate the effect of PreKT on the adjusted risk ratio (RR) of graft failure and mortality. After adjusting for multiple factors, PreKT in this era was associated with lower RR of mortality only among type 1 and type 2 diabetic recipients of transplants from living donors and SPK transplant recipients with type 1 DM (RR, 0.50-0.65; P<.007 for each). The effect on graft failure was less pronounced, significant only for preemptive SPK transplant recipients (RR, 0.79; P=.01 vs nonpreemptive SPK transplant recipients). CONCLUSIONS These analyses suggest that PreKT has significant benefits for subsets of patients with types 1 and 2 DM and end-stage renal disease. It also suggests a time trend toward less benefit from preemptive transplants from deceased donors in more recent years compared with the early 1990s. This observation and the discrepancies between RR of graft loss and RR of mortality deserve further study.
Unresolved Responsibilities: Exploring Local Democratisation and Sustainable Development through a Community-Based Waste Reduction Initiative

In reporting on the potential contribution of a community-based waste reduction initiative to sustainable development, our object is to examine the role that such initiatives may play in community regeneration and participative democracy. In the context of changing relationships between government and the individual, we ask whether communities are able, and willing, to accept the self-governing role which is being pressed upon them. We also question the extent to which responsibility for achieving sustainable development can be devolved. The Waste Reduction in the Community Project ran in five diverse communities in Bristol and South Gloucestershire between 1995 and 1998. We examine the goals of the initiative, its procedures and the activities within it; and we review the kinds of achievements that might comprise 'success' in the context of sustainable development, both for the communities themselves and in a wider context. We discuss the outputs and outcomes of the project in relation to these; and reflect on the value of such initiatives in the current climate of modernisation of local government and community regeneration.
A class-J power amplifier with varactor-based dynamic load modulation across a large bandwidth

A novel class-J operated power amplifier (PA) utilizing varactor-based dynamic load modulation is presented. It is theoretically shown that the proposed PA can maintain high average efficiency across more than 35% RF bandwidth by means of a purely reactive load modulation after the transistor output capacitance. The theory is experimentally verified by a 15 W GaN HEMT PA operating from 1.80 to 2.20 GHz, using SiC varactors as dynamically tunable load elements. In the band, the PA presents a power added efficiency (PAE) higher than 39% at 6 dB output power back-off. For a 3.84 MHz W-CDMA signal with 6.7 dB peak to average power ratio, an average PAE higher than 39% and an adjacent channel leakage ratio below -45.8 dBc are obtained across the entire band after linearization.
Credit card fraud: awareness and prevention

Purpose – To make readers aware of the pervasiveness of credit card fraud and how it affects credit card companies, merchants and consumers.Design/methodology/approach – A range of recent publications in journals and information from internet web sites provide corroboration and details of how fraudsters are using credit cards to steal billions of dollars each year. Numerous schemes and techniques are described in addition to recommendations as to how to help control this growing type of fraud.Findings – Credit card fraud is a healthy and growing means of stealing billions of dollars from credit card companies, merchants and consumers. This paper offers current information to help understand the techniques used by fraudsters and how to avoid falling prey to them.Research limitations/implications – This fraud relies on technology currently available and the easy ability to obtain machinery to steal individual identities and account information, and to produce fraudulent credit cards. Information cited is cu.
What motivates small businesses for collective action in smart living industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study what motivates small businesses to engage in collective action, especially in high-tech industry. Design/methodology/approach – Application domain is smart living industry, in which installation companies offer ICT-enabled solutions for smart home services. A survey was conducted among 140 small/medium installation companies in smart living industry which are members of a major Dutch branch organization. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to model and analyse data from the survey. Findings – The paper found that different types of motivations do not significantly increase the collective orientation of small businesses. Moreover, the current involvement of small companies in smart living projects is not directly related to their collective orientation. Research limitations/implications – The lack of collaboration is resulting in market fragmentation and lack of technological interoperability. The paper advise policy makers to provide selective incen.
Two Cases for Sand in the Wheels of International Finance

The incompatibility of pegged exchange rates, international capital mobility and national monetary autonomy is a basic postulate of open economy macroeconomies. In the present environment of high capital mobility and political uncertainty, even the possibility that governments may utilize their policy autonomy can defeat efforts to peg the exchange rate. This leaves two possibilities. One is to fix the exchange rate irrevocably through monetary unification. The other is to live with floating rates. Either way, a case can be made for "throwing sand in the wheels" of international finance. Where monetary unification is not an option, this is a may to make distinct national currencies tolerable and international money and capital markets compatible with modest national autonomy in monetary and macroeconomic policy. For. EU counties striving to create a monetary union, it is the only politically and economically feasible way of completing the transition to Stage III of the Maastricht process.
The Motivational and Demographic Characteristics of Research Ecotourists: Operation Wallacea Volunteers in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

The growth and diversification of the ecotourism market has resulted in an expansion of operators catering for individuals willing to undertake voluntary conservation and research activities, often in remote and hitherto rarely visited locations. However, these 'research ecotourists' have received relatively little attention in the literature to date. This study identifies the demographic background and motivational characteristics of volunteers working with one such operator in Indonesia. One hundred participants were interviewed and the majority were female, single, young and well educated, reflecting previous research concerning this sector of the ecotourism market. Despite the young age of the sample, a large proportion described their previous holiday experiences in terms consistent with ecotourism. A dominant ecocentric attitude was identified among the volunteers through their interpretations of 'ecotourism', their awareness of nature-related issues and a desire to learn more about the environment. The most frequent responses for participating in overseas expeditions were 'personal development' and 'academic achievement' reasons. These findings support the contention that 'research ecotourists' represent an important sector within the ecotourism market. Furthermore, there is evident potential for growth in this element of ecotourism, underlining the importance of this study in identifying the target market and its implications with regard to the future development of this sector.
Market segment analysis to target young adult wine drinkers

Consumer segmentation in the wine industry takes on many forms: demographic, geographic, behavioral, and others. In the United States, one of the most promising new demographic segments is the Millennial or Echo Boomer segment, which is being targeted by many consumer industries due to its size and buying power. For the wine industry, this group currently fits the legal drinking age range of 21 to 28. This empirical study describes the perceptions and attitudes of 108 Millennials regarding wine and what the wine industry can do to better market to them in a responsible manner. Results indicate that there is a need for greater wine advertising to this group utilizing fun, social, and relaxed settings; more innovative packaging and labels; a focus on “value” wines; as well as taste enhancements and environmental emphasis. lEconLit citations: M310r. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 22: 307-322, 2006.
Porcine OSU rotavirus segment II sequence shows common features with the viral gene of human origin.

A cDNA library of porcine rotavirus OJSU strain was constructed from total genomic dsRNA in pUC 19, Overlapping clones corresponding to segment 11 were isolated and sequenced by the dideoxy chain termination method using dsDNA template( 1) The gene is 664 base pairs in length and codes for a potential polypeptide of 197 amino acids. Comparison of the segment 11 coding region of porcine OSU with the corresponding region of other rotavirus strains, such as human Wa (2), bovine UK (3) and simian SAIl (4) showed a 89%. 88% and 91%t amino acid homology. respectively When compared to the coding region of the rearranged genell of the porcLne strain C60 (5 ) we found a 97% identity at the amino acid level Segment 11 coding region of both porcine strains, C6t1 and OSU. as well as of human Wa strain have a characteristic histidine deletion (nucleotides 442-444) with respect to the UK and SAlI genes resulting in a protein product one amino acid shorter than in the other cases. Furthermore. both OSU and Wa gene 11 coding regions have an additional putative N-glycosylation site at amino acid 117 besides the one present at residue 20
Overexpression of 7a, a Protein Specifically Encoded by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, Induces Apoptosis via a Caspase-Dependent Pathway

ABSTRACT Besides genes that are homologous to proteins found in other coronaviruses, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus genome also contains nine other potential open reading frames. Previously, we have characterized the expression and cellular localization of two of these “accessory” viral proteins, 3a (previously termed U274) and 7a (previously termed U122). In this study, we further examined whether they can induce apoptosis, which has been observed clinically. We showed that the overexpression of 7a, but not of 3a or the viral structural proteins, nucleocapsid, membrane, and envelope, induces apoptosis. 7a induces apoptosis via a caspase-dependent pathway and in cell lines derived from different organs, including lung, kidney, and liver.
Optimizing the performance of an LC oscillator for maximum power delivery to a load

Using a common Pierce LC oscillator circuit it is demonstrated that by using the technique referred to as a load- line match, commonly used in the design of class A power amplifiers, it is possible to extract the maximum available power from an RF transistor for delivery to a specified load impedance. This results in the transistor being used to its full capacity resulting in the oscillator efficiency approaching the theoretical limit of 50%.
A Teleoperation Approach for Mobile Social Robots Incorporating Automatic Gaze Control and Three-Dimensional Spatial Visualization

The teleoperation of mobile social robots requires operators to understand facial gestures and other nonverbal communication from a person interacting with the robot. It is also critical for the operator to comprehend the surrounding environment in order to facilitate both navigation and human-robot interaction. Allowing the operator to control the robot's gaze direction can help the operator observe a person's nonverbal communication; however, manually actuating a gaze increases the operator's workload and conflicts with the use of the robot's camera for navigation. To address these problems, the authors developed a teleoperation system that combines automatic control of the robot's gaze and a 3-D graphical representation of the surrounding environment, such as location of items and configuration of a shop. A study where a robot plays the role of a shopkeeper was conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed gaze-control technique and control interface. It was demonstrated that the combination of automatic gaze control and representations of spatial relationships improved the quality of the robot's interaction with the customer.
Susceptibility to Memory Interference Effects following Frontal Lobe Damage: Findings from Tests of Paired-Associate Learning

Patients with frontal lobe lesions were adminstered tests of paired-associate learning in which cue and response words are manipulated to increase interference across two study lists. In one test of paired-associate learning (AB-AC test), cue words used in one list are repeated in a second list but are associated with different response words (e.g., LION-HUNTER, LION-CIRCUS). In another test (AB-ABr test), words used in one list are repeated in a second list but are rearranged to form new pairs. Compared to control subjects, patients with frontal lobe lesions exhibited disproportionate impairment of second-list learning as a result of interference effects. In particular, patients exhibited the poorest performance during the initial trial of the second list, a trial in which interference effects from the first list would be most apparent. These findings suggest that the on-line control of irrelevant or competing memory associations is disrupted following frontal lobe lesions. This disruption may be indicative of an impaired gating or filtering mechanism that affects not only memory function but other cognitive function as well.