Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biochemical studies on lipopolysaccharides of Salmonella R mutants. 3. The linkage of the heptose units.

In an in vitro system, containing 20,000 ×g cell wall particles and 100,000 ×g cell sap supernatant of various Salmonella rough mutants the rate of galactose transfer from UDP-[14C]-galactose to the core lipopolysaccharide was studied and the following results obtained: 1 Cell wall partieles from the S. minnesota mutants mR5, mR7, and mR8 are poor acceptors for galactose. The lipopolysaccharides of these mutants contain heptose and phosphate in a molar ratio of 2:2, whereas in normal lipopolysaccharide of Salmonella the ratio is 2:3. 2 20,000 ×g cell wall fractions from mutants which produce lipopolysaccharide of normal phosphate content, such as those from S. minnesota mRz or S. typhimurium tmM are good acceptors for galactose. 3 Phosphate-poor cell wall particles can be treated with ATP and enzyme extracts of mutants containing lipopolysaccharide of normal phosphate content to yield proper acceptors for galactose. 4 A radioactive disaccharide which chromatographically behaves like melibiose, and which after treatment with α-galactosidase yields [14C]galactose can be isolated from partial hydrolysates of cell wall particles which have previously been incubated with UDP-[14C]galactose and enzyme extract from tmM. This result is the same whether phosphate is already present in the cell wall fraction or is introduced enzymatically by the addition of ATP to the incubation mixture. It is concluded that mR5 and mR8 are defective in a lipopolysaccharide phosphorylating enzyme and that lack of phosphate groups in the lipopolysaccharide results in an incomplete core because unphosphorylated lipopolysaccharide acts only as a poor acceptor in the galactose transfer reaction.
Long-term Unemployment in Greece: developments, incidence and composition

The duration of unemployment spells in Greece is investigated by looking at developments over time and by estimating duration models for unemployed men using data from the 2005 Greek Labour Force Survey (LFS). The prolongation of spells since the 1990s reflects the rise in the overall unemployment rate and the increased probability of transition from short-term to long-term unemployment. The limited number of new jobs, due inter alia to the stringent regulatory environment in product and labour markets, might be contributing to the differences in the percentage of long-term unemployment between Greece and the EU-15. Estimates of duration models suggest that older individuals with no previous work experience, in high-unemployment regions are more likely to experience longer unemployment spells while education appears to differentiate the length of spells amongst younger individuals. There is some tentative evidence of positive duration dependence in the first few months of the spell, which, however, turns negative as the spell continues.
Contrasting Institutional and Performance Accounts of Environmental Management Systems: Three Case Studies in the UK Water & Sewerage Industry

This paper presents results from a longitudinal, qualitative study into the adoption of environmental management systems (EMS) in three companies in the UK water & sewerage industry. Based on institutional theory and the literature on EMS, four factors related to the adoption of EMS are identified: external and internal institutional forces, environmental performance issues, and economic performance issues. While previous literature has often assumed a balance of performance and institutional factors or a preponderance of performance factors, the results of this study indicate that institutional forces are the predominant drivers. The results further indicate that environmental performance issues become less important over time, whereas institutional drivers and economic performance rationales increase in importance over time. While conforming to institutional pressures can result in improved economic performance of a company, adoption of environmental management systems mostly on the basis of institutional and economic factors has wider repercussions for the state of corporate environmental management and progress towards greater ecological sustainability of business.
Effect of 12 weeks of moderate–intensity resistance training on arterial stiffness: a randomised controlled trial in women aged 32–59 years

Background: Resistance training has been increasingly incorporated into the overall exercise programme because of its effect on muscle strength, functional capacity and osteoporosis. High-intensity resistance training increases arterial stiffness. However, the effect of moderate-intensity resistance training on arterial stiffness is unknown. Objective: To determine whether 12 weeks of moderate-intensity resistance training increases arterial stiffness in middle-aged women. Methods: 35 middle-aged women (age range 32 to 59 years) volunteered to participate. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: resistance training (RT) group, aerobic exercise training (AET) group or control group. The RT and AET groups performed 12 weeks of moderate-intensity resistance training or aerobic exercise training (two days/week). Results: In the RT group, one-repetition maximum strength significantly increased after the intervention. Interestingly, aortic (carotid–femoral) pulse wave velocity (PWV; an index of arterial stiffness), and peripheral (femoral–ankle) PWV did not change with moderate-intensity resistance training. In contrast, in the AET group, carotid–femoral PWV significantly decreased after the intervention. Resistance training and aerobic exercise training did not affect blood pressure. Conclusions: This study found that moderate-intensity resistance training did not increase arterial stiffness in middle-aged women, which may have great importance for health promotion with resistance training.
BOOST-BASED MPPT CONVERTER TOPOLOGY TRADE-OFF FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS

High power and high voltage – 100V – power buses are often required not only in the frame of the telecommunication spacecrafts, but also for those scientific and interplanetary mission cases where a high user power load demand is driving the design of the power subsystem. On many cases, the use of Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) is essential for an optimum power subsystem sizing.
On the Performance of Leveraged and Optimally Leveraged Investment Funds

Leveraged and inverse Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) have become increasingly popular in recent years and have attracted significant assets. This paper develops a very general mathematical framework for assessing the long-term performance of leveraged and short investment funds based on stochastic calculus. Our analysis allows for multi-asset and cross-asset class portfolios and explains the role of volatility and correlation of the underlying assets for the long-term performance of the strategy. Further, we show that there is an optimal degree of leverage that maximizes the expected future return of the daily re-balanced leveraged investment strategy that depends on observable market parameters. Thus, we develop an improved methodology for leveraged and inverse ETFs that adjusts the degree of leverage optimally to prevailing market conditions on a regular basis.
STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO ANALYZE THE EFFECTS OF EXHCHANGE RATE ON IMPORT DEMAND

The effect exchange rates have on local prices may induce a change in relative prices and import demand. This study shows that substitutability, endogeneity of foreign price, elasticity of substitution, and degree of returns to scale influence the impacts exchange rates have on relative prices and import demand. In an empirical examination of the Korean beef market, this study found a decrease in relative prices and an increase in import demand when the U.S. dollar depreciates, and an increase in relative prices and a decrease in import demand when the U.S. dollar appreciates. However, the effect on relative prices is greater than the effect on import demand, implying that the foreign price elasticity of import demand is less than one.
Chaotic Dynamics of Financing Investment

The paper introduces the financial sector in a standard multiplier-accelerator framework by incorporating financial variables in the investment function. The resultant equation is similar in form to that of a logistic map, and hence behaves unpredictably under certain values of the parameters. Since monetary authorities have a large influence on many of these parameters, monetary policies are effective in both controlling investment and preventing or postponing a financial crisis. The monetary authorities, however, are also keen to play an additional role of keeping the system predictable. Under certain conditions, there could be a conflict between these two objectives-of preventing a financial crisis and keeping the system predictable. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005.
The study of surface computer supported cooperative work and its design, efficiency, and challenges

In this study, a Surface Computer Supported Cooperative Work paradigm is proposed. Recently, multitouch technology has become widely available for human–computer interaction. We found it has great potential to facilitate more awareness of human-to-human interaction than personal computers (PCs) in colocated collaborative work. However, other studies and modern operating systems have rarely been concerned with colocated interactions in their user interface (UI) design. Therefore, one UI framework, which we have named Surface Application Framework (SAF), is proposed to support multitouch and multiuser applications on tabletop computers. To explore the effects of wide area SAFs on colocated collaboration, one application, capable of making English sentences, was developed based on an SAF. This application was used to conduct a user-centric study to investigate differences between surface computers and PCs. The results show that a surface computer performs better than a PC in creating awareness during collaborative work, but it requires more time due to its poor performance with drag-and-drop operations. Finally, this study summarizes a three-dimensional design approach to consider various trade-offs between awareness and manipulative performances. Additionally, some mechanisms are suggested to be employed to overcome the weakness of drag-and-drop operations with multitouch interfaces in a future study.
Goat Milk in Human Nutrition and Health – A Review

In many countries, goat farming is the important part from the economy point of the view; especially in the Mediterranean and Middle East region. Goat farming is well organized in France, Italy, Spain and Greece (Park and Haenlein, 2006). Industrialization of the goat milk is not well successed because of its poor and insufficient volume. From 1990, interest in the goat milk production is increased i.e. 10 million MT (1990) to 15.2 million MT (2008). Though there is increase in the production of the goat milk, still there is lack of marketing of this milk (Mahmoud, 2010). Goat milk is one of a neutraceutical health drink. As goat milk is rich in mineral and vitamin content and has creamy texture, it is used as the replacer for number of the supplements which are people consume daily. Goat milk is quite better as compared to that of cow milk because of its easy digestibility. Composition of goat milk
Ultrasonic attenuation in human calcaneus from 0.2 to 1.7 MHz

Ultrasonic attenuation has been demonstrated to be a useful measurement in the diagnosis of osteoporosis. Most studies have employed ultrasound in a range of frequencies from about 200 kHz-300 kHz to 600 kHz-1 MHz, and many have assumed a linear dependence of attenuation on frequency. In order to investigate the attenuation properties of human calcaneus at higher frequencies, 16 defatted human calcanea were interrogated in vitro using two matched pairs of transducers with center frequencies of 500 kHz and 2.25 MHz. The linear dependence of attenuation on frequency seems to extend up to at least 1.7 MHz. The correlation between attenuation coefficient and frequency from 400 kHz to 1.7 MHz was r=0.999 (95% confidence interval, CI,=0.998-1.00). The measurements suggest that some deviations from linear frequency dependence of attenuation may occur at lower frequencies (below 400 kHz), however.
A cross-country perspective on professional oversight, education standards and countries' perceived level of corruption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the existence of a professional oversight body and certain country‐specific education regulations in auditing are associated with a country's perceived level of corruption.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on data from the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) database, the authors used the Mann‐Whitney U analysis technique to test the difference between countries' perceived level of corruption based on whether they have or have not developed professional oversight bodies and licensing regulations.Findings – Results suggest that countries that have established an audit profession oversight body are, indeed, perceived to be less corrupt. Similarly, countries that require practical experience, academic study, and a licensing examination in order to practice auditing are perceived to be less corrupt. On the other hand, the analysis shows that requiring auditors to fulfil continuing education requirements is not significantly related t.
Company Takeovers and the Australian Equity Market

Stock market prices are investigated around the dates of takeover offers. The 242 companies in the sample of takeover offers are classified firstly as offerors and offerees, and secondly as to whether or not the takeover was achieved. The study employs the two parameter asset pricing model and allows for shifts in risk. Any gains arising from takeovers are won by the acquired firm at the expense of the acquiring firm. The stock market reaction to takeover offers is generally consistent with the Efficient Markets Hypothesis with one notable exception. Alternative interpretations of this anomaly are considered.
The use of mass media in substance abuse prevention.

Prologue: Over the past three decades, the American public has been heavily influenced by the power of television and its ability to shape society. Public health officials' initial optimism about the positive influence of mass media on society led to disappointment and skepticism. That has now been replaced by a sophisticated understanding of the important role media can play when properly executed. In this article, William Dejong and Jay Winsten explore the use of mass media in sending messages about preventing substance abuse, especially among American youth. They find that public health advocates, while producing increasingly sophisticated media campaigns, still have much to learn from the successes of the commercial sector in harnessing the power of the mass media to convince people to change behavior. Here they present recommendations for the design of future media campaigns. DeJong, who received his doctorate in social psychology from Stanford University, was director of research at the Center for H.
Intuitive human-device interaction for video control and feedback

Current video services are still controlled in an old-fashioned way using keyboard and mouse for computers and remote control for TV sets. This paper presents more attractive and intuitive interaction methods using commercially available motion sensing input devices. These devices are typically based on a webcam-style add-on peripheral, thereby enabling facial recognition, gesture control, and speech recognition. These technologies are applied in this research to automatically authenticate a user, enable video control (play, pause, seeking), and browsing, selecting, and rating content by hand gestures or voice commands. By monitoring the user's gaze and using emotion recognition techniques, the user's interests and engagement with the content can be estimated. This is interpreted as implicit user feedback for the video content, and establishes an automatic feedback channel, which can be used for content personalization and recommendation. User tests showed an accurate recognition of voice and gestures and confirmed the attractiveness and intuitiveness of these techniques for end-users.
Essays on the Macroeconomics of Incomplete Information

In the first chapter, I develop and estimate a dynamic general equilibrium model with imperfectly informed firms in the sense of Woodford (2002). The model has two aggregate shocks: a monetary policy shock and a technology shock. Firms observe idiosyncratic noisy signals about these shocks and face strategic complementarities in price setting. In this environment, agents' "forecasting the forecasts of others" can produce realistic dynamics of model variables, with associated highly persistent real effects of monetary shocks and delayed effects of such shocks on inflation. The paper provides a full Bayesian analysis of the model, revealing that it can capture the persistent propagation of monetary shocks only by predicting that firms acquire less information about monetary policy than about technology. To further investigate this finding, I augment the model to allow firms to optimally choose how much information to acquire about the two shocks, subject to an information-processing constraint a la Sims (2003). This constraint sets the rate at which firms can substitute pieces of information about the two shocks. I find that, in the estimated model, firms' marginal value of the information about monetary policy shocks is much higher than that about technology shocks. I argue that this finding admits two alternative interpretations. First, firms acquire implausibly too little information about the monetary shock in the estimated model. Second, the rate of substitution implied by the information-processing constraint is inconsistent with the data. In the third chapter, I develop a model where firms have incomplete and dispersed information to study how monetary policy affects agents' beliefs. I estimate the model through Bayesian methods and find that dispersed information has two main implications for monetary policy. First, it reduces the real effects of money. Second, it raises the output loss associated with a monetary policy of disinflation. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Economics First Advisor Frank Schorfheide Second Advisor Francis X. Diebold
Dynamic topology representing networks

We propose an algorithm called dynamic topology representing networks (DTRN) for learning both topology and clustering information from input data. In contrast to other models with adaptive architecture of this kind, the DTRN algorithm adaptively grows the number of output nodes by applying a vigilance test. The clustering procedure is based on a winner-take-quota learning strategy in conjunction with an annealing process in order to minimize the associated mean square error. A competitive Hebbian rule is applied to learn the global topology information concurrently with the clustering process. The topology information learned is also utilized for dynamically deleting the nodes and for the annealing process. The specific properties of this new algorithm are illustrated by some analyses and simulation examples.
Propagating conformational changes over long (and short) distances in proteins

The problem of the propagation of conformational changes over long distances or through a closely packed protein is shown to fit a model of a ligand-induced conformational change between two protein states selected by evolution. Moreover, the kinetics of the pathway between these states is also selected so that the energy of ligand binding and the speed of the transition between conformational states are physiologically appropriate. The crystallographic data of a wild-type aspartate receptor that has negative cooperativity and a mutant that has no cooperativity but has native transmembrane signaling are shown to support this model.
Inclusive innovation: an architecture for policy development

The past two decades have been characterized by an increasing uncoupling of economic growth and social and economic development. Outside of China, the numbers living in absolute poverty have remained stubbornly large; in Africa, they have increased substantially. Although this uncoupling has multiple sources, the trajectory of innovation (large in scale, capital intensive in nature and destructive of the environment) has contributed to these outcomes. Reorienting towards a more ‘inclusive innovation’ path has an important role to play in overcoming exclusion. However, we have only a weak understanding of the definition, nature and dynamics of inclusive innovation, and this paper seeks to fill this conceptual gap. It argues that inclusive innovation needs to be understood and developed in the context of a holistic conception of the innovation cycle, the distinction between process and product innovation and the roles played by the poor as both producers and consumer. It further charts the growing interest of private sector actors in inclusive innovation (including, but not confined to transnational corporations seeking the ‘fortune at the bottom of the pyramid’) and large global funds working in tandem with the private sector and governments. Consideration is also given to the role which growth trajectories play in determining the direction of innovation and in promoting linkages between the globally absolute poor (incomes below $1pd) and those with discretionary cash incomes living in the margins above $1pd. The paper concludes with a call for a more holistic and balanced approach to inclusive innovation to be adopted by a range of stakeholders so that resources are deployed most effectively to aid the recoupling of growth and development.
The detection of flunitrazepam in beverages using portable Raman spectroscopy.

Portable Raman spectroscopy has been used for the detection of the date-rape drug flunitrazepam in spiked beverages that may be involved in cases of drug-facilitated sexual assault. Solutions of flunitrazepam with different concentrations were prepared in water and for each beverage type. Although some bands attributable to the beverage matrix are present, they did not interfere with the identification of the drug. Definitive evidence for contamination of the spiked drink concerned can be acquired within 10 s. The data can be acquired in situ and sample extraction and/or preparation steps are unnecessary. The ability of portable Raman spectrometers to interrogate spiked alcoholic beverages with flunitrazepam has been demonstrated. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Bayesian Vector Autoregressive Model with Informative Steady-State Priors for the Australian Economy

This article applies a Bayesian vector autoregressive model with informative steady-state priors to a parsimonious model of the Australian economy. The model captures economic linkages among key Australian and US variables and is estimated on quarterly data from 1985 to 2006. An out-of-sample forecast exercise shows that the model with informative steady-state priors generally outperforms a traditional Bayesian vector autoregressive model as well as naive forecasts. The model can also be used to generate density forecasts and analyse alternative scenarios, which we illustrate with the effect on the Australian economy of a substantial real depreciation of the US dollar.