Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ventx Factors Function as Nanog-Like Guardians of Developmental Potential in Xenopus

Vertebrate development requires progressive commitment of embryonic cells into specific lineages through a continuum of signals that play off differentiation versus multipotency. In mammals, Nanog is a key transcription factor that maintains cellular pluripotency by controlling competence to respond to differentiation cues. Nanog orthologs are known in most vertebrates examined to date, but absent from the Anuran amphibian Xenopus. Interestingly, in silico analyses and literature scanning reveal that basal vertebrate ventral homeobox (ventxs) and mammalian Nanog factors share extensive structural, evolutionary and functional properties. Here, we reassess the role of ventx activity in Xenopus laevis embryos and demonstrate that they play an unanticipated role as guardians of high developmental potential during early development. Joint over-expression of Xenopus ventx1.2 and ventx2.1-b (ventx1/2) counteracts lineage commitment towards both dorsal and ventral fates and prevents msx1-induced ventralization. Furthermore, ventx1/2 inactivation leads to down-regulation of the multipotency marker oct91 and to premature differentiation of blastula cells. Finally, supporting the key role of ventx1/2 in the control of developmental potential during development, mouse Nanog (mNanog) expression specifically rescues embryonic axis formation in ventx1/2 deficient embryos. We conclude that during Xenopus development ventx1/2 activity, reminiscent of that of Nanog in mammalian embryos, controls the switch of early embryonic cells from uncommitted to committed states.
The Night is Young: Sexuality in Mexico in the Time of AIDS

"The Night is Young" takes us past the the stereotypes of macho hombres and dark-eyed senoritas to reveal the complex nature of sexuality in modern-day Mexico. Drawing on field research conducted in Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city, Hector Carrillo shows how modernization, globalization and other social changes have affected a wide range of hetero- and homosexual practices and identities. Carrillo finds that young Mexicans today grapple in a variety of ways with two competing tendencies. On the one hand, many seek to challenge traditional ideas and values they find limiting. But they also want to maintain a sense of Mexico's cultural distinctiveness, especially in relation to the United States. For example, while Mexicans are well aware of the dangers of unprotected sex, they may also prize the surrender to sexual passion, even in casual sexual encounters - an attitude which stems from the strong values placed on collective life, spontaneity and an openness toward intimacy. Because these expectations contrast sharply with messages about individuality, planning and overt negotiation commonly promoted in global public health efforts, Carrillo argues that they demand a new approach to AIDS prevention and education in Mexico. A Mexican native, Carrillo has written an insightful and accessible study of the relations between sexuality and social change in Mexico during the time of AIDS. Anyone concerned with the changing places of sexuality in a modern and increasingly globalized world should profit greatly from "The Night is Young".
Using the Black Sheep Effect to reveal normative stakes: The example of alcohol drinking contexts

The present study shows that the paradigm relative to Black Sheep Effect (BSE) may be used to reveal normative stakes whose existence is not clearly identified. To this end, our study focuses on alcohol drinking practices among students, specifically with regard to drinking contexts (solitary vs. group). Our hypothesis was that the drinking norms are determined by their context (i.e. social vs. solitary drinking). More specifically, we suggested that social drinking is viewed by students as pro-normative, while solitary drinking is viewed as anti-normative. The results confirmed our hypotheses and enable us to consider that the BSE paradigm has the potential to reveal normative stakes. Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Social Identification, Interdependence and Discrimination

For Social Identity Theory (SIT), identification with the ingroup category is a necessary condition for discrimination. In contrast, the Behavioral Interaction Model (BIM) proposes that self-interest and interdependence are at the root of discrimination. Using the minimal group paradigm, 96 undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions. In the `interdependent' condition, participants received money depending on allocations made by ingroup and outgroup others in the experiment. In both the positively and negatively autonomous conditions, participants' personal self-gain was independent of the allocations made by ingroup and outgroup others in the experiment. Contrary to the BIM, autonomous individuals discriminated as much as interdependent respondents, and discrimination was unrelated to expectations of ingroup reciprocity. In line with SIT, correlational analyses indicated that only degree of ingroup identification measured prior to discrimination was associated with discriminatory behavior. Results also showed that both degree of social identification and quality of social identity measured after the resource allocation task were positively linked to discrimination.
Costa Rica : du petit pays « démocratique, sain et pacifique », au leader de l’écotourisme et de la protection de l’environnement

Le Costa Rica est devenu une reference incontournable sur le plan de l’ecotourisme et de la conservation de l’environnement depuis une quinzaine d’annees. Le pays est « celebre pour son approche eclairee de la preservation de l’environnement ». Environ 27 % de la superficie du pays est protegee et les parcs nationaux couvrent plus de 13 % du territoire costaricien. A travers l’analyse des processus de developpement du tourisme, l’exemple du Costa Rica demontre l’importance des facteurs politiques et du controle des images dans la mise en tourisme d’un lieu.
Reconciling market requirements and operations resources: an opportunity for action learning

This article brings together the fields of action learning and operations strategy. It presents a case of action learning focused on strategic operations improvement in the extended manufacturing enterprise. As the third article in the set of explorations in this journal within the fields of action learning, operations strategy and collaborative improvement, it steps inside an inter-organisational action learning programme and exploits an operations strategy perspective on the improvement process and outcome. Through distinguishing between puzzles and problems, the article extends the scope of the operations improvement cycle and illustrates how the action learning approach can accommodate and enable engagement with the issues in potentially insightful practical and theoretical ways.
Cross Cultural Management Research

National culture is widely viewed as a constraint on management practice. However, that view is increasingly inconsistent with available empirical evidence. Building on earlier work, this article maps out the key assumptions that must be met for cross cultural management research that uses national culture (mean) scores, such as those available from Hofstede and the GLOBE project, to yield relevant and interpretable findings. It is found that these assumptions are either inconsistent with available empirical evidence or have not been adequately addressed empirically. For example, for national culture to act as a constraint on management, cultural differences within countries should be small relative to differences between countries. Evidence shows, however, that this is not the case. As a consequence of the lack of support for this and other assumptions, the article suggests that cross cultural management research needs to proceed differently in the future and provides specific recommendations in this regard. Recherche en management interculturel : hypothèses, preuves, et pistes de recherche suggérées (Barry Gerhart) La culture nationale est largement perçue comme une contrainte limitative pour les pratiques managériales. Cependant, cette vision est de plus en plus remise en cause par les preuves empiriques existantes. En s'appuyant sur des travaux antérieurs (Gerhart & Fang, 2005), je peux identifier les hypothèses clés qui doivent être validées par les travaux de recherche en management interculturel utilisant des scores en terme de culture nationale, pour fournir des résultats pertinents et interprétables, comme les travaux de Hofstede (1980, 2001) et du GLOBE project (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004). Néanmoins, j'affirme que ces hypothèses ne sont pas vérifiées par les études empiriques existantes, ou alors que les méthodes utilisées pour les vérifier empiriquement ne sont pas pertinentes. Par exemple, si la culture nationale est supposée agir comme une contrainte sur le management, cela devrait impliquer que les différences culturelles à l'intérieur d'un même pays soient plus faibles que les différences culturelles entre pays. Or, force est de constater que cela n'est pas le cas. En conséquence, comme ni cette hypothèse clé, ni d'autres, ne sont vérifiées de façon empirique, je propose que les recherches en management interculturel procèdent différemment à l'avenir. Je propose des recommandations spécifiques dans ce sens.
L'européisation des structures de représentation des intérêts : le cas des associations bancaires

Ce papier passe en revue les approches classiques de l’integration europeenne et leurs predictions concernant l’evolution des groupes d’interet en les compararant a des approches plus recentes. Les differents scenarios d’Europeisation qui en resultent sont ensuite confrontes a un terrain concret, celui des associations bancaires en Allemagne, en France, au Royaume Uni et au niveau communautaire. Le papier montre que si bien les approches traditionnelles sont encore loin d’avoir perdu tout leur pouvoir explicatif, il existe des nouvelles realites tendant a mettre a l’epreuve la pertinence de ces approches. Ainsi, certains acteurs parviennent a mettre a profit l’emergence d’un niveau de gouvernance communautaire pour remettre en question des arrangements historiques au niveau national. D’autres sont contraints de poursuivre des strategies de representation privilegiant le niveau national. On assiste a une bifurcation progressive des structures de representation des interet, qui touche a des degres divers les differents cas etudies.
Structurally Engineered Stackable and Scalable 3D Titanium‐Oxide Switching Devices for High‐Density Nanoscale Memory

A 3D high-density switching device is realized utilizing titanium oxide, which is the most optimum material, but which is not practically demonstrated yet. The 1S1R (one ReRAM with the developed switching device) exhibits memory characteristics with a significantly suppressed sneak current, which can be used to realize high-density ReRAM applications.
“What’s Cooking?”: Qualitative Evaluation of a Head Start Parent–Child Pilot Cooking Program

Providing access to nutritious foods is crucial for low-income populations, but increasing nutrition-related skills and attitudes such as food preparation, feeding practices, and positive perceptions around healthy foods to establish sustainable behavior change are paramount for the development of healthy lifestyles. This qualitative study was designed to evaluate the What’s Cooking pilot program. A total of 15 participants were recruited from two Head Start schools through flyers, text messages, and e-mails. Two focus group sessions were audiotaped to obtain information related to the program implementation and perceived outcomes and behavior change. Recordings of the sessions were transcribed and analyzed using constant comparative analysis. Resulting themes included children’s asking behavior for healthy foods, family connection, parent comfort in cooking, and development of child attitude, knowledge, and skills. The qualitative analysis provided foundational information for the development of a framework for other nutrition program providers to understand the role of the child in a cooking class as a mediator for lifestyle change. The What’s Cooking program increased the implementation of sustainable food practices and healthy nutrition behaviors through educating families on how to involve their children in positive mealtime practices.
Identification of a Compound in Chamaecyparis taiwanensis Inhibiting the Ice-nucleating Activity of Pseudomonas fluorescens KUIN-1

Inactivation of the ice-nucleating activity of Pseudomonas fluorescens KUIN-1 by compounds in the leaves from coniferous trees were investigated, and the inactivated material was identified. Intact cells of the strain KUIN-1 and the acetone or methanol extracts of leaves of various coniferous trees were allowed to react for 30 min at 18°C. Antinucleation compounds were obtained from Chamaecyparis taiwanensis. When the acetone extract from the leaves of coniferous trees was added to the cell suspension (about 106 cells/ml) in 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), the ice nucleating temperature, T50, was significantly decreased (T50<-5°C). This inhibitor was isolated by using TLC, then identified as hinokitiol based on UV-VIS, IR, and mass spectral data. When intact cells of the strain KUIN-1 were incubated with hinokitiol, limonene, and α-pinene of the principal constituent of the leaves of coniferous trees in 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), the ice-nucleating activity decreased, but not in α-terpinene. Furthermore, the ice-nucleating activities from other ice-nucleating bacteria also decreased in the presence of hinokitiol. This inhibition was proportional to the concentration of hinokitinol. The pH and thermal stabilities of the ice-nucleating activity of the cells were changed by the addition of hinokitiol (10 mM).
INFLUENCES OF PATIENTS’ AND THERAPISTS’ INTERPERSONAL PROBLEMS AND THERAPEUTIC ALLIANCE ON OUTCOME IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the importance of therapists’ and patients’ interpersonal problems as well as the impact of the therapeutic alliance on symptomatic outcome in psychotherapy. Of interest were direct effects of interpersonal problems, represented through the dimensions of affiliation and control, as well as possible interaction effects between patient and therapist variables on outcome. Further hypotheses referred to therapist differences in the predictive impact of the therapeutic alliance for outcome. Outcome ratings of 1,513 psychotherapy inpatients treated by 31 psychodynamically oriented individual psychotherapists were studied. Therapists’ and patients’ interpersonal dispositions were assessed with the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems, and patients answered standardized outcome measures before and after therapy and retrospectively evaluated the therapeutic alliance at discharge. The results indicate that dominant patients profited better from their therapy and that therapists’ interpersonal disposition did not have a direct influence on outcome. The influence of the therapeutic alliance on outcome varied among the therapists. The general positive effect of therapeutic alliance on outcome was stronger for less affiliative therapists. Limitations of the study and implications of the results are discussed.
Interferon‐γ, the functional plasticity of the ubiquitin–proteasome system, and MHC class I antigen processing

Summary: The proteasome system is a central component of a cascade of proteolytic processing steps required to generate antigenic peptides presented at the cell surface to cytotoxic T lymphocytes by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. The nascent protein pool or DRiPs (defective ribosomal products) appear to represent an important source for MHC class I epitopes. Owing to the destructive activities of aminopeptidases in the cytosol, at most 1% of the peptides generated by the ubiquitin–proteasome system seems to be made available to the immune system. Interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) helps to override these limitations by the formation of immunoproteasomes, the activator complex PA28, and the induction of several aminopeptidases. Both immunoproteasomes and PA28 use cleavage sites already used by constitutive proteasomes but with altered and in some cases dramatically enhanced frequency. Therefore, two proteolytic cascades appear to have evolved to provide MHC class I epitopes. The ‘constitutive proteolytic cascade’ is designed to efficiently degrade proteins to single amino acid residues, allowing only a small percentage of peptides to be presented at the cell surface. In contrast, the IFN‐γ‐controlled proteolytic cascade generates larger amounts of appropriate antigenic peptides, assuring more peptides to overcome the proteolytic restrictions of the constitutive system, thereby enhancing MHC class I antigen presentation.
Developing public support for human rights in the United Kingdom: reasserting the importance of socio-economic rights

Public support for human rights in the UK remains limited, partly as a result of misleading media coverage, as well as political hostility. The UK Human Rights Act, in particular, has been under sustained attack and is now threatened by the Conservative Party's drive to repeal it. We analyse recent quantitative and qualitative data on public attitudes in order to learn how to increase public support for human rights practice and principles. The conclusion we reach is that, in order to increase support for human rights in the UK, a central objective should be to shift the focus of human rights discourse so that it better reflects the every-day concerns of the UK public. We consider that this would best be achieved through emphasising socio-economic rights. This could be an especially relevant strategy in the current austerity context which presents both opportunities and threats with regard to mobilising support for human rights.
The Implementation and Application of IPTV Supported on Pull Mode of P2P

With the development of computer Internet and multimedia technologies, use pull mode of P2P to streaming media transmission technology to provide real-time streaming video and audio stream to the public through the Internet. It can make IPTV as a personalized, real-time, interactive servicing media. IPTV is television broadcasting services based on the IP protocol. Use television or personal computer as a display terminal; provide users with digital broadcast television, video services, information services interactive communities, interactive entertainment, electronic commerce and other broadband services through the broadband network. This paper first introduces the concept of P2P and its pull mode structure, then mainly analyzes the implementation and major applications of IPTV technology.
Hiding Sensitive Frequent Itemsets by a Border-Based Approach

Nowadays, sharing data among organizations is often required during the business collaboration. Data mining technology has enabled efficient extraction of knowledge from large databases. This, however, increases risks of disclosing the sensitive knowledge when the database is released to other parties. To address this privacy issue, one may sanitize the original database so that the sensitive knowledge is hidden. The challenge is to minimize the side effect on the quality of the sanitized database so that non-sensitive knowledge can still be mined. In this paper, we study such a problem in the context of hiding sensitive frequent itemsets by judiciously modifying the transactions in the database. Unlike previous work, we consider the quality of the sanitized database especially on preserving the non-sensitive frequent itemsets. To preserve the non-sensitive frequent itemsets, we propose a border-based approach to efficiently evaluate the impact of any modification to the database during the hiding process. The quality of database can be well maintained by greedily selecting the modifications with minimal side effect. Experiments results are also reported to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Genetic investigation within Lactococcus garvieae revealed two genomic lineages.

The diversity of a collection of 49 Lactococcus garvieae strains, including isolates of dairy, fish, meat, vegetable and cereal origin, was explored using a molecular polyphasic approach comprising PCR-ribotyping, REP and RAPD-PCR analyses and a multilocus restriction typing (MLRT) carried out on six partial genes (atpA, tuf, dltA, als, gapC, and galP). This approach allowed high-resolution cluster analysis in which two major groups were distinguishable: one group included dairy isolates, the other group meat isolates. Unexpectedly, of the 12 strains coming from fish, four grouped with dairy isolates, whereas the others with meat isolates. Likewise, strains isolated from vegetables allocated between the two main groups. These findings revealed high variability within the species at both gene and genome levels. The observed genetic heterogeneity among L. garvieae strains was not entirely coherent with the ecological niche of origin of the strains, but rather supports the idea of an early separation of L. garvieae population into two independent genomic lineages.
Social Trust, Social Capital and Perceptions of Immigration

Analyses of social capital and immigration have stressed the negative impact that culturally diverse societies have for the development of social trust. Ethnic heterogeneity, according to these studies, is associated with lower levels of social trust. However, social trust has not been studied as an independent variable in order to explain attitudes towards immigration. This article argues that societies with high levels of social capital facilitate the integration of immigrants because those members with high levels of social trust will tend to have more positive attitudes towards immigration. This hypothesis is empirically tested in a cross-country multi-level empirical analysis for sixteen European countries, drawing on the 2002–3 European Social Survey. This analysis shows that, regardless of the impact of other individual-level variables and contextual variables such as levels of unemployment or percentage of foreign population, those with high social capital do exhibit more positive attitudes towards immigration than the rest of the population.
Classifying Similarity and Defect Fabric Textures based on GLCM and Binary Pattern Schemes

Textures are one of the basic features in visual searching,computational vision and also a general property of any surface having ambiguity. This paper presents a texture classification system which has high tolerance against illumination variation. A Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) and binary pattern based automated similarity identification and defect detection model is presented. Different features are calculated from both GLCM and binary patterns (LBP, LLBP, and SLBP). Then a new rotation-invariant, scale invariant steerable decomposition filter is applied to filter the four orientation sub bands of the image. The experimental results are evaluated and a comparative analysis has been performed for the four different feature types. Finally the texture is classified by different classifiers (PNN, K-NN and SVM) and the classification performance of each classifier is compared. The experimental results have shown that the proposed method produces more accuracy and better classification accuracy over other methods.
The Critical Price of the American Put Near Maturity in the Jump Diffusion Model

We study the behavior of the critical price of an American put option near maturity in the jump diffusion model when the underlying stock pays dividends at a continuous rate and the limit of the critical price is smaller than the stock price. In particular, we prove that, unlike the case where the limit is equal to the strike price, jumps can influence the convergence rate.