Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning to constrain: Political competition and randomized controlled trials in development

This paper provides a political economic analysis of impact evaluation experiments con- ducted in international development. We argue that in more politically competitive environments, where incumbents face a higher probability of losing power, govern- ments have stronger incentive to run Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) experiments to constrain successors' margin of policy discretion. Moreover, the effect of compe- tition on the probability to host RCTs is stronger in more polarized societies since the incumbent's cost of losing power is higher. We first propose a formal model and then empirically examine its theoretical predictions using a unique data set on RCTs that we have compiled. Over a panel of Indian states and a cross-national panel, we nd that certain RCTs are more likely to occur in electorally competitive jurisdictions, and that the effect is amplified by political polarization. We demonstrate that politics matter for when, where, and with which partners RCTs in development happen.
Calcium channel and calcium pump involved in oscillatory hyperpolarizing responses of L‐strain mouse fibroblasts

1. In fibroblastic L cells, spontaneously repeated hyperpolarizing responses (oscillation of membrane potential) and hyperpolarizing responses evoked by electrical stimuli were suppressed by the external application of a K+ channel blocker, nonyltriethylammonium (C9). This hydrophobic TEA‐analogue also inhibited the hyperpolarization induced by intracellular Ca2+ injection.
A Space Vector based PWM Switching Scheme for the reduction of Common-Mode Voltages for a Dual Inverter fed Open-end Winding Induction motor Drive

It has been demonstrated that two two-level inverters connected at each end of an open end winding induction motor are capable of achieving the functionality of a three-level inverter. In this paper, a space vector based PWM switching scheme for the dual inverter fed open end winding induction motor drive is proposed. The common-mode voltages associated with such a drive are significantly reduced with the proposed PWM strategy. , compared to the work reported earlier. In this work, the redundancy of the space vector combinations at a particular location is exploited, to reduce the common-mode voltages at lower indices of modulation. In the work reported earlier, the common mode voltages were enhanced with the decrement of modulation index. On the contrary, the common-mode voltages are reduced with the decrement of the modulation index with the PWM strategy presented in this paper. This PWM scheme for open-end winding induction motor drives may be suitable for applications, which call for frequent starting and run at low speeds. This scheme employs only the instantaneous reference phase voltages for the implementation. The time consuming task of sector identification is avoided with the proposed switching scheme. Another advantage with this scheme is that it does not require any look-up tables for its implementation. The scheme ensures a smooth switching all through, ensuring equal switching duty for both the inverters
Modulation of focal and global Ca2+ release in calsequestrin‐overexpressing mouse cardiomyocytes

1 Focal and global Ca2+ releases were monitored in voltage‐clamped control and hypertrophied calsequestrin (CSQ)‐overexpressing mouse cardiomyocytes, dialysed with fluo‐3, using rapid (120‐240 frames s−1) two‐dimensional confocal imaging. 2 Spontaneous focal Ca2+ releases (Ca2+ sparks) were absent or significantly reduced in frequency in hypertrophied myocytes of CSQ‐overexpressing mice compared to their age‐matched controls. Sporadic Ca2+ sparks seen in CSQ‐overexpressing myocytes had intensities and durations similar to those of controls although quantitative analysis showed a trend towards more diffuse focal releases. 3 Activation of Ca2+ current (ICa) failed to produce the typical sarcomeric Ca2+ striping pattern consistently seen in control myocytes. Instead, focal Ca2+ releases appeared as a disorganized patchwork of diffuse or ‘woolly’ fluorescence signals, resulting in slowly developing and reduced global Ca2+ transients. 4 Although the density of ICa in CSQ‐overexpressing myocytes was only slightly smaller than that of controls, the inactivation kinetics of the current were greatly reduced, consistent with the much smaller rate of rise of cytosolic Ca2+. 5 Enhancement of ICa by elevation of [Ca2+]o from 2 to 10 mM or addition of 3 μM isoproterenol (isoprenaline) failed to normalize the frequency of spontaneous Ca2+ sparks at rest or the pattern and the magnitude of ICa‐gated Ca2+ transients. Isoproterenol was somewhat more effective than elevation of [Ca2+]o. 6 In sharp contrast, low (0·5 mM) caffeine concentrations that produced no measurable effects on ICa or Ca2+ transients in control myocytes, re‐established spontaneous focal Ca2+ releases in CSQ‐overexpressing cells, triggered large ICa‐gated cellular Ca2+ transients, and strongly enhanced the kinetics of inactivation of ICa. 7 Our data suggest that impaired Ca2+ signalling in CSQ‐overexpressing myocytes results from reduced co‐ordination and decreased frequency of Ca2+ sparks. The impaired Ca2+ signalling could not be restored by procedures that increased ICa, but was mostly restored in the presence of caffeine, which may alter the Ca2+ sensitivity of the ryanodine receptor.
T cell receptor/CD3 and CD28 use distinct intracellular signaling pathways

Ligation of the T cell membrane antigen CD28 strongly enhances cytokine secretion in human T lymphocytes that are activated via T cell receptor (TcR)/CD3 or CD2 molecules. This study was undertaken to investigate whether, as has been indicated for activation via TcR/CD3, stimulation via CD28 is dependent on the activation of protein kinase C (PKC). Two inhibitors of PKC, 1‐alkyl 2‐methyl‐glycerol and staurosporine, caused a dose‐dependent inhibition of T cell proliferation induced by anti‐CD3 monoclonal antibodies (mAb). The induction of interleukin (IL)2 secretion was found to be more sensitive to the effects of the PKC inhibitors than the up‐regulation of IL2 receptor expression. In marked contrast, the anti‐CD28 mAb‐mediated enhancement of T cell proliferation and IL 2 secretion were insensitive to the action of either compound. We conclude that two independent signaling pathways may be operational in human T cells. The first used by TcR/CD3 depends on the activation of PKC, whereas the second is employed by CD28 and functions independently of PKC.
Identification of a Locus Increasing Rice Yield and Physiological Analysis of Its Function1

I identified a new locus responsible for increased yield potential and evaluated its physiological function to understand how to improve potential yield in rice (Oryza sativa) plants. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for 1,000-grain weight (TGW) were analyzed under different environments over 3 years in backcross inbred lines of rice japonica cv Nipponbare × indica cv Kasalath. Four QTLs for this trait were detected across environments; rice cv Kasalath had a positive allele only at one QTL on chromosome 6 (tgw6). A near-isogenic line (NILtgw6) that carried a rice cv Kasalath chromosomal segment corresponding to tgw6 in the rice cv Nipponbare genetic background was selected and analyzed to clarify the physiological function of this locus. The carbohydrate storage capacity before heading in NILtgw6 was superior to that in rice cv Nipponbare (control), but other characters (e.g. photosynthetic ability in flag leaf and traits related to plant type) were the same in both plants. In the leaf sheath, the main organ that accumulates carbohydrate before heading in rice, higher contents of carbohydrate and transcripts of genes related to starch synthesis were found in NILtgw6 than in rice cv Nipponbare. Compared with those in rice cv Nipponbare, a high-yield modern cultivar, TGW and yield per plant were significantly higher in NILtgw6, by 10% and 15%, respectively (P[f] < 0.01). These results suggest that tgw6 improves the carbohydrate storage capacity and consequently increases the yield potential in NILtgw6.
[Schooling, living conditions and study motivation of students partaking in the traditional or reformed course of instruction at the Charité (Hospital)].

BACKGROUND There are two different tracks in undergraduate medical education at the Charité, a traditional (TT) one and a reformed one (RT) which was implemented in 1999. We report a survey reflecting on possible differences between students joining the two tracks. METHODS During the winter term 2001/02 a questionnaire was sent to all 223 newly enrolled medical students. Three groups were distinguished: those following either the traditional or the reformed course (TT or RT), or those who followed the TT, although they had applied for it, because there were not enough vacancies in the RT. PARTICIPANTS 150 (63% female; average age: 21.5 years) of 223 first year medical students. RESULTS Applicants for the RT did not differ significantly from those of the other groups with respect to school-leaving grades, their choice of main courses at school an their motivation to study medicine. But they differed in the demands that they placed on their instruction. The wish for a good practical medical training, advancing their individual potential and the ability to select for themselves any instructional priorities were of greater importance for those choosing the RT than those who preferred the TT. More students of the RT than the TT would again have chosen to study medicine and less often stated that they had considered giving up their medical course. CONCLUSION Students have different expectations concerning medical curricula. The possibility to choose between different ways of studying may help to meet different expectations.
Induction of necrosis and apoptosis of neutrophil granulocytes by Streptococcus pneumoniae

Apoptosis followed by macrophage phagocytosis is the principal mechanism by which neutrophil granulocytes (PMN) are removed from the site of inflammation. To investigate whether Streptococcus pneumoniae causes apoptosis of PMN, we exposed PMN to viable and heat‐killed pneumococci and purified pneumococcal cell walls (PCW). The occurrence of PMN cell death was quantified by flow cytometry using annexin V/propidium iodide labelling of the cells. Intracellular histone‐associated DNA fragments were quantified by ELISA. The presence of apoptosis was confirmed by in situ tailing. Exposure of PMN to viable pneumococci caused necrosis of the cells. The pneumococcal cytotoxin pneumolysin, the bacterial production of hydrogen peroxide, and PCW contributed to necrosis. Heat‐killed pneumococci accelerated the process of apoptosis observed in cultivated non‐stimulated PMN in vitro. These results demonstrated that pneumococci induce PMN cell death. Depending on the intensity of the stimulus, PMN necrosis and apoptosis were observed.
Electromyography (EMG) based signal analysis for physiological device application in lower limb rehabilitation

Electromyography (EMG) is an experiment-based method for evaluating and recording a series of electrical signals that emanate from body muscles. The electrical manifestation of neuromuscular activation generated in muscles during contraction and/or relaxation is known as EMG signals. In this paper, a preliminary study is conducted in order to improve the fitness of post-stroke survivors with a minimal supervision from therapists in physiological activity especially on the lower limb rehabilitation. Therefore, a pattern recognition technique is required to extract the important features of an EMG signal to control the physiological devices (PDs), for instance, cycling-like and stepping-like machines in a lower limb rehab application. A new approach for feature extraction vectors in a recognition system will be proposed using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) algorithms. In addition to this, a Principle Component Analysis (PCA) method will be utilized to reduce the dimension of data in prior to computing the classification accuracy using the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS).
Factors affecting biodegradation of 2‐chlorophenol by Alcaligenes sp. in aerobic reactors

The influence of variations in carbon source concentration, cell inocula, pH, presence of other substrates, and other organisms on the biodegradation of 2‐chlorophenol (2‐CP) was studied for Alcaligenes sp. isolated from natural sources. Assays of biodegradation were performed in batch and continuous‐flow fluidized‐bed aerobic reactors. Evaluation of biodegradation was performed by determining total phenols, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and 2‐CP by ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometry. Measurement of microbial growth was carried out by the plate count method. Bioassays of acute toxicity were performed to evaluate detoxification by using Daphnia magna. Results obtained show that under batch conditions with initial inocula of 106 cells/mL the strain grew exponentially with 100, 200, and 300 mg/L of 2‐CP within 48 hr. A lag period was observed with low cell density inocula (105 cells/mL). The strain showed marked delay in the biodegradation of 2‐CP at pH 5. Removal of target substrate from mixtures containing other carbon sources demonstrated the possibility of concurrent growth. Mineralization of 2‐CP was assessed by gas chromatography carried out at the end of the batch assays and at the exit of the continuous‐flow reactor. The presence of other organisms (bacteria, rotifers, ciliate, and algae) that developed in the fluidized‐bed reactor did not affect the efficacy of the biodegradation of 2‐CP. The removal of 2‐CP in the two assayed systems was over 97% in all cases. Toxicity was not detected at the exit of the continuous reactor. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Environ Toxicol 16: 306–313, 2001
Norfloxacin‐induced DNA gyrase cleavage complexes block Escherichia coli replication forks, causing double‐stranded breaks in vivo

Antibacterial quinolones inhibit type II DNA topoisomerases by stabilizing covalent topoisomerase‐DNA cleavage complexes, which are apparently transformed into double‐stranded breaks by cellular processes such as replication. We used plasmid pBR322 and two‐dimensional agarose gel electrophoresis to examine the collision of replication forks with quinolone‐induced gyrase‐DNA cleavage complexes in Escherichia coli. Restriction endonuclease‐digested DNA exhibited a bubble arc with discrete spots, indicating that replication forks had been stalled. The most prominent spot depended upon the strong gyrase binding site of pBR322, providing direct evidence that quinolone‐induced cleavage complexes block bacterial replication forks in vivo. We differentiated between stalled forks that do or do not contain bound cleavage complex by extracting DNA under different conditions. Resealing conditions allow gyrase to efficiently reseal the transient breaks within cleavage complexes, while cleavage conditions cause the latent breaks to be revealed. These experiments showed that some stalled forks did not contain a cleavage complex, implying that gyrase had dissociated in vivo and yet the fork had not restarted at the time of DNA isolation. Additionally, some branched plasmid DNA isolated under resealing conditions nonetheless contained broken DNA ends. We discuss a model for the creation of double‐stranded breaks by an indirect mechanism after quinolone treatment.
The media whiteness of Social Security and Medicare

ABSTRACT The mass media often represent black Americans in negative, stereotypical, and inaccurate ways. Scholars know much less about how the media characterize white citizens and the implications of these depictions for public opinion and public policy. In this research, we examine the whiteness of two popular social welfare programs—Social Security and Medicare. We argue that at least part of the popularity of these policies stems from their construction as programs serving white Americans. The media whiteness of these programs creates a positive depiction since many citizens perceive whites as hard-working, intelligent, and deserving of benefits. To examine the portrayal of Social Security and Medicare, we analyze media coverage of these programs in five news magazines between 2007 and 2017. We demonstrate that news magazines portray these well-liked social programs by overwhelmingly highlighting white beneficiaries. Further, the media often depict these white recipients in a sympathetic and positive manner. This is in sharp contrast to media coverage of poor people that disproportionately, inaccurately, and unsympathetically focuses on black citizens.
Disorder or Reorder? The Spatial Production of State-Level New Areas in China

With rapid urbanization in the world, new town construction has become prosperous. In particular, new emerging towns in China are unique because of the most significant movement of “building cities”. Over four decades of reform and opening-up, this movement has brought about a special development model known as State-level New Area (SLNA) which, like a new town, is causing a growth spurt in national and regional economic development. By applying the critical theory of production of space, this paper gives an overall analysis. SLNAs generate a new expansion pattern of urban space in the regionalization process dominated by governments. To reveal the spatiotemporal evolution logic of SLNA, the framework identifies the main characteristics contributing to spatial production: both bottom-up and top-down project on construction; a sharp and unordered trend of increment in time scale; an unbalanced regional distribution in the sequential order of “Eastern–Western–Northeastern–Central” among regions; complex spatial overlaying with different development zones and administrative divisions; and large-scale spatial expanding. This paper finds that the ongoing growth of SLNAs is a rapid process of spatial production with more contradictions, which is especially marked by tension between disorder and reorder. We hope to provide theoretical reference and practical guidance for the sustainable urbanization and orderly regional development of SLNAs.
Business Processes and Business Functions: A New Way of Looking at Employment: A New BLS Classification System Used in Conjunction with the Agency's Mass Layoff Statistics Program Yields Fresh Information on Business Processes and Functions Affected by Mass Layoff Events

Sharon P. Brown is Chief, Division of Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics. E-mail: brown.sharon@bls.gov When employers decide to add or eliminate jobs, they are sometimes guided by larger choices to add or eliminate entire classes of activity—business functions—within the company. What may appear to be incremental hiring may in fact be the gradual buildup of a new business function, such as an in-house information technology development department. Or, instead, a mass layoff may stem from a decision to outsource a specific business function, such as human resources management, logistics, janitorial maintenance, or even manufacturing. Deciding which business functions to source to outside vendors and which to perform in-house is a critical part of corporate strategy, as companies seek to become more efficient and competitive or address changes in demand for outputs or supply of inputs. In an attempt to shed more light on how workplaces and industries are changing, a classification system has been developed that describes basic business processes of the firm and the business functions that are associated with them. This system is now being used in the Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program to identify the functions and processes involved in job losses from extended mass layoffs. The system, which is now providing new information on the nature of this type of change in establishments and industries, can be applied equally to other measures of employment, including the current employment structure of a firm, organizational expansions and job growth, and the geographic location of outsourced work. Called Business Processes and Business Functions, the system is based on an approach that is a synthesis derived from existing literature, models of firms’ activities, current research on outsourcing and offshoring, the results of a feasibility study of business functions conducted by the BLS MLS program, and the ongoing collection of the relevant information throughout the Nation by the program.
Cutting Edge Commentary: Two B-1 or Not To Be One1

B-1 cells differ from conventional B-2 cells both phenotypically and functionally. Two seemingly mutually exclusive hypotheses have been proposed to explain the origin of B-1 cells. The lineage hypothesis holds that certain B cell precursors are destined early on to become B-1 cells. The differentiation hypothesis holds that every B cell has the same potential to acquire B-1 characteristics. Reconsideration of previous studies of transgenic and knockout mice, plus recent results identifying differences between splenic and peritoneal B-1 cells, point to unexpected complexity in the pathway leading to B-1 status. A new paradigm is suggested, in which surface Ig signaling is required for B-1 cell production, but in which the signaling threshold and context that lead to B-1 cell development and/or expansion differ for particular B cell precursors. Surface Ig signaling may also produce receptor editing, apoptotic deletion, and tolerance induction; how these different outcomes are determined remains uncertain.
A cost of being amicable in a hibernating mammal

Amicable social interactions can enhance fitness in many species, have negligible consequences for some, and reduce fitness in others. For yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris), a facultatively social rodent species with demonstrable costs of social relationships during the active season, the effects of sociality on overwinter survival have yet to be fully investigated. Here, we explored how summer social interactions, quantified as social network attributes, influenced marmot survival during hibernation. Using social data collected from 2002 to 2012 on free-living yellow-bellied marmots, we calculated 8 social network measures (in-degree, out-degree, in-closeness, out-closeness, in-strength, out-strength, embeddedness, and clustering coefficient) for both affiliative and agonistic interactions. We performed a principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce those attributes to 3 affiliative (connectedness, strength, and clustering) and 4 agonistic (submissiveness, bullying, strength, and clustering) components. Then, we fitted a generalized linear mixed model to explain variation in overwinter survival as a function of these social components, along with body mass, sex, age, weather conditions, hibernation group size, and hibernation group composition. We found that individuals with stronger amicable relationships were more likely to die during hibernation. This suggests that social relationships, even affiliative ones, need not be beneficial; for yellow-bellied marmots, they can even be fatal.