Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Teaching Complexity: The Limits of Evidence and the ‘Prospective’ Case Study

Policy practitioner–students in a Master of Public Policy programme in New Zealand describe many problems and processes in their work environments as ‘complex’. Yet, they hold firmly to a belief in the merits of ‘evidence’ to guide their advice and decision making in the face of that complexity. This article examines the aims and pedagogy of a two-course sequence designed to help students replace over-reliance on analysing existing evidence with understanding of the ways complexity concepts can aid in estimating possible outcomes of policy interventions. Starting with identifying evidence challenges, students learn how to compare a status quo situation and a prospective case of that status quo in which a new policy has been implemented. This method draws on existing scholarship in lesson-drawing for policy applications. Students are eased into an appreciation of a variety of complexity frameworks and concepts by looking at a case about which there is, strictly speaking, no evidence.
The Accuracy of Power Law Based Similarity Model in Phonebook-Centric Social Networks

Social networks are becoming increasingly popular nowadays. The increasing capabilities of mobile phones enable them to participate in such networks. We should consider the fact, that the phonebooks in the mobile devices represent social relationships that can be integrated in the social networks. Such networks provide a synchronization mechanism between phonebooks of the users and the social network which allows detecting other users listed in the phonebooks. Users can accept detected similarities. After that, if one of their contacts changes her or his personal detail, it will be propagated automatically into the phonebooks, after considering privacy settings. Estimating the total number of these similarities is a key issue from scalability point of view in such networks. We implemented a phonebook-centric social network, called Phonebookmark and investigated the structure of the network. Previously it was shown that the distribution of similarities follows a power law. Also a model was proposed by us, which can be used to calculate the total number of similarities. However the accuracy of the model is another question, because of the infinite variance of the power law distribution. The contribution of this paper is that using the fact that a member of the network can only be involved in a limited number of similarities results in a similarity distribution with a finite variance. Therefore, central limit theorems can be used to show the accuracy of our estimation of the total number of similarities. However the model can be used in other power law distributions which apply to the requirements.
Expression patterns of Xenopus FGF receptor‐like 1/nou‐darake in early Xenopus development resemble those of planarian nou‐darake and Xenopus FGF8

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) mediate many cell‐to‐cell signaling events during early development. Nou‐darake (ndk), a gene encoding an FGF receptor (FGFR)‐like molecule, was found to be highly and specifically expressed in the head region of the planarian Dugesia japonica, and its functional analyses provided strong molecular evidence for the existence of a brain‐inducing circuit based on the FGF signaling pathway. To analyze the role of ndk during vertebrate development, we isolated the Xenopus ortholog of ndk, the vertebrate FGFR‐like 1 gene (XFGFRL1). Expression of XFGFRL1/Xndk was first detected in the anterior region at the late gastrula stage and dramatically increased at the early neurula stage in an overall anterior mesendodermal region, including the prechordal plate, paraxial mesoderm, anterior endoderm, and archenteron roof. This anterior expression pattern resembles that of ndk in planarians, suggesting that the expression of FGFRL1/ndk is conserved in evolution between these two distantly diverged organisms. During the tail bud stages, XFGFRL1/Xndk expression was detected in multiple regions, including the forebrain, eyes, midbrain–hindbrain boundary, otic vesicles, visceral arches, and somites. In many of these regions, XFGFRL1/Xndk was coexpressed with XFGF8, indicating that XFGFRL1/Xndk is a member of the XFGF8 synexpression group, which includes sprouty, sef, and isthmin. Developmental Dynamics 230:700–707, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The relationship between worker, occupational and workplace characteristics and whether an injury requires time off work: a matched case-control analysis in Ontario, Canada.

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to examine individual, occupational, and workplace level factors associated with time loss following a similar injury. METHODS Seven thousand three hundred and forty-eight workers' compensation claims that did not require time off work were matched with up to four claims that required time off work on the event, nature, and part of body injured as well as injury year. Conditional logistic regression models examined individual, occupational, and workplace level factors that were associated with the likelihood of not requiring time off work. RESULTS Employees from firms with higher premium rates were more likely to report no time loss from work and workers in more physically demanding occupations were less likely to report no time loss from work. We observed no association between age or gender and the probability of a time loss claim submission. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that insurance costs are an incentive for workplaces to adopt policies and practices that minimize time loss following a work injury.
A theoretical framework for the immunoepidemiology of Plasmodium falciparum malaria

Molecular genetic analyses of P. falciparum have led to the cloning and sequencing of a number of antigens that are potential candidates for vaccination against malaria. Seroepidemiological studies in endemic areas have attempted to assess the relative importance of these antigens in protection against malaria. In this paper, we attempt to evaluate the relative contributions of conserved and strain‐specific immune responses by modelling their influence of age‐specific patterns of infection and disease. The modelling exercises in this paper clearly demonstrate that the observed patterns of age‐prevalence are best explained by proposing that the accumulation to a threshold of an immune response against a conserved determinant is required for protection against infection, while ‘anti‐disease’ immunity develops more linearly with exposure. This is compatible with the conjecture that the parasite population is structured into several independently transmitted strains, that each confers some degree of ‘anti‐disease’ immunity, but does not protect against further infection by the same strain. Within this framework, the average duration of parasitaemia increases with age, as previously encountered strains endure for longer periods at a subclinical level. Indirect evidence for the increase in duration of parasitaemia with age may be obtained from a comparison of age‐prevalence curves between dry and rainy seasons. By using mathematical methods to structure epidemiological and immunological information, we provide a coherent theoretical framework for the dissection of the important components of naturally acquired immunity to malaria.
Replacement of Trp in Escherichia coli Thioredoxin by Site-directed Mutagenesis Affects Thermodynamic Stability but Not Function (*)

Escherichia coli thioredoxin contains two tryptophan residues (Trp and Trp) situated close to the active site disulfide/dithiol. In order to probe the structural and functional roles of tryptophan in the mechanism of E. coli thioredoxin (Trx), we have replaced Trp with alanine using site-directed mutagenesis and expressed the mutant protein W28A in E. coli. Changes in the behavior of the mutant protein compared with the wild-type protein have been monitored by a number of physical and spectroscopic techniques and enzyme assays. As expected, removal of a tryptophan residue causes profound changes in the fluorescence spectrum of thioredoxin, particularly for the reduced protein (Trx-(SH)), and to a lesser extent for the oxidized protein (Trx-S). These results show that the major contribution to the strongly quenched fluorescence of Trx-S in both wild-type and mutant proteins is from Trp, whereas the higher fluorescence quantum yield of Trx-(SH) in the wild-type protein is dominated by the emission from Trp. The fluorescence, CD, and 1H NMR spectra are all indicative that the mutant protein is fully folded at pH 7 and room temperature, and, despite the significance of the change, from a tryptophan in close proximity to the active site to an alanine, the functions of the protein appear to be largely intact. W28A Trx-S is a good substrate for thioredoxin reductase, and W28A Trx-(SH) is as efficient as wild-type protein in reduction of insulin disulfides. DNA polymerase activity exhibited by the complex of phage T7 gene 5 protein and Trx-(SH) is affected only marginally by the W28A substitution, consistent with the buried position of Trp in the protein. However, the thermodynamic stability of the molecule appears to have been greatly reduced by the mutation: guanidine hydrochloride unfolds the protein at a significantly lower concentration for the mutant than for wild type, and the thermal stability is reduced by about 10°C in each case. The stability of each form of the protein appears to be reduced by the same amount, an indication that the effect of the mutation is identical in both forms of the protein. Thus, despite its close proximity to the active site, the Trp residue of thioredoxin is not apparently essential to the electron transfer mechanism, but rather contributes to the stability of the protein fold in the active site region.
Gemcitabine as single agent therapy in advanced non small cell lung cancer and quality of life in the elderly.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study is to test the efficacy of gemcitabine as single agent therapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer in the elderly by the evaluation of the clinical response, the survival increase and the quality of life. METHODS Nineteen patients (age >65 years) with a PS >2, bearing an advanced non-small cell lung cancer (IIIb-IV) not treated with chemotherapy before, were charged between December 1996 and December 1998. Sixteen patients were treated with gemcitabine at the dose of 1000 mg/mq 1-8-15 every 28 days. CT scan, X-rays and skeletal scintigraphy were used in the evaluation of the therapeutic response. The toxicity was estimated by following WHO indexes. The quality of life and the modification of the specific symptoms were estimated by particular tests (Spitzer Index, IADL, EORTC-LC13). RESULTS One complete response (6%), 4 partial responses (25%), 7 cases of illness stabilization (43%), 4 cases of illness progression, were shown. One year of survival was found in 43% of cases with a 14 week of therapeutic response and a global survival ratio of 12.4 weeks. Only 2 cases (12.5) of medium grade G3-leucopenia were found. All patients improved their quality of life (IADL and Spitzer indexes) with reduction of symptoms, (EORTC-LC13) and increase of self-agin and relationships. CONCLUSIONS The effectiveness of gemcitabine as single agent therapy as not yet been tested due to the scanty number of patients, nevertheless it must be considered in relation to the improvement of the patient s quality of life.
Neuroglian and DE-cadherin activate independent cytoskeleton assembly pathways in Drosophila S2 cells.

The cytoskeletal proteins spectrin and ankyrin colocalize with sites of E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion in mammalian cells. Here we examined the effects of Drosophila DE-cadherin expression on spectrin and ankyrin in Drosophila S2 tissue culture cells. DE-cadherin caused a dramatic change in the cytoplasmic concentration and distribution of armadillo, the Drosophila homolog of beta catenin. However, DE-cadherin expression had no detectable effect on the quantity or subcellular distribution of ankyrin or spectrin. In reciprocal experiments, recruitment of ankyrin and alphabeta spectrin to the plasma membrane by another cell adhesion molecule, neuroglian, had no effect on the quantity or distribution of armadillo. The results indicate that DE-cadherin-catenin complexes and neuroglian-spectrin/ankyrin complexes form by nonintersecting pathways. Recruitment of spectrin does not appear to be a conserved feature of DE-cadherin function.
Dietary Folate Intake in Combination with MTHFR C677T Genotype and Promoter Methylation of Tumor Suppressor and DNA Repair Genes in Sporadic Colorectal Adenomas

Methylation of the promoter region of tumor suppressor genes is increasingly recognized to play a role in cancer development through silencing of gene transcription. We examined the associations between dietary folate intake, MTHFR C677T genotype, and promoter methylation of six tumor suppressor and DNA repair genes. Patients with colorectal adenoma (n = 149) and controls (n = 286) with folate intake in the upper or lower tertile with the CC or TT genotype were selected from a case-control study. Methylation-specific PCRs were conducted on colorectal adenoma specimens. The percentages of promoter methylation ranged from 15.7% to 64.2%. In case-case comparisons, folate was inversely associated with promoter methylation, especially among TT homozygotes. Case-control comparisons suggested that folate was not associated with the occurrence of adenomas with promoter methylation, and increased the risk of unmethylated adenomas, especially in TT homozygotes. The interactions between folate and MTHFR genotype were most pronounced for O6-MGMT: compared with CC homozygotes with low folate intake, the adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of having a methylated O6-MGMT promoter were 3.39 (0.82-13.93) for TT homozygotes with low folate intake and 0.37 (0.11-1.29) for TT homozygotes with high folate intake (P interaction = 0.02); the odds ratios for the occurrence of adenomas without methylation were 0.57 (0.16-2.11) for TT homozygotes with low folate intake and 3.37 (1.17-9.68) for TT homozygotes with high folate intake (P interaction = 0.03). In conclusion, folate intake seems to be inversely associated with promoter methylation in colorectal adenomas in case-case comparisons, and was positively associated with the occurrence of adenomas without promoter methylation in case-control comparisons, especially for TT homozygotes. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(2):327–33)
Oxidative Damage of DJ-1 Is Linked to Sporadic Parkinson and Alzheimer Diseases*

Mutations in DJ-1 cause an autosomal recessive, early onset familial form of Parkinson disease (PD). However, little is presently known about the role of DJ-1 in the more common sporadic form of PD and in other age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer disease (AD). Here we report that DJ-1 is oxidatively damaged in the brains of patients with idiopathic PD and AD. By using a combination of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry, we have identified 10 different DJ-1 isoforms, of which the acidic isoforms (pI 5.5 and 5.7) of DJ-1 monomer and the basic isoforms (pI 8.0 and 8.4) of SDS-resistant DJ-1 dimer are selectively accumulated in PD and AD frontal cortex tissues compared with age-matched controls. Quantitative Western blot analysis shows that the total level of DJ-1 protein is significantly increased in PD and AD brains. Mass spectrometry analyses reveal that DJ-1 is not only susceptible to cysteine oxidation but also to previously unsuspected methionine oxidation. Furthermore, we show that DJ-1 protein is irreversibly oxidized by carbonylation as well as by methionine oxidation to methionine sulfone in PD and AD. Our study provides new insights into the oxidative modifications of DJ-1 and indicates association of oxidative damage to DJ-1 with sporadic PD and AD.
Inactivation of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells during early mycobacterial infection increases cytokine production but does not affect pathogen load

Mycobacterium tuberculosis uses numerous mechanisms to avoid elimination by the infected host. In this study, we investigated the possibility whether, similar to other pathogens, M. tuberculosis exploits natural CD4+CD25+ T‐regulatory cells (Treg) to suppress the effector function of responding host lymphocytes, thus enhancing its survival. During a Mycobacterium bovis bacille calmette guerin (BCG) pulmonary infection, we observed a 2.8‐fold increase in forkhead box P3 (Foxp3+) CD25+ Treg in the lung. To inactivate the Treg in vivo, an mAb was given against CD25 (PC61) 3 days before a pulmonary infection with BCG or M. tuberculosis. Following PC61 treatment, we observed significantly decreased CD25 expression on CD4+ T lymphocytes for at least 23 days in the blood, spleen and lung when compared with the control mice. To determine whether Treg inactivation affected the protective antimycobacterial immune response, we measured cytokine production by flow cytometry. We observed small, but significant increases in the percentages of both IFN‐γ‐producing and IL‐2‐producing CD4+ cells from the spleen and the IL‐2‐producing CD4+ cells from the lungs of PC61‐treated BCG‐infected mice compared with the infected control mice. Despite this, there was neither a difference between the lung bacterial burdens of PC61‐treated mice and control mice, measured until day 44 postinfection, nor was there an effect on infection‐induced lung pathology. Together, these data imply that the absence of natural Treg early after infection results in a small increase in cytokine production, but this does not alter the course of either M. tuberculosis or BCG infections. This contrasts with the important role that natural Treg play in the pathogenesis of many other intracellular infectious organisms.
Behavioral Finance Option Pricing Formulas Consistent with Rational Dynamic Asset Pricing

We derive behavioral finance option pricing formulas consistent with the rational dynamic asset pricing theory. In the existing behavioral finance option pricing formulas, the price process of the representative agent is not a semimartingale, which leads to arbitrage opportunities for the option seller. In the literature on behavioral finance option pricing it is allowed the option buyer and seller to have different views on the instantaneous mean return of the underlying price process, which leads to arbitrage opportunities according to Black (1972). We adjust the behavioral finance option pricing formulas to be consistent with the rational dynamic asset pricing theory, by introducing transaction costs on the velocity of trades which offset the gains from the arbitrage trades.
Early intervention and evaluation for adult‐onset psychosis: the JCEP study rationale and design

Psychotic disorders incur substantial long‐term burdens to patients and society. Early intervention (EI) during the initial years of psychotic disorders can improve long‐term outcome. In Hong Kong, a pilot EI programme (EASY, Early Assessment Service for Young people with psychosis) had been set up since 2001 to serve clients under 25 years of age. Although EASY has been effective in improving outcome, consolidation of early psychosis work requires further development.
Research on the Self-management Mechanism of Foreign students: A Case study of Shanghai Polytechnic University

With the development of China's Belt and Road international strategy, more and more foreign students choose to study in China, which has further promoted the development of studying in China, and put forward higher requirements for the management of foreign students in Chinese universities. At present, there are some universal problems in the management of foreign students in domestic universities which the management mechanism is not mature enough. Taking Shanghai Polytechnic University as an example, this paper analyzes the present situation of the management of foreign students, and finds that the existing management mode determines students' poor sense of professional belonging, the college does not carry out the ideological education of foreign students, and the university is lack of self-management service system for foreign students. In view of the above problems, the author puts forward the construction path of the self-management mechanism for foreign students, that is, to formulate and perfect the relevant system of self-management of foreign students, to strengthen emotional input and correct guidance, and to realize self-management with students as the main body.
Electronic Human Resources Management (e-HRM) Adoption Studies: Past and Future Research

Electronic human resource management (e-HRM) systems become more widely used by profit and non-profit organization. However, the field currently lacks sound theoretical frameworks that can be useful in addressing a key issue concerning the implementation of e-HRM systems, in particular to obtain a better understanding of the factors influencing the adoption of e-HRM systems. The objective of this paper is to provide a foundation towards the development of a theoretical framework for the implementation of e-HRM systems and develop a conceptual model that would reflect the nature of e-HRM systems’ adoption through systematic literature review. Adopting Crossan and Apaydin’s procedure of systematic review, this paper investigated 21 empirical papers of electronics human resources management, then categorized them into 4 characteristics which influence the adoption; System and technology characteristics; Organizational characteristics; User/individual characteristics, and Environmental and contextual characteristics. Finally, the e-HRM adoption research framework is drawn and based on the framework; avenues for future research are discussed. Bahasa Indonesia Abstrak : Manajemen sumber daya manusia elektronik (selanjutnya disebut dengan e-HRM) semakin banyak digunakan oleh organisasi profit dan nonprofit. Namun, bidang dan topik ini belum memiliki kerangka teori yang mapan, yang dapat digunakan untuk menganalisis isu-isu terkait penerapan e-HRM, terutama mengenai faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi adopsi sistem e-HRM. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk memberikan landasan bagi pengembangan kerangka teoritis untuk implementasi sistem e-HRM dan mengembangkan model konseptual yang akan menggambarkan adopsi sistem e-HRM melalui tinjauan literatur sistematis. Mengadopsi prosedur dan metode Crossan dan Apaydin untuk melakukan telaah literatur secara sistematis, paper ini menyelidiki 21 publikasi empiris manajemen sumber daya manusia elektronik dari 2 database internasional; Business Source Premier dan Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), kemudian mengelompokkannya ke dalam 4 karakteristik yang mempengaruhi adopsi e-HRM; (1). Karakteristik sistem dan teknologi, (2). Karakteristik organisasi, (3). Karakteristik pengguna / individu, dan (4). Karakteristik lingkungan dan kontekstual. Paper ini juga menggambarkan kerangka penelitian adopsi e-HRM serta usulan-usulan untuk penelitian mendatang.