Potential Application of the CRISPR/Cas9 System against Herpesvirus Infections.

The CRISPR/Cas9 system has been applied in the genome editing and disruption of latent infections for herpesviruses such as the herpes simplex virus, Epstein⁻Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, and Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. CRISPR/Cas9-directed mutagenesis can introduce similar types of mutations to the viral genome as can bacterial artificial chromosome recombination engineering, which maintains and reconstitutes the viral genome successfully. The cleavage mediated by CRISPR/Cas9 enables the manipulation of disease-associated viral strains with unprecedented efficiency and precision. Additionally, current therapies for herpesvirus productive and latent infections are limited in efficacy and cannot eradicate viruses. CRISPR/Cas9 is potentially adapted for antiviral treatment by specifically targeting viral genomes during latent infections. This review, which focuses on recently published progress, suggests that the CRISPR/Cas9 system is not only a useful tool for basic virology research, but also a promising strategy for the control and prevention of herpesvirus latent infections

Top Quark Forward-Backward Asymmetry and Same-Sign Top Quark Pairs

The top quark forward-backward asymmetry measured at the Tevatron collider shows a large deviation from standard model expectations. Among possible interpretations, a non-universal $Z^\prime$ model is of particular interest as it naturally predicts a top quark in the forward region of large rapidity. To reproduce the size of the asymmetry, the couplings of the $Z^\prime$ to standard model quarks must be large, inevitably leading to copious production of same-sign top quark pairs at the energies of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We explore the discovery potential for $tt$ and $ttj$ production in early LHC experiments at 7-8 TeV and conclude that if {\it no} $tt$ signal is observed with 1 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, then a non-universal $Z^\prime$ alone cannot explain the Tevatron forward-backward asymmetry.Comment: Tevatron limit from same-sign tt search adde

Tax policy and innovation performance: Evidence from enactment of the Alternative Simplified Credit

We examine how direct tax incentives affect firm innovation performance using a new U.S. R&D tax credit regime enacted in 2007, the Alternative Simplified Credit (ASC). A difference-in- differences analysis indicates that innovation performance is poorer for ASC users than for firms using the original R&D tax credit method following the ASC enactment. The results are stronger for firms with poorer governance and greater innovation diversity. ASC users suffer from poorer profitability and lower valuations. The findings remain robust to self-selection bias and various robustness checks. Our evidence favors a dark-side view of R&D tax credit effects under the ASC

Using a Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithm for Solving Signal Transmission Station Location and Allocation Problem with Different Regional Communication Quality Restriction

This study aims to investigate the signal transmission station location-allocation problems with the various restricted regional constraints. In each constraint, the types of signal transmission stations and the corresponding numbers and locations are to be decided at the same time. Inappropriate set up of stations is not only causing the unnecessary cost but also making the poor service quality. In this study, we proposed a hybrid evolutionary approach integrating the immune algorithm with particle swarm optimization (IAPSO) to solve this problem where each of the regions is with different maximum failure rate restrictions. We compared the performance of the proposed method with commercial optimization software LINGO®. According to the experimental results, solutions obtained by our IAPSO are better than or as well as the best solutions obtained by LINGO®. It is expected that our research can provide the telecommunication enterprise the optimal/near-optimal strategies for the setup of signal transmission stations

Modeling Typhoon Event-Induced Landslides Using GIS-Based Logistic Regression: A Case Study of Alishan Forestry Railway, Taiwan

This study develops a model for evaluating the hazard level of landslides at Alishan Forestry Railway, Taiwan, by using logistic regression with the assistance of a geographical information system (GIS). A typhoon event-induced landslide inventory, independent variables, and a triggering factor were used to build the model. The environmental factors such as bedrock lithology from the geology database; topographic aspect, terrain roughness, profile curvature, and distance to river, from the topographic database; and the vegetation index value from SPOT 4 satellite images were used as variables that influence landslide occurrence. The area under curve (AUC) of a receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was used to validate the model. Effects of parameters on landslide occurrence were assessed from the corresponding coefficient that appears in the logistic regression function. Thereafter, the model was applied to predict the probability of landslides for rainfall data of different return periods. Using a predicted map of probability, the study area was classified into four ranks of landslide susceptibility: low, medium, high, and very high. As a result, most high susceptibility areas are located on the western portion of the study area. Several train stations and railways are located on sites with a high susceptibility ranking