Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Stochastic Approach to Model Dynamic Systems in Life Cycle Assessment

This article presents a framework to evaluate emerging systems in life cycle assessment (LCA). Current LCA methods are effective for established systems; however, lack of data often inhibits robust analysis of future products or processes that may benefit the most from life cycle information. In many cases the life cycle inventory (LCI) of a system can change depending on its development pathway. Modeling emerging systems allows insights into probable trends and a greater understanding of the effect of future scenarios on LCA results. The proposed framework uses Bayesian probabilities to model technology adoption. The method presents a unique approach to modeling system evolution and can be used independently or within the context of an agent‐based model (ABM). LCA can be made more robust and dynamic by using this framework to couple scenario modeling with life cycle data, analyzing the effect of decision‐making patterns over time. Potential uses include examining the changing urban metabolism of growing cities, understanding the development of renewable energy technologies, identifying transformations in material flows over space and time, and forecasting industrial networks for developing products. A switchgrass‐to‐energy case demonstrates the approach.
Structural Evidence for Environment-driven Transformation of the Blue Galaxies in Local Abell Clusters: A85, A496, and A754

We present a detailed comparison of structural properties in the rest-frame V band of cluster and field galaxies, selected and analyzed in the same manner, to test the hypothesis that much of the current cluster galaxy membership resulted from the fairly rapid (1-2 Gyr) transformation of infalling, field spirals into red, cluster early types. Specifically, we have selected ~140 galaxies from three nearby Abell clusters (A85, A496, and A754) that have colors significantly bluer than the red sequence population and compared them to ~80 field galaxies with similar colors and luminosities from the Nearby Field Galaxy Survey. The comparison is based on the hypothesis that recent (1-4 Gyr) cluster arrivals were originally blue and star-forming, then stopped forming stars to dim and redden in a few gigayears. For the comparison we quantify galaxy internal structure and morphology from two-dimensional bulge/disk decompositions using GIM2D. We observe structural differences between blue galaxies in local (z < 0.06) clusters, compared to field environments. All cluster galaxies have spectroscopic membership. The majority of blue cluster members, presumably recent additions, are physically smaller and fainter than their equally colored field counterparts. At a matched size and luminosity, the newer cluster arrivals are quantifiably smoother in appearance, yet their total light is as disk dominated as in normal field spirals. Moreover, half of the blue cluster members appear to have blue cores or globally blue color profiles, in contrast with field spirals, which typically exhibit red inward color gradients. Blue cores suggest enhanced nuclear star formation, possibly a starburst, while uniformly blue profiles are consistent with an episode of fairly strong global star formation in the past few gigayears. Our previous work shows that the blue membership of local clusters is a recently infalling population that has yet to encounter the dense core. In a universe without environmentally dependent evolution outside of cluster cores, we would expect blue disk galaxies inhabiting field and cluster regions to have similar morphology, size, and color gradient distributions. Our findings show conclusively not only that the abundance of red and blue galaxies depends on environment, but also that fundamental structural and morphological galaxy properties do indeed reflect the environment in which the galaxy is found. Moreover, the data show that the transformation of accreted galaxies is not confined to the dense cluster core. The overall properties of bluer cluster members are best explained by environment-driven transformation of accreted field spirals, and our results suggest that the processes that govern color and morphological evolution occur separately.
Is carotid intima media thickness useful for individual prediction of cardiovascular risk? Ten-year results from the Carotid Atherosclerosis Progression Study (CAPS).

AIMS Carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) is an intermediate phenotype of early atherosclerosis that independently predicts vascular events. It is often suggested that cIMT be used as a screening tool to select subjects with an elevated event risk. Whether cIMT adds information to traditional risk models has so far received little investigation. METHODS AND RESULTS The 10-year follow-up of 4904 subjects from the Carotid Atherosclerosis Progression Study (CAPS) without pre-existing vascular disease included cardiovascular events and total mortality. Using Cox models and reclassification statistics, we investigated the usefulness of cIMT in individual risk prediction beyond the Framingham and the SCORE models, using risk strata of 0-5, 5-10, 10-20, and >or=20% over 10 years. Carotid intima media thickness was significantly and independently predictive for cardiovascular events. Compared with a model using the Framingham risk factors, a second model that included the common carotid-IMT led to the reclassification of 357 subjects (8.1%). In 107 subjects (30.0%), this reclassification was correct as confirmed with the actual outcome over 10 years. Net reclassification improvement was -1.41% (P = NS); integrated discrimination improvement was 0.04% (P = NS). More subjects were shifted to lower than to higher risk categories by the inclusion of cIMT. Analyses including other endpoint definitions, other carotid segments, and the SCORE risk model for baseline prediction did not result in consistently better risk prediction with cIMT. CONCLUSION Despite cIMT being predictive for cardiovascular endpoints, it did not consistently improve the risk classification of individuals. Carotid intima media thickness may not be useful for the risk stratification of individuals in the general population.
A fast recursive algorithm for optimum sequential signal detection in a BLAST system

BLAST (Bell Laboratories layered Space-Time) wireless systems are multiple-antenna communication schemes which can achieve very high spectral efficiencies in scattering environments, with no increase in bandwidth or transmitted power. The most popular and, by far, the most practical architecture is the so-called vertical BLAST (V-BLAST). The signal detection algorithm of a V-BLAST system is computationally very intensive. If the number of transmitters is M and is equal to the number of receivers, this complexity is proportional to M/sup 4/ at each sample time. In this paper, we propose a simple and very efficient algorithm that reduces the complexity by a factor of M.
FIRE SPECTROSCOPY OF FIVE LATE-TYPE T DWARFS DISCOVERED WITH THE WIDE-FIELD INFRARED SURVEY EXPLORER

We present the discovery of five late-type T dwarfs identified with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Low-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy obtained with the Magellan Folded-port InfraRed Echellette reveal strong H2O and CH4 absorption in all five sources, and spectral indices and comparison to spectral templates indicate classifications ranging from T5.5 to T8.5:. The spectrum of the latest-type source, WISE J1812+2721, is an excellent match to that of the T8.5 companion brown dwarf Wolf 940B. WISE-based spectrophotometric distance estimates place these T dwarfs at 12–13 pc from the Sun, assuming they are single. Preliminary fits of the spectral data to the atmosphere models of Saumon & Marley indicate effective temperatures ranging from 600 K to 930 K, both cloudy and cloud-free atmospheres, and a broad range of ages and masses. In particular, two sources show evidence of both low surface gravity and cloudy atmospheres, tentatively supporting a trend noted in other young brown dwarfs and exoplanets. In contrast, the high proper motion T dwarf WISE J2018−7423 exhibits a suppressed K-band peak and blue spectrophotometric J − K colors indicative of an old, massive brown dwarf; however, it lacks the broadened Y-band peak seen in metal-poor counterparts. These results illustrate the broad diversity of low-temperature brown dwarfs that will be uncovered with WISE.
Mixing in Bubble Column and Airlift Reactors

Mixing behavior of three geometrically equivalent 0.06 m3 bubble column and airlift photobioreactors was compared for use in microalgal culture. Mixing was characterized in terms of the axial dispersion coefficient, mixing time, circulation time and Bodenstein number. Measurements were reported in tap water and sea water, as used in growing microalgal biomass. Compared with the two airlift reactors (a split-cylinder and a draft-tube sparged device, both of aspect ratio 9.1), the bubble column (aspect ratio = 9.1) had a shorter mixing time at any aeration rate (superficial aeration velocity of up to 0.05 m s−1 in all reactors). Values of the various mixing parameters in the two fluids were quite comparable at identical aeration rates in any specific geometry of the reactors. Existing correlations of mixing times satisfactorily correlated the data in the bubble column, but not in the airlift reactors. The following correlations were established for the airlift devices: B o LG = β ( F r 1 / 3 ) λ B o = k t m t c where Bo is the liquid-phase Bodenstein number, Fr is the Froude number, BoLG is the Bodenstein number based on the superficial velocity of the gas, tm is the mixing time, tc is the circulation time, and k, β and γ are constants that depend on the geometry of the reactor and the fluid used.
Rates and risk factors for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease

Objective: To investigate the risk of AD associated with a family history of dementia, female gender, low levels of education, smoking, and head trauma. Background: These putative factors have been identified in cross-sectional studies. However, those studies are prone to bias due to systematic differences between patients and control subjects regarding survival and how risk factors are recalled. Methods: The authors performed a pooled analysis of four European population-based prospective studies of individuals 65 years and older, with 528 incident dementia patients and 28,768 person-years of follow-up. Patients were detected by screening the total cohort with brief cognitive tests, followed by a diagnostic assessment of those who failed the screening tests. Dementia was diagnosed with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disrders, 3rd ed. (revised), and AD was diagnosed according to National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke–Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association criteria. Incident rates and relative risk (95% CI) express the association of a risk factor for dementia. Results: Incident rates for dementia and AD were similar across studies. The incidence of AD increased with age. At 90 years of age and older the incidence was 63.5 (95% CI, 49.7 to 81.0) per 1,000 person-years. Female gender, current smoking (more strongly in men), and low levels of education (more strongly in women) increased the risk of AD significantly. A history of head trauma with unconsciousness and family history of dementia did not increase risk significantly. Conclusion: Contrary to previous reports, head trauma was not a risk factor for AD, and smoking did not protect against AD. The association of family history with the risk of AD is weaker than previously estimated on the basis of cross-sectional studies. Female gender may modify the risk of AD, whether it be via biological or behavioral factors.
Mood-congruent amygdala responses to subliminally presented facial expressions in major depression: associations with anhedonia.

BACKGROUND Anhedonia has long been recognized as a key feature of major depressive disorders, but little is known about the association between hedonic symptoms and neurobiological processes in depressed patients. We investigated whether amygdala mood-congruent responses to emotional stimuli in depressed patients are correlated with anhedonic symptoms at automatic levels of processing. METHODS We measured amygdala responsiveness to subliminally presented sad and happy facial expressions in depressed patients and matched healthy controls using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Amygdala responsiveness was compared between patients and healthy controls within a 2 (group) x 2 (emotion) design. In addition, we correlated patients' amygdala responsiveness to sad and happy facial stimuli with self-report questionnaire measures of anhedonia. RESULTS We included 35 patients and 35 controls in our study. As in previous studies, we observed a strong emotion x group interaction in the bilateral amygdala: depressed patients showed greater amygdala responses to sad than happy faces, whereas healthy controls responded more strongly to happy than sad faces. The lack of automatic right amygdala responsiveness to happy faces in depressed patients was associated with higher physical anhedonia scores. LIMITATIONS Almost all depressed patients were taking antidepressant medications. CONCLUSION We replicated our previous finding of depressed patients showing automatic amygdala mood-congruent biases in terms of enhanced reactivity to negative emotional stimuli and reduced activity to positive emotional stimuli. The altered amygdala processing of positive stimuli in patients was associated with anhedonia scores. The results indicate that reduced amygdala responsiveness to positive stimuli may contribute to anhedonic symptoms due to reduced/inappropriate salience attribution to positive information at very early processing levels.
Neutrino interactions at ultrahigh energies

We report new calculations of the cross sections for deeply inelastic neutrino-nucleon scattering at neutrino energies between 10{sup 9}thinspeV and 10{sup 21}thinspeV. We compare with results in the literature and assess the reliability of our predictions. For completeness, we briefly review the cross sections for neutrino interactions with atomic electrons, emphasizing the role of the W-boson resonance in {bar {nu}}{sub e}e interactions for neutrino energies in the neighborhood of 6.3 PeV. Adopting model predictions for extraterrestrial neutrino fluxes from active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursters, and the collapse of topological defects, we estimate event rates in large-volume water {hacek C}erenkov detectors and large-area ground arrays. {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}
Reform Under Attack--Forty Years of Working on Better Mathematics Education Thrown on the Scrapheap? No Way!.

This paper addresses the reform of mathematics education in the Netherlands and the attacks that presently take place against this reform. The attacks concentrate on primary education and criticize in particular the program for teaching calculation skills with long division as a case in point. The paper gives an overview of what Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) stands for, and what mathematics education the reform-attackers have in mind. Furthermore, attention is paid to possible factors that could have triggered this attack, and what other countries may learn from it.
Breath acetone as a measure of systemic ketosis assessed in a rat model of the ketogenic diet.

BACKGROUND The mechanism of a high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet (KD) in alleviating drug-resistant epilepsy is unknown but may be related to systemic ketosis induced under this treatment. The need for frequent measurement of systemic ketosis, which is essential for improving maintenance of the KD in patients and for studying mechanism of the KD action, has prompted us to validate the breath acetone test as a fast, reliable, and noninvasive tool for ketosis assessment. METHODS A rat model of the KD that allowed frequent blood sampling was used to investigate how well breath acetone reflects plasma beta-hydroxybutyrate (beta-HBA), the most commonly measured ketone body. Rat pups (20 days of age) were introduced to and maintained on a KD or control diet for 33 days. During this period, breath acetone, plasma beta-HBA, blood glucose, and body weight were measured approximately every 4th day. A correlational analysis of breath acetone and plasma beta-HBA was conducted. RESULTS Breath acetone was found to be a significant predictor of plasma beta-HBA over a clinically relevant range of beta-HBA concentrations (r(2) = 0.75; P <0.001). We have proposed a general formula that allows the value of plasma beta-HBA to be estimated based on breath acetone measurement. CONCLUSIONS Breath acetone is an accurate measure of mild to moderate systemic ketosis. The noninvasive nature of this test will be useful for day-to-day implementation of the KD, searching for better forms of this diet, and understanding the role of ketosis in the mechanism of the KD action.
CoSimRank: A Flexible & Efficient Graph-Theoretic Similarity Measure

We present CoSimRank, a graph-theoretic similarity measure that is efficient because it can compute a single node similarity without having to compute the similarities of the entire graph. We present equivalent formalizations that show CoSimRank’s close relationship to Personalized PageRank and SimRank and also show how we can take advantage of fast matrix multiplication algorithms to compute CoSimRank. Another advantage of CoSimRank is that it can be flexibly extended from basic node-node similarity to several other graph-theoretic similarity measures. In an experimental evaluation on the tasks of synonym extraction and bilingual lexicon extraction, CoSimRank is faster or more accurate than previous approaches.
Isogenic Pairs of Wild Type and Mutant Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Lines from Rett Syndrome Patients as In Vitro Disease Model

Rett syndrome (RTT) is an autism spectrum developmental disorder caused by mutations in the X-linked methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MECP2) gene. Excellent RTT mouse models have been created to study the disease mechanisms, leading to many important findings with potential therapeutic implications. These include the identification of many MeCP2 target genes, better understanding of the neurobiological consequences of the loss- or mis-function of MeCP2, and drug testing in RTT mice and clinical trials in human RTT patients. However, because of potential differences in the underlying biology between humans and common research animals, there is a need to establish cell culture-based human models for studying disease mechanisms to validate and expand the knowledge acquired in animal models. Taking advantage of the nonrandom pattern of X chromosome inactivation in female induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), we have generated isogenic pairs of wild type and mutant iPSC lines from several female RTT patients with common and rare RTT mutations. R294X (arginine 294 to stop codon) is a common mutation carried by 5–6% of RTT patients. iPSCs carrying the R294X mutation has not been studied. We differentiated three R294X iPSC lines and their isogenic wild type control iPSC into neurons with high efficiency and consistency, and observed characteristic RTT pathology in R294X neurons. These isogenic iPSC lines provide unique resources to the RTT research community for studying disease pathology, screening for novel drugs, and testing toxicology.
Does Duloxetine Improve Cognitive Function Independently of Its Antidepressant Effect in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder and Subjective Reports of Cognitive Dysfunction?

Introduction. Cognitive deficits are commonly reported by patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Duloxetine, a dual serotonin/noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor, may improve cognitive deficits in MDD. It is unclear if cognitive improvements occur independently of antidepressant effects with standard antidepressant medications. Methods. Thirty participants with MDD who endorsed cognitive deficits at screening received 12-week duloxetine treatment. Twenty-one participants completed treatment and baseline and posttreatment cognitive testing. The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery was used to assess the following cognitive domains: attention, visual memory, executive function/set shifting and working memory, executive function/spatial planning, decision making and response control, and verbal learning and memory. Results. Completers showed significant cognitive improvements across several domains on tasks assessing psychomotor function and mental processing speed, with additional improvements in visual and verbal learning and memory, and affective decision making and response control. Overall significance tests for executive function tasks were also significant, although individual tasks were not, perhaps due to the small sample size. Most notably, cognitive improvements were observed independently of symptom reduction on all domains except verbal learning and memory. Conclusions. Patients reporting baseline cognitive deficits achieved cognitive improvements with duloxetine treatment, most of which were independent of symptomatic improvement. This trial is registered with NCT00933439.
The performance of VIX option pricing models: Empirical evidence beyond simulation

We examine the pricing performance of VIX option models. Such models possess a wide‐range of underlying characteristics regarding the behavior of both the S&P500 index and the underlying VIX. Our tests employ three representative models for VIX options: Whaley ( 1993 ), Grunbichler and Longstaff ( 1996 ), Carr and Lee ( 2007 ), Lin and Chang ( 2009 ), who test four stochastic volatility models, as well as to previous simulation results of VIX option models. We find that no model has small pricing errors over the entire range of strike prices and times to expiration. In particular, out‐of‐the‐money VIX options are difficult to price, with Grunbichler and Longstaff's mean‐reverting model producing the smallest dollar errors in this category. Whaley's Black‐like option model produces the best results for in‐the‐money VIX options. However, the Whaley model does under/overprice out‐of‐the‐money call/put VIX options, which is opposite the behavior of stock index option pricing models. VIX options exhibit a volatility skew opposite the skew of index options. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark31:251–281, 2011
Designing a European Fiscal Union : Lessons from the Experience of Fiscal Federations

Introduction and Overview Chapter 1. Distribution of Fiscal Responsibilities in Federations Chapter 2. The Role of Fiscal Transfers in Smoothing Regional Shock Chapter 3. Constraints on Sub-national Fiscal Policy Chapter 4. Budgeting, Accounting, and Reporting Chapter 5. Financing of Central and Sub-national Governments Chapter 6. Sub-national Fiscal Crises Chapter 7. Lesson from the Crisis: Minimal Elements for a Fiscal Union in the Euro Area