Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Paraoxonase-1 (PON1) promoter region polymorphisms, serum PON1 status and coronary heart disease

Introduction Serum paraoxonase-1 (PON1) retards the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein and cell membranes and is atheroprotective. Polymorphisms in the promoter region of the PON1 gene have been shown to affect serum PON1 levels and have been related to the presence of coronary heart disease (CHD) in some studies. However, contradictory results have been reported with regard to promoter region polymorphisms and CHD presence; therefore we have re-examined the effects of the C-108T and G-909C promoter polymorphisms on PON1 levels and the presence of CHD in a large case-control study. Material and methods Paraoxonase-1 activity, concentration and the C-108T and G-909C polymorphisms were measured in 417 people with CHD and 282 healthy controls, in a case control study. Results Paraoxonase-1 activity and concentration were significantly lower in the CHD population compared to controls regardless of their C-108T and G-909C genotype (p < 0.001). Paraoxonase-1 activity was significantly different in the C-108T genotypes in both the control and CHD groups in the order TT < TC < CC (p < 0.01). Paraoxonase-1 concentration was significantly different in the CHD group only in the G-909C genotype in the order GG > GC > CC (p < 0.01). Haplotype analysis revealed no consistent patterns of PON1 activity in the CHD population; however, in the controls PON1 activity differed between haplotypes GGCC > GGTC > GGTT (p < 0.05) and GCCC > GCTC > GCTT (p < 0.02). Neither promoter polymorphism was associated with CHD presence. Conclusions Paraoxonase-1 status was significantly lower in people with CHD and was affected by the promoter region polymorphisms.
A complete MacWilliams theorem for convolutional codes

In this paper, we prove a MacWilliams identity for the weight adjacency matrices based on the constraint codes of a convolutional code (CC) and its dual. Our result improves upon a recent result by Gluesing-Luerssen and Schneider, where the requirement of a minimal encoder is assumed. We can also establish the MacWilliams identity for the input-parity weight adjacency matrices of a systematic CC and its dual. Most importantly, we show that a type of Hamming weight enumeration functions of all codewords of a CC can be derived from the weight adjacency matrix, which thus provides a connection between these two very different notions of weight enumeration functions in the convolutional code literature. Finally, the relations between various enumeration functions of a CC and its dual are summarized in a diagram. This explains why no MacWilliams identity exists for the free-distance enumerators.
Is more choice always desirable? Evidence and arguments from leks, food selection, and environmental enrichment

Recent studies on humans show that too much choice can make subjects less likely to choose any item. I consider general adaptive and non‐adaptive explanations of why such choice aversion, or its converse, might occur in animals. There are three questions: is more choice always preferred, does it ever lead to less consumption (or a lower probability of consumption), and may it result in worse items being selected? A preference for choice is one of the main explanations for lek formation and I draw attention to previously unrecognised parallels with models of human shopping behaviour. There is indeed evidence of female preference for larger leks, although much of the observational data are open to other interpretations. Unfortunately nobody has looked for choice aversion where it is most to be expected, in leks larger than normally occur. Evidence that too much choice of males confuses females is strongest in acoustically advertising frogs, but the widespread decrease of mating skew in larger leks might also have this explanation. A model reanalyses data on skew in black grouse Tetrao tetrix and suggests that considering only a random subset of a large lek may increase the chances of selecting the better males: larger leks are more likely to include better males, but these are less likely to be selected. These opposing effects may lead to an optimum lek size, but only with a sufficient decline in choice accuracy with size. With food choice, very few studies have avoided confounding choice with food quality, by manipulating only flavour. The widespread phenomena of stimulus‐specific satiety and novelty seeking imply that monotonous diets are aversive, but no studies test whether animals choose sites where they know food diversity to be greater. Operant experiments that demonstrate mild preferences for free choice concern choice about the means to get food rather than the food itself. In some insect species even moderate choice of diet can be deleterious, and studies on search images and the confusion effect may be evidence of this in vertebrates. Environmental enrichment of captive animals often relies on increasing the options available, but it need not be the choice itself that is beneficial. I consider briefly further areas in biology where choice preference or aversion are potentially important.
Exploring the Image of Science in the Business Sector: Surveying and Modeling Scientific Culture, Perception and Attitudes Towards Science

ABSTRACT The ‘Scientific Culture at Enterprises’ (SCe) project aims to identify the different factors that characterize the image of science held by entrepreneurs and business managers, explore the relationships among these factors, and shed light on the role they play in defining this image and ultimately in developing a culture of science in the business sector. This article is based on the results of the SCe 2016 survey with a specially designed telephone survey questionnaire of a representative sample of Spanish companies. The novelty of our approach lies in the application of a model developed in the fields of Social Studies of Science (SSS) and Public Understanding of Science (PUS) to the business sector, in order to obtain information on the dispositions of perception, interest, knowledge and action and their relationships with science and innovation in the business sector in Spain. Using the PIKA model of the image of science, we found this image in the business sector to be shaped by entrepreneurs’ and business managers’ perception of science, their interest in and knowledge of science and technology, and their willingness to take action regarding science, R&D and innovation. Implications for the public perception and understanding of science are discussed.
YidC, the Escherichia coli homologue of mitochondrial Oxa1p, is a component of the Sec translocase

In Escherichia coli, both secretory and inner membrane proteins initially are targeted to the core SecYEG inner membrane translocase. Previous work has also identified the peripherally associated SecA protein as well as the SecD, SecF and YajC inner membrane proteins as components of the translocase. Here, we use a cross‐linking approach to show that hydrophilic portions of a co‐translationally targeted inner membrane protein (FtsQ) are close to SecA and SecY, suggesting that insertion takes place at the SecA/Y interface. The hydrophobic FtsQ signal anchor sequence contacts both lipids and a novel 60 kDa translocase‐associated component that we identify as YidC. YidC is homologous to Saccharomyces cerevisiae Oxa1p, which has been shown to function in a novel export pathway at the mitochondrial inner membrane. We propose that YidC is involved in the insertion of hydrophobic sequences into the lipid bilayer after initial recognition by the SecAYEG translocase.
The University of the Third Age (U3A) Movement and Its Rise in New South Wales: In the Great Tradition of Liberal Adult Education?.

This paper begins with a brief history of the University of the Third Age (U3A) , which began in France in 1972, when a professor at the University of Toulouse conducted a summer school for retired people with a program of lectures, concerts, guided tours, and other cu.tural activities. It identifies the defining characteristic of the U3A movement in France as its attachment to the term "university. " In Britain, the U3A movement was the creation of its members who decided what was to be taught, by whom, in what ways, and at what cost. U3A was relatively late in coming to Australia. The first groups were established in Melbourne in 1984 and continued to grow and epitomize the community-based, do-it-yourself British model. Following eight pages of background, information obtained through a survey of 16 U3As in New South Wales is presented as vignettes, arranged in the chronological order in which the U3As were established. Each U3A is introduced and its regular and distinctive features are highlighted. A conclusion suggests that whether the U3A movement in Australia is in the tradition of British liberal adult education is not the real issue; the re.i issue is whether, as a movement whose time had come in the 1970s, U3A can sustain its momentum through the 1990s into the 21st century and beyond. It proposes that, for U3A to retain its momentum and relevance, it needs to address the related issues of broadening the membership base and forming a national organization. Appendixes include 42 references, participant list, and draft letter requesting
Parathyroid Hormone as a Novel Biomarker for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Objective To understand and predict chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a biomarker that reflects disease severity is needed. Research Design and Methods Data from 10269 adults aged over 40 years of age were retrieved from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), and 1302 patients met the criteria for COPD. The association between values of vitamin D and parathyroid hormone (PTH), and COPD severity including lung function and quality of life, were analyzed. Results In COPD patients, lung function was inversely related to PTH values (P = 0.02 for FVC [% predicted]; P < 0.001 for FEV1 [% predicted]); however, the association of lung function with vitamin D levels was not statistically significant in a multivariable analysis. Value of PTH was independently associated with EQ5D-index (P = 0.04), but vitamin D level showed no significant relationship with EQ5D-index (P = 0.59) or EQ5D-VAS (P = 0.81). Conclusions Elevation of PTH, unlike vitamin D, is independently associated with COPD severity, and may be a better biomarker for COPD.
Competition with open spectrum access: Sharing vs. unlicensed access

We consider two scenarios for adding open access spectrum to increase competition in a wireless service market: making new spectrum available for unlicensed use or requiring an incumbent license holder to share it with secondary providers. Our main result is that social welfare and consumer welfare with shared spectrum are always greater than with unlicensed access. Also when the amount of spectrum is large enough, the primary service provider gains more profit with sharing than with unlicensed access.
Improved constraints on 21st‐century warming derived using 160 years of temperature observations

Projections of 21st century warming may be derived by using regression‐based methods to scale a model's projected warming up or down according to whether it under‐ or over‐predicts the response to anthropogenic forcings over the historical period. Here we apply such a method using near surface air temperature observations over the 1851–2010 period, historical simulations of the response to changing greenhouse gases, aerosols and natural forcings, and simulations of future climate change under the Representative Concentration Pathways from the second generation Canadian Earth System Model (CanESM2). Consistent with previous studies, we detect the influence of greenhouse gases, aerosols and natural forcings in the observed temperature record. Our estimate of greenhouse‐gas‐attributable warming is lower than that derived using only 1900–1999 observations. Our analysis also leads to a relatively low and tightly‐constrained estimate of Transient Climate Response of 1.3–1.8°C, and relatively low projections of 21st‐century warming under the Representative Concentration Pathways. Repeating our attribution analysis with a second model (CNRM‐CM5) gives consistent results, albeit with somewhat larger uncertainties.
The effect of protean careers on talent retention: examining the relationship between protean career orientation, organizational commitment, job satisfaction and intention to quit for talented workers

Abstract To study the effect of protean careers on talent retention, operationalized as the intention to quit, this study explores two pathways between protean career orientation and intention to quit: a direct pathway, and an indirect pathway via organizational commitment and job satisfaction. The study draws upon a sample of 306 talented workers selected from 17 Spanish and Mexican multinational organizations. Protean orientation should be expected to be widespread among talented individuals which might represent a threat to those that seek to develop and retain highly valued employees. We found that highly protean talented individuals show higher organizational commitment and higher job satisfaction, but contrary to expectations do not show a higher intention to quit. The total effect of protean career orientation on intention to quit is shown to not be significant because the positive direct effects are neutralized by negative indirect effects. The results help complement current knowledge of protean careers and a better understanding of organizational attitudes in the protean career context will help practitioners to show the importance of avoiding stereotyping talented employees based on a protean orientation as they do not comprise an extra risk for the organization in terms of commitment and turnover intention.
An EEG-Based Brain Computer Interface for Emotion Recognition and Its Application in Patients with Disorder of Consciousness

Recognizing human emotions based on electroencephalogram (EEG) signals has received a great deal of attentions. Most of the existing studies focused on offline analysis, and real-time emotion recognition using a brain computer interface (BCI) approach remains to be further investigated. In this paper, we proposed an EEG-based BCI system for emotion recognition. Specifically, two classes of video clips that represented positive and negative emotions were presented to the subjects one by one, while the EEG data were collected and processed simultaneously, and instant feedback was provided after each clip. Ten healthy subjects participated in the experiment and achieved a high average online accuracy of 91.5 <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pm$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mo>±</mml:mo></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="li-ieq1-2901456.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> 6.34 percent. The experimental results demonstrated that the subjects emotions had been sufficiently evoked and efficiently recognized by our system. Clinically, patients with disorder of consciousness (DOC), such as coma, vegetative state, minimally conscious state and emergence minimally conscious state, suffer from motor impairment and generally cannot provide adequate emotion expressions. Consequently, doctors have difficulty in detecting the emotional states of these patients. Therefore, we applied our emotion recognition BCI system to patients with DOC. Eight DOC patients participated in our experiment, and three of them achieved significant online accuracy. The experimental results show that the proposed BCI system could be a promising tool to detect the emotional states of patients with DOC.
Unmet needs for mental health care among elderly public housing residents can jeopardize their ability to continue living independently

The Cerontologist Vol.37, No. 6, 717-728 Epidemiologic survey data from elderly residents of six public housing developments were used to determine the prevalence of need and unmet need for mental health care. Thirty-seven percent of this predominantly African American sample needed mental health services, and 58% of those who needed care had unmet needs. Logistic regression analyses showed that males, older residents, those with no Medicare insurance, and those with more Activities of Daily Living (ADL) impairments were at greater risk of both needing mental health care and receiving no mental health care services. Findings suggest the need for targeted interventions that would increase service utilization and potentially reduce the likelihood of eviction or placement in more restrictive settings.
Ieee Transactions on Wireless Communications, Accepted for Publication 1 Training and Voids in Receive Antenna Subset Selection in Time-varying Channels

—Receive antenna selection (AS) provides many benefits of multiple-antenna systems at drastically reduced hardware costs. In it, the receiver connects a dynamically selected subset of í µí± available antennas to the í µí°¿ available RF chains. Due to the nature of AS, the channel estimates at different antennas, which are required to determine the best subset for data reception, are obtained from different transmissions of the pilot sequence. Consequently, they are outdated by different amounts in a time-varying channel. We show that a linear weighting of the estimates is necessary and optimum for the subset selection process, where the weights are related to the temporal correlation of the channel variations. When í µí°¿ is not an integer divisor of í µí± , we highlight a new issue of " training voids " , in which the last pilot transmission is not fully exploited by the receiver. We then present new " void-filling " methods that exploit these voids and greatly improve the performance of AS. The optimal subset selection rules with void-filling, in which different antennas turn out to have different numbers of estimates, are also explicitly characterized. Closed-form equations for the symbol error probability with and without void-filling are also developed.
Fast custom instruction identification by convex subgraph enumeration

Automatic generation of custom instruction processors from high-level application descriptions enables fast design space exploration, while offering very favorable performance and silicon area combinations. This work introduces a novel method for adapting the instruction set to match an application captured in a high-level language. A simplified model is used to find the optimal instructions via enumeration of maximal convex subgraphs of application data flow graphs (DFGs). Our experiments involving a set of multimedia and cryptography benchmarks show that an order of magnitude performance improvement can be achieved using only a limited amount of hardware resources. In most cases, our algorithm takes less than a second to execute.
Predicting Environmental Suitability for a Rare and Threatened Species (Lao Newt, Laotriton laoensis) Using Validated Species Distribution Models

The Lao newt (Laotriton laoensis) is a recently described species currently known only from northern Laos. Little is known about the species, but it is threatened as a result of overharvesting. We integrated field survey results with climate and altitude data to predict the geographic distribution of this species using the niche modeling program Maxent, and we validated these predictions by using interviews with local residents to confirm model predictions of presence and absence. The results of the validated Maxent models were then used to characterize the environmental conditions of areas predicted suitable for L. laoensis. Finally, we overlaid the resulting model with a map of current national protected areas in Laos to determine whether or not any land predicted to be suitable for this species is coincident with a national protected area. We found that both area under the curve (AUC) values and interview data provided strong support for the predictive power of these models, and we suggest that interview data could be used more widely in species distribution niche modeling. Our results further indicated that this species is mostly likely geographically restricted to high altitude regions (i.e., over 1,000 m elevation) in northern Laos and that only a minute fraction of suitable habitat is currently protected. This work thus emphasizes that increased protection efforts, including listing this species as endangered and the establishment of protected areas in the region predicted to be suitable for L. laoensis, are urgently needed.
Approximation of upper Lyapunov exponents of bilinear stochastic differential systems

A bilinear Stochastic Differential System is considered whose solution starting from x is denoted by $(X(t,x))$; it is supposed that its (upper) Lyapunov exponent $\lambda $ exists. The purpose of the paper is to propose an efficient algorithm to approximate $\lambda $. It is shown that, for Markov chains $(\bar X_p^h (x),p \in \mathbb{N})$ defined by several approximation schemes, the Lyapunov exponents $\bar \lambda ^h $ are well defined and can be computed; estimates are given in terms of the discretization step h of the theoretical error $| {\lambda - \bar \lambda ^h } |$. Then these results are applied to an engineering problem: the stability of the motion of helicopter rotor blades in a turbulent wind.
CONSENSUS FOR BELIEF FUNCTIONS

We extend previous work of Lehrer and Wagner, and of McConway, on the consensus of probabilities, showing under axioms similar to theirs that (1) a belief function consensus of belief functions on a set with at least three members and (2) a belief function consensus of Bayesian belief functions on a set with at least four members must take the form of a weighted arithmetic mean. We observe that these results are unchanged when consensual uncertainty measures are allowed to take the form of Choquet capacities of low order monotonicity.Shafer theory, uncertainty measure.
Multi-view features in a DNN-CRF model for improved sentence unit detection on English broadcast news

This paper presents a deep neural network-conditional random field (DNN-CRF) system with multi-view features for sentence unit detection on English broadcast news. We proposed a set of multi-view features extracted from the acoustic, articulatory, and linguistic domains, and used them together in the DNN-CRF model to predict the sentence boundaries. We tested the accuracy of the multi-view features on the standard NIST RT-04 English broadcast news speech data. Experiments show that the best system outperforms the state-of-the-art sentence unit detection system significantly by 13.2% absolute NIST sentence error rate reduction using the reference transcription. However, the performance gain is limited on the recognized transcription partly due to the high word error rate.