Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Can warming particles enter global climate discussions?

‘Soot’ or ‘black carbon’, which comes from incomplete combustion, absorbs light and warms the atmosphere. Although there have been repeated suggestions that reduction of black carbon could be a viable part of decreasing global warming, it has not yet been considered when choosing actions to reduce climatic impact. In this paper, I examine four conceptual barriers to the consideration of aerosols in global agreements. I conclude that some of the major objections to considering aerosols under hemispheric or global agreements are illusory because: (1) a few major sources will be addressed by local regulations, but the remainder may not be addressed by traditional air quality management; (2) climate forcing by carbon particles is not limited to ‘hot spots’—about 90% of it occurs at relatively low concentrations; (3) while aerosol science is complex, the most salient characteristics of aerosol behavior can be condensed into tractable metrics including, but not limited to, the global warming potential; (4) despite scientific uncertainties, reducing all aerosols from major sources of black carbon will reduce direct climate warming with a very high probability. This change in climate forcing accounts for at least 25% of the accompanying CO2 forcing with significant probability (25% for modern diesel engines, 90% for superemitting diesels, and 55% for cooking with biofuels). Thus, this fraction of radiative forcing should not be ignored.
Comparative anatomy of the podocyte: A scanning electron microscopic study

The three‐dimensional structure of the renal glomerular podocyte was comparatively analyzed with special reference to its cellular interdigitation. Kidneys of lampreys, carps, eels, xenopuses, bullfrogs, iguanas, rats, and rabbits were used as materials. Urinary and basal surfaces of podocytes were exposed by a conventional freeze‐fracture method and by NaOH maceration, respectively, and subsequently examined by scanning electron microscopy. In accordance with previous reports, each podocyte consisted of a round cell body protruding into Bowman's space, four to six major processes embracing glomerular capillary, and numerous pedicels on both sides of the major processes. The podocyte pedicels exhibited uniform needle‐like shapes, about 0.2 μm thick, interdigitated with those of adjoining cells along the entire length of the cell margins in all the animal species examined. This finding suggests that the fine pedicel interdigitation is a primary event in morphogenesis of the podocyte. The basal aspect of the glomerular epithelium was mosaicked with pedicels which were laid at various angles to the capillary axis, in favor of its possible role as a mechanical support of the capillary wall. Microsc. Res. Tech. 57:196–202, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Costly Information Production Equilibria in the Bank Credit Market with Applications to Credit Rationing

In this paper, we explore the nature of equilibria in an asymmetrically informed bank credit market in which credit applicants know their own (intrinsic) default risks, but potential lenders can discover these default risks only by expending resources to produce information. The resolution of informational asymmetries in the capital market is, in the contemporary view, considered a very important function served by financial intermediaries like commercial banks and, in the opinion of some, even the primary justification for their existence [17]. We, therefore, focus on how the presence of asymmetric information—in particular, the response of (expected) profit-maximizing banks to it—affects the equilibrium prices and quantities of credit offered in the banking system.
A comparative evaluation of microleakage and compressive strength of Ketac Molar, Giomer, Zirconomer, and Ceram-x: An in vitro study

Background: Microleakage around dental restorative material and strength to withstand the masticatory forces is major problem in dentistry. Instead, many new materials available, very few actually bond to tooth surface and bear masticatory load. Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate and compare the microleakage and compressive strength of Ketac Molar, Giomer, Zirconomer, and Ceram-x. Materials and Methods: For the evaluation of microleakage, Class V cavities were prepared on sixty human premolar teeth and divided into four study groups (n = 15): Group I (Ketac Molar), Group II (Giomer), Group III (Zirconomer), and Group IV (Ceram-x). The samples were thermocycled and subjected to dye penetration test. The sections were made and evaluated under stereomicroscope at × 40 magnification. For the compressive strength evaluation, sixty cylindrical specimens were fabricated measuring 5 mm × 6 mm and grouped into four study groups (n = 15): Group I (Ketac Molar), Group II (Giomer), Group III (Zirconomer), and Group IV (Ceram-x). All were then subjected to the Universal Testing Machine at crosshead speed of 1 mm/s. Statistical Analysis Used: The data were analyzed using paired t-test and ANOVA. Results: The microleakage was found insignificant (P > 0.05) for all study groups, with Giomer showing maximum followed by Zirconomer, Ceram-x, and Ketac Molar. The compressive strength was found to be highly significant (P < 0.01) with the maximum score for Giomer followed by Ceram-x, Zirconomer, and Ketac Molar. Conclusion: The sealing ability was maximum in Ketac Molar, Zirconomer, Ceram-x, and Giomer whereas the compressive strength was maximum for Giomer followed by Ceram-x, Zirconomer, and Ketac Molar.
Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes by acetate, benzoate and sorbate: weak acid tolerance is not influenced by the glutamate decarboxylase system

Aims: Weak acids are widely used by the food industry to prevent spoilage and to inhibit the growth of pathogenic micro‐organisms. In this study the inhibitory effects of three commonly used weak acids, acetic acid, benzoic acid and sorbic acid, on the growth of Listeria monocytogenes were investigated.
An Economic Analysis of Crime and Punishment in England and Wales, 1894-1967

Crime of almost every variety has increased enormously over the past 80 years in England, at the same time that the risk of capture and severity of punishment have declined. This paper presents an attempt to understand these profiles and their interrelationship. Comparisons with the United States are also stressed. In performing this analysis, methodologies were developed and implemented to isolate the deterrent component from the incapacitation component of punishment. One-half of the total effect of imprisonment is ascribed to deterrence. In addition, the most recent experience of rising criminal activity is shown to be, in no small way, a manifestation of the movements in deterrent variables.
Business failure prediction using decision trees

Accurate business failure prediction models would be extremely valuable to many industry sectors, particularly financial investment and lending. The potential value of such models is emphasised by the extremely costly failure of high-profile companies in the recent past. Consequently, a significant interest has been generated in business failure prediction within academia as well as in the finance industry. Statistical business failure prediction models attempt to predict the failure or success of a business. Discriminant and logit analyses have traditionally been the most popular approaches, but there are also a range of promising non-parametric techniques that can alternatively be applied. In this paper, the relatively new technique of decision trees is applied to business failure prediction. The numerical results suggest that decision trees could be superior predictors of business failure as compared to discriminant analysis. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A tag‐less method of sorting stem cells from clinical specimens and separating mesenchymal from epithelial progenitor cells

The interest in stem cell (SC) isolation from easily accessible clinical specimens is booming. The lack of homogeneity in pluri/multipotent SC preparation blurs standardization, which however is recommended for successful applications. Multipotent mesenchymal SCs (MSCs) in fact express a broad panel of surface antigens, which limit the possibility of sorting homogeneous preparations by using an immunotag‐based method.
Geophagy, iron status and anaemia among primary school children in Western Kenya

As part of a cross‐sectional study among 156 primary school children (median age 13 years, range 10–18) in Western Kenya, geophagy was assessed through interviews. 114 (73.1%) of these children reported eating soil daily. Haemoglobin levels were determined in all 156 children and serum ferritin concentrations in 135. The mean haemoglobin (Hb) concentration was 12.7 g/dl, and median ferritin concentration 27.2 μg/l. Both the proportion of anaemic (Hb < 11.0 g/dl) and of iron‐depleted (ferritin < 12 μg/l) children was significantly higher among the geophageous children than among the nongeophageous (9.6%vs. 0% anaemia; P= 0.037; 18.4%vs. 5.4% iron depletion; P= 0.046). Serum ferritin and haemoglobin concentrations were not correlated (r= 0. 13 5; P= 0. 100). Multiple regression analysis showed that geophagy, hookworm eggs per gram faeces and malaria parasite counts per μl blood were independent predictors of serum ferritin, when controlling for other helminth infections, age and sex, and socio‐economic and educational background of the children's families and family size (y = 36.038–11.247(geophagy) – 0.010(hookworm epg) + 0.001(malaria parasite counts); R2 = 0.17). Multiple regression analysis with haemoglobin as dependent variable and the same independent variables did not reveal any significant predictors. Analysis of the soil eaten by the children revealed a mean HCl‐extractable iron content of 168.9 mg/kg (SD 44.9). Based on the data on the amounts eaten daily and this mean iron content, soil could provide on average 4.7 mg iron to a geophageous child (interquartile range 2.1–7.1 mg), which is equivalent to 32% of the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) for girls (interquartile range 14–48%) or 42% of the RNI for boys (interquartile range 19–63%). Iron depletion and anaemia are associated with geophagy, but only serum ferritin concentrations were shown to be dependent upon geophagy in the regression model. From the cross‐sectional data no inference about causality can be made. To clarify the possible causal relationships involved, longitudinal studies and iron‐supplementation intervention studies are needed.
The Sources of Inflation in Egypt A Multivariate Co-integration Analysis:

The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate the sources of inflation in Egypt. For this, price dynamics is herein represented by a vector error-correction model, which we use to test for the existence of a long-run relationship between the consumer price index, real gross domestic product (GDP), the exchange rate, interest rate, money supply and world prices. Then using the augmented VAR approach, we test for Granger non-causality between the different variables and inflation. The main results that are of interest to monetary policy in Egypt suggest that structural reforms based on improving the country’s productive capacity, shrinking the budget deficit and credit to the government, are crucial for controlling inflation.
Quote Revision and Information Flow Among Foreign Exchange Dealers

In a multi-dealer market without transaction disclosure, quote revision partially reveals the posting dealer's private information/belief and may have an impact on other dealers' pricing decision. Using continuous quotes from three major dealers in the interbank foreign exchange market, I find significant information externality from one dealer's quotes to others. The information content of quote revision is positively related to the overall order flow to the market, as opposed to order flow to the posting dealer. At 15-minute interval or above, public information becomes the dominant component that drives quote revision. Furthermore, public information appears to induce positive serial correlation and private information causes negative serial correlation in short-term quote revision. externality
TERM LOAD FORECASTING USING NEURO GENETIC HYBRID APPROACH : RESULTS ANALYSIS WITH DIFFERENT NETWORK ARCHITECTURES

Load forecasting is an important component for energy management system. Precise load forecasting helps the electric utility to make unit commitment decisions including decisions on purchasing and generating electric power, load switching, and infrastructure development. Besides playing a key role in reducing the generation cost, it is also essential to the reliability of power systems. Short-term load forecasting (STLF) can help to estimate load flows and to make decisions that can prevent overloading. Timely implementations of such decisions lead to the improvement of network reliability and to the reduced occurrences of equipment failures and blackouts. Load forecasting is also important for contract evaluations and evaluations of various sophisticated financial products on energy pricing offered by the market. In the deregulated economy, decisions on capital expenditures based on long-term forecasting are also more important than in a non-deregulated economy where a rate increase could be justified by capital expenditure projects. Data mining plays the key role to infer the information which is important to make the right decision. In this article we examine and analyze the use of genetic algorithm (GA) techniques for the determination of weights in a back propagation network (BPN) for short-term load forecasting.
New advances in DPYD genotype and risk of severe toxicity under capecitabine

Background Deficiency in dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) enzyme is the main cause of severe and lethal fluoropyrimidine-related toxicity. Various approaches have been developed for DPD-deficiency screening, including DPYD genotyping and phenotyping. The goal of this prospective observational study was to perform exhaustive exome DPYD sequencing and to examine relationships between DPYD variants and toxicity in advanced breast cancer patients receiving capecitabine. Methods Two-hundred forty-three patients were analysed (88.5% capecitabine monotherapy). Grade 3 and grade 4 capecitabine-related digestive and/or neurologic and/or hemato-toxicities were observed in 10.3% and 2.1% of patients, respectively. DPYD exome, along with flanking intronic regions 3’UTR and 5’UTR, were sequenced on MiSeq Illumina. DPD phenotype was assessed by pre-treatment plasma uracil (U) and dihydrouracil (UH2) measurement. Results Among the 48 SNPs identified, 19 were located in coding regions, including 3 novel variations, each observed in a single patient (among which, F100L and A26T, both pathogenic in silico). Combined analysis of deleterious variants *2A, I560S (*13) and D949V showed significant association with grade 3–4 toxicity (sensitivity 16.7%, positive predictive value (PPV) 71.4%, relative risk (RR) 6.7, p<0.001) but not with grade 4 toxicity. Considering additional deleterious coding variants D342G, S492L, R592W and F100L increased the sensitivity to 26.7% for grade 3–4 toxicity (PPV 72.7%, RR 7.6, p<0.001), and was significantly associated with grade 4 toxicity (sensitivity 60%, PPV 27.3%, RR 31.4, p = 0.001), suggesting the clinical relevance of extended targeted DPYD genotyping. As compared to extended genotype, combining genotyping (7 variants) and phenotyping (U>16 ng/ml) did not substantially increase the sensitivity, while impairing PPV and RR. Conclusions Exploring an extended set of deleterious DPYD variants improves the performance of DPYD genotyping for predicting both grade 3–4 and grade 4 toxicities (digestive and/or neurologic and/or hematotoxicities) related to capecitabine, as compared to conventional genotyping restricted to consensual variants *2A, *13 and D949V.
Posttranslational Modifications of p53 in Replicative Senescence Overlapping but Distinct from Those Induced by DNA Damage

ABSTRACT Replicative senescence in human fibroblasts is absolutely dependent on the function of the phosphoprotein p53 and correlates with activation of p53-dependent transcription. However, no evidence for posttranslational modification of p53 in senescence has been presented, raising the possibility that changes in transcriptional activity result from upregulation of a coactivator. Using a series of antibodies with phosphorylation-sensitive epitopes, we now show that senescence is associated with major changes at putative regulatory sites in the N and C termini of p53 consistent with increased phosphorylation at serine-15, threonine-18, and serine-376 and decreased phosphorylation at serine-392. Ionizing and UV radiation generated overlapping but distinct profiles of response, with increased serine-15 phosphorylation being the only common change. These results support a direct role for p53 in signaling replicative senescence and are consistent with the generation by telomere erosion of a signal which shares some but not all of the features of DNA double-strand breaks.
Spatial coincidence modulates interaction between visual and somatosensory evoked potentials

The time course of interaction between concurrently applied visual and somatosensory stimulation with respect to evoked potentials (EPs) was studied. Visual stimuli, either in the left or right hemifield, and electric stimuli to the left wrist were delivered either alone or simultaneously. Visual and somatosensory EPs were summed and compared to bimodal EPs (BiEP, response to actual combination of both modalities). Temporal coincidence of stimuli lead to sub-additive or over-additive amplitudes in BiEPs in several time windows between 75 and 275 ms. Additional effects of spatial coincidence (left wrist with left hemifield) were found between 75 and 300 ms and beyond 450 ms. These interaction effects hint at a temporo-spatial pattern of multiple brain areas participating in the process of multimodal integration.
Employee engagement at Norfolk County Council

Purpose – The aim of this case study is to explore how Norfolk County Council (NCC) has sustained high employee engagement levels against a backdrop of re‐organization, restructure, redundancies and cutbacks.Design/methodology/approach – In 2007 NCC embarked on an ongoing engagement project with Ipsos Mori. The aim was to restructure; align goals with new values; turn NCC into an “excellent” performing council; and have fully engaged staff and unions. It subsequently improved on already strong engagement levels and these are set to assist the council as it moves into its most challenging period yet.Findings – NCC recognized from the outset that engagement needs to be a collective endeavor and this has been, and continues to be, key to engaging its people through turbulent times. Employee involvement underpinned the engagement program, from the initial survey through to focus groups, employee‐defined values and employee‐initiated programs. In turn, employee engagement underpins its change activities.Origin.
Urban governance under neoliberalism: New Labour and the restructuring of state-space

In the UK there has been a proliferation of agencies at differing regulatory scales as part of the rescaling and restructuring of the state by New Labour, following the neoliberal policies of previous Conservative governments. This raises questions concerning the extent to which New Labour's urban state restructuring is embedded within neoliberalism, and the local tensions and contradictions arising from emergent New Labour urban state restructuring. This paper examines these questions through the analysis of key policy features of New Labour, and the in-depth exploration of two programmes that are reshaping urban governance arrangements, namely Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) and New Deal for Communities (NDC) programmes. We conclude that New Labour's restructuring is best understood in terms of the extended reproduction (roll-out) of neoliberalism. While these “new institutional fixes” are only weakly established and exhibit internal contradictions and tensions, these have not led to a broader contestation of neoliberalism.
Innovation and the Market Value of UK Firms, 1989-1995

Using a new data set covering a sample of UK firms, 1989-1995, we study the impact of innovation and innovation assets on firm value. We find, for all reporting firms, that the now of R&D and the use of new technologies (as measured by investment in tangible assets) have significant positive impacts on market value. A patent count variable is insignificant in cross section estimates, although significant but impacting negatively in panel estimates. A sample of firms reporting their R&D for the first dine yields much larger estimates of the impact of R&D on market value than in the sample of all reporting firms. Copyright 2002 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
The EnvIMS Study: Design and Methodology of an International Case-Control Study of Environmental Risk Factors in Multiple Sclerosis

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the central nervous system, often resulting in significant neurological disability. The causes of MS are not known; however, the incidence of MS is increasing, thereby suggesting that changes in lifestyle and/or environmental factors may be responsible. On this background, the Environmental Risk Factors in MS Study or EnvIMS study was designed to further explore the etiology of MS. The design and methodology are described, providing details to enable investigators to (i) use our experiences to design their own studies; (ii) take advantage of, and build on the methodological work completed for, the EnvIMS study; (iii) become aware of this data source that is available for use by the research community. Methods: EnvIMS is a multinational case-control study, enrolling 2,800 cases with MS and 5,012 population-based controls in Canada, Italy, Norway, Serbia and Sweden. The study was designed to investigate the most commonly implicated risk factors for MS etiology using a self-report questionnaire. Results/Conclusions: The use of a common methodology to study MS etiology across several countries enhances the comparability of results in different geographic regions and research settings, reduces the resources required for study design and enhances the opportunity for data harmonization.
Smoking cessation program as a tool for the early diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

OBJECTIVE The impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is underestimation as a result of underdiagnosis and undertreatment. The objective of this study was to determine whether using spirometry to evaluate smokers enrolled in smoking cessation programs facilitates early diagnosis of COPD. METHODS The medical records of 158 smokers enrolled in the smoking cessation program at the Botucatu School of Medicine (Botucatu, Brazil) between January of 2003 and November of 2005 were evaluated retrospectively. All were over 40 years old (mean age: 55 +/- 8.5 years), and 99 (62.6%) were female. We analyzed the clinical data, the previous medical diagnosis, and the spirometry results. RESULTS The diagnostic criteria for COPD were met by 57 (36.1%) of the 158 individuals evaluated, and 14 individuals (8.9%) were considered to be at risk for the development of the disease. Of those 57 individuals meeting the criteria for a diagnosis of COPD, 39 (68.4%) were receiving their first diagnosis of COPD, whereas 18 (31.6%) were receiving confirmation of a prior diagnosis. Of the 18 individuals previously diagnosed, 10 (56%) presented the mild/moderate form of the disease, and 8 (44%) presented the severe form. Of the 39 newly diagnosed individuals, 38 (97,4%) presented the mild/moderate for of the disease, and only 1 (2,6%) had severe COPD. Seven patients previously diagnosed with COPD presented pulmonary function test results inconsistent with the diagnostic criteria. CONCLUSION Using spirometry in the initial evaluation of smokers enrolling in smoking cessation program might be a useful tool for early diagnosis of COPD.