Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preliminary Evidence for an Association between LRP-1 Genotype and Body Mass Index in Humans

Background/Aims The LDL receptor-related protein-1 gene (LRP-1) has been associated with obesity in animal models, but no such association has yet been reported in humans. As data suggest this increase in fat mass may be mediated through a mechanism involving the clearance of plasma triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TGRL), where the LRP interacts with apolipoprotein E (ApoE) on chylomicron remnants, we aimed to examine (1) whether there was an association between 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on LRP-1 with body mass index (BMI) and (2) whether any association between LRP-1 SNPs and BMI could be modified by polymorphisms on the ApoE gene when comparing the wild type ε3/ε3 genotype against mutant ApoE allele (ε2/ε4) carriers. Methods/Results We used data from 1,036 men and women (mean age±SD = 49±16 y) participating in the Genetics of Lipid Lowering Drugs and Diet Network (GOLDN) Study. Mixed linear models, which controlled for age, sex, alcohol intake and smoking, as well as family pedigree and center of data collection were calculated. Models that used LRP-1 genotype as a predictor of BMI revealed that individuals who were homozygous for the minor allele at the LRP-1 I10701 locus had BMIs, on average, 1.03 kg/m2 higher than major allele carriers (P = 0.03). In subsequent mixed linear models that included main effects of LRP-1 I10701 SNP and ApoE alleles, and an interaction term the two genotypes, there was no interaction detected between the LRP-1 I70701 genotype with either the ApoE ε2 or ε4 allele carriers (P>0.05). Conclusions This has implications for starting to understand pathways from genotype to human BMI, which may operate through TGRL uptake at the LRP-1 receptor. This may pave the way for future research into individualized dietary interventions.
Longitudinal studies of cognition in schizophrenia: Meta-analysis

Background A wide range of cognitive deficits have been demonstrated in schizophrenia, but their longitudinal course remains unclear. Aims To bring together all the available information from longitudinal studies of cognitive performance in people with schizophrenia. Method We carried out a meta-analysis of 53 studies. Unlike previous reviewers, we included all studies (regardless of the type of medication), analysed each variable separately and compared results with data from controls. Results Participants with schizophrenia showed a significant improvement in most cognitive tasks. The available data for controls showed, with one exception (the Stroop test), a similar or greater improvement. Performance in semantic verbal fluency remained stable in both individuals with schizophrenia and controls. Conclusions Participants with schizophrenia displayed improvement in most cognitive tasks, but practice was more likely than cognitive remediation to account for most of the improvements observed. Semantic verbal fluency may be the best candidate cognitive endophenotype.
Dissipative plasmon‐solitons in multilayer graphene

Nonlinear properties of a multi‐layer stack of graphene sheets are studied. It is predicted that such a structure may support dissipative plasmon‐solitons generated and supported by an external laser radiation. Novel nonlinear equations describing spatial dynamics of the nonlinear plasmons driven by a plane wave in the Otto configuration are derived and the existence of single and multi‐hump dissipative solitons in the graphene structure is predicted.
A Two Phase Service M/G/1 Vacation Queue With General Retrial Times and Non-persistent Customers

This paper is motivated by an open problem posed by Senthil Kumar and Arumuganathan in their paper published in June 2009 [10]. We study the steady state behavior of an M/G/1 retrial queue with non-persistent customers, two phases of heterogeneous service and dierent vacation policies. We consider the case where the customer after obtaining the first essential service may or may not opt for a second optional service. In [10], the authors have taken the interretrial times to be exponentially distributed. In this paper, we consider a general retrial time distribution with a constant retrial policy. We have obtained the steady state probability generating function of the system size and the orbit size. Also, we obtain expressions for the performance measures of the system. We discuss some particular cases.
On the use of conical helix inductors in wireless power transfer systems

An efficient magnetically coupled wireless power transfer system using a conical coil structure is presented. The use of conical inductors instead of traditional planar coils increases the self-resonance frequency of the transmitter resonator while maintaining the flux linkage to the receiver side. Electromagnetic (EM) and circuit simulation results predict an increase in the efficiency achieved by such wireless power transfer links as compared to systems that use planar inductors. The measurement results of a prototype three-coil structure built based on the conical structure confirm the validity of simulation results.
Fading depth dependence on system bandwidth in mobile communications - an analytical approximation

A simple and computationally inexpensive analytical approach is proposed for the evaluation of the dependence of short-term fading depth on system bandwidth and environmental characteristics. The approach, accounting for the maximum difference in propagation path length and having the Rice factor as a parameter, is derived by fitting simulated data from a model in the literature. Application examples are presented for GSM, UMTS, HIPERLAN, and mobile broadband systems (MBS), giving some insight into the fading depth observed under different conditions with regard to system bandwidth and environmental characteristics. Macro-, micro-, and picocell environments are considered. In the microcellular environment, the fading depth experienced by UMTS is below the one for GSM by 0.1 to 5.5 dB, while in the picocellular one, the difference between GSM and UMTS is not significant, being almost independent of environment characteristics. When considering HIPERLAN or systems with larger bandwidths, the fading depth, both in micro and picocellular environments, is smaller than the one verified by UMTS; however, there is an increased dependence on environmental characteristics. In the macrocellular environment, the fading depth experienced by UMTS is about 6 to 11 dB below the one for GSM. Hence, different short-term fading margins should be considered for each system and working environment.
Inter-Relationship between Economic Growth, Savings and Inflation in Asia

The present study examines the inter- relationship between economic growth, saving rate and inflation for south-east and south Asia in a simultaneous equation framework using two stage least squares with panel data. The relationship between saving rate and growth has been found to be bi-directional and positive. Inflation has a highly significant negative effect on growth but positive effect on saving rate. Inflation is not affected by growth but is largely determined by its past values, and saving rate is not affected by interest rate. These findings for countries in Asia with widely divergent values of aggregates are very relevant for development policies and strategies.
Genetic polymorphism of epoxide hydrolase and glutathione S-transferase in COPD

Genetic susceptibility to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) might depend on variation in the activities of enzymes that detoxify cigarette smoke products, such as microsomal epoxide hydrolase (mEPHX) and glutathione S-transferase (GST). It was investigated whether polymorphisms in these genes had any association with susceptibility to COPD and COPD severity. The genotypes of 184 patients with COPD and 212 control subjects were determined by polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the mEPHX, GSTM1, GSTT1 and GSTP1 genes. All subjects were smokers or exsmokers. The proportion of GSTM1-null genotypes was significantly higher in patients with COPD than in control subjects (61.4 versus 42.5%). No differences were observed in the frequency of polymorphic genotypes for mEPHX, GSTT1 and GSTP1. During combined analysis of genetic polymorphisms for mEPHX, GSTM1 and GSTP1, it was found that there are strong indicators for susceptibility to COPD (genotype combination with at least one mutant mEPHX exon‐3 allele (histidine 113), GSTM1 null and homozygous for the GSTP1 isoleucine 105 allele). The frequencies of homozygous mutant alleles of mEPHX exon 3 and the GSTM1-null genotype were significantly higher in patients with severe COPD (forced expiratory volume in one second of <35% of the predicted value). It is proposed that the combination of genetic variants including at least one mutant microsomal epoxide hydrolase exon‐3 allele and glutathione S-transferase M1-null and homozygous isoleucine 105 glutathione S-transferase P1 genotypes are significant indicators of susceptibility to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the Taiwanese population. In addition, the homozygous variant of microsomal epoxide hydrolase exon 3 and the glutathione S-transferase M1-null genotype are independent risk factors for developing severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Organic osmolytes as compatible, metabolic and counteracting cytoprotectants in high osmolarity and other stresses

SUMMARY Organic osmolytes are small solutes used by cells of numerous water-stressed organisms and tissues to maintain cell volume. Similar compounds are accumulated by some organisms in anhydrobiotic, thermal and possibly pressure stresses. These solutes are amino acids and derivatives, polyols and sugars, methylamines, methylsulfonium compounds and urea. Except for urea, they are often called `compatible solutes', a term indicating lack of perturbing effects on cellular macromolecules and implying interchangeability. However, these features may not always exist, for three reasons. First, some of these solutes may have unique protective metabolic roles, such as acting as antioxidants (e.g. polyols, taurine, hypotaurine), providing redox balance (e.g. glycerol) and detoxifying sulfide (hypotaurine in animals at hydrothermal vents and seeps). Second, some of these solutes stabilize macromolecules and counteract perturbants in non-interchangeable ways. Methylamines [e.g. trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO)] can enhance protein folding and ligand binding and counteract perturbations by urea (e.g. in elasmobranchs and mammalian kidney), inorganic ions, and hydrostatic pressure in deep-sea animals. Trehalose and proline in overwintering insects stabilize membranes at subzero temperatures. Trehalose in insects and yeast, and anionic polyols in microorganisms around hydrothermal vents, can protect proteins from denaturation by high temperatures. Third, stabilizing solutes appear to be used in nature only to counteract perturbants of macromolecules, perhaps because stabilization is detrimental in the absence of perturbation. Some of these solutes have applications in biotechnology, agriculture and medicine, including in vitro rescue of the misfolded protein of cystic fibrosis. However, caution is warranted if high levels cause overstabilization of proteins.
Green Marketing for Sustainable Development: an Industry Perspective

This paper investigates and compares acceptability, perceptions, initiatives and obstacles perceived by public and private manufacturing concerns in India in respect of green marketing. The sample of companies was selected from Delhi and north-western region of India. The study reveals that both public-sector and private-sector companies are concerned for environment and believe that green marketing is relevant for sustainable development. It is also perceived as a promotional tool to build customer trust. Obstacles concerning adoption of green marketing by Indian industry are highlighted. The study calls for business firms to adopt environmentalism as a market opportunity rather than merely as compliance to increasing environmental pressures and legislations. Green marketing should become a norm in a developing country like India rather than an exception as it has the potential to contribute substantially in saving the world from environmental pollution and contribute to sustainable development. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
Segmenting Supply Chain Risk Using E/CTRM Systems: Unifying Theory of Commodity Hedging and Arbitrage

The complexity of managing physical and financial risk throughout the commodity production, processing and merchandising chain presents numerous challenges. To solve this problem commercials are increasingly turning to Energy and Commodity Transaction Risk Management (E/CTRM) systems. Still, risk management functionality within these systems is reported as falling short of requirements. Our discussion, in response, provides an economic framework for developing commodity risk policy and evaluation tools. In doing so, we unify the theory of normal backwardation with theory of storage, macroeconomic general equilibrium with multiple equilibria and microeconomic agents, basis trading with arbitrage strategies, and the hedging response function with elastic/inelastic supply-demand economics. After establishing axioms and rules of inference, we investigate the agribusiness supply chain to help illustrate application.
Parallelism and evolutionary algorithms

This paper contains a modern vision of the parallelization techniques used for evolutionary algorithms (EAs). The work is motivated by two fundamental facts: 1) the different families of EAs have naturally converged in the last decade while parallel EAs (PEAs) are still lack of unified studies; and 2) there is a large number of improvements in these algorithms and in their parallelization that raise the need for a comprehensive survey. We stress the differences between the EA model and its parallel implementation throughout the paper. We discuss the advantages and drawbacks of PEAs. Also, successful applications are mentioned and open problems are identified. We propose potential solutions to these problems and classify the different ways in which recent results in theory and practice are helping to solve them. Finally, we provide a highly structured background relating to PEAs in order to make researchers aware of the benefits of decentralizing and parallelizing an EA.
Greenspace, urbanity and health: relationships in England

Objectives: To determine the association between the percentage of greenspace in an area and the standardised rate of self-reported “not good” health, and to explore whether this association holds for areas exhibiting different combinations of urbanity and income deprivation. Design and setting: Cross-sectional, ecological study in England. Participants: All residents of England as at the 2001 Census. Main outcome measures: Age and sex standardised rate of reporting “not good” health status. Results: A higher proportion of greenspace in an area was generally associated with better population health. However, this association varied according to the combination of area income deprivation and urbanity. There was no significant association between greenspace and health in higher income suburban and higher income rural areas. In suburban lower income areas, a higher proportion of greenspace was associated with worse health. Conclusions: Although, in general, higher proportion of greenspace in an area is associated with better health, the association depends on the degree of urbanity and level of income deprivation in an area. One interpretation of these analyses is that quality as well as quantity of greenspace may be significant in determining health benefits.
HRSC on Mars Express - Photogrammetric and Cartographic Research

The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on the European spacecraft Mars Express is the first camera on a planetary mission especially designed for photogrammetric and cartographic purposes. Since January 2004 the camera has been taking image data from the Martian surface, characterized by high-resolution, stereo capability and color. These data provide an enormous potential for the generation of 3D surface models, color orthoimages, topographic and thematic maps, and additional products. The image data acquired undergo calibration and systematic processing to orthoimages and 3D data products. Within the international HRSC Science Team the members of the Photogrammetric/Cartographic Working Group are concerned with further refinements in order to achieve highest quality data products. These activities comprise improvements of the exterior orientation of the camera, various approaches to enhance DTM quality, and the generation of maps in the standard scale of 1:200 000 and larger scales as well. The paper reports on these activities and the results achieved so far.
Finishing Degrees and Finding Jobs: US Higher Education and the Flow of Foreign IT Workers

The rising importance of information technology (IT) occupations in the US economy has been accompanied by an expansion in the representation of high-skill, foreign-born IT workers. To illustrate, the share of the foreign born in IT occupations increased from about 15.5% to about 31.5% between 1993 and 2010, with this increased representation particularly marked among those younger than 45. This analysis focuses on understanding the role that US higher education and immigration policy plays in this transformation. A degree from a US college/university is an important pathway to participation in the US IT labor market, and the foreign born who obtain US degree credentials are particularly likely to remain in the United States. Many workers from abroad, including countries like India and China where wages in IT fields lag those in the United States, receive a substantial return to finding employment in the United States, even as temporary work visa policies may limit their entry. Limits on temporary work visas, which are particularly binding for those educated abroad, likely increase the attractiveness of degree attainment from US colleges and universities as a pathway to explore opportunities in the US labor market in IT.
The Herschel ATLAS

The Herschel ATLAS is the largest open-time key project that will be carried out on the Herschel Space Observatory. It will survey 570 deg2 of the extragalactic sky, 4 times larger than all the other Herschel extragalactic surveys combined, in five far-infrared and submillimeter bands. We describe the survey, the complementary multiwavelength data sets that will be combined with the Herschel data, and the six major science programs we are undertaking. Using new models based on a previous submillimeter survey of galaxies, we present predictions of the properties of the ATLAS sources in other wave bands.
Deficits in social behavioral tests in a mouse model of alternating hemiplegia of childhood

Abstract Social behavioral deficits have been observed in patients diagnosed with alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC), rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism and CAPOS syndrome, in which specific missense mutations in ATP1A3, encoding the Na+, K+-ATPase α3 subunit, have been identified. To test the hypothesis that social behavioral deficits represent part of the phenotype of Na+, K+-ATPase α3 mutations, we assessed the social behavior of the Myshkin mouse model of AHC, which has an I810N mutation identical to that found in an AHC patient with co-morbid autism. Myshkin mice displayed deficits in three tests of social behavior: nest building, pup retrieval and the three-chamber social approach test. Chronic treatment with the mood stabilizer lithium enhanced nest building in wild-type but not Myshkin mice. In light of previous studies revealing a broad profile of neurobehavioral deficits in the Myshkin model – consistent with the complex clinical profile of AHC – our results suggest that Na+, K+-ATPase α3 dysfunction has a deleterious, but nonspecific, effect on social behavior. By better defining the behavioral profile of Myshkin mice, we identify additional ATP1A3-related symptoms for which the Myshkin model could be used as a tool to advance understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms and develop novel therapeutic strategies.
Does the European Union Create the Foundations of an Information Society for All

In order to increase the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the European Union Member States, the European Commission, on the initiative of Commissioner E. Liikannen, launched in December 1999 a bold programme called “eEurope”. Soon after its creation, the eEurope programme was integrated into the so- called Lisbon agenda for Europe to become the “most advanced knowledge based economy” in the world. We try to assess if the programme is successful in achieving its stated objective of promoting a knowledge based economy through the development of an “information society for all”. First, we conclude that eEurope, due to its origins and its procedures, has intrinsic limits both as regards its scope and effectiveness. Second, we show how Member States have adopted different trajectories towards the “knowledge based society”. To identify these heterogeneous paths of growth, we have selected a set of variables that, combined together, represent the institutional arrangements specific to a country or a group of countries. We found sharp differences between two advanced models that we label, respectively, as Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon. Without asserting the superiority of a model, we propose policy orientations to help Europe overcome those gaps hindering the move towards knowledge economies where information society technologies are widely diffused.
Evidence of Decadal Climate Prediction Skill Resulting from Changes in Anthropogenic Forcing

It is argued that simulations of the twentieth century performed with coupled global climate models with specified historical changes in external radiative forcing can be interpreted as climate hindcasts. A simple Bayesian method for postprocessing such simulations is described, which produces probabilistic hindcasts of interdecadal temperature changes on large spatial scales. Hindcasts produced for the last two decades of the twentieth century are shown to be skillful. The suggestion that skillful decadal forecasts can be produced on large regional scales by exploiting the response to anthropogenic forcing provides additional evidence that anthropogenic change in the composition of the atmosphere has influenced the climate. In the absence of large negative volcanic forcing on the climate system (which cannot presently be forecast), it is predicted that the global mean temperature for the decade 2000–09 will lie above the 1970–99 normal with a probability of 0.94. The global mean temperature anomaly for this decade relative to 1970–99 is predicted to be 0.35°C with a 5%–95% confidence range of 0.21°–0.48°C.