Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Agricultural support as a Pigouvian subsidy for landscape amenity benefits: revisiting European regional convergence

European regional per capita income levels may be underestimated if the positive external effects of landscape amenity benefits are omitted. This may impact β -convergence models of regional growth. Agricultural support has been used as a conditioning variable in a number of studies of European regional growth. Without correction for a possible Pigouvian subsidy, we would expect a negative relationship between agricultural support and regional growth. If agricultural support is intended to act as a Pigouvian subsidy aiming at internalising landscape amenity benefit, we would expect to see upward shifts in coefficient values and possibly a sign change. Because landscape amenity benefits cannot be readily measured, we will be obliged to explore the parameter space of models including such a correction, in particular to see whether positive coefficient values for agricultural support can be found for representations of amenity benefit that harmonise with economic theory.
Gender Differences in the Reading of E-books: Investigating Children's Attitudes, Reading Behaviors and Outcomes

As indicated by some studies, the problem of “falling behind” often exists when using computer-assisted learning with children, and gender may be a factor in this. While digital contents presented on various e-readers are promising replacements for paper-and-ink books, the question arises as to whether this emerging technology will have the same effect with boys and girls? Conventionally, boys are believed to have more aptitude for using computer and information technologies, and it is of interest to see if this is true when using e-books in an educational context. In this study, two investigations were conducted to explore children’s attitudes, reading behaviors and outcomes in order to find out if there were any gender differences in the reading of e-books. The first investigation was conducted with 166 elementary school students to evaluate their attitudes towards reading with an Interactive E-book Learning System (IELS), a tailor-made e-book learning environment for children. The results showed that the gendered attitudes in terms of the Satisfaction dimension and the expectation for the usable functions were different. Twenty-three sixth-grade children then participated in the second investigation, in which they silently read two e-books in the IELS with a reading behavior tracking technique, and a retrieval test was conducted to assess the reading outcome for each e-book. The results show that while the girls mostly had the behavior of Skimming during the reading process, they outscored the boys in the retrieval tests. Although the application of personalized reading technologies in education, such as reading e-books with IELS, tends to diminish the gap in technology adaptation between the genders, however, the gender differences, as revealed in this work, are still substantial and considerable to factor in children’s reading of e-books. In practice, the results of this study suggest that these differences may create reading barriers for some children, and thus should be taken into account when e-books are used for formal learning.
Functional Analysis of VPS41-Mediated Neuroprotection in Caenorhabditis elegans and Mammalian Models of Parkinson's Disease

Disruption of the lysosomal system has emerged as a key cellular pathway in the neurotoxicity of α-synuclein (α-syn) and the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). A large-scale RNA interference (RNAi) screen using Caenorhabditis elegans identified VPS-41, a multidomain protein involved in lysosomal protein trafficking, as a modifier of α-syn accumulation and dopaminergic neuron degeneration (Hamamichi et al., 2008). Previous studies have shown a conserved neuroprotective function of human VPS41 (hVPS41) against PD-relevant toxins in mammalian cells and C. elegans neurons (Ruan et al., 2010). Here, we report that both the AP-3 (heterotetrameric adaptor protein complex) interaction domain and clathrin heavy-chain repeat domain are required for protecting C. elegans dopaminergic neurons from α-syn-induced neurodegeneration, as well as to prevent α-syn inclusion formation in an H4 human neuroglioma cell model. Using mutant C. elegans and neuron-specific RNAi, we revealed that hVPS41 requires both a functional AP-3 (heterotetrameric adaptor protein complex) and HOPS (homotypic fusion and vacuole protein sorting)-tethering complex to elicit neuroprotection. Interestingly, two nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms found within the AP-3 interacting domain of hVPS41 attenuated the neuroprotective property, suggestive of putative susceptibility factors for PD. Furthermore, we observed a decrease in α-syn protein level when hVPS41 was overexpressed in human neuroglioma cells. Thus, the neuroprotective capacity of hVPS41 may be a consequence of enhanced clearance of misfolded and aggregated proteins, including toxic α-syn species. These data reveal the importance of lysosomal trafficking in maintaining cellular homeostasis in the presence of enhanced α-syn expression and toxicity. Our results support hVPS41 as a potential novel therapeutic target for the treatment of synucleinopathies like PD.
A comparison of low versus standard dose pravastatin therapy for the prevention of cardiovascular events in the elderly: the pravastatin anti-atherosclerosis trial in the elderly (PATE).

Treatment with low drug doses is generally recommended in the elderly. However, the efficacy of low dose 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG CoA) reductase inhibitor treatment in elderly hypercholesterolemic patients has never been examined. Therefore, we compared the effect of low-dose with standard dose pravastatin, an HMG CoA reductase inhibitor, on the incidence of cardiovascular events (CVEs) in elderly patients with hypercholesterolemia in a randomized prospective trial. Subjects aged > or = 60 years (73 +/- 6 years) with serum total cholesterol (TC) levels of 220-280 mg/dL were randomized to the low-dose (groupL, 5 mg/day; n=334) or standard dose (groupS, 10-20mg/day; n= 331). Baseline TC levels were similar in the 2 groups (253 +/-15 mg/dL). Patients were followed for 3-5 years (mean 3.9 years). TC levels decreased from baseline by 11-13% in group L and by 15-17% in groupS. TC levels at 1 year in S and L group were 209 +/- 2 mg/ dL (16 +/- 1% decrease) and 221+/- 2 mg/dL (12 +/- 1% decrease), respectively. Forty two and 29 CVEs occurred in group L and S, respectively. The incidence of CVEs was significantly lower in group S than in group L (P = 0.046, generalized Wilcoxon test; P = 0.096, log-rank test). The risk ratio for group S compared with group L was 0.674 (95% confidence interval: 0.423-1.074). Subgroup analyses suggested that the difference in the incidence of CVEs between the 2 groups was more clear in subjects without diabetes mellitus, with TC levels of < 253 mg/dL, and with TG levels of > or = 133 mg/dL. The incidence of CVEs in group S was significantly lower than that in group L in subjects without both diabetes mellitus and previous cardiovascular disease (P = 0.026, generalized Wilcoxon test; P = 0.032, log rank test). These findings suggest that standard-dose pravastatin (10-20 mg/day) is more effective in reducing the incidence of CVEs in the elderly than low dose pravastatin (5 mg/ day), especially in nondiabetic elderly patients with mild hypercholesterolemia or previous cardiovascular disease.
The blue brain : hemispheric asymmetry in depression as an explanation for working memory impairment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

Due to substantial variability in past research regarding the cognitive and neurobiological correlates of depression, the current study investigated whether taking the possible relationship between asymmetric brain activity and cognitive impairment into account would help to clarify the matter. A total of 78 participants including 36 currently depressed, 11 previously depressed, and 31 never depressed participants, completed three mood questionnaires (Beck Depression Inventory, Hamilton Depression Inventory Short-Form, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), and four working memory tasks (a spatial and verbal variant of both the N-back and complex span task). All participants had their resting brain activity recorded using an electroencephalogram. It was hypothesised that depressed participants would show relatively reduced left frontal activity, since left frontal activity is linked to positive affect and approach motivation, and that participants with depression but low levels of anxiety would show reduced right parietal activity while those with high anxiety would show increased right parietal activity due to the role of the right parietal area in arousal. These hypotheses were not supported as there were no differences in asymmetry scores between the currently depressed and the never depressed groups. However, investigation of this hypothesis was hindered by the high comorbidity of anxiety and depression making it impossible to disentangle the effects of depression and anxiety on parietal activity. It was also hypothesised that participants with depression would show impaired working memory with disproportionate impairment in the verbal working memory tasks that are thought to utilise left frontal brain activity. There was no clear support for this hypothesis. In fact, there was a trend toward improved performance possibly related to increased attention to detail due to activation of stress systems signalling a potential threat in the environment. A final hypothesis was that there would be an association between different patterns of brain activity and WM impairment but no association was found. These results highlight problems with research in this field including the conceptualisation and measurement of depression and cognitive performance as well as problems distinguishing between anxiety and depression. Future research needs to address these issues.
The impact of a first-generation immigrant environment on the heritage language: productive vocabularies of Polish toddlers living in the UK and Ireland

ABSTRACT The expressive lexical skills of 53 Polish bilinguals aged 24–36 months living in the UK and Ireland were assessed using Polish and British English adaptations of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories. Polish vocabulary scores were compared to those of 53 Polish monolinguals matched for age, gender and parental education. The bilinguals were born to two Polish parents and mostly lived outside Poland since birth. Results showed substantial differences in Total Conceptual Vocabulary and single-language vocabulary scores between the groups. However, the groups did not differ on Total Vocabulary measures. In the bilingual sample, there were significant correlations between children’s frequency of language use and their vocabulary scores in the same language. A negative correlation between children’s frequency of English use and their Polish vocabulary scores was found. A complex pattern of factors relating to children’s low performance in Polish emerged. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that low birth weight, parental concern about language, maternal educational level as well as maternal frequency of Polish and English use contributed to explaining children’s Polish vocabulary scores. Overall, results indicated the need for early additional support of the first language (L1) if long-term balanced bilingualism is to be attained.
Supporting Email Workflow

As more people use e-mail at home or on the job, more people have come to experience the pain of e-mail that Denning first wrote about 20 years ago [3]. In this paper, we present data from a field study in our own company to add to the existing body of research about how people use e-mail. We then use these data and prior literature to outline a framework of the five main activities that we believe people use e-mail for. In particular, we focus on two activities that we believe have been under-studied: attending to the flow of messages they arrive, and doing “triage” on a body of new messages. In addition, we outline potential design directions for improving the e-mail experience, with a focus on e-mail clients that group messages and their replies together into threads. We present a prototype of such an interface as well as results from a lab study of the prototype.
Enhancing Mitochondrial Calcium Buffering Capacity Reduces Aggregation of Misfolded SOD1 and Motor Neuron Cell Death without Extending Survival in Mouse Models of Inherited Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Mitochondria have been proposed as targets for toxicity in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive, fatal adult-onset neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective loss of motor neurons. A decrease in the capacity of spinal cord mitochondria to buffer calcium (Ca2+) has been observed in mice expressing ALS-linked mutants of SOD1 that develop motor neuron disease with many of the key pathological hallmarks seen in ALS patients. In mice expressing three different ALS-causing SOD1 mutants, we now test the contribution of the loss of mitochondrial Ca2+-buffering capacity to disease mechanism(s) by eliminating ubiquitous expression of cyclophilin D, a critical regulator of Ca2+-mediated opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore that determines mitochondrial Ca2+ content. A chronic increase in mitochondrial buffering of Ca2+ in the absence of cyclophilin D was maintained throughout disease course and was associated with improved mitochondrial ATP synthesis, reduced mitochondrial swelling, and retention of normal morphology. This was accompanied by an attenuation of glial activation, reduction in levels of misfolded SOD1 aggregates in the spinal cord, and a significant suppression of motor neuron death throughout disease. Despite this, muscle denervation, motor axon degeneration, and disease progression and survival were unaffected, thereby eliminating mutant SOD1-mediated loss of mitochondrial Ca2+ buffering capacity, altered mitochondrial morphology, motor neuron death, and misfolded SOD1 aggregates, as primary contributors to disease mechanism for fatal paralysis in these models of familial ALS.
Sequence Analysis of Bitter Taste Receptor Gene Repertoires in Different Ruminant Species

Bitter taste has been extensively studied in mammalian species and is associated with sensitivity to toxins and with food choices that avoid dangerous substances in the diet. At the molecular level, bitter compounds are sensed by bitter taste receptor proteins (T2R) present at the surface of taste receptor cells in the gustatory papillae. Our work aims at exploring the phylogenetic relationships of T2R gene sequences within different ruminant species. To accomplish this goal, we gathered a collection of ruminant species with different feeding behaviors and for which no genome data is available: American bison, chamois, elk, European bison, fallow deer, goat, moose, mouflon, muskox, red deer, reindeer and white tailed deer. The herbivores chosen for this study belong to different taxonomic families and habitats, and hence, exhibit distinct foraging behaviors and diet preferences. We describe the first partial repertoires of T2R gene sequences for these species obtained by direct sequencing. We then consider the homology and evolutionary history of these receptors within this ruminant group, and whether it relates to feeding type classification, using MEGA software. Our results suggest that phylogenetic proximity of T2R genes corresponds more to the traditional taxonomic groups of the species rather than reflecting a categorization by feeding strategy.
The BH mass of nearby QSOs: a comparison of the bulge luminosity and virial methods

We report on the analysis of the photometric and spectroscopic properties of a sample of 29 low-redshift (z < 0.6) QSOs for which both Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFPC2 images and ultraviolet HST FOS spectra are available. For each object we measure the R-band absolute magnitude of the host galaxy, the C IV(1550 A) linewidth and the 1350 A continuum luminosity. From these quantities we can estimate the black hole (BH) mass through the M BH -L buile relation for inactive galaxies, and from the virial method based on the kinematics of the regions emitting the broad-lines. The comparison of the masses derived from the two methods yields information on the geometry of the gas emitting regions bound to the massive BH. The cumulative distribution of the linewidths is consistent with that produced by matter laying in planes with inclinations uniformly distributed between ∼10° and ∼50°, which corresponds to a geometrical factor f ∼1.3. Our results are compared with those of the literature and discussed within the unified model of active galactic nuclei.
Support for Computer Users: Concept Development and Measurement

This study explores how support for computer users can be conceptualized and measured in information systems research. A number of studies have proposed that support for computer users plays an important role in the acceptance and utilization of information technology applications. In these studies, the support concept has been conceptualized in a variety of ways, and the findings have often not been as hypothesized. The paper provides a conceptual framework for understanding support for computer users, and then describes the development of an instrument to measure support for computer users in a business school lab environment. The paper should help further understanding and measurement of a concept that seems important, as well as problematic, for information systems research.
A Study on the Effect of Internet Use and Social Capital on the Academic Performance

This study examined the condition of Internet use and social capital, as well as its effects on teenager’s academic performance. We analyzed survey data of 361 high school students. The study findings suggest that the Internet expands its reach to teenagers’ school life. First, students are more reliant on the Internet to access to information that is involved in school life as well as entertainment. Second, teenagers tend to manage their social capital through the Internet. Third, the result of regression analysis indicates that Internet use time irrespective of purposes is less likely to influence academic performance, while in-degree centrality and ego-network efficiency are more likely to exert positive influence on academic performance.
Photometric Redshift Determination with the BATC Multicolor System

In this paper, we present the methodology of photometric redshift determination with the BATC 15 color system by using the hyperz program. Both simulated galaxies and real galaxies with known redshifts were used to estimate the accuracy of redshifts inferred from multicolor photometry. From the test with simulated galaxies, the uncertainty in the inferred redshifts is about 0.02–0.03 for a given range of photometric uncertainty of 0.05–0.10 mag. The results with the 27 real galaxies are in good agreement with the simulated ones. The advantage of using the BATC intermediate‐band system to derive redshift is clear after comparison with the UBVRI broadband system. The accuracy in redshift determination with the BATC system is mainly affected by the selection of filters and the photometric uncertainties in the observation. When we take the limiting magnitudes of the 15 filters into account, we find that redshift can be determined with good accuracy for galaxies with redshifts less than 0.5, using only filters with central wavelengths shorter than 6000 Å.
Productivity Improvements and Falling Trade Costs: Boon or Bane?

This article looks at two features of globalization, namely, productivity improvements and falling trade costs, and explores their effect on welfare in a monopolistic competition model with heterogenous firms and technological asymmetries. Contrary to received wisdom, and for reasons different from adverse terms of trade effects, it is shown that improvements in a partner's productivity must hurt us. Moreover, falling trade costs can raise welfare in the technologically advanced country while reducing it in the backward one, if technological asymmetries are large enough.
Effects of expanding the look‐back period to all available data in the assessment of covariates

A fixed baseline period has been a common covariate assessment approach in pharmacoepidemiological studies from claims but may lead to high levels of covariate misclassification. Simulation studies have recommended expanding the look‐back approach to all available data (AAD) for binary indicators of diagnoses, procedures, and medications, but there have been few real data analyses using this approach.
Conditional deletion of neurogenin-3 using Nkx2.1iCre results in a mouse model for the central control of feeding, activity and obesity

SUMMARY The ventral hypothalamus acts to integrate visceral and systemic information to control energy balance. The basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor neurogenin-3 (Ngn3) is required for pancreatic β-cell development and has been implicated in neuronal development in the hypothalamus. Here, we demonstrate that early embryonic hypothalamic inactivation of Ngn3 (also known as Neurog3) in mice results in rapid post-weaning obesity that is associated with hyperphagia and reduced energy expenditure. This obesity is caused by loss of expression of Pomc in Pomc- and Cart-expressing (Pomc/Cart) neurons in the arcuate nucleus, indicating an incomplete specification of anorexigenic first order neurons. Furthermore, following the onset of obesity, both the arcuate and ventromedial hypothalamic nuclei become insensitive to peripheral leptin treatment. This conditional mouse mutant therefore represents a novel model system for obesity that is associated with hyperphagia and underactivity, and sheds new light upon the roles of Ngn3 in the specification of hypothalamic neurons controlling energy balance.
FAST GREEDY ALGORITHMS FOR LARGE SPARSE INVERSE PROBLEMS

In this paper we introduce and study algorithms to solve large linear equations, in which the solution is assumed to be sparse. We concentrate on greedy strategies and in particular study extensions to the recently introduced Gradient Pursuit framework. Different approaches are compared that select several elements per iteration, thereby significantly decreasing the computational complexity of the method. We argue in particular for the use of a so called stagewise weak selection strategy. Experiments with a range of sparse inverse problems show that a Gradient Pursuit algorithm with such a selection strategy is competitive to and in many cases outperforms other fast algorithms, both in terms of estimation accuracy and in terms of computation speed.