Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relationship Between Blood Lipid and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in an Obese Population of Chinese Children: An Obesity-Stratified Cross-Sectional Study

Background Although obesity has been related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), few studies have examined the relationship between blood lipid levels and ADHD in children. We aimed to evaluate whether increased blood lipid levels are associated with the prevalence of ADHD in children. Methods A total of 1179 children were studied in the cross-sectional analysis. Multivariate logistic regression and linear regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association of blood lipid levels with the prevalence of ADHD in children. Results In 1179 children, the average age was 10.4 years, and the percentage of boys was 50.3%. 97 (8.2%) of the children were diagnosed with ADHD. The logistic regression analysis demonstrated that elevated levels of total cholesterol (OR=2.001, 95% CI 1.247–3.541, P-trend=0.024), triglycerides (OR=1.776, 95% CI 1.448–2.187, P-trend=0.003) and LDL (low density lipoprotein; OR=2.016, 95% CI 1.335–3.966, P-trend<0.001) and reduced levels of HDL (high density lipoprotein; OR=0.577, 95% CI 0.298–0.948, P-trend=0.023) were associated with the prevalence of ADHD after adjustments were made for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), residence type, maternal smoking during pregnancy, breastfeeding and breastfeeding length, maternal and paternal educational levels, and marital status of parents in Model 3. The stratified analysis using “obese” as a covariate showed that elevated levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL and reduced levels of HDL were independently associated with an increased risk of ADHD in obese children. Conclusion Increased blood lipid levels were associated with ADHD in obese children.
AN ESSAY ON GNEDENKO’S THEOREM

A local central limit theorem is established for a Markov chain on a lattice under recurrence type assumptions and a simple additional assumption on conditional distributions of the process. The main result extends, in particular, the classical theorem by B. V. Gnedenko for the case of independent identically distributed random variables (1948). Suﬃcient conditions for recurrence assumptions are provided.
Excitatory effect of biphasic kHz field stimulation on CA1 pyramidal neurons in slices

Background Electrical stimulation in the kilohertz-frequency range has been successfully used for treatment of various neurological disorders. Nevertheless, the mechanisms underlying this stimulation are poorly understood. Objective To study the effect of kilohertz-frequency electric fields on neuronal membrane biophysics we developed a reliable experimental method to measure responses of single neurons to kilohertz field stimulation in brain slice preparations. Methods In the submerged brain slice pyramidal neurons of the CA1 subfield were recorded in the whole-cell configuration before, during and after stimulation with an external electric field at 2kHz, 5kHz or 10 kHz. Results Reproducible excitatory changes in rheobase and spontaneous firing were elicited during kHz-field application at all stimulating frequencies. The rheobase only decreased and spontaneous firing either was initiated in silent neurons or became more intense in previously spontaneously active neurons. Response thresholds were higher at higher frequencies. Blockade of glutamatergic synaptic transmission did not alter the magnitude of responses. Inhibitory synaptic input was not changed by kilohertz field stimulation. Conclusion kHz-frequency current applied in brain tissue has an excitatory effect on pyramidal neurons during stimulation. This effect is more prominent and occurs at a lower stimulus intensity at a frequency of 2kHz as compared to 5kHz and 10kHz.
A Review of Urban Consolidation Centres in the Supply Chain Based on a Case Study Approach

The paper considers how urban consolidation centres (UCCs) can be used in the supply chain to reduce goods vehicle traffic and its associated environmental impacts, while also helping to make supply chains more responsive and efficient and thereby generate commercial benefits. The role of UCCs is presented and the various types discussed. The potential supply chain impacts of UCCs are considered. Case studies of six UCC schemes and trials are included, with their objectives, operational characteristics and impacts compared. The critical success factors associated with UCCs are identified.
A Structure Function Model Recovers the Many Formulations for Air‐Water Gas Transfer Velocity

Two ideas regarding the structure of turbulence near a clear air‐water interface are used to derive a waterside gas transfer velocity kL for sparingly and slightly soluble gases. The first is that kL is proportional to the turnover velocity described by the vertical velocity structure function Dww(r), where r is separation distance between two points. The second is that the scalar exchange between the air‐water interface and the waterside turbulence can be suitably described by a length scale proportional to the Batchelor scale lB=ηSc−1/2, where Sc is the molecular Schmidt number and η is the Kolmogorov microscale defining the smallest scale of turbulent eddies impacted by fluid viscosity. Using an approximate solution to the von Kármán‐Howarth equation predicting Dww(r) in the inertial and viscous regimes, prior formulations for kL are recovered including (i) kL=2/15Sc−1/2vK , vK is the Kolmogorov velocity defined by the Reynolds number vKη/ν = 1 and ν is the kinematic viscosity of water; (ii) surface divergence formulations; (iii) kL∝Sc−1/2u∗ , where u∗ is the waterside friction velocity; (iv) kL∝Sc−1/2gν/u∗ for Keulegan numbers exceeding a threshold needed for long‐wave generation, where the proportionality constant varies with wave age, g is the gravitational acceleration; and (v) kL=2/15Sc−1/2(νgβoqo)1/4 in free convection, where qo is the surface heat flux and βo is the thermal expansion of water. The work demonstrates that the aforementioned kL formulations can be recovered from a single structure function model derived for locally homogeneous and isotropic turbulence.
Measuring Industrial Customer Satisfaction: The Case of the Natural Gas Market in Greece

This aim of this paper is to measure industrial consumer satisfaction in the natural gas sector in Greece. By using the Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis (MUSA) method, the paper measures industrial customer satisfaction based on criteria concerning the provided products and services, communication and collaboration with providers’ staff, customer service, pricing policy and website. The research results that are based on the analysis of 95 questionnaires collected during the period between June 2017 and October 2017 show that the index of the global customer has a good performance as its value is about 74.99%. Furthermore, the satisfaction criterion with the highest performance is the one concerning communication and collaboration with natural gas providers’ staff. It should be noted that the criterion concerning the provided products and services criterion is the only one with high performance and importance—meaning that it should be in the spotlight of the natural gas providers. The paper concludes that there is considerable space for improvements to be made. Customer satisfaction is of great importance for every company, as it can be highly connected with its performance. Using the results of this study, natural gas providers will have the chance to frame their future actions in order to keep their industrial customers satisfied. Taking into account both the fact that industrial customers’ share in the Greek natural gas market is about 25% and that this market has been recently liberalized, it is of vital importance for natural gas providers to have sufficient information about their industrial customers’ satisfaction.
Drag force on a sphere in steady motion through a yield- stress fluid

We have studied the motion of spheres falling through yield-stress Carbopol gels. We measured the velocity of the falling sphere as a function of time and sphere density. Reproducible results were obtained when the experimental fluids were carefully prepared and homogenized. Three regimes of motion were observed. Spheres of high enough density reached a constant terminal velocity, as in Newtonian fluids. Below a critical density, the sphere came to a complete stop, while in an intermediate regime, the sphere continued to move but with a velocity which steadily decreased with time. We have also carefully characterized the rheological behavior of the fluids. The flow regimes observed for the falling sphere are analogous to those observed in creep tests for different applied stress levels. The yielding criterion and the drag force on the sphere obtained from our data are in excellent agreement with the longstanding but previously unconfirmed theoretical predictions of Beris et al. [J. Fluid Mech. 158, 219–24.
Transparent Sol-Gel Oxyfluoride Glass-Ceramics with High Crystalline Fraction and Study of RE Incorporation

Transparent oxyfluoride glass-ceramic films and self-supported layers with composition 80SiO2-20LaF3 doped with Er3+ have been successfully synthesized by sol-gel process for the first time. Crack-free films and self-supported layer with a maximum thickness up to 1.4 µm were obtained after heat treatment at the low temperature of 550 °C for 1 min, resulting in a LaF3 crystal fraction of 18 wt%, as confirmed by quantitative Rietveld refinement. This is the highest value reported up to now for transparent oxyfluoride glass-ceramics prepared by sol-gel. This work provides a new synthesis strategy and opens the way to a wide range of potential applications of oxyfluoride glass-ceramics. The characterization by a wide range of techniques revealed the homogeneous precipitation of LaF3 nanocrystals into the glass matrix. X-ray absorption spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance confirmed that the Er3+ ions are preferentially embedded in the low phonon-energy LaF3 nanocrystals. Moreover, photoluminescence (PL) measurements confirmed the incorporation of dopants in the LaF3 nanocrystals. The effective concentration of rare-earth ions in the LaF3 nanocrystals is also estimated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy.
Disentangling the near-infrared continuum spectral components of the inner 500 pc of Mrk 573: two-dimensional maps

We present a near infrared study of the spectral components of the continuum in the inner 500$\times$500 pc$^2$ of the nearby Seyfert galaxy Mrk573 using adaptive optics near-infrared integral field spectroscopy with the instrument NIFS of the Gemini North Telescope at a spatial resolution of $\sim$50 pc. We performed spectral synthesis using the {\sc starlight} code and constructed maps for the contributions of different age components of the stellar population: young ($age\leq100$ Myr), young-intermediate ($100 2$ Gyr) to the near-IR K-band continuum, as well as their contribution to the total stellar mass. We found that the old stellar population is dominant within the inner 250 pc, while the intermediate age components dominate the continuum at larger distances. A young stellar component contributes up to $\sim$20% within the inner $\sim$70 pc, while hot dust emission and featureless continuum components are also necessary to fit the nuclear spectrum, contributing up to 20% of the K-band flux there. The radial distribution of the different age components in the inner kiloparsec of Mrk573 is similar to those obtained by our group for the Seyfert galaxies Mrk1066, Mrk1157 and NGC1068 in previous works using a similar methodology. Young stellar populations ($\leq$100 Myr) are seen in the inner 200-300 pc for all galaxies contributing with $\ge$20% of the K-band flux, while the near-IR continuum is dominated by the contribution of intermediate-age stars ($t=$100 Myr-2 Gyr) at larger distances. Older stellar populations dominate in the inner 250 pc.
Spin-polarized states in neutron matter in a strong magnetic field

Spin-polarized states in neutron matter in strong magnetic fields up to 10{sup 18} G are considered in the model with the Skyrme effective interaction. By analyzing the self-consistent equations at zero temperature, it is shown that a thermodynamically stable branch of solutions for the spin-polarization parameter as a function of density corresponds to the negative spin polarization when the majority of neutron spins are oriented opposite to the direction of the magnetic field. Besides, beginning from some threshold density dependent on magnetic field strength, the self-consistent equations also have two other branches of solutions for the spin-polarization parameter with the positive spin polarization. The free energy corresponding to one of these branches turns out to be very close to that of the thermodynamically preferable branch. As a consequence, in a strong magnetic field, the state with the positive spin polarization can be realized as a metastable state in the high-density region in neutron matter, which, under decreasing density, at some threshold density changes to a thermodynamically stable state with the negative spin polarization.
COVID-19 wage subsidies and SME performance: evidence from Russia

ABSTRACT We study the effects of COVID-19 wage subsidies offered to Russian SMEs. This programme disbursed over USD400m of monthly grants to cover wage bills to firms in COVID-affected industries under the condition of retaining employment in 2020. In a triple difference design we find no effects of such grants on survival, employment, or profitability of firms in the affected industries by early 2021.
The impact of manufacturing and supply chain improvement initiatives: comparing make-to-order and make-to-stock firms

Manufacturing firms aim at improving both internal and external processes to improve the competitive advantage. Such initiatives include lean practices as well as supplier rationalization and integration. In this paper, we analyze these improvement initiatives and their impact on business performance. In particular, we explore potential differences between make-to-order (MTO) and make-to-stock (MTS) firms. We use data from 216 Australian manufacturing firms. We find a clear differentiation of improvement focus between MTO and MTS firms. MTO firms exhibit a significant impact of supplier integration on business performance, but not for lean practices and supplier rationalization. The situation is completely reversed for MTS firms, since they have significant effects for internal lean practices and supplier rationalization, but not for logistics integration with supplier. These results show that the distinction between MTO and MTS firms is important when analyzing manufacturing and supply chain improvement initiatives.
Sleeper Using Fiber Reinforced Geopolymer

Two types of short sleeper were manufactured, both using fiber-reinforced geopolymers instead of ordinary Portland cement. One type of short sleeper was produced with reduced use of steel rods which provide tensile reinforcement, and the other without any steel rods. Plug pull-out tests and flexural tests on the two types of short sleeper showed that model, containing 1.5 vol% steel fibers without any steel rods, met the performance requirements of short sleepers. And the other type of sleepers, containing 1.5 vol% polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers, 2.0 vol% polypropylene (PP) fibers, and 1.0 vol% aramid (AR) fibers with reduced use of steel rods, met the performance requirements of short sleepers.
Novel Geometrical Concept of a High Performance Brain PET Scanner : Principle, Design and Performance Estimates

We present the principle, a possible implementation and performance estimates of a novel geometrical concept for a high resolution positron emission tomograph. The concept, which can for example be implemented in a brain PET device, promisses to lead to an essentially parallax free 3D image reconstruction with excellent spatial resolution and constrast, uniform over the complete field of view. The key components are matrices of long axially oriented scintillator crystals which are read out at both extremities by segmented Hybrid Photon Detectors. We discuss the relevant design considerations for a 3D axial PET camera module, motivate parameter and material choices, and estimate its performance in terms of spatial and energy resolution. We support these estimates by Monte Carlo simulations and in some cases by first experimental results. From the performance of a camera module, we extrapolate to the reconstruction resolution of a 3D axial PET scanner in a semi-analytical way and compare it to an existing state-of-the art brain PET device. We finally describe a dedicated data acquisition system, capable to fully exploit the advantages of the proposed concept. We conclude that the proposed 3D Axial concept and the discussed implementation is a competitive approach for high resolution brain PET. Excellent energy resolution and Compton enhanced sensitivity are expected to lead to high quality reconstruction and reduced scanning times.
Immunological responses to adjuvant vaccination with combined CD1c+ myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cells in stage III melanoma patients

ABSTRACT We evaluated the immunological responses of lymph-node involved (stage III) melanoma patients to adjuvant dendritic cell vaccination with subsets of naturally occurring dendritic cells (nDCs). Fifteen patients with completely resected stage III melanoma were randomized to receive adjuvant dendritic cell vaccination with CD1c+ myeloid dendritic cells (cDC2s), plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) or the combination. Immunological response was the primary endpoint and secondary endpoints included safety and survival. In 80% of the patients, antigen-specific CD8+ T cells were detected in skin test-derived T cells and in 55% of patients, antigen-specific CD8+ T cells were detectable in peripheral blood. Functional interferon-γ-producing T cells were found in the skin test of 64% of the patients. Production of nDC vaccines meeting release criteria was feasible for all patients. Vaccination only induced grade 1–2 adverse events, mainly consisting of fatigue. In conclusion, adjuvant dendritic cell vaccination with cDC2s and/or pDCs is feasible, safe and induced immunological responses in the majority of stage III melanoma patients.
When is the Price of Dispersion Risk Positive?

<br>We provide robust evidence that the price of analysts' dispersion risk in the cross-section of stock returns changes sign over time, and in particular, turns positive (negative) in periods of high (low) analysts' dispersion. Our result holds for a set of portfolios that are double-sorted on their betas and their coefficients on aggregate dispersion, as well as 36 different sets of test portfolios created by Kenneth French. We construct a general equilibrium model in which analysts of different types have heterogeneous beliefs about aggregate earnings growth. The consumer does not trust either analyst fully, and dynamically adjusts the weight given to each analyst, given the history of their past forecast performance. In equilibrium, each asset's risk premium depends on its exposure to three factors: (i) the market portfolio, (ii) the macroeconomic factor, and, (iii) a ``flight-to-safety'' factor. The first term decreases with dispersion, while the third term increases. These changes occurs because investors shift into assets with lower cash flow betas during periods of high dispersion. We find strong support for such a flight-to-safety in the data.
Descriptive sensory profiling of thandai using principal component analysis

: Thandai being nutrient crammed pabulum is relished as a traditional milk-based beverage in India. Being indigenous drink, international and national level research work and the literature pertaining to the same is not available. Thus, the present study was undertaken to investigate and characterize the sensory attributes of commercially available thandai using Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). QDA revealed statistically significant (p<0.05) difference in sensory attributes of thandai amongst the market samples. PCA identified three significant principal components that accounted for 93.01 per cent of the variation in the sensory data. Correlation matrix revealed many linear relationships between independent terms of sensory attributes.
Understanding Citrus Greening Disease and Its Possible Management Strategies in Nepal

Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening, is a devastating disease of citrus that has decimated several citrus orchards throughout the world. The disease is associated with three species of unculturable and phloem-limited bacteriae, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, Candidatus Liberibacter africanus and Candidatus Liberibacter americanus. The most common species of bacteria found in Nepal is Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus which is transmitted by an insect vector, Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri). This disease has been detected in several economically important citrus production areas of Nepal, which resulted in heavy yield loss. No cure for the disease has been discovered yet and it is essential to practice proper management strategies to maintain citrus health and sustain citrus production under HLB pressure. Several disease management approaches such as pathogen-free nursery establishment, use of disease tolerant rootstock cultivars, proper irrigation and nutrient supply, removal of HLB affected trees, and control of psyllid with frequent insecticide application are widely practiced throughout the world. This review article highlights the characteristics of the citrus greening disease and its insect vector and gives insights into their management techniques. Several technologically advanced options available to minimize the HLB infection might not be feasible currently in Nepal due to economic and topographic constraints. This article also aims to bring into focus the cost-effective methods that growers in Nepal can practice to mitigate the impact of HLB disease in their citrus orchards. Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 9(4): 227-238.
Born to be mild ? Cohort effects don ’ t explain why well-being is U-shaped in age

The statistical analysis of cross-section data very often reveals a U-shaped relationship between subjective well-being and age. This paper uses fourteen waves of British panel data to distinguish between a pure life-cycle or aging effect, and a fixed cohort effect that depends on year of birth. Panel analysis controlling for fixed effects continues to produce a U-shaped relationship between well-being and age, although this U-shape is flatter for life satisfaction than for the GHQ measure of mental well-being. The pattern of the estimated cohort effects differs between the two well-being measures and, to an extent, by demographic group. In particular, those born earlier report more positive GHQ scores, controlling for their current age; this phenomenon is especially found for women. JEL Codes: C23, I3, J11. * I am grateful to Dick Easterlin, David Halpern, Felicia Huppert, Orsolya Lelkes, Andrew Oswald, Claudia Senik and Rainer Winkelmann for useful discussions. The BHPS data were made available through the ESRC Data Archive. The data were originally collected by the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-social Change at the University of Essex. Neither the original collectors of the data nor the Archive bear any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here. Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques (PSE) is a Joint Research Unit CNRSEHESS-ENPC-ENS. Address: PSE, 48 Boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris, France. Tel: 33-1-43-13-63-29. E-mail: Andrew.Clark@ens.fr. 2 BORN TO BE MILD? COHORT EFFECTS DON’T EXPLAIN WHY WELL-BEING IS USHAPED IN AGE Andrew E. Clark*