Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vitamin D Receptor Genetic Polymorphisms and the Risk of Urolithiasis: A Meta-Analysis

Objective: Genetic variants of vitamin D receptor (VDR) were implicated in urolithiasis susceptibility in several case-control studies. However, these studies so far have provided conflicting results. In order to investigate the potential relationship, a meta-analysis was conducted. Methods: Eligible studies were retrieved via both computerized searches and review of references. The relation of VDR polymorphisms to urolithiasis was quantified on ApaI, BsmI, FokI and TaqI separately. Stratified analyses on regional characteristics and stone composition were also performed. Estimates of OR with 95% CI were summarized using the fixed- or random-effect models as appropriate. Results: A total of 17 studies were included in our analysis. There was no evidence showing significant associations between ApaI and BsmI polymorphisms and urolithiasis risk in overall estimates. However, f allele and ff+Ff genotype in the dominant model of FokI were related with an increase of urolithiasis risk. TaqI also presented with increased urolithiasis risk with t allele and tt+Tt genotype in the dominant model. Conclusion: Our meta-analysis indicated VDR polymorphisms could be potential biomarkers for urolithiasis susceptibility.
Child Marriage in South Asia: Realities, Responses and the Way Forward

Child marriage is a serious human rights crisis and one of the most pressing development concerns in the world today. Defined as marriage under the age of 18 child marriage disproportionately and negatively affects girls who are more likely to be married as children than boys. Currently over 60 million girls and women are affected by child marriage globally. Child marriage is particularly pervasive across South Asia and Africa where 50-70 percent of girls in some countries are married before the age of 18. This technical note highlights the prevalence of child marriage in South Asia and its adverse social health and developmental impacts on girls’ lives. It reviews legislative and other responses in the form of government policies and frameworks as well as programs adopted by different South Asian countries to address child marriage. Additionally it offers a way forward for both policy makers and development practitioners in terms of policy and program recommendations to eliminate child marriage in the region.
Structure-Function Relationships of Glucansucrase and Fructansucrase Enzymes from Lactic Acid Bacteria

SUMMARY Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) employ sucrase-type enzymes to convert sucrose into homopolysaccharides consisting of either glucosyl units (glucans) or fructosyl units (fructans). The enzymes involved are labeled glucansucrases (GS) and fructansucrases (FS), respectively. The available molecular, biochemical, and structural information on sucrase genes and enzymes from various LAB and their fructan and α-glucan products is reviewed. The GS and FS enzymes are both glycoside hydrolase enzymes that act on the same substrate (sucrose) and catalyze (retaining) transglycosylation reactions that result in polysaccharide formation, but they possess completely different protein structures. GS enzymes (family GH70) are large multidomain proteins that occur exclusively in LAB. Their catalytic domain displays clear secondary-structure similarity with α-amylase enzymes (family GH13), with a predicted permuted (β/α)8 barrel structure for which detailed structural and mechanistic information is available. Emphasis now is on identification of residues and regions important for GS enzyme activity and product specificity (synthesis of α-glucans differing in glycosidic linkage type, degree and type of branching, glucan molecular mass, and solubility). FS enzymes (family GH68) occur in both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria and synthesize β-fructan polymers with either β-(2→6) (inulin) or β-(2→1) (levan) glycosidic bonds. Recently, the first high-resolution three-dimensional structures have become available for FS (levansucrase) proteins, revealing a rare five-bladed β-propeller structure with a deep, negatively charged central pocket. Although these structures have provided detailed mechanistic insights, the structural features in FS enzymes dictating the synthesis of either β-(2→6) or β-(2→1) linkages, degree and type of branching, and fructan molecular mass remain to be identified.
Risk and return of U.S. water transportation stocks over time and over bull and bear market conditions

The aim of this paper is to investigate the behaviour of water transportation company stock returns in the U.S. stock exchanges from 1985 to 1994 in order to determine whether the systematic risk of this industry is different from that of the ‘average’ company in the market, whether it has changed over the ten year period, over bull and bear market conditions, and whether there is a firm ‘size’ effect in the industry. In the context of the Capital Asset Pricing Model ( Capm ), we find that the systematic risk of the shipping industry return is not different from that of the ‘average’ company. It is also found that the covariance of water transportation companies with respect to the overall stock market return did not change over the ten year period although it appears that it has changed over normal upward/downward market movements. There is also reasonable evidence that the intercept of the equation might have changed over normal upward/downward market movements. Finally, we document contradictory evidence regarding the size effect; during the period 1985--1989 we find small companies to have significantly higher returns and risk while during the period 1990--1994 medium size companies tend to have higher risk than small and large firms, which is not however compensated by higher returns.
In Vitro and In Vivo Analysis of the Interaction between RNA Helicase A and HIV-1 RNA

ABSTRACT RNA helicase A (RHA) promotes multiple steps of HIV-1 RNA metabolism during viral replication, including transcription, translation, and the annealing of primer tRNA3 Lys to the viral RNA. RHA is a member of the DExH subclass of RNA helicases that uniquely contains two double-stranded RNA binding domains (dsRBDs) at its N terminus. Here, we performed a genome-wide analysis of the interaction of RHA with HIV-1 RNA both in vitro, using fluorescence polarization, and during viral replication, using an RNA-protein coprecipitation assay. In vitro, RHA binds to all the isolated regions of the HIV-1 RNA genome tested, with Kd (equilibrium dissociation constant) values ranging from 44 to 178 nM. In contrast, during viral replication, RNA-protein coprecipitation assays detected only a major interaction of RHA with the 5′-untranslated region (5′-UTR) and a minor interaction with the Rev response element (RRE) of HIV-1 RNA. Since RHA does not associate well with all the highly structured regions of HIV-1 RNA tested in vivo, the results suggest that other viral or cellular factors not present in vitro may modulate the direct interaction of RHA with HIV-1 RNA during virus replication. Nevertheless, a role for duplex RNA as a target for RHA binding in vivo is suggested by the fact that the deletion of either one or both dsRBDs eliminates the in vivo interaction of RHA with HIV-1 RNA. Furthermore, these mutant RHAs do not promote the in vivo annealing of tRNA3 Lys to viral RNA, nor are they packaged into virions, demonstrating that the dsRBDs are essential for the role of RHA in HIV-1 replication.
Methodology in neuroanatomic measurement

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful tool for investigating neurologic disorders for which etiology is not yet resolved. Macroscopic neuroanatomic differences detectable by MRI complement microscopic findings from autopsy. One disorder for which this is true is infantile autism. Several researchers have used MRI to investigate the neuroanatomy of autistic subjects in search of abnormalities that may underlie the social, language, and cognitive dysfunction characteristic of the disorder. To date, substantial evidence from MRI and autopsy shows abnormalities in the cerebellum.l-ll However, a few studies have reported negative r e s ~ l t s . l ~ ~ ~ In this issue of Neurology, we present a metaanalysis of MRI measurements of the cerebellar vermis in autism from recent studies, including those reporting negative findings. ’6J7 This meta-analysis combines data from separate laboratories to reveal a bimodal distribution in cerebellar vermis measures, which supports the hypothesis that there are at least two distinct subtypes of abnormality and provides a possible explanation for the conflicting results. The process of reconciling discrepancies among studies forced us to carefully consider the methodologic features employed in MRI studies of autism. In part to explain the contradictory results, and, more importantly, to offer guidelines for future studies, we have identified several critical issues that must enter decisions when planning research designs to accomplish specific goals in any MRI studies of neurologic disorders. Shrewdly made design choices greatly increase the probability of obtaining results consistent with these goals.
Roman A. Ohrenstein, Economic Analysis in Talmudic Literature: Rabbinic Thought in the Light of Modern Economics, second edition, revised and enlarged, (New York: Vantage Press, 2003) pp. XX, 233, $26.95, ISBN 0-533-14298-9

I don’t wish to mislead the reader into thinking that the volume consists solely, or even largely, of witty little quotes. The vast majority are serious statements of and about economics—as indeed were most of those I have quoted here, even if they are somewhat humorous in retrospect. Much of the book’s material, and not a few of those quoted, will be unfamiliar to the reader, and, while some of the authors—basically the non-economists—have a three or four word descriptor under their names, the volume could have benefited from a wider use of this practice, or, better yet, a couple of sentences about each person from whose works the quotations are taken. We are informed, for example, that Albert Einstein was a “German-American physicist” and that Benjamin Franklin was an “American inventor and statesman,” but given no sense (other than birth and, where relevant, death dates) for the particulars of the many obscure and semi-obscure writers whose words appear on these pages. This is a handy book to have on one’s shelf. It is at once useful, fun, interesting, and conversation-stimulating, albeit capable of improvement on a couple of fronts. It will be a “book that launched a thousand epigrams,” the device used by those of us plodders who cannot think of something sufficiently witty or profound (or both) of our own with which to begin our articles and books. It comes at the usual unreasonable (for an individual purchaser) price for the hardback, and I would urge the publisher to issue a paperback volume. Its utility would undoubtedly make it a great seller if appropriately priced. Heaven knows that everyone who picks up the book will be amazed that the editor could have been so ignorant of the literature as to have left out so and so commenting on thus and such. Books such as this, though, are invariably afflicted with these issues. But then, as McCann points out in his introduction, “this is the reason for second editions. ” You are thus encouraged to procure a copy for yourself, peruse, enjoy, and then email McCann your suggestions for inclusion in his next edition.
Increasing corticospinal excitability in the antagonist muscle during muscle relaxation with a tracking task

Abstract The present study aimed to investigate corticospinal excitability changes during muscle relaxation with a tracking task. The motor-evoked potential, which was elicited from the flexor carpi radialis (agonist) and extensor carpi radialis (antagonist) muscles, was analyzed in terms of both the relaxation velocity and phase. Our results suggest that increasing corticospinal excitability in the antagonist muscle plays an important role in controlling the relaxation of the agonist muscle during gradual relaxation with a tracking task.
How Accessibility Shapes Land Use

Abstract An empirical examination of the residential development patterns illustrates that accessibility and the availability of vacant developable land can be used as the basis of a residential land use model. The author presents an operational definition and suggests a method for determining accessibility patterns within metropolitan areas. This is a process of distributing forecasted metropolitan population to small areas within the metropolitan region. Although the model presented is not yet sufficiently well refined for estimating purposes, the concept and the approach may be potentially useful tools for metropolitan planning purposes.
Measurement Error and Earnings Dynamics: Some Estimates from the PSID Validation Study

Previous empirical work on measurement error in survey earnings data has shown that the variance of the measurement error is roughly constant over time, it is negatively correlated with true earnings, and it is autocorrelated with previous measurement errors. This article proposes a simple model in which the measurement error stems from underreporting of transitory earnings fluctuations and a white-noise component. The model fits well to data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Validation Study. The results imply that autocorrelations in the changes of earnings can be estimated relatively accurately despite the presence of measurement error.
Prospects for Asian Exchange Rate Cooperation: Why an ERM Solution Might be the Most Palatable

ABSTRACT This paper re-assesses the prospects for greater exchange rate cooperation in East Asia in the wake of the Asian financial crisis of 1997–8. The crisis highlighted the inability of unilateral exchange rate mechanisms to deal adequately with the inflow of foreign capital and the absence of a common defensive mechanism to deal with speculative movements in exchange rates. Since 1997 there have been a number of initiatives to enhance monetary cooperation in the region including options for a common exchange rate system. We find that whilst a common monetary and exchange rate policy in East Asia is unlikely in the foreseeable future, until the net economic benefits of giving up unilateral exchange rate regimes are more apparent, a good case can be made for continuing to talk about such arrangements. In the early stages the prerequisites for exchange rate cooperation are not as demanding as for full monetary union, provided sufficient flexibility is built-in. Of the available options a solution along the lines of the former European Exchange Rate Mechanism might be politically the most appealing if the arrangements are flexible enough to leave countries initially with sufficient independence in macroeconomic policy, and it can build on European experience.
Hardware Lighting and Shading: a Survey

Traditionally, hardware rasterizers only support the Phong lighting model in combination with Gouraud shading using point light sources. However, the Phong lighting model is strictly empirical and physically implausible. Gouraud shading also tends to undersample the highlight unless a highly tesselated surface is used. Hence, higher‐quality hardware accelerated lighting and shading has gained much interest in the recent five years. The research on hardware lighting and shading is two‐fold. On the one hand, better lighting models for local illumination (assuming point light sources but evaluated per pixel) were demonstrated to be amenable to hardware implementation. On the other hand, recent research has demonstrated that even area lights, represented as environment maps, can be combined with complex lighting models. In both areas, many articles have been published, making it hard to decide which algorithm is well‐suited for which application. This state‐of‐the‐art report will review all relevent articles in both areas, and list advantages and disadvantages of each algorithm.
A New Template Tracking Algorithms Based on Active Drift Correction

For the traditional problems of template drift and the low efficiency of algorithms in video image target tracking applications. A new template tracking algorithms based on active drift correction is proposed. The algorithm incorporates a drift correction term and a target tracking term. By adding a drift correction term into the traditional affine image alignment algorithms and update the template while tracking, it has solved the template drift problem and reduced the cumulative error in tracking. The results show that the new algorithm has higher operation efficiency and better robustness.
World Oil Production Via Hubbert Linearization of Production and Normalizations of Production

Abstract The Hubbert linearization and normalizations for the rate of change of production have been used to depict the trends of oil production via the logistic and Gompertz models. Estimated cumulative production based upon the Hubbert linearization of the oil history indicates a total ultimately recoverable resource (URR) for all liquids of 2.6 terabarrels (Tb). The Gompertz URR is projected to be near 4 Tb for all liquids including non-traditional sources. The normalization of the change of rate of oil production to the rate of production shows a peak potential of 95 million barrels production per day based on the projected URR of 2.6 Tb. The United States Geological Survey estimate of 2.5 Tb URR most closely approximates the projected 2.6 Tb URR.
Hybrid Deep Open-Domain Question Answering

The explosion of textual data on the Internet over the past few years turns opendomain Question Answering into a scientifically challenging and commercially appealing research area. In this thesis proposal, I explain my both completed and on-going experiments with a hybrid deep neural system for answering open-domain questions. This system supplements knowledge graphs with the free-texts searching techniques to address sparsity issues in knowledge graphs. It is designed to answer both factoid and nonfactoid questions. After an introduction and a review of the subject matter, I explain the architecture of the system and its components. Then I explain the implemented parts, which yielded state-of-the-art results on a factoid Question Answering test dataset. Finally, I elaborate on other components which are planned to be implemented in the near future.
Determinants of Tobacco Control Funding: Evidence from U.S. States

Abstract The literature on tobacco control funding has focused on its impact on the demand for tobacco products. This paper turns the issue around by utilizing state-level panel data to address the determinants of per capita tobacco control funding. Tobacco control funding is found to be increasing with per capita income, cigarette consumption, and cigarette taxes, but decreasing with population density and neighbor-state tobacco control funding. Political affiliation, cancer and heart attack mortalities, as well as the extent of smoke-free air laws, have little impact on tobacco control funding. Results are robust to addressing the endogeneity of cigarette consumption and cigarette taxes.
Numerical simulation of contactless method for measuring critical current density-relation between flux flow in whole volume and onset of third harmonics

A numerical code for analysing the time evolution of the shielding current density has been developed by using the element-free Galerkin method and the backward Euler method. The magnetic field generated by the shielding current density is calculated by use of the code and its time sequence data are analyzed by means of the discrete Fourier transform. The results of computations show that, if the frequency of the applied magnetic field exceeds a certain limit, the rapid onset of the third harmonics indicates the flux flow in the almost whole volume of the superconductor.
SentiPers: A Sentiment Analysis Corpus for Persian

Sentiment Analysis (SA) is a major field of study in natural language processing, computational linguistics and information retrieval. Interest in SA has been constantly growing in both academia and industry over the recent years. Moreover, there is an increasing need for generating appropriate resources and datasets in particular for low resource languages including Persian. These datasets play an important role in designing and developing appropriate opinion mining platforms using supervised, semi-supervised or unsupervised methods. In this paper, we outline the entire process of developing a manually annotated sentiment corpus, SentiPers, which covers formal and informal written contemporary Persian. To the best of our knowledge, SentiPers is a unique sentiment corpus with such a rich annotation in three different levels including document-level, sentence-level, and entity/aspect-level for Persian. The corpus contains more than 26000 sentences of users opinions from digital product domain and benefits from special characteristics such as quantifying the positiveness or negativity of an opinion through assigning a number within a specific range to any given sentence. Furthermore, we present statistics on various components of our corpus as well as studying the inter-annotator agreement among the annotators. Finally, some of the challenges that we faced during the annotation process will be discussed as well.
Cellulose-bound peptide arrays : preparation and applications 31

The way of the development of the cellulose-bound peptide arrays leads via the synthesis of oligonucleotides on cellulose pieces (Frank et al., 1983) and multiple peptide synthesis on cellulose paper discs in columns (Frank and Döring, 1988). Probably inspired by the addressability of the multipin method (Geysen et al., 1984), Ronald Frank and co-workers developed SPOT synthesis and first presented the method in 1990 at the 21st European Peptide Symposium (Frank et al., 1991). Today,
System Benefits for Solar Inverters using SiC Semiconductor Modules

In today's and future's electrical power grid system, regenerative energy sources like photovoltaic (PV) power systems consisting of PV panels and grid-connected inverters are very popular in domestic as well as in commercial power plants. High competitive pressure among PV power system providers due to cut inverter's costs can be observed. Therefore different technical approaches have to be evaluated in overall power inverter system cost to get cost-optimized solutions. In this paper technical and system cost benefits in a grid-connected, transformerless multi-string PV inverter box by replacing its standard silicon (Si) IGBT modules with fast switching silicon carbide (SiC) device modules will be shown and discussed.
Certification Schemes and the Impacts on Forests and Forestry

Certification schemes have emerged in recent years to become a significant and innovative venue for standard setting and governance in the environmental realm. This review examines these schemes in the forest sector where, arguably, their development is among the most advanced of the sustainability labeling initiatives. Beginning with the origins, history, and features of schemes, the review synthesizes and assesses what we know about the direct effects and broader consequences of forest certification. Bearing in mind underlying factors affecting producers' decisions to certify, direct effects are examined by describing the uptake of schemes, the improvements to management of audited forests, and the ameliorative potential of certification for landscape-level concerns such as deforestation and forest protection. In assessing broader consequences, we look beyond the instrument itself to detail positive and negative unintended consequences, spillover effects, and longer-term and slow-moving effects that flow from the emergence of the certification innovation.