Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Availability of brain serotonin transporters (5-HTT) is associated with low positive mood in healthy elderly subjects.

OBJECTIVE We tried to find any significant correlation between serotonin transporter (5-HTT) availability and depressive symptoms in healthy elderly subjects. MATERIALS 16 healthy elderly subjects (≥ 65 years) who were functioning independently in a community were randomly selected. An iodine-123-2beta-carbomethoxy-3beta-(4- iodophenyltropane) [123I]-b-CIT single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was administered and depressive symptoms were evaluated using the Korean version of Geriatric Depression Scale (KGDS). RESULTS Total GDS scores were associated with the V3″ values in dorsal raphe (b = 0.60, t = 2.84, p = 0.01) but not in pons (b = 0.05, t = 0.19, p = 0.85) and medulla (b = 0.06, t = 0.20, p = 0.84). Among five subscale scores of K-GDS, only positive mood scores were significantly associated with the V3″ values in dorsal raphe, while not in pons and medulla. CONCLUSION The present study suggests that 5-HTT availability should be involved in dimensional depressive symptoms in a specific brain region in healthy elderly subjects and should be replicated in subsequent adequately-powered and more well-designed studies.
International marketing of British education: research on the students’ perception and the UK market penetration

The study functions as marketing intelligence inputs for the UK Government, the British Council as well as academic marketing planners for constructing their marketing opportunities‐threats audits, it investigates international students’ perception about the UK education and it researches UK performance in the world markets for international education. UK education has been known to be the best in the world. For many years, the UK universities have enjoyed a high reputation and have benefited in accelerating its market penetration worldwide. Unfortunately, this superiority has begun to decline. Other countries are strongly emerging with their quality education. The study shows that UK competitors achieved a remarkable growth of their international students’ enrolment while the UK achieves only a marginal growth with declining market penetration abroad. The findings confirmed the central importance of pricing, product and promotional variables in designing and marketing UK education abroad.
Leg Length and Offset following hip Resurfacing and Hip Replacement

We measured and compared critical parameters on antero-posterior radiographs from 28 patients who had undergone hybrid hip replacement (CPS/EPF), with 28 patients who had undergone cemented hip resurfacing (Cormet). All operations were performed by a single surgeon or under his supervision. We measured the femoral offset, acetabular offset, cup height and leg length on pre and post operative radiographs. The mean difference in femoral offset post-operatively was 3.52 mm (95% CI: -1.10 to 8.14 mm) in the hybrid group and -1.30mm (95%CI: -2.88 to 0.29 mm) in the resurfacing group. Using the independent sample t test (two-tailed), the difference between these means was significant, test statistic t 2.025, p<0.05. This suggests that resurfacing restored the femoral offset more accurately than hybrid hip replacement. The mean difference in leg length post-operatively was 11.91 mm (95% CI: 8.21 to 15.62 mm) in the hybrid group and 4.87 mm (95% CI: 3.32 to 6.42 mm) in the resurfacing group. Using the independent sample t test (two-tailed), the difference between the means was significant, test statistic t 3.597, p<0.001. This suggests that resurfacing produced less change in leg length post-operatively than hybrid hip replacement. We found no statistically significant difference in ideal pre and post operative centre of rotation in the two groups. Proximal femoral anatomy was restored during hip resurfacing by resecting bone of a thickness determined by corresponding preoperative templating and implant thickness rather than relying on placement of the cutting ring at the head-neck junction. No femoral neck fractures occurred in the resurfacing group.
Toxicity of ammonia to three marine fish and three marine invertebrates

Laboratory toxicity tests were performed to obtain more data on the toxicity of ammonia to saltwater organisms. The standards for in‐stream ammonia limits in marine environments presently are based on toxicity tests involving both freshwater and saltwater organisms. Acute tests (48 and 96 h) were performed at 20°C, and chronic tests (7 days) were performed at 25°C. Synthetic seawater and natural seawater from the Chesapeake Bay were used and compared. Included among the organisms tested were sheepshead minnow (14 days old), summer flounder (2 months old), Atlantic silverside (14 days old), mysid shrimp (less than 2 days old), ghost shrimp (10 days old), and quahog clam (9 months old). Based on these results, it seems the chronic criterion for ammonia in marine environments could be increased from 0.035 to 0.081 mg/L un‐ionized ammonia, which would, of course, increase the chronic limit for total ammonia under typical saltwater conditions by a factor of 2.31. No difference was observed in the toxicity of ammonia in natural water compared to synthetic water for both the summer flounder and Atlantic silverside. Furthermore, the Atlantic silverside became more sensitive to ammonia as the salinity was increased from 14 to 22 ppt, but exhibited no change in toxicity response from 22 to 30 ppt. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 19: 134–142, 2004
Social media marketing on multiple services - the case of the student run organisation aiesec

Social Media Services like Social Network Sites and Microblogging services gain increasing attention from enterprises. This is on the one hand for internal usage but as well for utilizing these services, with hundred millions of users, for marketing purposes. Partly this is induced by customers losing trust in conventional advertisements. However, to date only very limited research exists on the usage of Social Media for marketing, called Social Media Marketing. Moreover, existing studies investigate the marketing activities on one specific service mostly, thereby neglecting potential service induced differences. Further an understanding of the relationship between Social Media Marketing and conventional marketing does not yet exist. We present a case study analysing the Social Media Marketing activities of the student run organisation AIESEC, which utilizes on Twitter and Facebook. We specifically aim at understanding how these activities are integrated into the conventional marketing and moreover whether differences exist in the usage of Twitter and Facebook. We find that Social Media Marketing supplements conventional marketing in addressing specific target groups in a transparent and interactive manner. Moreover our observations highlight differences in the use of Twitter and Facebook, which mainly seem to relate to a focus on different target groups.
Visual Object Agnosia as a Problem in Integrating Parts and Part Relations

Current models of vision generally assume that the recognition of visual objects is achieved by encoding their component parts, as well as the spatial relations among parts. The current study examined how the processing of parts and their configurations may be affected in visual agnosia due to brain damage. Both a visual agnosic patient (AR) and healthy control subjects performed a visual search task in which they had to discriminate between targets and distractors that varied according to whether they shared their parts and/or their configuration. The results show that AR's visual search rates are disproportionally slow when targets and distractors share the same configuration than when they have different configurations. AR is also found to be disproportionately slow in discriminating targets and distractors that share identical parts when the targets and distractors share the same configuration. With differently configured targets and distractors, AR shows no part sharing effect. For controls, in contrast, the part and configuration sharing effects occur independently of one another. It is concluded that AR's object recognition deficit arises from difficulties in discriminating objects that share their configuration, and from an abnormal dependency of part information processing upon object configuration.
Are Insider Sales Under 10b5-1 Plans Strategically Timed?

Previous research and numerous media articles suggest that sales executed under 10b5-1 trading plans are strategically timed. However, we find no significant difference in stock price performance following plan sales and non-plan sales. We demonstrate that price contingent orders (e.g. limit orders), a common feature in trading plans, give rise to empirical patterns that have been taken as evidence of strategic timing of sales. Event study methods employed in previous research on plan sales are shown to give biased estimates of post-event abnormal returns when the events are not exogenous to past returns.
Activity Coordination and Resource Combining in Distribution Networks - Implications for Relationship Involvement and the Relationship Atmosphere

Technical developments in production, transportation, and information systems have resulted in new distribution channel arrangements. The new conditions have affected the atmosphere in distribution channels encouraging more cooperative relationships. The main reason for this change is that activity interdependencies in the evolving networks have increasingly come to cross corporate boundaries and this makes enhanced coordination among firms necessary. Consequently, the resources of the parties have become more integrated and, furthermore, individual firms are increasingly reliant on resources controlled by others. The objective of the paper is to analyze and compare contemporary distribution networks with 'traditional' channels in terms of activity coordination, resource combining, and producer-distributor relationships. On the basis of this discussion the paper concludes with a discussion of managerial implications for relationship involvement and the relationship atmosphere. The main finding is that power and conflict are just as important in today's distribution networks as they have been in traditional channels, but they are exploited in different ways than previously.
The Impact of Shipping Charges in Online Auctions: Evidence From Electronics Auctions on eBay

In October 2008, eBay launched a major campaign aimed at reducing the shipping costs charged by sellers on its Web site. In a message published on its Web site, eBay offi cials announced: “When buyers think that shipping costs on eBay are too high they may make their purchases somewhere else. The maximum shipping cost will help buyers fi nd items with reasonable shipping and help you sell more items and increase overall sales” (eBay, 2008). The announcement of the change came in August when eBay offi cials released the new maximum permissible shipping charges to be effective starting in October for the following categories: books, DVDs and movies, music, and video games (eBay, August 2008). This new policy was a major reversal of the company’s longstanding commitment to allow sellers to set shipping costs, which had been its policy since its founding in September 1995. From an economic perspective, this policy shift is questionable. The eBay marketplace is highly competitive with numerous sellers competing against one another. This competition should drive shipping costs down to their marginal cost levels. The revenue equivalence theorem also suggests that consumers will
Innovation and performance in small- and medium-sized enterprises: evidence from Mauritius

This paper studies the relationship between innovation and firm performance in small- and medium-sized firms in Mauritius, given that these firms are important contributors to growth and employment in the economy. Innovation is proxied by the acquisition of technological developments, expenditure on research and development and the introduction of new or significantly improved products. Results obtained indicate that innovation affects the performance of firms in Mauritius even after controlling for factors such as experience of the owner-manager, age of the firm, size of the firm, region in which the firm is located and the sector in which the firm operates.
Market Timing and REIT Capital Structure Changes

This paper seeks to determine if REIT equity and debt offerings depend on capital market conditions. We examine the fundamental mechanism behind the market timing behavior. Two different hypotheses of equity market timing – the information-based market timing and market inefficiency-based market timing are tested. We further test for backward and forward looking behavior market timing behavior in debt offering. In addition, we examine the security choice of REITs to evaluate the market timing theory. The empirical results from 1993 through 2004 support the information-based market timing theory for equity offerings and backward looking market timing in debt issuances. While the evidence from the security choice analysis largely favors the market timing theory, some support is also established for the trade-off and pecking order theories. We conclude that there is no single theory that fully explains the capital structure of REITs.
Design of Probabilistically-Robust Wide-Area Power System Stabilizers to Suppress Inter-Area Oscillations of Wind Integrated Power Systems

This paper proposes a systematic approach to coordinately design probabilistically-robust wide-area power system stabilizers (WPSSs) for suppressing inter-area oscillations of power systems incorporating wind power. Specifically, the operating point of the system varies stochastically due to wind power integration and each operating point corresponds to a wind power generation scenario in the steady state. Thus, the WPSSs tuned by solving a delicately formulated optimization problem can maximize the occurrence probability of scenarios where the inter-area modes possess the acceptable damping ratios, and strictly constrain their unfavorable impacts. Multiple contingencies are also directly considered. In addition, several advanced techniques are tactfully employed for accurate and efficient evaluation of occurrence probability (objective function) during the optimization so as to ensure the proposed tuning method can deal with the highly nonlinear relationships between the system eigenvalues and the steady-state power outputs of wind farms; a customized differential evolution algorithm is proposed as well to efficiently solve the formulated optimization problem. Simulations and comparisons conducted on two classic test systems with proper modifications show the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed control design method.
Dynamics and control of electromagnetic satellite formations

Satellite formation flying is an enabling technology for many space missions, especially for space based telescopes. Electromagnetic formation flying (EMFF) is a novel concept that uses superconducting electromagnetic coils to provide forces and torques between different satellites in a formation. With EMFF the life-span of the mission becomes independent of the fuel. This comes at the cost of coupled and highly nonlinear dynamics of the formation and makes the control problem a challenging one. In this paper the dynamics for a general n-satellite electromagnetic formation (in 2D) is derived for deep space missions and then a non-linear control law using potential functions for the formation control and reconfiguration with collision avoidance is discussed. For EMFF formation reconfiguration problem is an optimal time problem as fuel cost for EMFF is zero. A framework for computing optimal time trajectories of electromagnetic formations is also presented. Specifically it is shown that an n-satellite electromagnetic formation can be stabilized under fairly general assumptions, therefore, showing the viability of this novel approach for satellite formation flying from dynamics and controls perspective
The art of service recovery: fact or fiction?

Purpose – To determine the impact of service recovery on consumer evaluations of service delivery.Design/methodology/approach – An experiment investigated consumer responses to three dimensions of perceived fairness of recovery efforts: redress, responsiveness, and empathy/courtesy.Findings – Results revealed that higher levels of redress independently increase positive consumer responses. It was further found that the interaction of employee responsiveness and courtesy can also have a dramatic impact on consumer evaluations. Satisfaction was highest and negative word‐of‐mouth (WOM) intentions were lowest only under conditions of high responsiveness and courtesy. Additionally, an interaction between courtesy and tangible rewards significantly decreased the level of negative WOM.Practical implications – The research offers empirical support for the “service recovery paradox” suggesting effective post‐recovery efforts may not only counteract bad service experiences, but may increase satisfaction beyond leve.
Convergent neurobiological predictors of emergent psychopathology during adolescence

The adolescent brain undergoes significant structural and functional development. Through the use of magnetic resonance imaging in adolescents, it has been demonstrated that the prefrontal cortex, pertinent for executive control, demonstrates protracted development compared to limbic structures, active during emotion and reward processing. This asynchronous development creates a sensitive window during adolescence, in which many psychopathological disorders (i.e., mental health and substance use) emerge. This review outlines longitudinal studies that use magnetic resonance imaging to identify neurobiological predictors of emergent psychopathology (depression, anxiety, and substance use), during adolescence. Studies identifying neurobiological markers that predict onset and escalation of these disorders, as well as those that predict successful treatment outcomes are explored. An emphasis is placed on frontolimbic brain structures, a convergent neurobiological target for both emergent mental health issues and emergent substance use. The literature reviewed herein suggests that reduced volume and cortical thickness in frontolimbic regions, as well as reduced functional activation (particularly during task involving reward or emotional stimuli) in these regions, may serve as a neurobiological predictors of emergent psychopathology in adolescence. This knowledge is crucial, as it may be used to develop neurobiologically targeted prevention and intervention strategies for youth who are at‐risk for developing these psychopathologies.
Grasping force optimization for multi-fingered robot hands

For dextrous robotic hand grasping a key goal is to balance external and internal grasping forces to assure a stable grasp and low grasping energy. In this paper, the authors view the task of grasping force optimization as a linearly constrained semidefinite programming problem for which there are known globally exponentially convergent solutions via gradient flows. A key observation is that the nonlinear friction constraint at each contact point is equivalent to the positive definiteness of a suitable matrix containing the contact wrench intensities. A recursive version is presented, and numerical examples demonstrate the simplicity, the good numerical properties, and optimality of the approach.
Treatable mitochondrial diseases: cofactor metabolism and beyond.

Sir, In the past, numerous articles related to disorders of mitochondrial cofactor metabolism have been published in Brain (Ozand et al. , 1998; Gempel et al. , 2007; Johnson et al. , 2012; Foley et al. , 2014; Haack et al. , 2014; Ortigoza-Escobar et al. , 2016). These studies not only facilitated our understanding of the underlying biochemical defects, but also paved the way to specific treatment options. As a consequence our clinical view on mitochondrial diseases has changed substantially during the last years. The umbrella term ‘mitochondrial disease’ comprises a large group of inherited metabolic disorders caused by dysfunction of the pyruvate oxidation route. Our common understanding of mitochondrial diseases mainly refers to classical mitochondrial syndromes such as Leigh syndrome or MELAS (mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes). However, the spectrum of mitochondrial diseases is much broader and the development of novel genetic tools has undeniably advanced our knowledge about this disease group. During the past 6 years more than 100 novel mitochondrial diseases have been identified via next generation sequencing (NGS) strategies leading to a total number of around 280 known disease genes, affecting diverse mitochondrial pathways. Accordingly, clinical management of affected individuals is challenging and diagnostic strategies are in flux. Unfortunately, current therapeutic options for the majority of classical mitochondrial syndromes are limited to supportive care. Nevertheless, apart from these prognostically unfavourable diseases, there are several mitochondrial defects that are amendable by specific treatment strategies (Table 1). Among the group of these ‘treatable mitochondrial diseases’, defects of cofactor metabolism play a major role. View this table: Table 1 Inherited mitochondrial diseases with specific treatment options For …
The effects of sympathetic stimulation and epinephrine on the superior rectus muscle of the cat.

Intravenous and intraarterial injections of epinephrine and electrical stimulation of the cervical sympathetic nerve were found to produce an increase in tension in the striated superior rectus muscle of the cat anesthetized with pentobarbital. Similar results were obtained from the smooth muscle of the ipsilateral nictitating membrane. The sympathetic beta -receptor blocking agents, pronethalol (5 mg/kg i.v.) and propranolol (1 mg/kg i.v.), did not antagonize these responses. In contrast, the alpha-receptor blocking agents, phenoxybenzamine (1-2 mg/kg i.v.) and phentolamine (2-3 mg/kg i.v.), abolished the responses of both muscles to epinephrine and sympathetic stimulation. Cocaine (5 mg/kg i.v.) potentiated the responses of both muscles to epinephrine and postganglionic sympathetic stimulation. A major difference between the two muscles occurred in their response to epinephrine after atropine (0.5-10 mg/kg i.v.). The responses of the superior rectus muscle and the nictitating membrane to sympathetic stimulation and the response of the nictitating membrane to epinephrine were depressed by atropine, whereas the response of the superior rectus muscle was unaffected. Intravenous injections of d -tubocurarine (1-2 mg/kg i.v.) were found to depress the responses of both muscles to small doses of epinephrine (0.1-0.5 µ/kg i.v.) but the responses to larger doses (5-10 µ/kg) were not depressed. It was concluded that the response of the superior rectus muscle to epinephrine did not correspond to the effect of the amine on chronically denervated mammalian striated muscles. Possible mechanisms of action of epinephrine and sympathetic stimulation on the superior rectus muscle are discussed.