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This paper analyzes the relationship between three dimensions (economic, social, and political) of globalization and life expectancy using a panel of 92 countries covering the 1970–2005 period. Using different estimation techniques and sample groupings, we find that economic globalization has a robust positive effect on life expectancy, even when controlling for income, nutritional intake, literac
This work presents a new mathematical formulation of biologically effective dose (BED) for radiation therapy where effects of repair need to be considered. The formulation is based on the observation that the effects of repair, both during protracted irradiation and of incomplete repair between fractions, can be written using a convolution, i.e. [Formula: see text] where T is the total irradiation
Hydration free energy calculations are often used to validate molecular simulation methodologies and molecular mechanics force fields. We use the free-energy perturbation method together with the AMOEBA polarizable force field and the Poltype parametrization protocol to predict the hydration free energies of 52 molecules as part of the SAMPL4 blind challenge. For comparison, similar calculations a
Changes in pollen and spore assemblages across the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary elucidate the vegetation response to a global environmental crisis triggered by an asteroid impact in Mexico 66 Ma. The Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary clay, associated with the Chicxulub asteroid impact event, constitutes a unique, global marker bed enabling comparison of the world-wide palynological signal span
Because of the continuous increases in lifetime expectancy, the incidence of age-related diseases will, unless counteracted, represent an increasing problem at both the individual and socioeconomic levels. Studies on the processes of blood cell formation have revealed several shortcomings as a consequence of chronological age. They include a reduced ability to mount adaptive immune responses and a
We investigate Newton's method for complex polynomials of arbitrary degree d, normalized so that all their roots are in the unit disk. For each degree d, we give an explicit set S-d of 3.33d log(2) d(1 + o(1)) points with the following universal property: for every normalized polynomial of degree d there are d starting points in S-d whose Newton iterations find all the roots with a low number of i
We present results from a search for gravitational-wave bursts in the data collected by the LIGO and Virgo detectors between July 7, 2009 and October 20, 2010: data are analyzed when at least two of the three LIGO-Virgo detectors are in coincident operation, with a total observation time of 207 days. The analysis searches for transients of duration less than or similar to 1 s over the frequency ba
New evidence and consensus has led to further revision of the McDonald Criteria for diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. The use of imaging for demonstration of dissemination of central nervous system lesions in space and time has been simplified, and in some circumstances dissemination in space and time can be established by a single scan. These revisions simplify the Criteria, preserve their diagnos
We present the FERRUM Project, an international collaboration aiming at a production and evaluation of oscillator strengths (transition probabilities) of selected spectral lines of singly ionized iron group elements, that are of astrophysical relevance. The results obtained include measurements and calculations of permitted and forbidden lines of Fe II. The data have been applied to both emission
In this paper we describe an image-based approach to finding location-based information from camera-equipped mobile devices. We introduce a point-by-photograph paradigm, where users can specify a location simply by taking pictures. Our technique uses content-based image retrieval methods to search the web or other databases for matching images and their source pages to find relevant location-based
A method for calculating the wave load induced fatigue damage accumulated by a vessel sailing along the North Atlantic route (NAr) is presented. This method is based on the Palmgren-Miner additive rule and the rainflow cycle (RFC) count. For simplicity, the load the vessel experiences is assumed to be proportional to the encountered significant wave height process, H-s. The asymptotically normal c
OBJECTIVES: Neutrophils are activated and infiltrate the myocardium after ischemia and reperfusion. The involvement of neutrophils in irreversible reperfusion injury is suggested by numerous experimental studies. The aim of this study was to investigate markers of neutrophil activation following reperfusion of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) accomplished with percutaneous coronary intervention (
We study the rapid decrease of peak gain in resonant-phonon THz Quantum Cascade Lasers with increasing temperature. The effect of various microscopic scattering processes on the gain profile as a function of temperature is discussed. We argue that increased broadening, prim arily due to increased impurity scattering, and not diminishing population inversion, is the main reason for the reduction o
This study investigates the size and power properties of three multivariate tests for autocorrelation, namely portmanteau test, Lagrange multiplier (LM) test and Rao F-test, in the stable and unstable vector autoregressive (VAR) models, with and without autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH) using Monte Carlo experiments. Many combinations of parameters are used in the simulations to
Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of pathological disease and spectrum of human papillomavirus (HPV) types among symptomatic foreskin tissue. Patients and Methods: Consecutively excised symptomatic foreskins from 351 men were sent for histopathological evaluation. During the surgical procedure, a fresh biopsy was taken for HPV analysis by modified general primer polymerase chain reaction.
This paper presents a novel methodology to in-vivo estimate the elastic constants of a constitutive model proposed to characterize the mechanical behavior of the breast tissues. An iterative search algorithm based on genetic heuristics was constructed to in-vivo estimate these parameters using only medical images, thus avoiding invasive measurements of the mechanical response of the breast tissues
Atmospheric inversions have been used for the past two decades to derive large-scale constraints on the sources and sinks of CO2 into the atmosphere. The development of dense in situ surface observation networks, such as ICOS in Europe, enables in theory inversions at a resolution close to the country scale in Europe. This has led to the development of many regional inversion systems capable of as
The serum metabolome contains a plethora of biomarkers and causative agents of various diseases, some of which are endogenously produced and some that have been taken up from the environment1. The origins of specific compounds are known, including metabolites that are highly heritable2,3, or those that are influenced by the gut microbiome4, by lifestyle choices such as smoking5, or by diet6. Howev
How can anthropologists negotiate access in high-profile, bureaucratic apparatuses, such as a UN human rights monitoring mechanism – and what can a detailed account of these negotiations tell us of such apparatuses, their operational dynamics and the processes through which they exert an impact, broadly construed? This article addresses these questions through the notion of tactical subjectivity b
