A Semiparametric Estimation for Regression Functions in the Partially Linear Autoregressive Time Series Model

In this paper, a semiparametric method is proposed for estimating regression function in the partially linear autoregressive time series model . Here, we consider a combination of parametric forms and nonlinear functions, in which the errors are independent. Semiparametric and nonparametric curve estimation provides a useful tool for exploring and understanding the structure of a nonlinear time series data set to make for a more efficient study in the partially linear autoregressive model. The unknown parameters are estimated using the conditional nonlinear least squares method, and the nonparametric adjustment is also estimated by defining and minimizing the local L2 -fitting criterion with respect to the nonparametric adjustment and, with smooth-kernel method , these estimates are corrected. Then, the autoregression function estimators, which can be calculated with the sample and simulation data , are obtained. In this case , some strong and weak consistency and simulated results for the semiparametric estimation in this model are presented . The root mean square error and the average square error criterions are also applied to verify the efficiency of the suggested model

Quality of life, Work ability and other important indicators of women's occupational health

Objectives: Work ability may be considered as an important aspect of well-being and health status. One of the most important factors in association with work ability is health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of this study has been to determine the association between work ability, individual characteristics and HRQoL of female workers. Material and Methods: The design of this study has been cross-sectional. The work ability index (WAI) and Short-Form General Health Survey (SF-12) questionnaires were used to collect data. Three hundred and twenty female workers were selected from food supplier factories in Karaj. One-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation analysis, independent sample t-test and multiple linear regression methods were used to analyze data. Results: Mean (M) and standard deviation (SD) of the WAI stood at 35.02 and 5.57, respectively. The categories of the WAI for women being as follows: 8.8 poor, 62 moderate, 25.4 good and 3.7 excellent. Mean±SD for the physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) of quality of life was 58.84±11.12 and 57.45±9.94, respectively. There was a positive significant association between the PCS and MCS with the WAI (p = 0.0001). Workers with higher education had a better work ability (p = 0.002) and shift-work workers had a worse work ability (p = 0.03). Conclusions: Work ability of majority of women was moderate. Considering mean age of studied women (27.6 years old), this work ability is not satisfactory. Physical and mental components of the HRQoL were the important factors associated with work ability

Structure of soot-containing laminar jet diffusion flames

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76650/1/AIAA-1993-708-697.pd

Nutrient and herbivore alterations cause uncoupled changes in producer diversity, biomass and ecosystem function, but not in overall multifunctionality

Altered nutrient cycles and consumer populations are among the top anthropogenic influences on ecosystems. However, studies on the simultaneous impacts of human-driven environmental alterations on ecosystem functions, and the overall change in system multifunctionality are scarce. We used estuarine tidal flats to study the effects of changes in herbivore density and nutrient availability on benthic microalgae (diversity, abundance and biomass) and ecosystem functions (N2-fixation, denitrification, extracellular polymeric substances -EPS- as a proxy for sediment cohesiveness, sediment water content as a proxy of water retention capacity and sediment organic matter). We found consistent strong impacts of modified herbivory and weak effects of increased nutrient availability on the abundance, biomass and diversity of benthic microalgae. However, the effects on specific ecosystem functions were disparate. Some functions were independently affected by nutrient addition (N2-fixation), modified herbivory (sediment organic matter and water content), or their interaction (denitrification), while others were not affected (EPS). Overall system multifunction remained invariant despite changes in specific functions. This study reveals that anthropogenic pressures can induce decoupled effects between community structure and specific ecosystem functions. Our results highlight the need to address several ecosystem functions simultaneously for better ecosystem characterization and management.Instituto de Limnología "Dr. Raul A. Ringuelet

Plasmon resonances of highly doped two-dimensional MoS2

The exhibition of plasmon resonances in two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor compounds is desirable for many applications. Here, by electrochemically intercalating lithium into 2D molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanoflakes, plasmon resonances in the visible and near UV wavelength ranges are achieved. These plasmon resonances are controlled by the high doping level of the nanoflakes after the intercalation, producing two distinct resonance peak areas based on the crystal arrangements. The system is also benchmarked for biosensing using bovine serum albumin. This work provides a foundation for developing future 2D MoS2 based biological and optical units

Microbiome profiling by Illumina sequencing of combinatorial sequence-tagged PCR products

We developed a low-cost, high-throughput microbiome profiling method that uses combinatorial sequence tags attached to PCR primers that amplify the rRNA V6 region. Amplified PCR products are sequenced using an Illumina paired-end protocol to generate millions of overlapping reads. Combinatorial sequence tagging can be used to examine hundreds of samples with far fewer primers than is required when sequence tags are incorporated at only a single end. The number of reads generated permitted saturating or near-saturating analysis of samples of the vaginal microbiome. The large number of reads al- lowed an in-depth analysis of errors, and we found that PCR-induced errors composed the vast majority of non-organism derived species variants, an ob- servation that has significant implications for sequence clustering of similar high-throughput data. We show that the short reads are sufficient to assign organisms to the genus or species level in most cases. We suggest that this method will be useful for the deep sequencing of any short nucleotide region that is taxonomically informative; these include the V3, V5 regions of the bac- terial 16S rRNA genes and the eukaryotic V9 region that is gaining popularity for sampling protist diversity.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figure