Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What Happens when the Fed Tightens? Interest Rate Sensitivity and Currency Regime ♣

This paper studies empirically the sensitivity of local interest rates to international interest rates, and how it is affected by countries' choice of exchange rate regime. To establish the empirical regularities, the paper uses a reduced-form empirical approach to compute both panel and single-country estimates of interest sensitivity for a large sample of developing and industrialized economies during 1970-1999. When using the full sample, we find that more rigid currency regimes tend to exhibit higher transmission than more flexible regimes, and that the former typically possess lower interest rates than the latter. In the 1990s, however, we find that in many cases we cannot reject full transmission, even for several countries with floating regimes. Country-specific results suggest that only large industrial countries can or choose to benefit from independent monetary policy. During the 1990s, interest rates in European countries are fully sensitive to German interest rates, but insensitive to US interest rates.
Verbal correlates of perceptual dimensions of timbre

The purpuse of this study is to search for verbal correlates of perceptual dimensions of musical timbre. In a previous experiment, we extracted 23 most often used verbal attributes from spontaneous verbalizations describing similarities and differences between pairs of timbres and we tried to compare their use with the relative positions of timbres along each perceptual dimension. In this experiment, we used a VAME paradigm to test more quantitatively these verbal attributes. 12 synthetic sounds were presented and rated on each of the 23 unipolar semantic scales. The results showed a good agreement between subjects. We found 4 principal verbal correlates for each perceptual dimension : "pas souffle" (not blown), "pince" (plucked) "attaque rapide" (fast attack) and "resonnant" (resonant) for the attack time dimension, "rond" (round), "grave" (low/deep), "pas haut" (not high/sharp/shrill), "large" (wide) for the spectral centroid dimension; and "riche" (rich) for the spectral fine-structure dimension.
Surface Modifications of Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles with Polylactic Acid-Polyethylene Glycol Diblock Copolymer and Graphene Oxide for a Protein Delivery Vehicle

Dan F. Smith Department of Chemical Engineering, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX, USA OPERANDO Spectroscopy Laboratory, Dan F. Smith Department of Chemical Engineering, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX, USA Materials Engineering And Nanosensor (MEAN) Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA Nanobiomaterials and Bioprocessing (NAB) Laboratory, Dan F. Smith Department of Chemical Engineering, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX, USA *E-mail: tracy.benson@lamar.edu; cjeffryes@lamar.edu; Evan.Wujcik@ua.edu Engineered Science
Improving Oral Bioavailability and Pharmacokinetics of Liposomal Metformin by Glycerolphosphate–Chitosan Microcomplexation

The purpose of this study was to develop a new delivery system capable of improving bioavailability and controlling release of hydrophilic drugs. Metformin-loaded liposomes were prepared and to improve their stability surface was coated with chitosan cross-linked with the biocompatible β-glycerolphosphate. X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, as well as rheological analysis were performed to investigate interactions between chitosan and β-glycerolphosphate molecules. The entrapment of liposomes into the chitosan-β-glycerolphosphate network was assessed by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Swelling and mucoadhesive properties as well as drug release were evaluated in vitro while the drug oral bioavailability was evaluated in vivo on Wistar rats. Results clearly showed that, compared to control, the proposed microcomplexes led to a 2.5-fold increase of metformin Tmax with a 40% augmentation of the AUC/D value.
Energy-aware routing in hybrid optical network-on-chip for future Multi-Processor System-on-Chip

With the development of Multi-Processor System-on-Chip (MP-SoC) in recent years, the intra-chip communication is becoming the bottleneck of the whole system. Current electronic network-on-chip (NoC) designs face serious challenges, such as bandwidth, latency and power consumption. Optical interconnection networks are a promising technology to overcome these problems. In this paper, we study the routing problem in optical NoCs with arbitrary network topologies. Traditionally, a minimum hop count routing policy is employed for electronic NoCs, as it minimizes both power consumption and latency. However, due to the special architecture of current optical NoC routers , such a minimum-hop path may not be energy-wise optimal. Using a detailed model of optical routers we reduce the energy-aware routing problem into a shortest-path problem, which can then be solved using one of the many well known techniques. By applying our approach to different popular topologies, we show that the energy consumed in data communication in an optical NoC can be significantly reduced. We also propose the use of optical burst switching (OBS) in optical NoCs to reduce control overhead, as well as an adaptive routing mechanism to reduce energy consumption without introducing extra latency. Our simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.
Cardiac surgical mortality: comparison among different additive risk-scoring models in a multicenter sample.

OBJECTIVE To compare the performance of several risk-scoring models to predict surgical mortality following open heart surgery. DESIGN A prospective observational study. SETTING Seven tertiary cardiac centers (3 private and 4 public and teaching hospitals) in Catalonia (Spain). PATIENTS A consecutive sample of 1287 patients submitted to open heart surgery during a 6 1/2-month period (February 14, 1994, to August 31, 1994). INTERVENTION None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Model discrimination capability was assessed with the c-statistic. A chi(2) test to compare observed and predicted mortality rates was used as a measure of model calibration. Performance of centers was evaluated through the standardized mortality ratio and using the center as an indicator variable in a logistic regression model. The agreement among models for individual predictions was tested using weighted K statistics. RESULTS Models developed in other health care contexts showed, as expected, lower c-statistics and an inappropriate calibration. There were no statistically significant differences among hospitals after adjusting for baseline patients' risk factors with the use of any of the different models. Models also agree in the standardized rank of centers. Weighted K statistics indicated poor agreement among models for individual patient risk prediction. CONCLUSIONS Models can be a useful tool to compare providers' performance and to give a more in-depth look at the process of care when appropriately customized to the context. Severity-adjusted models can also play a role in supporting the informed and subjective surgeon's assessment, but it is inappropriate to use them for individual predictions.
Assimilation and accommodation patterns in ventral occipitotemporal cortex in learning a second writing system

Using fMRI, we compared the patterns of fusiform activity produced by viewing English and Chinese for readers who were either English speakers learning Chinese or Chinese‐English bilinguals. The pattern of fusiform activity depended on both the writing system and the reader's native language. Native Chinese speakers fluent in English recruited bilateral fusiform areas when viewing both Chinese and English. English speakers learning Chinese, however, used heavily left‐lateralized fusiform regions when viewing English, but recruited an additional right fusiform region for viewing Chinese. Thus, English learners of Chinese show an accommodation pattern, in which the reading network accommodates the new writing system by adding neural resources that support its specific graphic requirements. Chinese speakers show an assimilation pattern, in which the reading network established for L1 includes procedures sufficient for the graphic demands of L2 without major change. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Serum cytokeratin 19 fragment in advanced lung cancer: could we eventually have a serum tumor marker?

Introduction: Lung cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies; however, no serum marker has been routinely recommended until now. Methods: This is a prospective case control study including two groups of patients: Group I—patients with advanced lung cancer and Group II—patients with benign lung disease as control. Serum cytokeratin 19 (CK19) fragment levels were measured at baseline by real-time polymerase chain reaction before first-line chemotherapy. The CK19 cut-off taken was 15-cycle threshold. The primary end point was the comparison of high CK19 in cases and controls. The secondary end point was the correlation between high CK19 and progressive disease (PD), progression-free survival, and overall survival (OS) in advanced lung cancer patients. Results: A total of 30 patients with advanced lung cancer (16 non-small and 14 small cell lung cancer) and 15 patients with benign lung disease were included and followed up during the period from October 2008 to October 2011 with median follow-up of one and half years. High CK19 was found in 90% of lung cancer cases as compared with 7% in controls (p < 0.001). High CK19 was found in all cases showing PD (p = 0.04). One-year OS in high CK was 61% as compared with 33% in normal CK (p = 0.1). Conclusion: Serum CK19 fragment is a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker for advanced lung cancer.
Autonomic cache management in Information-Centric Networks

Recent research efforts in the area of future networks indicate Information-Centric Networking (ICN) as the dominant architecture for the Future Internet. The main promise of ICN is that of shifting the communication paradigm of the internetworking layer from machine endpoints to information access and delivery. Optimized content dissemination and efficient caching of information is key to delivering on this promise. Moreover, current trends in management of future networks adopt a more distributed autonomic management architecture where management intelligence is placed inside the network with respect to traditional off-line external management systems. In this paper, we present an autonomic cache management approach for ICNs, where distributed managers residing in cache-enabled nodes decide on which items to cache. We propose three online cache management algorithms with different level of autonomicity and compare them with respect to performance, complexity, execution time and message exchange overhead. Our extensive simulation-based experimentation signifies the importance of network wide knowledge and cooperation.
Evaluation and tuning of the Level 3 CUBLAS for graphics processors

The increase in performance of the last generations of graphics processors (GPUs) has made this class of platform a coprocessing tool with remarkable success in certain types of operations. In this paper we evaluate the performance of the Level 3 operations in CUBLAS, the implementation of BIAS for NVIDIAreg GPUs with unified architecture. From this study, we gain insights on the quality of the kernels in the library and we propose several alternative implementations that are competitive with those in CUBLAS. Experimental results on a GeForce 8800 Ultra compare the performance of CUBLAS and the new variants.
Morphology matters in immune cell chemotaxis: membrane asymmetry affects amplification

A key mediator of eukaryotic chemotaxis is the asymmetric accumulation of phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-triphosphate (PIP3) on the cell membrane. Recent work has focused on understanding how a shallow external gradient of chemoattractant leads to an amplified internal gradient of PIP3. In this paper we dissect what fraction of this amplification is derived biochemically by the signal transduction network and how much arises entirely from the effects of cell morphology. Here we identify and formalize the role of morphology in signal detection and demonstrate its effects through simulation and experiments. Our key result is that an asymmetric distribution of membrane accounts for approximately one-half of the measured amplification from ligand concentration to PIP3 production. We also show that the underlying biochemical network behaves as a linear amplifier in the micropipette assay.
Bridging ties: a source of firm heterogeneity in competitive capabilities

What explains differences in firms’ abilities to acquire competitive capabilities? In this paper we propose that a firm’s embeddedness in a network of ties is an important source of variation in the acquisition of competitive capabilities. We argue that firms in geographical clusters that maintain networks rich in bridging ties and sustain ties to regional institutions are well‐positioned to access new information, ideas, and opportunities. Hypotheses based on these ideas were tested on a stratified random sample of 227 job shop manufacturers located in the Midwest United States. Data were gathered using a mailed questionnaire. Results from structural equation modeling broadly support the embeddedness hypotheses and suggest a number of insights about the link between firms’ networks and the acquisition of competitive capabilities. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Arab teachers’ perception of parent involvement (PI): components and differences

Purpose The present study examines perceptions of parental involvement among 317 teachers in the Arab education system in Israel. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire measured teachers' attitudes regarding parents' involvement in the school relating to pedagogy, resources, and control. Findings Findings show that Arab teachers perceive parents’ involvement as related to pedagogy and resources rather than control. In addition, the research results revealed that young teachers in terms of age, and seniority of teaching, and teachers who are not members of the management team demonstrated a stronger perception of the pedagogy and control components than did older and senior teachers and teachers who are members of the management team. However, older and senior teachers and teachers who are members of the management team had a stronger perception that parental involvement related to resources than did young teachers and teachers who are not members of the management team. Originality/value The paper co.
Characterization of the Intracellular Calcium Store at the Base of the Sperm Flagellum That Regulates Hyperactivated Motility1

Abstract Hyperactivated sperm motility is usually characterized by high-amplitude flagellar bends and asymmetrical flagellar beating. There is evidence that an inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) receptor-gated Ca2+ store in the base of the flagellum provides Ca2+ to initiate hyperactivation; however, the identity of the store was not known. Ca2+ stores are membrane-bounded organelles, and the only two membrane-bounded organelles found in this region of sperm are the redundant nuclear envelope (RNE) and mitochondria. Transmission electron micrographs revealed two different compartments of RNE, one enriched with nuclear pores and the other containing few pores but extensive membranous structures with enlarged cisternae. Immunolabeling showed that IP3 receptors and calreticulin are located in the region containing enlarged cisternae. In other cell types, mitochondria adjacent to Ca2+ stores are actively involved in modulating Ca2+ signals by taking up Ca2+ released from stores and also may respond by increasing production of NADH and ATP to support increased energy demand. Nevertheless, bull sperm did not show an increase in NADH when Ca2+ was released from intracellular stores by thapsigargin to induce hyperactivation. Consistently, no net increase in ATP production was detected when sperm were hyperactivated, although ATP was hydrolyzed at a greater rate. Furthermore, blocking Ca2+ efflux from mitochondria by CGP-37157, a specific inhibitor of the mitochondrial Na+/Ca2+ exchanger, did not inhibit the development of hyperactivated motility. We concluded that the intracellular Ca2+ store is the part of RNE that contains enlarged cisternae and that Ca2+ is released directly to the axoneme to trigger hyperactivated motility without the active participation of mitochondria.
Branched Mitochondrial Electron Transport in the Animalia: Presence of Alternative Oxidase in Several Animal Phyla

The mitochondrion of most eukaryotes has multiple electron transport components that increase the points of entry and/or exit of electrons, thus giving a branched nature to the respiratory chain. In plants and many other organisms, a prominent example is alternative oxidase, a non‐energy conserving branch in the respiratory chain and an additional terminal oxidase for the exit of electrons. Our genome database searches have now revealed the presence of alternative oxidase in four animal species from three different phyla (Mollusca, Nematoda and Chordata), consistent with frequent reports of cyanide‐resistant respiration in the Animalia. In Ciona intestinalis and Crassostrea gigas, alternative oxidase is expressed in several different tissues. Phylogenetic analysis is consistent with the animal proteins having originated by vertical inheritance. We hypothesize that alternative oxidase is likely widespread in the Animalia and discuss some of the potential role(s) for such a branched respiratory chain. IUBMB Life, 56: 333‐341, 2004
Debt Covenants and Corporate Investment *

In this paper we analyze the effect of covenants in corporate investment. We argue that when lenders fix excessive stringent covenants this may generate inefficient underinvestment when a firm is close to a covenant violation, particularly for good quality firms. However, when a covenant violation does occur, these firms increase investment and this has a positive effect in performance. This paper warns of the negative impact of covenant tightness as a way to control borrowers and remarks on some positive aspects of covenant violations particularly for good
Investigating Effect of Driver-, Vehicle-, and Road-Related Factors on Location-Specific Crashes with Naturalistic Driving Data

According to NHTSA, traffic accidents cost the United States billions of U.S. dollars each year. Intersection accidents alone accounted for 23% of the 32,675 motor crash deaths in 2014. With the advent of the largest naturalistic driving data set in the United States collected by the SHRP2 Naturalistic Driving Study project, this study performs a crash-only analysis to identify driver-, vehicle-, and roadway-related factors that affect the driving risk at different location types using a machine learning tool. The study then analyzes the most important factors obtained from the machine learning analysis to identify how they affect crash risk. The results, in order of importance of variables, were driver behavior, locality, lane occupied, alignment, and through travel lanes. Also, drivers who violated traffic signals were four times more likely to be involved in a crash than drivers who did not. Those who violated stop signs were two times more likely to be involved in crashes than those who did not. Drivers performing visual-manual (VM) tasks at uncontrolled intersections were 2.7 times more likely to be involved in crashes than those who did not engage in these tasks. At nonintersections, drivers who performed VM tasks were 3.4 times more likely to be involved in crashes than drivers who did not. These findings add to the evidence that the establishment of safety awareness programs geared toward intersection safety is imperative.
A Swarm-Based Volition/Attention Framework for Object Recognition

Visual attention helps identify the salient parts of a scene and enables efficient object recognition by allocating visual resources to more relevant regions of the scene. In this paper, we present an object recognition framework that combines top-down volitional recognition with attention processes using a swarm of cooperating intelligent agents. Each agent in the swarm is a selfcontained independent classifier that can, given any location in the image, predict the presence of a particular object of interest. Our framework combines bottom-up attention and top-down object classification using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) dynamics in a novel architecture that utilizes spatially-modulated evolutionary search to rapidly detect objects of interest in a scene. We use bottom-up maps that are automatically built from saliency, past swarm experience, and constraints on possible object positions to modify the swarm’s behavior and help guide the swarm in locating objects. We present fast object detection/recognition results for a variety of video sequences. Our results show that our framework allows objects to be quickly and accurately located and classified using very sparse sampling of the scene.
Valkyrie: NASA's First Bipedal Humanoid Robot

In December 2013, 16 teams from around the world gathered at Homestead Speedway near Miami, FL to participate in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials, an aggressive robotics competition partly inspired by the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi reactor incident. While the focus of the DRC Trials is to advance robotics for use in austere and inhospitable environments, the objectives of the DRC are to progress the areas of supervised autonomy and mobile manipulation for everyday robotics. NASA's Johnson Space Center led a team comprised of numerous partners to develop Valkyrie, NASA's first bipedal humanoid robot. Valkyrie is a 44 degree‐of‐freedom, series elastic actuator‐based robot that draws upon over 18 years of humanoid robotics design heritage. Valkyrie's application intent is aimed at not only responding to events like Fukushima, but also advancing human spaceflight endeavors in extraterrestrial planetary settings. This paper presents a brief system overview, detailing Valkyrie's mechatronic subsystems, followed by a summarization of the inverse kinematics‐based walking algorithm employed at the Trials. Next, the software and control architectures are highlighted along with a description of the operator interface tools. Finally, some closing remarks are given about the competition, and a vision of future work is provided.
The Course of Fatigue during the First 18 Months after First-Ever Stroke: A Longitudinal Study

Background. Little is known about the course of poststroke fatigue. Objectives. To describe the course of poststroke fatigue in relation to the patient's level of physical functioning, depressive symptoms, and self-reported history of prestroke fatigue. Methods. A longitudinal study using structured face-to-face interviews, questionnaires, and patients' medical records. Data were collected from 95 patients in Norway with first-ever stroke. Fatigue was measured with the Fatigue Severity Scale 7 item version and assessed for change between the acute phase, six, 12, and 18 months after stroke using 2-way ANOVA repeated-measures analyses. Results. The patients' level of fatigue did not change over time. However, those who reported prestroke fatigue showed a relatively high level of fatigue over time in the poststroke period, while patients with no history of pre-stroke fatigue showed a stable course of relatively low fatigue over time. Conclusion. Studies on poststroke fatigue should control for the patient's pre-stroke fatigue level.