Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polly's Polyhedral Scheduling in the Presence of Reductions

The polyhedral model provides a powerful mathematical abstraction to enable eective optimization of loop nests with respect to a given optimization goal, e.g., exploiting parallelism. Unexploited reduction properties are a frequent reason for polyhedral optimizers to assume parallelism prohibiting dependences. To our knowledge, no polyhedral loop optimizer available in any production compiler provides support for reductions. In this paper, we show that leveraging the parallelism of reductions can lead to a signicant performance increase. We give a precise, dependence based, denition of reductions and discuss ways to extend polyhedral optimization to exploit the associativity and commutativity of reduction computations. We have implemented a reduction-enabled scheduling approach in the Polly polyhedral optimizer and evaluate it on the standard Polybench 3.2 benchmark suite. We were able to detect and model all 52 arithmetic reductions and achieve speedups up to 2.21◊ on a quad core machine by exploiting the multidimensional reduction in the BiCG benchmark.
Representing image captions as concept graphs using semantic information

Conceptual interpretation of languages has gathered peak interest in the world of artificial intelligence. The challenge in modeling various complications involved in a language is the main motivation behind our work. Our main focus in this work is to develop conceptual graphical representation for image captions. We have used discourse representation structure to gain semantic information which is further modeled into a graphical structure. The effectiveness of the model is evaluated by a caption based image retrieval system. The image retrieval is performed by computing subgraph based similarity measures. Best retrievals were given an average rating of 2. 95 ± 0. 707 out of 4 by a group of 25 human judges. The experiments were performed on a subset of the SBU Captioned Photo Dataset. This purpose of this work is to establish the cognitive sensibility of the approach to caption representations.
Wage Determination and Gender Discrimination in a Transition Economy: The Case of Romania

The authors analyze wage determination and gender discrimination in Romania using the 1994 Romanian Household survey. They estimate wages for men and women in urban and rural areas using a Heckman selection model. They analyze gender discrimination in offered wages, to address the methodological shortcomings found in the literature. Increasing returns to education and experience are consistently significant for both men and women in urban and rural areas. Returns to education are greater in rural than in urban areas, especially for women. Labor markets are segmented regionally, probably as a result of the country's economic history, especially the spatial allocation of resources under a centrally planned economy. Only with economic liberalization has the specialization of specific regions translated into differences in regional performance and hence local economic differences. They found discrimination against women in both urban and rural labor markets, especially at low levels of education. The observed bias against women in urban areas is comparable to that found in other Western countries--but in the region's rural settings the bias is much greater than in the West. With the adjustment to market forces, as less-skilled workers face increasing difficulties in the region, women's relative wages may be expected to decline further. Discrepancy in pay also directly affects the level of pensions, unemployment benefits, and other means-tested benefits to workers, contributing to pauperization.
Multi-trait interactions, not phylogeny, fine-tune leaf size reduction with increasing altitude.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Despite long-held interest, knowledge on why leaf size varies widely among species is still incomplete. This study was conducted to assess whether abiotic factors, phylogenetic histories and multi-trait interactions act together to shape leaf size. METHODS Fifty-seven pairs of altitudinal vicariant species were selected in northern Spain, and leaf area and a number of functionally related leaf, shoot and whole plant traits were measured for each pair. Structural equation modelling helped unravel trait interactions affecting leaf size, and Mantel tests weighed the relative relevance of phylogeny, environment and trait interactions to explain leaf size reduction with altitude. KEY RESULTS Leaves of highland vicariants were generally smaller than those of lowlands. However, the extent of leaf size reduction with increasing altitude was widely variable among genera: from approx. 700 cm(2) reduction (96 % in Polystichum) to approx. 30 cm(2) increase (37 % in Sorbus). This was partially explained by shifts in leaf, shoot and whole plant traits (35-64 % of explained variance, depending on models), with size/number trade-offs more influential than shifts in leaf form and leaf economics. Shifts in traits were more important than phylogenetic distances or site-specific environmental variation in explaining the degree of leaf size reduction with altitude. CONCLUSIONS Ecological filters, constraints due to phylogenetic history (albeit modest in the study system), and phenotypic integration contribute jointly to shape single-trait evolution. Here, it was found that phenotypic change was far more important than shared ancestry to explain leaf size differences of closely related species segregated along altitudes.
Rare Variants in PLXNA4 and Parkinson’s Disease

Approximately 20% of individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) report a positive family history. Yet, a large portion of causal and disease-modifying variants is still unknown. We used exome sequencing in two affected individuals from a family with late-onset familial PD followed by frequency assessment in 975 PD cases and 1014 ethnically-matched controls and linkage analysis to identify potentially causal variants. Based on the predicted penetrance and the frequencies, a variant in PLXNA4 proved to be the best candidate and PLXNA4 was screened for additional variants in 862 PD cases and 940 controls, revealing an excess of rare non-synonymous coding variants in PLXNA4 in individuals with PD. Although we cannot conclude that the variant in PLXNA4 is indeed the causative variant, these findings are interesting in the light of a surfacing role of axonal guidance mechanisms in neurodegenerative disorders but, at the same time, highlight the difficulties encountered in the study of rare variants identified by next-generation sequencing in diseases with autosomal dominant or complex patterns of inheritance.
A Role for Akt in Epidermal Growth Factor-Stimulated Cell Cycle Progression in Cultured Hepatocytes: Generation of a Hyperproliferative Window after Adenoviral Expression of Constitutively Active Akt

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulation of cell cycle progression in cultured primary hepatocytes has previously been reported to be dependent on the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) elements of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling cascade and not the Akt pathway. Here we have established conditions of combined treatment of rat hepatocytes with insulin and EGF that favor cell cycle progression. The resulting cell population expresses albumin and retains receptor regulation of the signaling pathways leading to glycogen phosphorylase activation. We then investigated the hypothesis that the Akt limb of the PI3K pathway plays a central role in this insulin/EGF enhancement of cell cycle progression. The phosphorylation of Akt, central to the PI3K pathway, was increased by both insulin (sustained) and EGF (transient). The stimulation of Akt phosphorylation was inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner by the PI3K inhibitor, 2-(4-morpholinyl)-8-phenyl-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one (LY294002). Cell cycle progression in these cultures was reduced, but not abolished, by this inhibitor. The mTOR inhibitor, rapamycin, also inhibited entry into S phase. The novel Akt inhibitor A-443654 [(S)-1-(1H-indol-3-ylmethyl)-2-[5-(3-methyl-1H-indazol-5-yl)-pyridin-3-yloxy]-ethylamine] blocked both EGF-stimulated cell cycle progression and phosphorylation of the Akt substrate glycogen synthase kinase-3. Infection of cells with an adenoviral vector expressing a constitutively active form of Akt but not a kinase-dead form increased hepatocyte proliferation probably through enhanced cell cycle progression and reduced apoptosis. These results show that the Akt element of the PI3K cascade is necessary for EGF-stimulated cell cycle progression and provide evidence that the sustained elevation of Akt alone generates a hyperproliferative window in hepatocyte cultures.
A quick artificial bee colony -qABC- algorithm for optimization problems

Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is one of the most popular swarm intelligence based algorithms. ABC has been applied to solve several problems in various fields and also many researchers have attempted to improve ABC's performance by making some modifications. This works aims to model the behaviour of foragers of artificial bee colony more accurately and improve the performance of ABC algorithm in terms of local search ability. Therefore, a new definition is introduced for the onlookers of ABC. The new ABC is tested on a set of benchmark problems.
The Influence of Symmetrical Feed:Fast Regimes on Oxytetracycline Uptakeand Otolith Score in Yellow Perch

Periods of growth from symmetric feed:fast regimes (i.e., days fed followed by the same number of days fasted) may increase the uptake of oxytetracycline (C 22 H 24 N 2 O 9 . HCL(OTC)) compounds in fishes; however, little empiri- cal data exists. Therefore, we experimentally determined if such feeding regimes influenced the concentration of OTC in- corporated in muscle and skeletal (e.g., otoliths) tissues. Individually-reared female and batch-reared (male and female), age-1 yellow perch Perca flavescens were subjected to one of four experimental feeding regimes: control (i.e., fed daily), D2 (i.e., 2d feed, 2d deprivation), D6, or D12 symmetrical feed:fast regimes. Following several feeding cycles on these feeding regimes, fish were submersed in a 600mg/L buffered OTC solution; otoliths and muscle tissue were excised and processed to determine OTC uptake via mark quality and concentrations. Ranked otolith scores (mark quality) were sig- nificantly lower for the D2 feeding regime than control, D6, and D12 scores for both individual and batch trials suggesting that frequent food deprivation restricts osteogenesis, while daily or extended feeding periods contribute to osteogenesis. In batch-reared fish, total OTC and 4-epioxytetracycline peak concentrations in muscle tissue did not significantly differ among treatments but were significantly greater for smaller individuals within treatments suggesting that the OTC uptake and elimination response is mechanistically related to higher gill ventilation volume and gastric ingestion rate of small fish providing increased chemical assimilation and decreased clearing time following OTC immersions. Increased otolith mark quality derived from such feeding protocols may be of particular interest to fisheries managers conducting stock contribution assessments of yellow perch, but this induction strategy may apply to other species as well as therapies for hatchery stocks.
An Analytical Approach to Buffer-Stock Saving under Borrowing Constraints

The profession has been longing for closed-form solutions to consumption functions under uncertainty and borrowing constraints. This paper proposes an analytical approach to solving general-equilibrium buffer-stock saving models with both idiosyncratic and aggregate uncertainties as well as liquidity constraints. It is shown analytically that an individual’s optimal consumption plan follows the rule of thumb: Consumption is proportional to a target level of wealth, with the marginal propensity to consume dependent on the state of the macroeconomy. I apply this method to address two long-standing puzzles in general equilibrium: the "excess smoothness" and "excess sensitivity" of consumption with respect to income changes. Some of my findings sharply contradict the conventional wisdom.
Riffle shuffles of decks with repeated cards

By a well-known result of Bayer and Diaconis, the maximum entropy model of the common riffle shuffle implies that the number of riffle shuffles necessary to mix a standard deck of 52 cards is either 7 or 11-with the former number applying when the metric used to define mixing is the total variation distance and the latter when it is the separation distance. This and other related results assume all 52 cards in the deck to be distinct and require all 52! permutations of the deck to be almost equally likely for the deck to be considered well mixed. In many instances, not all cards in the deck are distinct and only the sets of cards dealt out to players, and not the order in which they are dealt out to each player, needs to be random. We derive transition probabilities under riffle shuffles between decks with repeated cards to cover some instances of the type just described. We focus on decks with cards all of which are labeled either 1 or 2 and describe the consequences of having a symmetric starting deck of the form 1,. , 1, 2,. , 2 or 1,2,. , 1,2. Finally, we consider mixing times for common card games.
Leisure and Life Satisfaction: Foundational Perspectives

This text provides a foundation for the study of leisure and of those organizations that deliver leisure services. Intended for both graduate and postgraduate students of leisure studies and recreation management, it aims to offer an analysis of the societal factors influencing leisure, and to helping students understand how leisure services are organized and delivered by government, non-profit and commercial agencies. Features of this book include: a comprehensive approach, a thorough introduction to the leisure industry; a discussion of strategies for professional career development; and a consideration of contemporary concepts, supported by numerous examples from professional practice.
Asset Pricing with Regime-Dependent Preferences and Learning

This paper studies equilibrium in a pure exchange economy with unobservable Markov switching consumption growth regimes and regime-dependent preferences. Variations in risk attitudes have fundamental effects on the structure of equilibrium. Explicit solutions are provided for the market price of risk, the interest rate, stock and bond prices, and asset return volatilities. Calibration shows that this one-factor model can simultaneously support empirical long run values of the market price of risk, the interest rate, the stock market volatility, the equity premium and the moments of the consumption growth rate. Dynamic properties of the model are examined. An implied recession index is constructed and its performance evaluated. The ability to explain the dividend strips puzzle, the term structure of interest rates and the predictive behavior of the term premium are studied.
A Resolution of the Chinese Discount Puzzle

On February 19, 2001, the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission announced that Chinese residents would be allowed to own B-share classes of stocks traded on both the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets. These share classes were previously restricted to foreign investors while domestic residents were only permitted to hold A-share classes of stock. This regulatory change triggered a dramatic decline of prevailing B-share discounts of 75 percent down to 8 percent. We examine the changes in B-share discounts across 75 stocks and how they relate to fundamental attributes of the stocks in order to distinguish among various hypotheses that have been put forward for the existence of the so-called Chinese discount puzzle. That is, why B shares are traded at discount rather than at usual premium. We find that the decline in the B-share discount around this regulatory event is concentrated in small capitalization stocks and those with substantial past-return momentum and is unrelated to the firm's risk and liquidity attributes.
Molecular Beacon-Based Microrna Biosensor for Imaging EPC-Treated Cellular Therapy of Ischemia

Angiogenesis, the process of new blood vessel formation, is an important therapeutic target in cardiovascular and malignant diseases for diverse reasons. Molecular imaging for angiogenesis has been attracted due to the use of anti-angiogenic therapeutic drugs to treat tumours, and of therapeutic angiogenesis induction to treat vascular diseases. We developed a novel biosensor of imaging microRNA126 (mir126) expressed during angiogenesis using a miRNA Molecular Beacon (MB) composed of a stem loop-structured DNA complementary to mir126 and Cy5.5 (near infrared, NIR)-black hole quencher 2 (BHQ2) (mir126 NIR MB). Mir126 in cord blood-derived endothelial precursor cells (CB-EPCs) was highly expressed and more expressed after the wound healing. The quantitative and qualitative fluorescence intensity of the mir126 NIR MB was high in CB-EPC and significantly increased after the wound healing, showing a great specificity of sensing endogenous mir126. From the CB-EPC-treated hind limb ischemia, cellular morphology and immune histochemical analysis using antibodies of vWF and CD31 showed a successful induction of angiogenesis and vascularisation and fluorescence signals of the mir126 NIR MB was gradually increased during 6 days of the cellular therapy and much stronger than the signals of laser Doppler imaging. The mir126 NIR MB demonstrated that the mir126sensor will be useful for early diagnosis of cellular therapy of ischemia and non-invasively sensitive imaging for cellular developments, diagnosis of disease and cellular therapy related to the miRNA function.
The Coherence of the Knowledge Base and the Firm ’ s Innovative Performance Evidence from the biopharmaceutical industry

This paper examines the relationship between the coherence of the knowledge base and the innovative productivity of bio-pharmaceutical firms. Using patent technological classes, we develop measures of the coherence and the scope of the firms’ knowledge base. These variables constitute two original inputs in the traditional knowledge production function, additional to those of internal research spending and external knowledge flows. Poisson regressions show a strong link between the coherence of the knowledge base and the firms’ innovative performance. Pharmaceutical firms experience decreasing returns to scale in research, while intra-sectoral knowledge flows positively nourish the firms’ innovation performance. As biotechnology becomes more mature, knowledge flows tend to become uniform throughout different industries. In the meantime, the effect of coherence is significantly increasing, while that of the scope of the knowledge base and of research efforts are substantially decreasing. In the nineties, the coherent organisation of the knowledge base is a prominent condition for superior innovative performance.
An Evolutionary View on Persistence in Innovation: An Empirical Application of Duration Models

The expert contributors to this book examine recent developments in empirical methods and applied simulation in evolutionary economics. Using examples of innovation and technology in industry, it is the first book to address the following questions in a systematic manner: Can evolutionary economics use the same empirical methods as other research traditions in economics? ; Is there a need for empirical methods appropriate to the subject matter chosen? ; What is the relationship between appreciative theorising, case studies and more structured empirical methods? ; and What is the relationship of modelling and simulation to empirical analysis?
Gains to producers from the cartelization of exhaustible resources

Three cartels are examined to determine the potential gains to producers of forming cartels to market exhaustible resources by calculating both monopolistic and competitive price trajectories. Included in the study are the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), International Council of Copper Exporting Countries (CIPEC), and the International Bauxite Association (IBA). An optimal pricing model is described and applied to each of the cartels. Cartels are concluded to have an advantage for petroleum and bauxite, but not for copper. The smaller market shares of CIPEC and short-term lag adjustments seem to be the determining factors rather than resource exhaustion. Future research is needed to determine the effects of competitive firms changing their price expectations and cartel formation of consuming countries. 27 references.
Intra-industry Trade Between the United States and Mexico: 1993- 1998

Changes in the trade of manufactured goods between the United States and Mexico are examined during the first 5 years of the North American Free Trade Agreement implementation period. Most industries exhibit large increases in intra-industry trade. An examination of intra-industry specialization indexes indicates that there are few industries in either country are candidates for significant adjustment problems. The results imply that there are relatively few major risks associated with greater regional economic integration in North America.
Context-Dependent Modulation of Movement-Related Discharge in the Primate Globus Pallidus

A selective contribution of the basal ganglia (BG) to memory-contingent motor control has long been hypothesized. The importance of memory context remains an open question, however, for the BG skeletomotor circuit. To investigate this question, we studied the perimovement discharge of a carefully selected group of 74 “arm-related” pallidal cells in two rhesus monkeys. The animals performed three tasks designed to dissociate multiple independent aspects of memory-contingent reaching while controlling movement kinematics. The activity of most neurons (88%) was influenced strongly by the memory demands of a task (remembering “where” or “when” to move), but the population as a whole showed no systematic preference for memory- or sensory-contingent conditions. The effects of memory context were primarily additive with those of movement kinematics (particularly movement direction). Considered separately, decreases and increases in firing had very different context preferences: decreases were nearly always larger for sensory-triggered movements, whereas increases were enhanced most often under memory-contingent conditions (i.e., self-initiated or self-guided movements). A similar pattern of preferences was found for both pallidal segments. The distinct context-specific enhancements of decreases and increases could not be explained as simple sensory responses or as interactions with preparatory or anticipatory processes present before movement initiation. Rather, they appear related to movement execution under specific contexts. Our results lead to the conclusion that movement facilitatory decreases in internal pallidal (GPi) activity are primarily greater under sensory-triggered conditions. GPi increases and their suppressive effects, perhaps on competing activity in pallidal-recipient centers, have increased prevalence under memory-contingent conditions.