Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Disagreement and Optimal Security Design

We study optimal security design when the issuer and market participants agree to disagree about the characteristics of the asset to be securitized. We show that pooling assets can be optimal because it mitigates the effects of disagreement between issuer and investors, whereas tranching a cash-flow stream allows the issuer to exploit disagreement between investors. Interestingly, pooling and tranching can be complements. The optimality of debt with or without call provisions can be derived as a special case. In a model with multiple financing rounds, convertible securities naturally emerge to finance highly skewed ventures.
Multiscale Compressed Block Decomposition for Fast Direct Solution of Method of Moments Linear System

The multiscale compressed block decomposition algorithm (MS-CBD) is presented for highly accelerated direct (non iterative) solution of electromagnetic scattering and radiation problems with the method of moments (MoM). The algorithm is demonstrated to exhibit N2 computational complexity and storage requirements scaling with N1.5, for electrically large objects. Several numerical examples illustrate the efficiency of the method, in particular for problems with multiple excitation vectors. The largest problem presented in this paper is the monostatic RCS of the NASA almond at 50 GHz, for one thousand incidence angles, discretized using 442,089 RWG basis functions. Being entirely algebraic, MS-CBD is independent of the Greens function of the problem.
Tissue Factor Coagulant Function Is Enhanced by Protein-disulfide Isomerase Independent of Oxidoreductase Activity*

Protein-disulfide isomerase (PDI) switches tissue factor (TF) from coagulation to signaling by targeting the allosteric Cys186–Cys209 disulfide. Here, we further characterize the interaction of purified PDI with TF. We find that PDI enhances factor VIIa-dependent substrate factor X activation 5–10-fold in the presence of wild-type, oxidized soluble TF but not TF mutants that contain an unpaired Cys186 or Cys209. PDI-accelerated factor Xa generation was blocked by bacitracin but not influenced by inhibition of vicinal thiols, reduction of PDI, changes in redox gradients, or covalent thiol modification of reduced PDI by N-ethylmaleimide or methyl-methanethiosulfonate, which abolished PDI oxidoreductase but not chaperone activity. PDI had no effect on fully active TF on either negatively charged phospholipids or in activating detergent, indicating that PDI selectively acts upon cryptic TF to facilitate ternary complex formation and macromolecular substrate turnover. PDI activation was reduced upon mutation of TF residues in proximity to the macromolecular substrate binding site, consistent with a primary interaction of PDI with TF. PDI enhanced TF coagulant activity on microvesicles shed from cells, suggesting that PDI plays a role as an activating chaperone for circulating cryptic TF.
Coronary heart disease is associated with regional grey matter volume loss: implications for cognitive function and behaviour

Coronary heart disease (CHD) has been associated with impaired cognition, but the mechanisms underlying these changes remain unclear. We designed this study to determine whether adults with CHD show regional brain losses of grey matter volume relative to controls. We used statistical parametric mapping (SPM5) to determine regional changes in grey matter volume of T1‐weighted magnetic resonance images of 11 adults with prior history of myocardial infarction relative to seven healthy controls. All analyses were adjusted for total grey and white matter volume, age, sex and handedness. CHD participants showed a loss of grey matter volume in the left medial frontal lobe (including the cingulate), precentral and postcentral cortex, right temporal lobe and left middle temporal gyrus, and left precuneus and posterior cingulate. CHD is associated with loss of grey matter in various brain regions, including some that play a significant role in cognitive function and behaviour. The underlying causes of these regional brain changes remain to be determined.
Horizontal and Vertical Technology Spillovers from FDI in Eastern Europe

The aim of our paper is to empirically estimate the direction and magnitude of technological spillovers from FDI using a plant level dataset of Romanian firms for the period 1999-2007. We use the Levinsohn Petrin (2003) methodology in order to estimate total factor productivity and compute several measures of spillover effect based on time varying Input-Output tables. We find local suppliers to benefit from positive backward spillovers while local clients are negatively affected by forward spillovers. Using several measure of absorptive capacity like human capital or R&D does not change our results. On the other hand, a large technological gap favors the capture of technological spillovers. Labor mobility is the only significant horizontal spillovers. We also find that labor mobility changes direction according to different human capital levels. We finally show that local firms buying inputs from FDI suppliers are negatively affected by a second order vertical spillover.
Effect of cannabinoids on pain-stimulated and pain-depressed behavior in rats

EFFECTS OF CANNABINOIDS ON PAIN-STIMULATED AND PAIN-DEPRESSED BEHAVIOR IN RATS By Andrew J. Kwilasz, BA, Psychology A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2013. Major Director: Dr. S. Stevens Negus, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology Cannabinoids produce antinociception in many preclinical models of acute and chronic pain. In contrast, cannabinoids produce inconsistent analgesia in humans, showing little or no efficacy in treating acute pain, with modest efficacy in treating chronic inflammatory pain. This discrepancy may reflect an overreliance on preclinical assays of pain-stimulated behaviors, defined as behaviors that increase in rate or intensity following delivery of a noxious stimulus. In these assays, antinociception is indicated by a reduction in pain-stimulated behaviors, and antinociception is produced either by a reduction in sensory sensitivity to the noxious stimulus (i.e. true analgesia) or by false positive motor impairment. This dissertation addresses this weakness by complementing cannabinoid effects in conventional assays of pain-stimulated behavior with their effects in novel assays of pain-depressed behavior. Pain-depressed behaviors are defined as behaviors that decrease in rate or intensity following presentation of a noxious stimulus. Motor impairment does not produce false positive antinociception in assays of pain-depressed behavior, because antinociception is indicated by a blockade
Parametric Return Density Estimation for Reinforcement Learning

Most conventional Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms aim to optimize decision-making rules in terms of the expected returns. However, especially for risk management purposes, other risk-sensitive criteria such as the value-at-risk or the expected shortfall are sometimes preferred in real applications. Here, we describe a parametric method for estimating density of the returns, which allows us to handle various criteria in a unified manner. We first extend the Bellman equation for the conditional expected return to cover a conditional probability density of the returns. Then we derive an extension of the TD-learning algorithm for estimating the return densities in an unknown environment. As test instances, several parametric density estimation algorithms are presented for the Gaussian, Laplace, and skewed Laplace distributions. We show that these algorithms lead to risk-sensitive as well as robust RL paradigms through numerical experiments.
Patterns and Processes in Marine Microeukaryotic Community Biogeography from Xiamen Coastal Waters and Intertidal Sediments, Southeast China

Microeukaryotes play key roles in the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. Little is known about the relative importance of the processes that drive planktonic and benthic microeukaryotic biogeography in subtropical offshore areas. This study compares the microeukaryotic community compositions (MCCs) from offshore waters (n = 12) and intertidal sediments (n = 12) around Xiamen Island, southern China, using high-throughput sequencing of 18S rDNA. This work further quantifies the relative contributions of spatial and environmental variables on the distribution of marine MCCs (including total, dominant, rare and conditionally rare taxa). Our results showed that planktonic and benthic MCCs were significantly different, and the benthic richness (6627 OTUs) was much higher than that for plankton (4044 OTUs) with the same sequencing effort. Further, we found that benthic MCCs exhibited a significant distance-decay relationship, whereas the planktonic communities did not. After removing two unique sites (N2 and N3), however, 72% variation in planktonic community was explained well by stochastic processes. More importantly, both the environmental and spatial factors played significant roles in influencing the biogeography of total and dominant planktonic and benthic microeukaryotic communities, although their relative effects on these community variations were different. However, a high proportion of unexplained variation in the rare taxa (78.1–97.4%) and conditionally rare taxa (49.0–81.0%) indicated that more complex mechanisms may influence the assembly of the rare subcommunity. These results demonstrate that patterns and processes in marine microeukaryotic community assembly differ among the different habitats (coastal water vs. intertidal sediment) and different communities (total, dominant, rare and conditionally rare microeukaryotes), and provide novel insight on the microeukaryotic biogeography and ecological mechanisms in coastal waters and intertidal sediments at local scale.
Metabolism of aflatoxin B 1 in rhesus monkeys.

The metabolism of aflatoxin B, has been investigated in male rhesus monkeys given i.p. injections of a mixture of ring-labeled aflatoxin B! -'4C and nonradioactive toxin, at a total dose of 0.4 mg/kg. Thirty-five % of the administered radioactivity was excreted in urine within 96 hr. The excretion rate reached a maximum 1 hr after dosing and then fell rapidly, but urine excreted after 96 hr still contained detectable radioactivity. A new method for isolation and identification of urinary aflatoxin metabolites was devised. Of the total urinary metabolites, only 12 to 15% were chloroform extractable, including at least 3 fluorescent metabolites of unknown structure in addition to aflatoxins B! and MI. Chloroforminsoluble metabolites were isolated on an Amberlite XAD-2 column and separated by a DEAE-Sephadex A-25 column into 6 subfractions. The major subfraction (60%) was hydrolyzed almost quantitatively by ÃŸ-glucuronidaseand the liberated metabolite was identified as aflatoxin Pj, the 0-demethylation product of aflatoxin B! Aflatoxin P, in urine represented approximately 20% of the administered dose, 17% as glucuronide, 3% "as sulfate, and 1% as
Arabidopsis Plastidial Folylpolyglutamate Synthetase Is Required for Seed Reserve Accumulation and Seedling Establishment in Darkness

Interactions among metabolic pathways are important in plant biology. At present, not much is known about how folate metabolism affects other metabolic pathways in plants. Here we report a T-DNA insertion mutant (atdfb-3) of the plastidial folylpolyglutamate synthetase gene (AtDFB) was defective in seed reserves and skotomorphogenesis. Lower carbon (C) and higher nitrogen (N) content in the mutant seeds than that of the wild type were indicative of an altered C and N partitioning capacity. Higher levels of organic acids and sugars were detected in the mutant seeds compared with the wild type. Further analysis revealed that atdfb-3 seeds contained less total amino acids and individual Asn and Glu as well as NO3 −. These results indicate significant changes in seed storage in the mutant. Defects in hypocotyl elongation were observed in atdfb-3 in darkness under sufficient NO3 − conditions, and further enhanced under NO3 − limited conditions. The strong expression of AtDFB in cotyledons and hypocotyl during early developmental stage was consistent with the mutant sensitivity to limited NO3 − during a narrow developmental window. Exogenous 5-formyl-tetrahydrofolate completely restored the hypocotyl length in atdfb-3 seedlings with NO3 − as the sole N source. Further study demonstrated that folate profiling and N metabolism were perturbed in atdfb-3 etiolated seedlings. The activity of enzymes involved in N reduction and assimilation was altered in atdfb-3. Taken together, these results indicate that AtDFB is required for seed reserves, hypocotyl elongation and N metabolism in darkness, providing novel insights into potential associations of folate metabolism with seed reserve accumulation, N metabolism and hypocotyl development in Arabidopsis.
Coupled oscillators: Complex but not complicated cardiovascular and brain interactions

Contemporary measurement techniques enable noninvasive observations of cardiovascular functions, both from the central and peripheral points of view. Cardiovascular dynamics is found to be characterised by several distinct frequency components, and these are present at each site of the system. The corresponding oscillatory processes are mutually dependent via couplings that lead to amplitude/frequency fluctuations of the characteristic peaks. New studies have been initiated to determine the interactions between the cardiovascular oscillations and some of the brain waves. The work will be reviewed and causal relations will be discussed with a special emphasis on detection of the depth of anesthesia
Fucanomics and Galactanomics: Marine Distribution, Medicinal Impact, Conceptions, and Challenges

Glycomics turned out to be a very extensive project where its subdivision is consequently emerging. This is seen by the growing number of terminologies used to define subprojects concerning particular classes of bioactive carbohydrates. Sulfated fucans (SFs) and sulfated galactans (SGs) are relatively new classes of sulfated polysaccharides (SPs) that occur mostly in marine organisms, and exhibit a broad range of medicinal effects. Their structures are taxonomically dependent, and their therapeutic actions include benefits in inflammation, coagulation, thrombosis, angiogenesis, cancer, oxidation, and infections. Some red algae, marine angiosperm and invertebrates express SPs of unique structures composed of regular repeating oligomeric units of well-defined sulfation patterns. This fine pattern of structural regularity is quite rare among any naturally occurring long SPs, and enables accurate structure-biofunction correlations. Seeing that, fucanomics and galactanomics may comprise distinguished glycomics subprojects. We hereby discuss the relevance that justifies the international recognition of these subprojects in the current glycomics age associated with the beneficial outcomes that these glycans may offer in drug development.
The structure of self–other overlap and its relationship to perspective taking

Two studies tested whether “self‐other overlap” is a multidimensional construct, with only some dimensions affected by perspective taking. In Study 1, participants (n = 132) completed several previously used measures of self‐other overlap for their best friend and acquaintance. Factor analyses revealed 2 distinct dimensions of self‐other overlap—perceived closeness and overlapping representations. Perceived closeness but not overlapping representations was generally associated with relationship quality. Study 2 (n = 118) manipulated perspective taking of a stranger. Results replicated a factor structure similar to Study 1, and found that perspective taking had different effects on the 2 dimensions of overlap. These results are discussed with regards to the debate over self‐other overlap as a mediator of perspective taking’s pro-social effects. Sayings such as the Golden Rule, “walking in another person’s moccasins. ”, and “how would you feel in that situation? ” all share an underlying psychological theme: Taking the perspective of another person often leads to more compassionate perceptions of and pro-social behavior toward that person. Taking the point of view of another person has been associated with the increased use of situational attributions to describe the other person’s behavior (Betancourt, 1990; Galper, 1976; Regan & Toten, 1975; Wegner & Finstuen, 1977), feelings of empathic concern (Batson, 1987, 1991; Toi & Batson, 1982), and decreased use of stereotypical judgments (Galinsky & Moskowitz, 2000), to name just a few outcomes. One promising mediator of perspective taking’s pro-social effects has been labeled
Evaluation of various evolutionary methods for medical image registration

In the last few decades, image registration (IR) has been established as a very active research area in computer vision. Over the years, it has been applied to a broad range of real-world problems ranging from remote sensing to medical imaging, artificial vision, and computer-aided design. IR has been usually tackled by iterative approaches considering numerical optimization methods which are likely to get stuck in local optima. Recently, a large number of IR methods based on the use of metaheuristics and evolutionary computation paradigms has been proposed providing outstanding results. In this contribution, we aim to develop a preliminary experimental study on some of the most recognized feature-based IR methods considering evolutionary algorithms. To do so, the IR framework is first presented and a brief description of some prominent evolutionary-based IR proposals are reviewed. Finally, a selection of some of the most representative methods are benchmarked facing challenging 3D medical image registration problem instances.
Effects of Working Memory Load on Visual Selective Attention: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence

Working memory and attention interact in a way that enables us to focus on relevant items and maintain current goals. The influence of working memory on attention has been noted in several studies using dual task designs. Multitasking increases the demands on working memory and reduces the amount of resources available for cognitive control functions such as resolving stimulus conflict. However, few studies have investigated the temporal activation of the cortex while multitasking. The present study addresses the extent to which working memory load influences early (P1) and late (P300) attention-sensitive event-related potential components using a dual task paradigm. Participants performed an arrow flanker task alone (single task condition) or concurrently with a Sternberg memory task (dual task condition). In the flanker task, participants responded to the direction of a central arrow surrounded by congruent or incongruent arrows. In the dual task condition, participants were presented with a Sternberg task that consisted of either four or seven consonants to remember prior to a short block of flanker trials. Participants were slower and less accurate on incongruent versus congruent trials. Furthermore, accuracy on incongruent trials was reduced in both dual task conditions. Likewise, P300 amplitude to incongruent flanker stimuli decreased when working memory load increased. These findings suggest that interference from incongruent flankers was more difficult to suppress when working memory was taxed. In addition, P1 amplitude was diminished on all flanker trials in the dual task condition. This result indicates that top-down attentional control over early visual processing is diminished by increasing demands on working memory. Both the behavioral and electrophysiological results suggest that working memory is critical in maintaining attentional focus and resolving conflict.
Impact of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression on triple negative breast cancer outcome and activation of EGFR and ERK signaling pathways

Inflammation is implicated in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) progression. TNBC carries a worse prognosis than other breast cancer subtypes, and with the clinical and molecular heterogeneity of TNBC, there is a lack of effective therapeutic targets available. Identification of molecular targets for TNBC subtypes is crucial towards personalized patient stratification. Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) has been shown to induce p53 mutation accumulation, basal-like gene signature enrichment and transactivation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) via s-nitrosylation. Herein we report that iNOS is associated with disease recurrence, distant metastasis and decreased breast cancer specific survival in 209 cases of TNBC. Employing TNBC cell lines representing normal basal breast, and basal-like 1 and basal-like 2 tumors, we demonstrate that nitric oxide (NO) induces EGFR-dependent ERK phosphorylation in basal-like TNBC cell lines. Moreover NO mediated cell migration and cell invasion was found to be dependent on EGFR and ERK activation particularly in basal-like 2 TBNC cells. This occurred in conjunction with NF-κB activation and increased secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-8, IL-1β and TNF-α. This provides substantial evidence for EGFR as a therapeutic target to be taken into consideration in the treatment of a specific subset of basal-like TNBC overexpressing iNOS.
On the Delay Distribution of Random Linear Network Coding

A fundamental understanding of the delay behavior of network coding is key towards its successful application in real-time applications with strict message deadlines. Previous contributions focused mostly on the average decoding delay, which although useful in various scenarios of interest is not sufficient for providing worst-case delay guarantees. To overcome this challenge, we investigate the entire delay distribution of random linear network coding for any field size and arbitrary number of encoded symbols (or generation size). By introducing a Markov chain model we are able to obtain a complete solution for the erasure broadcast channel with two receivers. A comparison with Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) with perfect feedback, round robin scheduling and a class of fountain codes reveals that network coding on GF(24) offers the best delay performance for two receivers. We also conclude that GF(2) induces a heavy tail in the delay distribution, which implies that network coding based on XOR operations although simple to implement bears a relevant cost in terms of worst-case delay. For the case of three receivers, which is mathematically challenging, we propose a brute-force methodology that gives the delay distribution of network coding for small generations and field size up to GF(24).
Nail Changes Secondary to Docetaxel (Taxotere)

Docetaxel is a new taxoid antineoplastic drug widely used for advanced breast cancer. Skin and nail toxicity are one of the more frequent nonhematologic adverse reactions. Besides dark pigmentations and Beau’s lines, subungual hemorrhage, orange discoloration, acute painful paronychia, onycholysis, subungual hyperkeratosis and transverse loss of the nail plate are described. The type of nail alteration is related with the number of cycles administered and there are no efficacious preventive measures to avoid its development. Clinicians should recognize the clinical picture of these adverse nail reactions because docetaxel is used for several neoplastic disorders.
rac-2-(2-Amino-4-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1,3-thiazol-5-yl)-2-hydroxyindane-1,3-dione

In the crystal of the title compound, C12H8N2O4S, molecules are linked into chains by a series of intermolecular O—H⋯O, N—H⋯O and N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds. The ninhydrin and aminothiazolidine units make a dihedral angle of 66.41 (3)°. The crystal structure indicates the presence of equimolar R and S enantiomers in the crystal lattice, due to the presence of a chiral centre in the title compound.