Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Amplitude of Mass Fluctuations

We determine the linear amplitude of mass fluctuations in the universe, σ8, from the abundance of massive clusters at redshifts z = 0.5-0.8. The evolution of massive clusters depends exponentially on the amplitude of mass fluctuations and thus provides a powerful measure of this important cosmological parameter. The relatively high abundance of massive clusters observed at z > 0.5 and the relatively slow evolution of their abundance with time suggest a high amplitude of mass fluctuations: σ8 = 0.9 (±10%) for Ωm = 0.4, increasing slightly to σ8 = 0.95 for Ωm = 0.25 and σ8 = 1.0 for Ωm = 0.1 (flat cold dark matter models). We use the cluster abundance observed at z = 0.5-0.8 to derive a normalization relation from the high-redshift clusters, which is only weakly dependent on Ωm: σ8Ω = 0.78 ± 0.08. When combined with recent constraints from the present-day cluster mass function, σ8Ω = 0.33 ± 0.03, we find σ8 = 0.98 ± 0.1 and Ωm = 0.17 ± 0.05. Low-σ8 values (≲0.7) are unlikely; they produce an order-of-magnitude fewer massive clusters than observed.
Examining the antecedents and consequences of online satisfaction within the public sector

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the antecedents and consequences of online satisfaction within the context of e‐government, which increasingly play an important role in modern public administrative management. Specifically, this paper examines the taxation services offered through the web‐based electronic declaration system.Design/methodology/approach – Following a quantitative methodological approach, a survey was applied to a sample of 351 certified accountants to empirically test the conceptual model. Structural equation modelling was used to test the conceptual model.Findings – The results of this empirical study validate four out of five hypotheses. It was found that convenience is an important antecedent of both satisfaction and online service quality. Additionally, findings suggest that both the degree of satisfaction and online service quality impacts on the intention of using the taxation website. Overall, results indicate that most of the relationships examined in the private s.
Authorship identification and author fuzzy “fingerprints”

Fingerprint identification is a well-known technique in forensic sciences. The basic idea of identifying a subject based on a set of features left by the subject actions or behavior can be applied to other domains. Identifying text authorship based on an author “fingerprint” is one such application. This paper considers the problem of extracting “fingerprints” from texts and matching them with those obtained from a set of known authors. It presents an innovative fuzzy fingerprint algorithm based on vector valued fuzzy sets. Words and other stylometric features are used to create the fingerprint. The implementation is based on an approximated fast and compact algorithm that allows the method to be used on near real time, even for a large number of authors and texts.
Cannabidiol Affects MK-801-Induced Changes in the PPI Learned Response of Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus spp.)

There are several lines of evidence indicating a possible therapeutic action of cannabidiol (CBD) in schizophrenia treatment. Studies with rodents have demonstrated that CBD reverses MK-801 effects in prepulse inhibition (PPI) disruption, which may indicate that CBD acts by improving sensorimotor gating deficits. In the present study, we investigated the effects of CBD on a PPI learned response of capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.). A total of seven monkeys were employed in this study. In Experiment 1, we evaluated the CBD (doses of 15, 30, 60 mg/kg, i.p.) effects on PPI. In Experiment 2, the effects of sub-chronic MK-801 (0.02 mg/kg, i.m.) on PPI were challenged by a CBD pre-treatment. No changes in PPI response were observed after CBD-alone administration. However, MK-801 increased the PPI response of our animals. CBD pre-treatment blocked the PPI increase induced by MK-801. Our findings suggest that CBD’s reversal of the MK-801 effects on PPI is unlikely to stem from a direct involvement on sensorimotor mechanisms, but may possibly reflect its anxiolytic properties.
Endogenous Longevity and Economic Growth

In a two period overlapping generations model of endogenous longevity and economic growth, individuals choose to invest in health and education. The investments are costly in terms of foregone first period consumption and the benefit is in the second period where health has the effect of increasing the probability of survival, and education investment will bring higher income. These investments are risky as survival through period two, when the payoffs can be had, is not certain. Individuals with varying degrees of risk aversion will choose the ordering in which they invest in health and education. It is only when investment in education is achieved that an economy will experience endogenous growth.
Seven problems in bubble and jet drop researches 1

Four of the problems deal with the mechanics of bubble production and bursting, and the collection and sizing of jet drops; three concern the transfer of the bacterium Serratia marcescens from bursting bubbles to jet drops. The problem of producing bubbles of a specified size from glass capillary tips is overcome by paying careful attention to tip geometry. Problems associated with bubble bursting have not been solved, but it is believed that they are caused by small differences in the position of the bubble relative to the interface at the time of bursting. The collection and sizing of jet drops can cause problems, but suggestions are given to overcome them. Of the three problems involving bacteria, only the last appears to have a satisfactory solution. Experiments show that the concentration of bacteria is always highest in the top jet drop of the jet set and decreases progressively in the lower drops, being lowest in the bottom drop. This is in qualitative agreement with the hypothesis of jet drop formation advanced by MacIntyre. Increasing interest in the biological, physical, and chemical nature of the airwater interface, and the exchange processes across the interface, has resulted in numerous papers, and, in just the past 3 years, at least four review articles (MacIntyre 1974; Blanchard 1975; Liss 1975; Duce and Hoffman 1976). These articles have stressed the complexity of interfacial problems. In our own work with bubbles and jet drops, especially that involving bacteria and dissolved organic material, we have encountered numerous problems. Some have required months to overcome, but many have yet to be solved. Since these problems, both solved and unsolved, have barely been mentioned in our papers, and will no doubt be encountered by others who pursue this area of research, we feel it worthwhile to consid’ The research was supported by the Atmospheric Science Section, National Science Foundation. er them here. The solved problems are of obvious interest, but those unsolved may be even more so, since their solution should provide key insights into the water-to-air transfer of materials. The seven problems that follow were selected from notes made in the course of our experiments of the past several years. We appreciate the criticism of M. and E. Baylor, R. Cipriano, and P. Liss on the first draft of this paper.
Accounting for Decay of Linkage Disequilibrium in Haplotype Inference and Missing-data Imputation

Although many algorithms exist for estimating haplotypes from genotype data, none of them take full account of both the decay of linkage disequilibrium (LD) with distance and the order and spacing of genotyped markers. Here, we describe an algorithm that does take these factors into account, using a flexible model for the decay of LD with distance that can handle both " blocklike " and " nonblocklike " patterns of LD. We compare the accuracy of this approach with a range of other available algorithms in three ways: for reconstruction of randomly paired, molecularly determined male X chromosome haplotypes; for reconstruction of haplotypes obtained from trios in an autosomal region; and for estimation of missing genotypes in 50 autosomal genes that have been completely resequenced in 24 African Americans and 23 individuals of European descent. For the autosomal data sets, our new approach clearly outperforms the best available methods, whereas its accuracy in inferring the X chromosome haplotypes is only slightly superior. For estimation of missing genotypes, our method performed slightly better when the two subsamples were combined than when they were analyzed separately, which illustrates its robustness to population stratification. Our method is implemented in the software package PHASE (v2.1.1), available from the Stephens Lab Web site.
Cooperative Games under Augmenting Systems

The goal of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework in order to analyze cooperative games in which only certain coalitions are allowed to form. We will axiomatize the structure of such allowable coalitions using the theory of antimatroids, a notion developed for combinatorially abstract sets. There have been previous models developed to confront the problem of unallowable coalitions. Games restricted by a communication graph were introduced by Myerson and Owen. We introduce a new combinatorial structure called augmenting system, which is a generalization of the antimatroid structure and the system of connected subgraphs of a graph. The main result of the paper is a direct formula of Shapley and Banzhaf values for games under augmenting systems restrictions.
A Simple Analytical Model for Predicting the Collapsed State of Self-Attractive Semiflexible Polymers

We develop an analytical model to predict the collapse conformation for a single semiflexible polymer chain in solution, given its length, diameter, stiffness, and self-attractiveness. We construct conformational phase diagrams containing three collapsed states, namely torus, bundle, and globule over a range of dimensionless ratios of the three energy parameters, namely solvent-water surface energy (γs), energy of bundle end folds (γe), and bending energy per unit length in a torus (γb). Our phase diagram captures the general phase behavior of a single long chain (>10 Kuhn lengths) at moderately high (order unity) dimensionless temperature, which is the ratio of thermal energy to the attractive interaction between neighboring monomers. We find that the phase behavior approaches an asymptotic limit when the dimensionless chain length to diameter ratio (L*) exceeds 300. We successfully validate our analytical results with Brownian Dynamics (BD) simulations, using a mapping of the simulation parameters to those used in the phase diagram. We evaluate the effect of three different bending potentials in the range of moderately high dimensionless temperature, a regime not been previously explored by simulations, and find qualitative agreement between the model and simulation results. We, thus, demonstrate that a rather simplified analytical model can be used to qualitatively predict the final collapsed state of a given polymer chain.
Fingerprint Verification Based on Invariant Moment Features and Nonlinear BPNN

A fingerprint verification system based on a set of invariant moment features and a nonlinear Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) verifier is proposed. An image-based method with invariant moment features for fingerprint verification is used to overcome the demerits of traditional minutiae-based methods and other image-based methods. The proposed system contains two stages: an off-line stage for template processing and an on-line stage for testing with input fingerprints. The system preprocesses fingerprints and reliably detects a unique reference point to determine a Region-of-Interest (ROI). A total of four sets of seven invariant moment features are extracted from four partitioned sub-images of an ROI. Matching between the feature vectors of a test fingerprint and those of a template fingerprint in the database is evaluated by a nonlinear BPNN and its performance is compared with other methods in terms of absolute distance as a similarity measure. The experimental results show that the proposed method with BPNN matching has a higher matching accuracy, while the method with absolute distance has a faster matching speed. Comparison results with other famous methods also show that the proposed method outperforms them in verification accuracy.
Internet Appendix for “ The Impact of Venture Capital Monitoring ”

This appendix provides supplementary results, discussion, and details regarding data construction. Section I shows various robustness tests as well as the results of our regional analysis. Section II describes how we merge VentureXpert with the NBER patent database. Section III describes how travel times between portfolio companies and VCs are calculated. Section IV provides a back of the envelope calculation to shed additional light on the magnitudes of our estimates. Section V discusses the regional analysis. Section VI shows our survey questions.
England's treasure by forraign trade, or, The ballance of our forraign trade is the rule of our treasure

I Present this ensuing Treatise to your Lordship as its proper Patron, to whom, by vertue of your great Trust (the greatest, doubtless, in this Kingdome) the management of his Majesty's Treasure, and improvement of his Revenue, are most peculiarly committed. The title of it (Englands Treasure by Forraign Trade) alone bespeaks your notice, the Argument, (being of so publick a nature) may invite your perusall but the Tract it self will, I hope, deserve your Lordships Protecton. It was left me in the nature of a Legacy by my Father, for whose sake I cannot but value it as one of my best Moveables, and as such I dedicate it to your Lordship. He was in his time famous amongst Merchants, and well known to most men of business, for his general Experience in Affairs, and notable Insight into Trade; neither was he less observed for his Integrity to his Prince, and Zeal to the Common-wealth: the serious Discourses of such men are commonly not unprofitable. To your Lordships judgement I submit this Treatise, and my presumption herein to your Pardon. My Lord, Your most faithful and obedient Servant, John Mun
Excitatory and Inhibitory Circuitry in the Superficial Gray Layer of the Superior Colliculus

Stratum griseum superficiale (SGS) of the superior colliculus receives a dense cholinergic input from the parabigeminal nucleus. In this study, we examined in vitro the modulatory influence of acetylcholine (ACh) on the responses of SGS neurons that project to the visual thalamus in the rat. We used whole-cell patch-clamp recording to measure the responses of these projection neurons to electrical stimulation of their afferents in the stratum opticum (SO) before and during local pressure injections of ACh. These colliculothalamic projection neurons (CTNs) were identified during thein vitro experiments by prelabeling them from the thalamus with the retrograde axonal tracer wheat germ agglutinin-apo-HRP-gold. In a group of cells that included the prelabeled neurons, EPSCs evoked by SO stimulation were significantly reduced by the application of ACh, whereas IPSC amplitudes were significantly enhanced. Similar effects were observed when the nicotinic ACh receptor agonist lobeline was used. Application of the selective GABAB receptor antagonist 3-[[(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-methyl]amino]propyl](diethoxymethyl)phosphinic acid blocked ACh-induced reduction in the evoked response. In contrast, the ACh-induced reduction was insensitive to application of the GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline. The ACh-induced reduction was also diminished by bath application of muscimol at the low concentrations that selectively activate GABAC receptors. Because GABAC receptors may be specifically expressed by GABAergic SGS interneurons (Schmidt et al., 2001), our results support the hypothesis that ACh reduces CTN activity by nicotinic receptor-mediated excitation of local GABAergic interneurons. These interneurons in turn use GABABreceptors to inhibit the CTNs.
The Politics of Precedent on the U.S. Supreme Court

List of Figures and Tables ix Acknowledgments xi Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Explaining the Interpretation of Precedent 16 Chapter Three: Measuring the Interpretation of Precedent 43 Chapter Four: The Interpretation of Precedent over Time 55 Chapter Five: The Overruling of Precedent 78 Chapter Six: The Interpretation of Precedent in Majority Opinions 93 Chapter Seven: Lower Federal Court Responses to the Supreme Court's Interpretation of Precedent 109 Chapter Eight: Concluding Remarks and Broader Implications 124 Appendix 135 References 139 Index 151
IPOs – Not So Much Money Left on the Table. The Cost Compensation Hypothesis

One of the most extensively documented anomalies concerning initial public offerings is IPO underpricing. Although the phenomenon is well analyzed and explained, most of the researches ignore the individual investor’s costs, constraints and perspective. We suppose that after accounting for these issues, there may be not much money left on the table.The paper consists of three main parts. First, we characterize the IPO underpricing anomaly and review performance patterns from many countries with their theoretical explanations. In the second section, we indicate the usually ignored issues, which may potentially significantly impede the IPO investments. The last part is an empirical analysis based on 209 offerings in Polish stock market between 2001 and 2010. The paper comes to conclusion that the high IPO returns result from just a few outliers and are not significantly higher then benchmark returns. As we hypothesized, the IPO underpricing seems to be just a compensation for costs and time constraints faced by investors.
Delphinidin Inhibits Tumor Growth by Acting on VEGF Signalling in Endothelial Cells

The vasculoprotective properties of delphinidin are driven mainly by its action on endothelial cells. Moreover, delphinidin displays anti-angiogenic properties in both in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis models and thereby might prevent the development of tumors associated with excessive vascularization. This study was aimed to test the effect of delphinidin on melanoma-induced tumor growth with emphasis on its molecular mechanism on endothelial cells. Delphinidin treatment significantly decreased in vivo tumor growth induced by B16-F10 melanoma cell xenograft in mice. In vitro, delphinidin was not able to inhibit VEGFR2-mediated B16-F10 melanoma cell proliferation but it specifically reduced basal and VEGFR2-mediated endothelial cell proliferation. The anti-proliferative effect of delphinidin was reversed either by the MEK1/2 MAP kinase inhibitor, U-0126, or the PI3K inhibitor, LY-294002. VEGF-induced proliferation was reduced either by U-0126 or LY-294002. Under these conditions, delphinidin failed to decrease further endothelial cell proliferation. Delphinidin prevented VEGF-induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK and decreased the expression of the transcription factors, CREB and ATF1. Finally, delphinidin was more potent in inhibiting in vitro cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs), PDE1 and PDE2, compared to PDE3-PDE5. Altogether delphinidin reduced tumor growth of melanoma cell in vivo by acting specifically on endothelial cell proliferation. The mechanism implies an association between inhibition of VEGF-induced proliferation via VEGFR2 signalling, MAPK, PI3K and at transcription level on CREB/ATF1 factors, and the inhibition of PDE2. In conjunction with our previous studies, we demonstrate that delphinidin is a promising compound to prevent pathologies associated with generation of vascular network in tumorigenesis.
Leishmania donovani Nucleoside Hydrolase (NH36) Domains Induce T-Cell Cytokine Responses in Human Visceral Leishmaniasis

Development of immunoprotection against visceral leishmaniasis (VL) focused on the identification of antigens capable of inducing a Th1 immune response. Alternatively, antigens targeting the CD8 and T-regulatory responses are also relevant in VL pathogenesis and worthy of being included in a preventive human vaccine. We assessed in active and cured patients and VL asymptomatic subjects the clinical signs and cytokine responses to the Leishmania donovani nucleoside hydrolase NH36 antigen and its N-(F1), central (F2) and C-terminal (F3) domains. As markers of VL resistance, the F2 induced the highest levels of IFN-γ, IL-1β, and TNF-α and, together with F1, the strongest secretion of IL-17, IL-6, and IL-10 in DTH+ and cured subjects. F2 also promoted the highest frequencies of CD3+CD4+IL-2+TNF-α−IFN-γ−, CD3+CD4+IL-2+TNF-α+IFN-γ−, CD3+CD4+IL-2+TNF-α−IFN-γ+, and CD3+CD4+IL-2+TNF-α+IFN-γ+ T cells in cured and asymptomatic subjects. Consistent with this, the IFN-γ increase was correlated with decreased spleen (R = −0.428, P = 0.05) and liver sizes (R = −0.428, P = 0.05) and with increased hematocrit counts (R = 0.532, P = 0.015) in response to F1 domain, and with increased hematocrit (R = 0.512, P 0.02) and hemoglobin counts (R = 0.434, P = 0.05) in response to F2. Additionally, IL-17 increases were associated with decreased spleen and liver sizes in response to F1 (R = −0.595, P = 0.005) and F2 (R = −0.462, P = 0.04). Conversely, F1 and F3 increased the CD3+CD8+IL-2+TNF-α−IFN-γ−, CD3+CD8+IL-2+TNF-α+IFN-γ−, and CD3+CD8+IL-2+TNF-α+IFN-γ+ T cell frequencies of VL patients correlated with increased spleen and liver sizes and decreased hemoglobin and hematocrit values. Therefore, cure and acquired resistance to VL correlate with the CD4+-Th1 and Th-17 T-cell responses to F2 and F1 domains. Clinical VL outcomes, by contrast, correlate with CD8+ T-cell responses against F3 and F1, potentially involved in control of the early infection. The in silico-predicted NH36 epitopes are conserved and bind to many HL-DR and HLA and B allotypes. No human vaccine against Leishmania is available thus far. In this investigation, we identified the NH36 domains and epitopes that induce CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses, which could be used to potentiate a human universal T-epitope vaccine against leishmaniasis.
Photothermal therapy of Lewis lung carcinoma in mice using gold nanoshells on carboxylated polystyrene spheres

A new approach towards the design of gold nanoshells on carboxylated polystyrene spheres (GNCPSs) is reported here. Gold nanoshells were self-assembled on the surface of carboxylated polystyrene spheres by a seed growth method. Chitosan (CHI) was used as a functional agent of carboxylated polystyrene spheres for attaching gold seeds. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak of GNCPSs can be tuned, greatly redshifted, over a broad spectral range including the near-infrared (NIR) wavelength region, which provides maximal penetration of light through tissue. Irradiation of GNCPSs at their peak extinction coefficient results in the conversion of light to heat energy that produces a local rise in temperature. Our study revealed that the Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) in mice treated with GNCPSs exposed to a low dose of NIR light (808 nm, 4 W cm−2) induced irreversible tissue damage. The tumor volumes of the treatment group by GNCPSs were significantly lower than those of control groups, with an average inhibition rate over 55% (P<0.005). This study proves that GNCPSs are promising in plasmonic photothermal tumor therapy.