Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Block Stochastic Gradient Iteration for Convex and Nonconvex Optimization

The stochastic gradient (SG) method can minimize an objective function composed of a large number of differentiable functions, or solve a stochastic optimization problem, to a moderate accuracy. The block coordinate descent/update (BCD) method, on the other hand, handles problems with multiple blocks of variables by updating them one at a time; when the blocks of variables are easier to update individually than together, BCD has a lower per-iteration cost. This paper introduces a method that combines the features of SG and BCD for problems with many components in the objective and with multiple (blocks of) variables. Specifically, a block stochastic gradient (BSG) method is proposed for solving both convex and nonconvex programs. At each iteration, BSG approximates the gradient of the differentiable part of the objective by randomly sampling a small set of data or sampling a few functions from the sum term in the objective, and then, using those samples, it updates all the blocks of variables in either a deterministic or a randomly shuffled order. Its convergence for both convex and nonconvex cases are established in different senses. In the convex case, the proposed method has the same order of convergence rate as the SG method. In the nonconvex case, its convergence is established in terms of the expected violation of a first-order optimality condition. The proposed method was numerically tested on problems including stochastic least squares and logistic regression, which are convex, as well as low-rank tensor recovery and bilinear logistic regression, which are nonconvex.
Risk Behaviour and Risk Management in Business Life

Risk Behaviour and Risk Management in Business Life, edited by Bo Green, 2000, Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers Reviewer: Stephen Diacon, University of Nottingham Up until 1994, Bo Green was project manager at the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development, but in the spring of that year he joined Stockholm University to direct a multidisciplinary program of research on risk. Since then, the university has organized two international seminars on risk behavior and risk management: the first specifically on risk and banking, and the second on the broader theme of risk in business. This book is a compilation of the best papers and keynote speeches from the second of these seminars held in Stockholm in June 1997, some of which have already appeared in scholarly journals. The foreword, by the editor, explains that the book is intended to focus on a number of broad risk-related subjects, including risk assessment and credit management, psychology in business life, risk management in small firms, and the law relating to business risks. In actual fact, the book seems to have one major and one minor theme: the operation of trade and personal credit markets, and the need for a multidisciplinary perspective on risk. The book includes 58 short articles from mainly academic contributors that discuss a range of risk-related problems mainly applied to the market for credit. The book begins with an introductory, but rather misplaced, chapter entitled "Cross the Borders," which attempts to highlight the issues involved in exploring risk from a variety of different social science disciplines. Short commentaries are provided from professors of business, law, banking, insurance, and psychology that set out their individual views on the case for effective interdisciplinary research on risk. Although a genuine attempt has been made to provide a variety of perspectives on risk in business, the range of disciplines represented is rather narrow (being limited primarily to banking, business, and finance), and the authors have not attempted their own multidisciplinary collaboration. The second chapter then introduces the main thrust of the book, risk assessment and credit management in credit markets, which takes up about one-quarter of the remaining pages. Papers are presented on domestic and trade credit risk in bank lending decisions and on credit management systems. Of particular interest is quantitative and qualitative research that explores differences in corporate loan repayment behavior based on a survey of more than 3,000 companies in 16 European countries. Chapter Three provides an overview of psychological research on decision making under risk and discusses research applied to practical business decisions such as whether to take out a loan and insurance against default, and lenders' credit evaluation decisions. The chapter ends with two interesting articles on the performance of experts in making risk-related decisions, which analyze the role of expertise in making decisions in a complex environment and explain why experts often disagree. …
Natural gas storage valuation and optimization: A real options application

In this article, we present an algorithm for the valuation and optimal operation of natural gas storage facilities. Real options theory is used to derive nonlinear partial‐integro‐differential equations (PIDEs), the solution of which give both valuation and optimal operating strategies for these facilities. The equations are designed to incorporate a wide class of spot price models that can exhibit the same time‐dependent, mean‐reverting dynamics, and price spikes as those observed in most energy markets. Particular attention is paid to the operational characteristics of real storage units. These characteristics include working gas capacities, variable deliverability and injection rates, and cycling limitations. We illustrate the model with a numerical example of a salt cavern storage facility that clearly shows how a gas storage facility is like a financial straddle with both put and call properties. Depending on the amount of gas in storage the relative influence of the put and call components vary. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2009
Do Banks Monitor Corporate Decisions? Evidence from Bank Financing of Mergers & Acquisitions

We examine whether banks, in providing financing for the deals, monitor firms mergers and acquisitions to the extent that will benefit acquirers shareholders. Inconsistent with the conventional theoretical argument, we do not find that bank-financed deals are associated with better stock or accounting performance than bond-financed deals or deals paid with internal cash. There is strong evidence instead that banks tighten up the loan contract terms in financing the deals, such as cutting short the loan maturity and imposing higher collateral requirement and more covenant restrictions. However, bank-financed deals are more likely to be terminated when they experience more negative stock market reactions to deal announcements, suggesting that banks may be subject to the pressure of shareholder dissent. Overall, our results suggest that banks do not monitor to enhance firm value but rather protect themselves from downside risks through more stringent loan contract terms. This study highlights the passive role of banks in corporate decisions outside of credit default states and covenant
Prevalence of asthma and risk factors among Chinese, Malay, and Indian adults in Singapore.

BACKGROUND--The prevalence and morbidity of asthma vary greatly among different ethnic communities and geographical locations, but the roles of environmental and genetic factors are not fully understood. The differences in prevalence of adult asthma among Chinese, Malay, and Indian ethnic groups in Singapore were examined, and the extent to which these could be explained by personal and environmental factors were investigated. METHODS--A stratified disproportionate random sample (n = 2868) of Chinese (n = 1018), Malays (n = 967), and Indians (n = 883) of both sexes was drawn from households in five public housing estates, and an interviewer administered questionnaire was used to determine cumulative and current prevalence of "physician diagnosed asthma" (symptoms with a physician diagnosis of asthma). RESULTS--Lifetime cumulative prevalence (standardised to the general population) of "physician diagnosed asthma" was 4.7% in men and 4.3% in women; 12 month period prevalences were 2.4% and 2.0%, respectively. Cumulative prevalence of asthma was significantly higher in Indians (6.6%) and Malays (6.0%) than in Chinese (3.0%); period prevalences of asthma were 4.5% in Indians, 3.3% in Malays, and 0.9% in Chinese. Ownership of cats or dogs was more frequent in Malays (15.4%) and Indians (11.2%) than in Chinese (8.8%). Rugs and carpets were also more frequently used by Malays (52.2%) and Indians (40.7%) than by Chinese (8.9%). Current smoking prevalences were higher in Malays (27.3%) than in Indians (19.4%) and Chinese (23.0%). Malays and Indians did not have higher rates of atopy (11.1% and 15.2%, respectively) than Chinese (15.4%). Adjustment for these factors in multivariate analyses reduced the greater odds of asthma in Malays and Indians, but not to a significant extent. CONCLUSIONS--There are ethnic differences in the prevalence of asthma in Singapore which are not entirely explained by differences in smoking, atopy, or other risk factors. Other unmeasured environmental factors or genetic influences are likely to account for residual differences in the prevalence of asthma.
Video Games as Change Agents -- The Case of Homeless: It's No Game

In recent years, with the coming of age of a new generation of social activists raised on video games and the release of new tools that make video game development easier for individuals and small groups, many activists have begun to release video games designed to further their cause. However, there is little evidence as to the effectiveness of video games in changing attitudes. The video game, Homeless: It’s No Game was developed to determine whether people could be persuaded to become more sympathetic to the plight of the homeless by playing the role of a homeless woman in a video game and whether this persuasive effect could be measured. Volunteers were recruited to answer a survey of attitudes towards the homeless and were then assigned to either play the game, read a short story about homelessness, or to be part of a control group, after which the survey was re-administered. Results were mixed, with some indicators showing an increase in sympathy towards the homeless and others showing no significant effect. There were also some indications that playing the video game led to a strengthened belief in the effectiveness of video games in raising awareness of social issues. The results indicate that games can help reinforce a social activist message, especially if their audiences consider them realistic.
Modulation of spinal excitability during observation of bipedal locomotion

This study investigated whether a mirror mechanism exists for bipedal locomotion. We employed the soleus (plantar flexor) Hoffman reflex to investigate corticospinal excitability at the spinal level during observation of bipedal locomotion. The differential amplitude modulation of the left soleus Hoffman reflex during observation of bipedal heel-stepping (plantar dorsiflexion) (324±53 μV), standing still (383±60 μV), and bipedal toe-stepping (plantar flexion) (419±53 μV) reached significance (P<0.05). The observation of bipedal toe-stepping produced a greater increase in spinal excitability than the observation of bipedal heel-stepping. These findings support the suggestion that there is a mirror mechanism for bipedal locomotion and they demonstrate that spinal excitability for observation of bipedal locomotion mirrors that for execution of bipedal locomotion.
Scientific mobility: An analysis of Germany, Austria, France and Great Britain

[Introduction . ] The structure of this report is as follows. It starts with a brief review of the literature on international research collaboration, scientific mobility and return migration and a brief introduction to German migration behavior. The introduction to the topic is followed by a description of the data (bibliometric data and data from online survey) and methods used in this report. A bibliometric data set of all German scientists was created to track their movements for a period of 10 years. In a second step, an online survey of German scientists was conducted that will be presented in chapter 3. It also contains a section on data validation in which the second research question is analyzed. The data from the online-survey was used to determine whether the scientists identified in the Scopus database are indeed German scientists and whether their travel behavior is consistent with the Scopus data. The fourth chapter presents the research results regarding scientific mobility in Germany. As a focus of this study is on German scientists' movements, this is the most extensive analysis. It contains a country analysis and in particular analyzes which proportion of German scientists migrates and returns within 10 years. The same data analysis based on Scopus was conducted for the countries Austria, France and Great Britain. The results are compared to Germany to discover patterns of scientific mobility. Additionally a Scopus analysis of co-publications shows differences between scientists with international and national experience. A regression analysis shows effects on the amount of publications and citation rates of scientists with national or international experience. The results of the online survey provide additional information about reasons and motivations for staying abroad and networking through scientific mobility. Finally the research results are discussed in the concluding section.
The MCP-1 (CCL2) -2518 GG genotype is associated with protection against pulmonary tuberculosis in Moroccan patients.

INTRODUCTION Both monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), also designated officially as chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2), and interleukin-12 p40 (IL-12 p40) molecules, encoded by polymorphic genes, are central components of the immune response to infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Their genetic diversity has previously been associated with the outcome of tuberculosis (TB) infection. We investigated whether the MCP-1 -2518 A/G and the IL-12B (p40) +1188 A/C polymorphisms influence susceptibility to or resistance against pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in a Moroccan population group. METHODOLOGY Genomic DNA from 337 patients along with 204 healthy controls were genotyped for the above-mentioned genetic variations using polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. RESULTS We found a higher prevalence of homozygous MCP-1 -2518 G allele in healthy individuals than in patients (pc = 0.04; odds ratio = 0.35; 95% confidence interval = 0.13 - 0.86), suggesting a potential protective effect, whereas analysis of IL-12B +1188 variation failed to reveal any such association. CONCLUSION Our results are in agreement with recent findings in Ghanaian patients, complying with the known genetic admixture of the Moroccan population.
XMM-Newton observations of ULIRGs: A Compton-thick AGN in IRAS 19254–7245

We present the XMM-Newton observation of the merging system IRAS 19254-7245, also known as The Superantennae, whose southern nucleus is classified as a Seyfert 2 galaxy. The XMM-Newton data have allowed us to per- form a detailed X-ray imaging and spectral analysis of this system. We clearly detect, for the first time in this system, a strong (EW ∼ 1.4 keV) Fe emission line at 6.49 ± 0.1 keV (rest-frame). The X-ray spectrum requires a soft thermal component (kT ∼ 0. 9k eV;L0.5−2 ∼ 4 × 10 41 erg s −1 ), likely associated with the starburst, and a hard power-law continuum above 2 keV (observed L2−10 ∼ 4 × 10 42 erg s −1 ). We confirm the flatness of this latter component, already noted in previous ASCA data. This flatness, together with the detection of the strong Fe-Kα line and other broad band indicators, suggest the presence of a Compton-thick AGN with intrinsic luminosity > ∼ 10 44 erg s −1 . We show that a Compton-thick model can perfectly reproduce the
Xenon reduces glutamate-, AMPA-, and kainate-induced membrane currents in cortical neurones.

BACKGROUND The anaesthetic, analgesic, and neuroprotective effects of xenon (Xe) are believed to be mediated by a block of the NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor channel. Interestingly, the clinical profile of the noble gas differs markedly from that of specific NMDA receptor antagonists. The aim of this study was, therefore, to investigate whether Xe might be less specific, also inhibiting the two other subtypes of glutamate receptor channels, such as the alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolole propionate (AMPA) and kainate receptors. METHODS The study was performed on voltage-clamped cortical neurones from embryonic mice and SH-SY5Y cells expressing GluR6 kainate receptors. Drugs were applied by a multi-barreled fast perfusion system. RESULTS Xe, dissolved at approximately 3.45 mM in aqueous solution, diminished the peak and even more the plateau of AMPA and glutamate induced currents. At the control EC(50) value for AMPA (29 microM) these reductions were by about 40 and 56% and at 3 mM glutamate the reductions were by 45 and 66%, respectively. Currents activated at the control EC(50) value for kainate (57 microM) were inhibited by 42%. Likewise, Xe showed an inhibitory effect on kainate-induced membrane currents of SH-SY5Y cells transfected with the GluR6 subunit of the kainate receptor. Xe reduced kainate-induced currents by between 35 and 60%, depending on the kainate concentration. CONCLUSIONS Xe blocks not only NMDA receptors, but also AMPA and kainate receptors in cortical neurones as well as GluR6-type receptors expressed in SH-SY5Y cells. Thus, Xe seems to be rather non-specific as a channel blocker and this may contribute to the analgesic and anaesthetic potency of Xe.
Implementing Privacy with Erlang Active Objects

Functional active objects are a new paradigm for the implementation of services. They offer safe distributed evaluation with futures and immutable objects guaranteeing efficient implementation of privacy while offering verified quality assurance based on the functional paradigm and a development in an interactive theorem prover. In this paper, we present a novel and highly performant implementation of functional active objects in Erlang. Besides outlining the guiding principles of the interpreter, we show by concrete examples how secure services can be realized.
Relaxin Prevents Cardiac Fibroblast-Myofibroblast Transition via Notch-1-Mediated Inhibition of TGF-β/Smad3 Signaling

The hormone relaxin (RLX) is produced by the heart and has beneficial actions on the cardiovascular system. We previously demonstrated that RLX stimulates mouse neonatal cardiomyocyte growth, suggesting its involvement in endogenous mechanisms of myocardial histogenesis and regeneration. In the present study, we extended the experimentation by evaluating the effects of RLX on primary cultures of neonatal cardiac stromal cells. RLX inhibited TGF-β1-induced fibroblast-myofibroblast transition, as judged by its ability to down-regulate α-smooth muscle actin and type I collagen expression. We also found that the hormone up-regulated metalloprotease (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 expression and downregulated the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-2 in TGF-β1-stimulated cells. Interestingly, the effects of RLX on cardiac fibroblasts involved the activation of Notch-1 pathway. Indeed, Notch-1 expression was significantly decreased in TGF-β1-stimulatedfibroblasts as compared to the unstimulated controls; this reduction was prevented by the addition of RLX to TGF-β1-stimulated cells. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of endogenous Notch-1 signaling by N-3,5-difluorophenyl acetyl-L-alanyl-2-phenylglycine-1,1-dimethylethyl ester (DAPT), a γ-secretase specific inhibitor, as well as the silencing of Notch-1 ligand, Jagged-1, potentiated TGF-β1-induced myofibroblast differentiation and abrogated the inhibitory effects of RLX. Interestingly, RLX and Notch-1 exerted their inhibitory effects by interfering with TGF-β1 signaling, since the addition of RLX to TGF-β1-stimulated cells caused a significant decrease in Smad3 phosphorylation, a typical downstream event of TGF-β1 receptor activation, while the treatment with a prevented this effect. These data suggest that Notch signaling can down-regulate TGF-β1/Smad3-induced fibroblast-myofibroblast transition and that RLX could exert its well known anti-fibrotic action through the up-regulation of this pathway. In conclusion, the results of the present study beside supporting the role of RLX in the field of cardiac fibrosis, provide novel experimental evidence on the molecular mechanisms underlying its effects.
Cyclic symmetry and adic convergence in Lagrangian Floer theory

In this paper we use continuous family of multisections of the moduli space of pseudo holomorphic discs to partially improve, in the case of real coefficient, the construction of Lagrangian Floer cohomology of which the author developed jointly with Oh-Ohta-Ono. Namely we associate cyclically symmetric filtered A infinity algebra to every relatively spin Lagrangian submanifold. We use the same trick to construct a local rigid analytic family of filtered A infinity structure associated to a (family of) Lagrangian submanifolds. We include the study of homological algebra of pseudo-isotopy of cyclic (filtered) A infinity algebra.
Online Learning to Rank with Top-k Feedback

We consider two settings of online learning to rank where feedback is restricted to top ranked items. The problem is cast as an online game between a learner and sequence of users, over $T$ rounds. In both settings, the learners objective is to present ranked list of items to the users. The learner's performance is judged on the entire ranked list and true relevances of the items. However, the learner receives highly restricted feedback at end of each round, in form of relevances of only the top $k$ ranked items, where $k \ll m$. The first setting is \emph{non-contextual}, where the list of items to be ranked is fixed. The second setting is \emph{contextual}, where lists of items vary, in form of traditional query-document lists. No stochastic assumption is made on the generation process of relevances of items and contexts. We provide efficient ranking strategies for both the settings. The strategies achieve $O(T^{2/3})$ regret, where regret is based on popular ranking measures in first setting and ranking surrogates in second setting. We also provide impossibility results for certain ranking measures and a certain class of surrogates, when feedback is restricted to the top ranked item, i.e. $k=1$. We empirically demonstrate the performance of our algorithms on simulated and real world datasets.