Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maximum entropy on path space for classical and quantum Markov chains

The theory of Schrödinger bridges for diffusion processes is extended to classical and quantum Markov chains. Taking into account the past-future lack of symmetry of the discrete-time setting, results bear a striking resemblance to the classical ones. In particular, the solution of the path space maximum entropy problems is always obtained from the a priori model by means of a suitable multiplicative functional transformation. In the quantum case, nonequilibrium time reversal of quantum channels is discussed and space-time harmonic processes are introduced.
Comparative study of AODV route repair mechanism with impact on node mobility and traffic load in Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) have become one of the popular key technology and solution for the new wireless implementation especially for wireless end user. One of the widely used routing protocols in WMNs is Ad-Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) protocols. In this paper, we investigate the performance of AODV in situations of link failures due to mobility of nodes and consequent route recovery mechanism using ns2 simulators. We defined a different set of threshold for routing protocols to do local repair based on the link breaks location with respect to the total number of hops from source to destination. Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) and Normalized Routing Load (NRL) or overhead were used as performance metrics in our simulations. For link-failure detection, HELLO message and Link Layer Feedback (LLF) were used separately in the simulations. Simulations were done by varying the number of source-destination pair and speed of the mobile node.
Fast Consensus by the Alternating Direction Multipliers Method

The alternating direction multipliers method (ADMM) has been recently proposed as a practical and efficient algorithm for distributed computing. We discuss its applicability to the average consensus problem in this paper. By carefully relaxing ADMM augmentation coefficients we are able to analytically investigate its properties, and to propose simple and strict analytical bounds. These provide a clear indication on how to choose system parameters for optimized performance. We prove both analytically and via simulations that the proposed approach exhibits convergence speed between the best in the literature (classical and optimized solutions), while providing the most powerful resilience to noise.
Vicarious Goal Fulfillment: When the Mere Presence of a Healthy Option Leads to an Ironically Indulgent Decision

This research examines how consumers' food choices differ when healthy items are included in a choice set compared with when they are not available. Results demonstrate that individuals are, ironically, more likely to make indulgent food choices when a healthy item is available compared to when it is not available. The influence of the healthy item on indulgent choice is stronger for those with higher levels of self-control. Support is found for a goal-activation-based explanation for these findings, whereby the mere presence of the healthy food option vicariously fulfills nutrition-related goals and provides consumers with a license to indulge.
Regularizing Deep Convolutional Neural Networks with a Structured Decorrelation Constraint

Deep convolutional networks have achieved successful performance in data mining field. However, training large networks still remains a challenge, as the training data may be insufficient and the model can easily get overfitted. Hence the training process is usually combined with a model regularization. Typical regularizers include weight decay, Dropout, etc. In this paper, we propose a novel regularizer, named Structured Decorrelation Constraint (SDC), which is applied to the activations of the hidden layers to prevent overfitting and achieve better generalization. SDC impels the network to learn structured representations by grouping the hidden units and encouraging the units within the same group to have strong connections during the training procedure. Meanwhile, it forces the units in different groups to learn non-redundant representations by minimizing the cross-covariance between them. Compared with Dropout, SDC reduces the co-adaptions between the hidden units in an explicit way. Besides, we propose a novel approach called Reg-Conv that can help SDC to regularize the complex convolutional layers. Experiments on extensive datasets show that SDC significantly reduces overfitting and yields very meaningful improvements on classification performance (on CIFAR-10 6.22% accuracy promotion and on CIFAR-100 9.63% promotion).
A Novel Modified Omega-K Algorithm for Synthetic Aperture Imaging Lidar through the Atmosphere

The spatial resolution of a conventional imaging lidar system is constrained by the diffraction limit of the telescope's aperture. The combination of the lidar and synthetic aperture (SA) processing techniques may overcome the diffraction limit and pave the way for a higher resolution air borne or space borne remote sensor. Regarding the lidar transmitting frequency modulation continuous-wave (FMCW) signal, the motion during the transmission of a sweep and the reception of the corresponding echo were expected to be one of the major problems. The given modified Omega-K algorithm takes the continuous motion into account, which can compensate for the Doppler shift induced by the continuous motion efficiently and azimuth ambiguity for the low pulse recurrence frequency limited by the tunable laser. And then, simulation of Phase Screen (PS) distorted by atmospheric turbulence following the von Karman spectrum by using Fourier Transform is implemented in order to simulate turbulence. Finally, the computer simulation shows the validity of the modified algorithm and if in the turbulence the synthetic aperture length does not exceed the similar coherence length of the atmosphere for SAIL, we can ignore the effect of the turbulence.
Biological insights from topology independent comparison of protein 3D structures

Comparing and classifying the three-dimensional (3D) structures of proteins is of crucial importance to molecular biology, from helping to determine the function of a protein to determining its evolutionary relationships. Traditionally, 3D structures are classified into groups of families that closely resemble the grouping according to their primary sequence. However, significant structural similarities exist at multiple levels between proteins that belong to these different structural families. In this study, we propose a new algorithm, CLICK, to capture such similarities. The method optimally superimposes a pair of protein structures independent of topology. Amino acid residues are represented by the Cartesian coordinates of a representative point (usually the Cα atom), side chain solvent accessibility, and secondary structure. Structural comparison is effected by matching cliques of points. CLICK was extensively benchmarked for alignment accuracy on four different sets: (i) 9537 pair-wise alignments between two structures with the same topology; (ii) 64 alignments from set (i) that were considered to constitute difficult alignment cases; (iii) 199 pair-wise alignments between proteins with similar structure but different topology; and (iv) 1275 pair-wise alignments of RNA structures. The accuracy of CLICK alignments was measured by the average structure overlap score and compared with other alignment methods, including HOMSTRAD, MUSTANG, Geometric Hashing, SALIGN, DALI, GANGSTA+, FATCAT, ARTS and SARA. On average, CLICK produces pair-wise alignments that are either comparable or statistically significantly more accurate than all of these other methods. We have used CLICK to uncover relationships between (previously) unrelated proteins. These new biological insights include: (i) detecting hinge regions in proteins where domain or sub-domains show flexibility; (ii) discovering similar small molecule binding sites from proteins of different folds and (iii) discovering topological variants of known structural/sequence motifs. Our method can generally be applied to compare any pair of molecular structures represented in Cartesian coordinates as exemplified by the RNA structure superimposition benchmark.
Intraday Variation in the Bid-Ask Spread: Evidence after the Market Reform

In this article we show that intraday variation in spreads for Nasdaq-listed stocks has converged to intraday variation in spreads for NYSE-listed stocks after the implementation of the new order handling rules. We attribute this convergence to the Limit Order Display Rule, which requires that limit orders be displayed in Nasdaq best bid and offer (BBO) when they are better than quotes posted by market makers. Our findings suggest that the different patterns of intraday spreads between NYSE and Nasdaq stock reported in prior studies can largely be attributed to the different treatments of limit orders between the NYSE and Nasdaq before the market reform.
Phase transitions in the generalization behaviour of multilayer perceptrons: II. The influence of noise

We extend our study of phase transitions in the generalization behaviour of multilayer perceptrons with non-overlapping receptive fields to the problem of the influence of noise, concerning e.g. the input units and/or the couplings between the input units and the hidden units of the second layer (='input noise'), or the final output unit (='output noise'). Without output noise, the output itself is given by a general, permutation-invariant Boolean function of the outputs of the hidden units. As a result we find that the phase transitions, which we found in the deterministic case, mostly persist in the presence of noise. The influence of the noise on the position of the phase transition, as well as on the behaviour in other regimes of the loading parameter $\alpha$, can often be described by a simple rescaling of $\alpha$ depending on strength and type of the noise. We then consider the problem of the optimal noise level for Gibbsian and Bayesian learning, looking on replica symmetry breaking as well. Finally we consider the question why learning with errors is useful at all.
On Portfolio Analysis, Market Equilibrium and Corporation Finance with Incomplete Information

This paper presents a new derivation of the Modigliani and Miller (1958, 1963, 1966) propositions using the simple model of capital market equilibrium with incomplete information presented in Merton (1987). The model is used to relate the maximization of stockholder expected utility to the selection of assets and to the financing and investment decisions within firms in a context of incomplete information. Expressions of the cost of capital are presented with and without corporate taxes in the presence of shadow costs of incomplete information.
Do gender systems in the origin and destination societies affect immigrant integration? Vietnamese marriage migrants in Taiwan and South Korea

ABSTRACT This study engages with the literature on gender, migration, and integration through examining how gender systems in the origin and destination societies affect intra-Asia marriage migrants’ integration experiences. Primary data were from over 100 interviews with Vietnamese marriage migrants (VMMs) in Taiwan or South Korea, including 44 migrant-serving civic organisation staff or volunteers. Patterns of gender ideology from large-scale surveys were used to depict the gendered social and family contexts. For some VMMs in Taiwan, they perceived that married women have more autonomy and social rights than in Vietnam, which at some point facilitated their integration processes. For some VMMs in South Korea, they struggled with the rigid gendered expectations of family roles as migrant wives and daughters-in-law, which were considered less flexible than in Vietnam. Through contrasting three patriarchal societies in Asia that may seem similar in the Western literature, this study provides insights into how gender systems affect marriage migrants’ cultural integration in the private, the public, and the civic spheres. Despite that wealthier new migrant destination societies do not guarantee more equitable gender systems and may create additional integration challenges, civic engagement may facilitate female migrants’ cultural integration through improved awareness of gender-based and ethnicised discrimination.
Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Schools and Its Relationship to School Climate

Within effective organizations employees often go beyond formal job responsibilities, performing nonmandatory tasks with no expectation of recognition or compensation. Therefore, it is important to learn more about how organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) can be cultivated. In this study a new measure of OCB, which is useful in exploring how this construct functions in K–12 schools, was developed. Data were collected in two separate samples and confirmed that this new measure was reasonably valid and reliable. Further testing explored whether the two-factor structure found in other organizational contexts held in public school settings. A significant relationship was found between OCB and school climate. Implications of these findings and directions for further research are discussed.
Consumer Confidence and the Japanese Economy -Comparison of Pre- and Post-Bubble Period-

This paper investigates the effect of confidence on the Japanese economy by using vector autoregressions. Especially, I divide the total estimation period into two parts, pre- and post-bubble periods, and analyze the transition of that effect through the ages. It is shown that consumer confidence has a significant effect on GDP. Moreover, that effect becomes larger in a post-bubble period than in a pre-bubble period, which implies that the low level of confidence has worsened the economic condition in the lost (two) decade(s) after the bubble period.
TRIM59 Promotes the Proliferation and Migration of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells by Upregulating Cell Cycle Related Proteins

TRIM protein family is an evolutionarily conserved gene family implicated in a number of critical processes including inflammation, immunity, antiviral and cancer. In an effort to profile the expression patterns of TRIM superfamily in several non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines, we found that the expression of 10 TRIM genes including TRIM3, TRIM7, TRIM14, TRIM16, TRIM21, TRIM22, TRIM29, TRIM59, TRIM66 and TRIM70 was significantly upregulated in NSCLC cell lines compared with the normal human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cell line, whereas the expression of 7 other TRIM genes including TRIM4, TRIM9, TRIM36, TRIM46, TRIM54, TRIM67 and TRIM76 was significantly down-regulated in NSCLC cell lines compared with that in HBE cells. As TRIM59 has been reported to act as a proto-oncogene that affects both Ras and RB signal pathways in prostate cancer models, we here focused on the role of TRIM59 in the regulation of NSCLC cell proliferation and migration. We reported that TRIM59 protein was significantly increased in various NSCLC cell lines. SiRNA-induced knocking down of TRIM59 significantly inhibited the proliferation and migration of NSCLC cell lines by arresting cell cycle in G2 phase. Moreover, TRIM59 knocking down affected the expression of a number of cell cycle proteins including CDC25C and CDK1. Finally, we knocked down TRIM59 and found that p53 protein expression levels did not upregulate, so we proposed that TRIM59 may promote NSCLC cell growth through other pathways but not the p53 signaling pathway.
Nogo-A-Deficient Mice Reveal Strain-Dependent Differences in Axonal Regeneration

Nogo-A, a membrane protein enriched in myelin of the adult CNS, inhibits neurite growth and regeneration; neutralizing antibodies or receptor blockers enhance regeneration and plasticity in the injured adult CNS and lead to improved functional outcome. Here we show that Nogo-A-specific knock-outs in backcrossed 129X1/SvJ and C57BL/6 mice display enhanced regeneration of the corticospinal tract after injury. Surprisingly, 129X1/SvJ Nogo-A knock-out mice had two to four times more regenerating fibers than C57BL/6 Nogo-A knock-out mice. Wild-type newborn 129X1/SvJ dorsal root ganglia in vitro grew a much higher number of processes in 3 d than C57BL/6 ganglia, confirming the stronger endogenous neurite growth potential of the 129X1/SvJ strain. cDNA microarrays of the intact and lesioned spinal cord of wild-type as well as Nogo-A knock-out animals showed a number of genes to be differentially expressed in the two mouse strains; many of them belong to functional categories associated with neurite growth, synapse formation, and inflammation/immune responses. These results show that neurite regeneration in vivo, under the permissive condition of Nogo-A deletion, and neurite outgrowth in vitro differ significantly in two widely used mouse strains and that Nogo-A is an important endogenous inhibitor of axonal regeneration in the adult spinal cord.
Unguided and Guided Self-Help Interventions for Common Mental Health Disorders in Children and Adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Mental health problems are common in children and adolescents, yet evidence-based treatments are hard to access. Self-help interventions can increase such access. The aim of this paper was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the use of guided and unguided self-help for children and young people with symptoms of common mental health disorders. In contrast to previous reviews of self-help in children, all types of self-help and multiple mental health disorders were investigated in order to increase power to investigate potential moderators of efficacy. Importantly, studies with control arms as well as those comparing against traditional face-to-face treatments were included. Fifty studies (n = 3396 participants in self-help/guided self-help conditions) met the inclusion criteria. Results demonstrated a moderate positive effect size for guided and unguided self-help interventions when compared against a control group (n = 44; g = 0.49; 95% CI: 0.37 to 0.61, p < .01) and a small but significant negative effect size when compared to other therapies (n = 15; g = -0.17; 95% CI: -0.27 to -0.07, p < .01). Few potential moderators had a significant effect on outcome. Most comparisons resulted in significant heterogeneity and therefore results are interpreted with caution. © 2019 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. KEYWORDS: Self-help; adolescents; anxiety; children; depression; disruptive behaviour
The effect of bilingualism on letter and category fluency tasks in primary school children: Advantage or disadvantage?*

The aim of the current study was to examine the effects of bilingualism on letter and category fluency tasks. Participants were 1,600 monolingual and bilingual children from three cities in Iran: Tehran (Persian monolinguals), Tabriz (Turkish–Persian bilinguals), and Sanandaj (Kurdish–Persian bilinguals). We separately presented nine Persian letters and thirty-one categories to the participants, and asked them to generate as many words as possible using each of these initial letters and categories within a maximum of three minutes. Bilingual children generated more words than monolingual children in the letter fluency task; this effect was more pronounced in Grade 1 and for Turkish–Persian bilinguals. However, Persian monolinguals generated significantly more words than both bilingual groups in the category fluency task. Thus, bilingualism can be of both advantage and disadvantage, and produce a dissociative effect. We discuss the results on the basis of the specific nature and different cognitive demands of letter and category fluency tasks. We suggest that the degree of language proficiency of bilinguals should be considered as an important variable in future research on bilingualism.
New findings of Neurospora in Europe and comparisons of diversity in temperate climates on continental scales

The life cycles of the conidiating species of Neurospora are adapted to respond to fire, which is reflected in their natural history. Neurospora is found commonly on burned vegetation from the tropic and subtropical regions around the world and through the temperate regions of western North America. In temperate Europe it was unknown whether Neurospora would be as common as it is in North America because it has been reported only occasionally. In 2003 and 2004 a multinational effort surveyed wildfire sites in southern Europe. Neurospora was found commonly from southern Portugal and Spain (37° N) to Switzerland (46° N). Species collected included N. crassa, N. discreta, N. sitophila and N. tetrasperma. The species distribution and spatial dynamics of Neurospora populations showed both similarities and differences when compared between temperate Europe and western North America, both regions of similar latitude, climate and vegetation. For example the predominant species in western North America, N. discreta phylogenetic species 4B, is common but not predominant in Europe, whereas species rare in western North America, N. crassa NcB and N. sitophila, are much more common in Europe. The meiotic drive element Spore killer was also common in European populations of N. sitophila and at a higher proportion than anywhere else in the world. The methods by which organisms spread and adapt to new environments are fundamental ecosystem properties, yet they are little understood. The differences in regional diversity, reported here, can form the basis of testable hypotheses. Questions of phylogeography and adaptations can be addressed specifically by studying Neurospora in nature.
Adipose Stem Cell Microbeads as Production Sources for Chondrogenic Growth Factors

Microencapsulating stem cells in injectable microbeads can enhance delivery and localization, but their ability to act as growth factor production sources is still unknown. To address this concern, growth factor mRNA levels and production from alginate microbeads with encapsulated human adipose stem cells (ASC microbeads) cultured in both growth and chondrogenic media (GM and CM) were measured over a two week period. Human ASCs in microbeads were either commercially purchased (Lonza) or isolated from six human donors and compared to human ASCs on tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS). The effects of crosslinking and alginate compositions on growth factor mRNA levels and production were also determined. Secretion profiles of IGF-I, TGF-β3 and VEGF-A from commercial human ASC microbeads were linear and at a significantly higher rate than TCPS cultures over two weeks. For human ASCs derived from different donors, microencapsulation increased pthlh and both IGF-I and TGF-β3 secretion. CM decreased fgf2 and VEGF-A secretion from ASC microbeads derived from the same donor population. Crosslinking microbeads in BaCl2 instead of CaCl2 did not eliminate microencapsulation’s beneficial effects, but did decrease IGF-I production. Increasing the guluronate content of the alginate microbead increased IGF-I retention. Decreasing alginate molecular weight eliminated the effects microencapsulation had on increasing IGF-I secretion. This study demonstrated that microencapsulation can enhance chondrogenic growth factor production and that chondrogenic medium treatment can decrease angiogenic growth factor production from ASCs, making these cells a potential source for paracrine factors that can stimulate cartilage regeneration.