Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Option to Switch from Oil to Natural Gas in Active Offshore Petroleum Fields

An important decision in the development of a mixed oil and natural gas field is whether to produce or re-inject the natural gas. There is a trade-off between the income from the sale of natural gas and the higher oil production obtained from re-injection. We consider the optimal timing problem of when to stop natural gas injection for a set of offshore petroleum fields using a real options approach. The real options valuation prices the option to switch significantly higher than a net present value approach. A two-factor price model is implemented for both the oil price and the gas price. The option valuation is based on the Least-Squares Monte Carlo simulation algorithm.
Coworking Spaces: A Source of Social Support for Independent Professionals

Coworking spaces are shared office environments for independent professionals. Such spaces have been increasing rapidly throughout the world, and provide, in addition to basic business infrastructure, the opportunity for social interaction. This article explores social interaction in coworking spaces and reports the results of two studies. Study 1 (N = 69 coworkers) finds that social interaction in coworking spaces can take the form of social support. Study 2 further investigates social support among coworkers (N = 154 coworkers) and contrasts these results with those of social support among colleagues in traditional work organizations (N = 609). A moderated mediation model using time pressure and self-efficacy, based on the conservation of resources theory, is tested. Social support from both sources was positively related to performance satisfaction. Self-efficacy mediated this relationship in the employee sample, while in the coworking sample, self-efficacy only mediated the relationship between social support and performance satisfaction if time pressure was high. Thus, a mobilization of social support seems necessary in coworking spaces. We conclude that coworking spaces, as modern social work environments, should align flexible work infrastructure with well-constructed opportunities for social support.
Broad-line Balmer decrements in blue active galactic nuclei

We have investigated the broad-line Balmer decrements (H alpha/H beta) for a large, homogeneous sample of Seyfert 1 galaxies and quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) using spectroscopic data obtained in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The sample, drawn from the Fourth Data Release, comprises 446 low-redshift (z less than or similar to 0.35) active galactic nuclei (AGN) that have blue optical continua as indicated by the spectral slopes in order to minimize the effect of dust extinction. We find that (i) the distribution of the intrinsic broad-line H alpha/H beta ratio can be well described by log-Gaussian, with a peak at H alpha/H beta = 3.06 and a standard deviation of about 0.03 dex only; (ii) the Balmer decrement does not correlate with AGN properties such as luminosity, accretion rate and continuum slope, etc.; (iii) on average, the Balmer decrements are found to be only slightly larger in radio-loud sources (3.37) and sources having double-peaked emission-line profiles (3.27) compared to the rest of the sample. We therefore suggest that the broad-line H alpha/H beta ratio can be used as a good indicator for dust extinction in the AGN broad-line region; this is especially true for radio-quiet AGN with regular emission-line profiles, which constitute the vast majority of the AGN population.
Countermeasures against sybil attacks in WSN based on proofs-of-work

It has been shown that Sybil attack -- forging identities in order to gain disproportional influence on a distributed system -- can be easily applied in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). An adversary capturing a few stations can corrupt most of classic protocols (e.g. leader election procedures) in most of considered models. Moreover, such attack is in practice undetectable in many realistic scenarios. In this paper we present an efficient countermeasure against Sybil attack. It is based on Proofs-of-Work technique -- one of the methods of preventing sending spam. In contrast to previous solutions it is based only on limited computational power of the adversarial devices. Our approach does not require any restrictions on communication between adversarial stations.
Econometric estimation of Armington import elasticities and their system-wide impact in a regional CGE model of the Illinois economy

One of the main concerns associated with the development and use of regional CGE models is the determination of key parameter values, particularly substitution and other price elasticities. A common problem is the lack of appropriate regional data for econometric estimation. Consequently, it is important to identify key parameters that are likely to be important in determining quantitative results and then to prioritize these for estimation where appropriate data are available. In this paper, the focus is on the estimation of the regional trade (import) substitution parameters, which tend to be important in analysis for regional economies (given their openness to trade). Here, commodity import elasticities for the Illinois economy are estimated and tested in a single region CGE model of the Illinois economy. In our econometric estimation, we apply a model that takes account of market size and distance in estimating the substitutability between commodities produced in Illinois and other US states.
PERIPHERAL VASCULAR DISEASE Original Studies Effective Endovascular Treatment of Calcified Femoropopliteal Disease With Directional Atherectomy and Distal Embolic Protection: Final Results of the

Objectives: The purpose of the DEFINITIVE Ca 11 study was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of directional atherectomy and distal embolic protection, used together to treat moderate to severely calcified femoropopliteal lesions. Background: Despite advances in endovascular treatment modalities, treatment of calcified lesions remains a challenge. Methods: A total of 133 subjects with 168 moderate to severely calcified lesions were enrolled. Lesions were treated with directional atherectomy devices, coupled with distal embolic protection. Results: The 30-day freedom from MAE rate was 93.1%. Per angiographic core laboratory assessment, the primary effectiveness endpoint (� 50% residual diameter stenosis) was achieved in 92.0% (lower confidence bound of 87.6%) of lesions. By core lab analysis, these results did not achieve the success criteria (90%) for the primary effectiveness objective. Per site assessment, the objective was met with the endpoint being achieved in 97.0% (lower confidence bound 93.8%). A mean residual diameter stenosis of 33.3% was achieved with the directional atherectomy device. This was further decreased to 24.1% with the use of adjunctive therapy. The proportion of asymptomatic subjects [Rutherford Clinical Category (RCC) 50] increased from 0% at baseline to 52.3% at the 30-day follow-up visit. In total, 88.5% of subjects experienced an improvement of one or more Rutherford categories. Conclusions: The results of the DEFINITIVE Ca11 study demonstrate that the SilverHawk TM and TurboHawk TM atherectomy devices are safe and effective in the endovascular treatment of moderate to severely calcified lesions in the superficial fem
Optimal Linear Cyber-Attack on Remote State Estimation

Recent years have witnessed the surge of interest of security issues in cyber-physical systems. In this paper, we consider malicious cyber attacks in a remote state estimation application where a smart sensor node transmits data to a remote estimator equipped with a false data detector. It is assumed that all the sensor data can be observed and modified by the malicious attacker and a residue-based detection algorithm is used at the remote side to detect data anomalies. We propose a linear deception attack strategy and present the corresponding feasibility constraint which guarantees that the attacker is able to successfully inject false data without being detected. The evolution of the estimation error covariance at the remote estimator is derived and the degradation of system performance under the proposed linear attack policy is analyzed. Furthermore, we obtain a closed-form expression of the optimal attack strategy among all linear attacks. Comparison of attack strategies through simulated examples are provided to illustrate the theoretical results.
Efficacy of Direct Injection of Etanercept into Knee Joints for Pain in Moderate and Severe Knee Osteoarthritis

Purpose Osteoarthritic (OA) pain is largely considered to be inflammatory pain. However, during the last stage of knee OA, sensory nerve fibers in the knee are shown to be significantly damaged when the subchondral bone junction is destroyed, and this can induce neuropathic pain. Several authors have reported that tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) in a knee joint plays a crucial role in pain modulation. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of etanercept, a TNFα inhibitor, for pain in knee OA. Materials and Methods Thirty-nine patients with knee OA and a 2-4 Kellgren-Lawrence grading were evaluated in this prospective study. Patients were divided into two groups; hyaluronic acid (HA) and etanercept injection. All patients received a single injection into the knee. Pain scores were evaluated before and 4 weeks after injection using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), and they were compared between the groups. Results Before injection, VAS and WOMAC scores were not significantly different between the groups (p>0.05). Significant pain relief was found in the etanercept group at 1 and 2 weeks by VAS, and at 4 weeks by WOMAC score, compared with the HA group (p<0.05). No adverse events were observed in either group. Conclusion Direct injection of etanercept into OA knee joints was an effective treatment for pain in moderate and severe OA patients. Furthermore, this finding suggests that TNFα is one factor that induces OA pain.
Nonlinear Time Series Analysis

Since the early 1980s, there has been a growing interest in stochastic nonlinear dynamical systems of the form x tþ1 ¼ f ðx t ; x tÀ1 ;. ; x tÀp Þ þ sðx t Þe t , (1) where fx t g N t¼0 is a zero mean, covariance stationary process, f : R pþ1 ! R, s is the conditional volatility, and fe t g N t¼0 is an independent and identically distributed noise process. The major recent developments in non-linear time series are described here using this canonical model. The first section develops representation theory for a third order approximation. Nonparametric approaches follow; these rely on series expansions of the general model. Ergodic properties including path dependence and dimension are considered next. I then consider two widely utilized parametric models, piece-wise linear models of f and autoregressive models for volatility. I conclude with a discussion of hypothesis testing and forecasting. Volterra expansion There is no general causal representation for nonlinear time series as in the linear case. Series approximations rely on the Volterra expansion,
N-version Obfuscation

Although existing for decades, software tampering attack is still a main threat to systems, such as Android, and cyber physical systems. Many approaches have been proposed to thwart specific procedures of tampering, e.g., obfuscation and self-checksumming. However, none of them can achieve theoretically tamper-proof without the protection of hardware circuit. Rather than proposing new tricks against tampering attacks, we focus on impeding the replication of software tampering via program diversification, and thus pose a scalability barrier against the attacks. Our idea, namely N-version obfuscation (NVO), is to automatically generate and deliver same featured, but functionally nonequivalent software copies to different machines or users. In this paper, we investigate such an idea on Android platform. We carefully design a candidate NVO solution for networked apps, which leverages a Message Authentication Code (MAC) mechanism to generate the functionally nonequivalent diversities. Our evaluation result shows that the time required for breaking such a software system increases linearly with respect to the number of software versions. In this way, attackers would suffer great scalability issues, considering that an app can have millions of users. With minimal NVO costs, effective tamper-resistant security can therefore be established.
Single and Multigenic Analysis of the Association between Variants in 12 Steroid Hormone Metabolism Genes and Risk of Prostate Cancer

To estimate the prostate cancer risk conferred by individual single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), SNP-SNP interactions, and/or cumulative SNP effects, we evaluated the association between prostate cancer risk and the genetic variants of 12 key genes within the steroid hormone pathway (CYP17, HSD17B3, ESR1, SRD5A2, HSD3B1, HSD3B2, CYP19, CYP1A1, CYP1B1, CYP3A4, CYP27B1, and CYP24A1). A total of 116 tagged SNPs covering the group of genes were analyzed in 2,452 samples (886 cases and 1,566 controls) in three ethnic/racial groups. Several SNPs within CYP19 were significantly associated with prostate cancer in all three ethnicities (P = 0.001-0.009). Genetic variants within HSD3B2 and CYP24A1 conferred increased risk of prostate cancer in non-Hispanic or Hispanic Caucasians. A significant gene-dosage effect for increasing numbers of potential high-risk genotypes was found in non-Hispanic and Hispanic Caucasians. Higher-order interactions showed a seven-SNP interaction involving HSD17B3, CYP19, and CYP24A1 in Hispanic Caucasians (P = 0.001). In African Americans, a 10-locus model, with SNPs located within SRD5A2, HSD17B3, CYP17, CYP27B1, CYP19, and CYP24A1, showed a significant interaction (P = 0.014). In non-Hispanic Caucasians, an interaction of four SNPs in HSD3B2, HSD17B3, and CYP19 was found (P < 0.001). These data are consistent with a polygenic model of prostate cancer, indicating that multiple interacting genes of the steroid hormone pathway confer increased risk of prostate cancer. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(6):1869–80)
Modeling Information Propagation in Chinese Microblogs Based on User Activity Influence

Nowadays, the micro blog has become one of the main platforms for information dissemination. Because the micro blog has massive users and the information is propagating in real time, the traditional information diffusion models are difficult to characterize the influence of the micro blog as a social network of communication. In this paper, two influence propagation models, namely the basic model and the discrete time model are proposed, and the probabilistic influences between users are inferred based on the user activities. The experiment using the real world data shows that the proposed models can effectively reflect the influences of communication between users in micro blog space, and predict the users' activities.
Market Structure and Innovation Revisited: Endogenous Productivity, Training and Market Shares

The empirical literature documents positive, negative, and even “inverted-U” relationships between monopoly power, innovation, and growth. Such findings are intuitive since insufficient market power prevents firms from reaping the benefits of up-front R&D investment, while excessive market power reduces the need for further R&D investment. Recent growth models imply, however, that greater market power should unambiguously increase innovation and growth. We introduce heterogeneous technologies, production costs and market shares into the conventional product variety model to allow for positive effects of competition on technological change and growth. Increased competition is then shown to benefits firms at the technological frontier, while laggard firms experience accelerated product obsolescence. Since skills and technologies are both endogenous, we can also address the "research intensity puzzle. " We provide a mechanism by which increases in the share of skilled workers in R&D do not automatically increase the growth rate a key counterfactual finding in R&D based growth models. In contrast we suggest that the response to the growth rate to a higher share of labor in R&D depends on the level of development.
The Cyclicality of Worker Flows: New Evidence from the Sipp

Drawing on CPS data, the authors show that total monthly job loss and hiring among U.S. workers, as well as job loss hazard rates, are strongly countercyclical, while job finding hazard rates are strongly procyclical. They also find that total job loss and job loss hazard rates lead the business cycle, while total hiring and job finding rates trail the cycle. In the current paper the authors use information from the Survey on Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to reevaluate these findings. SIPP data are used to construct new longitudinally consistent gross flow series for U.S. workers, covering 1983-2003. The results strongly validate the authors' findings, with two important exceptions: (1) total hiring leads the cycle in the SIPP data, and (2) the job loss rate is substantially more volatile than the job finding rate at business cycle frequencies.
The Influence of Chemical Chaperones on Enzymatic Activity under Thermal and Chemical Stresses: Common Features and Variation among Diverse Chemical Families

Molecular and chemical chaperones are key components of the two main mechanisms that ensure structural stability and activity under environmental stresses. Yet, chemical chaperones are often regarded only as osmolytes and their role beyond osmotic regulation is not fully understood. Here, we systematically studied a large group of chemical chaperones, representatives of diverse chemical families, for their protective influence under either thermal or chemical stresses. Consistent with previous studies, we observed that in spite of the structural similarity between sugars and sugar alcohols, they have an apparent difference in their protective potential. Our results support the notion that the protective activity is mediated by the solvent and the presence of water is essential. In the current work we revealed that i) polyols and sugars have a completely different profile of protective activity toward trifluoroethanol and thermal stress; ii) minor changes in solvent composition that do not affect enzyme activity, yet have a great effect on the ability of osmolytes to act as protectants and iii) increasing the number of active groups of carbohydrates makes them better protectants while increasing the number of active groups of methylamines does not, as revealed by attempts to synthesize de novo designed methylamines with multiple functional groups.
Fuzzy clustering in HMM-based triphone classes of 2DLDA in Slovak LVCSR

This paper presents a new approach to improve the standard class definition in two-dimensional linear discriminant analysis (2DLDA). It is known that an HMM-based triphone class contains data collected from many speakers with different speech variability. Thus, there exist many clusters in each class, whose composition has an influence to 2DLDA. We propose to employ the fuzzy C-means clustering to identify the clusters in each class and treat them as new classes. This work follows our past research focused on improving 2DLDA by K-means clustering. Concurrently, we compare the previously published results with the ones evaluated in this paper. The proposed approach is evaluated in Slovak HMM-based large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR). It is shown that the proposed method outperforms the Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs), conventional LDA, 2DLDA and it achieves competitive results compared to the K-means algorithm evaluated in the same framework.
Bootstrap selection of the smoothing parameter in nonparametric hazard rate estimation

Abstract An asymptotic representation of the mean weighted integrated squared error for the kernel-based estimator of the hazard rate in the presence of right-censored samples is obtained for different bootstrap resampling methods. As a consequence, a new bandwidth selector based on the bootstrap is introduced. Very satisfactory simulations results are obtained in comparison to the cross-validation selector for different models, using WARPed (i.e., binned) versions of the estimators.
Mps 1 kinase activity restrains anaphase during an unperturbed mitosis and targets Mad 2 to kinetochores

Correspondence to Stephen Taylor: stephen.taylor@manchester.ac. uk O. Staples ’ present address is Dept. of Surgery and Molecular Oncology, Ninewells Hospital, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 9SY, Scotland, UK. Abbreviations used in this paper: ACA, anticentromere antibody; APC/C, anaphasepromoting complex; Cenp, centromere protein; NEB, nuclear envelope breakdown; SAC, spindle assembly checkpoint; shRNA, short hairpin RNA. The online version of this article contains supplemental material. Introduction
EVOLUTIONARY SHIFTS BETWEEN HOST OAK SECTIONS AND HOST‐PLANT ORGANS IN ANDRICUS GALLWASPS

Abstract. — Gall‐inducing insects have especially intimate interactions with their host plants and generally show great specificity with regard to both the host‐plant species and the organ (e.g. flower, leaf) galled. However, the relative roles of shifts between host species and between host‐plant organs in the diversification of gall‐inducers are uncertain. We employ a novel and general maximum‐likelihood approach to show that shifts between host‐plant organs occur at a significantly greater rate than shifts between host oak sections in European Andricus gallwasps. This suggests that speciation has more often been associated with gall location shifts than with colonization of new host‐plant species, and implies that it may be easier for gall‐inducers to colonize new plant organs than new plant species.
Cognitive activation theory of stress—how are individual experiences mediated into biological systems?

The cognitive activation theory of stress (CATS) offers a psychobiological explanation for the relationship between life events, from hassles in worklife to dramatic events, and individual health. It differs from other prevalent stress theories by offering a formal system of systematic definitions, it relies on cognitive formulations within learning theory, it offers a consistent pathophysiological model for health and disease, and it is valid across species and cultures. The aim of this paper was to compare CATS with other prevalent theories with respect to the relationships between worklife and health. The main concern was the comparison with the demand-control theory of Karasek & Theorell. A brief review is presented of interventions based on CATS positions, in particular interventions aimed at modifying patients' expectations, as well as at attempts to prevent illness and disease in the working population.
Microcrystalline-cellulose hydrolysis with concentrated sulphuric acid

The effects of temperature (25-40°C), H,SO, concentration (31-70% (w/v)) and the acid/substrate relationship (1-5 cm3 of H,SO, per g-' of cellulose) on the solubilization rate of microcrystalline cellulose and on the glucose production rate have been analysed. The solubilization process was by determining reducing groups present in solution. For acid/substrate relationships of more than 1 cm3 g-' and H,SO, concentrations of greater than 62% (w/v), the acid promoted the total solubilization of the cellulose in the form of chains with a low degree of polymerization within 4 h. The solubilization demonstrated zero-order kinetics in which the specific rate and time of total solubilization are a function of the variables in operation. Glucose was produced according to a mechanism of two consecutive first-order pseudo-homogeneous reactions. The values of the kinetic constants k, and k, have been correlated with temperature, the H,SO, concentration and the acid/substrate relationship.