Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On H ∞ and H 2 performance regions of multi-agent systems ✩

This paper addresses the distributed H2 and H∞ control problems for multi-agent systems with linear or linearized dynamics. An undirected multigraph with loops is used to represent the communication topology of a multi-agent network. A distributed controller is designed, based on the relative states of neighboring agents and a subset of absolute states of the networked agents. The notions of H∞ and H2 performance regions are introduced and analyzed, respectively. A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a controller yielding an unbounded H∞ performance region is derived. A multi-step procedure for suboptimal H∞ controller synthesis is presented. It is also shown that the H∞ performance limit of the network under the distributed controller is equal to the minimal H∞ norm of a single agent achieved by using the state feedback controller. It is finally shown that, contrarily to the H∞ case, the H2 performance limit scales with the number of agents in the network. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Derivatives pricing and term structure modeling

This article considers the pricing and hedging of inflation-indexed swaps, and the pricing of inflation-indexed swaptions, and options on inflation-indexed bonds. To price the inflation-indexed swaps, we suggest an extended HJM model. The model allows both the forward rates and the consumer price index to be driven, not only by a standard Multidimensional Wiener process but also by I general marked point process. Our model is an extension of the HJM approach proposed by Jarrow and Yildirim [Jarrow, R. , Yildirim Y. , 2003. Pricing treasury inflation protected securities and related derivatives using an HJM model. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 38. 409-430] and later also used by Mercurio [Mercurio. F. , 2005. Pricing inflation-indexed derivatives. Quantitative Finance 5 (3), 289-302] to price inflation-indexed swaps. Furthermore we price options on so called TIPS-bonds assuming the model is purely Wiener driven. We then introduce all inflation swap market model to price inflation-indexed swaptions. All prices derived have explicit closed-form solutions. Furthermore. we formally prove the validity of the so called foreign-currency analogy (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Performance analysis of MSE-OFDM system

In this paper we analyze the effects of interchannel interference (ICI) and intersymbol interference (ISI) on the performance of a Multi-Symbol Encapsulated Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MSE-OFDM) system. MSE-OFDM is a bandwidth efficient OFDM scheme, where a number of OFDM symbols are grouped together as a frame and protected by one single cyclic prefix. This reduces the extent of redundancy caused by the CP and increases the bandwidth efficiency of the system. We have derived expressions for probability of error for MSE-OFDM in presence of ICI and ISI, which result from the time variation and delay spread of mobile channels. Both analysis and simulation results are presented for the MSE-OFDM system and are found to be almost identical.
The Transmission of Unconventional Monetary Policy to the Emerging Markets - An Overview

Highly accommodative monetary policies in the major advanced economies and the questions bout the exit from such policies have created major challenges for policymakers in emerging market economies (EMEs). Quite a few of EMEs that experienced rapid capital inflows and strong currency appreciation pressures during 2010-12 saw a sharp reversal in episodes of market volatility from May 2013 to February 2014. This meeting of Deputy Governors focused on three main questions: (i) How can external monetary conditions become a source of risks to monetary and financial stability in EMEs? (ii) How should central banks respond to such shocks? (iii) And, can there be a greater international role for emerging market currencies? A key conclusion from the discussion is that asset prices and interest rates have become more correlated globally during the period of unprecedented monetary easing by advanced economies. One major worry was the risk of an abrupt reversal of capital inflows to EMEs. Central banks face difficult policy dilemmas in preserving financial stability while pursuing their monetary policy goals. It is hard for EME monetary authorities to counter a prolonged period of very low long-term interest rates and increased risk-taking in global financial markets.Full publication: The Transmission of Unconventional Monetary Policy to the Emerging Markets
Behavioral screening for cocaine sensitivity in mutagenized zebrafish

Understanding the molecular basis of addiction could be greatly aided by using forward genetic manipulation to lengthen the list of candidate genes involved in this complex process. Here, we report that zebrafish exhibit cocaine-induced conditioned place preference. In a pilot screen of 18 F2 generation families of mutagenized fish, we found three with abnormally low responses to cocaine. This behavior was inherited by the F3 generation in a manner that suggests the abnormalities were because of dominant mutations in single genes. Performance profiles in secondary behavioral screens measuring visual dark-adaptation and learning suggest that the defects were the result of mutations in distinct genes that affect dopaminergic signaling in the retina and brain.
T Cell Receptor Signals Enhance Susceptibility to Fas-mediated Apoptosis

Fas(CD95) and its ligand (FasL) interaction plays a pivotal role in T cell receptor (TCR)-mediated apoptosis. However, the susceptibility of T cells to Fas-mediated apoptosis is tightly regulated during immune responses, a regulation which is thought to maintain the antigen-specificity of T cell apoptosis. Here we show that TCR stimulation enhances the induction of Fas-mediated apoptosis. In addition, using a mutant T cell hybridoma with impaired FasL expression, we show that the synergy provided by TCR stimulation can be mimicked by activators of PKC but not calcium influx. This effect cannot be inhibited by actinomycin D, suggesting that TCR stimulation leads to the alteration in preexisting signaling molecules to enhance Fas-mediated apoptosis. Our results therefore provide a mechanism of how Fas-FasL interactions lead to T cell death in an antigen-specific manner via repetitive antigen stimulation.
Greedy and Relaxed Approximations to Model Selection : A simulation study

The Minimum Description Length (MDL) principle is an important tool for retrieving knowledge from data as it embodies the scientific strife for simplicity in describing the relationship among variables. As MDL and other model selection criteria penalize models on their dimensionality, the estimation problem involves a combinatorial search over subsets of predictors and quickly becomes computationally cumbersome. Two approximation frameworks are: convex relaxation and greedy algorithms. In this article, we perform extensive simulations comparing two algorithms for generating candidate models that mimic the best subsets of predictors for given sizes (Forward Stepwise and the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator LASSO). From the list of models determined by each method, we consider estimates chosen by two different model selection criteria (AICc and the generalized MDL criterion gMDL). The comparisons are made in terms of their selection and prediction performances. In terms of variable selection, we consider two different metrics. For the number of selection errors, our results suggest that the combination Forward Stepwise+gMDL has a better performance over different sample sizes and sparsity regimes. For the second metric of rate of true positives among the selected variables, LASSO+gMDL seems more appropriate for very small sample sizes, while Forward Stepwise+gMDL has a better performance for sample sizes at least as large as the number of factors being screened. Moreover, we found that, asymptotically, Zhao and Yu’s ((1)) irrepresentibility condition (index) has a larger impact on the selection performance of Lasso than on Forward Stepwise. In what refers to prediction performance, LASSO+AICc results in good predictive models over a wide range of sample sizes and sparsity regimes. Last but not least, these simulation results reveal that one method often can not serve for both selection and prediction purposes.
Three decentralization strategies in two decades: Chile 1981‐2000

In the past two decades, Chile has implemented three reform strategies that shaped its educational decentralization process, each motivated by different goals. In the 1980s, during the military regime, an economic model structured a voucher system that created incentives for parents to choose schools for their children. In theory, bad schools would improve in quality or go out of business. The second reform began in 1990 and was embedded in the transition from autocratic to democratic government. Sociologists were the intellectual authors of this initiative which focused on improving the working conditions of teachers. In 1994, the third strategy began with educational researchers focusing attention on the classroom effectiveness and the need for better instructional materials and improvements in the teaching/learning process. The continued study of educational decentralization in Chile is important because it represents the only nation in the world with a nation‐wide voucher system.
Cytosolic pH regulation in osteoblasts. Regulation of anion exchange by intracellular pH and Ca2+ ions

Measurements of cytosolic pH (pHi) 36Cl fluxes and free cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) were performed in the clonal osteosarcoma cell line UMR-106 to characterize the kinetic properties of Cl-/HCO3- (OH-) exchange and its regulation by pHi and [Ca2+]i. Suspending cells in Cl(- )-free medium resulted in rapid cytosolic alkalinization from pHi 7.05 to approximately 7.42. Subsequently, the cytosol acidified to pHi 7.31. Extracellular HCO3- increased the rate and extent of cytosolic alkalinization and prevented the secondary acidification. Suspending alkalinized and Cl(-)-depleted cells in Cl(-)-containing solutions resulted in cytosolic acidification. All these pHi changes were inhibited by 4',4',-diisothiocyano-2,2'-stilbene disulfonic acid (DIDS) and H2DIDS, and were not affected by manipulation of the membrane potential. The pattern of extracellular Cl- dependency of the exchange process suggests that Cl- ions interact with a single saturable external site and HCO3- (OH-) complete with Cl- for binding to this site. The dependencies of both net anion exchange and Cl- self-exchange fluxes on pHi did not follow simple saturation kinetics. These findings suggest that the anion exchanger is regulated by intracellular HCO3- (OH-). A rise in [Ca2+]i, whether induced by stimulation of protein kinase C-activated Ca2+ channels, Ca2+ ionophore, or depolarization of the plasma membrane, resulted in cytosolic acidification with subsequent recovery from acidification. The Ca2+-activated acidification required the presence of Cl- in the medium, could be blocked by DIDS, and H2DIDS and was independent of the membrane potential. The subsequent recovery from acidification was absolutely dependent on the initial acidification, required the presence of Na+ in the medium, and was blocked by amiloride. Activation of protein kinase C without a change in [Ca2+]i did not alter pHi. Likewise, in H2DIDS- treated cells and in the absence of Cl-, an increase in [Ca2+]i did not activate the Na+/H+ exchanger in UMR-106 cells. These findings indicate that an increase in [Ca2+]i was sufficient to activate the Cl-/HCO3- exchanger, which results in the acidification of the cytosol. The accumulated H+ in the cytosol activated the Na+/H+ exchanger. Kinetic analysis of the anion exchange showed that at saturating intracellular OH-, a [Ca2+]i increase did not modify the properties of the extracellular site. A rise in [Ca2+]i increased the apparent affinity for intracellular OH- (or HCO3-) of both net anion and Cl- self exchange. These results indicate that [Ca2+]i modifies the interaction of intracellular OH- (or HCO3-) with the proposed regulatory site of the anion exchanger in UMR-106 cells.
Bicalutamide-induced hepatotoxicity: A rare adverse effect

Patient: Male, 81 Final Diagnosis: Prostate cancer Symptoms: Anorexia • dark urine • joundice • letargy Medication: Casodex Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Oncology Objective: Adverse events of drug therapy Background: Bicalutamide is a nonsteroidal anti-androgen used extensively during the initiation of androgen deprivation therapy with a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist to reduce the symptoms of tumor flare in patients with metastatic prostate neoplasm. It can cause gynecomastia, hot flashes, fatigue, and decreased libido through competitive androgen receptor blockade. Although not as common, acute drug-induced liver injury is also possible with bicalutamide therapy. Typically, this results in transient derangement of liver function and patients remain asymptomatic. We share our experience with a case of symptomatic acute hepatotoxicity secondary to the use of bicalutamide and use this opportunity to present a brief review of existing literature. Case Report: An 81-year-old African American male with metastatic prostate neoplasm presented with nonspecific symptoms along with jaundice of 1-day duration. He was started on a trial of bicalutamide 3 weeks prior to presentation. On physical examination, scleral icterus was noted. Workup revealed acutely elevated liver transaminases (>5 times the upper limit of normal), alkaline phosphatase, conjugated hyperbilirubinemia, and coagulopathy. Other etiologies, including viruses, common toxins, drugs, autoimmune, and copper-induced hepatitis, were considered. Bicalutamide was discontinued and the patient was managed with supportive care. He showed improvement of clinical and laboratory abnormalities within days. Conclusions: While rare, clinically significant and potentially life-threatening liver injury can result from use of bicalutamide. Prompt recognition and discontinuation of bicalutamide is necessary to avoid serious complications from this adverse reaction.
Monetary Policy Implementation: Theory, past, and present

The first of its kind, this book is entirely dedicated to the implementation of monetary policy. Monetary policy implementation has gone through tremendous changes over the last twenty years, which have witnessed the quiet end of 'reserve position doctrine' and the return of an explicit focus on short-term interest rates. Enthusiastically supported by Keynes and later by the monetarist school, reserve position doctrine was developed mainly by US central bankers and academics during the early 1920s, and at least in the US became the unchallenged dogma of monetary policy implementation for sixty years. The return of interest rate targeting also corresponds largely to the restoration of central banking principles established in the late 19th century. Providing a simple theory of monetary policy implementation, Bindseil goes on to explain the role of the three main instruments (open market operations, standing facilities, and reserve requirements) and reviews their use in the twentieth century. In closing, he summarizes current views on efficient monetary policy implementation.
Dynamic Terminology Integration Methods in Statistical Machine Translation

In this paper the author presents methods for dynamic terminology integration in statistical machine translation systems using a source text pre-processing workflow. The workflow consists of exchangeable components for term identification, inflected form generation for terms, and term translation candidate ranking. Automatic evaluation for three language pairs shows a translation quality improvement from 0.9 to 3.41 BLEU points over the baseline. Manual evaluation for seven language pairs confirms the positive results; the proportion of correctly translated terms increases from 1.6% to 52.6% over the baseline.
Trends in and Determinants of Loss to Follow Up and Early Mortality in a Rapid Expansion of the Antiretroviral Treatment Program in Vietnam: Findings from 13 Outpatient Clinics

Background This study aims to describe the trends in and determinants of six month mortality and loss to follow up (LTFU) during 2005–2009 in 13 outpatient clinics in Vietnam. Method Data were obtained from clinical records of 3,449 Vietnamese HIV/AIDS patients aged 18 years or older who initiated ART between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2009. Mantel-Haenszel chi-square test, log rank test were conducted to examine the trends of baseline characteristics, six month mortality and LTFU. Cox proportional hazards regression models were performed to compute hazard ratio (HR) and 95% Confidence Interval (CI). Results Though there was a declining trend, the incidence of six month mortality and LTFU remained as high as 6% and 15%, respectively. Characteristics associated with six month mortality were gender (HR females versus males 0.54, 95%CI: 0.34–0.85), years of initiation (HR 2009 versus 2005 0.54, 95%CI: 0.41–0.80), low baseline CD4 (HR 350–500 cells/mm3 versus <50 cells/mm3 0.26, 95%CI: 0.18–0.52), low baseline BMI (one unit increase: HR 0.96, 95%CI: 0.94–0.97), co-infection with TB (HR 1.61, 95%CI: 1.46–1.95), history of injecting drugs (HR 1.58, 95%CI: 1.31–1.78). Characteristics associated with LTFU were younger age (one year younger: HR 0.97, 95%CI: 0.95–0.98), males (HR females versus males 0.82, 95%CI: 0.63–0.95), and poor adherence (HR 0.55, 95%CI: 0.13–0.87). Conclusions To reduce early mortality, special attention is required to ensure timely access to ART services, particularly for patients at higher risk. Patients at risk for LTFU after ART initiation should be targeted through enhancing treatment counselling and improving patient tracing system at ART clinics.
On the Spatial Organization of mRNA, Plasmids, and Ribosomes in a Bacterial Host Overexpressing Membrane Proteins

By using fluorescence imaging, we provide a time-resolved single-cell view on coupled defects in transcription, translation, and growth during expression of heterologous membrane proteins in Lactococcus lactis. Transcripts encoding poorly produced membrane proteins accumulate in mRNA-dense bodies at the cell poles, whereas transcripts of a well-expressed homologous membrane protein show membrane-proximal localization in a translation-dependent fashion. The presence of the aberrant polar mRNA foci correlates with cessation of cell division, which is restored once these bodies are cleared. In addition, activation of the heat-shock response and a loss of nucleoid-occluded ribosomes are observed. We show that the presence of a native-like N-terminal domain is key to SRP-dependent membrane localization and successful production of membrane proteins. The work presented gives new insights and detailed understanding of aberrant membrane protein biogenesis, which can be used for strategies to optimize membrane protein production.
Towards Gene Recognition from Rare and Ambiguous Abbreviations using a Filtering Approach

Retrieving information about highly ambiguous gene/protein homonyms is a challenge, in particular where their non-protein meanings are more frequent than their protein meaning (e. g., SAH or HF). Due to their limited coverage in common benchmarking data sets, the performance of existing gene/protein recognition tools on these problematic cases is hard to assess. We uniformly sample a corpus of eight ambiguous gene/protein abbreviations from MEDLINEr and provide manual annotations for each mention of these abbreviations. 1 Based on this resource, we show that available gene recognition tools such as conditional random fields (CRF) trained on BioCreative 2 NER data or GNAT tend to underperform on this phenomenon. We propose to extend existing gene recognition approaches by combining a CRF and a support vector machine. In a crossentity evaluation and without taking any entity-specific information into account, our model achieves a gain of 6 points F1-Measure over our best baseline which checks for the occurrence of a long form of the abbreviation and more than 9 points over all existing tools investigated.
A New Proposal for Loan Modifications

We propose a new three-pronged plan to address the recent harmful flood offoreclosures. Our plan would address the major barriers that inhibit the ability of third-party servicers to modify mortgages the way portfolio lenders are now doing with greater success. The plan provides greater compensation for servicers to perform their duties, removes legal constraints that inhibit modification, and addresses critical second liens that often get in the way of effective mortgage modifications. Our plan has more modest costs than competing plans and is likely to be the most effective while still protecting the rights of investors in mortgage-backed securities.
Can involuntary outpatient commitment reduce hospital recidivism?: Findings from a randomized trial with severely mentally ill individuals.

OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of involuntary outpatient commitment in reducing rehospitalizations among individuals with severe mental illnesses. METHOD Subjects who were hospitalized involuntarily were randomly assigned to be released (N = 135) or to continue under outpatient commitment (N = 129) after hospital discharge and followed for 1 year. Each subject received case management services plus additional outpatient treatment. Outpatient treatment and hospital use data were collected. RESULTS In bivariate analyses, the control and outpatient commitment groups did not differ significantly in hospital outcomes. However, subjects who underwent sustained periods of outpatient commitment beyond that of the initial court order had approximately 57% fewer readmissions and 20 fewer hospital days than control subjects. Sustained outpatient commitment was shown to be particularly effective for individuals with nonaffective psychotic disorders, reducing hospital readmissions approximately 72% and requiring 28 fewer hospital days. In repeated measures multivariable analyses, the outpatient commitment group had significantly better hospital outcomes, even without considering the total length of court-ordered outpatient commitments. However, in subsequent repeated measures analyses examining the role of outpatient treatment among psychotically disordered individuals, it was also found that sustained outpatient commitment reduced hospital readmissions only when combined with a higher intensity of outpatient treatment. CONCLUSIONS Outpatient commitment can work to reduce hospital readmissions and total hospital days when court orders are sustained and combined with intensive treatment, particularly for individuals with psychotic disorders. This use of outpatient commitment is not a substitute for intensive treatment; it requires a substantial commitment of treatment resources to be effective.
A simplified architecture for type-2 FLSs and its application to nonlinear control

A type-2 fuzzy logic system (FLS) is one that has at least one type-2 membership function (MF) in its rule base. Consequently, the output of the inference engine is a type-2 fuzzy set and must be type-reduced before the defuzzifier is able to convert the output set into a crisp value, type-2 FLS may not be suitable for certain real-time applications because type-reduction is very computationally intensive, especially when there are many MFs and the rule base is large. In this paper a simplified architecture for type-2 FLSs is proposed, where only one fuzzy set for each input domain is type-2 and all others are type-1. This architecture relieves the computational burden of the type-2 fuzzy system, while preserving its advantages over traditional type-1 FLSs. Two FLSs that have the proposed architecture are used to control a nonlinear SISO plant. Experimental results show that they cope well with the complexity of the plant, and can handle the modelling uncertainties better than their type-1 counterpart.