Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cross-Commodity Modelling by Multivariate Ambit Fields

This paper proposes a multivariate model for commodity forward curves which is based on multivariate ambit fields.We show how a multivariate ambit field can be used to describe complex dependencies between commodities while staying in a tractable multivariate martingale framework. Moreover, we study in detail how spread options can be priced in our new ambit framework. Here we consider both calendar spreads written on one commodity as well as spread options on different commodity futures.
Preference for C4 shade grasses increases hatchling performance in the butterfly, Bicyclus safitza

Abstract The Miocene radiation of C4 grasses under high‐temperature and low ambient CO 2 levels occurred alongside the transformation of a largely forested landscape into savanna. This inevitably changed the host plant regime of herbivores, and the simultaneous diversification of many consumer lineages, including Bicyclus butterflies in Africa, suggests that the radiations of grasses and grazers may be evolutionary linked. We examined mechanisms for this plant–herbivore interaction with the grass‐feeding Bicyclus safitza in South Africa. In a controlled environment, we tested oviposition preference and hatchling performance on local grasses with C3 or C4 photosynthetic pathways that grow either in open or shaded habitats. We predicted preference for C3 plants due to a hypothesized lower processing cost and higher palatability to herbivores. In contrast, we found that females preferred C4 shade grasses rather than either C4 grasses from open habitats or C3 grasses. The oviposition preference broadly followed hatchling performance, although hatchling survival was equally good on C4 or C3 shade grasses. This finding was explained by leaf toughness; shade grasses were softer than grasses from open habitats. Field monitoring revealed a preference of adults for shaded habitats, and stable isotope analysis of field‐sampled individuals confirmed their preference for C4 grasses as host plants. Our findings suggest that plant–herbivore interactions can influence the direction of selection in a grass‐feeding butterfly. Based on this work, we postulate future research to test whether these interactions more generally contribute to radiations in herbivorous insects via expansions into new, unexploited ecological niches.
Dynamic Travel Choice Models: A Variational Inequality Approach

From the contents: Analysis of Dynamic Transportation Systems Mathematical Background Network Flow Constraints and Link Travel Time Function Analysis Dynamic User-Optimal Route Choice Model Algorithms for the Dynamic Route Choice Model Dynamic User-Optimal Departure Time/Route Choice Model Dynamic User-Optimal Models with Variable Demand Dynamic User-Optimal Mode Choice Models Dynamic User-Optimal Singly Constrained O-D Choice Models Dynamic System-Optimal Route Choice Model Dynamic Signal Control Systems Stochastic/Dynamic User-Optimal Route Choice Model etc.
Spatial firing patterns of hippocampal complex-spike cells in a fixed environment

A TV/computer technique was used to simultaneously track a rat's position in a simple apparatus and record the firing of single hippocampal complex-spike neurons. The primary finding is that many of these neurons behave as “place cells,” as first described by O'Keefe and Dostrovsky (1971) and O'Keefe (1976). Each place cell fires rapidly only when the rat is in a delimited portion of the apparatus (the cell's “firing field”). In agreement with O'Keefe (1976) and many other authors, we have seen that the firing of place cells is highly correlated with the animal's position and is remarkably independent of other aspects of the animal's behavioral state. Several properties of firing fields were characterized. Firing fields are stable over long time intervals (days) if the environment is constant. They come in several shapes when the animal is in a cylindrical apparatus; moreover, the set of field shapes is different when the animal is in a rectangular apparatus. It also seems that a single cell may have more than one field in a given apparatus. By collecting a sample of 40 place cells in a fixed environment, it has been possible to describe certain features of the place cell population, including the spatial distribution of fields within the apparatus, the average size of fields, and the “intensity” of fields (as measured by maximum firing rate). We also tested the hypothesis that the firing rate of each place cell signals the animal's distance from a point (the field center) so that a weighted average of the firing of the individual cells encodes the animal's position within the apparatus. The animal's position, calculated according to this 'distance hypothesis,” is systematically different from the animal's true position; this implies that the hypothesis in its simplest form is wrong.
Design versus Assessment of Concrete Structures Using Stress Fields and Strut-and-Tie Models

Stress fields and strut-and-tie models are widely used for design and assessment of structural concrete members. Although they are often used in the same manner for both purposes, developing suitable stress fields and strut-and-tie models for the design of a new structure or for assessment of the strength of an existing one should not necessarily be performed following the same approach. For design, simple load-carrying models in equilibrium with the external actions can be considered. From the various possibilities, those leading to better behavior at serviceability limit state and to simple reinforcement layouts should be selected (or a combination of them). For the assessment of existing structures, however, avoiding unnecessary strengthening (or minimizing it) should be the objective. Thus, simple stress fields or strut-and-tie models are to be iteratively refined whenever the calculated strength of the member is insufficient with respect to the design actions. This can be done by accounting for kinematic considerations to calculate the higher possible strength of the member accounting for its actual geometry and available reinforcement (allowing to calculate the exact solution according to limit analysis). In this paper, the differences between the two approaches for design and assessment are clarified and explained on the basis of some examples. A number of strategies are comprehensibly presented to obtain suitable stress fields and strut-and-tie models in both cases. The results of exact solutions according to limit analysis (developed using elastic-plastic stress fields) are finally compared to 150 tests of the literature showing the consistency and generality of the presented approaches.
PRICE VOLATILITY AND FARM INCOME STABILISATION Modelling Outcomes and Assessing Market and Policy Based Responses Dublin , February 23-24 , 2012 Heterogeneous Technologies as an Answer to Market and Price Risk : The Case of Kosovo

This paper empirically measures the prevalence of heterogeneous technologies in a sample of smallscale agricultural producers as an answer to structural conditions and market risks. Such risks are closely linked to the effects of land fragmentation and the degree of market integration. We use the empirical case of Kosovo as a transition country to investigate the efficiency effects of land fragmentation by simultaneously considering the effects of market integration. Different to previous studies, we assume that land fragmentation and market integration lead to the prevalence of heterogeneous technologies allowing farm households to respond more efficiently to exogenous price and policy shocks given their fragmentation and subsistence situation. The empirical work links the latent class frontier method to the estimation of a directional output distance function. We estimate beside primal technology measures also dual Morishima type elasticities of substitution investigating changes in production decisions based on relative shadow price changes.
Small business activity does not measure entrepreneurship

Significance Schumpeterian entrepreneurship refers to growing and innovative firms. However, in empirical research the rate of entrepreneurship is commonly estimated using the self-employment rate or other measures of small business activity. We argue that this empirical strategy gives rise to misleading inferences regarding Schumpeterian entrepreneurship. To unambiguously identify this type of entrepreneur we focus on self-made billionaires on Forbes Magazine’s list who became wealthy by founding new firms. We identify 996 such billionaire entrepreneurs in over 50 countries. The rate of billionaire entrepreneurs correlates negatively with self-employment, small business ownership, and startup rates. Countries with higher income, higher trust, lower taxes, more venture capital investment, and lower regulatory burdens have higher entrepreneurship rates but less self-employment. Entrepreneurship policy mainly aims to promote innovative Schumpeterian entrepreneurship. However, the rate of entrepreneurship is commonly proxied using quantity-based metrics, such as small business activity, the self-employment rate, or the number of startups. We argue that those metrics give rise to misleading inferences regarding high-impact Schumpeterian entrepreneurship. To unambiguously identify high-impact entrepreneurs we focus on self-made billionaires (in US dollars) who appear on Forbes Magazine’s list and who became wealthy by founding new firms. We identify 996 such billionaire entrepreneurs in 50 countries in 1996–2010, a systematic cross-country study of billionaire entrepreneurs. The rate of billionaire entrepreneurs correlates negatively with self-employment, small business ownership, and firm startup rates. Countries with higher income, higher trust, lower taxes, more venture capital investment, and lower regulatory burdens have higher billionaire entrepreneurship rates but less self-employment. Despite its limitations, the number of billionaire entrepreneurs appears to be a plausible cross-country measure of Schumpeterian entrepreneurship.
Fueling the fire: Professional values and departmental boundaries in the management of the BSE crisis in the UK

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the organizational antecedents and management of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic in the UK in the 1990s in order to answer the following questions. What organizational factors contributed to the development of the epidemic? How did they do so? What can we learn from the management of BSE that can help us in tackling future epidemics? Design/methodology/approach – The research involved content analysis of the most extensive documentation of the crisis, the Philips Report, and other official and non‐official sources, to gain a phenomenological understanding of the organizational/departmental/financial contexts in which key decisions were taken.Findings – The organization of the institutions charged with managing BSE ensured slow, shortsighted and atomized decision‐making, inappropriate to the management of an epidemic. Organization‐ and department‐specific priorities, budgets and boundaries ensured piecemeal, “locally rational” responses t.
Investing in early childhood care and education : the impact of quality on inequality

The Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG) was founded in September 2004 at Maastricht University. The mission of the School is to train specialists who combine a high level of academic scholarship with leadership, in order to strengthen democratic governance in domestic and international organizations, by focusing on policy analysis, risk assessment, policy design, monitoring and evaluation, and methodologies and techniques of policy research.
Gender and Alternative Start-Up Business Funding

The broad context for our study is set by discussions of equality of opportunity to start-up business finance. There is an increasing literature which suggests that female entrepreneurs face significant disadvantages compared to their male counterparts in their access to resources from orthodox channels such as banks. The consequence of undercapitalization during the start-up phase is underperformance during the life of the business. Adopting a range of informal ‘bootstrapping’ techniques gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to obtain alternative financial resources without resorting to debt or equity funding. In this article, we draw on a unique sample of 211 nascent entrepreneurs in the early stages of business start-up, contacted through a postal and web-based two-wave longitudinal survey, to examine gender differences with regards to different forms of bootstrapping behaviour. The study demonstrates significant differences in the ways that male and female entrepreneurs access informal financial resources. We discuss explanations drawn from women's studies suggesting that the features of capital markets and business and personal characteristics that limit female business owners from accessing sources of orthodox finance also impede their access to the most effective forms of bootstrapping. We suggest that further explanatory and qualitative research is required to investigate these effects.
Cigna Medical Coverage Policy Subject Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Hyperlink to Related Coverage Policies Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder (adhd): Assessment and Treatment Complementary and Alternative Medicine Deep Brain and Motor Cortex Stimulation Electrical Stimulators Vagus Nerve S

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE The following Coverage Policy applies to health benefit plans administered by Cigna companies. Coverage Policies are intended to provide guidance in interpreting certain standard Cigna benefit plans. Please note, the terms of a customer's particular benefit plan document [Group Service Agreement, Evidence of Coverage, Certificate of Coverage, Summary Plan Description (SPD) or similar plan document] may differ significantly from the standard benefit plans upon which these Coverage Policies are based. For example, a customer's benefit plan document may contain a specific exclusion related to a topic addressed in a Coverage Policy. In the event of a conflict, a customer's benefit plan document always supersedes the information in the Coverage Policies. In the absence of a controlling federal or state coverage mandate, benefits are ultimately determined by the terms of the applicable benefit plan document. Coverage determinations in each specific instance require consideration of 1) the terms of the applicable benefit plan document in effect on the date of service; 2) any applicable laws/regulations; 3) any relevant collateral source materials including Coverage Policies and; 4) the specific facts of the particular situation. Coverage Policies relate exclusively to the administration of health benefit plans. Coverage Policies are not recommendations for treatment and should never be used as treatment guidelines. In certain markets, delegated vendor guidelines may be used to support medical necessity and other coverage determinations. Proprietary information of Cigna. Coverage Policy Cigna does not cover transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for any indication, including depression or treatment of migraine, because it is considered experimental, investigational or unproven Cigna does not cover navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) for any indication, including preoperative treatment planning and diagnostic testing of motor function, because it is considered experimental, investigational or unproven. Therapeutic Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Depression Though the majority of individuals treated for depression respond to standard treatments for depression, some do not benefit, or cannot tolerate, interventions such as psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Alternate approaches to treat depression are being investigated, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), vagal nerve stimulation, cranial electrical stimulation and herbal/homeopathic remedies (Miniussi, et al., 2005). TMS uses brief magnetic field pulses to stimulate nerve cells in the brain. Standard TMS is mostly applied with an electromagnetic coil called a figure-of-eight coil (8-coil). Deep TMS can be applied with different types of coils: the H-coil, the C-core coil and the circular crown coil. The only deep …
The Role of Prion Protein Expression in Predicting Gastric Cancer Prognosis

Previous reports indicated that prion protein (PrP) is involved in gastric cancer (GC) development and progression, but its role in GC prognosis has been poorly characterized. A total of 480 GC patients were recruited in this retrospective study. PrP expression in cancerous and non-cancerous gastric tissues was detected by using the tissue microarray and immunohistochemical staining techniques. Our results showed that the PrP expression in GC was significantly less frequent than that in the non-cancerous gastric tissue (44.4% vs 66.4%, P < 0.001). Cox regression analysis revealed that PrP expression was associated with TNM stage, survival status and survival time. GC patients with higher TNM stages (stages II, III and IV) had significantly lower PrP expression levels in tumors than those with lower TNM stages (stages 0 and I). Kaplan-Meier survival curves revealed that negative PrP expression was associated with poor overall survival (log-rank test: P < 0.001). The mean survival time for patients with negative PrP expression was significant lower than those with positive PrP expression (43.0±28.5m vs. 53.9±31.1m, P<0.001). In multivariate Cox hazard regression, PrP expression was an independent prognostic factor for GC survival, with a HR (hazard ratio) of 0.687 (95%CI:0.520-0.907, P=0.008). Our results revealed that negative PrP expression could independently predict worse outcome in GC and thereby could be used to guide the clinical practice.
Bilateral Activity-Dependent Interactions in the Developing Corticospinal System

Activity-dependent competition between the corticospinal (CS) systems in each hemisphere drives postnatal development of motor skills and stable CS tract connections with contralateral spinal motor circuits. Unilateral restriction of motor cortex (M1) activity during an early postnatal critical period impairs contralateral visually guided movements later in development and in maturity. Silenced M1 develops aberrant connections with the contralateral spinal cord whereas the initially active M1, in the other hemisphere, develops bilateral connections. In this study, we determined whether the aberrant pattern of CS tract terminations and motor impairments produced by early postnatal M1 activity restriction could be abrogated by reducing activity-dependent synaptic competition from the initially active M1 later in development. We first inactivated M1 unilaterally between postnatal weeks 5–7. We next inactivated M1 on the other side from weeks 7–11 (alternate inactivation), to reduce the competitive advantage that this side may have over the initially inactivated side. Alternate inactivation redirected aberrant contralateral CS tract terminations from the initially silenced M1 to their normal spinal territories and reduced the density of aberrant ipsilateral terminations from the initially active side. Normal movement endpoint control during visually guided locomotion was fully restored. This reorganization of CS terminals reveals an unsuspected late plasticity after the critical period for establishing the pattern of CS terminations in the spinal cord. Our findings show that robust bilateral interactions between the developing CS systems on each side are important for achieving balance between contralateral and ipsilateral CS tract connections and visuomotor control.
A Military-Centered Approach to Neuroprotection for Traumatic Brain Injury

Studies in animals show that many compounds and therapeutics have the potential to greatly reduce the morbidity and post-injury clinical sequela for soldiers experiencing TBI. However, to date there are no FDA approved drugs for the treatment of TBI. In fact, expert opinion suggests that combination therapies will be necessary to treat any stage of TBI recovery. Our approach to this research effort is to conduct comprehensive pre-clinical neuroprotection studies in military-relevant animal models of TBI using the most promising neuroprotective agents. In addition, emerging efforts incorporating novel treatment strategies such as stem cell based therapies and alternative therapeutic approaches will be discussed. The development of a non-surgical, non-invasive brain injury therapeutic clearly addresses a major, unresolved medical problem for the Combat Casualty Care Research Program. Since drug discovery is too expensive to be pursued by DOD in the TBI arena, this effort capitalizes on partnerships with the Private Sector (Pharmaceutical Companies) and academic collaborations (Operation Brain Trauma Therapy Consortium) to study therapies already under advanced development. Candidate therapies selected for research include drugs that are aimed at reducing the acute and delayed effects of the traumatic incident, stem cell therapies aimed at brain repair, and selective brain cooling to stabilize cerebral metabolism. Each of these efforts can also focus on combination therapies targeting multiple mechanisms of neuronal injury.
Entertaining Elephants: Animal Agency and the Business of the American Circus

Consider the career of an enduring if controversial icon of American entertainment: the genial circus elephant. In "Entertaining Elephants" Susan Nance examines elephant behavior - drawing on the scientific literature of animal cognition, learning, and communications - to offer a study of elephants as actors (rather than objects) in American circus entertainment between 1800 and 1940. By developing a deeper understanding of animal behavior, Nance asserts, we can more fully explain the common history of all species. "Entertaining Elephants" is the first account that uses research on animal welfare, health, and cognition to interpret the historical record, examining how both circus people and elephants struggled behind the scenes to meet the profit necessities of the entertainment business. The book does not claim that elephants understood, endorsed, or resisted the world of show business as a human cultural or business practice, but it does speak of elephants rejecting the conditions of their experience. They lived in a kind of parallel reality in the circus, one that was defined by their interactions with people, other elephants, horses, bull hooks, hay, and the weather. Nance's study informs and complicates contemporary debates over human interactions with animals in entertainment and beyond, questioning the idea of human control over animals and people's claims to speak for them. As sentient beings, these elephants exercised agency, but they had no way of understanding the human cultures that created their captivity, and they obviously had no claim on (human) social and political power. They often lived lives of apparent desperation.