Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing Specification Errors in Stochastic Discount Factor Models

In this paper we develop alternative ways to compare asset pricing models when it is understood that their implied stochastic discount factors do not price all portfolios correctly. Unlike comparisons based on x2 statistics associated with null hypothesis that models are correct, our measures of model performance do not reward variability of discount factor proxies. One of our measures is designed to exploit fully the implications of arbitrage-free pricing of derivative claims. We demonstrate empirically the usefulness of methods in assessing some alternative stochastic factor models that have been proposed in asset pricing literature.
Fine grained classification of Internet multimedia traffics

For the purposes of efficient network resource management and QoS (Quality of Service) support of different multimedia services, this paper proposes a fine grained classification scheme for Internet multimedia traffics using a novel low-complexity feature selection method based on coefficient of variation. We focus on web-browsing and network video services in this work. A number of QoS and network resource requirements related statistical features of these applications are studied and validated by their effectiveness in web-browsing and video traffic classification. This scheme classifies multimedia services with the combinations of these statistical features. Experiments are performed on a large scale real network multimedia traffic data. The results show that the proposed method can achieve better classification performance in contrast to existing methods.
Cistus incanus from Strandja Mountain as a Source of Bioactive Antioxidants

The purpose of the present study is to survey the extraction conditions and explore the antioxidant potential of the wild herb Cistus incanus, which is non-traditional in Bulgarian ethnomedicine and widespread in the Strandja Mountain. The influence of the extraction time (0–500 min) and solvent composition (0–50% ethanol in water) on the polyphenols, flavonoid yields and on the antioxidant capacity of the extracts of leaves, stalks (wood parts) and bud mixture were studied. The antioxidant capacity (AOC) was evaluated by use of scavenging assays of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals. Total polyphenol and flavonoid contents were quantified using UV–vis (ultraviolet-visible) spectrophotometry. The optimal yield of the desired components was obtained with 30% ethanol in water solvent at the 390th min of extraction time. In addition, the influence of seasonality (winter and summer Cistus incanus), and of the different aerial parts—hard-coated seeds, buds, and a mixture of leaves and stalks of the wild plant—on the presence of polyphenols, flavonoids, and AOC were investigated. The present work revealed that the high values of polyphenols, flavonoids and the high AOC occurred not only in the summer leaves, but were also found in the winter leaves, hard-coated seeds, buds, and stalks. Based on the obtained results, the Cistus incanus from Strandja Mountain could be an excellent new source of natural antioxidants in food and for the pharmaceutical industries.
Role of the RUNX 2 p . R 225 Q mutation in cleidocranial dysplasia : a rare presentation and an analysis of the RUNX 2 protein structure

Cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD; MIM 119600) is an autosomal dominant hereditary disorder of skeletal features whose characteristic clinical symptoms are caused by mutations in the RUNX2 gene. Varying degrees of clavicular hypoplasia and dental abnormalities are the most prominent features of this disorder. In this study, we presented a Chinese family that included 4 individuals with a p.R225Q mutation in the RUNX2 gene and characteristic CCD phenotypes. Through structural analysis of the p.R225Q mutation in the RUNX2 protein, we determined that the location of this mutation has the potential to affect DNA binding by RUNX2. The proband in this CCD-affected family showed a specific clinical phenotype of CCD that included a median pseudo-cleft palate, which is a presentation of this mutation that has not been reported previously. On the basis of the structural analysis, this study further demonstrated that the p.R225Q mutation abolished DNA binding by RUNX2 and its results also suggested that other genetic and/ or environmental factors could affect the CCD phenotypes.
Interventions for impaired bladders in paediatric renal transplant recipients with lower urinary tract dysfunction

Dysfunctional bladders in paediatric patients were thought to be a contraindication for renal transplantation, but advances in surgical techniques have meant that surgical correction can allow safe transplantation. This study compares the outcomes of renal transplantation for different interventions, and the timing of such interventions, in relation to transplantation. We identified all paediatric renal transplant recipients with LUTD that received intervention for their impaired bladders at two hospitals between 2002 and 2010. Outcome measures included patient and graft survival, perioperative complications, UTI incidence, acute rejection episodes and serum creatinine levels. A total of 288 allografts were transplanted, 77 were in 75 children with LUTD, of which 46 received intervention. Patient survival was 100% in the intervention group and 97% in the nonintervention group (P = 0.815). Death‐censored graft survival was 96% and 100% respectively (P = 0.688). In the groups receiving intervention pretransplant or post‐transplant, graft survival rates were 95% and 100% respectively (P = 0.476). The follow‐up serum creatinine levels were higher in the pretransplant intervention group (P < 0.001). Interventions for dysfunctional bladders can be performed safely in paediatric renal transplant recipients. The mode of intervention and timing of intervention, in relation to transplant, do not influence outcomes if guided by careful assessment and investigation.
Mobile Health Applications, in the Absence of an Authentic Regulation, Does the Usability Score Correlate with a Better Medical Reliability?

Health-related mobile applications (apps) have been shown to improve the quality of health and patient care. Their use in clinical and health-related environments is becoming more considerable. The number of health-related apps available for download has considerably increased, while the regulatory position of this new industry is not well known. Despite this lack of regulation, measuring the usability score of these apps is not difficult. We compared two samples of twenty health-related applications each. One of the samples contained the apps with top-rated usability scores, and the other contained the apps with lowest-rated usability scores. We found that a good usability score correlates with a better medical reliability of the app's content (p<0.005). In the period in which a valid regulation is still lacking, calculation and attribution of usability scores to mobile applications could be used to identify apps with better medical quality. However, the usability score method ought to be rigorous and should not be rounded off with a simple five stars rating (as is the case in the classic app stores).
Insect-induced tree mortality of boreal forests in eastern Canada under a changing climate

Forest insects are major disturbances that induce tree mortality in eastern coniferous (or fir-spruce) forests in eastern North America. The spruce budworm (SBW) (Choristoneura fumiferana [Clemens]) is the most devastating insect causing tree mortality. However, the relative importance of insect-caused mortality versus tree mortality caused by other agents and how this relationship will change with climate change is not known. Based on permanent sample plots across eastern Canada, we combined a logistic model with a negative model to estimate tree mortality. The results showed that tree mortality increased mainly due to forest insects. The mean difference in annual tree mortality between plots disturbed by insects and those without insect disturbance was 0.0680 per year (P < 0.0001, T-test), and the carbon sink loss was about 2.87t C ha−1 year−1 larger than in natural forests. We also found that annual tree mortality increased significantly with the annual climate moisture index (CMI) and decreased significantly with annual minimum temperature (Tmin), annual mean temperature (Tmean) and the number of degree days below 0°C (DD0), which was inconsistent with previous studies (Adams et al. 2009; van Mantgem et al. 2009; Allen et al. 2010). Furthermore, the results for the trends in the magnitude of forest insect outbreaks were consistent with those of climate factors for annual tree mortality. Our results demonstrate that forest insects are the dominant cause of the tree mortality in eastern Canada but that tree mortality induced by insect outbreaks will decrease in eastern Canada under warming climate.
Symptoms Associated with Victimization in Patients with Schizophrenia and Related Disorders

Background Patients with psychoses have an increased risk of becoming victims of violence. Previous studies have suggested that higher symptom levels are associated with a raised risk of becoming a victim of physical violence. There has been, however, no evidence on the type of symptoms that are linked with an increased risk of recent victimization. Methods Data was taken from two studies on involuntarily admitted patients, one national study in England and an international one in six other European countries. In the week following admission, trained interviewers asked patients whether they had been victims of physical violence in the year prior to admission, and assessed symptoms on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Only patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or related disorders (ICD-10 F20–29) were included in the analysis which was conducted separately for the two samples. Symptom levels assessed on the BPRS subscales were tested as predictors of victimization. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to estimate adjusted odds ratios. Results Data from 383 patients in the English sample and 543 patients in the European sample was analysed. Rates of victimization were 37.8% and 28.0% respectively. In multivariable models, the BPRS manic subscale was significantly associated with victimization in both samples. Conclusions Higher levels of manic symptoms indicate a raised risk of being a victim of violence in involuntary patients with schizophrenia and related disorders. This might be explained by higher activity levels, impaired judgement or poorer self-control in patients with manic symptoms. Such symptoms should be specifically considered in risk assessments.
Logopenic and Nonfluent Variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia Are Differentiated by Acoustic Measures of Speech Production

Differentiation of logopenic (lvPPA) and nonfluent/agrammatic (nfvPPA) variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia is important yet remains challenging since it hinges on expert based evaluation of speech and language production. In this study acoustic measures of speech in conjunction with voxel-based morphometry were used to determine the success of the measures as an adjunct to diagnosis and to explore the neural basis of apraxia of speech in nfvPPA. Forty-one patients (21 lvPPA, 20 nfvPPA) were recruited from a consecutive sample with suspected frontotemporal dementia. Patients were diagnosed using the current gold-standard of expert perceptual judgment, based on presence/absence of particular speech features during speaking tasks. Seventeen healthy age-matched adults served as controls. MRI scans were available for 11 control and 37 PPA cases; 23 of the PPA cases underwent amyloid ligand PET imaging. Measures, corresponding to perceptual features of apraxia of speech, were periods of silence during reading and relative vowel duration and intensity in polysyllable word repetition. Discriminant function analyses revealed that a measure of relative vowel duration differentiated nfvPPA cases from both control and lvPPA cases (r 2 = 0.47) with 88% agreement with expert judgment of presence of apraxia of speech in nfvPPA cases. VBM analysis showed that relative vowel duration covaried with grey matter intensity in areas critical for speech motor planning and programming: precentral gyrus, supplementary motor area and inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally, only affected in the nfvPPA group. This bilateral involvement of frontal speech networks in nfvPPA potentially affects access to compensatory mechanisms involving right hemisphere homologues. Measures of silences during reading also discriminated the PPA and control groups, but did not increase predictive accuracy. Findings suggest that a measure of relative vowel duration from of a polysyllable word repetition task may be sufficient for detecting most cases of apraxia of speech and distinguishing between nfvPPA and lvPPA.
Initialization and optimization of multilayered perceptrons

Despite all the progress in neural networks field the technology is brittle and sometimes difficult to apply. Good initialization of adaptive parameters in neural networks and optimization of architecture are the key factor to create robust neural networks. Methods of initialization of MLPs are reviewed and new methods based on clusterization techniques are suggested. Penalty term added to the error function leads to optimized, small and accurate networks. INDING global minimum of a nonlinear function with many parameters is an NP-hard problem [1]. Learning in neural networks is most frequently based on minimization of a cost function. Good initialization of adaptive parameters may enable finding solutions in complex, real-world problems and may significantly decrease learning time. Subsequent optimization should lead to compact networks capable of good generalization. In this paper methods of initialization and optimization of the multi-layer perceptrons (MLPs) used for classification problems are investigated. In MLP networks sigmoidal transfer functions provide hyperplanes, dividing the input space into classification regions. Coefficients of these hyperplanes – called activation weights – are usually the only adaptive parameters of such networks. Initialization procedures should propose architecture (the number of nodes and connections), weights (biases are also counted as weights), and in some cases also the slopes of sigmoidal functions. Initial structure of MLP networks is frequently optimized during learning, either using genetic or other global minimization methods, or enforcing skeletonization of networks using penalty terms in the cost functions. In the next section methods of initialization of MLPs are discussed and new methods, allowing to solve some classification problems without tedious optimization, proposed. In the third section optimization of MLP architecture based on new form of error function is described and results compared with other methods. Short discussion closes this paper. II. Initialization of MLP weights
Machine Vision Based Tracking Control of a Ball-Beam System

The dynamic behavior of a ball-beam system is highly nonlinear and its characteristic is difficult to define. In this paper we present a new ball-beam balancing control system using machine vision to feedback the beam angle and ball position on the beam. Adaptive threshold based continuously mean shift vision tracking algorithm is applied to record the ball position and the beam angle with highly captured frame-rate. The proposed vision tracking algorithm is tolerant to lighting influence, highly computing efficiency and more robust than traditional template pattern matching or edge detection algorithm under non-ideal environment. The vision tracking performance is experimentally tested on a ball-beam benchmark system, where a PD controller is applied to control the motion of the ball to maintain balance. Experimental result shows that the beam angle measurement, ball tracking and balancing control of the vision feedback system are robust, accurate and highly efficient.
O-desmethylangolensin inhibits the proliferation of human breast cancer MCF-7 cells by inducing apoptosis and promoting cell cycle arrest

The aim of the present study was to investigate the anticancer effect of O-desmethylangolensin (O-DMA) by assessing cell proliferation, apoptosis and cell cycle distribution, as well as exploring the mechanisms underlying these effects in breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells. The cells were exposed to O-DMA (5–200 μM) for 24, 48 and 72 h. The results revealed that cell proliferation was significantly inhibited in a dose-dependent manner following treatment for 48 and 72 h, but not after 24 h, and resulted in the significant induction of apoptosis and the promotion of cell cycle arrest at the G1/S and G2/M phases. To elucidate these effects of O-DMA, the expression levels of cell cycle regulators were measured in the cells exposed to O-DMA at 150 μM for 72 h. Of the G1/S phase-related proteins, O-DMA modulated the cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), with a decrease in CDK2 and CDK4 and an increase in CDK6, and downregulated cyclin D and E. With respect to the G2/M-related proteins, O-DMA caused a reduction in CDK1, together with a slight increase in cyclin A and B. In addition, O-DMA downregulated p21Cip1 and p27Kip1, but not p16INK4a and p15INK4b, and interacted with the CDK6-cyclin D and CDK1-cyclin B complexes. In conclusion, these results indicate for the first time that the regulation of the CDK4/6-cyclin D and CDK1-cyclin B complexes may participate in the anticancer activity pathway of O-DMA in MCF-7 cells.
Local anesthetic reduces the pain of colposcopic biopsies: a randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE This study was undertaken to determine whether administration of local anesthetic reduces pain associated with colposcopically directed cervical biopsies. STUDY DESIGN Fifty-six patients undergoing colposcopically directed cervical biopsies were randomly selected prospectively to receive a 1% lidocaine injection or no injection before the biopsy procedure. Pain was assessed by using a 10-cm visual analog scale at various points during the procedure. Data were analyzed with the Student t test. RESULTS Injection of lidocaine resulted in a reduction in pain scores for cervical biopsies (4.004 to 1.166, P: <.001), endocervical curettage (5.757 to 3.900, P =.0018), and overall procedure scores (4.911 to 3.145, P =.0013). CONCLUSION This pilot study demonstrates that injection of local anesthetic at the site of colposcopically direct cervical biopsies decreases the pain perceived by patients.
Volumes of balls in large Riemannian manifolds

We prove two lower bounds for the volumes of balls in a Riemannian manifold. If (M n ;g) is a complete Riemannian manifold with lling radius at least R, then it contains a ball of radius R and volume at least (n)R n . If (M n ; hyp) is a closed hyperbolic manifold and if g is another metric on M with volume no greater than (n)Vol(M; hyp), then the universal cover of (M;g) contains a unit ball with volume greater than the volume of a unit ball in hyperbolic n-space.
Gene expression profile analysis of 4-phenylbutyrate treatment of IB 3-1 bronchial epithelial cell line demonstrates a major influence on heat-shock proteins

Wright, Jerry M. , Pamela L. Zeitlin, Liudmila Cebotaru, Sandra E. Guggino, and William B. Guggino. Gene expression profile analysis of 4-phenylbutyrate treatment of IB3-1 bronchial epithelial cell line demonstrates a major influence on heat-shock proteins. Physiol Genomics 16: 204–211, 2004. First published October 28, 2003; 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00160. 2003. —Most individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) carry one or two mutations that result in a maturation defect of the full-length CFTR protein. The F508 mutation results in a mutant protein that is degraded by the proteosome instead of progressing to the apical membrane where it functions as a cAMP-regulated chloride channel. 4-Phenylbutyrate (PBA) modulates heat-shock protein expression and promotes trafficking of F508, thus permitting maturation and membrane insertion. The goal of this study was to gain insight into the genetic mechanism of PBA action through a large-scale analysis of gene expression. The Affymetrix genome-spanning U133 microarray set was used to compare mRNA expression levels in untreated IB3-1 cell line cultures with cultures treated with 1 mM PBA for 12 and 24 h. The most notable changes in mRNA levels were transient elevations in heat-shock proteins. The majority of genes downregulated throughout the application period were functionally associated with control of gene expression. Another set of genes increased in expression starting at 24 h, suggesting these are downstream effects of altered gene expression initiated by PBA. More than one-third of the genes in this late expressing set were identified as having potential significance in understanding the pathology of CF. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of gene expression profile analysis in understanding the consequences of PBA treatment and provide insights in how this drug exerts its effect on the trafficking of CFTR.
The effects of geometry and ignition mode on ignition times obtained using a cone calorimeter and ISO ignitability apparatus

Three timber-based materials were investigated by subjecting them to a constant uniform heat flux in the range 20–70 kW m−2 using a Cone Calorimeter and the ISO Ignitability Apparatus. The specimens were examined in the vertical and horizontal orientations in the Cone Calorimeter using gas flame pilot, spark pilot and spontaneous methods of ignition. They were also studied using the ISO Ignitability Apparatus in the normal and inverted horizontal orientations using gas flame pilot and spontaneous methods of ignition. The results obtained are compared by specimen, orientation and mode of ignition.
Cryptic Behaviour of Juvenile Turbot Psetta maxima L. and European Flounder Platichthys flesus L.

The aim of this study was to examine the burying behaviour of hatchery-reared European flounder Platichthys flesus and turbot Psetta maxima, and whether conditioning on a sandy substrate would improve burying efficiency. Both species buried shortly after release on a sandy substrate. However, the study revealed interspecies differences; the flounder buried immediately after release, while the turbot buried gradually. No significant difference in burying efficiency was observed between na&iumlve and conditioned flounder and turbot. An effect of size on burial efficiency was observed for both flounder and turbot with a tendency for larger fish to bury more efficiently than smaller fish, despite previous conditioning. Size at settlement was found to be >2 cm for flounder and >3 cm for turbot.