Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimation of Nonparametric Conditional Moment Models with Possibly Nonsmooth Generalized Residuals

This paper studies nonparametric estimation of conditional moment restrictions in which the generalized residual functions can be nonsmooth in the unknown functions of endogenous variables. This is a nonparametric nonlinear instrumental variables (IV) problem. We propose a class of penalized sieve minimum distance (PSMD) estimators, which are minimizers of a penalized empirical minimum distance criterion over a collection of sieve spaces that are dense in the infinite dimensional function parameter space. Some of the PSMD procedures use slowly growing finite dimensional sieves with flexible penalties or without any penalty; others use large dimensional sieves with lower semicompact and/or convex penalties. We establish their consistency and the convergence rates in Banach space norms (such as a sup-norm or a root mean squared norm), allowing for possibly non-compact infinite dimensional parameter spaces. For both mildly and severely ill-posed nonlinear inverse problems, our convergence rates in Hilbert space norms (such as a root mean squared norm) achieve the known minimax optimal rate for the nonparametric mean IV regression. We illustrate the theory with a nonparametric additive quantile IV regression. We present a simulation study and an empirical application of estimating nonparametric quantile IV Engel curves.
Point Degree Spectra of Represented Spaces

Abstract We introduce the point degree spectrum of a represented space as a substructure of the Medvedev degrees, which integrates the notion of Turing degrees, enumeration degrees, continuous degrees and so on. The notion of point degree spectrum creates a connection among various areas of mathematics, including computability theory, descriptive set theory, infinite-dimensional topology and Banach space theory. Through this new connection, for instance, we construct a family of continuum many infinite-dimensional Cantor manifolds with property C whose Borel structures at an arbitrary finite rank are mutually nonisomorphic. This resolves a long-standing question by Jayne and strengthens various theorems in infinite-dimensional topology such as Pol’s solution to Alexandrov’s old problem.
The Effect of Education through Short Message Service (SMS) Messages on Diabetic Patients Adherence

Poor adherence and a lack of understanding of medication instructions for oral antidiabetic use are key factors that inhibit the control of glycemic levels. The aforementioned situation needs intervention to improve medication adherence and the therapy. This study was conducted with a quasi-experimental design with prospective data collection. The subjects of this study were 50 outpatients with type 2 diabetes melitus (T2DM) who had received oral antidiabetic medicine therapy at least six months prior to adherence measurement. The patients were classified into two groups—the control group and the intervention group. The intervention group received Short Message Service (SMS) messages of diabetes education, while the control group did not. Data collection was conducted by doing interviews and administering the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) questionnaire. The results showed the increase in adherence in the intervention group as 1.15 ± 1.04 and that in the control group as 0.72 ± 0.90. These results indicated that there were significant differences in MMAS score between the control and intervention groups (p < 0.05). The decrease in fasting blood glucose and glucose measured 2 h postprandially was greater in the intervention group than that in the control group. It was concluded that the provision of education through SMS had a positive effect on medication adherence and glycemic levels.
Effects of Prescription Drug Reduction on Quality of Life in Community-Dwelling Patients with Dementia.

PURPOSE Due to the use of multiple drugs and prevalence of diminished cognitive function, community-dwelling elderly individuals are more likely to have drug-related issues. We examined changes in quality of life (QOL) and activities of daily living (ADL) 3 months and 6 months after reducing drug use of dementia patients who had newly begun community-dwelling care. METHODS Prescription drug use was reduced in the intervention group, whereas the non-intervention group continued their regimen or began using additional drugs. QOL and ADL were assessed with the Japanese version of the EQ-5D and the Barthel Index, respectively. RESULTS Subjects were 32 individuals aged ≥65 years who had begun community-dwelling between March and July 2014 and had received approval for long-term care insurance. On average, the intervention group (n = 19) stopped using 2.6 prescription drugs. After 6 months, the differences in the QOL and ADL scores in the intervention group were -0.03 ± 0.29 and 6.32 ± 18.6, respectively, while the differences in the QOL and ADL scores in the non-intervention group (n = 13) were -0.13 ± 0.29 and -2.69 ± 23.7, respectively. In the intervention group, ADL scores were significantly increased by 14.0 ± 11.1 6 months after reduced benzodiazepine use. CONCLUSIONS QOL was maintained with reduced drug use, while ADL score was slightly increased. In addition, the reduction of benzodiazepine use significantly increased ADL. In order to reduce polypharmacy among community-dwelling elderly patients, it is necessary to create an opportunity for pharmacists to re-examine their prescriptions.
A general approach for consensus using optimistic planning

An important challenge in multiagent systems is consensus, in which the agents are required to synchronize certain controlled variables of interest, often using only an incomplete and time-varying communication graph. We propose a consensus approach based on optimistic planning (OP), a predictive control algorithm that finds near-optimal control actions for general dynamics and reward functions (costs). At every step, each agent uses OP to solve a local control problem with rewards that express the consensus objectives. Neighboring agents coordinate by exchanging their predicted behaviors in a predefined order. Due to its generality, OP consensus can adapt to any agent dynamics and, by changing the reward function, to a variety of consensus objectives. While theoretical analysis is still open, OP consensus is demonstrated in experiments for two problems. The first problem is velocity consensus (flocking) with a time-varying communication graph, where OP preserves connectivity better than a classical algorithm. The second problem is the leaderless and leader-based consensus of robotic arms, where OP easily deals with the nonlinear dynamics.
Landscape Evolution of the Oil Spill Mitigation Sand Berm in the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana

Abstract : The failure of the Macondo-252 well and explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig resulted in the release of approximately 185 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico (Wilde and Skrobialowski 2011). As part of the emergency response plan, the Louisiana Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration proposed (and subsequently constructed) sand barriers to reduce the amount of oil from reaching the Chandeleur Islands and inland wetlands; thereby protecting these sensitive ecosystem resources. This study was conducted to provide general measures of the sand berms resilience, performance, and potential impacts to the Chandeleur Islands. To satisfy these objectives, Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing techniques were used to quantify changes in sand berm areal extent over time; provide shoreline, habitat, and landscape assessments of the Chandeleur Islands; and assess elevation changes and potential reworking of berm sediment into the island system. The sand berm provided short-term benefits and short-term advancement of the islands shoreline position, but the majority of those benefits were ephemeral since the berm experienced rapid degradation. Data show that the degradation of the berm began within 30 days post-construction, and the berm was largely eroded within 18 months post-construction. The speed and degree of degradation were primarily the results of Tropical Storm Lee (5 September 2011) and Hurricane Isaac (28 August 2012), and the construction of the berm in high-energy open water environments. Additionally, berm sediments were redistributed to areas of known submerged aquatic vegetation communities, potentially impairing these critical habitats. Ultimately, the berm was not successful in providing a barrier to retard oil from reaching the island or oil migrating into Chandeleur Sound and beyond.
Centennial scale climate instabilities in a wet early Holocene West African monsoon

A Holocene Gulf of Guinea record of riverine runoff, based on Ba/Ca in tests of a shallow‐dwelling planktic foraminifer, and sea surface temperature (SST), based on Mg/Ca, reveals centennial‐scale instabilities in West African monsoon (WAM) precipitation and eastern equatorial Atlantic (EEA) thermal conditions. The long‐term Holocene climate trend is characterized by a warm and wet early‐mid Holocene and gradual drying and cooling during the late Holocene. Superimposed on this trend are numerous centennial scale drops in precipitation during the early‐mid Holocene. The greatest declines in early Holocene monsoon precipitation were accompanied by significant SST cooling in the EEA and correlate with drops in air temperature over Greenland and fresh water outbursts into the North Atlantic (NA). This observation suggests that early Holocene climate instabilities in the NA were closely linked to changes in the WAM. The strong imprint of NA events in summer monsoon precipitation suggests that these events were not confined to winter‐time. The late Holocene does not show large amplitude changes in riverine runoff at the centennial level. The relatively stable late Holocene conditions likely reflect a weakening and stabilization of the monsoon system, probably due to diminished influence of the NA region due to a reduction in ice sheet.
Online Learning and Student Outcomes in California's Community Colleges.

C alifornia's community colleges o er more online credit courses than any other public higher education institution in the country. By 2012, online course enrollment in the state's community colleges totaled almost one million, representing about 11 percent of total enrollment. Indeed, practically all of the enrollment increases over the past ten years have occurred in online courses. Among students taking credit courses in 2011–12, one of every ve took at least one online course. These trends raise critical questions about the e ect of online learning on student outcomes. In this study, we consider both short-and long-term outcomes, focusing on participation , course completion and passing, degree attainment, and transfer to four-year institutions. As the enrollment trends suggest, we nd that online learning has provided new access to higher education, with online participation increasing for each of the state's largest ethnic groups. Still, participation is uneven across groups, with African Americans participating at relatively high rates and Latinos lagging all groups. When we examine student outcomes, we nd a surprising result: short-term outcomes are poor, but long-term outcomes are not. How does this break down? In the short term, course by course, student outcomes are worse in online courses than in traditional courses. Students are less likely to complete an online course than a traditional course, and they are less likely to complete an online course with a passing grade. We nd lower course success rates across all types of students, across a wide set of subjects, and ISTOCK Online Learning and Student Outcomes in California's Community Colleges 2 www.ppic. org across almost all colleges. Indeed, once we control for a full set of student characteristics (including overall grade point averages [GPAs]) and institutional factors, we nd that online course success rates are between 11 and 14 percentage points lower than traditional course success rates. In addition, we nd that online learning does nothing to overcome achievement gaps across racial/ethnic groups—in fact, these gaps are even larger in online classes. However, when we examine long-term outcomes, the picture looks brighter. Students who take at least some online courses are more likely than those who take only traditional courses to earn an associate's degree or to transfer to a four-year institution. For some students , online courses oer a useful tool that helps them to reach their goals. Online learning is still relatively new—and there is reason to believe that the …
Efficient Execution of Continuous Incoherency Bounded Queries over Multi-Source Streaming Data

On-line decision making often involves query processing over time-varying data which arrives in the form of data streams from distributed locations. In such environments typically, a user application is interested in the value of some function defined over the data items. For example, the traffic management system can make control decisions based on the observed traffic at major intersections; stock investors can manage their investments based on the value of their portfolios. In this paper we present a system that supports pull based data refresh and query processing techniques where such queries access data from multiple distributed sources. Key challenges in supporting such Continuous Multi-Data Incoherency Bounded Queries lie in minimizing network and source overheads, without loss of fidelity in the query responses provided to users. We address these challenges by using mathematically sound approaches based on Gradient Descent and Constraint Optimization which allow us to adapt the refresh frequencies of the dynamically changing data and adjust the quality of service provided to different users.
Iron, Parkinson's disease, and neuroleptic malignant syndrome

To the Editor: We read with interest the article by Cunningham et al.' They reported a patient with Parkinson's disease (PD) who, during the substitution of a controlled-release formulation of Ldopa, developed a symptom complex of severe hyperthermia, rigidity, and autonomic dysfunction resembling neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS). NMS is a fatal and life-threatening condition. It is characterized by elevation of serum CK.2 Although the pathophysiology of NMS has not been fully clarified, it is believed to be associated with a large and sudden decrease in dopaminergic transmission. There has recently been considerable attention given to the relationship between serum iron and the maintenance of normal dopaminergic function in the brain.3 Rosebush and Mazurek4 measured serum iron in 26 episodes of NMS. In 25 episodes, serum iron concentration was significantly lower than 2 SD below the mean normal value. With improvement of clinical status, serum iron returned to normal. We have seen a patient with PD who subsequently developed NMS. He had been treated with Sinemet and bromocriptine, but these medications were withdrawn because of no improvement in his clinical state. Our case showed a significant reduction of plasma iron in the acute stage and an increase with clinical improvement. Rosebush and Mazurek4 suggested that serum iron may be a useful biochemical marker for NMS, and a helpful adjunct in the diagnosis of the disorder. We definitely agree with their opinion. It is assumed that the large decrease in serum iron during NMS plays a part in the pathophysiology of the disorder. Iron is present in relatively large quantities in the brain and its distribution roughly parallels that of dopamine, with the highest concentrations in the basal ganglia.5 Finally, we emphasize that serum iron should be routinely measured in patients with PD.
Towards a classification framework for interoperability of enterprise applications

Software applications interoperability is a challenge for modern enterprises. It needs establishing standards and protocols for data exchange between different enterprise systems. Nevertheless, since there is no methodology for collecting data, exchanged information is generally incomplete. Business process modelling aims at specifying object flows and processes inside enterprise levels and among networked enterprises. Enterprise-control systems aim at driving and scheduling the manufacturing resources based on information coming from the whole enterprise. However, the increased complexity of these models does not help to ensure coherent relationships between its components. In the current paper, the author will analyse how enterprise applications, models and standards used at different levels of the enterprise could be classified to come to a framework of many interoperability types.
Measurement of posterior corneal asphericity on Hong Kong Chinese: A pilot study

The posterior comeal p‐value and apical radius of 60 Hong Kong Chinese were assessed. The values were derived based on the information of the anterior corneal topography and the corneal thickness in different regions. The mean posterior corneal apical radius along the horizontal meridian was 6.51 mm (SD ± 0.40 mm) and the p‐value was 0.34 (SD ± 0.38). The apical radius is greater while the p‐value is smaller than a previous study using a similar principle. This may indicate a flatter posterior cornea and greater peripheral flattening in Hong Kong Chinese. No significant difference between the nasal and temporal corneal thickness, nasal and temporal posterior p‐value and apical radius was demonstrated The right and left eyes were also similar in different ocular parameters apart from a smaller anterior corneal p‐value on the fight eye (R eye: 0.70 ± 0.13: L eye: 0.67 ± 0.12), but the difference may not be significant clinically. The method used here is simple and the generation of posterior corneal topography is informative.
Psychometric properties of Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale in a Spanish sample of entrepreneurs.

BACKGROUND The literature regarding entrepreneurship suggests that the resilience of entrepreneurs may help to explain entrepreneurial success, but there is no resilience measure widely accepted by researchers. This study analyzes the psychometric properties of the Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) in a sample of Spanish entrepreneurs. METHOD A telephone survey research method was used. The participants were entrepreneurs operating in the business services sector. Interviewers telephoned a total of 900 entrepreneurs of whom 783 produced usable questionnaires. The CD-RISC was used as data collection instrument. We used principal component analysis factor and confirmatory factor analysis to determine the factor structure of the CD-RISC. RESULTS Confirmatory factor analysis failed to verify the original five-factor structure of the CD-RISC, whereas principal component analysis factor yielded a 3-factor structure of resilience (hardiness, resourcefulness and optimism). In this research, 47.48% of the total variance was accounted for by three factors, and the obtained factor structure was verified through confirmatory factor analysis. CONCLUSIONS The CD-RISC has been shown to be a reliable and valid tool for measuring entrepreneurs' resilience.
General Relationships between Species Diversity and Stability in Competitive Systems

Investigating the effect of biodiversity on the stability of ecological communities is complicated by the numerous ways in which models of community interactions can be formulated. This has led to differences in conclusions and interpretations of how the number of species in a community affects its stability. Here, we derive a simple, general relationship between the coefficient of variation (CV) of combined species densities and the environmentally driven variability in species' per capita population growth rates. For a given level of environmentally driven variability in per capita population growth rates, increasing the number of species in a community decreases the CV of combined species densities, provided that species do not respond to environmental fluctuations in a perfectly correlated way. Thus, a community with more species of competitors will be more stable (have lower CV in combined species densities for a given level of environmental variability) than a species‐poor community, provided that the species in both communities show equal variability in per capita population growth rates and provided that species within each community do not show strongly correlated responses to environmental fluctuations. This conclusion also applies to “noninteractive” models in which there is no competition between species.
Thromboxane Generation after Thrombin: Protective Effect of Thromboxane Synthetase Inhibition on Lung Fluid Balance

We examined the role of thromboxane in mediating the alterations in pulmonary hemodynamics and in lung fluid and protein exchange after thrombin. Studies were made in control sheep and in sheep pretreated with the thromboxane synthetase inhibitor, Dazoxiben (injection of 10 mg/kg followed by infusion of 4 mg/kg per hr). Thrombin infusion caused an increase in mixed venous and aortic concentrations of thromboxane B2, a stable degradation product of thromboxane A2, whereas the concentrations of 6-keto-PGFia, a degradation product of prostacyclin, did not change significantly. In sheep pretreated with Dazoxiben, thromboxane B2 concentrations did not increase, indicating effectiveness of the thromboxane synthetase inhibitor. The blood concentrations of 6-keto-PGFia after thrombin increased in the thromboxane synthetase-inhibited group, indicating shunting towards prostacyclin synthesis. Thrombin in untreated sheep increased pulmonary lymph flow (Qiym) and the lymph protein clearance (Qiym * lymph-to-plasma protein concentration ratio). The increases in lymph parameters were due to an increase in pulmonary vascular permeability to proteins because raising left atrial pressure further increased Qiym but did not change lymph-to-plasma ratio. Dazoxiben prevented the thrombin- induced increase in pulmonary vascular permeability because the increase in left atrial pressure resulted in an increase in Qiym and a decrease in lymph-to-plasma ratio, as was the case after left atrial hypertension in normal animals. Therefore, thrombin results in selective release of thromboxane A2 which precedes the increase in pulmonary vascular permeability. Thromboxane A2may contribute to the increased permeability after thrombin, since inhibition of thromboxane synthesis prevents the permeability change.