Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficiency of Large Private Value Auctions

We consider discriminatory and uniform price auctions for multiple identical units of a good. Players have private values, possibly asymmetrically distributed and for multiple units. Our setting allows for aggregate uncertainty about demand and supply. In this setting, equilibria generally will be inefficient. Despite this, we show that such auctions become arbitrarily close to efficient if they are "large," and use this to derive an asymptotic characterization of revenue and bidding behavior.
Boundary feedback stabilization of the monodomain equations

Boundary feedback control for a coupled nonlinear PDE-ODE system (in the two and three dimensional cases) is studied. Particular focus is put on the monodomain equations arising in the context of cardiac electrophysiology. Neumann as well as Dirichlet based boundary control laws are obtained by an algebraic operator Riccati equation associated with the linearized system. Local exponential stability of the nonlinear closed loop system is shown by a fixed-point argument. Numerical examples are given for a finite element discretization of the two dimensional monodomain equations.
Role of microwave heating in antigen retrieval in cryosections of formalin-fixed tissues

Immunocytochemistry is a common method for localizing proteins in the mammalian tissues and cultured cells. Samples to be used in immunocytochemical studies are often fixed and preserved with 2%-10% p-formaldehyde (PFA, formalin), frozen or embedded in paraffin, and sectioned. Fixation with PFA denatures the proteins while preserving antigenicity, but it can ‘’mask’’ the antibody binding sites (epitopes), thus diminishing the availability of epitopes and fidelity of immunocytochemical findings. The hidden epitopes can be recovered by using various protocols of antigen retrieval before applying antibodies. These protocols are normally used with sections of the paraffin-embedded tissues, and include heating at high temperatures in defined buffers, treatment with various alcohols, detergents, metals or high pressure, or various combinations of these procedures. Here we report on using similar antigen retrieval protocols on cryosections of the PFA-fixed rat kidney and liver tissues in order to reveal the optimal immunostaining conditions for several representative proteins that reside in specific cellular compartments. The immunostaining was studied by the method of indirect immunofluorescence, where specific epitopes were first labeled with the relevant primary antibody, followed by labeling with the fluorescent molecule-conjugated secondary antibody, and fluorescence microscopy. Our data illustrate: a) that harsh antigen retrieval protocols, previously used with sections of the PFA-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues, can be efficiently used with cryosections of the PFA-fixed tissues, b) the necessity of testing various antigen revealing protocols for each set of antigen-antibody in order to determine optimal conditions for immunocytochemical presentation, and c) that in most cases the protocols that include microwave heating give the best unmasking effects and staining intensity. Being the strongest unmasking method for different epitopes, microwave heating also generates conditions for significant reduction of the amount of primary antibodies.
Amanita muscaria toxicosis in two dogs

Abstract Objective: To report the manifestations, history, and pathophysiologic basis of disease in 2 dogs with Amanitamuscaria toxicosis.Case summaries: Two dogs were evaluated for an acute onset of gastroenteritis and seizures. A. muscariatoxicosis was suspected in each dog after conﬁrmation of environmental exposure and visualization ofingested mushrooms in vomitus. The diagnosis was conﬁrmed following identiﬁcation of toxic Amanitametabolites in the urine and serum of each dog. Administration of supportive and symptomatic therapiesresulted in the complete recovery of each animal.Unique information provided: Ingestion of the mushroom, A. muscaria, by dogs can result in acutegastrointestinal distress that precedes a potentially life-threatening central neurologic syndrome characterizedby seizures, tremors, and somnolence. Central nervous system dysfunction results primarily from the actionsof ibotenic acid and its decarboxylation product, muscimol, which are analogues of the neurotransmittersglutamate and g-aminobutyric acid (GABA), respectively. Identiﬁcation of these toxins in the urine and serumof affected dogs using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) provides a deﬁnitive diagnosis. (J Vet Emerg Crit Care 2006; 16(3): 208–214) doi: 10.1111/j.1476-4431.2005. 00181.x
Physical inversion of the full IASI spectra: further validation and inter-comparison of O3 and OCS products

Results from the physical, simultaneous, inversion of the full IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer) spectra applied to the retrieval of surface temperature and emissivity, temperature, water vapour, ozone and HDO vertical profiles, and gas column abundance of CO2, CO, CH4, SO2, N2O, HNO3, NH3, OCS and CF4 have been updated with respect to the validation of OCS and O3 products. A case study has been set up and analysed, which consists of a two years long record of IASI spectra over sea surface in the Pacific Ocean close to the Mauna Loa (Hawaii) validation station. IASI O3 products have been intercompared with OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) O3 retrievals, which, in contrast to IASI that uses the thermal infrared, are based on observation in the near ultra violet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. IASI OCS retrievals are compared to in situ flask observations. The IASI vs OMI comparison shows an excellent agreement with a correlation of 0.97 and a relative bias of approximately 1 Dobson Unit. For the case of OCS, we have found a good correlation of 0.75 for night time soundings. IASI captures the OCS seasonal cycle, although a relatively large negative bias of approximately -74 pptv is seen, which can be explained with a large spectroscopic error for OCS in the HITRAN 2008 version.
Alteration of activity variables relative to clinical diagnosis of bovine respiratory disease in newly received feed lot cattle

Our objective was to explore change in activity variables relative to clinical identification of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in cattle maintained in a commercial feedlot. Four blocks (n=364) of high-risk, crossbred beef calves were affixed with an accelerometer device upon feedlot arrival that continuously logged activity variables (standing time, step count, lying bouts, motion index) for a 56-day period. Overall, 51.5% of calves were diagnosed at least once with BRD, while 15.2 and 4.5% had a second and a third BRD event, respectively. The level of activity in cases was compared with that of control cohorts relative to the time of BRD diagnosis in cases. Reductions in activity variables in cases started at least 6 days prior to BRD diagnosis, and were more pronounced the day before disease identification. All activity variables were reduced (P? 0.01) at day -1 for cases vs controls. Average standing time on the day prior to diagnosis (day -1) was 559 minutes for cases compared to 613 minutes in controls. Step count on day -1 for cases and controls were 843 and 1,472 steps, respectively. The number of lying bouts for cases and controls was 11.4 and 14.5, respectively on day -1. Activity information provided by accelerometers, used as an objective method for identification of BRD in cattle, may assist in management and early detection of sick cattle.
CTL-P and the precursors of effector T cells exhibiting a natural killer (NK)-like activity. * Recipient of a short-term fellowship from the European Molecular Biology Organization. Supported in part by grants 81.01421.96 and 82.00332.96 PFCCN from CNR

The recent development of culture techniques allowing the cloning of T lymphocytes has proved extremely useful for analyzing the functional heterogeneity of these cells (1, 2). In most instances, such clonal analyses have been applied to cell populations containing T lymphocytes activated by stimulation in vitro with mitogen or antigen. Under optimal culture conditions, the cloning efficiency of in vitro stimulated T cells appears to be relatively high (3, 4). However, because of the possibility of a selection of rapidly proliferating T cells during culture, the clones derived from in vitro stimulated T cell populations are not necessarily representative of the starting T cell populations. On the other hand, initial at tempts to directly clone normal, unstimulated T cells in semisolid media (5-7) have resulted in very low cloning efficiencies, ranging from 1 in 500 (8) to 1 in 1000 (9). Recently, Chen and colleagues (10) described a limiting dilution microculture technique that allows the majority of murine T lymphocytes to undergo clonal expansion. Along the same lines, we have investigated the culture conditions necessary to obtain a clonal proliferation from every single human T cell in resting, nonstimulated populations. In the present study, we have performed a limiting dilution analysis of human peripheral blood T cells cultured in microcultures containing phytohemagglutinin (PHA) 1 and a suitable source of T cell growth factor (TCGF). It will be shown that under appropriate culture conditions, clones containing 5-30 × 104 cells can be obtained within 14-20 d from virtually all T cells. Moreover, by using this microculture system, we have assessed directly the frequency of T lymphocytes in peripheral blood that give rise to a clonal progeny expressing Ia antigens. Finally, this technique has been used to quantitate the potential pool size ofcytolytic T lymphocyte precursors (CTL-P) in peripheral blood and to analyze the relationship between the CTL-P and the precursors of effector T cells exhibiting a natural killer (NK)-like activity.
Instability of elliptic liquid jets: Temporal linear stability theory and experimental analysis

The instability dynamics of inviscid liquid jets issuing from elliptical orifices is studied, and effects of the surrounding gas and the liquid surface tension on the stability behavior are investigated. A dispersion relation for the zeroth azimuthal (axisymmetric) instability mode is derived. Consistency of the analysis is confirmed by demonstrating that these equations reduce to the well-known dispersion equations for the limiting cases of round and planar jets. It is shown that the effect of the ellipticity is to increase the growth rate over a large range of wavenumbers in comparison to those of a circular jet. For higher Weber numbers, at which capillary forces have a stabilizing effect, the growth rate decreases with increasing ellipticity. Similar to circular and planar jets, increasing the density ratio between gas and liquid increases the growth of disturbances significantly. These theoretical investigations are complemented by experiments to validate the local linear stability results. Comparisons of predicted growth rates with measurements over a range of jet ellipticities confirm that the theoretical model provides a quantitatively accurate description of the instability dynamics in the Rayleigh and first wind-induced regimes.
In-situ determination of indium segregation in InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy

The surface segregation of indium atoms during the growth of InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures has been investigated in situ by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). We pointed out that strong damping of the RHEED oscillations during the deposition of InGaAs on GaAs was related to the segregation strength of indium atoms in the InGaAs layer. A simple model shows that the decay constant of the RHEED oscillations may be used to determine accurately the segregation coefficient R, as confirmed by photoluminescence (PL) measurements.
CULTURALLY SENSITIVE SMOKING CESSATION INTERVENTION

Procedures: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods were used to develop this culturally sensitive smoking cessation intervention by the following research partners: academicians, neighborhood residents, community health workers, and community advisory board. This CBPR involved a cyclical process with the following phases: assembling a research team; identifying smoking cessation as the health need of interest; developing the research method; establishing evaluation, feedback, and dissemination mechanisms; implementing the initial ‘‘Sister to Sister’’ community trial; analyzing and interpreting the data; disseminating the results; revising the intervention; and, establishing mechanisms to sustain outcomes. Culturally sensitive dimensions emerged during this process and were categorized as surface structure and deep structure.
Chemical Composition and 'In vitro' Antiviral Activity of Azadirachta indica A. Juss (Neem) Leaves and Fruits Against Newcastle Disease Virus and Infectious Bursal Disease Virus

Leaves, seeds and seed kernels of Azadirachta indica A juss (Neem) were studied for their chemical properties; moisture, ash, crude protein, crude lipids and total carbohydrates. GC/MS of the volatile components produced by simultaneous hydrodistillation and solvent extraction of each plant organs under investigation were carried out. GLC of the sterol and hydrocarbons fraction as well as the fatty acid fraction were studied for the plant organs. Antiviral activity of successive extractives of each of the plant organs were evaluated against Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) in culture of VERO cell and in chicken embryos.
ANTAGONIST CONDITIONING CONTRACTIONS IMPAIR AGONIST FUNCTIONING

This study assessed the effect of antagonist conditioning contractions (ACC) on the subsequent force and electromyography of an agonist. Twelve subjects performed isokinetic elbow flexion on a dynamometer in 4 test conditions including a baseline condition without, and 1, 3 and 6 seconds after, isometric triceps extension. Average peak torque (T), peak torque/body weight (T:BW), average power (P), and rate of torque development (RTD) were assessed. Electromyographic data were obtained from elbow extensors and flexors. A repeated measures ANOVA with post hoc analysis demonstrated that T, T:BW, P, and RTD were higher in the baseline, compared to the post ACC conditions (P ≤ 0.05), and appears to be due to higher brachioradialis activation in the baseline condition in compared to some post ACC conditions (P ≤ 0.05).
Vancomycin Sensitivity of Clinical Isolates of Staphylococcus aureus from Patients in Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), resistant to all antibiotics including vancomycin, has been reported in Japan, USA, Canada and Brazil. Hence, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the possible presence of vancomycin resistant or intermediate Stap. aureus in Dhaka. A total of 122 clinical isolates were collected from different hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers of the city for about 12 months starting from August 2010 to July 2011.They were identified using standard bacteriological methods. Sensitivity to recommended antibiotics was determined by disc diffusion method. In the present study 74% of total isolates were found to be betalactamase producers by iodometric methods, whereas with Nitrocefin ® sticks 80% of the isolates were found to be beta-lactamase producers. All the multiple drug resistant strains were beta-lactamase producers. Out of 122 isolates, although no strains were found vancomycin resistant, 93.44% were found intermediate and only 6.56% showed sensitivity. This study reveals the growing antimicrobial resistance in Bangladesh and refers not to use the antimicrobial drugs that show insufficient sensitivity against Stap. aureus to prevent resistance and associated treatment failure.
Communicating Hierarchical Neural Controllers for Learning Zero-shot Task Generalization

The ability to generalize from past experience to solve previously unseen tasks is a key research challenge in reinforcement learning (RL). In this paper, we consider RL tasks defined as a sequence of high-level instructions described by natural language and study two types of generalization: to unseen and longer sequences of previously seen instructions, and to sequences where the instructions themselves were previously not seen. We present a novel hierarchical deep RL architecture that consists of two interacting neural controllers: a meta controller that reads instructions and repeatedly communicates subtasks to a subtask controller that in turn learns to perform such subtasks. To generalize better to unseen instructions, we propose a regularizer that encourages to learn subtask embeddings that capture correspondences between similar subtasks. We also propose a new differentiable neural network architecture in the meta controller that learns temporal abstractions which makes learning more stable under delayed reward. Our architecture is evaluated on a stochastic 2D grid world and a 3D visual environment where the agent should execute a list of instructions. We demonstrate that the proposed architecture is able to generalize well over unseen instructions as well as longer lists of instructions.
The Impact of Web Page Text-Background Color Combinations on Readability, Retention, Aesthetics, and Behavioral Intention

The purpose of this experiment was to examine the effect of web page text/background color combination on readability, retention, aesthetics, and behavioral intention. One hundred and thirty-six participants studied two Web pages, one with educational content and one with commercial content, in one of four color-combination conditions. Major findings were: a) Colors with greater contrast ratio generally lead to greater readability; b) Color combination did not significantly affect retention; c) Preferred colors (i.e., blues and chromatic colors) lead to higher ratings of aesthetic quality and intention to purchase; and d) Ratings of aesthetic quality were significantly related to intention to purchase.
Audit Committee, Board of Director Characteristics, and Earnings Management

This study examines whether audit committee and board characteristics are related to earnings management by the firm. A negative relation is found between audit committee independence and abnormal accruals. A negative relation is also found between board independence and abnormal accruals. Reductions in board or audit committee independence are accompanied by large increases in abnormal accruals. The most pronounced effects occur when either the board or the audit committee is comprised of a minority of outside directors. These results suggest that boards structured to be more independent of the CEO are more effective in monitoring the corporate financial accounting process.
04. EDITORIAL NOGUERA AGUILAR

and mortality rates, as well as the expenditure it gives rise to. It is the most common gastrointestinal cancer in Western Europe and the United States, and the second leading cause of death in the Western world (1). It is the third most incident neoplasm (after prostate and lung cancer in males, and breast and lung cancer in females), with an incidence of 147,000 new cases and a mortality of 57,000 patients in the United States in 2004, according to data from the American Cancer Society (2). In our country colorectal cancer has an incidence of 20-30 cases/100,000 people/year with slight regional differences, and is responsible for 20% of malignancy-related deaths (3,4). Regarding socio-economic relevance, it should be highlighted that most studies referring to CRC-related costs have been performed in the United states and Canada, and primarily focus on direct costs from hospital resource utilization. CRC management in Canada is considered to amount to 4% of all economic resources devoted to the treatment of major chronic health problems, which represents some 332 million dollars per year (5). In France, with a heathcare system more similar to ours, direct costs derived from CRC diagnosis and therapy amounted to 470 million euros in 1999; when indirect costs from sick leaves, disability benefits, and loss of productivity are considered, total costs went up to 997 million euros (6). Current strategies to improve integral treatment for CRC are based on three pillars: disease prevention, early diagnosis, and therapy optimization. Along these three major lines basic-science or experimental research and clinical investigation become intermixed, and CRC is a clear instance where translational research plays a key role in the advancement of knowledge on this disease. Primary and secondary CRC prevention make up the field where most resources are being invested. Chemoprevention currently remains a target for both basic and applied studies in the search for drugs and optimal dosages for effective prevention; the promising role of selective COX-2 inhibitors has shrunk in the face of unexpected cardiovascular toxicity, and further searches for effective drugs in this area are needed (7). Screening protocols for CRC based on fecal occult blood testing and flexible sigmoidoscopy are shyly approached by care units, as they represent a high cost for public healthcare; hence, they are currently restricted to the population with a high risk for disease with any individual or familial origin (8). Basic research in animal colon cancer models has been for decades a major source of knowledge for the development of disease prevention and therapy optimization. As regards prevention, all studies of chemopreventive drugs and modified diets have been previously tried in animal models. Regarding the management of CRC, animal experiments have allowed us to deepen our insight into the carcinoExperimental colonic carcinogenesis 1130-0108/2006/98/9/637-643 REVISTA ESPAÑOLA DE ENFERMEDADES DIGESTIVAS Copyright © 2006 ARÁN EDICIONES, S. L. REV ESP ENFERM DIG (Madrid) Vol. 98, N. ° 9, pp. 637-643, 2006
Nonconvex Optimization for Regression with Fairness Constraints

The unfairness of a regressor is evaluated by measuring the correlation between the estimator and the sensitive attribute (e.g., race, gender, age), and the coefficient of determination (CoD) is a natural extension of the correlation coefficient when more than one sensitive attribute exists. As is well known, there is a trade-off between fairness and accuracy of a regressor, which implies a perfectly fair optimizer does not always yield a useful prediction. Taking this into consideration, we optimize the accuracy of the estimation subject to a user-defined level of fairness. However, a fairness level as a constraint induces a nonconvexity of the feasible region, which disables the use of an off-the-shelf convex optimizer. Despite such nonconvexity, we show an exact solution is available by using tools of global optimization theory. Unlike most of existing fairness-aware machine learning methods, our method allows us to deal with numeric and multiple sensitive attributes.