Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Should Long-Term Investors Time Volatility?

A long-term investor who ignores variation in volatility gives up the equivalent of 2.4% of wealth per year. This result holds for a wide range of parameters that are consistent with US stock market data, and it is robust to estimation uncertainty. We propose and test a new channel, the volatility composition channel, for how investment horizon interacts with volatility timing. Investors respond substantially less to volatility variation if the amount of mean reversion in returns disproportionally increases with volatility and also if mean reversion happens quickly. We find that these conditions are unlikely to hold in the data.
The New Keynesian Cross: Understanding Monetary Policy with Hand-to-Mouth Households

The New Keynesian Cross describes aggregate demand through a planned expenditure PE curve and captures a key amplification mechanism and decomposition of heterogeneous-agent New Keynesian (HANK) models i? ½ la Kaplan, Moll and Violante, 2015. In response to monetary policy, PEi? ½s shift is the direct effect (intertemporal substitution), while its slope (marginal propensity to consume) is the share of the indirect effect in total. There is amplification (dampening) when hand-to-mouthi? ½s income elasticity to aggregate is more (less) than unity; This elasticity depends chiefly on income (including fiscal re-distribution. The effects are magnified by self-insurance when households are hand-to-mouth only occasionally: the aggregate Euler equation now features discounting (McKay, Nakamura and Steinsson, 2015) when the elasticity of hand-to-mouth income to aggregate is lower than unity, but compounding when larger. This matters most for forward guidance (FG), whose power is reduced in the former case, thus resolving the "FG puzzle" (Del Negro et al, 2013) - but amplified in the latter (Werning, 2015), thus aggravating the puzzle.
Gender-responsive participatory research for social learning and sustainable forest management

Abstract Participatory research on forests has been commended for fostering social learning, innovation, community empowerment, social inclusion, and leading to more sustainable resource management. Yet, critiques of participatory approaches – and of the simplistic ways they are, at times, employed to address gender and social exclusion – also abound. These call for new strategies to meaningfully engage socially differentiated men and women in research on natural resource management. This special issue focuses on the nexus between gender and participatory research in forest and woodland management. It examines: (1) the diversity of stakeholders’ forest-related knowledge, skills, needs and priorities in forest-dependent communities through the use of gender-responsive participatory approaches, and (2) choices in research design that can foster inclusive participation, knowledge sharing and social learning within and among social groups. In this introductory paper, we position the special issue in relation to critiques regarding the lack of attention to gender in participatory research. We then summarize the authors empirical findings, contextually rooted across four African and Asian countries, and their importance for understanding the value, opportunities and challenges of working with participatory methods, both from the perspective of the researchers and of the research participants. The papers illustrate that traditional ecological knowledge is neither homogeneously distributed within communities nor concentrated among socially more powerful groups who, in the absence of a gender-responsive approach, are often the ones selected as research participants. The authors offer an optimistic view of the potential participatory methods hold, when applied in a gender-responsive way, for sharing knowledge and promoting inclusive social learning on forests and tree resources. Papers demonstrate the need to carefully consider when to create segregated or mixed spaces – or indeed both – for participants to create situations in which social learning within and across diverse social groups can occur.
Heterophoria and fusional convergence and divergence in preschool children.

AIM To determine the prevalence of heterophoria, fusional convergence and divergence values and the degree of relationship between heterophoria and fusional vergence in preschool children. METHODS For assessment of far and near heterophoria in 152 children aged 6-7, cover and prism cover tests were used. Far and near fusional vergences were measured by step vergence testing using prism bars. RESULTS Orthophoria (-tropia) with the average values of heterophoria around 0 PD (prism diopter) were most common at far, and exophoria around 2 PD at near. The average break values of far fusional convergence and divergence were 13.7 ± 4.4 PD and 7.3 ± 2.1 PD, respectively. Near fusional convergence and divergence break values were 29.6 ± 6.6 PD and 16.2 ± 4.1 PD, respectively. The recovery values were from 1/3 to 1/2 lower than the break values. The correlation between heterophoria at far and far fusional convergence and heterohoria at near and near fusional convergence and divergence was weak, yet significant (r = 0.18 - 0.26; p less than 0.05). CONCLUSION In preschool children the prevalence of heterophoria, and values of fusional vergence were in the ranges of values for elementary school children and adults cited in the literature. Heterophoria and fusional convergence at far, and heterophoria and fusional vergences at near have shown a weak relationship.
Applying a knowledge management modeling tool for manufacturing vision (MV) development

This paper introduces an empirical application of an experimental model for knowledge management within an organization, namely a case‐based reasoning model for manufacturing vision development (CBRM). The model integrates the development process of manufacturing vision with the methodology of case‐based reasoning. This paper briefly describes the model's theoretical fundamentals and its conceptual structure; conducts a detailed introduction of the critical elements within the model; exhibits a real world application of the model; and summarizes the review of the model through academia and practice. Finds that the CBRM is supportive to the decision‐making process of applying and augmenting organizational knowledge. It provides a new angle to tackle strategic management issues within the manufacturing system of a business operation. Explores a new proposition within strategic manufacturing management by enriching and extending the concept of MV while trying to lead the CBR methodology into a new domain by applying it in strategic management.
Anti-CADM-140/MDA5 autoantibody titer correlates with disease activity and predicts disease outcome in patients with dermatomyositis and rapidly progressive interstitial lung disease

ObjectivesWe examined the relationship between disease activity and anti-CADM-140/MDA5 titer measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). MethodsSera from 63 patients with dermatomyositis (DM) [46 classic DM, 17 clinically amyopathic DM (CADM)] were screened for autoantibody using immunoprecipitation assay. Anti-CADM-140/MDA5-positive sera were examined for their titer by anti-CADM-140/MDA5 ELISA. Potential associations between anti-CADM-140/MDA5 titer and clinical course or outcome were analyzed.ResultsSera from 14 patients with DM (2 classic DM, 12 CADM) had anti-CADM-140/MDA5. Of ten patients with DM and rapidly progressive interstitial lung disease (RP-ILD), the mean titer of anti-CADM-140/MDA5 before treatment was significantly lower in patients who responded to therapy and survived (responder group, n = 4) than in those who did not respond and died (nonresponder group, n = 6) (110.3 vs. 356.9, P = 0.019). In the responder group, the mean titer of anti-CADM-140/MDA5 significantly decreased down to below the cutoff level after treatment (n = 3, 113.4 vs. 1.6, P = 0.033), whereas that of the nonresponder group did not decrease sufficiently and sustained high level (n = 4, 372.5 vs. 198.4, P = 0.31). ConclusionsThese results emphasize the clinical importance of anti-CADM-140/MDA5 antibody levels to predict outcomes of RP-ILD as well as to monitor disease activity in patients with DM and RP-ILD.
Doxorubicin and BAY 12-9566 for the treatment of osteosarcoma in dogs: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

BACKGROUND This study was designed to assess the efficacy of a matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor in prolonging posttreatment survival for dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma after treatment with amputation and doxorubicin chemotherapy. HYPOTHESIS Survival will be prolonged in dogs receiving BAY 12-9566. ANIMALS The study included 303 dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma. METHODS Dogs were treated with doxorubicin (30 mg/m2) every 2 weeks for 5 treatments starting 2 weeks after amputation. Dogs were randomly allocated to receive a novel nonpeptidic biphenyl inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs, BAY 12-9566; 4-[4-4-(chlorophenyl)phenyl]-4-oxo-2S-(phenylthiomethyl) butanoic acid) or placebo after doxorubicin chemotherapy. RESULTS Median survival for all 303 dogs was 8 months; and 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year survival rates were 35%, 17%, and 9%, respectively. Treatment with BAY 12-9566 did not influence survival. Multivariate analysis revealed that increasing age (P = .004), increasing weight (P = .006), high serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (P = .012) and high bone ALP (P < .001) were independently associated with shorter median survival times. Additional analyses on available data indicated that as the number of mitotic figures in the biopsy increased (P = .013), and as plasma active MMP-2 concentrations increased (P = .027), the risk of dying increased. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE Doxorubicin is an effective adjuvant to amputation in prolonging survival for dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma.
The breakdown of pre‐existing advanced glycation end products is associated with reduced renal fibrosis in experimental diabetes

Renal accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) has been linked to the progression of diabetic nephropathy. Cleavage of pre‐formed AGEs within the kidney by a crosslink breaker, such as ALT‐711, may confer renoprotection in diabetes. STZ diabetic rats were randomized into a) no treatment (D); b) treatment with the AGE cross‐link breaker, ALT‐711, weeks 16–32 (DALT early); and c) ALT‐711, weeks 24–32 (DALT late). Treatment with ALT‐711 resulted in a significant reduction in diabetes‐induced serum and renal AGE peptide fluorescence, associated with decreases in renal carboxymethyllysine and RAGE immunostaining. Cross‐linking of tail tendon collagen seen in diabetic groups was attenuated only by 16 weeks of ALT‐711 treatment. ALT‐711, independent of treatment duration, retarded albumin excretion rate (AER), reduced blood pressure, and renal hypertrophy. It also reduced diabetes‐induced increases in gene expression of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF‐β1), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), and collagen IV. However, glomerulosclerotic index, tubulointerstitial area, total renal collagen, nitrotyrosine, protein expression of collagen IV, and TGF‐β1 only showed improvement with early ALT treatment alone. This study demonstrates the utility of a cross‐link breaker as a treatment for diabetic nephropathy and describes effects not only on renal AGEs but on putative mediators of renal injury, such as prosclerotic cytokines and oxidative stress.
Motor nerve blockade potency and toxicity of non‐racemic bupivacaine in rats

Background: Racemic [RS(±)] bupivacaine can be associated with severe cardiotoxicity. The S(–) isomer is known to be less neuro‐ and cardiotoxic, but demonstrates a lower potency to block motor activity than RS(±) bupivacaine. Thus, the potency and toxicity of a non‐racemic bupivacaine mixture were studied.
Value of Albumin–Globulin Ratio as a Predictor of All-Cause Mortality After Non-ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Low albumin and the albumin–globulin ratio (AGR) were associated with vascular adverse events. Our study explores the AGR as a predictor of mortality after non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). In an observational study of 570 NSTEMI patients admitted to a tertiary center between 2004 and 2006, patients were stratified into equal tertiles according to AGR. The primary outcome was 4-year all-cause mortality. The 4-year mortality rates in the first, second, and third AGR tertiles were 88 (47%) of 189, 48 (25%)of 190 , and 19 (10%) of 191, respectively (P < .0001). After adjusting for 20 confounding variables, AGR first tertile (AGR <1.12) had a higher mortality versus second tertile (hazard ratio [HR] 2.6, P < .001). Likewise, the AGR second tertile had higher mortality versus the third tertile (AGR ≥1.34; HR 2.3, P = .004). The albumin–globulin ratio is a significant independent predictor of long-term mortality after NSTEMI in patients with normal serum albumin levels. Further studies are needed to explain the underlying mechanisms.
Impact of Domestic Policies towards Agricultural Trade Liberalization and Market Reform on Food Security in Pakistan

Performance of the agriculture sector over the last four decades remained quite satisfactory with an average growth rate of 3.4% per annum. Still the country is far behind in its efforts to provide an acceptable level of dietary requirement to its people even at the aggregate level. The daily average availability of calories per person in the country is significantly lower than the other developing and developed nations. Though share of wheat is declining overtime, it is still the dominant source of total calories intake and thus plays a vital role in food security in the country. The government of Pakistan had been pursuing interventionist policies quite actively in agricultural inputs as well as outputs markets to ensure food security. Though most of these interventions have now been abolished, but some still remains. Particularly, wheat marketing mainly is being handled by the public sector. The comparison of incidentals of government-owned departments with that of the private traders clearly shows inefficiency of the former. In addition to cost difference, the corruption is pervasive in commodity marketing particularly in public sector. Eliminating the government interventions the results of the CGE model lead us to draw four major conclusions: 1) price of wheat would turn out to be too high to be affordable to the consumers; 2) Production may not increase much to compensate to bring the consumer prices down; 3) The loss in consumer surplus will be more than the producer gain; and 4) All household groups will face lower welfare except the urban non poor: The latter may look for cheaper food substitutes. The dynamic long-run effects have not been captured in this model. Though the existing system of procurement and distribution creates isincentives for the private sector to invest in wheat trade, it however may not be advisable to leave the wheat economy fully at the behest of the markets owing to the importance of wheat in household consumption and production. It is suggested that the government should slowly step out of the food market and let the market function freely. However, the system of effective monitoring and maintaining an optimal size of buffer stock for wheat can avoid extreme food price fluctuations and shortages in the country. The stock purchase and release by the government should be based on market prices.
SU/MU-MIMO in IEEE 802.11ac: PHY+MAC performance comparison for single antenna stations

Most of studies dealing with single user multiple input multiple output (SU-MIMO) and multiple user MIMO (MU-MIMO) rely on physical (PHY) layer only or medium access control (MAC) layer only simulations. In the first case, the apparent considerable performance gains enabled by space division multiple access (SDMA) in downlink transmissions are often obtained without taking into account sounding and channel access induced overhead. In the second case, crosstalk interference (CTI) between stations served by the SDMA transmission is not always accounted for. Consequently, in order to take into account all the parameters and characteristics of these two transmission schemes, precise PHY+MAC modeling is needed. A realistic and fair comparison can thus be performed. The new approach presented in this paper is based on a multi-user simulation platform containing an all inclusive PHY layer combined with an elaborated MAC layer working in a symbiotic manner. In order to discriminate the characteristics of each transmission scheme, the SU/MU comparison is done for single antenna stations, channel inversion being used as the precoding scheme. In addition, the influence of CTI in SDMA transmissions is also studied so as to compare the real gains of MU-MIMO with the generally accepted gains.
T cell necessity in the pathogenesis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mice

Cellular transfer of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) was effected in mice with lymph node and spleen cells from appropriately immunized donors. In contrast to lymphoid cells, immune serum did not transfer this autoimmune disease nor did serum have any facilitating or inhibitory effect on the capacity of lymphoid cells to transfer EAE. Transfer of EAE was effected in normal mice, lightly irradiated (350 rad) and lethally irradiated (850 rad) and bone marrow‐protected mice, but not in mice which had been given 850 rad total‐body irradiation. There was a striking augmentation of severity of transferred EAE in the lightly irradiated recipients, possibly attributable to selective radiosensitivity of suppressor T cells. Cell‐mediated immunity but not circulating antibody to basic protein of myelin was demonstrated in recipients with transferred EAE.
Neoliberalism, Laissez-Faire Capitalism and Economic Crisis: The Political Economy of Deindustrialisation in Hong Kong

The search for an “institutional fix” to enable national and sub-national economies to survive global competition and change has attracted some attention from analysts of regional development and global political economy in recent years. Tracing the historical processes of industrialisation in Hong Kong prior to its reversion to China in July 1997, this paper aims to provide some empirical support for the contention that neoliberalism is a major contributor to the recent economic crisis of deindustrialisation in Hong Kong. In particular, this paper examines three areas in which the laissez-faire colonial state in Hong Kong has failed to provide the necessary institutional support for industrialisation: (1) quota restrictions; (2) technological upgrading and (3) outward investment Such a failure has resulted in the progressive decline of Hong Kong's industrial sector and the lagging performance of Hong Kong's manufacturing industries vis-à-vis counterparts in the other three Asian newly industrialised economies. On the one hand, the Hong Kong government has ceded its power to local big businesses whose financial and commercial interests are more faithfully represented in various political decision bodies. On the other hand, Hong Kong's industrial sector has faced serious competitive pressures from global economic change and concomitant industrial restructuring. The long term survival of the industrial sector in Hong Kong, to a large extent, rests on the role of a proactive state and its institutional capacities.
Tight Integration of New 5G Air Interface and LTE to Fulfill 5G Requirements

Integration of new radio technologies to legacy ones has always been an important feature in any wireless communication generation shift and it is envisioned that for the transition to 5G this will be even more critical. Different 5G research projects have acknowledged the demand for a new air interface that will be designed to operate in higher frequency bands (compared to the ones currently allocated to LTE) where propagation is more challenging and coverage is spotty. This paper proposes a radio access network (RAN) architecture that realizes a tight integration of this new air interface with LTE to enable cross-air interface optimizations such as common resource management, faster mobility and simultaneous multi-connectivity features. The tight integration also aims at leveraging both the better coverage of LTE and the higher capacity of the higher frequency bands. In order to realize this integration, a common protocol layer (also called integration layer) lying on the top of lower layer protocols specified per air interface is proposed. The paper analyzes the alternatives for this integration layer, having the LTE protocol stack specified by 3GPP as a reference model. A recommendation is issued and, based on that, potential multi-connectivity features are presented.
Convergence properties of a Continuous-Time Multiple-Model Adaptive Estimator

We present and study a Continuous-Time Multiple-Model Adaptive Estimator (CT-MMAE) for state-affine multiple-input-multiple output (MIMO) systems with parametric uncertainty. The CT-MMAE is composed by a bank of local observers (typically Kalman filters) where each observer uses one element of a finite discrete parameter set in its implementation. The state estimate is given by a weighted sum of the estimates produced by the bank of observers. We show, for the case where the unknown noise and disturbance are L2 signals, and under appropriate observability assumptions, that if the actual plant parameter is identical to one of its discrete values, the state estimate converges globally asymptotically to the true value and the plant model is correctly identified. If the actual plant parameter vector does not belong to the finite discrete parameter set, we provide upper bounds to state and parameter estimation errors. Some deterministic and stochastic simulation results are presented and discussed.
Evidence for an interaction between the CYP1(HAP1) activator and a cellular factor during heme‐dependent transcriptional regulation in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Previously, it was shown that the CYP1(HAP1) gene product mediates the transcription of several oxygen‐regulated genes through a metabolic co‐effector, heme, in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This study investigates the overproduction of the CYP1 protein when the CYP1(HAP1) gene is placed under the control of the GAL10‐CYC1 hybrid promoter (either at the locus of the CYP1(HAP1) gene or cloned in a high‐copy‐number plasmid). In these conditions, the CYP1 protein is detected by Western blot analysis and has a molecular mass in agreement with the open reading frame sequence. Band‐shift experiments show that the CYP1(HAP1) protein is able to interact specifically with its target sequences in vitro without addition of hemin, and forms a large complex with one or several unidentified factors denoted as X. Addition of hemin allows the formation of a new complex which has a lower molecular mass. The internal deletion of the seven repeated amino acid sequences containing the KCPVDH motif in the CYP1(HAP1) protein modifies the heme responsiveness phenomenon observed in vitro in the band‐shift experiments and in vivo in the transcription of the CYB2, CYC1, CYP3(CYC7) and ERG11 genes. On the basis of these data, we propose a new model for heme‐induced activation of the CYP1 protein.
A Tunable Metamaterial Absorber Based on Liquid Crystal Intended for F Frequency Band

A tunable metamaterial absorber based on the liquid crystal intended for F frequency band is presented. The proposed absorber was analyzed both numerically and experimentally. The conducted analysis has shown that the bias voltage affects the orientation of the nematic liquid crystal embedded in the mesh voids and causes the resonant frequency shift from 110.9 to 103.8 GHz with the frequency tunability of 6.4%. The absorptivity of the proposed absorber was measured, and it was higher than 90% for all bias voltages. Therefore, the proposed absorber provides a new opportunity in development of tunable sensors and absorbers.