Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal hedging of CARA investors

Abstract We examine the hedging ratio of CARA-utility investors. Three main results are obtained. First, the optimal hedging ratio and the implied risk aversion are determined simultaneously in our model. Second, we classify the hedging ratios of CARA-utility investors into two categories. Third, we present a menu of sufficient conditions for identifying the positively (or negatively) optimal hedging ratios.
Biochemical limits to microbial growth yields: An analysis of mixed substrate utilization

A theoretical analysis has been made of carbon conversion efficiency during heterotrophic microbial growth. The expectation was that the maximal growth yield occurs when all the substrate is assimilated and the net flow of carbon through dissimilation is zero. This, however, is not identical to a 100% carbon conversion, since assimilatory pathways lead to a net production of CO2. It can be shown that the amount of CO2 produced by way of assimilatory processes is dependent upon the nature of the carbon source, but independent of its degree of reduction and varies between 12 and 29% of the substrate carbon. An analysis of published yield data reveals that nearly complete assimilation can occur during growth on substrates with a high energy content. This holds for substrates with a heat of combustion of ca. 550 kJ/mol C, or a degree of reduction higher than 5 (e.g. ethane, ethanol, and methanol). Complete assimilation can also be achieved on substrates with a lower energy content, provided that an auxiliary energy source is present that cannot be used as a carbon source. This is evident from the cell yields reported for Candida utilis grown on glucose plus formate and for Thiobacillus versutus grown on acetate plus thiosulfate. This evaluation of the carbon conversion efficiency during assimilation also made it possible to compare the energy content of the auxiliary energy substrate added with the quantity of the carbon source it had replaced. It will be shown that utilization of the auxiliary energy source may lead to extreme changes in the efficiency of dissimilatory processes.
Changes in cisternal compartment based on stage of lactation and time since milk ejection in the udder of dairy cows.

Two experiments were conducted to study changes induced by stage of lactation and milk ejection in the cisternal compartment of the udder in dairy cows. In experiment 1, 18 cows grouped according to stage of lactation were used 12 h after milking for measuring alveolar and cisternal milk volumes (by cannula) and cisternal area (by ultrasonography) in the front quarters. Cisternal milk and cisternal area were correlated (r = 0.74 to 0.82) for all stages of lactation. As lactation advanced, volumes of alveolar and cisternal milk and cisternal area decreased. Proportion of cisternal milk varied between stages (early, 33.2%; mid, 23.1%; and late, 42.6%). In experiment 2, 7 cows were used to show return of milk from cisternal to alveolar compartments when milk ejection was induced without milking. Cisternal area was measured before (0 min) and after (3, 15, 30, and 60 min) an i.v. oxytocin (OT) injection administered immediately before normal a.m. and p.m. milking times. Cisternal area increased dramatically from 0 to 3 min (98%) and decreased slowly thereafter. The 0- and 3-min data provide clear evidence of milk ejection, and their difference indicated cistern elasticity. Maximum cisternal area in each cow was similar for the 8- and 16-h milking intervals, indicating that in both cases the cistern was completely full of milk. Decrease in cisternal area after 3 min was significant at 15, 30, and 60 min. Decreased cisternal area was interpreted as the reflux of cisternal milk to the alveolar compartment. We termed this 'cisternal recoil. ' In conclusion, ultrasonography was a useful method to evaluate dynamic changes in cisternal milk throughout lactation and after udder stimulation in dairy cows. Evidence exists that udder cisterns decrease when lactation advances and milk returns to the alveolar compartment when cows remain unmilked after milk ejection.
Aggregate idiosyncratic volatility, dynamic aspects of loss aversion, and narrow framing

Abstract We test the dynamic aspects of the loss aversion feature of Kahneman and Tversky (Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica 47:263–291, 1979) and find that idiosyncratic volatility is negatively associated with unrealized gains of stock returns. Moreover, we show that this negative relationship is stronger for stocks with high individual investors’ holdings. Finally, we show that controlling for firm age as defined by Fink et al. (What drove the increase in idiosyncratic volatility during the internet boom? J Financ Quant Anal 45:1253–1278, 2010) eliminates the significance of retail trading proportions as a driver of idiosyncratic volatility. These findings are robust to price, sentiment, and IPO dates. Bivariate vector auto-regression confirms the causality of unrealized gains of stock returns on idiosyncratic volatility.
A hybrid approach to domain-independent taxonomy learning

Creating domain ontologies is usually performed by teams of knowledge engineers and domain experts, and is considered to be a time-consuming and difficult task. As a result, scientists have started to develop automatic approaches to ontology learning and population. For the proposed research, we focus on the central subtask of ontology learning, being the hypernym detection task, where the system has to detect hierarchical semantic relationships, i.e. hypernym–hyponym relationships, between domain-specific terms, resulting in a domain-specific taxonomy. We propose in this paper a hybrid approach to automatic taxonomy learning, which combines a data-driven and a knowledge-based component. The data-driven component is composed of a lexico-syntactic pattern-based module, a morpho-syntactic analyzer and a distributional model, whereas the knowledge-based component extracts structured semantic information from the Linked Open Data cloud (DBpedia) and WordNet. The proposed methodology has been applied to three different knowledge domains: viz. food , equipment and science . A thorough quantitative and qualitative evaluation has shown promising results for all considered test domains. In addition, the results show a clear contribution of all different modules to the automatic taxonomy learning task. Although there is still room for improvement for all different modules, our approach outperforms state-of-the-art systems that participated in the SemEval “Taxonomy Extraction Evaluation” task when it comes to comparing the automatically constructed taxonomy against a manually verified gold standard taxonomy. As all modules are run automatically, the system provides a flexible and domain-independent approach to automatic taxonomy learning and could be an important step in solving the knowledge acquisition bottleneck in ontology learning.
Peripheral neuropathy in lentivirus infection: evidence of inflammation and axonal injury

Objective: As distal sensory polyneuropathy (DSP) is a major neurological complication of HIV-1 infection, we investigated the extent of peripheral nervous system disease in animals infected with the lentivirus, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), because it causes neurological disease and immunosuppression in cats similar to HIV-1 in humans. Methods: After infection with a neurovirulent FIV molecular clone, neurobehavioral testing, nerve morphology, viral detection and load measurements were performed. Results: Neurobehavioral studies showed delayed withdrawal in response to a noxious stimulus among FIV-infected animals compared with sham-infected controls (P < 0.05). Dorsal root ganglia and sciatic nerves from FIV-infected ammals showed activated macrophages that were increased in number and size compared with controls. In addition, TNF-α messenger RNA was detectable in most nerves and spinal cords from the FIV-infected group, but was infrequently detected in controls. Viral RNA copy numbers in plasma and sciatic nerves were detectable in all FIV-infected animals at high levels. Studies of sural nerves identified myelinated fiber atrophy in 12-week FIV-infected animals compared with age-matched control animals, which was accompanied by reduced myelin sheath thickness (P < 0.05). The footpads of FIV-infected animals displayed reduced intraepidermal fiber density compared with control animals (P < 0.01). Conclusion: FIV infection results in the rapid onset of peripheral neuropathy, defined by axonal injury and macrophage activation, together with abundant virus within the nerve, indicating that it may serve as a model of HIV-related DSP.
Nonsurgical Management of Neuroendocrine Cancer of the Cervix: Brief Report

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate disease progression and overall survival in patients diagnosed with neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix treated with chemotherapy and radiation without surgical intervention; we hypothesize similar overall survival to the surgical intervened cases. Methods This study used a retrospective analysis of patients with neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix who were not surgically managed. Review was performed from 1990 to 2014. The data collected included demographics, stage of disease, and outcomes after each treatment. Specific chemotherapy regimen given and radiation dosage were reviewed. Overall survival and recurrence rates were calculated. Results A total of 16 patients met inclusion criteria. Six patients were diagnosed with stage I; these patients had 83.3% 2-year overall survival, 83.3% 5-year overall survival, and a recurrence rate of 16.6%. Three patients were diagnosed with stage II; these patients had 66.6% 2-year overall survival, 0% 5-year overall survival, and a recurrence rate of 100%. Seven patients were diagnosed with stage IV; these patients had 14.3% 2-year overall survival and 0% 5-year overall survival and never underwent remission. Conclusions Our findings noted a comparable overall survival with lower rates of recurrence in patients with early-stage disease using chemotherapy and radiation therapy alone as primary means of treatment. Nonsurgical management of neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix may be of benefit in early-stage disease.
Interpreting epithelial cell abnormalities detected during cervical smear screening--a cytohistologic approach.

PURPOSE To determine the underlying pathology and clinical significance of epithelial cell abnormalities (ECA) identified during cervical Papanicolaou (Pap) smear screening. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 19,215 Pap smears stained by Papanicolaou stain were screened during a 36-month period. They were classified according to The Bethesda System (TBS) for cervical cytology screening and the results of ECA were compared with histology. The chi square test was applied to determine the significance and validity of high-grade lesions on cytology diagnosis. RESULT 360 cases of ECA were identified. Mean age at presentation was 50.58 years. Cytohistologic correlation of ECA was possible in n = 249 (69.17%) of cases. Out of these, 18 cases were negative, six were inflammatory, three were benign, and 222 cases showed pathology ranging from mild dysplasia to invasive carcinoma. The chi square test showed a highly significant predictive value (p < 0.001) for high-grade lesions detected on Pap smears. CONCLUSION Pap smear results of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) or invasive malignancy are highly reliable and the patient may be considered directly for therapeutic intervention. Of cytologically detected ASCUS cases 38.89% were diagnosed as CIN (1-3) on histology. Thus the management of these patients needs to be re-evaluated. Atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance (AGUS) detected in postmenopausal women signify an underlying pathology. These patients should be further investigated and followed to biopsy if necessary.
DETERMINATION OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS AND HEAVY METAL CONTENTS OF BARBECUE BEEF, FISH AND CHICKEN

The purpose of this work is to investigate the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metal contents of barbecue fish, beef and chicken obtained from Minna, Niger state, using standard procedures. Extraction of PAHs was done using sonification method. n-Hexane, dichloromethane (DCM) and mixture of both (1:1) were used as extractants. PAHs content was analysed using GC-MS while the heavy metal analysis was done using AAS. The results obtained from the study showed that grilled chicken had the highest content of total PAHs (214.41µg/kg) while beef had the least (25.71µg/kg). 45 to 98% of the fractions of PAHs observed in the samples were 4 and 5 member rings. Benzo (a) pyrene was detected in all the samples analysed, its concentrations varied from 1.82 to 12.89 µg/kg. The concentrations of PAHs in the grilled samples were generally higher than the control. The efficiency of the solvents from this study were in the order: n-hexane > (n-hexane: DCM) > DCM. With the exception of Pb which had a concentration of 3.17 mg/kg to 4.68 mg/kg, other metals investigated were within safe limit based on international standard. The concentrations of the metals in chicken and beef samples were in the general order: Fe>Pb>Cu>Mn. There is need to continually check the contents of PAHs and heavy metals in barbecue food since they have bio-accumulative tendencies and are deleterious to health.
Policing Natural Resources: Issues in a Conservation Law Enforcement Agency

Scant research has been directed toward the study of conservation law enforcement organizations. This research took a qualitative approach to data collection and examined issues in a western wildlife law enforcement agency. Five main issues facing contemporary conservation law enforcement officers were identified: inadequate funding, low salaries, non-wildlife law enforcement duties, lack of support from the court system, and a changing social and political climate. Findings contribute to a greater understanding of wildlife law enforcement agencies and the conservation law enforcement occupation. The purpose of this study was to identify, from the perspective of game wardens, contemporary issues facing a state wildlife agency. Given the lack of research on the topic and the importance of natural resources for a healthy and sustainable environment, the development of a knowledge base on this type of specialized law enforcement agency is crucial. This information is of utility for both agencies and policymakers and may be used to address problems and improve the working environment for individuals employed in these agencies, thus enhancing the effectiveness of these organizations.
Analysis of the Relationships between Waste Cooking Oil Qualities and Rejuvenated Asphalt Properties

Waste cooking oil (WCO), in many cases, can rejuvenate aged asphalt and restore its properties. However, the influence of WCO qualities on rejuvenation behaviors of aged asphalt has not been investigated in detail. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the effects of WCO viscosity and acid value on the basic, rheological, and chemical properties of a typical rejuvenated asphalt. Penetration, ring and ball (R and B) softening point, and ductility were tested to evaluate the influence of WCO qualities on basic properties of rejuvenated asphalts. Then, the rheological properties of rejuvenated asphalt were characterized based on rotational viscometer (RV), dynamic shear rheometer (DSR), and bending beam rheometer (BBR) test results. Further, SARA (saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes) fraction analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) tests were performed to investigate the effects of WCO qualities on asphalt chemical composition. Finally, grey correlation coefficients were calculated and the relationships between WCO qualities and rejuvenated asphalt properties were quantitatively evaluated. The experimental results indicated that WCO qualities influence the rejuvenation behaviors of aged asphalt significantly, and the WCO with higher qualities (low acid value and viscosity, as defined in this research) tends to achieve better rejuvenation effects. Based on the results of grey correlation analyses, the acid value is, relatively, a better indicator than viscosity in predicting the rejuvenation efficiency of WCO. The rejuvenation thresholds of WCO are varied with the categories of properties of rejuvenated asphalts, and WCO with an acid value of 0.4–0.7 mg KOH/g, or a viscosity of 140–540 mm2/s, can meet all of the performance requirements for asphalt rejuvenation used in this research.
Stent Placement for Severe Stenosis of the Left Common Carotid Artery with Internal-to-External Carotid Steal

We report the case of a 64-year-old male with internal carotid artery (ICA)-to-external carotid artery (ECA) steal due to severe stenosis of the common carotid artery (CCA). Left CCA occlusion was initially diagnosed on 3-dimensional time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography, but digital subtraction angiography revealed severe stenosis of the left CCA and retrograde flow through the left ICA feeding the left ECA. Diverted blood flow from ECA to ICA in cases with occlusion or severe stenosis of the CCA represents a well-known alternative collateral flow pattern called ECA-to-ICA steal. However, collateral flow from ICA to ECA is rarely observed and may be termed ICA-to-ECA steal. We treated CCA stenosis in our patient by carotid artery stenting (CAS) because his CCA stenosis had been gradually progressing since the initial ischaemic attack. Antegrade ICA flow subsequently recovered. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of ICA-to-ECA steal normalised by the treatment of CCA stenosis using CAS. i 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel
Cardioband, a transcatheter surgical-like direct mitral valve annuloplasty system: early results of the feasibility trial.

AIMS Cardioband system is a direct annuloplasty adjustable device that is implanted in the beating heart on the posterior annulus under fluoroscopic and transoesophageal echocardiographic (TEE) guidance. We report the early (1 month) outcomes of the first-in-man pre-CE-mark feasibility and safety trial. METHODS AND RESULTS The study enrolled high-risk adult individuals at five institutions in Europe with symptomatic secondary mitral regurgitation (MR) despite optimal medical therapy. The primary efficacy endpoints included the technical success rate of implantation, feasibility of the Cardioband adjustment (technical performance), and ability to reduce the annular septolateral dimension and MR grade at hospital discharge and at 30 days. The study group included 31 consecutively enrolled high-risk patients with moderate-to-severe or severe secondary MR with at least 1 month of follow-up (mean age 71.8 ± 6.9 years). All patients received the full implant of a Cardioband. Adjustment of the Cardioband resulted in a significant reduction in the septolateral dimension in all but two patients (septolateral dimension from 36.8 ± 4.8 to 29 ± 5.5 mm after the procedure, P < 0.01). Following Cardioband adjustment (29 of 31 patients) MR was none or trace in 6 (21%), mild in 21 (72%), and moderate in 2 (7%). No patient had severe MR after adjustment. Procedural mortality was zero and in-hospital mortality was 6.5% (2 of 31 patients, neither procedure- nor device-related). At 30 days, 22 of the 25 patients (88%) had MR ≤2+. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates the feasibility and safety of percutaneous direct mitral annuloplasty with the Cardioband device in high-risk patients with MR.
Prognosis among African‐American women and white women with lymph node negative breast carcinoma

A disparity in breast carcinoma survival between African‐American and white women has been noted over the past several decades. A major factor implicated in this disparity is stage of disease at diagnosis. In this study, survival and related endpoints were examined among African‐American women and white women with lymph node negative breast carcinoma who participated in two randomized clinical trials of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP).
Resistance to Degradation of Resin-Dentin Bonds Produced by One-Step Self-Etch Adhesives

Abstract The objective of this article is to evaluate the resistance to degradation of resin-dentin bonds formed with three one-step adhesives. Flat, mid-coronal dentin surfaces were bonded with the self-etching adhesives [Tokuyama Bond Force (TBF), One Up Bond F Plus (OUB), and G-Bond (GB)]. The bonded teeth were subjected to fatigue loading, chemical degradation, and stored in distilled water for four time periods (up to 12 months). Specimens were tested for microtensile bond strength and microleakage. Fractographic analysis was performed by scanning electron microscopy. Bonded interfaces were examined by light microscopy using Masson's trichrome staining. An atomic force microscope was employed to analyze phase separation and surface nanoroughness (Ra) at the polymers. Vickers microhardness and the degree of the conversion (DC) were also determined. ANOVA and multiple comparisons tests were performed. Bond strength significantly decreased after the chemical challenge, but not after load cycling. Aging decreased bond strength after 6 months in TBF and GB, in OUB after 12 months. An increase of the nonresin protected collagen zone occurred in all groups, after storing. TBF showed the highest roughness, microhardness, and DC values, and GB showed the lowest. Mild self-etch one-step adhesives (TBF/OUB) showed a higher degree of cure, lower hydrophilicity, and major resistance to degradation of resin-dentin bonds when compared to highly acidic self-etching adhesive (GB).
Consumption Sensitivities in Estonia: Income Shocks of Different Persistence

The Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH) entails that consumption reacts more strongly to persistent than to temporary income shocks. This prediction is tested using data from the Estonian Household Budget Surveys for 2002-2007. The dataset contains questions which make it possible to distinguish between persistent and temporary income shocks based on the households' own assessment. The estimations confirm that the marginal propensities to consume out of the two income shocks differ, households are forward-looking and seek to smooth consumption. Moreover, the estimated propensities of persistent shocks are of reasonable magnitudes, consistent with the PIH. Further analysis reveals, however, features that are in breach of the PIH. The consumption estimations are affected by lagged temporary income shocks. When income shocks are decomposed into positive and negative values, there is evidence of excess sensitivity to positive temporary shocks.
Vehicular data offloading under uncertain journey planners

Self-information broadcast messages are recurrently send out by vehicular terminals to establish their presence and hence improve situational awareness in road transportation. Importantly, such information snippets could prove invaluable to cloud-based intelligent transportation system services that aim to improve safety, traffic efficiency, and offer a plethora of infotainment services. However, due to the bulk nature of the aggregated load collected by vehicular peers, the delivery of this traffic to the infrastructure proves to be a challenging task. The latter offloading problem is considered in this work, in which each individual vehicular station decides on the offloading strategy that maintains proper utilization of the available infrastructure network. For this purpose, a graph theoretic approach is followed in which stations first estimate the potential of eventually being serviced by an available infrastructure node and then decide on the best offloading strategy that minimizes the load variance between the current and subsequent serving nodes. Performance analysis results illustrate that the proposed solution provides substantial load balancing gains and is computationally efficient to implement in practice for arbitrarily large network instances.