Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-term monitoring of the archetype Seyfert galaxy MCG-6-30-15: X-ray, optical and near-IR variability of the corona, disc and torus

We present long-term monitoring of MCG-6-30-15 in X-rays, optical and near-IR wavelengths, collected over 5 yr of monitoring. We determine the power spectrum density of all the observed bands and show that after taking into account the host contamination similar power is observed in the optical and near-IR bands. There is evidence for a correlation between the light curves of the X-ray photon flux and the optical B band, but it is not possible to determine a lag with certainty, with the most likely value being around 0 d. Strong correlation is seen between the optical and near-IR bands. Cross-correlation analysis shows some complex probability distributions and lags that range from 10 to 20 d, with the near-IR following the optical variations. Filtering the light curves in frequency space shows that the strongest correlations are those corresponding to the shortest time-scales. We discuss the nature of the X-ray variability and conclude that this is intrinsic and cannot be accounted for by absorption episodes due to material intervening in the line of sight. It is also found that the lags agree with the relation τ ∝ λ4/3, as expected for an optically thick geometrically thin accretion disc, although for a larger disc than that predicted by the estimated black hole mass and accretion rate in MCG-6-30-15. The cross-correlation analysis suggests that the torus is located at ∼20 light-days from the central source and at most at ∼50 light-days from the central region. This implies an active galactic nucleus bolometric luminosity of ∼3 × 1043 erg s−1 cm−2
Slotting Allowances and Endogenous Shelf Space

Slotting allowances are upfront payments that manufacturers make to retailers to obtain shelf space. They are widespread in the grocery industry and are of concern to antitrust policy makers because of their potentially adverse e¤ect on retail prices. A popular view is that these payments arise because retailers have more products from which to choose than they can profitably carry given the availability of shelf space. According to this view, slotting allowances are caused by the scarcity of shelf space. In this paper, we show that the causality can also go the other way: the scarcity of shelf space may in part be due to the emergence of slotting allowances. This has policy implications. Because fewer products can be carried when shelf space is scarce, it follows that slotting allowances can be anticompetitive even if they have no e¤ect on retail prices. JEL Classi cation Codes: D43, L13, L14, L42 We thank Yaron Yehezkel, two anonymous referees, and seminar participants at Duke, Texas A&M, Washington University in St. Louis, and the 4th Annual International Industrial Organization Conference for helpful comments. yFuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708; email: marx@duke.edu. zSimon School of Business, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627; email: sha¤er@simon.rochester. edu.
Equipment and methods for synthetic aperture anatomic and flow imaging

Conventional ultrasound imaging is done by sequentially probing in each image direction. The frame rate is, thus, limited by the speed of sound and the number of lines necessary to form an image. This is especially limiting in flow imaging, since multiple lines are used for flow estimation. Another problem is that each receiving transducer element must be connected to a receiver, which makes the expansion of the number of receive channels expensive. Synthetic aperture (SA) imaging is a radical change from the sequential image formation. Here ultrasound is emitted in all directions and the image is formed in all directions simultaneously over a number of acquisitions. SA images can therefore be perfectly focused in both transmit and receive for all depths, thus significantly improving image quality. A further advantage is that very fast imaging can be done, since only a few emissions are needed for forming an image, and a novel approach of recursive ultrasound imaging can be used to give several thousand images a second. A commercial SA imaging system has, however, not yet been introduced due to a number of problems. The fundamental problems are primarily that the signal-to-noise ratio and penetration depth are low and velocity imaging is thought not to be possible. This paper will address all the issues above and show that they can all be solved using various techniques. The SNR is increased significantly beyond that for normal systems by using coded imaging and grouping of elements to form larger defocused emitting apertures. It is also possible to have many more receive channels, since different elements can be sampled during different emissions. The paper also shows that velocity imaging can be performed by making a special grouping of the received signals without motion compensation by using recursive imaging. With this technique continuous imaging at all points in the image is possible, which can significantly improve velocity estimates, since the estimates can be formed from a large number of emissions (100-200). The research scanner RASMUS, capable of acquiring clinical SA images, has been constructed and will be described. A number of phantom and in-vivo images will be presented showing in-vivo SA B-mode and flow imaging.
Targeting of the MUC1-C Oncoprotein in Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer

Abstract : Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with the development of colorectal cancer. however, little is known about the mechanisms responsible for the progression of IBD to this malignancy. Our idea is that a better understanding of how IBD progresses to colorectal cancer will provide new insights for drug development against these malignancies.
The Effect of Word Frequency on the Brain Correlates of Object Naming in Russian

The retrieval of low frequency words is usually slower than that of high frequency words. Neuroimaging research on the role of word frequency in linguistic tasks suggests candidate brain areas for the neural substrates of this effect. The only previous fMRI study of word frequency in Russian (Malutina et al., 2012) used an action naming task and obtained data that were highly inconsistent with results for other languages, findings which were mainly obtained using noun-retrieval tasks. In order to verify whether the reasons for such inconsistency were methodological or cross-linguistic, we examined the fMRI correlates of word frequency in Russian using a covert object naming task. We found that the retrieval of low frequency and high frequency nouns activated the same general pattern of brain areas typical for object naming tasks in many languages. Several brain regions were more activated in the low frequency but not the high frequency condition, including the areas and structures usually associated with linguistic processing (the inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally, the left thalamus, the left insula), visual perception (the fusiform gyrus, the inferior occipital gyrus, the middle occipital gyrus bilaterally) and cognitive and motor control (the supplementary motor area and the right cingulate gyrus). The right cingulate gyrus was the only area that responded only to the low frequency stimuli but not the high frequency items, when compared to the baseline. At the same time, we found no brain areas that responded more to high versus low word frequency. These results are generally consistent with previous fMRI studies in English, German and Chinese and therefore suggest that the inconsistency between the previous research in Russian and other languages was due to the possible interaction of the part of speech (verb or noun) and word frequency in brain mechanisms for word retrieval, rather than cross-linguistic differences. Correspondence: Roza Vlasova, rosavlas@gmail.com; 21/4 Staraya Basmannaya ulitsa, The Neurolinguistics Laboratory at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, 105066 Moscow, Russia
Program Synthesis for Systems Biology

Author(s): Koksal, Ali Sinan | Advisor(s): Bodik, Rastislav; Yosef, Nir | Abstract: Cell signaling controls basic cellular activities and coordinates cell actions, such as cell differentiation, division and growth. Consequently, errors in cellular signaling are responsible for diseases such as cancer, autoimmunity, and diabetes.Executable biology describes mechanistic models of biological processes in a formal language that is dynamic and executable by a computer. Models in executable biology are able to capture complex behaviors of biological systems, such as time and concurrency. In addition, discrete modeling enables efficient algorithms to exhaustively explore spaces of models.This thesis introduces tools to automatically infer executable models at different levels of abstraction from varied types of experimental data. In each case, we investigate identifiability of models when the provided experimental evidence and prior knowledge are varied. We make the following individual contributions: * TPS:A framework for the automated inference of signed directed graphs modeling protein signaling networks, using time series data. * SBL: A modeling language embedded in Scala for the automated synthesis of concurrent programs modeling cell fate decision using mutation experiments. * Karme: A framework for investigating identifiability of asynchronous Boolean network models from single-cell gene expression data.To evaluate our work, we apply our tools to in vivo, in vitro, and in silico data sets on cellular differentiation and protein signaling. We show that, through explicit characterization of ambiguities in input specifications, our approaches make unambiguous predictions supported by experimental evidence, and suggest new experiments that help disambiguate alternative explanations. Applied to epidermal growth factor signaling response data, TPS exhaustively explores all models that are consistent with the input, and makes predictions that are unambiguous across the model space. These predictions are supported by further experimental validation. Using SBL, we synthesize valid models of cell fate decision in C. elegans vulval precursor cells, fixing a bug in previous modeling. We show the existence of internally different models that are behaviorally equivalent under all mutation experiments. One of the inferred models expresses a previously unknown biological hypothesis. Finally, we use Karme to synthesize models of myeloid cell differentiation from simulated noisy single-cell data, and demonstrate that experimental design can reveal key genes in the system.
SOLVING VEHICLE ROUTING PROBLEMS VIA SINGLE GENERIC TRANSFORMATION APPROACH

Abstract: We present a simple data structure capable to solve a broad class of vehicle routing problems. Our modeling approach involves vehicle capacity constraints and extends to the tactical location decisions of location routing problems. The unique data structure accompanied by a single generic transformation allows an effective search of the solution space. We provide simulated annealing results for standard benchmarks that confirm the quality of the proposed algorithm.
Inverse S-Shaped Probability Weighting and Its Impact on Investment

In this paper we analyze how changes in inverse S-shaped probability weighting influence optimal portfolio choice in a rank-dependent utility model. We derive sufficient conditions for the existence of an optimal solution of the investment problem, and then define the notion of a more inverse S-shaped probability weighting function. We show that an increase in inverse S-shaped weighting typically leads to a lower allocation to the risky asset, regardless of whether the return distribution is skewed left or right, as long as it offers a non-negligible risk premium. Only for lottery stocks with poor expected returns and extremely positive skewness does an increase in inverse S-shaped probability weighting lead to larger portfolio allocations.
When Do Managers Seek Private Equity Backing in Public-to-Private Transactions?

Over the last decade, the going private market has experienced a considerable boom in size and also has become more interesting for private equity investors that are looking to partner with incumbent management. This offers managers the choice to take the firm private themselves in a traditional management buyout or to seek private equity backing. We propose that managers decide for a management buyout without any involvement of private equity in case they are less financially constrained: when their firms are undervalued, have high cash levels, are smaller and less financially visible, and the managers own a large toehold. In contrast, managers invite participation of private equity investors when they cannot complete the deal themselves: in firms that are larger, have less cash and managers own a smaller fraction of the firm. Our analysis on a sample of UK public-to-private transactions completed over the period 1997-2003 provides results that are in line with these predictions.
A Revised and Extended Catalog of Magellanic System Clusters, Associations, and Emission Nebulae. II. The Large Magellanic Cloud

A survey of extended objects in the Large Magellanic Cloud was carried out on the ESO/SERC R and J Sky Survey Atlases, checking entries in previous catalogs and searching for new objects. The census provided 6659 objects including star clusters, emission-free associations, and objects related to emission nebulae. Each of these classes contains three subclasses with intermediate properties, which are used to infer total populations. The survey includes cross identifications among catalogs, and we present 3246 new objects. We provide accurate positions, classification, and homogeneous measurements of sizes and position angles, as well as information on cluster pairs and hierarchical relation for superimposed objects. This unification and enlargement of catalogs is important for future searches of fainter and smaller new objects. We discuss the angular and size distributions of the objects of the different classes. The angular distributions show two off-centered systems with different inclinations, suggesting that the LMC disk is warped. The present catalog together with its previous counterpart for the SMC and the inter-Cloud region provide a total population of 7847 extended objects in the Magellanic System. The angular distribution of the ensemble reveals important clues on the interaction between the LMC and SMC.
High temperature bleaching of mechanical pulps from spruce

A laboratory method was developed, which facilitates to investigate how the temperature profile during a TMP-process including a bleaching stage influences pulp brightness. Thin shavings are prepared by slicing a fresh and frozen block of wood with a microtome. The shavings are rapidly dried in an air-stream at room temperature and the optical properties are measured in an Elrepho instrument. After that the shavings are placed in a stainless steel container that can be pressurized with steam, where the temperature profile in a TMP-process or a bleach plant can be simulated. Addition of bleaching chemicals can be done during the simulation. The optical properties are measured and can be compared to those of the same shaving before treatments. The temperature profile in a TMP-process has a large impact on the optical properties of the pulp. Many studies have been done to show how brightness is affected, when temperature/pressure in TMP processes are varied. However, pilot-scale or full scale-trials can often be performed only under certain limitations. With this new method it is easy to simulate different processing conditions and measure the kinetics of the brightness change on a shaving sample before and after treatments. To get as high final brightness as possible it is necessary to limit the brightness reduction as much as possible in manufacturing of the unbleached pulp.
Resolving Viral-Induced Secondary Bacterial Infection in COPD: A Concise Review

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of disability and death world-wide, where chronic inflammation accelerates lung function decline. Pathological inflammation is worsened by chronic bacterial lung infections and susceptibility to recurrent acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD), typically caused by viral and/or bacterial respiratory pathogens. Despite ongoing efforts to reduce AECOPD rates with inhaled corticosteroids, COPD patients remain at heightened risk of developing serious lung infections/AECOPD, frequently leading to hospitalization and infection-dependent delirium. Here, we review emerging mechanisms into why COPD patients are susceptible to chronic bacterial infections and highlight dysregulated inflammation and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as central causes. This underlying chronic infection leaves COPD patients particularly vulnerable to acute viral infections, which further destabilize host immunity to bacteria. The pathogeneses of bacterial and viral exacerbations are significant as clinical symptoms are more severe and there is a marked increase in neutrophilic inflammation and tissue damage. AECOPD triggered by a bacterial and viral co-infection increases circulating levels of the systemic inflammatory marker, serum amyloid A (SAA). SAA is a functional agonist for formyl peptide receptor 2 (FPR2/ALX), where it promotes chemotaxis and survival of neutrophils. Excessive levels of SAA can antagonize the protective actions of FPR2/ALX that involve engagement of specialized pro-resolving mediators, such as resolvin-D1. We propose that the anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory actions of specialized pro-resolving mediators, such as resolvin-D1 should be harnessed for the treatment of AECOPD that are complicated by the co-pathogenesis of viruses and bacteria.
The Role of the State in Financial Markets

This paper reexamines the role of the state in financial markets and identifies seven major market failures that provide a potential rationale for government intervention. In practice, government interventions in capital markets, even in industrial countries, have been pervasive. The paper provides a taxonomy of those interventions with respect to both the objectives they serve and the instruments they employ. There is a role for the government in financial markets, but the success of government interventions has been mixed. It is important that interventions be well designed. The paper sets out principles for government regulatory interventions and applies them to prudential regulation. It then examines three other areas of intervention - directed credit, finanical repression, and competition policy - and identifies circumstances in which some amount of financial repression may actually be beneficial.
Procalcitonin as a Biomarker of Severity Degree in Sepsis Due to Pneumonia

Measuring PCT level can be as the examination having the role to differ the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and sepsis. This study aims to know the PCT level in accessing the sepsis degree at pneumonia patients. This study was an analytical study with cross-sectional design. There were 30 samples obtained since February 2013 until March 2014 at the Emergency Room and Inpatient Room of Internal Medicine Local Public Hospital Dr. Zainoel Abidin Banda Aceh. The sample collection was conducted with quota sampling technique. The data was analysed with Anova and followed with LDS. The data was considered to be significant if the p value is < 0,05. The study results were obtained the minimum limit value of PCT level at pneumonia of 0,091 ng/dl, sepsis of 0,686 ng/dl, severe sepsis of 3,593 ng/dl and shock sepsis of 21,703 ng/dl. The analysis results showed that the higher PCT level makes the higher disease severity.
Effect of Diamond Nanolubricant on R134a Pool Boiling Heat Transfer

This paper quantifies the influence of diamond nanoparticles on the pool boiling performance of R134a/polyolester mixtures on a roughened, horizontal, and flat surface. Nanofluids are liquids that contain dispersed nanosize particles. A lubricant based nanofluid (nanolubricant) was made by suspending 10 nm diameter diamond particles in a synthetic ester to roughly a 2.6% volume fraction. For the 0.5% nanolubricant mass fraction, the nanoparticles caused a heat transfer enhancement relative to the heat transfer of pure R134a/polyolester (99.5/0.5) up to 129%. A similar enhancement was observed for the R134a/nanolubricant (99/1) mixture, which had a heat flux that was on average 91% larger than that of the R134a/polyolester (99/1) mixture. Further increase in the nanolubricant mass fraction to 2% resulted in boiling heat transfer degradation of approximately 19% for the best performing tests. It was speculated that the poor quality of the nanolubricant suspension caused the performance of the (99.5/0.5), and the (98/2) nanolubricant mixtures to decay over time to, on average, 36% and 76% of the of pure R134a/polyolester performance, respectively. Thermal conductivity and viscosity measurements and a refrigerant\lubricant mixture pool-boiling model were used to suggest that increases in thermal conductivity and lubricant viscosity are mainly responsible for the heat transfer enhancement due to nanoparticles. Particle size measurements were used to suggest that particle agglomeration induced a lack of performance repeatability for the (99.5/0.5) and the (98/2) mixtures. From the results of the present study, it is speculated that if a good dispersion of nanoparticles in the lubricant is not obtained, then the agglomerated nanoparticles will not provide interaction with bubbles, which is favorable for heat transfer. Further research with nanolubricants and refrigerants are required to establish a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms that control nanofluid heat transfer.
Restoring wetland prairies: tradeoffs among native plant cover, community composition, and ecosystem functioning

Despite a U.S. goal of ‘no-net-loss' of wetland structure and function, restoration performance standards are typically based on limited criteria, with soil carbon, nutrient, and microbial criteria being particularly rare. We examined plant community composition, diversity, and various soil functional variables for two different restoration techniques, topsoil-removal and solarization, in wetland prairies in Oregon, USA. We compared three site-level replicates of each treatment to three high-quality remnant wetland prairies. We found significant tradeoffs among diversity, native cover, and ecosystem functioning between restoration treatments. Wetlands with topsoil removed had similar diversity to remnants, but lower productivity, soil carbon and nitrogen, microbial biomass, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal infection rates. Solarization sites had the highest native cover, but diversity was approximately half that of remnant wetlands. We attribute this to both a priority effect of seeded native perennial bunchgrasses establishing early in the restoration process and competitively excluding other species, and to a lack of microtopographic variation in the restored sites. Our results suggest that restoration projects should evaluate both structural and functional processes, since they may reveal tradeoffs among important goals. Mitigation efforts should strive to understand the mechanisms causing these tradeoffs among structure and function and try to minimize these in restoration designs.