Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Solving Stochastic Nonlinear Resource Allocation Problems Using a Hierarchy of Twofold Resource Allocation Automata

In a multitude of real-world situations, resources must be allocated based on incomplete and noisy information. However, in many cases, incomplete and noisy information render traditional resource allocation techniques ineffective. The decentralized Learning Automata Knapsack Game (LAKG) was recently proposed for solving one such class of problems, namely the class of Stochastic Nonlinear Fractional Knapsack Problems. Empirically, the LAKG was shown to yield a superior performance when compared to methods which are based on traditional parameter estimation schemes. This paper presents a completely new online Learning Automata (LA) system, namely the Hierarchy of Twofold Resource Allocation Automata (H-TRAA). In terms of contributions, we first of all, note that the primitive component of the H-TRAA is a Twofold Resource Allocation Automaton (TRAA) which possesses novelty in the field of LA. Second, the paper contains a formal analysis of the TRAA, including a rigorous proof for its convergence. Third, the paper proves the convergence of the H-TRAA itself. Finally, we demonstrate empirically that the H-TRAA provides orders of magnitude faster convergence compared to the LAKG for simulated data pertaining to two-material unit-value functions. Indeed, in contrast to the LAKG, the H-TRAA scales sublinearly. Consequently, we believe that the H-TRAA opens avenues for handling demanding real-world applications such as the allocation of sampling resources in large-scale Web accessibility assessment problems. We are currently working on applying the H-TRAA solution to the web-polling and sample-size detection problems applicable to the world wide web.
What Can Explain the Price, Volatility and Trading Volume of Bitcoin?

We study which variables can explain and predict the return, volatility and trading volume of Bitcoin. The considered variables are return, volatility, trading volume, transaction volume, change in the number of unique Bitcoin addresses, the VIX index and Google searches for “Bitcoin”. We use realized volatility calculated from high-frequency data and find that the heterogeneous autoregressive model is suitable for Bitcoin volatility. Trading volume further improves this volatility model. The trading volume of Bitcoin can be predicted from Google searches for “Bitcoin”. However, none of the considered variables can predict Bitcoin returns.
Circulating tumor marker levels in advanced breast carcinoma correlate with the extent of metastatic disease

The importance of the extent of metastatic disease in the circulating levels of CA 15‐3 and carcinoembryonic antigens (CEA) was studied in 173 patients with advanced breast carcinoma. Estimates of the extent of metastatic disease were obtained by an objective arbitrary scale. Patients were observed clinically after serum samples were obtained, and survival was recorded. Elevated values of CA 15‐3 (>40 U/ml) were seen in 130 patients and CEA values (>5 ng/ml) in 97 cases (75% versus 56%, P < .0001). Elevated CA 15‐3 values correlated with the estimated extent of metastatic disease (P < .0001), number of metastases (P = .0006), and survival from study entry (P = .01). Elevated CEA values correlated with extent of disease (P < .0001), but not with the number of metastases or with survival. No correlation was found between the elevated values of CA 15‐3 or CEA and age, menopausal status, and initial tumor size or nodal status. The combination of the elevated values of CA 15‐3 and CEA was more sensitive than CA 15‐3 alone (P = .04), but there were no significant improvements when subgroups were considered. Significant differences, that depended on which specific organ was affected dominantly by metastases, were seen in the mean levels of CA 15‐3 antigen. Similarly, patients with liver involvement had higher mean levels of CA 15‐3 than those without hepatic metastases. A stepwise regression analysis of the dominant site of metastases, liver involvement, and estimated extent of disease showed that only the latter parameter retained a significant correlation with CA 15‐3 antigen levels (P < .0001). Median survival of patients who showed abnormal CA 15‐3 levels was significantly shorter than that of patients with nonelevated CA 15‐3 (10.1 versus 18.0 months, P = .04). This difference was not appreciated with CEA levels (10.2 versus 12.2 months, P = .4). We conclude that tumor marker levels in patients with advanced breast carcinoma correlate with the extent of metastatic disease. In addition, the CA 15‐3 assay is more sensitive and correlates more accurately with the extent of disease than CEA. Finally, the observed CA 15‐3 differences by organ involvement are related to the extent of disease variations. The objective evaluation of the extent of metastatic disease provides a new approach in the study and comparison of breast cancer‐associated tumor markers.
Investor Sentiment and Management Earnings Forecast Bias

This study investigates whether investor sentiment is associated with behavioral bias in managersâ€™ annual earnings forecasts that are generally issued early in the year when uncertainty is relatively high. I provide evidence that management earnings forecast optimism increases with investor sentiment. Furthermore, I find that managersâ€™ annual earnings forecasts are more pessimistic during lowâ€ sentiment periods than during normalâ€ sentiment periods. Since managers lack incentives to further deflate stock prices during a lowâ€ sentiment period, this evidence indicates that sentimentâ€ related management earnings forecast bias is likely to be unintentional. In addition, I find that the relationship between management earnings forecast bias and investor sentiment is stronger for firms with higher uncertainty, consistent with investor sentiment having a greater influence on management earnings forecasts when uncertainty is higher.
Castration induces changes in the cation‐dependent mannose‐6‐phosphate receptor in rat epididymis: Possible implications in secretion of lysosomal enzymes

It is believed that the mammalian epididymis participates in the maturation of the sperm due to its secretory activity. High concentrations of several secreted acid hydrolases are found in the epididymal lumen. Moreover, some of these enzymes are secreted by the epididymal epithelium in an androgen‐dependent fashion. In this study, we attempted to discern whether mannose‐6‐phosphate receptors (MPRs) regulate transport and secretion of lysosomal enzymes in the rat epididymis, and if these events are altered when the animals are subjected to hormonal manipulation. We observed that expression of cation‐dependent MPR (CD‐MPR) and cation‐independent MPR (CI‐MPR) increased significantly in caudal epididymis of castrated rats by immunoblot. This increase was corroborated by quantitation of MPRs, by binding assays. This change could be due to androgen deprivation, as a similar effect was observed after treatment with the anti‐androgenic drug flutamide. Furthermore, we observed that the CD‐MPR was redistributed to the apical area of the epithelium on castrated rats by immunohistochemistry, which is compatible with the redistribution of the receptors toward lighter fractions in a Percoll gradient. Consistent with a possible involvement of the CD‐MPR in the secretion, we observed an increase in pro‐cathepsin D levels in epididymal fluid after castration. We conclude that the CD‐MPR might be regulated by hormones and that this receptor might be involved in the secretion of specific enzymes into the rat epididymis. J. Cell. Biochem. 110: 1101–1110, 2010. Published 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Chronic pain-associated depression: antecedent or consequence of chronic pain? A review.

OBJECTIVE To determine the current status for the association of chronic pain and depression and to review the evidence for whether depression is an antecedent or consequence of chronic pain (CP). DESIGN A computer and manual literature review yielded 191 studies that related to the pain-depression association. These reports were reviewed and sorted into seven categories relating to the topic of this paper. Eighty-three studies were then selected according to inclusion criteria and subjected to a structured review. SETTING Any medical treatment setting including pain treatment as inclusion criteria for selection of studies. PATIENTS Any patients with any type of chronic pain. RESULTS The reviewed studies were consistent in indicating that there is a statistical relationship between chronic pain and depression. For the relationship between pain and depression, there was greater support for the consequence and scar hypotheses than the antecedent hypothesis. CONCLUSIONS Depression is more common in chronic pain patients (CPPs) than in healthy controls as a consequence of the presence of CP. At pain onset, predisposition to depression (the scar hypothesis) may increase the likelihood for the development of depression in some CPPS. Because of difficulties in measuring depression in the presence of CP, the reviewed studies should be interpreted with caution.
Genetic Differentiation of Populations within the Culex pipiens Complex and Phylogeny of Related Species

Abstract The Culex pipiens complex consists of several species, subspecies, forms, races, physiological variants, or biotypes according to different authors and includes the 2 holarctic variants Cx. pipiens biotype pipiens and Cx. pipiens biotype molestus. Differences in morphological characters are overlapping and thus are delimited in their taxonomic value, even when behavioral and reproductive specializations are apparent. Our enzyme electrophoretic study included 7 geographic populations of Cx. pipiens biotype pipiens and 7 of the biotype molestus from several European countries. For comparison, 5 populations of Culex quinquefasciatus from Asia, Africa, and North America were examined. The aim was an assessment of the extent of genetic differences between local populations of the biotypes pipiens and molestus versus the degree of differentiation between geographic populations of both groups. Culex torrentium, Cx. modestus, Culex stigmatosoma, and Culex territans were studied for comparison as taxonomical well-defined species. The population genetic analyses revealed much higher genetic distances between local populations of Cx. pipiens biotype pipiens and Cx. pipiens biotype molestus compared to the low differentiation between geographic populations within each taxon. The UPGMA analysis and F-statistics position the geographic populations in discrete monophyletic clusters. Gene flow between local populations of the biotypes pipiens and molestus could be shown to be lower than gene flow between geographically distant populations within each of the 2 groups, leading to the conclusion that Cx. pipiens biotype molestus could be a distinct taxon. Culex quinquefasciatus could be diagnosed as genetically well separated, in particular by the diagnostic enzyme marker MDH (NADP). Two genetic enzyme markers were identified to differentiate Cx. torrentium from Cx. pipiens s.l. Culex modestus, Cx. stigmatosoma, and Cx. territans showed considerable genetic distances to the species of the Culex pipiens complex and between each other, and several genetic markers could be identified.
A Randomized Double-Blind Clinical Trial of the Effect of Chondroitin Sulfate and Glucosamine Hydrochloride on Temporomandibular Joint Disorders: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT Previous studies have shown chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine hydrochloride have beneficial effects on symptoms of osteoarthritis of the knee. Our aim was to study the effect of a daily dose of 1500 mg of glucosamine hydrochloride (GH) and 1200 mg of chondroitin sulfate (CS) taken for twelve weeks on subjects diagnosed with capsulitis, disk displacement, disk dislocation, or painful osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Forty-five subjects were enrolled in the study and were randomly assigned to either an active medication group or a placebo group. Eleven subjects were lost from the study for various reasons, resulting in fourteen subjects remaining in the active medication group and twenty subjects remaining in the placebo group. Subjects taking CS-GH had improvements in their pain as measured by one index of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, in TMJ tenderness, in TMJ sounds, and in the number of daily over-the-counter medications needed. Subjects taking the placebo medication had improvements in their pains as measured by the visual analog scale and by four indices of the McGill Pain Questionnaire. Additional studies are required to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of CS-GH and to determine the exact mechanism by which CS-GH affects the articular cartilage of synovial joints.
Climate Change and Cross-State Islamist Terrorism in Nigeria

Abstract This paper considers if increases in temperature and decreases in rain associated with climate change are a potential driver of Islamist terrorism across states in Nigeria. With state-level Islamist terrorism event, temperature, rainfall and sociodemographic data for Nigeria, we estimate latent variable and count data specifications of the relationship between the number of Islamist terrorism events and climactic variation in temperature and rainfall motivated by how the psychological costs of conflict can be decreased by increases in outdoor ambient temperature and decreases in rainfall. Our parameter estimates reveal that increases in temperature and decreases in rainfall increase the likelihood of Islamist terrorism in Nigeria. This suggests that global warming and reduced rainfall induced by climate change are potential drivers of terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa, and policy interventions designed to abate anthropogenic climate change can reduce violent conflict that is harmful for economic growth and development.
Uncertainties and Risk Assessment in Trade Relations

Uncertainties and Risk Assessment in Trade Relations presents an innovative examination of the ambiguities of foreign importing and exporting and its impact on governmental aspects such as global relations and nancial stability. Featuring coverage on a range of topics including border adjustment, tax reforms, and liquidity regulation, this publication is targeted towards academicians, researchers, and students interested in the recent happenings and opinions of international trade.
Ganglioside GM2/GM3 complex affixed on silica nanospheres strongly inhibits cell motility through CD82/cMet-mediated pathway

Ganglioside GM2 complexed with tetraspanin CD82 in glycosynaptic microdomain of HCV29 and other epithelial cells inhibits hepatocyte growth factor-induced cMet tyrosine kinase. In addition, adhesion of HCV29 cells to extracellular matrix proteins also activates cMet kinase through “cross-talk” of integrins with cMet, leading to inhibition of cell motility and growth. Present studies indicate that cell motility and growth are greatly influenced by expression of GM2, GM3, or GM2/GM3 complexes, which affect cMet kinase activity of various types of cells, based on the following series of observations: (i) Cells expressing CD82, cultured with GM2 and GM3 cocoated on silica nanospheres, displayed stronger and more consistent motility inhibition than those cultured with GM2 or GM3 alone or with other glycosphingolipids. (ii) GM2-GM3, in the presence of Ca2+ form a heterodimer, as evidenced by electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry and by specific reactivity with mAb 8E11, directed to GM2/GM3 dimer structure. (iii) Cells expressing cMet and CD82 were characterized by enhanced motility associated with HGF-induced cMet activation. Both cMet and motility were strongly inhibited by culturing cells with GM2/GM3 dimer coated on nanospheres. (iv) Adhesion of HCV29 or YTS-1/CD82 cells to laminin-5-coated plate activated cMet kinase in the absence of HGF, whereas GM2/GM3 dimer inhibited adhesion-induced cMet kinase activity and inhibited cell motility. (v) Inhibited cell motility as in i, iii, and iv was restored to normal level by addition of mAb 8E11, which blocks interaction of GM2/GM3 dimer with CD82. Signaling through Src and MAP kinases is activated or inhibited in close association with cMet kinase, in response to GM2/GM3 dimer interaction with CD82. Thus, a previously uncharacterized GM2/GM3 heterodimer complexed with CD82 inhibits cell motility through CD82-cMet or integrin-cMet pathway.
Susceptibility of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Strains from Central Colombia to Two Insecticides, Methomyl and Lambda-Cyhalothrin: A Study of the Genetic Basis of Resistance

ABSTRACT Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is an important pest of several crops in the western hemisphere. This insect has genetically differentiated into two host-associated populations: the corn (Zea mays L.) and the rice (Oryza sativa L.) strains. The corn strain also is found in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and sorghum and the rice strain in Bermuda grass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. ] and millet. In the United States and Brazil, lines from corn, rice, Bermuda grass, and millet were used to evaluate the resistance of both strains to various insecticides, and found that the corn strain is more resistant than the rice strain. However, in these studies the larvae were not genotyped. In Colombia, genotyping of fall armyworm is necessary because the rice strain also can be found in corn fields. In this work, collected larvae from corn and rice fields from Tolima (central Colombia) were genotyped and evaluated for the resistance to methomyl and lambdacyhalothrin. We found that the rice strain does not significantly differ in resistance to methomyl compared with the corn strain but it develops tolerance more rapidly to lambda-cyhalothrin. The eggs viability of treated females also was significantly affected by methomyl on each generation. The realized heritability of resistance was higher for lambda-cyhalothrin (0.23–0.42) than for methomyl (0.04–0.14). The number of generations needed for 10-fold increase in resistance is ≈11.5 generations for methomyl and 6.5 for lambda-cyhalothrin. Finally, the genetic basis of resistance to both insecticides involves few recessive autosomal genes. The results obtained here suggest that methomyl is a better option than lambda-cyalothin to control fall armyworm.
The neural basis of visual attention

Visual attention is the mechanism the nervous system uses to highlight specific locations, objects or features within the visual field. This can be accomplished by making an eye movement to bring the object onto the fovea (overt attention) or by increased processing of visual information in neurons representing more peripheral regions of the visual field (covert attention). This review will examine two aspects of visual attention: the changes in neural responses within visual cortices due to the allocation of covert attention; and the neural activity in higher cortical areas involved in guiding the allocation of attention. The first section will highlight processes that occur during visual spatial attention and feature‐based attention in cortical visual areas and several related models that have recently been proposed to explain this activity. The second section will focus on the parietofrontal network thought to be involved in targeting eye movements and allocating covert attention. It will describe evidence that the lateral intraparietal area, frontal eye field and superior colliculus are involved in the guidance of visual attention, and describe the priority map model, which is thought to operate in at least several of these areas.
Longitudinal Phenotypic Analysis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1-Specific Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes: Correlation with Disease Progression

ABSTRACT Few studies have examined longitudinal changes in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). To more closely define the natural history of HIV-specific CTL, we used HLA-peptide tetrameric complexes to study the longitudinal CD8+ T-cell response evolution in 16 A*0201-positive untreated individuals followed clinically for up to 14 years. As early as 1 to 2 years after seroconversion, we found a significant association between high frequencies of A*0201-restricted p17Gag/Pol tetramer-binding cells and slower disease progression (P < 0.01). We observed that responses could remain stable over many months, but any longitudinal changes that occurred were typically accompanied by reciprocal changes in RNA viral load. Phenotypic analysis with markers CD45RO, CD45RA, and CD27 identified distinct subsets of antigen-specific cells and the preferential loss of CD27+ CD45RO+ cells during periods of rapid decline in the frequency of tetramer-binding cells. In addition we were unable to confirm previous studies showing a consistent selective loss of HIV-specific cells in the context of sustained Epstein-Barr virus-specific cell frequencies. Overall, these data support a role of HIV-specific CTL in the control of disease progression and suggest that the ultimate loss of such CTL may be preferentially from the CD27+ CD45RO+ subset.
Circumpolar spatio-temporal patterns and contributing climatic factors of wildfire activity in the Arctic tundra from 2001–2015

Recent years have seen an increased frequency of wildfire events in different parts of Arctic tundra ecosystems. Contemporary studies have largely attributed these wildfire events to the Arctic’s rapidly changing climate and increased atmospheric disturbances (i.e. thunderstorms). However, existing research has primarily examined the wildfire–climate dynamics of individual large wildfire events. No studies have investigated wildfire activity, including climatic drivers, for the entire tundra biome across multiple years, i.e. at the planetary scale. To address this limitation, this paper provides a planetary/circumpolar scale analyses of space-time patterns of tundra wildfire occurrence and climatic association in the Arctic over a 15 year period (2001–2015). In doing so, we have leveraged and analyzed NASA Terra’s MODIS active fire and MERRA climate reanalysis products at multiple temporal scales (decadal, seasonal and monthly). Our exploratory spatial data analysis found that tundra wildfire occurrence was spatially clustered and fire intensity was spatially autocorrelated across the Arctic regions. Most of the wildfire events occurred in the peak summer months (June–August). Our multi-temporal (decadal, seasonal and monthly) scale analyses provide further support to the link between climate variability and wildfire activity. Specifically, we found that warm and dry conditions in the late spring to mid-summer influenced tundra wildfire occurrence, spatio-temporal distribution, and fire intensity. Additionally, reduced average surface precipitation and soil moisture levels in the winter–spring period were associated with increased fire intensity in the following summer. These findings enrich contemporary knowledge on tundra wildfire’s spatial and seasonal patterns, and shed new light on tundra wildfire–climate relationships in the circumpolar context. Furthermore, this first pan-Arctic analysis provides a strong incentive and direction for future studies which integrate multiple datasets (i.e. climate, fuels, topography, and ignition sources) to accurately estimate carbon emission from tundra burning and its global climate feedbacks in coming decades.