Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mutual fund performance evaluation during periods of market turbulence: evidence from the Greek market

This paper examines fund managers’ performance during an unprecedented world financial crisis using Greek domestic equity funds for the period 1/1/2007-30/11/2012. This period also covers the Greek fiscal crisis and the so called “Grexit” possibility, forming a unique setting for analysis. The author employs the widely used Treynor and Mazuy (1966) methodology augmented by new explanatory variables in order to identify fund managers’ skills and capture the special characteristics of the Greek market, focusing on the extreme market conditions in the Greek stock market and the adverse shareholder sentiment reflected in fund outflows. The empirical results indicate that fund managers did not possess any superior selectivity or market timing skill. Moreover, fund flows had a significant impact on funds’ performance during the turbulent period under examination making active management more difficult.
A Tale of Two Species

The process of speciation is complex and poorly understood. Many studies have investigated individual phenotypes that may provide a competitive advantage; however, interactions between several different traits are likely required for an organism to adapt to a new and complex environment (Orr, H.A., 2005). In a recent study published in Nature, Drs. Matthew E. Arnegard and Catherine L. Peichel (Human Biology and Basic Sciences Divisions) led an international collaboration with Dr. Dolph Schluter (University of British Columbia), using a unique combination of the threespine stickleback fish model system and artificial ponds to demonstrate that multiple unlinked genetic loci across the genome contribute to the adaptation of these fish to either inshore or open water lake habitats.
Spatial Distribution of Volcanos in the Marius Hills and Comparison with Volcanic Fields on Earth and Venus

Introduction The Marius Hills volcanic field is the largest volcanic dome complex on the Moon. Located in central Oceanus Procellarum, it is about 200 by 250 km across. It includes about 300 volcanic domes and cones, which is roughly half of the total number of volcanic domes on the Moon’s surface [1,2]. The unusual concentration of volcanism in this small region of the Moon makes it an important study target. Here, we discuss the spatial distribution of volcanos within the Marius Hills and contrast our results with volcanic fields on Earth and Venus. This work complements a gravity study of the Marius Hills, which images details of the subsurface structure related to the magmatic plumbing of the volcanic field [3].
The ERIS adaptive optics system: from design to hardware

ERIS is the new AO instrument for VLT-UT4 led by a Consortium of Max-Planck Institut fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, UK-ATC, ETH-Zurich, NOVA-Leiden, ESO and INAF. The ERIS AO system provides NGS mode to deliver high contrast correction and LGS mode to extend high Strehl performance to large sky coverage. The AO module includes NGS and LGS wavefront sensors and, with VLT-AOF Deformable Secondary Mirror and Laser Facility, will provide AO correction to the high resolution coronagraphic imager NIX (1-5um) and the IFU spectrograph SPIFFIER (1-2.5um). In this paper, we present the final design of the ERIS AO system and the status of the of current MAIV phase.
Subsurface structures of Sianok Segment in the GSF (Great Sumatran Fault) inferred from magnetic and gravity modeling

Among the 19 segments of the Great Sumatran Fault (GSF), the Sianok segment is unique due to its proximity to active volcanoes as well as to the sizable Maninjau Caldera. Located next to the Sumani to its southeast, the Sianok segment also passes through a relatively densely populated area. To identify potential disasters in the future, it is imperative to understand the subsurface structures of the Sianok segment. In this study, ground magnetic measurements were conducted, and the data were combined with the Bouguer anomaly map. Hand samples were also collected and measured for magnetic susceptibility and density. The values were later used as initial parameters for modeling. Joint forward modeling of magnetic and gravity was then used in the modeling stage as well as in the interpretation stage. Subsurface models of 20 km in depth were then formulated based on the magnetic and gravity data. The models show shallow magma chambers beneath Maninjau Caldera, Mount Marapi, and Mount Singgalang-Tandikat. The models confirm that exposed and unexposed Permian metamorphic rocks are commonly distributed in the Sianok segment. The thickness of volcanic deposits such as tuff and andesites in the Sianok segment were found to be sizable, ranging from 1 km for tuff to 3.5 km for andesites of the Maninjau Caldera.
Antimicrobial resistance and genomic characterization of Salmonella enterica serovar Senftenberg isolates in production animals from the United States

In the USA, Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Senftenberg is among the top five serovars isolated from food and the top 11 serovars isolated from clinically ill animals. Human infections are associated with exposure to farm environments or contaminated food. The objective of this study was to characterize S. Senftenberg isolates from production animals by analyzing phenotypic antimicrobial resistance profiles, genomic features and phylogeny. Salmonella Senftenberg isolates (n = 94) from 20 US states were selected from NVSL submissions (2014–2017), tested against 14 antimicrobial drugs, and resistance phenotypes determined. Resistance genotypes were determined using whole genome sequencing analysis with AMRFinder and the NCBI and ResFinder databases with ABRicate. Plasmids were detected using PlasmidFinder. Integrons were detected using IntFinder and manual alignment with reference genes. Multilocus-sequence-typing (MLST) was determined using ABRicate with PubMLST database, and phylogeny was determined using vSNP. Among 94 isolates, 60.6% were resistant to at least one antimicrobial and 39.4% showed multidrug resistance. The most prevalent resistance findings were for streptomycin (44.7%), tetracycline (42.6%), ampicillin (36.2%) and sulfisoxazole (32.9%). The most commonly found antimicrobial resistance genes were aac(6′)-Iaa (100%), aph(3″)-Ib and aph(6)-Id (29.8%) for aminoglycosides, followed by blaTEM-1 (26.6%) for penicillins, sul1 (25.5%) and sul2 (23.4%) for sulfonamides and tetA (23.4%) for tetracyclines. Quinolone-resistant isolates presented mutations in gyrA and/or parC genes. Class 1 integrons were found in 37 isolates. Thirty-six plasmid types were identified among 77.7% of the isolates. Phylogenetic analysis identified two distinct lineages of S. Senftenberg that correlated with the MLST results. Isolates were classified into two distinct sequence types (ST): ST14 (97.9%) and ST 185 (2.1%). The diversity of this serotype suggests multiple introductions into animal populations from outside sources. This study provided antimicrobial susceptibility and genomic characteristics of S. Senftenberg clinical isolates from production animals in the USA during 2014 to 2017. This study will serve as a base for future studies focused on the phenotypic and molecular antimicrobial characterization of S. Senftenberg isolates in animals. Monitoring of antimicrobial resistance to detect emergence of multidrug-resistant strains is critical.
Farmers’ trust in government and participation intention toward rural tourism through TAM: The moderation effect of perceived risk

At present, there are almost 700 million rural population in China, and the farm and farmers in China are highly associated with the steadiness and development of the country and even the world. Farmers are the main subjects in rural development and play a vital role in the reception, management, and benefit distribution in rural tourism activities during the development of rural tourism. Farmers’ perception and participation intention in rural tourism development are directly related to the sustainable development of rural tourism and the realization of rural revitalization goals. The decision-making process of participation in the rural tourism development fits the application conditions of the technology acceptance model (TAM). Therefore, in order to explore the influencing factors of farmers’ decision-making process in participating in the rural tourism, this study employs the technology acceptance model to predict and judge individual farmers’ willingness and behavior to participate in the rural tourism. The government trust and perceived risk in the real problem of low participation of farmers in the rural tourism development are considered. Then, an extended technology acceptance model was established by taking 409 farm households as research samples. The influence of government trust on farmers’ participation intention in the rural tourism was empirically analyzed based on the PLS-SEM model. The results show that farmers’ perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use in rural tourism affect their participation intention. Farmers’ judgments on whether governments can assume public responsibilities and achieve public interests through rural tourism development affects their trust in government, while the government trust can positively affect farmers’ participation intention via perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. This indicates that government trust is an important antecedent variable influencing farmers’ participation in the rural tourism. The perceived risk affects farmers’ perceived usefulness and participation intention in the rural tourism, and plays a moderating role in the relationship between government trust and perceived usefulness. Finally, this study recommends to highlight the utility and convenience of rural tourism participation during the promotion of farmers’ participation in rural tourism development, enhance the ability of farmers to participate in rural tourism development, and choose multiple channels to increase government trust to reduce farmers’ risk concerns.
Increased AR expression in castration-resistant prostate cancer rapidly induces AR signaling reprogramming with the collaboration of EZH2

Elevated androgen receptor (AR) expression is a hallmark of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and contributes to the restoration of AR signaling under the conditions of androgen deprivation. However, whether overexpressed AR alone with the stimulation of castrate levels of androgens can be sufficient to induce the reprogramming of AR signaling for the adaptation of prostate cancer (PCa) cells remains unclear. In this study, we used a PCa model with inducible overexpression of AR to examine the acute effects of AR overexpression on its cistrome and transcriptome. Our results show that overexpression of AR alone in conjunction with lower androgen levels can rapidly redistribute AR chromatin binding and activates a distinct transcription program that is enriched for DNA damage repair pathways. Moreover, using a recently developed bioinformatic tool, we predicted the involvement of EZH2 in this AR reprogramming and subsequently identified a subset of AR/EZH2 co-targeting genes, which are overexpressed in CRPC and associated with worse patient outcomes. Mechanistically, we found that AR-EZH2 interaction is impaired by the pre-castration level of androgens but can be recovered by the post-castration level of androgens. Overall, our study provides new molecular insights into AR signaling reprogramming with the engagement of specific epigenetic factors.
Calcium imaging: A versatile tool to examine Huntington’s disease mechanisms and progression

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal, hereditary neurodegenerative disorder that causes chorea, cognitive deficits, and psychiatric symptoms. It is characterized by accumulation of mutant Htt protein, which primarily impacts striatal medium-sized spiny neurons (MSNs), as well as cortical pyramidal neurons (CPNs), causing synapse loss and eventually cell death. Perturbed Ca2+ homeostasis is believed to play a major role in HD, as altered Ca2+ homeostasis often precedes striatal dysfunction and manifestation of HD symptoms. In addition, dysregulation of Ca2+ can cause morphological and functional changes in MSNs and CPNs. Therefore, Ca2+ imaging techniques have the potential of visualizing changes in Ca2+ dynamics and neuronal activity in HD animal models. This minireview focuses on studies using diverse Ca2+ imaging techniques, including two-photon microscopy, fiber photometry, and miniscopes, in combination of Ca2+ indicators to monitor activity of neurons in HD models as the disease progresses. We then discuss the future applications of Ca2+ imaging to visualize disease mechanisms and alterations associated with HD, as well as studies showing how, as a proof-of-concept, Ca2+imaging using miniscopes in freely-behaving animals can help elucidate the differential role of direct and indirect pathway MSNs in HD symptoms.
Evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of the East African community joint assessment procedure by pharmaceutical companies: Opportunities for improvement

Background: A 2021 study to determine the viewpoints among the seven member countries regarding the effectiveness (i.e., achieving the intended outcomes) and efficiency (i.e., achieving the intended outcomes in timely manner with the resources available) of the East African Community Medicine Regulatory Harmonisation (EAC-MRH) Joint Assessment Procedure recommended the conduct of a similar study among pharmaceutical company applicants. The aim of this study then was to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the current EAC-MRH operating model from the applicants’ perspective, including the challenges and opportunities for improvement. Methods: Using the Process Effectiveness and Efficiency Rating for Industry questionnaire developed by the authors, data were collected from company representatives responsible for EAC joint procedure submissions. Results: Responses from 14 study participants underlined the support of pharmaceutical companies for the EAC-MRH initiative, which has facilitated the harmonisation of registration requirements across the EAC region leading to one registration for all countries and a reduction of the workload for both applicants and assessors. In addition, it is expected that shorter timelines for approval will lead to improved access to quality-assured essential medicines in the region. Access to various markets at the same time was also noted as an important benefit to pharmaceutical companies. Noted challenges include a lack of process information, a lack of centralised submission and tracking process and a lack of mandated central registration. A key strategy proposed by participants is the establishment of a regional administrative body to centrally receive and track EAC applications and the eventual establishment of a Regional EAC Medicines Authority. Conclusion: This is the first study evaluating the performance of the EAC work-sharing initiative from the point of view of the applicants. In general, the applicants believe that the system performs efficiently and fulfils its promise. However, some participants indicated that in some countries an EAC positive recommendation does not directly result in an individual country approvals. Following the recommendations listed in this report may mitigate identified areas for improvement and facilitate the overall goal of the EAC-MRH initiative to expedite the availability of needed quality-assured medicines to patients in the region.
Patent foramen ovale closure vs. medical therapy alone after cryptogenic stroke in China: A cost-effectiveness analysis

Background In 2019, there were 28. 76 million patients with stroke in China, with ~25% of them suffering from cryptogenic stroke (CS). Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is related to CS, and PFO closure can reduce recurrent stroke. To date, no study has investigated the cost-effectiveness of PFO closure vs. medical therapy among such populations in China. Methods A Markov model with a cycle length of 3 months was established to compare the 30-year cost-effectiveness of PFO closure and medical therapy. The transition probability of recurrent stroke was derived from the RESPECT study, and the costs and utility were obtained from domestic data or studies conducted in China. The primary outcome of this study was the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), which represents the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY). PFO closure was considered cost-effective if the ICER obtained was lower than the willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of 37,654 USD/QALY; otherwise, PFO closure was regarded as not being cost-effective. One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to test the robustness of the results. Results After a simulation of a 30-year horizon, a cryptogenic stroke patient with PFO was expected to have QALY of 13.15 (15.26 LY) if he received PFO closure and a corresponding value of 11.74 QALY (15.14 LY) after medical therapy. The corresponding costs in both cohorts are US $8,131 and US $4,186, respectively. Thus, an ICER of 2783 USD/QALY and 31264 USD/LY was obtained, which is lower than the WTP threshold. One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses showed that the results were robust. Conclusion With respect to the WTP threshold of three times per capita GDP in China in 2021, PFO closure is a cost-effective method for Chinese cryptogenic stroke patients with PFO, as shown in the 30-year simulation.
Management of Weeds in Maize (Zea mays L.) through Various Pre and Post Emergency Herbicides

Field experiments were conducted in 2013 during main cropping season at Ambo and Guder to determine the effect of different post and pre emergency herbicides application on weed dynamics in maize (Zea mays L.) variety, BH-660 in randomized complete block design with three replications. Six treatments including Nicosulfuron (Arrow 75 WDG) at 0.09 kgha-1+ silwet gold (adjuvant) at 0.10%, S-metolachlor 290 + Atrazine (Primagram) at 3.00 kgha-1, s-metolachlor (dual gold) 1.5 kgha-1, hand weeding as standard check and weedy check as control were used. Effect of different herbicides on weed density was significant. The lowest weed density was recorded in plot treated with hand weeding and hoeing (3.12 m-2) followed by Nicosulfuron (18.67 m-2) and Primagram (3.88 m-2). But, the maximum was recorded in weedy check (14.16 m-2). However, no significant difference was observed between Nicosulfuron and Primagram. The minimum dry weight of weeds (0.77 gm-2) was observed in hand weeding and hoeing followed by Nicosulfuron which is not significantly different from s-metolachlor. Moreover, those treatments also significantly increased the yield and yield component of maize. This is an indication of the reliability and promise as well as the exhibition of the great potential of the Nicosulfuron is the effective control of the weeds and enhancing yield of maize in Guder and Ambo, Ethiopia.
Steering driftless nonholonomic systems by control quanta

We consider the problem of steering a class of nonholonomic systems, namely systems that are feedback equivalent to a strictly triangular form, which is considerably larger than other classes for which the steering problem, has been given closed form solutions in the literature. The proposed solution consists in the application of a finite concatenation of finite-support control actions chosen among a finite set, suitable selected in the input space, each resulting in a quantum change in the system state. The method results in a closed form algorithm which is exact up to an arbitrary tolerance.
The Exponential Growth of Mathematics and Technology at the University of Portsmouth.

The number of students studying university mathematics in the UK has been increasing gradually and linearly since 2002. At the University of Portsmouth, number of students studying mathematics doubled from 30 to 60 between 2002 and 2007, then increased by 240% in just 1 year to over 140 in 2008. This article explains how learning technology has supported such a dramatic growth and continues to provides inspiring resources for first year students (see McCabe, ICTMT-x, x = 3 … 8). Maple 12 and Matlab applications are provided in WebCT Vista with e-assessment questions delivered in QM Perception and MapleTA. This combination has been extremely effective in scaling up course delivery to ‘exponentially’ larger classes. In particular, the assessment of mathematical problem solving with reusable assessment objects has encouraged students to learn.
Endemism in historical biogeography and conservation biology: concepts and implications

Author(s): Fattorini, Simone | Abstract: Endemism is often misinterpreted as referring to narrow distributions (range restriction). In fact, a taxon is said to be endemic to an area if it lives there and nowhere else. The expression “endemic area” is used to identify the geographical area to which a taxon is native, whereas “area of endemism” indicates an area characterized by the overlapping distributions of two or more taxa. Among the methods used to identify areas of endemism, the optimality criterion seems to be more efficient than Parsimony Analysis of Endemism (PAE), although PAE may be useful to disclose hierarchical relationships among areas of endemism. PAE remains the best explored method and may represent a useful benchmark for testing other approaches. Recently proposed approaches, such as the analysis of nested areas of endemism, networks and neighborjoining, are promising, but need to be more widely tested. All these methods attempt to identify biogeographically homogeneous sets of areas characterized by shared species, without any attempt to evaluate their relative importance for conservation purposes. Analyses based on weighted endemism methods identify areas of endemism according to specie distributional rarity and phylogenetic position, being thus appropriate for conservation purposes. The proportion of endemic species to the total number of species living a given area is the most frequently used measure to rank areas according to their relative endemism. However, proportions obscure differences in raw numbers that can be important in conservation biology. Because the number of (endemic) species tends to increase with area, some authors proposed to model the endemics-area relationship and to consider the areas displaced above the fitting curve (i.e. those having a positive residual) as hotspots. However, the use of residuals may lead to areas being identified as hotspots for almost every size class of richness. Thus, it is important to evaluate the ability of the hotspots recovered by these procedures to really conserve total (endemic) species diversity.
Self-heating in normal metals and superconductors

This review is devoted to the physics of current-carrying superconductors and normal metals having two or more stable states sustained by Joule self-heating. The creation, propagation, and localization of electrothermal domains and switching waves leading to the transition from one stable state to another in uniform and nonuniform samples are treated in detail. The connection between thermal bistability and hysteresis, dropping and stepped current-voltage characteristics, self-induced oscillations of current and voltage, selfreplication of electrothermal domains, and the formation of periodic and stochastic resistive structures are considered.
Two-photon fluorescence excitation with a microlens fabricated on the fused silica chip by femtosecond laser micromachining

We report on the fabrication of a microlens on a fused silica chip with excellent optical performance by femtosecond laser microfabrication. We show, both in theory and experimentally, that the fabricated microlens offers a high resolution approaching the optical diffraction limit. Moreover, two-photon excitation of fluorescence with the fabricated microlens is demonstrated. The lateral and axial resolutions of fluorescence are measured to be ∼1.7 and 12.3 μm, respectively.