Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Globacrochordiceras gen. nov. (Acrochordiceratidae, late Early Triassic) and its significance for stress-induced evolutionary jumps in ammonoid lineages (cephalopods)

Globacrochordiceras transpacificum gen. et sp. nov. is an ammonoid (Ammonoidea, Cephalopoda) with a shell characterized by plicate ribbing (rounded and undulating ribs strengthening on the venter without interruption), increasing involution through ontogeny, overhanging and deep umbilical wall, absence of tuberculation, subtriangular whorl section, globose adult shape with a closed umbilicus followed by an abrupt egressive coiling, and a subammonitic adult suture line. This new taxon occurs in Nevada (USA) and in Guangxi (South China). It has its typical occurrence within the Neopopanoceras haugi Zone of late Spathian age (Early Triassic). The plicate ribbing, suture line and general shell shape are diagnostic of the family Acrochordiceratidae. The large adult size, high degree of involution and subammonitic suture line of Globacrochordiceras markedly contrast with the next younger genus of the family (Paracrochordiceras of early Anisian age, Middle Triassic), which is evolute and displays a ceratitic suture shape. Shell coiling and suture line of Globacrochordiceras are closer to that of the youngest member of the family: Acrochordiceras carolinae (late middle Anisian). The latter is the end-member of a long-term morphological evolutionary trend of the family during the early and middle Anisian. This trend composed of classical increases in adult size (Cope's rule), shell involution and suture indentation, lasted ca. four Myr. The sudden morphological evolutionary jump between Globacrochordiceras and Paracrochordiceras at the Spathian/Anisian (Early/Middle Triassic) boundary may correspond to a generalized morphological reset of long-term trends, a process that differs from classic paedomorphic transformations. A dramatic global sea level change and carbon isotope positive excursion at the Early/Middle Triassic boundary both indicate stressful environmental changes that may have triggered this evolutionary jump.
Doubly infinite residual networks: a diffusion process approach

When neural network's parameters are initialized as i.i. d. , neural networks exhibit undesirable forward and backward properties as the number of layers increases, e.g., vanishing dependency on the input, and perfectly correlated outputs for any two inputs. To overcome these drawbacks Peluchetti and Favaro (2020) considered fully connected residual networks (ResNets) with parameters' distributions that shrink as the number of layers increases. In particular, they established an interplay between infinitely deep ResNets and solutions to stochastic differential equations, i.e. diffusion processes, showing that infinitely deep ResNets does not suffer from undesirable forward properties. In this paper, we review the forward-propagation results of Peluchetti and Favaro (2020), extending them to the setting of convolutional ResNets. Then, we study analogous backward-propagation results, which directly relate to the problem of training deep ResNets. Finally, we extend our study to the doubly infinite regime where both network's width and depth grow unboundedly. Within this novel regime the dynamics of quantities of interest converge, at initialization, to deterministic limits. This allow us to provide analytical expressions for inference, both in the case of weakly trained and fully trained networks. These results point to a limited expressive power of doubly infinite ResNets when the unscaled parameters are i.i. d, and residual blocks are shallow.
Beneficial Antipsychotic Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acids Add-On Therapy for the Pharmacological Management of Patients With Schizophrenia

Objective: It has been shown that serum and red blood cells’ level of Omega-3 fatty acids are low in people with schizophrenia. Many studies have, therefore, attempted to explore the beneficial effects of these substances in the management of Schizophrenia. However, the outcomes of the previous studies have not been clear cut. The present study is an attempt to retest this hypothesis by eliminating some of the limitations of the previous studies. Methods: In a prospective double blind placebo-controlled clinical trial, 85 inpatients with schizophrenia randomly assigned to either risperidone plus Omega-3 or risperidone plus placebo. After a washout period, 44 patients received 2-8 mg/day of risperidone plus placebo and 43 patients received risperidone plus 3 gr/day of Omega-3 for 6 weeks. The treatment effect was calculated by Friedman, Mann Whitney and t test. There were no significant differences between groups in age, sex, education, duration of illness and the number of previous hospitalizations. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in the scores of Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale between two groups at weeks 0, 3 and 6 and for the whole duration of the study. Conclusion: In our study, Omega-3 fatty acids had no superiority to placebo in reducing the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. However, due to a short duration of our study, we recommend that more long term clinical trials are needed in order to develop a better understanding of the therapeutic effects of the Omega-3 fatty acids in the pharmacological management of schizophrenia.
Solar cycle evolution of dipolar and pseudostreamer belts and their relation to the slow solar wind

Dipolar streamers are coronal structures formed by open solar flux converging from coronal holes of opposite polarity. Thus, the dipolar streamer belt traces the coronal foot point of the heliospheric current sheet, and it is strongly associated with the origin of slow solar wind. Pseudostreamers, on the other hand, separate converging regions of open solar flux from coronal holes of the same polarity and do not contain current sheets. They have recently received a great deal of interest as a possible additional source of slow solar wind. Here we add to that growing body of work by using the potential‐field source‐surface model to determine the occurrence and location of dipolar and pseudostreamers over the last three solar cycles. In addition to providing new information about pseudostreamer morphology, the results help explain why the observations taken during the first Ulysses perihelion pass in 1995 showed noncoincidence between dipolar streamer belt and the locus of slowest flow. We find that Carrington rotation averages of the heliographic latitudes of dipolar and pseudostreamer belts are systematically shifted away from the equator, alternately in opposite directions, with a weak solar cycle periodicity, thus keeping slow wind from the web of combined streamer belts approximately symmetric about the equator. The largest separation of dipolar and pseudostreamer belts occurred close to the Ulysses pass, allowing a unique opportunity to see that slow wind from pseudostreamer belts north of the southward displaced dipolar belt was responsible for the noncoincident pattern.
Impact study of prosumers on loadability and voltage stability of future grids

Feed-in-tariffs (FiTs) have been reduced due to combinations of economic and technical reasons. So, existing and new rooftop-photovoltaic (PV) owners are left with the option to either concede the low value arrangement or to use battery storage to maximise their self-consumption, and so minimise their electricity cost. This paper explores the effect of increasing penetration of residential battery systems on balancing and voltage stability of future grid (FG) scenarios. For this purpose, a generic demand model based on a Stackelberg game is employed to capture the interaction between an independent system operator (ISO) and prosumers. In this arrangement, the ISO attempts to minimise the total generation cost, whereas the prosumers aim to maximise their self-consumption by reducing their feed-in power. As a case study, we use the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) to explore the impact of increased penetration of residential battery system on performance of the grid in 2020.
Comparing the Impact of Brand Value on Corporate Profit in B2B and B2C Businesses: A Case Study

In recent years, the importance of branding has dramatically increased on the ground that brands have the potential to be a source of long-term competitive advantages for any businesses. Although it seems that brand value, theoretically, has a significant impact on corporate profits, evaluating the brand value's influence level on corporate profits can give clear signals to both managers and investors to adopt the most accurate and probable decisions. Furthermore, another significant concern of this study is whether considering different types of business matters in such analyses. As a case study, this paper investigates the impact of brand value on corporate profit in two significant industries that operate in the Tehran Stock Exchange, i.e., petrochemical and banking industries which stand for B2B and B2C businesses respectively. To do so, the monthly data from June 2008 to June 2018 in a Panel GMM framework is applied. The results show that the effect of brand value on the profit of both the banking and petrochemical industries are positive and significant. These results also confirm that the effect of brand value on profitability in the B2C businesses (banking industry) is significantly higher, almost double, compared to the B2B (petrochemical industries) business group.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome in haemodialysis patients: a report of two cases

In March 2003, an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) occurred in Hong Kong. As of July 10, 2003, the World Health Organization has reported 1755 cases of SARS in Hong Kong and 8437 cases worldwide [1]. Outbreaks and case clusters have been reported in the literature in recentmonths [2–5]. The first known case of SARS in Hong Kong was a physician working in a hospital in Guangdong Province who travelled to Hong Kong on February 21, 2003 [3]. A novel coronavirus has been identified as a possible cause of SARS [6,7]. SARS can occur in both healthy individuals and those with chronic illness including endstage renal failure. Clinical information of SARS on renal dialysis patients is lacking. We describe here two end-stage renal failure patients, both receiving chronic haemodialysis, who acquired the disease after contact with SARS patients and had different outcomes.
Thermoregulation in Winter Swimmers and Physiological Significance of Human Catecholamine Thermogenesis

Thermoregulation in control subjects and cold‐adapted winter swimmers was examined during 1 h of cold water immersion (13°C). It was found that the thermoregulatory functions of winter swimmers differ from those of non‐cold‐adapted subjects. As evident from the relationship between rectal temperature and the magnitude of cold thermogenesis, in controls a significant part of cold thermogenesis during the early phase of cooling was induced by changes in peripheral temperature input, while in the late phase of cooling it was the central temperature input which was mainly engaged in induction of cold thermogenesis. In winter swimmers the magnitude of cold thermogenesis was solely related to changes in rectal temperature, indicating the predominance of the central temperature input in activation of heat production mechanisms. The thermoregulatory threshold for induction of cold thermogenesis was lowered (by 0.34°C), but the apparent hypothalamic thermosensitivity was the same as in non‐cold‐adapted subjects. These differences are indicative of adaptation of thermoregulatory control centres. Additionally, the activity of thermoregulatory effectors was also changed. Shivering was induced later during cooling (after 40 min) in winter swimmers than in controls, which suggests an important participation of non‐shivering thermogenesis in the early thermogenic response. Winter swimmers also showed bradycardia and a greater reduction in plasma volume during cooling. The data indirectly indicate restriction of heat loss from the body. Only a non‐significant increase in quantity of subcutaneous fat was observed in winter swimmers. Thus, winter swimmers were able to survive a significantly greater temperature gradient between body and environment than non‐cold‐adapted subjects by modifying the sensory functions of hypothalamic thermoregulatory centres to lower heat loss and produce less heat during cold exposure. Additionally, the capacity of the total cold thermogenesis due to potentiation of non‐shivering heat production was also increased. Heat produced due to thermogenic action of adrenaline may represent more than a quarter of the total cold thermogenesis. In conclusion, the data suggest that winter swimmers exhibit metabolic, hypothermic and insulative types of cold adaptation.
High-level modelling and efficient analysis of randomized protocols

Model checking is a fully automatic verification technique that allows for proving that a given model satisfies under all circumstances a given property. In this thesis we develop and evaluate techniques that concern quantitative model checking of probabilistic nondeterministic systems against linear temporal properties, i.e., calculating the (minimum or maximum) probability that a linear temporal property is satisfied by the model. In this context we discuss the design and implementation of a probabilistic modelling language for probabilistic nondeterministic systems. This language named PROBMela features parallel interleaved processes, shared and local variables, nondeterministic and probabilistic choice, loops, asynchronous and synchronous communication via channels, lossy channels, randomized assignments and atomic regions. For this language we give operational semantics in terms of Markov decision processes (MDPs). The main obstacle in model checking is the state explosion problem which means that the size of the system under consideration (i.e., the model) usually grows exponentially with the number and size of their compositional parts like processes, variables and level of reactive behaviour. In this thesis we present work concerning reduction techniques to cope with the state explosion problem. The quantitative analysis of MDPs relies on the graphtheoretic analysis of particular sub-structures, the so-called end components. We discuss some improvements of the numerical solving stage of the quantitative analysis, which exploit particular properties of end components to construct a reduced version of the MDP that is considerable easier to solve, thus weakening the impact of the state explosion. We also discuss how the concept of fairness, a concept that is very important in the context of high-level modelling of parallel systems, can seamlessly be integrated into the quantitative analysis procedure. Furthermore we turn our attention to practical aspects of partial order reduction reduction method for probabilistic systems. The ample-set method involves five conditions, the socalled ample set conditions, that fix precise circumstances for a property-preserving reduction of the outgoing edges of the MDP’s states, thus yielding an (property-wise) equivalent reduced MDP. Without further changes these conditions are, because of their partially global nature, not ready-to-use for a practical implementation. We discuss sufficient, weaker local criteria for these five conditions and report on their potential in a practical implementation. All the aspects, the language, the numerical reduction, the partial order reduction and the fairness approach mentioned above, have been implemented in the explicit, virtual-machine based quantitative linear-time model checker LiQuor for experiments.
Toward seamless wearable sensing: Automatic on-body sensor localization for physical activity monitoring

Mobile wearable sensors have demonstrated great potential in a broad range of applications in healthcare and wellness. These technologies are known for their potential to revolutionize the way next generation medical services are supplied and consumed by providing more effective interventions, improving health outcomes, and substantially reducing healthcare costs. Despite these potentials, utilization of these sensor devices is currently limited to lab settings and in highly controlled clinical trials. A major obstacle in widespread utilization of these systems is that the sensors need to be used in predefined locations on the body in order to provide accurate outcomes such as type of physical activity performed by the user. This has reduced users' willingness to utilize such technologies. In this paper, we propose a novel signal processing approach that leverages feature selection algorithms for accurate and automatic localization of wearable sensors. Our results based on real data collected using wearable motion sensors demonstrate that the proposed approach can perform sensor localization with 98.4% accuracy which is 30.7% more accurate than an approach without a feature selection mechanism. Furthermore, utilizing our node localization algorithm aids the activity recognition algorithm to achieve 98.8% accuracy (an increase from 33.6% for the system without node localization).
Performance of Markov-Switching GARCH Model Forecasting Inflation Uncertainty

This paper seeks to uncover the non-linear characteristics of uncertainty underlying the US inflation rates over the period 1971-2015 within a regime-switching framework. Accordingly, we employ two variants of a Markov regime-switching GARCH model, one with normally distributed errors (MS-GARCH-N) and another with t-distributed errors (MS-GARCH-t), and compare their relative in-sample as well as out-of-sample performances with those of their standard single-regime counterparts. Consistent with the findings in existing studies, both of our regime-switching models are successful in identifying the year 1984 as the breakpoint in inflation volatility. Among other interesting results is a new finding that the process of switching to the low volatility regime started around April, 1979 and continued until mid 1983. This time frame is matched with the period of aggressive monetary policy changes implemented by the then Fed chairman Paul Volcker. As regards the performance in forecasting uncertainty, for shorter horizons spanning 1 to 5 months, MS-GARCH-N forecasts are found to outperform all other models whereas for 8 to 12-month ahead forecasts MS-GARCH-t appears superior.
Expression of bone morphogenetic proteins in colon carcinoma with heterotopic ossification

Here we report the case of a 50‐year‐old woman with adenocarcinoma of the colon, showing heterotopic ossification. The patient was referred to our hospital for investigation of anemia secondary to occult gastrointestinal blood loss. By colonoscopy, an irregular polypoid mass was found in the ascending colon. A biopsy of the lesion revealed moderately to poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with heterotopic ossification. A right hemicolectomy was done and revealed areas of heterotopic bone within the tumor, but no ossification was evident in the metastatic lesions within the mesenteric lymph nodes. The formation of heterotopic bone in gastrointestinal tumors is rare and its exact mechanism is unknown. Immunohistochemical localization of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP), known to be primary inducers of new bone formation, was determined. BMP‐5 and ‐6 were prominent in the cytoplasm of tumor cells, and they stained weakly in osteoblast‐like cells adjacent to newly formed bone. Cytoplasmic staining for BMP‐2 and ‐4 was weak in tumor cells, osteoblast‐like cells, and stromal fibroblast cells. BMP may play an important role in heterotopic ossification in colon adenocarcinoma.
The spectrum of mild traumatic brain injury

Objective: This review provides an in-depth overview of diagnostic schema and risk factors influencing recovery during the acute, subacute (operationally defined as up to 3 months postinjury), and chronic injury phases across the full spectrum of individuals (e.g., athletes to neurosurgery patients) with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Particular emphasis is placed on the complex differential diagnoses for patients with prolonged postconcussive symptoms. Methods: Select literature review and synthesis. Results: In spite of an increase in public awareness surrounding the acute and potential long-term effects of mTBI, the medical field remains fragmented both in terms of the diagnostic (different criteria proffered by multiple medical organizations) and prognostic factors that influence patient care. Conclusions: Given the lack of objective biomarkers and the spectrum of different disorders that likely encompass mTBI, clinicians are encouraged to adopt a probabilistic, rather than definitive, diagnostic and prognostic framework. The relevance of accurately diagnosing and managing the different manifestations of mTBI becomes clear when one considers the overall incidence of the disorder (42 million people each year worldwide), and the different treatment implications for patients with a true neurodegenerative disorder (e.g., chronic traumatic encephalopathy; rare) vs potentially treatable conditions (e.g., depression or posttraumatic headache; frequent).
Microscale determination of dissociation constants of multivalent pharmaceuticals by capillary electrophoresis.

Dissociation constants (pKaS) of acidic, basic, and amphoteric pharmaceuticals were exactly determined by capillary electrophoresis. A general equation for use in calculation of pKaS from solute mobilities observed at different pHs was derived to be suitable for a multivalent compound with close pKaS such as angiotensins, which are bioactive octa- or decapeptides. The obtained pKa values were highly consistent with the values determined by conventional methods. For verapamil, the detection limit was 9.8 microM (49 fmol), the total analysis time was 12 min, and the relative standard deviation of the obtained pKa value was 0.11%. This method was also applicable to a mixture of two components, e.g., a bioactive compound and the prodrug, because they have different mobilities and are separated from each other.
Lineage infidelity in myeloid cells with TCR gene rearrangement: A latent developmental potential of proT cells revealed by ectopic cytokine receptor signaling

The most immature lymphoid-committed progenitors in both the bone marrow (common lymphoid progenitor) and thymus (proT1) maintain a latent granulocyte/macrophage (G/M) differentiation potential that can be initiated by signals emanating from exogenously expressed IL-2 receptors. In this study, we investigate at which developmental stage thymocytes lose this G/M differentiation potential. We demonstrate that the next maturational stage after proT1 cells (proT2), but not preT (TN3) cells, can convert cell fate from lymphoid to myeloid in response to ectopic IL-2 receptor signaling in human IL-2Rβ transgenic mice. It is significant that approximately 10% of clonogenic G/M colonies derived from proT cells of IL-2Rβ transgenic mice have DJ rearrangement specifically at the Dβ1 but not Dβ2 segment in the TCRβ locus. No TCR gene rearrangement is observed in G/M cells from nontransgenic mice, suggesting that the G/M cells we observe in this system were truly lymphoid-committed before stimulation with IL-2. In addition, Dβ1 and Dβ2 DJ rearrangement of the TCRβ gene may be differentially regulated and thus serve as markers for distinct proT cell maturational stages.