Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Geometric Theorems and Problems for Harmonic Measure

We review some results and open problems for harmonic measure. Their common element is their simple geometric character. Such classical results are the projection estimates of Beurling, Nevanlinna and Hall. Recent projection theorems are due to Marshall, Sundberg, Solynin and others. One of the methods of the proofs of these theorems is the method of extremal metrics and quadratic differentials. The classical symmetrization result for harmonic measure (originally proven by the star-function method of Baernstein) can now be proven by the polarization technique. There remain, however, several open problems. For most of these problems there are reasonable conjectures. The paper discusses the above results, problems and methods. It contains several new open problems.
Using Rock‐Eval 6 pyrolysis for tracking fossil organic carbon in modern environments: implications for the roles of erosion and weathering

This work relates to the debate on the fossil organic carbon (FOC) input in modern environments and its possible implication for the carbon cycle, and suggests the use of Rock‐Eval 6 pyrolysis as a relevant tool for tracking FOC in such environments. Considering that such a delivery is mainly due to supergene processes affecting the continental surface, we studied organic matter in different reservoirs such as bedrocks, alterites, soils and rivers in two experimental catchments at Draix (Alpes de Haute Provence, France). Samples were subjected to geochemical (Rock‐Eval 6 pyrolysis) investigations and artificial bacterial degradations. After comparing the geochemical fingerprint of samples, geochemical markers of FOC were defined and tracked in the different reservoirs. Our results confirm the contribution of FOC in modern soils and rivers and display the various influences of weathering and erosional processes on the fate of FOC during its exchange between these pools. In addition, the contrasting behaviour of these markers upon the supergene processes has also highlighted the refractory or labile characters of the fossil organic matter (FOM). Bedrock to river fluxes, controlled by gully erosion, are characterized by a qualitative and quantitative preservation of FOM. Bedrock to alterite fluxes, governed by chemical weathering, are characterized by FOC mineralization without qualitative changes in deeper alterites. Alterite to soils fluxes, controlled by (bio)chemical weathering, are characterized by strong FOC mineralization and qualitative changes of FOM. Thus weathering and erosional processes induce different FOM evolution and affect the fate of FOC towards the global carbon cycle. In this study, gully erosion would involve maintenance of an ancient sink for the global carbon cycle, while (bio)chemical processes provide a source of CO2. Finally, this study suggests that Rock‐Eval 6 pyrolysis can be considered as a relevant tool for tracking FOC in modern environments. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Complexity in risk elicitation may affect the conclusions: A demonstration using gender differences

The Holt and Laury (American Economic Review, 92(5), 1644–1655, 2002) mechanism (HL) is the most widely-used method for eliciting risk preferences in economics. Participants typically make ten decisions with different variance options, with one of these choices randomly chosen for actual payoff. For this mechanism to provide an accurate measure of risk aversion, participants need to understand the choices and give consistent responses. Unfortunately, inconsistent and even dominated choices are often made. Can these mistakes lead to a misrepresentation of economic phenomena? We use gender differences in risk taking to test this question. In contrast to many findings in the literature, HL results typically do not find significant gender differences. We compare the HL approach, where we replicate the lack of significant gender differences, with a simpler presentation of the same choices in which participants make only one of the ten HL decisions; this simpler presentation yields strong gender differences indicating that women are more risk averse than men. We also find gender differences in the consistency of decisions. We believe that the results found in the simpler case are more reflective of underlying preferences, since the task is considerably easier to understand. Our results suggest that the complexity and structure of the risk elicitation mechanism can affect measured risk preferences. The issue of complexity and comprehension is also likely to be present with elicitation mechanisms in other realms of economic preferences.
Going Small: Using Biophysical Screening to Implement Fragment Based Drug Discovery

Screening against biochemical targets with compact chemical fragments has developed a reputation as a successful early‐stage drug discovery approach, thanks to recent drug approvals. Having weak initial target affinities, fragments require the use of sensitive biophysical technologies (NMR, SPR, thermal shift, ITC, and X‐ray crystallography) to accommodate the practical limits of going smaller. Application of optimized frag‐ ment biophysical screening approaches now routinely allows for the rapid identifica ‐ tion of fragments with high binding efficiencies. The aim of this chapter is to provide an introduction to fragment library selection and to discuss the suitability of screening approaches adapted for lower‐throughput biophysical techniques. A general description of metrics that are being used in the progression of fragment hits, the need for orthogonal assay testing, and guidance on potential pitfalls are included to assist scientists, consider‐ ing initiating their own fragment discovery program.
Review on Breast Cancer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Breast Cancer (BC) is considered the most implacable malignancy and the leading cause of mortality in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The literature on different aspects of BC is rich in contributions from developed and Western countries. Nevertheless, despite substantial individual efforts, the views of experts from KSA lack a collective portrayal. Hence, an attempt has been made to gather together the information in the form of an overview which includes some facets of BC. The views of experts from Saudi Arabia on these aspects of BC in the Kingdom included an amalgamation of a variety of articles published during last more than thirty years from different research and teaching institutions. The task was met up with peer reviewed english language articles cited in Pub Med, Pub Med Central, Science Direct, Up-to-date, Med Line, Comprehensive data bases, Cochrane library and the internet (Google, Yahoo). The study provides impetus on further analysis of the association between epidemiology, knowledge of BC and practice of breast self-examination (BSE), etiological factors, metastases and rate of survival. Further studies are warranted to enrich the information for planning of screening, management and preventive strategies of BC in KSA, which may indirectly benefit worldwide health care.
Melissopalynological analysis for geographical marking of Kars honey [Kars balının coğrafi İşaretlemesi İçin melissopalinolojik analiz]

In this research, the melissopalynological analysis of honey samples collected from Kars city located in the East Anatolian Region of Turkey was conducted for geographical marking. Within this context, melissopalynological analyses of 100 honey samples determined by sampling method were collected from eight districts of Kars in Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey were done, to determine the nectarous source plants of Kars honey. As a result of melisopalynological analyses carried out in 100 honey samples; pollens of the taxa belonging to Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Berberidaceae, Betulaceae, Brassicaceae, Boraginaceae, Campanulaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Cistaceae, Cyperaceae, Dipsacaceae, Ericaceae, Fabaceae, Iridaceae, Lamiaceae, Liliaceae, Malvaceae, Onagraceae, Papaveraceae, Plantaginaceae, Poaceae, Polygonaceae, Ranunculaceae, Rhamnaceae, Rosaceae, Rubiaceae, Rutaceae, Salicaceae and Scrophulariaceae families were detected at different rates. Almost in all of the honey samples, Lotus corniculatus (in 99 samples), Onobrychis radiata (in 99 samples), Trifolium nigrescens (in 88 samples) from Fabaceae family and pollens of Echium vulgaris (81 samples) and Myosotis lithoospermifolia (15 samples) taxa from the Boraginaceae family, were found in honey samples. Onobrychis radiata pollen was the most intensely observed one among these samples (in dominant, secondary, minor, trace amounts). The total number of pollens (TPN-10) in 10 grams of honey were also detected during the melissopalynological analyses. TPN-10 values minimum: 226, maximum: 481157 and mean: 31678 were detected and the pollen abundance of the honeys are classified as good category. Kars is an important province for beekeeping with floral variety. As a result of this study, the first step of the geographical marking studies of Kars’ honey was completed.
Benchmarks for the validation of a non local damage model

ABSTRACT The aim of this contribution is to present a series of organised benchmarks that helps at validating the robustness of the FE implementation of a constitutive relation, its pertinence with respect to experiments, and quantitative and qualitative comparisons of structural elements. It is applied to an isotropic damage model used for concrete, coupled with a non local gradient formulation to avoid a spurious description of strain localisation. After the elementary (uniaxial monotonic, cyclic or triaxial loading) and structural (three point bending tests) simulations, an industrial application is presented in the form of a representative structural volume of a containment building for French nuclear power plants.
Native and Alien Fishes in a California Estuarine Marsh: Twenty‐One Years of Changing Assemblages

Abstract We used monthly otter trawling and beach seining to sample the fishes of Suisun Marsh in the San Francisco Estuary from 1979 to 1999. We collected nearly 173,000 fish, mostly young of the year, representing 28 native species and 25 alien species. Catch data were related to temperature, salinity, water transparency, and several measures of freshwater inflow into the marsh. Species abundance and distribution within the marsh were the product of several interacting factors: (1) the timing and place of reproduction of the abundant resident species, (2) past reproductive success, (3) habitat differences among sloughs, and (4) physiological tolerance. We did not find consistent groups of potentially interacting species, although some native species showed weak concordance in abundance. The lack of persistent fish assemblages is related to the naturally fluctuating environmental conditions of the estuary, the overall decline in fish abundance through time, and the frequent invasions of alien fishes and .
AGRONOMIC APPLICATIONS OF AZOSPIRILLUM : AN EVALUATION OF 20 YEARS WORLDWIDE FIELD INOCULATION

By evaluating worldwide data accumulated over the past 20 years on field inoculation experiments with Azos~irj~~um, it can be concluded that these bacteria are capable of promoting the yield of agriculturally-impo~ant crops in different soils and climatic regions. Various strains of R. brasilense and A. lipoferum have been used to inoculate cultivars of different species of plants. It is however dithcult to accurately estimate the percentage of success due to Azospirilltcm inoculation. The data indicates 60-70% occurrence of success with statistically significant increases in yield of the order of 5530%. Successful inoculation experiments appear to be those in which the researchers have paid special attention to the optimal number of cells of Azo~pjril/um in the inoculant, using inoculation methods where the optimal number of cells remained viable and available to colonize the roots. Furthermore, experiments taking into consideration the potentialities and limitations of this technology have been better able to explain successes and failures. The different formulations (analogous to those of rhizobia) of the genus Azospirillum, irrespective of their form of application and their mode of action on the plant, are indeed inoculants. The term biofertilizer is not appropriate as it does not replace fertilizer but improves their utilization. We very strongly suggest the implementation by regulatory authorities of quality control on commercial Azospirillum inoculants.
A scalable algorithm for sparse and robust portfolios

A central problem in financial economics concerns investing capital to maximize a portfolio's expected return while minimizing its variance, subject to an upper bound on the number of positions, minimum investment and linear inequality constraints, at scale. Existing approaches to this problem do not provide provably optimal portfolios for real-world problem sizes with more than $300$ securities. In this paper, we present a cutting-plane method which solves problems with $1000$s of securities to provable optimality, by exploiting a dual representation of the continuous Markowitz problem to obtain a closed form representation of the problem's subgradients. We improve the performance of the cutting-plane method in three different ways. First, we implement a local-search heuristic which applies our subgradient representation to obtain high-quality warm-starts. Second, we embed the local-search heuristic within the cutting-plane method to accelerate recovery of an optimal solution. Third, we exploit a correspondence between the convexified sparse Markowitz problem and a rotated second-order cone problem to obtain a tight lower bound which is sometimes exact. Finally, we establish that the cutting-plane method is $3$---$4$ orders of magnitude more efficient than existing methods, and construct provably optimal sparsity-constrained frontiers for the S$\&$P $500$, Russell $1000$, and Wilshire $5000$.
Development and stability evaluation of Astaxanthin nanoemulsion

Astaxanthin is a naturally occurring carotenoid with strong antioxidant properties which shows low oral bioavailability due to its lipophilicity. The use of nanoemulsion-based formulations is one of several approaches found to be efficient in improving the bioavailability of lipophilic entities such as astaxanthin. This study explores the effects of various emulsifying conditions on the physicochemical properties and stability evaluation of astaxanthin nanoemulsion in order to optimize its production method. Astaxanthin nanoemulsion prepared in various emulsifying conditions was evaluated for its effects on the physicochemical characteristics and stability for a period of 3 months. The optimal formulation obtained required 5 minutes and 9000 rpm pre-homogenizing speed, high pressure (800 bar) and 5 cycles with composition of 4% surfactant, 16% oil and 80% water. Astaxanthin loaded in the optimal formulation were stable after the manufacturing process and storage at 5±3°C, 25±2°C/60±5% Relative humidity (RH) and 40°C±2°C/75%±5% RH for 3 months. The findings of this study will lead to the possibility of this formulation to be used as one of the method to improve astaxanthin bioavailability.
Fighting Corruption in Africa: Do Existing Corruption-Control Levels Matter?

Purpose – Are there different determinants in the fight against corruption across African countries? Why are some countries more effective at battling corruption than others? To assess these concerns we examine the determinants of corruption-control throughout the conditional distribution of the fight against corruption using panel data from 46 African countries for the period 2002-2010. Design/methodology/approach – The panel quantile regression technique enables us to investigate if the relationship between corruption-control and the exogenous variables differs throughout the distribution of the fight against corruption. Findings – Results could be summarized in the following. (1) Greater economic prosperity leads to less corruption-control and the magnitude of the effect is more important in countries where the fight against corruption is high. (2) Regulation quality seems bimodal, with less positive effects in the tails: among the best and least fighters of corruption. (3) There is support for a less negative consequence of population growth in countries that are already taking the fight against corruption seriously in comparison to those that are lax on the issue. (4) Findings on democracy broadly indicate the democratization process increases the fight against corruption with a greater magnitude at higher quantiles: countries that are already taking the fight seriously. (5) The relevance of voice and accountability in the battle against corruption decreases as corruption-control is taking more seriously by the powers that be. (6) Good governance dynamics of political stability, government effectiveness and the rule of law gain more importance in the fight against corruption when existing levels of corruption-control are already high. Social implications – Our results suggest that the determinants of corruption-control respond differently across the corruption-control distribution. This implies some current corruption-control policies may be reconsidered, especially among the most corrupt and least corrupt African nations. As a policy implication, the fight against corruption should not be postponed, doing so will only reduce the effectiveness of policies in the future. The rewards of institutional reforms are more positive in countries that are already seriously engaged in the corruption fight. Originality/value – This paper contributes to existing literature on the determinants of corruption by focusing on the distribution of the dependent variable(control of corruption). It is likely that good and poor corruption fighters respond differently to factors that influence the fight against corruption. There are subtle institutional differences between corrupt and clean nations that may affect corruption-control determinants and government efficacy in the fight against corruption.
Graphene hydrate: theoretical prediction of a new insulating form of graphene

Using first-principles calculations, we show that the formation of carbohydrates directly from carbon and water is energetically favored when graphene is subjected to an unequal chemical environment across the two sides, with a difference in the chemical potential of protons and hydroxyl groups. The resultant carbohydrate structure is two-dimensional (2D), with the hydrogen atoms exclusively attached on one side of the graphene and the hydroxyl groups on the other side, the latter forming a herringbone reconstruction that optimizes hydrogen bonding. We show that graphene undergoes a metal–insulator transition upon hydration that is readily detectable from the significant shift in the vibration spectrum. The hydrate form of graphene offers new applications for graphene in electronics, either deposited on a substrate or in solution.
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS), a common cyclic disorder of young and middle-aged women and is characterized by emotional and physical symptoms

"! ## ! $ %"&' ( ' ))"#"#(* + ,$%"&' ( ' ))"#-#( .' $ / 01 / 0 for one to two weeks premenstrually with relief by day 4 of menses and should be documented prospectively for at least two cycles (2). Up to 85 percent of menstruating women report having one or more premenstrual symptoms, and 20 to 40 percent report the experience of definite syndrome. In 38 percent of cases who report disabling, incapacitating symptoms the diagnosis of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder Syndrome (PMDD) is established (3-5). The etiology of PMS remains unknown and may be complex and multifactorial. Some evidences suggest that the disorder is relaAbstract Objective: To determine the effects of three-month regular aerobic exercise on the PMS symptoms. Also correlations with age, education, marital status and severity of PMS symptoms were studied. Materials and Methods: A QuasiExperimental study was conducted on 91 volunteer women with regular menstrual cycle and no history of gynecological, endocrinological and psychological disorders. The study was done during March 2005March 2007, in Tehran University of Medical Sciences. A Modified Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MMDQ) was used in this study. Participants were divided into two groups: Non-exercised, they also didn't have any past experience of regular exercise (n= 48) and Exercised (n= 43). The exercise time duration was one hour and was carried out three times per week for three months. Emotional, behavioral, electrolyte, autonomic, neurovegatative and skin symptoms of PMS were compared between two groups. P value was considered significant at < 0.05. Results: A significant difference was observed for electrolytic, neurovegetative and cognitive symptoms before and after the exercise. Also the severity of skin and neurovegetative symptoms were different in experimental groups with and without past history of doing regular exercise. There was no correlation between age, education, marital status and severity of PMS symptoms. Conclusion: Three months of regular aerobic exercise effectively reduces the severity of PMS symptoms.
Deep Within-Class Covariance Analysis for Robust Audio Representation Learning

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) can learn effective features, though have been shown to suffer from a performance drop when the distribution of the data changes from training to test data. In this paper we analyze the internal representations of CNNs and observe that the representations of unseen data in each class, spread more (with higher variance) in the embedding space of the CNN compared to representations of the training data. More importantly, this difference is more extreme if the unseen data comes from a shifted distribution. Based on this observation, we objectively evaluate the degree of representation's variance in each class via eigenvalue decomposition on the within-class covariance of the internal representations of CNNs and observe the same behaviour. This can be problematic as larger variances might lead to mis-classification if the sample crosses the decision boundary of its class. We apply nearest neighbor classification on the representations and empirically show that the embeddings with the high variance actually have significantly worse KNN classification performances, although this could not be foreseen from their end-to-end classification results. To tackle this problem, we propose Deep Within-Class Covariance Analysis (DWCCA), a deep neural network layer that significantly reduces the within-class covariance of a DNN's representation, improving performance on unseen test data from a shifted distribution. We empirically evaluate DWCCA on two datasets for Acoustic Scene Classification (DCASE2016 and DCASE2017). We demonstrate that not only does DWCCA significantly improve the network's internal representation, it also increases the end-to-end classification accuracy, especially when the test set exhibits a distribution shift. By adding DWCCA to a VGG network, we achieve around 6 percentage points improvement in the case of a distribution mismatch.