Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measuring asymmetries in financial returns : an empirical investigation using local gaussian correlation

A number of studies have provided evidence that financial returns exhibit asymmetric dependence, such as increased dependence during bear markets, but there seems to be no agreement as to how such asymmetries should be measured. We introduce the use of a new measure of local dependence to study this asymmetry. The central idea of the new approach is to approximate an arbitrary bivariate return distribution by a family of Gaussian bivariate distributions. At each point of the return distribution there is a Gaussian distribution that gives a good approximation at that point. The correlation of the approximating Gaussian distribution is taken as the local correlation in that neighbourhood. The new measure does not suffer from the selection bias of the conditional correlation for Gaussian data, and is able to capture nonlinear dependence. Analysing several financial returns from the US, UK, German and French market, we confirm and are able to explicitly quantify the asymmetry. Finally, we discuss a risk management application, and point out a number of possible extensions. 1 SNF Working Paper No 12/13
IGFBP2 plays an important role in heat shock protein 27-mediated cancer progression and metastasis

Heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) is a key chaperone that interacts with over 200 client proteins. The expression of Hsp27 might be correlated with poor outcome in many types of cancer. Previous study indicated that Hsp27 might be an important biomarker in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the detailed mechanism is less well understood. The shRNA-mediated silencing of Hsp27 decreased the proliferation, migration and invasion of HCC cells. In a xenograft model, the silencing of Hsp27 reduced tumor progression. We revealed that the silencing of Hsp27 led to a reduction in insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP2), which might mediate proliferation and metastasis through vimentin, snail and beta-catenin. The overexpression of IGFBP2 reversed the reductions in cell growth, migration and invasion. The tissue array results showed that HCC patients with high Hsp27 expression exhibited poor prognosis and increased metastasis. The Hsp27 expression was highly correlated with IGFPB2 in CRC specimen. ChIP and luciferase assays showed that Hsp27 does not directly bind the IGFBP2 promoter region to regulate the transcription of IGFBP2. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that Hsp27 is a key mediator of HCC progression and metastasis and that Hsp27 might regulate proliferation and metastasis through IGFBP2. This pathway might provide a new direction for the development of a novel therapeutic strategy for HCC.
Repellent Potential of Tageteserecta L . and Callistemon brachyandrus Lindl . Against Mosquito Larvae for Formulation of Herbal Repellent Compounds

To avoid harmful effects of commercially available mosquito repellent creams in market, an attempt has been made to prepare herbal formulations from natural products such as flowers of Tagetes erecta L. and leaves of callistemon brachyandrus Lindl. These are ornamental plants, flourishing in India. All parts of the plant, from root to seed possess a multitude of phytochemical secondary metabolites and also responsible for repellent activity. To evaluate the repellent potential, phytochemical studies, larvicidal activity, smoke toxicity and repellent activity tests were performed against Anopheles stephensi, Culex infulus and Aedes agepyti. Water extract of Tagetes erecta L. showed of mortality rate of 40%, 40%and 50% and Callistemon brachyandrus Lindl. water extract showed 20%, 13.33% and 40% mortality rate against Anopheles stephensi, Culex infulus and Aedes agepyti respectively. These plant extracts were used to formulate herbal repellent compounds such as incense log and cream. Repellent activity test for cream formulation showed 89.87%, 87.5% and 90% protection and smoke toxicity test for incense log showed 66.25%, 70% and 67.5% protection against Anopheles stephensi, Culex infulus and Aedes agepyti respectively
AN EVALUATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING AWAY-FROM-HOME CONSUMPTION OF CRAWFISH IN THE GULF REGION

of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science AN EVALUATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING AWAY-FROM-HOME CONSUMPTION OF CRAWFISH IN THE GULF REGION By Xumin Zhang May 2004 Chair: Lisa A. House Major Department: Food and Resource Economics U.S. consumers are traditionally known as away-from-home consumers of seafood products. Over the past 20 years, consumption of ethnic foods has steadily increased. For example, approximately 25 percent of Americans say they enjoy Cajun cooking. In the United States, consumption of crawfish is usually associated with special events or Cajun cooking, which differs from consumption of crawfish in other countries. Growth in consumption has provided opportunities as well as challenges to Chinese exporters and U.S. importers as well as domestic farmers, processors, and marketers of crawfish. This thesis focuses on developing an understanding of factors influencing awayfrom-home consumption of crawfish in the Gulf region. A web-based consumer survey was conducted to obtain information about consumer preferences. Demographics as well as stated consumer preferences have significant effects on both participation and consumption decisions, but in different scales or directions. For example, enjoying the flavor, preferring Cajun cooking, and adding variety in the diet were the main reasons for
Measuring and quantifying lifestyles and their impact on public choices: The case of professional football in Munich

Lifestyle data are rarely used in multivariate economic and social studies because the data describe the probability of having a categorical attribute. We propose a novel conversion of lifestyle data into metric scale values. Examining the 2001 referendum on the Allianz-Arena in Munich, our analysis demonstrates that refined indicators of value and strata orientation outperform the typical oriented indicators of economic wealth, in terms of capturing the spatial distribution of support and opposition to the project.
Veiled Bereavement: The Experience of Lesbian Widows from an Existential-Phenomenological Perspective

The aim of the present study was to understand the experience of lesbian widows from a phenomenological-existential perspective. Two unstructured phenomenological interviews were performed, with the following starter question: “What was it like to lose your wife? ” The interviews were analyzed according to the phenomenological method described by Giorgi. Data were categorized into the following essential constituents of the structure of the experience of lesbian widowhood: Discrimination, Loss of meaning of the life-world, Loneliness, Changes in mood and health, Restructuring daily life, Changes in the projects of their love lives, Lack of recognition as a couple, the Invisibility of suffering, Being silenced, Restrictions on the expression of pain, Social support, Rejection or acceptance by families, Need to secure personal rights, and Need for self-respect and self-recognition as a lesbian. The results revealed signifi cant psychological suffering in homosexual widows due to th e lack of social recognition of the legitimacy of their relationship, love, and loss. We conclude that structured support networks and health care resources are essential to minimize the suffering of lesbian widows and aid the construction of new meanings during bereavement.
Effect of organized educational sessions on women’s knowledge and perception toward the risk factors for osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a silent disease that causes bones to become thin and weak and increases the risk for broken bones. Osteoporosis prevention have several aspects including health education, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle modification and early screening. Aim of the current study has two folds; 1)-to assess the level of knowledge and perception among women toward the risk factors for osteoporosis and 2)- to evaluate the influence of organized educational sessions on women knowledge and perception for osteoporosis. A quasi-experimental design (One group pretest – post-test only) was utilized for this study. A total of 230 women were recruited from four settings in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Three tools were used to collect the data; 1)-Structured interviewing questionnaire 2)- knowledge assessment questionnaire and 3)-Perception assessment questionnaire. Three health education sessions per week two days interval were done. Results: the mean age of the sample was 32.96 ± 12.2 years old. More than ninety two percent of them were working. Before the educational session, more than eighty percent of the participants had poor level of knowledge compared to only 20.4% during post test with statistical difference between pre and post test (t= 18.7, P<0.001). In addition, 26.5% of the women perceived osteoporosis as dangerous disease such as cancer. While more than forty percent of them perceived the benefits of physical activity and its importance in developing a strong bone. Conclusion: More than half of the sample had neutral perception about the risk factors and dangers for the disease. The organized educational sessions had a positive effect and improved their level of knowledge and perception toward the risk factors for osteoporosis. Recommendations: Educational sessions facilities and methods about osteoporosis as; lectures, handout, and videos should be developed and become accessible to all women’s clinics. Also, Mass media can play an active role to raise the women’s awareness about risk factors of osteoporosis.
Oxygen- and carbon-rich variable red giant populations in the Magellanic Clouds from EROS, OGLE, MACHO, and 2MASS photometry

Context. The carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) ratio of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars constitutes an important index of evolutionary and environment/metallicity factor. Aims. We develop a method for mass C/O classification of AGBs in photometric surveys without using periods. Methods. For this purpose we rely on the slopes in the tracks of individual stars in the colour-magnitude diagram. Results. We demonstrate that our method enables the separation of C-rich and O-rich AGB stars with little confusion. For the Magellanic Clouds we demonstrate that this method works for several photometric surveys and filter combinations. As we rely on no period identification, our results are relatively insensitive to the phase coverage, aliasing, and time-sampling problems that plague period analyses. For a subsample of our stars, we verify our C/O classification against published C/O catalogues. With our method we are able to produce C/O maps of the entire Magellanic Clouds. Conclusions. Our purely photometric method for classification of C- and O-rich AGBs constitutes a method of choice for large, near-infrared photometric surveys. Because our method depends on the slope of colour-magnitude variation but not on magnitude zero point, it remains applicable to objects with unknown distances.
Dietary Vitamin B 6 Requirement of Juvenile Grass Carp ( Ctenopharyngodon idella )

We evaluated the effects of dietary vitamin B6 levels on growth, survival, and serum biochemical parameters in juvenile grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Fish were fed one of seven purified diets containing 0.12 (control), 1.16, 2.37, 4.82, 9.20, 17.51, or 36.52 mg/kg B6. We observed abnormal swimming behavior in some fish fed the control diet after 17 days. The survival rate (24.44±1.92%) was low in the control group. Supplementation with vitamin B6 resulted in significantly higher (P<0.05) weight gain, specific growth rate, final weight, and weight gain rate. Feed efficiency was significantly lower in the fish fed the control diet than the remaining groups (P<0.05). Dietary vitamin B6 levels had no significant effect on fish body composition or serum albumin and total protein content. Dietary vitamin B6 supplementation caused a decrease in serum triacylglycerol content and an increase in total cholesterol content, high density lipoprotein cholesterol content, and α-amylase activity levels (P<0.05). Broken-line regression analysis of SGR, HDL-C content, and α-AMY activity, showed that the optimum dietary vitamin B6 requirement for juvenile grass carp was 1.13, 3.73, 1.57 mg B6/kg, respectively. The IJA appears exclusively as a peer-reviewed on-line open-access journal at http://www.siamb. org.il. To read papers free of charge, please register online at registration form. Sale of IJA papers is strictly forbidden.
Semidefinite programming relaxations for linear semi-infinite polynomial programming

This paper studies a class of so-called linear semi-infinite polynomial programming (LSIPP) problems. It is a subclass of linear semi-infinite programming problems whose constraint functions are polynomials in parameters and index sets are basic semialgebraic sets. We present a hierarchy of semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxations for LSIPP problems. Convergence rate analysis of the SDP relaxations is established based on some existing results. We show how to verify the compactness of feasible sets of LSIPP problems. In the end, we extend the SDP relaxation method to more general semi-infinite programming problems.
Cloud liquid water path in the sub-Arctic region of Europe as derived from ground-based and space-borne remote observations

Abstract. Tropospheric clouds are a very important component of the climate system and the hydrological cycle in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. Liquid water path (LWP) is one of the key parameters of clouds urgently needed for a variety of studies, including the snow cover and climate modelling at northern latitudes. A joint analysis was made of the LWP values obtained from observations by the SEVIRI satellite instrument and from ground-based observations by the RPG-HATPRO microwave radiometer near St Petersburg, Russia (60∘ N, 30∘ E). The time period of selected data sets spans 2 years (December 2012–November 2014) excluding winter months, since the specific requirements for SEVIRI observations restrict measurements at northern latitudes in winter when the solar zenith angle is too large. The radiometer measurement site is located very close to the shore of the Gulf of Finland, and our study has revealed considerable differences between the LWP values obtained by SEVIRI over land and over water areas in the region under investigation. Therefore, special attention was paid to the analysis of the LWP spatial distributions derived from SEVIRI observations at scales from 15 to 150 km in the vicinity of St Petersburg. Good agreement between the daily median LWP values obtained from the SEVIRI and the RPG-HATPRO observations was shown: the rms difference was estimated at 0.016 kg m−2 for a warm season and 0.048 kg m−2 for a cold season. Over 7 months (February–May and August–October), the SEVIRI and the RPG-HATPRO instruments revealed similar diurnal variations in LWP, while considerable discrepancies between the diurnal variations obtained by the two instruments were detected in June and July. On the basis of reanalysis data, it was shown that the LWP diurnal cycles are characterised by considerable interannual variability.
Sociodemographic variables, health-related behaviors, and disease characteristics in patients with psoriasis

Background. Psoriasis is an inflammatory disease characterized by accelerated proliferation and abnormal keratosis of the epidermis cells. it is influenced by environmental and lifestyle factors, including health-related behaviors. Objectives. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the frequency of health-related behaviors and their links with disease characteristics and sociodemographic variables in patients with psoriasis. Material and methods. The study involved 211 patients treated for psoriasis from 3 centers in Poland. diagnosis of psoriasis type was done by a dermatologist. A structured questionnaire about sociodemographic variables, course of psoriasis and health-related behaviors was conducted with each subject. Results. most of the subjects spent less than half an hour a day on physical activity (mainly walking and cycling). more than half did not follow the recommended diet. About one third of the patients declared smoking, and the mean Bmi was in the overweight category. it was also found that sociodemographic variables differentiated the group in terms of health behaviors. relationships were found between health-related behaviors such as smoking and some clinical features of psoriasis. Conclusions. The frequency of favorable health-related behaviors among psoriasis patients is unsatisfactory, and some of them may exert a significant impact on the course and treatment effects of psoriasis.
Method of determining kinetic boundary conditions in net evaporation/condensation

The aim of the present study is to develop the method of determining the kinetic boundary condition (KBC) at a vapor-liquid interface in net evaporation/condensation. We proposed a novel method for determining the KBC by combining the numerical simulations of the mean field kinetic theory and the molecular gas dynamics. The method was evaluated on steady vapor flow between two liquid slabs at different temperatures. A uniform net mass flux in the vapor phase induced by net evaporation and condensation is obtained from the numerical simulation of the mean field kinetic theory for both vapor and liquid phases. The KBC was specified by using the uniform net mass flux, and the numerical simulation of the molecular gas dynamics was conducted for the vapor phase. Comparing the macroscopic variables in the vapor phase obtained from both numerical simulations, we can validate the KBC whether the appropriate solutions are obtained. Moreover, the evaporation and condensation coefficients were estimated uniquely. Th.
Organic Fluorophore Coated Polycrystalline Ceramic LSO:Ce Scintillators for X-ray Bioimaging.

The current effort demonstrates that lutetium oxyorthosilicate doped with 1-10% cerium (Lu2SiO5:Ce, LSO:Ce) radioluminescent particles can be coated with a single dye or multiple dyes and generate an effective energy transfer between the core and dye(s) when excited via X-rays. LSO:Ce particles were surface modified with an alkyne modified naphthalimide (6-piperidin-1-yl-2-prop-2-yn-1-yl-1 H-benzo[ de]isoquinoline-1,3-(2 H)-dione, AlNap) and alkyne modified rhodamine B ( N-(6-diethylamino)-9-{2-[(prop-2-yn-1-yloxy)carbonyl]phenyl}-3 H-xanthen-3-ylidene)- N-ethylethanaminium, AlRhod) derivatives to tune the X-ray excited optical luminescence from blue to green to red using Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). As X-rays penetrate tissue much more effectively than UV/visible light, the fluorophore modified phosphors may have applications as bioimaging agents. To that end, the phosphors were incubated with rat cortical neurons and imaged after 24 h. The LSO:Ce surface modified with AlNap was able to be successfully imaged in vitro with a low-output X-ray tube. To use the LSO:Ce fluorophore modified particles as imaging agents, they must not induce cytotoxicity. Neither LSO:Ce nor LSO:Ce modified with AlNap showed any cytotoxicity toward normal human dermal fibroblast cells or mouse cortical neurons, respectively.
Compared impact of compost and digestate on priming effect and hydrophobicity of soils depending on textural composition

Summary Digestates and compost are used as valuable fertilizers in agriculture because of their benefits for plant nutrition and carbon sequestration potential. These amendments are also suspected to interfere negatively with the soil. To compare their relevance for priming effect and hydrophobicity of soils, two amounts of digestate or compost, respectively, were mixed with a homogenized cambic Luvisol and a Podzol. The basal respiration rate (BAS), the repellency index (RI) and organic carbon content (Corg) of pre-dried mixtures were investigated. The podsolic mixture showed quantitative reduction of Corg and increased BAS (this effect was not statistically significant) due to priming effect through microbial stimulation. As a result of enhanced organic substance (OS) protection in the cambic Luvisol mixture, constant amounts of Corg and declined BAS could be detected. The wettability was reduced in both soils: either directly by the supply of amphiphilic components or indirectly by increased incorporation of microbial exudates. This reduction was not statistically significant. Higher contents of available organic compounds in digestates and higher amounts of hydrophobic humic acids in the compost could be assumed to be decisive for generation of hydrophobicity. Also the soil texture controlled the microbial decomposition by higher incorporation of OS in finer pores and contributed to the protection against microbial decay.
A Theory of Financial Exchange Organization*

Although there has been extensive research on the economic functions of financial exchanges and the properties of prices determined on exchanges, there has been little research on their organization and governance. The heterogeneity of the suppliers of financial services who are members of financial exchanges explains salient features of exchange organization. When suppliers of financial services are heterogeneous, one expects to observe exchanges organized as not‐for‐profit firms, especially if an exchange can enforce collusive agreements. Moreover, heterogeneity can lead to conflicts between members over rents, which necessitates the creation of formal governance mechanisms. Finally, if exchanges exercise market power or are protected from competitive entry (as is plausible), exchanges may adopt inefficient rules; the efficiency of exchange rules depends on the degree of member heterogeneity, the distributive consequences of these rules, and the ability of exchange governance structures to enforce wealth‐enhancing bargains among members with disparate interests.
Axiographic Assessment of Masticatory System function in Healthy Volunteers

Background: The use of axiographic devices provides a simple and minimally invasive way to detect masticatory abnormalities, enabling early preventive action and treatment with a long-term impact on the good functioning of the masticatory systemObjective: The aim of the study was to collect normative data from the stomatognathicsystem using elecrtonic axiography and to find the differences between males and females.Material: The study evaluated 98 females and 88 males, in a mean age of 19 years with full natural dentition corresponding to Angle’s Class I.Methods: All the participants undertook clinical examination and electronic axiography using the Cadiax Compact II.Results: A significantly higher Quantity Maximal S3d in men (p=0.021), a trend towards higher Transverse Condyle Inclination Values 3 mm in women and a significantly lower reproducibility of the opening and closing movements were found in women (p=0.022). Conclusion: The graphs of opening and closing movements in a group of healthy women and men with no symptoms from the masticatory system differed significantly between genders. The Quantity Maximal S3d parameter is higher in men, but because of the large range of values, this parameter cannot be a single criterion used to detect TMJ dysfunction.