Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multilateral Bargaining and Downstream Competition

We examine multilateral bargaining in vertical supply relationships that involve an upstream manufacturer who sells through two competing retailers. In these relationships the negotiations are interdependent, and bargaining externality may arise across the retailers. In addition, the timing by which the manufacturer negotiates with the retailers becomes important. In simultaneous bargaining the retailers negotiate without knowing if an agreement has been reached in the other retail channel, whereas in sequential bargaining the retailer in the second negotiation is able to observe whether an agreement was reached in the first negotiation. We show that simultaneous bargaining is optimal for the manufacturer when the retail prices and profitability are similar, and sequential bargaining is preferred when the dispersion in the retail prices is sufficiently large. As a result of ex post renegotiations, the manufacturer may strategically stock out the less profitable retailer who charged a relatively low retail price and exclusively supply only the retailer who charged a relatively high retail price and maintained high channel profitability. Moreover, ex post multilateral bargaining can buffer downstream competition and thus lead to positive retail profits even in markets that are close to perfect competition.
The lipid phosphatase LPP3 regulates extra-embryonic vasculogenesis and axis patterning

Bioactive phospholipids, which include sphingosine-1-phosphate, lysophosphatidic acid, ceramide and their derivatives regulate a wide variety of cellular functions in culture such as proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation. The availability of these lipids and their products is regulated by the lipid phosphate phosphatases (LPPs). Here we show that mouse embryos deficient for LPP3 fail to form a chorio-allantoic placenta and yolk sac vasculature. A subset of embryos also show a shortening of the anterior-posterior axis and frequent duplication of axial structures that are strikingly similar to the phenotypes associated with axin deficiency, a critical regulator of Wnt signaling. Loss of LPP3 results in a marked increase in β-catenin-mediated TCF transcription, whereas elevated levels of LPP3 inhibit β-catenin-mediated TCF transcription. LPP3 also inhibits axis duplication and leads to mild ventralization in Xenopus embryo development. Although LPP3 null fibroblasts show altered levels of bioactive phospholipids, consistent with loss of LPP3 phosphatase activity, mutant forms of LPP3, specifically lacking phosphatase activity, were able to inhibit β-catenin-mediated TCF transcription and also suppress axis duplication, although not as effectively as intact LPP3. These results reveal that LPP3 is essential to formation of the chorio-allantoic placenta and extra-embryonic vasculature. LPP3 also mediates gastrulation and axis formation, probably by influencing the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. The exact biochemical roles of LPP3 phosphatase activity and its undefined effect on β-catenin-mediated TCF transcription remain to be determined.
Variations in the Iron Mineralogy of a Loess Section in Tajikistan During the Mid‐Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene: Implications for the Climatic Evolution in Central Asia

The loess sequences in Tajikistan are an important archive of information about the development of climate and atmospheric circulation in central Asia during the Pleistocene. Here we present the results of an iron mineralogical study of a loess sequence in Tajikistan to reconstruct paleoclimate evolution during the mid‐Pleistocene and late Pleistocene. The record indicates that interglacial intervals were relatively humid and glacials were dry. We propose a shift in the character of the interglacial climate of the region to more humid after beginning of MIS 9; however, temperature was relatively stable. The location and intensity of Westerlies have a close link with Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) circulations. From the beginning of MIS 9, there was a southward movement of the Westerlies circulation, which corresponded to a retreat of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM). A similar relationship also existed between the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) circulation and the Westerlies, which is evidenced by the formation of the most weakly developed soil unit in the EASM‐dominated regions during MIS 9, in contrast with the formation of the most strongly developed soil unit in the Westerlies‐dominated regions. As conditions in the areas of loess deposition became more humid, the sedimentary basins which are the dust source areas became progressively more arid. The aridification of the source areas may be the result of increased Northern Hemisphere ice volume and accelerated high mountains and/or plateaus uplift in the surrounding regions.
A Classification and Survey of Preference Handling Approaches in Nonmonotonic Reasoning

In recent years, there has been a large amount of disparate work concerning the representation and reasoning with qualitative preferential information by means of approaches to nonmonotonic reasoning. Given the variety of underlying systems, assumptions, motivations, and intuitions, it is difficult to compare or relate one approach with another. Here, we present an overview and classification for approaches to dealing with preference. A set of criteria for classifying approaches is given, followed by a set of desiderata that an approach might be expected to satisfy. A comprehensive set of approaches is subsequently given and classified with respect to these sets of underlying principles.
Knowledge Management through Ontologies

Most enterprises agree that knowledge is an essential asset for success and survival on a increasingly competitive and global market. This awareness is one of the main reasons for the exponential growth of knowledge management in the past decade. Our approach to knowledge management is based on ontologies, and makes knowledge assets intelligently accessible to people in organizations. Most company-vital knowledge resides in the heads of people, and thus successful knowledge management does not only consider technical aspects but also social ones. In this paper, we describe an approach to intelligent knowledge management that explicitly takes into account the social issues involved. The proof of concept is given by a large-scale initiative involving knowledge management of a virtual organization.
Different Plasma Markers of Inflammation Are Influenced by Immune Recovery and cART Composition or Intensification in Treated HIV Infected Individuals

Background HIV-1 infection increases plasma levels of inflammatory markers. Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) does not restore inflammatory markers to normal levels. Since intensification of cART with raltegravir reduced CD8 T-cell activation in the Discor-Ral and IntegRal studies, we have evaluated the effect of raltegravir intensification on several soluble inflammation markers in these studies. Methods Longitudinal plasma samples (0–48 weeks) from the IntegRal (n = 67, 22 control and 45 intensified individuals) and the Discor-Ral studies (44 individuals with CD4 T-cell counts<350 cells/µl, 14 control and 30 intensified) were assayed for 25 markers. Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon, Spearman test and linear mixed models were used for analysis. Results At baseline, different inflammatory markers were strongly associated with HCV co-infection, lower CD4 counts and with cART regimens (being higher in PI-treated individuals), but poorly correlated with detection of markers of residual viral replication. Although raltegravir intensification reduced inflammation in individuals with lower CD4 T-cell counts, no effect of intensification was observed on plasma markers of inflammation in a global analysis. An association was found, however, between reductions in immune activation and plasma levels of the coagulation marker D-dimer, which exclusively decreased in intensified patients on protease inhibitor (PI)-based cART regimens (P = 0.040). Conclusions The inflammatory profile in treated HIV-infected individuals showed a complex association with HCV co-infection, the levels of CD4 T cells and the cART regimen. Raltegravir intensification specifically reduced D-dimer levels in PI-treated patients, highlighting the link between cART composition and residual viral replication; however, raltegravir had little effect on other inflammatory markers.
Modeling Deformations of General Parametric Shells Grasped by a Robot Hand

The robot hand applying force on a deformable object will result in a changing wrench space due to the varying shape and normal of the contact area. Design and analysis of a manipulation strategy thus depend on reliable modeling of the object's deformations as actions are performed. In this paper, shell-like objects are modeled. The classical shell theory [P. L. Gould, Analysis of Plates and Shells. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1999; V. V. Novozhilov, The Theory of Thin Shells . Gronigen, The Netherlands: Noordhoff, 1959; A. S. Saada, Elasticity: Theory and Applications. Melbourne, FL: Krieger, 1993; S. P. Timoshenko and S. Woinowsky-Krieger, Theory of Plates and Shells, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959] assumes a parametrization along the two lines of curvature on the middle surface of a shell. Such a parametrization, while always existing locally, is very difficult, if not impossible, to derive for most surfaces. Generalization of the theory to an arbitrary parametric shell is therefore not immediate. This paper first extends the linear and nonlinear shell theories to describe extensional, shearing, and bending strains in terms of geometric invariants, including the principal curvatures and vectors, and their related directional and covariant derivatives. To our knowledge, this is the first nonparametric formulation of thin-shell strains. A computational procedure for the strain energy is then offered for general parametric shells. In practice, a shell deformation is conveniently represented by a subdivision surface [F. Cirak, M. Ortiz, and P. Schröder, “Subdivision surfaces: A new paradigm for thin-shell finite-element analysis,” Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng., vol. 47, pp. 2039-2072, 2000]. We compare the results via potential-energy minimization over a couple of benchmark problems with their analytical solutions and numerical ones generated by two commercial software packages: ABAQUS and ANSYS. Our method achieves a convergence rate that is one order of magnitude higher. Experimental validation involves regular and free-form shell-like objects of various materials that were grasped by a robot hand, with the results compared against scanned 3-D data with accuracy of 0.127 mm. Grasped objects often undergo sizable shape changes, for which a much higher modeling accuracy can be achieved using the nonlinear elasticity theory than its linear counterpart.
Towards A Domain-specific Language For Pick-And-Place Applications

Programming robots is a complicated and time-consuming task. A robot is essentially a real-time, distributed embedded system. Often, control and communication paths within the system are tightly coupled to the actual physical configuration of the robot. Thus, programming a robot is a very challenging task for domain experts who do not have a dedicated background in robotics. In this paper we present an approach towards a domain specific language, which is intended to reduce the efforts and the complexity which is required when developing robotic applications. Furthermore we apply a software product line approach to realize a configurable code generator which produces C++ code which can either be run on real robots or on a robot simulator.
Improving the Application of Yolov7 Algorithm in Pin-Losing-Bolts Detection on Power Transmission Lines

A method for bolt deficiency detection on power transmission lines based on YOLOv7 is proposed to address the issues of low detection accuracy and high false negatives in current unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) inspections. In the Neck module, the existing feature fusion structure is modified by directly combining deep and shallow feature information across adjacent scale feature maps. The prior box sizes in the original YOLOv7 are adjusted to better fit the dimensions and aspect ratios of bolt targets. The improved YOLOv7 algorithm enhances the learning capability of bolt feature information. Experimental results on the bolt deficiency dataset using this method show a 6% increase in precision and a 0.6% increase in mAP_0. 5. The experiments demonstrate that the improved method enhances the detection ability of bolt deficiencies on power transmission lines and has practical value in intelligent inspections.
Induction of Experimental Peri-Implantitis with Strains Selected from the Human Oral Microbiome

Peri-implantitis (PI), the most widespread condition in the oral cavity, affects patients globally; thus, advanced research in both in vitro and in vivo studies is required. This study aimed to develop peri-implantitis in the rat model by oral contamination with bacteria responsible for PI in humans. The study was carried out in three stages: the extraction of the maxillary first molar to reproduce the human edentation, the mounting of the implant, and finally, the contamination of the device by gavage with Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Fusobacterium nucleatum and Streptococcus oralis. The hematological examinations showed statistically significant increases for WBCs (white blood cells), Hb (hemoglobin), RBCs (red blood cells), MCH (mean corpuscular hemoglobin), MCHC (mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration), and PLTs (platelets), but especially for the level of neutrophils and lymphocytes, and the systemic immunoinflammatory index completed the picture related to the inflammatory response triggered as a result of the activity of microorganisms pathogens on oral tissues. By examining the liver and kidney profile, we hypothesized that peri-implantitis is associated with systemic diseases, and the histopathological examination showed peri-implantitis lesions characterized by a marked inflammatory infiltrate with numerous neutrophils and lymphocytes. By corroborating all the results, we successfully developed a rat peri-implantitis model using a mixed bacterial infection through the oral gavage technique.
Identity versus similarity priming for letters in left mid-fusiform cortex

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, this study examined neural responses in the Visual Word Form Area to prime – test letter pairs in which visual similarity and identity were manipulated. Results revealed the greatest priming for pairs with high visual similarity, less priming for pairs with medium similarity, and the least priming for pairs with low similarity. Moreover, when visual similarity was equated, priming magnitude did not differ for pairs with the same letter identity compared with those with different letter identities. As such, results contrast with views of the Visual Word Form Area as supporting arbitrary (nonsimilarity based) mapping requirements of reading, and suggest a less modular perspective on visual form recognition.
Modeling the Processes that Control Fine Sediments Transport in the Río de la Plata Estuary

ABSTRACT Simionato, C.G. and Moreira, D. , 2018. Modeling the processes that control fine sediments transport in the Río de la Plata Estuary. In: Shim, J.-S. ; Chun, I. , and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 31–35. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Numerical models are excellent tools for conducting process studies and testing hypotheses based on observations. They constitute a “virtual laboratory” in which the forcings can be set “on” or “off”, or even the environmental conditions can be modified. The Rio de la Plata (RdP) is one of the most turbid estuaries in the world and the one most important in terms of continental discharge and drainage area. Observations of suspended fine sediments, particularly those remote and in situ collected on recent studies, have driven to the statement of several hypotheses about the processes that would determine the concentration of suspended sediments in the different parts of the estuary. Nevertheless, the relative scarcity of data do not allow to demonstrate the validity of those hypothesis and the role of several physical processes and of the morphology remain unknown. The objective of this work is, therefore, to analyze the role of the different forcing and the environmental conditions in the determination of the distribution of suspended fine sediments in the RdP applying processes oriented numerical simulations.
Undetected Toxicity Risk in Pharmacogenetic Testing for Dihydropyrimidine Dehydrogenase

Fluoropyrimidines, the mainstay agents for the treatment of colorectal cancer, alone or as a part of combination therapies, cause severe adverse reactions in about 10%–30% of patients. Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD), a key enzyme in the catabolism of 5-fluorouracil, has been intensively investigated in relation to fluoropyrimidine toxicity, and several DPD gene (DPYD) polymorphisms are associated with decreased enzyme activity and increased risk of fluoropyrimidine-related toxicity. In patients carrying non-functional DPYD variants (c.1905+1G>A, c.1679T>G, c.2846A>T), fluoropyrimidines should be avoided or reduced according to the patients’ homozygous or heterozygous status, respectively. For other common DPYD variants (c.496A>G, c.1129-5923C>G, c.1896T>C), conflicting data are reported and their use in clinical practice still needs to be validated. The high frequency of DPYD polymorphism and the lack of large prospective trials may explain differences in studies’ results. The epigenetic regulation of DPD expression has been recently investigated to explain the variable activity of the enzyme. DPYD promoter methylation and its regulation by microRNAs may affect the toxicity risk of fluoropyrimidines. The studies we reviewed indicate that pharmacogenetic testing is promising to direct personalised dosing of fluoropyrimidines, although further investigations are needed to establish the role of DPD in severe toxicity in patients treated for colorectal cancer.
Self-esteem and optimism in rural youth: Gender differences

Abstract Aim: To identify and describe gender-related differences in the self-esteem and optimism levels of rural adolescents. Background: Self-esteem and optimism have been broadly examined and are associated with health-practices, social interaction, attachment, resiliency, and personal identity. Information describing the relationship of self-esteem and optimism as it relates to gender is limited. Methods: Using a cross-sectional survey design, students (N = 193) from three high-schools in rural Pennsylvania, USA completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Optimism Scale-Life Orientation Test-Revised as part of a National Institute of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research funded study. Results: Both instruments’ mean scores were in the range of average for this population, with females scoring lower than males in both self-esteem (p < 0.0001) and optimism (p < 0.0001). The results of this study have nursing implications for evidenced based interventions that target self-esteem and optimism. Attention to self-esteem and optimism in female youth is recommended.
Experiments in Parameter Learning Using Temporal Differences

In this paper we discuss the problem of automatically learning evaluation function parameters in a chess program. In particular, we describe some experiments in which our chess program KnightCaplearnt the parameters of its evaluation function using a combination of Temporal Differencelearning and on-line play on FICS and ICC. KnightCap is freely available on the web f rom http://wwwsyseng.anu. edu.au/lsg. The main success we report is that KnightCap went from a (blitz) rating of 1650 to a rating of 215 0 in just 3 days and 308 games. We discuss the details of our learning algorithm, details of KnightCap, and some of the principal reasons for KnightCap’s r id improvement.
Evolution of Plastic Learning in Spiking Networks via Memristive Connections

This paper presents a spiking neuroevolutionary system which implements memristors as plastic connections, i.e., whose weights can vary during a trial. The evolutionary design process exploits parameter self-adaptation and variable topologies, allowing the number of neurons, connection weights, and interneural connectivity pattern to emerge. By comparing two phenomenological real-world memristor implementations with networks comprised of: 1) linear resistors, and 2) constant-valued connections, we demonstrate that this approach allows the evolution of networks of appropriate complexity to emerge whilst exploiting the memristive properties of the connections to reduce learning time. We extend this approach to allow for heterogeneous mixtures of memristors within the networks; our approach provides an in-depth analysis of network structure. Our networks are evaluated on simulated robotic navigation tasks; results demonstrate that memristive plasticity enables higher performance than constant-weighted connections in both static and dynamic reward scenarios, and that mixtures of memristive elements provide performance advantages when compared to homogeneous memristive networks.
Up‐gully flow in the great plains region: A mechanism for perturbing the nighttime lower atmosphere?

Studies using data gathered during CASES‐99 show that when the near‐surface nighttime wind direction shifts through the “up‐gully” direction of a significant gully near the tower, the flow produces a pronounced but localized upward surge of vertical velocity up to at least 55 m. This surge generates an outward propagating wave packet having horizontal and vertical wavelengths on the order of 100–250 m with tilted wave fronts consistent with upward phase propagation. The wave packet is observable (with significant delays) by other sensors out to 850 m. As a working hypothesis we assume that the up‐gully flow is constricted and strengthened as it progresses up the narrowing gully. We theorize that, upon exiting the gully, the flow has a pronounced and tightly confined vertical component that in turn produces a packet of internal propagating gravity waves.
Introducing New Localization and Positioning System for Aerial Vehicles

The concept of localization and positioning has received major attention as the use of UAVs is growing by day. Although there is the general method of GPS for positioning, as we will explain later, the need for alternative measures, such as new methods of localization based on visual means are growing. In this letter we present a new system based on common ubiquitous wireless and communication transmitters, presenting a new localization method based on Multilateration through calculations of time difference of arrival (TDOA) of the propagated signals. In this system we will, so to speak, turn the GPS system upside down and instead of using satellites as reference points in our positioning calculations, we will use the common stationary transmitters; making this system a perfect alternative for GPS and other visual based positioning systems.
CONSISTENT INITIAL CONDITIONS FOR THE DNS OF COMPRESSIBLE TURBULENCE

Relationships between diverse thermodynamic quantities appropriate to weakly compressible turbulence are derived. It is shown that for turbulence of a finite turbulent Mach number there is a finite element of compressibility. A methodology for generating initial conditions for the fluctuating pressure, density and dilatational velocity is given which is consistent with finite Mach number effects. Use of these initial conditions gives rise to a smooth development of the flow, in contrast to cases in which these fields are specified arbitrarily or set to zero. Comparisons of the effect of different types of initial conditions are made using direct numerical simulation of decaying isotropic turbulence.