Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sign-Perturbed Sums (SPS) with asymmetric noise: Robustness analysis and robustification techniques

Sign-Perturbed Sums (SPS) is a recently developed finite sample system identification method that can build exact confidence regions for linear regression problems under mild statistical assumptions. The regions are well-shaped, e.g., they are centred around the least-squares (LS) estimate, star-convex and strongly consistent. One of the main assumptions of SPS is that the distribution of the noise terms are symmetric about zero. This paper analyses how robust SPS is with respect to the violation of this assumption and how it could be robustified with respect to non-symmetric noises. First, some alternative solutions are overviewed, then a robustness analysis is performed resulting in a robustified version of SPS. We also suggest a modification of SPS, called LAD-SPS, which builds exact confidence regions around the least-absolute deviation (LAD) estimate instead of the LS estimate. LAD-SPS requires less assumptions as the noise needs only to have a conditionally zero median (w.r.t. the past). Furthermore, that approach can also be robustified using similar ideas as in the LS-SPS case. Finally, some numerical experiments are presented.
The effects of Economy, Values and Health on Happiness In Iran: the case of the Kish Island

Increasing happiness of population as the ultimate goal has engaged economist’s interest in identifying, measuring and theorizing based on the amount of influence of effective components on happiness. What makes this paper remarkable in contrast to similar studies is its Islamic ideological structure of society and being a free economic zone. Method used to estimating happiness is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with latent variables. Results do not confirm presence of the Easterlin paradox in this society and moreover the religious variables are not significant.
Feature study of conversion blindness on functional network with aggregation of local key information

It remains unclear whether brain networks are altered during conversion blindness in electroencephalogram (EEG) representation, which is of significance both on improving clinical management of conversion blindness, and providing objective evidence for judicial disputes. Functional brain network was constructed on coherence extracted from scalp EEGs, and conventional network metrics were analyzed in various frequency bands. Performance indices using relevant global features were evaluated with nonlinear and linear classifiers. To complement the incompetence of global feature in differentiating conversion blindness from control, local characteristics were selected by algorithm of minimum redundancy maximum relevance. Global network features were found most pronounced in the alpha band. Further consideration of local characteristics fused with global feature for differentiating conversion blindness from control, performance elevation was achieved with total accuracy of 92.32%, sensibility of 91.29%, and specificity of 93.36%. Experimental results demonstrated the potential of the proposed approach to represent brain network of conversion blindness with symptom of complete bilateral visual loss, it also provided new perspective to understand conversion blindness.
Differentiating factors of venture growth: from statics to dynamics

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to analyse which factors differentiate growing firms from the non‐growth businesses. It seeks to analyse the start‐up factors as well as the changes in the activities and the characteristics during the seven‐year period from the start‐up stage.Design/methodology/approach – The study is a part of a longitudinal research project that has followed the development of 200 SMEs in Finnish metal‐based manufacturing and business services since their start‐up in 1990. The paper uses a contingency approach and concentrates on 86 respondents who have survived after seven years' activity. The paper develops a model for testing the factors that differentiate growing ventures from the non‐growth companies.Findings – Static characteristics of the entrepreneur and the firm other than group management style do not explain the growth of the firm. The factors that differentiate growing businesses from non‐growth companies include mainly dynamic variables such as increases in production.
Women's Labor Supply, Marriage, and Welfare Dependency

This paper provides a rational choice model that simultaneously analyses women's decisions about welfare dependency, labor supply, and marriage. The model is based on the Demand and Supply (D&S) models of marriage inspired by Becker's theory of marriage. In addition to reproducing old insights about income effects and marriage market effects on welfare dependency, the model offers new insights regarding the effects on welfare dependency of sex ratios, divorce laws, cohort size, and traditional expectations about marriage and family. The model helps understand why welfare is more common among black women in the USA and offers a new interpretation for past trends in American women's welfare dependency: the big increase in welfare dependency in the late 1960s is interpreted as a baby-boom phenomenon and recent reductions in welfare dependency are partially seen as the expression of young women's better marriage market opportunities.
A clinically viable capsule endoscopy video analysis platform for automatic bleeding detection

In this paper, we present a novel and clinically valuable software platform for automatic bleeding detection on gastrointestinal (GI) tract from Capsule Endoscopy (CE) videos. Typical CE videos for GI tract run about 8 hours and are manually reviewed by physicians to locate diseases such as bleedings and polyps. As a result, the process is time consuming and is prone to disease miss-finding. While researchers have made efforts to automate this process, however, no clinically acceptable software is available on the marketplace today. Working with our collaborators, we have developed a clinically viable software platform called GISentinel for fully automated GI tract bleeding detection and classification. Major functional modules of the SW include: the innovative graph based NCut segmentation algorithm, the unique feature selection and validation method (e.g. illumination invariant features, color independent features, and symmetrical texture features), and the cascade SVM classification for handling various GI tract scenes (e.g. normal tissue, food particles, bubbles, fluid, and specular reflection). Initial evaluation results on the SW have shown zero bleeding instance miss-finding rate and 4.03% false alarm rate. This work is part of our innovative 2D/3D based GI tract disease detection software platform. While the overall SW framework is designed for intelligent finding and classification of major GI tract diseases such as bleeding, ulcer, and polyp from the CE videos, this paper will focus on the automatic bleeding detection functional module.
Healthy lifestyle behaviours and cardiovascular mortality among Japanese men and women: the Japan collaborative cohort study.

AIMS To examine the combined impacts of healthy lifestyle behaviours on cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Asians. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 18 747 men and 24 263 women aged 40-79 without a history of stroke or coronary heart disease (CHD) at baseline in 1988-90 were followed up until 2006. Participants scored one point for each following lifestyle behaviour: consumption of fruits ≥1 intake per day, fish ≥1 intake per day, milk almost every day, exercise ≥5 h per week and/or walking ≥1 h per day, body mass index (BMI) of 21-25 kg/m(2), alcohol intake <46.0 g per day, non-smoking, and sleep duration of 5.5-7.5 h per day. During 16.5 years of follow-up, there were 1907 deaths from total CVDs including 849 strokes and 402 CHDs. For both genders, persons with the highest scores had the lowest CVD mortality. The multivariable hazard ratios (95% confidence interval, population-attributable fraction) for the highest (7-8) vs. lowest (0-2) score categories were 0.35 (0.25-0.49, 52.3%) in men, and 0.24 (0.16-0.36, 44.6%) in women. Similar associations were found for stroke: 0.36 (0.22-0.58, 45.0%) in men and 0.28 (0.15-0.53, 43.4%) in women, and for CHD: 0.19 (0.08-0.50, 76.2%) and 0.20 (0.09-0.47, 34.5%), respectively. CONCLUSION Mortality from stroke, CHD, and CVD in the highest healthy lifestyle score category was one-third in men and one-fourth in women of those in the lowest scores, suggesting that a large fraction of CVD could be prevented through lifestyle modification.
Optimal Capacitor Placement in Radial Distribution Networks

The capacitor placement (replacement) problem for radial distribution networks determines capacitor types, sizes, locations, and control schemes. Optimal capacitor placement is a hard combinatorial problem that can be formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear program. Since this is a nonpolynomial time (NP) complete problem, the solution approach uses a combinatorial search algorithm. The paper proposes a hybrid method drawn upon the Tabu search approach, extended with features taken from other combinatorial approaches such as genetic algorithms and simulated annealing, and from practical heuristic approaches. The proposed method has been tested in a range of networks available in the literature with superior results regarding both quality and cost of solutions.
Cardioprotective effect of high‐dose intragraft adenosine infusion on microvascular function and prevention of no‐reflow during saphenous vein grafts intervention

Despite the use of embolic protection devices, no‐reflow can still occur during saphenous vein grafts (SVGs) intervention. High‐dose intracoronary adenosine infusion preconditions the myocardium, improves coronary flow, and prevents no‐reflow. The role of high‐dose intragraft adenosine infusion on protection of microvascular function and prevention of no‐reflow has not been investigated
Between me and we: The importance of self-profit versus social justifiability for ethical decision making

Current theories of dishonest behavior suggest that both individual profits and the availability of justifications drive cheating. Although some evidence hints that cheating behavior is most prevalent when both self-profit and social justifications are present, the relative impact of each of these factors is insufficiently understood. This study provides a fine-grained analysis of the trade-off between self-profit versus social justifiability. In a non-student online sample, we assessed dishonest behavior in a coin-tossing task, involving six conditions which systematically varied both self-profit and social justifiability (in terms of social welfare), such that a decrease in the former was associated with the exact same increase in the latter. Results showed that self-profit outweighed social justifiability, but that there was also an effect of social justifications.
Integration of epigenetic and genetic controls of seed size by cytokinin in Arabidopsis

Significance This study provides a unifying view of the genetic and epigenetic regulations of seed size. Because epigenetic regulators are modulated by the environment, we predict that this network integrates environmental conditions and the physiological status of the plant to control seed size. The development of seeds in flowering plants is placed under complex interactions between maternal tissues, the embryo, and the endosperm. The endosperm plays a major role in the regulation of seed size. In Arabidopsis thaliana, endosperm size depends on the coordination of the genetic pathway HAIKU (IKU) with epigenetic controls comprising genome dosage, DNA methylation, and trimethylated lysine 27 on histone H3 (H3K27me3) deposition. However, the effectors that integrate these pathways have remained unknown. Here, we identify a target of the IKU pathway, the cytokinin oxidase CKX2, that affects cytokinin signaling. CKX2 expression is activated by the IKU transcription factor WRKY10 directly and promotes endosperm growth. CKX2 expression also depends on H3K27me3 deposition, which fluctuates in response to maternal genome dosage imbalance and DNA demethylation of male gametes. Hence, the control of endosperm growth by CKX2 integrates genetic and epigenetic regulations. In angiosperms, cytokinins are highly active in endosperm, and we propose that IKU effectors coordinate environmental and physiological factors, resulting in modulation of seed size.
INCOME STRATIFICATION AND INCOME INEQUALITY

This paper develops a new index of stratification that highlights the distinction between inequality and stratification. The stratification index captures the extent to which population subgroups occupy disctinct strata within an overall distribution. The indices are group specific and control for group size. A weighted sum of group stratification indices is the third term that, together with between-group inequality and a weighted sum of within-group inequality adds to the overall Gini index of inequality. The paper applies the indices and the decomposition to income inequality by etnic groups in Israel and by race and family type groups in the U.S. Copyright 1991 by The International Association for Research in Income and Wealth.
How much does performance matter in strategic decision making

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of two aspects of firm performance: financial and business performance and organizational effectiveness, on three dimensions of the strategic decision‐making process, rationality, intuition, and political behavior.Design/methodology/approach – The empirical study goes well beyond the common anecdotal observations or reflections on strategic decision‐making by utilizing a mixed‐methods approach. Based on a multi‐method field study, 286 Egyptian managers who participate in making strategic decisions are surveyed; and 36 semi‐structured interviews are conducted.Findings – The results suggest that strategic decision‐making in high‐performing firms is more rational and less intuitive and political. Interestingly, they also show that organizational effectiveness is a stronger predictor of strategic decision‐making process dimensions than of financial and business performance.Research limitations/implications – In Egypt, a widespread suspicion of ac.
Enterococcus faecalis pCF10‐encoded surface proteins PrgA, PrgB (aggregation substance) and PrgC contribute to plasmid transfer, biofilm formation and virulence

Enterococcus faecalis pCF10 transfers at high frequencies upon pheromone induction of the prgQ transfer operon. This operon codes for three cell wall‐anchored proteins – PrgA, PrgB (aggregation substance) and PrgC – and a type IV secretion system through which the plasmid is delivered to recipient cells. Here, we defined the contributions of the Prg surface proteins to plasmid transfer, biofilm formation and virulence using the Caenorhabditis elegans infection model. We report that a combination of PrgB and extracellular DNA (eDNA), but not PrgA or PrgC, was required for extensive cellular aggregation and pCF10 transfer at wild‐type frequencies. In addition to PrgB and eDNA, production of PrgA was necessary for extensive binding of enterococci to abiotic surfaces and development of robust biofilms. However, although PrgB is a known virulence factor in mammalian infection models, we determined that PrgA and PrgC, but not PrgB, were required for efficient killing in the worm infection model. We propose that the pheromone‐responsive, conjugative plasmids of E. faecalis have retained Prg‐like surface functions over evolutionary time for attachment, colonization and robust biofilm development. In natural settings, these biofilms are polymicrobial in composition and constitute optimal environments for signal exchange, mating pair formation and widespread lateral gene transfer.
Simple and Simultaneous Determination of the HIV-Protease Inhibitors Amprenavir, Atazanavir, Indinavir, Lopinavir, Nelfinavir, Ritonavir and Saquinavir Plus M8 Nelfinavir Metabolite and the Nonnucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors Efavirenz and Nevirapine in Human Plasma by Reversed-Phase Liqu

Several studies suggest that therapeutic drug monitoring of protease inhibitors and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors may contribute to the clinical outcome of HIV-infected patients. Because of the growing number of antiretroviral drugs and of drug combinations than can be administered to these patients, an accurate high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method allowing the simultaneous determination of these drugs may be useful. To date, the authors present the first simultaneous HPLC determination of the new protease inhibitor atazanavir with all the others currently in use (M8 nelfinavir metabolite included) and the 2 widely used nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors efavirenz and nevirapine. This simple HPLC method allows the analysis all these drugs at a single ultraviolet wavelength following a 1-step liquid-liquid extraction procedure. A 500-μL plasma sample was spiked with internal standard and subjected to liquid-liquid extraction using by diethyl ether at pH 10. HPLC was performed using a Symmetry Shield RP18 and gradient elution. All the drugs of interest and internal standard were detected with ultraviolet detection at 210 nm. Calibration curves were linear in the range 50-10,000 ng/mL. The observed concentrations of the quality controls at plasma concentrations ranging from 50 to 5000 ng/mL for these drugs showed that the overall accuracy varied from 92% to 104% and 92% to 106% for intraday and day-to-day analysis, respectively. No metabolites of the assayed compounds or other drugs commonly coadministered to HIV-positive patients were found to coelute with the drugs of interest or with the internal standard. This assay was developed for the purpose of therapeutic monitoring (TDM) in HIV-infected patients.
'Buy-it-Now' or 'Sell-it-Now' Auctions: Effects of Changing Bargaining Power in Sequential Trading Mechanisms

We study experimentally the effect of bargaining power in two sequential mechanisms that offer the possibility to trade at a fixed price before an auction. In the “Buy-It-Now” format, the seller has the bargaining power and offers a price prior to the auction; whereas in the “Sell-It-Now” format, it is the buyer. Both formats are extensively used in online and offline markets. Despite very different strategic implications for buyers and sellers, results from our experiment suggest no effects of bargaining power on aggregate outcomes. There is, however, substantial heterogeneity within sellers. Sellers who ask for high prices not only benefit from having the bargaining power but also earn revenue above those expected in the auction.
Cycloid psychoses: Leonhard's descriptions revisited

Background and Objectives: Cycloid psychoses are characterized by polymorphic symptomatology with intraphasic bipolarity, a remitting and recurrent course and favourable prognosis. Perris and Brockington (P&B) described the first set of operational criteria that were partly incorporated in ICD-10. The present study investigates psychopathological profiles according to the P&B criteria and the original descriptions by Leonhard, both against the background of the criteria from the prevailing international classification systems. Methods: Eighty patients with psychotic disorders were recruited and assessed with various psychometric instruments at baseline and after six weeks of antipsychotic treatment in order to investigate the presence of cycloid psychoses according to Leonhard (LCP) and the effect of treatment with antipsychotics. The overlap between LCP and DSM-IV Brief Psychotic Disorder (BPD), ICD Acute Polymorphic Psychotic Disorder (APP) and P&B criteria was calculated Results: Using P&B criteria and a symptom checklist adapted from the original descriptions by Leonhard, 14 and 12 cases of cycloid psychosis were identified respectively reflecting a prevalence of 15-18%. Small though significant concordance rates were found between LCP and both DSM-BPD and ICD-APP. Concordance between LCP and P&B criteria was also significant, but modest. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that LCP can be identified in a substantial number of patients with psychotic disorders. Cycloid psychoses are not adequately covered in current classification systems and criteria. Since they are demonstrated to have a specific psychopathological profile, relapsing course and favourable prognosis, it is advocated to include these psychoses in daily differential diagnostic procedures.
Periodicity of Cohen-Grossberg-type fuzzy neural networks with distributed delays and impulses

In this paper, a class of Cohen-Grossberg-type fuzzy neural networks with distributed delays and impulses is investigated. By employing differential inequality and M-matrix theory, some sufficient conditions ensuring the existence and global exponential stability of the periodic oscillatory solution for Cohen-Grossberg-type fuzzy neural networks with distributed delays and impulses are obtained. An examples is given to show the effectiveness of the obtained results.
Minimum Delay Moving Object Detection

We present a general framework and method for detection of an object in a video based on apparent motion. The object moves relative to background motion at some unknown time in the video, and the goal is to detect and segment the object as soon it moves in an online manner. Due to unreliability of motion between frames, more than two frames are needed to reliably detect the object. Our method is designed to detect the object(s) with minimum delay, i.e., frames after the object moves, constraining the false alarms. Experiments on a new extensive dataset for moving object detection show that our method achieves less delay for all false alarm constraints than existing state-of-the-art.
The endogeneity of the natural rate of growth for a selection of Asian countries

This paper questions the assumption in all of mainstream growth theory that the Harrod natural rate of growth is exogenously determined and independent of the pressure of demand in an economy. We first present a simple statistical technique for estimating the natural rate of growth, and then show how it is possible to test for its endogeneity. The model is applied to ten Asian countries, and the results support the conclusions from previous studies of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Latin American countries that the natural rate of growth is elastic to the actual rate of growth working through induced labor supply and productivity growth. Demand matters for economic growth.