Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Department of Economics and Finance Working Paper Series @bullet Detecting Neglected Parameter Heterogeneity with Chow Tests †

The paper demonstrates through a number of Monte-Carlo experiments that, for the type of cross-section data sets typically encountered in applied economics, Chow tests on sorted variations of the data matrix can detect neglected parameter heterogeneity. The paper focuses on heterogeneity in the behavioral responses of economic actors that belong to different economically meaningful groups, such as the young, middle-aged, and old. Since the suggested methodology is easy to implement yet powerful, its routine use by applied economists would be desirable given the very significant estimation bias that can result from neglecting parameter heterogeneity.
Joint channel estimation/detection in MIMO systems using belief propagation

We study the problem of joint channel estimation and detection in MIMO systems using belief propagation (BP). We propose a BP based algorithm which jointly estimates the MIMO channel matrix and detects the data symbols in a frame (consisting of pilot and data symbols) through message passing in two passes; one pass from the start to the end of a frame and another from the end to the start. A message comprises a small number of parameters that characterize the computed densities of the marginal probabilities. We study the performance of the proposed algorithm in V-BLAST and STBC MIMO systems for varying pilot density and pilot/data power allocation in a frame. Our simulation results show that a close to perfect CSIR performance is achieved by the proposed algorithm using a nonuniform pilot/data power allocation scheme based on the knowledge of the average channel SNR. We show that the proposed BP based joint channel estimation/detection scheme performs better than MMSE channel estimation followed by maximum-likelihood (ML) detection in slow fading.
The mitogen-activated protein kinase ERK5 regulates the development and growth of hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective The extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 (ERK5 or BMK1) is involved in tumour development. The ERK5 gene may be amplified in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but its biological role has not been clarified. In this study, we explored the role of ERK5 expression and activity in HCC in vitro and in vivo. Design ERK5 expression was evaluated in human liver tissue. Cultured HepG2 and Huh-7 were studied after ERK5 knockdown by siRNA or in the presence of the specific pharmacological inhibitor, XMD8-92. The role of ERK5 in vivo was assessed using mouse Huh-7 xenografts. Results In tissue specimens from patients with HCC, a higher percentage of cells with nuclear ERK5 expression was found both in HCC and in the surrounding cirrhotic tissue compared with normal liver tissue. Inhibition of ERK5 decreased HCC cell proliferation and increased the proportion of cells in G0/G1 phase. These effects were associated with increased expression of p27 and p15 and decreased CCND1. Treatment with XMD8-92 or ERK5 silencing prevented cell migration induced by epidermal growth factor or hypoxia and caused cytoskeletal remodelling. In mouse xenografts, the rate of tumour appearance and the size of tumours were significantly lower when Huh-7 was silenced for ERK5. Moreover, systemic treatment with XMD8-92 of mice with established HCC xenografts markedly reduced tumour growth and decreased the expression of the proto-oncogene c-Rel. Conclusions ERK5 regulates the biology of HCC cells and modulates tumour development and growth in vivo. This pathway should be investigated as a possible therapeutic target in HCC.
A study on multi-unit iris recognition

Iris recognition system has achieved good performance, but it is affected by the quality of input data. In this paper, we propose a multi-unit iris recognition system, which can select the good quality data between multi-unit eye images of the same person. The system is composed of four stages. First, both iris data are captured at the same time. After that the eye image check algorithm rejects noisy and counterfeit data. At the third stage, features are extracted by Daubechies' wavelet. Finally, features are classified by support vector machines (SVM) and Euclidian distance. We select the better accuracy rate between results of two methods. Experiment results involve 1694 eye images of 111 different people and the best accuracy rate is 99.1%.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Genome-wide association study of biochemical traits in Korcula Island, Croatia

Aim To identify genetic variants underlying biochemical traits – total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid, albumin, and fibrinogen, in a genomewide association study in an isolated population where rare variants of larger effect may be more easily identified. Methods The study included 944 adult inhabitants of the of Korčula, as a part of larger DNA-based genetic epidemiological study in 2007. Biochemical measurements Examinees were using scan containing 027 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). N-methyltrans-ferase ( PEMT ) gene and total cholesterol; USP46 , RAP1GDS1 , and ZCCHC16 genes and triglycerides; BCAT1 and SLC14A2 genes and albumin; and NR3C2 , GRIK2 , and PCSK2 genes and fibrinogen.
Pore-Lining Residues and Intracellular Magnesium Concentration Influence Connexin50 Gap Junction Unitary Channel Conductance

Gap junction (GJ) channels mediate direct intercellular communication. Each GJ channel consists of two hemichannels and each hemichannel is a hexamer of connexins. GJs formed by different connexins display different unitary channel conductance (γj) and intracellular magnesium modulation. The underlying mechanisms are not fully clear. The present study investigates the effect of mutating putative pore-lining residues (G8, G46, and V53 individually or together) into glutamate in Cx50 on homotypic GJ channel properties. Expression of the triple and individual mutants in GJ-deficient N2A cells resulted in the formation of functional GJ channels similar to that of Cx50 GJs. However, the γjs of G8EG46EV53E, G8E, G46E, but not V53E, GJs significantly increased Cx50 GJ γj. Increasing intracellular magnesium concentration from 0 to 3 mM significantly reduced the γjs of Cx50 and all mutant GJs. These results and our homology structural model indicate that these residues are likely pore-lining.
Modeling and Simulation of Incremental Conductance Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) Algorithm for Solar PV Array Using Boost Converter

The increasing demand for electricity and depleting fossil fuels made the solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems to be a better alternative for the future power requirements. Nowadays solar energy has great importance. Because it is easily available resource for energy generation.The fact that the output of the PV system is dependent upon the solar irradiance and temperature. In order to get maximum power from the solar panels the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) controllers can play an important role in photovoltaic systems, they have to operate at their maximum power point (MPP) despite the changes in the environment conditions. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) which significantly increases the efficiency of the solar photovoltaic System.There are differentMPPT control methods used for solar PV systems, Incremental conductance(IC), Perturb and observe(P&O), Constant Current method, Constant Voltage method, Fuzzy Control, and Neural Network Control. This paper presents the modeling and simulation of incremental conductance MPPT algorithm for pv array using boost converter. The simulation has been accomplished using MATLAB/SIMULINK.
A Statistical Analysis of Supersymmetric Dark Matter in the MSSM after WMAP

We study supersymmetric dark matter in the general ﬂavor diagonal MSSM by means of an extensive random scan of its parameter space. We ﬁnd that, in contrast with the standard mSUGRA lore, the large majority of viable models features either a higgsino or a wino-like lightest neutralino, and yields a relic abundance well below the WMAP bound. Among the models with neutralino relic density within the WMAP range, higgsino-like neutralinos are still dominant, though a sizeable fraction of binos is also present. In this latter case, relic density suppression mechanisms are shown to be essential in order to obtain the correct neutralino abundance. We then carry out a statistical analysis and a general discussion of neutralino dark matter direct detection and of indirect neutralino detection at neutrino telescopes and at antimatter search experiments. We point out that current data exclude only a marginal portion of the viable parameter space, and that models whose thermal relic abundance lies in the WMAP range will be signiﬁcantly probed only at future direct detection experiments. Finally, we emphasize the importance of relic density enhancement mechanisms for indirect detection perspectives, in particular at future antimatter search experiments.
IMPACT OF THE SOLUTION COOLING RATE AND OF THERMAL AGING ON THE CREEP PROPERTIES OF THE NEW CAST & WROUGHT RENE 65 Ni-BASED SUPERALLOY

Aeroengines turbine disks can encounter temperature in excess of 700°C-750°C for hundreds to thousands of hours in the rim sections during service operations, exposures which may affect the viscoplastic properties of the alloys due to strengthening particles' growth. The present work aims at quantifying and analyzing the impact of γ′-size evolutions and of intermetallic grain-boundary precipitation during long-term thermal exposures at 700°C and 800°C on the creep properties at 700°C of the newly developed Rene 65 alloy. In an aim to separate both effects, various sub-solvus solution heat treatments with different cooling rates were used to achieve γ′ sizes comparable to a given thermal exposure in the 700-800°C range, without the precipitation of secondary intermetallic particles at grain boundaries. Using this methodology, it is shown unambiguously that the precipitation of TCP phases at grain boundaries is deleterious to the creep properties at 700°C/800 MPa.
Association of established thyroid peroxidase autoantibody (TPOAb) genetic variants with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

Abstract Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is the most common form of autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) characterized by progressive destruction of thyroid tissue that may lead to hypothyroidism. High thyroid autoantibodies against thyroid peroxidase (TPOAb) levels are present in 90% of patients with HT and serve as a clinical marker for the detection of early AITD/HT. The main aim of our study was to test whether recently identified genetic variants associated with TPOAb are also involved in HT development. A total of 504 unrelated individuals, including 200 patients with HT and 304 controls, were involved in this study. Diagnosis of HT cases was based on clinical examination, measurement of thyroid hormones (TSH and fT4) and antibodies (TgAb, TPOAb) and ultrasound examination. We selected and genotyped 14 known TPOAb-associated genetic variants. Case–control logistic regression model was used to test the association of selected genetic variants with HT. Additionally, we tested association of the same genetic variants with thyroid related quantitative traits (TPOAb levels, TgAb levels and thyroid gland volume) using linear regression. Three genetic variants showed nominal association with HT; rs10774625 in ATXN2 gene (p = 0.0149, OR = 0.73, CI = 0.56–0.94), rs7171171 near RASGRP1 gene (p = 0.0356, OR = 1.4, CI = 1.02–1.92) and rs11675434 in TPO gene (p = 0.041, OR = 1.31, CI = 1.01–1.69). Two of these SNPs (rs1077462, rs11675434) also showed association with TPOAb levels (p = 0.043, β = −0.39; p = 0.042, β = 0.40, respectively) and one (rs7171171) was associated with thyroid gland volume (p = 0.0226, β = −0.21). Our findings suggest that variants inside or near TPO, ATXN2 and RASGRP1 genes are associated with HT. Identified loci are novel to HT and represent good basis for further exploration of HT susceptibility.
Exaptation of Bornavirus-Like Nucleoprotein Elements in Afrotherians

Endogenous bornavirus-like nucleoprotein elements (EBLNs), the nucleotide sequence elements derived from the nucleoprotein gene of ancient bornavirus-like viruses, have been identified in many animal genomes. Here we show evidence that EBLNs encode functional proteins in their host. Some afrotherian EBLNs were observed to have been maintained for more than 83.3 million years under negative selection. Splice variants were expressed from the genomic loci of EBLNs in elephant, and some were translated into proteins. The EBLN proteins appeared to be localized to the rough endoplasmic reticulum in African elephant cells, in contrast to the nuclear localization of bornavirus N. These observations suggest that afrotherian EBLNs have acquired a novel function in their host. Interestingly, genomic sequences of the first exon and its flanking regions in these EBLN loci were homologous to those of transmembrane protein 106B (TMEM106B). The upstream region of the first exon in the EBLN loci exhibited a promoter activity, suggesting that the ability of these EBLNs to be transcribed in the host cell was gained through capturing a partial duplicate of TMEM106B. In conclusion, our results strongly support for exaptation of EBLNs to encode host proteins in afrotherians.
MiRNA-424 Protects Against Permanent Focal Cerebral Ischemia Injury in Mice Involving Suppressing Microglia Activation

Background and Purpose— We observed that microRNA-424 (miR-424) significantly decreased in an miRNA profile of circulating lymphocytes of patients with ischemic stroke. The present study focused on the potential and mechanism of miR-424 in protecting ischemic brain injury in mice. Methods— Cerebral ischemia was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion in C57/BL6 mice. Cerebral infarction volume, neuronal apoptosis, and microglia activation were determined by 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining, immunofluorescence, and Western blot. BV2 microglial cell activity, cell cycle, mRNA, and protein levels of miR-424 targets were accessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, flow cytometry, real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Western blot, respectively. Results— MiR-424 levels were decreased in the plasma of patients with acute ischemic stroke, as well as in mouse plasma and ipsilateral brain tissue at 4, 8, and 24 hours after ischemia, likewise, in the cortex, hippocampus, and basal ganglia, respectively, after 8-hour ischemia. Interestingly, pre- and post-treatment with overexpression of miR-424 both decreased cerebral infarction size and brain edema after middle cerebral artery occlusion. Meanwhile, lentiviral overexpression of miR-424 inhibited neuronal apoptosis and microglia activation, including suppressing ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule-1 immunoreactivity and protein level, and reduced tumor necrosis factor-&agr; production. In vitro study demonstrated that miR-424 mimics caused G1 phase cell-cycle arrest, inhibited BV2 microglia activity, and reduced the mRNA and protein levels of CDC25A, cyclin D1, and CDK6 in BV2 microglial cells, which were upregulated in brain of middle cerebral artery occlusion mice. Conclusions— MiR-424 overexpression lessened the ischemic brain injury through suppressing microglia activation by translational depression of key activators of G1/S transition, suggesting a novel miR-based intervention strategy for stroke.
A multi-valued 350nm CMOS voltage reference

This paper describes, a voltage reference source using sub-threshold MOSFETs. The circuit supports supply voltages ranging from 1.5V to 3.3V and temperature variations ranging from -20°C to 80°C. Different values for the voltage reference can be achieved without severe performance impairments. The proposed circuit was produced in the 350nm CMOS process from AMS and occupies less than 0.0335mm2. Simulation and experimental data show that this circuit is able to achieve, a 3mV variation for the entire temperature span and a 2mV variation for the entire supply voltage span.
General empirical Bayes wavelet methods and exactly adaptive minimax estimation

In many statistical problems, stochastic signals can be represented as a sequence of noisy wavelet coefficients. In this paper, we develop general empirical Bayes methods for the estimation of true signal. Our estimators approximate certain oracle separable rules and achieve adaptation to ideal risks and exact minimax risks in broad collections of classes of signals. In particular, our estimators are uniformly adaptive to the minimum risk of separable estimators and the exact minimax risks simultaneously in Besov balls of all smoothness and shape indices, and they are uniformly superefficient in convergence rates in all compact sets in Besov spaces with a finite secondary shape parameter. Furthermore, in classes nested between Besov balls of the same smoothness index, our estimators dominate threshold and James-Stein estimators within an infinitesimal fraction of the minimax risks. More general block empirical Bayes estimators are developed. Both white noise with drift and nonparametric regression are considered.
A general algorithm for dynamic feedback linearization of robots with elastic joints

For a general class of robots with elastic joints, we introduce an inversion algorithm for the synthesis of a dynamic feedback control law that gives input-output decoupling and full state linearization. Control design is performed directly on the second-order robot dynamic equations. The linearizing control law is expressed in terms of the original model components and of their time derivatives, allowing an efficient organization of computations. A tight upper bound for the dimension of the needed dynamic compensator is also obtained.
Automated FISH analysis using dual‐fusion and break‐apart probes on paraffin‐embedded tissue sections

Detecting balanced translocations using tissue sections plays an important diagnostic role in cases of hematological malignancies. Manual scoring is often problematic due to truncation and overlapping of nuclei. Reports have described automated analysis using primarily tile sampling. The aim of this study was to investigate an automated fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis method using grid sampling on tissue sections, and compare the performance of dual‐fusion (DF) and break‐apart (BA) probes in this setting. Ten follicular, 10 mantle cell lymphoma, and 10 translocation‐negative samples were used to set the threshold of false positivity using IGH/CCND1, IGH/BCL‐2 DF, and IGH BA probes. The cut‐off distances of red and green signals to define fusion signals were 0.5, 1.0, and 1.2 μm for the IGH/CCND1, IGH/BCL‐2 DF, and IGH BA probes, respectively. The mean false positivity of grid units was 5.3, 11.4, and 28.1%, respectively. Ten to 14 additional samples analyzed blindly and were correctly classified using each probe. Discriminating positive and negative samples using automated analysis and grid sampling was possible with each probe, although different definitions of fusion signals were required due to the different physical distances between the DNA probes. Using the DF probes resulted in lower false positivity, which was less affected by signal numbers per grid units. © 2008 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry
Visualizing Patterns of Social and Communicative Behavior in Children Using Plexlines

We present a system to visualize the annotations of videos of children engaged in a 3–5 minute interactive protocol that assesses communicative behavior, the Rapid ABC. Rapid ABC session videos are annotated to capture the child’s gestures, gaze, and vocalization — important developmental indicators for a young child. From these annotations, we create a graphical fingerprint for each session. In doing so, we introduce Plexlines, a technique for visualizing multiple types of information layered compactly as timelines. Our tool highlights points of interest to probe Rapid ABC sessions that require more attention. Early feedback suggests this system has potential as a tool for communicating developmental concerns to parents and as a training tool for clinicians. Keywords—Visualization, Multimedia Systems, Time series analysis
MZRP: An Extension of the Zone Routing Protocol for Multicasting in MANETs

In recent years, a variety of unicast and multicast routing protocols for Mobile Ad hoc wireless NETworks (MANETs) have been developed. The Zone Routing Protocol (ZRP) is a hybrid unicast protocol that proactively maintains routing information for a local neighborhood (routing zone), while reactively acquiring routes to destinations beyond the routing zone. In this paper, we extend ZRP for application to multicast routing and call it the Multicast Zone Routing Protocol (MZRP). MZRP is a shared tree multicast routing protocol that proactively maintains the multicast tree membership for nodes’ local routing zones at each node while establishing multicast trees on-demand. It is scalable to a large number of multicast senders and groups. IP tunnel mechanism is used to improve the data packet delivery ratio during transmission. Detailed simulations were performed on the NS-2 simulator. Its performance was also compared with that of ODMRP.
On the Data Mining Technology Applied to Active Marketing Model of International Luxury Marketing Strategy in China-An Empirical Analysis

This paper emphasizes the importance of active marketing in the customer relationship management. Especially, the data mining technology is applied to establish an active marketing model to empirically analyze the condition of the AH Jewelry Company. Michael Porter's Five Forces Model is employed to assess and calculate the similarity in the active marketing model. Then, the questionnaire analysis on the customer relationship management model is carried out to explain the target market and target customer groups of AH Jewelry Company. The cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) are applied as data mining tool to investigate factors and problems that influence marketing effect of the AH Jewelry Company. The analysis results show that it becomes a key problem to enhance the customer loyalty and retain the customers under the changeable consumption environment. Data mining technology can help to analyze the historical data to produce the clients set which is most closed to the customer behaviors, and regards the most interesting information as the recommendation to the customers. Hence, marketing optimization strategy could be proposed as reference to manage the luxury marketing. DOI : http://dx.doi. org/10.11591/telkomnika.v12i2. 4384
Opportunistic Transmission using Large Scale Channel Effects

This paper quantifies the multi-user wireless diversity benefit of basing opportunistic transmission on large scale shadowing. This technique is primarily aimed at wireless sensor nodes. The processing capability of these nodes is limited and transmissions between sensor nodes are very sporadic. It is therefore easier for these devices to track large scale shadowing variations than the small scale shadowing variations normally used for opportunistic transmission. This paper will derive closed form expressions that compare the average SNR improvement provided by opportunistic transmission when based on large scale and small scale channel effects. Closed form bit error rate (BER) expressions will also be used to illustrate that opportunistic transmission based on shadowing can achieve very good performance improvements for modestly sized scheduling groups and realistic indoor shadowing standard deviation values.