Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Swing Voters' Blessing

Can democracy work well if the electorate is neither fully informed nor fully rational? I provide an affirmative answer in a model with quality differences between two ideological candidates running for office. The candidates commit to policy platforms before the elections take place. All voters care about the quality of the candidates as well as the policies they offer; however, the quality differences are only observable to a limited number of informed voters. I consider two different scenarios. In the first one, all uninformed voters are fully rational and follow an optimal strategy of making their voting decisions dependent only on the position of their own policy bliss point relative to the median policy bliss point. As in the standard case with only informed voters, the candidate who is preferred by the median voter wins. In equilibrium, this is the higher quality candidate and the policy implemented is the same as if all voters had been fully informed. In the second scenario, I show that the existence of boundedly rational uninformed 'swing voters' increases the welfare of the majority of voters. These swing voters do not consider the fact that their vote influences their utility only when their vote is pivotal. Consequently, they always support the candidate whose policy platform they prefer. In this scenario, the winning high quality candidate's policy is closer to the median voter's bliss point than in the first scenario with only fully rational voters. This is the "Swing Voters' Blessing" that makes the majority of voters better off.
The management of stab wounds to the heart with laceration of the left anterior descending coronary artery

Penetrating cardiac injuries are an increasing cause of traumatic deaths in urban areas. The management of these injuries has undergone a transition from simple pericardiocentesis to cardiac ultrasound evaluation in the stable patient, and emergency thoracotomy and repair of myocardial wounds in the unstable patient in extremes. The incidence of traumatic coronary artery injury is not accurately known because not all victims are examined. With the improvement in emergency medical services, including speed of transportation of these patients, better resuscitation, and knowledgeable use of cardiac ultrasound or emergency room thoracotomy, more patients with coronary artery injuries will survive and reach the operating room. The operative management of the injured coronary artery is dependant on the location of the injury and whether there is myocardial dysfunction. Distal injuries with small myocardial infarction should be treated by ligation alone. Proximal injury and those injuries associate with larger area of ischaemia or infarction are best treated with coronary artery bypass. The role of cardiopulmonary bypass pump in these patients should be evaluated depending on the homodynamic stability of the patient. We present two cases of cardiac stab wounds with transection of the left anterior descending (LAD), which were successfully managed. A literature review regarding the management of combined cardiac and coronary artery injuries is also provided.
Mean-risk models using two risk measures: a multi-objective approach

This paper proposes a model for portfolio optimization, in which distributions are characterized and compared on the basis of three statistics: the expected value, the variance and the CVaR at a specified confidence level. The problem is multi-objective and transformed into a single objective problem in which variance is minimized while constraints are imposed on the expected value and CVaR. In the case of discrete random variables, the problem is a quadratic program. The mean-variance (mean-CVaR) efficient solutions that are not dominated with respect to CVaR (variance) are particular efficient solutions of the proposed model. In addition, the model has efficient solutions that are discarded by both mean-variance and mean-CVaR models, although they may improve the return distribution. The model is tested on real data drawn from the FTSE 100 index. An analysis of the return distribution of the chosen portfolios is presented.
FCDECOMP: Decomposition of metabolic networks based on flux coupling relations

A metabolic network model provides a computational framework to study the metabolism of a cell at the system level. Due to their large sizes and complexity, rational decomposition of these networks into subsystems is a strategy to obtain better insight into the metabolic functions. Additionally, decomposing metabolic networks paves the way to use computational methods that will be otherwise very slow when run on the original genome-scale network. In the present study, we propose FCDECOMP decomposition method based on flux coupling relations (FCRs) between pairs of reaction fluxes. This approach utilizes a genetic algorithm (GA) to obtain subsystems that can be analyzed in isolation, i.e. without considering the reactions of the original network in the analysis. Therefore, we propose that our method is useful for discovering biologically meaningful modules in metabolic networks. As a case study, we show that when this method is applied to the metabolic networks of barley seeds and yeast, the modules are in good agreement with the biological compartments of these networks.
An expert system for travel planning in Indian railroads

This paper describes an Expert System (ES), designed for the Indian Railways( which suggests the several feasible travel plans taking into. consideration passenger specific requirements and preferences. IR runs about 11000 pairs of passenger trains everyday. Quite often many trains get delayed and these delays are unpredictable. The railroad network spreads over 8000 stations with three different gauges or track systems. The ES is designed to work as a companion to the ticketing and reservation systems already implemented at IR. This nessecitates a split of the ES into two co-operating components residing on seperate systems. These two components co-operate by exchanging sub-goals and satisfying them with the available knowledge. Using heuristics the system suggests feasible travel plans out of the several possible alternatives taking into consideration passenger specific requirements, preferences, punctuality histories of the trains and availability of accomodation.
Endogenous and Exogenous Determinants of Trust in Inter-Firm Relations: A Conceptual Analysis Based on Institutional Economics

This paper investigates the factors that affect the availability and robustness of trust as a governance mechanism in inter-firm relations. By adopting a broad ‘embedded’ perspective, the analysis focuses both on the factors that affect trust within the inter-firm relation (endogenous determinants) and those related to the business environment that influence trust from the outside (exogenous determinants). By means of conceptual analysis based on a broad literature review focusing on institutional economics, the aim of the paper is to provide an overview that can be used as a basis for further theoretical discussion and operationalisation in empirical research especially concerning the governance of inter-firm relations in different sectoral and regional environments. For the purpose of illustration, the paper concludes with an example of a conceptual model that applies the concepts analysed in the paper.
Cervical motoneuron topography reflects the proximodistal organization of muscles and movements of the rat forelimb: A retrograde carbocyanine dye analysis

Behavioral evidence reveals that the laboratory rat and other rodent species display skilled paw and digit use in handling food during eating and skilled limb use in reaching for food in formal laboratory skilled reaching tests that is comparable to that described in carnivores and primates. Because less is known about the central control of skilled movements in rodents than in carnivores or primates, the purpose of the current study was to examine the relation between the rat's spinal motoneurons and the individual forelimb muscles that they innervate. In two experiments, 14 forelimb muscles (in the shoulder and the upper and lower arm segments) were injected with carbocyanine dye tracers. The topography of spinal motoneurons was reconstructed by using fluorescence microscopy. Motor neurons were found to be organized in columns throughout the length of the cervical and upper thoracic area, with 1) extensor motoneurons located more laterally than flexor motoneurons, 2) rostral motoneurons innervating more proximal muscles than caudal motoneurons, and 3) more dorsally located motoneurons innervating more distal muscles. These results reveal that the topography of rodent cervical spinal cord motoneurons is very similar to that of carnivores and of primates, which also are characterized by well‐developed, skilled movements. In addition, the proximal‐distal organization of motoneuron columns parallels the proximal‐to‐distal pattern of forelimb movement used by the rat when reaching. The data from this study enable the development of predictions about the specific movements that would be compromised by experimental transections or other injuries at different levels of the spinal cord in rat models of spinal injury. J. Comp. Neurol. 419:286–296, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Progressive Learning of Topic Modeling Parameters: A Visual Analytics Framework

Topic modeling algorithms are widely used to analyze the thematic composition of text corpora but remain difficult to interpret and adjust. Addressing these limitations, we present a modular visual analytics framework, tackling the understandability and adaptability of topic models through a user-driven reinforcement learning process which does not require a deep understanding of the underlying topic modeling algorithms. Given a document corpus, our approach initializes two algorithm configurations based on a parameter space analysis that enhances document separability. We abstract the model complexity in an interactive visual workspace for exploring the automatic matching results of two models, investigating topic summaries, analyzing parameter distributions, and reviewing documents. The main contribution of our work is an iterative decision-making technique in which users provide a document-based relevance feedback that allows the framework to converge to a user-endorsed topic distribution. We also report feedback from a two-stage study which shows that our technique results in topic model quality improvements on two independent measures.
The Case Against Microsoft: An Ethical Perspective

This paper discusses the complex Microsoft anti-trust trial and the company's questionable behavior during the browser wars with Netscape. It reviews the essentials of the legal case against Microsoft along with the company's efforts to refute the charges against it, including the presumption of monopoly power. After laying the groundwork by providing conceptual background on the notion of fair competition, the paper turns to an ethical analysis of Microsoft's conduct. We conclude that Microsoft's behavior was excessively opportunistic during the browser wars. The company did not compete constructively or positively, but instead sought to undermine the competitive process. It also developed biased software code that tilted the playing field in its direction. These actions caused harm to the company's stakeholders by obstructing consumer choice and impeding innovation.
Network time and frequency transfer with GNSS receivers located in time laboratories

In this paper we investigate a possible network solution, similar to the IGS analysis center solutions, that can be easily managed by a network of timing institutes to solve for all the clock differences (in addition to other quantities) in a unique system to understand the feasibility and the advantages of this approach in time and frequency transfer. The investigation is based on a suite of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) software products that allows the users to perform a wide range of calculations and analyses related to GNSS, from the evaluation of performances at the user level to the computation of precise GNSS orbits and clocks, including the calculation of precise receiver coordinates. The time and frequency transfer capabilities of the network solution (named ODTS) are evaluated and compared with PPP solutions as well as to other time transfer results.
MMSE optimal non-local motion compensated k-t FOCUSS for compressed sensing cardiac cine imaging

A non-local motion compensation algorithm combined with k-t FOCUSS for high resolution compressed sensing cardiac cine imaging is proposed in this paper. While conventional non-local means algorithms use self-similarity, our method collects similar blocks from another reference frame that is obtained during diastole phase. We show that this non-local motion compensation is optimal in MMSE sense, if the probability for each candidate patch is uniform. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm clearly reconstructs important edge boundaries in cardiac cine imaging and provides significant performance improvement compared to the existing motion compensated k-t FOCUSS.
Adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II colon cancer with poor prognostic features.

PURPOSE Adjuvant chemotherapy is typically considered for patients with stage II colon cancer characterized by poor prognostic features, including obstruction, perforation, emergent admission, T4 stage, resection of fewer than 12 lymph nodes, and poor histology. Despite frequent use, the survival advantage conferred on patients with stage II disease by chemotherapy is yet unproven. We sought to determine the overall survival benefit of chemotherapy among patients with stage II colon cancer having poor prognostic features. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 43,032 Medicare beneficiaries who underwent colectomy for stage II and III primary colon adenocarcinoma diagnosed from 1992 to 2005 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) -Medicare database. χ(2) and two-way analysis of variance were used to assess differences in patient- and disease-related characteristics. Five-year overall survival was examined using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression with propensity score weighting. RESULTS Of the 24,847 patients with stage II cancer, 75% had one or more poor prognostic features. Adjuvant chemotherapy was received by 20% of patients with stage II disease and 57% of patients with stage III disease. After adjustment, 5-year survival benefit from chemotherapy was observed only for patients with stage III disease (hazard ratio[HR], 0.64; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.67). No survival benefit was observed for patients with stage II cancer with no poor prognostic features (HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.84 to 1.25) or stage II cancer with any poor prognostic features (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.94 to 1.13). CONCLUSION Among Medicare patients identified with stage II colon cancer, either with or without poor prognostic features, adjuvant chemotherapy did not substantially improve overall survival. This lack of benefit must be considered in treatment decisions for similar older adults with colon cancer.
Learning based data mining using compressed sensing

This paper presents a categorization of SAR patches using supervised approach within a dictionary learning sparse representation framework. Dictionary learning algorithms represent matrix factorization of data matrix X as the product of Dictionary and sparse coefficients Z. The dictionary learning algorithm was implemented using well known K-SVD algorithm. The trained dictionaries were used for sparse representation and classification. Experimental results showed superior results for Dictionary-Learning Sparse Representation framework for categorization of SAR patches.
Research on LCC-MTDC and STATCOM technology for wind farms integration

This paper proposed the line-commutated converter based multi-terminal HVDC(LCC-MTDC) combining with the static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) for doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind farms integration in the context of Northwest Grid (NG) in China. The control strategies design was approached from two aspects. One was aimed to the ac system on the rectifier side. To coordinate the wind farm, STATCOM and rectifier, the inverse system method was introduced to design the controller in view of the nonlinear characteristic of STATCOM. Meanwhile, the control strategy for the rectifier was proposed to balance the active power in the subsystem and ensure the dc link voltage of STATCOM constant. On the other hand, the single-point voltage control strategy suitable for LCC-MTDC was conceived to guarantee the stable operation of the system by considering the control characteristics of both rectifiers and inverters Simulations carried out in PSCAD/EMTDC have proven that the proposed control strategies possess favorable control performance and fast response speed.
An efficient method for testing multipliers of embedded DSPs in FPGA

This paper presents an efficient method to generate BIST scheme for multipliers of embedded DSPs in an FPGA. It not only can be applied to those multipliers consisting of half adders and full adders but also some complex multiplier circuits with other compressors. This approach provides an easy way to generate test set for target multipliers. We apply our method to different multipliers with different input bit-widths, coding circuits and compress circuits and achieve high fault coverage with a small number of test configurations. It only needs 213 test vectors to test a 18×18 Booth2 multiplier with complex Wallace tree structure and reaches fault coverage greater than 99%.
The par region of pSC101 affects plasmid copy number as well as stability

The par locus is a segment of pSC101 that has been identified as a cis‐acting determinant of plasmid stability. We show that par also determines copy number and must, therefore, play a role in plasmid replication. The segregation defect, but not the copy‐number reduction, of par‐ replication origins is completely suppressed by a short sequence from the bacteriophage lambda gene O which is present in plasmid pKO‐4. Thus, replication and segregation functions are separable from each other.
Inter-reef vertebrate communities of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park determined by baited remote underwater video stations.

A fleet of baited remote underwater video stations was set in lagoonal and inter-reef waters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, across 14° of latitude and the entire shelf. Counts of the maximum number seen in any one field of view were used to estimate relative abundance of 347 spe- cies of bony fishes, cartilaginous fishes and sea snakes. Boosted regression trees were used to assess the influence of depth and location of sampling sites on species richness. Multivariate regression trees and indices of specificity and fidelity (Dufrene-Legendre indices) were used to distinguish 17 spatially contiguous vertebrate groups within a hierarchy of spatial scales. Location across the shelf and depth had the greatest influence on species richness, with peaks occurring around the ~35 m iso- bath in the inter-reef waters of the reef matrix, coinciding with shallow banks and shoals. Richness increased slightly toward the equator. Nine terminal vertebrate communities parallel to the coast were distinguished inshore and offshore in deep and shallow water along a latitudinal gradient. There were important community boundaries at Bowen in the south, Townsville in the centre, and Cape Flattery in the north. Latitudinal groupings were most evident inshore. Offshore communities were spatially extensive and separated lagoonal, mid-shelf and outer-shelf sites. Community bound- aries were correlated with knowledge of strong gradients in sedimentary and oceanographic pro- cesses influenced by the shape of the reef matrix and regional tides and currents.
An Empirical Examination of the Classical Theory of Corporate Security Valuation

This paper tests the main implications of the classical Black-Scholes-Merton theory of corporate security valuation. Data on the debt of companies with a single outstanding bullet bond is used to focus on the cleanest possible application of the theory. The basic Merton model is tested first. Then we offer the first systematic tests of whether observed pricing errors can be mitigated by more complicated models that admit default before maturity, stochastic interest rates and differential recovery rates. The models are tested under a variety of assumed conditions to examine the effects of possible mis-measurement of hard-to-measure parameters. The relatively successful configurations of the Merton model produce mean absolute errors between 80 and 90 basis points. Errors are related to coupon and time to maturity but are not related to credit rating. Evidence on the effect of firm size is equivocal. The Longstaff-Schwartz model's ability to accommodate early default and stochastic risk-free interest rates does not improve prediction accuracy in our sample. Efforts to improve accuracy through use of each firm's industry-average recovery rate were similarly unavailing.
Compositional Modeling of Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media Using Semi-Implicit Scheme

In this paper we deal with the numerical modeling of the compressible two-phase flow of a mixture composed of several components in porous media with species transfer between the phases. We formulate the mathematical model by means of the extended Darcy’s laws for all phases, components continuity equations, constitutive relations, and appropriate initial and boundary conditions. The splitting of components among the phases is described by a formulation of the local thermodynamic equilibrium which uses volume, temperature, and moles as specification variables. We solve the problem numerically using a combination of the mixed-hybrid finite element method for the total flux discretization and the finite volume method for the discretization of transport equations, and the semi-implicit time discretization. The proposed numerical flux approximation does not require phase identification and determination of the corresponding phases on adjacent elements. The resulting system of nonlinear algebraic equations is solved by the Newton-Raphson method. In contrast to fullyimplicit schemes, the size of the final system does not depend on the number of mixture components.