Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A new Q(lambda) with interim forward view and Monte Carlo equivalence

Q-learning, the most popular of reinforcement learning algorithms, has always included an extension to eligibility traces to enable more rapid learning and improved asymptotic performance on non-Markov problems. The λ parameter smoothly shifts on-policy algorithms such as TD(λ) and Sarsa(λ) from a pure bootstrapping form (λ=0) to a pure Monte Carlo form (λ=1). In off-policy algorithms, including Q(λ), GQ(λ), and off-policy LSTD(λ), the λ parameter is intended to play the same role, but does not; on every exploratory action these algorithms bootstrap regardless of the value of λ, and as a result they fail to approximate Monte Carlo learning when λ = 1. It may seem that this is inevitable for any online off-policy algorithm; if updates are made on each step on which the target policy is followed, then how could just the right updates be 'un-made' upon deviation from the target policy? In this paper, we introduce a new version of Q(λ) that does exactly that, without significantly increased algorithmic complexity. En route to our new Q(λ), we introduce a new derivation technique based on the forward-view/backward-view analysis familiar from TD(λ) but extended to apply at every time step rather than only at the end of episodes. We apply this technique to derive first a new off-policy version of TD(λ), called PTD(λ), and then our new Q(λ), called PQ(λ).
Investor Awareness or Information Asymmetry? Wikipedia and IPO Underpricing

We use the presence of a Wikipedia article for initial public offering (IPO) firms to test theories of information asymmetry and investor awareness. While we find limited support for the former, our results provide strong support for theories of investor awareness. Specifically, IPO firms with a Wikipedia article exhibit significantly higher underpricing than do IPO firms without a Wikipedia article. Investor awareness has positive long-term effects, including greater analyst following and institutional ownership for up to three years after the offering. The effect is robust to firm-specific Google search volume, news coverage, propensity score matching, and an instrumental variable approach.
Flexibility and Specificity in Coral-Algal Symbiosis: Diversity, Ecology, and Biogeography of Symbiodinium

▪ Abstract Reef corals (and other marine invertebrates and protists) are hosts to a group of exceptionally diverse dinoflagellate symbionts in the genus Symbiodinium. These symbionts are critical components of coral reef ecosystems whose loss during stress-related “bleaching” events can lead to mass mortality of coral hosts and associated collapse of reef ecosystems. Molecular studies have shown these partnerships to be more flexible than previously thought, with different hosts and symbionts showing varying degrees of specificity in their associations. Further studies are beginning to reveal the systematic, ecological, and biogeographic underpinnings of this flexibility. Unusual symbionts normally found only in larval stages, marginal environments, uncommon host taxa, or at latitudinal extremes may prove critical in understanding the long-term resilience of coral reef ecosystems to environmental perturbation. The persistence of bleaching-resistant symbiont types in affected ecosystems, and the possibilit.
THE INFLUENCE OF ATTITUDINAL FACTORS OF SME OWNER-MANAGERS ON ADOPTION OF FINANCIAL PRODUCTS

Given the key role of owner managers in the decision making process, understanding socio-psychological factors of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) financial behavior has often been prescribed as an important research direction.In accordance with the above, present study in context of Pakistan investigated the attitudinal factors of SMEs owner-managers’ towards adoption of financial products.The attitudinal factors are depicted as perceived relative advantage, perceived compatibility and perceived complexity.The proposed model has been adapted, which is composed of decomposed theory of planned behavior (DTPB) and decomposed attitudinal factors of SMEs owner-manager to investigate their intention to adopt financial products in Pakistan. Relying on a survey research design, and following stratified sampling method, after screening process 285 owner-managers responses have been considered for further analysis.The findings revealed that perceived relative advantage and perceived compatibility possess significant positive relationships with owner-manager attitude towards adoption of financial product which further significantly predicts behavioral intention.Moreover, perceived complexity has negative but significant relationship with SMEs owner-manager attitude towards adoption of financial products. SMEs owner-managers exhibit serious concern towards formal financial products adoption, the policy makers are suggested to focus on creating specialized products which are useful, compatible and easy to understand for SMEs owner-manager in Pakistan.
Wavelet transform domain data embedding in a medical image

In this work, we propose a wavelet-based technique for embedding medical data in a medical image. In the spectral domain, the patient data are embedded into the wavelet coefficients of the host image. A diagnostic distortion measure (DDM) has been defined to measure the visible distortions between the original image and the embedded image. The performance of the DDM has been compared with the standard PSNR characteristics. The results show that DDM not only captures the distortions for different quantities of embedded data but also can quantify the differences when the same data are embedded at different subbands. The embedment of data into the mid and high frequency subbands of the host image show lower values of DDM and higher values of PSNR.
PepO, a CovRS‐controlled endopeptidase, disrupts Streptococcus pyogenes quorum sensing

Group A Streptococcus (GAS, Streptococcus pyogenes) is a human‐restricted pathogen with a capacity to both colonize asymptomatically and cause illnesses ranging from pharyngitis to necrotizing fasciitis. An understanding of how and when GAS switches between genetic programs governing these different lifestyles has remained an enduring mystery and likely requires carefully tuned environmental sensors to activate and silence genetic schemes when appropriate. Herein, we describe the relationship between the Control of Virulence (CovRS, CsrRS) two‐component system and the Rgg2/3 quorum‐sensing pathway. We demonstrate that responses of CovRS to the stress signals Mg2+ and a fragment of the antimicrobial peptide LL‐37 result in modulated activity of pheromone signaling of the Rgg2/3 pathway through a means of proteolysis of SHP peptide pheromones. This degradation is mediated by the cytoplasmic endopeptidase PepO, which is the first identified enzymatic silencer of an RRNPP‐type quorum‐sensing pathway. These results suggest that under conditions in which the virulence potential of GAS is elevated (i.e. enhanced virulence gene expression), cellular responses mediated by the Rgg2/3 pathway are abrogated and allow individuals to escape from group behavior. These results also indicate that Rgg2/3 signaling is instead functional during non‐virulent GAS lifestyles.
The response of cat visual cortex to flicker stimuli of variable frequency

We examined the possibility that neurons or groups of neurons along the retino‐cortical transmission chain have properties of tuned oscillators. To this end, we studied the resonance properties of the retino‐thalamo‐cortical system of anaesthetized cats by entraining responses with flicker stimuli of variable frequency (2–50 Hz). Responses were assessed from multi‐unit activity (MUA) and local field potentials (LFPs) with up to four spatially segregated electrodes placed in areas 17 and 18. MUA and LFP responses were closely related, units discharging with high preference during LFP negativity. About 300 ms after flicker onset, responses stabilized and exhibited a highly regular oscillatory patterning that was surprisingly similar at different recording sites due to precise stimulus locking. Fourier transforms of these steady state oscillations showed maximal power at the inducing frequency and consistently revealed additional peaks at harmonic frequencies. The frequency‐dependent amplitude changes of the fundamental and harmonic response components suggest that the retino‐cortical system is entrainable into steady state oscillations over a broad frequency range and exhibits preferences for distinct frequencies in the θ‐ or slow α‐range, and in the β‐ and γ‐band. Concomitant activation of the mesencephalic reticular formation increased the ability of cortical cells to follow high frequency stimulation, and enhanced dramatically the amplitude of first‐ and second‐order harmonics in the γ‐frequency range between 30 and 50 Hz. Cross‐correlations computed between responses recorded simultaneously from different sites revealed pronounced synchronicity due to precise stimulus locking. These results suggest that the retino‐cortical system contains broadly tuned, strongly damped oscillators which altogether exhibit at least three ranges of preferred frequencies, the relative expression of the preferences depending on the central state. These properties agree with the characteristics of oscillatory responses evoked by non‐temporally modulated stimuli, and they indicate that neuronal responses along the retino‐cortical transmission chain can become synchronized with precision in the millisecond range not only by intrinsic interactions, but also by temporally structured stimuli.
Postpartum Anxiety Prevalence, Predictors and Effects on Child Development: A Review

This narrative review of the literature was derived from a search for 2010-2017 publications on postpartum anxiety and postnatal anxiety on the PubMed and PsycINFO databases. Approximately two thirds of the papers are focused on the prevalence/incidence, onset and course of postnatal anxiety. The other third are almost equally distributed across correlates/risk factors and effects/outcomes, and only a few studies are focused on interventions/treatments. Based on the recent literature, the prevalence of postpartum anxiety has widely ranged from 13 to 40%. The demographic risk factors for postnatal anxiety include being a young mother, having more education and being employed. Childbirth risk factors include being primiparous in one sample and multiparous in another, cesarean delivery, fear of the birth and of death during delivery, lack of control during labor, low self-confidence for the delivery and the delivery staff, and premature delivery. Social support problems include the lack of family support, marital/family conflict, and social health issues. Psychiatric history risk factors include prenatal depression and anxiety. Postnatal anxiety has negative effects on breast-feeding, bonding, mother–infant interactions, and infant temperament, sleep, mental development, health and internalizing behavior and on conduct disorder in adolescents. Unfortunately, only six postnatal anxiety intervention studies could be found including paternal education, music therapy during labor, mothers massaging their infants, cognitive behavior therapy and administering oxytocin.
Phase properties of metamaterial elements

This paper presents the design of a metamaterial in planar form by focusing on the phase properties of its basic elements. These elements must transmit a wave with phase advancement to get a metamaterial showing a negative refractive index. This is obtained by delaying the phase within the basic element by almost -2π, which from outside the element looks like an advancing phase. Simulations demonstrate the behavior of one element, a 1D structure and a 2D structure. The propagating backward wave is traced on terminals of particular elements.
The impact of chronic hepatitis B infection on major adverse cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality in patients with diabetes: a nationwide population-based study from Taiwan

Objectives The association between hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and cardiovascular disease remains uncertain. This study explored long-term hard endpoints (ie, myocardial infarction and ischaemic stroke) and all-cause mortality in diabetic patients with chronic HBV infection in Taiwan from 2000 to 2013. Design This study was retrospective, longitudinal and propensity score-matched. Setting Nationwide claims data for the period 2000–2013 were retrieved from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database. Participants The study included 40 162 diabetic patients with chronic HBV infection (HBV cohort) and 40 162 propensity score-matched diabetic patients without HBV infection (control cohort). Chronic HBV infection was identified based on three or more outpatient clinic visits or one hospital admission with a diagnosis of HBV infection. Main outcome measures Primary outcomes were major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE, including myocardial infarction and ischaemic stroke), heart failure and all-cause mortality. Results During the median follow-up period of 5.3±3.4 years, the HBV cohort had significantly lower risks of myocardial infarction (adjusted HR (aHR)=0.49; 95% CI 0.42 to 0.56), ischaemic stroke (aHR=0.61; 95% CI 0.56 to 0.67), heart failure (aHR=0.50; 95% CI 0.43 to 0.59) and all-cause mortality (aHR=0.72; 95% CI 0.70 to 0.75) compared with the control cohort. The impact of HBV infection on the sequential risk of MACE was greater in patients with fewer diabetic complications. Conclusions Chronic HBV infection was associated with decreased risk of MACE, heart failure and all-cause mortality in patients with diabetes. Further research is needed to investigate the mechanism underlying these findings.
Use of Lentiviral Particles As a Cell Membrane-Based mFasL Delivery System for In Vivo Treatment of Inflammatory Arthritis

During budding, lentiviral particles (LVP) incorporate cell membrane proteins in the viral envelope. We explored the possibility of harnessing this process to generate LVP-expressing membrane proteins of therapeutic interest and studied the potential of these tools to treat different pathologies. Fas-mediated apoptosis is central to the maintenance of T cell homeostasis and prevention of autoimmune processes. We prepared LVP that express murine FasL on their surface. Our data indicate that mFasL-bearing LVP induce caspase 3 and 9 processing, cytochrome C release, and significantly more cell death than control LVP in vitro. This cytotoxicity is blocked by the caspase inhibitor Z-VAD. Analysis of the application of these reagents for the treatment of inflammatory arthritis in vivo suggests that FasL-expressing LVP could be useful for therapy in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, where there is an excess of Fas-expressing activated T cells in the joint. LVP could be a vehicle not only for mFasL but also for other membrane-bound proteins that maintain their native conformation and might mediate biological activities.
A simple method for the determination of glomerular filtration rate.

In 74 adult patients suffering from various renal diseases, the total [51Cr]EDTA plasma clearance (Cl) was compared to the [51Cr]EDTA clearance obtained on assuming a one-pool system (Cl1). Cl1 always exceeded Cl, and the relative difference increased with increasing clearance values. An equation for correction is given. The method for determining Cl1 is very simple and suitable for clinical routine examinations.
Tomographie spectrale à comptage de photons~: développement du prototype PIXSCAN et preuve de concept

Dans le domaine de la tomographie par rayons X preclinique, la tomographie spectrale est une voie de plus en plus en plus exploree. Les objectifs de la tomographie spectrale sont tant la caracterisation et la quantification des tissus et agents de contraste que l'amelioration de contraste entre tissus mous. Cela passe par l'exploitation de l'information spectrale (ou energetique) des photons X et non plus seulement par la quantite de rayons X detectee comme en tomographie standard par absorption de rayons X. L'interet de la tomographie spectrale se trouve renforce par l'arrivee des cameras a comptage comme le detecteur a pixels hybrides XPAD3 qui ont la capacite de selectionner les photons X en fonction de leur energie. Ce detecteur a ete developpe pour fonctionner dans le micro-tomodensitometre PIXSCAN construit au CPPM. Dans ce contexte, cette these a deux buts~: participer a la construction du prototype PIXSCAN et y effectuer une preuve de concept de la tomographie spectrale. Le premier but est rempli grâce au developpement de l'interface d'acquisition du PIXSCAN. Le second est atteint par l'implantation de la methode de separation de composantes dont le but est d'isoler les contributions photoelectrique, Compton et celles des agents de contraste. Ce travail debute par la caracterisation de cette methode et se termine par sa demonstration sur donnees reelles acquises a l'aide du prototype PIXSCAN.
Probing marine natural product defenses with DESI-imaging mass spectrometry

To demonstrate that a toxin or other natural product serves as a predator or pathogen deterrent requires that (i) the defined compound in question have the requisite biological activity, (ii) the compound is present at levels capable of eliciting an effect in the target organism, (iii) there is a physical mechanism for the substance to interact with its target before death of the producer, and (iv) the avoidance behavior in the target organism actually occurs. Although many highly-unique natural products have been defined from the marine environment, and they appear to serve as predator and pathogen deterrents, it has been extremely challenging to establish their quantity and physical location in the producing organism's tissues, thus leaving uncertainty about their true natural function. However, in this issue of PNAS, Lane et al. (1) have used a novel mass spectrometric approach [desorption electrospray ionization (DESI)] (Fig. 1) to sensitively, yet precisely, measure the physical location and quantities of antifungal natural products in the surface tissues of a tropical red alga. This advance, combined with other analytical MS developments as described below, is allowing more definitive identification of the physical location of natural products within biological tissues, cells, or even complex mixed-species assemblages (2, 3) and represents a dramatic technological advance for studying such phenomena.
Structured matrix rank minimization approach to image inpainting

This paper proposes a structured matrix rank minimization approach to a novel image inpainting. We utilize the autoregressive (AR) model to describe the gray level of image, and formulate the image inpainting problem as the signal recovery problem by estimating the model order. This problem is described as the rank minimization problem, which is NP hard in general. To solve the problem approximately, this paper proposes an algorithm utilizing the null space based alternating optimization (NSAO) algorithm. Numerical examples show that the proposed algorithm recovers missing pixels well.
Subcellular location prediction of apoptosis proteins

Apoptosis proteins have a central role in the development and homeostasis of an organism. These proteins are very important for understanding the mechanism of programmed cell death. Many efforts in pharmaceutical research have been aimed at understanding their structure and function. Unfortunately, thus far, very few apoptosis protein structures have been determined. In contrast, many apoptosis protein sequences are known, and many more are expected to come in the near future. Because of the extremely unbalanced state, it would be worthwhile to develop a fast sequence‐based method to identify their subcellular location so as to gain some insight about their biological function. In view of this, a study was initiated in an attempt to identify the subcellular location of apoptosis proteins according to their sequences by means of the covariant discriminant function, which was established based on the Mahalanobis distance and Chou's invariance theorem (Chou, Proteins 1995;21:319–344). The results were quite promising, indicating that the subcellular location of apoptosis proteins are predictable to a considerably accurate extent if a good training data set can be established. It is expected that, with a continuous improvement of the training data set by incorporating more and more new data, the current method might eventually become a useful tool in this area because the function of an apoptosis protein is closely related to its subcellular location. Proteins 2003;50:44–48. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Spin Orbit Torque Non-Volatile Flip-Flop for High Speed and Low Energy Applications

A novel nonvolatile flip-flop based on spin-orbit torque magnetic tunnel junctions (SOT-MTJs) is proposed for fast and ultralow energy applications. A case study of this nonvolatile flip-flop is considered. In addition to the independence between writing and reading paths, which offers a high reliability, the low resistive writing path performs high-speed, and energy-efficient WRITE operation. We compare the SOT-MTJ performances metrics with the spin transfer torque (STT)-MTJ. Based on accurate compact models, simulation results show an improvement, which attains 20× in terms of WRITE energy per bit cell. At the same writing current and supply voltage, the SOT-MTJ achieves a writing frequency 4× higher than the STT-MTJ.
A 55–64 GHz Fully-Integrated Sub-Harmonic Wideband Transceiver in 130 nm CMOS Process

In this letter, a 55-64 GHz compact fully-integrated gigabit transceiver with sub-harmonic pump technique is presented. The transceiver consists of a single-pole-double-throw (SPDT) traveling wave switch, a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a buffer amplifier (BA), and two sub-harmonic resistive mixers for up-conversion and down-conversion, respectively. The transceiver using 130 nm standard CMOS technology achieves an up-conversion gain of 7.4 dB at 62 GHz and down-conversion gain of 7.2 dB at 60 GHz with a compact chip size of 1.2 mm2. The 3 dB frequency bandwidth ranges from 55 to 64 GHz, which can cover the whole frequency band for 802.15. TG3C WPAN applications. For system applications, gigabit BPSK modulation signal test is successfully performed in this work.