Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
NMPC with economic objectives on target manifolds

This paper presents a predictive control approach for stabilizing a target manifold in the state space of a nonlinear system while optimizing economic performance on/near this manifold. The control design is based on a transverse normal form description of the dynamics. While a stabilizing transversal NMPC acts as an outer control loop to stabilize a target neighborhood of the manifold, a tangential inner loop NMPC refines the remaining degrees of freedom to the benefit of economic performance without compromising manifold stability. The proposed two-stage approach is especially interesting for embedded system applications when the computationally attractive stabilizing transversal NMPC formulation is augmented with an “approximate” economic refinement step. We discuss the stability and performance properties of the resulting control scheme and show its efficacy in an illustrative example.
Work-life balance – a neglected issue among Austrian female expatriates

Previous research has highlighted the importance of subjective well-being and the expatriate's supportive personal environment for the success of an international assignment. As studies focusing on work-life balance of expatriates are still very rare, and research dealing with this topic from a gender perspective seems to be almost non-existent, this study emphasizes the work-life balance situation of female expatriates on foreign assignments. After having interviewed 10 female expatriates, results clearly support the existing state of the art in this field. Thereby work intrusion into family life, for example, has proven to have stronger impact on an expatriate's life than vice versa. Furthermore, several issues so far neglected in the literature have been revealed that influence women's work-life balance abroad. The importance of leisure time, social networks, sports and personal confidence can be determined. Additionally, as work-life balance has an individual meaning, support measures offered by companies are thus also required to be tailored individually. This paper reports on narrative interviews with female expatriates and provides more insight into the subject of work-life balance of international women managers. It begins by reviewing the literature on work-life balance and expatriation before analysing the specific matters of work-life balance of female expatriates and asking how women deal with the additional stress and pressure arising on an international assignment. Then, the underlying Grounded Theory Method is discussed before presenting the findings and discussing their implications in terms of future research.
Forecasting stock returns an examination of stock market trading in the presence of transaction costs

The paper presents new evidence on the predictability of excess returns on common stocks for the Standard and Poor's 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial portfolios at the monthly, quarterly, and annual frequencies. It shows that recursive predictions obtained on the basis of the excess returns regressions are capable of correctly predicting a statistically significant proportion of the signs of the actual returns. The paper also shows that the switching portfolios constructed on the basis of the signs of the recursive predictions mean-variance dominate the respective market portfolios when trading takes place on a quarterly or annual basis. This result holds even under a high transaction cost scenario. However, due to the larger number of transactions at the monthly frequency the monthly switching portfolios only mean-variance dominate the respective market portfolios when transaction costs are zero or low.
An International Comparison of the Association Among Literacy, Education, and Health Across the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, and Bermuda: Implications for Health Disparities

The relationship between education and health is well-established, but theoretical pathways are not fully understood. Economic resources, stress, and health behaviors partially explain how education influences health, but further study is needed. Previous studies show that health literacy mediates the education–health relationship, as do general literacy skills. However, little is known whether such mediation effects are consistent across different societies. This study analyzed data from the International Assessment of Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey conducted in Canada, the United States, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, and Bermuda to investigate the mediation effects of literacy on the education–health relationship and the degree of such mediation in different cultural contexts. Results showed that literacy skills mediated the effect of education on health in all study locations, but the degree of mediation varied. This mediation effect was particularly strong in Bermuda. This study also found that different types of literacy skills are more or less important in each study location. For example, numeracy skills in the United States and prose (reading) literacy skills in Italy were stronger predictors of health than were other literacy skills. These findings suggest a new direction for addressing health disparities: focusing on relevant types of literacy skills.
Saving and Liquidity Constraints

This paper is concerned with the theory of saving when consumers are not permitted to borrow, and with the ability of such a theory to account for some of the stylized facts of saving behavior. When consumers are relatively impatient, and when labor income is independently and identically distributed over time, assets act like a buffer stock, protecting consumption against bad draws of income. The precautionary demand for saving interacts with the borrowing constraints to provide a motive for holding assets. If the income process is positively autocorrelated, but stationary, assets are still used to buffer consumption, but do so less effectively, and at a greater cost in terms of foregone consumption. In the limit, when labor income is a random walk, it is optimal for impatient liquidity constrained consumers simply to consume their incomes. As a consequence, a liquidity constrained representative agent cannot generate aggregate U.S. saving behavior if that agent receives aggregate labor income. Either there is no saving, when income is a random walk, or saving is contracyclical over the business cycle, when income changes are positively autocorrelated. However, in reality, microeconomic income processes do not resemble their average, and it is possible to construct a model of microeconomic saving under liquidity constraints which, at the aggregate level, reproduces many of the stylized facts in the actual data. While it is clear that many households are not liquidity constrained, and do not behave as described here, the models presented in the paper seem to account for important aspects of reality that are not explained by traditional life-cycle models.
Dynamics of TMAFM in liquid: Application to molecular metrology and biological sciences

Application of atomic force microscopy (AFM) in liquid is necessary for imaging and manipulation of biological specimens. The atomic force microscope (AFM) has become an indispensable tool in biology because it permits the imaging and probing of nanomechanical properties of biological samples such as biopolymers and viruses under physiological (liquid environments) conditions. In this paper, we have simulated a tapping-mode AFM (TMAFM) cantilever in liquid environment near a surface. Contact forces have some differences in liquid in comparison to air or vacuum in magnitude or formulation. Hydrodynamic forces are also applied on the cantilever due to the motion in liquid. For modeling we have used a continuous beam model with its first mode and forward-time simulation method for simulation of its hybrid dynamics. The results show a good agreement with experiments. They also show that the effect of separation on free vibration amplitude is great. Its effect on resonance frequency is considerable too. The resonance frequency in liquid is so small in comparison to air due to additional mass and also additional damping created by the viscosity of the liquid around.
Role of reduced suppression of glucose production and diminished early insulin release in impaired glucose tolerance.

BACKGROUND Insulin resistance and impaired insulin secretion both occur in non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM), but their relative importance is unclear. Hyperglycemia itself has adverse effects on tissue insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion that make it difficult to distinguish between primary and secondary abnormalities. To avoid this problem we studied subjects with postprandial glucose intolerance but not sustained hyperglycemia. METHODS We compared the rate of systemic appearance and disappearance of glucose, the output of endogenous hepatic glucose, splanchnic and muscle uptake of glucose, and plasma insulin and glucagon responses after the ingestion of 1 g of glucose per kilogram of body weight in 15 subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (8 of them nonobese and 7 obese) and in 16 normal subjects (9 nonobese and 7 obese) who were matched for age and weight. RESULTS After glucose ingestion the mean (+/- SE) rate of total systemic appearance of glucose was significantly higher in both the nonobese subjects (455 +/- 12 mmol per five hours) and the obese subjects (486 +/- 17 mmol per five hours) with impaired glucose tolerance than in the respective normal subjects (411 +/- 11 and 436 +/- 7 mmol per five hours). This difference was fully accounted for by the reduced suppression of endogenous hepatic glucose in the subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (a reduction of about 28 percent, vs. 48 percent in the normal subjects; P less than 0.01). Despite late hyperinsulinemia, at 30 minutes the subjects with impaired glucose tolerance had smaller increases in plasma insulin and smaller reductions in plasma glucagon (both P less than 0.01). Molar ratios of plasma insulin to plasma glucagon levels correlated inversely (r = -0.62, P less than 0.001) with the rates of systemic glucose appearance; the latter correlated positively (r = 0.72, P less than 0.0001) with peak plasma glucose concentrations. CONCLUSIONS Impaired glucose tolerance, the precursor of NIDDM, results primarily from reduced suppression of hepatic glucose output due to abnormal pancreatic islet-cell function. The late hyperinsulinemia may be the consequence of an inadequate early beta-cell response rather than of insulin resistance.
Visual attention model for target search in cluttered scene

Visual attention models generate saliency maps in which attentive regions are more distinctive with respect to remaining parts of the scene. In this work, a new model of orientation conspicuity map (OCM) is presented for the computation of saliency. The proposed method is based on the difference of the Gabor filter outputs with orthogonal orientations because vehicles are the targets for the search tasks in this study. Moreover, as another contribution, selective resolution for the input image, according to the distance of the target in the scene, is also utilized with the proposed scheme for the benefit to target search. Experimental results demonstrate that both the OCM model and selective resolution for input images yield promising results for the target search in cluttered scenes.
A Novel Quasi-Elliptic HTS Filter With Group-Delay Equalization Using Compact Quasi-Lumped Element Resonators in VHF Band

To produce a filter small enough to fit a 2-in wafer in the very high frequency (VHF) band while avoiding parasitic cross coupling among nonadjacent resonators, a novel quasi-lumped element resonator with interdigital capacitor, double-spiral inductor, and pad capacitor have been introduced. This resonator has not only a highly miniature structure but also a very weak far-field radiation. A ten-pole quasi-elliptic filter with group-delay equalization, which has a 7.1-MHz 1-dB passband and a center frequency of 257.5 MHz, is designed and fabricated on a 37.3 x mm x 30.1 x mm x 0.5 x mm LaAlO3 substrate. The measured results showed a 0.24-dB insertion loss, a 15-dB return loss, and a 70-dB out-of-band rejection. Moreover, the group delay variation is less than 50 ns over 70% of the 1-dB passband and the band where the phase error ripple is within plusmn5deg is more than 80% of the 1-dB passband. The overall experimental performance showed excellent agreement with the theory and simulation, which is a good proof of the advantage of our weak far-field radiation resonator. The result showed that the novel resonator is very suitable to fabricate narrowband ultrahigh frequency, VHF, or even lower frequency high-temperature superconductor filters on a 2-in wafer.
Efficacy of Interferon A-2b monotherapy in Β-thalassemics with chronic hepatitis C.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Monotherapy with standard or pegylated interferon (PegIFN) remains the first-line treatment for HCV infection in patients with thalassemia major (βTM), although its long-term impact is still unknown. We aimed to assess the efficacy of IFN-a2b/PegIFN-a2b (one or multiple treatment sessions) and the predictors for sustained virological response (SVR) in HCV-infected βTM patients. METHODS Between 11/1992 and 12/2013 [median follow-up: 165.5 months (8-237)], 48 βTM HCV-infected patients [19 males, median age: 22 years (12-45)], received IFN-a2b (n=34) or PegIFN-a2b (n=14). Twenty-three patients (47.9%) had a previous splenectomy; 13/40 (32.5%) patients had Ishak stage >/=4 and 21/40 (52.5%) had siderosis grade 3-4. HCV-genotype was available in 36 patients (genotype 1: 47.2%, 2: 5.6%, 3: 25%, and 4: 22%). IL28B genotype was determined in 37 patients by means of in-house real-time PCR (CC: 27%, CT: 62.2%, TT: 10.8%). RESULTS Totally, 15/48 (31.3%) achieved SVR following the first treatment and 18/48 (37.5%) after multiple courses. Splenectomy (p=0.01) and fibrosis grade >/=4 (p<0.05) were negative predictors for SVR (first course), whereas splenectomy (p<0.05) and age >18 (p<0.02) for SVR after multiple courses. In HCV-genotype 1/4 (n=25), none of the patients with CT or TT IL28B genotype achieved SVR compared to 50% of the CC patients (p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS Interferon is an effective therapeutic option in HCV-infected βTM patients. IL28B genotype was a strong predictor for SVR, together with splenectomy, age and fibrosis.
Household Saving Motives: Comparing American and Chinese Consumers

Using the 2008 Survey of Chinese Consumer Finance and Investor Education and the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances, this study compared saving motives between Chinese and American urban households. Results showed that Chinese households were more likely than American households to report precautionary and education saving motives, and Chinese households with lower incomes were more likely to report a retirement saving motive. Chinese households’ stronger motivation to save serves as an explanation of the greater saving rates in China, compared with the United States. The results have implications for policy makers, financial professionals, and consumer finance researchers.
Structure of the Sir3 protein bromo adjacent homology (BAH) domain from S. cerevisiae at 1.95 Å resolution

Sir3p is a silent‐information‐regulator (SIR) protein required for the assembly of a transcriptionally “silent” chromatin structure at telomeres and the cryptic HM mating‐type loci in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Sir3p contains a putative “bromo adjacent homology” (BAH) domain at its N terminus that shares strong sequence similarity with the BAH domain of a subunit of the origin recognition complex (ORC), Orc1p. The Orc1p–BAH domain forms a well‐defined complex with the ORC interaction region (OIR) of another Sir protein, Sir1p, which targets formation of silent chromatin to the HM‐loci. Interestingly, despite sequence similarity of the Sir3p and Orc1p BAH domains and Sir3p's established importance in silencing, Sir3p does not bind the Sir1p–OIR. Here we report the 1.95 Å resolution crystal structure of the Sir3p–BAH domain. The structure reveals two key features that can account for Sir3p–BAH domain's inability to interact with Sir1p. First, several Orc1p–BAH domain residues known to directly contact Sir1p are altered in the Sir3p–BAH domain. Second, a critical OIR‐binding pocket present on the surface of the Orc1p–BAH domain is “filled” in the Sir3p–BAH domain structure, potentially making it inaccessible to Sir1p. These findings imply that the Sir3p–BAH domain structure has evolved for functions distinct from those of the Orc1p–BAH domain.
Efficiency and Equity Effects of Reforming the British System of Direct Taxation: A Utility-Based Simulation Methodology

The simulation model presented in this paper shows how an estimated utility index, defined over net income and leisure, can be used to replicate labor-supply behavior individual by individual. This methodology is used to evaluate the efficiency and equity effects of two specific (revenue neutral) reforms of the British system of direct taxation. The first reform involves abolishing the married m an's tax allowance. The second abolishes this allowance only when the wife exhausts her own tax allowance. The second reform is the most efficient and it may also be preferable on distributional grounds. Copyright 1988 by The London School of Economics and Political Science.
Genetic Policy Optimization

Genetic algorithms have been widely used in many practical optimization problems. Inspired by natural selection, operators, including mutation, crossover and selection, provide effective heuristics for search and black-box optimization. However, they have not been shown useful for deep reinforcement learning, possibly due to the catastrophic consequence of parameter crossovers of neural networks. Here, we present Genetic Policy Optimization (GPO), a new genetic algorithm for sample-efficient deep policy optimization. GPO uses imitation learning for policy crossover in the state space and applies policy gradient methods for mutation. Our experiments on Mujoco tasks show that GPO as a genetic algorithm is able to provide superior performance over the state-of-the-art policy gradient methods and achieves comparable or higher sample efficiency.
Evaluation of atomic pressure in the multiple time‐step integration algorithm

In molecular dynamics (MD) calculations, reduction in calculation time per MD loop is essential. A multiple time‐step (MTS) integration algorithm, the RESPA (Tuckerman and Berne, J. Chem. Phys. 1992, 97, 1990–2001), enables reductions in calculation time by decreasing the frequency of time‐consuming long‐range interaction calculations. However, the RESPA MTS algorithm involves uncertainties in evaluating the atomic interaction‐based pressure (i.e., atomic pressure) of systems with and without holonomic constraints. It is not clear which intermediate forces and constraint forces in the MTS integration procedure should be used to calculate the atomic pressure. In this article, we propose a series of equations to evaluate the atomic pressure in the RESPA MTS integration procedure on the basis of its equivalence to the Velocity‐Verlet integration procedure with a single time step (STS). The equations guarantee time‐reversibility even for the system with holonomic constrants. Furthermore, we generalize the equations to both (i) arbitrary number of inner time steps and (ii) arbitrary number of force components (RESPA levels). The atomic pressure calculated by our equations with the MTS integration shows excellent agreement with the reference value with the STS, whereas pressures calculated using the conventional ad hoc equations deviated from it. Our equations can be extended straightforwardly to the MTS integration algorithm for the isothermal NVT and isothermal–isobaric NPT ensembles. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Disruption of the Posterior Medial Network during the Acute Stage of Transient Global Amnesia

Acute perturbation of the corticohippocampal circuitry is a primary pathophysiological mechanism underlying transient global amnesia (TGA). With regard to memory, 2 distinct corticohippocampal circuitries potentially exist: the anterior temporal network and the posterior medial network. We used electroencephalography (EEG) spectral analysis to determine which network is disrupted during the acute stage of TGA. Patients with TGA who visited Seoul National University Bundang Hospital within 24 hours after symptom onset were retrospectively identified. Twenty patients underwent EEG twice, once in the acute stage (<24 hours after symptom onset) and once in the resolved stage (>2 months after symptom onset). A fast Fourier transform was applied to compute the spectral power of the 6 frequency bands: delta, theta, alpha, beta 1, beta 2, and gamma. We assumed that the frontocentral and temporal regions belonged to the anterior temporal network, whereas the parieto-occipital regions belonged to the posterior medial network. A paired Student’s t test was used to evaluate the difference in the regional spectral powers in each frequency band between the acute and resolved TGA stages. Compared with the resolved stage, relative theta power in the left parieto-occipital region was increased and relative alpha power in the right parieto-occipital region was reduced during the acute stage of TGA, with a statistical significance of P < . 05 (uncorrected). The cortical regions that belonged to the posterior medial network showed alterations of neuronal activity, which reflects disruption of the posterior medial network during the acute stage of TGA.
Fuzzy measure-based fuzzy rule interpolation based on PSO-based fuzzy integral-learning techniques

In this paper, we propose a fuzzy measure-based fuzzy interpolative reasoning method for sparse fuzzy rule-based systems. A particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO)-based fuzzy integral-learning technique is employed. The proposed method is able to deal with fuzzy rule interpolation with fuzzy measure-based antecedent variables and fuzzy rule interpolation based on polygonal membership functions. The optimal fuzzy density of the antecedent variables and the fuzzy rules are automatically learnt by a PSO-based fuzzy integral-learning algorithm. The proposed fuzzy measure-based fuzzy interpolative reasoning method and the proposed PSO-based fuzzy integral-learning algorithm are applied to deal with the truck backer-upper control problem. Based on statistical analysis techniques , experimental results show that the proposed fuzzy measure-based fuzzy interpolative reasoning method with fuzzy density optimized by PSO-based fuzzy integral-learning algorithm yields statistically significantly smaller error rates in comparison to existing methods.
Gender-Diverse Boards and Properties of Analyst Earnings Forecasts.

SYNOPSIS: Using a sample of 2,200 U.S. listed firm-year observations (2001–2007), this study shows a positive (negative) relation between gender diversity on corporate boards and analysts' earnings forecast accuracy (dispersion), after controlling for earnings quality, corporate governance, audit quality, stock price informativeness, and potential endogeneity. Our findings are important as they suggest that board diversity adds to the transparency and accuracy of financial reports such that earnings expectations are likely to be more accurate for these firms.