Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
International Transmission Effects of Volatility Spillovers Between Stock Returns and Exchange Rates: Evidence from Greece, Portugal and Spain since the Introduction of the Euro

This paper investigates the nature of volatility spillovers between stock returns and exchange rate changes for Greece, Spain and Portugal for the 19992006 period after the introduction of the Euro as well as the 1999-2001 and 2002-2003/May and 2003/June-2006 periods since the Euro has been introduced. We use an EGARCH model which takes into account whether bad news has the same impact on volatility as good news. We also investigate whether volatility spillovers between exchange rates and equity markets is stronger for some currencies than others. We find that there were no significant volatility spillovers from stock returns to exchange rates for Greece prior the introduction of the Euro for the 1999-2001 time period while the coefficients are significant in the case of Portugal and Spain. However, since the introduction of the Euro, there were insignificant volatility spillovers from stock returns to exchange rates in all countries for all currencies, with the exception of Portugal in the more recent 2002-2006 period. The introduction of the Euro appears to have had little impact on the nature of volatility spillovers from exchange rates to stock returns which were generally insignificant prior to the introduction of the Euro as well as for the 1999-2006 period.
Energitjänster på en avreglerad marknad. För en effektivare energianvändning

This thesis studies the efforts made by society to achieve more efficient energy use in order to better utilise resources and lessen the stress on the environment. Despite the value to society promised by more efficient energy use, too few attempts are made at realising this value. One instrument available to governments in their efforts to stimulate efficiency schemes, is to encourage energy companies to supply Energy Efficiency Services (EES). It may seem paradoxical that energy companies would both deliver energy and offer EES, i.e on the one hand try to increase their sales volume and on the other hand advise on and implement schemes aiming at decreasing energy use. The fundamental problem at the heart of this thesis is whether EES offer a viable mechanism for society to achieve more efficient energy use. This problem is examined by studying how energy companies present, deliver, and carry out EES, and further how customers assess them. Our overarching research question, therefore, is: Does the supply of energy efficiency services lead to a more efficient use of energy from a public and business economics point of view? The theoretical frame of reference is Transaction Cost Economics and Resource Based View and the research methods used are surveys and case studies. Questionnaires were sent to all the energy companies in Sweden and the United Kingdom in order to map out and compare EES operations in these two countries. Some survey questions have been explored further through case studies in the form of interviews. Questionnaires were also sent to 752 manufacturing- and real estate companies in Sweden to better understand the demand for EES. The key findings are (1) The purpose of EES is to support energy sales rather than contributing to more efficient use of energy, (2) The demand for EES is weak and it is not stimulated, (3) The sale of direct EES involves high transaction costs, (4) The energy companies lack strategic resources aimed at direct EES and (5) EES are an insignificant part of energy companies’ activities. Our findings lead to the following answer to the overarching research question: the supply of EES does not result in a more efficient use of energy – neither from the viewpoint of public economics nor from the viewpoint of business economics. EES do not result in a economic, efficient use of energy, since managing these services requires too many resources. In addition, primarily indirect EES are sold, with limited effects on energy efficiency. Apart from this, the few direct EES that are put into practice bring about high transaction costs meaning that society’s costs for increasing energy efficiency exceed what is gained in terms of better performance. The comparative study of EES concerning the Swedish and the British market shows that it is likely that supply of EES on other deregulated markets will have similar consequences.
Effectiveness of single-session ultrasound-guided percutaneous ethanol sclerotherapy in simple breast cysts.

PURPOSE We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of single-session ultrasound-guided percutaneous ethanol sclerotherapy in simple breast cysts. METHODS From January 2002 to January 2014, 35 simple breast cysts (mean volume, 8.2 mL; range, 4-33 mL) in 28 females (mean age, 39 years) were evaluated. In a single session, all cysts were aspirated using 20G needles, refilled with 99% ethanol (90% of the volume of the aspirated fluid), and reaspirated completely after 10 minutes of exposure under ultrasound guidance. Follow-up ultrasonography examinations were performed at one week, one month, three months, and six months for all patients and 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months for available patients. Follow- up duration varied between 6 and 24 months (mean, 15 months). RESULTS The technical success rate of ultrasound-guided percutaneous etha-nol sclerotherapy was 97%. The needle tip was dislocated and ethanol was given into the breast parenchyma in one patient (3%). One cyst (3%) was reaspirated at the first week follow-up due to intracystic hemorrhage. Of the 34 cysts treated, 25 (74%) completely responded to therapy and were no longer detectable on follow-up examinations. Eight cysts (24%) significantly decreased in size and then completely disappeared at six months. At the end of the follow-up period, the clinical success rate reached 100%, and none of the cysts were visible. Except mild to moderate sensation of burning or pain which disappeared or subsided significantly in a couple of minutes, no other complications were observed in patients. CONCLUSION Ultrasound-guided ethanol sclerotherapy is a fast, safe, and highly effective method in the treatment of simple breast cysts.
A modified scheme based on He-Keisler scheme using Integer factorization and Discrete Logarithms

The Digital Signatures are used to provide the security to messages. These Digital signatures use Integer factorization (FAC) or Discrete Logarithms (DLP) or both. Mainly we have analyzed certain class of Digital Signature Schemes. This class includes T. ElGamal, He-Kiesler, Shimin-Wei and Swati Varma's Schemes. All these schemes are based on FAC and DLP. These schemes use quadratic residue for security purpose. He-Kiesler digital signature scheme which combines Integer Factorization and Discrete Logarithm together making it difficult for solving two hard problems. But there are some drawbacks in this scheme. An attack is possible on this signatures scheme. This paper demystifies the He-Kiesler algorithm and provide new modified scheme.
How Industry Inventors Collaborate with Academic Researchers: The Choice between Shared and Unilateral Governance

We investigate under what circumstances firms (industry inventors) are more likely to engage in interactions where governance of the relationship is shared between the firm and the university, as opposed to interactions where the relationship is governed unilaterally by the firm. Using PIEMINV, an original dataset of European industry patents in the Italian region of Piedmont, we analyse the characteristics of inventors with diverse experience in projects involving interactions with universities, governed by institutional contracts or personal contracts. Our results suggest that reliance among inventors of the two forms of governance is almost equal, and that unilateral governance forms are preferred when there are high levels of trust among the parties based on embeddedness in local social and education networks. This is likely because it involves less cumbersome and more direct interactions. We find also that knowledge characteristics are not particularly important discriminants of the choice between governance forms: the advantage of shared governance seems to reside mainly in the possibility to mitigate monitoring and asymmetric information problems in contexts of relatively low levels of mutual knowledge and trust.
On Achieving a Positive Rate in the Source Model Key Agreement Problem

The two-party key agreement problem with public discussion, known as the source model problem, is considered for an erasure model for Eve's side information. By relating the key agreement problem to hypothesis testing, a new coding scheme is developed that yields an upper bound on the maximum erasure probability for which the secret-key (SK) capacity is zero. The bound is shown to be tight when Alice's or Bob's source is binary, and this shows that the new code achieves larger SK rates than the best known coding scheme. A full version of this paper with extensions to general models for Eve's side information is available in [1].
Employer’s moral hazard and wage rigidity

The standard explanation of wage rigidity in principal agent and in efficiency wage models is related to worker risk-aversion. However, these explanations do not consider at least two important classes of empirical evidence: (1) In worker cooperatives workers appear to behave in a less risk averse way than in for profit firms and to accept fluctuating wages; (2) The emerging experimental evidence on the employment contract shows that most workers prefer higher but more uncertain wages to lower fixed wages. Workers do not appear to express a preference for fixed wages in all situations and different ownership forms, in our case worker cooperatives and for-profit firms, behave in different ways when dealing with the trade-off between wage rigidity and employment fluctuations. More specifically, worker cooperatives are characterized, in relative terms, by fixed employment levels and fluctuating wages, while for-profit firms are characterized by fixed wages and fluctuating employment. Our paper reinterprets these stylized facts by focusing on the relationship between wage rigidity and worker risk aversion in light of the presence of employer post contractual opportunism. Contractual incompleteness and private information on the side of the employer can compound in favouring the pursuit of the employer’s objectives, when they diverge from the employee’s ones. The idea of employer moral hazard is able to disentangle the observed behavioural differences in different ownership forms. By resorting to the standard efficiency wage framework, we show that, in the presence of employer moral hazard, employees in capitalistic firms generally prefer fixed wage, accepting this way a positive risk of lay-off. On the contrary, one of the main functions of fluctuating wages in worker cooperatives is to minimize the risk of lay-off.
Bank Deleveraging: Causes, Channels, and Consequences for Emerging Market and Developing Countries

Just before the 2008-09 global financial crisis, policymakers were concerned about the rapid growth of bank credit, particularly in Europe; now worry centers on a potential global credit crunch led by European banking institutions. Overall, credit conditions across Europe deteriorated markedly in late 2011. Spillover effects are being felt around the globe and imply significant channels through which deleveraging could have disruptive consequences for credit conditions in emerging markets, particularly in emerging Europe. Significant liquidity support provided by the European Central Bank was a"game changer,"at least in the short term, as it helped revive markets and limited the risk of disorderly deleveraging. However, the extent, speed, and impact of European bank deleveraging remain highly dependent on the evolution of economic growth and market conditions, which in turn are guided by the ultimate impact of European Central Bank liquidity support, resolution of the sovereign debt crisis within the Euro Area, and the ability of the European rescue fund to provide an effective firewall against contagion.
The connections among suicidal behavior, lipid profile and low-grade inflammation in patients with major depressive disorder: a specific relationship with the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio

Abstract Objectives: The role of inflammation and lipid metabolism in the pathophysiology of suicidal behavior has received particular attention in recent years. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been suggested as a new and more reliable indicator of low-grade inflammation. NLR has been found to be altered in major depressive disorder (MDD) and has been related to various factors, including chronic stress and impulsivity that were previously reported to be related to suicidal behavior. We aimed to explore the roles of NLR, C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum lipid levels on suicidal behavior in patients with MDD. Methods: The study group consisted of 139 inpatients diagnosed with MDD [37 suicide attempters (SA); 102 suicide non-attempters (NSA)], 50 healthy controls and matched according to age, gender and education. NLR, PLR, CRP and lipid values were obtained from digital inpatient records. Results: CRP levels and NLR were substantially higher in patients with SA than in subjects with NSA and healthy comparison subjects after adjusting the confounding factors. The logistic regression included two predictive variables for suicide status in patients with depressive disorder (A) previous suicidal history; (B) NLR. Conclusions: This is the first study suggesting that NLR may be a trait marker for suicidal vulnerability via a relationship between NLR and a recent suicide attempt in depressed inpatients. Future prospective studies are needed to determine the exact roles of NLR, and other inflammatory markers on suicidality in MDD.
Near-infrared remotely triggered drug-release strategies for cancer treatment

Significance Gold-based nanoparticles that absorb near-infrared light have shown the potential to selectively target and treat cancer through highly efficient light-to-heat conversion. This study shows that gold-based nanoparticles can be coated with drug-bearing host biomolecules for remotely triggerable release. Near-infrared light-triggered release of docetaxel from a nanoshell-based DNA host complex, and lapatinib from nanoshell-based DNA and human serum albumin host complexes, is demonstrated. There is a strong dependence upon the type of near-infrared illumination––continuous wave or pulsed––specific to the drug-laden host molecules. Localizing drug delivery both spatially and temporally by combining nanoshell-based complexes and pulsed-laser irradiation is a promising strategy for highly controlled drug delivery that can apply to a myriad of therapeutic applications. Remotely controlled, localized drug delivery is highly desirable for potentially minimizing the systemic toxicity induced by the administration of typically hydrophobic chemotherapy drugs by conventional means. Nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems provide a highly promising approach for localized drug delivery, and are an emerging field of interest in cancer treatment. Here, we demonstrate near-IR light-triggered release of two drug molecules from both DNA-based and protein-based hosts that have been conjugated to near-infrared-absorbing Au nanoshells (SiO2 core, Au shell), each forming a light-responsive drug delivery complex. We show that, depending upon the drug molecule, the type of host molecule, and the laser illumination method (continuous wave or pulsed laser), in vitro light-triggered release can be achieved with both types of nanoparticle-based complexes. Two breast cancer drugs, docetaxel and HER2-targeted lapatinib, were delivered to MDA-MB-231 and SKBR3 (overexpressing HER2) breast cancer cells and compared with release in noncancerous RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. Continuous wave laser-induced release of docetaxel from a nanoshell-based DNA host complex showed increased cell death, which also coincided with nonspecific cell death from photothermal heating. Using a femtosecond pulsed laser, lapatinib release from a nanoshell-based human serum albumin protein host complex resulted in increased cancerous cell death while noncancerous control cells were unaffected. Both methods provide spatially and temporally localized drug-release strategies that can facilitate high local concentrations of chemotherapy drugs deliverable at a specific treatment site over a specific time window, with the potential for greatly minimized side effects.
Seed-Mediated Growth of Silver Nanocubes in Aqueous Solution with Tunable Size and Their Conversion to Au Nanocages with Efficient Photothermal Property.

Two seed-mediated approaches for the growth of silver nanocubes in aqueous solution have been developed. Addition of a silver-seed solution to a mixture of cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC), silver trifluoroacetate, and ascorbic acid and heating the solution at 60 °C for 1.5 h produces uniform Ag nanocubes with tunable sizes from 23 to 60 nm by simply adjusting the volume of silver-seed solution introduced. Alternatively, the silver-seed solution can be injected into a mixture of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), silver nitrate, copper sulfate, and ascorbic acid and heated to 80 °C for 2 h to generate 46 nm silver nanocubes. Plate-like Ag nanocrystals exposing {111} surfaces can be synthesized by reducing Ag(NH3 )2 (+) with ascorbic acid in a CTAC solution. Relatively large Ag nanocubes were converted to cuboctahedral Au/Ag and Au nanocages and nanoframes with empty {111} faces through a galvanic replacement reaction. The nanocages showed a progressive plasmonic band red-shift with increasing Au content. The nanocages exhibited high and stable photothermal efficiency with solution temperatures quickly reaching beyond 100 °C when irradiated with an 808 nm laser for large heat and water vapor generation.
SLC22A4, RUNX1, and SUMO4 polymorphisms are not associated with rheumatoid arthritis: a case-control study in a Spanish population.

OBJECTIVE To replicate the association reported in Japanese individuals of functional SLC22A4 and RUNX1 polymorphisms with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to test the possible role in this trait of a functional variant of the SUMO4 gene that was shown to be associated with another related autoimmune disease, type 1 diabetes (T1D). METHODS Our study population consisted of 886 patients with RA and 987 healthy controls. All subjects were of Spanish Caucasian origin. We conducted a case-control association study with 6 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) spanning the SLC22A4 gene. SNP mapping in the RUNX1 gene associated with RA in a Japanese population and a SUMO4 polymorphism associated with T1D were also studied. RESULTS No statistically significant differences between patients with RA and healthy controls were observed when comparing the distribution of the genotypes or alleles of any of the SLC22A4 polymorphisms tested. Similarly, no evidence of association between RA and the SLC22A4 haplotype previously reported to be associated in a Japanese population was found. With regard to the RUNX1 and SUMO4 SNP, we did not observe statistically significant differences in the distribution of genotypes or alleles between patients with RA and healthy controls. CONCLUSION These results suggest that the SLC22A4, RUNX1, and SUMO4 polymorphisms analyzed do not confer a relevant role in susceptibility to RA in the Spanish population.
Combination of HMM-Based Classifiers for the Recognition of Arabic Handwritten Words

In this paper we present a two-stage system for the off-line recognition of cursive Arabic handwritten words. The proposed method is analytic without segmentation, and is able to cope with handwriting inclination and with shifted positions of diacritical marks. First, the recognition stage relies on 3 classifiers based on hidden Markov modelling (HMM). The second stage depends on the combination of these classifiers. The feature vectors used for recognition are related to pixel density distribution and to local pixel configurations. These vectors are extracted on word binary images by using a sliding window approach with different angles. We have experimented different combination schemes. The neural network-based combined system yields best performance on the IFN- ENIT benchmark data base of handwritten names of Tunisian villages/towns.
Understanding and Predicting the Usefulness of Yelp Reviews

In this paper, I investigate the effectiveness of using Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) to predict and gain insight into the usefulness of Yelp Reviews. Predicting a written review’s usefulness is an important and challenging task. Knowing the usefulness of a review in advance, businesses can recommend high quality and fresh reviews to their customers and gain insights into their products and services. I build three variations of RNN architectures ranging from bidirectional RNN to multi-stack RNN with attention mechanism to RNN with residual connections. I cast the usefulness prediction problem into regression and classification tasks and use RNN models to predict them individually as well as jointly. I observed that the attention mechanism is crucial to achieve good classification performance, and joint-task learning improves the regression prediction noticeably. The best RNN models significantly outperform the support vector machine (SVM) and linear regression baseline. Analysis of the attention weights associated with each word in the text corpus reveals insight into the underlying factors that make a review useful.
Analysis of p60v-src mutants carrying lesions involved in temperature sensitivity

Analysis of the src genes of three temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants of Rous sarcoma virus (tsNY68, tsNY72-4, and PA104) showed that each has two C-terminal mutations in the kinase domain required for temperature sensitivity, as assayed by morphological alteration and anchorage-independent growth. In all three mutants, one of the mutations is a valine-to-methionine change at position 461. To assess the contribution of each mutation to the biochemical properties of the src protein, we analyzed the kinase activity and the interaction with cellular proteins p50 and p90 of recombinant src gene products in which only one mutation was combined with wild-type src sequences. Chimeric src protein containing only the Met-461 mutation was indistinguishable from the wild type by all criteria examined, while the effect of the second C-terminal mutation alone varied with the defectiveness of the parental ts mutant. The second mutation alone, while not sufficient to cause ts transformation, altered p60src complex formation with cellular proteins p50 and p90 and altered the in vitro thermolability of src kinase activity. The results indicate that these biochemical properties of p60src are more sensitive to mutation than others, such as in vivo kinase activity, which require more profound structural alterations.
A Test for Hit Rate in Binary Response Models

Binary response models are often applied in empirical marketing research where, for example, individuals or households can be classified as buyers and nonbuyers of certain products or as respondents and nonrespondents to direct mailing. One way to evaluate such models amounts to calculating the fraction of correctly classified cases, that is, the hit rate. This paper brings to the attention a simple test for the statistical significance of this hit rate. An application to a binary brand choice case serves as an illustration.