Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Introduction [Codes of Finance: Engineering Derivatives in a Global Bank]

The financial industry’s invention of complex products such as credit default swaps and other derivatives has been widely blamed for triggering the global financial crisis of 2008. In Codes of Finance, Vincent Antonin Lepinay, a former employee of one of the world’s leading investment banks, takes readers behind the scenes of the equity derivatives business at the bank before the crisis, providing a detailed firsthand account of the creation, marketing, selling, accounting, and management of these financial instruments—and of how they ultimately created havoc inside and outside the bank.
Strict Lyapunov Functions for Homogeneous Time-Varying Systems

We provide new criterion and a class of strict Lyapunov functions (SLFs) for time-varying systems (TVSs) with zero homogeneity. The definition of homogeneous auxiliary system is given, where it is assumed that certain homogeneous functions are admitted with their derivatives, in terms of the error systems, bounded by periodic functions. Based on the homogeneous auxiliary system, sufficient conditions of uniform asymptotical stability for TVSs are formulated using the homogeneity framework. Unlike existing results, where non-SLFs or persistence of excitation condition are required, our criterion is greatly relaxed for broad classes of systems. The utility of our result is illustrated by case-study of pendulum stability with quasi-periodical frictions.
Genetic Control of Host Responses to Endotoxin

Two pathophysiological effects of endotoxin in mice have been shown to be under the major influence of polygenic inheritance. The first, endotoxemia, was measured by LD50 assays on hybrids and backcross hybrids of the resistant C3H/HeJ and the susceptible A/HJe strains. The LD50 values of the F1 hybrids and the backcross hybrids were intermediate between the respective parental types. The second effect, the intraperitoneal extravascular leukocyte response to small doses of endotoxin, also was found to follow characteristic patterns of polygenic inheritance. As estimated from an analysis of the variance of mice of the F1 and F2 generations, the degree of genetic determination is approximately 54% for the neutrophil response and 82% for the monuclear response.
Improved Assessment of Plasmodium vivax Response to Antimalarial Drugs by a Colorimetric Double-Site Plasmodium Lactate Dehydrogenase Antigen Capture Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay

ABSTRACT The occurrence of Plasmodium vivax resistance to chloroquine has been reported in several countries of Asia and South America. However, the resistance of P. vivax is insufficiently documented for three reasons: it has received far less attention than P. falciparum; in vivo investigations are handicapped by the existence of hypnozoites, which make it difficult to distinguish between recrudescences due to drug failure and relapses due to dormant forms in the liver; and in vitro studies are greatly limited by the poor growth of P. vivax. We report on the adaptation to P. vivax of a colorimetric double-site Plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay previously developed for P. falciparum. The assay proved remarkably sensitive, as under optimal conditions it could detect P. vivax parasitemia levels as low as 10−8. The technique, which relies on the detection of protein synthesis by the parasite, yielded steep drug-response curves, leading to the precise determination of the 50% inhibitory concentrations for a high proportion of isolates. Chloroquine-resistant parasites were identified in an area where this phenomenon had been documented by in vivo methods. Thus, the results indicate that the in vitro susceptibility of P. vivax can now be monitored easily and efficiently. The data suggest that the threshold of resistance is similar to that of P. falciparum, i.e., in the range of 100 nM for chloroquine and 15 nM for pyronaridine. However, further studies are required to precisely define the cutoff for resistance and the sensitivity to each drug.
Development of a 70 MHz unit for hyperthermia treatment of deep seated breast tumors

Hyperthermia of tumors in intact breast extending beyond the heating depth of our superficial 434 MHz CFMA antennas requires an alternative approach. A dedicated system was designed for this purpose, consisting of a treatment bed fitted with a 50×40×16cm temperature controlled open water bolus. The patient lies in prone position with the breast immersed in the water positioned in front of a 34×20cm 70 MHz waveguide placed in the bottom of the bolus. Hyperthermia was applied once a week for the whole breast with the 70 MHz applicator for 6 patients treated with thermoradiotherapy for deep lesions of recurrent breast cancer or melanoma. Two 14-sensor thermocouple thermometry probes were placed in catheters to monitor the invasive temperature. Results: The combination of 300–900W antenna power and a water temperature of 42°C was well tolerated for the entire session of one hour and resulted in good tumor temperatures with T10 = 42.2°C, T50 = 41.1°C, T90 = 39.8°C. No toxicity or complaints were associated with the heating. A water mattress and other measures were needed to assure a comfortable position throughout the treatment. Conclusion: the 70 MHz breast applicator system performed well and tumor temperatures were good.
MEMS Fourier Transform Spectrometer

A comb actuated lamellar grating interferometer based MEMS Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrometer device is designed, fabricated and characterized. The device operates at out-of-plane resonant mode which will allow ultra miniaturized, sensitive, robust, and fast spectrometers. As a novel approach pantograph type springs are used in the mechanical design to achieve high deflections. The dynamic deformation on the gratings is minimized using additional suspension springs. Optical simulations are conducted to extensively analyze the device performance in terms of spectral resolution and signal-to-bias ratio (SBR). In the light of simulations and experiments, the grating geometry is optimized for the region of wavelengths of interest (2.5–16 μm). Comb structures are designed and placed around pantograph springs for low voltage operation. The fabrication process is developed based on CMOS compatible bulk micromachining of a silicon-on-insulator wafer. A maximum peak to peak mechanical deflection of 478 μm is acquired with 50 V p-p input voltage in ambient pressure.
Portfolio Selection Under Social Networks

Portfolio selection in this paper is done in an agent-based setting with individuals communicating through the social network. We explained why different individuals possess different portfolios in time and why portfolios change with the change of the environment. The developments of the games are path-dependent depending on several factors. The most significant are the returns, the level of omniscience of individuals, the structure of friends one has and individual’s decision-making mechanism, the presence of liquidity individuals, and the number of alternatives. The main empirical conclusion is that individuals opt for medium-risky to risky alternatives and avoid both extremes.
Mental health, coping and family-functioning in parents of young people with obsessive-compulsive disorder and with anxiety disorders.

OBJECTIVE To compare mental health, coping and family-functioning in parents of young people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety disorders, and no known mental health problems. METHOD Parents of young people with OCD (N = 28), other anxiety disorders (N = 28), and no known mental health problems (N = 62) completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1993), the Coping Responses Inventory (Moos, 1990), and the McMaster family assessment device (Epstein, Baldwin, & Bishop, 1983). RESULTS Parents of children with OCD and anxiety disorders had poorer mental health and used more avoidant coping than parents of non-clinical children. There were no group differences in family-functioning. CONCLUSION The similarities across the parents of clinically referred children suggest that there is a case for encouraging active parental involvement in the treatment of OCD in young people.
A micro flow-meter for closed-loop management of biological samples

The closed-loop management of biological samples in muTAS requires proper flow-sensors to be inserted in the hydraulic path. The optimal choice between hybrid mounting and monolithic fabrication depends on several design variables, one of which is the technological compatibility between the sensor and the pumping mechanism. Monolithic integration appears to be the eligible solution if both pumps and sensors can be fabricated with the same technological process. In this paper we show that it is actually possible to fabricate a flow-sensor, based on streaming potential detection, with the same soft-lithographic process used for the fabrication of electroosmotic pumps. The device has been fabricated in PDMS and experimentally tested, showing a good linearity. Finally, its time-varying response, related to the aging of the PDMS surface, is discussed
Centrin Gene Disruption Impairs Stage-specific Basal Body Duplication and Cell Cycle Progression in Leishmania*

Centrin is a calcium-binding cytoskeletal protein involved in the duplication of centrosomes in higher eukaryotes. To explore the role of centrin in the protozoan parasite Leishmania, we created Leishmania deficient in the centrin gene (LdCEN). Remarkably, centrin null mutants (LdCEN-/-) showed selective growth arrest as axenic amastigotes but not as promastigotes. Flow cytometry analysis confirmed that the mutant axenic amastigotes have a cell cycle arrest at the G2/M stage. The axenic amastigotes also showed failure of basal body duplication and failure of cytokinesis resulting in multinucleated “large” cells. Increased terminal deoxy uridine triphosphate nick end labeling positivity was observed in centrin mutant axenic amastigotes compared with wild type cells, suggesting the activation of a programmed cell death pathway. Growth of LdCEN-/- amastigotes in infected macrophages in vitro was inhibited and also resulted in large multinucleated parasites. Normal basal body duplication and cell division in the LdCEN knockout promastigote is unique and surprising. Further, this is the first report where disruption of a centrin gene displays stage-specific/cell type-specific failure in cell division in a eukaryote. The centrin null mutant defective in amastigote growth could be useful as a vaccine candidate against leishmaniasis.
Cytoplasmic distinction of avirulent and virulent Rickettsia prowazekii: fusion of infected fibroblasts with macrophage-like cells

L-929 cells with virulent or avirulent Rickettsia prowazekii growing in their cytoplasm were fused with cells of the macrophage-like cell line RAW264.7. Fusion occurred between the two cell types, producing heterokaryons containing R. prowazekii. Both the number of rickettsiae per infected heterokaryon and the percentage of heterokaryons infected with rickettsiae decreased in experiments with the avirulent strain compared to those with the virulent strain. These results indicate that the differential survival of the virulent strain in macrophages is some unknown function of the cytoplasm of the macrophage and that the distinction is not only at the phagolysosome level.
Asymptotic Error Rate Analysis of Dual-Branch Diversity over Correlated Rician Channels

Asymptotic error rate expressions are derived for equal gain combining and selection combining on dual-branch correlated Rician channels. The asymptotic error rate performances of three popular diversity combining techniques are compared and some insights are obtained. The impacts of various channel parameters on the asymptotic performances of these diversity combining techniques are studied comprehensively. Some previous observations on diversity performances on correlated Rician channels are unified and further extended.
Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility: Empirical Insights on the Impact of the UN Global Compact on Its Business Participants

The implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is crucial for the legitimacy of an organization in today’s globalized economy. This study aims to enrich our knowledge of the implementation of the largest voluntary CSR initiative—the UN Global Compact (UNGC). Drawing on insights from stakeholder, network, and institutional theory, I derive a positive impact of UNGC participation duration on the implementation level of the UNGC principles, despite potential weaknesses in the initiative’s accountability structure. Moreover, I scrutinize the validity of the newly introduced UNGC “Differentiation Programme” before applying this framework in the empirical analysis. Results from ordinal, linear, and instrumental variable regression models suggest that, contrary to claims made by UNGC critics, the duration of UNGC participation does affect the level of UNGC implementation. However, this effect appears to be much smaller than previous practitioner studies have suggested. Moreover, strong local UNGC networks affect the implementation level of the UNGC positively. Their hypothesized moderating role between UNGC participation duration and UNGC implementation level, however, is only significant in networks with activities of high quality rather than high quantity.
Intravascular stents: a new technique for tissue processing for histology, immunohistochemistry, and transmission electron microscopy

Background Study of the vascular response to stent implantation has been hampered by difficulties in sectioning metal and tissue without distortion of the tissue stent interface. The metal is often removed before histochemical processing, causing a loss of arterial architecture. Histological and immunohistochemical sections should be 5 μm with an intact tissue stent interface. Objectives To identify the most suitable cutting and grinding equipment, embedding resin, and slides for producing thin sections of stented arteries with the stent wires in situ for histological, immunohistochemical, and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) analyses. Methods 20 balloon stainless steel stents were implanted in the coronary arteries of 10 pigs. Twenty eight days later the stented arterial segments were excised, formalin fixed, embedded in five different resins (Epon 812, LR white, T9100, T8100, and JB4), and sectioned with two different high speed saws and a grinder for histological, immunohistochemical, and TEM analyses. Five stented human arteries were obtained at necropsy and processed using the best of the reported methods. Results The Isomet precision saw and grinder/polisher unit reliably produced 5 μm sections with most embedding resins; minimum section thickness with the horizontal saw was 400 μm. Resin T8100, a glycol methacrylate, enabled satisfactory sectioning, grinding, and histological (toluidine blue, haematoxylin and eosin, and trichromatic and polychromatic stains) and immunohistochemical analyses (α smooth muscle actin, von Willebrand factor, vimentin, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, and CD68 (mac 387)). T9100 and T8100 embedded stented sections were suitable for ultrastructural examination with TEM. Stented human arterial sections showed preserved arterial architecture with the struts in situ. Conclusion This study identified the optimal methods for embedding, sawing, grinding, and slide mounting of stented arteries to achieve 5 μm sections with an intact tissue metal interface, excellent surface qualities, histological and immunohistochemical staining properties, and suitability for TEM examination. The technique is applicable to experimental and clinical specimens.
Automatic Pattern Identification Based on the Complex Empirical Mode Decomposition of the Startup Current for the Diagnosis of Rotor Asymmetries in Asynchronous Machines

This paper presents an advanced signal processing method applied to the diagnosis of rotor asymmetries in asynchronous machines. The approach is based on the application of complex empirical mode decomposition to the measured start-up current and on the subsequent extraction of a specific complex intrinsic mode function. Unlike other approaches, the method includes a pattern recognition stage that makes possible the automatic identification of the signature caused by the fault. This automatic detection is achieved by using a reliable methodology based on hidden Markov models. Both experimental data and a hybrid simulation-experimental approach demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.
Maxillary sinus floor elevation with a tissue‐engineered bone composite of deciduous tooth stem cells and calcium phosphate cement in goats

The study aimed to assess the effect of maxillary sinus floor elevation with tissue‐engineered bone constructed from deciduous tooth stem cells (DTSCs) and calcium phosphate cement (CPC). The stem cells from goat deciduous teeth (SGDs) were isolated and transfected by means of the adenovirus with an enhanced green fluorescent protein gene (AdEGFP). As many as 18 bilateral maxillary sinuses of nine goats were randomly allocated into three groups (n = 6/group): group A (SGDs–CPC compound), group B (CPC alone) and group C (autogenous bone obtained from an iliac crest). All the samples were evaluated by computed tomography (CT), histology and histomorphometric analysis. Furthermore, the fate of implanted SGDs was traced using an immunohistochemical staining method in the decalcified samples. SGDs might be differentiated into osteoblasts in an osteogenic medium. In the present study, three‐dimensional CT analysis showed that the volume of newly formed bone in group A was greater than that in the other two groups. After a healing period of 3 months, sequential analyses of triad‐colour fluorescence labelling, histology and histomorphology indicated that the SGDs–CPC compound primarily promoted bone formation and mineralization at 2 and 3 months after the operation. Moreover, the areas of new bone formation in elevated sinuses were 41.82 ± 6.24% in the SGDs–CPC group, which was significantly higher than the 30.11 ± 8.05% in the CPC‐alone group or the 23.07 ± 10.21% in the autogenous bone group. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that GFP and OCN were both expressed in the new bone tissue for the samples with eGFP, which suggested that the implanted SGDs might have contributed to new bone formation on the elevated sinus floor. SGDs can promote new bone formation and maturation in the goat maxillary sinus, and the tissue‐engineered bone composite of SGDs and CPC might be a potential substitute for existing maxillary sinus floor elevation methods. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Topics in Fiscal Policy: Evidence from a Representative Survey of the German Population

This paper provides background information and basic descriptive statistics for a representative survey of the German population conducted on our behalf by GfK in the first quarter of 2013. The survey addresses important topics in fiscal policy, including: 1) public preferences on the composition of fiscal expenditure; 2) public preferences on public debt; 3) the effect of tax changes on consumption and savings; and 4) the effect of tax changes on labour market activities.
Collaborative Demand Forecasting: Toward the Design of an Exception-Based Forecasting Mechanism

Sharing of truthful information involving business intelligence between supply chain partners is a challenge on account of the asymmetric nature of the information, where one party possesses information such as market intelligence that is neither available in the public domain nor verifiable through third parties. While busesinss-to-business (B2B) technology solutions, such as CPFR (collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment), facilitate the sharing of historical information (e.g., transaction records), business intelligence (e.g., potential customer demand) is considered private. Central to CPFR is collaborative demand forecasting (CDF) that allows supply chain partners to share private demand information and incorporate the jointly derived demand forecast into production planning and product replenishment decisions. Implementing CDF, however, is a challenge because of the high costs of the laborious collaboration effort (e.g., to resolve forecast differences). Hence, companies are unable to realize the benefits of CDF and, in turn, the full potential of CPFR. Typically, the issues of information truthfulness and collaboration cost are addressed through an exception management mechanism that defines a range of forecast updates within which collaboration is automated without any human intervention in B2B trading partners. In this paper, we develop incentive-based contracts that explicitly consider the truth-telling behavior and exception resolution in decisions related to the threshold values of demand information. Our first contribution to B2B information management is in establishing the strategic value of exception management and resolution mechanisms in B2B relationships, leading to truthful revelation of demand information. Our second contribution is in developing exception-based incentive contracts, especially in light of the advances in today's business practices and technology, to address issues associated with unobservable and asymmetric demand information. Specifically, we propose a resolution contract to coordinate the supply chain that directly incorporates both exceptions and resolution in an incentive mechanism. We show that these alternative contracts are all viable solutions in assuring truthful exchange of demand information but excel individually in specific situations and, thus, provide practitioners with alternative demand collaboration tools when price negotiation is not an option.
Maternal Activism on the Neighbourhood level: The Ethic of Care as Motivation to Act

I t has been well documented that in the North American context, women make a greater contribution to the well-being of others through acts of social responsibility than men (Almerida, McDonald, Havens and Schervish, 2001: 135; Fleeson, 2001: 85; Rossi and Rossi, 1990). Women's acts of caring are highest in their late 40s (Fleeson, 2001: 87) and include caregiving and emotional support to family members, friends and others, as well as volunteer activities addressing issues related to youth and health (Rossi, 2001). When examining their level of social responsibility, Joan Tronto (1993) suggests that women's roles as mothers, wives, and daughters predispose them to "hands-on" caregiving due to the social expectations placed upon them in their roles (132). She further suggests that caregiving becomes their fate, rather than a personal choice or desire. Prior to entering the academy, I worked for over 20 years as a practitioner in community development on the neighbourhood level. I t was with curiosity that I repeatedly observed that it was mothers who were the key leaders in any neighbourhood initiative. These initiatives typically addressed issues pertaining to recreation and social services and often required involvement with local government. These women-many of whom worked full-time in their homes-had no prior experience in neighbourhood activism, yet they accurately defined the issues, analyzed the political response required, and with great frequency managed to succeed in their political advocacy efforts. These mothers-who often felt unempowered in other parts of their lives due to poverty, lack of education, and minimal or total lack of spousal support-were successful in addressing issues for their children, their neighbours, and themselves. In an effort to understand this phenomenon that I saw repeated in
Making Better (Investment) Decisions

This article covers a non-financial topic that is nonetheless vital to investment professionals: how to avoid common cognitive errors and make better investment decisions. It reviews the extensive academic literature on how people actually make decisions and how they can make better decisions. It also provides recommendations about how analysts and managers might apply these findings to active investing.