Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Perspectives on the Microvasculature of the Islets of Langerhans in the Rat

The vasculature of the islets of Langerhans was studied in rats using methacrylate corrosion casts and islet reconstructions from stained serial paraffin sections. In corrosion casts, which allowed a three-dimensional view of the pancreatic vasculature, all islets had one or two afferent arterioles, which gave off numerous capillaries to form a glomerular-like network. Islets could be grouped in three classes on the basis of size. Moreover, these classes had preferential locations within the vascular tree: the smaller the islet, the more peripheral. In small islets (those less than 160 μm in diameter) efferent capillaries arose from this network and either coalesced at the periphery of the islet or passed through perinsular exocrine tissue before coalescing into venules. However, in intermediate islets (those 160–260 μm in diameter) and large islets (those greater than 260 μm in diameter) efferent capillaries usually coalesced at the edge of the islet forming an extensive fingerlike network of collecting venules over the islet. This suggested that at least in the rat a large amount of the islet tissue is directly drained by venules. In serial paraffin sections of islets perfused with India ink and stained alternately for B-cells or for non-B-cells, the relation of the blood vessels and the organized array of different cell types making up the islet was discernible. In islets of all sizes, the afferent arterioles entered the islet of all sizes, the afferent arterioles entered the islet at discontinuities of the mantle of non-B-(glucagon, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide) cells. Entering at the B-cell mass, the arterioles broke into capillaries that traversed the B-cell core before passing through the opposite non-B-cell mantle. The afferent capillaries coalesced into collecting venules outside the islet. In intermediate and large islets, the overlying collecting venule network was closely apposed to the mantle. These anatomic findings indicate that in the rat islet only some of the efferent vessels are part of a insuloacinar portal system and that the afferent vessels reach the B-cell core without passing through the non-B-cell islet tissue.
Option valuation, time-changed processes and the fast Fourier transform

The pricing of options, in many frameworks, can be performed by inverting the transformed distribution function to obtain the elements involved in option prices; Heston (1993), Bates (1996) and Bakshi et al. (1997), among others, use this procedure, and Bakshi and Madan (2000) show how characteristic functions span the payoff universe of most derivatives. This method has an inconvenience: the integrands involved have a singularity at the origin, the fast Fourier transform (FFT) cannot be invoked and the highly oscillatory integrands converge very slowly. Given the computational advantages that the FFT algorithm implies, it is desirable to find expressions computable by FFT. Carr and Madan (1999) circumvent the obstacle dampening the integrands by means of an external factor. Following such a direction, Lewis (2001) analyses the problem when Lévy processes drive the returns uncertainty, and Lee (2004) generalizes the method and sets bounds for the error committed in pricing computations. The introduction of dampening factors is widely used in practical implementations when option valuation is required; see Carr et al. (2002), Carr and Wu (2003a, b), Bakshi et al. (2005) or Wu (2006). The present approach analyses the problem when the returns process is modeled as a time-changed Brownian motion with drift. It is important to note that the timechanged processes include pure-jump models, with either finite, or infinite activity (see Geman et al. 2001 for examples), as well as continuous models (a square-root stochastic volatility model is provided below, the ‘time-changed’ version of the Heston model). The method is particularly useful given that most of the successful models in option valuation can be thought of as time-changed models (Carr and Wu 2004). We begin by expressing the returns density function in an adequate manner for our purposes, which differs from the approach in the papers of Carr and Madan (1999), Lewis (2001) and Lee (2004), who transform option prices directly. The expression obtained allows us to write European option prices by means of simplified integral forms computable by FFT. The use of external dampening factors with option pricing purposes can thus be circumvented.
Cepstral analysis for formants frequencies determination dedicated to speaker identification

In this paper, we present a technique of parameterization of the speech based on the cepstral analysis, for the extraction of the first four formants F1, F2, F3 and F4 with the aim of a biomedical application. Indeed, such analysis, supposed linear, assures the speech signal deconvolution. It allows separating the contribution of the vocal tract, i.e. the formants frequencies, and the one of the vocal cords responsible of the fundamental frequency. The technique applied to some vowels extracted from the TIMIT database, allows identifying the variations interlocutors of the formants frequencies according to the sex and of the region. Variability interlocutor is a major phenomenon in speech recognition because a speaker remains recognizable by the timbre of his voice in spite of a variation which can sometimes be significant. Results so obtained allow noticing the variability of the formants frequencies of a vowel pronounced by various speakers. So, several scenarios were tested to know: 1) a vowel pronounced by four men and four women who lived in the same region, 2) a vowel pronounced by four women of the same region, and 3) a vowel pronounced by eight men who lived in different regions.
Corporate Payout Policy, Cash Savings, and the Cost of Consistency: Evidence from a Structural Estimation

We develop a dynamic structural model to better understand how corporate payout policy is determined in conjunction with other corporate decisions. In a first-best model, a manager maximizes equity value by choosing the firm's optimal financing, investment, dividends, and cash holdings. By using simulated method of moments, we show that, on average, firms excessively smooth their payout while making corporate savings overly volatile and retaining excess cash. We then extend the model to capture the effect of a manager, who perceives a cost to cutting payouts. Estimating the model, we infer the magnitude of this cost. We find that a managerial preference for consistent payout explains the smooth payout and high volatility of cash holdings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Uniform distribution of energy in wireless sensor network using efficient path search

Wireless Sensor Network has constraint with energy and computation. Network Life is based on the way the energy in the battery is used. Continuously sending data along a specific path for long intervals of time, results in large amount of energy consumption. This could eventually lead to network partitioning, which in turn will create a path loss between the sender and receiver. Though several (sensor) node with sufficient energy might exists, delivery of data to the destination node might not be possible. Changing path often can be solution. But question remains, how often? New routing protocol called U_AODV is proposed, so that there is a uniform energy distribution and a possible path between the source and the destination as long as possible.
FUNDING THE NON-PROFIT WELFARE SECTOR: EXPLAINING CHANGING FUNDING SOURCES 1960-1999

The non-profit welfare sector in Australia is dominated by several large organisations which are predominantly older, faith-based, welfare agencies. The success of these agencies is in part due to their ability to diversify funding sources in response to current economic and political environments. This paper analyses the changing funding mix of two of these organisations. The analysis finds some variability in the composition of funding sources over time. However, we also find that to some extent the agencies smooth out variations from one source with other sources of funding. The agencies do not appear to be able to raise funds in a counter-cyclical manner.
Finansal Gelişmişliğin Makroekonomik Belirleyicileri: Türkiye İçin Bir VAR Modeli

In recent years, financial liberalization process has contributed to the globalization of financial centers, positively. In conjunction with globalization, portfolios of investors have been enriched and foreign fund inflows have risen in the domestic financial markets. Therefore financial systems, center of the fund transfer process, have become the most important factor of the economic systems and depending on this the efficiency of financial systems has affected the macroeconomic success. Hence, using the annual data base for the period of 1986-2012, VAR analysis has been applied to determine the relationship between financial development and its determinants in this study. The results of the analysis have shown that the most important factors effected the financial markets are national product, portfolio investments, saving rates, real interests, inflation rate and current account deficit. In addition, the results have indicated that although high interestlow exchange rate policy, practiced in Turkey for many years, has contributed to the development of financial markets, this policy implementation has increased the economic vulnerability. In this context, it can be said that to ensure both the process of sustainable economic growth and stability of financial markets the policies which may establish the structural transformation need to be implemented. 1. GIRIŞ Gunumuzde tum finansal sistemlerin ortak cabalarindan bir tanesi tasarruflarin etkin bir bicimde ekonomiye yonlendirilmesini saglamaktir. Bunu gerceklestirebilmek icin finansal gelisim surecine katki saglayabilecegi dusunulen makroekonomik faktorler bircok arastirmaya konu olmustur. Bir finansal piyasanin gelismisligi olculurken; sermaye hesabinin serbestligi, dis ticaretin liberalizasyonu, piyasa islem hacmi, toplam kredi ve mevduatlarin milli gelire orani, ulkelerde uygulanan yasal mevzuatin orijini, borclanma, butce aciklari, belirsizlik faktoru olarak enflasyon, piyasanin derinligi ve fon aktarma maliyetlerinin dusuklugu gibi olcutler kullanilmaktadir.
Invited commentary: tomatoes, lycopene, and prostate cancer. How strong is the evidence?

Until only recently, there was little evidence that intakes of fruits and vegetables were related to prostate cancer risk. Findings from observational epidemiologic studies were weak and inconsistent, and the results from three large randomized clinical trials of supplemental p-carotene (an antioxidant carotenoid found primarily in yellow and orange vegetables) showed no effects on prostate cancer (1-3). In 1995, Giovannucci et al. reported a 35 percent reduced prostate cancer risk, comparing men who ate more than 10 weekly servings of tomato products with those who ate fewer than 1.5 servings weekly (4). They suggested that this effect might be attributable to lycopene, the antioxidant carotenoid found primarily in tomatoes. This result motivated heightened interest in lycopene and prostate cancer; subsequent scientific reports, including those by Freeman et al. (5) and Norrish et al. (6) in this issue of the Journal, provide additional insight into the associations of fruits and vegetables with prostate cancer risk. In this commentary, we give a very brief summary of this literature, make recommendations for further research, and present our perspective regarding the strength and coherence of the hypothesized protective effect of tomato products on prostate cancer risk. There is a large and quite variable literature on the associations of fruit and vegetable intakes with prostate cancer risk. Only eight studies examined total fruit and/or vegetable intakes (7-14), and only one found a significant protective association (11). We could find 17 studies that examined specific fruits and/or vegetables. Individual studies have found protective effects for beans, lentils, peas, carrots, greens, tomatoes, one or more cruciferous vegetables, tofu,
Procyclical Labor Productivity and Competing Theories of the Business Cycle: Some Evidence from Interwar U.S. Manufacturing Industries

We study the phenomenon of short-run increasing returns to labor (SRIRL) in a sample of 10 interwar U.S. manufacturing industries. Our main findings are that SRIRL was common in the interwar period and that the pattern of SRIRL across industries was similar to that observed in the postwar period. We argue that, since presumably the Depression was not caused by technical regress, these findings are inconsistent with the claim of real business cycle theorists that SRIRL is in general due to procyclical technical shocks. We propose tests for discriminating between two other leading explanations of SRIRL but find that our conclusions differ by industry.
The Barcelona conference: Launching pad of a process

The Euro‐Mediterranean Partnership Initiative marks a shift in EU Mediterranean policy from bilateral economic agreements to a multilateral approach. The Barcelona Conference was above all a political gesture, an act of political recognition of the Euro‐Mediterranean dimensions of socio‐economic realities and security concerns. For Spain, the conference was also an opportunity to revive the government's domestic political fortunes and to repay Catalan nationalists for parliamentary support. The EU is now allocating more resources to its Mediterranean neighbours, and the conference itself created a propitious atmosphere for greater agreement. However, important differences were expressed over political and security questions, and the section of the Barcelona‐approved Work Programme relating to such matters is the shortest and least precise. Official Spanish satisfaction over the conference must be set against more sceptical ‘alternative’ responses that point to a persisting European proclivity to impose it.
Towards explaining “unexplained hyperferritinemia”

Elevated serum ferritin is found in a large spectrum of conditions both genetic and acquired, associated or not with iron overload. In this perspective article, Drs. Camaschella and Poggiali examine our current knowledge of the molecular basis of inherited hyperferritinemia. See related article on page 335.
The Impact of Regulation on Mortgage Risk: Evidence from India

We employ loan-level data on over a million loans disbursed in India between 1995 and 2010 to understand how fast-changing regulation impacted mortgage lending and risk. Our paper uses changes in regulatory treatment discontinuities associated with loan size and leverage to detect regulation-induced loan delinquencies. We also find that an acceleration in the classification of assets as nonperforming resulted in substantially lower delinquency probabilities and losses given delinquency. (JEL D14, G21, G28, L51, O16, R31)
Dynamic amplitude frequency characteristic of GMM based on optical fiber measurement technique

A FBG-GMM dynamic strain measurement setup with ferromagnetic circuit was established based on the magnetostriction characteristic of Giant magnetostrictive material (GMM) and the susceptibility of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) to strain. This system was constructed using the FBG dynamic strain demodulating scheme of optical filter linear sideband. The finite element analysis and experimental result show that the dynamic output of the GMM does not change with the frequency in the range of 50∼1000Hz and the GMM can be used in dynamic measurement of low-frequency signal.
Rest‐induced suppression of anterior horn cell excitability as measured by F waves: Comparison between volitionally inactivated and control muscles

To test the hypothesis that the anterior horn cells become hypoexcitable in the absence of central drive, we recorded F waves simultaneously from the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) and the abductor digiti minimi (ADM) before and after volitionally inactivating one muscle (target) while periodically contracting the other muscle (control). In 14 healthy subjects, F waves recorded from the target muscle showed a progressive decrease in persistence and amplitude (whether counting all 100 trials or only detectable responses) after muscle relaxation for 1, 3, and 6 hours, followed by a quick recovery upon brief muscle contraction. We conclude that volitional inactivation suppresses the F waves of the target muscle without equally affecting the control muscle innervated by the same nerve. The history of activity of a muscle should therefore be taken into account in clinical testing, especially when the study of a paretic muscle shows abnormal F‐wave excitability. Muscle Nerve, 2007
Effects of physical activity on vasomotor symptoms: examination using objective and subjective measures

Objective Physical activity (PA) is essential for successful aging and for the prevention and management of common chronic diseases. The empirical support for the beneficial effects of PA on vasomotor symptoms has, however, been mixed. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of acute aerobic exercise and daily PA on menopausal vasomotor symptoms. Methods Community-dwelling midlife women (N = 121; age range, 40-60 y) not using hormone therapy were recruited for a 15-day daily diary study. Women completed psychological, cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and hormonal status screening followed by a 15-day prospective assessment in a “real-life” setting using a personal digital assistant. Participants also completed a 30-minute moderate-intensity aerobic exercise bout on a treadmill between days 5 and 8. Daily PA was assessed objectively through accelerometry, and all symptomatic women (n = 92) completed two 24-hour Biolog sternal skin conductance recordings of hot flashes (HFs)—one at baseline and one immediately after treadmill exercise. Results Both total objective (P = 0.054) and total subjective (P < 0.05) HFs decreased after the acute exercise bout. At the between-person level, daily PA was not associated with self-reported HFs. However, at the within-person level, performing more moderate physical activity than usual was associated with more self-reported HFs in women with lower fitness levels. Conclusions Moderate aerobic exercise decreases objective and subjective HFs 24 hours after exercise; however, in women with lower fitness levels, more daily moderate PA leads to more self-reported symptoms.
High Weighted Efficiency in Single-Phase Solar Inverters by a Variable-Frequency Peak Current Controller

This paper discusses a control method that achieves high weighted efficiency in solar microinverters. A challenge in microinverters is to achieve high efficiency over a range of output powers. To address this challenge, the proposed controller presents two primary benefits that enable such an efficiency profile, a switching frequency that scales with power, and a low peak current that enables efficient magnetic design of the inductor. At high powers, the switching frequency increases to minimize the root-mean-square (rms) current, and at low powers, the switching frequency decreases to minimize the switching loss. Since the peak inductor current is low, the inductor may be designed with fewer turns of wire, or with lower flux density, and is thus highly efficient. The proposed constant peak current switching scheme is implemented by a cycle-by-cycle predictive controller that uses a fast integrator to control the switching period, achieving high bandwidth and stability. This controller senses only the peak inductor current and, therefore, does not require expensive average current sensors. We demonstrate a low-cost inverter prototype with a 300-W solar panel. The prototype uses standard silicon devices and a small inductor of 360 μH to achieve a weighted efficiency of 99.15%.
The influence of supplier capabilities and technology uncertainty on manufacturer‐supplier collaboration: A study of the Korean automotive industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the manufacturer‐supplier collaboration (MSC) types in the automotive industry and factors that affect such collaboration.Design/methodology/approach – The unit of analysis is 1st tier suppliers registered with Hyundai‐KIA Motors Corporation (HKMC); a survey was conducted targeting these 1st tier suppliers. Then, hypotheses were tested using a hierarchical multiple regression analysis.Findings – First, five distinct MSC types were identified as follows: collaborative communication, collaboration in new car development, collaborative problem solving, strategic purchasing, and supplier development. Second, contrary to previous studies, suppliers' customer proliferation capability is found to affect MSC positively. Of suppliers' capabilities, flexibility, dependability improvement, module, design, and 2nd tier supplier development/coordination capabilities affect MSC positively. Third, while technology uncertainty is found to have a significant moderating ef.
Determinants of Internationalization Strategies of Emerging Market Firms: A Multilevel Approach

Recently, debates about uniqueness of emerging market firms’ (EMFs) internationalization strategies were a focus of research. Yet, findings regarding their determinants are mixed, and conclusions on how EMFs’ internationalization strategies can be theoretically explained vary greatly. This article elaborates on the underlying reasons for these inconclusive results and addresses them by the development of a multilevel theoretical framework allowing for a better understanding of integrative influence of institutional, sector, and firm-specific determinants of EMFs’ internationalization strategies. This framework is validated by evidence from Russia, and a multiple case study approach is adopted to investigate the determinants of internationalization strategies of Russian firms.
Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensor for Dynamic Strain Measurement

A novel Brillouin-based distributed sensing technique is presented that can obtain the strain profile of the entire sensing fiber with a single optical pulse. Experimentally obtained spectra show that this comb excited pump signal is capable of strain and temperature measurement in a dynamic system. The results show the expected sinusoidal strain profile for a 12 s periodic strain cycle applied to the test fiber. The strain distribution for the entire fiber was obtained in 256 mus , thereby demonstrating for the first time, the potential to measure dynamic strains up to 3.9 kHz with 12 m resolution. Increased acquisition speed comes at the expense of achievable spatial resolution.
Surprises in the Term Structure

The no-arbitrage affine Gaussian term structure model is used for analyzing the impact of macroeconomic surprises on the nominal and the real term structure, in the euro area and in the United States. We find that nominal rates are impacted by surprises on economic growth, labour market and economic outlook in the United States and mostly by surprises on inflation in the euro area. In the United States forward inflation risk premia become sizable around the start of the late-2000s financial crisis and considerably increase just before the adoption of the first unconventional measures of monetary policy in March 2009. In contrast, in the euro area forward inflation risk premia are unchanged even after the adoption of the unconventional monetary policy measures, in October 2008 and in May 2010. In both areas expected long-term inflation expectations have been well anchored over the past years.