Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Competition in Russia’s Banking Sector Prior to and After Supervision Policy Enhancement: Conclusions Based on Interest Rate Dispersion and Spread

Enhancement of the Bank of Russia's supervision policy in 2013 has heightened the relevance of evaluating banking competition as a tool to study the effects of banking sector recovery. We propose simple-to-calculate competition measures based on the dispersion and spread of loan and deposit rates across banks adjusted for the estimated risk of banks'lending policy. Estimation was performed for the period of 2010-2017. We have found no weakening in competition as measured by these indicators. This result has been corroborated by estimating an alternative but more elaborately calculated competition measure - the Boone indicator. We have also found that the period following this policy launch saw a drop in the volatility of corporate and retail lending in both the cluster of banks showing a relatively low level of nonperforming loans and amomg banks with a relatively high NPL level. This is accomponied by relatively low values of the systemic risk indicator SRISK and gradual recovery of the Z-index, which agrees with banking sector stability improvement.
Importance Sampling for Jump–Diffusions Via Cross-Entropy

This paper develops efficient importance sampling schemes for a class of jump–diffusion processes that are commonly used for modeling stock prices. For such financial models, related option pricing problems are often difficult, especially when the option under study is out-of-the-money and there are multiple underlying assets. Even though analytical pricing formulas do exist in a few very simple cases, often analysts must resort to numerical methods or Monte Carlo simulation. We demonstrate that efficient and easy-to-implement importance sampling schemes can be constructed via the method of cross-entropy combined with the expectation–maximization algorithm, when the alternative sampling distributions are chosen from the family of exponentially tilted distributions or their mixtures. Theoretical justification is given by characterizing the limiting behavior of the cross-entropy algorithm under appropriate scaling. Numerical experiments on vanilla options, path-dependent options and rainbow options are also performed to illustrate the use of this technology.
α4 phosphoprotein interacts with EDD E3 ubiquitin ligase and poly(A)‐binding protein

Mammalian α4 phosphoprotein, the homolog of yeast Tap42, is a component of the mammalian target‐of‐rapamycin (mTOR) pathway that regulates ribogenesis, the initiation of translation, and cell‐cycle progression. α4 is known to interact with the catalytic subunit of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2Ac) and to regulate PP2A activity. Using α4 as bait in yeast two‐hybrid screening of a human K562 erythroleukemia cDNA library, EDD (E3 isolated by differential display) E3 ubiquitin ligase was identified as a new protein partner of α4. EDD is the mammalian ortholog of Drosophila hyperplastic discs gene (hyd) that controls cell proliferation during development. The EDD protein contains a PABC domain that is present in poly(A)‐binding protein (PABP), suggesting that PABP may also interact with α4. PABP recruits translation factors to the poly(A)‐tails of mRNAs. In the present study, immunoprecipitation/immunoblotting (IP/IB) analyses showed a physical interaction between α4 and EDD in rat Nb2 T‐lymphoma and human MCF‐7 breast cancer cell lines. α4 also interacted with PABP in Nb2, MCF‐7 and the human Jurkat T‐leukemic and K562 myeloma cell lines. COS‐1 cells, transfected with Flag‐tagged‐pSG5‐EDD, gave a (Flag)‐EDD–α4 immunocomplex. Furthermore, deletion mutants of α4 were constructed to determine the binding site for EDD. IP/IB analysis showed that EDD bound to the C‐terminal region of α4, independent of the α4‐PP2Ac binding site. Therefore, in addition to PP2Ac, α4 interacts with EDD and PABP, suggesting its involvement in multiple steps in the mTOR pathway that leads to translation initiation and cell‐cycle progression. J. Cell. Biochem. 110: 1123–1129, 2010. Published 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A High-Throughput Method for Cloning and Sequencing Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Integration Sites

ABSTRACT Integration of retroviral DNA is nonspecific and can occur at many sites throughout chromosomes. However, the process is not uniformly distributed, and both hot and cold spots for integration exist. The mechanism that determines target site specificity is not well understood. Because of the nonspecific and widespread nature of integration, studies analyzing the mechanism and factors that control target site selection require the collection and analysis of a large library of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) proviral clones. Such analyses are time-consuming and labor-intensive using conventional means. We have developed an efficient and high-throughput method of sequencing and mapping a large number of independent integration sites in the absence of any selection or bias. The new assay involves the use of a modified HIV-1 (NL-Mme) containing a type IIS restriction site, MmeI, at the right end of viral DNA. Digestion of genomic DNA from NL-Mme-infected cells generated viral DNA-containing fragments of a discrete size. Subsequent ligation-mediated PCR yielded short integration site fragments termed Int-tags, which were concatemerized for determining multiple integration sites in a single sequencing reaction. Analysis of chromosomal features and sequence preference associated with integration events confirmed the validity of the new high-throughput assay. The assay will aid the effort in understanding the mechanisms of target site selection during HIV-1 DNA integration, and the described methodology can be adapted easily to integration site studies involving other retroviruses and transposons.
Custo marginal de abatimento de emissões de gases de efeito estufa na recuperação da pastagem Marginal abatement cost of greenhouse gases emissions in pasture recovery

Due to the growing demand for food and environmental concerns, government leaders have been driven to encourage the adoption of technologies which can increase the food supply in a sustainable way. This work aims to value greenhouse gas mitigation through pasture recovery by market incentives such as financing with the Low Carbon Agriculture Program credit line, using the marginal abatement cost tool. To achieve the proposed goals, financial data from the Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics and the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock was used, as well as emissions data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Low Carbon Agriculture Plan in order to simulate an annual net costs and net emissions of current and abatement technologies, represented respectively by a low-tech livestock and a livestock in recovered pasture. The financial and emissions figures of a livestock in a recovered pasture were more favorable in comparison to low-tech livestock. Taking into consideration these two factors, the marginal abatement cost is - R$ 24.72 per tCO2 equivalent. In other words, for each ton of equivalent carbon dioxide mitigated by pasture recovery, the farmer has a financial gain of R$ 24.72 than keeping low-tech livestock. Thus, from a financial and environmental perspective, pasture recovery has shown to be a practice which allows a sustainable increase in food production.
Synthesis of continuous-time linear reset feedback system with L2 stability

In this paper, the feedback synthesis of continuous-time linear reset system is considered. The author shows a sufficient LMI condition for the L2 stability of the reset system with temporal regularization. This result is from the recent Lyapunov type approach by Nesic et al. Then the simultaneous synthesis of reset condition and continuous-time gain feedback via common quadratic Lyapunov function approach is discussed. To obtain the tractable conditions for the synthesis, the jump matrix for reset feedback is fixed a priori. Finally, the stabilizing pair of the continuous-time feedback gain and the flow/jump condition are simultaneously determined via LMI approach.
Head and neck extra nodal NHL (HNENL)--Treatment Outcome and Pattern of failure--A Single Institution Experience.

BACKGROUND Extra nodal lymphoma (ENL) constitutes about 33 % of all non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. 18-28% develops in the head and neck region. A multimodality treatment with multi-agent chemotherapy (CT) and radiotherapy (RT) is considered optimum. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrieved the treatment charts of patients of HNENL treated in our institute from 2001-2012. The charts were reviewed and the demographic, treatment details and outcome of HNENL patients were retrieved using predesigned pro-forma. RESULTS We retrieved data of 75 consecutive patients HNENL. Median age was 47 years (Range: 8-76 years). Of the 75 patients 51 were male and 24 were female. 55 patients were evaluable. The patient and tumor characteristics are summarized in Table 1. All patients were staged comprehensively with contrast enhanced computed tomography of head, neck, thorax, abdomen, pelvis and bone marrow aspiration and biopsy 66 patients received a combination multi-agent CT with CHOP being the commonest regimen. 42 patients received 4 or lesser number of cycles of chemotherapy whereas 24 received more than 4 cycles chemotherapy. Post radiotherapy, 41 out of 42 patients had a complete response at 3 months. Only 21 patients had a complete response after chemotherapy. All patients received radiation (mostly involved field radiation) as a part of the treatment. The median radiation dose was 45 Gray (Range: 36 Gray-50 Gray). The radiation was planned by 2D fluoro simulation based technique in 37 cases and by 3 Dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT) in 36 cases. Two patients were planned by the intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) technique. IMRT was planned for one thyroid and one nasal cavity primary. 5 patients experienced relapse after a median follow up of 19 months. The median survival was not reached. The estimated two and three year survival were 92.9% (95%CI-68.6-95.35) and 88% (95%CI-60.82-92.66) respectively. Univariate analysis revealed higher stage and poorer baseline performance status to be significantly associated with worse progression free survival. 5 patients progressed (relapse or primary disease progression) after treatment. Of the 5 patients, two patients were primary orbital NHL, two patients had NHL nasal cavity and one was NHL thyroid. CONCLUSIONS Combined modality treatment in HNENL confers excellent disease control with acceptable side effects.
Stochastic portfolio theory and the low beta anomaly

ABSTRACT Many studies have found that portfolios of low beta stocks have higher growth rates than portfolios of high beta stocks and have concluded that low beta stocks have higher growth rates than high beta stocks. Since rational investor behavior is thought to imply that additional risk is rewarded with additional return, the alleged higher growth rates of low beta versus high beta stocks has been termed a ‘Low Beta Anomaly’ (LBA). However, it is premature to conclude that these observed LBAs are due to stocks’ differential growth rates, because the tested portfolios are traded. Stochastic Portfolio Theory (SPT) shows that traded portfolios’ growth rates can exceed the growth rates of their stocks. This paper presents several SPT models of an LBA that do not require investment constraints, irrational investor behavior, or that low beta stocks have higher growth rates than high beta stocks. These LBAs are due to reconstitution relative volatility capture that favors portfolios of low vs. high beta stocks. They result from trading profit, not differential growth rates between low and high beta stocks. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate a reconstitution relative volatility capture LBA that is consistent with the models and the literature.
Changes in pulmonary arteriole protein kinase cα expression associated with supplemental L-arginine in broilers during cool temperature exposure

1. The present study was conducted to examine the effect of supplemental L-arginine on pulmonary arteriole protein kinase Cα (PKCα) expression in broilers exposed to cool temperature, to investigate further the molecular mechanisms of supplemental L-arginine on modulating pulmonary vascular functions in hypertensive broilers. 2. Broilers were subjected to sub-thermoneutral (cool) temperature to induce pulmonary hypertension syndrome (PHS), and an additional 10 g/kg L-arginine was added to the basal diet to evaluate the effects of supplemental L-arginine on PHS mortality, plasma nitric oxide (NO) production and pulmonary arterioles PKCα expression. 3. Supplemental L-arginine reduced PHS mortality but did not affect right/total ventricle (RV/TV) ratios in clinically healthy birds. Birds fed additional L-arginine had increased plasma NO and decreased PKCα protein expression in pulmonary arterioles; NO production was negatively correlated with PKCα expression. 4. These results demonstrated that supplemental L-arginine diminished PKCα expression in birds exposed to cool temperature. It is suggested that NO-induced loss of PKCα expression might be partially responsible for its effects on dilating pulmonary vasculature and inhibiting pulmonary vascular remodelling in vivo.
Attribution of 12 High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Genotypes to Infection and Cervical Disease

Background: We estimated the prevalence and incidence of 14 human papillomavirus (HPV) types (6/11/16/18/31/33/35/39/45/51/52/56/58/59) in cervicovaginal swabs, and the attribution of these HPV types in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS), using predefined algorithms that adjusted for multiple-type infected lesions. Methods: A total of 10,656 women ages 15 to 26 years and 1,858 women ages 24 to 45 years were enrolled in the placebo arms of one of three clinical trials of a quadrivalent HPV vaccine. We estimated the cumulative incidence of persistent infection and the proportion of CIN/AIS attributable to individual carcinogenic HPV genotypes, as well as the proportion of CIN/AIS lesions potentially preventable by a prophylactic 9-valent HPV6/11/16/18/31/33/45/52/58 vaccine. Results: The cumulative incidence of persistent infection with ≥1 of the seven high-risk types included in the 9-valent vaccine was 29%, 12%, and 6% for women ages 15 to 26, 24 to 34, and 35 to 45 years, respectively. A total of 2,507 lesions were diagnosed as CIN or AIS by an expert pathology panel. After adjusting for multiple-type infected lesions, among women ages 15 to 45 years, these seven high-risk types were attributed to 43% to 55% of CIN1, 70% to 78% of CIN2, 85% to 91% of CIN3, and 95% to 100% of AIS lesions, respectively. The other tested types (HPV35/39/51/56/59) were attributed to 23% to 30% of CIN1, 7% to 14% of CIN2, 3% to 4% of CIN3, and 0% of AIS lesions, respectively. Conclusions: Approximately 85% or more of CIN3/AIS, >70% CIN2, and approximately 50% of CIN1 lesions worldwide are attributed to HPV6/11/16/18/31/33/45/52/58. Impact: If 9-valent HPV vaccination programs are effectively implemented, the majority of CIN2 and CIN3 lesions worldwide could be prevented, in addition to approximately one-half of CIN1. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(10); 1997–2008. ©2014 AACR.
[Study on preparation technology of plumula nelumbinis Alkaloid Dripping Pill and determination of content by HPLC].

OBJECTIVE To determine the optimum technical parameters through controlling the different factors and the content of Dripping Pill. METHOD Time of dissolution, spherical degree and pill weight as parameters, the influential factors were investigated by orthogonal test and then to determine the content of liensinine, isoliensinine, neferine in plumula nelumbinis Alkaloid Dripping Pill. RESULT The optimum condition: 75% PEG4000 as matrix, methyl-silicon oil as refrigerant, 4 cm dripping distance, 10 degrees C refrigerant, 30 drippings per minute. CONCLUSION The good quality pills can be produced through this process and the HPLC determination method is simple, reliable and can be used in the quality control of plumula nelumbinis Alkaloid Dripping Pill.
Monetary Policy after the Crisis: Threat or Opportunity to Hedge Funds' Alphas?

We examine the effects of U.S. monetary policy announcements during and after the Great Financial Crisis on the average abnormal returns (the “alpha”) of the hedge fund industry as a whole and of a range of hedge strategy indices. We apply a variety of tests of increasing sophistication including simple event studies, formal tests for breaks, and Markov switching models. The event studies show that both the overall index and longshort equity and fixed income arbitrage hedge strategies were systematically affected by unexpected monetary policy announcements while other strategies appear to have been less impacted. Formal break point tests show that for all but one strategies as well as the overall index, there is evidence of five breakpoints. For the overall index and most of the sub-indices many of the endogenously determined breaks closely match a list of policy surprise dates that have been already singled out because they had strongly affected financial markets in general. Especially for the long-short equity, fixed income arbitrage, dedicated short-bias, and global macro hedge funds, there is a significant tendency for estimated alphas decline over time, following policy surprises.
AlGaN/AlN/GaN MOS-HEMTs with Al2O3 gate dielectric formed by using ozone water oxidation technique

This work presents Al<sub>0.3</sub>Ga<sub>0.7</sub>N/AlN/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor high electron mobility transistors (MOS-HEMTs), grown on the Si substrate, with high-k Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> gate dielectric. The present AlGaN/AlN/GaN MOS-HEMT design (the control Schottky-gate HEMT) has showed two-terminal gate-drain breakdown voltage (BV<sub>GD</sub>)/turn-on voltage (V<sub>on</sub>) of -146.6/1.12 (-96.4/0.98) V, maximum extrinsic transconductance (g<sub>m, max</sub>) of 167.3 (124.2) mS/mm, saturated I<sub>DS</sub> density at V<sub>GS</sub> = 0 V (I<sub>DSS0</sub>) of 701.4 (538.2) mA/mm, maximum I<sub>DS</sub> density (I<sub>DS, max</sub>) of 927.9 (646) mA/mm, A<sub>V</sub> of 211.8 (172.5), unity-gain cut-off frequency (f<sub>T</sub>) of 16.8 (11) GHz, maximum oscillation frequency (f<sub>max</sub>) of 18.8 (14) GHz, 2.4-GHz output power (P<sub>out</sub>) of 17.2 (15.7) dBm, power gain (G<sub>S</sub>) of 14.1 (13.4) dB, and power-added efficiency (PAE) of 32.2% (27.4%). Consequently, superior improvements of 52.2% in BV<sub>GD</sub>, 43.6% in I<sub>DS, max</sub>, 34.7% g<sub>m, max</sub>, and 52.7%/34.3% in f<sub>T</sub>/f<sub>max</sub> are achieved as compared with a control HEMT device.
SPIN-TORQUE MICROWAVE DETECTOR WITH OUT-OF-PLANE PRECESSING MAGNETIC MOMENT

Operation of a spin-torque microwave detector (STMD) in a weak perpendicular bias magnetic field has been studied theoretically. It is shown that in this geometry a novel dynamical regime of STMD operation, characterized by large-angle out-of-plane magnetization precession, can be realized. The excitation of the large-angle precession has threshold character and is possible only for input microwave currents exceeding a certain frequency-dependent critical value. The output voltage of an STMD increases with the frequency of the input signal but is virtually independent of its power. An STMD working in the regime of large-amplitude out-of-plane precession functions as a non-resonant threshold detector of low frequency microwave signals, due to the large nonlinear shift of its operating frequency. Therefore, it is particularly suitable for applications in microwave energy harvesting.
Semivariance in Asset Allocations: Longer Horizons Can Handle Riskier

Summary and Conclusions The results of this study support thecommon investment advice calling forriskier portfolio allocations for longerinvestment horizons. This support is con-sistent whether the risk measure of inter-est is standard deviation or semivariance,with optimal portfolio allocation sugges-tions based on the Sharpe ratio and thereward-to-semivariability ratio. For invest-ment horizons from 5 to 20 years, thereward-to-semivariabity ratio suggestsmore aggressive allocations for portfolioswith large and small stocks. For portfoliosof large stocks and long-term corporatebonds, more aggressive allocations are sug-gested for investment horizons through 15years, based on the reward-to-semivariabil-ity ratio. At the 20-year investment hori-zon, the Sharpe ratio indicates a 70 per-cent large stock and 30 percent long-termbond portfolio as optimal, compared withthe R/SV recommended allocation of 68percent to large stocks.Investors may benefit from reducingtheir investment risk by allocating approxi-mately 50 percent to bonds when theinvestment horizon is only five years (a 59percent bond allocation based on theSharpe ratio and 40 percent based onR/SV). A 50 percent bond allocation, how-ever, on average, would have reduced port-folio-ending value by approximately 50percent, on average, compared with an all-large stock portfolio over a 20-year invest-ment horizon. Investment time horizonsare a significant consideration in the assetallocation decision and should not beignored. Investment advisors should takeheed and base asset allocation recommen-dations on reward-to-risk measures derivedfrom investment horizons similar to thoseof their client.B
Charge Extraction From TiO2 Nanotubes Sensitized With CdS Quantum Dots by SILAR Method

Quantum dot (QD) solar cells based on different materials have received a noticeable interest during the past ten years; however, their efficiency and stability are still the main drawback of this technology, which leads to a lack of performance of these devices. There are several electron loss (and efficiency) processes involved after photon absorption, but perhaps the main issue is with the electron recombination after excitation of the surface. In this paper, we have studied the dependence of short-circuit photocurrent of TiO2 nanotubes with varying amounts of CdS QDs deposited by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method. We have found that there is an optimum coverage of CdS in order to achieve the maximum photocurrent value. This behavior is explained and characterized in terms of prevailing recombination processes at higher CdS coverage, where quantum confinement becomes less important. By using the charge extraction method, we could determine the time dependence of electrode charge and indicates that the back reaction of electrons with the redox electrolyte present in solution is of the first order in electron density and that it originates from the electrons present in the TiO2 conduction band.
Systematic validation of 2x nm diameter perpendicular MTJ arrays and MgO barrier for sub-10 nm embedded STT-MRAM with practically unlimited endurance

We present a comprehensive device and scalability validation of STT-MRAM for high performance applications in sub-10 nm CMOS by providing the first statistical account of barrier reliability in perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (pMTJs) from 70 to 25 nm diameter in 1 Gbit arrays. We have experimentally investigated the time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) properties and the dependence of the pMTJ lifetime on voltage, polarity, duty-cycle, and temperature. A large write-to-breakdown voltage window of > 1 V (> 20 σavg) was measured and a long time-to-breakdown was projected (> 1015 cycles) for 45 nm pMTJs, guaranteeing practically unlimited write cycles. We also reveal a dramatic enhancement of barrier reliability in conjunction with pMTJ size scaling down to 25 nm diameter, further widening the operating window at deeply scaled nodes.