Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Conceptualizing the Shadow Financial System in a Stock-Flow Consistent Framework

In this paper, we aim at conceptualizing anew the shadow financial system with the introduction of an institutional sector composed of all the unregulated non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) that fall outside the regulatory scope of central banks. This new sector is first defined as a broad accounting category in a macroeconomic stock-flow consistent accounting framework inspired by the works of Lavoie and Godley. We then argue that the macroeconomic consequences of financialization can be better explained with such an accounting framework that captures how the economic system functions as an organic whole wherein the shadow financial system is constantly interacting with the traditional sectors of the economy (households, firms, traditional deposit-taking financial institutions and the government sector).
Robust large deviations performance analysis for large sample detectors

Large deviations theory is used to analyze the exponential rate of decrease of error probabilities for a sequence of decisions based on a test statistics sequence (T/sub n/). It is assumed that (for a given statistical hypothesis) the distributions of T/sub n/ are determined by some unknown member of a class of probability distributions. The worst case, or least favorably exponential rate of error probability decrease over this class, is sought. It is shown that the Legendre-Fenchel transform of the maximized cumulant function yields a lower bound for the minimized large deviations rate function, and that in many cases this bound is tight. Application of the result is illustrated by a detailed consideration of i.i. d memoryless detection with an epsilon -contamination distribution family. >
Expression of LPP3 in Bergmann glia is required for proper cerebellar sphingosine‐1‐phosphate metabolism/signaling and development

Bioactive lipids serve as intracellular and extracellular mediators in cell signaling in normal and pathological conditions. Here we describe that an important regulator of some of these lipids, the lipid phosphate phosphatase‐3 (LPP3), is abundantly expressed in specific plasma membrane domains of Bergmann glia (BG), a specialized type of astrocyte with key roles in cerebellum development and physiology. Mice selectively lacking expression of LPP3/Ppap2b in the nervous system are viable and fertile but exhibit defects in postnatal cerebellum development and modifications in the cytoarchitecture and arrangement of BG with a mild non‐progressive motor coordination defect. Lipid and gene profiling studies in combination with pharmacological treatments suggest that most of these effects are associated with alterations in sphingosine‐1‐phosphate (S1P) metabolism and signaling. Altogether our data indicate that LPP3 participates in several aspects of neuron‐glia communication required for proper cerebellum development. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
End-to-End Deep Learning Framework for Speech Paralinguistics Detection Based on Perception Aware Spectrum

In this paper, we propose an end-to-end deep learning framework to detect speech paralinguistics using perception aware spectrum as input. Existing studies show that speech under cold has distinct variations of energy distribution on low frequency components compared with the speech under ‘healthy’ condition. This motivates us to use perception aware spectrum as the input to an end-to-end learning framework with small scale dataset. In this work, we try both Constant Q Transform (CQT) spectrum and Gammatone spectrum in different end-toend deep learning networks, where both spectrums are able to closely mimic the human speech perception and transform it into 2D images. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed perception aware spectrum with end-to-end deep learning approach on Interspeech 2017 Computational Paralinguistics Cold sub-Challenge. The final fusion result of our proposed method is 8% better than that of the provided baseline in terms of UAR.
Female house wrens (Troglodytes aedon) increase the size, but not immunocompetence, of their offspring through extra‐pair mating

House wrens are typically socially monogamous, but frequently engage in extra‐pair matings leading to multisired broods. Because females do not appear to acquire direct material benefits from their extra‐pair mates, we tested the hypothesis that female house wrens derive indirect genetic benefits, such as enhanced immunocompetence (cutaneous immune activity, humoral immunity, and plasma bactericidal activity) and condition (size and haematoserological traits) for their offspring, by mating polyandrously. We predicted that extra‐pair young (EPY) should show greater immune responsiveness and better body condition than their within‐pair maternal half‐siblings (WPY). Contrary to our prediction, WPY had higher cutaneous immune activity than their EPY brood‐mates in two of three years, and EPY and WPY did not differ in measures of innate and humoral immunity. WPY also had higher albumin to γ‐globulin ratios than EPY; however, they were not in better condition based on other measures. EPY had consistently longer tarsi (a measure of long‐bone size) than their WPY half‐siblings, suggesting that females engage in extra‐pair copulations with larger males. The benefits of large structural size in the study population is unknown, but based on evidence from other passerines, we suggest that structural size may be an important fitness‐related trait in house wrens. We conclude that our results are not consistent with the hypothesis that females gain immune‐related benefits for their offspring by engaging in extra‐pair matings. Further study of the fitness consequences of differences in tarsus length is needed to determine whether females acquire size‐related benefits for their offspring from extra‐pair mates.
Test Methodology for Automotive Surround Sensors in Dynamic Driving Situations

Modern vehicles use surround sensors to measure their local environment. The information are processed and forwarded to intelligent pre-crash or automation functions enhancing vehicle safety or enabling automated driving. False or inaccurate measurements can lead to fatal consequences for humans and vehicles. High accuracy and robust environment perception in all driving situations, including high dynamic driving situations e.g. skidding, are compulsory requirements for these systems. Therefore, automotive surround sensors must be tested in various driving situations. This paper presents a new, non-destructive and reproducible test methodology for testing surround sensors in high dynamic driving situations. Therefore, the vehicle's motion during a skid driving situation was mathematically described. The test methodology was validated through experiments carried out with a real test vehicle. Finally, the experimental setup and the results are presented and discussed.
JDAMA: Java database application mutation analyser

Database application programs are ubiquitous; hence, good techniques for testing them are needed. Several approaches to testing database applications have been proposed recently, including test generation techniques and adequacy criteria. Tuya et al. proposed mutation‐based adequacy criteria for database queries and developed a set of mutation operators for Structured Query Language SELECT statements. This paper extends that approach by integrating it with analysis and instrumentation of the application bytecode. The design and implementation of a tool, Java Database Application Mutation Analyser (JDAMA), are described. JDAMA instruments application bytecode so as to compare the results of queries executed by the application under test to the results of mutants of those queries. JDAMA can be used to support mutation testing for Java database applications. A second, potentially more useful application of JDAMA is to support experiments evaluating testing techniques for database applications, in which query mutation is used to seed faults into subject applications. The paper illustrates these uses of JDAMA with experiments comparing two approaches to test generation and experiments evaluating coverage criteria. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effect of tumor necrosis factor-alpha on experimental otitis media with effusion.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Up to the present, many reports have demonstrated that local immune response is associated with maintenance and persistence of effusion in the middle ear cavity. Resulting retention of inflammatory cells and mediators in the middle ear results in ongoing effusion. The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of tumor necrosis factor in experimental otitis media with effusion, which was induced by transtympanic injection of tumor necrosis factor in the rats. STUDY DESIGN Four groups were designed in two experiments. The purpose of experiment 1 was to confirm that transtympanic injection of TNF-alpha produces the middle ear effusion. In experiment 2, TNFsolRI was used to evaluate the possibility as an inhibitor in otitis media with effusion. METHODS The histopathological changes were observed under light microscope, and the changes in microvascular permeability were examined using Evans blue vital dye technique. RESULTS Middle ear effusion was developed in 70% of specimens, and histopathological changes, such as subepithelial edema and marked infiltration of neutrophils, were present in 100% at 24 hours after administration of tumor necrosis factor-alpha through transtympanic approach. Extravasation of Evans blue dye was found in all specimens injected by tumor necrosis factor-alpha, which was qualified using a fluorescence microscope and quantified using a spectrophotometer. These histopathological findings and changes in microvascular permeability were significantly reduced by tumor necrosis factor soluble receptor type I. CONCLUSIONS Neutrophil infiltration, subepithelial edema, increased microvascular permeability, and resultant effusion were indirectly proved to be induced by tumor necrosis factor-alpha. We hope that this study may contribute to understanding the role of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in otitis media with effusion and clarifying the future role of tumor necrosis factor soluble receptor type I in preventing otitis media with effusion.
Capturing Risks of Non-Transparent Hedge Funds

We present a model that captures risks of hedge funds only using their historical performance as input. This statistical model is a multivariate distribution where the marginals derive from an AR(1)/AGARCH(1,1) process with t_5 innovations, and the dependency is a grouped-t copula. The process captures all relevant static and dynamic characteristics of hedge fund returns, while the copula enables us to go beyond linear correlation and capture strategy-specific tail dependency. We show how to estimate parameters and then successfully backtest our model and some peer models using 600 hedge funds.
Hybrid Cascode Compensation for Two-Stage CMOS Opamps

This paper presents the analysis of hybrid cascode compensation scheme, merged Ahuja and improved Ahuja style compensation methods, which is used in two-stage CMOS operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs). The open loop signal transfer function is derived to allow the accurate estimation of the poles and zeros. This analytical approach shows that the non-dominant poles and zeros of the hybrid cascode compensation are about 40 percent greater than those of the conventional cascode compensation. Circuit level simulation results are provided to show the accuracy of the calculated expressions and also the usefulness of the proposed cascode compensation technique.
Effects of hyperbaric oxygen on symptoms and quality of life among service members with persistent postconcussion symptoms: a randomized clinical trial.

IMPORTANCE Improvement has been anecdotally observed in patients with persistent postconcussion symptoms (PCS) after mild traumatic brain injury following treatment with hyperbaric oxygen (HBO). The effectiveness of HBO as an adjunctive treatment for PCS is unknown to date. OBJECTIVES To compare the safety of and to estimate the efficacy for symptomatic outcomes from standard PCS care alone, care supplemented with HBO, or a sham procedure. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Multicenter, double-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial of 72 military service members with ongoing symptoms at least 4 months after mild traumatic brain injury enrolled at military hospitals in Colorado, North Carolina, California, and Georgia between April 26, 2011, and August 24, 2012. Assessments occurred before randomization, at the midpoint, and within 1 month after completing the interventions. INTERVENTIONS Routine PCS care was provided in specialized clinics. In addition, participants were randomized 1:1:1 to 40 HBO sessions administered at 1.5 atmospheres absolute (ATA), 40 sham sessions consisting of room air at 1.2 ATA, or no supplemental chamber procedures. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) served as the primary outcome measure. A change score of at least 2 points on the RPQ-3 subscale (range, 0-12) was defined as clinically significant. Change scores from baseline were calculated for the RPQ-3 and for the total RPQ. Secondary measures included additional patient-reported outcomes and automated neuropsychometric testing. RESULTS On average, participants had sustained 3 lifetime mild traumatic brain injuries; the most recent occurred 23 months before enrollment. No differences were observed between groups for improvement of at least 2 points on the RPQ-3 subscale (25% in the no intervention group, 52% in the HBO group, and 33% in the sham group; P = .24). Compared with the no intervention group (mean change score, 0.5; 95% CI, -4.8 to 5.8; P = .91), both groups undergoing supplemental chamber procedures showed improvement in symptoms on the RPQ (mean change score, 5.4; 95% CI, -0.5 to 11.3; P = .008 in the HBO group and 7.0; 95% CI, 1.0-12.9; P = .02 in the sham group). No difference between the HBO group and the sham group was observed (P = .70). Chamber sessions were well tolerated. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among service members with persistent PCS, HBO showed no benefits over sham compressions. Both intervention groups demonstrated improved outcomes compared with PCS care alone. This finding suggests that the observed improvements were not oxygen mediated but may reflect nonspecific improvements related to placebo effects. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01306968.
Model-based runtime reconfiguration of component-based systems

Software systems evolve during their life cycle in order to meet changing requirements or to improve quality properties. At the same time, maintaining continuous availability of services is an issue of increasing importance especially for business-critical systems. Runtime reconfiguration supports evolution of systems while maintaining availability of services they provide. This paper presents a model-based approach to runtime reconfiguration of component-based systems, which aims at minimising the interference caused by the reconfiguration and thus maximising system responsiveness during reconfiguration.
Rubiscolin, a delta selective opioid peptide derived from plant Rubisco.

We found that the sequences YPLDL and YPLDLF in the large subunit of spinach D-ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) met the structure YP-aliphatic amino acid which might have opioid activity. We then synthesized these peptides to test their opioid activity. The IC(50) of these peptides in mouse vas deferens assay were 51.0 microM and 24.4 microM, respectively, and those in delta receptor binding assay using [(3)H]deltorphin II as radioligand were 2.09 microM and 0.93 microM, respectively. Both peptides were selective for delta receptor. We named them rubiscolin-5 and -6, respectively. Rubiscolin-5 and -6 have antinociceptive activity in mice after i.c. v. or oral administration. The enzymatic conditions to release rubiscolin were investigated using both spinach Rubisco and synthetic fragment peptides. This is the first example of bioactive peptides derived from plant Rubisco.
Constructing Light Spanners Deterministically in Near-Linear Time

Graph spanners are well-studied and widely used both in theory and practice. In a recent breakthrough, Chechik and Wulff-Nilsen [CW16] improved the state-of-the-art for light spanners by constructing a $(2k-1)(1+\epsilon)$-spanner with $O(n^{1+1/k})$ edges and $O_\epsilon(n^{1/k})$ lightness. Soon after, Filtser and Solomon [FS16] showed that the classic greedy spanner construction achieves the same bounds The major drawback of the greedy spanner is its running time of $O(mn^{1+1/k})$ (which is faster than [CW16]). This makes the construction impractical even for graphs of moderate size. Much faster spanner constructions do exist but they only achieve lightness $\Omega_\epsilon(kn^{1/k})$, even when randomization is used. The contribution of this paper is deterministic spanner constructions that are fast, and achieve similar bounds as the state-of-the-art slower constructions. Our first result is an $O_\epsilon(n^{2+1/k+\epsilon'})$ time spanner construction which achieves the state-of-the-art bounds. Our second result is an $O_\epsilon(m + n\log n)$ time construction of a spanner with $(2k-1)(1+\epsilon)$ stretch, $O(\log k\cdot n^{1+1/k})$ edges and $O_\epsilon(\log k\cdot n^{1/k})$ lightness. This is an exponential improvement in the dependence on $k$ compared to the previous result with such running time. Finally, for the important special case where $k=\log n$, for every constant $\epsilon>0$, we provide an $O(m+n^{1+\epsilon})$ time construction that produces an $O(\log n)$-spanner with $O(n)$ edges and $O(1)$ lightness which is asymptotically optimal. This is the first known sub-quadratic construction of such a spanner for any $k = \omega(1)$. To achieve our constructions, we show a novel deterministic incremental approximate distance oracle, which may be of independent interest.
3D shape acquisition of moving object based on structured light

Belonging to the dynamic and real-time metrology, the key on 3D shape measurement of moving object is one-shot technology including one image acquisition, real-time processing and displaying. According to different speeds of motion, a few structured light methods such as spatial encoding, FTP, phase shifting method and spacetime stereo are introduced and summarized in the form of principle, development, performance and application for shape acquisition of moving object in this paper. Although structured light for measuring 3D shape of moving object is significant and valuable in theory and engineering applications, the research still has some technological challenges and problems to be explored and solved.
Torque ripple modeling of a permanent magnet synchronous motor

Permanent magnet synchronous motors feature high power density, high torque to inertia ratio and high conversion efficiency. These characteristics made them advantageous to use in specific applications such as robotics and traction. However, one of the major drawbacks of these motors is the torque ripple, being especially harmful when a high performance position and speed control is required. Usually, this effect can be reduced in the design stage, although several approaches to online reduction have been proposed. In this paper a mathematical model is proposed which calculates the torque based on an energy approach, allowing to incorporate the harmonic components of the torque. Simulation results show the performance of the proposed approach.
Overexpression of KNAT 1 in Lettuce Shifts Leaf Determinate Growth to a Shoot-Like Indeterminate Growth Associated with an Accumulation of Isopentenyl-Type Cytokinins 1

Istituto di Biochimica ed Ecofisiologia Vegetali del Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, via Salaria km 29,300–00016 Monterotondo Scalo, Rome, Italy (G.F., D.G., G.M., C.N., D.M.); Universita’ degli Studi della Calabria, Dipartimento di Ecologia, Laboratorio di Botanica, Ponte P. Bucci Cubo 6B, 87030 Rende, Cosenza, Italy (A.C., M.B.B., A.M.I.); and University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B–2610 Antwerpen, Belgium (W.D., H.V.O.)
The Role of Vegetation in the Dynamics of West African Monsoons

Abstract The focus of this paper is the role of meridional distribution of vegetation in the dynamics of monsoons and rainfall over West Africa. A moist zonally symmetric atmospheric model coupled with a simple land surface scheme is developed to investigate these processes. Four primary experiments have been carried out to examine the sensitivity of West African monsoons to perturbations in the meridional distribution of vegetation. In the control experiment, the authors assume a distribution of vegetation that resembles the natural vegetation cover in West Africa. Each perturbation experiment is identical to the control experiment except that a change in vegetation cover is imposed for a latitudinal belt that is 10° in width. The results of the numerical experiments demonstrate that West African monsoons and therefore rainfall distribution depend critically on the location of the vegetation perturbations. Changes in vegetation cover along the border between the Sahara desert and West Africa (desertifica.
A Fuzzy Recurrent Artificial Neural Network (FRANN) for Pattern Classification

This paper proposes a recurrent neural network of fuzzy units, which may be used for approximating a hetero-associative mapping and also for pattern classification. Since classification is concerned with set membership, and objects generally belong to sets to various degrees, a fuzzy network seems a natural for doing classification. In the network proposed here each fuzzy unit defines a fuzzy set. The fuzzy unit in the network determines the degree to which the input vector to the unit lies in that fuzzy set. The fuzzy unit may be compared to a perceptron in which case the input vector is compared to the weighting vector associated with the unit by taking the dot product. The resulting membership value in case of the fuzzy unit is compared to a threshold. Training of a fuzzy unit is based on an algorithm for solving linear inequalities similar to the method used for Ho-Kashyap recording. Training of the whole network is done by training each unit separately. The training algorithm is tested by trying the algorithm out on representations of letters of the alphabet with their noisy versions. The results obtained by the simulation are very promising.
A taxonomy of out-of-order instruction commit

While in-order instruction commit has its advantages, such as providing precise interrupts and avoiding complications with the memory consistency model, it requires the core to hold on to resources (reorder buffer entries, load/store queue entries, registers) until they are released in program order. In contrast, out-of-order commit releases resources much earlier, yielding improved performance without the need for additional hardware resources. In this paper, we revisit out-of-order commit from a different perspective, not by proposing another hardware technique, but by introducing a taxonomy and evaluating three different micro-architectures that have this technique enabled. We show how smaller processors can benefit from simple out-oforder commit strategies, but that larger, aggressive cores require more aggressive strategies to improve performance.