Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Equity valuation, production, and financial planning: A stochastic programming approach

Most of the operations management literature assumes that a firm can always finance production decisions at an optimal level or borrow at a constant interest rate; however, operational decisions are constrained by limited capital and often critically depend on external financing. This paper proposes an integrated corporate planning model, which extends the forecasting‐based discount dividend pricing method into an optimization‐based valuation framework to make production and financial decisions simultaneously for a firm facing marker uncertainty. We also develop an efficient algorithm to solve the resulting integer stochastic programming model with nonlinear constraints. Compared with traditional valuation and planning models, our method yields higher equity valuations, indicating that valuation without considering contingent decisions is inherently inaccurate. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Early disc accretion as the origin of abundance anomalies in globular clusters

Globular clusters (GCs), once thought to be well approximated as simple stellar populations (i.e. all stars having the same age and chemical abundance), are now known to host a variety of anomalies, such as multiple discrete (or spreads in) populations in colour–magnitude diagrams and abundance variations in light elements (e.g. Na, O, Al). Multiple models have been put forward to explain the observed anomalies, although all have serious shortcomings (e.g. requiring a non-standard initial mass function of stars and GCs to have been initially 10–100 times more massive than observed today). These models also do not agree with observations of massive stellar clusters forming today, which do not display significant age spreads nor have gas/dust within the cluster. Here we present a model for the formation of GCs, where low-mass pre-main-sequence stars accrete enriched material released from interacting massive binary and rapidly rotating stars on to their circumstellar discs, and ultimately on to the young stars. As was shown in previous studies, the accreted material matches the unusual abundances and patterns observed in GCs. The proposed model does not require multiple generations of star formation, conforms to the known properties of massive clusters forming today and solves the ‘mass budget problem’ without requiring GCs to have been significantly more massive at birth. Potential caveats to the model as well as model predictions are discussed.
Schematic protection method from influence of total ionization dose effects on threshold voltage of MOS transistors

Modern integrated circuits (IC) operate in environment of various destabilizing factors which have essential influence on the operation of these circuits and often even disturb the normal operation. One of these destabilizing factors is the cosmic radiation, particularly total ionization dose effects (TID). In this paper influence of TID effects on threshold voltages of MOS transistors is discussed. A schematic protection method from these effects is presented.
Hypoxia‐targeted over‐expression of carboxylesterase as a means of increasing tumour sensitivity to irinotecan (CPT‐11)

The induced expression of carboxylesterase (CE) enzymes, which convert the prodrug irinotecan (CPT‐11) into its active cytotoxic metabolite SN‐38, constitutes a promising strategy for cancer gene therapy. By incorporating hypoxia‐responsive elements (HREs) in conjunction with the transgene, expression can be targeted specifically to hypoxic tissues (such as solid tumours), expressing the hypoxia‐inducible factor 1 (HIF‐1). We have constructed a recombinant adenoviral vector, AdHRE‐rCE, encoding the cDNA for the highly efficient rabbit liver CE (rCE), under the control of a HRE derived from the human phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK‐1) gene in conjunction with a minimal SV40 promoter. In vitro, HT1080 fibrosarcoma and SW480 colon carcinoma cells demonstrated an approximately 10‐fold hypoxia‐dependent induction in CE expression following pre‐infection with AdHRE‐rCE, which led to a15–30‐fold increased sensitivity to CPT‐11. Furthermore, in vivo, SW480 tumour xenografts infected with AdHRE‐rCE demonstrated a 2‐fold decrease in tumour doubling time, when combined with 7 days of CPT‐11 treatment, in comparison to mock‐infected controls, with rCE expression shown to be limited to hypoxic regions only. As the cytotoxicity of CPT‐11 is reduced under hypoxic conditions, over‐expression of a highly efficient CE such as rCE under hypoxia control within these hypoxic cells could reverse this effect and, therefore, form the basis for future clinical treatment strategies. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Vehicle counting and classification for traffic surveillance using Wireless Video Sensor Networks

This paper describes a technique for counting and classifying vehicles in traffic video surveillance applications. We concentrate on systems requiring rapid deployment built using Wireless Video Sensor Networks. To achieve this, we propose an algorithm that employs a pixel-based Gaussian background modeling technique. The goal is to classify vehicles based on structural analysis of foreground objects. Discrimination relies on the size of the minimum bounding rectangle that encloses each foreground object identified as vehicle. The algorithm was designed to operate in resource-constrained environments.
Information Revelation in Competitions with Common and Private Values

Competitors’ incentives to reveal private information are explored when there are both common and private components to their valuations and private information is held on both dimensions. When agents only observe one signal, they do not have incentives to reveal, because revealing the only signal makes them fully lose their information advantage (suggested by the literature). However, when agents observe multiple signals, they may have incentives to reveal some signals in order to earn higher profits from other signals. This paper shows that there exists an equilibrium with revelation of common-value signals and concealment of private-value signals in competitions, including standard auctions and Bertrand oligopolies. This equilibrium achieves full efficiency and may give the seller a higher profit. Experiments confirm these theoretical predictions, such as subjects tend to hide private information in a pure common value environment, and choose to reveal the common-value signal in the presence of an additional private-value signal.
Teaching Adult Rats Spinalized as Neonates to Walk Using Trunk Robotic Rehabilitation: Elements of Success, Failure, and Dependence

Robot therapy promotes functional recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) in animal and clinical studies. Trunk actions are important in adult rats spinalized as neonates (NTX rats) that walk autonomously. Quadrupedal robot rehabilitation was tested using an implanted orthosis at the pelvis. Trunk cortical reorganization follows such rehabilitation. Here, we test the functional outcomes of such training. Robot impedance control at the pelvis allowed hindlimb, trunk, and forelimb mechanical interactions. Rats gradually increased weight support. Rats showed significant improvement in hindlimb stepping ability, quadrupedal weight support, and all measures examined. Function in NTX rats both before and after training showed bimodal distributions, with “poor” and “high weight support” groupings. A total of 35% of rats initially classified as “poor” were able to increase their weight-supported step measures to a level considered “high weight support” after robot training, thus moving between weight support groups. Recovered function in these rats persisted on treadmill with the robot both actuated and nonactuated, but returned to pretraining levels if they were completely disconnected from the robot. Locomotor recovery in robot rehabilitation of NTX rats thus likely included context dependence and/or incorporation of models of robot mechanics that became essential parts of their learned strategy. Such learned dependence is likely a hurdle to autonomy to be overcome for many robot locomotor therapies. Notwithstanding these limitations, trunk-based quadrupedal robot rehabilitation helped the rats to visit mechanical states they would never have achieved alone, to learn novel coordinations, and to achieve major improvements in locomotor function. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Neonatal spinal transected rats without any weight support can be taught weight support as adults by using robot rehabilitation at trunk. No adult control rats with neonatal spinal transections spontaneously achieve similar changes. The robot rehabilitation system can be inactivated and the skills that were learned persist. Responding rats cannot be detached from the robot altogether, a dependence develops in the skill learned. From data and analysis here, the likelihood of such rats to respond to the robot therapy can also now be predicted. These results are all novel. Understanding trunk roles in voluntary and spinal reflex integration after spinal cord injury and in recovery of function are broadly significant for basic and clinical understanding of motor function.
Medium-term variability of the human serum metabolome in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.

Metabolomics is a systems biology tool providing small molecule signatures of disease etiology. In order to estimate the biologic variability of the human serum metabolome, this study calculated intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for 178 stably-detected metabolites measured by untargeted chromatography/mass spectrometry. We studied a subsample of 60 participants (57% males, 70% Caucasians, aged 73.77±5.3 years) in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study who provided two fasting serum samples 4-6 weeks apart. The median ICC across all metabolites was 0.60, and 82% of metabolites had at least fair variability (i.e., ICC>= 0.40). There was variation in the medium-term variability among metabolites, with those in the pathways of amino acid and lipid metabolism showing relatively high ICCs, and those in the carbohydrate pathway showing relatively low ICCs. The results of this study provide a valuable resource for future study design and outcome interpretation of mass spectrometry-based metabolomic studies in epidemiology.
Comparison of SVD-MIMO with Antenna-Selection-BLAST Using Linear Receivers under Channel Estimation Errors for ITU Channels

In wireless communication systems, the spatial multiplexing mode of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) is known to provide significant gain in spectral efficiency in the high Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) region. Between the two methods, Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) and Bell labs Layered Space Time (BLAST), for implementing spatial multiplexing, the SVD scheme provides much higher spectral efficiency but it is much more complex to implement than the BLAST scheme. The aim of this work is to present an algorithm for antenna selection, which works together with BLAST method and compare the performance with that of SVD method. The comparison is done considering linear receiver architecture, and that the receiver has noisy channel estimates. The channel model used for performance evaluation is as per International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-specifications. It is shown in this work that, the proposed algorithm used with BLAST is very simple to implement and performs at par with SVD.
Flotillin-1/Reggie-2 Traffics to Surface Raft Domains via a Novel Golgi-independent Pathway

Flotillins are lipid raft-associated proteins, which have been implicated in neuronal regeneration and insulin signaling. We now show that newly synthesized flotillin-1 reaches the plasma membrane via a Sar1-independent and brefeldin A-resistant targeting pathway. Consistent with post-translational membrane association of flotillin, protease sensitivity experiments suggest that flotillin-1 is not a transmembrane protein but is associated with the cytoplasmic face of the plasma membrane. The N terminus of flotillin contains a prohibitin-like domain (PHB), which shows homology to a number of proteins associated with raft domains including stomatin, podocin, and prohibitin. We show that the PHB domain of flotillin can efficiently target a heterologous protein, green fluorescent protein, to the plasma membrane. Another PHB-containing protein, stomatin, traffics to the plasma membrane via the conventional secretory pathway. Plasma membrane association of both full-length flotillin and the green fluorescent protein-tagged PHB domain of flotillin is dependent on palmitoylation and requires a conserved cysteine residue, Cys-34, in the PHB domain. The results identify a novel targeting mechanism for plasma membrane association of flotillin-1 involving a Golgi-independent trafficking pathway, the PHB domain, and palmitoylation.
Ceramic Production and Exchange in Late/Terminal Formative Period Oaxaca

Patterns of Late/Terminal Formative period (ca. 500 B.C.–A.D. 300) ceramic exchange in Oaxaca are examined through instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Samples of 453 Late/Terminal Formative period sherds were submitted to the Missouri University Research Reactor for INAA to determine elemental composition. The sherds came from 20 excavated sites and two surveys in the following regions: the Valley of Oaxaca, Mixteca Alta, Mixteca Baja, lower Río Verde Valley, and Cuicatlán Cañada. Selected for the study were vessel fragments from three recognized paste categories: grayware (gris), fine brownware (café fino), and creamware (crema). We also sampled clays and sherds from known sources in four modern pottery-making towns in the Oaxaca Valley. The research adds to the INAA database for Oaxaca by identifying the chemical signatures of six source groupings that we can link to specific regions and, in two cases, to particular source zones within regions. The evidence from chemical composition and typology indicates continuity in resource use and production practices in both Atzompa and Coyotepec from pre-Hispanic into modern times. The data show that the exchange of ceramics in Late/Terminal Formative Oaxaca was multidirectional, with ceramics imported both to and from the Oaxaca Valley.
Nuclear matrix protein 22 for bladder cancer detection: comparative analysis of the BladderChek® and ELISA.

AIM To compare nuclear matrix protein 22 expression by BladderChek® and ELISA, as urine-based assays for bladder cancer (BC) detection. PATIENTS AND METHODS Urine samples of 100 BC patients and 100 controls were analyzed. Comparative statistical evaluations were based on sensitivity and specificity. RESULTS Seventy-one patients had primary and 29 recurrent BC. The sensitivity of BladderChek® was significantly higher compared to ELISA in the overall cancer cohort and in patients with primary BC (p<0.0001 and p=0.0001, respectively). Both tests demonstrated significant correlation of sensitivities and tumor stage/grade for the overall cancer cohort and for patients with primary BC. Both tests had specificity values of 100% in healthy individuals. Specificity was 93% for BladderChek® and 99% for ELISA in patients with benign diseases (p=0.048). CONCLUSION BladderChek® may be clinically more useful for BC detection. Due to high specificity, BladderChek® could be used for high-risk screening. However, due to its low sensitivity, BladderChek® cannot replace but only complement cystoscopy for BC detection.
Voltage‐dependent Ca2+ release from the SR of feline ventricular myocytes is explained by Ca2+‐induced Ca2+ release

1 Direct voltage‐gated (voltage‐dependent Ca2+ release, VDCR) and Ca2+ influx‐gated (Ca2+‐induced Ca2+ release, CICR) sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ release were studied in feline ventricular myocytes. The voltage‐contraction relationship predicted by the VDCR hypothesis is sigmoidal with large contractions at potentials near the Ca2+ equilibrium potential (ECa). The relationship predicted by the CICR hypothesis is bell‐shaped with no contraction at ECa. 2 The voltage dependence of contraction was measured in ventricular myocytes at physiological temperature (37 °C), resting membrane potential and physiological [K+]. Experiments were performed with cyclic adenosine 3′,5′‐monophosphate (cAMP) in the pipette or in the presence of the β‐adrenergic agonist isoproterenol (isoprenaline; ISO). 3 The voltage‐contraction relationship was bell‐shaped in Na+‐free solutions (to eliminate the Na+ current and Na+‐Ca2+ exchange, NCX) but the relationship was broader than the L‐type Ca2+ current (ICa,L)‐voltage relationship. 4 Contractions induced with voltage steps from normal resting potentials to ‐40 mV are thought to represent VDCR rather than CICR. We found that cAMP and ISO shifted the voltage dependence of ICa,L activation to more negative potentials so that ICa,L was always present with steps to ‐40 mV. ICa,L at ‐40 mV inactivated when the holding potential was decreased (V½=−57·8 ± 0·49 mV). 5 ISO increased inward current, SR Ca2+ load and contraction in physiological [Na+] and a broad bell‐shaped voltage‐contraction relationship was observed. Inhibition of reverse‐mode NCX, decreasing ICa,L and decreasing SR Ca2+ loading all decreased contractions at strongly positive potentials near ECa. 6 The voltage‐contraction relationship in 200 μM cadmium (Cd2+) was bell‐shaped, supporting a role of ICa,L rather than VDCR. 7 All results could be accounted for by the CICR hypothesis, and many results exclude the VDCR hypothesis.
Reporting on quality of life in RCTs

Editor—Sanders et al’s bibliographic study on the frequency and detail of reporting on quality of life data in randomised controlled trials listed in the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register is disturbing.1 Despite increasing emphasis on patient centred outcomes in all aspects of clinical practice and research, less than 5% of trials reported on quality of life and even fewer comprehensively reported the quality of data using well validated, familiar instruments. Deyo and Patrick discussed methodological, attitudinal, and conceptual barriers to the use of quality of life assessments in research in 1989.2 They noted the paucity of information regarding the responsiveness, reliability, validity, and psychometric characteristics of most instruments. In the 1980s many authors noted the problem of a confusing array of instruments, including scales with the same purpose.2,3 Feinstein et al noted 43 scales measuring activities of daily living.3 Deyo and Patrick suggested increased reporting of studies that compared different quality of life instruments in the same population and comparing the use of generic instruments in different diagnostic groups. They also advocated testing any newly developed instruments against well established scales and the development of a “quality of life research laboratory” to aid researchers with the analysis and standardisation of data on quality of life.2 In the light of Sanders et al’s study, all trialists need to think again about the suggestions above. The CONSORT guidelines could be expanded to include recommendations on which tested, well validated quality of life instruments should be selected for use in different situations. This would aid researchers’ choice and improve standardisation and generalisability.
Notch signaling is required for the formation of mesangial cells from a stromal mesenchyme precursor during kidney development

Mesangial cells are specialized pericyte/smooth muscle cells that surround and constrain the vascular network within the glomerulus of the kidney. They are derived from the stromal mesenchyme, a progenitor population distinct from nephron stem cells. Whether mesangial cells have a distinct origin from vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and the pathways that govern their specification are unknown. Here we show that Notch signaling in stromal progenitors is essential for mesangial cell formation but is dispensable for the smooth muscle and interstitial cell lineages. Deletion of RBPjk, the common DNA-binding partner of all active Notch receptors, with Foxd1tgCre results in glomerular aneurysm and perinatal death from kidney failure. This defect occurs early in glomerular development as stromal-derived, desmin-positive cells fail to coalesce near forming nephrons and thus do not invade the vascular cleft of the S-shaped body. This is in contrast to other mutants in which the loss of the mesangium was due to migration defects, and suggests that loss of Notch signaling results in a failure to specify this population from the stroma. Interestingly, Pdgfrb-positive VSMCs do not enter the vascular cleft and cannot rescue the mesangial deficiency. Notch1 and Notch2 act redundantly through γ-secretase and RBPjk in this process, as individual mutants have mesangial cells at birth. Together, these data demonstrate a unique origin of mesangial cells and demonstrate a novel, redundant function for Notch receptors in mesangial cell specification, proliferation or survival during kidney development.
Management of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome in children.

BACKGROUND Acute lung injury (ALI) and its more severe form, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), are devastating disorders of overwhelming pulmonary inflammation and hypoxemia, resulting in high morbidity and mortality. AIM To provide the clinician with a summary of the literature on the epidemiology, diagnosis, and an evidence-base for management of ALI/ARDS in children. DATA SELECTION PubMed search for clinical trials, selected literature review of other relevant studies on epidemiology and diagnosis. DATA SYNTHESIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Lower mortality combined with a relatively lower frequency of ALI/ARDS in children makes performance of clinical trials challenging. Based on expert opinion, the following are recommended: 1) avoid tidal volumes > or =10 mL/kg body weight; 2) keep plateau pressure < or =30 cm H2O, arterial pH at 7.30 to 7.45, and Pao2 60 to 80 torr (8 to 10.7 kPa) (Spo2 > or =90%); 3) provide sedation, analgesia, and stress ulcer prophylaxis; and 4) use a 10 g/dL hemoglobin threshold for packed red blood cell transfusion in unstable patients (shock or profound hypoxia). Evidence supports dropping the hemoglobin transfusion threshold to 7 g/dL once profound hypoxia and shock have resolved. Promising therapies for pediatric ALI/ARDS based on pediatric studies include endotracheal surfactant, high-frequency oscillatory ventilation, noninvasive ventilation, and use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as a rescue therapy. Promising therapies based on adult trials include use of corticosteroids for lung inflammation and fibrosis, use of 4 to 6 mL/kg tidal volumes and restrictive fluid management. Prone positioning, bronchodilators, inhaled nitric oxide, tight glucose control, and high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen are therapies that require further study before they can be recommended for children with ALI/ARDS.