Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
American option pricing on reconfigurable hardware using Least-Squares Monte Carlo method

The valuation of optimal exercise of American-style options is one of the most important problems in option pricing theory. Unlike European options, American options have the feature of early exercise, which makes it hard to simulate using the simple Monte Carlo method. A number of extended Monte Carlo methods have been published recently; the Least-Squares Monte Carlo (LSMC) suggested by Longstaff and Schwartz is one of the most adopted algorithms in the industry. Although hardware acceleration technique has been used in financial computing for several years, there has not been any published hardware implementation of the LSMC method. In this paper, we present an FPGA hardware architecture for the acceleration of the LSMC method. In it, the Quasi-Monte Carlo method is adopted for stock price paths generation. Our real FPGA hardware implementation on a Xilinx Virtex-4 XC4VSX55 chip achieves 25x and 18x speed-ups in the Monte Carlo simulation and regression steps of the American option pricing, respectively, compared to an equivalent pure software implementation captured in C++ and run on an Intel Xeon 2.8 GHz CPU. This results in an overall speed-up figure of 20x compared to a CPU-based implementation. Given that the FPGA implementation is clocked at only 75MHz, the FPGA implementation also exhibits considerable energy savings.
Inhibition of 5‐lipoxygenase induces cell growth arrest and apoptosis in rat Kupffer cells: implications for liver fibrosis

The existence of an increased number of Kupffer cells is recognized as critical in the initiation of the inflammatory cascade leading to liver fibrosis. Because 5‐lipoxygenase (5‐LO) is a key regulator of cell growth and survival, in the current investigation we assessed whether inhibition of the 5‐LO pathway would reduce the excessive number of Kupffer cells and attenuate inflammation and fibrosis in experimental liver disease. Kupffer cells were the only liver cell type endowed with a metabolically active 5‐LO pathway (i.e., expressed mRNAs for 5‐LO, 5‐LO‐activating protein [FLAP], and leukotriene [LT] C4 synthase and generated LTB4 and cysteinyl‐LTs). Both the selective 5‐LO inhibitor AA861 and the FLAP inhibitor BAY‐X‐1005 markedly reduced the number of Kupffer cells in culture. The antiproliferative properties of AA861 and BAY‐X‐1005 were associated with the occurrence of condensed nuclei, fragmented DNA, and changes in DNA content and cell cycle frequency distribution consistent with an apoptotic process. In vivo, in carbon tetrachloride‐treated rats, BAY‐X‐1005 had a significant antifibrotic effect and reduced liver damage and the hepatic content of hydroxyproline. Together, these findings indicate a novel mechanism by which inactivation of the 5‐LO pathway could disrupt the sequence of events leading to liver inflammation and fibrosis.
Pre-Service Teacher Social Networking Decisions and Training Needs: A Mixed Methods Study

The use of social networks in America has risen nearly tenfold in a decade, rising from 7% in 2005 to 65% in 2015. This rise in the use of social networks has presented new ethical, legal, and professional challenges for educators. Teachers are held to higher standards of moral behavior than the general population. This mixed-methods study examined the types of social networks used by pre-service teachers and if they are making good decisions when using social networks. The findings show that the pre-service teachers were unsure what to post. Based on this finding, the researchers provide training suggestions to help pre-service teachers avoid common errors and misconceptions.
Determination of kinetic rate constants for the binding of inhibitors to HIV-1 protease and for the association and dissociation of active homodimer.

Association and dissociation rate constants for a competitive inhibitor of HIV-1 protease were determined by a novel method employing a pair of integrated rate equations. This method, termed the paired progress curve method, is both rapid and reproducible. Progress curves, taken at a single concentration of inhibitor, are analyzed simultaneously to determine association and dissociation rate constants, the concentration of active sites, and the catalytic rate constant. The method is applied to BILA 398, a compound for which the cocrystal structure with HIV-2 protease has been reported recently [Tong, L. , et al. (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 90, 8387-8391]. This compound exhibited an association constant of 1.6 x 10(7) M-1 s-1 and a dissociation constant of 1.0 x 10(-4) s-1 corresponding to a binding affinity constant of 6.4 x 10(-12) M. During the course of the analysis, nonlinearity was observed in control reactions containing enzyme and substrate only. This was subsequently shown to be due to a reversible inactivation process resulting from enzyme dilution. Integrated rate equations were developed on the basis of the dissociation of active dimeric enzyme during dilution and a reassociation of dilute monomers following the addition of substrate. The equations were modeled to the data, yielding a dissociation constant of 1.9 x 10(-3) s-1 and an association constant of 9.2 x 10(5) M-1 s-1 for the monomer-dimer interconversion process. This corresponds to an equilibrium constant of 4 x 10(-9) M for the dimerization of HIV-1 protease.
LINE‐1 hypomethylation is associated with bladder cancer risk among nonsmoking Chinese

Reduced levels of global DNA methylation, assessed in peripheral blood, have been associated with bladder cancer risk in European and American populations. Similar data are lacking in Asian populations where genetic differences, lifestyle factors and different environmental exposures may affect DNA methylation and its risk relationship with bladder cancer. The association between global DNA methylation measured at long interspersed nuclear element (LINE‐1) repeat regions through bisulfite pyrosequencing in lymphocyte DNA and bladder cancer risk was examined in a case–control study of 510 bladder cancer patients and 528 healthy control subjects in Shanghai, China. In an initial analysis restricted to control subjects, LINE‐1 methylation was elevated among men, those who frequently consumed cruciferous vegetables and those with a null genotype for either glutathione S‐transferase M1 (GSTM1) or GSTT1. In contrast, reduced LINE‐1 methylation was found in current smokers with a high‐cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) phenotype index. In a case–control analysis, there was no significant association of LINE‐1 methylation with case status, although reduced LINE‐1 methylation was associated with increased risk of bladder cancer among never smokers (p for trend = 0.03); analysis by tertile revealed odds ratios (ORs) of 1.91 (lowest tertile; 95% CI = 1.17–3.13) and 1.34 (middle tertile; 95% CI = 0.79–2.28) when compared with the highest tertile. This association was strongest among nonsmokers null for either the GSTM1 or GSTT1 genotype (p for trend = 0.006). Further research is needed to understand the relationships between methyl group availability and LINE‐1 methylation in relation to bladder cancer risk.
Salient Object Segmentation via Effective Integration of Saliency and Objectness

This paper proposes an effective salient object segmentation method via the graph-based integration of saliency and objectness. Based on the superpixel segmentation result of the input image, a graph is built to represent superpixels using regular vertex, background seed vertex with the addition of a terminal vertex. The edge weights on the graph are defined by integrating the difference of appearance, saliency, and objectness between superpixels. Then, the object probability of each superpixel is measured by finding the shortest path from the corresponding vertex to the terminal vertex on the graph, and the resultant object probability map can generally better highlight salient objects and suppress background regions compared to both saliency map and objectness map. Finally, the object probability map is used to initialize salient object and background, and effectively incorporated into the framework of graph cut to obtain the final salient object segmentation result. Extensive experimental results on three public benchmark datasets show that the proposed method consistently improves the salient object segmentation performance and outperforms the state-of-the-art salient object segmentation methods. Furthermore, experimental results also demonstrate that the proposed graph-based integration method is more effective than other fusion schemes and robust to saliency maps generated using various saliency models.
An Energy-Efficient Tensile-Strained Ge/InGaAs TFET 7T SRAM Cell Architecture for Ultralow-Voltage Applications

In this paper, we benchmark the read/write performance and standby power of several static random access memory (SRAM) cell architectures utilizing 45-nm Si CMOS MOSFET and/or tensile-strainedGe/InGaAs tunnel FET (TFET) devices under low-voltage operation (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.2~\text {V} \le \vert {V}_{\text {DD}}\vert \le 0.6$ </tex-math></inline-formula> V). We then introduce a novel tensile-strained Ge/InGaAs TFET-based SRAM circuit using several access schemes and investigate the impact of cell access design on static and dynamic performance. SRAM cells utilizing outwardaccess transistors exhibit wide read andwrite static noise margins, but suffer from increased read delay times. A 7T SRAM cell architecture is proposed in order to resolve the degraded read delay time. Cell standby energy was found to exhibit a strong dependenceon operational voltage andGe strain state. Variation of theGe strain state from 1.5% to 3% resulted in an up to 98% reduction in cell standby energy (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\vert {V}_{\text {DD}}\vert = 0.6$ </tex-math></inline-formula> V) as compared with similar CMOS-based SRAM cells. These results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed 7T TFET SRAM design for operation in the low- and ultralow-voltage regime.
Enabling Finger-Gesture Interaction with Kinect

A large number of tracking and gesture recognition algorithms and technologies have been developed in the field of human-computer interactions thanks to the introduction of cameras with depth sensors such as Microsoft's Kinect. Most of the techniques rely on skeleton tracking which is more suitable for distant and full body interaction. This paper presents a new real-time finger-gesture interaction system using Kinect v2 that identifies fingertips and finger gestures that enable the natural user interaction at a close distance. Our contribution also includes various gesture recognition algorithms using two and three fingers such as L-gesture, OK-gesture, Rock-gesture and Scissor-gesture, in addition to full hand and one-finger gestures. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our system through a fruit slicing game.
Circuit Lifetime With Citrate Versus Heparin in Pediatric Continuous Venovenous Hemodialysis*

Objectives: To determine if there is a difference between regional citrate and global heparinized anticoagulation on circuit lifetimes during continuous venovenous hemodialysis in children. Design: Prospective “cross-over” trial. Setting: PICU, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Ostrava. Patients: Children 0–18 years old. Interventions: From 2009 to 2014, 63 eligible children (age, 89.24 ± 62.9 mo; weight, 30.37 ± 20.62 kg) received at least 24 hours of continuous venovenous hemodialysis. Each child received four continuous venovenous hemodialysis circuits with anticoagulants in the following order: heparin, citrate, heparin, citrate. Circuit life ended when transmembrane pressure was greater than or equal to 250 mm Hg for more than 60 minutes. Measurements and Main results: The total mean circuit lifetime was 39.75 ± 10.73 hours. Citrate had a significantly longer median circuit lifetime (41.0 hr; CI, 37.6–44.4) than heparin (36.0 hr; CI, 35.4–36.6; p = 0.0001). Mortality was 33.33%. Circuit lifetime was significantly correlated to patient age (r = 0.606), weight (r = 0.763), and blood flow rate (r = 0.697). Transfusion rates (units of red cells per circuit of continuous venovenous hemodialysis) were 0.17 (0.0–1.0) with citrate and 0.36 (0.0–2.0) with heparin (p = 0.002). Conclusions: We showed in our study that citrate provided significantly longer circuit lifetimes than heparin for continuous venovenous hemodialysis in children. Citrate was superior to heparin for the transfusion requirements. Citrate was feasible and safe in children and infants.
On-Line Testing of Digital Circuits for n-Detect and Bridging Fault Models

This work is concerned with the development of generic, non-intrusive and flexible algorithms for the design of digital circuits with on line testing (OLT) capability. Most of the works presented in the literature on OLT have used single stuck at fault models. However, in deep submicron era single s-a fault models may not capture more than a fraction of the real defects. To cater to the problem it is now advocated that additional fault models such as Bridging faults, Transition faults, Delay faults etc. are also used. The proposed technique is one of the first works that enables on-line detection of bridging faults and provides a high value of n for the n-Detect tests. The technique can handle generic digital circuits with cell count as high as 15,000 and having the order of 2500 states. Results for design of on-line detectors for various ISCAS89 benchmark circuits are provided. The results illustrate that with marginal increase in area overhead, if compared to ones with single s-a fault coverage, the proposed scheme also provides coverage for bridging faults and high value of n for n-Detect coverage.
The Role of Culture in ELT: Learners' Attitude towards the Teaching of Target Language Culture

Abstract Since the inception of systematic discussions on ELT in the 20th century, teaching of target language culture has been an issue of hot debate. Target culture teaching has been severely criticized and passionately defended by the educationists and language teachers. Muslim countries have shown severely negative response to the target culture teaching. Recently another dimension i.e. the attitude of learners towards the teaching of target language culture in ELT classroom has been added to the existing debate. This paper targets the same issue and analyses the attitude of Pakistani learners towards target culture teaching. Being a case study, it focuses on the attitudes of the students of Government College University, Faisalabad. With the help of a questionnaire which pertains to different aspects of target culture, we have measured learners' responses. The questionnaire was divided into different sections pertaining to the beliefs, customs, social organization, gestures, and notions of personal space and arts of the target language culture. The findings indicate that learners have an overwhelmingly negative attitude towards the teaching of target language culture in Government College University, Faisalabad (GCUF). These responses are in line with the overall reaction of Muslim countries against target culture teaching. This also indicates Muslim community's preference for Islamic culture in ELT material.
Bi-Directional Causality between Working Capital Management and Profitability: Empirical Study of Indian Listed Firms

Management of short term funds and their disbursement plays a vital role in deciding fate of entity’s financial soundness and future prospect. Thus efficient working capital management is prerequisite for business success so has not only remained orbit of many theoretical and empirical studies but also great concern for management and academic experts. Empirical literature in Indian context on this topic not only presents ambiguous results, but is centered mainly on the possible impact efficient working capital management levels on profitability of the companies, disregarding the possibility of reverse causality running from profitability to effective liquidity and working capital management efficiency, except few recent studies from developed nations. Olarewaju M.O & Adeyemi K.O (2013); Awad, I & Jayyar F (2013). Current study is an attempt to shed light on bidirectional causal relationship between working capital management components like liquidity and cash conversion cycle proxies efficiency of the management in formulating and executing growth and sustainability oriented policies and profitability in the Indian listed firms for the period last one decade through use of econometric model of granger causality and other related methods according to need of study. The results failed to support theoretical assumption and strengthened the prior works and revealed that there is no causal relationship but while taking lag of one year results favored the casual relationship between efficiency liquidity and profitability. The study addressing the current issues may frame consciousness among managers and academicians and help to rule out myths and touch the modern horizons of managing daily financial requirements.
Business News Framing of Corporate Social Responsibility in the United States and the United Kingdom: Insights From the Implicit and Explicit CSR Framework

This study aims to contribute to the understanding of business news coverage of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within a comparative international context by investigating two business newspapers, The Wall Street Journal from the United States and The Financial Times from the United Kingdom. Drawing on the news framing research and the implicit and explicit CSR framework of Matten and Moon, this content analysis shows that business news coverage of CSR in the United States and in the United Kingdom differs in terms of news framing (thematic vs. episodic), motive attributions of CSR as a concept, motive attributions of referenced companies in relation to CSR, general tone toward the concept of CSR, and the general tone toward referenced companies in relation to CSR. Most significantly, findings suggest that business news plays different roles in constructing and legitimizing CSR in the two countries. In the United States, CSR’s legitimacy and its conceptual positivity may be more implied through the coverage of singular events or actors (episodic framing), whereas in the United Kingdom, CSR’s illegitimacy and its conceptual negativity may be more exposed for further discussion through the coverage of larger societal contexts (thematic framing). Other theoretical as well as practical implications are also discussed.
Adult retinal ganglion cells retain the ability to regenerate their axons up to several weeks after axotomy

The present work was to elucidate whether the ability of adult central neurons to regrow their lesioned axons is retained for long periods of time. Using the rat retina as an experimental paradigm, the optic nerve was lesioned by crush in situ. Up to 6 weeks after the trauma, the optic nerve (ON) was again exposed and transected close to the first lesion and autologous sciatic nerve segments were anastomosed at the ocular ON stump. Alternatively, the retina corresponding to the lesioned ON was dissected for in vitro cultivation 1–6 weeks after the crush‐axatomy was applied. Both experimental strategies revealed a regrowth of the lesioned retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons. When peripheral nerve (PN) segments were grafted without previous ON crush, axon stumps started to reelongate and to penetrate the grafted piece of nerve 6 days later. In contrast, when the PN graft was apposed to the ON stump 1–6 weeks after crush, it was penetrated by regrowing axons within 24 hr. Maximal numbers of regenerating axons were observed if transplantation occurred within the first week after the crush. The numbers of axons decreased progressively if transplantation was performed later than 1 week postcrush and approximated zero values at the 6th week. When the noncrushed retina was explanted and cultured in vitro in a chemically defined, serumfree medium, there was almost no extending fiber. In contrast, explantation of the retina for which the ON had been precrushed in situ resulted in massive regrowth of RGC axons. The numbers of regenerating axons and their temporal changes paralleled those described for the transplantation experiments. The data indicate that axomotized central neurons sustain their ability for axon regrowth over considerable periods of time and can make use of this elongation capability if regeneration‐permissive environmental conditions are provided.
The Influence of the Trade-Off between Profitability and Future Increases in Sales on Cost Stickiness

This study analyses cost stickiness under the dilemma between current profitability and future sales increase. When activity decreases firms are faced to keep profitability adjusting resources, while they should also consider long term consequences and keep slack resources which allow building firms capacities to adapt to external challenges and take advantage of future opportunities. We find empirical evidence that changes in current firm profitability and one year ahead sales increase significantly influence resource adjustment in periods when sales decrease. We find a significant moderating effect of changes in profitability, as well as a significant stressing effect of one year ahead sales increase, on cost stickiness.
Real-Time Assessment and Neuromuscular Training Feedback Techniques to Prevent Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Female Athletes

SOME ATHLETES MAY BE MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO AT-RISK KNEE POSITIONS DURING SPORTS ACTIVITIES, BUT THE UNDERLYING CAUSES ARE NOT CLEARLY DEFINED. THIS ARTICLE SYNTHESIZES IN VIVO, IN VITRO, AND IN SILICO (COMPUTER-SIMULATED) DATA TO DELINEATE LIKELY RISK FACTORS TO THE MECHANISM(S) OF NONCONTACT ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT (ACL) INJURIES. FROM THESE IDENTIFIED RISK FACTORS, WE WILL DISCUSS NEWLY DEVELOPED REAL-TIME SCREENING TECHNIQUES THAT CAN BE USED IN TRAINING SESSIONS TO IDENTIFY MODIFIABLE RISK FACTORS. TECHNIQUES PROVIDED WILL TARGET AND CORRECT ALTERED MECHANICS THAT MAY REDUCE OR ELIMINATE RISK FACTORS AND AID IN THE PREVENTION OF NONCONTACT ACL INJURIES IN HIGH-RISK ATHLETES.
Involvement of Template-Activating Factor I/SET in Transcription of Adenovirus Early Genes as a Positive-Acting Factor

ABSTRACT The adenovirus genome complexed with viral core protein VII (adenovirus DNA-protein VII complex) at least is the bona fide template for transcription of adenovirus early genes. It is believed that the highly basic protein VII, like cellular histones, is a negative regulator for genome functions. Analyses with in vitro replication and transcription systems using the adenovirus DNA-protein VII complex have revealed that remodeling of the complex is crucial for efficient DNA replication and transcription. We identified host acidic proteins, template-activating factor I (TAF-I), TAF-II, and TAF-III as stimulatory factors for replication from the adenovirus DNA-protein VII complex. Recently, it was reported that the adenovirus DNA interacts with TAF-I and pp32, another host acidic protein (Y. Xue, J. S. Johnson, D. A. Ornelles, J. Lieberman, and D. A. Engel, J. Virol. 79:2474-2483, 2005). We found that TAF-I interacts and colocalizes with protein VII in adenovirus-infected cells during the early phases of infection, but pp32 does not. Although pp32 had the potential ability to interact with protein VII, pp32 did not remodel the adenovirus DNA-protein VII complex in vitro. Small interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of TAF-I expression leads to the delay of the transcription timing of early genes. These results provide evidence that TAF-I plays an important role in the early stages of the adenovirus infection cycle.